Yay I'm anaemic!

Well, strictly speaking, I’m not – my haemoglobin levels are fine, but my long-term iron store – my ferritin levels – are low. I finally had a Coeliac clinic appointment today – they seem to be reorganising the way Coeliacs are followed up as for the first time I saw a dietician rather than a registrar. I know anaemia doesn’t sound like the best of news, but I’ve been dealing with the symptoms for a couple of years now (getting run down way more than most other people I know, feeling the cold a lot more than I used to, being completely wiped out by periods), so it’s a relief to discover that I’m not simply pathetic, but there is a simple physical reason for it. I suspect I’ve not really had a decent iron store since having Ruth – so now I have instructions to eat more meat And of course more vitamin C containing foods to encourage absorption. Sounds like steak and chips on the menu for me

Oh – and the UK Swap question for this week (I do these so late – sorry).
Have you done a swap before (doesn’t have to be a knitting swap)? What do you like best about swapping? Are there any personal “requirements” that a swap has to have before you will join?

I’ve done a couple of swaps – SP7 (I think it was 7, it may have been 6), International Scarf Exchange 2 and Sockapal000za – oh, and Sock Wars, which is a kind of swap really. They were all fun in different ways. I think I probably enjoyed the ones where I made stuff most. I get the biggest buzz out of planning the parcel for my swappee – in a way getting stuff is a bonus – I enjoy thinking of perhaps slightly different sorts of gifts that the recipient might not otherwise get. As for requirements – the only one is that I don’t do too many. It is fun taking part in a swap, but a little voice nags away in my head saying “Why don’t you just spend £20 on yourself and get something you know you want?” – Because that way I don’t get to know anyone else – that’s why not!

Playing with the lace panel

I’ve been having a go at getting the lace panel on Reverse Psockology more even – people (including me!) have been commenting that it is difficult to get the holes formed by the yarn-overs the same size because of the transition between knit and purl stitches – oddly, this doesn’t seem to have been a problem with my original test knit:

However, as I said, I’ve been experimenting – so far the best result I’ve come up with is:
Round 1: K to marker, P2tog, P1, P2togtbl, K to end.
Round 2: K to marker, L&PF, P3, L&PB, K to end.
Round 3: K to marker, P1, P3tog, P1, K to end.
Round 4: K to marker, P1, L&PF, P1, L&PB, P1, K to end.
Repeat.

L&PF: Lift and purl front. From the front lift the top strand which goes between the needles and purl. (Kate Gilbert has a good explanation of this as M1L here – just remember to purl rather than knit.)

L&PB: Lift and purl back. From the back lift the top strand which goes between the needles and purl. (This is the equivalent of M1R.)

This gives the most symmetrical panel I’ve managed to knit – if anyone has any other suggestions I’d be very grateful to receive them.

UK Swap Topic Week 5

What kind of Spoilee are you? Are you paranoid that it’s not being sent, or lost in the post? Do you want it to arrive quickly? OR Do you enjoy the anticipation? Sitting and pondering when it will arrive… and anxiously waiting for it, close to the deadline?

Hmmm – I’m really looking forward to it, but not anxiously so. I really enjoy the little bits of chat I’ve had with my upstream pal (Hi Pal!) – it’s the getting to know someone that I enjoy the most – the gifts are a (really good!) bonus. This is only my second swap – I was a bit put off by my first experience as that time my upstream pal wasn’t great at contacting me – she was incredibly busy, so I don’t begrudge her anything, and she did send one whopper parcel at the end instead of the intended smaller ones, but it simply wasn’t as much fun as it was contacting my downstream pal.

This time it seems to be the other way round rather – lovely regular comments from my upstream pal, but no replies from my downstream one. However the only thing that really worries me about this is whether or not she’s receiving my emails – I don’t want to stalk her too vehemently, but neither do I want her to feel ignored…

Happy Dance Time!

I love it!
Daisy Chain Scarf from Jan Knits.
Crocheted with Koigu KPM and Plymouth Yarns Sockotta. (3.5mm hook – I think).

UKSwap question 4 is about our favourite Valentine’s Day memory. What is it about questions like that that make my mind go a total blank. I’m not that big on Valentine’s Day. Too much pressure, too much cynical marketing, too much expectation leading to disappointment. There was the year I received a wonderful card, with a poem, written by the post-grad who sent it to me. It was very touching, and the perfect Valentine’s card – only problem was that I simply wasn’t interested, which rather tarnishes the memory.

