annarella | handmade : beaded stitch markers and original hand knits, london

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wednesday, 28 june 2006

And the winner is...

Beth is the lucky winner of my June competition! Congratulations, darling!! :)

Thanks to all my wonderful readers who took part, I'm sorry I can't send a little something to all of you, but fear not, another giveaway will be held in July... only a few days away :)

tuesday, 27 june 2006

For my Secret Pal...

...I have something to show you, which I hope will be ready real soon... ;)

Edit: Several people have reminded me that in the spirit of keeping this exchange a secret I shouldn't have shown my Spoilee what I was sending her... you're absolutely right, I realise that the original message might have been a little ambiguous... for sake of clarity, this post was directed at my Spoiler!!

monday, 26 june 2006

Pictures!

You can tell I couldn't think of a more original title for this post, can't you? ;)

Some random shots from our recent holiday (there's loads, do scroll down and click on the thumbnails for a larger view)...

thursday, 22 june 2006

Picovoli - the shots!

Modelled shots of my Picovoli can be found here :)

Ah, did I mention that after all the knitting frenzy to have this ready... in the end I didn't get time to wear it on holiday?? Of course I took waaaay too much clothing with me, most of which didn't even get so much as an airing in Italy, so much for travelling light, eh?

(Btw, Ferdie has rescued our holiday pictures, so they'll follow shortly).

wednesday, 21 june 2006

I am back!

Hello people! I got back late last night after an entire day spent travelling, and boy was that exhausting! But we made it back eventually, slept like a log and felt quite weird at having to get ready for work today, instead of the BEACH... which, by the way, was absolutely gorgeous! We had such a fantastic time, and I can honestly say I got used very quickly to getting up late, having breakfast on the terrace whilst enjoying the most beautiful view of the summer sea, then lazely strolling down to the beach for our daily dose of sun and sea... just divine, I tell you!

I am feeling a little itchy at our camera playing up this morning, as I haven't been able to download any of our holiday pics (arghhh!!), hopefully we'll rescue them and post them later on.

Thank you Secret Pal!

Meanwhile, look at what the postie brought this morning! Secret Pal goodies!! I couldn't think of a better welcome home. Thanks so much Secret Pal :) x

tuesday, 13 june 2006

Holidays!!

Whilst I'm away don't forget to enter my June competition :)

sunday, 11 june 2006

WWKIP: how did you spend yours?

Where were you all?? I did not come across one single stick or a tiny length of string all day yesterday...

We had a lovely day, well as lovely as it could be expected given that we started melting as soon as we got out of bed. The temperature in our flat resembled what they most certainly must have in hell, so we decided to head to town for a pic-nic in St. James's Park (Moroccan style cous-cous, anyone?).

I brought my Picovoli with me and had a go at finishing it off. I only managed a couple of centimetres, have now done all the hip increases I needed (added a few more than the pattern says, for I'm all hips!... and boobs, people!) and now I need to work some more even rows before I can start the eyelets for the picots and get so much closer to finishing it. That's the plan for today anyway... we'll see if my sticky fingers can handle any knitting at all...

Update 12.06.06: C'est finit! Completed my Picovoli yesterday whilst watching Portugal v Angola (don't ask) and it's now happily blocking... I did it!!! In 8 days!!! Pics will follow :) x

So, what did you all do for Knit in Public day?

friday, 09 june 2006

Would somebody PLEASE turn down the heat??

We're melting here!

29 degrees forecast for Monday and Tuesday... c'mon... What, 28° at the weekend wouldn't have been hot enough for you, you've decided to punish ordinary people who need to go to work too... have you no heart???!

thursday, 08 june 2006

Will she or wont she?

So, here's my challenge. I'm going away in less that one week's time on holiday (sun, sand and sea!!) and with handling wool pretty much continuosly during this sticky weather I was really itching to have a go at a summer knit just so that I could give my sweaty fingers (yuckkk!) a break and also make something to wear on hols.

Not one to plan in advance, I duly left it till the last possible moment to do something about it. A few days ago (and I do mean only a few!) I dove in my stash and found this huge cone of Debbie Bliss Cathay (mega bargain from Coldspring Mills), which I thought would be ideal for something light and summery. However, due to the time constraints (10 days in total, people!) and the lack of any mental energy for pattern calculations, I did a quick Google search... and lo and behold, the ideal top came out. I say "ideal" because, not only does it call for Cathay, so no gauge adjustements were necessary, but more importantly cos it's knitted top-down in the round, and you know how much I love this construction.

So my Picovoli T shirt was born. Actually, I had to go up a needle size from the 3.50mm in the pattern to 3.75mm cos I'm a tight knitter, and even so, I think my fabric is turning out firmer (read: smaller!) than it was supposed to. But I'm not terribly concerned, cotton does stretch, so it only means it'll last me longer (says she, hopeful...).

