Hooray, I’ve finished my Gap Year Travels shawl. I cast off in a different colour, which was totally a design feature and not because I ran out of yarn twice (if you believe that, etc etc), ends are sewn in, and it’s currently awaiting blocking – I’m going to leave it pinned on the table overnight, I think. I do believe I’m quite pleased. Pictures tomorrow!
Category: NaBloPoMo
Typing + tiredness = not working
Since I’m extremely tired today (I have new medication which is making me drowsy, hopefully just for the adjustment period, and every time I sit down somewhere relaxing I drop off!), I’m not going to say much again. I haven’t managed to finish the shawl yet, but just have the cast off edge to go. I’ve been setting the twist of some of my handspun:
(excuse the rubbish photo), and also marvelling over how the Xandermog can go from FULL ON PESTER mode to fast asleep, you-can’t-wake-me in under five minutes flat. Still when the result is this little face:
how can you complain?
Nearly done!
Just two rows to go on the Gap Year Travels shawl now:
I’m planning to finish it and leave it blocking before I go to bed. Yay!
Things and Stuff
Today has been a day of variety, which has been nice! I started out by going up to the Christmas fair for Mum’s church – I got there quite late on, so I helped clear up and carry the remaining stuff back up to the church. I got a few nice cards and nick knacks for gifts, so that was a worthwhile trip. Then I walked with Mum back to her house for a drink and then a lift home.
On the way up to Mum’s place, I stopped off and did a geocache that was en route. It took me a bit longer than I’d planned due to me being disorganised with my stuff, but it was still a speedy one. Not a micro one this time, but a still small one. So not big enough to put the travelling monkey into, yet. Poor monkey! I’ll move him on soon, by hook or by crook!
After visiting at Mum’s for a while, we came back here and had dinner – stir fry followed by cupcakes! Then Mum went home and I’ve been knitting and watching Strictly Come Dancing. I’m still working on the Travelling Woman, but hopefully I’ll be done soon. Maybe tonight? Maybe tomorrow.
And then I’ve been playing with Blip.fm – I’ve put a widget linking to my account there in the sidebar, and I think it’s possible to play some tracks directly from here? I’m not sure, I’m still figuring it out. That’s not what I’m using it for, anyway. Mostly I’m listening to the songs my friends have playlisted. Is that even a word? Probably not, but I know what I mean, and I’m sure you do too. Anyway, I thought I’d put the widget up here because in the first place I can, and also because I’m trying to get all my web stuff better linked together. Integrate my web presence. Oh how pretentious. ;-)
Happy Birthday Noxie!
Today is my lovely friend Noxie‘s birthday, so much love and happy returns to her! We originally met through both being fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and are still friends twelve years on! Isn’t the internet grand?
As for me, I’ve spent the day plying and knitting again – some progress made, nothing finished as yet! Hopefully I’ll have more to report tomorrow.
Ap*ply*ing myself
I need an editor to stop me from making horrible puns, don’t I? But it’s true, today I have been applying myself to plying two bobbins of handspun together. I haven’t done the whole lot yet, and there won’t be pictures because this is for the Limegreenjelly Christmas swap. Which means I don’t want my partner to see what I’ve been working on for her, mwahahah… eek, hope she likes it!
Other than that, I’ve also been (still) working on the “Gap Year Travels” Travelling Woman shawl… and I can’t remember if I mentioned this, but I’ve called my particular version of it Gap Year Travels because the colourway of the yarn I’m knitting it in is called Byron Bay. Which is somewhere I visited while travelling in Australia on my gap year. Anyway, I’ve nearly finished the shawl – ten rows or so to go, and I don’t think I’m going to have enough of the yarn left. Fortunately, I do have some solid blue that goes with it well enough that I can use it to finish off. I hope! If that doesn’t work, well, I put in that lifeline, so it’ll be easy to rip back without dropping any stitches. If a bit of a nuisance. But then I’ll definitely have enough yarn to finish off the edging chart.
In other news, marmite rice cakes are delicious. That is all.
Not-a-Friday 5
I have no blogging inspiration today, so let’s have a meme instead! I’m going to fall back on the Friday 5, which is always fun when I remember to do it!
Friday 5 for November 5: Packing
- How far ahead of time do you begin packing for a weekend trip?
Planning, 2-3 days beforehand, depending on where I’m going. Actual packing will be the night before. I am little miss last minute! - What was your most recent purchase of a six-pack?
Technically yesterday when my groceries were delivered, including a couple of six packs of Pepsi. - What do you look for in a good everyday backpack?
Comfy straps, at least two pockets with a couple of small compartments for things like my mp3 player etc, waterproofing, and in colours that I like! - Among people you know, who’s the worst packrat?
