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!

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.

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.

Old ladies are officially cooler than me.

I was knitting on the bus yesterday and an old lady started a conversation with me about how unusual it is to see people knitting these days. I told her it gave me something to do on the achingly long journeys. She said she used to knit a lot and I asked why she didn't anymore, expecting her to blame arthritis or something similar. Nope.

"I don't really have the patience anymore. I tend to go out and enjoy life instead."

Well, dang. So that's it. I knit because I have no life. I knew something was missing.

Anyhoo, this is what I was knitting:

Ths is my first pair of toe-up socks, using the Knitty Universal toe-up formula, which has a short row toe starting from a provisional cast on. I love this toe, tis genius.

Other than that I haven't done a lot since the last time I updated. The month sort of ran away with me really. The Snapping Turtle skirt is 2 and a half rows down and, man these hexagons go slowly. I finished Mia, and will take a photograph at....some....point, but I didn't get to wear it. The dress I was making for Nancy and Olly's wedding is still in piles of spotty fabric on my desk because (surprise, surprise) my sewing machine broke again, and my fallback dress wasn't quite as shrug-friendly.

I really need to buy myself a new sewing machine.

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.

I am a mite pissed off

My boss tried to get hold of me when my bus was late to work this evening and called my old phone by accident- the one I lost 3 months ago. Some guy called Steve picked up. WTF??! What the hell is some guy called Steve doing with MY PHONE! I have spent most of the night fuming at the nerve of this arsehole. For god's sake, he could have at least put a new simcard in my handset. Of course, in clearing out my room I've chucked away all the old receipts and the like so I no longer have any proof that its my phone. Dammit. What are the chances that he just found it and he's honest enough to return it to me when I politely point out that it is in fact not his. I'm thinking slim. I may phone him tomorrow anyway, at least I'll get to vent my frustration at him if he doesn't. And then, since I am on contract now, I shall phone him every single night until he's forced to stop using My Sodding Mobile. Hahahahahaaaaaaaaa, sweet vengeance is mine.

Anyhoo, since I finished work early and am too irate to sleep, I guess it's as good a time as any for the long overdue update on My Life Since Uni.

Unfortunately, the last 3 weeks (I feel so ashamed that it's been that long) have been largely camera free, not through mechanical fault, just through my own laziness. For the whole 8 days I spent in Scotland, my camera didn't leave my bag once, so I have no pictures of the beautiful Moray Firth landscape, or the art festival we were volunteering at, and only one stolen piccie of my parent's new puppy.




































Say Aaaawww. This is Oscar. He likes eating, sleeping, running on the beach, chewing people's shoes, licking people's jeans and getting in the way of the tv when engaged in a wrestling match with his bed.

I managed to finish the back and knit one sleeve of my red jumper (which really needs a better name than 74-7 Ribbed Pullover in Safran - the Drops people make great patterns, but are rubbish at naming them). I was sort of knitting the sleeve on autopilot once I got to the stocking stitch, being determined to finish it even though halfway through I knew it was going to be too big. Bah. It is too big - I could probably fit a leg in there. It seems that despite swatching I didn't in fact get gauge. Must make bigger gauge swatches. Tsk. I shall go a couple of needle sizes down, and make it a bit slimmer anyway to make up for my twig-arms. I can show you the cuff though, for that ROCKS.






























I love those tucked ridges! And they're so simple, just stitches from four rows down hoiked up through the back and knit together with the new row. Definitely going to use this technique again. Hopefully it will make the fact that I have to knit the sleeve again from scratch more bearable.


This is getting to be quite a long post...


Luckily I have no photos again of the Costume show, in fact I was backstage and didn't see most of it, but in short it was an utter shambles and the director will not be invited back next year. After we had sorted out most of his disorganised messes for him, we had a ton of free time between frantic dressing sessions during which I finished a pair of socks....which I don't think I've mentioned on this blog yet...there will be photos. I am not putting a time limit on them though.

