Sunday 8 July 2007

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.)

6 comments:

Kate said...

Shame about the Potamotomasus socks (can never remember how to spell the name!). :-( I had much the same experience with Hedera; I didn't enjoy knitting them at all and frogged fairly early on. It's disappointing when everyone around is knitting them and loving them! :-) But there are a million sock patterns out there, anyway, so it's not hard to choose another.

I watched the Tour de France last time it was in the UK (1994!) and once you've seen a load of men on bikes go past very quickly, I found that you don't really need to see it again!

I am now stalking old Rowan books on eBay!!

Elisabeth said...

Are those other socks you are making Hedera? I'm making them right now and I love them! I don't blame you for ripping the Pomas, though. God knows I have done that myself.

Your stole looks beautiful! I must hurry and catch up (I was convinced to join the KAL only after spotting people's work! Enabler!)

Anonymous said...

I love the color of your Alpine Scarf. I had to be subtle with mine (gift for a mother in law) but I really like the look of the shawl in a darker shade. The mystery shawl is looking great too. I did not join (the required yardage scared me away and now it is too late) but seeing your Hanami shawl I am going to check out her other patterns.

Nikki said...

I cannot believe you are knitting two shawls because you haven't decided on a color. You are amazing. I'm technically signed up for MS3 but maybe won't knit it at all, depending on whether I like how it's looking, but you, you knit two! But I guess you're up to it. I saw your other shawl pics and they're beautiful.

Linda said...

Your mystery stole looks gorgeous. Funny about the Tour de France zooming past! I am glad we didn't trawl up there to see it.

knittink said...

I wish I had read this post before trying to felt my Polar-Jacket that turned out far too big after washing ...
Long, brown fibres everywhere. - Still hope I will be able to shave them.
Kind regards
Andrea
*who found you via Google and did swatch neither*