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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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D’oh!

Well oops – I did notice a couple of days ago that all the posts seemed to have disappeared from the main page, but because I’d been having general computer slowness, I thought it was just me that the page wasn’t loading fully for. So when I came back to it today and everything was still missing, I finally started wondering why. Then I noticed that everything was stopping at the BookMooch widget in the sidebar. Aha! Had I accidently messed up the code in the template? I double checked…. and no. Eventually, I twigged: I had an email from my web host a few days ago telling me that they’d upgraded PHP on the servers. I was using the php include version of the widget. It would seem the two aren’t compatible. So I’ve now changed to the javascript version, and all is well again. Hoorah!
In other news, I’m having a crack at writing this post in ScribeFire. I think I do prefer it to the pop-up Quickpost bookmarklet, but it doesn’t incorporate the “Extended” post second window (unless there’s a way to do that? Anyone?) so I’m not sure how that might work when I want to use that. Hmmm.

“BP” and the Three Needle Bind-off (part two)

'BP' preview: click for larger image I’m now at the very last stages of “BP”. So here’s a little preview of it, since I can’t put up any proper in progress pictures, just in case. I’ve done the edging for the sleeves, the button I was waiting for has arrived – and yay, it’s perfect. All that’s left is the weaving in, sewing up, and then the main edging, which I’m now quite happy about tackling. Having done the sleeve edging, I know that going up a needle size for the different yarn is the way to go. See, these things all work out in the end!
Anyway, I did make a decision on the three-needle bind off, and it was actually largely from necessity. BP was knit on 3.5mm needles, and I realised that, oh, I only have the one set of those. Not even a circular or DPN extra. So I had to use a size up for the third needle, and I think it came out very well. Hoorah! It was a bit fiddly to start with, getting the stitch back through both loops, but once I got the hang of it, it wasn’t so bad at all. Must remember to take a picture of how the seam came out.

Blogathon 07?

I’m thinking of doing the Blogathon again this year. On this blog, with a knitting sort of theme – I dare say I’ll knit as I go, and post pictures or something like that.
Since I’ll have my stash back from my Mum’s house by then, maybe I could do some stash-busting thing. A blanket in 6×6 squares? I’ve always meant to get around to one of those, and it would be lots of little things that would give me plenty of variety – different stitch patterns as well as yarn for each one, and so on.
As for a charity, I reckon I’ll go for the Manic Depression Fellowship. I’m hardly the only bipolar blogger around, so maybe a few others will do the same. That would be nice.

Whew!

Alright, I think I’ve got this blog looking pretty much the way I want it for now. Yaaaaaaaaay! Mainly, I’ve been working on the right-hand sidebar. PhpCurrently (which was insecure) has been replaced with Lirae‘s RightNow. I highly recommend that – very simple to install, set-up, and use, and does exactly what I want! *g* There are also a few other interesting scripts on the same site.
Further down I’ve also added widgets from LibraryThing and BookMooch. Boooooooooooks! :-)
Finally, I thought it was about time I double-checked all the webrings were still active, and updated those, and also my BlogChalk and Globe of Blogs listing. Now I’m just going to go through my Blogroll to prune out any dead links there, and I’m done. Hoorah!
(Having said that, however, I do intend to upgrade to MT 3.35 soon. I really should get on that, shouldn’t I?)

The Three-needle bind off

I should be going to bed. Instead, I’m contemplating the three needle bind off. Or cast off. I can’t even remember which is the British term and which is the American any more. The internet homogenises us all! Anyway.
The main project that I’m working on at the moment – we shall call it “BP” for “birthday present” – calls for me to do two lots of three-needle binding off, which I’m now ready to do. In fact, I need to do it, or I can’t go any further. All the main knitting is done, there’s just the finishing and then picking up to do edging. Plus sewing on the button, which hasn’t arrived yet (eep). I’ve never actually done a 3-needle bind off before, so I’ve been wondering a few things about it. Might it be better to use a size smaller needle as the binding off one? Or a size larger, even? Although smaller makes more sense to me, since you’d usually bind off normally then sew a seam with a large sewing needle. Maybe it depends on whether you want a tight seam or a more flexible one? Hrrrm.
I think I’ll sleep on it.

Socks in progress

I keep reminding myself that I really should start using this blog again. And then I don’t get around to it. Like before, I’ve been spending to much time thinking about the how, and none whatsoever on making any actual entries. So now I’m going to just jump straight in with a knitt-y post. Ta-da!
Regia Socks in progress thumbnail One of my current projects is the socks you can see on the right there (click the pic to take a look at the larger version of it in the photo album section). I do like all the self-patterning sock yarns you can get, even if they are way too addictive and expensive for me right now. But basically, the fact that the yarn produces the pattern means that you can knit socks without having to pay much attention, so they’re the perfect thing to have on the go as something to take around with you. Yay socks! Does get a bit boring, mind you, so I’m currently on the lookout for a more interesting sock project – maybe something with lace or cables or something. We shall see.
Anyhow, I spose I do need to rearrange the categories for this blog again. Bah. And have a poke at the sidebar in general while I’m at it. I’ve been meaning to add that LibraryThing widget, after all.

