Alive, alive-oh

D'oh, I zoned out for a while there. I wish that would stop happening. My next psych appt isn't until July, either. It was s'posed to be April or early May, but it got put back. :-/ Still, I can phone them if need be, so it's not that bad.

Anyway, I haven't been completely unproductive (read: asleep) over the last few weeks. I've been reading (I keep meaning to write reviews... I really will do that. Eventually), and knitting, which I shall talk about a bit more in a moment, and doing a bit of work on a fannish website project with Sann. And over the last couple of days I've been gradually putting some knitting / crochet books and some more yarn up for sale on eBay. I might even get the non-knitting things I have to clear out up there, if I can get around to taking photos and working out postage. I need a better pair of scales!

Actually, talking of scales, I may or may not have lost weight recently, but I have been eating more healthily. And without having to think about it too hard, either - it's becoming more of a habit, which is really good. As well as that, I'm going to start doing more exercise again. I had meant to before, but I as part of the whole zoning out thing I was mainly stuck indoors. However, this morning I'm planning to either go for a walk in the park if I can get hold of Ally in time, or go to aquafit and then either the gym or just stay in the pool for a swim. I've got to get back into a routine where I've got something to get going for in the morning, and having something that I need to leave the house for is better. Otherwise I'm likely to faff around at the computer in my pyjamas until lunchtime! Quite possibly doing something productive, but still - I need that routine of being really "up and about", and being actually dressed is part of that.

Back to the knitting, anyhow. Let's see... looking back at those goals I set myself at the beginning of May, I'm afraid I still haven't finished Mum's present (I'm going to go and do some work on that in just a mo!). But as I said, I did finish the baby bootees, and I've also finished my second pair of socks - the Berlin Muster pattern - for the Sock Knitter's Pentathlon. I hit my personal targets as well: I wanted to finish in the first 100, and to improve my sock knitting time. Which I did: I finished as number 68, on 23rd May, so it took me exactly 3 weeks to knit them, doing an average of an hour or two a day. :-) Since then, as well as Mum's pressie I've been working on my Fireworks socks, and I've now finished the first one after a bit of a hiccup with the garter stitch toe the first go around (it ended up about twice as long as it should have been!). The second one of those is cast on and I'll now be slowly making my way down the leg whenever I want to work on a project that requires very little concentration for the most part. I don't have any pictures of that just yet, anyway, but I do have some of the finished objects. Want to see?....

What d'you think? Did the pattern show up well after all? Neither the colour or the pattern are what I'd normally think of as being "me". Too delicate / pretty - I just don't usually do pastels at all. But I like them! Surely I'm not moving to the light side? Noooooooooo!!!! Bring back the black! ;-)

Project 365 #6, Days 35-44: 13th - 22nd Feb

Since I'm still playing catch up, here's yet another picdump: days 35 to 44 of my Project 365 photos. If you want to see all the photos so far, click on the Project 365 category link, or check out the Project 365 folder in the photo album.

On to the pics (click them for the full sized versions):

Day 35 - 13th Feb 08

The Fetching-esque scarf that I made for Mum to go with her Fetching mittens. This was a really quick knit. Must get the pattern written up properly soon!

Day 36 - 14th Feb 08

The Xandermog demands an explanation for this woolly invasion!

...but decides that pretending to ignore it is the best policy (while sneakily laying on the stitch holder to make sure it doesn't go anywhere without his say-so).

Day 37 - 15th Feb 08

Xander likes his little mouse (a present from my SP11 pal, Janey). But eww, I really need to hoover out his cat bed!

Day 38 - 16th Feb 08

Yay, new telly!! New to me, anyway: my old one went kaput last year, and I've had a 14" portable on loan from my brother ever since. Now my Mum's bought herself a shiny new flatscreen, so I've inherited her old one. Awesome! Now, name that show.

Day 39 - 17th Feb 08

Oh nooooooooooooooooooooooes! The blue screen of death strikes again :-( I'm going to have to reformat soon, I think. Meanwhile, also visible in this picture: handcream, glasses cleaner (on its side), the very top of a Dalek, sundry notes to myself, and a little woolly sheep.

