H is for...

Holy

mmm - i loves me some stained glass

Now, you and I both know that I'm not the most religious person on the planet, but when it come to singing concerts in churches, I'm there and a-clicking with holy abandon.  Well, between rehearsals and the concert, at any rate.  I haven't yet mastered the art of kinnearing folks mid-concert, but it's not, I have to admit, through lack of trying.  I may have to invest in a smaller camera...

The past few weeks have seen me wearing out my camera batteries in four churches - three local and one in Burgundy: Eglise Saint-Denis in Amboise; Eglise Sainte-Catherine-de-Fierbois; Eglise Saint-Aignan sur Cher and the final one was in the Eglise Saint-Martin in Chapaize.  Beautiful churches, all .

eglise saint denis in the background                     eglise saint-martin

eglise saint-aignan sur cher

And I don't seem to have an exterior piccie of Sainte-Catherine... It was lovely, but you'll just have to take my word on the matter!

Then, of course, we have the interiors... so much GORGEOUS stained glass that I was in a frenzy to take photos in the breaks before the sun went down.  And incredible interiors with beautiful stone-work, too...

saint-aignan

saint-denis

But it will come as no surprise that it was the stained glass that caught my lens the most:

I do loves me some stained glass!  I felt I had to stock up on the prettiness, as the next few concerts will be in halls, rather than churches...  Still, one lives in hope...  Maybe I should use my love of stained glass to design some socks!  Oh YES!  Well, designing that would certainly keep me busy between rehearsals!  Heh!

p.s. new (non-stained-glass) sock pattern coming soon!  Well, soonish, anyway...

G is for...

Gardens...

...at the château de villandry

Continuing my château theme for the abc-along, I'm glad to have the opportunity to show off some photos of the magnificent gardens at Villandry.  Especially so, as I have Versailles for the actual 'V' post!  Heh!  I just have to remember that when we actually get there...

Here's a wee description, courtesy of that kind Mr Wikipedia again: "The lands where an ancient fortress once stood were known as Colombier until the 17th century. Acquired in the early 16th century by Jean Le Breton, France's Controller-General for War under King Francis I, a new château was constructed around the original 14th-century keep where King Phillip II of France once met Richard I of England to discuss peace.

The château remained in the Le Breton family for more than two centuries until it was acquired by the Marquis de Castellane. During the French Revolution the property was confiscated and in the early 19th century Emperor Napoleon acquired it for his brother Joseph Bonaparte

In 1906, Joachim Carvallo purchased the property and poured an enormous amount of time, money and devotion into repairing it and creating what many consider to be the most beautiful gardens anywhere. Its famous Renaissance gardens include a water garden, ornamental flower gardens, and vegetable gardens. The gardens are laid out in formal patterns created with low box hedges. 

Still owned by the Carvallo family, the Château de Villandry is open to the public and is one of the most visited châteaux in France."

incredible designs

impeccably kept hedges

After following the tour through the castle, you are allowed up onto the battlements, the view from which are stupendous and showcase the gardens marvellously.  The château interior itself is delightful, and beautifully maintained in a turn-of-the-century (19th / 20th) style, but it is the Renaissance knot gardens that leave the biggest impression, from above...

view of the vegetable gardens from the ramparts

...and from below.  I have to admit that as breathtaking the gardens are from on high, it's not until you are down at ground level that you fully appreciate the scale of the project.  The gardens are immense!

view from one of the many waterways

Vineyards, lavender beds, rose arbours, vegetable patches, herb gardens, all beautifully laid-out in geometric patterns.  (The vegetable gardens were a surprising but brilliant display of edible loveliness...)

underneath the vines

aromatic delights

the vegetable gardens - lettuce, onions, basil, radish...

I'm hoping to return again this year, this time with sister mine - the gardens filled me with awe and delight and I know DS will love them, too...

F is for...

