... to get out my Christmas themed cake moulds and cookie cutters.

Over the last couple of weeks my boyfriend made gorgeous snowflake topped mince pies, I made a star shaped Brownie and a bundt cranberry upside down cake - which is going to be pudding on Christmas day.

( Cut for spoilers for all Chalion books )
OK, I'm off to look for Snow White references in the text. Anyone else think Goram is like the seven dwarves? He is totally described as short.

The view from my sister's kitchen window:

I bought two balls of Patons yarn a couple of weeks ago in red and white and have been a little bit obsessed with them


These are going to be directions for my mini Christmas tree, I can put little treats in them. They are so cute! Very quick to make and enjoyable.

I made two bigger ones to hang on the mantelpiece with bigger presents in:

I've almost finished my first square for the Macmillan Comfort Blanket, and I'm working on Christmas socks for X.

It is now officially well under 100 days till Christmas so it is not weird of me to be planning gifts ! Never mind that I started some of them in June...

Just in case anybody happens to stumble across this entry I'm writing the recipients names in Russian - that'll fool 'em! I hope.

Моя Мать shawl; socks; gift stocking
Мой Отец handspun jumper: spinning completed.
Мой молодой человек jumper, hat, scarf, gloves, socks
Моя сестра jumper, scarf/shawl
Моя мачеха snood
Тётя Джоун ? Shawl?
Дядя Джак socks
Тётя Гилара shawl
Тётя Морийн snood
Моя подруга Р handspun yarn
Бабушка angora handspun scarf
Бабуся Hap Blanket (http://ysolda.com/store/accessories/hap-blanket/)
Другие друзья: ??

I am not feeling too stressed about this - hopefully I will finish the socks and have started one of the jumpers by the end of this month. October I will do all the little bits and pieces, then November is jumper month. Positive thinking. Yes!

Now for what I want (rubs hands together)

Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett
Cordelia's Honour on audiobook by Lois McMaster Bujold
Guards! Guards! audiobook by Terry Pratchett. (unabridged version)
cashmere for spinning (nom)
A spinners' set by Spindlefrog on Etsy
Subscription to Interweave Knits, Yarn Forward, Spin Off magazines, and Rowan International
A ball winder
Latest series of That Mitchell and Webb look on dvd
Knitwitches camel silk or cashmere/silk or laceweight cashmere in deep colours - greens, blues, purples.
Books in french (for practice)

The I Knit weekender really inspired me to get knitting - especially as my stash has now begun to take over the entire flat.



I finished my gorgeous silk/cashmere scarf (and I'm wearing it right now). I knit a chunky raglan jumper this weekend in green Sirdar Juniper (pictures later).


I have also started a pink chunky lace sleeveless cardigan in Mirasol Sulka, and I'm about halfway through.

My strategy is to knit up all the chunky stuff first as it knits up so quickly - that way I can make more space for all the extra wool that has appeared in my life!

I am really obsessed with raglan shaping at the moment, I really love the way it looks, the way it is so easy to try it on as you go along, and the fact that there is no seaming. I think I might make another cardigan after this one - you can never have too many!

Oh what a fun time. I was helping out on the Knitwitches stall – oh god the yarn is gorgeous. I just stood there for 2 days fondling it and inviting others to do the same. The silk/cashmere is pure heaven, and I came away with a ball all of my own to love and pet. I am making it into a scarf so that I can wear it every day and stroke my face with it. The colours are amazing.



I also got a load of alpaca/merino for a jumper, and some laceweight cashmere (squee!). We had loads of samples hanging up which inspired me hugely, and Eirwen’s enthusiasm for lace is very infectious. The first night I was so tired I fell asleep at 9pm – then woke up a few hours later and tossed because my mind was buzzing with knitting inspiration! Gah.
There were lots of fantastic stalls – Natural Dye Studio, Fyberspates, Debonnaire, First4Yarns and Vauxhall City Farm were my favourites (as usual). And I picked up more gorgeous buttons from Textile Garden, who I love to pieces.

