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to browse and drool |
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s*t*a*s*h! (blush) |
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Fine ribby alpaca/silk top-down raglan
In a beautiful blue-with-slubs 4ply. Hypnotic to knit.  Lace scarf / shawl In yarn left over from the beaded hemp top. Wavy shale pattern. Maybe this will become the shawl I promised myself this year. Sleeveless top for Toz in duck-egg blue Rowan DK Soft. Toria started it and has run out of steam. So have I. Crochet throw in sueded velour stuff Progressing slowly. Crochet is not comfortable for me.  |
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Knitty Threadbear Ozeyarn Martina for sock yarn Kangaroo House of Hemp Ford Barton Laughing Hens Hip Knits |
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I've done a shed-load of training in the last few years, some in new areas, some pretty advanced. I recommend these training establishments for outstanding integrity, professionalism and allround excellence: John F Barnes Myofascial Release Upledger Institute Craniosacral Therapy Jing Advanced Massage (I also teach with these guys) Pilates Training Solutions |
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New knitting books It must really be getting near to Christmas. There are new knitting books out and I would like to try most of them. Sally Melville's third book in the series 'The Knitting Experience' is already in my hot sticky grasp, and I like it muchly. She's not English is she? It's almost as if she could write for Rowan. I like the look of the cover of 'Handknit Holidays' by Melanie Falick, but I won't be ordering until I can see more of it, or find it in a real bookshop where I can browse. It may be full of knitted reindeer and pumpkins, for all I know. 'Knitovation' by Barry Klein and Fayla Reiss looks really interesting. the subtitle is 'Creative Knitwear Made from 3 Simple Shapes'. The more constrained one is, sometimes, the more imaginative one becomes. Hmmm. Another modular knitting book? When Sue from Kangaroo was in Lewes recently, I bought from her a book by the renowned Horst Schulz, in which he shows how to use modular knitting for children's garments. It's an inspiring book, but don't even think about buying it if you don't work out patterns for yourself. His instructions, where he can be bothered to give them, are unbelievably incomprehensible; sometimes he just stops half way, sometimes he doesn't give any instructions at all. There is a section at the front of the book in which he makes a passing attempt at basic instructions for the techniques for his modular knitting constructs, and thereafter he uses graphics, which are followable to an extent, but on the whole, you have to do a whole load of working out yourself. Which I like :) I want to get Yarn Harlot's new book 'The Secret Life of a Knitter'. I haven't seen anything but the front cover yet, but her writing is good, and she is fab. Whilst I am browsing, I have noticed that amazon.co.uk have changed their layout and ways to search and er welll, it's not familiar any more, and I can't find a damn thing! And why, when I have clicked on at least ten books this session, do they not have enough information to drum up a 'page you made' for me? Huh??? However, I did come across a book featuring roast figs... yummmm 'Shore Lines' - very beautiful, very Rowan, but I have a feeling I would not knit anything from it. I don't know why. I have seen it and leafed through it - in London's John Lewis to be precise. I had just discovered the most amazing American (I think) Maytag fridge freezer to end all fridge freezers, only £1800 worth, and mere knitting books weren't doing it for me ;) Shower and cats Can you bear an update on the shower? A technical meeting is in full progress in the kitchen right now, and words such as 'clear' and 'silicon' and 'paste' are wafting through to me. As well as 'go through the tile and stop'. Hypnotic. Cleo is highly susceptible to hypnosis and has fallen asleep in the A4 paper box, with her neck and chin at the so chic for cats 'broken neck' angle. She is way too big for that box. Which brings me to the perennial mystery: how do the kittens get enormous rabbits through such a small cat flap? It is impossible for them to drag it through in their jaws. The rabbit is invariably larger than the cat, and the cat barely gets through herself. So they must push or pull. Maybe they push from the outside. Or maybe they leave it outside the flap, go through, then pull it through. Holding the flap open as they pull...? I'm not so sure. We've seen them cooperate before, one each side. I still feel one pushes, the other pulls, but if they are solo, it's not going to work so well. Anyhow, if they could but desist from unzipping their rabbits on the carpet at the bottom of the stairs and just leave them on the tiles inside the back door, I'd be happier. Bless. November 28th My new computer... ... and its settings are not allowing me to download active content I've put on my own site!!! Took me ages to work out how to remedy this. Yegods, I'm slow sometimes. I appreciate the care it takes to keep me safe from undesirables :) Christmas shopping It's begun. I can't believe it! I have actually done some Christmas shopping. For the first time ever before December. Never mind, I'm sure it will wear off. It's just that I knew what I was going to get for one of my kids, and