The one where we learn more about the Cosmic Postman

Yesterday afternoon I was on the train back from Cambridge.

Cold and sniffly I had been looking forward to getting my needles out for the hour-long journey home when I noticed a little blue plastic thing in the gap between seat and wall opposite me. I reached to pick it up, certain already of what it was: a train pass, in its usual dark blue 3-part wallet.

I opened it to see who had lost it, and found it belonged to a lady and contained a pass for the day...and some money. I could see the notes folded and I know there was at least £15.
I will be honest and say that it did occur to me to take the cash and then hand over the wallet, but I thought to myself "what would I wish for someone to do if it was my train card and my money?" and decided to hand it over in the station when I got off.

As I changed platform to get onto the train home in Stevenage I saw a platform attendant and walked over to him. As I handed over the wallet I explained that I had found it on the Cambridge train and that since it contained money the lady would be probably glad to get it back (the train passes are registered so they could chase her address/contact details).

"You don't find many like you those days" said the man as he opened the wallet and saw the notes. "What comes around goes around" I said, adding that I would wish for someone to be that honest if they found my card. We joked about winning the lottery and I hoped on the train.

Eventually I got home and the usual pile of junk mail was awaiting behind the door. Amongst them though an envelop for me, and as I opened it it turned out to be my long awaited cheque from one of the online survey companies. £43.50... so that would be Karmic pay back?

A few minutes later, alone in the flat a thought brought a smile to my face...

They say that whatever you do it will come back to you 3 times... What they don't tell you is that the Karmic Postman charges 10% ;-)

The one with the yellow bear...

So finally I located my dongle and so the world can be full of bad photos taken with a mobile phone again...ahhh!

Pudsey is the mascot for the Children in Need charity event and I had promised to knit one to be raffled. Armed with a pattern and some acrylic yarn I set to work.

The whole pattern is worked in Stockinette and there is quite a bit of shaping, although no short rows. The arms and legs are articulated at the shoulder/hip so the bear can sit/stand/wave/figure ice-skate etc...

A short week later and Pudsey was born, complete with trade-mark eye-patch adorned with red sequins for dots...

Just over a foot tall he went to the cake stall to be raffled. I was hoping to get £5 from ticket sales, but after 2 hours we had raised £41.50!

He was won by Julia that very afternoon and there were quite a few request of making more.

But that's about a month old (bad blogger, no cookie!)

Since that I have been busy if not buzzy and the needles have been well used (slippers, meerkat, and some startitis evidence)...more of that later when the camera phone springs into action again!

Nobody told me it was RED SHOES day...

Well, maybe it is a coincidence but a good chunk of my colleagues are sporting Dorothy-worthy shoes in the office.

With my 'ready-to-trek-through-the-muddy-path-home' Salomon lace ups I feel a little out of place ;-)

Oh...and apparently, it is THURSDAY..not the actual FRIDAY I had managed to convince myself about (well, actually, not much convincing was necessary) :(

So to cheer myself up and distract from the shoe issue, let's look at some cute crochet...





You got that one? Right, let's look at some MORE...

Yep, those little cuties are all crochet, and they all come from the same talented lady: Brigitte Read, you are officially my favourite person of the day, because you have posted the patterns for those (and quite a few more) for FREE in the true spirit of sharing craft on the Net.

Dont believe me? Have a look for yourself HERE! Ah the finds that one can get on Ravelry...

So guess who has half of a meerkat's body in her school bag?

A bear for charity...

Today, after much time spent knitting his little yellow and white body and his little eye-patch, after sewing many sequins and buttons, Pudsey found a new home.

Today is Children in Need day and we had a cake sale. I knew all along Pudsey was the prize for the raffle but I was still sad to see him go and even paid for one entry to attempt at keeping him... But he raised over £40 all by himself, so I am very proud of him! And Julia who won him will I hope give him an exciting life, playing hockey and travelling the world.

And because I can not find my phone dongle there is not a pic yet to show his cute little face.

Now for the technical details:
Needles:3.5mm straight metal
Yarn: acrylic in Pudsey yellow (75g) and white (20g) with a scrap of black for the nose.
Pattern: Thomas from "the knitted teddy bear"
Stuffed with ...stuffing
Notions: 2 black buttons and 2 black eyes...

A fairly fast and easy knit... and now back to Foliage ;-)

Hats 101

Forgot to say...

101 hats!

yeay to all the girls for helping me send a very decent package to Innocent and planning on doing it next year!

Montego Bay style hat pattern

Or what should really be called a fishnet hat...but that just sounds weird!

After getting the Montego Bay scarf pattern from Wendy AND from Sas (yes, that very one of Knitty fame... thank you thank you) and deciding that I totally loved it especially when knitted with fat yarn on fat needles (21st on 7mm ... knitting at the speed of light) I started to suspect that it would work as a hat.

Gurjit had given me some yarn because her wrist hurts and after loosing count twice on "foliage" I decided I needed more mindless knitting...

Presenting: the Montego Bay (style) hat! Lacy spirals going from the ribbing to the crown...

Vital stats: knitted on 6mm needles with yarn that requires that size needles.
Size: medium

Instructions:
Cast on 61st
Slip 1st, knit to last, knit together last stitch and slipped stitch to join in the round (60st)
Work in 1x1 ribbing for 1 inch/2.5cm (*k1, p1* to end)

Row 1: slip 1 st, *k2tog, yo* to last st, knit together last stitch and slipped stitch, yo
Row 2: knit to end

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until it is time to begin the decreases

Decrease by working a row 1 and omitting 6 yo's evenly spaced. knit next row. Work a yo row knitting together 3 stitches so as to keep the right leaning slope 6 times. knit next row. repeat the process a few times until 30st remain.

next row: k2tog to end (15st)
next row: knit
next row: k2tog to last st, k1 (8st)
next row: knit

Cut yarn leaving a tail, and thread the tail trough the stitches. Pull tight and fasten.

Weave in ends.

Voila!

- I am contemplating adding a flower for girliness...watch this space!-

Highlighter fumes

So finally the mystery KALs have started... and it appears I can not read charts!

At least not fluently!

Turns out, just like a small child learning to spell I have top methodically work tiny groups of 10 violently coloured stitches and review each full row before venturing into the next one.

I *could* put a picture of my progress, but somehow 10 rows of 139 stitches on 3mm needles do not sound THAT impressive.

On the day of clue release I was shocked to see that hours after the release someone is already half way up that very clue...

Note to self: must learn to knit IN MY SLEEP!!

The weekend awaits with boxes to open, books and DVDs to list, cleaning and tidying...when oh WHEN am I supposed to fit the knitting in??????