decompressing

The knitting holiday is off to a flying start, with about five iches of the lace mohair scarf done and one finished sock sitting proudly in front of me. The scarf kept me sane on the six hour train journey, during which time I put up with a variety of crazies who were causing havoc all over the place. Thank god for knitting! NOT thank god for mohair though, which sheds more than I ever thought possible. By the end of the journey I looked like I had been attacked by a moulting yeti. Fail. On the other hand, I looked up mohair on wikipedia to find out more about it, and concluded that angora goats are pretty damn cool. After a terrible night of nightmares, I got up about half an hour ago and came to sit in the conservatory and bind off the sock. Am I the only person who loves Kitchener stitch? People seem to be forever baffled and enraged by it, but I find it wonderfully soothing. I also get a huge amount of joy from watching the toe close up before my eyes like some sort of witchcraft. It's nothing sort of amazing! On the agenda for today, then: cast on sock 2, ready for mindless stocking stitch in front of the telly later, a few more inches of the scarf and maybe finish one of the baby boots that I have been avoiding on account of the fact that I don't understand the pattern. Oh, and at some point the bff is going to teach me granny squares, which I am mega excited about, despite the fact that trying to do crochet always ends in my throwing the work, hook and all, across the room and wailing in rage. Crochet just makes too much use of the third dimension for my liking. Knitting is much flatter!

Plenty of time

This weekend marks the beginning of Knitting Holiday 2.0! I am beside myself with glee. I have yet to even start my Ravellenic Games project, and also have socks, a vest and two shawls to be working on. The train journey is five hours long. I CAN HARDLY WAIT!

Overly Ambitious

I'm back!  I apologise, dear blog, for staying away for so long.  Following the exam win (I passed; I gained letters after my name; I am extremely relieved) I suffered the biggest comedown in the history of stress.  I tried to knit but everything went wrong; my brain was just refusing to function!  Luckily I seem to be over the worst of it, and am now knitting away like mad again.


I've realised there are few weeks left until Christmas.  This is Bad News; there is no way on EARTH I will finish all these items in time.  Why did I write such a long list when I knew I wouldn't have time to do it all?  How on earth could I imagine I'd be able to achieve all of this?  Am I insane?  Does everyone do this?  I need to learn to knit more quickly.  Otherwise I am going to have to go to the shops and BUY PRESENTS FOR PEOPLE.  And oh, I can't even vocalise how much I Do Not Want to do this.  And my credit card doesn't want it too.  And all the yarn on my shelf is begging to be made into gifts!  And there are so many infinite possibilities for presents!  MUST KNIT MORE PRESENTS!

The Knitting Holiday, by the way, is fast approaching (we leave Friday morning).  I am beside myself with glee.  Five hours on the train, followed by an entire long weekend of cooking and eating, knitting, watching TV and sitting around in our pyjamas.  Then five more hours on the train back to London.  And apparently there are several craft shops nearby - and the woman who lives across the road spins her own wool!  IT'S GOING TO BE PARADISE.  I've tried to compose a list of projects to take with me and realised I have, as always, succumbed to the Overly Ambitious Knitter symdrome.  To that end, I have convinced myself that in 3 days I will finish a pair of socks, 3 mug warmers and 2 pairs of mittens (1 pair of which involves fairisle, which I think we all agree I suck at).  I KNOW the chance of this happening is smaller than the likelihood that I'll wake up green, but I still can't bear to pack any less - just in case.  Because what if I finish the socks before the end of the train journey, and the mug warmers by Sunday morning, and didn't bring the mittens with me?!  I could obviously finish the easy pair by Monday, and then I'd have no knitting for the 5 hour train journey back.  AND THAT WOULD BE THE ULTIMATE HORROR.

So even though I know that in reality I will make a mistake, spend an hour ripping it out, lose all faith and refuse to knit again until Sunday afternoon, and come home with one and a half socks, I am trying to work out how to fit 9 balls of wool and 4 sets of needles into my suitcase, and wondering if I need just one more project.  Just in case.  'Cuz, you know, I could still hit my Christmas target.  And then I won't have to battle the crowds.  And maybe I'll even have time to knit something for myself.  I've seen a really lovely lace shawl pattern that should only take a few weeks...