It was really fun seeing all the great handknits walking past. I especially loved the proliferation of shawls, and the woman in the white cabled dress looked epic – like the High Priestess of Knitwear or something. I had a great time chatting with everyone who came to the stall, cooing over the yarn, and I also met up with tonnes of people I knew from Ravelry, which was lovely.

I was especially pleased to see Grimwitch, who bought us some gorgeous homemade spice cake, and Tekgirl, who was my swap partner in a TSG swap and bought me a present and a card! It is some angora fluff for spinning, and a little bracelet in my favourite colour, green. It was so nice to put a face to the name at last, although we didn’t get loads of time to chat.



Then on Monday this week I received my Fibreholics parcel – the house is now completely overrun with yarn and fibre. Here is my haul:


That is 200g of hand-dyed fibre fun waiting to be spun.
Happy, happy, joy, joy.

I fell in love with another book over the holidays, and got to thinking about all the books that I wish EVERYONE IN THE WORLD would read so that we could have a lovely discussion. Here they are:

1. Villette by Charlotte Bronte. First, not because it is the best, but because nobody else I know has read it and I have to talk to someone about it. Read it, damn you!
2. Anna Karenina by Lev Tolstoy. OK, lots of people have read this one, but not enough I tell you. All must read it. There is a reason it's so famous! I reread every year and every time it's different (and I cry at a different bit).
3. Shards of Honour by Lois McMaster Bujold - her entire Vorkosigan series just goes from strength to strength and I WORSHIP her. But because it's genre fiction (sci fi) lots of people turn their noses up. Turn your noses back down people, and prepare to fall in love, fall off your chair laughing, and cry your face off.
4. The Women's History of the World. The only non-fiction book on my list. It changed my view of the WHOLE WORLD.
5. Nation by Terry Pratchett - this is the one I read last week and fell in love with. I also heartily recommend the Discworld series because Pterry is The Man.
6. Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon. More genre, this time it's time travelling romance, but this book (and all her books) are some of the tattiest books in my house due to the feverish re-reading. That speaks for itself really.
7. The King Must Die by Mary Renault. This book is epic and scarily original and, I imagine, impossible to film, but every time I read it I think they should make a movie. All Mary Renault's books (esp. her Greek ones) are epic, but this is my favourite.
8. Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie (also: Welcome to Temptation, Fast Women, Tell Me Lies, Faking It). Best. Chicklit. Ever. The donut scene is burned on my brain forever.
9. The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West. There are no words.
10. Short stories by Neil Gaiman (any). His full length novels are great too, but I heart his short stories best. (His version of Snow White? FREAKS ME OUT).
11. The Diary of a Provincial Lady by EM Delafield. Funniest book in the whole world. Actually my most favourite book of all time. Another one I reread every year, and every year I laugh at almost every page. That is magic (or the process of cretinisation taking effect).
12. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons. Second funniest book in the world (sorry Stella)
13. The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Best Comfort Reading ever.
14. Edith Wharton's short story collections. I LOVE HER! Again, her novels are good too, but there is something about her short stories that grab you.
15. The Count of Monte Christo. A monument of a book. Another one that's a bit of a slog, but just keep going.
16. The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov. Nobody does melancholy better than this giant of Russian literature, and it's set in a place and conflict most people (in England, anyway)won't be familiar with. It's fun to read a historical novel and not know how it's going to end.
17. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (and all her other books except for Mansfield Park which I'm not as keen on). Witty and winning.
18. Miss Buncle's Book by D E Stevenson. Third funniest book in the world!
19. Vanity Fair by Thackeray. Never have I been so SHOCKED by a book. I had to reread a bit because I couldn't believe the author would do that to me.
20.A game of Thrones by George RR Martin (and the entire Song of Ice and Fire series). Medieval Fantasy Crack. So immersive, you find yourself thinking of people you don't like that you would like to hunt them down and mount their heads on a pike on your castle walls.
21. Un Lun Dun by China Mieville. Newest addition to the List of Literature Crack, I posted about it a little while ago. London fantasy children's trope-busting JOY.
22. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding. The book embodying the word 'romp' for me, and bouncy and enjoyable it is too. You may find yourself starting sentences with 'Indeed' while reading this book.
23. A Constant Princess and The White Queen by Philippa Gregory (and all her historical novels). I loved finding out more about Catherine of Aragon and the Plantagenets, and she tells a gripping story.
24. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters (and all her other books). Oh, the sadness. This is the book that moved me the most. My other favourites are Fingersmith (the plotting! the twists and turns made me gasp), Tipping the Velvet (of course!), Affinity (creepy!) and The Little Stranger (more creepiness! arrgh). She is just a fantastic writer, an absolute classic.

