Season appropriate accesories need not apply

Only 4 days later, not half bad.


I have finished that sodding project report, I'm now procrastinating when I should be writing my essay. Plus, its a bright sunshiney day, so obviously the perfect time for me to take photos of myself in knitwear. Hmm.


I finished off my chocolate chip mittens. Actually I finished these in Kentucky, and they have been getting much wear, but I only sewed the buttons on two days ago. I like the buttons, they stop the tops flapping about like...annoying flappy things. Not feeling at my wittiest today.

















I also just wove in my ends for Quant, made from a surprise single skein of handspun that my Mum posted along with the usual package of things I forgot and left at home when I went back to uni. I'm not entirely convinced about this one. Not sure headbands suit me. Mind you, I need a haircut and I'm toying with the idea of a fringe, maybe it'll look better with less forehead on show.

Dapper gentlemen, drunk Americans and the best golf course ever

Apologies for the entire lack of Kentucky update, I have been mildly frantic for the past fortnight getting ready for this fitting.

Yes, all the boys in the Arts Institute are this skinny. Have to say, I love Victorian trousers. You can't see beneath the waistcoat, but they practically come up to his nipples. It's so funny to see guys who are used to baggy hipsters coming out of the fitting room with the waistband where they think it should be and the crotch around their knees. Of course,doing a WHITE SUIT! AGAIN! doesn't make for very exciting photos. Dang.

So, Kentucky. Hmm. I have to submit a 2500 word report on my experiences there in a week and I'm kinda struggling to write it. Yes, I made loads of friends, and yes I bought lots of yarn, and yes, I slaughtered everyone at poker (the first time at least,they got their own back for my beginner's luck after that), but I don't think that really makes degree worthy writing. As for what I meant to be doing, it sort of dissolved as soon as I arrived. The play I was supposedly woking on was contmporary and the applique adjustments I was supposedly going to making on the bought clothes ended up being professionally printed instead. Nuts. I spent most of my time learning beading and embroidery (no help whatsoever to Kentucky, just to me) and taking up hems for people.

I'm not complaining, I had an awesome time. I actually had more of a social life in the last 3 weeks there than I have in a whole year here (if only because i don't have enough free time in Bournemouth). I learnt the quaint tradition of beer pong, got addicted to Rock Band on the Xbox and went to Keeneland racetrack on my last day, where I didn't win anything, but one of my friends won $780 and spent the rest of the day in a bit of a daze. I met some of the best people in the world there and I wouldn't change it for anything, but it does make the follow-up written work a little tricky.

I've been doing a fair bit of knitting (read: procrastinating) recently - mostly on 50 million different projects, but I have a couple more FOs once I've woven ends in and sewn on buttons. Of course, I should have realised by now that promising photos in the next post means the next post won't appear for about a month. So, you may see my gloves in early June. Lucky, lucky blog.

P.S. Went out for pub golf for my housemates' birthday last week. Baked them the best cake in the world. Ah, I am the Sultan of Smug.

An epic guide to Lexington yarn shops.

I've been back 3 days now, and I have only just finished unpacking. My bedroom is a mess and my yarn box is now beyond overflowing, to the point where I have to give up trying to stuff things in and just resign myself to storing it in plastic bags on the floor. And in three months time I will be moving to a house with a smaller bedroom. Hmm. I get my own ensuite though, so maybe I should just give up washing and store my yarn in the shower?

Lexington, Kentucky has 3 yarn shops listed in the Yellow Pages and I visited them all. It was magnificent.

By far my favourite was Rebelle. The yarn is organised by brand and to a lesser extent by fibre content. It's only a little store but it's jampacked with stuff I'd never even seen online before. I played it safe this time though and only got what I came for - rainbow and black yarns for a stripy raglan in nice, basic Cascade.