Day 40 - 18th Feb 08

Everything that I'm going to need to knit Mum a present for Mother's Day. The pattern is Kyla, the yarn is from the Yarn Yard sock club, and I called them the Mother's Day Mitts.

Day 41 - 19th Feb 08

I actually put the yarn down on the floor to take a photo of it so I could put it up on my Ravelry stash, but of course I'm not allowed to do that without supervision ;-) I love the way he's giving it that "what's that doing in the way of my tail?" look, when it was there before he came and plonked himself down...

Day 42 - 20th Feb 08

My desk, covered with things for posting stuff (books that had been mooched, I think it was) out, plus other various stuff. My mood chart for example - that's the coloured sheet at the back. And my rings are on the top shelf... I always arrange them in that triangle formation when I take them off. Wonder what that says about me?

Day 43 - 21st Feb 08

One finished Damson glove, woohoo!

Day 44 - 22nd Feb 08

It's a teeny tiny beetle. I don't know what it is, but it was in my bathroom, and this is it on the inside of an envelope. The fact that I've zoomed right in doesn't give any real sense of scale, but it was smaller than my little fingernail, and I have pretty small hands.

Progress from last week.

Last week, I bribed myself by setting a list of goals to achieve before I could have my "carrot" of casting on a lovely new pair of socks. Sooooooo, how did I do?

- Finish unpicking the cast off of the second Jacobean sock and re-do it with a tubular bind-off (first sock already successfully done, yay);
-- Done! And oh, I love them. They're scrummy and squishy and now fit perfectly. LOVE!

- Finish one repeat of the WFS edging;
-- I now have several repeats done, which is sort of good. But not ideal, since I passed my deadline for finishing the thing. D'oh! I'm still plugging away and enjoying it, though.

- Do the finishing for the two pairs of baby bootees (which honestly isn't going to take long! I've just been procrastinating), which means: seam up the flat knit pair, make knitted buttons for both and attach them, make the button loops, sew in any ends;
-- DONE. Why do I make such drama in my own mind over things that really aren't that terrible (such as sewing up one tiny bootee)? Dear self: stop it!! I'll make another post soon with some pictures.

- Stop mentally flailing over which yarn I should use for the next Pentathlon project because really, I can't choose properly until I see what the pattern is (although I'm sure I will be posting a short list of my possible choices here like I did last time);
-- I've pretty much managed this. In fact, I'm not even going to post a short list. I think I'm going to use some YY sock in bright red "Shelter", since the guidelines say that a solid or semi-solid is best, and light - medium and/or bright colours are suggested. Plus, I already have that one wound into a yarn cake ;-) I'll make my final decision when the pattern comes online late tonight.

And my prize? Wheeee, I've cast on for the lovely Bracket Fungus socks. My version are the Bracket Fungoths, because I'm using YY Hot Pink Goth yarn as the multi colour and I never can resist a good (bad) pun. As I promised myself, I've only done the cuff so far because the WFS has to take priority for now, but here's how it's looking so far:

Yay!

Project 365 #5, Days 25-34: 3rd - 12th Feb

More catching up! Here are days 25 to 34 of my Project 365 photos. If you want to see all the photos so far, click on the Project 365 category link, or check out the Project 365 folder in the photo album.

On to the pics (click them for the full sized versions):

Day 25 - 3rd Feb 08

My brother and his lovely girlfriend got engaged in the autumn last year, but since my bro is currently a poor student and they wanted to find the perfect one, they took a bit of time over getting the ring. But here it is at last! Pink sapphire - preeeeetty!

As I stalk the embarrassed happy couple, trying to get a good shot. Mwahaha.

Day 26 - 4th Feb 08

I was having a hurty-head day.

Day 27 - 5th Feb 08

Sausages! The ones that were left to go in the fridge after I'd had the other two for my dinner. Mmmm nom nom nom. Actually, these are fake sausages - quorn and apple bangers. I really like them.

