A draw

So like the England team itself the purse had a bit of a rough Test after the positive looking first innings. It wasn't my new toy which stuck the bat in with four centuries oh no. Magic loop - check, sewing - check, attachment of purse clasp - ummm:Though if a draw is good enough for the cricketers then I'll take a draw on my own Test performance against my mighty purse foe. The sewing machine and I got on well and I was pleased with how I managed to join the lining. So with a spring in my fingers I thought I had this challenge licked until the endless frustration of trying to make the purse sit in the clasp. Just one tiny corner so far attached. So fiddly, I certainly felt all fingers and thumbs and in the end had to abandon for fear I would bowl it across the room with almighty speed and bounce!

So my next declaration is that I will have this purse and a certain cardigan last seen hanging out in pieces in a plastic bag finished by the time England win the second Test. Ah I'm not sure which part of that sentence is the most unlikely ;o)

The first innnings

It's been a good start to the test for the Macaroon Purse, magic loop is my friend again. Quick watch of the video and I was away - I used the longest of my cables which I think makes it even easier - plenty of room to manouevre.Kyoko's pattern is a lovely knit, what sweet cables and the use of short rows to create the perfect arched top is very smart. Great design.

So now on to the machining, though I'm not sure I should wait for England's second innings to start or I might just miss getting it done for the end of the test. Yes Rose Red, it seems like the hum of the machine will be needed to drown out the sounds of Australian bat on ball!

The First Test

The first test of the Ashes bats off today and while I've got my doubts that it can live up to the mens Wimbledon competition or the start of the Tour in the excitement stakes I'll enjoy watching the series and hoping that England can do a 2005 (no mentions of the 5-0 drubbing in the last Ashes will be tolerated in the comments - thank you!).

I'm joining in with a KAL for the Ashes too which should fit nicely with the Tour one for the early tests. Each KAL-er simply makes a declaration of their goals for the duration of each test. For the opener I've gone for finishing my Macaroon Purse which would also be my first mountain for the Tour. Last in, first out.

Sound too easy? Never fear there are hidden challenges on this wicket which may get me out for a duck. First up, the reason I've not made any progress since the initial flurry is that I haven't got a short enough cable needle or the right size DPNs to move on from the base without reinvigorating a long dormant technique for me - magic loop. Still with the trusty Knitting Help videos I'm sure I can get past that and on to the second challenge:
See my shiny new toy - yep I'm too scared to have gotten my impulse weekend buy (£79.99 at Lidl!) out of the box yet and somehow by Sunday I'm supposed to have used it to sew up my purse! Never fear - I'm visiting sewing machine coach extraordinaire Mama All Fingers and Thumbs this weekend. With a bit of practice in the nets I'm hoping it will all be fine.

Team Time Trial

How many stitches could I complete to add to my team's total in one hour?
A paltry 1180 apparently. I'm blaming the excitement of the race, it kept distracting me!
Panda decided she'd get in on the cushion pile arranged for the before and after shots. Perhaps I should just lie down and join her. So not a time trialler either - good job I recognised my place in life and went for the polka dot jersey.

A gentle start for some

Two fabulous stages to kick off Le Tour including a win for Cavendish, fellow Brit and Columbia team mate :o) For me it was a gentle start with some entrelac bringing a French air to my living room. Lady Eleanor, begun in 2007 and oft neglected since, has been the first to benefit from some attention.

This is my personal Tour course: Plenty of challenging inclines as I try and finish everything on the needles as a King of the Mountains rider aiming for as many completed WIPS as possible. While the GC riders and sprinters have their days, I'll ride along with the peloton getting a few kilometres past the needles and bide my time for the glory days in these mountains that I hope are to come. Aptly the reverse of the stole has something of the mountain range about it to my eye.

Lazy Leaves

An aptly named pattern - I've been very lazy in the heat of the last week and so missed the end of June deadline - though good news for me is that they can count for the July catch up month. I was determined to finish them tonight so that I didn't add another mountain to my Tour de France challenge starting tomorrow.
Pattern: Lazy Leaves
Yarn: Patons Purple Heather - 1671, 4oz
Needles: 2.5mm DPNs
Started:6 June 2009
Finished: 3 July 2009

They were a little large for the sock blockers or stunt foot so a combination of both are employed to show the details. I'm a firm convert to Judy's Magic Cast-On after this and the sewn bind off definitely suits me. I need to try the afterthought heel before I conclude that my toe up sock recipe is perfected, the heel flap looks nice and wins for me over the short row heel but I don't think it's as much fun as a top down heel flap. Still I'm definitely more in favour of the toe up now, it feels a bit like learning to write with my left hand - I think I'll always favour the top down but it's nice to be sockily ambidextrous!

