...and a bit more...

Now the snow has started it apparently does not want to stop, this is my back garden:

Not that my back garden is terribly interesting, but I think the layer of snow on top of the bin illustrates nicely the kind of weather we've been having!  Just for fun we sent the kittens out to play in it, they were a little trepidatious about the whole thing but they didn't want to come in at all.

So due to the weather I got to skive off work and have actually been quite productive.  We went for a long stomp in the snow and took lots of pictures whilst being continually amazed that there was snow halfway to our knees and then went to visit my currently incapacitated brother who can't actually go out in the snow at the moment.  Once at home I decorated the Christmas Tree, made marzipan for the Christmas cake, made a whole batch of lip balm for Christmas presents.  This evening I'm going to do a whole bunch of knitting and frame my latest cross stitch project - phew, I think a day at work would have been less crazy!

Here it is!

 Hurrah!  This was taken on my walk to work this morning (check out Rochester castle just peeking out in the distance), it is still snowing now so hopefully I can be home and knitting before it gets dark tonight. 

Last night I finished the curly wurly scarf, no pics yet until I'm sure that the curl can be tamed but it is a lovely colour (if I do say so myself) and is just the right length.  Worst comes to worst I can keep it for myself so not a complete disaster.  I do however have a photo of the cross stitch I finished now I have framed it, it is from the book Subversive Cross Stitch so if you are not fond of profanities this is not for you!

I love it, but inside I'm still 5 years old.

Where's my snow?

So it seems for a second year in a row Britain is in the thrall of a snowpocalpse, schools shut, people having snow days etc etc.  What have we got?  Bugger all!  There was a tantalising dusting this morning, which managed to whet my appetite for snow and then more bugger all.  Disappointment, I has it.

On the plus side I'm actually making some headway into my Christmas preparations.  Lots of stuff is ordered and on it's way, I've nearly finished another scarf for the Christmas box and I've finished the first of three cross stitch thingys for my friends.  The scarf is one of my own devising, made from yarn I dyed myself so is truly a thing of my own making.  Because of this I keep putting off photographing it in case it has to be quietly put to sleep for being crap!  At the moment it is worryingly curly but if I can block that out it will be great, watch this space....(or if you never hear about it again, assume the worst and speak of it no more).  Anyways, I'll be here dreaming of snow and hoping for a snow day to finish off my Christmas knits.

Strike a pose!

Taking photos of my projects is sometimes a challenge.  If I'm on my own I have to make do with a timer or a mirror or just take a picture of the FO artfully draped around the house.  No more!  The solution?......

Get a cat.

Pattern: Burberry Inspired Cowl Neck Scarf by Julianne Smith a really quick and easy knit which I can highly recommend.  This is going in the Christmas box and I'll decide who it is for a bit closer to the day.  Oh and the cat was loving it, she is a total camera ho and would probably have sat like that all day if I'd kept snapping her!

Photo story

Ok, because it has once again been a wee while since I updated I'm just going to add a whole load of photos of what I've been up to and try and bring this up to date.  I've got a few irons in the fire at the moment so the sooner I'm all caught up, the sooner I can talk about those.  Onwards!

So.. dying occured - it went well I think, 2 lovely skeins of sock yarn to be proud of:

I started knitting a little triangle scarf/shawl with some of the Araucania I bought a while back

 I finished my Charades and I love them

And... last but not least, my man, he knits!

New books

Yesterday I talked about getting into my Autumn/Winter knitting, this was mainly because I just received two new books..well a book and a magazine.  Firstly I ordered Knits Men Want because Stu wants me to knit him cardigan and this looked like a really good book.  Turns out I was right, this has 10 simple patterns and I can actually see myself knitting a few of them.  I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the multiple gauge instructions that are used, but I can see how it is a good idea.  I think my problem is that you have to knit a swatch of your chosen yarn and see what gauge you get and then you follow those instructions and it tells you your estimated yardage - or how many balls I need to buy of a yarn I must have already bought to swatch with!  This is really just a minor logical flaw and I can probably work it out, but I've never knitted anything other than hats for men so I don't really have a feel yet for what I'll need to buy.  For the moment though I don't have to worry about it, Stu is still deciding which garment he would like ( I think it's a toss up between this and this) and then he has to choose a colour.  Decision making is not his strong point so it'll be a while before I'm worrying about yardage I think!

