Shh! Don't startle the UFOs...

...as I am stalking them with serious intent.

The reason behind my UFO busting is that I was not able to work on the Puss in Boots wrap template either last or this weekend - so I am still not at the point where I can cast it on.




It's very frustrating and lack of progress has threatened to leave me with nothing to work on during my commutes. As a result, I have been stalking old projects, trying to clear the decks a bit:

Striped Top: it might not be not striped but it is now knitted, blocked and dry, ready for me to sew a shoulder together and pick up the stitches to do the neckband. Sadly, it is also sizing up to be the most boring baby jumper known to humankind. I think that it needs a duplicate stitch motif of some description to cheer it up? I bought teddy bear buttons for it at K&S last weekend but actually, I don't like them - it was the desparate, random button buying act, of a desparate to have buttons, to finish a jumper woman. Yes, me.

Castle Couture Hat: Progress was bought to a swift halt on the hat because every time I tried to knit parts of its optional knitted accessory, little golden dog turds squeezed themselves off the ends of my needles. Foul. In the end, I gave up and the project hibernated over the summer. I am having another go as the weather is cooler and people might be interested in knocking themselves up a warm hat? It's okay - I know. My golden motifs do not look great but compared with the first batch I experimented with - they are improving slowly! I'll get them right in the end.

Ribbed Shrug: I tried to unpick across to my ribbing error but it all started to look hideous and I was afraid that I was going to make one mistake look several times worse. So I have quietly picked the stitches back up, woven in the ends and I am going to stitch up the sleeves so that I can pick up stitches for the centre part of the shrug. If the ribbing error stands out in an obvious way when the shrug is finished (I am hoping that it will end up under my arm), then I will try Kelli's suggestion of snipping and darning. Or maybe trying darning a duplicate stitch over the top of the error?

Otherwise, what's been going on this weekend?

1) Well, I picked up a copy of The Happy Hooker - I went through all of the 'learn how to crochet books' at Borders (I have a stitch reference/pattern book at home but I wasn't feeling inspired by either of them) and this book seemed to stand out as having beginner things to try that looked wearable and achievable in the-less-than-great-learning-environment-of-an-aircraft-cabin (in the event that my Denise interchangeable needle ends are confiscated by security).

2) I picked up some skeins/balls of these two yarns: Rowan Cocoon and Mirasol Sulka (which is John Lewis's new fairtrade type yarn - I think).

The colours are as requested by my gift recipients but I cannot say much more until the presents are handed over, as they read my blog!

So if I am a bit quiet in the coming days, it is just because I am working on the wrap template, UFO busting and sneaking out two small offline presents.

PS - I have had a few questions from people asking me what I plan to do with the Habu Textiles 100% Linen Paper that I bought last weekend.

Please see left for a small clue! (It is not socks.)

Sigh...now what is it about the colour aubergine, eggplant or purple (collective wisdom of team blokes) that makes it so bloomin' appealing to me, right now?! I cannot help it - I just love it!

22/10 Edit: Yikes! I think that I have just had an out of body experience - I just stopped by using my work computer (as I was having pagination problems with my post last night at home) and discovered that I have, in fact, posted a photo of myself with a skein of yarn balanced on my head.

What on earth am I doing?! This blogging thing - it's got to stop!

Knit & Stitch Show 2007

In keeping with the Champagne Bar theme, 'Knit at the Movies', here are my highs and lows from this year's Show entitled, 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'!

[cue Spaghetti Western music]

The Good

Put very simply:

• a venue full of like minded people enjoying themselves
  


• Robynn, Alice (with Emms) and all those other hardworking suppliers strutting their capable stuff and showing their wares
  
  
• UK Handknitting, SnB London and Meantime Knitters teaching people how to knit
  


• very cool 'Knit at the Movies' posters in the Champagne Bar
  


• Mel handing in 32 Innocent Smoothie hats to Rowan (go Mel!) compared with the 2 hats that I handed in...(um ok, I knit slower but every little helps, right?)
  
  
• inspirational work by established makers and graduates.

