The great little hand held video cam / phone that I inherited from K. has gone phut. The battery wasn’t charging properly, then the display screen went off. K has given me another phone - he works in the mobile phone business [there are always numerous phones bleeping and buzzing in this flat; when my mother was staying it drove her mad and one day we came in to find her swiping at the smoke alarm with a broom only to have to tell her it was one of K’s phones! laughed? we nearly peed ourselves!] - but I’m a bit resentful of this small black new phone with it’s teenie buttons and little joy stick.

So I haven’t taken any photos for a while, nor blogged much. But on the knitting front there is much news! I’ve finished bun’s balerina wrap, and half way through an organic cotton cardigan for her. Last night I also decided to make her some slippers, and I’m still experimenting with that but think I will have it cracked tonight. My friend S (from Cartside) and I took the girls for a trip to the West End the other week and a visit to the lovely (but expensive - all the hand dyed and hand wove and 100% wool yarns that Marjory’s in Battlefield doesn’t stock because, say Marjory, no-one would buy it) K1 Knitting Boutique. I bought some more Araucania sock yarn. Because I love it and I’m worth it OK??!! And a couple of gorgeous hanks of Noro - I’ve just picked up a second hand edition of Debbie Bliss’ Bright Knits for Kids from Amazon and want to knit bun and her cousin little waistcoats. The list of stuff I want to knit is getting longer, especially since I discovered Ravelry!

We’ve been getting lots of pictures of little O in his set I knitted for him. The Elizabeth Zimmermann Baby Surprise Jacket was a huge success. It’s fits so well, and is so warm, that I think this will now be the standard issue baby present! And my neighbour just told me she is expecting so, oh dear, I’m going to have to go out and buy some more cashmerino. Good job that nice Mr Brown is keeping interest rates nice and low (pah and humbug! we got a letter from our mortgage lenders Abbey letting us know their change in rates was benefitting us by … wow, just over ONE pound! what complete and utter buggers!)

Yeah, anyway, watch this space as they say as I’m going to be uploading lots of new pics within the week. I also want to redesign the awful header.

Later, alligator.

The clocks have gone back and it has turned freezing here in Glasgow. I had tonsillitus and a bad cold, and only stayed on top of things (just) by going to bed at about 8.30 for a week or so.

Things have been busy this month: I started working 3 days instead of 2, I did a training course (which was excellent), Bun was ill (a very bad cold for at least a week) and K was away in Sri Lanka for over a week … When it rains it pours blah blah.

I have fitted in some knitting. And some Tom Foolery.  Here is the silly bit first.

Thanks to K for ‘helping’ me with this one If you want to know more about fighting the good fight then go see Franklin

I finished the socks in Araucania yarn. Yum. Actually, these were finished weeks ago … and I STILL haven’t blocked and posted to Marichen. Sorry M!

This month saw a couple of good charity finds. This dress I got from the charity shop round the corner which I frequently pop into to see if there is anything of interest. I found this quite strange but wonderful dress (size 10, so forget it). It’s basic structure was a kind of denim pinafore, I guess, but with crocheted wool flowers on the front and the back skirt made of all sort of stripey, glitzy yarn (nothing I would buy but kind of intriguing in the mix). The front also had a bottom tier of this striped knitted confection.

I thought it would make great bag material. So we shall see …. maybe I will get round to doing something with this.

At the same time, in the same shop, I came across this Ralph Lauren 1980’s posing as 1920’s affair:

I bought it for K, and he seemed to like it (I think it reminded him of his boater-wearing days). The instructions say to dry clean only, but I think it’s definately been put through the wash. Anyway, if K doesn’t wear it I’m stripping it down for yarn!

And lastly, I was walking past one of the shops the charity I work for, and it was pissing down with rain, and outside the shop (which was shut for a holiday) was an old but quite good M&S lamp - so I rescued it as it would have been ruined if left out all night. It’s actually quite nice, tho needs a new fitting/switch thingy. I let the manager of one of the shops know, and have promised to pass on a donation!