So as I said, I did hardly any knitting over our holidays, but what I did was knit on my Socktop, which is my top made out of sock yarn. It is knitted top down, in the round, and I have done about 30% of it. It is all stocking stitch, which you would think would be boring enough to drive you to distraction, but for some reason I really enjoy knitting it. Perhaps my brain is degenerating. I'm having a lovely time though! Looking forward to wearing it, it's very soft.

Pictures soon - when I can find my damn camera!

Recently I have done a couple of scary things and it is so satisfying! The scariest one was cycling up and, especially, down the bumpy hills of Bewl Water when I haven't been on a bike for over 15 years, and wasn't that good on one even then. I was so so frightened going down those hills, and was fairly convinced that I was going to die, but the worst I got was a big scrape and bruise on one arm (note to self: riding into a fence is not the best way to brake) and a load of nettle and bramble scratches up my calves. I nearly hit a kid who came very fast around a corner, but we both survived! Yes!

The worst bit was that I was hanging on to the handlebars for grim death, so every now and again I had to stop and rub my hands and wrists because they were killing me - and sometimes they hurt so much because of the pressure, that I couldn't stretch my fingers to the brake and had to steer into the bushes in order to stop (ergo, scratched legs). Another problem was the tendency of my feet to fly off the peddles whenever I went a bit fast. But we got to the end! Yes I dismounted and walked down some of the steeper hills, but I LIVED TO TELL THE TALE.

Also, I finally tried some of the jam we made in July. We made about 25 jars, and after all that effort, I was so anxious that it would all be rubbish, that I just stuck to honey. Finally I've tried it and it is the BEST JAM IN THE WORLD. Which is lucky, seeing as we've got so much!

I really want to go cycling again now - and canoeing, and hill walking, and swimming in the sea - and I'm wondering what other scary things there are out there for me to try. Only moderately scary mind - none of this bungee jumping - something more on the level of cycling around a reservoir or eating jam will suit me very well.

We got back from our holiday last weekend, and it was utterly blissful – one week in Radnorshire, one week in Kent. The first week we went on endless long walks along the Offa’s dyke path and around that area, explored a medieval church perched high among the sheep fields, we went canoeing along the River Wye, which is a beautiful way to see the countryside (no pictures though because my camera isn’t waterproof!). We even swam in the river a bit when we stopped to have our picnic, which was glorious. We went to Croft Castle and Powis Castle, and the Judge’s Lodgings in Presteigne. I loved the Judge’s Lodgings, the audio guides are so sweet – they keep reminding you to sit down and have a rest if you need to, they seem very keen not to tire you out. Almost every day we had a picnic lunch on some grassy bank somewhere, and most evenings we ate our dinner outside, some nights we had bonfires and a couple of times we had a barbecue. On Tuesday night we watched for shooting stars and saw one. Every day I picked a punnet of blueberries from the bushes in the front garden, one of tomatoes from the greenhouse, and went around feeling the apples to see if they were ripe yet. We had fresh runner beans and rhubarb from the garden for dinner. I was so tired each evening I didn’t have the energy for knitting! Despite that, it was bliss. That week we saw herons and deer and peacocks, a lizard, a snake, a baby rabbit, lambs, cows, dragonflies, a big fat toad, and hundreds of other things you aren’t used to seeing in London.

