Forteen ninty five

Went out today to take a few photos of my newly finished sweater.


I can't understand this black margin in my resized photo - I will investigate later.

The place is called the Castle Hill and it's near Huddersfield. Nice countryside but grey clouds and very windy. The weather was like this all spring - on the other hand it has been a good test for my sweater which seams to be wind proof as well as warm.

I think I'm going to love it. And I want to get more Rowan Cocoon in the future - these have been mill ends bough cheap in Coldspring Mil ( 14.95 for a big bag 950 gr.) and the yarn is quite fuzzy and very loosely spun.

If I'd do this pattern again I would do the sleeves on less stitches - I could clearly see they were too large, just that somehow when I follow a pattern I tend to become dumb and not think anymore. I guess guidence comes with its limitations. And here is another photo from a nearby forest. Bluebells are out.

2009 And such a fresh start

I can't believe I didn't post anything in December - I guess it's all down to bad weather and the associated 'no trips/no photos' combination. Unless you count Blackpool as going out.

The main news is that I've started a new job and I'm quite excited about it - I went back to programming after years of project management (read 'farting around' while waiting for my papers) but there are lots of new experimental things involved in it, new technologies, rfid, hexadecimals, bla, bla, bla, so it's kind of worth the effort. The effort of remembering elementary syntax I mean.

Knittingwise I'm happy now with my last stash burner project, which obviously had to undergo surgery at the end as all the others - yes, it is important to go down a needle size while doing the ribbing.

Repeat this till it sinks in. Doesn't look like I can ever remember it. Can you spot the 'deja vu' look in her eyes?


My own pattern - and I have plans to add some elements to it as I find it quite boring now that it's finished. Some bobbles or leaves or I don't know what. I will attempt a decent photo soon - if we ever see the sun again in Yorkshire.

The other thing I'm knitting/sneezing/knitting is the Cluster Berry sweater, which I strongly hope to finish till next week, to wear it at my first management meeting with the new company. I wrote 'knitting' as my hobby in my resume - I'll see how many of my new bosses will make the association.
The yarn was a bargain (can I ever resist) and it's all over the house now, a blue angora cloud which is just taking over everything.

Plans for 2009 . I think I'll be happy to be able to complete a sweater each 3 months : Demi is first on the list but I don't have the yarn for it yet, a Japanese pattern+yarn waiting and might be actually the next one, nice green stash aran yarn + my own pattern waiting, and St. Brigid maybe. And can we fit other things in between : Yes, we can.

Let's hope for a good year.

Obama President?

The Americans are electing a new president and what an exciting chance they've got this time. One one hand they have Barack Obama which I really like for being intelligent and keeping genuine ( and what a rare quality this is in the ego land of politics), on the other hand Sarah Palin, the American chavette. What's it going to be ? Like John McCain just said - he can't understand how come Obama is not leading with 20% already.
We know what you mean John, we can't understand either.
Back to knitting. Finished the Japanese butterfly.




and I'm well into my next 'Normal and please keep me warm sweater'. Pictures soon.
I have a few other projects is mind - just bought some blue angora and some Cocoon yarn (bargains) from Coldspring Mill. I should visit more often.
Trying to catch up with life facts:
- we are decorating a few rooms in order to repair the floods damages. Chaos everywhere.
- I've got a new project at work which is very interesting but requires working at their place and not at home (9 to 5 and I hate it, but at least I don't have to contemplate the disaster at home)
- I've sent my daughter to University and her independence is scary, to say the least.

Yes - we had a good summer

I had a choice in July to stay in England and spend my birthday at a party (party which had nothing to do with me), organised by my partner's ex wife, (which BTW is still 'on board' as she's our accountant), or to fly abroad and spend ten days in Mallorca(my daughter's suggestion). Guess which one I picked (and how fast).

The resort is a small port in the north part of the island, it's called Puerto Pollensa and amazingly it's still untouched by the mass tourism plague which covers most parts of Mallorca.

This is the the terrace of our hotel - everything in 50 metres: beach, port, small restaurants, all sorts of shops and boutiques, plus live music every evening.

I don't think we could have found anything better then this. Did I mention the sea was crystal clear?

I had my knitting with me - obviously didn't get very far - discovered that I can't knit while sun bathing or swimming. I didn't miss it though. I think more and more about moving in a sunnier country.

Knitting wise I'm into Japanese stuff again- it's almost finished and I love it.

I still have to finish the sleeves - both are ready till the armhole decreases - then I need to see if I can figure out some basic crochet stitches on my own. If not I'll have to rely on ravelry again.

I've blogged it extensively here:

http://www.knittingelegance.blogspot.com/

Japanese leaf top

Managed to finish this top - it was a quick knit. I like the pattern and everything - just that I wish I would have done it a bit smaller.

Japanese patterns again

Started another summer top while still waiting for the yarn for THE.MOST.BEAUTIFUL.PATTERN EVER. Anyone trying to guess what pattern am I talking about :) ?

More about this one on the Knitting Elegance KAL.
Oh, and some white strawberry fields.

Not much else happening yesterday, apart from the fact that I've sprained my ankle coming back from the dentist, plus that I had to go through the related three hours in the A&E.

Lets' not forget about finding at the dentist that I'll need thousands for an implant operation for my daughter. Plus having to pay £125 for a nice 10 minutes consultation=chat, about the future procedure.

Plus returning home from the hospital and finding the main computer I use for development totally dead.

I could definitely do with skipping these days entirely.

Sir Terry Wogan and the Eurovision contest

I was listening to the radio this morning and it doesn't look to me as Sir Terry Wogan got over all this Eurovision thing.
Just want to say that I completely agree and emphasise with him, it's obvious we should definitely redraw from this ridiculous competition where we can't stand a chance mainly because nobody (well, apart from Ireland) loves us .
Furthermore, in order to promote our local music ( and be a bit more certain we have some good chances of actually winning the bloody thing ), we should start a totally new contest, with UK as the main competitor ( and if possible with more than one candidate ), plus some of the following other states : Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada, Papua New Guinea...and if that's not enough, let's just pick a few more from the list here.

Now, if we'll still find ourselves in difficulty to clearly win this one, maybe we should think twice about sending Andy morphed into Cico to sing a song I could not remember five minutes later. Just a thought.
(I'm not sure how to spell Cico - but somehow I can't be asked to look further into the matter).

Another important thing: we should change the voting rules obviously. The public can not be trusted therefore should not be allowed to vote. It is ridiculous how the diaspora altered all votes across Europe. (How do I know this?)

Anyway - it's not all lost. If you're in the Cabinet and reading this, I'd say urgently ask for the UK votes list, anyone smart enough should be able find out straight away the exact level of immigration in the UK.
Do not forget you might need divide the numbers by 2 though, as I voted both from the land line and my mobile and I guess everybody else did pretty much the same. Even so - I bet you anything you'll get a much better estimation than the governmental current one.

Oh, and by the way, Terry, the Russian skater is far from being 'an obscure sport figure :) '...you might need to do a bit more research here. Just saying.