Cardi that is not a bit SHY

Keith bought me the Shetland Heritage yarn for Crimble, couldn't wait to get started on it. Ran out near the end so had to wait four days or so for more to arrive - what an excellent postage services it is from Shetland. Quite surprised to work out that cost of wool alone for this project was over £50. Postage was over £10 on the two parcels. Knitting ain't a cheap hobby anymore. Anyway, at last, a deep red cardi to go with all my deep red silk blouses.

Doll shoe loss solved!

I have been knitting this little doll for over 50 years for just about every female family member. I gave up adding shoes early on as they are so tiny and are rapidly lost. However, yesterday, I shared a bus journey with a little boy whose mitts were on a string through the sleeves of his anorak. Eureka! I have added mock socks to the dolls' shoes and a long string threaded through her knickers.

Sock yarn leftovers

At last got round to using up the heap of leftovers - well, most of them. Two cushions in one day, moreover. Found the secret was to cut up long lengths of vefry plain or repetitive coloured yarns.

Where did October go?

Well, we did go to France for a couple of week's to cover my slightly significant birthday. I then nipped down to London again as Eirka's Obaachan was over from Japan, and we took what is hopefully a historical photo of her with her two grannies. It's only the second time Yoko and I have met. Erika now has her own passport and should be meeting the rest of her Japanese family in the new year. Finished sheep carousel tea cosy. Wonderful pattern November - Knitting History Forum, so down to London again, and this time tea in Fortnum & Mason with Erika. I gave a paper on the search for Eric Pasold's Frame - his interpretaion of what William Lee would actually have built in 1589, minus all the later additions. Think it went down well, ended on a laugh. The Science Museum can't find the darn thing, only the pix, so have put an "electronic note" on the record to alert me if it ever does coem to light. I am fairly sure they have photopgrapghed it upside down, it would never work in that position.

Knitting in September

I've just uploaded a couple of projects in to Ravelry. The very last two are delicate Victorian style crochet mitts and clumping welly toppers. This just about sums up the breadth of my knitting likes - one extreme to the other! Pictured here is the leftovers from the Epstein Afghan, as last made up into a cushion. It goes very well with the afghan, but that pattern would not have gone so well in it - and I think it would have been wasted as yet another bag. The sheep yoke jumper for Erika was a delight to do. My next challenge will be to see how I can scale up this pattern for her growing years, if she likes it as much as I do. I have bought the Meg Swansen book on knitting with two colours, which I think has schematics in it for knitting from the top down. I shall study this during our upcoming second hols in France next week. Weather promises to be up to 21 degrees each day on the long-range forecast, with only up to 35% chance of rain. We will be able to stick to our usual pattern of morning out, boozy lunch outside the gite, small nap, then trying out new knitting techniques. And starting on the Christmas presents! Bit stuck for ideas this year - they nearly all had handwarmers last time. I still have plenty of wool left over from the cushion, but the kids aren't going to want a repeat.

Erika

Boy, did I get it wrong! It's a girl, Erika, born this morning weighing 3.5kgs. What time does the woolshop open? Time to embroider pink flowers on the sheep yoke cardi!

Baby bibs

Went a bit mad on knitting baby bibs. Found out the Japanese for baby was "Akachan", but they are awfully fat letters so the bib is quite large. Still, it's all my own pattern. Not many days now until baby is born - fourth grandchild. Inbetween times, been doing more tuition at the museum, and it has got a new website www.rfkm.org, and we had a smashing Garden party there last Saturday. The rain held off until 6pm. Off to Winchester nest week for knitting conference Intheloop3.