One of the things I love most about this pattern is the waist/hip shaping, which is done in 4 points as opposed to the usual side shaping I'm used to. From the various pics I found on the Net, it looks very flattering, so I'm dying to see what it'll look like on me. At the mo, I'm at the waist decreases, but I'm really hoping to have it done and blocked by the time I leave. Fingers crossed...

wednesday, 07 june 2006

June giveaway is here!

Good morning people,

after the positive response received on my May's competition, the time has come to put something else up for grabs for this month.

In keeping with Project Spectrum's colour for May (yes, yes, it's a fact of life that I'm ALWAYS behind, so there), I am offering this handmade glass necklace as photographed below. The picture doesn't really do it much justice (I really should have taken a modelled shot), when worn the beads seem to stand out like little drops around yer neck. It's one of a kind, made with emerald green Indian glass beads, with a frosted finish and purple seed beads. It's meant to be worn almost as a chocker, nice and snug, so it's 38cm (15'') long.

As previously, only one lucky person will win this necklace. All you need to do is leave a comment on this post (emails don't count, sorry!) by 25th June 2006 and one lucky name will be randomly picked by my trusty helper. The winner will be announced by the end of June.

Please read if you have sensitive skin or allergies: the clasp and all the crimps are silver plated, the beading string is nylon.

Good luck! xx

PS: I'm pretty sure I don't need to add this, but for the ill-thinking 'uns out there: this necklace is absolutely brand new, just come out of annarella's magic cauldron and has of course never been worn. There, this should have cleared up any doubts ;)

Update: this competition is now closed and has been won by Beth - read more about it here.

A little stash enhancement...

...but this I did need, so it doesn't really count, does it?? I mean, I didn't just stumble in John Lewis (definitely DO NOT like the relocation on the 4th floor, if the powers that be are reading this, do take note) and capitulated... I needed the yarn to complete Very berry... so it was a necessity buy, not a whim... right? I knew you'd follow my logic :)

I got four balls of Jaeger Extra fine merino colour #991, but I doubt I'll need to use all of them, but you never know... I rather like the combination of the variegated yarn and this solid rich purple. I'm planning on working a lace pattern for the body and the cuffs, so it's swatching time!

Help me make room for more stuff

Don't forget to check out my eBay listings, they're ending tomorrow. Thanks :)

monday, 05 june 2006

Monday mornings are for recovering...

... or so they should be, after a Sunday spent cycling along the Thames route all the way to Thamesmead (aka middle of nowhere...). We did good, didn't we? Ok, admittedly I haven't been running an awful lot lately as my running shoes are still on order and I don't want to chance it with my crappy trainers, seen as my knee already hurts, but if all this cycling isn't getting me ready for the Race, I don't know what will...

Once in Greenwich, we followed the scening Thames river path along the peninsula, passed the Dome, went by the Beckham Academy (wtf??), till we reached our initial target, the Thames Barriers, which weren't as remote as we'd imagined... once we got there... But boy, were they impressive!

This particular cycle route is terribly pleasant, 99% of it is on its own cycle lane, so you don't have to worry about silly motorists, buses and the likes, plus with it being along the river, therefore totally separate from the town traffic, you're spared all those fragrant engines fumes, which normally make cycling in the city a true pleasure... so it's thumbs up!

We stopped for a short while for a little work on Blossoms...

And here's my little helper... I finally cracked him! Ah!

This is the view towards Greenwich / Docklands from the Barriers, just to show how far and tiny it all is... I'm feeling oh-so proud, but I'm sure it doesn't show, does it? After this we didn't take any more pics, we just cruised along till somewhere in the Thamesmead area, which was rather disappointing as we couldn't find a bit of grass to have lunch on, so we had to settle for some uncomfortable wooden benches for a spot of grub before we made our way back. Next time we will have to find a nice park or something, you can't really call eating on a bench a pic-nic, can you?

I took this final photo back home once I had collapsed on the sofa, 34.5km round trip... not bad at all, even if I say so myself ;)

thursday, 01 june 2006

*** Annarella in the press ***

Have just come back from lunch with a HUGE and exciting piece of news... My stitch markers have been mentioned in this month's Simply Knitting magazine, on page 11!!

If you have the mag, go and take a look! I'm such an idiot, I bought it last week and hadn't had a chance to read it yet till Gill brought it to my attention today. Thanks! :)

A quick one-skein project...

...in between sweaters... this is a light and skinny summer scarf, Blossoms I have just started using HipKnits aran weight silk. I have only one skein, so I'm just going to knit for as long as I can. The lace pattern I'm using is from Knitting on the Edge, 12 row repeats, easy enough to follow whilst watching telly. Just a little no-brainer until I get some yarn to continue Very Berry. I love the colours of this scarf (Kerrie, if you're reading, what's this colourway called?), admittedly not my usual hues (in fact I might give this to a friend for her birthday in August), but pretty nonetheless. Like it?

More eBay!!

Super-quick post before I go to lunch to say that I have just added a few more yarns + non-knitting related books up on eBay. They're all starting at 99p! Happy bidding :) x

Will write later as soon as I've managed to take some pics of my COMPLETED Lacy Sweater! My super fast knit!! Yey!!!