What happened to February?

 It must have been there on the calendar!  My only excuse is all the getting ready for the annual Going Round in Circles event in early March.  All over now, and life would be flat if it weren't for a new project - the Golden Fleece machine.  It had been a little tinkered with, and the internal cams re-installed the wrong way round.  Then stored assembled, so some areas not quite seized but very marked.  Sorted that and another couple of items, and now awaiting new needles from America before putting it through its paces.  I have no intention of "restoring" it to a showroom condition, only cleaning it of extreme grottiness and getting it to knit without too many hiccups.

Teacosies galore

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 Six cosies, 18 flutes each, 42 stitches to pick up for each flute  ... yep, total of 4536 stitches.  I need a cup of tea after that!

Bear with me

 I am not going to revisit last Christmas!  Two items failed to work, and they weren't battery problems.  The decorations were put away early. Another hospital trip soon after.

One of my decorations is a little jointed red bear, made by a friend years ago.  I got some thick yarn, found the pattern (a Jean Greenhowe one) and made it a companion.  More fiddly pieces, which had to be made and stuffed separately (firmly) as the magic happens when just a couple of strands of yarn join the separate pieces together.

Appropriate cartoon

 Yes, folks, I forgot to write.  A  bit of hospital visiting was going on which meant not much knitting was!

As  weare coming up to Brussels sprout season, I did make a couple.  Very fiddly.  

A gingerbread house bauble was also fiddly, but I worked out how to knit in in one piece instead of five with seams.

Then there was the square bunny.  So easy, can't think why I have never come across it before.  Patterns exist for croc0eht and garter stitch, but not many seem to be in stocking stich.  Anyway, on the machine, e-wrap start, 56 sts, 80 rows, gather to finish.  Turn work round so e-wrap edge is at top.  Run a line across halfway then up to middle top and down to start point.  Place stuffing in the triangle, draw up, and that's the head and ears done!  Short back seam, pull gathered edge and stuff.  Because I am rubbish at pompons, a small loop of I-cord for a tail.

When Knitting give you lemons

 I was trying for a hot water bottle cover in Fair Isle.  The purple was old Shetland (though unlabelled) stuff, quite harsh.  The white was a new cone from good old J&S, and must have been a little thicker than previously.  The pattern was stacked snowflakes or windflowers.  Tension was 8 on the Kitmaster, and it was like rolling a boulder uphill, with frequent jams.  So I gave up.  The piece of fabric that came off the machine was like cardboard, with several dropped stithces.  As Shetland wool is so "sticky", I couldn't be bothered to wind each colour back.  Then had the idea of seeing if I could sew it onto a thin cork backing as coasters.  It worked.  Bit rough round the edges, but hey, it's "lemonade".  Tried one piece on felt, but that flexes a little.  Looking for the flet (and tidying up my haberdashery trays in the process), I came across a "deep" plastic coaster still in its packet.  By this time I had very little good areas left on the original piece.  It is too thick to let the backing fit neatly inthe frame, so it had to be a sellotape job.

Knitting on, regardless

 It is rare that I post about the mental benefits of knitting.  But after a couple of weeks of chest infection, leg pain, dental woes, the only thing that I could do, and remains unchanged, is my ability to knit.  Every spare moment.  I never think I achieve much, but last week I did a talk to a knitting grop and was allowed to takes some sales.  Looking at that table piled high with items, it seems I do get through a fair bit!  Mind you, the sods didn't buy a single thing.  They all had a good look and probably turned them over and thought "I could knit that for a fraction of the price". Go ahead, girls, be my guest.  The talk was meant to inspire you.

I am currently opening my mind to new ideas.  Must overall be interesting to do, fairly quick to execute (bearing in mind the minumum wage for knitting!), practical use of materials, be the continuation of a tradition, and look good enough to entice people to buy.  Needless to say, my mind is a total blank.

... and neither will other people!

 It would appear that other people like my hot water bottles, as five sold in the first two weeks at the museum shop and I have been asked to supply more.  The tweedy ones seem more popular than the purple, which has surprised me, as in the socks and handwarmers purple always sells out first.  I saw some Shetland ones on the Net (no pattern apart from a couple of stripes) which are selling at 50% more than we are charging.  Somebody must be buying them.

Buying the naked bottles on line was more difficult than it should have been.  At least 30 minutes trawling through "you are buying the cover only" etc.  Or the photo looks like a full size 2L bottle then in the descsription turns out to be a 500L handwarmer.  I did get a bargain few, and that firm even sent me a 15% discount off my next order.  Tried another order - they've now disappeared from the website!  They must have been on clearance the first time round.  So I gave up and went back to my local shop who have bottles with spotted covers (lurid green fleece, but what the heck) for a very reasonable £5.  Thought I had cleared his shelves, but he showed me another two boxes full, which should keep me going until sales drop off.  And, amusingly, a couple of friends in my Wednesday gossip group want the disgarded spotted covers, which I am happy to give them.