Lies on Knitting

Catching up

Hi! I am back online! and I have loads of things to blog about... First of all, We went to Liverpool, Cultural Capital of Europe for 2008. We walked around town (a lot) and climbed to the tower of the cathedral, we ate more than we should, we visited Tate gallery and Walker art gallery, we ferried across the Mersey, we photographed 50 (!!) Superlambanana's. There was a huge designshow, there was Port Sunlight, there was Cavern Street (where there was no need to go into one of the clubs, the partying crowd on the streets was a spectacle in itself) and then there was happy hour: two cocktails for the price of one :-) Beforehand, I found this knitting group on Ravelry, so I went to knit along in the Bluecoat Centre for a few hours. One of the knitters in the group is the owner of the Purlesque yarn store, and she did a sunday-special opening for me.  And that is where I purchased this Louise Harding Sari Ribbon. I am not sure what I will knit from it yet, it might be possible to turn it into a glamour-ruffled scarf. Thank you, Purlesque ladies! It was a really pleasant afternoon, and if you ever get to the Netherlands, you know where to e-mail me...

John Lewis is a huge department store, that  uses balls of yarn (I think it is Rowan) in one of its advertisements, in which the yarn is tastefully depicted between glass ware and kitchen utensils. Naturally we went shopping. I bought a new pair of scissors, as I had been dumb enough to carry mine in my handbag, I had to leave them in Holland at the airport security desk. Apart from Rowan and Sirdar, John Lewis carried Mirasol, apparently a Peruvian brand. Quite exclusive, and be-au-ti-ful!

I have been totally immersed in the knitting of Slow Bee 1.  On the picture here you see the state of affairs on the 27th of June... I just finished clue 4.  The group is working on clue 7 as we speak; Moni, the very talented designer who thought this whole thing up is uploading  one clue per week. I do not know why this is called "slow bee"! You know, I knit and knit and knit, and I can not possibly keep up. This bee is faster than I. Not to worry, though. It'll get finished, in time. Though I am not a lace-wearing kind of woman, I love the knitting of it!

Not on purpose

As most sock knitters, I usually have one no-brainer, plain vanilla, sock on the needles. One that I can knit with my eyes closed. Eehhm.... that is a lie. I can't knit with my eyes closed. Dear Edith, resident of our sock knitting yahoogroup is blind, and knits the most intricate patterns, after she gets them translated into braille. Isn't it grand? Being a skilled, experienced knitter I tried to knit simple stocking stitch in the dark, but I messed up right away

Anyway. I have a sock that I can knit on while watching tv, or travelling on a full train, I can even knit on it while reading (something not too absorbing) or standing in a qeue: The Sock for the Road. At the moment I am using a yarn that I got out of a sockyarn swap, in the colors of the Brazil soccer team. It has _really_ long repeats, and to my surprise I got this:

Doesn't it look exactly like a "how to knit a heel" tutorial, like this one? And I swear, on all things woolly, I had no intention to do this whatsoever. But the second one will be less of a no-brainer... I want it the same.

Meanwhile, my computer has given up on me. Forgive me if I did not respond to an email!