A new obsession...

TLDR: loving my new guitar and a minor crochet irritation

I treated myself to a new toy late last year - a gorgeous Ibanez bass guitar in candy apple red. I've long wanted to get back to learning to play bass. An ex-boyfriend made me one in the early 1990s but it had "tons of mistakes" (his words when I showed it to him a few years ago) - I had it assessed recently, and it either needs a longer truss rod, a completely new neck or some major repositioning of the bridge. All of these are probably expensive repairs to what is a sentimental guitar-shaped object - though I might still consult a local luthier about whether it's possible to repair it without too much cosmetic damage. I'm sure my ex would do it for me but he's up in Scotland. Currently the intonation is wrong on the lowest string (it gradually gets too sharp as you move up the frets) and the action is very high, so it's hard work to play. Nevertheless, I did get some lessons on it in the 90s but can't remember much about them, though they came to an abrupt end when I accidentally bumped into my bass teacher on the bus, on the way home from town. He stunk of weed and was possibly drunk and got a little too familiar with me so that was a red flag (luckily my stop was before his, plonker)! Not long after that, my boyfriend and I split up and we moved apart and by then I was into my final year at uni, so learning to play took a back seat. I haven't touched the poor instrument since, except to dust it (and it's now safely stored in the back of the wardrobe in a case). 

Anyroad, I finally got myself into gear late last month and signed up to an online training course with Bassbuzz - I had watched some of the tutor's free videos and liked his teaching style, and now I am obsessed / addicted to finishing the course. The music theory is a bit boring (for me) because I'm a classically trained but very out of practise violinist, but learning the bass clef is good. Alongside that, I'm already eyeing up 5 string basses, and wanting to buy myself yet more t-shirts and stuff to show off my new obsession. The course (lifetime access! Yay!) comes with 100 songs with tab / bass tracks, and there's a 50 song challenge running for those of us confident enough to having a go. I've already nailed Gnarls Barkeley's "Crazy", though it turns out that bassline is a sample from an old spaghetti western. I'm trying to learn AC/DC's "Highway to hell", though it's a little too fast for me at the moment, and this week I pretty much nailed the first song on the list which is Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall", which was a firm favourite when it went to number one many moons ago (and I later became a big Floyd fan anyway). Turns out the bass plays it in drop D tuning (lowest string down one tone) and then it's really easy. The Cog has decided he must learn the guitar solo and says it's very challenging. He's been trying to get me to learn the Beatle's "Back in the USSR" but I'm not fast enough to match Paul McCartney yet! 

So... that's what's been inspiring me to get out of bed lately (that and the job, pah!). Don't worry, normal textile crafts are still ongoing, as I'm running the annual two-day MK event next weekend. My crochet has stalled though, as I've got to the sleeve and the designer has really not done a great job of handling the shape vs pattern repeats structure, so I'll probably have to grab a calculator and pen/paper and chart it. The pattern repeat is roughly a one inch square in size, which doesn't really work with the shape a sleeve needs to be - plus there are no total stitch counts given for each row.  I don't like crocheting patterns where the pattern alignment jogs about - I'm not THAT OCD, but it won't match the body pieces which are already done. So I either re-chart it - I'll probably do plain blocks either side of the centre to keep it in pattern - or I just do it in rows of trebles and double crochets and hope the gauge stays close enough to the rest of it. Decisions, decisions... maybe I'll just put it away and get the guitar out again! 😁👌🎸

Ha, I just noticed that the guitar emoji above is a Fender Strat. Shame on you Fender, for the terrible PR mess you're currently embroiled in. I happen to own a Fender acoustic (a gift from years ago), and I'm currently using a Fender headphone amp that I bought for the Cog last Christmas, but I certainly won't be giving them any more money...

Current mood: enthralled

One foot in front of the other...

Well, I'm still here. There's not been much crafting to report, because I've rather lost my mojo of late. My FIL passed away late February after a short spell in UHCW and round-the-clock feeding by the four sons both there and when he returned home - using a dessertspoon takes forever. The funeral  was the day after my birthday, and two days after what would have been his 91st birthday, so things were very low key this year, though we did have a small family buffet on the following weekend, which was nice. Keeping the house running whilst the Cog dealt with the family stuff every single evening really took it out of me - dozing off in front of the TV became our "hobby" for a time. 

