OMG!!! Something I can blog about!

A gift I can safely blog about, imagine that.

This scarf has been driving me nuts. It has had literally about 6-8 different stitch patterns swatched. The pattern requirements were:

• cornflower blue (giftee request. Which decided the yarn since this was the only yarn in that colour I could find).
• a scarf (giftee request)
• would be straightforward to knit on public transport. This therefore ruled out:
• cabled (requires needle)
  
• non memorise-able lace
• any lace pattern likely to lead to periodic ripping out (otherwise it would be the print of the wave stole. *sigh* )

• something I would not grow to loathe knitting.

So. I finally ended up here. It got the tick of approval from both my and my man's mums so all is good. I finally decided on this. Those of you who've been here a long while may remember this pattern. It's the daisy lace which the whole of the Vogue Lace Cardigan is knit in. Only DK, not kidsilk haze and 12mm needles instead of 5mm. Let's just say one huge thing in its favour is it should be quick! And I know the pattern fairly well after knitting an entire cardigan in it.. I actually tried a range of needle sizes, but found the lace disappeared on my next size down (8mm).
I've also done a bit on my Twisted Yoke Cardigan. I'm enjoying the yarn very much. Feels very nice knitted up.

See, thusly..And I have finished another one of the baby-gift list. Yay. The end is in sight, and it isn't even month of madness yet. (they're all November babies. Valentines anyone?)

One left to sew up, and one I haven't settled on yet. Booties? Shoes? Hat? Thoughts anyone?

Did I say I wouldn't cast on?

Um. Oops. I did, didn't I?

Well... I realised all of my gifts-for-others aren't due until November & December. So I can do a little for-me knitting now, right?


.. the new Addi Turbos I bought were too much of a temptation I fear..

And I acquired some more yarn for yet another gift knit. They multiply when you're not looking, swear. ;) This one will be bloggable though..

Hey! Who put this yarn in my basket?

Subtitled: Falling off the yarn wagon.

Well.. I had a weak moment. I ordered my 'Herb' Felted Tweed.

It looks like this.

I am still working on the baby stuff. It's continuing, albeit a little slowly. And I picked up my Print O the Wave stole and did a few more rows. I'm now back to where I was before I had to rip that section out. Meh.

And we faced Ikea this weekend. God it's insane. Not to buy anything, but to see if we wanted to buy their wardrobe and curtains. (In case you're now wondering - yes probably and definitely no respectively.)

Anyway best get to bed. Work is ridiculous busy-like and well tiring to boot. I even missed my SnBs a few times over the last while - a first for me.

Ah.. I got distracted.

Because I am so very busy knitting away on the pile of baby knitting I have to do, and because work has been crazy-busy (which means not as much knitting is getting done).. I am sort of making deals with myself.

I had intended to knit Bayerische socks. That's them on the left in green. They were to be pale grey probably. They're very pretty. But..

I bought the new Interweave Knits. There is a few patterns within that appeal to me.

One of them, Tangled Yoke cardigan didn't draw my eye initially. Then Lupinbunny mentioned it. I took another look. I was interested. Now, having the pattern and actual photos in my hot little hands..



I think it's jumped the queue. Rude little muggins isn't it ;-)

The deal goes something like this.


Step one. I finish the various baby related gifts prior to their needing to be gifted.

Step two. I do not start anything else that isn't already on the needles.

Step three. I can buy the requisite yarn, as long as I don't pay full price for it (unless it is utterly unavailable otherwise.)

Note: I am tempted to try the listed yarn. They have a beautiful green called Herb. But it's an alpaca/wool/vicose blend. Which I am worried may be too hot for Perth.

That said, I do work in the coldest corner in the office. It's bloody freezing, so that may be ok.

And it looks pretty.

Now I just need to ..
Step four: find somewhere to put the guilt at not spending every possible spare cent on the soon-to-be- completed-but-not-soon- enough-cos-builders-are-meanies- who-cant-estimate-accurately house. It's rough I tells ya.

The rest of my spare waking moments when not teaching is spent thinking about the most inexpensive way to a) kit out a large number of bookshelves and cupboards for the study - all built in; b) cover all the bedroom windows affordably without undue ugliness; c) not go crazy with the waiting. (Okay, some who have been around in the last 2 years are yelling 'Ha! too late!' at the screen about now.)

Okay, gotta go. Baby knitting to do.

Not dead, just busy

[don't you think that should be a song title?]

Well, I am knitting, but its almost entirely baby gift stuff. And some of the giftees read the blog. So no posting before the gifting.

