Technology crazy

I am feeling so pleased with myself and my new phone. I have been taking photographs on the camera and getting to grips with how to use everything. I actually think that the colour is so much truer on the camera phone than it is on the usual camera, which I've always thought made my photos seems quite dark. This is the sock I was blogging about earlier but with the new camera phone and the colours are much more accurate.
























And I cannot believe I have got this photo from my mobile onto the computer using Bluetooth. I bought something called a Dongle, and hey presto, I've used Bluetooth.

The only thing now is that I wish I had bought a more expensive phone because I now want the 5 megapixel camera because I wouldn't need a separate camera then. The phone was really cheap in the end. The package was £79.oo which included £20 top up and I asked the lady to shave something off the price and she took £30 off, which I think was fantastic. You can take it back if you are not happy with it within 28 days and I'm actually thinking of doing that for a better camera. What do you think? Have I just become a tech freak or am I still a long way off?

Momentus decision

That title's a bit of an exaggeration, but it feels like a momentus decision to me. I am going to buy a new mobile phone today. My current one is really old. It has a green screen, the game snake, no camera and it's party trick is that it switches itself off constantly, especially when you are mid conversation. Lucy (Knitbird) kindly donated her old phone to me but I couldn't get that working so today I've decided to buy a new one and it's going to have a camera. I can't believe how excited I am about this.



I was also excited last night when I stumbled across this missing sock. It's a stashbuster sock and I finished it a couple of months ago. I've been wanting to start and finish the pair but couldn't find it anywhere to get them as identical as possible. It turned out that Ezzie had put it in the odd socks bag. Technically it is an odd sock, but I have pointed out that I could wrongly have been accused of Second Sock Syndrom because he should have investigated the sock's background before sending it to such a desperate place.





















I really love stashbuster socks. This one has the cuff, heel and toe in Lorna's Laces Sweetie and that combined in the body with Lorna's Laces Mountain Creek and some of my first KoolAid handdyed sock yarn. They make a great combination and it is a such a great way of using up those small balls of yarn you are left with at the end of a sock project. I feel it's like getting a freebie sock.

A blast from the past

I'm really getting somewhere with my promises, you know and I have made great progress with Rowan Tulip. It is over a year since I knitted anything on this cardigan. The back was completed last year and I had knitted half the left side before. But, on Sunday I ripped the left side back and started again with both the right and left side. This was demoralising because a lot of the knitting had been done, but was it was the right thing to do because the fronts will be identical and I only have to work out the badly worded pattern once.

From the photo it's hard to make out, but both sides are on the one needle. I'm going to change my percentage bar shortly to 40%. In terms of area there isn't much to do, but I keep reading a little further down the pattern and the trim looks like it might be a bugger. Woolforbrains did point this out to me once before and when I've been on Ravelry the trim is the real bugbear. But I will not be deterred. This cardigan is going and will be worn in Germany and that won't be July 2009.

I still can't make out I'm a 'starter finisher' person yet though, as I am doing a little sock knitting on the side. However, this is like a snack which doesn't ruin your appetite and is not my main meal at the moment.
























What I'm loving about Tulip at the moment is making the two fronts identical. What is driving me mad about these socks is that they are not quite identical. The yarn is Vinca from Peakwool and I like the colours and the colour changes, but because the changes are so subtle, I've slightly misjudged that colour change and so these socks are slightly out. It's driving me mad. Thankfully they are for Ezzie, who assures me this is not a problem. He just loves hand knitted socks. This is good; I couldn't possible give them to someone else as a gift.

New month, new McKnitty

I cannot believe it is June. How on this earth did that happen? I know it's all to do with the earth spinning around the sun, but seriously, have we done more rotations this year of something?

Instead of feeling all downhearted by the things I have not managed to do this year, I have been feeling surprisingly up beat. I have changed the look of the blog and I am much more pleased with it now. I saw Lucy Littleblue's percentage bars and felt inspired to include the same on my blog. It took me over an hour to figure all that out, but I didn't give up, so I'm pleased with myself about that. I took some gorgeous greyhounds for some nice walks this morning. I've been to the allotment for a little while and my best friend got engaged yesterday, so there was lots of good news around here.

And today I have not done any sock knitting. Instead I have knitted some of Tulip. I actually ripped back all of the left front I started over a year ago and instead caston the left and right fronts on the same needles, but with different balls of yarn, and feel sure that this time I am going to do it. I know people sometimes knit the sleeves at the same time and that it is psychologically uplifting. I know it's the same amount of knitting and will take the same length of time, but I will feel as if the cardigan will be more complete once those two sides are done and at the same time.

I swore this time last year that I would be wearing that cardigan in Germany. Well, July 2007 came and went and the cardigan never saw the light of day again. But, so far so good. I've made good progress and am already onto the decreasing at the front. So with my current determination I should be wearing it in Germany this July.

As much as I hated the baby cardigan thing I showed you yesterday, it was good for my soul. It taught me that I can knit projects other than socks, I can sew things (even though it wasn't great) and I meet deadlines. That little piddly cardigan has done wonders for me and my knitting.

Spinning

I have had a great holiday from work. I had my stress thinking about the pupils' grades, but I think I am alright about that now. I've done the maths and they can still get the good grades they deserve.

I have an unwritten rule that I am only allowed to spin at weekends and holidays because it takes away from your knitting time and you need to do it for longer periods to get it even. Doing half an hour here, half an hour there after work is not ideal and that's better for knitting.

I am busy knitting with the Merino Bamboo and Soya and I am so pleased with the colours. I really want to knit these in stripes so I need to learn Navajo plying. I've had a brief go with Caroline and I've looked at some videos on youtube, but it isn't happening yet. I've spun a load of the pink on its own for the cuffs, heel and toes and the rest will be in stripes of different sizes and different combinations. I think they will look great; I just need to learn the technique now.

Promises, promises

Today I had a nice afternoon with Lucy. I met Treacle, the cutest rabbit ever and we went to the markets together. Inevitably Lucy and I started discussing stash and knitting projects and we both quickly realised we had too much yarn and too many unfinished projects. We have promised to complete a number of projects each before we buy any more yarn.

My promised projects are:

Rowan's Tulip cardigan

Rowan's Twisted cardigan from the Studio

Colinette's Camomile throw


I really want to complete these projects because I have all the yarn and these are the projects taking up most room in the stash.

I am knitting far too many socks and as much as I love them, there is more to knitting and I have just had a great sense of achievement with the cardigan. I am also promising too many knitted socks to other people and this has to stop. I've got to start knitting for myself so watch this space a wardrobe may appear.

Closure

I am so pleased that I have managed to finish a project other than socks. Here is the child's cardigan and hat which I started many moons ago and which, thankfully, will still fit the recipient (just). I have hated this project passionately and the sewing up is not the best, but it is fine for a baby and I just hope it does get worn and not just sent to a charity shop like I fear.