I also managed to wash the second Agnes cardigan (purple merino) wrong - it turns out "delicate" means spin the bejesus out of things to my washing machine -  and the extra yarn it mysteriously needed to complete it suddenly resurfaced, leaving me with a cardigan for a giant. Yeah, as it was my second attempt at that cardigan I guess I'm cursed to never own it - I'm not entirely sure round yoked cardigans fit my frame anyway but it was such a pretty pattern! I am part way through frogging it. I think if I reuse the yarn it will be in a crochet pattern - I'm fed up of investing so much time in handknits that then have to be frogged!

However, all is not lost. I've been knitting and crocheting little hearts for UHCW's palliative care team - apparently they give them to patients and relatives - and I'm also crocheting a cactus amigurumi kit that was a birthday present. Finally we may have an unkillable plant in our NW facing living room. I've also been doing a bit of beading. Youtube is such an amazing resource, but I do wish I could find some books on the subject, because short little videos are kind of irritating to use as reference materials. I do love a reference book! Talking of which, I finally caved and bought "Structural Stitches" by Victoria Salmon, which is very inspiring - kind of the book Bill King would write, if he compiled all of his MKM articles. 

So, I'm in a bit of a weird mood - I want to be creative but I don't seem to want to finish anything already in progress. Maybe delayed start-itis? Who knows? 

Current mood: indescribable

Bling, socks and more yarn!

Well, it's been an interesting time lately. Mojo has been lacking - partly because the weather has been ick and also because of other issues which I won't go into here. I've tried to make myself available to support my partner, and when that hasn't been required, I've been distracting myself with various social events, so there's not been much crafting time. The tumble dryer started shrieking and had to be replaced - the original manufacturer conned me into practically paying for a new one over twelve months (it and the washing machine are 8). When G returned from his snowboarding trip, we cancelled it and decided to go in for a new "heat pump" one. The old one actually destroyed several shirts when we first got it, and the sensor never sensed anything, so was costing a fortune to run and doubling as heating on laundry days. Some evil git scratched and dented my car and drove off, on a week when it could have happened in quite a few places (it still being dark fairly early), so that's another bill I could have done without. The less said about trying to get rid of our old sofa before the new one arrives, the better. It's been a trying year! 

Anyway, this weekend was the annual Kegworth "Going round in circles" event. Owing to a complete oversight on my part, I'd already bought tickets for myself, Mum and sil to attend the "Sewing for Pleasure" show at the NEC on the Sunday, and they don't do refunds alas, so I could only attend Kegworth on the Saturday. It was a lot of fun to catch up with old friends and make new ones. As I was teaching a class, I didn't get time to knit anything myself, and then I packed away quite early and wished I hadn't. Anne ran a cool class on how to make mini socks, and I'm hoping I made decent enough notes to be able to make some more of these. 

Aren't they cute?! Because of the dinky size, they are knitted as flat web and then grafted and sewn up one side. She even has a method for knitting the loop for adding to a keyring. I stayed for the evening meal, which was very nice, and then hot-footed it back home to bed. Yes, I did pick up some sock yarn, and no, I'll not bore you with the pictures. 

The NEC show was also fun - this one mostly focuses on sewers (sewists?) but there are a few yarn stalls dotted about, alongside beads, printmaking, marbling, card-making / scrapbooking, and the usual oddities - a cheese stall, olives, rum, moonshine, garden furniture and clothes/handbags. Ironically I only picked up a few findings and beads, and two pairs of "harem pants" which are great for lounging around the house in. They'll also be great for holidays, should I ever be lucky enough to go on another beach holiday. 

Some bling I picked up from the Southampton Bead Shop. It was all I could do not to buy more! So much lovely stuff! 

Current mood: awake

FO: Ravellenic fingerless gloves and a beading WIP

Well, the weather continues to be rubbish - either grey and very wet, or grey and freezing. Either way, the sun has packed up and left. I felt sure we'd wake up to snow on the ground this morning, but no, it's back to blah. This is global warming, I guess - more water than we know what to do with, localised flooding, and yet the nearest carwash is kaput again. Pah!

This Sunday just gone, I had a table at the Alexandra Arts spring studio stash sale day - local artisans sell off old stock and extras they don't want. I donated some bobbin lace books to the book table, and managed to sell off some socks, my old bobbin lace board (with half-completed bookmark in situ and loads of notes and extra stuff), a hand-knit cardigan and a few sewing items. I raised £46 for Dementia UK and rounded that up to £50 just because I like round numbers. I did pick up some beautiful antique glass buttons, beads and some pretty fabric. The weather wasn't great (despite a brief glimpse of the sun  on Saturday) so visitors were low. 