Last bit to squeeze in before I should really go to bed: I made my costume for the summer ball! In one and a half days! Yay! I can't bear to look at it too closely because in the last 2 years at uni I've been trained to be a perfectionist and there are an awful lot of cut corners, but to the untrained eye they were fantastic (ah, who am I kidding, they were fantastic anyway). This is me, my best friend and her boyfriend as the Jack, Queen and King of Hearts, in my favourite photo of the night. I have absolutely no idea who these people are but we were wandering round the site and found the ace to the eight of hearts! Love it.

So, stress causes ulcers huh?

Well I have a mouth full of the buggers. Seriously, I can't move my tongue without finding a new one. It ain't pretty. I spent most of the week wanting to batter my head against a wall until either my head or the wall broke, and I didn't much care which.

Anyhoo, these photos are from the toile fitting, over a week ago, before the nightmare started. At this point things were going well. Give it a couple of days and it'll be going well again. I have to keep telling myself this or I will throw my sewing machine out of the window and I quite like my sewing machine if I stop and think about it. Quite like my window too.

My model likes it at least, it's 'swishy' apparently. You can't see the pleats in the photo, but yes, they do swish. He's not overly keen on the breeches (can't imagine why), but he has already announced plans to steal the shirt.

I have until next Wednesday for my final fitting, which means all the garments done in proper fabric, finished apart from hems and fastenings. It's now half past midnight on Friday and I'm taking a break from sewing 18 metres of ribbon and eyelash yarn onto the front of my waistcoat. It really is as fun as it sounds, and according to my schedule I should have finished it on Tuesday. I love my degree I love my degree I love my degree.

Knitting wise, in the two whole minutes of free time I have had, I frogged Pomatomus because it is a silly, silly pattern and I dislike it. Alternatively, I made the catastrophic mistake of attempting to knit it without stitch markers in front of Torchwood. I cannot keep track of where to decrease when there are dashing young men kissing each other on my television screen. I would have restarted, but I only have one set of those needles and as soon as the sock was off my half finished mitten went back on. I have completed half of one mitten flap in the last fortnight. University deadlines do not make for exciting knitting progress. Oh well, next time maybe.

Swatches galore (I'm a good girl)

Three fabulous things about this week:

1. All my bits work properly again

Blood test results No. 3 came back on Wednesday and I have a healthy, happy liver again, ready for me to re-poison it for my birthday.

2. I am off to the Land of Fried Chicken

I'm back at university now and I've got a 3 week extension on the deadline. It will overlap with the next project so I'm not sure how that's going to pan out, but I'm ahead of schedule for my toile fitting next week. Worryingly the costume more or less fits me. Aside from arms down to his knees and legs up to his armpits, Francis is the same size as me. Poor boy needs to eat more. Best of all, I can still go to America :D Cincinnati is off, since the contact we had there has just resigned, but my tutor is now looking into sending me to Kentucky. Equally exciting I'm sure.

3. I picked up my needles again

Most important part, of course. This is the first half repeat of Pomatomus. It's touch and go whether I'll contine with this, I might do a few more rows and decide it's really the wrong pattern for this yarn, the YOs do look a bit huge.

And this is my new little goody-two-shoes pile of gauge swatches.




The grey one I did after Christmas with Jaeger merino for this jacket, provided I have enough once I've done all the maths. The purple and red I just did this evening while watching Dexter online. Ah, nothing like a friendly serial killer to bring out the domestic goddess in you. The purple is one of the handspuns from my Mum, and is destined for this, again, depending on re-mathing the pattern. The red is new Debbie Bliss Cathay which was on sale and will eventually become this. Now it just remains to be seen whether I actually find time to make the garments or whether I'm just left proudly waving my little squares.

Happy new year (eventually)

I'm not entirely sure why I've disappeared for a month. Again. Well, to be fair I initially vanished because I was only doing secret Christmas knitting, and then we went up to Scotland for Christmas, where we have no internet connection. But then I ran out of excuses. Oh well.

