Nameless Gnome!

Here is my other distraction from tedious scarve knitting.. i present my Christmas Gnome who is pictured here making friends with the cats.. Trouble is he is nameless! So fellow bloggers, find me a Gnomey name for him!

The pattern for the Christmas Gnome came from a recent issue of Simply Knitting (off the top of my head i think it was issue 8).

The pattern for the scarf although looks identical to Daisy's Misty garden scarf was from the first issue of Simply Knitting.. I love that magazine! Each month there is always more than one pattern i like which is more than can be said for 'Knitting'. Clearly the likes of Rebecca are far superior but simply knitting is readily available in the UK so i like it!
And Iris, i almost had a heart attack when i read the first half of your comment! Good job you were joking!

My gnomey has been consoling me since a rather unfortunate event which took place on Tuesday night.. I had a lovely time knitting in the pub along with Purlpower and a couple of others. Then i headed home unfortunately on entering the metro station i stepped in someone elses vomit.. now normally this would be horrific enough. Sadly it was a tiled floor so i slipped, fell, smacked my knee and ended up sat in someone elses vomit. You can only imagine how deeply unpleasant the feeling of realisation that it was not water you slipped in was. I was very good though, i cleaned myself up and waited till i got home before bursting into tears!
Think i was more upset about the fact that the long cardy i was wearing was 100% wool and would need handwashing! Still life goes on, doesn't it!

In a Spin!

I bought a drop spindle kit from getknitted last week! It has been put together by the lovely Jeni at Fyberspates (check out her shop). So below is the progress ive made with it so far. The white stuff was my very first attempt but hopefully the purple looks a little better. Im finding it a little difficult to keep it the same thickness all the way through but im sure i'll get used to it. Jeni's instructions are great and i did find it fairly easy to pick up, i guess it's perfecting that skill that is the real challenge!

I have been playing with my spindle to distract me from the tedium that is knitting the same scarf in the same colourway five times over. Since i first knitted my sisters scarf my mum decided she wanted one, then she wanted one for a girl at the office. Now apparently another girl at the office wants one and Chris anounced he'd like to give his mum one for christmas! (AHHHHHHHH!!) So my mum's is finished and below you can see the progress made on scarf number three (i promise it is a different scarf!) alongside the scarf ive been knitting for myself! I havent knit myself anything in ages so i decided i need a scarf myself!! The yarn is Jo Sharps Silkroad as it was on offer at Getknitted and i love it!

Thankyou Secret Pal!

Sorry it's taken me a while to post this! Below are all the wonderful goodies i received from my SP. Can you believe she actually made that pin cushion?? Isnt it fantastic! Go visit her blog, she revealed herself to me prematurely and it seems we have been spoiling each other! I still have a few things to get for your next package but hopefully i wont take as long as i did with the first.

She sent me enough Kid Silk Haze to knit myself my first proper lace project, River. Which i will get right onto.. as soon as ive finished the stack of scarves i have on order! My mother has comissioned me to knit her and her friend a scarf exactly like the one i made my sister. Im going to be sooo sick of that pattern! So far im about two foot into the first scarf.
When i ordered her yarn i bought myself a hank too thinking i could actually made myself a scarf. This is the colour i ordered as it is on the colinette website..

And here is the hank i received... Anyone else spot a difference?

Saturday i attended my first ever 'knit n natter' group! It was great, i got lots of scarf done and met some new people. It was nice to finally meet the lovely Purlpower in person and also Glenda, whose blog i shall be reading from now on!
It seemed like such a novelty to sit and knit with people who understand what it is to lust after yarn. Im used to getting funny looks when i knit in public!

The finished scarf..

Well i made it in time to give it to my sister! So here she is modelling it for me.


Looks like i'll be doing another one for my mother too as she kept trying to steal it from my sister.

For anyone interested it is made from one hank of colinette giotto and the pattern is called Lily though im not sure which book its in as i bought the pattern on ebay as part of a kit.

Emily needs....

Just spotted this on Lixies blog and thought i'd give it a whirl, you type your first name then 'needs' into google and see what you get.

Emily needs..
* eating companions around noon on wednesday
* almost 24-hour care
* to be told "No"
* to find something that's her own to fulfill her
* to talk to him. If she can get his attention
* Attention
* a place to study
* to work on reading a little extra every night
* to be whipped into shape by Nanny

Interesting.....

Speed Knitting!

In answer to the questions regarding the last post, i did a degree in archaeology and ancient history. I would really like to work with museums in the handling of collections etc. Ive applied for various jobs within this field to no avail, im guessing because in alot of cases the positions are filed by internal candidates or by people who have been volunteering. So im going to go to Newcastle Uni and do a masters in museum studies, assuming they let me in! The last job i applied for was a part time library assistant at the uni's library. I thought this would be ideal as i could continue it whilst studying however i havent heard anything back on that front either. Each time i apply for a job i lower my standards of 'ideal job' and each time i hear nothing!

Anyway, on the knitting front im frantically knitting away at a scarf i had promised to knit for my sister. While we were at Ally Pally she chose a hank of Colinette Giotto she like and i said i'd knit her a scarf for the next time i see her. She called yesterday and is coming up for a surprise visit! so ive been knitting alot today! As well as madly tidying as our landlord is coming round to see the flat in the morning. Its about half way through now so i ope to be able to give it to her before she leaves on sunday.

I completely forgot to take a photo of the stitched card i made for my mum.. oops!
Must take some photos of something, i hate blogging without photos!