A Little Tale about Knitting (and me)

(I’ve already posted this story to my LJ, a while ago, so if you’ve seen it before… well, that’s why, and feel free to ignore it)
Once upon a time, there were three girls called Alison, Clara, and Louise, who went to Guides together every Friday night. They enjoyed it quite a lot, and got the opportunity to do various outdoorsy things like camping as well as indoorsy stuff, much of which they earned badges for. They sometimes did get into a bit of trouble, since Ally and Lou have a tendancy to do slightly eccentric things that have unexpected and unforseen consequences. After all, naming a teabag and dancing the waltz with him can seem like a good idea at the time…. it’s only later, when it turns out that you’ve splashed tea all round the walls of the church hall kitchen and are obliged to pay for the paint to cover it up that you think it was perhaps not the best plan ever. Though on the plus side, the Guide Leaders will never get you to make the tea again. But anyway! This is a post about knitting. I digressed.

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You know what?

It occurs to me that I’ve spent waaaaaaaaaay to much time worrying about how this blog is set out, and how the categories work, and blah blah blah. So I’ve been sporadically poking it, and not actually made an entry for nearly a year. Hmmmmm. How clever.
So, I’ve resolved to actually start using this thing again. And here’s what you might find here in the future:
– Stuff about knitting (including pictures, when I have them)
– Stuff about courses I study (nothing on at the mo, though)
– Music and gig reviews / opinions / whatever
– Stuff about the books I’ve been reading, especially now I’ve started using LibraryThing. Look out for the blog widget turning up in the sidebar soon.
As well as getting going here again, I’m planning to start getting more of my photos uploaded to the photo album. But in future all updates about that (except the knitting ones) will be on the updates page / blog. When I’ve finished setting it up proper-like. *g*

Anti-spam upgrades

I’ve been having loads of problems with comment spam, so I’ve been upgrading to the latest few versions as they come out, and I’ve also installed the MT-Blacklist and NoFollow plugins. I’ve set the blog to mostly dynamic publishing, too, which should (a) reduce the load on the server, and (b) solve the rebuilding problems I’d been having. Hoorah!
Back in the ‘real world’, I’ve just started one of my OU courses for this year, and will be starting the other at the weekend. No, I’m not completely insane (only partially) for doing more than one course at once: the music course is a 30-pointer*, and the web design course is a 12-week 10-pointer, which will be followed by two more of the same starting in May then October. Which will give me the standard 60 points for the year, all going well :-) They all count towards my degree as well as the web courses being part of the Web Apps Development Cert.
It’s also occurred to me… I didn’t actually mention on here that I’ve moved, did I? Which is a bit remiss of me, since it was a fairly big move: in September of last year I came back down here to Hastings, the old home town. And it’s very nice to be back, too. :-)
Anyway, that’s about it for now. I should be posting much more often from now on, though, now I’ve got the study-journal thing set up, and this year’s courses have started again.
* 120 points is the equivalent of one year’s full time university study.

Bother

Bah. I’ve had to take the photo album down, cos the script I was using is no longer allowed by my host. Which, considering I found the rec for that script on their forums in the first place, is flipping annoying. It was another customer who suggested it, if I remember rightly, but nothing was said about there being security probs with it. Still, maybe it’s something that’s become a problem since. Anyway, nothing I can do about it. I’ve taken it down, and I shall install an alternative when I have the time. CPG took me bloody ages to install and configure, but hopefully I’ll find a new one that’s a bit easier.

TMA anxiety

So, I’ve been getting a bit worried, since I haven’t had my final TMA (08) for A214 back. And, it was the big non-substitutable, worth-24%-of-the-coursework, you’ve-gotta-have-this-one-or-you-fail assignment. It’s been a month since the final exam, and nearly 2 months since I sent it in, and no sign of it getting back to me, or showing up on my course record online. Urk!!
Yesterday, I rang the OU. They reckon they haven’t had it. Oh dear oh dear. So I tried calling my tutor, but she was out. Left a message. This morning: phew! She’d left a message for me saying that she certainly has had it, marked it, and sent it off, and she’s horrified that they seem to have lost it. She did say she thought there was a problem with my Student ID number (I’d written the wrong one on the cover form), so I guess that might be where the problem happened. Maybe they’re sitting on it somewhere in Milton Keynes? Still, she’s going to call me back again this evening with my mark, and she can send them a copy of the mark sheet, so yay! I would have liked to see her comments on the paper itself, but maybe it will get back to me in the end. Right now, I just want my mark sorted in time for the final result! Eeep *g*.