there it appeared, a goodly half price, so I just had to snap it up. No yarn bought, though, for weeks and weeks and weeks. My stash is ever-present, and I am knitting my way steadily through at least the margins of it. Talking about Christmas presents, anyone know how to wrap up a metal-working lathe type thingy? Or to keep it secret, particularly as it needs to be bought trade through (another) kid's account? I thought not. This does, however, highlight how Christmas has turned, for us at least, into a fab opportunity to buy Really Useful Stuff for each other, that will have to be acquired anyway, but we'd just like to help out. I love that. The vagaries of email lists I've just been thrown off a list I (used to) frequent, just because I was ruffling feathers, refusing to believe in the One True Way (to do with work, not religion!). Oh dear. I suppose it is to be expected :) The turfing off was done with gusto and style, flinging wild accusations at me - on the list - with no right of reply for me. Fortunately the woman who took it upon herself to do this also left my website address intact, so anyone who was interested could go and look for themselves to see how these accusations panned out in reality. I had 50+ extra visitors over the following two days - excellent publicity - and 13 emails of support. Plus one email from a lost, longing soul, trying to convert me to the one true god (religious). I don't expect any who follow my work come to this blog, but if you do, and you sent 'love, light and blessings' which I received in bucketloads, thank you again. I wish the same to you to. Coincidentally, Cheryl at Mad Baggage Rambling has a lovely piece on insecurity, and how it leaves one feeling. Awful. The bit about 'not being able to reach them' i.e. the one you may have offended, was very apt for me. In my case, I have to say, I was left in no doubt whatsoever that I had offended. Grin. Shower progress Victory is at hand! The shower is plumbed in, the surrounds are leaning up in the bedroom next door, the loo is reattached to the plumbing - although the bathroom door is still off, so only the boys are using the loo, and even then timing is crucial; I shall wait until I can test the new loo seat with decorum, i.e. no chance of anyone marching past outside an open doorway! Mike DH and Chris DS1 said to our wonderful plumber "we're fitting the enclosure, shouldn't be too difficult, should it?" "Ah, they be interesting, those corner surrounds" he intoned mournfully. Ah. DS1 has taken himself off to somewhere south of London to watch stock car racing (wearing t-shirt, two fleeces, jumper I knitted him, coat, two pairs of trousers, two pairs of mitts, two wooly beanies) and won't be available for interesting shower enclosure erection until tomorrow. I can hardly wait ;-/ November 26th Reading Have been reading loads of really weird stuff. A friend pointed out to ome Lyn Grabhorn's 'Excuse me, You Life is Waiting', so I rattled through that. It's a blast, good fun, a sort of self-help book talking about how our feelings determine the vibrations we send out to the universe, pal up with like vibrations, and bring back to us exactly what we send out, only more so. It does make sense, although it is soooo badly written. But that's funny, too. Then I picked up one of her other books in a bookshop and found she is into (or rather, would prefer not to be into) aliens and Other Beings. Also very funny, but I draw the line there. Then I discovered Monica Wood's 'The Pocket Muse. Ideas and inspirations for writing'. Writing exercises for... writers. Well, yes. Obviously. Odd photos, images and prods. I almost always warm up with some sort of exercise before I work at writing (which is why I don't blog regularly, I know, I know - maybe I should use the blog as a warm-up - noooooooooooooooooo!); I like to flick open a book of exercises and take one at random. I liked these: "Write about a person whose reputation rests on the appearance of an inanimate object". "What is the subject you're avoiding? Write it down. That's all for now. Tomorrow maybe you'll be able to get a sentence out, and then a paragraph". I'm on a roll. I'll tell you about the book I have been using most in the last few weeks: Leslea Newman's 'Write from the Heart'. It's not about writing romances, although it could be; it's about writing from the inside out, using exercises to find the inside, then learn / hone / refine technique to draw it out. This is not a dip-in book, you work through from the beginning. Very straightforward at first glance - one may think 'another one of these?' but don't be fooled. This is pretty powerful stuff. Approach with caution. Leslea newman herself is pretty powerful stuff, and if I ever met her, I would approach her with caution too :) Apple green cashcotton sweater Second sleeve is so well underway, it may be finished by Sunday evening. There. I've said it. It's an almost free weekend... November 21st Never The Bride... ...have got their new album out, a new version of 'Surprise'. Fantastic stuff. There's a link on the right, dig in and see / listen. They are sort of rocky in an authentic way. I like them. Am planning another trip to a gig, which will hopefully involve more hedges (that's for those of you who enjoyed my earlier rendition of the last NTB gig I went to). Album is orderable from amazon.co.uk. November 20th Oh yeah baby! On a roll with the first sleeve. I could finish this today and get back into really