The second week was very different. We hired bikes for the day and cycled around Bewl Water, which was terrifying but exhilarating (I finished shouting ‘I’m alive! I’m alive!’ because I had been 98% convinced that this trip was going to end with broken bones, at the very least), we went to the seaside at Bexhill and swam, we went to Sheffield Park Gardens and discovered the funny little vineyard next door and ended up buying loads of wine from the fantastically knowledgable man who runs it. We went plum and raspberry picking somewhere in Kent, and stuffed ourselves with plums afterwards. We drove most places, and I navigated which was a first for me – I’m not used to sitting in the front seat of the car, let along navigating! It all went swimmingly until it rained one afternoon and we couldn’t work out how to work the windscreen wipers in a hurry and had to pull over and sort it out. Apart from that it was fine.

I wish life could be one long summer holiday!

I just realised: I have been a bad blogger and not even mentioned my christmas knitting that I finished in June.

Both by Ysolda, I made a Hap Blanket for my Granny using Rowan Cocoon in Christmassy colours, and a large Ishbel shawl in undyed BFL for my auntie. These are great patterns, and I strongly recommend the book 'Whimsical Little Knits'.

www.ysolda.com/wordpress

So for my next project in my Great Stash Knitdown, I want to make myself a cosy little top out of some of my collection of gorgeous sock yarn. I am improvising the pattern, but basing the general construction on my lacy cardigan. I'm using 3 sock yarns - 2 skeins of NDS Angel, and 1 skein of Old Maiden Aunt. I am going to stripe them, because I like the way the colours go together, and this yarn is too pretty to be hidden away on my feet.

The most ambitious lace project I did was this lacy cardigan. I love cardigans, I wear them all the time, but I only have a few in my warderobe, so I knew I wanted a new one. I saw Picperfic on Ravelry's Whisper cardigan, made from a pattern I had seen and not much warmed to in the Spring Interweave Knits. Hers looked fantastic on her - and also assuaged my fears that that particular pattern would only look good on pencil-thin model types. She looks great!

The original pattern is in fingering weight stocking stitch, I decided to use a Harebell Lace pattern from my 'Knitting: A Field Guide' and my Knitwitches Camel Silk that I picked up at last year's Ally Pally - also part of my silk yarn stash down, I bought a load of silk and then did nothing with it, so I am trying to remedy that now. Anyway, this yarn is heavier than fingering weight, so the original Whisper pattern was by now more of a general inspiration than a stricly adhered-to pattern.

It has a really clever construction, you start at the bottom of the left sleeve, knit to the shoulder in the round, then bind off some of the stitches and continue flat across the back. After the other sleeve is done you pick up stitches all the way around the outside of the shrug part, and knit 1x 1 rib, then knit the lower back. This cardigan doesn't really have a front to it, which decreases yarn consumption and knitting time, but on the other hand, you might get chilly boobs. It also has no seams, which is fab. I used less than 1.5 skeins of yarn (and I am not a tiny model).

My next effort was more complicated, and altogether more exciting. Last year I got a ball of Cashmere Silk from Knitwitches, it is a really sumptuous (and expensive) yarn, and I was saving it until a worthy pattern struck me. A couple of months ago I ordered 'Whimsical Little Knits' by Ysolda, and immediately decided that Ishbel was the pattern for my gorgeous yarn - only to find that I had lost that ball and tore the house apart looking for it! Doooom.



Happily, it turned up last week, and I set to work on Ishbel with alacrity. This yarn is a pure joy to work with, and it is beautifully lustrous. I can't wait for the cooler weather so that I can start wearing this -I may need to buy a whole new Autumn warderobe around it!

Ishbel is a great lace pattern, because the first chunk is stocking stitch which makes it quicker and easier. The lace pattern is challenging enough, but I didn't make too many mistakes.



This is my second Ishbel, the first one I did in DK handspun BFL and it was a much bigger project (obviously). I like my two Ishbels - the first one was ostensibly a present for someone, but I just like it soo much I may have to get them a box of chocolates instead!

