4KCBWDAY1 Just Monkeying Around!

The start of the 4th Annual Knitting & Crochet Blog Week is marked by house selection. Of the four houses available I'd most definitely add myself to The House of Monkey!

 

 

"The House of Monkey: Intelligent and with a fun loving side, Monkeys like to be challenged with every project presenting them with something new and interesting"

 

Since I started knitting again in 2009 I have consistently stretched my skills (generally with much swearing!) My first couple of WIP's from only knowing basic garter stitch were a hat knit in the round followed by a lace shawl for a Craft Fairy.

 

 

 

From trying new challenges, from simple lace and cables to taking a continental knitting course earlier this year, colourwork and two at a time toe-up socks, I have expanded both my knowledge and my love for not just knitting, but the tools and techniques involved.

 

But most of all, I love that the learning never stops; there is always a new technique or style or pattern begging to tried, with this years challenges set at entrelac, double knitting and crochet!

 

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2013

Tomorrow the 4th Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2013 starts and in an attempt to blog more frequently I've decided to take part eeeeep!  So look forward to an entire week of waffle from me!

Blog/Life Musing

This month marks three years of my blogging journey.  I had a previous blog which I started in a mid life crisis moment just prior to my 30th birthday.  Then, like now, it was full of intermittent knitting and craft waffle, dieting woes as I started my weight loss journey (lack of dieting woes on here signifies the distinct lack of dieting!) and pictures of the kids. 

Three years on, I still want to blog more, yet find the 26th hour day elusive!  I'm still rather mid life crisis-y with my current present for my birthday on Thursday from DH being a new piercing (hmm labret I think...maybe...)  I now harbour pipe dreams of taking my crafting further and opening a shop now I am no longer running Bums N Roses.  My knitting has definitely advanced and I at least own a spinning wheel now (I may finally find time to spin in the next year).

On a personal level, I now have four kids (and boy, is Oliver hard work!) and a husband who is here sharing life with us instead of at work 24/7.  Life continues to hand us lemons by the truck load but we are surviving.  Life is most definitely too short and I am much more confident (albeit still not 100% happy!) with myself.  Heck, I even post pictures of myself LOL

So, I guess we shall see where life takes me this year!!

You can never have enough shawls...

Despite my list of planned projects and the WIP's, I cast on a sneaky shawl last week and cast off at 3am this morning, in bed by the light of my iPhone!! 

This rather lovely skein of DyeSpinKnitUK Handspun:

quickly became this lovely Graceful Curve shawl!

The pattern is fabulous and I can very much see me casting this on again, probably in a solid colour silky yarn!

I'm just about to cast on my next WIP with the excuse I am waiting for a pair of extreme needles to knit the rest the blanket since knitting on 15mm interchangables was playing havoc with my CTS and tendinitis.  The small one is suffering from a severe case of teething/snots/growth spurt so my knitting time is rather lacking but I'm hoping to squeeze in half an hour or so later...