mad4knit

Typical - no post for several months, then two on the same day... Knitting has taken a permanent position on the back burner, merrily joining many other would-be-wonderful ideas destined not to see the light of day for quite a while... or until we move, at any rate. I did however, recently indulge in what is probably the coolest of knitted toy books, knitted babes and once we move and I have settled in, I am determined to have a go at.

The book and dolls created quite a stir and have gained a cult following.
Here's a link dedicated to the dolls and here's more about the author, Clare Garland.

No postings, plenty of excuses. Building our house, continuing on with running my own business and passing my driving test (first time) for a start. At age 31 it was about time, and have now inherited this stately old queen, my Volvo 850 estate to practice on. The thinking is, if I can drive (and park) this, i can drive anything...

Feeling hungover from a wine-fuelled night yesterday so drinking copious amounts of coffee to get me through today and my 2-hour driving lesson. Luckily my French instructor doesn't understand English enough to be shocked at my swearing at roundabouts and busy junctions...On to pleasanter things - inspiration for new projects this autumn. I'm going to attempt socks as my LYS stocks beautiful self-patterning fairisle style sock yarn. Ever on the hunt for that elusive perfect, chunky (but not bulky) winter jumper, I came across this (below).



I love the roll-neck with the buttons. One of the reasons I persevere with knitting is, with the hope, one day to be able to craft exquisite, intricate, one-off creations. If I’m brave enough, I'm envisaging attempting something like these two tops, below. The picture of the stripey gilet from the Rowan ‘tribal' collection doesn't show up very well, but I love the colours and the detail. (You can click on it to make it bigger, though.) I'm also dying to know how to make the knitted flowers that feature on the other jumper. My last attempt at a jumper was a disastrous mess, not least because I was given a pattern size too small and I bought the wool in Paris, too far away for me to pop over and buy more, so it remains stuffed in a bag at the bottom of my yarn basket, a reminder of an expensive mistake and awaiting more wool so I can add on a ribbed bottom, a roll neck and ribbed cuffs in a vain attempt to lengthen the bloody thing.





The patterns are from Rowan magazines – the jumper is an older catalogue (36), the others from the latest edition. I found it here at ethknits, a UK site that sells magazines, patterns and yarns. At least I have knitting inspiration - if only I had similar inspiration for the week’s family meals...

I only discovered last year that autumn is officially September 21st and I feel glad that this year I have marked the turning of the seasons with suitably seasonal festivities. It’s not yet truly cold here, nor have I yet felt that Autumnal crispness in the air, but I know it’s coming.



Saturday was the local 'Désalpes' festival, where herds of cows and sheep are brought down from the mountains to be kept warm on farms for the winter. We went to the village of Charmey, near Gruyere in the Swiss region known as the Valais for our fill of Swiss folkiness.



The animals are decorated with bells and flowers, villagers dress up in traditional dress, markets are set up stalls selling cream, cheese and crafts and we also witnessed an Alpen horn concert, folk-singing, cow-bell ringing and flag-throwing displays.



Sunday was spent with the Geneva stitch 'n bitchers as we gathered at a friend's house for the day with a pot luck lunch and time to properly advance with current WIPs. Being on the last leg of my daughter's jumper, I'm looking around for new projects for the autumn and for Christmas. Tomorrow I'll post some mouth-watering ideas from Rowan.

I’m seriously trying to give up smoking (again) and dragged myself out of bed this morning at 6.30 to start a new yoga class. I’m hoping that if I go every morning (7-8), the big focus on breathing and stretching is going to gradually not make me want to reach for the fags anymore.

This is where I was this weekend - soaking up the late september sun in fabulous Lisbon. Stylish and beautiful, this city combines elegant renaissance squares with winding, narrow streets, found in the bairro alto (like the old town, but literally means 'high quarter') and the quieter residential area of the alfama district, where lines of washing hang gaily over the tiled facades of the traditional, brightly coloured pink or white-washed houses. easing myself back into the drizzly gloom that greets me in Geneva this morning, i am listening to this

to soothe my spirits.

Namely, this (see pic) which, yes, is a dishcloth, albeit a very pretty one. I found it here (pattern also), at 'the knitting fiend', and think it's a fab way to a) have pretty items to wash up with, b) learn 'lace' (which isn't normally my thing, but I can't help a challenge) and c) use up bits and pieces of wool and d) most importantly is small. But I bet its tricky. Will add it to my growing list of projects for this autumn.

...this:

Isn't it totally gorgeous? I'd been looking for a simple shawl pattern for ages, and found it here Erica's site, knittinggeek.
She has provided the pattern, too. Top gal.

...so I haven't posted for almost a year. Pretty pants, really. However, I did set up my own business, finally branching out on my own as a freelance copywriter. Which is probably one of the best decisions I ever made. (It was sort of forced, but who cares?!). I now work from home, making as much tea as I want, as often as I like, surfing as many knitting sites as I wish, hanging out in whatever I want, with as many knitting breaks as I dare. And taking the time to update this, (for which I have may lofty aspirations, rather like my WIPs) instead of doing stuff for other people!

So on this crisp September morning, I'm listening to the freaky, contemporary beautiful Billy Holiday sound-alike, Madeleine Peyroux with coffee on, putting off having to properly start the day and thinking about my stash of a) photos I'm desperate to put up here and b) interesting new entries that I'm determined to post.

I want this space to be somewhere that I can track my projects and a place my I can spout all my ideas and inspiration, as currently I am over-inspired - fabric, things to make, knit, sew, draw, create - I seem to ingest all this stuff from magazines, books, flea markets, my travels, other wonderful knitty blogs - and it has nowhere to go!

The only excuse for not having written recently is that I’ve been knitting. A lot. (Like the all-day Sunday knit-in which I hosted at home, yesterday. I discovered that knit-ins have a pleasant, secondary raison d'etre, which is that they are a great excuse for fabulous food - necessary for fuelling the creative spirit.)

That, plus my existential dilemma over the purpose of this blog. Am I fashioning flawless fairisle fancies that are the envy of my friends? No. Am I crafting creative kid’s cardigans for colleagues? Non. Am I a budding young textile designer tipped to be the next Kaffe Fasset? No again. Should I be blogging, therefore? Porbably not. My enthusiasm for knitting far outweighs my ability.

However, I am bashing out wonky jumpers, scarves and blankets with a passion on a par only to my love of yarn and my fiancé. (He buys me knitting books – need I say more?). Obsessed as I am with this craft, I need an outlet for my knitting notions, even if the only reason is a desire to hang onto my friends and colleagues and not bore them out of existence. Finally, I also keep banging on about wanting to post pictures, and haven’t got round to it. And to me, a blog without pictures is like a town without a wool shop: not very exciting.

So here, I’m opening my heart and am determined to put all this to rights. My mission, which I am attacking with typical Monday-morning zeal is to purchase a camera cable and knock this blog into shape. Exciting, no? Watch this space...