Magpie yarns was an accident. I couldn't find it on the map when I was looking in the phone book, so I'd given up on visiting it, but then I stumbled across it when I was out buying embroidery thread. It's very spacious and the owner was lovely, but the yarn was organised by colour which I didn't really like. I did buy the Knitting Beyond The Edge book though, just because I couldn't bear to leave empty-handed.

The Stitch Niche (which they annoyingly insisted on calling The Stitch Nitch) was the furthest away - I have no idea why I thought it would be a good idea to walk there. It took me about an hour and a half. Bah. It was pretty big and well stocked though. About half the stock is synthetic and novelty yarns, but the other half is lovely, squishy, natural stuff. No price tags on anything though, very irritating. This is where I bought 8 balls of Berocco Suede. I know I told myself I would never knit 100% synthetic again, but I don't think I'd be able to find anything similar to this, and besides, it's for a skirt, and you don't want to go messing around with unsuitable fabrics for something hanging off your arse. I got 4 balls each of the light and medium blue for Norah Gaughan's Snapping Turtle skirt and had to bring it home in my hand luggage because my suitcase was stuffed with Cascade. Oops.

But I didn't stop there. Oh no. I went back to Rebelle for a couple of Interweave Knits (which I love, but can't get for a decent price in England), and found the 25th anniversary Vogue Knitting magazine in the clearance sale for $4. Over 60 patterns for £2! Bargain! I promised the cashier when I was leaving that I wouldn't be back because I had just broken into my last traveller's cheque and I knew my suitcase was already threatening to self destruct. The cashier just looked at me like she had heard that one a million times before. I assured her again that I wouldn't come back.

I came back.

This one needs back story. My first day on this trip was not a good start. Along with a scary hour long interrogation with the nice fellows at Immigration (I eventually managed to persuade them that I wasn't looking for a husband), and a cancelled flight that left me stranded in Minneapolis overnight, I lost my scarf somewhere in Gatwick airport. Yes, the stripy scarf, the grey and white one I can wear with everything, the first thing I knitted myself that I actually wore, is gone. I like to think that it was found and appreciated and is now keeping someone else's neck warm, but at the same time I have nightmares that someone thought it was a bomb and performed a controlled explosion. So, I need a new scarf (obviously all the other scarves I have won't do to replace it). And I've had the My So-Called Scarf pattern in my to-do list for years. And that green malabrigo I saw the day before was haunting me. It was so soft and squooshy! There's a reason this yarn has fan clubs. And dude! Green! I love green! I bought two skeins the next day, very sheepishly. I think it was worth it.

I went to America with $750 dollars. After all that yarn, 7 new tshirts, 2 pairs of shoes, birthday presents and the everyday essentials of food and vodka, I came back with 83 cents. I do not regret a bit of it.

Tune in next time to discover what I was actually doing in Kentucky (no, I didn't go purely to buy yarn).

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.

Why in God's name did I do stripes?

GACK.

Ah, Eighteenth Century Man. How glad I am to be rid of you.

My God, I will not miss this costume.

This is not a good photo. Francis is in a piss with me because I was in a rush and wouldn't let him sort out his hat hair. Hahaha. Why yes, I am mildly evil and taking out my stress on poor defenceless models, thankyou for asking. As you can see, the costume is perfectly magnificent in every way and this is why I have spent the last fortnight eating frozen curry and takeaway pizza when I had the time to eat anything at all, and going to bed no earlier than 2am. Coursework deadlines are not conducive to healthy lifestyles. Or blogging, surprisingly. Finally got this handed in on Thursday and spent at least 75% of my weekend in bed. It was goooooood. Of course, I am choosing to ignore the fact that this extension has put me almost 3 weeks behind on my Victorian tailoring unit, for which I am making (drumroll please)...another white suit. *sigh*

Other spiffy (or not so) things which have happened in the month of my tragic absence:

1. I turned 22

There was alcohol involved. I'm in a weird limbo stage at uni, all my friends from home have graduated and gotten themselves proper jobs and make me feel young, all my friends here didn't take a gap year/foundation year and are thus 19 and 20 and delight in giving me birthday cards with little old ladies on. I still have my birthday cards on my windowsill, almost a month later.

