Z is for Zips

Even though I haven’t started sewing up the Menace jumper [Ravlink] yet, I’ve been thinking about the other Unfinished Object that’s been sitting around for ages and ages, and that’s my Chunky Zipped Jacket [Ravlink] which is knit from Sirdar Bigga yarn.  The main thing that’s keeping me from finishing this is the zip, although I’m also not quite sure whether to sew the seams with the Bigga yarn (which is “Super Bulky” weight), or with a thinner yarn of the same colour.  I do have a thinner yarn, and that would make the seams less bulky, I think.  But would it show up or be less stable, too?  I don’t know!  Help!  I also suspect that this might not be the best project to try attaching a zip to, when it’s the first time I’ve ever done that.  Again, the bulkiness is an issue.  What do I sew the zip on with?  Thread or yarn?  This stuff is hard.  Time to get advice from wiser heads, I think.  I’ll cart it along to KnitJam next week.

Otherwise, today has been more of a knitting day than a tidying up one, though I have got some of that done.  But good news!  I’ve finished my Clapotis [Ravlink] at long last.  I still have to weave in the ends, and block it (probably… I might leave it, I haven’t decided yet) but otherwise I’m done.  Woohoo!  Pictures will be coming soon.

Y is for Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn!

The hot weather is continuing, and now it’s got to the point where it’s really too hot to sleep at night.  Not so much fun.  Especially with a cat who’s determined to plaster himself against you!  Ugh.  I didn’t even go out today, but stayed inside knitting (my Clapotis is very very nearly done, yay!) and doing housework, all while listening to podcasts.

I was really quite productive though, which is good.  I’m tired now, yes, but the house is clean, and I’ve managed to file away (or recycle) a whole load of paperwork that had been lurking.  I can even use the dining room table again – it had been covered in said piles of paperwork.  I have every intention of covering it up again, as I want to finally sew up my Menace jumper.  Now that I’ve got started with the filing, I’m planning to carry on tomorrow.  Because yes, there is more.  I need to go through my files, too, and shred all the older stuff.  I should ask Mum to bring her shredder up when she comes over to help me consign stuff to charity donations.  My filing cupboard definitely needs some paring down.  Hah, so much for spending more time on the beach – I’m thinking up excuses to stay in out of the heat.  I get a lovely breeze blowing through my flat most days.  But I really must get out as well.  Maybe later in the week.  Too tired to think about it now.  Zzzzzzzzz.

P is for Projects

I had a sudden bout of startitis today (the urge to cast on new knitting projects) but I’ve managed to restrain myself!  Why did I do that?  Well, for the last… oh, good while, I’ve been resolved to finish the projects I currently have on the needles before I start anything new.  I’ve got a lot of things that have been meandering along for a long time – I have started and completed other projects in the mean time, but I haven’t finished these others.  So I’m making an effort to do that now.

The thing that’s helped me the most with doing that is that I decided to pick a “WIP of the Week” every Friday, and concentrate on that project for the next seven days. I’m not forbidding myself from knitting on my other WIPs if I feel like it, but I’ll be focussing on the one that I’ve picked and hopefully be doing the most work on that.  I haven’t kept that up completely all the time, but it’s certainly helped before so I’m going to try it again.

When I first started it, it worked like a dream – I finished my first three picks very quickly that way. At the moment, I have two – the Menace jumper, which is a UFO (I count something as a UFO rather than a WIP if it’s been hibernating and not worked on for ages) and now only needs seaming, and the Clapotis scarf which is somewhat more portable. By the end of this week, I intend to have finished the straight portion of the scarf, and made a start on the jumper seaming. Although if I haven’t managed that, it doesn’t matter – I’m not aiming to finish the projects within each week, just to get as much work done on them as possible.

So, the current WIP(s) of the Week will be at the top of the “Currently” section of my sidebar. Below them are my Ravelry-powered progress bars for my In Progress and Hibernating projects. The hibernating ones are greyed out and italicised (and if you want to know how I got it to do that, drop me a line – it involved some code wrangling that I’d be happy to share with anyone interested). The links go to the Ravelry project pages, so I’m afraid if you’re not a member you won’t be able to get in unless I remember to set them as ‘open’.  Or at least I think that’s how it works.  Although if you’re not a member and are a knitting/crochet/spinning fan, I’d definitely recommend you go and sign up – it’s a fabulous site :-)

Anyway, I thought I’d do a round-up (with pictures) of my current lot of WIPs and UFOs. And project details for those I haven’t mentioned on here before.

Continue reading “P is for Projects”

A is for Ambition

I’ve decided that a good way to keep myself going with the daily posting is to do the meme / exercise that I’ve seen on some other blogs, and do a letter of the alphabet each day.  Obviously that leaves four days, so I’ll do a week of alphabet then a day of either something random, or doubling up on a letter.  I’ll decide that part when I get there!

So, A is for “Ambition”.  Which can be broken down into both short and long term goals:

  1. Maintaining the daily blogging through this month, and also doing IComLeavWe at the end of the month.
  2. Possibly do 750words.com (depending on time).
  3. Sort out the photo album on this thing!
  4. New site design (also for here).
  5. Finish at least one knitting project – try sewing up the Menace jumper, for example.  And keep working on the Clapotis.
  6. Make some blog posts updating my knitting progress – what I’ve been doing over the last few months as well as what I’m doing now, since I haven’t posted for so long.
  7. Write up the patterns I’ve designed. Finally!

“Ambition” also works pretty well for the NaBloPoMo prompt for today – I may or may not do these every day, it depends what appeals to me. But the one for today is:

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a teacher.  Boring, I know!  Specifically, I think I wanted to be an English teacher, because I loved reading and writing.  On slightly more mature reflection, I decided that the idea of dealing with a classroom full of teenagers was an appalling one, so I changed my mind to librarian.  Needless to say, I’m in neither profession now, although I have done some one-to-one music tuition and enjoyed that.