Author: bryonyramsden

Ok, perhaps not so much hoorah, as huzzah. Maybe. I have to go and collect a parcel tomorrow morning before work from the post office, as I wasn’t in when they tried to deliver something. And given that I have been good and not ordered anything, and also that my secret pal emailed me this week to say something was in the post, I can safely bet that it is something from her 😀 That will be a very good way to start an otherwise dreary looking week ahead.
Why is it so dreary? Because it looks like there will be barely any knitting – gasp! I have to be very very controlled this week, and get something on paper for my research so that I don’t have to think about writing too much up later on, and only think about analysing my results etc. I have lots of articles to read through and cite, which is good – I am one of those people who find the introductory section the worst to write. Anyone who has done any kind of research at any level knows that the intro is where you have to show how clever and knowledgable you are and that no one has ever done what you plan to do in the way you plan to do it. Or at least that you will be doing it in a better way and fixing all the rubbish bits in their research methodology. Now this might sound like a really cool way of looking at work that you may not have read before and reading something you are interested in, but trust me, you have to wade through a lot of crap to get to the good bits sometimes, and by that point you could well be totally brain dead and too thick to realise it is the section you want… And at my level of study, there will be plenty of stuff that I don’t understand. Do you realise that in the library and information industry there are actually formula based theories and models for how people should research and study, and use library resources? Who’d have thought that information studies would bring in so much theoretical fear inducing writing… Apart from clever bastards.
Anyway, having complained about that bit far too much (and please believe me, I do feel at home for 99% of the time in the library environment), I will mention some more knitting things. I reduced my stash a little yesterday by handing out some of it to DB’s mum. She does a lot of charity knitting, and will gladly take unwanted yarn from anyone offering, as long as it is suitable for knitting up. She has a lot of questionable stuff at the moment to knit, and appreciates it being offered out, but I think she also could do with something lovely. I gave her the Kureyon I had leftover from those multiple projects, as it certainly wouldn’t have been knitted up anytime soon, and the Jaeger Como I bought. The latter has been knitted and frogged numerous times, and I think that, for the sake of moving something from behind the sofa into the stash boxes, and for someone to use it who will really appreciate the end result (whether personal or charity use), it is a loss well taken. And it was dirt cheap (don’t worry, I told her how much I paid for it!).
Also, I’ve been working on the Last Minute Knitted Gifts (hereafter and evermore known as LMKG) Noro scarf, and used up 40 out of 100g already, in not very much knitting time in the grand scheme of things. I like knowing it could be finished in a couple of days dedicated knitting, as it makes it seem quicker to make even when I might only manage 30 mins of knitting. Seeing that drop in grams is pretty cool, when I haven’t really given much time to it (maybe one solid evening and a bit). It will definitely need a good wash and blocking, as mistake rib combined with knitting stripes makes for a rather wobbly knit, and it will need a little softening up before wearing (again because of the pattern I think – the yarn seems supersoft and silky in the ball but not on the purl stitches). And just to annoy you even more than I have already today, there will be no pics till either later today or if I get time on the day I work the late shift. Stupid Brit weather usual rubbish, and I intent to take pics of the sleeves I don’t like on Angelica too.
I’ll say this though – I really must try and persuade my mate Sue to set up a blog and put some pics of her knitting up – she has made some fab stuff, and is like a knitting machine (despite all the work she has to do for her teaching job outside of school hours). And she is the chunky knitter to my sock yarn and Rowan 4 ply. Which explains the speed, most likely 😀 And she has the most gorgeous dog for eye candy too. I have just sent a petition to her saying that I think she should do it, but as yet I am the only name on it. I signed it for all you guys too though 😉
Finally, you wonder how people get to be so fat? Read this story of a recipe. Rather disturbing that this would cover nearly a whole day’s calories and excessive fat. I’d rather have a plate of good fish and chips (which is another dish that covers the whole day for calories). At least you’d be full up afterwards…

