What I Did Last Week

Got a yarn order delivered:

This is going to be for my nephew's Christmas present. 

Had a meltdown at work

My line manager couldn't understand why I was so upset; I thought it was pretty obvious.  Lesson learned is, next time, to take a deep breath and make it clear every last thing that I'm not able to do, because I've run out of time. 

Bought some beads, which may well end up in a project at some point

After going in to meltdown at work, I went along to Flying Tiger to look for some beads, after hearing on the Sockmatician podcasts that he bought some chunky beads from Flying Tiger and designed a cowl around them.  (From the look if it, I've got exactly the same beads that he has).  I've got some Rowan alpaca yarn to have a play around with, so we'll have to see what happens. 


Bought a book: 

Friday was pay day and we went for drinks after work.  I'd seen this book in John Lewis a couple of weeks ago, and wanted to get it before it disappeared from the shelves.  I was intrigued by the idea of architecture as an inspiration, and liked some of the patterns that I'd seen.  

The book wasn't where I expected and I had to ask one of the assistants for a book: "I can't remember its title; it was 'something Knitting' and was about architecture".  She didn't have a clue - but did help me find a copy, tucked away behind another book. 

Bought another book:

The Nordic knitwear designers Arne and Carlos were doing an event in Liberty of London called 'Meet the Designers'.  I arrived with twelve whole minutes to spare, feeling hot and flustered.  After I spent a couple of minutes pretending to look at the yarn in an attempt to calm down, I started chatting to them - and they were lovely.  Somebody came along and spoke Norwegian to them, which I wasn't expecting - but it is London after all, so it wasn't a massive surprise. 

I'd already seen their video explaining why their Regia Pairfect yarn is only suitable for cuff down socks (unless you want a really odd looking sock), so we had a discussion about that.  Carlos explained the theory of cuff down socks; Arne picked up that I didn't look quite convinced. 

We talked about short rows - working out the differences between the fish lips kiss heel and Japanese short rows (apparently you lift the stitch on different sides).  Carlos made a comment that they were leaving the shop to go straight to the airport - which I took as my cue to depart.  I got their book, and a ball of the cuff down Pairfect yarn, as the colours were nicer.  They had both left the shop before I'd paid.  I didn't get a photo, but they did sign the book. 

I can work out the first word is 'strikk' or some variation - but can anyone make out the rest?

Messed up the second sock in the pair:

Somehow, I've dropped a stitch, then pulled the stitches above it so tight, that there isn't a ladder to pick up the dropped stitch.  I suspect the best way to fix it, is to drop a couple more stitches each side, to get a bit of wriggle room back.  It's either that, or undo about twenty rows. 

Bought a magazine with the cutest diary:

Free with this month's issue (number 81) of Knit Now magazine.  I doubt I'll be using the diary - but that's my nephew's birthday present sorted for next year.  First, however, I need to find the pattern so I can get cracking with his Christmas present for this year.

What has your week brought you?

Computer Systems are Down

Last weekend, Mr Knitty took me on a tour of Down Street.  This made at least one of my friends a bit envious.  For those who aren't complete geeks, Down Street is a tube station that went out of service before World War II and was then converted to be the headquarters of the Railway Executive Committee.  Staff would be in the station for three weeks at a time, so conversions included a kitchen, bathrooms and sleeping quarters.  There were no lights, so we all had to use torches.  There were points in the tour we had to stop and switch the torches off, so that they didn't distract drivers passing through the station.  Of course, I came away with design ideas.

My wristband, which I inexplicably lost somewhere between the tour and dinner. 

The outside of Down Street, as it looks now. 

A plan of the station, displayed inside.

There's a host of abandoned stations across London.(I really want to visit Brompton Road; our tour guide is holding out for King William Street).  Transport for London still own the abandoned stations, some of which are still maintained should they be needed for emergency evacuations.  (Better pictures of Down Street from other blogs are here and here) 

I've never been so excited to see something which isn't in the Johnston typeface. 

The telephone exchange, buried deep inside the station

The lift shaft, which I immediately recognised from pictures I've seen in blogs. 

The purple and green sparkly socks are continuing.  As I was getting bored of vanilla socks, I thought I'd stick a pattern on.  The pattern I wanted didn't quite work, so I ended up with this:

Pattern of stockingette and garter stitch stripes.
Yarn = Funny with sparkle, by Opal in colourway drollig/droll

For some reason, I'm having problems with getting a basic pattern right.  I messed it up and tinked back, only to mess it up again.  I tinked back again, only to find:

See, just above my thumb?  Knits where there should be purls - and vice versa. 

This is why vanilla socks will never go out of fashion.

A couple of months ago, I ordered yarn from some independent dyers in North America (The Yarn Jar, String Theory Colorworks and Desert Vista Dyeworks).  The yarn is luscious and I want to support small businesses.  However, I made the mistake of getting them sent to my work address, which meant that the delivery card went missing and two months later, I still don't have my yarn.  I was trying to resolve one order last Monday with Loriann from The Yarn Jar, but Etsy was throwing a wobbly.

At the same time, I was trying to buy yarn for my Christmas knitting.  Website one had what I wanted, but it had an SQL error at the till, so I couldn't pay.  Website two didn't have everything I was after, so I had to enlist the help of website three.

Two purchase problems in one evening.  Is the Internet trying to impose stash control on my behalf?  It seems the only logical solution.

A Summary into Winter

Yeah - my aim at posting once a week has rather fallen by the wayside.  Since coming back from Iceland, I had a couple of months of horrible stress.  It's levelled out a bit - but I suspect it'll be back soon.  

• I spent a weekend with my sister (which will be a separate post, somewhen). 

• I had a birthday.  I hate birthdays, but even by my standards, it was hideous this year.  To add insult to injury, I didn't get a birthday cake.  

• Mr Knitty and I spent a weekend in Salisbury; he thought I needed to be cheered up a bit - and he was right. 

• Aunt S and I went to a recording of The Last Leg on Friday.  Apparently if you stay in the restaurant having another glass of wine, and only arrive at the studio ten minutes before the deadline, you don't actually get in to the audience.  Oops! 

• For reasons beyond this blog - one of my colleagues has gifted me a bracelet, I'm also starting a new pair of socks.  You'll notice what they have in common. 

Meanwhile, last weekend I spent the best part of two days feeling ill.  (I'm not 100% recovered.  I did try some knitting, but it was sporadic.  It's really difficult to concentrate when you just want to be asleep. 

Whilst scrolling through Netflix, I found the National Knitting Evening broadcast in Norway in 2013.  Oh, I so want to visit Norway now.  I'm wondering if I could persuade Mr Knitty to come with me on a knitting tour of Norway for my next Big Birthday. 

During the evening, people were sharing their knits, via social media.  This was my favourite: