I'm making a clutch bag!

This pattern here by Amy Butler, "Clutch Purse with Antique Pin Closure".

Shown here in stages, very very nearly finished...

Step one: all bits of fabric cut out. Retro large print outside, black inside.

Step two: Attach the interface to the reinforcing canvas (or as I used, herringbone heavy-weight calico)

Step 3: Sew the reinforcements to the outside pieces...

Step 4: Reinforce the handle/tab.

Step 5: Sew on the Velcro..Step 6: Sew the outside bits together (see my uber-leet sewing jargon?)

Step 7: Sew the lining together..Step 8: Put the outside in the inside, and seam around the top.

Step 9: Do bag origami and put the outside to the, well, outside..Step 10: Iron and neaten it up ..
And then realise its late, and your family probably expect dinner, you know, tonight...

Next time I top stitch the hole shut, and do pleats on the edges and add the pin.

(Oh and I got some belated birthday money for fabric, and have progressed the beanie, which is looking very much like it needs another ball of yarn for the beanie. So another Knitpicks order....

so what else do I want to order? heeeheeeheeeheeee..

Not-so-Red Light Special

Well, I am trying again.

Despite how beautiful the fair isle swatch I did was... (my first ever fair isle)

it didn't fit (as discussed earlier).

So, after using the swatch as a size gauge, I did the math and re sized the pattern, to the looseness requested of my man. I decided to use the original fair isle pattern, but without the false seam BrooklynTweed used.

The odd blue fine fair isle is the leftover Patonyle I used as the soft lining. And you can see the real deal being worked up above it. I have to say, I am really enjoying knitting it, but it's murder on my fingers after a session.

And I may run out of the main colour. For which I may beg a trade from Bibnbub - who I has some more. [psst: I'll trade you one ball of the navy for all my remaining part balls for your felting plans? Let me know :-) ]

FO: Doll's patchwork quilt

You may remember I was completing a patchwork quilt to see if I enjoyed the process.

I quilted the top and edged and finished it this afternoon. You can see it got put to use by my darling girl as soon as I got home!

I learned a lot (including the vital importance of good tension when quilting) and was proud to have a finished object - even with all its flaws!

I'm glad I did it, and have picked out some retro fabric to make a bag.

When I can get some grownup-time that is. Sewing is harder than knitting - i can multitasking with parenting while I knit, but sewing takes more of my concentration ;-)

Aww man! Red Light Special hat

I ordered the yarn (from the US no less!) and got all the stuff and started knitting the lining.

And then...

Actually, um... measured my man's head.

It won't fit. See, he's like got really curly hair. And lots of it. Which means he needs a larger than average beanie.

And cos its all charted and stuff and I got gauge bang on when swatching and everything... I can't just re size it. I'm so disappointed. It'll fit me.. but I am not the rugby fan.

So.. back to square one. Only with yarn and needles in a size I don't really need. (sigh)

I was so excited to try it out.

A bad photo with Action

Not a great photo. I tried to edit the colour which looks better than the washed out thing it was originally, but still not the true beautiful indigo it really is.

Will try to get a modelled photo in daylight. :)

Actioned item

I'm so there with the bad puns for this.

Action jumper (sweater) is DONE!!!

The relief is palpable. Photos later.

:)

Be still my beating heart!

Bendigo Woolen Mills is online.


(some might make a narky comment here about 'finally' or 'took bloody long enough', but not this cookie, no-no!)

I have the new shade card if anyone wants a look.

Action sweater, Rowan Denim People.. progress update

All pieces knitted? Check.

Extra swatch knitted up for seaming yarn? Check.

All pieces washed and dried in hot water/air? Check.

All ends sewn in? Check.

Amazingly painful extra-neat seaming started and stopped after about 2 hours resulted in about 25cm seaming done in total? CHECK!!

God it's slow. I'm doing backstitch seaming for the seam that runs down the front & back of the sweater. It takes forever. It looks perfect for the type of 'deliberately showing' seam, but dear god its slow. I've given up for tonight.

