Space Craft

2008 update & the return of KnitCast

A little update on what I've been up to so far in 2008.

I spent some time going back and forth to Scotland this year because I was seeing a guy up there but that fizzled out. All the while I was also still looking at houses in Cardiff. I had started to look at the area in which I grew up because I had a better chance of affording a house with room for all my yarn there ;)

But then a few weeks ago after several reports about the fall in house prices I decided to look again at houses in the part of Cardiff where I've lived for the past fifteen years. I thought I'd have a better chance of being able to afford one there now with the market being so bad and my not being in a chain. So one week I started looking at houses and on the Friday of that week I saw a house I liked. A week later I looked at it again. Last week I put in an offer which was accepted. Now of course it's early days still because mortgages take a while to come through and it may not work out. But I'm trying to remain positive while still being realistic. And also while planning how I'm going to decorate!

KnitCast news now - the podcast will return in July and it'll be the edition that I recorded in New York last July. I figure that gives me enough time to settle in the new place and get into some kind of routine.

I've also been struggling with a nasty cold bug this week. I started feeling unwell about a week ago and then was very ill over the weekend. I was supposed to be grocery shopping etc. and see some friends on Sunday but I was just too ill. Even the thought of shopping couldn't tempt me! I'm still not a hundred per cent and also have a nasty cough but I hope I'll start feeling better soon. I think I've just been especially run down and that the stress of buying a house hasn't helped at all.

And so far I've hardly even mentioned knitting. That's because I just haven't been knitting recently. I do want to cast on again soon though. There's a ball of Kyoto by Art Fibers in Orchid on my coffee table that keeps calling out to me so I hope to knit that soon. I'll be casting my eye for patterns for summery cardis with cropped and short sleeves I think.

KnitCast Update!

Head on over to KnitCast and download the new update mp3. It's only a short file but a listener eons ago suggested that I record one so that people who only subscribed but didn't read the blog knew where I was.

I realised a couple of days ago that I couldn't remember when I'd last picked up my knitting. I've not been able to make the time or energy for it recently plus other factors have got in the way. For example, I need to wind a skein of yarn so that I can continue on a top down raglan but I can't get into my knitting/spare room full of all my boxed crap into order to unpack my swift.

With another top down raglan, the lovely Art Fibers Kyoto one, I've become stuck on the  sleeve decreases of the final sleeve. That's right, all I have to do is finish the last sleeve, sew in ends and a button  and it's done. But I forgot to make a note of how many stitches I decreased to when I knit the first sleeve and everytime I've looked at it I've been too tired to figure it out. I think the answer is to just look at it in daylight one day. I would like to finish it before New York.

I've been trying to decide what to take to knit on the journey and I'm not sure. It can't be a sock, and I don't want to take anything too big but I'm also a bit tired of scarves. Of course I do have to organise a way into the yarn/crap room so that I can look through my stuff.

However before I can do that I need to organise some of the other rooms in my house. I'm still renting, I decided to take a break from house hunting since I wasn't finding anything I liked. So now I'm trying to get some semblance of order at home so that it does feel more like a home and less of a place to store boxes!

Such A Bad Blogger...

I haven't blogged in over two months! Oh lots of reasons why, mainly due to lack of time, and that's also why KnitCast is late. The Welsh general election has kept me busy at work and sorting through my various hoardings, desperately trying to downsize has kept me a little busy too.

Last weekend I sorted through twenty years worth of clothes. Yes. TWENTY YEARS! I actually had stuff from far back as 14. Hannah helped me and joked that she could see the various stages I'd been through in life, including the extended Goth period. Which never really went away entirely. I gave 99.9 per cent of it away to charity, Hannah and others had some too. I feel really good about it because now I can buy more clothes with impunity. Ummmm....can't I?! :)

Now onto KnitCast. That's mainly been delayed because I haven't quite made the switch from editing audio on a PC to editing audio on a Mac. It's a bit ironic considering that I am Mac mad and rather evangelical about them! A certain Mac friend of mine is probably laughing at this! Although Macs are superior to PCs, don't crash as often, don't really get viruses etc. they also don't have as many software programs written for them. So my main bug bare is that Nero Wave Editor which I used to use to edit is not available for the Mac. I can't edit quite as finely with Audacity as I'd like and anyone who's listened to Knitcast will know how I love my editing. I think though that I may have to worry less about editing since I would like to get a podcast out before the end of the month.

And speaking of podcasting, I'm hoping to record some interviews when I go on holiday to New York in July. I'll be there for the first week of July and I have some ideas for interviews and I'll be contacting people soon about those. However I do want to leave the majority of my trip for shopping! It'll be my third visit to NYC and my second trip to the Garment District. I'm really looking forward to it! Let's hope I don't go over my baggage weight allowance on the way home!

I wasn't quite sure exactly what I was going to blog about today but Jeni has tagged me so I'm going to finish with the Seven Random Things About Me...warning they are very random!

