New Starts

First thing is first: as promised, my new project:




This is a (really lacklustre) photo of the new project that I merrily started while revelling in the sense of freedom that resulted from sending my half finished summer top to the naughty corner. It's going to be Cybele (Ravelry link only I'm afraid) from the French Girl Knits book by Kristeen Griffen-Grimes, and I'm using the forest green Cascade 220 that I originally had earmarked for my Snow White jumper. I was a bit hesitant in starting this, because while I think that the pattern is absolutely gorgeous, it's one of those garments. You know, the kind that look amazing in the book on a model, but might not look quite so wonderful when worn in real life. Still, I decided that I'll take the chance - it will address the cable craving that I've been experiencing the last little while.

Looking at this pattern’s projects on Ravelry, I arrived at the conclusion that negative ease would really be the key to making this work like I wanted it to. I think I'm going to opt for the smallest size, which is a 31 inch bust - despite the fact that mine is more like 36 inches. This terrified me a little at first, but I looked at the sizing and realised that the above recommendations are based on the two front pieces being able to meet in the middle, whereas the look I'm really aiming for is how it's illustrated in the book, with the two pieces stretched and not quite meeting. I am really hoping that this decision doesn't come back to bit me in the behind, but I suppose that if it does, at least it'll be amusing and I will hopefully have provided some entertainment.

This project isn't the only slightly-uncertain new start I'm making at the moment. University goes back again next week, and I have, perhaps foolishly, decided to go in for one more year of educational servitude before leaving to make my way in the big scary world of Full Time Work. Not in my law student guise however, since thankfully for my sanity, those days are now behind me - in fact my graduation ceremony is in a few weeks time, so I'll be sure to post pictures of that. Rather this year I thought that I would make an attempt to tie together my love of writing, my knack for words, my English Literature degree and my abilities in Media Law - in a few days time I'll be starting a one year postgraduate diploma of editing/communications. I am looking forward to it, but I'm also mildly terrified by it, as indeed I am terrified by most change that happens in my life. Still, change is good, for all that it's scary, so hopefully this will be a good thing. Wish me luck.

And because I never feel right having just one picture per post:

This is one of the few Nice Dresses that I own, since I've never really been one for formal occasions, and generally have to be forcibly wrestled (or the social equivalent thereof) into nice clothing. I'm very keen on it - I bought it in Tasmania when I went there with with Rebecca last year, and have since worn it to much acclaim. The problem is that it's strapless, and sometimes you just don't want to be prancing around in a strapless dress alone. So it occurred to me that I should knit some sort of cover up that I could wear with it. I can't decide whether to make something black, or use my the Dream in Colour yarn pictured above (in real life it's a darker shade that matches the dress a bit closer). Hmmm... Black would probably be a safer bet, but if the Dream in Colour worked it would be just gorgeous. Food for thought, anyway...

Another year...

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.

Procratination, pullovers, and cupcakes.

So, I should probably be writing my essay, but that's all right. All work and no play makes Anna a gibbering idiot, so it's really in everybody's best interests that I take a blog break, right? Besides, this is my reward for reaching 3500 words. When I get to 3750, I get to knit some more of my sleeve. It would be nice if I could work without lame forms of bribery, but oh well - the main thing, after all, is that the essay gets written.

Anyway, so what to write about in this delicious guilty pleasure of a blog post? Well, the wedding last week went off without a hitch (there's some kind of moronic pun there, I'm sure, but I'm choosing to ignore it). The weather was lovely, and everyone had a wonderful time. And I managed to brave two forms of public transport on a Spring Racing Carnival weekend and arrive with the cupcakes and shortbread still intact!




Since it was a wedding and all, I was well behaved and went in for nice pastel colours. Such restraint! I was very pleased with how they came out though, for all that I did have a momentary freak out when it occurred to me that I'd presented them to my friend without having eaten one for quality control first! What if they'd tasted like rancid baboon or something? Though I'm happy to report that they didn't... Also, my friend made some delicious spinach and feta muffins that I could have happily eaten all day. I have every intention of trying them in the immediate future - and the recipe is here, for all who are interested.


