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Monday, 5 January 2009

Knitting v. Guitar Hero: Knitting Fights Back!

Well I have finally managed to squeeze in some knitting between Guitar Hero sessions and I am now well on my way to my first FO of 2009. I decided to wait until the Kidsilk Aura from eBay arrived so I could knit the Sloppy Joe as soon as possible and decided to fill the gap with a quick knit instead of starting the other Aura project. I recently decided to frog an old project which had been hibernating for far too long so the yarn from that, some Chocolate coloured Twilleys Freedom Wool, is now well on it's way to becoming the Cropped Waistcoat (3rd pic) from Rowan Studio 13. You might have noticed that I absolutely love Rowan Studio patterns, they are all very 'me' and because they come out every 2 months there is always something fresh from them that I want to knit. In a way I wish they came out a little less often to give me a chance to knit all the things I want before giving me more stuff which I have to knit NOW! I started knitting this on Friday and have completed ¾ of it already, I'm on the armhole decreasing for the second front and once that is done I just have to pick up a few stitches for the cable collar. Now I know what you are thinking, I know that picking up stitches tends to lead to a lengthy delay in the finishing of projects where I am concerned however this time will be different! Firstly I am trying to stop being silly when it comes to finishing and secondly with this project the prospect is not too daunting. All of the back and shoulder stitches have been left on holders so it really is just a few stitches around the front of the neck which need picking up. Also the collar is quite a substantial part of the garment so it's not like the Slouchy Cover-Up where I will be picking up loads of stitches round the whole neckline just to cast then straight off again on the next go round. Just thinking about that makes me shudder and I have decided this second that I will probably crochet it instead. Why didn't I think of that before?!

I suppose I had better explain a little more about the frogged yarn as well, it seems like a shame to pull apart a project and not wish it some form of farewell. I have changed it's status to 'frogged' on Ravelry, but I feel a bit bad that I didn't even take any pictures of it before it went – oops! The picture below is what it was going to be, I had actually been coveting it for ages and finally bought the pattern and the wool it called for ( back then that was almost unheard of) but when I made a start I found that I was having real trouble following the chart, I was constantly getting the lace pattern wrong (which could have been the chart or my own ineptitude, I'm happy to blame either) and then the whole thing looked a bit small. I struggled through the back and found myself having even more trouble with the front so I ground to a halt and finally admitted the other day that it was never going to be finished. Around the time that this was dawning on me I bought the latest Rowan Studio in which all the patterns call for Little Big Wool and I realised that the Freedom Wool might make a good substitute. I was a good girl and made a swatch which confirmed my suspicions and signed the death warrant for the poor old Twilley's Bolero!

Anyway, no matter what the Freedom Wool ends up as, I will be very glad of it once it is a garment. I've come back to work today and it is freeeeeeeeezing! I got up this morning, which was very difficult after nearly two weeks of lie ins, stumbled bleary eyed into the kitchen to feed the cats and couldn't quite work out why the frost was so thick on Chris car. After blinking a few times to wake up my eyes I had a proper look and saw that the whole garden was covered in a blanket of snow. Normally this would sent me into spasms of excitement but I have never ridden my scooter in the snow before and I was a bit jittery. I knew most of the roads would be gritted but I was a little concerned about going up the track from our house to the road. As it turns out I was right to be worried, I skidded sideways about halfway up, considered sliding back to the bottom and making Chris drive me to work, but sheer bloody mindedness won out and I gingerly half rode, half paddled my way to the top and I was fine the rest of the way. It started snowing again about halfway to work, which played havoc with my visibility but made me feel a bit like I was the Star Ship Enterprise going at warp speed as the snowflakes flew vertically past my visor! Now my only concern is getting home again, I'm sure it will be fine but it will be dark and I'm really freaking out about ice. Apparently the temperature is going to drop even more tonight so I'll be feeling even more intrepid tomorrow. Guess I'll post again then if I live that long!

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