I have been exploring lace patterns recently, as lace has never been my strong suit (too much concentration required!). The first project was socks, I used my trusty 'Field Guide to Knitting' stitch dictionary (which is really useful by the way - has little comments like 'this pattern decreases yarn consumption, and would be nice for a summer cardigan')and did a simple lace diamond pattern in top-down socks. These were part of my sock yarn stash knit down effort, the Indigo Moon Sock yarn is really pretty, I got it at the Socktopus opening party last year.

Every now and again you read a book that you fall in love with, and Un Lun Dun is one of those. Read it now!

( Cut for SPOILERS )

I spent my Saturday last weekend in the cheerful, charming, eccentric company of the ThamesReach branch of the SCA – Society for Creative Anachronism. A bunch of people who dress up in medieval ‘garb’, practise medieval arts like fencing, calligraphy, weaving and embroidery, and have a medieval feast at the end. I had the most wonderfully geeky time.

I went along on a whim after getting drunkenly enthusiastic about it at the end of a long boozy wedding – “Dressing up in medieval clothes, calling each other My Lady and My Lord? IT’S WHAT I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR ALL MY LIFE”. In the cold light of day I felt a bit more wary – what if they were all weirdos? But I’d committed myself by then and went along to a church hall near Archway with a Co-op bag full of nibbles, a craft project to work on, and my cobbled-together place setting for the feast. (The plate is really a chopping board for herbs. Impressive, no?).

Everyone was really friendly, and *tremendously* into it. They had personas, with back stories. They embroidered their own chemises. They had great big swords. They had home-baked medieval meat pies. I fell in love with them immediately.

We spent the afternoon learning ‘tablet weaving’ which is not, as I assumed, an activity that results in a woven tablet. No, a tablet is something you use during weaving to produce patterned bands which you can use as belts or edgings for clothing. It is very engrossing and fun, but I didn’t persevere for long because a) it gave me a back ache and b) I had madly agreed to knit for someone on commission with a deadline of Monday, and it was proving surprisingly complicated for a garter stitch scarf (it involved intarsia, which I have never done before. Gah).

For the evening ‘Revel’ we all got changed into our medieval garb – I was lent a lovely turmeric coloured silk gown, a white chemise and a white head thing (a bit like the white things nuns wear on their heads). Some of the others were wearing fairly simple outfits, some had AMAZING ones, complete with hats and handmade leather shoes and all sorts. In fact, most people had some kind of wonderful headgear, and that was what really transformed them.

Everyone had contributed something to the feast - my two packets of cheese straws paled into insignificance next to the rabbit pie, whole roast chicken, etc, some of the others brought along, and it was really fun trying the medieval recipes. Frumenty is as fun to eat as it is to say (a bit like plov) and disappeared very quickly!

Later we had musical performances, everyone joined in the medieval dancing (Very Fun, but next time I will definitely bring alcohol as I think it would enhance the experience), and toasts.

I finished the evening in a fever of enthusiasm. I would read all the books there are on medieval history! I would go to all the museums in London and research stuff! I would spin, dye, weave, sew and embroider my own medieval gowns!

Everyone at SCA seemed really knowledgeable about history – not in a show-off kind of way, but in an adorable ‘Isn’t this gingerbread I cooked to a 12th century recipe cool!?!’ kind of way. My history knowledge comes almost exclusively from Philippa Gregory and costume dramas, so I felt a little bit behind the others, but that was ok. It’s great to be around people who can talk about the laws of heraldry – and how they are applying them to their own craftwork. People who think it is normal to get out your embroidery after dinner. People who get excited about textiles exhibitions in museums. People who have painstakingly taught themselves tablet-weaving from a book and are now happily spending a whole afternoon showing others how to do it, for absolutely no fee, just for the fun of sharing knowledge.

I’m gutted I’m missing next month's due to holidays. Ho hum, off to the museum to plan my new garb.

We never thought we would get a picture of naked people, look at the expression on my face!