Review of 2007

A little late but what the heck, here's my review of 2007...
Firstly, was I Green enough? Well I'll bet I've been Greener than 95% of the planet this year (which doesn't say much for the human race really) but I know for a fact I haven't been anywhere near perfect. Here's what we did well on this year.....
1. All new light bulbs this year have been low energy ones. (now the living room is so dim in the evening that I'm going to have to buy one of those downlighters with a daylight bulb which kind of defeats the object doesn't it?)
2. We recycled almost everything in our household waste - Paper, cardboard, plastic, textiles, Green Waste etc. Waste food was composted in one of two heaps. Anything re-usable was Freecycled or taken to the Charity shop. Our bin was NEVER full so our contribution to the local landfill site was minimal.
3. We mended the tumble dryer instead of getting a new one.
4. We turned all the electrical appliances off every night instead of leaving things on standby - the exception of course is the Sky box because it really seems to hate being turned on and off and takes 3 hours to warm up.

Things I shouldn't have done but will carry on doing in 2008:-
1. Using the car to do the school run. If anyone would like to try to walk my 3 to and from school twice a day in the rain, wind and freezing cold they are welcome, it takes over an hour and you'd have to do it twice a day. Whilst you do it for me and save the planet, I'll put the kettle on!
2. Throw out food when I've bought too much of it. I really should freeze stuff and read up on leftover recipes.....I could try buying less but that usually means more trips in the car to the shop....difficult carbon footprint choice here.
3. Bought so many books that I still haven't read. I'm a sucker for Amazon and for 'real' book shops and I can't see myself giving up this little vice anytime soon.

Things we will be trying to do in 2008:-
1. Buy less stuff.
2. Give unwanted and unused stuff away - forget about ebay, land of the criminals and fraudsters, this year we'll just be charitable instead.
3. Compost all our waste food in a wormery or similar - the boys like the idea of the worms.....

No review would be complete without saying something about Knitting. Several of my online friends have completed variations on this end of year knitting meme and I've blatantly copied it from them.
Favourite yarn of 2007
Sophie's Toes, recently sent to me by Jeanne. It's a delight to look at, to touch and to knit with.
p.s. to anyone who sent me yarn in 2007, please don't be offended that I didn't pick yours as the favourite - I'm a yarn tart, I like whatever I can see in front of me....
Favourite needles
Gotta be the Knitpicks Harmony Circular set. It's breathtakingly beautiful and really well made. Now if only I could get the hang of magic loop....
Favourite new pattern
Skin of the Sea by Ilga Leja. I WILL knit this, I WILL knit this....
Favourite project of 2007
I haven't been as prolific as I would like to have been but I guess it's got to be Tilted Duster
Worst Project of 2007
Hummphhhhh. Glade was terrible, a real drag to finish and I've only worn it twice. I also have several single socks that need to be frogged in 2008.....
Favourite new technique
I learnt alot of things about knitting techniques this year - I knitted my first socks both toe-up and cuff down, I mastered beaded lace in the Mytery Stole, I did my first short rows in the dreaded Glade. It's no good I haven't got a favourite, maybe in 2008?
Favourite knitting website
Ravelry! I don't spend as much time on it as some people I know but I am finding it an increasingly pleasant waste of my spare time. This year I need to start using it to match up my stash with the right projects and make a list of yarn I need.
Favourite knitting book
Norah Gaughan Knitting Nature

Knitting Wish Lish for 2008 (please note, I did NOT say the word 'resolution'.)
Finish the Mystery Stole 3
Get the yarn stash down to just the two boxes that fit under the bed......
Make more sweaters and fewer socks!
Master Magic Loop, even if I then decide never to use it again!

Can a tumble dryer really kill the planet?

Our tumble dryer broke last weekend - the drum stopped turning and there was a smell of burning rubber. I seriously considered not replacing it - after all we are always being told not to use them - dry your clothes outside (not in this part of the country where it's always raining), get a clothes horse (my kids would soon have that on the floor and anyway, where the heck would I put it?) or use the radiators (have you noticed how stuff that is dried on the radiator ends up feeling like cardboard?). No-one ever mentions the fact that one you have used one of these methods to dry your clothes, use of the steam iron is then compulsory to remove that cardboard feeling.
So all you eco clever clogs out there...which is worse the tumble dryer or the steam iron? After just 4 days without a dryer and therefore almost without a washing machine (no point washing if you can't dry and yes it has been raining almost all week) I've decided that in a house with 3 children, a tumble dryer is ESSENTIAL.
So how did I rescue my green credentials? I went to espares.co.uk and ordered the spare parts needed to fix the tumble dryer. Cost? About £25 and in a couple of days time the Dryer will be like new and I will be happily drying all the clothes by machine again.
Tumble Driers have very few parts and almost all of them are easily accessible once the back of the machine is off. SO, if your tumble dryer breaks - at least think about repairing it yourself. It isn't hard (not if I can do it, it isn't) and it's got to be better to repair than fill a landfill site with a large hunk of metal.

