Image Details: ‘Map of Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway System, Manchester Victoria Station’, by mrrobertwade (wadey), via Flickr.

“Once upon a time, not too long go, we took a day out in Manchester,

We all fall down, there’s not enough hours in our day.”

On 13 April, 1998, Gomez’s ‘Bring it On’ was released. ‘Whippin’ Piccadilly’ was a single from this Mercury Music Prize winning album of the same year. This song, for some unknown reason, comes into my head whenever I think about my ever expanding pile of WIPs; I do in fact also own the album, however it is not normally music to knit to. It does remind me of those halcyon college days, drinking pernod and black at the indie night at Wigan Pier, being young enough to not get a hangover and too young to remember pernod and black actually being in fashion.

I have several ongoing projects which seems to be taking an age to finish, leaving me little material with which to work, blog-wise. So the only alternative to me wittering on about my ongoing annoyance with Argentina picking on the Falkland Islanders, my complete inability to comprehend what the monkey’s handbag TOWIE is all about or the finer details of toddler politics (not talking about CFK here either), is to give you a rundown of the many and varied unfinished objects.

Doom. That is all.

So – Public Enemy Number One: The Damask of Doom. This shawl is trying to kill me. I am worried that if it could walk – and maybe it will develop this talent in its ongoing quest to decimate my patience – it would sneak up on me in my sleep and suffocate me. It’s that bad. The pattern is very well written and the finished article is lovely; I am not finding the knitting of it hard, per se, I just get the feeling that the yarn does not want to be the pattern, if that makes sense? Everyone else in the knit along has finished; some people have done 3 in the time it has taken me to do 1/3 of one. I am going to plough on with it though, as no united object will ever get the better of me. So, be warned, DoD!

Sirdar snuggly striped madness.

The next is the Ballerina Wrap for Her Britannic Majesty, Princess Babybee. This has been ongoing since last September, for reasons unbeknownst to anyone but the Knitty Deity of the Sky. It’s an easy pattern. The yarn is a joy to knit with. The baby will look very cute in it. I think maybe the fact it has been 30-40 degrees every day for the last 6 months is probably the problem. She just doesn’t need a cardigan yet!

Sock it to me

Another project for HBM – hand knitted baby socks. I had yarn left over from my first socks and decided that, clearly, every self-respecting mother and baby need matching foot attire. Again, I haven’t worn socks for time immemorial here in SA, so the baby socks have been lurking until such a time that socks might be necessary.

Then there is the baby’s new dress. Seeing any themes here? Don’t have a baby, it ruins your selfish crafting! I started this one before Christmas (yes, really!) and thanks to a monster hemming and overlocking session the other morning, I have only the buttons and buttonholes to do now, as well as a bit of bodgery on the neck. I could get it finished quite quickly to be fair, if I just got on with it. Sigh.

Retro frock

The next one, which I absolutely have to start and get finished as the nagging to do so is turning into a crescendo, is a sock for the Unnycount, the best counting machine for knitting the world has ever seen. Not technically a wip as I haven’t started it yet, but definitely one that needs to be prioritised for my own sanity.

Hopefully I can get some of these cleared down as I will be taking part in another kal with the members of a swap I recently took part in (more on this in the next blog post) which has a time limit. I would like to be able to work on this project in a reasonably guilt-free manner. I also have a blanket which I want to knit as well as a washcloth to use up some of the stash of cotton I have.

Finally – and the most exciting wip of all I think – the inaugural brew for Boomslang Brewery is underway! We have to wait another 3 days before we can bottle our real ale, then 4 weeks waiting for it to come into condition se we can drink it. Beyond exciting. Squeal!