Sunday, May 02, 2010

Best laid plans...

Well, I had grand plans for the long May Day weekend, but they went astray. I had planned to finish up the knitting for the Cog's ribbed jumper, so that I could clear the decks and start something new.

Saturday saw a massive pile of laundry to be done (I already did two loads in the week, I swear it breeds!) and food shopping, which left me enough time to test the KH881. Glad I didn't spend too much on it, the carriage is partly seized and will only pattern in one direction. Luckily I had a working carriage, so have made a decent one out of the two. Now, if I could only figure out how to remove the handle, I could replace the (slightly cracked) handle on the Brother chunky with a decent one.

I also had a quick play with the fine gauge machine, which has been languishing on the landing for far too long. It was also a little seized, this kind has memory drums, but I got it working, I might need to give the reluctant drum a clean. Spent over an hour sorting out punchcards into groups, and discovered a few duplicate sets I'll probably Ebay.

Sunday my mother popped around and stayed all afternoon, so it seemed rude to disappear upstairs to my knitting machines (I worked on the Rowan bamboo top). I managed to get the knitting room fairly tidy first thing; there's just some filing to be done.

So, the nearest I've gotten to the Passap KAL our Rav group is proposing, is picking out about 10 patterns I like the look of. They're designed for slimmer ladies than I, so I might just use the pattern/texture as a starting point, or even just knit yardage. I seem to be fascinated with pintuck at the moment - double-faced fabric with more rows knitted on one side than the other, creating 3D texture. I don't think I've got much 3ply yarn, though, which may thwart my plans.

Monday a good friend is coming round, and she wants to sew. So, that's that, I guess. Next weekend, perhaps?

Work's been crazily busy lately and looks to continue that way - due to a resource shortage I'm wearing two hats and have been working late (unpaid) - so brain has been mush by 6pm and I can only cope with simple handknitting or crochet. Alas, it's been quite stressful because work is building up on the horizon like some coming storm, but actually getting started on it has been in fits and starts.

Well, it's nearly midnight, so I'm turfing the cat out and getting some shut-eye.

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