Blogtober: Day 2 – All The Plans

Blogtober is a blogging challenge to post every day in October. Well, I say everyday, will that happen? We’ll see!

So I’m starting with my goals for the month – and as you might have already seen.

Edited from a templated shared on IG by @redmugcoffeemamma.

Launch Episode 1

Well that happens pretty quickly. I wanted to launch on the 1st October but I was getting closer to the day and not a lot was happening. Between one thing and another this self imposed goal was looming and I wasn’t getting any closer. Well in the end it worked out that I had a little time on Friday to get it sorted then on Saturday morning, while the boys were out I finished tweaking and sent it out into the wild. Goal complete.

Whether anyone would listen is another thing but maybe just maybe someone other than my Mum might have a listen. (You can too: Anchor, Spotify, Apple Podcasts). Show notes can be found here.

Finish My Shortie Socks

In my stash, I found some yarn which looks like it’s something by Regia, however it was just one full ball and maybe 2/3s of a second ball. It worked out that I had a specific amount per sock, so shortie socks seemed like a good idea.

Blogs + Blogtober

October is in the same place every year, it’s not like it jumps out the cupboard and slots itself in between April and May instead and yet, we got to October and I wasn’t ready. So rather than blog everyday I’m aiming for once a week and we’ll see if I can get to any more than that!

In A Tangle: Episode 1 – Let’s Start at The Very Beginning

You can listen on Anchor, Spotify and Apple Podcasts (to follow soon). (If you’d rather access it somewhere else let me know and I’ll see what I can do)

On The Needles – Works in Progress or Things I’ve Recently Finished

Timings

0:00 Introduction

0:25 Let’s Start Episode 1… 

2:13 On The Needles (things that I’ve recently finished or are in progress) 

There should be pictures of all of these in progress over on Instagram here.

The Nine Projects of 2022 (14:10)
There’s a post here.

Nine Projects to Complete in 2022

Here are the first 9 projects I have planned for 2022, when it comes to knitting and crochet. Knowing me I’ll get tempted by other things along the line so this is bound to change or get postponed.

  1. Rainbow Blanket from The Pigeon’s Nest.
  2. Yuletide Crochet Blanket from Attic24.
  3. Special Stripy Blanket – Beach Huts by Hand Knitted Things (I purchased the pattern from Wool Warehouse).
  4. Shawlography by Westknits.
  5. Granny Go Round (Adult Size) by Iron Lamb.
  6. Granny Go Round (Child Size) by Iron Lamb.
  7. Temperature Blanket – this picture is from Wyldflower Crochet (Thanks Search Engine! How pretty is it!)
  8. Mystery! (The pattern that I talk about is here – this was my yellow flag bunting I made for my cargo bike during Tour Du France/Copenhagen)
  9. Socks – I have at least one pair of socks still stashed away that I need to finish. I’ve had it out recently and I’m thinking that I might need to come up with a plan B because I’m not sure I have enough yarn in the particular colourway for two socks. Also, I need to use my Advent Yarn Calendar created by my friend Liz so maybe another pair of socks is on the cards…

Prospects or Things I’d Like to Complete

  • Starflanket by WestKnits
  • Twists and Turns MKAL 2022 by WestKnits

Things I’ve Been Watching/Listening To…

Thanks

Carol at The Raise Podcast

Duncan at The Useful and Kind Podcast

Recently Off The…: Coziest Autumn Beanie by The Chesapeake Needle

When Mum was here for a visit, I got her to make sure I finished some projects. I’d got a little tangled up and had more on the go than I meant to have. But test knitting for Lindsey at The Chesapeake Needle was too tempting. So here’s the Coziest Autumn Beanie that is recently off the needles.

Recently Off The Needles

Coziest Autumn Beanie

Pattern: The Coziest Autumn Beanie by The Chesapeake Needle
Needles: 5.5mm
Yarn: Heavy worsted (4) to light bulky (5) yarn. Lindsey uses Stitch Please Chunky in the colour “Rust in the Wind”. I used Sirdar Aura Chunky for the hat. This is classed as a bulky yarn.
2023g Challenge: 365g/2023g

The Coziest Autumn Beanie is a pattern by The Chesapeake Needle. Lindsey was looking for some test knitters to make this beanie. At first I wasn’t sure I could do it. But after asking a heap of questions, I signed up. When I had further questions, Lindsay was very helpful.

The pattern calls for a heavy worsted (4) or light bulky (5).(In UK terms that’s an Aran or Chunky – just make sure you can get gauge). I took a look at YarnSub to make sure the yarn I had would work. I had some Sirdar Aura in my stash that I thought would be very cosy for a beanie hat. We worked out that as long as I could get gauge then it should be fine.

The Sirdar Aura in my stash was given to me by my Mother In Law. My FIL had been off to the charity shop and got some bits. However when he got home, he realised they didn’t work for what he needed. He took them back and was offered an exchange, so he went digging in the yarn box for my MIL. There were some mixed bits but two balls of the Sirdar Aura – which is lovely. When I went to visit during my trip back to the UK, my MIL let me pick. So I choose two balls of this as well as some other smaller balls.

The yarn is soft and lovely. It was really nice to squish as the ball however once I started knitting the mixed love grew for it. It’s two strands twisted together and found that I was untwisting that as I went. I wonder if, if I’d started at the other end whether it would have made any difference.

Lindsey’s pattern was lovely to follow and clear and I think I will be making another one – probably with a plainer yarn to make sure that those cables will pop all that bit better. I feel like the colourful-ness of the yarn is great on the rib but then overpowers when it comes to the cables.

