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)

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.

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.

Confessions of a Rapunzel hater

Ok, I have to admit to something embarrassing. A couple of weeks ago I realised why Rapunzel doesn't fit. If any of you have read the pattern, you will now that the moss stitch section is actually fair isle moss stitch. It's not in a pattern of any kind, just every other stitch, in the same colour yarn so I decided it was kind of pointless to go through the fiddly process of learning fair isle which wasn't going to be that noticeable. I just left it out. What didn't click in my inexperienced brain was that fair isle has lots of little threads woven across the back. Which stops it stretching so much. Which changes the gauge. Ah.

Boy do I feel foolish.

Mind you, what I said about not knitting without doing the maths first still stands, even with the shoulder seams in the right place, the sleeves are too long, something of a rarity for me. Once I pluck up the courage I will take it into university to attack it with the overlockers and pray it doesn't unravel.

On a brighter note, I had my hand-in today! Yays! No coursework for the weekend and my Christmas gift yarn has arrived from cnyttanpatterns.com. I've been very good and not even unwrapped the package for the last 3 days so I'm making up for it tomorrow by spending the entire day on the sofa knitting, watching DVDs and eating cake. Oh yes. It will be magnificent.

I am finally back online in Bournemouth after being pissed about by Virgin Media for about 2 weeks and my God I have missed it so much. I have access to the internet at uni, but the library is always so busy that I just about have time to check my email before I have to relinquish the computer to someone who's actually trying to do work (pah, who are they trying to kid?) I am gonna attempt to keep up to date on my blog now I'm back on the net, partly because it's a fantastic way to procrastinate from what I'm supposed to be doing (my poor sketchbook is lying abandoned under a pile of books and magazines on my desk) and partly because Alison called me sparkly and full of life, and that made me disproportionately happy. And also because I get to use words like disproportionately, which just don't fit into everyday conversation.

So, yes, 2 week catch up, uni is going slowly, we're on a design project (my last with any luck) at the moment which means largely independent study rather than studio time, so not that great for getting back into the swing of early mornings. I'm in the same house as last year, which is great 'cause I don't have to work to make it feel like home. My new housemates are lovely, though at this stage that opinion is mainly based on the fact that I'm not the only person in the house doing the washing up and taking the bins out. I also just started a job last week working behind the bar of my favourite club - could be a little odd when I go there on a night out, but at least I like the music and the clientele. It's only 2 nights a week on minimum wage, but I get by pretty well on my student loan anyway so that just means an extra £70 a week to spend on whatever I want. I’m thinking new knee high boots, if I ever find a decent shoe shop that sells half sizes.

Knitting wise I'm in a bit of a bad mood recently. I seamed up Rapunzel when I got back and it doesn't fit. I am devastated. Seriously, I think this was designed for rugby players; the shoulder seams are about 3 inches longer than my shoulders. I vow never to knit from another pattern without doing my own maths first. I'm currently debating whether to cut and sew (dead scary) or rip it back and knit it again (annoying as hell).
I got Chloe up to the neckline, but yesterday I decided it was a bit baggy in the chest so I've ripped that back to where I attached the sleeves and I'm gonna put some more decreases in it.
On a more positive note, I finished my roll neck jumper just before the holidays (but forgot to take it home). I realised halfway through knitting it that it wasn't going to fit me, but was hoping it would fit my mum, and Ta Da! It does! Success at last.

Hmm. My New year's resolution to update blogs more often hasn't gone that well so far. Oops.

Just finished my Christmas presents in time (had to get up at 730 to bind off my boyfriend's before he woke up!) I have photos of them in use somewhere, but I think I'll have to go on a hunt for them.
Moss stitch scarf for me brother, which I've been told was mistaken for a Ted Baker (ooh, swanky)














Tychus for my dad. Either my guage is still way off, which I don't think it is, or the guy Tychus was made for has a huge head. I only used 4 of the 5 sections in this.














Tychus No.2 for my boyfriend, minus the mistake I made on my Dad's seam.














So I'm back onto knitting for myself now! (yay!) The back and left front of Rapunzel are done, and I'm gonna start my gloves soon, which probably means they'll be finished by about May, and I've promised something for Clare's babber, which is due in February.

I got my last SP6 package in the post last week, which was lovely, especially as it included things for my Mexico trip (so thoughtful!) and a pattern that's actually been in my favourites for a few months without my pal's knowledge!
So, I got: a mosquito net, a sleeping bag liner, a massage thingie (technical term that), some lovely fruity candles, this corset pattern, some simple bag patterns, and a skein of Noro Blossom, which smells of lovely fruity candles and is wonderfully soft and squishy.




























Finally finished my socks after Christmas as well, they're keeping my feet nice and cosy right now, and they do look fab, but I don't think I'll be sock knitting again, far too much hard work for something that gets hidden beneath shoes.

Christmas presents started...

Oh God I've been a bad blogger. Well I didn't have the time to get on the internet, and then my Dad borrowed my digital camera and then I...ran out of excuses. Bad Hannah *slaps*

Well, last week (adding to my guilt at not displaying my loot to the world), I got another package from my Secret Pal:


I got:
A couple of cinnamon scented candles, being saved for when we put the Christmas decs up,
A pile of Sanctuary skin care products, looking forward to having an ounce of spare time so I can actually try them out,
A book token, which turned very quickly into the first of the Sacvenger trilogy by K J Parker,
and some lovely lovely Lindt chocolate which I can't seem to find anymore...


Thankyou again Secret pal!


Rapunzel is on the way, I've nearly finished the back and I'm loving every stitch, but it's had to be put on hold to start the Christmas presents.















So, first Christmas present started, and half finished is a moss stitch scarf for my brother, I reckon I should have this finished by the end of November. I hope.

Photos!

So, now that I can actually get some photos online, here is the finished Tempting (hoorah!)



















I can't believe how big the pattern is, I did a size smaller than I usually wear and went down several needle sizes for the top and it still slips about like crazy. It looks navy but it's really a teal blue.

And then this is all my lovely yarn from the knitting and stitching show :D Very sorry if you don't have broadband, far too many photos for one post.













Mystery cheapo £1 a ball stuff, no idea what I'm gonna do with this, the white stuff is really odd, feels almost like raffia.













Lovely neutral coloured yarn for a scarf for my brother.













Bargain grey Jaeger merino wool, probably for a jacket of some kind.













'Black Watch' lambswool from Touchyarns New Zealand, which doesn't photograph very well but has bits of dark green and blue throughout it. Ooh, gorgeous.















More lambswool from Touchyarns, this one's for Rapunzel and did look a lot prettier before I balled it up, but is knitting up perfect all the same. I started knitting on the train up to Norwich to see my boyfriend at the weekend and managed to make a grand total of 5 false starts. I think I may have underestimated how long it would take me to get used to knitting from a chart. Thankfully it clicked into place on the way back and I'm now a few inches in and totally in love.

And finally, my second package from my secret pal, all with an underwater theme. Except for maybe the sweets.
















So, there is: 2 pages of fishy cartoon stickers, for sticking on windows I think...please correct me if I'm wrong before I go and wreck my glass, 2 pages of metallic fish stickers - I'm vaguely thinking about holding a underwater themed party to raise money for the conservation project in Mexico so they'd be good for the invites, if I don't do that (knowing me, I won't), I'll save them for a photo album when I get back, - a candy necklace which I'm eating as I type (in the proper fashion of course, whilst wearing it), and a tropical fish inpired ball of sock yarn, which is most likely to turn into a pair of gloves, so I can show it off without removing my shoes!

Right, I'm now off to knit some more of Rapunzel in front of the telly.