And, I am also terribly busy since I have it on good authority (from the very nice scotsman D, who is our building supervisor) that in approximately 2-3 weeks I shall have my very own house all completed! The joy! The delight! The relief!

Of course, we shan't be moving in immediately, since we want both floor coverings and window coverings in place before moving. But it is still rather delicious. I shall not be renting come October it seems! I shall have a KITCHEN and not a kitchenETTE. Those who know me in the flesh have all heard at length about my belief that my ETTE is my purgatory such that when having my kitchen I shall be truly grateful. In case you think I am kidding, I have just decided this second that a comparison is in order...

the ETTE:
dimensions. (I got weirdly silly about it and ran over and measured it)... 1.6m to 2.5m. That's room size - the floor size is smaller because of cupboards/fridge/sink etc is in that space.
photographic proof:
The KITCHEN:
dimensions. 3.55 x 3.98m
Photographic proof: (only the plan, don't have a good photo of the kitchen since the cabinetry is done).
What this means? As I suspected and have now confirmed. My current kitchen is smaller than the bench space in my new house. In fact, it is about 0.3sqm smaller than just the island bench!

See? Kitchen purgatory ;-)

Anyway, all this house-nearly-ready has meant we've been really busy pricing flooring and beds and so on. Oh, and work has been crazy busy too.

Good knitting mojo to you all....

Why I love Thursday Next novels

I am in the middle of the latest Thursday Next novel, First Among Sequels. For the uninitiated amongst us, Thursday is the heroine of a series of novels by Jasper Fforde.

They are kind of what would happen if Monty Python and the literature sections of your local book store had a series of love children. :)

I am loving this book, and have only torn myself away from it to prep for the work tomorrow (*sigh* work is stressful at the moment) and to make myself some more dhal for dinner.

Why do I love this book? So far it has time travel, travel within the world of literary fiction (the actually world that all novels exist within and all the things that the characters do when the story isn't happening to them), a ghost of an eccentric uncle, a reimagined husband, a mathematics genius teenager, cheese smuggling and knitting for naked dodos. And I'm only about a third of the way in.

See? My equal-favourite heroine knits. And I just know that the other (Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice) would too..

What does it say that some of my all-time favourite books are about books? (Another is The Club Dumas. Which is about as far away from this series as it is possible to get and still be fiction.)

Okay. Stalling over. Must go prep for tomorrow's training presentation :(

Clementine was right.

I should have known better. I mean, questioning the great Clementine?

She was quite correct, the lovely hand dyed my mum made for me is lost in the Baudelaires pattern.

But, I am what I am, and I needed to see it for myself. And now I know that when next picking a self-gift yarn I shall buy some yummy Zarina to knit a real pair. (In green. I'm on a green bent at the moment.) Both yarn and pattern are nice. But not together. Like friends you like separately, but could never date.

It's the same "thoroughness" in me (my man's description) that meant today, when selecting carpet for the new house I dragged the sample :

• under halogens
• under florescent lighting
• in natural daylight
• next to the wood for the hallway
• looked at it up close/underfoot
• looked at it from several meters away...

But now I know it will definitely work. (Or not, as in the case of the yarn). So the pattern will be ripped back and started over. It actually doesn't bother me. I have peace of mind.

I'm also fighting the desire to photograph every ball of yarn in my stash for Ravelry (I'm spiderknit. Naturally.) And hunting through it for potential baby knit-for-gift yarns. I know what I want to knit. But the called for yarn is pricey and not in the colour I originally had in mind. I ponder. But can't for too long - baby coming y'know.

I have finished the first pair of socks I ever started!

Not the first pair of socks I ever finished, mind you.

I bought this yarn a long time ago because it was good quality and on sale. Once I knit one and a half socks, I realised yes, I liked knitting socks. And that, as when I first laid eyes on the colourway... I disliked those colours together rather a lot. So I put them aside, and knit a new pair of socks in yarn I liked. For my daughter, if I remember correctly.

Anyway, here they are. I intend to over dyed them purple and if that doesn't work, black.

Let's here it for finishing extremely long WIPs! Now, if I can face the acrylic flecked scarf I have.... then reconsider the Jaywalkers.. I will have all my old WIPs done!
Oh and if anyone finds my remaining energy, let me know. I seem to keep losing it at work?!

Print o the Wave.. well, not saved but,.. significantly less impeded by the use of lifelines...

I finally got the courage, ripped out the repeat I needed to and started the repeat over again.

