Thursday 26 July 2007

School holidays are great!

For two weeks in July and four weeks in August I know why I am a teacher. School holidays are fantastic, and even though I love my job loads, I love the holidays more. I am so lucky to have these regular gaps to please myself and pursue my hobbies. Ezzie keeps joking that this is my busy period, and in terms of my hobbies it is. There are berries to pick at the allotment, which then need turning into jam. Shona's with us and after Playscheme we are busy (at the moment we're waiting for two cakes to bake). I am catching up on my reading and have been to the gym three times this week. Tomorrow I have a Spanish lesson and of course there is lots of knitting to do.

I hope to see Rachael on Monday and give her the finished socks. They are the traditional Opal pattern, but I never tire of faux fair isle and I've done a good job at making them identical. They're especially not bad when you consider they were knitted predominantly on the German Autobahn and finished on the M1.














The Brioche throw is coming on nicely and is modelled beautifully by Shona. A repetition more and I think it will be done apart from weaving in the ends and adding some tassles. Last night there was another get-together of the Sheffield Forum at the Wool Baa and Jill has finished her first Brioche throw and it is beautiful. She has now started a second one, but only in three colours and this is even more beautiful, a combination of pinks and browns. I bought the remainder of the Giotto in Gaugin which will be my next throw.



















I ordered some KoolAid which came swiftly through the post. I then bought some from Jill last night, which was a lot cheaper and she had all the colours I had bought over the internet. I think I have sufficiently covered the spectrum. I now need to purchase some plain Opal sock yarn and get experimenting. This is surely a slippery slope because dyeing your own wool is then only a step away from spinning your own yarn. They look so adorable put out like this and I have a perverse desire to make some drinks and taste the stuff, even though I know it is full of rubbish and that anything which can permanently dye yarn is surely no good thing to have in your body. It must be the devil in me.















Yesterday at the Sheffield Forum meeting I started my first Jaywalker sock with the posh Anne Schaeffer yarn. This yarn is superior sock yarn and you notice the difference when you are knitting with it. The trouble is, the Jaywalker pattern has a tighter tension than plain sock knitting. I have kept to my traditional 60 stitches, but put next to another sock with the same number of stitches, it is noticeably thinner. I am worried about this because I want to be the recipient of these socks and I'm not sure I'll be able to wear them. I could rip them back, but this is something I am loathed to do, especially as it is particularly neat. I have a feeling these socks may end up with my mother who has exceptionally thin legs and ankles (she claims to have Royal blood!) She had a special birthday on Monday, so I could perhaps part with them on those grounds. The colours are beautiful because although there is a variety of colour, they compliment one another nicely.














The Anne Schaeffer yarn's subtlety and sophistication is the exact opposite of another recent yarn purchase. I love the vibrancy and luridness of this Jitterbug yarn in Popsicle.














I think that just about makes the blog up to date. Before I finish, good luck to Ezzie in the allotment competition. The judge came around today and I think he was pleased with our allotment. Judging continues tomorrow. Whichever way, Ezzie is a winner because he has made the allotment fantastic in a very short time. Also, Shona would like to post this message to her mum:
Goodness! Is that the time? The cakes should be ready now.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I really don't know how you fit so much in to each day and still find time to blog! The Brioche looks fabulous - I just want to keep on knitting them.

Caroline M said...

Those posh socks have grown a lot since yesterday.

My concern on my allotment is keeping away from the 28 day naughty letter - the weeds are unbelievable and it never stops raining for long enough for me to tackle them.

You should have said about the undyed sock yarn, I have (ahem) "some".