fast production, swapping modes as I see the end in sight and a new sweater to wear. Or maybe just finish the sleeve and start the next one. People are talking about Christmas. Do I want to knit for Christmas? Um, um, um, um. My DD may appreciate a very fluffy scarf from rowan kidsilk on large needles. Maybe. DH and DS1 would really like socks, but do I have the time and/or the inclination? And come to think of it, DD's BF would like some socks in cricket team colours. Where has that sample gone???? The blog has been going now since... let me see... June 2002. That means I have been knitting again for at least that length of time, which is... 3 years and 5 months. It is noticeable that a goodly number of my fave garments are knitted. By me. Smug. In my previous knitting days, when the little ones were little, I hardly ever managed to knit for myself. That's how my life went, in waves of focus on anything but my own development. I wouldn't have it any other way in principle (the practice could have been better sorted!), but it's really nice to come home. November 19th Isn't it fascinatiing... ...what people search for which brings them to one's blog? For goodness sake, you're not looking for knitting finesse, are you? You'll get it now and again, but that's not what life is about. Is it. Not even for you. I always hope against hope that the knitting is a mere subterfuge, that searchers know that. Otherwise... depression. I don't go there, but it looms, when one sees what people are prepared to put up with when they pursue their visions. Vision? yes, you, mate! OK, that was really rude. I apologize, sort of, but not enough to remove the post. I still hope that those of you who find my blog are into more than knitting patterns, although knitting is (of course) mathematically challenging and can produce the same kind of mindless high that sudoku does. And if you do happen to be knitting, or doing anything else without vision, then move on and find some. There. Even ruder. Don't care. November 17th Oh, it's been a long, long time... What on earth have I been up to? Well, I've taught a myofascial release course, which was amazing, exhilerating, gratifying, humbling. Then I met with the 'Discorde Initiative'- all the people who were on a certain NLP training course I attended, who got their money out before I did, because they saw the rip-off and I was too bloody-minded to cut my losses without having got at least something I could work with... Yes, some may say that is typical of me, but I did get what I needed, albeit at extreme personal cost and against all the odds. How strange was it for me to carry on? Suffice it to say that every single person on the last two practitioner courses with this company withdrew their custom and their downpayment, and refrained gracefully from continuing with the Master Practitioner course. Except for me. You see, there was something I wanted from this course, something that was being demonstrated but not taught, that I hadn't seen anywhere else, and I reckoned that if I hung around for long enough, either they would teach it (they claimed they would, that's why we were drawn in in the first place) or I would just pick it up somehow. Well, it was the latter. The trainer had no intention of teaching it. As for the qualification 'Master Practitioner', the woman running the course, heading up the organisation, didn't get through all the material (we were SUCH a big class, there were only two of us, my fellow student being someone who didn't make it through a previous course with her and was getting a second chance... sounds dodgy? He now features as an 'expert' in her organisation) and I therefore did not attain Master Practitioner certification. That is a mere technicality, and I shall do some more NLP training at some stage. With a reputable company, not run by megalomaniacs. Sadly, their behaviour confirms all the prejudices people have against NLP training... In the meantime said trainer is extremely unhappy that I am using the material I was supposed to be trained in, and payed for. Weird? Barking. We've also had an exhibition of Mike's (DH) paintings at Bradness Gallery. And I bought a new computer - zoooooooooooooooooom - and a laptop for Toz Wink (DD) at Manchester Uni, which I delivered to her on Sunday. Knitting Knews Apple green cashcotton sweater has attained almost-finished-first-sleeve status. Haven't been able to do much as there are too few hours in the day, and I am finding that at the grand old age of 48 - yes! It was my birthday on the 7th - I need regular sleep almost every 24 hours. Kit news They're growing. Really quite large now. We find it difficult to heave them off our legs when they settle on the bed at 3am. Caught a grey squirrel this morning and tried ever so hard to fit it through the clat flap. Hilarious antics. Squirrel was 'ex', as in late, and a bit stiff; tail was pointing the wrong way, and they couldn't work out that they had to shove him through half way, then turn him. They did have one cat each side of flap, which I thought was rather intelligent. Despite much clawing and heaving they did not succeed, thank goodness. I like to let them try, fosters creativity. I'm becoming aware that this blog may be an acquired taste. All readers welcome. If you're feeling a bit queazy by now, best move on :) October 30th Led astray by a Yarn Shifter Back and front of apple green cashcotton sweater are finished, and I've started a sleeve. This in the face