Hopsox

Technically speaking this should be Hopsock because so far there is only the one ;-)

You might remember that this is the Year of the Workshop. Last month I attended a workshop at Socktopus in London, with Cookie A. Cookie helped me to understand that I could in fact "do" charts and graph paper and maths and stuff, because let me tell you C.S.E Grade 3 is a dim and distant memory ;-) I like to be told what to do, not work it out for myself!!!!!!

I chose my stitch pattern, I have been plotting and graphing and working out the rib and counting stitches and this is the result.

Knitted using Yarn Yard Bonny in the colourway dyed for last Year's Tour de France. I used 2 2.5mm circular needles, and am going to write the pattern up tonight. I have two test knitters, and if the pattern stands up then I am hoping it will become a p/hop pattern.

A Marathon Weekend

I have had simply the best weekend ever. After briefly flirting with the idea of cloning myself so that I could go to Wonderwool Wales let me tell you I wouldn't have swapped the London Marathon for anything.

Mr A and I left for London just after lunchtime on Friday and arrived at Paddington at 4:30. We were staying at Passfield Hall which is LSE student accommodation and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone. We have stayed in student accommodation in London for years, long before Robert went off to university there, it's basic but clean and comfortable and excellent value for money.

Friday evening was lovely, we went for a meal in our favourite bistro, Savoir Faire in New Oxford Street, and then spent a wonderful couple of hours at the theatre with Haispray.

Saturday was my birthday - I've been 27 for some 26 years now ;-) and after a lovely breakfast we headed for Russell Square tube and then Covent Garden. On the way to the tube I had a deja vu moment when we walked passed the hotel which was the venue for the first iKnit day.

When we arrived at Covent Garden we spent a wonderful couple of hours at the Transport Museum.

I may be a year older, but that doesn't stop me behaving like a child sometimes ;-)

Lunch was a M&S sandwich on the steps of St Martin in the Fields - what a view :-)

What we did next requires no explanation. Not for the easily offended, Priscilla Queen of the Desert was just wonderful, although there is something faintly disturbing about Jason Donovan in a corset ....................

The theatre was followed by a lovely meal out with our eldest son, Robert, who was due to run in the Marathon the following day and needed some winding down and ego boosting. Bless him, he had been into IKnit and bought me a voucher, with no prompting whatsoever.

Sunday dawned a beautiful sunny day. Mr A and I headed for Canada Water on the Jubilee Line. Surrey Quays, the 9 mile marker was our destination, and we found a viewing spot and waited. We saw the elite men go past.....

....followed by the pack. How one is supposed to spot anyone is a mystery to me. We did, we sw him and he saw us, but all we managed to photograph was a waving arm.

So then it was off to Canary Wharf, where we waited at the 30km stage, somewhere between 18 and 19 miles. We saw Nell Mcandrew go past loking very fresh and full of running.

Robert is the runner all in black on the right hand side.

Back on the tube again to Westminster.

Sorry about the blurry photo.

And there he goes, almost there. I can't tell you how emotional it is to see someone you love as they make their way around the course.

Then it was off to St James park to be reunited.

And there he was, as fresh as a daisy! he had just run 26 miles, 385 yards in a time of 3h:07m:48secs and he looked better than I did. He finished overall in a position of 1401! Amazing. There were tears!

And here are my two favourite boys :-)

We were soon joined by Robert's friends, and we made our ways out and into the crowds. Amazingly we bumped straight ino an old school friend of Robert's who was working as a volunteer for Shelter. What a small world.

Sadly Mr A and I had to leave to catch our train home. It was back to Passfield to collect our luggage, we had time for a sandwich in Gordon Square which is adjascent to Passfield, and was a lovely place to sit before returning home.

It was quite simply a wonderful, wonderful weekend.

More Socks!

More socks! Whatever has happened to me? This is another pair for Mr A and he chose the yarn himself while I was rummaging through my couple of stashed skeins of sock yarn ;-)

I bought the yarn last year when I visited the I Knit Shop, it is from the Kaffe Fasset Design Line range and the colourway is Landscape Fog. Mr A has size 10 feet, and I only had 2 marble sized balls of yarn left over, so if you want a larger pair out of two balls it might be an idea to knit a shorter cuff than the 20cm I knitted.