* I love Woody Allen films, although I tend to prefer his earlier, funnier ones! (in joke!) My favourites are Manhattan and Annie Hall. I can never choose between the two and have watched both far too many times to count.

* I've wanted to live in America since I was a kid. I intend to fulfill this dream one day :)

* Madonna - I've been a fan of hers for nearly twenty two years! I still have lace gloves from my teenage years!

* Spring is my favourite season. I love seeing the bulbs come up and trees blossom after a cold winter.

* Nature makes me feel very spiritual. There's something godlike almost in growing things from seed and I also have a quiet fascination with how numbers appear in nature. However I'm crap at maths!

* I love order but somehow always end up in chaos. I'm incredibly untidy!

* I'm really into astrology. Well ok, I do read several horoscopes each day and pick and choose which bits I like, but I do think there's more than an element of truth in them.

Now I have to decide whom to tag...I'll have to think about that and update this later

Getting Back

Thanks for all of the lovely comments and emails about Clyde both here and at KnitCast. They've meant a great deal to me.

It's not been the most brilliant week. I had Monday off work and that would have been a really hideous day had it not been for a visit from my friend Charlie and her daughter Lucy. Lucy is the only baby that I've really wanted to knit for. Course by the time I actually decide on what to knit her she will have out grown it! Better start an adult sock now! :-) Anyway, they helped keep me busy.

As long as I've been busy I've been ok. It's  late at night when I'm trying to get to sleep that  I start getting  pretty sad about Clyde. That said, I'm not going through as bad a time as I did over eight years ago when my last cat died. I never really knew what had happened to Harvey so I didn't get closure whereas Clyde is buried in our garden. My mum is going to get us a little cat statue to go on it and I'm planning on planting some Japanese anemones there.

We are going to get another cat, in fact we're going to look at some in a shelter tomorrow. I always try and have rescue cats where possible. We're not getting a kitten but will be looking for an young adult/adult cat. It's always harder for them to home the adults as most people seem to want kittens. It's a shame because adult cats aren't as demanding as kittens and they're still just as cute.

The cold weather has made me pull out my Page Boy hats and I'm knitting another one from the Lorna's Laces Bullfrogs and  Butterflies in Bitter Sweet that I bought from Knit Happens in the summer.  I've already felted the brim and hope that it will have dried enough tomorrow for me to attach it. 

New KnitCast! Get Knitted!

The latest KnitCast, number nine!, an interview with Sue Morgan from Get Knitted! plus a tour of her new retail space, is now online!

Opps!

I'd already posted this to the Knitcast blog but forgot to post it to this one as well. The Mousemat interview went out today at 4pm GMT not last Wednesday. Mousemat is repeated on a Wednesday which is why I got the date wrong. So, you can listen to the programme online until next Sunday, at 4pm GMT. The link is in the previous post.

Andy was off sick for a few days this week with a lurgy that he's since passed on to me. Cheers Honey! :-) He's feeling a little bit better and will be in work tomorrow.

I've been tidying this week as our new sofa (couch) arrived on Friday. To fit it in the living room I had to clear a space in my study for our little cane sofa. We now have our old two seater sofa and the new three seater sofa in the living room. I had to move the tv and a small bookcase around since we'll be sitting on the large sofa now.

I'm still quite surprised with how many recycling bags I've managed to fill with old magazines, newspapers and shredded papers. We have a local recycling scheme where you pay for green bags which are the size of bin (garbage) bags and the council pick them up every two weeks. I've filled about six so far and still have more paper to go in them.

While I've been tidying I've been listening to podcast on my new ipod speakers. The speakers have very good sound and look very cool as well.

My favourite podcasts include

Geek Fu Action Grip presented by Mur Lafferty. Mur writes these wonderful observational pieces with a sci-fi/comic related slant. She can also be heard on The Dragon Page.

Collected Comics - a podcast about comics. Also includes DVD news. Very good so far.

The Comic Book Geeks - They're still ironing out some technical issues but if you like comic books check them out. One of the presenters is also a big Dr Who fan.

Pop Goes the Culture - I do listen to non scifi podcasts and this is one that I really look forward to. Susie is a trends analyst and Barb is a political cartoonist. They have great discussions on pop culture and some of their topics include food, the cult of celebrity and news v entertainment.

Let's give you one more before I get back to the real world and housework stuff.

G'day World - The first podcast I ever listened to. Mick and Cameron are two Australian podcasters - I have relatives living in Australia so maybe I'm a bit biased toward Aussies!) who have some very interesting interviewees and subjects. A lot of the time they talk about technology issues but the show is far more than that.

KnitCast News!!!

You've heard me interviewing others - now listen to me being interviewed on BBC Radio! You'll be able to hear my interview with Adam Walton, presenter of BBC Radio Wales' Mousemat programme at 6pm GMT tomorrow.

The show isn't available as a podcast but you can listen anytime via the Radio Wales Player . Don't worry if you can't listen live as the programme is archived on the Radio Wales website for a week.

Be sure to check out the KnitCast blog as there's another podcast to download.

