....in where I cast on my 'geographical' socks

I have found a pattern for some socks that can only be described (by me at least!) as 'Geographical'. The pattern is called 'topographical' & the yarn is 'trekking xxl handpainted' in colourway 'Vulcan'! It actually seems to be an excellent (& fairly easy) pattern for self striped yarn & an alternative to personal favorite 'Queen Carolina's'. After I cast on I realised that they were also eligible for the Ravelry SKA April challenge -under appreciated patterns, written before Feb 1 2009. This is my second cast on in this category (what am I thinking?). The first ones (Twinning Lace) are at the first ankle. I love the colour. I love the yarn (Dream in Color Smooshy). I love the pattern. Do I love the socks? Not sure. I am sure they will feel fab. The smooshy is...... well smooshy, but seems a bit chunky for regular fingering yarn. What d'y think?

I would love to knit a 'smooshy' wrap or shawl though!

I have made some progress on 'Woodland Shawl', although the 'sock fest' has slowed it down a little. Cleite is here ,but I don't think the photograph does it justice- it isn't so 'busy' in real life. Maybe I will do a 'model' shot when not wearing sweatshirt & freshly out of the shower!

Today is Monday. Mr J & I have realised that this is the first Monday that we will have spent at home (rather than work or elsewhere) since August. We don't have alot planned. Hopefully my seeds will arrive from Dobies this morning so I can make the first sewing's of vegetables & salad crops in the polytunnel. If they don't I think I have some carrots & stir fry leaf salad left from last year. Mr J did a splendid job of digging it all over & building a little store outside to house all the pots & things when not in use. We need to re-install the drip feed watering system & its all good to go. Hopefully we can deter slugs & mice this year!

I am also learning about 'Twitter'. Didn't understand it when my friends mentioned it, so the only way to learn, imho, is to have a go (I am a visual/kinesthetic learner if you hadn't guessed!). I now occasionally 'tweet' as 'fromonthehill'!!!!

lunchtime update: My seed order arrived & (for my records) I have just made 1st sewing's of carrot ideal, carrot purple haze (yes! purple carrots),leaf salad french mix, leaf salad lettuce special mixed (I am so fed up with paying £1.50+ for a bag of salad!), beetroot cylindra, sweet basil, lila(red spring onion), Dwarf bean 'Stanley' & 'Purple Burpee', Courgettes, sunflowers, French & English marigolds (Apricot Tart!), rubekia & lobilia. Mr J requested a yellow/orange theme for the flower bed this year!

Sing a powerful song!

Mr J & I went to see The Saw Doctors in concert at The Royal Hall in Harrogate last night! What a great way to start the Easter Holidays! They were FANTASTIC! One long party of fun & irishness! Everyone clapped, bopped & sang along. My hands hurt from clapping & my face ached from smiling! If you have a liking for this brand of excellence, then go see them if you can!

Did I mention it was holiday time in teacher land? It is & not a day too soon! Not skiing this Easter but spending time doing up the old castle a bit & (shh, don't tell Mr J) knitting! Cleite shawl is blocking on my bed & I have plans for a sock cast on fest. this afternoon! Pictures will follow.

I do have a couple of pictures of our 'venture to Kent to pick up son & heir (home safely & quickly back in employment to earn some dosh before rejoining academia(!) in September.

This is Bodiam Castle, which is a treat in the spring sunshine:The two geographers had to, of course, go have a look at Dungeness. Its a huge shingle spit, backed by Romney Marsh. Its odd! Its described by some as fragile & eclectic! The garden & shack used to belong to the filmmaker Derek Jarman.

Its fab. to have our skier back. The house (broke the sofa within 10 minutes of been back) & food bill are noticing the difference!

Pacific Rim & other knits

I have cast on for the Woodland Shawl in 'Dream in Color' Baby. I love it! The colour, the slightly nubbly, homespun (not by me, but by someone good!) texture of the yarn, the simple but satisfying pattern.... get the picture? In good Ravelry fashon I felt the project deserved a name & whilst I had my one ideas I mentioned it to Mr J. said I wanted to reflect the colour & pattern. He came up with Tofino & Wakaninish, both on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Trees rolling down to foggy, stormy beaches. Clearly we had the same memories bang before our eyes, those of an awesome trip to British Colombia some 12 years ago. Skiing in Whistler, followed by a trip across to the Pacific Coast of Vancouver Island & down to Victoria, so the project is christened 'Pacific Rim Shawl'. Here she is:I have put it to one side though, once cast on & approved of by my KAL chums because I want to finish Cliete. Here she is, pictured in the early evening sunshine! I am onto a second skein of the malbrigio lace & I will continue for a while yet, so I can wrap my self in a cloud of butter soft, whisper warmth.

Mr J's simple thick socks are also nearer to completion with their simple plain foot & baby cable ankle top:

The yarn is regia dk, kaffe fasset 'landscape fire'. Its a bit scratchy but first wash should resolve that. What else? I bought myself these:

K2 'Burnin Lov' lady skis! They are so pretty & should ski like a dream. Shame I wont get to use them anytime soon but they were a huge bargain & exactly what I wanted.

...and my 'baby' comes home on Sunday! Home from the snows! Gee three months have flow by, chaos will return to the hill!

March Days

Did March come 'in like a lion' or 'in like a lamb'? Currently its hailing here, 10 minutes ago the sun was shining & it looked like a cool but grand spring day. This seems to have been the story of the week since March 1st. On Friday I went to York with the sixth form Geographers to look at the flood defences and as we walked into the city along the River Ouse it was a beautiful day.

