Opera and fims

A splendid evening at the Wales Millenium Centre enjoying a production of The Marriage of Figaro with the Welsh National Opera. It is almost with shame that I have to admit that this was my first visit to the "armadillo" but it had just happened that time spent here never coincided with something that I really wanted to see and, over the years, I have developed almost a rule that I will only see productions that I really want to see rather than think that might just be ok. There is so much more enjoyment then. I cried with joy at the beginning of the Lion King a few years ago and there were tears of joy as Figaro concluded last night. Looking at the surtitles, in English and Welsh, we were reminded of a delightful production, in Russian, many years ago at Nottingham Playhouse. My recollection was that it was called Guadeamos but now I think not and will no doubt spend a lot of time today trying to find the name of that particular play. The husband recalled pantomines with the older children when I was left at home with Charlie and we remembered taking the eldest to her first Shakespeare. Walking back after the performance last night we were both high on an evening well spent and gratitude for those supposrters who make such lavish performances accessible. An evening at the theatre in the widest sense of that term is such a special occassion. The trip to the cinema earlier in the week to see The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was just something to slot in inbetween other planned evernts. We enjoyed the film but didn't select the best seats, as we did for the opera and we didn't make a bit of an effort with the way we dressed. Back in the 1960s going to"the pictures" was a special event. I recall a family trip to see My Fair Lady with family including grandmothers and great aunts and a journey of some miles to a nearby town - and boxes of chocolates instead of bags.

Finished - sort of

Just need to make the decision whether or not to put a border around the whole thing.
Then the colour
Crochet or knit?
Width?

The log cabin blanket

Today I am finishing the last log cabin square with the currently available wool. There will be enough squares for a small blanket and, if I want it to be any bigger, I will need to go out and buy some more wool. That would rather defeat the objective of "stash- busting". There are now decisons to be made. Do I simply sew up the squares as they stand and make the blanket? Do I make a contrasting border around all the squares to make the blanket slightly larger? If I do make a border then what colour? Do I knit the border or crochet? Decisions, decisions. The other option, of course, is to go out and buy more balls of wool and make more squares - the decision of the procrastinator.

Log cabin fever

It is snowing and I have just received a new delivery of smokeless fuel and seasoned logs. It is time to stay indoors and indulge in my latest current passion of knitting log cabin squares for a sitting room blanket. The inspiration came from my son's house mate, Kat, who showed me her first panel for a quilt for Kate's baby. I couldn't remember the name of the pattern but she reminded me that it was log cabin and I decided that I would give it a go with some of the stash wool. I had plenty of raspberry pink double knitting from the swatches I had made up for the chickens and some leftover creams and beiges from Christmas cowls. Inevitably I made a quick trip to the nearest wool shop yesterday - in anticipation of the snow but the squares, so far, apart from a couple of shades of brown, have been knitted up from the stash. I am hoping that this is not a displacement activity from continuing with Charlie's cardigan. I had been doing well with this particular project over the weekend - back and right front and one sleeve completed but once the idea of log cabin squares had been planted into my head I just had to give it a go.
I am working on 4mm needles and with double knitting wool. I have no particular plan with the squares. They will be sewn together in a random way or I may knit or crochet borders. Looking at examples on line there are so many delightful ways to finish. I will just have to knit sufficient squares and then make a decison.

Bookshelves and knitting patterns

I usually do my grocery shopping online. I really do not enjoy trips to large supermarkets and online shopping was something I very quickly embraced. Today, however, I made my way to our local Asda to buy firelighters and tea bags! The store had changed so much since the last time I had visited; that always irritates me; I like to know where to find the things I want. Then I began to think about the joys of serendipity when I came across some colourful plastic envelopes which were ideal for the storage of my old knitting patterns. I bought two packs and came home to spend a very pleasant hour arranging patterns into suitable groupings to go on to the bookshelf alongside my collection of knitting books. Now, when I want a baby pattern, I won't have to go through the whole pile, I can just open up the pink envelope with smaller patterns - the vintage ones or the other pink envelope with the more recent patterns - the A4 sized or the print outs from Ravelry.
This unusual burst of organisation follows an hour spent over the weekend moving my, ever increasing, stash of wool out of various boxes and onto some shelves upstairs. This has certain advantages - I can see, more clearly, what I have and the number of balls. I can see which wools might go together in some new item and I can also remind myself not to buy any more! At least for a while.