of much temptation from my latest toy, a 'Yarn Shifter'; this is a loom with which you weave on the bias from a continous strand of yarn, where warp is weft and weft is warp. Or vice versa, if you prefer. I've always loved the tactile qualities of woven fabric, and much of my knitting ends up more 'fabric-like' than 'knitted'. Weaving is, however, so complex (I'd really want to get into it in a big way...) and yarnshifting is so simple. It works particularly well with space-dyed yarn as the patterns build themselves entirely symmetrically. Selvedges are locked when the fabric comes off the loom and finishing them is a breeze with a large crochet hook. I'm really impressed, and shall upload pcis soonest. Is 2006 nearly here? I've been 'doing the diary' for next year, scheduling in my own teaching courses and courses I go on to be trained myself. At least two trips to the US, I hope, and a fair bit of training over here. I look at my 'year on a page' sheet and find that my days of teaching are outnumbered substantally by my days galavanting around and being trained myself... however, I seem to be a bit low on excitement in January and February. Need to do something about that. Anyone got any ideas? Showtime! Chexpo was a blast, and we had unbelievable fun. I can safely say, ours was the stand out of hundreds that got the party going! I voice-overed or demo'd all Sunday and all Monday and back in the clinic on Tuesday. Picked up some new clients at the same time for the clinic - one coming all the way from Wales, once she had experienced what we could do for her RSI. Sometimes I can hardly believe that although we have pushed and pushed ourselves to break through the established limits of bodywork and its effectiveness, it is worth it, and we are offering something that people will travel far and wide for. My vision of a teaching clinic in every major European capital, and a few in the UK is not a pipe dream... There were no hairdressers :( They had their own show 'Salon International' in the other exhibition hall, but were not admitted free to the Complementary Medicine show as they were last year. Oh well. I gather they had a good time, too. Not so many mullets this year, but plenty of face furniture and inch-thick makeup, and the skirts were still too tight for the leg they showed :) October 21st Did I get to Ali Pali? Well, I planned and bought the ticket and put a line through my diary on the correct day - and I still didn't get to Ali Pali for the Knitting and Stitching show. Too much going on at home, busy in the gallery, la de da de da. In the end, my brain told me it was the following week, as there could not possibly have been so little time to go... Will I get to chexpo? I'd better, as I am womaning the stand for Jing. At the same time as the Complementary Health Expo, there is an international hairdressers' symposium going on on the other side of the exhibition halls. This creases me every year... the styles! The dyes! The fashion! The strutting! The posing! The 100s of 1000s of cigarettes waved nonchalantly around the bar (coff coff coff coff coff) like sparklers on halloween! The contemptuous galnces tossed at us mere-mortals-with-minimum-cement-in-hair! We shall have so much fun. Last year it was Abba lookalikes, mullets, clothes two sizes too small, shoulders worn as earrings. What will it be this year? October 14th Knitting progress I know, I know, it's a knitting blog - and I have been knitting! First of all, the hemp shawl is devouring a second 100g of House of Hemp 'Gosh!'. I shall be at the Ali Pali next weekend to buy some more. The hemp is doing a fine job in 'process knitting' for me, where the end is never in sight and one could just go on and on until it's long enough to wear as a sari.  Here's a close-up of the lace shale stitch. Looks as good on the back as it does on the front, in a nubbly sort of way.  Then there's the sweater in Rowan's cashcotton DK. The pattern is adapted from Amanda Griffith's 1000 Sweaters, from which I took the fitted (crew-neck) body with a scoop neck and chose slightly flared set-in sleeves. The roll edge is in kid-silk haze knit double. This still has to be the classiest sweater book around. Cleo had to get in on the act, too.   I thought she was nibbling between her toes when I realised she was nibbling the point of my addis... Jamtart has been taking in the last rays of sun amongst my herbs: Wrapped around the bay tree...   and cushioned nicely just outside the back door in the pot of... what was I growing in there...?  And Phoebe settled herself in the cleared tomato trough. Yes, she still has incredibly long legs.  October 8th Kaffe Fassett? Could I be tempted? Tracy over at Woolly Warbler has made me aware of Sam at Blythe Dance who is organising a Kaffe Fassett Knitalong. I am so sorely tempted, and I know I've sworn never to do another Kaffe again - Kompletely Kaffed out, I was - but there is something so very lovely about taking 30 different yarns and making something totally original. Yes, go for it!
October 6th Two fledglings flown the nest in the space of three weeks It's happened! Toria beetled off joyfully to Manchester a couple of weeks ago and now James is moving out on Sunday. Hooowwwwlll!!!... but not really howl. He is going to have a fine time in Brighton, is moving in with a friend and three others, and is looking forward to it. We shall be so quiet back here at the homestead. |
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