Behold, faithful readers, I have returned from my aforementioned holiday. Actually, I've been back for nearly a week now, but have been (unsurprisingly) too swamped by Real Life to have had time to update the blog. There has been a potential new uni course to consider (a mere year long, before anyone starts making jokes about professional students), a boyfriend to wrangle, and bags to unpack, as well as all of those other random things that spring up and bite you when you come home from holidays intending to hold onto the relaxed state of mind that you've managed to cultivate while you've been away. Oh well, such is life.
The trip itself, for the record, was wonderful (as usual). I went with my brother, and in the second half of the holiday we were joined by some of his friends. We just went to the same place that we always do - a tiny seaside town on the northern coast of New South Wales - but I will never, ever get sick of it. There was lots of relaxing, beach-going, walking, and some truly awesome wildlife-related moments (seeing thousands of baby soldier crabs scuttling across creek banks at low tide, walking through the bush in a rainstorm only to be surprised by hundreds of tiny green tree frogs crossing our path, and many more). I finally got a chance to try out my new, less-dodgy camera on some scenery worth shooting!
And of course, I did some knitting (surprise, surprise - it takes more than tropical sun and the lure of beach to make me put down the yarn completely). Actually, truth be told, I'm one of those really tiresome people who spends their holidays doing all of the things that they haven't had time to do during the year - I also did some writing, lots of reading, drawing, and worked on my Japanese vocab (still dreadful, for what it's worth). But I digress - back to the knitting! Firstly, I worked on another version of the pattern I wrote up a while back, mainly just to test it for errors and tweak it slightly:
I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. I like the way that it looks in a solid yarn - and although Bendigo Woollen Mills is my go-to for budget yarn, I really loved the Rustic 8ply I used for this one - Midnight Tweed is a beautiful colour (purple with a hint of green, as improbable as that sounds). I made slight changes to the neckline to stop the corners being quite so angular, and I didn't change needle sizes for the sleeves this time (and I'm thinking that it's better that way). I'm quite proud of this pattern, and have every intention of posting it up here in the near future. Now it's just a matter of deciding whether to just post the one size, or to brave the maths (not my strong suit!) involved in giving instructions for other sizes. Stay tuned!
Once I finished the short sleeved pullover (which went pleasingly fast too, for the record), I cast on some of my beloved Sanguine Gryphon yarn with the intention of making a summery top.
Kindly note that the yarn is actually a much darker green than this (kindly disregard the fact that I was too lazy to move to a place with better lighting). The yarn is Sanguine Gryphon 'Dance' in the Stomp colourway. The original plan was to make a halter style top, but I'm now most of the way through the body, and am considering changing to a tank. I love halters, and they're quite flattering on my body type, but I'm concerned that this piece might end up being a bit loose fitting around the bust, and I definitely want to avoid the gaping back that seems to plague so many halter tops. So we shall see. The yarn is gorgeous anyway, as is the fabric that it is making - the silk noil drapes beautifully.
That's where I'm currently at, as far as knitting goes. I have more to say (and a tale to tell about a wonderful octopus), but I'll save that for the next post. I'll conclude with this: as I've mentioned previously, I never really feel like my new year is beginning until I return from my summer holiday - it's my demarcation point between one year and next, even if I actually end up taking the holiday in January. Given this, it seems that this is the appropriate time to say that I'm really looking forward to this year. 2008 was so difficult for me, what with my personal life basically going to hell in a handbasket and all. 2009 was wonderful - it was hard work at times, and I was incredibly busy, but I really felt like I got back on the proverbial horse, as far as life was concerned. I'm really hoping that 2010 will be the year when I start to get on with things. Fingers crossed.
