dolly dimple knits

"My head is in a spin ..

my feet don't touch the ground" ... that ages me a bit but frankly those lyrics perfectly describe life currently. Not that I'm complaining ;0)

My sister and her brood are on their annual 2 weeks in Scotland holiday so I'm spending lots of time shuttling between home and Loch Lomond where they're staying. It's great fun seeing them but kind of difficult to fit in all the other things I need to do too.

I have, however, managed to get some flights organised for a little jaunt to London at the end of the month where I will (hopefully !) be meeting up with Amelia and Lis & Jamie. Yippee !

You do realise this is all leading to my latest excuse for doing hardly any knitting ? I was working on Elizabeth 1st but she's stalled. Not because I'm fed up but I'm having some strange gauge issues.

My stitch count is spot on but my row count is out - I'm getting 8 rows an inch where I should be getting 10. Too few rows per inch - the sweater will be shorter than intended, yes ? No. My knitted piece so far is measuring 8 cms longer than it should be at this stage ! Strange, indeed.

Normally I wouldn't bother about this, I'd just have a longer sweater but this sweater is so shaped at the waist that I think the shaping will all be in the wrong place. See ?

So what to do ? Do I frog it and start again ? Do I cut it just above the border, take out some rows and graft ? This would get the waist shaping in the right place but unless I can work out how to fix the row count issue, the problem will just carry on further up the sweater. Although I wouldn't have the shaping issue at the top, there is the patterned centre panel to consider which makes it difficult to do fewer rows ?

ARGH ! I've taken comfort in some small quick project knitting but you're not getting to see that yet as some of it is secret :0) ....

So all in all, I've given up knitting as a bad job these last couple of weeks and taken to kitten watching instead. I have to say, I think this one may be slightly unhinged ......

(she kind of reminds me of Jack Nicholson in The Shining with those mad staring eyes ..)

Oh yes, definitely unhinged.

When we were very young

... the world, apparently, was black and white ......

Me and Greg, my big bruvver. (Where my big sister was, who knows ?) So in 1969, when I was 3 (do the maths, yes that's right - I'm 41 !), I looked something like that.

Actually I still look more or less like that except for the bow. The handknits are still there :0) Check them out. I think they're pretty good for a blind woman .... I don't think any of us wore a shop bought sweater until we were in our teens. Of course, back then, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, it was actually cheaper to knit your own !

Anyhoo, 41, 9 hours into it, is shaping up to be better than 40. 40 gets all the attention. It's the Big I Am. It's the spoiled brat jumping up and down and screaming for cake. 41 on the other hand, just steals quietly in at the back and scores the best party bag whilst everyone's busy looking at 40.

I felt the same about 30. I AM NOT GOOD WITH MILESTONE BIRTHDAYS. There. I find the expectation too much. I find the level of attention too much. I'm a bit uncomfortable being the centre of attention. I don't mind it when I have a role - like my professional role at work or when I was on stage many moons ago - but just being me ? Oh no. No thanks.

So in betweeny birthdays are where it's at for me. Well, who wouldn't love them when you get pressies like this from one of the kindest, most generous, knitter-friends you know.

Thank you Emma - I am thrilled both with the book and the wonderful little soaps :0))

Of course, others dear to me haven't been too scrappy on the present front either ....

Throughly spoiled - I LOVE it :0) Everything is gorgeous but particular highlights include fabulous (actually wearable !) undies from here, t-shirt from here(their stuff is fab - lasts for years !), two or three films, the heart-stoppingly gorgeous John Sims (sadly not the real, actual one ....), excellent music - and for the knitter in me, this little number. Bliss :0)

So that's it from birthday central. I'm off to drink some bubbles and spend the day sitting on my arse knitting - so not much different from most Saturdays except for the bubbles :0)))

What's that ? Oh the birthday competition ! You want to know who won ?

Well, do you know ? I'd be embarrassed if I didn't have such a brass neck .... digging through that 6 drawer chest I unearthed an impressive (tho' only half as impressive as Polly) 25 WIP's !!!!

Now don't underestimate me. I'm only counting the ones that have actually been cast on - so all the swatches I found didn't count - and I'm only counting the ones that are actually in that chest ..... the walk-in cupboard's a whole other competition .......

But anyway, by my reading that makes the lovely (and local !) Elaine the winner with her guess of 23.

So what will it be Elaine ? Sock weight or lace weight - the choice is yours !

Who wants to win some yarn ??

Do you ever get that thing where you let something build up and build up in your mind and then before you know it you're really dreading it and you're lying awake at night thinking about it and sort of feeling like maybe you could do something about it but you somehow just can't start it - and then the day comes. And it's fine. Really. It's okay. And afterwards you can do the thing that you need to do and it's REALLY NO PROBLEM. Do you get that ?

Well, I just had a week like that. Stupid isn't it ?

Of course, the plus side of coming down from a massive worry-fest like that is the high as you climb back up :0)))

A certain person's birthday (cough MINE !) is coming up soon so in honour of it and shamelessly stealing from the lovely Polly and her confessions (ooh er missus !), I'm announcing a " Guess how many WIP's ??" competition to celebrate.

Some of you (who have been around this blog for a while but don't worry you don't look a day over 30 ....) may remember way back when I got this

For the full gory detail click here and see 17 November .....

AND THE WINNER IS -

"the person who can guess how many WIP's I have stored in that chest now - nearly 2 years later ?"

I'm only counting actual cast on WIP's not yarn in waiting and it's ehm, let's just say, more than I thought. OOPS !

The prize will be an as yet undecided liberation from my stash - don't worry, I only buy good stuff :0)

Leave your answer in the comments before midnight (Glasgow time !) Friday and I'll let you know ........ btw, if more than one of you guesses correctly I'll draw for it !

Anyway, you single minded lot, given the almost overwhelming clamour for Elizabeth 1st in Blue Sky Alpaca Silk - I'm more than halfway up the front - and when I find the sodding batteries for the camera, I'll prove it !