The hills are alive with the sound of....sirens

It's a fabulously gorgeous day outside. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and fire engine sirens are wailing in the distance.
Nothing too serious, I hope.

The major downside with a day like today is being stuck indoors. It's the kind of day that makes me wish I were doing some sort of outside job, or had a garden to potter in. I guess I'll have to settle for hanging wet washing out on the clothesline.

Last week, I knitted up a baby hat for OH's niece, and here it is


Looking all squishy and cute in its dual role as head warmer and bannister decoration. My box of bits is in Dublin though, so I've not been able to stitch it up yet.

When I received my package of even more cashmerino and addi's on Friday, I squeed. Squeed a bit more, then inhaled suddenly, as I realised that the shade of green in my package was not just beautiful, but an entirely different shade of green to the hat. Bummer. On the plus side, I'd ordered a ball too much, so running up another one is not a big deal. (As a side note, I also found out on Friday that one of my friends is finally pregnant, so my apple green bannister decoration will be going to her as a belated meme craft present!)

Equipped with my bag o' yarn, needles and a 3 hour stint on a train, I cast on the Baby Shrug from Debbie Bliss Simply Baby. Lovely pattern, and quite easy, even though it's all knit in one piece. Granted, I haven't gotten to the "pick up on million stitches" part, but I'm quietly confident.

So here's what 6 hours of train knitting will get you.

Train knitting is a funny thing. The Dublin-Cork train is the most fancy and fabulous in Europe, apparently. They're new and shiny, and meet all the carbon emission standards for 2012 already. They do, however, sway a bit more than the old diesel warhorses, which makes knitting impossible at times. They also vary between artic cool and sahara hot at other times, resulting in my fingers being too cold to knit, or my dozing off, needles in hand.

That said, I knit pretty much every time I'm on public transport, even if it's just a few lines here and there. Every journey I knit on (save local busses) someone has struck up a conversation about how they/their mother/their aunt used to knit all the time. I've even had a 7 year old boy demand that his granny break out some needles and yarn when they got home to teach him.

Are knitters more approachable than other people? Or just seen as being? Is it that a WIP is an instant icebreaker, and people are insanely curious beings?
In my mind, there seems to be something a bit magical about it that draws people in.

Anyone else had some interesting WIP experiences?

Now with 15% more natural or artificial flavouring!

Yes, I promised photos on Monday.
Work demanded attention though, and as much as I may like to believe that I get paid to sit in front of my laptop and knit all day while listening to podcasts, it just ain't so.

On the plus side, I have some piccies. Well, two.
Today is all lovely and sunny, and good photo taking weather. Naturally, my camera batteries have picked this time to run out.

First up, the blue monstrosity.
Like how it's artfully draped over the bannister? I've also just noticed that my laptop case has weaseled into the frame. It's such an attention whore. Still, at least it's not something really embarassing, like...bras left out to dry, or a shrine to Debbie Bliss.


I don't really mean monstrosity though. I think it will be lovely when I get it finished. It's just a bit boring to knit. The wonderfulness of the yarn is all that lies between me and it being an eternal UFO. This afternoon, I'll get the body cast off, and get the first sleeve on the needles. Or that's the plan.

The really exciting bit o' news is that I went to my first Belfast Stitch N Bitch session last night. Much fun was had, and despite the girls *coughNikkicough* thinking that they've scared me off, I'm really looking forward to next week.
I didn't bring my camera, in an attempt to keep from looking like some crazy woman with an obsession. The purring noises when Collinette was mentioned may have killed that. Oops.

Sock 1 got quite an outing yesterday! My fingers are still cramping. I knitted on the bus to town, in Starbucks, while waiting for the bus home, on the bus home, and managed to have 3 glasses of wine while watching a movie til 1am and still knit away without any frogging being required this morning. Well, I thought it was impressive!

As a result, today we have artsy shot 2 of the day:


Taaa daaaaa!
My first magic loop sock. Complete with yarn tails hanging out, and with a severe need for blocking. It's a plain vanilla sock, but it's a pattern guaranteed to be acceptable to everyone, especially manly men who shy away from colours, stitch patterns or yarns that might possibly mean that they'd be taken for being anything less than manly men.

Addi turbos are wonderful things. I never really got the hype until I finally tried them for myself. I love them so much that I have 2 more sets on order - which I should have tomorrow. Squeee!

Things from to do list done:
One sock.

Things from to do list to cast on this weekend:
Second sock *gulp*
First cardigan sleeve.
Baby shrug.

Yeah, this whole thing of having one handbag project and one sofa project really isn't working out too well for me.

Rain, rain, go away

So the rain has started again. I should know to expect it at this stage, it being Ireland and all, but no, the weather here is still more-or-less a constant surprise.

After the weekend of sorting stuff out, I am PC-less.
My room feels a lot more like a room and less like a storage locker, now that the PC, tv and hamster now live in Belfast. The PS2, assorted games and dvd's, and my box of breakables have gone as well. It's a good start, but I'm in limbo land at the moment, which is making me fidgety.

The cardigan is still progressing, slowly but surely.
I need to order myself a pair of those nice needles in 5.5mm so that I can cast on my mohair sweater. Though really, I should do the shawls for the girls first. I don't think they'd be as enthusiastic as me about a finished sweater, no matter how cool, if I had to do an all-nighter before the wedding to get their stuff finished.