Judging by how tired I was at work today, it was hard work just being a Knit & Stitch show consumer - so goodness knows how Robynn and Alice must feel today! I was glad that I had a two day ticket in some respects. Sunday, was more chilled - I browsed the exhibitions and attended the comedy show! I didn't do any workshops - there just didn't seem to be time.

The Bad (or the indifferent?)

I understand that it is discounted but somehow this plastic wrapped, heaped presentation of last season's colours and/or discontinued yarn did not inspire me to throw myself apon it in product acquisition buying frenzy.

If you think that I am being a yarn snob, then it is important that you know that Mel was not tempted either and she happens to be an eagle eyed spotter of quality bargains.

So there!

This photo (almost) makes two points:

1) This is one of the very few items that stated, 'Do Not Touch' without stating, 'Do Not Photograph' as well. This is why I have no exhibit photos for you to see.

Quiet grump.

I understand why it is necessary but as a person with a strong kinesthetic learning style, it is very frustrating not to touch things - particularly items that are being held up as shining examples of work in an exhibition!

2) Okay, now people might glue glitter to their stitching but there was a fair amount of non knit or stitch items on offer at the show. I guess that these vendors are hoping that, because I knit, I might:

• make cards (no)


• buy printed polyester scarves or acrylic pashminas (no)


• purchase a rubber or fabric raincoat (no)


• hand over money for a handbag that my knitting will not fit in (no).

Or perhaps they hope that, for fun (you know, just once in a while) I like to strip down to my underwear, daub myself with washable glue, scoop large quantities of glitter out of an oversized champagne glass and sprinkle it lavishly over my person before I settle down in front of the telly to watch an episode of Heroes?!

Um, no - sorry to disappoint.

It would be easier if these vendors were all grouped together, so you could choose to visit them (or not). Alas no, they were scattered across the venue, so you would turn a corner and find yourself confronted by a scarily perma-tanned looking vision assuring the gathered crowd that they had better hurry and buy their manmade fibre wares, before they all sold out. Frightening.

The Ugly (or things with the 'Why?!' factor)

Left: Okay, just because you can knit something, doesn't necessarily mean that you should! Besides, aren't children this pattern size a bit young to get the message that anyone can be Father Christmas as long as they wear the right outfit?

Right: I dare not post another word for fear of offending anyone with a passion for cross stitching cartoon characters! If you don't, then I rest my case.

Yarn Immunity
Otherwise, Sunday passed completely without incident. I escorted my mother around the show, I am proud to say that I calmly ignored the call of all yarn...

...what do you mean that you can see another photograph of yarn?! Rubbish! You are seeing things. I absolutely deny the acquisition of this Habu Textiles 100% linen paper and cotton kasuri.

It's a figment of your imagination. My mother bought some Habu Textiles yarn. I simply consulted...

...I walked away yarn free.

Honest. I certainly didn't 'come to' in the car park, to find a credit card receipt tightly gripped in one hand and a carrier containing this in the other. Gulp.

Um...is there a Compulsive Yarn Acquisition, Self Help group on Ravelry yet?!

A bit like Christmas come early...!

I will post about the Knit and Stitch Show at Alexandra Palace properly after the end of this weekend - in the meantime, the picture left shows Thursday's haul:

- 2 skeins of Fyberspates Wool-Silk in Moss (considered gift buy)

- 3 skeins of KnitWitches Laceweight 4 Ply Silk (what it says on the label) in Bright Raspberry (impulse buy).

Other than that, I was strict on the yarn front as I have an overflowing stash and another acquisition opportunity at the end of the month. Oh yes.

- replacement KnowKnits pouch

- 4mm extremely posh and lovely wooden crochet hook so that I can teach myself to crochet something basic

- my first EZ book so that I can viral knit a BSJ in 2008 (and in the process discover why EZ has such an ardent, devoted following)

- Subscription to Knit.1 - it had to be done after the amusement and discussion generated by the current issue, in terms of its styling and patterns. To summarise with a simple example: just picture any of the Back to the Future accessories on a real life person...like The Tron Guy for example?! (No disrespect intended here at all - it is just where the fashion styling / film costume worlds collide with us mere mortals of more usual proportions. Like me.)