Anyroad, being a bit down in the dumps, I made a list of all my hobbies (I have a LOT) and whilst having a stash dive in preparation for the above sale, I rediscovered a necklace kit I must have picked up at one of the NEC shows, so that's in progress. I also knitted two pairs of fingerless gloves on the KH965i, mostly because it's currently the Ravellenic games and as a moderator, I felt I ought to contribute something. I'd forgot there's a "yarn unwinding" event, I could have waited to frog that diastrous circular cardigan and made it into an event. Ah well! 

Sales table at the Alex

Fingerless gloves for the Ravellenic games, pattern is here. These are a great stashbuster and can be made in a long strip and then seperated later. T5 for sock yarn makes them a smidge too small (supposed to be ladies size) but would be great for teens. As this is sock yarn leftovers, one has to be frugal with the yarn! 

Another pair, think I made these over Xmas but didn't blog about them. Added extra cuff in a contrasting yarn, possibly making them a little too long. 

Beading in process - it's already further on than this, but seed bead spirals require good eyesight! The big yellow bead is a safety bead which will come off later. 

Gorgeous glass button and bead eye candy!

Current mood: crappy

OT: Ugh.

Well, I guess it shouldn't have come as much as a surprise, but the depths of midwinter seem to coincide with bad news in our family the last few years. Or maybe the news is always bad lately, and the season seems to commiserate with it? 

My father-in-law K has had poor health for many years, having succumbed to ME after a nasty bout of 'flu in his late 60s. We stayed away to protect him during the pandemic, by which time he was almost completely deaf (my partner already wears hearing aids so that's hereditary). There was a waterworks infection which produced odd behaviour - but eventually it turned out to be vascular dementia. K used to smoke and presumably drink, as was more common in his era. The fact that the family have coped since his last hospital stay has extended his life by a few years, but after another kidney infection he's being released to come home to die. The only signs of life are growling, eye movement and breathing. It's horrible to watch, and I can only hope he slips away soon. As a family of engineers we feel powerless - our natural instinct is to think our way around such situations and repair them; but in this case there is no fix. The law in the UK sentences people to lingering deaths that we would not put our pets through. I was very lucky that my dad briefly rallied on my last visit - he was mentally with us 'til the end, and it turns out I was the last one to talk to him, a banal conversation about the weather I think! 

So my mood is indescribable at the moment - anger at the universe for allowing such suffering, sadness for the family, admiration and sorrow. The Cog has been out every evening for the last few weeks, to take over from the constant attempts to get food and liquids into K in hospital - the nurses do an amazing job, but nobody can spare three hours to feed someone with a dessertspoon. So our meals have been in shifts, and it's a rare thing if we eat together at all. At least K has family to take care of him, though whether prolonging his life is humane at this point is debatable. 

Amidst a rising tide of right wing rhetoric in the world, I note that many of the nurses were from exotic countries. Without immigrants, the NHS would collapse. Follow the money and use your intelligence, people, not the twisted tabloid media with their nasty agendas. Whilst the masses look the other way, the rich get richer. I was "reliably informed" by a supposedly intelligent work colleague that the reason her partner can't get a minor medical procedure done is because immigrants have swamped the NHS. It's nothing to do with years of underfunding, piecemeal privatisation by the back door, an ageing and increasing population, badly-paid staff leaving, and crumbling infrastructure. I suspect her anger at others is partially fired up by a badly-managed council HMO (House of Multiple Occupancy) starting up next door, which is forcing them to consider moving. 

Anyway, enough. You can see, my mood veers from sadness to anger and back at the moment. Lack of sleep, work stress and a sore back isn't helping! Hugs to all who find themselves in need of them at this time, and never forget to kiss your loved ones goodbye. You never know when it might be the last time. 

Current mood: indescribable

Hello 2026!

TLDR: Updates on my absence, and some overdue project pictures

Hello blog! I'm sorry I've not posted in ages. Life gets in the way sometimes - I got busy at work, and then distracted by a new toy (more on that later), and I've fallen off a cliff on Ravelry too I'm afraid, which is embarrassing when you're a moderator of the big machine knitting group. Whoops!

Towards the end of last year I think I was subconsciously wrestling with the black dog a bit. I gained weight, I slept more - the Cog thought this was excellent, as my sleep always goes out of whack in the winter time and then I'm really grouchy - but as I tried to explain to him, sleep isn't something you can bank up. It resets itself every day - and as I'm usually an early bird, sleeping 'til 10am on a weekend is not normal for me. I suspect he was just enjoying some peace and quiet!