Day 28 - 6th Feb 08

This was a shopping delivery day, so the fridge was stuffed full of foooood. Can you tell that I like stir fries?

Day 29 - 7th Feb 08

The inside of my large bag, ready to be taken out. There's the stuff for the volunteer training course I was going to, a notebook, my purse, my umbrella (the orange thing with the sheep on *g*) and a hairband. Also in there but out of sight would be my inhaler and a pen or two... probably some other bits and bobs as well.

Day 30 - 8th Feb 08

The knitting is finally finished on the Chevron Scarf of DOOOOOM ;-) And so here it is laid out on the floor, ready to have the ends sewn in and the blocking done.

Day 31 - 9th Feb 08

Meanwhile, I was in the process of sewing up the shoulders of the Bigga jacket so I could then start picking up for the collar (and get it off the table which I needed for the scarf blocking!).

Day 32 - 10th Feb 08

Since it was so long and I'm short on space, I blocked the scarf in three sections. Worked out pretty well :-)

Day 33 - 11th Feb 08

Aaaand having finished the scarf and being on the sewing up part of the jacket, I needed something else to be my knitting current wip. The Damson Gloves were it: this is the first glove, knit up to me being about to start on the little finger.

Day 34 - 12th Feb 08

Ta-daaaaa! One completely finished Chevron Scarf. It might have ended up feeling like it was never going to end when it was on the needles, but I do really love how it's turned out. Yay! Let's just hope my sister-in-law-to-be (there has to be a shorter way of saying that) likes it.

Finally, just for fun, here's my effort at a rolled-up scarf photo. Erm. I think it went a bit wonky, but you get the idea!

Zooooom

1. I've had THE most awesome final / "reveal" package from my SP11 pal, Janey. THANK YOU JANEY! :-D I shall write more and post pics later. And email Janey to gush a lot. Yes.
2. Due to Circumstances Beyond My Control, I haven't been able to send out my own final SP11 parcel to Katie yet. Argh. Actually, it looks like I won't be able to get hold of one thing I was looking for anyway, so I guess I'll have to give up and get it sent asap. Although asap might have to be next week, the way things are looking. I reiterate: argh! Sorry, Katie :-/
3. It's a year today that I was in that car accident (my car was hit). Therefore, a year since I last drove, since after that (a) my poor car was squished, and (b) I was put on meds that mean I'm medically disqualified from having a licence. Which in turn means I've got a free bus pass, so it's not all bad.
4. I was kind of under the weather again last week. Mainly, I'm annoyed. I have things to do! Therefore, I'm now running around like a... crazy running around thing. Pick your metaphor. Off to the shops soon. Hey, fresh air! That'll be novel.
5. Site revamp still not done. Well, it is. I just haven't applied it to the actual site and uploaded it yet. Yeah, not done.
6. What with the not-well thing, I haven't got as much knitting done as I'd like, either. I do at least have one FO, but everything else that's Christmas knitting? Um, not yet. Must knit faster.
7. I have sorted out pretty much everything (I think!) that I'm going to destash, however. Looong post all about that coming v soon.
8. Xandermog is poking me in the leg with his sharp pointy toes. Owwwww.
9. Aaaaaaaaaand the child upstairs seems to be banging something echo-y and metal on the floor. Oh, someone please make it stop!
10. I might just be having a bit of a manic Monday (haha, oh dear). Shall have to watch myself, and try to do some relaxing stuff once I've got the must-do things out of the way. Note to self: breathe.

Autumnal Spring Cleaning

I've been having a really good clear-out over the last few weeks, and I'm starting to feel less mentally cluttered as well already. I've even eBayed more of my yarn. I know! Can I really be breaking my hoarding mentality? Well, no, not if you look at my bookshelves (MY books *clings*) and, uh, the remainder of my yarn stash. Not to mention the contents of my wardrobe and drawers... and a couple of suitcases... However, I am going to eBay some more stuff. Not yarn this time (although I might be able to persuade myself to part with a couple more skeins), but things like my spare Palm cradle (never used) and serial cable (not used since approx 3 computer upgrades ago)... oh, and I'm sure there are some other things. I have also sorted out more clothes and knick-knacks etc to go off to the charity shop. I think I still have more to do there, though!