Today has felt a bit like Christmas, looking over my presents, piling them up to photograph to show you. That said, while K&S 2007 only happens once a year in London, it is not quite over for me as I am taking my mother to the show later today.

Thursday was mainly about spending a day with Mel, shopping, greeting friends and seeing what was new and today I am hoping to spend a bit of time looking around the exhibition spaces, as that is what will interest my mother (I think).

I did learn one thing from Thursday's trip - the catering at AP is not the best in the world. So today, I bought a picnic - just on the basis that it cannot be good for your soul to eat unpleasant food when surrounded by mountains of creativity and beautiful things?!

Onwards Upwards - Ribbed Shrug - Mojo

Definitively. This is my favourite colour - I have no idea why, it just is - Aubergine. Eggplant. Collective Wisdom of Team Blokes: Purple.

I just posted a description over at Ravelry that stated:

"If I pop my clogs unexpectedly, I would like it hereby recorded that I would like to be laid to rest on a thick bed of this yarn, in this colour.

Frankly, I do not give a damn whether this knit turns out the way that it should or not...

...I am going to wear this shrug, until they peel the very last snuggly shreds of its worn out, pilled yarn off me.

By force."

It is just how it is. Trust me - this yarn is soft and nice to work with. You would make the same promises - I am sure of it.

Actually, I have made a bit of a mistake in my knit and I am working out in my head how to remedy it - I could ignore it and put up with the comments that tell me that I was slack in my making - just get on, get it finished and wear it until it/I expire.

Please note that correcting the fault would involve cutting, unravelling rib, dropping a stitch to point of error, making good and then grafting back together with kitchener stitch.

Help! The chances of me completing this successfully alone - zero! Yet, I soooo want to have a go at the technique - such a quandry? I just know that I will stuff it up and ruin an otherwise, perfectly acceptable knit.

It is knitted, cuff to cuff. I 'just' need to sew up the arms, pick up stitches, then work the shrug shawl rib. Okay - so...carry on and live with the rib error?

Or risk stuffing up the complete knit in order to achieve 'perfection'?!

Despair! Doubt! Celebrate! (Finished Object)

At 3.15am on Sunday morning, I despaired. Another weekend where I had bitten off more than could chew - I had promised reports of finished objects this weekend and all I could see was that I was not going to deliver (again)!

Y'know, I have a thought process (I ignore it a lot to my personal detriment) that tells me, 'If anything you are doing hurts (I am thinking of my sport here) or takes you longer than it should, well - then you are doing it wrong'.

Between 17:30-20:45 and 11:30-3:15am on Saturday evening and Sunday morning I persevered, bullishly, against my better judgement and to my complete detriment. Eventually, I gave up and went to bed, discouraged - my lace shape tee seams were lumpy and grim.


Even now, I know that I should take half of them out. At that point, I thought that the only answer was for someone to have a bright knitting business idea, along the lines of the roadside placards one reads on leaving an IKEA car park:

‘No Alan key? Don’t panic, let us make your furniture for you!’
‘No sewing up skills?! Don’t panic, inept knitter, let us solve this for you!’

I hoped, I slept, I woke up but no elves had visited during the night and no (much needed) knitting support businesses had set up to take the sewing up problem off my hands.

So I got up, dressed (reflecting grudgingly, that it was lucky that I do not depend on my making skills to clothe myself). I quietly went back to a reference book. It pointed out quite clearly where I had gone wrong. Hmm. I made coffee. I quietly set to with the technique it suggested. It worked too, damnit.

Don't you just hate it when the answer is under your nose if only you could be bothered to read it? (I am not a reflective learner.) The second half of the top was sewn up in a scant 2 hours (including the addition of a crochet edging I had no idea how to attempt beforehand).

Here are the results demurely pictured on Megan:

Knitting Lingerie Style, Lace Shaped Tee
Size 38" with lengthened arms as it is now Autumn
Knit Duration?
End of August 2007 - Start of October 2007
Where Knitted?
In public - on the train and at knitting groups
Yarn Used
7-8 Balls of Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere


I enjoyed a quick moment of pride. I looked at the top with more critical eyes.

