My heels do not need hats.

I just saw a kitchen fire in the block of flats opposite me. I could see the guy looking unconcerned in the next room while the grill got more and more insane so I called the fire brigade and they were already on the way! The family in the flat knew! They were perfectly aware that their kitchen was burning and they were just....standing there. Making no effort to usher their YOUNG CHILDREN out of the building. People astonish me.

(They are all fine now. Fireman Sam arrived and they have a very black kitchen but nothing worse.)

Anyhoooooo, I got my vest finished the day before the end of the Olympics and it looks fabby. Still haven't bothered to get photos taken. I'm not fond of posing - despite the fact the America's Next Top Model is my latest guilty pleasure. I unironically love that show. Oh the shame.

In the mean time, I have an older finished object.



These are the Hat-Heel socks from Knitty, knit up in stripy Regia. They were quick - I started on my way up to my parents at the beginning of January and I think I was finished by the end of the month, but I'm not entirely convinced I like them. I don't thinkt he heel's the right shape for me, it's a little baggy and I don't like the pick up ridges. Interesting to knit, but not something I'd repeat. I will repeat the Surprising stretchy bind off though, that's brilliant.

I have moved on to bigger and better things now with little purple lacey wotsits from the Cookie A. book!

FO: Candy

I finished my jacket :D It's not perfect - I was working from my own gauge so I really should have made more of a plan before I started knitting, and I changed things and made them up as I went along - but I'm pretty darn proud of it anyway. I was mildly hungover in this photo - that's what I'm blaming for the slightly confused expression. The plastic furniture background has to be blamed on my camera, which spazzed out and over-exposed EVERY OTHER ANGLE in the garden. Hey ho.

Pattern: Based on Candy, before being fiddled around with a bit.

Yarn: 100% wool bought from the Knitting4Fun stand at last year's Woolfest.

Modifications: Well, since I changed yarn weight, pretty much the whole garment, none of which I have notes for. I added some short rows around the back and shoulders to bring the neckline up a bit, and finished off with a couple of rows of pink before casting off.
The ribbing at the bottom edge was too small to meet in the middle due to my impressive grasp of what negative ease actually means, so I had to rip back and replace it with stocking stitch with some increases over my hips. I didn't knit enough ribbing on the bottom of this bit, so if I wear it unzipped it flips up at the back. Rats.
Finally, and again because it was a little too small without, I picked up along the edges and knit a band to give myself an extra inch, and decided on a zip rather than risk it straining and gapping around buttonholes. It is...not as easy as it should be to guess how long a finished zip band is going to be when you're deciding when to cast off the main body. Makes it somewhat awkward when zips only come in certain lengths. So yeah, it's a little longer than it should be and makes weird angles at the top and bottom. Who cares. I shall wear my first finished jacket with pride anyway.

(and the next one will be better thought out)

FO: Oliver Theo's Baby gifts

I have decided that I love making baby garments. I am going to start locking all the couples I know in cheesy lurve boudoirs until somebody else gets pregnant.

These are all knit in Rowan Extra fine Merino DK, which I think is discontinued now. Dang. I'm sure they have something similar though. The cardigan is based on Daisy, done in 2 row stripes (which I LOVE, no more ends to weave in!), with a moss stitch border added at the end.


The leftovers went into Seamless baby booties...

...and an improvised top down hat. I did initially start with a bottom up hat with a roll up brim which was fairly stupid as I used so much yarn on the brim that I ran out of green while I still had a bald patch sized hole to fill in. Top down makes much more sense. Plus my hat has a nipple.

*snigger*

Knitting socks in the costume show is apparently a tradition of mine

I am spending this week relaxing after a hectic weekend putting on the end of year costume and acting show at the Lighthouse Theatre (and going to the Summer Ball, for which I have the most ridiclous finished objects to show, once I find pictures). It was utterly exhausting, early mornings (getting to the theatre at 830am), late nights (leaving again at 1030pm) and frantic moments of trying to get 2 hours of sewing done in 20 minutes when three quarters of the sewing team haven't bothered to show up, but I got the last evening off to watch the performance and it was really good, so totally worth it. Plus! in between frantic repairs and alterations there were hours and hours of NOTHING to do, so I have finished my first Noro Jaywalker :D

And what's more, I have started the second one! I am NOT going to let this pair languish for a year like the last ones.

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.

I <3 Bosch

I thought I had better write a quick post before it gets to another 2 months with no word. 1930s suit finished and apparently performed in, but they didn't start the dress rehearsals til I was already gone, so I didn't get to see it. Shame. Currently my life is being consumed by this:

Anyone who has done dressmaking might know what a pain in the arse normal jetted pockets are, but curved ones? with 4mm jets? Oh my God. I must be insane. I have my next fitting in 12 days, and because it is now the Easter holidays, only 2 of those days are in uni. So, to make up for my withdrawal symptoms and rubbish home equipment I bought myself a very sexy new iron. It's sleek and black and so powerful I just set off the smoke alarms cleaning it, and it depresses me how excited I am by something that is really just a shiny, expensive LAUNDRY APPLIANCE. This is apparently how I spend the money that normal students spend on clothes and alcohol.