At this rate, seaming it will take longer than a sleeve did :(

{Pats self on back}

I have finished the second sleeve in record time - 5 days. :)

I need to seam a shoulder, knit a collar, some heated washing/drying and do a bunch of seaming.

But it's happening.

Oh geez, did I miss a memo?

Somehow, now I'm worried...

You are The Tower

Ambition, fighting, war, courage. Destruction, danger, fall, ruin.

The Tower represents war, destruction, but also spiritual renewal. Plans are disrupted. Your views and ideas will change as a result.

The Tower is a card about war, a war between the structures of lies and the lightning flash of truth. The Tower stands for "false concepts and institutions that we take for real." You have been shaken up; blinded by a shocking revelation. It sometimes takes that to see a truth that one refuses to see. Or to bring down beliefs that are so well constructed. What's most important to remember is that the tearing down of this structure, however painful, makes room for something new to be built.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Two weeks since I posted?!! Bad blog-geek, no biscuit!!

Okay, so I've been gone a long while. Not much interesting to report on the knitting front. I continued doggedly knitting on the Action jumper.

I've now finished all the pieces that make up the front and back, and have started on the first sleeve. It doesn't make for interesting photos, but here's the proof -

Also, on other vaguely knitting related items, one of the lovely Bibnbub at knitting gave out these pretty Easter gifts - Aren't they nice? Every one's was different. :) We all felt very spoilt.

Today I wandered around in my lunch hour avoiding eating food that was bad for me and I ran into the Contemporary Art and Craft gallery (not sure if that's its exact name) on Murray Street. I bought this lovely card which I intend to frame for my room in the new house as part of my attempt as designer-beautiful-things-at-a-price-I-can-afford. It's so pretty, isn't it. (a Kelly Hyatt design according to back of the card).
Also on that last point (not the pretty bit, the house bit) I have succumbed to the sewing/quilting thing and ordered two books via Amazon (damn, isn't the Aussie v. US dollar good at the moment!)

• A copy of Amy Butler's In Stitches via the Marketplace (long wait through Amazon proper at the moment).

• And a copy of Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing: Patterns and How-To for 24 Fresh and Easy Projects
  

From Amazon itself, via the lovely Fitzwilliam and his book addiction-related ordering. hurrah!


Both books have a number of items I am interested in making, as due significantly to Lupinbunny's influence, and general web surfing of blogs, I have decided that I don't hate quilting. I hate country-style quilting. (No offence to lovers of the form, just really not my thing.) And now while I doubt I shall ever be a 'quilter/sewer' as a major hobby designator, I can happily see myself getting into it in so far as a way of getting the designer style pillows, throws, maybe even napkins etc that I can't really afford to buy.

I'm even considering trying my hand at a little sashiko in order to see if I am interested in hand-stitching a doona cover for our master bedroom of the types I admire. Now there's an(other) area I never thought I get into. But I like the Japanese indigo and white sashiko thing very much.

I have time to consider these things as my books won't be here for 3-6 weeks, and so I'm hoping to finish the Action jumper by then and be able to start the sewing etc with a clear conscience ;-)

With hope, I might even get back to.. Raspy!! The weather perfect for it now..

Whole lotta knitting goin' on

Sadly, though, not very interesting to blog about!

I have finished two more pieces of the Action jumper this weekend. That's rather a lot of knitting for me. You could say I am keen to get this rather overdue present completed!

So one more piece to finish the front and then two sleeves.

And a bunch of washing, and seaming and collar knitting and more washing ...

and then done. Gifted to the deserving recipient.

Who I shall beg to let me photograph in it so I can blog!

A finished piece of the Action & a new hobby?

Okay bad joke, but I'm like, so funny..

The first completed piece of Action, from Rowan Denim People.

It's interesting construction the front and back are both pieced from two pieces, with a seam that runs down the 1/3 mark or so (length ways).

So this is the right back piece.