You know, even setting my seam mishaps aside, I am not sure that this top is really me (after all that work too).

So I put it on. I went around to my best friend's house, for her to take a few photos and give me her opinion.

So here, throwing all dignity to the wind, is the top - in action and on me!

We retired indoors for a gossip. My best friend told me that she thought my top is 'nice' but then confessed that she is not certain it is me - she thinks that it is a bit big. I worry that it is a bit short - we sat on her sofa and we doubted together.

The conclusion is that I might wince and put it in the machine on a hot wash, in the hope that it shrinks. It is 95% cotton and 10% cashmere - will that survive a hot wash?

So that is where I am on top acceptance so far: you have seen the evidence, what do you think?!

Mind you, that said, tea drunk, I came home, I looked at my top on Megan again and I quite deliberately cracked open a bottle of prosecco* to celebrate completing it.

Well…it is not everyday that you meet two of your three key 2007 knitting objectives, is it?! This top, however badly it fits or 'is not' me:

- is a completed garment for me (not achieved that before); and

- is a lace design (technique learnt this year and now applied to a full scale project. Okay, technically, the baby ballerina wrap ticked this box but this is lacy all over).

I have another objective but I do not want to jinx it as I am on track to crack it before December!

* Mel, I did not skip knitting last night just because I wanted to put a dent in a bottle of prosecco - although I did - in my defence, I also processed 3 machine loads of laundry and did some other admin too!

Puss in Boots - Daylight Bead Auditions

I have finally managed to post the Daylight Bead Auditions for my wrap over at my Puss in Boots project blog. I have also uploaded some of the photos that I took into Flickr, if you are interested.

My project post centres around the fact that I have a quandry to resolve over which beads to use. I would be interested to know what you think.

So it would be very cool if you could pop over, take a look and let me know what you think via a comment.

Crikey, a proper knitting post. Well I never!

Time to make another pot of coffee and unblock my progress on the wrap template itself. You know what? I think that I am going to make a toile.

Is that even the correct word?!

Being There – The Trip – Part Two

No matter how unwell I feel, there are certain things that are guaranteed to make me feel better - this is one of them:

The Sea (view from hotel window)

I love water and the sea: squidging my toes in sand, paddling, jumping over or running away from waves, exploring rock pools, building sandcastles and skimming stones. I arrived, feeling ill, and even this restricted view of the sea was enough to improve how I felt!

Now although I did not find an opportunity to do the majority of things I enjoy at the seaside, I did manage to snatch a bit of time between competitions to explore a few rock pools and sneak in an ice cream - happy days! Isn’t seaweed slippery? I forget things like this, as I spend so much time walking on pavements in London.

However, here's another sight that banishes all unwell feelings:

Cows (particularly this breed - which should give away my trip location)

What can I tell you? I like cows. I have lived in the London area for years but I had an interesting upbringing which, believe it or not, included a stint living on a smallholding. We had a whole raft of animals and poultry (as you do), including some of this breed, so I have a really soft spot for them - it’s just how it is.

The trip seemed to be split into two distinct areas of activity – competing and spending time my team mates. The competitions were as glamourous as usual:

Facilities shipped in especially for the competitions (apparently)

My team consisted of 5 blokes aged between 19 - 30 plus 65 (I think) and me. In reality, this meant spending all time between competitions sitting somewhere with access to both beer and the Rugby World Cup (sorry, did I just yawn out loud)...zzzz.

So I knitted - much to their amusement. Apparently, according to the Collective Wisdom of My Team Blokes, knitting is a female form of 5e][u@1 self-service (if you catch my drift) and apparently purple, the colour that I am using (I did explain that it was actually ‘aubergine’, not purple but I just got back some very quizzical looks) is the colour associated with 5e][u@1 frustration.

So they discussed this odd hobby that I’d taken up, they discussed the colour of my project and they concluded that I was only knitting because I needed a good 5hag. As soon as they had reached this good humoured conclusion – the teasing stopped. It was almost like, as soon as they had rationalised the reason that I was knitting into something that they could identify with, they could get on with their beer and the rugby....

