princessdeia

For the past month the buzz on ravelry has been all about the Ravelympics… When, it was announced on the socktopus board that they were putting together a team, I had to join in, I have decided to compete in two events, the Shawl Relay and Sock Put.

So this afternoon, whilst the thousands of athletes walked into the Birds Nest, I began to knit, casting on one sock and the shawl - although I have to say casting on 5 stitches for the Forest Canopy Shawl was pretty easy.

I seemed to have missed the boat a little with this element for Project Spectrum, I did manage to cast on some grey and white socks over a month ago… I started off amazing well knitting the leg whilst out with the Westenders Knitters. However since then SSS has set in.

I took this photo a few weeks ago but never got around to posting it… Originally, this plant was meant to be for the window sill but slowly it has grown and now it is taking over our flat roof. The flowers are now turning into wonderful little chills - they are still very small but some are turning red.

Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Solid in Chocolate
Pattern: Headband.
Needles: 3mm.
Notes: I lovely quick knit - I cast it in on the morning and was wearing it by the afternoon… as an after thought I blocked it over night and it completely opened up the lace, completely altering the look.

Modifications: I used smaller needles and finer yarn than suggested - to compensate for this I repeated the pattern for 14 inches.

There seems to be a disease sweeping across Ravelry… it has become viral… knitters are admitting they follow the crowd! I am ashamed to admit of the top ten most popular projects on Ravelry I have made four of them (Clapotis is blocking as I type), I am planning on making another four… I guess this makes me a knitting follower.

Of course my next project had to be something viral - this beautiful pattern is just outside the top 20 (but I think it is slowly going to move up)… Introducing The Swallowtail Shawl!

I am following Minty from Pepperknit modifications to increase the size of the shawl… so far I have completed 19 repeats of the budding lace chart and I think I add another 5 more repeats to make it even larger!

If you’d like to do this ‘meme’ yourself, here’s how:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your Flickr name. 

I have just realised that last weekend marked my one year anniversary on Ravelry - I was a little shocked it had only been a year to be honest - it seems like so much longer!

I thought I would list some of the reasons I love Ravelry…

1. I have finally managed to organise my stash, if I want to make some socks I can log on the Ravelry and look at all my sock yarn rather than have to hunt around the boxes - plus I can then see if someone else has used this yarn for a project and what it looks like knitted up.
2. I have discovered new patterns - yes we all see the new Knitty patterns when they go online, but would I have discovered Le Slouch or the February Lady Sweater without it.
3. Friends, the iKnit, Socktopod and Westenders groups make it so much easier to get out and knit with others.
4. De-stashing, I have no idea how I would have found the use of all my yarn if it wasn’t for ravelry - I am assuming it would have involved hours of googling!
5. Killing time reading the forums when I should be working (admit it you all do it).

Without a doubt I have become an organised knitter - now if only I would find a Ravelry for my paperwork

My sister comment last night that my Clapotis looks like a giant Shreddie (which we all know are knitted by nanas), as I still haven’t worked out how to say Clapotis this is now the Shreddie’s Shawl!

I am not sure why is has taken me so long to get around to knitting this pattern, about 95% of it is basic stocking stitch so it can be knitted whilst watching T.V. From what I have read it is easy to knit one in a week or less (of course you need to have some free time), and you don’t have to worry about gauge. I am already planning my second Mini-Clap!

This little beauty appeared on the plant last week - it has now been joined by 8 little siblings

As Saturday was Worldwide Knitting in Public Day, the guys at iKnit organised a little knitting themed treasure hunt in London, taking in some of the many venues from the Knitting nights. Mel, Sally, Justine and I formed Team 4-Ply. As well as the 61 questions we had to answer we were also given several tasks including buying souvenirs beginning with the letters K-N-I-T, taking photos of London Landmarks beginning with P-U-R-L. Of course the obvious London Landmark beginning with a U, is the Underground!

 Another task was to try to take a photo of you knitting, next to a policemen, Pearly Knit or Queen, Street Performer of a Famous Person… whilst we enjoyed a cheeky half pint in the Royal Festival Hall, some fellow treasure hunters stopped for a chat, and they recognised Miss Flip Knit’s voices from their podcasts, so of course we decided they were our stars!  

 The whole way around the course we carried out lovely yellow balloon (you got an extra 2 points for returning your balloon) and knitted a skinny scarf… upon returning to the store our balloon was sabotaged (we will get our revenue next year!) However our scarf was the second longest and overall we won (I think I am still in shock about this).

For more photos check out the iKnit Pool on Flickr

Well I have finally sorted out my photos! Although we had been to Boston before, this was the first time in the Summer and that can only mean one thing - Baseball! Most the time you see Jason he is wearing a Red Sox Cap, so as a belated anniversary present I brought him tickets to see the Red Sox play at Fenway Park.

Fenway Park

The Bull & Finch Pub AKA Cheers

Wally the Green Monster!

Time Square - we stayed just around the corner - Thank you Priceline!

Seeing as we were in New York the same weekend the Sex in the City movie opened it made sense to go on the Location Tour and see the film! As you can image the tour was a girly fest, a trip to a sex store, cupcakes and cosmo’s!

The Stoop from Sex and the City

Cosmo’s on the Sex in the City Tour!

I am planning on getting around to posting about my adventure in America, however I have been kept away from the P.C. So far since I have been back I have been to Kent, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, and then back to Buckinghamshire.

What little time I have had to myself I have been working on my Clapotis (This is my current Viral Knitting Project). I can’t believe it has taken me so long to knit this pattern… Am I the last knitter on earth to make this shawl?

 

1. Stitch Markers, 2. Blue Heron Rayon,
3. Malabrigo Lace, 4. Wildfoote Sock Yarn

Well I am back, and look at the goodies I brought home with me… Stitch Markers, a cute sheep and lobster (to remind me of our time in Cape Cod), Rayon and Malabrigo to make shawls and some sock yarn to make Jason another pair of socks.

1. Superwash Merino Sock - Semi-Solid, 2. Socks that Rock - Mediumweight, 3. Snarky Design Sock,
4. Margo, 5. MadelineTosh Sock, 6. Wexford Merino Silk,
7. 900 MHz Merino, 8. S.A.S.S.Y, 9. Velocity by sKnitches

When I returned home as well as getting some sad news, I was greeted by a parcel containing a Dream Stash and I have to say it really is a Dream Stash - my favourite yarn changes everytime I look at them… I now I have to find some patterns to do this yarn justice.

Yarn: Knitwitches Sock Yarn in Lavender Sunset.
Pattern: Pomatomus from Knitty.
Needles: 2.75mm.
Notes: With my first pair of Pomatomus socks I suffered from SSS, even though I loved the pattern, this time around they knitted up amazingly well.

Published with wonder of Wordpress, whilst I am away.