Never look a gift horse in the mouth

Whenever I come up with some quaint phrase as a blog post title I feel an irrestible urge to Google it and read about the origins. Did you know that this saying is thought to originate from St Jerome? According to my interwebby research his words were apparently "Never inspect the teeth of a gift horse." This would be assessing the value of the gift rather than appreciating it in the spirit it was given. Makes sense now - I'd always thought it must be something to do with seeing something you wouldn't want, like the gift might bite back at you!All of this is because the yarn acquisition this quarter comes mainly in gift form from a destashing friend and gratefully though it was received I did wince a little at the addition to my stash. I take this as a good sign of the internalisation of my stash reduction philosophy, soon I'll be evangelising on the benefits of having no stash! Well maybe not so soon I did buy the beautiful kit from Cotton & Cloud - but that is a mere one skein of yarn - already in use - oh and some Patons Purple Heather so cheap in the charity shop that it was really a gift as well. It's a lovely bitter chocolate brown, though it's looking rather black in this shot:

IN
Lana Grossa Piccolo Print - 15 skeins - 870 metres
Sirdar Denim Ultra - 6 skeins - 450 metres
Jamieson's Shetland Heather - 1 skein - 92 metres
Patons Purple Heather - 4 skeins - 366 metres
Total: 1,778

OUT
One Serendipity sock - 165 metres
Francis Revisited - 1,025 metres
Slippers - 106 metres
Total: 1,296

Year to date:
In - 2,682
Out - 3,830

Bring on the KAL's that should see the completion of some projects tying up a fair bit of yarn waiting to go out!

Training Camp

If athletes benefit from training at altitude do you think that my knitting speed will have been improved by knitting in the Swiss Alps this week?In truth not much knitting was done as that boring old thing - work - kept getting in the way - oh and don't feel too envious of the view - most of the week it looked like this:
I am in deadline knitting training on these Sockamania socks which need to be done by the end of June to enter in to the draw:
Should be good preparation for the two sporting knitalongs I'll now be participating in for July - when I read on Artificially Mythic that there is an Ashes KAL on Ravelry I thought I'd better sign on for that too. Nice and relaxed - just set your own goals for each test - should fit well with the WIP completion for the Tour KAL.

Thank you for all the bee and garden love in the comments on the last post. Most of the plants are flourishing thanks to the 1TB who has been on watering duty for the week and pleasingly the little visitors are buzzing - though if only humming birds were a possibility! I managed to snap a good shot of a little friend this morning:

Bee Friendly

My Mama has been here to play this weekend and we've been busy as bees in the garden. Following advice from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust we've been upping the bee-friendliness. This mainly consists of trying to ensure a long season of flowers which make bees happy - as a rule these are flowers with easy access to their pollen. As well as more lavenders and thymes we planted amongst other things a Cotoneaster: a Ceanothus:

and some Hebes:

In an ironic twist we disturbed a common carder bee nest in the mossy margins of the front lawn when tidying that up. Luckily I don't think it was damaged, just revealed to prying eyes which were both amazed to see it and sad to have upset them. I somehow forgot to get a photo in all the excitement and by the time I went to see if I could get one this morning they had pulled their mossy blanket safely back over. I'm so delighted to have seen the nest and know that my garden is already a home for bees and so glad that they seem to have been able to make it safe again.Another much less disruptive thing I do (which works well for my lazier side) is try and keep some wild areas and wild flowers - this seems to be a big attraction:and not just for the bees. I know that newts and frogs are making good use of the wild spots too. All wildlife welcome as I try and create a pretty and friendly town garden. Bee friendly to all :o)

Just one more hill

I've just signed up for the Tour de France Knitalong (on Ravelry this year) in the Polka Dot Jersey category:

Polka Dot jersey = completion of languishing WIPs. (The more, the merrier: go for as many summits as you can!)

My secret ambition is to clear the decks completely so at the end of July there should be nothing on the needles (although that might mean ripping rather than ascending the mountains for some things - yes mittens and Arisaig I am looking at you) . I don't know why but that sounds like fun all of a sudden, maybe because it's a state never achieved since I first started knitting! To make it just a little more of a bumpy ride I thought I'd start one more thing:
I bought this beautiful kit from Kyoko recently and want it made up for my friend's birthday in early August. So while the cyclists are pedalling my fingers will hopefully be flying along with them. Who else is in?