...I think that it helped that I was not rising to the bait either!

Edit: I would like to point out that this was all very good humoured and when we got up to leave, they were all mightily impressed with my progress, getting me to drape my shrug across my shoulders to see how far I had to go.

The weekend ended well: I knitted (photos to follow), I recovered (so ate loads of seafood) and I competed (no prize winning performances but nothing disgraceful either).

Actually, it ended so well that I even felt brave enough to test out whether my Denises were okay to have in my carry on bag on the way back (the airport was not as scary as Gatwick).

I walked through the metal detector and waited quietly for my bag. Security peered at it and...

...nothing. Hurray! All okay - it seems that 8mm Denises are not deemed to be dangerous objects. I quietly knitted a victory round on the journey home (all there was time for as the flight was so short)!

I will photograph my trip knit efforts this weekend for you to see. Actually, I am hoping that this weekend will enable me to unblock process on the wrap, post the bead images on my Puss in Boots project and burp out a couple of finished objects - fingers crossed!

Just 6 days to Alexandria Palace...

...happy days: enjoy your weekend!

Flying Solo - The Trip - Part One

In my personal view, there's a certain art to air travel. Particularly with the current necessary (extra stringent) Security checks and also now that certain airlines charge extra for every bag you wish to check into the hold. The walk-on, minimum fuss, well practiced Light Traveller reigns supreme.

What’s not to love? They keep their changes of clothes and shoes to a minimum, they race onto the plane, then leap out of their seats the instant that the plane judders to a halt outside the terminal building and practically elbow each other out of the way to get off and be first into the destination taxi queue. So incredibly efficient!

Even BA has adopted the electronic check-in (for those who did not have the forethought to check in and print off their own boarding cards at home) and separate bag drop approach at Gatwick.

Frankly, I admire the Light Traveller. I envy them their little, smart, wheeled carry-on bags (packed to bursting point) that trot smartly to heel behind them as they navigate the airport. So well and fashionably equipped!

I admire that they pack their travel sized toiletries into transparent bags for inspection at Security before they arrive at the airport. So very organised!

In fact, I aspire to be a well practiced, Light Traveller when I grow up. I want to be a part of that world of air travel where people glide smoothly through the departure process, have time to browse the wares in World Shopping, perhaps enjoy a beverage or two before ambling gently towards their gate, then depart to arrive unruffled and smiling at their destination …

…however, it may be some time before this Ugly Travel Duckling grows into a beautiful Travel Swan: a-very-long-time indeed.

You see, airports are just no place for your average, hapless Sports Traveller (or any other kind of traveller) in transit with a certain weight / quantity of baggage that happens to be heavy, fragile and awkward to handle.

In addition, it needs to be said that airports are very definitely no place for the above travelling solo with an upset stomach courtesy of the take away chicken tikka, plain boiled rice and mint sauce diet contraband consumed as a treat the previous evening. This caused yours truly to spend some time at 5:00am with my head laid on the cool laminate flooring of my bathroom, feeling like I had done ten rounds with Mike Tyson and wondering which end would explode next. So very unattractive!

At that point, I still hadn’t packed. No, I had spent the previous evening taking the house apart to find bits of missing kit. In the end, I had put an emergency call to a friend to borrow theirs. So incredibly disorganised!

Actually, if I could insert a Ronald Searle style cartoon of my eventual arrival at Gatwick groaning under the weight of my luggage - I would.

I must have been a painful sight, with a complexion as pale as cottage cheese, as I dragged approximately 40-50 kilos of 'out of gauge' sports, clothes and knitting luggage ungainly off the Long Stay Car Park bus and into the airport terminal.

I doubt that this sight improved any as I stood at Check In Zone D, contemplating my options and trying to work out if I could navigate the departure process without my stomach upset making its presence felt, while the Light Travellers whistled efficiently around me, taking no notice or prisioners as their little (yet surprisingly heavy) wheeled bags trotted neatly over my toes.