Angelica has blocked, and I’m not too impressed with my short sleeves. They seem to take away from the neckline, and make the whole thing look a little sad, and frumpify the whole garment. I’m very tempted to undo them again and take it back to the body, and just do one row and bind off, because it seemed to look rather cute when I tried it on while knitting that way. Anyway, I can’t post any pics – the light thing again (I can do little things, but full body shots are bad), so I’ll see what I can knock up later this week.
Have played with the Eye Toy Kinetic twice since I got it yesterday, and it is fabbooooo! Who’d believe that I’d have so much fun while at home working out? Yesterday’s session was quite easy, apart from a few problems I had getting the camera to read my movements properly – largely because it was set to bright room, which our lounge is not. Today worked much better on the dim setting, and I burned off a large amount in excess of the Mars bar I accidentally ate at dinnertime… Anyway, if you are thinking about getting one to help your fitness do it (especially if it saves you from going out in the dark on your own to the gym or anything like that).
Oh, and the hourglass sweater is on the needles at a vote of 3 to 1. Sorry Heatherfeather! Maybe next time… Although this is already irritating me a bit. I’ve spent a fair bit of time on it (well, relative to the amount of free time I’ve had), and all I’ve got knitted is the first 6 rows which form the seam of the lower body. Which bums me out a little. But, I have high hopes for this pattern in this yarn. Or maybe I shouldn’t given my luck with knitting tops. But I don’t think I’ve seen a bad one yet, except where someone has knitted the wrong size. Please don’t let me be knitting the wrong size! I’m making the second largest, because the largest would be way, way too big for something that is supposed to be form fitting, but the second largest may be a little snug at the bust. However, the waist and hip measurements should be spot on considering ease, so overall it might balance out 😉
I’m sure I had something else to say, but my brain is frazzled – I’ve been knackered for most of the day, with a couple of rough nights catching up on me, but I should be ok in time for the weekend ;D I’d go to bed if Eleventh Hour wasn’t on (it is cheesy as anything, but ok for a Thursday braindead night).

Today there is a little anthology of things. Hopefully interesting. 🙂 And there are pics.
Firstly, my mate Sue declared that I should make the hourglass sweater, if only because so many people love it. That makes 2 votes to one for hourglass, which is cool by me! BUT, my interest has been scuppered by the next item.
I was browsing through a magazine the other day, when I saw this, quite a tasty looking cardi. Very cute I think, but also remarkably easy… It is just reverse garter stitch with stripes using a change of stitch. Warehouse think they can charge 39 quid, but I reckon some of that Jaeger Mohair Art and a bit of fiddling around with a standard cardi pattern, and I could knock that up fairly easily. I don’t think I’d make it curvy around the edges because that might be hard. Or maybe I will, but frogging MA might be a bit nasty, so we will see.
Next up, a finished object. The Jaywalkers are done!

Spot which sock had the colour pooling… And that is using 2 rows of each yarn as well! I have a little yarn left over, so I think I might use it to make mini sweaters or something like that, for the sake of stash busting. Any sock yarn stash busting suggestions are very welcome though! I love the Fyberspates yarn, and I suspect the colour pooling problem might have occured before – I bought two 50g hanks for the socks, but they now make 100g hanks of their sock yarn and seem to have scrapped the 50g. The hanks I had had two different numbers on them, so I’m also not sure if I ended up with different dyelots. Anyway, I still love them – they are supercosy, and kept me toasty last night in bed. It is freezing here – if I go in the bathroom I can see my breath 🙁 Poop. Next socks planned? Ones using up the blue Lorna’s Laces on my first 2 circ socks…
What else? Ermm, ooo yeah! The secret pal thing is going well – the person I’m spoiling just got her first parcel, and seems to like it, which is rather nice. I also got an email from my pal this morning saying that she has sent my first parcel out too! I’m very excited to find out what it is – she’s been rather subtle and has given no hints, although she has asked some interesting questions 😀 Hoorah!
Am loving the new Magknits edition – naturally Grumperina’s hat rocks big time, but the socks are cool, and Ziggy is lovely, so I might use that Kaalund set I got to knit Ziggy. You see – time finds a purpose for all yarns, so purchases are ALWAYS useful. ALWAYS 😀 Even spontaneous unplanned ones. And no, I haven’t purchased anything else, but it feels good to justify all the other purchases!
I got my new Rowan magazine on Monday too, and I love quite a few things in it, which makes it even harder to commit to hourglass. There is another Kid Acne design (remember the foggy panda?) of a seahorse on a vest top, a short sleeved cardi called Rambling Rose which is tempting me to use the 4ply cotton on it instead of on Martha, but perhaps with less rosyness. Seems silly to make it without them and the cables, but at the same time I can’t decide whether I’d prefer it plain or fancy. What else? Most of the Provence collection is very cute, but also would make me feel like I’m dressing too old for my age. Us Yorkshire lasses can’t really carry off the south of France look… The Aqua Marine collection is largely a bit blah, with one or two patterns that leap out at me. Finally, I really hope they give up the Tribal thing soon – the styling overwhelms the designs and patterns so much that you can’t see how they would apply in the real world. Again there are a couple in this section that I like – Jinny is quite pretty and wearable and the bag is something I could see myself knitting once I know how to do fair isle.
And finally, something silly. MVC are closing down in town, and everything is on sale, so I went and got an Eye Toy for my PS2, with the Kinetic ‘game’. It does a 12 week exercise plan for you, and I’ve heard good things about it, plus it is considerably cheaper than a gym membership, especially half price. Anything that stops me from going out in this horrible cold is good by me!

