Isn't it awesome when stuff works for a change?

Have corn chips, guacamole and beer = good. Just the thing to dispel the tedious remnants of this morning's Remedies class (unless unjust enrichment cases really float your boat, for some perverse reason).

I've been knitting away like a mad thing the past few days - somewhat obsessively, I'll admit ("mustn't...sleep...until... knitting... blocked")- and I have shiny nice things to show for it as well!

First thing's first - after I knit the thing in under a week, nearly a month went by while the Bevin tank lay neglected on one of my many to-do piles. Poor Bevin. But it's all good now, because Bevin is finished, complete with armhole alterations (which ended up doing the trick quite nicely). I had to weave in a highly implausible amount of ends to get there (though I'm under the weather at the moment, and was slightly feverish at the time, so maybe it only felt like 800,000 ends), but get there I did. Here is me, in said tank (which for some reason makes me look a lot blonder than I am, and like I have really buff arms - valkyrie channelling tanks ftw!):




I really like the way that this turned out; it was a little on the skimpy side at first (not that that's a problem, but there are times/places for skimpy and in those times and places, I'm usually less likely to opt for knitwear), but a good blocking worked wonders. I really like the colour; a dark and slightly shiny red. I'd definitely make another one of these too; perhaps in a lighter colour - could look nice in a medium grey (I don't/can't really do white). I like the lace pattern, and it was a ridiculously easy one. I especially like the subtle shaping it gives to the bottom and neckline. It's just a shame I'm a little on the boyish side up top - I think this top would look amazing on someone a little further north of a B-cup.


I love this - more photos on Ravelry if anyone is masochistically curious. One thing though - there are a few errors in the pattern. Aside from the armholes being too big (someone else on Ravelry said they had the same problem with that, so I don't think it's just me), there lace pattern is incorrect - I think there's errata on the designer's blog. It's common sense to fix though - you just need to make sure your yarn overs match your decreases.

Anyway, and yesterday I also finished the raglan jumper I've been working on. This went so quickly - a week and a day to be precise, and I would have finished it earlier if my weekend hadn't been so busy. And I love it. Absolutely love it. I didn't use a pattern, just cast on 40 sts and went from there. Did yarn over increases because they look fun, a little bit of waist shaping (decreased 6 sts, from memory, and then increased the same amount), and added a moss stitch neckband and similar edging. Just used cheapo yarn that I had obsessively stashed in my excitement to find Lion Brand yarn in Spotlight (turns out it isn't that exciting at all... meh) - managed to get an entire jumper out of three skeins, which I was pretty proud of (knitted at a pretty loose gauge).




(hehe, I'm in the exact same pose, in the exact same place... weird... It's just that there's a convinient bookshelf there on which to place a camera with a timer set).

I was so irrationally pleased with how this worked out - it's so satisfying when you totally wing it and everything works out as perfectly as if you'd planned it meticulously (especially when you're like me, and half the time when you do plan meticulously it still gets all arsed up). It's surprisingly warm too, given the comparatively low proportion of wool.

Anyway, I was so happy that it went straight from blocking onto my body, and got worn to uni for my first Constitutional Law class (hmmm, that sounds like I'm punishing the poor thing, doesn't it). I wore it with my Argosy scarf, so I was very bright and very happy. Seriously, I was so pleased with this outfit, in all its handknit glory, that even stepping in cat vomit when I was in a hurry to leave didn't get me down...


Okay, I know I don't look happy in the photo, but I hate having photos taken, even when I'm the one taking them...

Sigh. The guacamole is nearly all gone... Shall distract self with more knitting. I have to weave in the ends on my Askew tank... it would have been done by now if the BLOODY YARN WOULD STOP BREAKING FOR FIVE MINUTES!!!! Um, sorry. I love Silk Garden dearly, but this batch is frustrating the hell out of me. I've never had this problem with it before - maybe these balls are a bit dippy...