In other news, I've been very much enjoying my freedom from Sylvi knitting! I am still coming to terms with the fact that I Don't Have To Knit The Coat Anymore. Unfortunately, as much as I'd like to take advantage of this new found freedom with a million new projects, each more seasonally inappropriate than the last (it was 29 degrees today... ho hum), uni is not permissive on this front. I am hanging out for Monday. After that the essay will be in and I can knit merrily away to my heart's content. While, um, revising for my exams. Yay law school! Oh well.

I have been working on my Gathered Pullover though - you always need a bribery project (see above) when essay writing.




This one is now perfect for brain-exploded-essay-diversion because the only part that requires actual thought (i.e. those shiny nice cables that you see above) has been completed. Now it's just knitting sleeves in the round - hurrah! And I still really love the colour.

Anyway, I think that's all the time I can justify spending on a blog break. Back to the essay. I leave you all with tomatoes. I put them on my jumper to stop them getting bruised in my bag on my way back from the shops, and they just looked too cute to ignore.




Please let my odd obsession with foodstuffs slide. I think it's a product of the essay...
(that's a blatant lie, but it's a good excuse for the moment, and I'm sticking to it)

Where Anna is a Bad Melbournian

I am now merrily halfway through the mid-semester break, and am happy to report that I have not gotten all that much done. Oh well - what are you going to do? I'm catching up on sleep, eating lots of vegetables, and doing lots of knitting, and that's what's important, right?

Today was a good example of all of this. Today, for those not in the know, was AFL Grand Final Day. For non-antipodean readers, the AFL Grand Final is arguably the biggest sporting event of the year in this country. It's definitely a huge deal in Melbourne, at any rate. And delightfully, this year I had no idea who was even playing until work yesterday. And it's currently 10:46pm, and I still have no idea who won. I'm wondering how long I'll be able to stave off finding out. I have to work tomorrow, which I think will be the downfall of this particular plan, but that will still be a pretty good effort, given the saturation level of coverage that this event always receives.

Anyway, while everyone else was watching the football, I was spending my day as follows:




I did some knitting on my latest project. It's a Gathered Pullover in Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light in 'Blue Glasnys'. I've been wanting to make this one for ages and ages, and now I'm finally getting around to it. Like most everyone else who has made this one, I'm adding waist shaping, but that's the only mod I have in mind thus far. I'm happy with how it's going - the fabric that the yarn is making on the 4.5mm needles is really nice, and just look at that colour! I was a little unsure about this yarn for this project originally, as I was worried that it might not have the best stitch definition for the cabled section, but after examining some other people's projects on Ravelry, I'm cautiously optimistic.




On non craft related fronts, I also hit up Bunnings Warehouse and got a shiny new bucket, and some more tomato plants for the garden (they were stupidly cheap, and the solitary plant I have at the moment needs company!). I know that I look like some kind of deranged elf wannabe in the photo, but in my defense, it was raining. However, this excuse then begs the question of why I was trying to wash towels on such a day... I just can't win...




It also occurred to me that despite the fact that I not infrequently mention food around here, I had never before made reference to this particular love of mine. See that substance up there in the picture? The one that looks like oddly anaemic butter? That, my friends, is goat butter. And I could happily eat it all day long. You use it just like normal butter - I spread it all over crusty bread - but it has a subtle but distinct goats cheesey flavour to it. Mild, but definitely there. I love it, so very much. Hurrah for Queen Victoria Market for keeping me supplied with such wonders. It's not even prohibitively expensive.

And thus concludes the tale of how Anna was a Bad Melbournian. However, I would also like to make mention of the fact that I also finished the back of my Sylvi today. Yes, I will make this coat if it kills me. I considered doing more today, but after grinding my way through the rest of the back cabling, negotiating raglan seaming for the first time didn't sound too appealing. Tomorrow perhaps. But I am progressing!

Look - regularity!

Wow, look at me go on this whole posting thing! I've always found that things ebb and flow a little bit with hobbies - sometimes you're big into something, other times you let it go for weeks or even months. Perhaps this is sign that making stuff is moving back to the forefront of my brain, after it's little sojourn into (comparative) obscurity. Let's hope so.

I took a sickie from uni today - my back was acting up, and when this happens, it's usually a good idea to play it very, very safe. So instead of scraping myself out of bed stupidly early and going to my lecture, I scraped myself out of bed stupidly early (hey, I didn't know that my back was dodgy until I actually got up!) and spent the day studying, playing Age of Empires II and finishing the body of the garment I'm designing at the moment.