Formulation

traffic island socks by yours truly
in yarning yenta sock yarn in red fraggle
and a&e bfl sock yarn in berries

Okay, so I may be reaching the outer limits of my thesaurus, but I wanted to add  my first foray into pattern writing somewhere here and this looked as good a time as any.  Especially considering I think my 'F' post is a tad late and I'm hoping to earn some brownie points to perhaps minimize the period of procrastination to perhaps only a day or two...!

i really must find some sock blockers

Well, these babies came into being after I spent an afternoon with my nose in several volumes of stitch dictionaries.  I pore over them occasionally, usually for inspiration for afghan squares...  I'd been looking for a simple pattern that would morph well into being knit in the round, challenging enough to keep my fingers busy, but my head angst-free; something to keep my brain exploding with too-long hours spent on complicated and concentration-draining (albeit very satisfying) travelling-cably, gazillion-row-repeatly, tear-your-hair-out-in-bunches, tricksy sock patterns that I was currently working on...  Knitting sorbet, if you will...

The chevron pattern I found had tonnes of potential, and after knitting an initial few rounds I knew that it would be pretty to knit up, fast to finish and potentially brain-'splody free!  After some tweaking, frogging and a little more tweaking, I arrived with some Traffic Island Socks.  I also realised that the resulting yarn configuration looked a bit like the famous 'Jaywalker' pattern, but with the more lacy pattern and wider bars it meant that the fitting and sizing wouldn't be so tricky to manoeuvre around.  I also tweaked things further to include 3 sizes, plus ideas for different yarn weights.

ziggy-zaggy, holey goodness

Why the Traffic Island appellation?  Well, with the wider 'fixed bars' running up and down the socks, and with the added lace holes (and also after the street reference) I was reminded of a computer game that came out many moons ago, called 'Frogger'. A game where you had to guide a frog over highways and waterways to freedom, using the traffic islands in between as breathing spaces, avoiding cars, lorries, snakes, alligators and submerging turtles!

chevrons and lace

The name seemed apt!

If you'd like a copy of the pattern, you can now get it as a free Ravelry download.  

RedScot's House of Orphans

The orphanage is one sock down.  Its friends have been sad to see it go, but Plum Crumble Jay No.1 has, after a long search through the interwebs, tv appeals, and a lifetime of waiting, found its sibling.

'jaywalkers' by grumperina in a&e 4-ply sock yarn in plum crumble

Yeah, okay, not technically an orphan, but a lovely friend up in Amsterdam wrote to ask how 'the orphans' were doing after I posted about all my single socks in the 'Drumroll' post a few weeks ago, and the name has stuck!  He also, in fact, gave meaning to the lives of all those single socks...  Oh, I have to quote him in full - it made me giggle!

"Hope all is well with you and the orphans (if you just make interracial couples of them, then there’s only one left… introduce the concept of polygamy - and you can just grab any two and wear them together… your single-sock sexual revolution may just remove the stigma of knitting one sock for good!)"

The Single-Sock Sexual Revolution may be something to look in to... later...  SSS?  NO, SSSR, baby, SSSR!

u can haz sibling

I do rather like the simplicity of this Jaywalker pattern - the 2 row pattern repeat is the perfect antidote to some of the complicated, wandering-cably, gazillion-row-repeatly, tear-your-hair-out-in-bunches tricksy patterns that I'm currently working on.  Very sooooothing, in fact.

Talking of tricksy numbers, here's a prime example.  Not soon after Plum Crumble Jay No.2 left the premises, Denim Dancer No.1 arrived at the orphanage door.

'come dancing' by laurie lee in frog hair fibers superwash merino sock in denim

Actually, the only tricksy part was the cuff - a picot edge involving knitting several rows, adding yo's on one row, folding down half and picking up inside stitches as well as current stitches.  And yes, I may have made it sound rather more difficult than it really is, but I was a tad perplexed and ended up with half the cuff looking semi-okay and the other half being twisted to hell and back again!

I must say though, that the pattern repeat is loveliness itself!  I MUST invest in a sock blocker so I can show my darlings off in a better light.

up close and personal

And the yarn... THE YARN!  So soft and smooshy and a JOY to work with.  Enough variation in colour to please the eye, but not so much that the pattern is lost.  Lovely, lovely, lovely!  But that cuff is enough to keep this little one housed at the orphanage for some time to come.

