Archive for the 'general wittering' Category

results…

… of the Race for Life:

  • The Iknit team of which I was a part have raised over £3,700 for Cancer Research. Thank you so much to everybody who donated to this cause.
  • It was lovely finally to put faces to some familiar names!
  • I managed to achieve my target of running the whole 5k without stopping to walk at all. Hooray!
  • I also achieved my fastest time so far: 36 minutes. (Technically I crossed the finish line at 38 minutes, but didn’t get over the start until 2 minutes were already on the clock. Just saying.)
  • This might just be the next one…

… of the Yarn Raffle:

  • Steve pulled two names out of the hat to see who would win the yarn.
  • Heather B – you have won 1 skein of Sundara Fingering Silky Merino.
  • Shelley G – you have won the Posh Yarn Charlotte.
  • If you both drop me a line with your addresses I will get your prizes sent off to you!

Published on May 9, 2009. 21 Comments Tags: , , .

win yarn! sponsor me!

There is just over a week to go before I run in my first ever 5k race. On the 6th of May I’ll be taking part in the Race for Life in London’s Battersea Park, an event that raises money and awareness for Cancer Research.

I’ll be running as part of the Iknit London team. Other team members will, impressively, be knitting while running or walking. I, on the other hand, will have more than enough to concentrate on with not falling over my own laces.

Thank you so much to everyone who has already sponsored me for this event! I have been really touched by your support. However, I thought the time had come to be a little more pro-active about fundraising. On the one hand, this is not a huge race, and times are tough, so I haven’t wanted to go overboard on this; but on the other hand, it is for an excellent cause. It really doesn’t matter how much or how little you are able to give; every little really does help.

So, I thought I’d do a bit of a yarny giveaway. Here’s how it will work. If you would like to contribute, this link takes you to the sponsorship page for the Iknit team. Click on the link, and donate as much or as little as you like or are able. Leave a comment with your donation with my name in the comment* – this is so that I can identify you and put your name in the draw.

Everyone who does this will have their name put into a hat, and I’ll get Steve to pull out two names. Those people will win one of the two skeins of yarn photographed here.

The first skein is Sundara Yarn Fingering Silky Merino in the colourway The Life Aquatic. This is a 3-ply yarn, made from 50% silk and 50% merino wool. There are 500 yards and 150 grams in the skein. The colours include navy, teal and denim, with flashes of turquoise and pale lime peeping through.

The second skein is Posh Yarn Charlotte in the colourway Atlantis. This is a lace weight yarn, also made from 50% silk and 50% merino wool. There are  700 yards and 100g in the skein. The colours include sky blue, light turquoise, lilac, and aqua.

Thank you in advance!

*If you have already sponsored me but didn’t put my name in the comments, just drop me a line using the contact page, and I’ll add your name to the draw.

Published on April 27, 2009. 10 Comments Tags: , , , .

bullet point post

I don’t have much to show for knitting this week.

  • My Hedera socks are coming along nicely, I’m almost down to the heels now, and as I’m knitting them both at once I’ll be wearing them pretty soon!
  • The Hemlock Ring blanket that I’m working on is a joy to knit in the still-cold evenings. It’s warm and cosy to have on my lap, and requires almost no concentration at all!

Instead, I thought I’d fill you in on a couple of other things I’ve been up to.

I had just the best day last Saturday – here’s what I did:

  • My day started with a Laura Mercier makeover (not something that I do often!) The makeup artist put a LOT more makeup on me than I would normally wear, but she did have some really good ideas. I swear that they use four times as many products as you would yourself just in the hope that you buy something!
  • Afterwards, I went to stock up on a few essential oils, and discovered that the store’s massage therapist was offering a massive discount on aromatherapy massages. I must point out that this kind of spontaneous self-indulgence is really not the norm for me, but I managed to overcome that obstacle, and had a massage straight away!
  • After that I met Steve, and we had a lovely lunch together at a French restaurent next to the river Thames (photo above). It was the most fabulously sunny, warm spring day, and the river was full of rowers and canoeists. Wine was drunk, and our noses turned a little pink (in the sun, you understand…).
  • Oh, and that blue bag in the chair may just indicate a little retail therapy on the pretty frock front…
  • …but I should probably point out that the pushchair is nothing to do with me. Honest.