Despite having not made anything from the last copy of Knitscene I bought, I have just received the Fall 2010 edition and there is quite a lot in there I would like to make.  The Lettuce Raglan is lovely, the Alexandra Hoodie is simple and useful looking and I have already bought the yarn for the Dorflinger Tee.  That looks like a really quick knit so I'm tempted to start that as soon as the Cap Sleeved Top is done, even though there is so much stuff that has been in the queue much longer...oh well.

And... as predicted, yesterday I succumbed and ordered 2 skeins of undyed sock yarn and a whole load of Kool-Aid, expect news of some truly monstrous socks in the near future!

Oooooh crap!

A few years ago I started knitting, I was fresh out of university, working as a volunteer and consequently very poor but quite rich in spare time.  Since then I have got better and better jobs and can afford much nicer yarn and crafty things but have way, way less time to spend on hobbies.  Consequently I try not to acquire new hobbies and spread that time any more thinly.  Obviously buying a sewing machine and taking up sewing was a bit of a bump in the road, but I do enjoy it and the results are quicker than knitting so if I need a bit of (almost) instant gratification the sewing machine is there.  Soooo, having resisted any urge towards weaving, foraying only sporadically into cross stitch and refusing to even read about/acknowledge the existence of spinning, I've been doing well.  Except now I really really want to try dying my own yarn.  I've spent the last two days obsessively googling dyeing yarn and reading every thread about it I can find on Ravelry so I suspect this is not a passing fancy and I will probably be back here in a few days showing off my first dyeing disaster!

I have done a wee bit of knitting this week, but not too much.  I cast on for the first cap sleeve of the Cap Sleeved Top, did the ribbing, realised I'd forgotten some decreases and ripped back.  After reading the instructions properly I cast on again, realised the instructions made no sense to me but stuck the decreases in where I felt they made most sense and now I'm ready to finish that sleeve tonight..... when I've stopped stroking my new yarns!

These are 2 skeins of Araucania Ranco I got for making scarves, I'm loving the colours so much that even though I would like to make two scarves for the christmas box, I suspect one of them will 'accidentally' end up with me.  I can't decide which one I like best though.

Also purchased (eBay, I love you!) was 6 balls of Rowan Fine Milk Cotton in a nice lilac shade which are destined to become a Blossom from Kim Hargreaves Misty collection, I'll probably leave this til next Spring though because my thoughts are really turning to autumn/winter knitting now, but more on that tomorrow I think!

Progress (of sorts)

After finally coming to a sort of agreement with the Izzy kitten last night (i.e, she would cease all  nomming of knitting and I would stop threatening to put her in a sandwich) I finished up the 2nd front of my Cap Sleeved Top.  I haven't bothered taking a photo, because its still just bits and bits are boring.  Hopefully I'll have a photo of the FO before too long.  I eventually cast on for the first cap sleeve after a long debate with myself about whether to bother.  The sleeves are really tiny, but obviously I then have to sew them on (ugh!) and I think they top would look just as nice without them.  But this top is called the Cap Sleeved Top and my skew whiff brain says that this top therefore must have cap sleeves!  They should only take an hour or so each so I'm happy with my decision.  Of course as I get towards the end of this project my mind is automatically gravitating to what I'm going to do next.  Logically I should get on with Brights 2, I've almost finished the back and it is a really simple knit, but as I mentioned the other day I've let it sit for a while and have no clue where I got to.  I'm pretty sure there must be a row counter deep in the bottom of my stash which will quick and comprehensively solve this mystery, but I'm kind of tempted to start something else.  I think I'll have a good dig around tonight and if I can find it then Brights 2 will be next, if not then I'll pick something else.  I like that, kind of letting fate decide!

Oh and the picture at the top?  I started a blog post aaages ago about this years Lounge on the Farm which I abandoned because it took me so long to finish.  This is me and the Mr on the Saturday night, getting midly squiffy and having a lovely time.  I'm wearing cat ears and have slightly mentioned cats in this post, so it kind of fits!

No surprise there then.

