It's finally December!!

Ah, I have ben waiting so so long to open my advent calendar this year! It's not just your average cheap bits of chocolate behind a door thingummy (though I got one of those too because Martin's mum is awesome), but a handmade Christmas stocking filled with individually wrapped presents! This was the most recent swap I did with my Monthly adventures group on Ravelry and my received parcel was waiting, taunting me for over a fortnight.

I made my stocking from some lovely upholstery fabric that I bought in New York about 3 years ago. I have TONS of this fabric. I have no idea why I bought quite so much, but I probably have enough to cover an armchair, then make myself a full length coat for camouflage. I will be using it up very slowly at this rate! The knitted cuff is a pattern I found on knitting-and, knitted in Patons Fairytale 4ply. I got back into practice sewing some handmade presents for it as well, due to be enjoyed later in the month by Solvi in Norway.




My return stocking arrived a couple of days after I posted that, from Julia all the way in exotic Leeds, and I LOVE it! It's insanely decorative and pointy and looks like part of a principal boy's costume!

I pulled the cracker (proper traditional cracker, with plastic toy and rubbish joke :D ) as soon as it arrived but I had to wait very patiently for the rest. I even tried prodding and squeezing packages to try and make December come quicker and I'm not usually one to do that! But I finally get to rip things open now!

I got a tube of bubbles today, and a balloon, a silly straw and a cute fabric mouse yesterday (woo, triple giftage!)

I annoyed Martin intensely by insisting on drinking everything through that straw and slurping right the way down to the end of the bottle. That photo by the way, is posed on brand new freshly assembled Ikea furniture.

After 10 months waiting, Martin's stepdad's house has sold and we have keys to a brand spanking new (built 2 years ago) duplex in Poole town centre. This house has only just gone on the market so we can be nice and leisurely about moving in, but Martin and I could move in right now if we wanted, thus a very expensive and tiring shop in Ikea for bedroom furniture (not my money - the good kind of shopping). Of course, that was before we found out that it would be January before we had Sky and internet, but it's still nice to have the furniture all set up and waiting for us. Delivery was on Monday and I have been working like a machine to get things built - all much simpler than the generally accepted Ikea stereotype, apart from the wardrobe doors. Today was a rest day to get over strained muscles and angry, confused brains. Only the bed to go tomorrow though!

Tonight I have been making Honeyed Choc chip Cookies. As ever I have overestimated the size of each cookie and they have now spread to an ever increasing cookie slab. I have made these before! Why do I not learn! sigh. Tray 2 onwards will be much smaller. I hope.

Christmas knitting update: Finished Dad's jumper - Yay! Got behind on everything else - Boo.

New additions to the sock drawer

Originally this was just going to be a post of my completed toe-up socks, but then I finished my Jaywalkers yesterday, so I have twooooooooooo pairs! Woohoo!

I finished these just before I moved, just very plain vanilla stocking stitch socks in Regia 4ply Surprise Colour. They're my first toe-up socks, using Amy Swenson's Universal Toe-up Sock Formula and they fit perfectly round the foot, but the short row toe is kinda huge, so I don't think I'd use it for anything with a stitch pattern. My cast off is a little too tight too, so I'll use a sewn cast off next time.

My Jaywalkers are made in Noro Kureyon Sock, a gift from a Monthly Adventures swap. I like the pattern, but not too keen on the yarn. I love love love the colours, but the quality isn't great, much the same complaints as I've read from other people about Noro yarns. It's very scratchy to knit with, though it does soften up considerably after washing, and the way it's spun or...plied or...something (yeah, I'm not a spinner) makes it very tight and prone to twisting up in my hands. I managed to snap two needles while knitting these socks. Oh, and I found a knot halfway through the second sock which was tied to the wrong colour in the sequence. Gah. Shame Noro do such pretty colours. I guess until I can afford the lovely handpainted luxury sock yarns I shall stick to nice practical cheap (machinewashable) Regia.

Just a quick note about the new pair of socks I started last week. These are Cut & Paste socks in more Regia (bright, bright red Silk 4ply this time), and the toe on these starts from Judy's magic cast on. This technique is GENIUS. That is all.

2 days to go!

I am two days away from the end! Not, I hasten to add, two days away from poncey gowns and mortarboards, I still have a little while to mentally prepare myself for that anguish, but my final deadline of the degree (CVs, portfolios and a lovely long evaluation about how wonderful the course is) is on Thursday. I had my big scary finished garments hand in 2 weeks ago, so this one isn't worrying me half as much, and I've been able to knit away to my heart's content in between preparing my portfolio and rather half-heartedly looking for jobs.