Constructiveness

Well, I'm knitting away furiously. Been staying at my Dad's place, and since he has a heated floor (best winter time type thing ever!), I've been attempting to make the most of having the best blocking surface ever...

I'm still working away on the Bevin tank (nearly done now), and it's coming along okay. I've picked up stitches around one of the armholes, and it does fix the problems I had with it, albeit while not looking like the neatest piece of knitwear in the world. Still, I think I'm happier with it this way. Just one more armhole to go... I even bit the bullet and crocheted the other edgings.

I also indulged and made myself a Silk Garden Askew:

It's nearly finished now; I just need to sew the straps onto the back - haven't done this yet because there's a little voice in my head telling me that this one wants to be a halter top rather than a tank, and I'm not sure whether to listen to it or not... My decision may end up being made for me though, because this is not a flattering top when worn with my strapless bra...

Two things really defined this project for me: it was quick (insanely so), and it came out SMALL. While I'm not a petite build, I'm pretty skinny up top, and I could still barely struggle into it, even after a good solid blocking. My gauge was ever so slightly off, so I cast on a few more stitches to compensate, and it still came out small. It fits (just), but wow it was a close run thing, and I think I can abandon any hope of ever wearing it over a shirt like I was planning on doing. Still, I like this pattern, and I definitely want to make it again. I'll just make sure that I make a size that'll have a lot less negative ease for me. And I love Silk Garden... at least the size of this one meant that it was (sort of) in my price range; only took 2 1/2 balls to make.

I made some ugly socks with some cheap and nasty yarn:

They're not the most attractive socks in the world, but if they're ugly, than they're endearingly ugly. They're also warm and comfy; I'm wearing them as I type this. Dad assures me that they're quite 70s coloured... I guess I'll take his word for it since I wasn't born then to appreciate it all...

I've also finished the Ugly Mohair Shawl, but I haven't taken any pictures of it yet (it's a gloomy day here in Melbourne, so there's been bugger all natural light to take a decent photo in). It didn't end up all that large because of my short attention span (yeah yeah, I got bored, it happens to the best of us), and I'm still not entirely sure that I'd ever wear it in public, but for chucking over my shoulders when it gets too cold in front of the computer, you can't really go wrong... It's cute in an obnoxiously fuzzy rainbow way, and I'm very pleased to have that yarn finally used for something (it was itching at my brain).

Oh, and Dad and I made the nicest looking salad ever. I can't normally get excited about salad (I am a bad vegetarian who generally needs to have vegetables shoe-horned into my mouth), but I wanted to eat all of this. It was so pretty that I had to take a (blurry) photo...

Nom nom nom...

A random cat... and some shawl...

Well, the last few days have been a little, um, interesting... I may or may or may not provide an elaboration in the near future. It remains to be seen.

There has been knitting done though, and I'm currently looking for stuff to distract myself with, so here is knitting, with a bonus cat!

It's the ugly mohair shawl, which is still kind of ugly, being modelled by my senile old man cat, Alex. He's 18, which means that he gets cranky a bit, but it also means that he doesn't have the energy to protest too vigorously when I drape him in partially completed knitwear...

I've also been knitting a Bevin tank top in some shiny nice dark red Katia Firenze yarn that I got half price. I think it's pretty shiny and nice, with one exception; the armholes are far too big.

You can't see the problem that much in this photo (though you can see the part where I was too lazy to weave in my ends before trying it on). Basically, the armholes are large enough to make the fit just a little funny, and also show parts of the side of one's bra off to the general public. Still, I'm going to try and fix it by picking up some stitches around the bottom of the armhole and knitting a little more. I'd like to be able to fix this; I think it's pretty cool, and it fits me quite well (if being not exactly the kind of top you'd want to wear to visit the in-laws...).

I like this photo too... it doesn't show the giant shoulder pimple I had on the day it was taken - because it was on my back, mwa ha ha...

(sorry, that was kind of an overshare... but oh well - it's my blog and I can be as gross as I want!)