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...
I made his in black, since I figured that there was no way he'd wear them if they were any non-sombre colour (my bright green/blue ones aren't for everyone, I suppose). He seemed to like them. They definitely fitted him well at any rate, which is what I was concerned about. Actually, somewhat annoyingly, they also fit me a lot better than my pair (mutter mutter....). Oh well, I can always make myself some more I suppose, since they take all of two hours per mitt - probably not even that.