Before leaving J&J’s country-ok-in-the-city-but-could-be-the-country-if-just-looking-out-the-back-window garden (the ‘green womb’) me and Marney did a quick dash out in the rain to collect some of the lovely ripe brambles (in England more commonly called black berries). They only last a few weeks and J&J have their hands somewhat full at the moment.

Organic brambles (minus a few which got ‘lost’ along the way!); organic beasties included (for free!)

I love jam, but the cupboard and fridge is ridiculously full of jams (we are nearly done with ‘Lesley Jam’ - so thanks Lel!), and especially so after these yummy additions from Marney.

So our brambles became bramble and apple crumble with oats to make it a true Scottish pud.

Grumble Crumble (not my pronunciation)

some apples in pieces (just chuck in what you want depending on size of pot)
some brambles (ditto)
few tablespoons of water (I didn’t add sugar to the base, just to the topping)
For the Crumble:
few handfuls Scots oats
120g plain flour
120g butter or margarine (I used flora light as that was all I had - that was fine if a bit clumpy)
120g brown sugar

For the topping, rub together all except the sugar which you can mix in to dry stuff before cooking, with a wee bit on top for extra crunch. Cook in oven at about 180 C for about 40 minutes.

Introducing …. Isla. My neighbours dog. Here pictured post salon after cut, blow dry, full body talc buffing and installation of complimentary hair accessories. I’m assuming they were not paid for anyway

We all had a good giggle about it (neighbour has good sense of humour … although that of course is obvious!) but bun was a bit bemused. She had just woken from a quick nap in the buggy, it must be said, but you could see her little cogs whirring away and in a lazy way thinking … why?

I’ve had a lovely weekend. M&D came to stay and we hit town on the Friday, targeting the haberdashery at John Lewis. I picked up a couple of balls of Rowan to knit some gloves with, and some new 4mm bamboo needles. I’d been knitting this (a Christmas present for someone special) on metal needles which wasn’t working out and I wasn’t happy with some bamboo ones I got off ebay.

JL had some fantastic repro retro fabric, which I thought would look fantastic as lining in knitted bags, but I resisted … at least for now. They have a good selection of buttons, ribbon (M bought lots), fabric and of course lots of nice yarn. I saw the most lovely little peach cross stitch dress on display, to promote this Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino book.

While M&D were looking at flooring, bun and I got bored, so I sat down to knit some socks with some Araucania I’ve had for a while, and bun climbed all over JL’s nice display rugs (’these nice big steps for me?’) and beds (’I take off my shoes and have wee nap?’)

Above photo was taken a few days ago, I’ve finished the first sock now and it’s a pretty perfect fit (they’re not for me, but for a friend same size feet, so I hope they fit her as well).

We bought some items for my new nephew Oliver, and we all trekked over to E’burgh on the Saturday to welcome the wee one (he is so, so gorgeous - he is K’s brother’s little boy but I felt immediately … what is the feminine version of avuncular? … just very pleased to get the chance to hold him and give him a wee cuddle).

* * * * *

I’ve been listening to some great podcasts - In Our Time, Stephen Fry, Cast On and free Buddhist audio - gives me something to think about. Much better to listen to something interesting and knit than watch junk on tv!

K keeps coming across knitting related articles on the web; apparently knitting is everywhere at the moment. He pointed this out to me and I think it’s a lot of fun.

The dress is designed by artist Joy Kampia - modelled by me of course (I had to shed a couple of pounds to fit into it but worth the effort don’t you think? Pfffff!)

It’s a lot of fun doing wee knits for babies. They’re quick to knit up, and are soo cute as well (almost … almost worth having a baby for). I’m really pleased with this ensemble (for Frogmella, who manifested himself in the early hours of Sunday).

Thanks to K for the gorgeous wooden buttons. And thank you to Elizabeth Zimmermann. We are not worthy of you.

The Umbilical Cord Hat from Debbie Stoller’s Stitch n’ Bitch, designed by Jennifer L. Jones.