Anyway, life has taken a new direction lately. The Cog got laid off in mid November and promised me the house would be spotless (I'm still waiting on that, ha!). Automotive CAD jobs in the UK seem to have disappeared lately, so that's not good. We rearranged the living/dining room in early December - Eddie the psycho rescue cat is still sulking and has retreated under the Passap. Sorry Ed, but the room feels much bigger (we had the sofa as a "room divider" before) and it's staying for good, not least because we intend to replace the current sofa and coffee table with a corner sofa and some blanket storage.  

As for machine knitting, I lost my mojo a bit. I've often said, one needs a good clear few hours to machine knit, whereas handknitting/crochet is an easy project to keep for in front of the tv - so machine knitting is a hard hobby to keep alive when you work full time. Like anything, practice makes perfect. I attempted a fairly simple fisherman's rib sweater on the Passap, and the first front has such loopy sides from dropped stitches, it could double as a rug. The second side went better - but as usual, I didn't make any notes of what size I was doing, etc. I really am my own worst enemy sometimes - it's not as if I haven't got a notebook for writing down what I'm doing! So the only machine knitting that happened towards the end of the year was finishing up more CSM socks for xmas presents. I had planned to make lots of "magic" yarn from the sock yarn leftovers, but that's also quite time consuming. I'm tempted to use the leftovers up to make fingerless gloves for charity. I also finally pressed the gold boucle cardigan I first mentioned here, and it looks a lot better. 

On the handknitting side, I finished three cardigans.  The purple merino (Drops Agnes) was a resounding success, other than I ended up playing yarn chicken at the end, and had to shorten the back to finish the second sleeve, having already had to buy a second lot of yarn in a different dye lot. Don't ask, I don't know what happened there! At the same time, I got tempted into buying some end-of-line super chunky cream with coloured flecks yarn. The cardigan took just over a week to knit because it was such thick yarn. Alas, I keep forgetting that chunky yarns don't suit someone as sturdily built as I. Also, the button holes are so large that I had a real struggle finding suitable buttons. I think it will go into the box for Knit for Peace that I am putting together. The circular green cardigan (Drops Modern Elegance) I started early last year has turned into an unmitigated disaster. It doesn't fit well, the armholes are too tight and the sleeves are too long. The yarn itself is very pretty, so I will unpick it and do something else with it. 

I recently completed 25 years at my company, and got a small bonus because of it. I put the money towards a new bass guitar, case and practice amp. I've always wanted to learn bass guitar, and an ex of mine even made me one. Unfortunately, it is impossible to get the lowest string in tune because the bridge is too close to the neck (it was his first ever attempt, he's much better at it now). So it's gathering dust - kept for sentimental reasons, but no purpose otherwise. So I am currently teaching myself to play bass, which will, alas, mean less time for knitting. I am planning to attend and possibly teach at the annual Kegworth CSM event, but due to double-booking myself I will only be there on the Saturday. 

So, that just about brings you up to date! I'll try to post a bit more on here, but no promises - I go through phases of hobbies, and right now knitting isn't top priority. 

More CSM socks!

Agnes cardigan in Drops extra fine purple merino. Sorry for the busty picture, blame the camera angle! :D

The chunky aran cardigan - very cosy! Mistake rib, I added an extra line down the sleeves just to make them a bit more interesting.

The circular cardigan disaster - it's not for me!

The gold boucle cardigan - a Clair Crowston design

Some recent shopping bags - I love the Oriental one, the gold really glitters! The other two are from old IKEA pillowcases. Not shown, another plain white one which needs embellishment. Will probably donate some of these to the local foodbank, I have more than enough shopping bags. Also not pictured, a bunch of shopping bags I made as xmas presents last year. Oh well, it's noted here even if there are no pictures.

My new toy - an Ibanez bass in cherry red (now sporting a skull strap, this strap was temporary). I am in love! It seems to coordinate with other things in the living room too! Ha!

Current mood: okay

More socks

More socks for the xmas box, though I might keep the rainbow ones for myself! Alas, I managed to shrink my Agnes cardigan in the wash, it's now so small it will only fit a child. I am an idiot! I've ordered some yarn to replace it but this time it'll be purple merino. In other news, I've been pootling around on the E6000, with varying degrees of success. That machine sure loves to show me who is the boss, it is so finicky around stitch sizes!

Current mood: annoyed