And this is going to be a patchwork dolly blanket, to see if I like this patchwork/quilting thingo. I bought the fabric at last year's craft show in Perth (which was otherwise nearly a complete waste of time. I went for yarn. There was little of interest. But it does show I've been fiddling with this idea for rather a long time..)
If I enjoy it, I'll give myself permission to buy enough Amy Butler/Echino/Liberty etc. to make a throw for my room in the new place. Purples/blues and greens most likely. We'll see.

Yup, winter definitely on its way!

The dead giveaway? I'm wearing my first ever grown-up sized sweater.

This is my own special variant on Skully, from Debbie Stoller's Stitch and Bitch book.

It's knit in Jo Sharp Silkroad Ultra, which is which is warm, and squishy and pills like a bastard, making it no longer going-out wear. That, and its boxy unflattering shaping ;-)

In other news, its my birthday soon. And this means I get to "suggest" (read pick) my birthday pressie from my lovely Dad and step-mum. Now normally, there's plenty a thing I am coveting.

But. Yarn is obviously normally high on the list, but as I have not one, but two jumpers on the needles, and one/two pairs of socks.. I just don't want to risk getting the yarn for something in particular, getting to the end of my project list and then deciding I really want to knit something else entirely.

I am also vaguely fighting a desire to pick up a new hobby - quilting. Not so much of the country style stuff, more like Amy Butler's quilts, and Denyse Schmidt's quilts.. Contemporary modern stuff with beautiful fabrics a la Florence Broadhurst.

Current hold ups include: lack of time, needing to borrow Mum's sewing machine (at her house, no room in this tiny apartment) and money. Oh, and a nagging sense that I sucked at sewing clothing when younger. But then quilts are a) straight lines which I expect I can manage and b) maths, which I can do.

I've decided I'm nesting in a major way (not the baby-sense family, don't panic!) but in the I-want-a-proper-house sense. I haven't decided whether to ignore it or go with it yet. I'll let you know when I do ;-)

Oh, and action continues on Action (that denim gift-to-be-jumper). Nearly up to arm shaping on the first panel. I didn't bother photographing it, because its just a big blue square of knitted stuff. You can visualise that, right?

Making progress on the Action jumper - Rowan Denim People

38cm into the first of the two front pieces. I need to check the intended length on the recipient on the weekend, to work out how much it needs to be shorteneded by (length sense and my 18% shrinking versus the Rowan measurement of 20%.)

Good progress, I'm happy with that. The colour is Nashville - a darker shade than my Raspy.

My cool links of the day: Cut + Paste & Whip-up

www.cutxpaste.com

Lots of neat stuff. Which I found through this brilliant craft related feed:

whipup.net

New yarn arrives.. and a better photo of Diamond Stitch Top

The Nashville denim arrived.
And, a better photo of that Diamond Stitch Top (very slightly photoshopped - but only to hide the messy house that neither I nor the photographer didn't notice at the time).
Pretty cute, huh?

Raspy knitting.

Well, Knitting Camp (and several taped episodes of Heroes) makes for excellent knitting progress.

Below you can see that I'm up to the arm scythes on Raspy.


Unfortunately, while I knitted about 2 inches at Stitch and Bitch last night, it got ripped out this afternoon.

Why?The pattern calls for k2togtbl. Clearly, this is very untidy. It also does not match the k2togs on the other side. How dumb is that? Anyway, I've ripped it back to do the proper paired decreases.

I am also doing an awful lot of reading about the construction of round necked raglan sleeves. I have some ideas and plans so far, but it'll probably end up a try-it-and-see thing.

Warning: long, non-knitting related ramble/rant

Well, it's happened.

Not that I'd really noticed it was an issue before now, which shows how rarely I actually make use of their area, but...

I am now officially too old to shop in Miss Shop. I know, most of their stuff is crap.

But I used to be able to pick up reasonably priced casual clothes and some workwear from their Tokito brand.

Anyway I went there yesterday and realised it's just all too "trendy" (read short and in weird colours and far too teeny-bopper styles) for me.

Which leaves me with a significant issue.