I found a pattern for these booties here. It was once I started to knit that I noticed the yarn was the exact one recommended! (Shows you how observant I am.)

Yarn: Sublime baby cashmere merino silk dk shade 050 dilly and 056 mole.

Needles: 3mm circular.

And here is a little bolero and hat I made from Leigh Radford’s One Skein. I made these quite some time ago, and there are quite a few lessons learnt since that knit, so it’s a bit messy. Plus the yarn was not quite right I feel - some cotton I had, who knows what label. Plus it would have looked much better in just the oatmeal colour. It’s much better now it’s blocked but I’m still not sure whether it is up to present standard, so it may go to charity.

The leaves on the big horse chestnut outside our front windows are going crimson and orange and rusty red. It looks gorgeous and bun is really interested in the changes in the trees. I love Autumn - it’s my favourite season I think, and full of the promise that belongs to all beginnings. I think it must be an association with the start of school terms, and the smell of new leather shoes and bags, virgin notebooks and coloured pens, the first time the radiators turn on in the newly fogged mornings, and that strong pull in the mornings to just get back to bed, sip hot tea and read a really good book.

It’s a bit of a shame the summer was so crap; really quite a wash out (I mean the summer proper, June through to August, not the ‘new’ summer which used to be spring), but at least now that is behind us and we can hope for a crisp fall.

Well, we did get a break in the rain the other day and we went leaf and conker gathering in the park. Most of the conkers aren’t really ready yet, but people have been impatient and knocked many off the tree so we did collect a few small ones. I was a bit pathetic with the tree tour: horse chestnut, sycamore, oak, beech … and that’s about it. But a friend bought us a pack of tree cards, so now there is no excuse.

Here is our wee Autumn collection.

And here is the park avenue, down to the front gates. I thought I could take a picture of this week every couple of weeks to chart the changes - if I remember of course.

And lastly, this beautiful holly tree - I’ll have to find out what kind of holly it is. It has pretty pale edging.

Quite inspiring, all these autumn tokens. I’ve been reading about designers’ ‘mood boards’ as a tool for colour ideas and patterns. Designing knitwear is alas still out of my league, at least for the present although I have ‘adapted’ some patterns, but I quite like the idea of doing collages/mood boards just for their own sake. Nothing too precious, just some items like above that we picked up because we liked or found interesting. I like the idea of ‘decorating’ the house for each season, not just Christmas (although I do love pine cones, it has to be said!)

As in Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Baby Surprise Jacket … what did you think I was on about?!

It’s a fab little thing, knitted as one piece (see below) and folded up into this little jacket, with just the shoulder seams to graft, and to which you can add a hood or a pocket to or whatever - and in fact if you look on the web you’ll see there are loads of adaptations. But since it was my first time round with this pattern, I thought I’d stick to the plain garter stitch and a nice trim. And an ‘afterthought’ pocket (to hide a wee mistake!)

The pic isn’t great but I’ll post up a nice one from the good camera once I’ve added the little wooden buttons K bought me from Hobbycraft. I’ve done little brown boots to match, and I’m half way through an umbilical cord hat from Stich n’ Bitch. The set is for J&J’s Frogmella; he/she was due last Thursday, but has kindly agreed not to make an appearance until my knitting is finished.

Bun got lots of great arts and crafts stuff for her birthday, so we’re been playing with lots of clay, fuzzy felt, pipecleaners and the like. It’s really nice when she gets into her own thing with it as well, as I can get in a few rows of knitting.

Which brings me to my current project. I’m knitting on 3mm with Sublime baby cashmere merino silk (shade #50 dilly and shade #56 - not sure it’s name but it’s a gorgeous brown with a gold sheen that I presume must come from the silk). Ahhhh. It’s lovely stuff.

Here is a piccy of the item.

Can you guess what it is yet? (imagine Rolf Harris’ voice).

Well, I’m nearly finished … but here is a hint: it’s a little surprise! Watch this space