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....

Season's Greetings

It's 4.30pm on 25th December 2009 - the turkey has been cooked and half of it eaten for lunch, the presents were unwrapped hours ago and we're just about to sit in front of the TV with our knitting and watch some Christmas afternoon telly.

Everyone in the Melody Household wishes you a Very Merry Christmas and a Joyous and Peaceful 2009.

And Another

Christmas pressie - this time a hat for Mum which I'm really pleased with:



Knitted in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino aran in a stone shade (Mum's choice of colour). The pattern is Rambler hat from one of the Sublime aran booklets and knitted on 5mm rosewoods. The yarn is soft and squishy to use and knitted up into a lovely soft hat. I was fortunate to find the error in the pattern before the hat was completed which would have made the hat far, far too big! Watch out for the number of pattern repeats *wink*

I Get Things Finished - Oh Yes I Do

Yup, another something completed:



Although not sewn up. That might take another few weeks to do, heh heh...

And something that doesn't need sewing:

A scarf knitted in slip stitch rib on 8mm needles in Patons Symphony. A bargainous Christmas knit because I got the yarn in a Karma swap recently and it's knitted up into a lovely, soft scarf for a friend of mine.

Some of you may remember that I had a dreadful experience in the summer when my parcel of yarn was returned to the online shop because the courier service they use hadn't put a card through the door and I had to pay postage TWICE in order to receive my yarns as I asked for Royal Mail for the second delivery.

I placed an order a few weeks ago (you can see the spoils of my shopping spree in an earlier post) and was told that postage through Royal Mail was £7 odd and I paid the extra on top of the £6 courier cost. The order was a big one and weighed in at about 3.7kg kilos.

Today I've been told that to have a yarn order of just under 2kg delivered, the online shop are going to charge me a mighty £9.00 to have it delivered via Royal Mail. Er... no I don't think so...

So this is absolutely the last time I will ever use this particular online shop again regardless of their seemingly cheap yarns because the postage charge is above and beyond ridiculous. Online shops such as Modern Knitting charge a flat rate of £1.50 for your order unless the order is over £30 in value, in which case postage is FREE. I know where I'd rather spend my hard earned cash, thank you very much :evil:


At least this will help with the Stashalong Effort in 2009.

Big Little Melody's Letter to Santa

Each year the boys' school have a letterbox in which children can send letters to Santa and have them answered for a small fee (£1 per letter). It raises money for the PFA and school funds and children feel that they have written a letter to and received a reply from the Man in Red himself.

This is the letter that my wonderful 9 year old son wrote to Santa this afternoon in his best handwriting, complete with naive charm, spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, and that brought a lump to my throat:

Dear Santa,
I love Rudolph and every Christmas eve I dream about having my own baby Raindeer. I am very responsible and caring so if you want you can send me a baby raindeer go ahead. If you want to send me one send it to (our address).

Ho Ho Ho merry Christmas
Can my baby raindeer be a boy.

From (his name)

PS: If you do put it on my bed please.
PS: Love your outfit.
PS: I know you have an invisible shield So nowone can see you.
Thank you

Two Things I'll Never Have

Yorkie bars and Man-flu. Apparently they're not for girls.

Rip and Burn

I've had a new gadget for my car - a wonderful new music system thingummy. My old one was transferred from my Astra into my current car and it doesn't owe me anything, so it's been upgraded for a funky new one. It has a radio which I rarely listen to anyway, a CD player hidden behind the front piece (which irritates me beyond belief because I virtually have to dismantle the whole system ) and a USB port which is by far the most useful thing on it. Except the lovely blue lights - they're very pretty.... and the sound is amazing....

I've spent a good part of today ripping tracks from the Chez Melody CD collection and downloading them onto a data stick to stick into the USB port. Mr Melody had very kindly, but uselessly, downloaded a few complete CDs; but navigating my way through the crap using the remote proved dangerous while I was driving one-handed and trying the change gear at the same time... *ahem*

I found tracks I'd forgotten about and I've had a brill time this afternoon reliving the past via the CD collection.
Favourite today: 'Build Me Up Buttercup' The Foundations, from times past long ago in the 60s.

Strange Week

In more ways than one.

Current state: puzzled and surprised

Fact: I am a Yarn Hoarder

I've not bought any yarn for months - 3 months according to my now deleted Ticker - so I felt it was time to go on a minor shopping spree. Did I say minor? *splutters* Well I'm sure it will see me through 2009...

Patons Diploma aran in natural, Twilleys Sincere cotton DK in hessian and silver fern

Stylecraft Loop the Loop in cerise and Twilleys Freedom Wool in grey

Twilleys Spirit DK in a glorious humbug shade, RYC Extra Fine Merino DK in leaf green and Felted Tweed in Rage. Plus a couple of balls of Cygnet Superwash 4ply for good measure.

