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...