In a knitting rut...

It is currently raining here in Melbourne - the heat wave of the last few days has finally broken, which is very good because now I can go into the city and get things done without running the risk of roasting to death in public transport hell. Doing things will be good, if I can make it happen, because once again, I have fallen into the void between semesters: that glorious place where I have free time, but have so much that I want/have to do with it that I end up not getting much done at all. Such is life I suppose. I have been doing things - I've been working a fair bit, getting some writing done, sewing, cooking, and organising university things - but doing a little bit of many things never makes you feel quite so satisfied as doing a lot of one thing. I suppose I shouldn't feel too bad - my brother has just been playing computer games for about 12 hours per day. So, stuff I've been up to:




As I mentioned, I've done a lot of cooking. I've been making huge vats of tabbouleh, or my version of it (a slightly higher ratio of grains to herbs so that it's filling enough to take to work and have as a complete meal). Yesterday I also made a version of these, and yes, they are as terrifying in real life as they look/sound on that site. I made a half batch, and made a basic butter cake base instead of the brownie base they suggested (because I was quite convinced that a brownie base would probably catapult this slice into the realm of too-rich-to-actually-be-enjoyable), and they're still deadly. Nice, but deadly.



I went to a wedding on the weekend (very enjoyable!) and managed to make the bride and groom a card that involved love hearts but didn't make me want to vomit. I was proud of that... It's a little abstract, but I was happy with it.




And I've been knitting. Though not as much as I usually like to. I've sort of snagged on the two projects I've been working on - one of them (the summer top I mentioned in the last entry) is having issues with drape, and it's knit at such a small gauge that it takes a long time to make any progress, so the idea of proceeding only to have to rip back is not appealing. And the other is knit in bulky weight wool that is not particularly suited to summer knitting. The fact that they are both my own designs doesn't really help things either - when proceeding with a project means having to sit down and make calculations, or thread things on and off of waste yarn so that you can try them on, it just makes it a little harder to motivate yourself to keep going. I know that this is a problem that most people face, so I really have no right to whinge, but yeah, there you go.

At any rate, I was still wanting to knit, even though I wasn't too keen on my works-in-progress, so I started the above piece. A basic, top down, triangular shawl - a nice and easy project that I didn't have to think about, and can knit while chilling out and chatting, or listening to music. I am using my long-hoarded Sundara Sock yarn (in 'Brambleberry'), and to make it go further I'm striping it with some basic black fingering weight yarn (I really liked the Sundara, but didn't think I had enough of it to make a decent size shawl using it alone). So hopefully this will be the nice gentle project I need to get my knitting momentum back. I'm sure the lull won't last for long...

Raspberries, Cupcakes and Terra

I really would have preferred it if I were able to title this post "Cupcakes and Terror", but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. Oh well, perhaps next time...

So, I started something new to cure this neither here nor there feeling I've been having on the constructive front the last few days. I'm making Terra from some lovely Bendigo Woollen Mills 12ply wool (highly appropriate for the middle of summer, I'm quite sure).

And also reading a lot - sticking to the whole 52 Books challenge thing (for all those playing along at home, reviews/results from January are here). And as for the third item in the photo... Well, you might not realise it, but this week is a somewhat of a special occasion. Every year in late January/early February, there comes a week when I can buy raspberries from the market for less than $3 a punnet (tight-arse Anna says "Yay!"). And this special week gets celebrated by gratuitous raspberry ingestion. How gratuitous you ask?

Answer: gratuitous enough to involve cupcakes (why yes, I am one of those irritating smug people who bake a lot and feel the need to tell people about it)!

Mmm.... passionfruit and raspberry iced cupcakes... In the sun, with tea and book...

Hate my guts - you know you want to...

A hot and restless entry...

Man, but it is hot here... Not just warm, but roastingly, sweat-drippingly, skin searingly hot. 36 degrees on Tuesday. 43 degrees yesterday (that's 109.4 F for all of you northern hemisphere types playing at home). And it's apparently getting to 43 today, and staying nearly that hot for the rest of the week... This is why I'm not a fan of Melbourne summers. It was so hot yesterday that the tracks on one of the train lines buckled in the heat (that's probably more a reflection on the disgrace that is our public transport system than it is evidence of the heat, but it really isn't a good idea to get me started on Melbourne's trains... grrrr).

Anyway, I haven't been knitting much the last few days. This is partially because of the heat, but I've knitted in hotter (yes, really). In all honesty, it's more to do with the fact that nothing is really exciting me at the moment. I go through phases like this all of the time, so it doesn't bother me too much, but I wish it would hurry up and pass. The main problem is that nearly everything that I have going at the moment is a self-designed project. I find that it's generally harder to get on with those, since pressing forward means that you actually have to think (as opposed to just losing yourself in hours of relaxingly repetitive knitting) and do calculations and try things on constantly.

The last point especially is a killer in this weather. Example: I'm currently making a pair of elbow length armwarmers that fit quite tightly at the moment because they have colourwork and haven't been blocked out yet. I've nearly finished one - there's probably maybe 15 minutes worth of knitting left on it. But I'm snagged because in 43 degree heat, I just don't feel like wrestling something woollen and tight-fitting onto my poor overheated self. If it was loose, maybe, but I don't want to have to wrestle with wool today. Just no.

I'm also in between projects when it comes to other people's patterns. There are two that I even have the yarn for, but my swatches (yes, I'm bothering to swatch for a change) are a bit off, and even though I own the more appropriately sized needles, they have current works-in-progress on them... All self-designed experiments - see above... Sigh. I know it probably won't be too long before I get my mojo back, but I hate knitting limbo.

One good thing though: I cleaned my room up. I'm aware that this makes me sound like a seven year old, but well, I'm a slob. Or more to the point, I am a person who has over the last six months had to figure out a way to cram a two bedroom unit's worth of crap into a small bedroom with no cupboard/wardrobe. Fun.

Mmm... yarn (excuse the dippy photo - the light is odd in my room). That's only part of it actually - there are some more boring plain yarns in bags too. These are the fun/pretty yarns. Combine all of the above yarn, plus more, with a book collection the size of mine and you can probably understand why I have storage issues. Still, I got there: the yarn is now organised, and my floor is now visible. Very good things.

Also, I like the way that my jumpers look in their drawer. It makes me happy...

At least the last week has been very productive from a writing standpoint - I've gotten a lot done, and rebuilt the momentum that I'd lost over the months before I went away. On that note, I'm off to go and play with words now. I'll try not to roast in the process.