Ravellenic medals

By the end of week 1 of the Olympics, I was one of these:

...and I won these:







Apols for being quiet, but I spent last week in Baden-Baden, enjoying the beer and the sunshine (and the thermal spa), and since I got back late Sunday evening my feet have hardly touched the ground at work or at home. Plus I finally got an appointment with an eye consultant, only to discover that BUPA have moved the goalposts in the last three weeks and I can't afford any consultant I choose. Not impressed, as the only guy in the whole area that I CAN afford seems to be permanently engaged.

This private healthcare lark is not all it's cracked up to be. Maybe I will have to go cap-in-hand to the NHS and get on the waiting list. Presuming I don't get run over and killed beforehand of course (not as unlikely as you think - I had a near miss crossing the road the other weekend when the lights had changed to amber and I didn't realise). Asides from the fact, you have to do all the running yourself, trying to write to people, call people etc. I may end up travelling to London to get this sorted out - been playing redial bingo today.

Hey ho. The irony of paying an arm and a leg (when I just need a new lens) is not lost on me, I assure you! Grump!

Hopefully a more cheery update, and poss. some photos soon. Toodle-oo!

Ravellenic FOs

Kate/Wildhoney shawl, 2ply lambswool from Uppinghams, weighs 348g. Knitted at T3 on the Brother KH950i, pattern mod - left needle three on edge of ruffle out of work, to tame the curl.


Charity hats made from leftover marble chunky


Charity tee from Colinette Lasso.

When the going gets tough...

… I start thinking I should’ve just knitted a blooming hat. Yes, it’s the Ravellenic games, folks, and I stupidly decided I’d knit a Kate/Wildhoney shawl – named Kate after Kate Middleton, Prince William’s missus, and Wildhoney after the Ravelry lady who brought the pattern to us (I think she’s Russian?). It’s a simple enough design – a shawl made from shortrowing across the entire bed, to make a pie-wedge shape, and then a short-rowed ruffle knitted onto it, all the way around.

The shawl itself was easy enough once I’d decided what yarn to use – I bought a cone of beautiful hyacinth blue 2ply lambswool ages ago from Uppinghams (it was after the first jumper-shrinking debacle, when I made the perpetrator take me there to buy replacement yarn for a new one, in fact). I never had anything in mind at the time, the colour was just so lovely it kind of fell into my arms. You know the sort.

Anyroad, I’ve been at this shawl since Sunday. Let us not speak of Saturday, when I spent over an hour repairing damaged needles and trying to get cast on (and then giving up and having a sulk in the garden with a nice can of pear cider). The shawl itself was a fairly quick knit once I realized that casting on with waste yarn and just going straight into it would work a lot better. But the ruffle? Oh kerfuffle!

It’s 40sts, 20 rows straight, then shortrowing every 4 sts in and out again. No big deal. But it seems to be taking forever. It’s rapidly making me think of some kind of knitting black hole, there just seems to be no end to it. I knitted nearly a thousand straight rows on Monday night – this doesn’t include the short rows, which add another 40 rows every 20 rows – and quite a bit more on Wednesday (I skipped knitting club partly because I needed to work on this, and partly because I’ve been a bit ill lately). I had to stop on Wednesday as I was getting shoulder pain in my left (think my chair was a tad too low). Managed a bit more last night before the gym – the last (radial) side is in sight! Finally!

It hasn’t helped that I had Passap night on Tuesday, which I did not wish to cancel (it was moved forward a week as it was, because of my schedule) – but at least I got a chance to test-knit that pintuck swatch in the 2/30s which is a LOT nicer than the black ones I did. I can’t knit tonight – I managed to get tickets for the women’s footie, and I daren’t even take my handknitting in, in case they wrestle it off me. Knitting’s not on the security no-no list, but sharp pointy objects are. As I’ve slowed down to a crawl on the second sock (and had to reknit parts of the heel because I messed the decreases up) I’m not about to surrender the sock to anyone, regardless of how much magenta, purple or khaki they’re wearing.

Everyone’s posting such wonderful things to our Ravellenic FO thread and I feel as if as a mod I’m letting the side down somewhat. I have to keep telling myself, I work full-time, this is challenging to me (in terms of getting it finished in time) and although I could have gone for quantity, it wouldn’t have been a big effort on my part.

So – it’s down to the wire this weekend, I guess. Got to ferry himself and his bro to various garages tomorrow, MOTs and repairs due, but hopefully after that I’m free! Free! FREE I tell you – to get down the last side, graft it, weave in the ends, wash and steam. Hmm….

It might still be a photo finish….

Challenge yourself

Well, the Ravellenic Games started officially on Friday night (alongside the real Games) - the Cog and I watched the Danny Boyle thing with much wonder and hilarity, especially the parachuting queen and the Mr Bean parts. It was too much to be knitting at the same time (and without putting my daylight lamp on, a struggle to see stitches) but I did frog a top I made from Colinette Lasso bought from the sale room aeons ago. I remembered why I didn't hand-knit it - it's a shiny, slippy, knitted cord, which finds every rough spot on your hands to catch on. Not sure what it will become - it was only 2 skeins. I suspect there's just about enough for another charity tee.



My challenge for these games is to complete one machine-knitted item - the Wildhoney/Kate shawl. I guess it doesn't sound like much of a challenge - one item - but I'll be away next week and this shawl has a ruffle knitted onto all edges. Plus it needs washing and steaming. I'll be very lucky to have it done in time. Beginning to think I should have opted to make something simple like a hat, in fact!

Spent 20 minutes replacing damaged needles and another hour on saturday trying to get the darn thing cast on and gave up when the yarn snapped. Lost most of the morning taking the Cog's car in for air con repair (he needs a new condenser at a cool £500 - ouch!). So Saturday afternoon, I had a hissy fit, and retired to the garden (but it was a bit too cold to sit out).

Sunday went better - the shawl is made from wedges and goes straight into partial knitting after only two rows, so decided to cast on with waste yarn and get straight into it, which worked a lot better. The Cog and I went into Coventry to see the "Godiva Wakes" carnival. A 6m animated Godiva, on a pedal-powered horse. We first caught up with her in Broadgate, about to be winched onto the horse - poor lass had her bare bum stuck out and it started to rain. Decided not to wait so nipped off for a sandwich, and then popped to IKEA. By the time we'd got through the tills she'd gone past us, but had broken down as the animation had stopped (see pic below). She winks, turns her head etc.



So we used the opportunity to sneak past her and get to the front of the parade, and we got to see it all. Mum was in amongst them, and I have a shot of her looking straight at me, but we didn't see each other. To be fair, she was wearing a white pointy hat and white face paint, and I couldn't really see faces because we were staring into the sun. Apparently Lady G has a book of intent (the wishes of youngsters for how they'd like the country to be run, I think) and she's taking it down to London and picking up things along the way. She'd better get a move on though 'cause at walking pace she'll only just make it for the closing ceremony!

Got back from Cov and managed to knit the main body of the shawal and cast it off at both ends. Tonight I need to make inroads into the ruffle. Wish me luck!


Current mood: determined