I picked up my cap sleeved top again last night full of confidence that I could finish the second front. This would leave me with only two little cap sleeves to knit, before seaming and adding button bands and collar ribbing. Much as I hate seaming and picking up stitches for edgings, at least knowing the main body of knitting was done would have felt like a milestone. Unfortunately two things happened. Firstly the kittens spotted me and, as predicted, they became a bit of a hindrance. (I think I may now deserve a prize for the understatement of the century there!) Then I realised I had no flipping clue how many rows there were supposed to between the end of the neck shaping and the beginning of the shoulder shaping. When I did the back and the left front I kept track of where I was like this....

 Apparently at the time this was very effective and I knew exactly what I was doing. A few months down the line... not so much. What does this mean? I thought I'd cracked it when I found 11 little tally marks with the word 'neck' next to them, but after knitting 11 rows it was too short so clearly that's not it. I guess I'll have to do it by eye and hope it doesn't end up too wonky, whilst giving myself a stern talking to about post it notes.

New things

As well as moving house, to a much bigger place, with lots of room for yarn and unfinished projects, I now have the two little trouble magnets above to keep me busy. They are called Billy and Izzy and they are 12 week old bundles of mischief - it's a good job they are so cute! I haven't tried out knitting in front of them yet, but they do love string and dangly things so I think I can predict the outcome. I did get a few rows of the Cap Sleeved Top done on Saturday while the kittens were sleeping, but it had been so long since I'd worked on it that I spent most of the time working out where on earth I'd got to! I seem to know what I'm doing now so hopefully I can get it finished before its too cold to actually wear it.

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Just a quick one..

As my title suggests I'm just kind of dropping in here for a quick update. Quite a lot has been happening, both knitting and lifewise so I could go on and on, but it seems more fun to just stick it all in a list and I'll pick up the important points later on... and add some photos.

So what have I been up to the last couple of months?

Well, I've turned 30, locked myself out of my flat (twice), drunk some beer, started my first ever toe up sock, been to Cornwall, drunk some cider, finished my first ever toe up sock (and I liked it), been to work, played some video games, drunk some beer, enjoyed the sunshine, got engaged, been fishing and drunk some more beer. Coming up, I plan to finish my second ever toe up sock - hopefully identical to the first one, go to the Lounge on the Farm festival for the 4th year in a row and then move in with my fiance. All in all please imagine I have posted a picture of me grinning like an idiot and you have an idea how things are with me at the moment!

Oops

You know you spend too much time playing video games when you see a loose vent cover on your walk home and have to resist the urge to wrench it off and see if there is a secret path behind it. That is all. No knitting to report.

Batman - Enemy of knitting!

As predicted, since my PS3 arrived, playing games has rather eaten into my knitting time - as well as my sleeping, eating, socialising and cleaning up time. I wish I was kidding, I have caught myself planning meals which I can eat with only one hand. This is quite frustrating because I was just getting my knitting mojo back, trust me to have two hobbies which both demand the use of the same set of hands. This has led to me pondering about how I can possibly enjoy knitting and gaming at the same time and the answer, I have decided, is cutscenes. I generally find video game cutscenes to be a bit of a drag because some of them are so long... long enough to get a couple of rounds done in fact! With this in mind I'm thinking that I should make some kind of list, detailing the frequency and length of cutscenes in the games I play and then I can dub them either 'Knitting Friendly' or 'Enemy of Knitting'. Unfortunately the game I am playing at the moment is decidedly not knitting friendly. Batman: Arkham Asylum has completely sucked me in, I'm enjoying every second but there are just no pauses to knit in. Luckily tonight is telly night though, everything I like to watch is on a Monday night so I should get at least 3 hours of quality knitting time in. I'm currently half way up the second side of the Cap Sleeved Top so I would love to at least finish that off and I've just started my second charade after finishing the first one last week.


Pretty cool huh? I still really love the way the tiny blocks of colour spiral round the leg and I'm pleased to see that the stitch pattern doesn't get as lost in the colours as I'd feared. As ever with socks I felt a bit flat finishing this sock off. It feels like it should be a triumph once the toe is kitchenered up and the ends sewn in and you can try it on. It's a complete, wearable garment but completely no flipping use til you've finished another one! Unless, of course, you only have one leg.

