Sparks Fly

off the sewing up needles and I've sewn up (don't faint Dreamcatcher and FatCat!! lol!!):



or rather darned the ends in of my February Lady Sweater. Knitted in Wendy Aran with Wool in a lovely, deep red shade called Venetian Red and fastened with horn buttons from my button stash. Took bang on 400g of yarn - I only had about 30cm left after the final cast off! Eeeep!

AND....



Ta Da!! The Sirdar hoodie from Simple Easy Knits booklet, design F. Adapted for the knitting machine and knitted really quickly. The downside being that it's taken .... err..... months to sew up... proving that you can't rush a good thing!

Three of 24

Another hat no less:



And look what Jim brought for me this morning :))

Boring bits you need to know: knitted in Loweth Windermere aran that I 'found' whilst stash-diving for something else (heh heh!!) and knitted on 5mm Pony Rosewood needles. Pattern is Design H from Hayfield Favourite Aran Knits which Jim brought for me the other day if you remember. There are some stunning aran designs in this booklet and well worth getting your own Jim to deliver it for you ;)

Off to make a large coffee and browse Rowan 45...

The One Where Pepsi Adopts Sock Yarn

Our two little kittens are fast becoming adult cats. They might be sisters but they are so different in temperament; Cocoa is becoming quite chubby and really can't be bothered to do much if it involves jumping or running and she loves anything that resembles an elastic band. She has been known to steal elastic bands from shelves and steal those rubber charity wristband thingies to snuggle up to.

Pepsi on the other hand is far more active and can already jump our six foot fence from the garden (whereas Cocoa has rather cunningly dug herself an escape tunnel underneath the fence) and likes anything that makes a crinkly sound. Over Christmas she was spotted on more than one occasion making off with a crinkly-paper-wrapped sweetie in her mouth from the box of Quality Street on the coffee table and has taken rather a shine to one of Little Melody's soft toys, a little piglet called Pigsley.

Just look what I caught Miss Pepsi making off with this morning, holding it in her mouth like a kitten:

The leftover yarn from The Biker Beanie Hat which I'd finished just a few hours earlier and put everything on the desk ready to take a photo of:

Maybe Pigsley will be let off the hook now?

I 'Heart' Jim the Postman

Just look what he brought for me today!

Yes, I really do love Jim the Postman.

As I Promised

I went off to take photos of my current projects and here they are:

A hat and fingeless mitts set for my friend's Christmas present. Mitts completed between Christmas and New Year but the hat is the first one of my 24 in 2009. Yay me!! The hat does need a ribbon threaded through the eyelet holes to finish it off though so I've got to get that :?

Mr Melody liked the hat for my friend so much that he wanted one for himself, but a bloke's version. Here's a biker beanie hat that is supposed to be worn under a cycling helmet. He wants to wear it under his safety helmet on site and I don't see the difference. So I cast on!

Almost finished, just a sleeve to go. The ubiquitous February Lady Sweater in Wendy aran.

And the rest! My cap sleeved, one button cardie in grey Pioneer DK, the start of Henrietta's second sleeve and the yarn and needles for Blaze. Half of Blaze is done but is currently in hibernation.

That completes the round-up of current WIPs Chez Melody. I'd like to finish Mr M's biker Beanie first as it's so cold at the moment. He hasn't been on site yet this New Year but he'll want it when he does! Swiftly followed by the FLS which I want to wear. Better get crackin' then eh?

Is it Really Two Weeks Since Christmas?

I guess it is! I hope you all had a Happy Chrsitmas and that 2009 is getting off to a good start.

2009 is supposed to be the Year of the Stashalong for me and I've devised a method to help me to control those yarn buying urges. I have printed off twelve yarn buying 'vouchers' and put them into my Yarn Bank. If I want to buy yarn I have to use one of the vouchers per 'lot', so one voucher per jumperful, scarf-ful, or whatever. Hopefully this will give me the flexibility of buying yarn without feeling guilty but having a control over what I buy. we can only try it and see!!

The new year has started with me at home and thinking about what I'd like to do in the future. Many of you know that I passed my PGCE in the summer and I started a teaching job in the local area. Sadly this didn't quite work out the way I'd planned and I ended up working silly hours and this began to take its toll on both me and my wonderful family. I decided that something had to change and so I resigned at the end of November. So - I'm looking for a new job!!

In the meantime though I have lots of knitting to catch up on!! I'm going off to take a photo of my WIPs right now so that we can judge progress throughout the year!! Back in a tick....