2. I bought my flights to Kentucky

I may well have bought these over a month ago, I'm not sure, everything blurred out of focus this month. However, I do know for sure that I got my dollars this weekend. I am feeling much smugness after some very good wage-saving last summer, and refusing to go shopping in England, so I've managed to load myself with £400 worth of Green for some lovely cheap suitcase filling. I <3 the exchange rate.

3. I am scarred for life

This would come under the not so spiffy category. I also may be being a little dramatic, I am hopefully only scarred for the next couple of weeks. Someone threw a bottle at me in a club. There was lots of blood, a whole half hour on the dancefloor and then three hours in A&E where a chav with a broken thumb and terrible teeth attempted to chat me up. No stitches though, and no concussion, though I did make the effort to look wan and wobbly the next night until my boss sent me home from work early. Score.

4. I have FOs!

FOs! Plural! Although, neither are blocked, and I feel they deserve a post of their own anyhow. In the next few days maybe.

Ta ta for now, I am off to start researching an essay on Iranian cinema, because I am diverse and interesting like that.

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.

Roundup of 2007

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
Worked in a bar, span fire poi, hosted an Ann Summers party (so much fun), threw up due to excess of alcohol (damned dodgy liver), went to a funeral.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
No, the few times I remembered I wanted to give blood I wasn’t allowed to because my blood was sullied, and I gave up on juggling ages ago.
Resolutions for 2008: Go to the cinema/theatre more often, cook more fresh food instead of throwing crap from the freezer into the oven, give blood, getting some sewing done in my own time, not just at uni.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My grandma on my Dad’s side, aged 91.

5. What countries did you visit?
The Netherlands, Scotland.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
Boundless energy. What the hell happened to my ability to be up and out of the house before any of my housemates emerged?

7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I can’t think of one, so I guess there isn’t one. It hasn’t been a very memorable year.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Leaving my job in the hotel and going home for the rest of the summer. That doesn’t seem like a very big thing, but that was the moment when I realised I had to listen to myself and actually live instead of just exist, stop feeling like a failure for being unhappy and do something about it instead.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Giving someone too many second chances that he didn’t deserve or appreciate.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Glandular fever, which disappeared amazingly quickly, but left my liver in a bit of a state.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My new boots! They are gorgeous! Even though they still squeak.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Practically ALL my friends from school who now have proper grown-up jobs. I am so behind. *sigh*

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Mine. See question 9.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent I guess. How thrilling.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Going on holiday with my friends in Easter – Amsterdam followed by the British Juggling Convention.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
Oh God, that bloody umbrella song.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?
Hmm. Sadder, but optimistic.
ii. thinner or fatter?
I’m not sure. Every time I go home my Mum says ‘You’ve put on weight’ or ‘You’ve lost weight’ but I never notice myself.
iii. richer or poorer?
Richer, did a good job of saving my wages for this summer.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Going out. At this rate I’m going to miss my 3 year clubbing window before I have to start working for a living.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Sleeping. I love my lie-ins, but I do regret them when I don’t have enough day left.

20. How will you be spending/did you spend Christmas?
In Scotland with the family, where there was tragically no snow.

21. How will you be spending/did you spend New Year's Eve?
House party at Alix’s in the party central of Chinnor! Oh Yeeeaaaah!!

22. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
21, didn’t actually do anything on my birthday due to lovely deadlines, but went out every night the week after, then went home and saw the Lion King with my parents. Top notch.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Heroes.

24. What was the best book you read?
The Time Traveller’s Wife

26. What was your favorite film of this year?
I’d say Pan’s Labyrinth, but that was a late showing of a film that came out last year, so Atonement.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I don’t give half an arse about music. I went to see the Lion King for my birthday, does that count? It’s a musical…

27. What did you want and get?
Adoring fans and sweet sweet revenge. No? Ok, a job in Sound Circus.

28. What are you looking forward to in 2008?
International study exchange to America. If it actually happens. Cross your fingers.

