The Wool Palace

Today we had one of those days which was just how you want a family day out to be, but that rarely happens.  I don't know about you but we often set out with the best of intentions, only to end up in a mess of tiredness and hunger which inevitably leads to bickering and sulking - not just from the children either.

We decided to go to the Hayward Gallery for the Dan Flavin retrospective which we all thoroughly enjoyed.  No photos were allowed, but I managed to sneak one of Sam on the stairwell, lit by the light from one of the installations.

A tip from the Wool Palace.  A 9 year old boy in Heelys and a gallery full of flourescent light tubes, many on the floor or at foot level, make for some nervous moments and require some heavy handed parental intervention.  On the other hand it was fun to see people do a double take as Sam glided past in what appeared to be a normal pair of trainers.

Once we were done we headed over the river.  I had to stop and take a photo of these beautiful dogs.

Can you imagine how much exercise they must need?

After the peace and quiet of the exhibition the New Year celebrations in Chinatown were a bit of a shock to the system.

Once we'd got used to the crush we went with the flow and saw plenty of dancing and drumming. 

When we'd had enough we retreated for delicious dim sum then caught the tube home again, with no tantrums, bickering or squabbling. 

How was your weekend?

How soon is now?

A cold and damp weekend here in London.  Rather non-eventful in the photo stakes, although the children still manage to find interest in the small things.

I made some pasta sauce.

Josie made a calendar

and Sam spent some time with his beloved Age of Empires.

Exciting isn't it?

So, back to the knitting.  Of course, you were all right, the first FO of 2006 is my first ever pair of gloves.

As you can see, I was pretty surprised that they turned out to fit.  I had a bad experience with a Rowan glove pattern a few years ago - it all looked fine until I put them on and all the fingers were at strange angles.  It was enough to put me off gloves for years.  However, I bit the bullet and signed up for Nona's Peaceful Palms in an effort to force myself to face those fears.

Jill was right about the yarn - Koigu KPPPM, Shade P824 (or it could be 829, I can't read the writing properly).  I chose the Progressive Gloves pattern from Interweave Knits Winter 2003.  It's not so much a pattern as an explanation of how to work out how many stitches you will need for hand, thumb and each finger.  Based on this, I cast on 60 stitches on 2.5mm needles.  I followed the pattern pretty much as is, except that I did a 2x2 ribbed cuff for an inch and knitted to 5 inches before starting thumb shaping, as opposed to the 6 inches recommended in the pattern. 

For a first effort, I am happy with how these have turned out.  I found it hard to measure the finger length as I went along, especially as there was no thumb opening - the thumb stitches are knitted with waste yarn on the palm, which is then unravelled at the end and the stitches picked up.  The main thing I would change next time would be to knit a thumb gusset before getting to the fingers as I think that would aid in accurate trying on and measuring.  I also think that 60 stitches may be slightly too many;  I would probably take it down to 56 for a slightly snugger fit.  But other than that, the fit is good, the yarn is pretty and I have a pair of gloves that I will happily wear for the next couple of months.  Thanks to Nona for organising the knitalong - I don't think I would have ever got around to trying gloves otherwise.

Will I do any more pairs?  Well, my sister was very taken with them - she thinks they look like a tortoiseshell cat.  I estimate I used 1½ skeins of Koigu and I have 1½ left, so who knows?  Will gloves be the new socks?  erm, no...not at the Wool Palace anyway.

New Year's Eve in pictures

After lunch we were seized with the idea of a walk.  Wimbledon Common did not disappoint.

The evening consisted of a dinner of paella with the children.

Followed by cards

and later some bubbles for the grown ups.

Happy 2006 to you all!

Let's pretend it's Monday

The weekend weather was wonderful.  Cold but gloriously sunny.  Maybe it was autumn's last gasp - snow is forecast for this coming weekend.  We wrapped up warm and went to the common.

On the way there we saw an unexpected sight.

It's an awful photo I know - blame the borrowed camera.  If you zoom in on the centre, you'll see a man on a horse.  One of those lovely big horses with the long hair round their hooves - the kind that used to pull carts ladden with barrels of beer.  Not what you normally see in Clapham.

The pond was frozen.  Poor birds.  Lucky we'd brought them some bread.

Even though it was the afternoon there was still some frost on the ground.

They don't call it the season of mists (and mellow fruitfulness) for nothing.