Thankfully, since I have been putting in a lifeline every successful repeat, I only had to rip back one repeat. It does, however, make me consider putting in multiple lifelines. Just in case I don't pick up that error in the repeat it happened.

Oh, and I expect my blogging will be a little quiet for a while. I am about *crosses fingers* eight weeks from moving house and I have several friends waiting to take on (increased) sprog-herding duties :)

So there'll be secret baby-knitting projects on the go. Which I can't blog cos some of them read this :P

Speaking of which *cough* anyone want to loan me a copy of Itty Bitty Hats?

This makes me sad. (Lace being mean to me)

See this? This looks innocent enough, right?
But look closer my friend.....


That is a mini-zig, when it should be zagging.

Which means I did probably rows 1-2 then started over again by accident. Which means it needs to be ripped out. :(

I noticed last night, my courage still isn't up to it. It goes away again until I try to face it again tomorrow :(

A mixed weekend

The bad

• The weather was terrible.. Driving rain, heavy wind etc.
• The bad weather meant my man was really not well enough to do the house-planning shopping we had planned to do. (When the barometric pressure drops, he's toast)
• I went to buy my daughter a new tracksuit from Target, went through all the dramas of a little person freaking out because she got wet when we got out of the car at the shops, her insisting on looking at every toy in the store... and then when I finally got to the checkout, having left my pursue at home :(
• My man still being sore and tired today, and so him sleeping all day and us again not doing any of the things I had planned (despite the weather having improved somewhat)

The good

• I made my first ever dahl for my dinner last night. And it rocked!!
• Despite the aforementioned poor weather, and us being inside all weekend pretty much, my daughter was actually very well behaved.
• Well enough, in fact, that I actually read all of the new Harry Potter book (bought in a fit of self-indulgent retail therapy when I went back a second time to Target .. with my purse this time).
  

The mixed

• I cleaned up the house a lot, so it looks less like a pigsty but.. I loathe cleaning.
  
• I can't decide on a new project. I'm looking sideways at the two pairs of half finished socks on my needles, but am half way swayed by my daughter's suggestion that her doll needs a beanie, as my doll (Lizzie in the top banner) has one.
  

This was my first ever sock. I bought the yarn (Opal self striping of some kind, ball band lost in the mists of time) because it was on sale and I didn't know yet whether I would like knitting socks. I hated the colourway. I am now considering if I should finish the last sock, and overdyed it purple.

This was my Jaywalker attempt. I like the colourway much more, but... the yarn is a little scratchy and I can't get into the Jaywalker mojo. It just seems to be not working for me.

Weirdly, now I keep looking at this yarn... which is soft, and I love the colours. And am now thinking as a result, of shifting one of the other two pairs onto scrap yarn and casting on socks pair #3
I don't know. I need an easy project, the lace stole takes too much concentration to knit while doing the public transport thing (and a single mistake requires rather more work to fix)

My Fetching are all done! (Does that make them Fetched?)

Very very quick knit. One ball of Naturally Me Merino/Cashmere blend. Yummy sqooshy and soft.

Plus, a pretty blue!
They took almost exactly one ball, and I lengthened the finger part to reach my first knuckle, and also increased the thumb sections to match.

The yarn is 8ply weight, so I knit them on 3.75mm needles. Which is smaller than the pattern (both yarn and needles) but I'd heard that the original gloves were large on some people. I have fairly narrow hands/fingers so these fit nicely for me.

I like em, and look forward to them keeping me warm on the walk to the bus stop come Monday morning.

Finished Object: Raspy from Rowan Denim People is completed!

Here it is!A finished Raspy, photographed by my favourite small person.

Here is a close up of the detail on the neckline.
My man's comment? Why did you want a jumper with holes in it? {insert much of his mirth at my expense} This lead to a discussion of our relative appreciation of deconstruction-ism as a fashion statement.

{You can imagine it, right?}

Of course, towards the end it was too big to travel and it had to wait for a trip to the Laundromat for access to hot wash and dry for finishing.. So I started these while I waited.

It's a Fetching. You know the drill. If you don't Google it and drown in the masses of them online.

I am the personification of busyness and nerves

I'm doing stuff, honest. But I cannot tell you where the four days off I just had, well, where they went.

It certainly didn't sufficiently go into finishing Raspy like I wanted to.

I mean, I am making progress, definitely.. I'm into the raglan decreases and everything.



And I've done about 4 repeats of the Print O' the Wave stole, when I wanted something more engaging...




And I have cleaned half the house for the rent inspection on Thursday..


And did the school run on Thursday and Friday...