You can find her pattern on Ravelry (If you can’t access Ravelry but would still like to do the pattern, please contact Lindsey directly and she will be able to help you out).

Things I Love Thursday v3

Years ago I had the series “Things I Love Thursday” and along the line it got semi-retired but I’m bringing it back. This is to share videos, articles, random other snippets that I found on the Internet this week (or was shared with me as Chris often sends me random bits).

Things I Love Thursday. Wooden blocks with letters on the beach spelling out Thursday

Tallest and Longest Buildings

My Dad and I seem to have these conversations where we fall down rabbit holes. The Tallest and Longest buildings has been a regular topic recently. I saw this video about the longest (residential) building in the world. (Having turned the corner, the next corner of the building is over a kilometre away). Look up Karl-Marx-Hof on Google Maps and then look at the satellite view… So then you get in the territory that it’s not a straight wall and there’s all those arches, so does it count? (If you could lay the Burj Khalifa down next to it, this building would still be longer).

One of Tom’s examples from a Wikipedia article is the Bymuren at Avedøre (a suburb of Copenhagen). Bymuren – means The City Wall… It’s debatable whether it’s correct or not – I guess someone needs to come up with better ways to measure it but it’s about an hour away by train and I’m tempted to go on an adventure to see it. Anyone want to come too?

So then we get back to tallest buildings. Currently the Burj Khalifa in Dubai holds the record at 828m tall. There’s this video all about the tallest buildings and some of the taller buildings that are proposed.
So what about the tallest buildings in Copenhagen. They are a fraction of the Burj Khalifa but might prove fun to try and find them. This is Pasteurs Tårn in Carlberg Byen and that seems to be one of the tallest but whether it is THE tallest might take some more research (and maybe a spreadsheet…). Maybe time for some research and then an adventure around the city.

The Last Knit

I had an idea that if I sorted my YouTube search by View Count, I could visit some of those less viewed videos and share the love. At first, YouTube sorted them by most seen and this one came up first – 29 million views since 2006 – that’s a bit bananas! (The most popular video on my YouTube Channel has over 1700 which is a little mind-blowing for me lol)

Cuerdas (Strings)

This video was being shared around on IG stories/TikTOK

The Italian Trans-Siberian Railway

The actual Trans-Siberian Railway runs from Moscow to Vladivostok. So how did a railway in Italy end up with the name Trans-Siberian? Have a read here. (If you’re a nerd like me and travelling the Trans-Siberian is on a wish list, you can see a set of Trans-Siberian Railway vlogs by Kara and Nate here)

When You’re Gone

This was and still is one of my favourite songs – how is it 24 years old though?? The original is here and Mel C and Bryan Adams re-recorded it and a new video too here.

Monthly Review: August

A few years back, I stumbled across Belle’s review posts over on her blog by accident and decided to attempt to revive my own Monthly Review posts. This is August’s monthly review. You can see others here. At the end of each month, I write a monthly review all about what I’ve been up to each month. 

August

Highlights from August

  • We started August back in the UK. We went back for my Mum’s birthday as well as catching up with family which was really good.
  • Chris celebrated his birthday. We couldn’t quite do all that we wanted to do with us being away so we might have to have a second attempt at a later date (Maybe in September or maybe a half birthday in the New Year? I’ll have to have a think about that one.
  • We got back to Copenhagen on the Sunday evening, and on the Monday morning Jaxon went back to school (Schools here in Denmark start back in August rather than September like the UK – as I write this Jaxon has been back at school almost 3 weeks).
  • Chris started his new job. He decided to look for a new job back in about June/July sort of time then it all happened that he was leaving his job just before our holiday so he then started his new job that same week that the schools went back.
  • I had two job interviews and sent out a stack of applications and “unsolicited applications”. I’ve heard back from some of them but others are just silent – maybe they fell into spam or the ether somewhere lol.
  • I’ve been working on updating my YouTube Channel a bit more while I have the time (Also I mentioned it in a job application so figured I should update it a bit more!)

Top Posts Viewed in August

Projects Worked on in August

Books Read in August

  • New Beginnings on Sunflower Street by Rachel Griffiths
  • A New Arrival in Upper Bamton by Beth Rain
  • A Winter Kiss on Rochester Mews by Annie Darling
  • Rainy Days in Upper Bamton by Beth Rain
  • Wedding Fever at the Cornish Bakery by Sarah Hope
  • Finding Love at the Cornish Bakery by Sarah Hope
  • Snowflakes and Christmas Cakes on Sunflower Street by Rachel Griffiths
  • Falling for Your Best Friend’s Twin (Love Clichés #1) by Emma St. Clair
  • Falling for Your Boss (Love Clichés #2) by Emma St. Clair
  • Falling for Your Fake Fiancé (Love Clichés #3) by Emma St. Clair
  • The Twelve Holidates (Love Clichés #4) by Emma St. Clair

TV/Films Watched (Not full seasons btw!)

  • Glow Up (Two seasons in about 3/4 days maybe – oops!)
  • The Sandman
  • Locke & Key
  • Extraordinary Attorney Woo
  • Cheaspeake Shores
  • Borgen (Tried to do this one with Danish audio and Danish subtitles. Definitely a brain workout and can’t be done while knitting!)

YouTube Watched

This one is a new category – some of the channels post regular videos like 2/3 times a week so rather than linking to specific videos, I’ll link to their main channels and then you can go and take a look from there.

Goals for September

  • Clear some of the WIPs – they seem to be multiplying and I need to deal with them rather than casting on something new!
  • Keep applying for jobs even though it’s driving me a little crazy!
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