I have more things for the list :/ I want to knit Analise from Rowan 38. Looks horrid in the photo, because of that stupid eco warrior thing going on, but when you look at the shape of the sweater, it is actually rather lovely. Simply shaped and simple knitting. And I have 10 balls of coffee/choccy brown wool cotton that I got from Coldspring for a tenner.
And I have 10 balls of Jaeger Mohair Art in an oaty creamy colour that would work for the mohair wrap in FCEK from fall last year (I think).
Ermmmm. Also I have fallen in love with a sweater. Hanne Falkanberg’s Diva pattern. You buy it as a kit, but right now I luckily have no cash to buy it, and the wrong body shape for it (big boobs with a big folded over collar over them? Nooooooo, not right now ta). But I love her, and all her Diva-ishness.
Ok, now I have to go knit a sock. Just the foot to go on the 2nd Jaywalker. Which means only about 3 inches till I do the toe decreases.

Ok, I was brave. I’ve finished knitting Angelica, and she is currently drying on an ironing board next to the radiator, on top of an old towel, with her sleeves and hips folded over so that they don’t hang down and stretch. I sloshed her a little in some wool and silk washing liquid, rinsed her, wrung her out in a towel, and have laid her out a little stretched out in the hope that this will make her fit correctly without making her stretch a lot overall (so that she doesn’t sag while I wear her). Ooooooh I hope this works ok. The sleeves aren’t that great, but I reckon the blocking process complete with a long sleeve black t-shirt will fix that. I’ve also washed the Polar Lace Leaf pullover for the first time today, and am now covered in hairs from it. When it has dried I will shave it and try wearing it again to see how much it pills after washing. Luckily, I did the silk before the Polar. Otherwise Angelica would suddenly grow a green beard.
Anyway, the question is, what to knit next? I have quite a few projects on the go, but most of them quite small or quick. Only Clapotis will be a long time coming. The others, if I get my arse into gear, can be made within a couple of days knitting. So I’m thinking, what garment should I have a go at next? I want it to be practical, and use stash I already have, as the stash is in dire need of reduction. And I don’t want it to be too complicated right now – I have to be able to put it down easily so that I can go from studying to knitting to studying without losing my place or getting stressed about stuff.
I’m not popular or clever enough to do a poll on here, so I’m very happy to sit back and see if anyone posts any comments. Here is a list of things I’d like to make. Feel free to suggest something else as long as I may have the stash for it!
1) Lace Leaf Pullover in Knitpicks Sierra. I want to make this because the Polar was so pilly, so that I have a sweater I can wear to work or to the pub without covering everything in green hair. I know the pattern and its quirks now, and it is pretty quick to knit, and there is enough winter for me to have it worth knitting in such a warm yarn.
2) Hourglass sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. I have the yarn from frogging the evil ribbed cardi, and need to find something to use it up, and this seems like a good idea. Stocking stitch in the round, so lots of brainless knitting when I’ve been using my few brain cells to write the dissertation. Practical design too, as it is simple, and if it fits ok will be ok for work and for dossing about in. And I’ve been lusting after making it for a while – long before I got the book.
3) Angelica mark 2. You already know I had a problem with getting enough yarn to knit this pattern. I’ve made it, love it, and even tho the first one is far from dry, I’m contemplating making this one straightaway as it is quick, simple, and the yarn is sitting on the armchair arm and I keep staring at it lustily. Kerrie went to a lot of effort to dye this yarn for me, and I think I owe it to her to knit it soon.
4) Union Market Sweater from Interweave Knits in Alpaca Select. I bought the yarn just for this pattern, and I have no idea how hard it will be, but it is beautiful, and will take a long time because of the tiny needles and yarn.
5) Sirdar Ballet Wrap cardi. I have some DB Baby Cashmerino on a cone, in a light green, so definitely a spring to summer colour. I’ve wanted to make a ballet wrap cardi since I started knitting again, and the pattern is your standard Sirdar/basic format – no knitting in the round, a little bit of moss stitch ribbing, and extremely practical (it is even the length to cover flabby tum bits till they flatten out a bit).
I think that’s it for now. Socks, scarves etc will always be on the needles so that I have a choice when I decide to knit. I like to have small things as well as garments on the go, but what garment to make? Incidentally, most of my stash is in two big plastic trunks, but some of the stash is sitting in carrier bags behind the sofa for want of anywhere else to live (including the Sierra and cashmerino aran). That might skew the results a bit, but I’m looking more at gratification than using whichever yarn.
Hmmmm, wonder if anyone will reply, and what they will pick?
Oh, and one day I will get the stash page up, and some updated links. But both are going to be a looooong list, so for now I just can’t be arsed 😉