There must be another way...

I finished my duaghter's Pinwheel Jacket but I'm not going to blog it....yet. Her verdict? 'Me no like it' once I had finally got her to try it on I could see that the arms are way too small - the pattern says 'knit until sleeve measures 12 inches'. Well my daughter must have arms like a baboon because she's only 2 but the sleeves are still too short. I didn't like the way the yarnovers ended up being HUGE holes around the arms either - they look OK on the circle for the body but once you pick up and start knitting the sleeves, well bleughhh.
Anyway, I didn't like knitting it and I don't like the finished result either. I'm too fed up to rip out the sleeves and work on it so I've put it away for a while.

Which brings me to my next topic....
I've got really tired of the whole cast-on, photograph, finish, photograph, blog, Ravelry thing. Knitting is supposed to be a hobby, something that keeps me busy, keeps my mind occupied and my hands off the chocolate. Lately it's become about buying more yarn than I need, casting on for things in too much of a rush and feeling pressurised into blogging when I don't want to.
I'm glad there's going to be a break before SP12 because I need one. Blogging is supposed to be a hobby too - not a chore.
I'll blog again when I've got something decent to show you - and not before!

Can't Finish Anything....

It's really frustrating but I can't finish anything. I have more half-finished projects now than I have EVER had in my life. What's wrong with me?






I finished this Tilted Duster weeks ago but I'm just not happy with it....I got round to sewing on a hook and eye to try to close the front properly but it's still not right. I'm also not happy with the neatness of the knitting and the way it hangs. See how wrinkly the bottom is? I've steamed it twice but it's just not right.

If you knit a Tilted Duster I would also say DON'T block or even press the collar ribbing - when the cardigan is on your body you need the flex of the ribbing to allow the collar to mould round your shoulders and neck. If you press the ribbing all you'll get is a flapping mess.

Also on the needles I have Bellatrix socks - one finished but not overjoyed with it so who know when I'll do the second.

The ribbed cuff was WAY too small - only 60 stitches and the socks are quite long - mid calf on me - so extra width was needed. i had to cut the cuff off and re-knit it, adding some increases and a few rows of stocking stitch at the top to make a roll. I've still not found a sock pattern than I want to knit more than once and with most of them I struggle to knit the second. Anyone want to leave suggestions of socks that are fun to knit, fit properly and look nice so you acutally want to wear them?

I have knitted pieces for 3 Alan Dart Snowme snowmen from Simply Knitting but they look like a pile of fluff at the moment so not worth photographing yet. And finally (well not quite but I'll leave the other UFOs for another day) a baby Pinwheel Jacket for Miranda. The Cotton was a bargain - 50p a ball and the whole cardigan will only take 2 balls.

Here's the center of it - it's really fiddly to start with and drove me mad. Would be easier to knit in wool or something else with some stretch. The red stripe is the waste yarn marking where the sleeve will go - the BEST thing aboout this cardigan is that there's no sewing up to do - when it's done it's done....

So don't forget, I'm looking for suggestions for socks that are fun to knit and great to wear.

The Best Thing about a Postal Strike

Is that all your packages arrive at once! Here at last is my Fall Felted Bag from my partner Penny Here's the HUGE bag she made for me and it's full of goodies! Question is, will my laptop fit inside?
You bet it will and Penny has sewn in an extra pocket on the inside which is exactly the right size for the mouse! Well done Penny, it's a really great, useful bag, thanks a million. But wait, Penny sent more...
The dark yarn you can't quite see is Hacho 100% Merino which is SO soft, Regia Bamboo and a thick single from DuraSport with some Canadian Kool-Aid for dyeing with. How fabulous is this? But wait there's more...
Clods (apparently addictive so I haven't opened them yet!) Cadbury's Dark Chocolate and some handcream(Penny, how did you know I had just finished my last tube?) And a really pretty beaded bag - isn't this lovely? Inside is a necklace and a pair of earrings which are beautiful but can I take a decent picture of them? No of course not. I'll keep trying though as you deserve to see them - they're great.
So thanks to my new friend in Canada who sent me a wonderful package that was definitely worth the wait. I love it all and don't worry I won't be giving any of it away Penny!!

