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!