Thanks again for the comments and support – you really are very nice people. After a rough day or two, I find myself uplifted, thanks to my wonderful friends, and one or two goodies that have come my way.
The most appropriate for here is this.

This is the beautiful yarn Kerrie at Hipknits dyed for me. I’m hoping the pic will go some way to showing how deep the colour is – a gorgeous berry violet and blue, with very subtle colour changes. I love this yarn. Kerrie is so cool.
Also, this weekend will see an Angelica photo from the blue version. I took it to work today, and worked the sleeves to match – short with one row of purl after two decrease rows from the pattern. I have to sew up, weave in and embellish the neckline. And maybe do some blocking, but I don’t know yet. Anyway, it will be done and soon.
But first I have to do some other things. Lots of photos pending this weekend!

Ugh. Got back from the trip to my mum’s today. The day itself went better than expected, largely due to the presence of lots of people where we wanted to leave flowers. Coming back here has been horrendous. I’ve been trying to be strong for mum. Now I feel tired, and awful – worse than I did when I found out what happened. The taps are running, and won’t stop.
So to try and curb it for now, I have to talk about other things. I am skint at the mo – too many things to pay for and I am going to be good and commit to paying as much as I can off so that I can carry on as normal. Anyway, the point of that is that we went wandering around various places while I was visiting, one of them being Beverly. We went to Tesco of all places, and I bought a pair of Cherokee lineny trousers for £4.00 and a Florence + Fred skirt for £3.00 in the sale. We went to Debenhams in Scarborough, and I bought an Antoni and alison t-shirt for a fiver in the sale. They have the cutest t-shirts at the mo, but full price, so I’ll have to keep an eye open for them next time they do a sale (and a lovely skirt in the sale, but I can’t afford it this month and it is only 8 quid off, so maybe it will be cheaper then)… Then today, before I caught the train back, we were browsing in Primark, and I found a green handbag (one of those wide thin ones with big buckled pockets on the outside) stuffed behind a pillar against a wall with no price. After waiting at the tills for a bit, the assistant came back and charged me £3.00. I spent fifteen quid, and essentially have enough clothes for two days. Hoorah for the dregs of the sales.
I took some knitting with me, but didn’t get much done thanks to the cat, but I’ve got most of the leg of Jaywalker sock 2 done, and took my spare Polar with me to see if I could make the reversable capelet from Craftster. I’ve almost done with the increases, and it is rather sweet, but I don’t know how it will look – I’ll probably do long sleeves, but I don’t know what kind of body to do yet. I have a cropped wrap cardi that I bought for the trip to the US, that seems to suit me, so I could increase to make a wrap, which would be easy enough, and pin it together. Or I could knit it to make a normal length cardi, but just have a button at the top. Or I could just leave it as the design was intended. I dunno.
Anyway, Who Do You Think You Are is on in a mo, with Stephen Fry, who is one of the loveliest men on earth, so I need to pick clothes out for work and settle with wine to watch it.
Au revoir for now.