Unfortunately, I've been a bit stalled on the whole thing because I'm still ill. Bleuch. I left the flat yesterday for the first time in about 2 weeks (alright, maybe my mental health hasn't been ideal: being stuck indoors ill was threatening to push me into a 'down', but I think I've caught it in time) because I had to go to the Post Office, and stopped in to speak to the pharmacist on the way. She reckons I have bronchitis or a chest infection, and what with being asthmatic already, I've been told to go to the doctor tout de suite. I know, I know, I should have gone a week ago. I am Procrastination Woman. In this case, that's particularly stupid of me since it means I've been propped at a weird angle in bed for several days since I can neither sit/stand up or lay down normally and breathe comfortably. V annoying. Oh well. I have an appointment this afternoon. I'll be fixed soon. On the plus side, this whole thing seems to have sorted out my insomnia / wonky body-clock thing that I had going on: I'm now tired / sleeping during the actual night again, instead of being awake all night and tired or asleep all day. Hoorah!

In knitting news, I have got some work done on my WIPs. I really must remember to make a couple of posts about my current WIPs and recently completed FOs to spring-clean that off my mental to-do list. Mainly I've been working on "Mmm, Refreshers", which is a Christmas gift. Can't say anything else about it in case the recipient trundles over here. You never know with my friends and family *peers around suspiciously*. I've also done a bit of "WFS" (likewise, Christmas), and some of my Fireworks socks... which are for me me me, so there. Obviously I finished my Tête à Fetching (wore it when I went out yesterday), and I'm really chuffed with the response - some people have said they like it and want to make it, it's in a few queues (and one in-progress!) on Ravelry, and I even got a really lovely comment from Cheryl Niamath who designed the Fetching gloves. :-) I'll get the scarf pattern written up soon-ish as well, but I want to make a wider version of it for Mum first. Once I've finished something else, that is.

I actually think my WIP tolerance has been reached. If I cast on one more project, my head would explode. I can cope, just about, with the number I have going at once right now (8 plus 3 in hibernation) because I have a definite Christmas deadline for, um, three of them. Although I have at least two more things I wanted to cast on for gift knitting as well. Oh dear. But I'm not going to think about that now! The thing is, those gift knits are the ones which are taking priority, and the rest are pushed to the back-burner. Some more than others - I'm still working on my various pairs of socks (for me) every now and again, to give myself a break. It seems to be working. But anyway, like I said, I'll make a proper all-about-my-WIPs post a bit later.

I didn't find my gloves, by the way. So far I've been wearing my Fetchings or my Hurry Up Spring fingerless ones, but I've wound a skein of Yarn Yard Merino sock into a ball to make some new ones - I think I'm going to make cabled ones with that. And I did crumble and get ones of the glove kits, so I'm going to make a pair with that too.

Yay, gloves! I'm not allowing myself to cast on for them until I've finished a couple of my current WIPs, though. Preferably the Christmas gift ones, since those have a deadline!

Hmm, was there anything else I was going to say? I can't think... oh! I remember. I found a (the) Holiday Gift KAL-CAL. Just what I wanted! I have duly signed myself up. Um. Oh yes, and I've been working on my next (final? I'm not sure if I'll be sending one more package or if I'll split it into two - Katie, do you have any preferences?) SP11 package. Mwahaha. Etc. ;-)

Right, that's enough being upright for me for the time being. I'm going back to bed for a bit to listen to the radio / podcasts while knitting, then I shall get up again, have foooood, and get myself off to the doctor's. TTFN!

Tête à Fetching

I finished my Tête à Fetching - woohoo! Here's the project info:

Pattern: Tête à Fetching by Me (inspired by Cheryl Niamath's Fetching gloves, from the Summer 06 Knitty).
Yarn: Posh Yarn Sophia 6-ply (100% cashmere) in Mute - approx. 1 skein.
Needles: 16cm 4mm circular; Set of 5 4mm DPNs.
Size: Medium (22" head)

It looks a smidge larger on Angelique-the-Head than it really is, due to her being slightly scaled down. However, it's easier to take photos of hats on her than on myself, so there we are. Point is, it fits me perfectly, and I love it!

