Guilty update...

Well, I'm quite thoroughly repulsive for posting now, because I really should be doing my Admin Law assignment before I go out making merry. But instead I'm indulging in the blog. For shame.

Anyway, in case you all hadn't noticed, I'm still alive. The crazy kind of busy, but definitely still breathing. Uni is running me down, but in a week I get a brief reprieve from it due to the Easter break, so hopefully there'll be some breathing space soon on that front. Japanese is still heaps of fun - I got embarrassingly excited yesterday because I could read some of the hiragana on the back of my packet of soba noodles. I was happy all afternoon because of that. I'm keeping up with my '52 Books' challenge and various creative writing pursuits too, as wordy blog will testify.

Anyway, here are the developments on the craft front:

1. I made reference to a silly knitted thing at the end of the last post. Well, ladies and gentlement, without further ado I give you... the engagement lobster!


The nitty gritty: Knit Lobster (Ravelry link) by Molly Lincoln. Knitted with a small amount of double stranded Lincraft DK acrylic yarn, on a set of 3.25mm dpns

The colour commentary: I was quite happy with how this little guy came out, even if the double stranded yarn on small needles was rather painful on the hands. I don't make toys often, but I enjoyed this one, or as much as one can enjoy knitting to a strict deadline (does tend to suck the joy out of the whole affair). Dodgy photo I know, but I finished this one with only a couple of minutes to spare, so there wasn't much time for meticulous photography. I didn't even have time to give the little guy his lobster whiskers! Oh well, the couple in question thoroughly approved of their lobster, at any rate. And don't worry - I do plan to give them a slightly less ridiculous wedding present...

2. Scarf!


The boring stuff: Basic mistake rib scarf in Dream in Color Classy (100% wool, about 1.6 skeins), 'November Muse' colourway, on 5.5mm straight needles.

The colour commentary: Not very interesting, I know, but it had come to my attention that most all of the scarves that I owned were kind of, erm, bright! Retina searingly bright. So this was my attempt at something a little more understated. I'm very pleased with how it came out. It's huge too! Over eight feet long, I'd say, as I just can't abide a stingy scarf :) If I did this one over I probably would have made it a little wider, but at least the fact that it's a little on the skinny side means that I can wear it in milder weather.

Oh, I've said so before, but I love Dream in Color yarn. So much. I've never come across any that was anything less than gorgeous... The fact that there is some more winging its way to me from the States as we speak makes me a very happy Anna indeed... Hey, what can I say? The planets aligned, the pathetic Aussie dollar rallied, and I got given an extra shift at work. Coincidence? I think not. If the universe wants to buy yarn, who am I to argue?

3. Hat!


The details: Vortex by Lee Meredith. Knitted with Noro Silk Garden (Colour 86, about half a ball) and Dream in Color Classy (leftovers from above project!) on 5.5 mm straight needles.

The colour commentary: I love this hat so much that it's embarrassing. This photo is testament to how much I love it. I am all of thirty-five seconds out of bed in this photo. Literally. I wanted a non-wet-hair photo of the hat, so I rolled out of bed, pulled on my dressing gown (see that suspiciously satiny looking black thing I'm wearing? Yep, that's a dressing gown), ran a hand through my hair (comb, what's that?), walked out into the hallway and took this photo (oh, and a couple more that don't bear speaking of). And I'm willing to post my eyes-glazed over looking, pre-shower self on the internet. Just because I love this hat, and couldn't wait any longer to put up a photo of it.

This design is constructed quite unconventionally - it's knitted side to side on straight needles, shaped using short rows, and then grafted together at the end. The pattern is genius - this is by far the funnest hat I've ever knitted. The moment I finished it I informed my brother that he would be receiving one of his own in the near future, because I wanted an excuse to make another. Fun and easy and quick - what's not to love?

The fact that I used two of my favourite yarns to make it probably doesn't hurt either, but the pattern really is great. The only mod I made to it was to wrap my short rows, because with my loose gauge it looked weird and gappy when I didn't. It's a forgiving pattern too - I think I messed up the grafting in a couple of places (hey, it was really late at night), and it hardly shows. Also, doing stripes by carrying the not-in-use yarn up the side of the knitting works so well that I can't believe that I've never done it before...

Now I just need to make one for Richard so that he can wear his own, instead of just filling in as a head model for me...


Now: off to go and do my Admin work like a good little law student (you know, one who doesn't have a terminal crafting fixation...)

Liesl and such...

Well, I'm still alive! Uni is kicking my arse several times a week, but I'm definitely still alive and kicking. Or alive enough to be quite chronically bored by the Acts Interpretation Act anyway (erm, hooray for statutory interpretation, or something...). And my Japanese classes started this week, just in case law school wasn't enough. Japanese looks like it's going to be a lot of fun, though learning how to write hiragana is a challenge - I've done so much Western style calligraphy in my life that the different stroke order (horizontal stroke before vertical) is driving me spare. In a good way though!

Thankfully for my sanity, there have been plenty of developments on the crafty front as well.

For a start, I finally finished my Liesl cardigan:


The nitty gritty: Liesl by Ysolda Teague. Knitted with about 2.3 skeins of Malabrigo Worsted on an 8mm needle.

The colour commentary: I'm mostly happy with how it came out, though I think that I really could have made it a size smaller - you can't see it in this shot, but it's actually a little bit large for me, and therefore not as flattering as it could have been. Also, I'm not entirely sure that this style suits me. Oh well - I'm still mostly happy with it, and I've already worn it, so obviously I don't dislike it that much!

Ha - this project was really me wanting to see what all of the fuss was about. Liesl is such a popular pattern on Ravelry, and people never seem to shut up about Malabrigo either, so this was a good opportunity to suss both of them out. Liesl is a great pattern, for all that I'm not particularly sure that it's quite my style. I wasn't particularly surprised by that though - Ysolda is such a talented designer, and I'm never anything less than enthralled when I knit her patterns. They always come together so nicely - it's very satisfying the way that everything just works! Working with the Malabrigo was very nice too, as I believe I've already said. It's beautifully soft, though I'm not sure that I'd want to use it for everything. Perhaps I'm a little old fashioned, but I kind of like my wool with a little more substance. Still, I'll definitely use it again!

In other crafty news, I broke out the fabric paint - something I'd been meaning to do for a very long time:


I love painting random designs on things - it's so therapeutic. I was very pleased with how this one came out too - don't worry, it's a lot less patchy now (the above shot was taken just after the first coat). It was the test run, since I hadn't used this brand of fabric paint before, and the directions for setting it were infuriatingly vague. But it's been washed since, and all seems to be well. Now it's all I can do to restrain myself from running out to buy more plain tops to paint. And I have plans for skirts as well. Because I don't have enough hobbies already, or anything...

I've also started a scarf (already halfway through thanks to all the lecture recordings I've sat through this week - my iPod is a lot more forgiving of me knitting through lectures than I imagine the actual lecturers would be if I tried doing it in class!), and a shawl. I have particularly high hopes for the shawl. It's a Laminaria, and I'm using some Wired for Fibre yarn in the most beautiful shade of dark green ever (in case you haven't noticed, I have a bit of a tragic addiction to green). I'm scared to death of it, because it's my first attempt at charted lace, but the thought of how beautiful it would be is enough to spur me on. But first, I need to knit something ridiculous for a friend's engagement party tomorrow. More on that at a later date...