I just wanted to say thank you to you all. I wrote because I needed to vent, and no one who reads the blog had any obligation to respond or comment at all. That you all have is just wonderful, and moves me deeply. I really appreciate every word you’ve said and I can’t really express it very well. This is all you need to know – thank you very very much for taking the time and the effort to say something. You are lovely lovely people.
Anyway, I’m starting to cope much better with it, although it tears me apart when I hear my mum on the phone. She’s going to pick me up on Sunday, and I’ll stay over till Wednesday. I don’t have much leave left (our leave year runs from April to March), so I can’t go as long as I’d like in case she needs me again in future – strange how 4 days seems to be a long time away from home, but a barely a blip in terms of time with her. We’ll have our own little memorial during that time, and frankly the sooner the better. I’ve made a purchase of M&S choccy liquor today – like Baileys Irish Cream (in fact it has irish cream in it), but chocolate flavoured, and you can drink it hot or cold. After a day by the sea, we may want warming up, and what could be a nicer way to get a little comfort than a finger of warmed chocolate irish cream. Except drinking it with a bar of cherry or butterscotch Green and Black’s chocolate grated on top, with lots of squares on the side to eat. I feel better just thinking of it.
In knitting news, I finished my Jaywalker last night, after knitting while waiting for the bus home from my late shift at work, knitting on the bus, and knitting when I got home. Knitting while waiting for the bus kept me surprisingly warm, and the sight of lots of pointy wooden sticks in the middle of town puts of most drunks. Sadly I can’t get away with knitting on the evening slot at work, but I suspect that wouldn’t do much for my work image, both in terms of doing something I shouldn’t at work, and in terms of being a librarian who knits, but is under 30. Shame I can’t say under 25 anymore. 25 sounds so cool. A nearly 30 unmarried librarian who knits, I’m afraid is most definitely not cool in this neck of the woods. Although it clearly is getting cooler by the second: there is a stand in the foyer outside our doors for the student union’s ‘Give it a go’ project, where you go along without joining a club to see if you like it. Knitting is one of the options, you have to book to go, they are doing it once every 3-4 weeks till the end of March, and I just think that is fab. Finally things are moving here! Anyway, I don’t have a pic yet, as it is too dark (I don’t see light during the day unless I go out for lunch), so maybe I’ll have good progress on the other sock by the time I get a camera to see the colours properly etc, as I cast on for the 2nd as soon as I finished the first. I love it. It fits really nicely. However, it only took about 35g of the 50g hank, so I’m going to have a good 30g left at the end. Enough for some trainer socks maybe?
I’ve had an email from Kerrie too saying that the silk she dyed for me is nearly dry, and if it is ready, I may end up coming back from my mum’s to a package… She likes it, and I’m feeling quite excited at the thought of it – she said she hopes I like it, and I have every confidence in her capabilities as a dyer, so I’m sure I will love it, in the kind of way that makes you wish you could marry yarn. I’ll post pics when it arrives. Yum.

Ok, this is one of many attempts to try and type up what has happened. I’ve got to try and keep the feelings of my family close to me on this one, and try and vent and help myself without hurting anyone else. I feel strange typing this stuff up, but I kind of feel the need to do it. It isn’t like me to be so open about my life, but, I’ve seen it happen many times on blogs, and the writers always seem to come out of it all much better for doing so. I really hope I don’t hurt anybody by blogging this. I may think it through after posting and maybe delete this after a short time. I dunno – I seem to have spent quite a while over this. We’ll see. But someone please say if they think I’m stepping over the line with this post.
Essentially, my mum phoned on Thursday last week to say her partner of about 13 years had died of lung cancer (not from smoking – his job involved working with quite toxic chemicals and other irritants to the lung, and he came from an era which didn’t recommend masks and that kind of thing). Mum lives on the coast, and was over here for Christmas and New Year. He died on Christmas Eve, and his sons from a previous relationship had tried to contact her, but hadn’t managed to get through. They’d used different numbers, none of which she knew, so she didn’t make the connection. She isn’t a direct relative, so the hospital didn’t contact her (and don’t give information freely), and she only found out the beginning of last week, when she phoned to try and find out if he was there when she hadn’t heard from him. Because she found out so late, she missed the funeral.
The whole things sucks. I feel so much anger, along with the grief (I didn’t know him well, but I’m obviously upset for my mum, and it is natural to feel this way after he’d been around so long) that his family didn’t make more of an effort, but then we don’t know what they did. We don’t know what happened, and we may never know. We’ll have our own little ceremony for him, in our own way, from what he said he wanted.
And for the sake of knitting, I haven’t done much, but the first jaywalker is nearly done. They might end up being symbolic now though. I may have to gift them, but that might help me too – something good to come out of this dark time, that makes me realise there are other people out there. Some charity knitting would be good too (I have some Oxfam patterns made by Rowan, and apparently Women’s Weekly has some extra ones for different charities in the new one out tomorrow), to help me purge myself a bit, while helping out others.
Ugh. I hope I’ve not done wrong by posting this – it feels strange being so personal. But even where I work, all you have to do is think something and everyone knows what you thought. I probably will delete this sometime though.

Just a message to my secret pal that if you have already read my questionnaire, then please note that I’ve edited it slightly to include some extra magazine information and fave yarn stuff.
The bad news the other day was really bad, but I’m not ready to talk yet. Maybe I’ll post in a day or two – I’m calmer now then I was yesterday, but only if I keep busy.