This is the first time I have used Regia yarn, and I really like the way it has knitted up. I have also used two circular needles as opposed to my usual dpns, and I think this will soon become my preferred method.

Never Say never Again ...........

Sometimes you just have to scratch an itch :lol:

This FCS was knitted using yarn from The Knittery. It is a merino/cashmere/nylon blend and it is quite the nicest yarn I have ever knitted with - and that includes DIC Smooshy. I bought it off Alice at the I Knit Stich'n'Bitch day in 2007, and have another identical skein here waiting to be knitted.

Sad to say The Knittery is not dyeing at present and the shop is closed. At some stage it may return on Etsy, but I would urge anyone who wanted some to try to nab some from Alice before it's all gone.

Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl

Yarn: Merino/Cashmere from The Knittery

Needles 5mm Aero Straights

There are 2 extra pattern repeats and 12 border rows. It was a gift for a friend.

Hillsborough

Today is the twentieth anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster. I'm not sure what else to add to that really. It seems incomprehensible that 96 ordinary people, just like you and me, men, women, children, young and old, could lose their lives just by going to a football match.

Reading accounts of what happened twenty years on makes it all seem more harrowing somehow, particularly as it could all so easily have been avoided. Events of yesterday put into today's context always do somehow - social attitudes, for example, change imperceptibly day by day, yet life then compared with now seems very different. The general acceptance of those who should have been helping was that it was trouble brewing. Ambulances were turned away and told they weren't needed - can you imagine!! That's what's so hard to accept. And no-one really has ever been held accountable. Yes, changes were made, but no-one was ever made to stand up and be counted! The Sun ought to make very interesting reading today, as it was responsible for the most contemptable journalism ever at the time.

I'm sorry - I wasn't going to say all that but I still feel so very angry about it all.

What an emotional day today will be, for families, friends, fans, anyone who was involved on that fateful day. I remember where I was and what I was doing at the time as clearly as I remember yesterday.

God Bless. You'll Never Walk Alone!

Ladybird, Ladybird

As promised, here are the Ladybird socks that I knitted on holiday. I really like them, the pink is such a pretty shade.

I used a basic sock recipe, knitted 10 rows of a twisted rib, and knitted through the back of the purl stitches on alternate rows on the heel. I used 2.5mm dpns.

The yarn was a very thoughtful Christmas present from a friend.

Mosquitos 8 Aknita 0

I realise that I have been AWOL for some time, for which I apologise. The wonderful Cookie A workshop ( more on that soon ) was followed rapidly by a holiday in Sharm el Sheikh at this wonderful hotel and what a wonderful holiday it was.

I never cease to be amazed that just a few plane hours away is a place where the sun always shines. I love the Red Sea area and it's resorts, and would go back in a whisper.

Here are a few photos, in no particular order. This first one, for example, was taken from the coach window when we left. It was the first time I had set foot through the front of the hotel since I had arrived!!!!!!!

Here I am in my usual post prandial haunt - the bar. There's nothing quite like a daiquiri after lunch - or before come to that ;-)

And here I am on our patio with a sock. I took a set of bamboo dpn's on the plane without any trouble, and managed a pair of ladybird socks while I was away. Mohammed, Saad and Khalid who made life by the pool so relaxing and comfortable, named me Mrs Tricot ;-)

Doesn't the pool look wonderful. Mr A is an even earlier bird than I am, hence the paler skies and lack of sunbed use, it was around 7:00 am.

This is Baron Boulevard, leading from the hotel to the beach.

And a view back towards the hotel from the jetty - which was very wibbly wobbly I can tell you.

The pool was fab. Honestly, the most taxing part of my day involved deliberating whether it would be the beach or the pool!! The pool was closer..........

Just look at that sky!

Oh and the mosquitoes? Little beggars, they seem to like me. I use a mosquito spray, wear no perfumed products, use after sun with a repellant in, use a coil in the hotel room and STILL they bite me! I must be made of good stuff!!!!!!!!!!!