What's more, I've even written the pattern up and uploaded it just in case anyone else fancies knitting it themselves. I knitted it in DK weight, but like the Fetching gloves, you can use an aran weight to get a thicker, warmer fabric.

PDF download - left click then save:
Tête à Fetching ( downloads)

I'll link it on Ravelry as well, because I can. And hey, if anybody else does have a go at this, let me know - I'd love to see what other people might do with it. I might be making another one for my Mum for Christmas, this time in Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk aran. She wants a pair of Fetching (Fetchings?), you see. I should have enough yarn to make either a matching hat or scarf (post on that coming soon!) to go with them, I just have to ask her which she'd prefer. I don't think I have enough for both, unfortunately. Luckily, since she asked me for the gloves, I can check back with her about a hat / scarf. This is not her Sekrit Xmas pressie!

Anyway, do let me know what you think of the hat - any problems, issues, vast donations of wealth.... ;-) This is the first pattern I've put up, so constructive criticism can only help any future efforts! Encouraging "I like it" comments are also, of course, extremely welcome! Thanks :-)

Composing Knits

I've discovered something kind of interesting. To me, anyway. You see, I'd decided I wanted a hat to go with my Fetching wristwarmers. This meant applying the stitch pattern and cables used on Fetching to a hat. Well, with a couple of small variations - aren't there always? What I've discovered is, I approach knitting designing in the exact same two ways I have of approaching music composition.

Usually when I make a hat (or scarf or bag or whatever), I almost completely improvise. Often, I don't even swatch, I just rely on the fact that I know that I'll get this approximate gauge with those needles and that weight yarn, and base my number of cast on stitches on that. I'll keep to approximate guidelines - just like staying within a key (or its relatives) - but otherwise I'll wing it from there... sometimes even in terms of stitch pattern, although not always. If it works out well, I might go back and record what I've done on paper later on.

This time, I used what is actually my other method of writing music: I take a motif that I've worked out on an instrument beforehand, then decide on a key, key sig, and orchestration, and write everything else straight down onto paper out of my head. I'm pretty sure I know how it's going to sound, but there's sometimes the odd surprise *g*. Along very much the same lines, I started the design for my "Tête à Fetching" hat by taking the motif of the Fetching wristwarmers cables / ribbing which I have already knitted and therefore am familiar with the look of it. I swatched, I calculated, and I wrote out the provisional pattern on paper, including variations which didn't occur in the original motif. Now, I'm knitting it:

I'll let you know how it goes, and with luck put the finished pattern up when I'm done!

Long Day

It's been a looooooooooong day... and why I'm not in bed already, I'm not really sure. I'm running on caffeine fumes, or something. It was my uncle's funeral, so we've been to Norfolk and home again (5:30am start, most of the day spent in the car.... ow my back). On the plus side, because I'm not allowed to drive at the moment, I got some knitting done. Um, yay? So yup, I have another couple of inches done of my Whitby sock. There would have been more, but I was pretty tired by the time we were on our way home, so I slept for a couple of hours. I feel a bit guilty about that, cos Mum and M were having to stay awake and do the driving. But then, I didn't sleep well last night because my brain was in 'oh no, what if I don't wake up in time' mode.

The funeral was fine, and it was good to see all my cousins, even if the circumstances weren't exactly great. I even met up with a cousin I haven't seen since we were both 2, and a couple of others that I might not have met at all. I have a lot of cousins. The ones who are all my age are actually my first-cousins-once-removed (the children of my first cousins) due to the generational wonk my family has going on. *g* One of these is my cousin B, who is great, and who I'm hoping to keep in touch with more regularly - we've been saying we will, but crucially this time we remembered to exchange email addrs! Hopefully I'll get the chance to go and stay with her at some point so we can have a proper catch-up.