Fit blokes + yarn = knitting fever

I got home from work on Tuesday to find one of those little delivery cards the Royal Mail leave when they can't be arsed to squeeze something through your letter box.  This could mean only one thing, my delivery from Celticove had arrived - yay!  I love getting stuff in the post and I love getting knitting stuff in the post even more.  I had been fairly restrained and only ordered two things, but one of them was a book and will inevitably lead to more purchases. Oops.


I got 6 balls of this Rowan Cashsoft 4-ply to make the pictured project (Clara from Kim Hargreaves Amber).  This yarn totally does what it says on the tin because it is soooo soft.  I spent a good ten minutes squishing and smooshing it and making cooing noises, let's hope it knits up to be just as nice.  I know it looks like I'm going through a bit of a blue phase at the moment, but it is purely a coincidence.  This shade was on offer and I didn't mind it so another blue sleeveless cardi it is.


Also purchased was Kim Hargreaves latest book, Misty.  This has got loads of summery stuff in it, made from cotton and linen and lovely stuff for summer cover-ups.  I'm not sure I'll get round to making any of it this summer but there are a few things I am itching to get started on.  Fleeting, Haze and Blossom are all going straight in my queue.  I also really like Jess, but wonder if my sister Jess would like it.. although if Jess has a Jess then I have totally got to have a Hannah.

Also through my door this week was Supernatural Series 3 and last year's Star Trek film.  So that works out as precisely 822 minutes (13.7 hours no less) of sexy men parading around for my entertainment while I knit.  If anyone needs me I'll be on the sofa!

What I did on my hols

Back to work today after a glorious week of sleeping, knitting, beer drinking, eating, film watching and video gaming. Unbelievably I found it a little difficult to locate my enthusiasm this morning and I have spent the whole day thinking about which of the above things I would do first when I got home. The answer of course was as many of the above as I could realistically do at the same time. Unfortunately that ruled out sleeping, but I knitted with the TV on while my dinner cooked, then I ate dinner and watched TV and then I played Prince of Persia and knitted in the cut scenes and then knitted some more while Flash Forward was on. So, the only thing missing is the beer drinking - I'll get on with that a bit later in the week I think!

I guess a little round up of progress is probably in order.


The Cap Sleeved Top is coming along, the back is done and I've just started the armhole shaping on the left front. The front looks a bit weird because the stitches for the button band are kept on a holder to be knitted separately and then slipstitched on later. This seems a bit crazy to me but I guess it feels like I am getting the front done super quick because there are less stitches than usual at the moment.

I also have something which very nearly looks like a sock, just a couple more inches and a toe and I'll be done. Obviously I then need to knit another one...one thing at a time though eh?


And as well as all that I got on with a spot of T-Shirt mutilation at the weekend. I have got an enormous pile of T-Shirts which need to be Hannahfied but I just couldn't resist doing this one immediately.


This is a modification of one of the projects in Generation T by Megan Nicolay. Basically the instructions are for a halter neck, but instead of cutting across the back I left it the same as the front and threaded the ribbon through the front and back to be tied on one side. I like it! I've also got another one to do with the Space Shuttle on which I'll get on with very soon. I admit that I am slightly more obsessed with space travel than is becoming in a young lady, although I would never ever ever actually want to go into space myself. Hmm, deliberately quirky you say?

The boy in the yellow hat

This picture represents a huge sigh of relief, not only does the Knotty But Nice hat fit Mike, it looks a whole heck of a lot better on him than it did on me.  Thankfully now I can change the picture on my Ravelry project page as well so it no longer shows me grinning like a buffoon, wearing a hat that clashes with my hair!

Due to some minor laziness (and slight drunkenness) I haven't really done too much knitting the last few days.  I had to postpone work on the Kai-Mei sock because I couldn't find any little stitch markers.  Of course they were exactly where I thought they were, but because they are so tiny it took me two days to actually see them.  Note to self: get glasses fixed!  I did try and get on with them last night but the instructions were too confusing for a Sunday evening, maybe they'll make sense tonight?  In the mean time I've just been plugging away at the Cap Sleeved Top, I've just started decreasing for the arm holes and it's going quite quickly so I'm hopeful this will be done quite soon... except I may have accidentally (just don't ask me to justify my use of the word accidental - I can't) purchased a Playstation 3 at the weekend.  It hasn't arrived yet so I'm going to have to spend the next couple of days knitting like the furies because I suspect I won't be getting much done for a while.  I'm actually tempted to see if I can find out which games have the longest loading times so that I can get a couple of rows done every time I die!  A lot of my old PS2 games were brilliant for that, in fact you could have a small meal between the levels of certain games.  For persistant multi taskers like myself there are not problems but opportunities.