I decided to move towards help and my envy for the Light Travellers deepened as my carry-on bag strap threatened to saw its way through my neck, the weight of my sports equipment case turned my fingertips white, then numb, and my suitcase bumped (and bruised) my calves at every step. How very ill equipped!

Eventually, it took just shy of two hours to walk through the airline and security check-in processes, including careful receipt of my out of gauge, heavy but fragile sports equipment and emerge relatively unscathed in the World Shopping area...

…without my knitting or Denise needles.

Nope, not confiscated - I was completely chicken. I caved in at the first check-in hurdle. I spotted the fatal words, amongst the list of prohibited carry on items at the check-in desk:

· Blah
· Explosives
· Guns
· Sharps
· Liquids
· Knitting Needles.

There it was in black and white. As I stood there, considering my position...

• make a stand for knitting kind?
  
• risk confiscation and loss of needles I had only just bought?
  
• risk arrest and miss a competition because I had attempted to take 8mm, pointy plastic objects onto a plane?

...the loudspeaker intoned yet another repeat of the travel rules.

I sighed and quietly offered the needles up for inspection.

"Oh no," said the lady, "I don’t think those should go into your carry-on bag."

I sighed and into my hold luggage they went.

Along with my gorgeous Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky yarn and my Erika Knight Ribbed Shrug pattern.

Some time later, I found myself sitting by my departure gate sipping a black coffee, alternating between rubbing my very sore tummy and staring at my hands, without any knitting or books to read - I felt very sorry for myself indeed.

The only thing that cheered me up was the fact that I knew I had a free afternoon ahead of me and I fairly certain that I was going to fill it with Milk of Magnesia, my hotel bed, some sleep and my knitting!

I have been knitting

Generally I knit on my own, on the train and plugged into my iPod. Uncommunicative and knitting furiously to achieve as much as possible before I reach my stop.

In many ways, this suits me. I love having something productive to do enroute to /from work and knitting is sometimes a bit like having the crossword or sudoku to do - it gets your brain going. I rarely get my knitting out at home as I get overtaken by the other things that I need to do and I cannot combine knitting with tv, reading books or surfing the net. I guess that I am an audio book candidate!

However, over the course of the past year I have discovered that it is very enjoyable to sit and knit with friendly people, in a nice place. Now this might sound blooming obvious to all of you but it was a bit of a revelation to me. It is especially enjoyable if I know that I should be somewhere else, doing Other Things or after an excruiating day in the office - it is a great way to wind down before going home.

I have found that knitting with others has a different sort of rhythm to it. I do get less done but the networking factor, seeing what others around me are working on and being able to sound someone out on something that I am puzzling over, more than compensates for this.

Plus I am getting to go to some places I have not been to before, where I am meeting new people with big personalities who happen to knit - see? It's a good thing!

Last week, for instance, I met a really lovely Canadian lady (hello Granny Purple!) who was over in London to visit family. We chatted, she made a suggestion (I was at the point where I could no longer see the wood for the trees) and this week, I was able to catch up with her again to see how her holiday was going and let her know that her suggestion worked - a completely random meeting of knitters, a suggestion and a result!

It certainly beat my usual routine of coming straight home from the office, usually after working late, to the reality of daily life, home admin, organising matches and packing (none of which are done - the bead close ups will have to wait until next week, apologies).

Instead, all pieces of my shaped lace tee are knitted, I have networked internationally, I have caught up with the London SnB group, visited IKnit and, as a result of this, I am now the proud owner of a set of pink Denise Interchangeable Needles and Glamour Knits.

Did I manage to slip that sentence in without anyone noticing?! Okay - while knitting with circulars / plastic needles is not my first choice, I am hoping that I will be allowed to take them through security so that I can knit in Departures and during my flight: fingers crossed. I will let you know whether my knitting is confiscated!