Mr J has just walked into the kitchen & told me that there is heavy snow in central Scotland! I have just checked the Courcheval 360 degree webcam & it appears they have moved beyond a three day long period of snow, although a look at the sky suggests that it is not settled. A look at the weather forecast definitely backs that up!

All this weather talk provides a kind of link into a possible knitting project. The yarn is 'Dream in Color baby' in colour 'Beach Fog'! The proposed pattern is 'Woodland Shawl'. I have knitted this before in slightly thicker yarn (Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock) which I love & several of the Harrogate 'Nutty Nitters' have this in their queue. I wore my Woodland Shawl to Knit Night on Wednesday & by Thursday morning there were posts about a proposed Woodland Shawl KAL. Inspection of the stash identified a number of possibilities but they would have meant buying 'a bit more'. The pattern calls for just over 400 yards but I used 600 in my shawl & I certainly would want it longer, even before blocking than the 40" suggested in the pattern. I used all of 3 skeins of the Shepherd Sock. In my stash I do have some Dream in Color Baby & it comes in skeins a million miles long (or did it just feel like that when I was winding it -I had to split it in two for my ball winder!) & it is a 'thicker lace weight', so what do you think?

I think Cleite would have to go on a back burner, although woodland is fairly easy 'TV' & 'Travel' knitting once the pattern is established & Cleite, although not difficult, does demand more concentration as the malibrigio lace weight can be a little slippy & dive off the needles if not closely supervised. Cleite is from the Autumn Twist Collective & is a beautiful pattern to knit. It is the first pattern I have knitted by Miriam L. Felton but I am sure that it will not be the last. This yarn & colourway suits the closer stitches of Cleite. It was going nowhere with 'Spring Things' as the lace stitches were getting lost in the colour, so frogged it was. The colour is called 'loro barranquero'. I can't help but love this yarn. The colours are fab, its as soft as butter & even with the grotty exchange rate you get a whole lot of knitting for your £££££'s. I have a skein of 'Azelea' & another pink one in my stash!

Skiing and thick socks.....

Is it only a week since our last day of skiing in Courcheval? Seems longer! We had an awesome week. Obviously it was great to spend time with son & heir. He is having the time of his life & seems to be doing really well on his GAP ski instructors course. Why wouldn't he be? He is skiing every day, in the best ski season in Europe for 25 years, with a group of like minded & likable young people and his own skiing abilities are being even further developed by the fantastic team from 'New Generation' Ski School. We also had huge fun introducing my sister & brother in law to skiing. At least one of them is officially hooked & both report dreaming of snow every night since we got back!!!!

Teaching uncle!

The bobble hats were needed. The sun shone most days, but temperatures stayed low!

On the knitting front, my current 'obsession' (me...obsessed with knitting? Surely not!!!) is thick socks. I currently have two pairs on the needles & yarn lined up for more. I have used DK yarn (Regia Crazy Colors for me, Kaffe Fasset Regia Landscape for himself) & usual 2.5 mm needles to make a 'springy' dense sock for walking boots & shoes. Just stocking stitch for travel knitting but perhaps something more interesting next. I will upload the photos soon. I am also trying to 'perfect' toe up sock knits & use up all of the yarn!

I long to go back to the snow......................................

Modern Art?

I found dumpr.net & turned this photo of Mr J & Moss into a exhibit in a Museum of Modern Art!

Daft but quite entertaining!

I usually use Bighugelabs.com for such silliness/ effects. This gentleman (I think it was a tup) was photographed on our Sunday walk near to the interestingly named Kettlesing Bottom. The effect is 'Motivational Poster'!

No effects, but pretty much summarises the conditions that remain up here 'under paw'!

Winter days

Snow came to Nidderdale just as it did to many parts of the UK. I didn't get a 'snow day' though! Actually the local council did a fantastic job of keeping our roads open. The snow plough ran through the night on Sunday night & the gritters just keep going. I think the worst roads I encountered were last night in Harrogate but it didn't stop me getting to 'Knit Night'. Having a 4x4 truck really comes into its own at times like these!

I have been a 'little knitting demon' for the last couple of weekends. I have knitted 3 bobble hats. One 'Utopia' in Drops Alaska (purple one). One big cream tea cosy in Drops Eskimo & One blue (with blue & orange pom pom -very important) in Drops Karisma. The last two are my own pattern based on a simple twisted stitch. I may get round to writing up the pattern because it seems to make a 'lofty' warm hat, even in the DK weight. The yarn for the three cost £14! All are 100% wool. Son & heir bought a cute (but acrylic) cabled bobble hat in France,just before we left, for a little over £25!!!!!
My Nutkin socks & DH's hut socks are finished. The Nutkin pattern is a simple treat of a sock! They may become another favorite alongside 'No purl monkeys' & 'Queen Carolina's (also without her purls!).

I have also 'designed' and knit another cowl in Malabrigo chunky. For 'designed' read 'cast on 64 stitches, knit one row of K2 P2 & then decide to go off piste with a few cables after some very simple Maths! It was knit on 8mm circular to give quite a firm cowl -a polo neck without the jumper kind of thing, which will hopefully keep my neck, ears & face warm skiing.

What else have we been up to? Work? Let's not go there! We have managed some good weekend walks with Moss, getting some fresh air for an hour or so. We went to Linton, near Grassington, for a stroll en route to tea at the 'outlaws' the other Saturday. This was lovely. We have walked the lanes nearer home & last Sunday went to Fountains Abbey. Funny that I have never noticed this before.....

Son & heir continues to have an awesome time in France. It keeps snowing there too, but with sunshine in between!

Happy February!