29. Did you fall in love in 2007?
No

30. How many one-night stands?
Enough.

31. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I’ve struggled with this one, but no, more regret and annoyance that we can’t be friends anymore.

32.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Not losing all my energy! Damn glandular fever.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Jeans and cartoon tshirts.

34. What kept you sane?
People around to make me smile.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
James McAvoy, for he is beautiful. Mmmm

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Err……I can’t think of anything. I am sadly behind on the news.

37. Who did you miss?
All my friends at home while I was attempting to be ‘independent’ over the summer.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
The new friends I’ve made since starting my job in Sound Circus

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007:
I am way too young to settle for a life that isn’t making me happy. If its not perfect, don’t wait for it to change. I wish I’d figured this out sooner.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
'I’m not in love, I just wanna be touched.' I say. Ok, I admit, this was just playing on the radio while I was filling in the quiz.


Hmm. Looking back on this quiz it seems like I've had a pretty bad year. I haven't, honest. Just perhaps not as good as 2006.

A week into 2008 and I still haven't knit a single stitch.

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!

Nearly better now, haha

My glandular fever (aka sore throat) lasted a grand total of seven days. I obviously have a hardcore immune system. Oh yeah, these white blood cells are trained like Spartans. With any luck I'll be back in uni in January and still able to go to America.

Our Christmas tree is up, take a look.

Doesn't it look...well, amateur. But in a festive and enthusiastic kind of a way. Planning to have a fake Christmas dinner with my housemates on Wednesday and since we're a bit late to make christmas cake or pudding we've decided we're going to have the very traditional apple crumble. Hmm. I would have fought for yule log or trifle, but I like apple crumble, so I can't complain.

Back onto knitting for me now, I'm about halfway through my first Broadstreet mitten (except I'm not actually following the pattern, so they're just Broadstreetish) I still love this yarn and I can't believe its taken me over 2 years to getting round to using it. These are my chocolate chip cookie dough gloves.

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.

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.

Happy Hallowe'en

Ok, a bit late I know, but I was at work last night and I have been studiously designing all day. We had a Hallowe'en theme night last night and I was the only barmaid who bothered to get dressed up (well, made-up). Most disappointing. Took me about an hour to do this, and about the same again to take it all off again at the end of the night, and I am TX from Terminator 3, NOT Seven of Nine - that got so annoying by the end of the night.

















All that trouble to run around behind a bar all night. Mind you, I have so much coursework to do that if I hadn't been working I probably wouldn't have gone out last night at all, so it can't be all bad.

I am still not knitting, honest, this is just something I forgot to blog when I finished it at the start of the summer holidays.


















This was started aaages ago, last summer when I was getting bored and annoyed with my gloves and I had time to kill in New York and decided to go hunting for yarn shops. The yarn is alpaca and the ball band is...around here somewhere I'm sure..., the needles were just a last second grab because I only had DPNs with me and I'm so pissed off that I chucked the packaging away ecause they are the most beautiful needles I've ever usedand if I knew the brand I'd go and buy the entire set right now. Hey ho, probably best I can't find them again, gone slightly over budget this month anyway.

Less than a week til the deadline, then I can start knitting again! And reading, and watching TV, and going out, and generally enjoying life. Sounds like a distant dream really...

Hurrah, yet another distraction.

Oh God, I got my Ravelry invite last night. This was badly timed. How on Earth am I gonna meet my coursework deadline now? Meep.

Forgot about this yesterday...

Alison at Mother of all Needles tagged me for the 8 random things meme last week, so here you go, a bunch of random stuff you never needed to know about me:

1. I'm far more into film than music. This makes it quite awkward to be a student, as the inevitable question everyone asks when getting to know each other is 'What kind of music are you into?' I hate that question.