Oh yeah, the worst thing about a Postal Strike? Is people who buy something from you on eBay (or via your website) in the middle of a Postal Strike and then complain that their parcel hasn't arrived..... Messages vary from ' bk not arrvd...problem? thnx' (I kid you not, people really do use text language to complain.) to the longwinded letter of meticulous complaint spanning several paragraphs. It's been impossible not to write sarcastic replies beginning with 'Yes, there's a problem - it's called a Postal Strike, it's beyond my control.' or ' You may not be aware but we have been having a series of Postal Strikes.....' I'm at the end of my tether with them and I don't think I can bear to write anymore replies.

Off to try and finish my Tilted Duster....

SP11 First Package - How Lucky am I this week?

How I hate the Royal Mail - first they kept me and my Knit1Tea2 package apart for far too long and today I found out that they have also been 'storing' this fantastic hoard for me until they could get off their striking rear-ends for long enough to deliver some mail.....



My SP11 Pal is in Seattle - ooh Grey's Anatomy - and I have another clue as to her identity but I'm not going to try too hard to follow up on it as I don't want to know who she is just yet... Her package has a pink theme so here we have pink hand-made stitch markers, pink grapefruit soap and cherries covered in chocolate (they won't last long as cherries are my favourite fruit).



Next we have Loony Boony in very pale cream. SP11 says it's for Hanami - I have it on my Ravelry queue - I'm gonna have a hard time choosing which of my queue projects to do first!

But wait, there's more. I had said I wanted a pale pink Hanami to match the Japanese Cherry blossom so SP sent some hanks of undyed yarn and some Jaquard Dye in pink!! Now I can't decide whether to dye the yarn pale pink, dip dye the yarn so it's pink at one end and cream at the other or even to knit the Hanami and hand-dye the finished stole.... Decisions, Decisions....

And finally something I never thought that I would get to call my own - a SIGNED copy of this.
And it isn't just signed, it's dedicated TO ME by the Yarn Harlot herself. Wonder how early I can go to bed so I can read it?

Aren't I a lucky girl? Thank you, thank you whoever you are!

Knit 1 Tea 2 Package Arrived

Finally the Royal Mail is not on strike and manages to deliver some post.... My KnitOne TeaTwo package all the way from the US.

Here is the all important tea - I have never tried Black or Green Tea so those will be first to try next week. The Yorkshire Tea is packaged just a few miles away so it has been all the way to the US and back again!!
Next we have an ENORMOUS mug with beautiful flowers on it - definitely a real mug size, there is a rabbit tape measure, sheep magnet (my youngest has stolen it already!) and two bars of chocolate which I've never seen before. The chocolate will have to be hidden before the kids see it.
And if all that wasn't enough, then I have all natural soap and chocolate orange lip balm, a lovely card with an Owl on it and some hand made....wash cloths? They are far too soft to be coasters so unless Katie emails and tells me I'm wrong, I have decided that they are washcloths.

Why is it that Digital Cameras can't take decent pictures of anything red? This is Koigu (I have never seen it in the flesh before so I'm so pleased to have this yarn.) The colour on here looks purple and lilac but the actual yarn is shade P859 and is Dark Red. I didn't even use the flash and the camera still got it wrong. I'll have to try to edit the photo manually.

Anyway, a huge thank you to Katie who sent me all these lovely things and made a dismal Saturday much easier to bear.

Fall Felted Bag Exchange Weekly Topic

I may be too late on this one, but here we go....

As of this weekend, the season has officially changed on the calendar - but what makes Autumn feel like Autumn to you, and why?

Firstly, these - Autumn Bliss Raspberries. I grow them as bushes behind my garage and this is the first year I have had a full crop. They start Fruiting in September and will carry on until the first frosts come. If I'm picking these it must be Autumn.

I freeze them for puddings - cheesecake, cakes and crumbles. I make them into jam and cook them with sugar to make a sauce for my eldest son's Ice Cream.

There is also a large Damson tree in the garden which produces far more Damsons than I can use. This year I gave lots away to other people and there were still masses left.

And finally I also have one of these....

A Pear tree. I bought it when my eldest son was born in 1998 and it is planted in a very large pot so we can take it with us whenever we move house (three different places so far). Some years it produces nothing and others it is laden. This year was a good year and I will be poaching the pears in syrup and then freezing them. They get put into crumbles with Blueberries (I grow those too but they have finished fruiting by the end of August) or smothered in dark chocolate sauce. Nigella has just done a recipe for Pear and Ginger Muffins, so this year I will trying those.