E is for...

Elephant

cake the cpaag nellyphant

(publicity shot)

I promised a post about Cake the Travelling Nellyphant many moons ago, but promptly forgot. Possibly in a fit of oo-shiny. Extremely possibly, in fact.  But today I am pleased to announce that Cake's Time Has Come. [insert suitably trumpety-trump-type fanfare here] 

Well, I suspect that a little background information may be called for...  Or possibly a lot.  How does one begin to tell the epic tale of Cake's travels around the globe?  Why, at the beginning, of course.  (Ugh - sorry about that!!)

Cake came into being at the hands of a lovely person named KnittyBe, a member of the Completely Pointless and Arbitrary Group on Ravelry.  She called her creation 'Cake' (after the patron-saint-like icon of the CPaAG) and saw that he was good. And cute. And small enough to fit in an envelope. And thus Cake the Travelling Nellyphant was born and was thrust out into the world of men and chocolate.

He left the US last July and arrived chez moi in August for the second leg of his Epic Journey Around The World. (The first leg being a wee jaunt down to Namibia and South Africa!)

cake in and on tour(s)

Yes indeed, Cake made himself at home very quickly and was a perfect house guest.  We spent our time together pretending to be tourists in Tours, playing 'Where's Wally Cake' in the flower market, introducing him to the joys of Nutella, exploring the wine cellars and château in Amboise, and, em... 'sampling' some local liquid produce...

hotel de ville

the american monument
yes, cake was there!

whodathunkit - multicoloured, psychedelic camouflage

hiding in a tree outside the basilica st martin

(he's sitting just above the lowest blossoms...)

come on in - the nutella's lovely

(for scale, cake is roughly 2 1/2 inches tall)

playing at door knockers on the saint hubert chapel door in amboise

examining all stages of the wine-making process

Since France, Cake has visited Denmark, Italy, India, Uruguay, the USA and Canada and there are still many more countries to go. This little guy has probably seen more of the world than most of the folks following his journey!  He was a pleasure to have around!  Even if he did finish off the Vouvray...

This post was brought to you by the letter 'E' for, erm... Nellyphant, and by the number 2 - the number of squares of chocolate I have left after typing this out!

A Wee Bit o' Luck

DS is going into hospital soon for a wee op on her sinuses and as part of a little parcel of good luck, I sent her a black cat.

rare 'jungle' breed

Yes, well spotted.  Not a live black cat.  Which is probably just as well, as I couldn't guarantee that it would:  

1. walk towards her (good luck to come)
   
2. cross in front of her from left to right (good luck),
   
3. not cross in front of her from right to left (bad luck) or indeed
   
4. cross her path at all.  

No, here you will find another example of the 'Lovable Toy' from Marion Edmund's book 'Last-Minute Knitted Gifts'.  I used the the basic overall body shape, then the rabbit head template and changed the ears from long, floppy bunny ones to triangular feline ones.  I added a little pink nose and whiskers, and cut out some cat's eyes from felt and sewed them on.  And then added the toy equivalent of a Dr Who-length scarf!

winner of the 2009 'first-to-blink-loses' staring contest

The kitty is made from Ice Yarns' Short Eyelash sparkly black yarn and the scarf and whiskers are Grignasco Tango in a charcoal marl colourway.  Yes, I know.  Fun fur.  But it does come in useful sometimes, honest!

Drumroll Please...

WOOHOO!  Thank you all for coming over and guessing in the nom-by date competition!  

Here's a list of everyone's guesses:  elin - July 20th 2009; Kristen - February 15th 2010;  Lab Cat - November 1st 2009; Jesh - September 14th 2009; Mary - February 26th 2010; Sloth-knits - August 15th 2009; Heather - 22nd March 2010; Lista - August 17th 2009; Rhionna - March 31st 2010; ZaftigWendy - July 12th 2009; ikkinlala - December 17th 2009; Kat - July 28th 2009; Iron Needles - October 1st 2009; Lorraine - December 7th 2009; itgirl - January 25th 2010 and Kelley - October 24th 2009.