Colinette Prism in Fire, Tivoli Tweed DK in a stunning emerald shade and Jaeger Extra Fine Merino DK in a luvverly bright, clear lilac shade called Cupid

Jaeger Extra Fine Merino Chunky in Mink, All Seasons Cotton in Cookie and another bout of Jaeger but this time Roma DK in cinnamon

I have plans for all this yarn in the near future, honest! But maybe a stashalong in 2009 really is in order *wink*

The 5-Month Scarf

I finally finished something! A feather and fan scarf knitted in Tess Dawson Merino 4ply and knitted on 5mm needles. A bugger to knit as the yarn is black and I used Rosewood needles which are dark brown:



I do like it - it's long enough to loop round my neck and tuck through. I started in the last week of my PGCE and it's taken almost 5 months to knit. Thank goodness it's finished and not much sewing up to do either.

Likey!

I've Got Start-itis!


Q: What do you do when you want to start everything and your current WIPs are not encouraging your knitting mojo?

A: Cast on something new!

I trawled through some of my stash yesterday afternoon after Mr Melody had thrown half of it down from the loft (I can't get up into the loft - Melody and ladders don't mix too well unfortunately) and happened upon stash that I knew I had but had half forgotten. Does that make sense? I haven''t bothered to photograph my stash for Ravelry - I just don't have that much spare time on my hands - but have kept an Excel speadsheet for my yarns for well over ten years now. So I do know what I have but occasionally the lure of new and bargainous yarns on t'internet leads me astray. I say occasionally, who am I kidding? LOL!!

I found, okay went looking for, some vintage Patons Pioneer DK in a grey and cream mix that I thought would look great knitted up in one of the designs from the new Sirdar Eco wool booklet and last night I cast on and almost knitted the rib. I was sidetracked somewhat as I was watching Bill Bailey on Sky and kept miscounting my stitches cos I was laughing so much!

But I digress... I 'found' so much yarn that I wanted to cast on projects with that now I have a severe case of start-itis. I want to cast on for a couple of sweaters for the Melody boys, a few scarves with yarn that I've been sent in swaps, the one button cardigan in Sirdar's Relaxed Living booklet with an array of arans, the cabled slipover top from the new Sirdar Tweedie booklet and a feather and fan cardigan using Silky Look.

Do I have enough needles to cast on for everything at once?

A Sad Morning

I had to take the decision to have our wonderful fourteen year old Golden Reteiver to the vet this morning to be put to sleep; it's a decision that Mr Melody and I have been putting off for several weeks because we thought that maybe, just maybe, Max would improve. Max has had hip dysplasia since puppyhood and had OCD in his elbows as a pup which left him with decreased mobility in all four of his legs. He has been unable to stand to eat his breakfast this week and as I helped him out into the garden this morning, holding his back legs whilst he wheelbarrowed out on his front paws, I realised that his quality of life had gone and wasn't going to return. Unable to get up from lying down, and unable to stand for any length of time, the decision was made. Luckily the vet agreed that we had made the right decision and Max was put to sleep.

I shall miss that wonderful dog with the handsome head and the soft, floppy ears. I shall miss him a lot.

Oh Yes, We Have No Piccies

I seem to have a distinct lack of piccies on my blog don't I?? Off to rectify immediately.....

I Got a New Phone!

Just as well really because my old one has a habit of switching itself off, switching itself back on again and randomly dialling numbers from my phone book.... and can be somewhat embarrassing at times! There have been occasions when friends have phoned and asked what I wanted as I've left a message on their voicemail - completely unintententionally - and the message has usually been a lot of crackling, rustling and laughter as my phone has been merrily dialling away numbers on the phonelist whilst tucked away in my bag.

I literally walked into the Carphone Warehouse and announced I needed a new phone. I had just come out of Starbucks after having lunch with a friend and decided that I should buy a phone. I like spontaneous shopping and hate a planned purchase, so I must have been the easiest sale of the day yesterday. The chappie behind the counter was amused that I was so easily pleased; but then he hasn't had to contend with my crappy phone for months has he?

So if I send you a message over the weekend it will be because I'm so deliriously happy with my new Nokia. If I send a completely inaudible, crackly, rustling voicemail mesage, it's not me, it's my old phone dialling you at random. Right?

New Socks

Yay!! A new pair of socks for Melody!



A pair of plain vanilla, 60stitch, UK size 3, stocking stitch socks in Regia Cotton Surf colour, shade 5414. Knitted with Knitpicks wooden DPNs (the brightly painted ones). They were quite tricky to use on the cotton yarn which sort of stuck to the needles as it was knitted so they weren't my most favourite pair to knit.

Another pair done!