And did some food shopping on Saturday (no I didn't photograph it Lupinbunny, sorry. Maybe one day I shall both remember the project and buy a normal number of things and my kitchen be clean. Like, all at once..)

And I went to Stitch and Bitch Saturday... and then we went raiding Crossways for Yarn...

And .. I've been playing rather a lot of this.. . Oblivion. It's awesome and huge and a nice break from the tedium that World of Warcraft has become.


Oh. And stressing about the new job I start tomorrow. My darling man says they'll love me. Gawd, I hope so.

Making progress (slowly)

I ripped out that sleeve, all the way back and re-cast on. And am regularly checking the results against the pattern. Rather frequently. You can see the comparison below of my progress of reknitting against where it was. It's not too bad really.

I've also cast on Eunny Jang's Print O' The Wave stole. It's in Knitpicks Shimmer colourway Mountain Mist. A little stripy, but I'm giving it some time before I make a firm decision.

I've done about one and a half repeats of the 34 that make up the main body. It's a long-term gift project. And painfully slow. I think I've ripped back about 4 rows so far.

And I got a spoken-comment aired on Craftlit. Which was great, but.... I realise now just how many times I say um. I also sound kind of incoherent as I try to explain one of my points. All kind of embarassing. Which is, interestingly, at odds with my own quiet giggly pride I felt at being aired. Good thing I never became a radio talk-back host, huh?

Annoyed with self. Cos I am dumb.

Cos I can't count, apparently.

See this ? One of these is wrong. Cos I can't count. One of these is 4 stitches too short. FROM THE VERY BEGINNING.

I don't know wether to throw it at the wall, rip it out or cry.

I really want to finish this, but I don't know if I can face ripping this out right now.

My new lace project may get a starting run while I cool down...

I'm designing a new meme : What do you wish you had been when you grew up?

I've been mulling this over in my mind ever since I wrote my response to the '7 things' meme.

Here is my new meme.

What did you wish you had been when you grew up?

Think of the child's game, playing what they want to be when they grow up. This is the adult's past-tense version.

Now you've grown up (whatever that means) what do you wish you had become?
Rules:

1. You can be any number of things you choose to be
2. Ability, talent, location and other realities are not a requirement.
   
3. A comment about each thing you choose is encouraged, but not required
4. Time/place realities can be assumed to have happened (e.g. assume the love of your life would still have met you, even if you never had become a school teacher/violinist/whatever you are now) and should not prevent the game.
5. You can add to your list whenever you like.
   
6. Please send me a comment with your blog post so I can read responses!

That's all.

Spider_knit: What did you wish you had been when you grew up?

• An architect. I love buildings and design and how spaces are created with walls.
• A sculptor/potter. I like the forms of ceramics very much. Second choice would be oil painter.
• Italian. I love the food, the art, the clothes and how they seem to have this whole thing going on. My family also mirrors the Italian thing.
• Better dressed. Now don't get me wrong, I like how I dress, on the whole. But have never really been satisifed with my ability to find clothes I like, or how I portray myself to the world.
• A furniture/household stuff designer. (looks at piles of design mags/blogs)
• A (successful) actress. i.e. I'd like the job, but only if I earn enough to pay my bills etc. I don't like the 'poor/doing other jobs' bit.
  

That's all for now. I may add to it later :)

YOU ARE NOW TAGGED!

Cool things I have found - house & Design

Firstly, today I found out that one of my favorite TV programs - Grand Designs - has it's own magazine! (which of course was immediately bought to be persued at lunch)


And, this fabulous site - which has all of its back issues articles availible, free online!

So far my browsing has shown I want to make:

• these jars;
• these etched glasses;
• the scrabble pin board;
• maybe more. :)

Geek joy!

Heeheeheeheehee!

Just in case any of you were fooled into thinking the heading was just a joke..

Look! My Cthulhus arrived!
And the 'my little victims' have REALISTIC DISMEMBERMENT ACTION!! And the limited edition "Angry" 'thulu :-)

LOL LOL LOL..

Well, I made progress on Raspy!

Here you can see the finished back (the front's already done) of Raspy.

Unfortunately, I then decided it was a bit too Raspy, and I've ripped some out to reduce the length of those neck-edge drop stitches.

And I'm even eyeing off the ones on the front, thinking maybe I should stop them being dropped 2 rows before the edge, rather than all the way to it, to stop the neckline curling so much as I have seen online..

Still, I am reminded by the Elizabeth Zimmerman saying - "You are the boss of your knitting!" and am remaining most-unlike-me calm in the face of this ripping/reknitting.