In other news, the yoga foundation course that I’m on ends soon, and I’ve been trying to decide which teacher training course to sign up to. Turns out it’s a bit of a minefield.

  • There is a UK governing body of yoga who claim that any training course not accredited by them is not ‘proper’ training. And then there are interational yoga schools, such as the Sivananda centres, who have been training teachers for forty years and have no desire to be accredited by the British Wheel.
  • The Sivananda training really appeals to me; it’s the type of yoga that I love practising the most. But I need to figure out whether doing their training might inhibit the possibility of teaching in the UK. If you have any experience of this area, I’d really love to hear your views!
Published on March 26, 2009. 18 Comments Tags: .

steps forward, back, forward, a milestone and a leap of faith…

Last year, I signed up for the Sock(topus) Sock Club. It’s the first sock club I’ve joined, and I have been looking forward to experimenting with new yarns and patterns. The first package came a couple of weeks ago, complete with some deliciously minty feet-pampering products.

The pattern is Om Shanti Bed Socks, and the yarn, Chameleon Colorworks Evolution,  is fabulously girlie and pink. You may recall that I’m a bit anal when it comes to variegated yarns – I get bothered by the unpredictability of how the colours knit up. However, I do like variegated socks when they are contrasted with plain heels and toes, so I cast these on with white toes.

Steps forward, back, forward

All was going well at first. I decided to knit both socks at once on two circular needles to avoid second sock syndrome, but after a while I realised that one sock was significantly bigger than the other. It turns out that one skein of yarn was actually quite a bit thicker than the other. But, all is now well. Alice from S0cktopus has graciously sent me another skein of thinner yarn, so now I can start the second sock again.

A milestone

I mentioned a while ago that I was following the Couch to 5k running programme. Well, on Saturday I reached a milestone that I am really proud of – I ran for twenty minutes without stopping! To put this in perspective, in December I could not run for more than one minute, and even that made me feel like my lungs would burst. Yay me!

A leap of faith

I have joined Iknit London‘s team to run a 5k Race for Life in Battersea Park in May. It feels pretty scary to commit to doing something like this, but I’m sure that by then I will be able to run at least 5k. At least, I hope so!

Published on February 9, 2009. 22 Comments Tags: , , .

out with the old…

First of all,  thank you so much for all your lovely birthday wishes – they really made my day!

At our wedding ceremony the vicar, knowing how much we loved hiking and hill-walking, spoke beautifully about cairns, the piles of stones that act as landmarks or were used to guide travellers on their paths. He used them as a metaphor for events, such as a wedding, that mark moments in our lives. The image has stayed with us over the years, as we have taken various twists and turns on our  journey together. This week we have arrived at a cairn that marks the start of  new phases in both our lives.

On Sunday I started my yoga foundation course, which is the first step towards training as a yoga teacher. I should be fully trained and have just started teaching by the time Alex leaves home to go to university. (That moment will be the beginning of a whole other phase!)

And Steve has gone back to work this week after a three month sabbatical. He flew off to Chicago yesterday, the first of many trips there and elsewhere around the world. I’m excited for him about his new job, as I think it will be one that he’ll love and on which he will thrive. But I am feeling quite sad at the change from having him here every day, to him being away for perhaps half his time.

These thoughts of old phases and new, of cairns and turning points,  reminded me that I have not yet shared any of my vintage knitting collection here. I love collecting, both the tools and the products of the handiwork of previous generations of women. I find that these relics in themselves act as markers, as comforting reminders, of how our craft has been passed down from one generation to another.

These are my grandmother’s knitting needles. They are not at all good to knit with, as they are sticky, bendy and all round unpleasant. But I adore seeing them in a jug on my shelves as they transport me back to my grandmother’s house, to her teaching me to knit tiny scarves for my teddy bears while she made amazing outfits for my Tiny Tears and other dolls.

The tin is a metal sewing box. It’s too rusty to use, but again, I love it. It has compartments inside for such essential items as glove buttons, pearl buttons, studs, darning needles and linen buttons, all of which sound like relics from another world.

And how about this illustration? I think it would have both obsessed and scared me when I was a child!

Published on January 13, 2009. 18 Comments Tags: , , .