Back to the knitting, I've been doing lots of other things as well. I finished my first Hedara sock:

And the kitty-face baby hat that I've done for a friend's expected new baby:

Aaaaaand finally I've finished off the HP Slytherin scarf I've been making for Sann for, oh, years (it was the weaving in of the ends that I stalled on). Hoorah!

Yaaaaay, finished objects! I feel like I'm on a bit of a roll now: I'm determined to finish one of the jumpers that've been lurking for years as well (see sidebar). I had resolved that I wasn't going to cast anything new on until I'd finished at least one project, and now I've finished two and a half... but... finishing one of those flippin' jumpers will feel like a real achievement. So that's my next plan, along with continuing with the other things I have on the needles, of course! I really must remember to post on here with pics of the other things I've done recently as well. But not tonight. Now, it's bedtime. Zzzzzzzzzz.........

The elephant sneezed and fell on his knees, but what became of the monkey monkey monkey monkey...

I'm listening to / watching the Last Night of the Proms at the mo. Ah, Last Night, I luff you! One of these days I'll actually go in person. I've actually been a completely rubbish Prommer this year and not been to a single one. I was just too broke to get up to London. Next year! I'm determined. I've enjoyed listening on the radio and catching the odd one on telly, but it's not the same as being in the Hall yourself. I've loved the Albert Hall since I first sung there when I was 10. There's just no atmosphere like it for me. It's my all time favourite concert hall in the world, no contest. Even the Sydney Opera House, fabulous as it is, just doesn't have the same emotional attachments I guess. So yes. Go the Proms!

*break while I sing along to Jerusalem*

But what I was originally going to post about was my Monkey socks. I finished them! I like them lots. They're all comfy too. I'm gradually getting faster at the knitting of socks - I spose it's more that I'm picking the sock up to knit it more often rather than physically knitting them faster.

Did I mention that the foot was way faster than the leg? I think I did. I ended up with quite a lot of yarn left over - maybe even a third of a ball. Anyway, here they are:

Loopylou and the Multitude of HP Scarves!

You might notice, if you look in my photo album (especially if you're in the Finished Objects/2004 folder) that there seem to be a few Harry Potter style scarves knocking around. Well, yes. There are. There's one in my WIP pile right now, too. See, it's not exactly a hard pattern to figure out, even for a new knitter (it's just maths and a bit of applied logic, after all). So I did just that, in a couple of variations, and for both styles that have been in the films. And then, just for fun, I worked out a wristband and a bag and socks, and... you get the picture. Or, you don't get the pictures of those because I don't think I have them uploaded here yet. Erm.

Anyway, once I'd produced a scarf for myself, other people started going "Hey, if I gave you the money, could you...?" So I did. I also made some as presents, and a couple for a local costume shop where I was friendly with the owners. I'm not quite sure now how many I have made, and for whom. It's mainly been Gryffindor and Slytherin colours, though. I'm probably going to write up my version of this pattern and put it online, even though I know there are others out there already. But hey, one more won't hurt, and I'll most likely be putting the other bits and bobs (wristwarmers etc) out as well if I do go for it.

Anyway! Have some more pictures of my *fabulous* creations, darlings:

Purple Opal Magic Socks

Ahh, my first socks! Aren't they fab? I don't remember exactly why I decided to knit a pair of socks - whether it was just the next thing I wanted to try, or if I saw the yarn and fancied having a crack at it. I do know that my friend Char was with me, and she's a sock knitter. So she definitely had some hand in the proceedings! *g*

Anyway, we were in the Battle Wool Shop (an L-ishYS) and with help from Char and the lovely ladies who work there, I picked out this yarn and a set of 2.5mm DPNs, and was given Sue Morgan's Simple Sock Pattern pattern free with the purchase. I went for this because, well, there wasn't a lot of sock yarn available - what there was was either completely plain, or the Opal or Regia self-striping. Or at least, I think so - there might have been some more expensive yarn there at the time, but I wasn't looking for that - I wanted to go for something that would stand up to my novice sock-knitter efforts! Anyhow, I know they do have Lana Grossa and Trekking in the shop now as well as Opal and Regia, and I'm not 100% sure what else. If they have handpainted lines, it might live with the other expensive yarn on the other side of the shop, and I haven't looked over there recently - too much temptation!