Knitting for Grace

It is always a joy to be asked to knit something for someone else and in the past couple of weeks I have been asked to knit for a neighbour's grandchild. The patterns required were good old fashioned jumpers with buttons down the back in 4 ply wool. Of course, this meant the abandonment of the cardigan, the socks and the chunky jumper which has been sitting there for some time now and, inevitably, I had been  out and bought yet more wool and started a couple of projects - a scarf and a baby surprise cardigan which will be a surprise if I ever finish it and I am sure that I am not the first person who has come up with that comment. The little jumpers took longer than my usual double knitting baby items but were a delight to knit. I know that one of the patterns had been knitted by my mother for my, now 30 year old, daughter and the second pattern was one I had not seen before and so can only assume that it was one of my grandmother's, possibly bought for one of my 40 something cousins. Buying my new stash expansion items in a little wool shop recently I glanced through their books of "vintage" patterns and recognised so many from my own supply and from items I remember being knitted for my own children. I love the idea that all over the world people are knitting items for children in the same way and with the same patterns that previous generations did. Enduring skills and love demonstrated through the production of something personal and precious. I long to find the pattens for the wonderful jackets my paternal grandmother made for me and my cousins. I am sure they came from her sister in Canada and I still have 3 of the jackets upstairs - over 50 years old but still precious and personal - how can I give them away.

100 raspberry chickens and a second pair of socks

A new year brings new projects and the first to be completed is the order for one hundred raspberry pink chickens for wedding favours at an Easter wedding. After a couple of days I realised that what was needed was a production line with a variety of stages. I assembled the knitted chickens in groups of five at stage one. Stage two involved the sewing up of the finished item, stage three the crocheting of the combs, stage four the sewing on of the comb and the final stage was the felt beak and the stick on eyes. A whole sofa was taken over by a sea of pink but within the week all were finished and packed away to be taken to the bride to be. The project proved to be a learning experience - yet again. My initial thought had been to just get all the knitting over and done with but one hundred chickens in garter stitch was a daunting, and boring task. Breaking the task up into manageable and varied stages was the answer which now seems obvious but didn't at the initial planning stage. Costings also proved an issue. I thought I had costed the materials with accuracy but had somehow neglected the fact that each chicken has 2 eyes and that makes 200 not the 100 I had budgeted for and guesstimates for the number of balls of yarn is not my forte. Time is always a dilemna for the home knitter - if I was making an economic charge for the work then the question would be whether to charge a piece work rate, by the hour, a total for the project? I remember working as a student in a "pot bank" or a manufactuer of pottery items for the non initiated. My job was as a freehand paintress, painting sock and shoes on, ironically, egg cups. As a student I was paid a weekly rate but all the women around me worked on piece work rates and so managed to get through double the number of plankfuls of egg cups that I did. I decided to ignore my inaccuracies in calculating the cost of materials per chicken and put it all down to excellent experience. It was fun and certainly a good topic of conversation. I hope they have a wonderful marriage.

Now that I am free of chickens I can concentrate on the other projects - Charlie's cardigan is making slow progress but I have completed a jumper for Grace and have returned to Jessica's second pair of socks. This time I am trying a different pattern and the two circular needles approach. I am not using proper sock wool but a pretty double knitting which is giving a pleasing effect. This is just another experiment and the socks will never be more than feet warmers on a cold night but a learning experience again and I am feeling the need to learn more and more new things in this new year.