Am caught  up in the A-Z of socks on ravelry, I see it  as a way to  end up with 26 unfinished pairs – but there  you go…

There’s been no walking – still got a dodgy foot.  Bit too much eating has gone on too…

Finally went up another hill  , and found the old spreadsheet  listing which ones I’d already climbed . apparently the last were in Sept 2005 …

so number 109  : Beinn a chochuill

nuber 110 Beinn Eunaich

 Too old for this malarky : took me 10 hours for a 5 hour walk and my knees  are a bit gubbed. Still  very proud…

all in all the swap was great fun .

Had a couple of trips away with work – took a wooden crochet hook on an aeroplane  without any trouble and managed a few more squares for mums blanket .

Also been making slow progress with the first ever knitted jumper 

However recently, knitted cats seem to have taken over … this is a lovely pattern – where the pieces seem to origami into a cat  !  instant gratification .

http://geobabe.livejournal.com/227621.html

Dogs? you ask ?Have I been knitting dogs as well ? Nope – been dog sitting for a friend this last weekend – quite a nice dog – but it knew who was boss, and it certainly wasnt me .  so i decided to keep all the knitted cats rather than donate one as a toy !

anyway will try and post a bit more regularly  – and keep up with the crochet , though without the commuting !

Part One: Crafting
Do you knit, crochet, or both?  I’ve been crocheting for a while  – and finally learnt to knit at christmas , with help form my mother , the internet , and ravelry!
What do you like to make?   I’ve made a lot of hats and bags over the winter  , a few amigurumi , and one or two garments. I’ve a couple of afghans on the go.
Do you have a favourite project? Probably the blanket i’m doing for my mum at the moment.
Do you have a favourite type of fiber or brand of yarn?   I have a lot of unlabelled wool I got from ebay – anything  with a label  would be an improvement .
Do you have a least favourite type of yarn? I’m not keen on  fun fur and other novelties
Do you do any other crafts? I’ve done quite a bit of embroidery in the past, some tapestry, some silkpainting .
Do you knit in public? If so where do you like knitting and what is your “portable” project? I crochet on the train  to work ( easier than knitting – only one stitch to drop !) The project tends to be whatever I’m working on  – often hats or afghan squares
What do you carry your “portable” knitting in? anything and everything – poly bag to laptop bag – it just  gets shoved in at the last minute
Are there any knitting gifts (book, toy, yarn, item, tool) that you have been lusting over?  I enjoyed a ball of  opal sock yarn that i made a boteh scarf with – but feel bad about buying more wool when i have the  miscellaneous e-bay collection filling the house! I’ve bought rather too many books as well !

Part Two: Your Favourites
What is your favourite colour?  I tend to like blues  , and or yellows,oranges and golds
What is your least favourite colour? Tricky… ummmm like ‘em all really!
What scents/smells do you like? What don’t you like?    Not very keen on lavender  – but like most  other scents.
How do you like to pamper yourself? (bubble bath, hand creams, massage, manicure) Love bubble baths  ( with a glass of wine and a new knitting magazine !)
What goodies to you like to eat? (chocolate, biscuits, sweets,crisps etc) Far too many of all of the above ( sadly ..)
Do you prefer tea or coffee while you knit? Any particular kind? Dont drink coffee at all .   Tend to stick to bog standard tea .  quite like the fruit teas – just never get round to making them for some reason ?
Do you listen to/watch anything while you knit? (TVshow-Along, movies, music, podcasts, audiobooks)I’ll tend to be listening to the TV – but still have to watch my knitting !

Part Three: About you, Living & Past-times
If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be (and why)?  My answer to this was chunky with a hint of the blues  – but my BF told me off for being  negative !  He said it would be soft and cuddly  but practical . ( Take your pick…)

Where do you live in the UK? (General idea not address)I’m lucky enough to live in Edinburgh
Have you always lived here, or did you grow up somewhere else? Grew up near Birmingham , studied at Liverpool and stayed there for 10 years after  before coming to Scotland.
What is your favourite place in the UK? I love the scottish highlands  , and the coasts ( far north , west coast, east coast!)
If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go? I’d really like to see the grand canyon , I’d love to go to New Zealand , I’ve had a hankering for the inca trail in peru since i was a teenager …  ( why dont  I organise  any of these things !)
What other hobbies do you have?  I like to cook .  When i’m fitter i enjoy hillwalking, badminton, tennis.

Part Four: The Theme

this is a picture i took when hillwalking in the north of scotland .  I loved the fact that you didnt have to be super fit and healthy  to get to these wonderful places – just patient and determined . havent been up any hills for the last three years though , mum being ill , breaking my foot, general laziness .

I do want to get back to it somehow
Final Part:
Any allergies/preferences (fiber-wise or treat-wise)? Not that i know of!
Anything we missed that you’d like your partner to know? Dont think so…..

The commuter crochet residence has been struck down with a severe case of person flu . OH has man flu ( he tried very hard to ignore it -but it really isnt that sort of bug ) and I have woman flu ( a lesser known variant where the patient does absolutely nothing but moan / cough / eat chocolate ). My asthma has returned with a vengence also   Everytime i feel remotely alive  – i overdo things and am forced back to bed  for a while . been two full weeks now and I’m BORED . Any energy i do have is focused on getting more chocolate and/or strepsils  and attempting  to finish off an insane amount of work before i leave next friday . Thank goodness for VPN – certainly wouldnt have been able to make it to the office…

but what about knitting  ? you say   or finishing off some crochet ufo’s ?  wouldnt that relieve the boredom ?

Well probably but  i seem to have the attention span of a mayfly – and cant settle to any project . and coughing fits  tend to lead to dropped stitches – which i still havent learnt to deal with !!!

Moaning over for now .

will try  and get round to posting about some of the previous stuff  -  and plans for the absolutely lovely week off between jobs ( assuming that woman flu will have subsided by then …. please ?)

 Pattern is

http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Crochet/Projects/TV+Projects/KCT0015+Crochet+Cable+Scarf.htm

but mine doesnt look as neat as that !

decided to cut it short and make a neck warmer – which led to a discussion about whether scarflette was a real word – we reckon you couldnt use it in scrabble

the pattern is coats and clarks sunrise  – sunset ,easy enough to remember after the first couple of squares

http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Crochet/Projects/Print+Ads/LW1527+Sunrise+Sunset+Afghan.htm

pattern  http://www.allfreecrafts.com/crochet/pig.shtml