For me, Autumn means fruit picking, jam making and freezing. Every day gets a little bit colder and every morning gets a little bit darker.

A Public Apology

I would like to write a public apology to my Secret Pall 11 Upstream pal for not blogging at the required level of 4 posts per month. My son has ADHD and is very ill at the moment - his meds are not working, my husband has lost his job so we have no salary to speak of and bills to pay. Please forgive me for not posting - Blogging is currently the last thing on my mind....

I am knitting though - in the spare moments I have. I was knitting a scarf for my downstream SP until I found out she doesn't like purple - project now on hold. I am knitting a Felted Bag for the Fall Felted Bag Exchange and it is almost ready to send out but of course I cannot blog the bag until my partner has received it. My favourite project of the moment is the Norah Gaughan Tilted Duster from Interweave Knits Fall 2007. I am using Drops Alaska in Dark Red and have completed the bodice and sleeves. When I can find the camera and charge the batteries - I will blog a picture of it. I got the yarn from this website and they were absolutely fantastic - not only is the yarn very reasonably priced but I got the yarn the day after I ordered it. FANTASTIC CUSTOMER SERVICE - if you are in the UK then please visit Scandinavian Knitting Design for DROPS and HP Love yarns.

I need to go now as it is 22:30pm and my son is still awake upstairs singing at the top of his voice. He is going to wake up his Brother and Sister in a minute!!

A Blatant Plug...

I make no apologies for doing this - I need to sell more from my website (see link on the right of this blog to GreenGreenPlanet.com) and what could be nicer than a new Knitting Project Bag? Fairly Traded, all hand made in Madagascar from sustainable sources...every one of them is unique.

These are imaginatively called 'Polka' and also come in bright pink and in Lavender. Plenty of room in one of these for a good sized project and all your other belongings - take one to Knitting Group maybe? p.s. Kerrie Allman of Hipknits has one of the Chocolate Coloured ones....

This one is called 'Jacaranda' and is a LARGE basket for large projects (or your shopping). I love the design on the front , don't you?

How Eco-Friendly would you like to be? These Handbags are made from really soft woven hemp and each one has a hand-carved horn decoration on the front. No two bags are the same. These are also fully-lined and come with zipped pockets inside.

There are more details of sizes and prices here and if you are outside the UK and would like one of my lovely bags, please email me for Shipping Costs - sales [at] greengreenplanet [dot] com.
You can also find lots of other lovely eco-friendly, All Natural gifts and treats on the same Website at very good prices.

Plug over (for now, I may be forced to do this again sometime) now back to the Knitting/Dyeing/Felting......

Interweave Knits Honeycomb Socks

From the Fall 2007 edition - this is one of the staff projects (you can download the pattern and 6 more toe-up patterns here Knitted in Silkwood 4 ply Sock Yarn, Bluebells colourway. The yarn is 100% wool and isn't particularly soft but the finished socks will be good for winter.

I like the colourway - all blues and purples - and the fact that this yarn produces subtle stripes and no pooling. Unfortunately there are 3 reasons I don't like the pattern. Firstly, the honeycomb stitch around the leg produces a tight fabric with little stretch and the sock is VERY difficult to put on as it won't stretch round my heel. Secondly, I don't like the fact that the honeycomb has the purl stitches in front, I prefer one with the knit stitches in front instead. Thirdly, I am a bit of a perfectionist and I don't like the way that the rib pattern on the foot morphs into the honeycomb stitch - the two patterns don't line up properly. (See photo 2) On the positive side, this is now the basis for a sock pattern of my own that really fits my foot....

Watch this space - this sock is going to be frogged back to the beginning of the leg and redone (in my opinion) properly.

FFBE Contest

What is your favourite yarn for felting and why? I haven't done much felting, that's one of the reasons I joined this swap. So far my favourite is Noro Kureyon because I like the way it stripes during the knitting and they way they look after felting.

1 person not from the USA - Katie B is from New Brunswick, Canada - she is here.

1 person with a dog - Laurie D has a dog called Bailey - she is here.

1 person with a child - Tonia, she is here

Do you prefer October or November and why? November I think because it's usually colder and crisper than October which can be just horribly damp. I'm also a sucker for Guy Fawkes - Toffee Apples, Parkin, Tomato Soup drunk from a plastic cup next to a HUGE bonfire and best of all - the fireworks. I love fireworks!