Knitting - The knitting on Klaralund is probably 90% - 95% done. I just need to sit down and finish it. That's when I have the time of course! So I have a nice little sock on the go. I started it yesterday while waiting at the dentist. I now have a temporary crown and go back in two week's time to have the real deal fitted! :-(

Busy, Busy, Busy

I need one of those special hourglass pendants that allow you turn back time  as seen in Harry Potter. Or better yet a Tardis! In addition to being a time machine, it's bigger on the inside than the outside so plenty of room for all my yarn! :-)

KnitCast has kept me far more busy than I'd ever expected!I'm lining up some very interesting interviews! So keep checking out the KnitCast blog.

Here's the Noro Fuji that my Secret Pal sent me!

And the bracelet that I made from some of my new beads!

A bit mad, and not particularly complicated, but I love it! I've made earrings to match but the coordinating necklace isn't finished yet.

 

New Stuff and New KnitCast!

Thanks for the comments and emails about my health. I was off work for most of last week as the Madrid bug held on. I'm now feeling a lot better!

Before we go any further, the  newest edition of KnitCast, my podcast about knitting is online! This time I meet scientist and knitting designer Stefanie Japel.

Some great things happened yesterday. Firstly we went to London for the day and saw the divine Patrick Stewart on stage in A Life in the Theatre. It was great and both he and co-star Joshua Jackson were excellent.  Andy fell asleep during the performance (!) but he was tired after shopping for CDs...:-)

While we were in London I went to the London Bead Shop and bought some beautiful beads. Some glass ladybirds (ladybugs) and red and black tubular beads for a bracelet. I also plan to make earrings and a necklace or pendant to match. They also had the most fantastic, detailed glass animal beads. I bought a large turtle bead for a pendant and two smaller ones for earrings. They were expensive, about £5 for the large bead and £3.75 each for the smaller ones.

I didn't go to John Lewis as I'm attempting to cut back on my yarn purchases, but I did visit Liberty. I bravely avoided buying yarn, although I did look at some CashAir, because I was there to buy fabric. I bought 1.5 metres of a cotton print which will be made into a top.

When we got home I discovered a parcel from my Secret Pal 4! Inside were four skeins of Noro Fuji in shade 106! Thanks Secret Pal! I think I may make some sort of wrap or capelet for summer from them.

Other news - I've asked to go part-time at work. I currently work five days and want to work four instead. It'll mean less money of course, but I want to spend more time on my fibrey things and have a bit more time for KnitCast. I don't know when my hours will go down, might not happen for a couple of months at least, but I'm really looking forward to it!

I'll update this post with photos later!

Knitcast is coming!

I've finally finished the first edition of Knitcast - the podcast about knitting. I should be uploading it to the new Knitcast Blog very soon!

Knitting wise I've cast on for the second sleeve of Klaralund. We're going to Madrid next week so I hope to complete the sweater then. I've also knit the second in a series of pink fluffy scarves to go with my pink coat. The new one is made from two balls of Sirdar Fizz in shade 0792. I also still have some pink Squiggle that wendy gave me as a Secret Pal gift , some pinky and white varigated eyelash by Online and some Colinette SilkyChic in a pink shade.

Next Cardiff S&B should be this Thursday, 7.30pm at a Shot in the Dark! I just have to check that the cafe is still open this week. They're being refurbished sometime.

I hope you all had a great Valentines Day. Andy gave me a new addition to my Jellicat collection - they're a range of very cool soft toys. The new one is a grey and white Pickles the Cat. I'm making him a new bag to replace his favourite one which is now pretty decrepid! It's going to be ready for him to use in Madrid. I bought some black 100% cotton dobby cloth from John Lewis in Cribbs Causeway yesterday.

I also bought some gifts for my Secret Pal 4! That reminded me that I hadn't yet posted the answers to the SP4 questionnaire. Sorry Secret  Pal!

Here are my answers

1 - Are you a yarn snob?
Yes, I am. Although I love novelty yarns  for scarves I prefer natural fibres for everything else.

2 - Do you spin? Crochet?
No.

3 - Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibres, perfume, etc.)
I do have allegies but I take antihistamines. I have four cats so go figure!  I don't like smoke.

4 - How long have you been knitting?
I learn as a child but didn't enjoy it. I picked it up again in late 2001 and have knitting ever since.

5 - Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
No, but I can create one! :-)

6 - What's your favourite sent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
I love vanilla and rose. I prefer a Moroccan style rose really. Coconut is nice too and jasmine. My favourite candle at the moment is a carrot cake scented one!

7 - Do you have a sweet tooth?
Oh yes! :-) I love milk chocolate. Especially love Mexican hot chocolate. I also like caramel, mint, coconut. I'm not a fan of boiled sweets or fruity flavours. I don't like peanut butter.

8 - What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I sew clothes and accessories. I also bead and make jewellery. What else? I've recently been having a go at card making. Fairly simple stuff involving pre-made cards and envelopes and card stick ons/stickers. I love dragonflies and butterflies for these.

I have to go to bed now so will finish off this tomorrow!