Hatastic

I bought Wolly Wormhead's hat book 'Going Straight' which is full of hat patterns which are worked sideways using short row shaping and are grafted so there are no seams. The first one I knit was Windward. I was so excited about the construction of this hat when I cast it on last Monday night that I couldn't sleep properly. I think I need to get out more. I do love the book though. I wish I'd bought it sooner. Great way to get rid of some of the single balls in my stash. I used Jeager Merino 4 ply for this one.

I then knit a Guimauve using Twilleys Freedom Spirit that my Mum gave me.

I followed that up with two Abalones using Noro Silk Garden.

I knit a Gyroscope on Tuesday but I really don't like it that much. Graeme pronounced it unmanly so I think it might be going into the frog pond. I'm currently working on a Reversible. I don't think I've ever knitted so many patterns in the same book so quickly.

In other knitting news I finished the baby surprise jacket I was knitting in alpaca, but it still doesn't have any buttons. I also knitted a bear which ended up having very perculiar body dimensions. I think I should also have used a smaller needle size but I can't bring myself to pull it out. The stupid thing is that I knew this when I first cast it on and was persuaded that it was ok. The bear looks a lot more normal with clothes on so here are the two together.

I also finally got round to posting this crochet scarf to my friend Atousa. I've been so rubbish with presents this year. Very good at buying/making them in time but terrible at actually remembering to post them out. I have a calendar on the wall with them all in and still can't get it right. Apologies if I've missed your birthday or other present-giving occasion.

The Face of Physics

As the full time physics teacher at our smallish school I teach every pupil in Y7, Y8 and Y9 (that's 1st, 2nd and 3rd year to you old farts). I also teach most of the older pupils who are taking physics for GCSE and A level. As a result I now find myself responsible, in the eyes of the kids, for all the physics of the world. When the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was being turned on I got a ridiculous amount of flack from kids and teachers alike. Most of it was end-of-the-world related, for which I blame the ill informed journalists and DJs on the radio and TV. There was some genuine interest, which was quite pleasing.

I now find myself taking full responsibility for it being turned off. I feel like I must have accidentally knocked some coffee into it or something. I'm starting to hate the bloody thing.

Mercury

A link in celebration of Elbow's Mercury Music Prize win. You can't beat a load of kittens in flat caps playing musical instruments and smoking.

(Maybe getting up this early every day is starting to affect me.)

Presents

I forgot to mention in the post below that for a present I made Ade and Sarah a tea cosy and some coasters with some rainbow merino handspun. I've been keeping it under my hat (well, in my desk drawer) for such a long time now it's nice to finally be able to share it.

More Celebrations

This weekend we drove down to Leicester for another wedding celebration. This time there was no wedding as my friends Sarah and Ade had sneakily gone off and got married in Henley without telling anyone but two friends about 6 months ago. They made up for it with a really fun party. Despite the rain we made good use of the outdoor bouncy castle and the hog roast didn't get too wet. Ade's Gran made a fab observatory cake and there was loads of good food. Unfortunately I failed to get my camera out until everyone was three sheets to the wind and dancing like loonies to some classic tunes. Here's Steve doing his best Dad dancing.

And some of the girls on the dance floor.

Thanks Ade and Sarah for a great party. What I want to know is who is going to get married next year?

Celebrations

On Friday we headed over to the coast for the wedding of our friends Andrew and Brigitta. It was a relaxed affair, which was fortunate since the bus was late and then the metro was half closed. We walked in with 2 minutes to spare to find that they had already started. No one seemed to really notice. There were guests from all over the place and Andrew gave his short speech in German, Italian, French and Russian as well as English. Here are the bride and groom being pelted with rice by the Italian contingent.