The Wool Palace

Dirty pretty things

I've never really managed to get the hang of crochet.  Over the years I have bought several books on it and tried to teach myself, with no success.  When I was teaching knitting in London my hairdresser, an avid crocheter, came and gave my class a lesson, but I was still none the wiser.

I've looked at all the granny squares and ripple blankets springing up over the blogosphere in the last year or so, but still didn't feel I could join in.

Then, this week we had a crochet workshop at my village craft group.  And suddenly, my brain clicked into gear and I started to understand.  Like lace knitting, it's much easier to do something when you know why you're doing it.  The doubles and trebles and turning chains started to make sense.

Since then my brain has been buzzing and my fingers itching.  I've dug out my DK cotton remnants and my crochet books and have been hooking away.  Technically I've got a long way to go, but I'm certainly enjoying the learning process.

Weekend catch-up

I am trying to get back into more regular blogging, although work and life in general continues to conspire against it.

We had a busy weekend.

Our hall has gone from insipid yellow to 'Entrance Hall Pink'.  I didn't know the name of it when I picked the colour, but it's nice to know that Farrow & Ball agree with me on what colour a hall should be.  Unfortunately it's still covered in horrible woodchip, but at least it's a better colour now.

After picking the colour, I left Toby to do the actual painting, seeing as he's about 100 times faster than I would be.  I indulged in a little garden centre shopping.

My plans for summer planting schemes failed miserably this year, but I had good success with my tulips in the spring, so bought some different ones to play with this year.  I went back today and got crocuses and a few other things to naturalise in the corners of the lawn and under the hedge.

I have been doing some knitting as well.  I've had Salina on my to do list for ages now and decided to make a start while we were on holiday.

I had some Felted Tweed left from my Hourglass Sweater that turned out miles too big and had to be frogged.  I had washed the yarn and reskeined it and put it away to wait for a project.  This seemed like the right time to bring it out.

I'm knitting the body in the round and have just divided for the armholes.  I've added 5cm to the length but plan to do the rest as written.  Must hurry up and finish it so I can start the Tangled Yoke Cardigan...

Where people often meet

Well, that turned into a bit of a longer break than anticipated.

I am surfacing from a couple of manically busy weeks at work, with not an awful lot to tell you really.

Holidays seem like such a long time ago.  Our week in Cornwall was a bit too much of this type of weather

and not enough of this

It wouldn't have been so bad, but we were camping and spending every evening in a tent in the rain gets a bit wearing.  I think next year we'll go for the cottage option.

Dorset on the other hand, was gloriously sunny.  However, the only photos I have are of the children at the beach and I'm not keen to put up pictures of them in their swimsuits all over the internet, so you'll have to take my word for it.

So now we're back at school and work and I've been able to start thinking about a little knitting.  I haven't had a chance to look through the new knitting magazines in too much detail, but have totally fallen in love with the Tangled Yoke cardigan from the new IK.  So much so, that in what is a very unusual move from me, I've even ordered the yarn from my LYS in Taunton - I'm going for a dark brown version.

I'm going to try and look through Vogue and the new Rowan this evening and see if anything else catches my eye.  Any suggestions?