Knotty But Nice

Another night of telly and knitting yesterday saw me finishing the cable section of the Knotty But Nice hat and cruise through the 7 rows of ribbing. I got home from work tonight and started to decrease for the crown. An hour and a half later and I am done. I'm so proud of this hat, it just looks all cool and complicated. Clearly this is not a hat for myself though, anything this shade of yellow should not be allowed anywhere near my hair! Hopefully I'll see the intended recipient in the next few days and I can get a pic of them wearing it. I'm really hoping it fits him though, the cable pattern in the middle really pulls in so the centre of the hat is a lot snugger than the brim and the crown. If I make this again I will absolutely use a larger size needle for the charted part.

Normally as I finish a project I would be deciding what to cast on next, but after yesterday's little look at my UFO pile I really should be concentating on those. Of course knowing this I have all of a sudden come down with a dreadful case of startitis...must resist! Luckily the lastest issue of Knitty has arrived without bringing much for me to covet. I have added these socks to my queue, but I'm not so in love with them that they can't wait. Phew. So for the rest of the night I think I shall try and fix the shoulders on the Slouchy Cover Up and start the foot of the Kai Mei sock accompanied once again by the Brothers Winchester and the odd chocolate digestive. Yum!

Inventory

After another heavy weekend (which incidentally began on Wednesday this week) of drinking, dancing, shouting and getting very wet on theme park rides, I decided that yesterday would be a sofa, DVD and knitting day. Apart from a quick trip to the post box I managed not to leave the house at all and I had a lovely day. I popped Series 1 of Supernatural in the DVD player and tried not to let my inappropriate thoughts about Dean Winchester get in the way of my knitting! Work continues apace of the Knotty But Nice hat, I'm about 3/4 of the way through the cable chart now so the end is definitely in sight. As planned I have also transferred the Cap Sleeved Top on to some of those spangly new Knit Pro Spectra tips instead of the straight Knit Lites it was on. I am so glad I did. I don't know if was because the Knit Lites are a bit 'swingy' due to the size of the ends or just because I haven't used straights for ages, but I was finding it difficult to knit more than one row without stopping. Of course that wouldn't be a problem if I was happy to wait until 2030 for a little cardigan, but even I might be growing a little impatient by then. The Knit Pro Spectra's are a little grippy and slow for someone who generally favours metal needles, but they are pointier than a lot of plastic needles and they are soooo pretty. Overall, I likes them!

Also yesterday, during the course of my general pottering about I made an enormous mistake. I got out one of the boxes with my stash in because I thought there might be a rogue DPN in there. There was (hurrah!) but what there also was was a whole load of UFO's which I had forgotten about (boo!). I did attempt to cover them up again with stash, but no I had to take a photo and now I have to face up to all of these half finished projects and try to make a plan for actually finishing them.


1. Kai-Meis. Not sure why I stopped work on these, given that they are further along than the socks I have been working on lately perhaps I should concentrate on these instead?

2. Slouchy Cover Up. Embarrasingly this has been 99% done for well over a year now. I made a total balls up of the shoulder seaming so I kind of hid this and pretended it didn't exist. All I need to do is unpick the dodgy seem, do it again properly and then pick up some stitches for the neck and then bam, FO! This is going to have to be a priority.

3. Sloppy Joe. Not a priority. Much as I love this and want it, I'm not really going to need it until winter. It went to one side because the ribbing is a total pain in the arse and I needed the needle tips for something else.

4. Brights 2. I have no idea why I stopped working on this. It will be a really useful summer cover up so I will try and get on woth this as soon as the Cap Sleeved Top is done.

