Having a more organised workspace has already made a big difference to how I feel about being in the study and I think it has had a positive effect on my levels of productivity too!
I also had a chat with the resident coach-in-training about my lack of progress with my embroidery, and through that I was able to pinpoint a few things that were holding me back from working on it and ways I could get past them. As a result I can now see some definite progress has been made since I last photographed the embroidery in July.
Part of what was getting in my way was the feeling that my aim of completing a square at a time was so huge that it felt overwhelming. My current goal is to set 30 minutes on the timer and do however much I do in that time, rather like my approach to spinning. With this approach I’ve done 2 hours of stitching in the past week, as opposed to the ‘nothing at all’ of the past few months.
I haven’t posted anything on social media since last Friday, which is most unlike me. It’s been a bit busy. My passenger car door doesn’t get looked at (and hopefully fixed) until Thursday, but yesterday I was exploring the capacity of my amazing boot space by taking mum to a local nursing home for a respite/trial week. Once the back seats are down it really is tardis-like and this bodes very well for show transportation. Fortunately a friend was also able to help out – she was the one who actually transported Mum there, as although all her stuff fitted in my car, she herself couldn’t get in with the passenger door not working!
Naturally, visiting Mum involved more than just taking her to her respite week. I am also now the owner of a large box of quinces and will be making quince jelly for the first time this week. The weird looking furry bits aren’t mould – they’re just what the fruit is covered with as it is growing. It will be washed off before they go in the jam pan! They smell quite amazing already.
On to the knitting. The adult version of Honeybun is now speeding along. I’ve tweaked and triple checked all the calculations for the armhole and neck decreases and the back should be completed this evening. The main colour in this photo has not come out true to life, but you get the idea! This is the full length version in Size 18. There are 20 sizes, UK4 to UK42, and two length options for each.
Once the body is done, there are the sleeves to calculate and the stitch counts for the button band. Then it’s a case of finishing the knitting, blocking and getting the pattern to the tech editor.
I don’t think the pattern will be ready for my first show next year (Wool-in Garden City in January), but it should definitely be printed and available for the second one (East Anglia Yarn Festival in March)! I’ll tell you more about upcoming shows soon.
Both pairs of socks I’m knitting are growing. Sue’s socks have a completed gusset on the first foot and it’s just plain knitting for 30 rounds now until I get to the toe. Good TV knitting.
This extra pair of Bodelwyddan socks have a nearly completed gusset as well. These are Large, reducing down to Medium (4th size to 3rd size).
You might be able to see where the extra decreases are positioned near the needle. This is so the decreases don’t just continue from the main gusset and go underneath the foot, which could be uncomfortable.
We finally had the first part of the Twisted Workshop last Thursday at Yarn O’clock (postponed because I was ill). Everyone did really well, learning so many new skills and techniques that I think their heads were truly mashed by the end of the evening. The yarn we are using for the workshop is Podale DK and it’s a great choice. We began by getting the knitters to select their two colours to use and using the B&W feature on our phone cameras to help check they really were different in tonal value (one dark and one light).
This was as far as we got by the end of the first session.
The knitters have a little bit of homework to do before the next session completing their current round. Then next time they get to learn the final stitch and then repeat the whole stitch pattern once more to complete the cowl (and reinforce what they learnt last time!).
I bought some yarn this afternoon online. You may remember that my old school-friend treated us to a very special afternoon tea at the Pump Room in Bath where she is part of the piano trio for my 50th birthday. Wanting to celebrate her 50th in a similar way I have offered to knit her any of my designs in the colour of her choice – even black! I knew the choice was likely to be black, as that is the uniform of musicians, and her design choice is Diamonds in the Breeze, a lovely geometric lace shawl in a sport-weight yarn, originally worked using 2 skeins of Juniper Moon Farm Patagonia Organic Merino in a dark green. I’m really looking forward to knitting this design again and enjoyed scouring the internet for an appropriate yarn in a true black
That’s all from me today. Take care, K x