Was that it?

This weekend has been a blur of activity in London including the first stage of the Tour de France. I'm not a Tour de France fan by any stretch of the imagination - but as it was going past (literally) the end of my road I felt I should show some interest. According to the official website there was a 'fake start' (Depart Fictif) from Trafalgar Sq around 9:40am with the 'real start' (Depart Reel) at 11:00am just up the road from me in Greenwich.

At around 9:15 I started to hear noise on the route - so I decided to check it out (combined with a useful trip to Tesco to get some food). This was some sort of 'pre' race thing where a parade of sponsors drove past and threw freebies to the bystanders. There weren't too many bystanders at that stage but that didn't seem to dampen the spirits of the participants. I watched for about 10 minutes (long enough to get some hats, pens and a little car) (I gave most of it to nearby kids) then headed home.

At about 5 to 11 I thought I should head back out and see the cyclists. Went back out to the street, a few minutes later some very speedy cyclists went by. 30 seconds after that it was pretty much all over. We spectators (and this time the streets were lined) sort of looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and headed home.

But heh - I can tick 'see the Tour de France' off my list of things to do (pretending it was ever on there).

Right on to knitting things.....

Mystery Stole 3 clue 2 is out and I've completed it in the cream yarn and have just begun clue 2 in the black. (still undecided on which one I prefer) I'll take a better picture of them when the black one has caught up.





I've made good progress on the Alpine Lace scarf. According to the pattern I should be starting the end border now -- but I'm not convinced it's long enough. (how much will it stretch in blocking?)(why do I refuse to swatch?)

I knit up a bag to felt for my god daughter's birthday - Rowan Polar with a strand of variegated sock yarn. Looked very promising in its unfelted stage. However when I pulled it out of the washing machine it looked like - well - a deceased animal. Truly - it had become really hairy in a very unattractive way. It created a nice solid felt - but the hair was a little off putting. (When will I learn to swatch?)

Last week I was working on a Pomatomas sock --- and I have decided that I don't like it. I wanted to like it. I admire the flow of the stitches - but as a sock I was unconvinced. I can't pinpoint what it was I don't like about it -- the pattern is very well written - but I didn't like knitting it. It'll be frogged next week. (The yarn is Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino and is really nice to work with.)

I've now started a lace sock in an Opal solid and it's making me very happy so far. For some reason lace socks remind me of grade school. (Even though I don't think I ever wore lace socks.)(Weird.)