Christmas in Scotland was lovely, despite the lack of internet and mobile phone (itching for gossip a little by the end of the week I have to admit. My parents are retiring and fleeing north in a month, selling the 'proper' house and moving into the holiday home, so there was a lot of getting rid of old junk which I managed to avoid by hiding in my bedrom doing very last minute secret knitting. Bwah hah hah. All the gourmet food coming out of the kitchen was provided by Jack, who is training to be a chef and spent the week spoiling us on haddock chowder, roast venison and the like. Of course, he did need help with the piece de resistance. No way he could have pulled off this masterpiece on his own:

And here we have our lovely beach, complete with cliff, ruined church and girl showing off in hand-knitted hat and scarf. I may need a haircut.

My knitted Christmas presents were a huge successes (hurrah), despite my Dad casually mentioning 2 days before Christmas that he didn't really like knitted socks and managing not to notice my horrified facial expression. He did change his mind though and wore them quite a lot as walking socks, with thin shopbought ones underneath.

They went with my star find from ebay, a Meccano set that is even older than he is :P



Mum also got hand-knitted socks, recieved very excitedly (she bounced, seriously), but I stupidly didn't take a photo ad they were left in Scotland. Bah. Hopefully I'll get a photo off her in about a month.

I got spoiled by the ma with a boxfull of handspun yarny goodness.

This one is more purple than it looks and is possibly destined for some kind of shrug or bolero.

This one (which I have more of) is a more accurate photo and I have no idea what I will knit with it. But it will be mgnificent, I can assure you.

I shall leave you with the more...interesting presents left by Santa, the thing I never expected to unwrap but made my day. Well chuffed with these :D

This is from my friend Kerri, came from Ghana, and is likely to terrify me when I wake up in the middle of the night and forget about it.



These ones on the other hand, terrify my mum instead. Lucy knows me too well. I love my new FootBobs.

Happy 2008 everyone!

Bed rest is for wimps

So apparently its more a case of I have glandular fever. As in, right now. As in, ill, infectious and not allowed to interact with other human beings. Well, bugger.

Ysterday I got a letter from the doctor (yet another different one, I'm collecting the whole set) stating that for the next three weeks I can't go to university, I can't go to work and I can't have any form of social life. So glad I hadn't bought tickets yet for any of the Christmas events I wanted to go to. Oh, and there goes the lovely deadline the day before my birthday. I was looking forward to doing nothing on my 22nd and now I'll have at least a 3 week extension. *sigh*

Hey ho, I'm not gonna let it get me down, so I'm spending today looking for a Christmas tree to put up tomorrow! Yay!

P.S. Finished Dad's socks yesterday, will take a photo Christmas day, when there is actually a foot or two in them.

I have been ill. Apparently. Hmm.

I have been in and out of various GP's surgeries and hospital waiting rooms this week since finally getting round to telling my doctor (well, a doctor, my doctor has been off so I've seen 3 different people this week) that I've been feeling tired for the last 3 months. I'm not the kind of person who generally goes to the doctor and I can't remember that last time I took a day off sick, so I've been pretty much ignoring it over the summer and telling myself that feeling tired wasn't a big deal, but it has eventually come to my attention that its affecting my work. I think in the last design unit I was putting the blah feeling down to lack of creative inspiration, but now that I'm doing practical work that requires knowledge rather than imagination its getting obvious that I'm struggling to concentrate on things I can usually do easily. Finally toddled off to the doctor once my supervisor noticed me staring at a coat pattern for about half an hour without picking up a pencil and threatened to send me home if she saw me again before I had spoken to someone.