Please excuse the bright pink waste yarn holding the sleeve stitches.

I had to do a bit of soul searching about this one today. The body has come out exactly as I was hoping it would, which is rather good. Yes, the neckline is supposed to be low - that wasn't a mathematical lapse on my part. So all was well, but once confronted with the prospect of sleeves, I realised that I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. Originally the plan had been to do longer sleeves - probably around the 3/4 mark. The only thing keeping this up in the air had been whether or not I'd have enough yarn left. Well, I had yarn galore remaining after the body, but once I tried the body on, I realised that I actually kind of liked it sleeveless. So, I had a good squiz at it for a while, interrogated various Ravelry peoples, and then proceeded to 'ummm 'and 'ahhh' a great deal.

The story isn't finished yet, because the sleeves haven't been knitted. But I think that I've definitely decided to go short. With the variegation already makings its presence felt (Does it still reek of camouflage gear? Or am I going to be able to pull off 'woodsy'? I'm not sure yet...), I'm worried that with sleeves thrown into the mix, there might be just too much going on. Also, since we're hurtling headlong into spring, I'll likely get more immediate wear out of a short sleeved thing. So short sleeves it shall be. But what kind? Hmm...

And that is more than enough rambling about something that isn't even finished yet. Here, have a picture of something else:




I've been wanting to take a picture of these for ages. They're Russian chocolates given to me by a good friend - I'm not sure whether she got them when she was over there most recently, or if someone else in her family acquired them, but aren't they so cute! Look at the squirrel one! I almost don't want to eat them, because that would mean disturbing the wrappers (I say almost - why do you think that I took this picture..). My friend's mother told me that when she was young (in Russia), they used to save and collect the wrappers, then fold them into a shape like you see on the bottom right, making sure that the design showed on top. Then they would swap them and play games with them. I was far, far too enchanted by this story. I love hearing about childhood games that were different from mine.

Anyway, it's dinner time now, and I have a cooking adventure planned, so that's it for this installment. However, I shall like as not be tackling those sleeves this evening, so stay tuned for the next thrilling episode!

Survival!

Just here to announce that as of 12:30pm, I have officially survived exam period. Whew! It was touch and go there for a while though - I had my last two exams (both worth 100% of my semester's mark - eeep!) one day after the other, so it has been a VERY long 48 hours. I honestly don't know if I've ever studied that hard before in my life: there were multiple days when I'd listen to well north of five hours worth of lecture recordings, and that didn't even include all of the other reading and note taking. The law degree - she is indeed a harsh mistress.

Yep, exam period is hard. It's been all right though - there are worse things than incessant studying, and since I'm one of those people who's always doodling and writing sarcastic commentary on their class notes, it's at least entertaining looking back over the work I've done during semester (even if sometimes I wish that I'd drawing critters less and taken notes more):


Look! It's an International Law notebook in its natural habitat (i.e. the desk!). Don't make any sudden movements or you'll scare it away!

At least listening to all of those recordings meant that my hands were free to knit at top speed. You would not believe how much knitting I did last night. It was about the only thing stopping me from falling asleep at my desk, actually - for reasons known only to it, my body is impervious to the effects of caffeine, so I've always needed something else to keep me awake and moving.



The above work-in-progress was single-handedly responsible for keeping me conscious during all of those hours of Restitution lectures yesterday. It's going to be a pullover, made from that lovely Sanguine Gryphon yarn that I posted about a few entries back. I'm sort of making it up as I go along, so the actual style will vary depending on my mood and how much yarn I have left, but I have vague plans for a very low front, maybe with a garter stitch neckline, and interesting sleeves of some kind. The yarn is lovely. Normally knitting a jumper with variegated yarn is something I'd pull a face over, but this is just so pretty that I'm having a go anyway (alternating skeins every couple of rows to try and minimise pooling). Granted it does have a little bit of an army camoflague vibe to it, but I'm going to staunchly ignore that and call it 'woodsy' or 'elven' instead in that pretentious way that I have!



Exam time also means exam soup. Seriously, I live off this in exams - I just make a huge vat of it and then eat it for the rest of the week, usually accompanied by toast, or cheese on toast and a glass of wine if my statute-tortured soul needs soothing. I figure I could do worse, right? Vegetables and barley and tomato and fresh herbs... Mmmm...