5. Alpaca socks. I have lost count of the amount of times I have lost the book with the pattern for these in! I currently know exactly where it is, but these are really a winter garment so they are going to the bottom of the pile. I'll be keeping an eye on that book though!

I think that's it, I guess it doesn't look too bad now I've laid it all out... does it?!

Hello my pretties!

Yay, they've arrived! These are my KnitPro Spectras which I have been so eagerly awaiting. I haven't actually tried them yet because I have been working on the Knotty But Nice since they arrived, but they are so very pretty just in the packet together so I don't really care. Tomorrow I will switch the Cap Sleeved Top off the straights I have been using and onto these and then I'll report back on how I like them.

Phew!

I finally managed to stop procrastinating this evening and fished the Knotty But Nice hat out of the naughty corner. As expected it took me about 5 minutes to unknit back to the beginning of the row and I obviously haven't made whatever error it was again so I shall never know what it was. Why, oh why did I not just do that weeks ago? I think I'll skip the psychoanalysis though and just be pleased I've finally done it. Progress continues to be quite slow with this hat, I'm having to concentrate really hard on the chart and getting the cables right, but I'm really enjoying seeing the pattern form. Cables are great! I love how they look so impressive, but are really easy to make. Ok, well less talky, more knitty and I may have half a chance of finishing this before the height of summer!

Plans. Not for sleepy people.

Yesterday evening was going to be knitting night. I had it all planned out, I had three projects all lined up and I was going to rotate between the three of them. I knew if I tried to stick to just one I’d give up quite quickly and get nothing done (I’ll go into that in a mo) so I put them all within arm’s reach. Then I sat down with the TV on, looking forward to watching Wonders of the Solar System (I am a total space geek) whilst making a nice dent in my knitting.... and promptly fell asleep. Guess I’ll have to try again tonight. Monday night is Glee night and that show is so damned perky I’m sure there is no way I’ll fall asleep this time. My main objective for tonight is to try and sort out the mess on the Knotty But Nice hat, which has been sitting in the naughty corner for quite some time now. I am well aware that even if I fix the problem and get loads done it is still very near the end of woolly hat season, but I am determined not to have this hanging around until Autumn. However, should I get frustrated with it again I have two other projects waiting in the wings.

This is the beginnings of the Cap Sleeved Top from Rowan Studio 11 that I mentioned in my last post. It nearly didn’t get started because I couldn’t find any 5mm needles but then I remembered that the Knit Lites I got for my birthday last year were 5mms. Obviously for novelty value I immediately sat myself down in a darkened room to knit with my super duper illuminated needles. Two things then dawned on me (aside from the fact that I may be mental). One, this top is stockinette. I can knit stockinette with my eyes closed, thus rendering light up needles a wee bit pointless. And two, these needles make my hands hurt. I think at most I have managed three rows in a, well, row before having to stop and move on to my third project, a nice easy sock, to give my hands a rest. This state of affairs is ok for the time being, but I have made a very exciting purchase which should remedy the situation as soon as it arrives. So I shall finish up today with a little plea to the Royal Mail to please bring me my Knit Pro Spectra set swiftly before I actually explode with anticipation!

Just yuck

'My nose is just overflowing with awesome and I had to get some of it out'.

I'm not really one for quoting TV shows, but this little gem from How I Met Your Mother succinctly describes my state of health today, but in a much more pithy manner! Yeps, I've got the lurg again. Unfortunately this has not resulted in a couple of miserable but knitting filled days at home because I have far too much important work to do. Check me out, being a valuable employee! I was going to get on with a bit of knitting tonight but I got Rabbids Go Home for my Wii today, so I thought I'd stick it on and have a little look. That was about 3 hours ago, total time suck! But seriously, what's not to love about a game that has mental rabbits shouting BWAAAAH at people til their clothes fly off and collecting enough bits of bric-a-brac to pile up so they can climb to the moon? Nothing, that's what.