At 32, it seems I have reached clothing no-mans-land. At least that I can afford.

I am too old for the Miss Shop/Sportsgirl/Portmans range. Styles don't flatter and I get annoyed at the cheap & nasty fabircs and styles so fashion NOW-RIGHT-THIS-INSTANT-GOING-TO-BE-UNWEARABLE-IN-A-WEEK! That I, with limited funds can't justify the relatively cheap costs. Younger clothing section in Target also meets here.

I am too young (and, I hope, personal style conscious) for Katies/Suzanne Grae/Jaquie E etc.
I look there, get disheartened and leave, feeling about a million years old.

I have a relatively fixed income, which means that clothes that I like and are appropriate, I can't always afford. Review brand, for example.

I can buy work clothes in Myer etc from Basque, but seem at a loss for affordable priced age-suitable clothing for casual at-home and casual going out. (I don't do a lot of dressy-going out these days).

While this is a somewhat revelation, reflection leads me to recall that I haven't been happy shopping for a long while. I'm left with this awful feeling, like it just shouldn't be this hard to care somewhat about how I look (It's not even like I am uber-image obsessed). [At this point my friends are no doubt falling about laughing at me, but yes, I do care how I look!]

So, thoughts? Do I give up and dress dowdy and dull? Do I overspend and wear my-life-inappropriate-but-beautiful clothing?

And, yes, there is knitting happening, and Kntting Camp was a blast. And I have photos. Which I will post once I clear the permission from the people in them.

One of the coolest Australian sites I've ever seen.

And I've barely scratched the surface of it!

http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/electronicswatchbook/

(Yes, I have lots of other stuff to post, but it's late and hot and I need to (try to) sleep..)

New project? But you just..

Well, I finished the Diamond Stitch top, and so was knitting up a storm on Raspy.

I have thus far decided on one thing. I will knit it 6 rows shorter. I washed and dried my swatch in hot wash/hot drier to test the shrinkage. My shrinkage is about 17.6% - which is pretty much what the tests I have seen online found.

The pattern is written for 20% (I counted all the rows and checked.. obsessive? how so?). So I worked out I need to take out 6 rows to meet the same length - which is already a little long on me, but good for the style of jumper. I haven't done the calculations for the sleeves yet, but will in due course.

However.

I have now ordered some new Rowan Denim. Yes, really.

I had a gentle prod from my man about starting a gift project I promised a long.. well, really long time ago. Not for him, but a good friend. (Really, really good friend. Good enough to justify a whole jumper, despite not technically being related to me. I have rules about these things.)

Gift recipient and I'd even recently agreed on a pattern. So, (realising my darling man is right, dammit!) I bit the bullet, called the gift recipient-to-be and got his measurements and ordered the yarn.

I'm knitting the pattern on the left, Action from Rowan's Denim People, just like Raspy. Pretty much as shown on the left, but without the bleached stripes.

I actually really like the construction, I think the seam that runs vertically down the front and back is really visually interesting on what is otherwise a plain jumper.

And, since it's the same yarn/tension as Raspy I'll be able to use my new Addis.

Did I mention how much I am in love with my new Addis. I didn't own any before. I don't know how this travesty could happen. I like them so much I want to run out and buy one to replace every pair in my collection and a few spares just in case. Damn you lack of disposable income!

Oh, and the darling man has decided on his new beanie. (He likes beanies, looks yummy in them and I like knitting them. It's all good.)

This: Red Light Special, by the fabulously talented BrooklynTweed. But in Western Force colours. So black background, two colours of blue and a tiny bit of white.

Only downside is the pattern is written for Telemark, by Knitpicks at a gauge not replicated in other yarn. So buy I will be, via kind US based people. (sigh). I really wish the Knitpicks people would realise our money works there, too! (grumble, grumble).

Off for the long-weekend tomorrow. Hurrah! Knitting goodness!

Finished Object: Diamond Stitch Sweater, Vintage Knits, Sarah Dallas

All done.

This is the Diamond Stitch Sweater top, from Sarah Dallas' Vintage Knits book.

