Weekend a great success

Just had a lovely weekend of meetings with my Bookcrossing group, the Manchester Vegan Society and the Bolton Knitting Noras.

There was an all-time best attendance at the Knitting Noras Knit out today - ten of us, including new members Ann, Janet, Vicky, Jill and my vegan friend Caroline.

There were so many of us we abandoned Caffe Nero for the Varsity pub and most of us stayed for a good few hours.

What a great start to the new year!

I also finished my Water Aid blue square.

Also, Lady Sovereign, the new rapper sensation from London was on Popworld on Channel 4 and showed an enthusiasm for knitting - she used to make pencil cases and said she wanted to take it up again.

Match the jumper to the picture...

The baby pirate jumper is coming along well; I've done the back and two sleeves and am a third of the way through the front.

I managed to miss a row out yesterday though so had to rip it out down to the first 2 and a half inches but all seems to be OK now.

Veganism is all the fashion, darlink

One of the members of my vegan group posted a link to a recent article from the New York Times on vegan fashion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/11/fashion/11VEGAN.html

(Don't know how to make this work like a link like other clever people who blog)

It made me wish I lived in the US and particularly New York.

Join me on the dark side...

I've just returned from a wonderful fun-filled weekend in Sheffield, where I went to visit 4 friends in different parts of the city and celebrated 3 birthdays.

I also taught Isobel to knit - she's a natural!

As previously mentioned, she wants to knit a pregnancy poncho for herself - we had a look at my Viva Poncho book and she's decided on a drapy moss-stitch one.

We've adapted the pattern for Sanchez as it calls for 12.75 circular needles and these are nigh on impossible to get in the UK at short notice.

As baby is due in April, time is of the essence!

Is is using some woolmix double knit in a lovely heathery mauve colour. This is from my stash, donated by someone and was no use to me.

I left her casting on on Sunday morning with 6mm bamboo needles and with a sample of moss stitch I did on 5.5 needles.

I hoep that she will enjoy it and not get too frustrated. She has some local knitting friends who should be able to help if she gets stuck.

Baby blankie nearly done

I have now completed 3 of the 4 edgings I need to do for the Heirloom Baby Blanket.

Thank goodness, as I am now heartily sick of the whole thing.

I also ordered 2 balls of Elle Pure Gold baby 4 ply in black from Art of Yarn (via Ebay).

This is for the pirate jumper I am planning for my friend Isobel's little one - I thought black baby wool might be hard to find but obviously there is a growing trend for goth babies.

I also have a sore joint on my left fore finger - I've obviously been overdoing the knitting recently!

I'll keep an eye on it.

Very amused that there was a woman knitting in the Big Brother's Big Mouth studio last night; she wasn't very good at it though and the knitting looked a bit small and uninspiring.

Scarf success!

As I hoped, my good friend Angela loved her scarf.

Here's a picture of her wearing it at our Bookcrossing meeting on Saturday.