Ooh! And the costume I just handed in? Not only is it by far my best work, but I've been told by my Head of Costume that it's one of the best pieces he's seen ON THE ENTIRE COURSE. I am slightly swept away in a tidal wave of Smug right now. (Photos to come in a few weeks, gotta get a good photoshoot for this one)


And onward to knitting...


I have actually cast on at least 6 new projects since I last blogged, but in an effort not to make this post explode with images, I may leave those until later and catch up on some extremely late finished objects.



I finished my stripy jumper! About 6 months ago! (this is how behind on blogging I am) This marks a milesone for me. It isn't the first full size garment I made (that was the blue green and purple acrylic blob), nor is it the first jumper I've made that fit me (that was Tempting), but it is the first full size jumper I've made that fit me and STILL FITS AFTER BEING WASHED!! Huzzah, success at last! I love it, as you can probably tell from my out of focus grin. Ms. Walker is a genius and I look forward to making more garments from Knitting From the Top, though probably not any of the various styles of knitted trousers.

Just before finishing my (incredibly cartoonish) stripy jumper, I made a Kombu scarf from the Manos silk blend I bought in Scotland. I love this pattern, though...err...it possibly would benefit from something a little less drapey in terms of yarn.

The second scarf I made was for a two part swap over at the Monthly Adventures group on Ravelry, the idea being that we sent someone a skein of yarn (along with some presents for them), then they used that yarn to knit a scarf and sent it back. I ended up being paired with Twinsmama a second time for this one! She sent me 2 gorgeous malabrigo skeins which I used to make her a Reversible Cabled Brioche Stitch Scarf. This is another great scarf pattern, it has all the flat, reversible, extra squishy benefits of ribs, with added pretty cables all over it. 'Tis a good thing she picked pink yarn or I would have been sooo tempted to keep this for myself. But I did get a lovely lacy chevron scarf back from her so I don't mind too much!

Last minute Christmas presents! These were for a couple of my friends from university who unexpectedly gave me presents at the last minute (eep). Thems on the left are Fetchings, the most popular project on ravelry, for good reason. I think I finished those in one day. Thems on the right I designed myself :D Yup, I made charts'n'everything. I'm currently reknitting these as full mittens with some minor tweaks to the cable, then 'll write out a pattern. (Though it might make more sense if I waited until after the summer. Maybe)




Last one! This is the Limerick Moss Cap in mmmmmmMalabrigo, one of the lovely presents Twinsmama sent me in the scarf swap. According to my project page, this is the last item I finished knitting and I remember wearing it on my birthday. *sigh* that's over 4 months without a single finished item.

Hmm. So much for not having a picture heavy post.

Never mind. Just to cap it off, this is my small selection of current works in progress:

Hmm. I may be overcompensating for the last 4 months...

P.S. I did go and see the turtles at Weymouth in the Easter holidays, they are unbelivably cute! I think they're actually terrapins though. Bah. False advertising. But they are (were) about an inch long and thoroughly confused by the mirrored sides of the tank which more than made up for it.

P.P.S. I also went up to Wembley Arena the day after my final fitting to see the Prodigy play live :D (yes, I took 2 whole days off when making this costume). The Prodigy are, it has to be said, not as cute as baby terrapins, but they do set off this bizarre reaction in me that makes me dance like a broken marionette having an epileptic fit while stone cold sober. I am still on a high from this gig. Though I may remember to wear a sports bra if I ever see them again

P.P.P.S. I finally got round to casting on my second toe up sock, on the same needles, with the same number of stitches, only to find that my guage has somehow changed in the last 6 months. Well, bugger.

Neeewwww knitting

I am feeling somewhat windswept today. One of my friends from Kentucky has come to England, so Jade (who I also met in Kentucky, but lives in Bournemouth, obviously) and I are using this as an excuse to do all the touristy things. Today we took an open-top bus (really rather too windy to be entirely a good idea) around Sandbanks, until recently the most expensive land per square foot IN THE WORLD, Studland Bay ferry and Swanage, where we strolled along the beach with our hoods up, ate massive cream teas, and attempted to explain the mysteries of the British Summer Holiday, for instance, why beach huts are great despite the fact that you can't sleep in them and how Punch and Judy does not in fact mentally scar generations of young children.

There has been New Knitting since I last made a non swap-related post. Also New NotKnitting. Oooh.

First off, New NotKnitting! I am giving crochet another chance. I'm actually happy with it this time, it's going slightly better than the Yellow Triangle of Doom from a few years ago. I promise, this one isn't actually triangular, it just looks like that because the trebles are bigger than the doubles. Not sure how far my yarn and my patience are going to go with this, but I can tick off a technique, and hopefully the novelty won't wear of before I can make an armpit bag that I will probably never use (ha)

My rainbow of Cascady goodness is started and going pretty damn fast by my standards (particularly since I haven't bothered to blog about it in 2 weeks). I'm not using a pattern for it, just a swatch and the instructions in Barbara Walker's Knitting From the Top, which looks to be such a brilliant book that I will forgive her for having a whole chapter on knitted trousers. This is going to be my Scotland holiday project, so I will put it away and finish up some other things in the next 3 weeks instead.