I knitted it in Panda Regal 4 ply, rather than the wool the pattern calls for. Hey, it's like 40C degrees here in summer.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I feel all 50's sweater girl. I feel like I need to be carrying a pile of school books, and have a boyfriend with a letter jacket for, I don't know hockey or something. My man just referred to it as a "Sandra Dee jumper". See what I mean?

It fits nicely, a tad on the short side, so that I couldn't wear it with low cut jeans if I didn't want to show a tiny bit of my tummy.

I think I'll wear it to work tomorrow, my Canberra big-boss is coming.

Silk dyeing with Rit (aka Dyeing Mk II)

So..

I heated the dye stock.







After checking my Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook, I soaked the silk yarn. For hours. Apparently, silk takes longer than wool to wet properly.






Then added the wet yarn.












Look! Purple yarn! It's not a semi-solid like I hoped from what I can tell, but that's OK.













It's definitely royal purple.

In other good news on the knitting related front, I am doing the collar for my diamond stitch sweater and have cast on and done about 8 rows of Raspy!!

KoolAid does NOT dye silk.

Guess how I know.
That was deep blue and dark grape prior to washing. Really.
On the plus side, while I DID run out of yarn, the nice Clementine picked up a new ball for me so the Diamond Stitch Sweater continues.

But progress is good - only the top front and collar to go..





And, since the Swatching Bully insisted.. I washed the Rowan Denim swatch. I like it even more now :) It's beautiful, soft and subtly flecked.

I can feel the home straight! Diamond Stitch Sweater.

YAY!

I am approximately 5 rows from the sleeve cap shaping on the two sleeves (both being done at the same time) for the Diamond Stitch Sweater from Vintage Knits.

Then I just have the top section (arm scythes up) of the front, and blocking and seaming. I can *smell* the finish.

I will say one thing about knitting in the round to the arm holes, it makes the other bits just breeze by!

I even stayed up late to try to get it done. I'm on my last ball, and trying to not get paranoid about not having enough yarn.

...

No, really. It'll be fine.

...

[hyperventilates a little]

I'll let you know, ok?

Got gauge! And Getting there.

Two good news fronts knit-wise. But don't mention the house ;)

Good news one.

Swatch of Rowan denim, (for Raspy) despite everyone online having gauge issues is....bang on. Hurrah! I now need to buy some 4ply circs in a 80cm size. I only have 40cm, and it just isn't going to cut it. Am trying to resist jumping right in because....

Good news two.

I have finished the back of the Diamond Stitch Sweater from Vintage Knits. Which, those of you paying attention would realise means I only have the two sleeves and the front from the arm scythes up and the collar to do. (Since I was knitting in the round to the arm scythes.)

I feel like, finally, I can see the end of the top. *Holds hand up* And I promise to try to remember not to whine this Monday Stitch and Bitch, on account of having whined I think every time I have taken it out there. While lupinbunny continues to knit on her slip stitch, 4ply Anatolia from Knitty. I am abashed.

Swatching for Rapsy-goodness

Guess what came?

Haven't quite finished swatching yet. Initial estimates put the tension about 21 st over 10cm, which is one more than the pattern calls for. But, given it has 6cm of ease, that might not be a problem. Will finish swatching before judgement and analysis ;-)

New Rowan Siting!

From the Rowan website:

Secret Garden
A very feminine collection inspired by an enchanted garden in full bloom.	more
Medinas and Minarets
A colourful collection epitomizing the pattern and spirit of Morocco.	more
Promenade
Inspired by the British seaside of the 1940's and 1950's - a lovely holiday collection with a hint of glamour.	more

We have progress on the diamond stitch top!

Hurrah!

I actually split the front and back to make the arm scythes. Also, after counting stitches, I am 5 stitches short each on the front and back?!? I have decided that since it is as discussed (moaned, says Clementine) it's in 4ply that it won't matter.

And there is no way on this green earth I am ripping back. At least the front and back match. Yay for knitting in the round. I also finished ball number two. Gotta love that 4ply meterage.