2. I feel more at home on the streets of Manhattan than I do in London. I plan to move to New York for a few years after I graduate.

3. I was apparently quite a lovely teenager. This may have been because I had already gone through my phase of having no friends and writing poetry about death. At the age of nine.

4. I've been a member of my university juggling club for nearly a year now. I can spin poi, I've just started to learn devilsticks, but to the huge disappointment of the 5 people who've tried to teach me, I still can't juggle.

5. I developed a taste for books at an early age. No, seriously. I used to eat them.

6. I have a huge weakness for Scottish accents. This works out quite well as I also have something of a weakness for men in kilts.

7. My favourite TV programme ever is Spaced by Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson. However, I think I first watched it too young and it made too much of an impression on me. Since falling in love with Tim Bisley at the age of 11, every guy I've dated has been skinny, scruffy and slightly geeky.

8. I don't agree with cosmetic surgery, but I would jump at the chance if they ever figured out how to give humans gills.

Right, I am now making a pledge not to do any knitting whatsoever for the next 3 weeks as I'm so scarily behind with my coursework. Let's see how long that lasts.

Mmmmmshopping

Last Wednesday (hmm, that was a while ago, not had a chance to blog in far too long) the uni took us on a fabric shopping trip to London to get samples for our design project. Since I plan to make all my costumes from cheapo fabrics bought from the uni and manipulated in the craft room rather than buying fancy expensive Soho stuff, and since the trip wasn't optional, I moaned most of the way there.

Until I remembered that there's a John Lewis on Oxford Street.

This is a Big Thing for me. We don't have any yarn shops in Bournemouth. Or, more accurately, we have about 7 (which I looked up on yell.com and wasted 2 days visiting), all of which sell plastic yarn and plastic needles. Not a single scrap of natural fibres anywhere near me.

So after trying not to drool all the way down the road, I dragged my rather sceptical, non-knitting friend Lucy up to the haberdashery section with me, and after LOTS of oohing ad aahing emerged with 11 balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Baby for another jumper I'm designing.
















Yom yom yom.

Once we got into the yarny goodness Lucy didn't seem so sceptical and eventually admitted that she'd quite like to make a scarf. I tried very hard not to bounce excitedly as I forced yarn and needles into her hands and pushed her towards the till. I thought she might be a little put off if she realised just how insane people turn once they catch the yarn bug.

Eventually re-appeared in the real world feeling elated, but also slightly ashamed of spending £50 on yarn (John Lewis not too friendly for a student budget), so to make myself feel better I went into Schuh and bought some new boots. I am the Queen of Logic. They were a huge bargain though, and so pretty, and they fitted my legs perfectly. I know that for a pair of boots with laces and buckles up the wazoo that was a fairly silly reason since I could just adjust them if they didn't fit, but having the display pair hug my calves like a second skin just felt like fate.





















I LOVE thse boots. I just went to take the bins out and got a wolf whistle from the builders over the road. Heh.

Spent the coach ride back teaching Lucy how to cast on and do drop stitches (she already knew how to do garter stitch but wanted something a bit faster). I've taught a couple of people to knit before but I always find it weird going slow enough to break down exactly what I'm doing. At first Lucy was having trouble holding the yarn and needles at the same time, and I realised that I picked my yarn so automatically that I actually had no idea what I was doing with my fingers, so I had to teach myself again before I could teach her! She's now itching to add tassels because apparently it isn't a scarf without tassels.

It was my cousin's 30th birthday this weekend so I went home to drive up there with my parents and to show off my new yarn and boots to my Mum on the way. My Mum has this wonderful ability to completely outdo my splurges and stop me feeling guilty by buying far more impulse purchases than me. Our study now contains - along with the yarn winder, niddy-noody, drum carder and THREE spinning wheels - a knitting machine and a loom. It is no wonder my Dad's going grey.