30th January 2010

AND THE WINNER IS:

ITGIRL with her guess of January 25th 2010!

(and the crowd goes wild!)

Congratulations itgirl!  I'll contact you through Ravelry to get your address and then I'll post these little goodies on to you!

In other news, I seem to have developed a rather serious case of Second Sock Syndrome (or SSS to you initiates...)  You think I jest?  Think again, dear readers:

oh dear

Poor little sibling-less babies.  I feel rather cruel, now I've pulled them all out from their respective hiding-places and displayed their oneness-ness to the world.  (Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to bring these, erm... exclusive singletons together...  I think I hear mutinous mutterings of a murderous variety issuing from my living room...  I think I'll take them further away from the needle case, just to be safe.)

But to allay their fears of falling into nameless obscurity (and to maybe keep them from attempting to keel-hawl me) may I present, starting from bottom left and moving clock-wise: 'Jaywalker' by Grumperina in Angels&Elephants Hand Dyed Sock Wool, colourway Maisie; 'Crooked Cable Socks' by Sockbug in Phildar Phil. Luxe, colourway Nympheas; 'Muscari Socks' by Suzi Anvin in Angels&Elephants Hand Dyed Sock Wool, colourway Pentillie;  'Zombie Socks' by Sheryl Giles in Angels&Elephants Hand Dyed Sock Wool, colourway Maisie; and finally 'Kaibashira' by Chrissy Gardiner in King Cole ZigZag, colourway Heather.

obligatory arty-farty shot in colourway black and white

But that's not all.  I have another 4 socks on the needles, only two of which are actually a mate for any of these poor mites. And no, I couldn't tell you exactly where or what they are at the moment, either...

Oops.

D is for...

Delicious, Decadent Donations

Yeah, okay, so I really should have posted this for 'C' for 'competition', but, well, Chenonceaux kind of won that letter hands down!  But you see, I missed two important anniversaries recently: the first being my Blogoversary (my first post was on the 4th of February 2008); the second being my Ravelversary. (I received my invitation to join Ravelry.com on the 31st of January 2008.  And yes, I joined as soon as that baby arrived in my inbox!)

Now, even though I'm, erm, almost a month in arrears, I think it only fair to spread the love to you, my dear readers!  But I'm not going to give away yarn, oh no.  (And it's nothing to do with the fact that I know nothing about what's good and what's bad and what's downright evil in the yarn world.)  It's because... oh okay, it's because I know nothing about what's good and what's bad and what's downright evil in the yarn world.  BUT I do know a little about this:

chocolat - le nom

Yes indeedy!  Here, for your delectation are some delicacies to delight and divert your...  your...  :: goes to check thesaurus :: (ah, bugger) 'tastebuds' it will have to be!

Firstly, a box of French chocolates and truffles, made, if I understood correctly, in this region.  (You'll have to forgive me, but my concentration was really upon the contents of the shop, not on what la serveuse was telling me about her wares...  Oo-shiny has just found a new friend in Oo-chucklit!)  They are nom.  Erm... or so I am told.  Moving swiftly on, there are two tablets of dark chocolate, one flavoured with violet, one flavoured with rose.  And lastly there's the alcoholic chocolate.  Not French this time, but very worthy of a good nomming home, too!

Remind me why I'm giving these away again?  I mean... REALLY!  Oh, oh yes.  Anniversary Competition.  Well, now that I'm this far, I should let you know what you have to do to win this little lot of nomminess.  And, because arbitrary is the name of the game, it's going to be simple!  No need to phone a friend or ask the audience!  All I want to you to is guess the nom-by date on the back of the tablet of dark violet gorgeousness.

violet (or as my DS says, violent) yumminess

AND, because I'm not cruel, well not totally, I'll even give you dates to choose between!

SO, lovely ones, choose a date between July 19th 2009 and April 4th 2010 and let me know in a comment what you think it may be!  The competition will be open until the 7th of March, and I'll let you know who guessed the correct date, or who got the closest to it.  And I might even send the goodies to the winner, too!

Heh!