Ramblings... and a squee!

First all, I've just returned from my Monday night stitch n bitch. I have the coolest knitting group in the world!! Not for anything in particularly, but these ladies rock. It make my week to hang out with them. :)

Second, as Lime & Violet would say, I had a 'sqeeeee' today, when I listened to the lovely Heather Ordover on the CraftLit podcast, and she read my email (with my permission naturally) !!
(Episode 39 if you feel like looking it up) I'm feeling very flattered and clever, so that's my brush with celebrity for the decade ;)

Kudos to Heather for a fabulous, intelligent podcast (and that's all her obviously, not because she included me!)

And Kudos to the craftyaction girls. You rock!

Raspy web-links

Yes, I'm so keen on starting Raspy, I'm reading about it all over.

So, as a self-reference and collation of Raspy's online..

• Brooklyn Tweed's fabulous version (sans dropped stitches) that totally caught my eye..
• A knit-along's hints and tips.
• Denim yarn comparisons by the Knitting Wench
• Denim People knit-a-long
• Raspy photos: passionfruit
• Raspy photos: blumunchie
• Piece of Beauty: good hints for keeping edges neat for the dropped stitches
• Streets and YOs: more good modification hints

Of the various changes people have made those that I intend to follow include:

• work in the round
• do one of the alternate (tbl etc) ways of neatening the dropped stitch edges

The one I am seriously considering that I haven't seen is a v-neck rather than the boat neck. Jared at Brooklyn Tweed went for a crew (round) neck, that I will definitely do if not the v-neck. The one thing I don't like about the sweater is the front neckline, which seems to roll a lot and not be as suited for larger busty ladies..

oohhh I hope the book gets here soon!

oh and the diamond stitch top progresses... slowly... about another 4 cm until I split for the arm scythes.

I finally got around to updating the links...

Those of you who use a feed service such as bloglines will actually need to look at the site to see, but I've updated some of my links etc and added a new feature, thanks to a funky little web service called LibraryThing.

Enjoy!

Whooo-hoo! Fastest postage ever!

The yarn arrived. From the UK. Quicker than the book from Australia!?

Can't wait now. Need the book to find out needles etc., so I can't even prepare to knit it...

I think I will be definitely buying from her again.

Okay, it's done! Yarn and pattern ordered

In the process of ordering I found a couple of good online suppliers, and thought I'd share. I can't of course garuntee anything until they arrive, but they seem good value.

For books I went to Fishpond (an Australian bulk book dealer with discounts on some books - including the required-but-elusive Denim People) and postage of $5.95 (that's Australian dollars too!)

For the yarn, I found an ebay seller in the UK who sells a lot of discounted Rowan, (and Debbie Blis and Noro etc etc). Even including postage and exchange rates, it was substantially cheaper than anywhere else online I looked at. Janette's Rare Yarns.

So I'm hoping that it all arrives in time for the March Labour Day Long weekend ! Wheeee!

I shall be knitting Raspy:

I like the wabi-sabi (new but imperfect) thing it has going on and was completely sold by the way people talked about how it wears, how comfortable it is, how it naturally fades over time... and how you can machine wash it with your jeans!

At any rate, despite my deep desire to knit any number of complicated things in wool... I know I won't get as much wear out of them. Maybe I'll do another fair aisle cotton or wool cardigan (in 4ply) later.... as it is relatively cheap on yarn.

When the pink diamond stitch top gets finished. Or should that be if??

Jaywalker Bandwagon? Never heard of it!

I really love how it is turning out. Extra kudos and thanks to Nadine for fab-u-lous yarn!

The cure. (no, not the band)

Sometimes, we all have bad days.

My easiest way to perk me up?

These.

My own hand-dyed, hand-knit socks.

Pathetic, and yet satifying.

My yarn's having an identity crisis....

Remember that hand-dyed blue 3ply yarn from the Royal Show that didn't want to be that entrelac?

Well....