Me, I think. Ooops! - How do you know when it’s time to pack it in each evening?
When the cat comes to demand his supper, or when I’m starting to doze off, if I don’t have anything in particular on the next day. If I have something on, then it depends on what time that is, because if I don’t get a good night’s rest I’ll never get up in time for it.
Stitch by stitch
When I’ve not been out (Tuesdays is the day I volunteer at the library) or on the computer today, I’ve been industriously knitting away on my Travelling Woman shawl. I’m determined to finish it soon! I am a little worried that I won’t have quite enough yarn, but I put a lifeline in so that I can rip back to the middle of the previous patten repeat (if you know the pattern, this is the logical place) if need be. No pictures yet, but there will be once I’ve finished. Go go go!
Fly By
I have no time to make a the post I’d planned tonight (knitting & spinning related)… although it serves me right for leaving it so late. I’d planned to have a nice bath, then post and be off to bed. But no, fate intervened. Or my Downstairs Neighbour did, by hitting the fire alarm for the second night in a row and setting it off (then hiding in his flat until the rest of us banged repeatedly on his door). Luckily I was just out of the bath and decent again! However, now I’ve had to get out of my PJs and dressed again because in all the drama, our neighbour from the garden flat is locked out – he was asleep when the alarm went off, and left his keys in the inside of his front door. Downstairs Neighbour didn’t hit the alarm on purpose, btw – he’d probably had a few and made a mistake. But there’s a £40 call out charge to get the thing fixed. Luckily we had a glass panel so could do it ourselves this time, but… argh! I really hope he doesn’t do it again. But now I must get back downstairs and see what progress has been made Garden Flat Neighbour getting back into his place…
[Half an hour passes]
… Yay, go us! Thanks to a group effort, Garden Flat Neighbour is now back indoors. As are we all, warm and dry out of the pouring rain. It took my ladder, Upstairs Neighbour’s Son#1 (to wriggle through GFNs bathroom window), and GFNs torchlight and assistance in getting Son#1 over the garden wall. And now I’m going to dry my hair, and get myself to bed.
WIP Blitz
The last, oh, while, I’ve been feeling quite determined to finish off all the knitting projects I have sitting around partly done. Which is good! Right? Right. It feels like I’ve done more knitting this year than I actually have in terms of finished projects (though the Knitting Meter in the side bar tells me that I’ve knit 2023 yards in the last year… and I’m only putting entries into that when I either finish a ball of yarn, or a project). But maybe that’s because I still have seven projects on the go.
I had planned not to start any new ones until I’d finished several of those I had lurking. But well, best laid plans and all that. Mum asked me to make a couple of things for her, and then I finished my basic “portable project” socks, so I just had to start another pair for that purpose, didn’t I? And now Christmas is fast approaching… eek! Still, I am feeling more organised and purposeful about the whole thing. My knitting, I mean, not just Christmas. And bizarrely, I think a lot of that is because I finally made the decision to (temporarily) frog my Ishbel and restart it – probably after Christmas – on larger needles. I checked my gauge again, and I had 23½ sts / 4″ where I should have had 20sts. No wonder it’d come up so small, and the knit fabric was probably a bit too dense. I shall swatch again with 4.5mm and 5mm needles and see how it goes. Whether I’ll end up running out of yarn again I don’t know, but I’ll give it a try, anyway. I’ve weighed the re-wound ball, and it’s as it should be, so I assume the yardage is correct too. But the best thing is, I feel much better – obviously that one had been hanging over me without me even realising it!
Now, I know I’ve said this a thousand times, but I’m going to knuckle down and sew up my two “UFOs” – the jumper and the cardigan. I’ve decided that the pieces of the mohair jumper really do need blocking before I sew them, since mohair is so floaty, but at least now I have the table sorted out and ready to sew on.
So my plan is to finish my Gap Year Travels shawlette / scarf (which frees up the needles for whichever cardigan I go for, I believe), and also my Menace jumper (block, sew, crochet, block again). Then to start my Christmas knitting and… just keep knitting until I have finished stuff! I reckon that’ll work.
Cardi Decisions
Originally, I made the title of this post “Cardicisions”, which looked like I was trying to choose a vehicle, and then “Cardecisions”, which looked like I don’t know what. So in the end I decided to discard all unclever word mushing and be a little more clear. There! Aren’t you glad?
The point of all this is, I’m trying to decide on a cardigan to knit – I just lost my favourite one (shop bought, never fear, but still!), and even though it was a very plain v-neck raglan in fine yarn, I’ve decided to knit a replacement rather than buy one. Needless, I hope, to say, I won’t be knitting a direct replica! I have:
- A kilo of black 100% wool DK. I’m not sure what the yardage is, but I would hope it’ll work out to “plenty”.