Snapping Turtle is still awaiting a zip because I am lazy.

Mia is still awaiting photos because I am Really lazy.

And because I am hopeless I just joined another Monthly Adventures challenge. I have til the 7th to make and embroider a stuffed toy. One evening and two legs down.

P.S. The bouncer in the night club last night recognised me from the knitting club in Poole and came over and started talking to me about socks and baby garments. Heh, love it. Rock'n'roll baby.

Hannah actually has some knitted stuff!

So, I've finally returned from Kentucky, land of yummy yarn shops and crappy internet connection, and yes, I had an amazing time, and no, I did not meet Colonel Sanders. (He's dead. Go figure.) I took off from Cincinnati airport in brilliant sunshine and landed at Heathrow in snow. Ah, welcome back to England, where Spring has a different meaning from the rest of the world. Mind you, it wasn't just in the UK; my layover in Minnesota, 'Land of 10,000 Lakes', was actually a layover in Minnesota, 'Land of 10,000 Ice rinks'.

I have loads to say, mostly about my 5 LYS trips and the $220 I spent there, but since I am hugely behind on my blogging I shall save that for tomorrow. For now, I have the 'PLURAL FO'S' that I seemed so excited about in February but never got around to blogging about for some reason.

These all seem pretty old now.

First off, the gifts I sent for the Monthly Adventurers Tops and Pots swap - in case you missed it when I was showing off my goodies in my last post (you know, the one so long ago you can't remember it), the idea was to send a knitted hat - in red, pink or white, since we started around Valentine's Day - and a recipe for a one-pot main meal.




















My hat to Paula aka TwinsMama, is the Sunflower Tam from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature, a gorgeous, gorgeous book I bought myself for my birthday. I liked this pattern when I flicked through the book but knew I would never wear it (berets and tams look ridiculous on me) so I was quite excited to make it for someone else. The yarn is Cascade 220 from Get Knitted.










































I also did some stash busting extra presents - a cute flower brooch and a couple of beanies for her boys (she is TwinsMama after all).

She sent me a fabby picure of them modelling for me, and waving my Jambalaya recipe that I made such a mess of the kitchen creating.



















This one's an even older FO, I finished this at the end of January, just in time for a 'knit-your-chrismas-yarn' knitalong that I won a runner up prize for! Woo!





































This is the Anthropologie Inspired Capelet, rewritten to work in the aran-ish yarn my Mum span me for Christmas. It's supposed to be reverse stocking stitch, but it's reversible and I prefer the inside. It's also technically round neck but my brooch is too heavy for it. Eh, I still like it.

By some bizarre coincidence, I just received my prize for this knitalong today. I would have got it sooner, but...er...I may have given our lovely group moderator the wrong address by mistake.

Anyhoo, I got some lovely soaps, a mini book on knitting and some cartoony post-its.



















Sweeeeet.

You can't tell in the picure above, but I'm wearing the capelet with my black skinny jeans and the 'be-nice-to-me-or-I-will-flatten-you' boots. According to Lucy I look like 'a dominatrix. But the sweet and fluffy kind.' I was previously unaware that there was a sweet and fluffy kind of dominatrix. How sheltered my life must have been.

Presents presents presents!!

Eee, lots of presents for meeee this weekend.

First off, from Knittensilly (Ravelry link):

This is from the Monthly Adventures February swap, the point of which was to knit a red, pink or white (Valentine's theme, natch) hat for your partner. I have issues with the self timer button on my camera. It takes too long and I really can't hold natural smiles for that long. Trust me, there are other photos that are worse than this.

She also sent me a recipe for chilli (the other half of the swap), an adorable sheep brooch, and some magnetic poetry I've been having way too much immature fun with. I apologise for my filthy mind, but seriously, it should not be this easy to make lewd suggestions out of knitting-related magnets.

And now, present from meeeee! to meeeee! (because I'm worth it)

NANONANONANONANONANONANO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love this baby. I was totally suckered in by the sales pitch, but it's soooo pretty!! I may be a huge geek and name it Mork. I want to take it to bed with me and whisper sweet nothings into its earphones while sensuously stroking its clickwheel, but I am a huge clutz and I know I would roll over in the night and crush it with my comparatively gigantic head. He is only tiny after all.

Ooh, bought a brooch to wear with my bolero too, so I shall wear it to uni tomorrow and badger someone into taking photos of me so I don't have to pull faces for the self timer again.