While it seems to be working in a technical sense, it's just too thin (as in thickness, not width) to be a suitable clapotis and I doubt I have enough to make a wrap at any rate. On the plus side, I do like the Clapotis pattern. God knows what it will end up being, I have no idea.

I am, it seems, very much in the mood to start a new project.

I must be. I did a stocktake of my stash.

Man, I have a lot of trash.

I mean that in the literal (a lot of acrylics and novelty odd balls for gift knitting) and more tangential sense (a lot of odd balls in miss-matched yarns and weights of minimal use).

I have one large and one small plastic tubs full of yarn.

Other than enough yarn for 6 pairs of socks (though sadly, none like Clementine's fabulous Cherry Tree Hill). Nice, but ....

Of the yarn in which I have more than one ball of a type I have :

• 3 and a bit balls of purplish-grey Zara (the colour doesn't suit me, and the rest of it became a fabulous felted bag for my mum)
• 10 balls of bright red scarlet Zara (in progress into being knitted into a ribbed jumper for Jasi. Stalled due to it being summer and me waiting a little longer to see just how tall she gets)
• About 12 balls in various ice-cream colours (pink, lime, pale blue, teal, taupe etc) Katia Mississippi. (great yarn but single balls of most colours means its firmly in the baby-gift realm).
• That Anny Blatt scarlet silk. Am considering (still) knitting the top Lupinbunny knitted, but then had a dream a few nights ago where I dreamt the perfect thing to knit with it. Can I remember anything about the dream-top now? Of course not.
  

That's it! Everything else is single balls of yarn. That don't work together.



I think I want to knit Scarlet as my Christmas-gift-money-knit (Adam's other gift to me) but I need to work out what is the cheapest way to get the yarn - online or local ordering.

...

Still deciding. I got all excited by Rogue, and by that Fairaisle jumper from the Winter Vogue Knitting just gone... and many others.

Unfortunately, I can't do that thing I see people doing (and discussing) online where they love a pattern so they run out and but the yarn for it. Money being a little too tight for that, my knitting generally is on a one-project-buy-at-a-time thing.

Not that I always finish quickly. On the needles I have:

• a second sock in a yarn colourway I don't like. I tell myself I should finish and then over-dye them in purple or something.
• Jasmine's red jumper for next winter
• a scarf in a pretty variegated blue .... acrylic... that was the first actual object I ever knitted (but obviously not the first finished).
• the diamond stitch top

[stops and considers] I'm rambling. Will stop now.

Post-Christmas ramblings and photos...

Okay, I promised some photos, right?

My camera is a Canon PowerShot A530. It looks like this:


Well, it does when photographed in a mirror without a flash (sorry bout the blur).
Cool, huh?








I've also been testing out some entrelac (thanks to lupinbunny), but have decided that despite the nice colours of my own hand dyed yarn, the colour repeats are not long enough. See?













Oh, yeah and then there's the new bag :)

(warning: Gratitutous photographing of bag to come)

It looks like this.

It's HUGE inside. (Very tardis like). I'm pretty sure you could get a whole jumper and notions required in there. The little purple bag on the side there is attached with press studs so you can put the smaller stuff in there. It also has a side zippered pocket. Only thing I wish it had was a mobile phone/ipod pocket. But the zippered one does okay for that for me.

The nifty side pocket holds all your smaller stuff - small needles, pens, scissors, calculator etc.

And, I'm back on that diamond stitch top from the Sarah Dallas Vintage Knits book. And again, part of me says...

"4ply cotton on 3mm needles. In the round so it goes extra slow. What were you thinking?!"

There is photos of this, but I think I've hit the cache limit for Blogger. So, another time.

I'm also considering trying to participate in "Project 365". I now have a small, digital camera. I also want to work on something I've long been terrible at. I look terrible in photos. I seem to sabotage myself constantly, probably subconsciously. I don't mean to look awful, after all.

I don't think they'll end up here - I'm a bit hesistant of putting personal photos up. But we'll see how it goes. Maybe you'll get the non-people photos.