kitchener

potted on the London Underground last week (sorry about the fuzzy picture), a poster for the National Portrait Gallery. The poster reads "Knitter: Lord Kitchener was the familiar moustachioed face of the First World War recruitment posters, which read ‘Your country needs you.' As Secretary of State for War, he enlisted and trained many thousands of soldiers - but he also had their comfort at heart. He is credited with devising the ‘Kitchener stitch', a knitting technique for seamless socks, designed to be gentle on those marching feet."

was slightly over excited when I saw this. We were coming home from a secret midweek trip to the seaside for Dan's birthday and we were kinda pretty tired. But I think when I saw this I grabbed hold of Dan while I finished reading and then yabbered on about how the socks he was wearing at that moment were finished in kitchener stitch. Then took a picture. I made a bit of a fuss on the platform. Geek.

a birthday card for Dan

an and I hit on an agreement not all that long ago. I would knit him a jumper if he made me a new (old) lighter bike so I stood a chance of keeping up with him on the occasions we cycle out together. I love my bike, but it weighs a frickin' ton.

or his birthday last week I knitted up a fair-isle-ish swatch to make a card as a token for jumpers to come. Although after a flick through one of my Rowan magazines (!) Dan decided he liked the look of Furrow by Marie Wallin (ravelry link), which is without doubt one of the best mens patterns from Rowan and looks kind of fun to knit too.

nyway, my new bike frame arrived yesterday, so the knitting reciprocal is going to have to get serious soon. (Cue Dan's chance to get excited as dozenoaks temporarily transforms into a bike blog)

Autumn cycling capelet

t's about time I blogged (I think it's the first time I've used that word, how odd) this really. I finished the actual knitting part of the capelet weeks ago (it was really quick), then spent about another week fannying about adding in extra detail with the Haiku and making pom-poms (for about a week there I was slightly randomly obsessed with pom poms as might be guessed by the bicycle clips). It's basically finished now except for the ribbon for the neck tie to which the pom-poms will be attached. I didn't have anything the right length or colour in my ribbon stash, but I got paid today so it's off to the haberdashery before the cash runs out (again).

Ravelry link to the project page

anthro

spied recently that anthropology are about to open a store on Regeants Street. I am excited! Still no actual date for opening, but I have pinned down the location of an anthro for my upcoming trip to Chicago to keep me happy in the mean time.... (I also made my own set of drop caps to play with. Geek.)