So that's taking up 95% of my waking hours right now, though in my 2 week easter break I have given myself one whole day of free time - I am allowing my boyfriend too drive me to Weymouth on Monday to see the new baby turtles at the sealife centre :D (*squeeeeeeal)

Other than that, I've been keeping myself (almost) sane with a couple of rows now and then on Candy, in the Knitting4Fun yarn I bought at Woolfest. It seems to be a little small at the moment. It is supposed to be knit with negative ease, but I may have overdone it slightly. Oh well, I can always add a massive buttonwrap.

So that's it. I'm well aware that I still haven't shown off my Christmas knitting, or even my finished-months-before-Christmas knitting,but I am also well aware that my degree will be finished in less than 2 months and sadly knitting is not much of a priority. But hey, there's every possiblity that when I graduate I'll be unemployed and living in a box, so I'll have all the time in the world for knitting and blogging!

Fingers crossed.

A hat! And a scarf! And no cold weather to wear them in!

I have housemates! They all moved in while I was up in Scotland, and while they're all very nice people and it's great to have someone to wander off to the student bar with, I'm still finding it highly odd to hear other people's voices in my house. They're all very impressed with my knitting too, which may have been a large factor in their earning my approval. Shelly, Emilie and Polly have all asked for knitting lessons. The boys haven't. Yet. I know they're just yearning to throw off the shackles of gender-based repression though...

My stripy cartoony jumper, though I was zipping through it at my parents, isn't going to be finished for enrollment tomorrow because I spent about 3 days casting off the hem so I'm now only halfway through the first sleeve. I'm using the 2x2 sewn bind off from the Vogue knitting book, so although it takes sodding ages, it doesn't have the chain along the bottom and it's a lot stretchier. I think I might unpick the neck edge and re-do it like this.

FOs though! I finished Thorpe about 3 weeks ago with some RYC Cashsoft from Get Knitted. (I like ordering from Get Knitted, they send you biros and lollipops in the package. Whee! Free stuff!) I decided it desperately needed a bobble on top, but apparently I've forgotten how to make them properly and it ended up so dense I could probably use it as a tennis ball.

I also finished My-So-Called Scarf before I moved but it only just got unpacked from my cold weather boxes. How can I forget about something this soft and yummy?! I feel unworthy. Malabrigo is just gorgeous. Smells bizarrely vinegary though. (Well, it did, now it smells of Persil Silk and Wool Wash)

And also, because obviously I am knitting so fast that my current yarn can't keep up (haha), we went yarn shopping in The Wool Shed in Oyne, where I displayed my stereotypical womanly ways by losing where we were on the map both on the way there and the way back.

Mum: Don't worry, we're taking the scenic route.

Hannah: We're in Scotland! It's all the scenic route!

These are buttons. Yes. They have no purpose yet, but I'm sure when I find it, it will be magnificent. They are from Touched by Scotland, a craft shop next door to the yarn shop, which sounds incredibly cheesy but is actually full of Very Very Nice Stuff.

Manos Silk Blend in 'A Shot in the Dark' for a lovely scarf, though possibly a short one I have to pin together with a brooch. Hmm.

This is...err...a stolen photograph of Jitterbug in Raphael, because my skein went into my slightly-less-accessible yarn storage before I took a photo and I'm too lazy to take it out again. For someone who previously didn't see the point in knitting socks, I seem to be developing something of a stash.

Must. Knit. Faster.

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.

Cornucopia Socks

Pattern: Cornucopia Socks

Yarn: Schoeller + Stahl Fortissima Socka Cotton Colour

I had a teensy bit of SSS with these socks,the first one was finished when I was in America,the second one didn't get past the ribbing for about 2 months. The wrapped short row heels are much nicer than the holey ones I used for my Mum's christmas socks (which I still don't have a photo of, hint hint Mother), but I think I still prefer a nice flap and gusset. For some reason I was a complete idiot and missed out the plain rows on the second toe, so one toe is half the size of the other. It's a good thing lace stretches.

That's all folks.

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.

Why in God's name did I do stripes?

GACK.

On the Needles

This now the third time I've attempted to update this blog. I'm gonna go and cry if it crashes again. On a lighter note, I found my camera, so I can upload my multiple WIPs

















Lace shawl based on Leaves &Waves, but without the strange block of stocking stitch. Made from a recycled charity shop jumper, which was great fun, especially with my new wool winder, despite the fact that it left mohair everywhere.

















Huge polo neck jumper which I'm worried is going to turn out somewhere between small enough to fit and big enough to look like it isn't meant to. Oh well, maybe it'll shrink in the wash.















Mmm Tempting. I love this project. Especially the yarn, it's so yummy and soft. It's gonna be so hard to go back to cheapo acrylic cack after this stuff.


Right, crossed fingers.