Songs in my Head - Weds 28th January

That 'Money in my Pocket' song, think it's by Daniel Merriweather but not sure, not certain that's the right title either

The Chris Moyles remix of 'Put a Ring on It' by Beyonce

A song that goes 'It's a wonderful night, gotta take it from me, it's a wonderful night, come on and break it on down' - anyone recognise it?

Songs in my Head - Tuesday 27th January

'Boy Does Nothing' - Alesha Dixon (probably heard it on the radip - a guilty pleasure)

'Breathe Slow' - Alesha Dixon (I'm not obsessed, honest)

Au revoir

Remember my funky beret? Well, it's warmed my head for the last time. I dropped it on my way to work on Tuesday and despite much searching I can't find it. It's my first experience of completely losing something I knitted myself and it's surprisingly upsetting. I was so proud of that hat, the knitting was quite complicated but I'd done it, I'd felted it to perfection (something I'm not good at) and I'd even used my sewing skills in it. All that work down the drain. Oh well, I'll just have to make a new one.

Right now I'm knitting another scarf, although I'm on my third attempt - I'm trying to make the rest of my Bluefaced Leicester last out so keep decreasing the width of the scarf so it can go a bit longer. I'll post a pic when it's finally done.

I'm also spreading my knitty knowledge - a couple of girls at the youth club I help run said they wanted to learn so last Friday I started teaching them. Not easy, I'd forgotten how hard it all seems to a beginner. I let them take away the needles and yarn to practise, so I'll have to see how they've done without me tonight!

Songs in my Head - Weds 21st January

'Don't Leave Me This Way' - Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes/The Communards (singing the Harold Melvin version in class tonight)

The theme tune to 'Waterloo Road' (no idea why)

Songs in my Head - Wednesday 14th January

'Just Dance' - Lady Gaga (that's gonna be lodged there until Radio 1 fall out of love with it, oh joy)

The Barack Obama song from the Chris Moyles show (no explanation for this)

'I am the Walrus' and 'Come Together' - The Beatles (can't decide which one to do in singing class tonight)

Songs in my Head - Thursday 8th Jan

'Fire and Rain' - James Taylor (made me cry in singing class last night and is now lodged in my head, not good)

'I am the Walrus' - The Beatles/Jim Carrey interchangeably (might do this in my next class!)

'Disturbia' -Rihanna/'Dance' - Lady Gaga (still got my own little mash-up going on)

Songs in my Head - Wednesday 7th January

'No Air' - Jordin Sparks (was on the radio and I hate it)

'Human' - The Killers (downloaded the backing track for a friend last night - and I hate it)

A bizarre medley of 'Dance' by Lady Gaga and 'Disturbia' by Rihanna (anyone else get those two mixed up?)

Songs in my head - Tuesday 6th January

(Ooh Aah) Just a Little Bit - Gina G (I have no explanation for this)

Breathe Easy by some band like Blue (possibly because I have a slight cold and this song makes me think of Vicks)

Chasing Rainbows - Shed Seven (hubby has been singing this a lot so it's his fault)

Stash Wars: THE cardigan

Yes, tis true, the cardigan is finished! Only it didn't go quite to plan ...

The pattern is from 'Stitch'n'Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook' by Debbie Stoller and is called the 'Go Everywhere, Go with Everything Cardi'. Those who have the book will know where I've gone wrong - it's meant to be waist-length! Because I was using yarn unravelled from a tired old jumper, I was very conscious of making sure I didn't run out because finding matching yarn would be practically impossible. So I knitted one of the front panels much tighter than the rest, so had to do the same with the other front panel and hope for the best. I could've redone the back too, but that would have taken ages and I was losing the will to live, so I tried to make it work. The result is an unintentionally cropped and slightly A-line cardigan which looks a bit wrong. Hey, it might work as maternity clothing in years to come! I'm still quite proud that I recycled the yarn though, the only bit I bought were the buttons. And it means I've reduced this pile of yarn ...

... to this ...

Not bad, eh? Although what I'll do with those oddments I've yet to work out. Otherwise, I've managed to reduce my stash from this ...

...to this...

Not a huge reduction, especially as I missed a couple of smaller balls out of the original picture and had that little transgression last summer when I bought the beautiful Bluefaced Leicester. But I'm going to work on reducing it even further now. Next project is a scarf made of said beautiful Bluefaced Leicester, then I might do a few novelty projects like dolls, cupcakes etc to reduce that nasty pile of acrylic. But no more big garments for a while, I couldn't face another one!

In other news, the Christmas fairy (i.e. my Mum) got me loads of needles for Christmas, so I now have almost a full set of single pointed needles, just a few chunky ones outstanding, hurrah! Even better is that Mum got them secondhand at a charity sale, so they're Generous needles too!

Belated festivity

Just to prove I have been knitting recently, here's a picture of Millie getting into the festive spirit ...

See, as a break from knitting THE cardigan, I decided it'd be funny to make a Santa hat for Millie, so I got out my red and white cheapy yarn and figured out a pattern myself (clever me!). I like the way she wears it at a jaunty angle in this picture. There is a better picture of it, but it has me in a bathrobe in the background and that's just embarrassing. Anyway, I was going to post it before but couldn't work out how to get the picture off my phone, then forgot. Sorry that it's now a touch unseasonal.

The cardigan is coming along by the way, just not quite as expected. I'll explain when it's done and I can post a picture, but let's just say I'll be very careful about tension in future ...

New Year, New Ideas

Happy New Year! Sorry for the lack of posting recently, but when you spend your working days staring at a computer, when you're on hols you want to avoid PCs. That and I've been busy spending time with hubby, knitting, buying kitchens and other fun stuff. 

Anyway, my little break from blogging has made me rethink the blog a little. My most regular feature is This Week, which is an idea I nicked off Fi. Now, it works great on her blog because she's very dedicated (and has stuff to talk about) so she blogs daily, but as I can go for weeks without blogging about anything in particular, it's a bit like treading water. So I'm ditching it. But instead I'm going to add a new item which I can drop in regularly or randomly, dependant on my mood and time restraints. This will be 'Songs in my Head'. I frequently have a very strange mix of songs going round my head and, to stop me just confusing my office mates by telling them about it, it might be entertaining to note it down on here. 

I'm also going to try and do a bit more blogging around my hobbies. The book reviews attract a lot of hits which is fab, so I'm keeping them, but I'm going to also try to write more (and post more pics) about my knitting and maybe also write a bit about acting and singing too. And of course I'll try to carry on my Generous journal (maybe even write it more frequently!)

I'd love to know the thoughts of anyone who reads my blog, so leave comments to let me know what you do and don't like!