But I digress. So there I was with my new sock making supplies.... but I can't remember now if I cast on straight away or not. The picture on your right was taken in November 04, at any rate.

I knitted that first sock in fits and starts. The leg took quite a long time, though I was enjoying watching the pattern manifest itself. Then I blitzed the heel and foot gusset overnight in late December (pic below). The foot, again, took quite a while, and once I'd completed that toe, I have a feeling that the whole project hibernated for some time before I cast on for its pair.

Again, the second one was done in bits and pieces, but then in winter 05/06 I picked it up again and worked steadily until I was done! Whee!

More pictures are under the link!

Decision!

Having made the single-pair-of-hands realisation, I've just had a bright idea. I shall still keep working on Fetching in bits as I feel like it, but for the main part I'm going to focus on my previous FOs, and talk about those. Pretty much everything is from before I was using this for a knitting blog, so it'd be kind of cool to give them posts of their own.

Up first, My First Socks! (Probably. Unless I go for my first actual knitted things.)

[Listening to: Show 14 - The slow clothes mov - David Reidy - Sticks & String Podcast]

Have I shown you my FOs?

While I'm still trying to find a way round the not being able to upload any new photos problem, I thought I'd bore you to death with my old ones! Isn't that a plan? So go check out my photo album, specifically, the Finished Objects category. There's all sorts of exciting stuff in there, like, ooh, Harry Potter scarves, and .... more Harry Potter scarves. *g* And hats and bags and some other stuff. Go on, go have a laugh.

FOs: "BP", and Sirdar Snuggly baby jumper.

Hoorah, I've actually finished "BP" and the Sirdar Snuggly intarsia kitty-face baby jumper. And since they've now been wrapped and given as birthday presents to my friend C and her little boy respectively, I can reveal that BP is in fact a variation on the Coleen cropped cardigan from Magknits. Basically, I used different yarn, and knit it in two colours rather than just the one. Mainly because I wasn't quite sure that I had enough of any one colour in the yarn to knit the whole thing. I'm pretty sure I would have run short if I'd tried. As it is, I really like the way it turned out.

The Sirdar baby jumper (pattern #1668) was knit exactly to pattern, other than using a different main colour than shown on the pattern leaflet. Oh, and I also didn't seam all the way up the neck, but added a button and a crochet chain button-loop so that it wouldn't be too tight for getting on and off.

I took photos before I wrapped them up, so I'll upload and post those tomorrow. They were both very well received, and C was lovely enough to appreciate the time-and-care factor of me having made the presents for them. :-)

Now I'm off to bed, and to continue resisting the new Harry Potter book. It can wait til tomorrow! Sleep is more important! Really, it is. Am I convincing anyone yet?...

Completed Regia socks

I'm only just getting around to uploading my photos, but I finished these socks... um... a couple of weeks ago now, I think. You will notice that the cat refused to get out of the frame - see below for an even better example of that. *g*

Anyhow, these were made in Regia's 'Mini Ringel Color' shade #5217, which as you can see is nice and bright! I made them with 2.5mm DPNs using a basic sock pattern that I got free with some Opal yarn ages ago, although slightly modified since I made them longer (to the top of my calves) so they'd go well under my DMs. Therefore it needed to be a bit wider at the top - I actually cast on 6 extra stitches and decreased further on down, but I think in future I should just start with larger needles. The finished socks are a bit stiff feeling... not too tightly knitted, but the yarn itself. I think they'll soften up after they've been washed though, as my Opal ones certainly have.

In other news, this time I'm trying posting using w.bloggar - let's see how it goes...

Now back to the sock pics:

Xandermog shows me how beautifully he can pose for a photo.... when I don't want him in the shot. If I did want him there? He'd have got up and wandered off, of course. But when I'm trying to take a pic of my feet, he comes and flops down under them. Feline perversity triumphs again!