I suppose the best memory was just over 6 years ago, mid-January, having a coffee with a friend in the local Supermarket, and realising that all the Valentine’s Day stuff was on the shelves, and that by the time Valentine’s Day arrived my life would have turned upside down as I would have had a baby. And indeed on 8th Feb Adam arrived. (And in all the chaos I managed to arrange for a gift for John for Valentine’s Day – I’m not certain, but that could have been the last time I did so… )

But that means we’ve had a birthday in the family – which means a cake – here it is:

We’re getting a nice little tradition going – I bake the cake, John does the decorating. This year the success of the decoration far-exceeded the success with the cake, which was close to inedible. (The children ate it anyway – it was sweet… )

An FO, some progress and a new obsession...

First of all the FO:

U-Neck Vest, (Ravelry link) converted to use 4-ply.
It’s not a perfect fit – ideally I’d like the neckline to fit better, and I could do with the shoulders being a little narrower. But overall I’m very pleased with it – the ribbing does exactly as it’s supposed to, and hugs my figure exactly the right amount (not tooooo much!)

Progress:

One and a half socks down, half a sock to go… I started getting a bit scared about how much yarn I was using, so I decided to put in contrasting heels and toes – (you can’t see the toe, but it’s just the same as the heel.) In fact, from the amount of yarn left from the first ball after the first sock was finished, I needn’t have worried, but I rather like the contrast anyway. (And when I go through the heel or toe, it’ll be so much easier to replace them.)

New obsession:
So I had all that gorgeous Koigu leftover. And I had a sore thumb (stupidity with a bread knife – don’t ask – not bad, but superficial nerve damage hurts quite enough for a few days thank you), so I couldn’t knit. (I tried.) But it turned out that I could crochet. So after making some bits and pieces for Ruth’s dolls’ house. (Mummy, I want it pink. I want hearts.) I found this pattern (Ravelry link). And then I started making daisies. These things are utterly addictive. They take about 5-10 min each to make. That’s nothing, right? You can make one while you wait for the potatoes to boil. And then you sew them together ever so slightly wonkily, so they don’t make a straight line. I’m making most of them in Koigu, and just a few in Sockotta left over from socks for my mother.

Oh – and this week’s UK Swap question – how do we plan projects? Hmmm – it varies. I suppose the three projects in this post typify my approaches. The vest has been marinating for a long time. I bought the yarn in a sale a couple of years (ish) ago, and have been pondering exactly what to knit with it for a while. I knew I wanted to make a vest, but didn’t know exactly what pattern – I had intended to design something for myself. But once I’d seen the U-Neck Vest from Fitted Knits I kept coming back to the basic idea, so it was silly to try to invent the wheel unoriginally. All I had to do was to convert the pattern from Aran weight yarn to 4-ply. Fortunately my row gauge and stitch gauge scaled by the same factor, so it was pretty straightforward.

The socks were my own design. Originally I was browsing through my harmony guide for a rib pattern suitable for a husband sweater. (So why was I looking at lace panels?) Then this panel struck my fancy and I couldn’t sleep until I’d drafted the pattern. Of course I had to cast on straight away the next morning – fortunately I had suitable yarn in my stash! (If I remember rightly I’d slept so badly because of the whole excitement that I stayed home from church… ) Then of course this actual pair was started to celebrate Reverse Psockology Day

The daisy chain scarf is a total impulse thing. It doesn’t really ‘count’ – certainly I don’t feel that I’m being promiscuous by making it in parallel with the socks (and a lace shawl I’ve got on the go.)

I think the amount of planning I do is proportional to the size of the project. Diddy little projects just get done. Big ones have to wait their turn.

Must go – daisies to make…

Silent poetry reading

It’s that day again – the Feast of St Brigid, when bloggers hold a silent poetry reading.

It’s pretty late here, but not too late. Ruth has started really enjoying poems – this is one of my recent favourites:

My Uncle Paul of Pimlico
Has seven cats as white as snow,
Who sit at his enormous feet
And watch him, as a special treat,
Play the piano up side-down,
In his delightful dressing-gown;
The firelight leaps, the parlour glows,
And, while the music ebbs and flows,
They smile (while purring the refrains),
At little thoughts that cross their brains

Mervyn Peake

(It’s those little thoughts crossing their brains – gets me every time )