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). Goth Whitby so far (click for full size)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:
One Hedara down...

And the kitty-face baby hat that I’ve done for a friend’s expected new baby:
Kitty face Baby Hat

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!
Sann's Slytherin scarf

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………

Loopylou and the Multitude of HP Scarves!

Crossed 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:

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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

Finished Regia socks: click for larger picture! 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:

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