Anyway, just for appearances sake I will mention that I have been thinking about knitting. More specifically I have yet another couple of projects in mind. Firstly I can't get the Skew socks from the Knitty surprises out of my head. I'm thinking about using some Regia Colour I bought ages ago that looks like this (Rav link). These socks are just so clever looking, I love that they are constructed in a very different way to normal but still look cool. I sometime find that people try to do things differently and just end up with something that is way more fuss to constuct and are also fugly. I really hope that is not the case with these. I also ordered some Bamboo Tape yesterday for a little Cap Sleeve Top from Rowan Studio 11. I've been thinking about this for ages, but I have heard so many things about this yarn growing so I haven't risked it. However, I have decided that this will only be small and hopefully therefore not too heavy, plus the yarn was 69p per ball in the Kemps sale so I figure at under a fiver for the whole thing, if it grows I'll just give it to someone bigger. Obviously as tactfully as possible.

Right I'm having a total mare typing this and trying to propel my rabbids over a chasm, using only the power of a sick man's farts. Toodles!

Well whadd'ya know!

Marie!

Just as I thought, shortening the skirt and cutting a new facing for the hem was really very easy. I actually just used the original pattern piece as a guide to get the correct curve and then sliced off the bottom of the skirt and used the off cut as the facing. I had to unpick the seams for this bit though because it wouldn't quite fit round otherwise. I then sewed the facing to the bottom of the skirt, set about ironing it, realised the seam was going to be on the outside, unpicked it and did it again correctly. Then I had a cup of tea while I got used to the idea that I needed to hand sew the top of the facing to the inside of the skirt. Frankly I could have done with something a bit stronger, I do hate hand sewing, but I didn't want it to look like it had been sewn by a blind donkey so tea it was. Clearly I got on and did it and I'm really pleased with the end result. So pleased in fact that if Jess doesn't come and claim it soon I may just have to keep it! Actually I do have plans for one of my own, but with a few little modifications. More on that soon, but for now I'm just going to bask in the glory of a job (finally!) well done.

Cable Why!

I've been trying to write this post about my Knotty but Nice for a little while now, but every time I think about it I become overcome with entirely unnecessary rage! Needless to say it is not going well and the red mist is not really helping with my problem solving. The silly thing is that I don't think it is even that bad, but I can't find the problem and unknitting cables is a total pain in the arse. I think I'll have to put it aside for a couple of days until I've stopped being angry with it and no doubt I will then get it sorted in seconds. Now, I am aware that I regularly recommend knitting as a brilliant way to relax and my current attitude isn't really endorsing this! Getting frustrated with something that I do purely for pleasure does seem a bit silly, but I guess that means that I am challenging myself rather than just sitting down with a simple mindless project. It's probably character building!

So while that hat is on the naughty step I am going to try and revisit an old project that has been hanging around for a while...the Marie skirt that I started sewing for Jess sometime around August. I'm not entirely sure why I ground to a halt on this one, I think it is because it needs shortening and that means that the facing for the hem will need to be a different size to the original pattern piece. For some reason I have convinced myself this will be hard. It won't, so hopefully I can break the habit of a lifetime and stop procrastinating long enough to actually get on with it. Maybe the fact that I have had no lovely pictures of finished objects for a wee while will spur me on... let's see!

Tidying up

I’ve had a few days off from posting, not (as is usually the case) because I have done absolutely nothing of note but because I have actually been very busy indeed. When I moved into my flat in September I wanted it to be a little haven of loveliness, but actually it has just been really messy. Moving was a bit of a drama, I moved out of a massive bungalow in to a tiny flat and somehow had to work out where to put everything. Then once I had worked that out I had a whole load of boxes and moving paraphernalia with nowhere to put them. This resulted in unsightly piles of boxes taking up the room I needed to put stuff away in and my flat looking rather shabby. So this weekend my brother finally came and relieved me of all of those boxes and I could finally finish putting everything in it’s place. It has taken me the best part of 3 days but it looks lovely, although slightly unrecognisable. When I got home from work yesterday I had a fleeting moment of panic as I thought I had been burgled!

Oh and just a quick note, I’ve found my ball winder, so no more hand rolled balls rolling around the floor for me – hurrah!

I think he likes it!

And, despite my customary laissez-faire attitude towards swatching, it fits. Hurrah!

