Wow....

...I'm tired. I've obviously been working hard again!

At Last!

I can show you the dishcloths I knitted for the dishcloth swap:



both knitted from the Wedding Washcloth pattern by Purl Bees. I knitted one in moss stitch in Wendy Supreme Cotton DK in Toasted Almond and the paler, stocking stitch one in cream Novita Tennessee cotton. Both are fabulous cottons for washcloths and/or dishcloths and I recommend them both.

And 'At Last!' we bought a rather large item yesterday. I'll tell you more about it next weekend *wink*

Cotton On to Good Stuff

Well as you know I popped into Cucumberpatch/K2tog last weekend... and this is what I came home with:



A garment's worth of each shade. I'm really happy with this purchase as I've been wanting the Leaf, Thistle and Poppy shades for ages. I also wanted six balls of a shade called Toasted Almond but there wasn't enough stock in the shop unfortunately and so I decided to buy a garment's worth of Twilleys Supreme Cotton DK, which is a lovely organic cotton with a more matte appearance. Unfortunately it's twice the price per 100g :-(

I was lucky in that I found the Toasted Almond online though, so bought it as I know I'll regret it if I don't!



It's a slightly mauvey,beigey colour in real life and difficult to describe. It will, however, knit up beautifully into a one colour version of Valentina from the new Rowan book The Lenpur Linen Collection that I can't wait to start. I want to finish Blaze first though!

The Topic of Conversation

I popped into K2Tog in Wolstanton yesterday afternoon as I was up in Stoke-on-Trent visiting my parents for the day; I always try to pop into K2Tog when I'm there as it's usually the only physical yarn shop I get to visit. I was wearing my February Lady Sweater over a white top and with my jeans and I was slightly embarassed to find that everyone, including the ladies who worked in the shop, were interested in the pattern, yarn and how the garment was made :-?

I did let them in on the secret though, explaining how the garment is knitted top down and how the sleeve stitches are held on waste yarn before completing them on DPNs. I think there may be a few more FLSs in circulation after my visit! lol!

My dad looked ill though, he has his follow up visit at the hospital on Wednesday...

On to New Things

Spring is just around the corner, the evenings are getting lighter each day and the weather is warming up and so it seems the right time of year to look forward to the warmer summer months and to cast on for projects new.

Henrietta was completed but the result isn't good; the cardie is far too big and the neckline far, far too low and so it will be frogged and the remaining yarn used to knit another, more suitable cardie. It looks fine in the pic, but looks horrendous when it's on!



Never mind, we live and learn! As one door slams in your face another one is always guaranteed to swing open and with this in mind I cast on the stitches for a new Seaton cardigan in Spring Green, Zettl Colorado cotton:



I wore my Seaton cardie a lot last year and it's a design that I know fits well. I'm knitting it in one shade again like the previous Seaton and so far I like the way it's coming out.

"Socks? Socks?" I hear you cry. Yes, I have a pair on the needles as I need to replace my socks from this year. I seem to have worn my woolly socks loads this year and sadly had to chuck my pink Kim socks into the recycling bin after they developed holes in the toes. So here are the latest socks in tanny, rusty Opal Prisma that I think I got in swap of some description from Murdo. They will always remind me of her orange muppety fur anyway!

Dishcloths A-Go-Go

I've just set up the Dishcloth or Washcloth Swap 2009 on Swap-Bot for all the forum members - get signing up!

More Good Karma

I received some fabulous karmic swaps this morning and I am still knocked out by people's generosity and kind hearts:

I received some fabulous Spring cotton mix sock yarn and some luvly Spring flavoured Regia sock yarn through the Neverending Sock Yarn Karma Swap, along with some dark choccie and some fabulous novelty buttons which I didn't expect and were therefore doubly fab!

And a lovely parcel arrived from Croatia.... in the packet, well packed with bubble wrap and in their own little personalised packet, were two sets of the most gorgeous stitch markers that have been lovingly hand-made and posted to ME! Again, in the packet was another unexpected surprise of some wonderfully aromatic teabags that I will save for when the house is quiet and I have half an hours' knitting time scheduled.

On a less positive note, there has been something playing on my mind of late that, I have to say, disappoints me somewhat. I cannot for the life of me understand why certain people continue to judge other people and their actions by their own low standards. Enough said. Karma will prevail I have no doubt of that.

A Fun Fur, Fun Filled Scarf

Those who know me well will know that I don't have a lot of fun fur in my stash - I received this in a Karma swap recently and knitted two balls of it up into a soft and silky scarf for my mum:



I like it so much that I'll probably knit one for myself and STILL have yarn left over! lol! So thank you, Kath in Manchester for this swap yarn :-)

I used two 50g balls of Knitting Craft Knitting Yarn (exactly what it says on the label) on 6.5mm Brittany Birch needles and knitted until I only had enough yarn to cast off. It's not a hugely long scarf but I don't want my mother tripping over it, now do I? *smiles to self*

Deb is

currently obsessed with Facebook. Normal service will be resumed shortly.

Livin' La Vida Loca

I've got far too much time on my hands!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MmwzEhwScug

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