Amazingly, I wasn't told to go home and stop being a hypochondriac and was instead packed off to Bournemouth Royal for blood tests, and just got the results today. Thinking about it over the weekend, I was expecting the most likely thing to hear was 'You're slightly anaemic, eat more red meat and stop buying chicken just because its the cheapest thing in the supermarket'. I was certainly not expecting the tests to come back positive for glandular fever. Huh? Ok, fabulous, its common among young people and not overly serious, but really, I've had glandular fever recently and haven't noticed? Isn't there supposed to be a sore throat involved at the very least? How did I miss that one? Hey ho, I'm off for more needley goodness in a couple of weeks to see if its gone or if its still an issue. Oh, and I have slightly abnormal liver functions as a result so my doctor has advised me not to drink. I pouted at him and told him I would moderate myself but he shouldn't expect miracles in the run-up to Christmas. Ha, I laugh in the face of danger.

No knitting photos I'm afraid, sitting around for hours in waiting rooms is wonderful for knitting progress and I've nearly finished sock 2, but it shockingly looks exactly the same as sock 1 so doesn't make for very exciting photographs.

Christmas knitting is well on its way (hurrah), this is sock 1 from Yarn Harlot's Earl Grey socks for my Dad. It looks huge, probably because it's largely stocking stitch and the last socks I made were ribbed, but I think it should fit. This only took me a week, very pleased with that, since I remember my ribbed socks taking fricking ages. Sock 2 will take longer (though I HAVE started it) now that I've started my next unit on the costume course, but still, it's going well so I may just finish it in time to make myself some mittens and a jumper to celebrate/hide from the winter.




















We're now a week into our making project at uni, and I'm torn between being excited about it, and being extremely pissed off, almost to the point of making a formal complaint because my unit leader is being such a useless twat (ahem). Everyone had their designs and their model's names handed out on Wednesday, except me. She forgot about me. Seriously. Once I finally did have a design, I was told they had run out of male acting students, so I would have to fit mine to a first year costume student, so there's every possibility that it won't actually appear in the costume show. Now here comes the fun part. Nobody bothered to tell said costume student that he was modelling for me so he didn't come in to be measured last week. If it wasn't for the fact that I already know him, he still wouldn't know now. As it is, I won't be able to measure him till tomorrow which puts me at a four day disadvantage to everyone else in the class. *fume*
On the other hand, I'm dead excited because the cutting workshops have renewed my love for the eighteenth century. Mmmm, sack back dresses and square cut coats, yom yom yom. All perfect seams and pleats as far as the eye can see. Precision cutting is why I want to do costume. Everyone else was staring at me wierdly when I admitted how happy flat pattern drafting made me.

This is the design I will (eventually) be making. It wasn't my first choice, but it's grown on me now, especially since Francis (my model) is flouncy and over the top and absolutely PERFECT for this character.

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.

Hmm, I should really be less lazy about updating this blog, particularly when SP6 is going on.

Tempting is finally finished (Yay!) and it actually fits this time (Yay!), but I can't find my camera, so no pictures yet (Not so yay!). I've also made a start on sock number 2, mainly so I can get another project over with before I go to the Knitting and Stitching show. Less than a week! Eeee!

My wonderful secret pal sent me Rowan 34, which I've been trying to get hold of on ebay for ages (thankyou again!), so I'll have to look for some yarn for this when I'm there:

















Mmmm...fairytaley. Not sure what colour to do, I don't really wear light colours that much and the pattern would probably be lost in dark colours.

I'm also very fond of these, so if I get my way I'll end up with far too many cardigans and no money.




































And last but not least, I started learning to crochet last night. My sample is laughable as I didn't realise I was missing out a stitch at the beginning of every row, but it's sorted now, and I reckon its not half bad for a first attempt.

Socksss

My mother has come back from holiday bearing gifts! Oh yes, life is good :D


















Same yarn as for Broadstreet Mittens (put on hold till I get some practice), so I already had the right needles to go with it. How convenient...




















Since taking the photo I'm about halfway through the heel band about to start the complicated bit. Eep. Also, is it normal to knit inside out in circles? I've only ever done Tempting knitting before, which is in 2x2 rib so I can't tell the difference.