As expected, I spent most of the Famine on the couch knitting and watching videos. In terms of the latter, I made it through I, Claudius (parts I-II) and Cold Comfort Farm. (I saw something nasty in the woodshed!) With the knitting, I made a good start on the Ravenclaw scarf commission I got last week. (In case you’re wondering, those are the colors from the book, not the movie.) I also cranked out three cotton “Reverse Bloom Flower Washcloths” from the Weekend Knitting book. I’m planning to send them out as gifts to my Famine supporters. Cute, huh? I still need to block them so they lie flat, but I’m happy with how they turned out.
Tag: knitting
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Weekend Knitting Output
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Weekend Update
Weekend Update
Three-day weekends are just glorious, aren’t they? It’s the perfect amount of weekend time. We had one day for socializing, one day for housework, and one day for hobbies. It was brilliant.- Friday night: Stayed up late to watch The Mummy on TV and work on my sweater.
- Saturday morning: Took Amy to the vet for her last kitten vaccination. She whined and struggled the whole way there. Not fun.
- Saturday afternoon: Workout time! Legs and biceps.
- Later Saturday afternoon: Drinkies with friends. We got to see Mr. and Mrs. Healy for the first time since their honeymoon. I also partook of a hookah for the first time in my life. Apple tobacco tastes like candy!
- Saturday night: Dinner at JuJu’s in King’s Cross with Andrew and Kathleen. It’s supposed to be one of the best and most authentic Japanese places in the city. You have to take your shoes off when you go in! At one point I got up to go to the bathroom and Andrew warned me about “weird bathroom etiquette.” My mind immediately flashed: “Ass towels!” But it wasn’t. Instead you just had to slip on these weird sports sandals to go in. The food was fabulous though. I ate fish egg udon! I just pretended that the little orange dots were spices instead of little fishy ova.
- Sunday: House cleaning. Majorly. I even went through my clothes and picked out all the crap I never wear to take to the op shop. I also rearranged everything to put my summer stuff away. *sniff*
- Sunday evening: I dug out my Handspring PDA and put fresh batteries in it. Then I installed this KnitAble software to keep track of my knitting. I catalogued my whole stash!
- Monday morning: Knit, knit, knit. The Snook brewed beer.
- Monday afternoon: Gym time again! Shoulders, triceps, and abs. And I ran 2.5 km. And the Snook brewed beer.
- Monday night: Watched Queer Eye – How great was the Mullet Man? I loved him! – and finished my sweater! And the Snook brewed beer. Well, actually he stopped for a bit to play photographer. We ended up doing a little sweater fashion show. I’m really happy with how it turned out. (In case anybody is Googling, this is the Janetta Dexter Sampler Sweater from Jacqueline Fee’s The Sweater Workshop. I had to add a few extra designs to get the length I wanted.) I didn’t know drop shoulders looked so good on me! I am now the queen of two-handed fairisle knitting. The only problem is the thing is so damn warm I’ll only be able to wear it for one month a year. *sigh*
 
 
 
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Craftiness
More craftiness…
As Robert finally received his “Get Well” package from me today, I can now display the contents without ruining his surprise. First up is the official Version 2.0 of my iPod Jumper pattern. The striped one was sent off to my friend Kel, while the “Catboy” design was obviously for Rob. These are both knit in cotton, which seems to hold its shape a little better than the wool I tried before. They feature a velcro closure and a hole for the headphone jack. (Anybody else want one? I take commissions!) Next is a genuine, authentic Rockford Red Heel sock monkey. I really like how he turned out. I’d make more but unfortunately I don’t have any more of the socks; they’re so nice that I’ve kept the other pairs to wear!
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Cheesylove Update
I’ve made a little progress on Cheesylove, as you can see here. I finished the ruffle (casting on 1,008 stitches!) and I’ve just started the body decreases. Apologies for the bad picture; thick black wool is hard to photograph with a crappy camera. I’m using a 60cm-long 5mm wooden circular needle. (I’d have preferred an 80cm but it was all they had, and I like the wood.) I’m going to have to stop here, though, as I think I’m the only one that’s actually begun. My sister is understandably distracted by this whole “getting-married” business. I’ve got some other knitting projects to distract me though, like the Stitch and Bitch I’m hosting this Saturday. Fun!And on a related note, my career as a knitting instructor has begun in earnest. Today I gave a lunch hour lesson to two of my co-workers. One of them “got it” immediately, but the other had difficulty with the hand coordination. It’s good to get practice in dealing with different kinds of students!
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Azkaban scarves are different
Crud. I just discovered that they’re changing the Hogwarts scarf design for the Prisoner of Azkaban film! (You can see pictures here.) I guess that means I’ll need to revise the pattern I use…
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Cheesylove has been started…
I’ve made an unofficial start on the Cheesylove sweater my sister and I are doing as a knitalong. (She’s not doing the ruffle and I am, so I’m starting a little early.) Good grief. Do you know how long it takes to cast on 504 stitches? Frickin’ ages! And technically you have to do that twice, because the real ruffle’s supposed to be 1008 stitches. Now I understand why they have you do it in two parts, otherwise you’d need a circular needle about three feet long.
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Stitch and Bitch II
Hey knitters! Debbie Stoller is taking submissions for a sequel to her Stitch & Bitch book. Sounds pretty cool!
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Knitalong?
My sister has caught the knitting bug and is ready to try her first sweater. She wants to do Cheesylove (the sleeveless version) from Knitty but she’s a little apprehensive. So we’re going to do it as a knitalong! We’re both going to knit it at the same time so we can help each other over the rough bits. Any of you other knitters want to join us? We’re aiming to get the materials this week and start next weekend.
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Another FO – Columbine Peak Socks
(That’s “Finished Object” for you non-knitters.) After doing two pairs of simple basic socks, I was ready to expand my skills. So I cracked open my copy of Socks Soar on Two Circulars* and picked out the “Columbine Peaks” pattern. The leg of the sock has a lacy pattern that forms little v-shaped mountain peaks that continue down onto the foot. It wasn’t too hard, though you do have to count and sometimes I have difficulty with that. (Handy tip: Knitting and wine don’t go together so well.) Now they’re finally done. Unfortunately the Sockenwool I had was rainbow-colored so the pattern doesn’t show up so well, but I still like them. They give me the craziest urge to buy some Birkenstocks and walk around like a German tourist. (Note: That second image is a big scan and shows the stitch pattern nicely.)
* Although I like the technique used, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book for beginners. I’ve found several frustrating errors in the patterns. You can see a list of some corrections here.
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Australian sheep produce world’s finest wool
Australian sheep produce world’s finest wool. That’s not a generalization, like saying that Aussie wool is the best. They really have produced a bale of the finest – in terms of thickness – wool ever seen. It’s worth thousands of dollars and will probably be sold to a top fashion house. Gee, you could make some lovely soft sweaters with that!
