A Challenge

I have, over the years bought yards of non-fiction books, all bar none are about knitting, pattern books, technique books, stitch dictionarys, you get the idea. I have lovingly and faithfully read them from cover to cover, marvelling over the miriad of beautiful projects and have so far not knitted a thing from them. Don't get me wrong I always have every intention of knitting countless amounts from them, they are full of post-it notes bookmarking the things I want to do, some of these post-its even name the yarns I have in my stash that I can use to make them with. Still they haven't been knitted.

So naturally my challenge is to get off my pondering backside and do some of them. Which one to start first though, now I could spend days once again leafing through all the books, actually make that weeks there are alot of books, trying to make up my mind flitting from one project to another, constantly changing my mind again and again and again. Instead I have elected to start with the last book I bought, Alice Starmore's, Aran Knitting, now there are quite a few projects that spring to mind from this particular book, Irish Moss, Na Craga, St Ciaran, the list goes on, but in my infinite wisdom I have decided on Maidenhair Shawl.

Now all I have to do is some stash diving to see if I have anything approaching suitable for this, if not, damn, I will have to do some shopping for more yarn, I have plenty of overtime this month so I can treat myself to something special to celebrate my good sense in taking on this challenge. And in case you were wondering, no, there is no particular reason for this particular project, it was just the first first one that jumped out of the pages and hit me over the head pleading to be cast on and maybe one day cast off again as an official FO.

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2011, what a celebration we had, we were in bed by ten and fast asleep as the rest of the country rocked their socks off. Mr Roadside has got swine flu so we cancelled our plans and snuggled on the sofa, most of the family have had the dreaded lurgy over Christmas so it was all a little subdued to say the least, as well as the grandaughters bedroom ceiling collasping on Boxing day due to a leak in a pipe that was 'fixed' a couple of months ago, Christmas was not the riot it normally is in the Roadside House, enjoyable none the less though.
Resolutions, I think not, they never make it through the first week. Knitting took a back seat in 2010, I went from having no job to having three, so have been running to keep up with myself. My craft room is no more, it is now the grandchildrens room, sad but necessary.
Today I intend on knitting my work buddy a hat for his 40th birthday this week, he is from Slovakia and I have been trying in vain to find something even vaguely Slovak to incorporate into the hat, but apart from their national flag I can find nothing, absolutely nothing.
I would like to try and blog this year, (no, not a resolution) maybe even get a few pictures of FOs up, we will see anyway.

Another Day

I am so crap at this, my intentions are good but I get side tracked by just about everything these days, and not having a job is really doing my head in, or should I say that not having any money because I do not have a job is doing my head in even more, Christmas could be quite bleak this year, oh well so long as the babies get presents the grown ups will understand, though I will feel really guilty if I can get nothing for my two, even if they are grown ups. Talking of which I have almost finished a shrug for my big baby girl for Christmas, can't take a photo of it I have no idea where my phone has gone, the little one was playing with it on Saturday so who knows what little hidy hole it has ended up in.

Book Shelf

Just a single shelf of my knitting books. Apologies for the non quality of the photo, but until I can afford a phone with a decent camera or a new camera I am stuck with my old mobile. A blog looks much prettier if it contains photos, so I will try to include them when I can even if the quality is not so good. I kind of had a quick tidy up of my books this morning (they were all over the house) and marvelled at how many books I actually have. I love buying books, knitting books in particular, we are very lucky in having a fantastic charity book shop in the village and I find a lot of good books in there, most of them are from the 80's, occasionally I get a more recent print, but I have managed to increase my collection without spending loads of money, most of the books I pick up for £1 or less.
The books on this shelf from left to right are;
First Knits - Liuise Roberts & Kate Haxell
Bright Knits for Kids - Debbie Bliss
Thrown Together - Kim Hargreaves
Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting - Marianne Kinzel
First Book of Modern Lace Knitting - Marianne Kinzel
Nursery Knits - Zoe Mellor
Yarnplay - Lisa Shobhana
Retro Knits - Edited by Kari Cornell & Jean Lampe
Knitting Now - Gabi Tubbs
Special Family Knits - Debbie Bliss
Cotton Collection - Sue Bradley
Cotton Knits - Edited by Sally Harding
She Knitting Patterns - Edbury Press
The Best of Interweave Knits - Edited by Ann Budd
Folk Mittens - Marcia Lewanddowski
Folk Socks - Nancy Bush
Wrap Style - Pam Allen & Ann Budd
Good Housekeeping Knitting
Folk Shawls - Cheryl Oberle
Artic Lace - Donna Druchunas
Victorian Lace Today - Jane Sowerby
Big Just got Bigger - Rowan
Luxury Yarn One Skein Wonders - Edited by Judith Durrant
101 Designer Yarn Stash Wonders - Edited by Judith Durrant
Yarn Stash Wonders - Edited by Judith Durrant