Clearly travel calls for a simple knit that will not cause disaster if the security people look askance at me. So the wrap stays at home. Instead, I cast on the Ribbed Shrug from Glamour Knits this morning with some of my summer sale yarn from John Lewis (Debbie Bliss Cashermerino Superchunky), the straights will go into my hold luggage for use at destination (as I'm not the best with circulars) and the Denises will go into my cabin bag - if the worst comes to the worst, they can confiscate the points and leave me with my plastic cord to use as a stitch holder (maybe, if they are kind). I'll try to take an SAE envelope with me, just in case. Hmm, 8mm plastic tips - surely they would not be considered dangerous?

I think that I am hoping that they will be so absorbed by my sports kit that they won't notice my knitting.

As you will be able to tell from the above - a photo heavy post and purchases review will be with you in due course. However, I can tell you already - those Denises, ain't ever replacing my affinity for Lantern Moons. Oh no!

Ho Hum - Sunday

I have that classic Sunday evening homework feeling!

I am wondering what I should have prepared for work tomorrow morning, my work laundry is churning its (noisy) way through the all-purpose 40 degree wash cycle as I type and a Sunday Night London R'n'B music programme is blasting out of the radio behind me.

I am in the second half of my 30s and I feel like I should be stapled to my chair, doing maths homework or something. Ngg - does anyone else suffer from this Sunday evening feeling?!

I am resisting an urge to check my work email before tomorrow morning as I am determined to finish the 2nd sleeve on my shaped lace tee this evening - I have knitting to do.

All but the final sleeve (half done) of the shaped lace tee is being blocked on the bed in my spare room this evening - I am so close to finishing the first ever garment I have knitted for myself, I can smell it!

However, I have my fingers crossed optimistically as I have modified the sleeve, then followed the errata instructions for its top shaping from the errata posted at the Knitting Lingerie Style Along...and it looks a bit too big to be set into the body. Hmm.

I have taken close up photos of the beads for the Castle Couture wrap - I am not going to post these onto my Puss in Boots project until tomorrow/Tuesday evening as I have knitting to do!

The majority of opinion so far is that I should opt for the crystal, twinkly beads - most effective (not shown here). I tend to agree.

I am just fighting my natural inclination to go for the beads that I personally find most sympathetic. Even though I acknowledge that they won't be nearly as effective as the twinkly ones. Damn, opps, I think that I just disappeared up my own backside?!

Finally, I met my father, brother and nephew (who is the princely age of 4) for a coffee in Kew Gardens this morning and I am afraid that I experienced a 'Philistine Moment'.

Initially, I was delighted that there was a Henry Moore exhibition going on - I was optimistic that I would experience both a coffee and a cultural experience. I know Henry Moore's work and I understand his ideas (in the main, I think). I appreciate the strong spacial quality of his work - I do. However, I took a few photos and I was abruptly reminded why I have not ever liked his work. I cannot help it - I just don't.

My father, assessed my nephew's humour and suggested that I might need to walk around the rest of the exhibition on my own. I suggested that accompanying my nephew to the newsagents in order to get a Thomas the Tank Engine comic was a far higher priority!

I am sure that you will be scandalised. I am sorry, I tried but I cannot help it - this stuff just leaves me cold. Utterly and totally cold - I tried. Honest.

My father and I stopped by the pod thing (see picture with lake backdrop). I commented quietly that I used to make and bring that type of thing home with me from college. (I used to site my artistic endeavours around my parent's garden in an amateur display of 'Undergraduate Garden Art'.)

My father chuckled, "How funny you should mention that. Your stepmother set about this big, overgrown bush in the garden this summer and once she'd fought off over 10 years growth, we all stood round it and said, What's that?! Then, following much debate, Oh look....it's Gabrielle's shell."

Hmm. Now, I didn't spot it out in the garden when I was at my parent's house earlier today. It is my guess that this artist's early work was quietly deposited in the bin after its summer rediscovery?

I might be doing my parents a disservice but who could blame them for feeling that 20+ years is sufficient to demonstrate familial loyality to a piece of garden art they were probably relieved disappeared into the undergrowth as the years wore on, obliterating itself from collective family memory? Particularly as I have not continued to make my way in the world as any type of serious, full time artist.

Damn - bet that never happened to Henry Moore though - bah humbug!