Back to work

After two long weeks off with the flu I finally went back to work today. I have been so ill and fed up that it was a relief to be able to go back, but it has really taken it out of me. I feel all wafty and pathetic so I've settled myself down to a nice relaxing evening of telly and knitting, which will be followed by a bath and an early night. After yesterday's post I surprised myself by immediately winding the skein of Cascade 220 which I had on the swift. With the application of some loud music and a bit of silly dancing round my kitchen I wound the whole thing in no time at all. I still need to find my winder though because I do like the lovely flat bottomed yarn cakes it makes, my hand wound ball has rolled off the sofa and across the floor so many times now that I've stopped bothering to pick it up.

This is the Knotty but Nice hat I linked to yesterday. I'm just starting to work the cable pattern and the chart is slightly making my eyes cross, half of the legend is over the page from the actual chart so I spent a few minutes marking each symbol in pencil so I don't need to consult the legend at all. I think I'm going to enjoy knitting this, my last couple of projects have been really simple so I'm looking forward to getting stuck into some good old cabling. My next project, I have already decided, is entirely stocking stitch so I will have something nice and simple to do when I am inevitably sick of cabling and charts. It pays to plan when you have an attention span like mine!

Today I also finally succumbed and bought Ysolda Teague's Whimsical Little Knits 2. I like a few of the patterns, but because I have so much stuff in my queue already I had been putting off buying it. However she is donating a lot of the profits from her sales this month to the Haiti appeal so I got on and bought it. I guess it was also a little treat for getting back to work. I love Ripley and Veyla in particular and can see both of them in my very near future!

Somebody stop me...

... 2 blog entries in 2 days? Crazy talk! Given how little I actually had to say for myself yesterday I admit that I this would appear a shade overenthusiastic, but what do you know, I actually have an FO for you. Hoorah! And I'm actually pleased with it, double hoorah! Plus - yes there's more - I promised I would make this for the recipient over 3 years ago so I think I get extra back pats for finally getting off my arse and completing this.


The pattern is Turn a Square (Rav link) and was super easy and quick and is a really great pattern for a simple hat. Mark asked for a red and black hat, I decided to make the red stripes bigger than the black ones and I think that was a good choice. Hopefully he'll like it and I'll get some pics of him wearing it when I give it to him, although he'll probably be so shocked I finally turned up the goods that he won't actually care what it looks like!

So now I'm on a roll, what's next? Apart from chipping away at all the UFOs I've got hanging around I have also promised two more friends that I will make them things. In an effort not to keep them waiting three years as well I'm going to jump right in and cast on for the first of them tonight. This Knotty but Nice hat caught my eye in the latest edition of Knitty and I'm going to make it in this rather eye catching shade of yellow.


Clearly the fact that the yarn is still on the swift is a minor obstacle I need to overcome before casting on! Unfortunately I can't seem to locate my winder at present so I'm doing it by hand, hence I've spent more time photographing the yarn than I have winding it....and apparently now I'm spending even more time writing about it, so perhaps it's time I just got on with it. Well, maybe after a cup of tea eh.....

Jess - this one's for you!

After receiving a complaint from my sister about my slack attitude to blogging, I'm going to actually try and update this occasionally. I guess that means I probably need to get on with some actual knitting and sewing too so that I have something to write about. I'm sure I could spend some time navel gazing and wondering what has caused my lack of motivation, but frankly I can't be bothered! So for the moment let's just concentrate on the things I have actually managed to make and then I'll worry about future projects another day.

Right...erm..well, I really have been crap these last few months and have almost nothing to report. A few rows here and there on this and that has pretty much added up to nothing. However, I have completed one thing and it's a goody! Ready?


Oh yes, I think I'm completely justified in wearing that smug expression - who doesn't want to look that cool! By way of an explanation, this was a commission, meant as part of a chili pepper costume for a fancy dress party. I actually earned myself a tenner and a very large box of chocolates for my troubles so I guess they must have liked it. I roughly followed this pattern, but obviously deviated from the plan towards the top, I can't remember exactly the mods I made but I think I detailed them on my Ravelry project page, should anyone else in the world actually want one of these for themselves. There has been talk of me producing a whole range of veg related balaclavas. Just to be clear, this will never happen!

Unfortunately that is pretty much it, my sewing machine has been buried under a load of stuff since I moved, but I am absolutely itching to make a load of stuff so I will hopefully go digging this week and sort that out. Perhaps I'll even complete something and then I'll have something to write about next time.