Hazel Housewife

I have been playing Hazel Housewife today, the hoover actually got turned on and used, and I outdid myself at dinner and did Roast Chicken with all the other roasty bits, and even did the washing up straight after we had finished.
Not much knitting has been happening today, just playing around with a toy animal pattern, not even sure what type of animal it will be yet, I will just have to see how he shapes up. What I really want to do is a Clapotis, but for some reason I can not get past the first few rows without making a mess of it, just get total brain freeze every time I pick up the pattern, and I can never make my mind up which yarn I will do it in, I change my mind every time I think about it.
I picked up The Knitter magazine today, nothing in it I would actually knit this month, but I like the articles they feature and it is such a pretty magazine, beautifully presented. Mind you flicking through it again there is a gorgeous Shetland Lace Shawl pattern that kind of floats my boat may even have some yarn that may be just right for it, think I need to go stash diving.

Little Bunny

This is Little Bunny, he does not have a name, and yes I know he is wearing a pink jumper, but he likes pink, he's a very enlightened bunny. Little Bunny does not have a face, I do not like faces on my toys, I will put faces on for other people but I like mine without a physical face, I can see his face in my mind.
I designed the patern for LB last year, I may still have the pattern notes floating around somewhere in my knitting room, in one or two of the hundreds of notebooks I seem to collect, my mum is the same cannot resist a notebook, does not even have to be a pretty one, just as long as it has got lots of pages.
I only got around to photographing him yesterday, not the best photo either, but I only have my mobile camera at the moment and it is pretty pants to be honest.
You may have noticed I slipped in a remark about my knitting room, yes I have a whole room for all my knitting bits and bobs (and other crafty bits I dabble in). When my daughter finally left home I was left with a spare room, various discussions were had with Mr Roadside over what the room could be used for, guests, our grandaughter, storage etc, but I got my own way as usual and took over the room as my little escape from the rest of the house, and also to keep my stash and knitting book collection from spilling over the rest of the house, it still spills but in a more controlled way. This room is the only tidy room in the house, I love sorting and putting everything away in it's own little cubby hole, shame I cannot say the same for the rest of the house.

Lets Start Again

I have decided to give the blog another try, how long it will last I really do not know, but I can give it a go.It has been a long time since I wrote anything on here and so much has happened since I hardly know where to start.
The biggest news is that I am now a Nana, two years ago last month my wonderful daughter and her husband had the most beautiful little girl, I cannot tell you how much I love this little Bubba, only another grandparent will know how it feels, and it is so much better than having your own children, all the fun and none of the sleepless nights, unless they stay over, but the odd broken nights sleep is so worth it.
I was laid off my job in January this year, haven't worked full time since, but have helping out some friends in their Diner (really posh burger van) and other assorted vehicles, it has been great fun and has kept the wolves from the door.
This Friday I start a short free course for women wanting to start their own business within the crafting industry, not to sure what to expect, but hopefully I will learn a few tricks that I can apply to what I hope is a new direction.
Right, the new direction. Not much knitting has been going on in recent years, lots off casting on and sticking unfinished projects to one side to start something new, then upon rediscovering the projects they have been frogged because I could not be bothered to work out what point in the pattern I had gotten too. I have been tinkering around with a few design ideas and would like to take myself off in this direction. Now knowing how good I am at starting something and not following it through I have no idea how long this will last but hey ho lets give it a go.
I would like to start with maybe a few simple free patterns to see how they are received and to also iron out any pattern writing glitches, then build up a library of patterns available to buy, more than likely through Ravelry and linked to here. How far I can take this idea is anyones guess, like all budding designers you dream of becoming a knitting guru, that other knitters talk of in awed tones but that in all reality is unlikely, but I can dream.....