- Rowan #40. There are also lots of free patterns on Rav, but I’d like to actually make something from a mag I’ve paid out money for!
- a size 18-20 upper bod (so don’t want anything that’ll make me look even chunkier!).
Unless anyone knows any free DK-weight patterns that are knit in one piece1 and have some kind of interest to the fabric2, I’ve narrowed my choices to either Lichen3, Sadie4, or Autumn Leaves without the applique leaves, because, wtf?! Orrr, there’s Celtic, but my Mum thinks it needs the tweedy type yarn and the cables would be lost in plain black. Opinions? I also completely adore Juno, but I’m not sure if it’d suit my body shape, and hadn’t been planning on making a fitted cardi this time. Maybe one day!
Anyway, because I’m indecisive as ever, it’s poll time! (Or leave a comment, etc etc). I’m actually going to crosspost this entry to LJ and DW (I know! Crossposting twice in as many days! What is the world coming to?) so if you’re reading this there, you’ll have to come over to my blog to vote in the poll. Should you want to, of course. Participation entirely voluntary, refunds cannot be guaranteed.
[poll id=”4″]
All opinions much appreciated. I’ve got other knitting to finish, so I won’t be casting on straight away (probably). So I might even see if I can get this into the sidebar so it’s showing up for a few days.
ETA 7/11 – Eeeek! The lovely Noxie has let me know that non Ravelry members can’t see those links. Sorry about that – I thought the pattern info pages were open to all. So I’ve added photos of the various cardigans.
1 Because if I’m going to knit something from elsewhere then I want it to be for a really good reason. Like no seaming! Mmm, seamless construction…
2 Like I said, not a plain replica. I don’t want to pass out from boredom while knitting. Some kind of cables or texture.
3 All over cables might end up rather bulky, of course. I suppose I could always knit a (dun-dun-duuuuuh) swatch?
4 Maybe a bit lacy for the winter though? On the other hand, bound to be a faster knit…
LJ & DW
For the first time in forever, I’ve made a post to Livejournal and Dreamwidth (the same one, crossposted). I’ve been meaning to for ages, but I kept stalling on how to divide things between there and here, and… oh, you know what, there’s no point in me repeating myself – I explained it all in the LJ-DW post. I’ll just leave the above link, and that’ll do (pig) for today’s post here as well. That was nice and easy!
Knitting meme, redux
I’m nicking this idea from Welshmillie – I also did this back in May ’07, so it’s fun to see what changes there are since then.
The meme says: “Edit the list, bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.” I am also adding bold & italic for things I planned to do previously and have now done, and bold and underlined for things I’ve done now that I hadn’t planned to do before. Oh, and italic & underlined for things I’m planning on now that I wasn’t before.
Afghan/Blanket
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockingette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn [O.o – I still haven’t come across this]
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch pattern
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn [but I have spun with merino/soy fibre!]
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards [OK, I know what this means now! Maybe one day!]
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewellery
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO [Is this on or off? I’ve done a tubular cast off…]
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair [But I knew a woman who did]
Hair accessories
Knitting in public
I don’t know if that’s much of an indication of my knitting progress or not. I suspect how well I’ve knitted things is more to the point. But then again, this meme is about trying techniques. There must have been some that are left off of it, though. I just can’t think of them.
Digital Housekeeping
I’ve been doing housekeeping tasks on the computer all day1, and I still haven’t even scratched the surface. Or that’s how it feels – I’ve backed a load of ebooks and photos up onto DVD, and cleared up my podcasts folder… and I still have far too much to do. I need to grab one of those programs that sorts out all the broken stuff in the registry, etc. Although I don’t know if I have room to install one. Oh noes, it’s all so difficult! Heh. Shall I just do a reformat and reinstall? It’s about time I did anyway. My poor computer can’t cope with much as it is – it’s getting a bit elderly, relatively speaking. If only I could (no offence, ‘puter) replace it. Not all of it, since some parts are just fine. But the most important components could do with replacing or boosting, no getting around it. Time to start saving up!
1 OK, that’s a slight exaggeration, since I have been out to KnitJam this evening as well, and done a bit of spinning (while waiting for DVDs to burn, but never mind).
Late night blogging
Whoops… I’m really tired today, and I nearly forgot to post. Wouldn’t that have been a good start to NaBloPoMo. As it is I have no time to think up anything clever or interesting (as if there’s ever anything along those lines here!), so instead I shall post a photo of one of my recently completed knitting projects:
A pair of “handsocks”, aka fingerless mitts, for Mum. Her hands don’t get as painful if she keeps them warm, so these are really useful for that. They’ve completely stashbusted some of my left over sock yarn, so that’s good too.