Tour de France Knitalong

Ok, now I'm back from holiday i need to get on with this! The tour started last Thursday just as I went on holiday! So far I have worked out what I need to knit and have the yarn to knit it with. The project won't get done in the remaining time which is why I signed up for the Yellow Jersey, as it means I don't have to complete it!

The yarn I'm mostly using is a special colourway made for the tour by Natalie at the ever wonderful The Yarn Yard There are 2 different colours, one is subtly variegated and inspired by tarmac, the other is plain and is bright green, called Germolene because after all a good Tour would not be complete without a few crashes. I'm also using scraps of yarn kindly donated by other people, hopefully I have enough, I'm aiming for colourful and a bit random, if you want to send me any then feel free, email me at hilltopkatie at gmail dot com, it does need to be superwash and preferably have some nylon content though please.





I've not wound them yet, that's the job for tomorrow evening, after all I need to use my brand new home-made birthday present Swift!


(Yes I know it needs a bit more assembly, I was in a rush yesterday night!)


Anyway, we've been set an intermediate sprint by the organisers, this feels slightly like cheating as technically I haven't cast on, but I promise it will happen tomorrow! We've been asked to share more about your project, why have you chosen it, and how does it link to the tour.
In case you've forgotten I'm knitting Nether Garments by Elizabeth Zimmerman from her Knitters Almanac (that's a Ravelry link I'm afraid, sorry for any non-Ravellers).
To me they're a prefect cycling link, after all think of cyclists you think of tight fitting lycra. I used to have an ex-boyfriend who was in to road biking so know how this obsession with skin tight clothing goes! Wool shorts would be a little impractical, but a pair of wool leggings that I can use as thermal underwear in the horrible British winters would be highly useful. Some cyclists who aren't real men also ride in full length leggings to!

Let's hope however that I look more like these men


and less like these...



Except you know, without the inconvenient anatomy!

I'm back..

I just got back at lunchtime today. True to form 2 hours after I got home I was heading out again to work at a corporate session for Dad doing team building games. No rest for the wicked they say....

Anyway had a lovely holiday, in total we rode 130km or 80 miles, over 6 days and spending about 6 hours in the saddle each day. We stay at a different bed and breakfast each night and carry all our clothes and everything we need in saddle bags. I've put a couple of pictures here, but the rest are on my Flickr page. You need to be a competent rider and happy tacking up a horse but it is an amazing experience. This will be the 4th time we've been and we're already talking about next year, they also do guided rides from the main farm if they're not feeling adventurous! Their website is here.
We (my Mum and I)rode horses called Paddy and Traveller, all the horses are bred by the family who run the farm, and are beautifully well mannered, forward going but easy to control and so very sure footed, you can take horses along places you would never think possible. I don't know of many horses that would walk over a bridge made of old radiators across a ditch!
We do 1 and a half days on the beach, and the rest of the time is spent heading up in to the moors and then riding through pine forests. Access in Ireland is extremely difficult, the farm has arranged access through all the privately owned land, and for some places we even carried a key to get through a gate. Unlike in England there is no open access, or public rights of way, once you are off a road the chances are a track has a fence across it somewhere along it. We found out the hard way on teh day we made up our own ride when we stayed in the same place for 2 days.

www.flickr.com

I think this badge is set up to show a random 3 photos, and if you refresh they change, I'm still finding out everything that Flicky can do so I might be wrong. They'll also link you to my Flickr pages. After adding these photos I'm going to have to upgrade to a pro account, as I've used all my limit for this month. I normally add photos like this to Facebook but I keep my account there private, and I wanted you guys to see them.

Anyway, that's enough for tonight, I want to read a bit more of my book, and then need to go to bed before my first aid course tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be back with a post about my Tour de France knitalong project.