Malevolent dinner!

Well, Ravelry is down for maintenance and I need something to do while I give my hands a rest from sock knitting, so I figured I'd do a somewhat uneventful update...

True to my word, I've started on some socks with my lovely Live 2 Knit yarn:

This is a sock of firsts for me in many ways, so how well it will work out is a little up in the air. First time not knitting socks on dpns, first time using Magic Loop, first time I've tried colour work in a sock, and first sock I've ever knitted from my own pattern. So I guess we'll see. I still love the colours, but it's occurred to me now that this sock could be interpreted as a little bit, erm, Olympics-style patriotic (green and gold, anyone?). Oh well, there are worse things.

*sigh* There's so much knitting I want to do before I go away, but not nearly enough time to do it all when I consider all of the other things I need to do before leaving. I've wrangled the law faculty re: my enrolment for next semester (they were being difficult), and I've already pencilled in all of the people I need to see before I leave, but there's still buckets to do. Meh. The knitting will be here when I get back.


The weather over the last while has been archetypal Melbourne weather. Last Thursday - I was wearing a woollen jumper, hat and scarf out and still shivering. The Thursday before that - it was in the mid thirties and I was in a mere singlet top and still sweating. I suppose I should look on the bright side - at least I'm getting wear out of the jumpers I knitted so late in the year...


Hopefully I'll finish something interesting before I leave.
In the meantime, I leave you all with a picture of the Evil Avocado of Doom!

Is it obvious from looking at this that my parents never told me not to play with my food?

Pretty good, eh?

Constructiveness

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...

More procrastination

Wow, it has been a very long time since I've finished knitting anything... Naughty Anna!

It's just that work and uni are conspiring to eat my head and suck my creativity dry... that's all.

Writing has been languishing as well. I was managing to write between ten and twenty thousand words a week before uni went back, and now I'm lucky if I manage five. The last week it's probably been less. Such is real life, I suppose.

I did indeed commence therapeutic socking however. I started making some Hedera socks with my Boxing Day Patonyle, and so far they're coming along quite well (I like the colour a lot):

I was a little nervous about the sizing. My feet are, well, perfectly in proportion to my 5'11 self, which is a nice way of saying that they're great big whacking man-sized feet (about an 11 to 11 1/2 in women's sizes, and wide to boot). Which I am attempting to knit pretty, lacey socks for (there's probably something flawed in this thinking). But I've been trying on as I go (somewhat obsessively, truth be told) and so far they're going on okay. Let's just hope that it keeps up. I saw someone on a forum say that they'd made them fit fine with no modifications, and they had bigger feet than me, so I'm trying to take solace in that. I guess that even if they turn out too large, I can always give them to someone else...

And now a few musings about Ravelry: I remember being embarrassingly gleeful the first time someone favourited one of the things that I had made (I think it was my silly multicoloured beanie, but it could have been the Cleo tank... I can't even remember). I recall the first time I got a favourite for something that wasn't even finished yet. Then I moved onto watching my various items compete for how many little hearts they could accrue - the results were quite surprising really (my Greenjeans was a clear leader for a while, but it's now been overtaken by my Leaf ties cardigan - which has now made it into double figures :D - which is odd since I thought the Greenjeans was far better in terms of yarn, fit and the quality of the knitting). And now I've had my first unfavourited item! This amuses me, which is good thing, because I suppose if it didn't I'd get pedantic and try and figure out why on earth I fell from this random person's favour!

The whole favouriting system is so nice; a really great feature. I think it works especially well for people like me who don't really interact in real life with many people who appreciate knitting/knitted items; gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling anyway. Even though I'm sometimes a little baffled at people's tastes... I'm surprised that as many people have favourited my stuff as have done, because really, I'm not a particularly good knitter technically speaking. And my ideas of colour can be... well... weird.

Anyway, that's enough knitting blather. Back to the sock for a bit, and then I'll go and play with my poor languishing imaginary friends (ie. Anna shall attempt to write). And then, if I'm feeling game, I'll bolster myself with another cup to tea and go into battle against the Corporations Law reading... Let's hope I make it back alive...

Purging my poor little brain

Urk... spent most of last night doing job applications, and that means writing cover letters and fine tuning my resume. Both activities that I hate, loathe, despise, etc. So, must purify brain by knitting. I'm thinking socks might be in order; I can break out that Boxing Day sales Patonyle that's been staring at me pointedly for the last few months...

Also, speaking of Boxing Day sales, why do I keep buying mohair yarns when I really don't like mohair very much at all? I can't seem to stop, and then they languish sadly in the stash for months while I glare at them and wonder what I was thinking. Maybe it's the pretty colours...

I've been reading a lot about yarn dyeing the last little while, so now I'm getting an itch. This may or may not have anything to do with the fact that I have a research essay proposal to write for next week... Stupid attention span. Thankfully, I'm prohibited by my current financial situation from progressing further down this particular path of procrastination; I can't justify buying yarn just to dye it (no, I mean REALLY can't justify it... this isn't the usual can't justify where really you can, this is a matter of choosing between yarn and meals with vegetables), and because I tend to go in for dark colours, none of the purposeless stuff in my stash will really cut it.

On that note, finally, my hoarding instinct pays off. The last month or so the financial situation here has been, well, kind of dire. But, even on days when there has been nothing (and I mean nothing) in my bank account, I still have plenty (and I mean plenty) of yarn to knit with. And so it bloody well should be!

No, I have nothing particularly interesting to say, or any new blurry photos to post. Just the announcement about socks. And mohair. And rants about how it sucks to be broke.

I think I need another cup of tea.

Possibly still alive - haven't checked in a while...

Yes, I'm still knitting away. Unfortunately, haven't had as much time for it lately. Much like I haven't had much time for anything... like sleeping, writing, studying, and even eating... At least the desire is still there - I want to knit! - and I'm managing to get little snatches done here and there. It would be easier if I was willing to knit at the shop, but that's not something I want to do. It's probably a bit of a silly double standard to have; I'm happy to let my knitting kick around in my grotty unit (it doesn't do to think about how long it has been since I've vacuumed), but I won't take it to the shop just in case it gets dirty. I just figure that while it might be dusty here, at least there aren't as many greasy things around....

Anyway, I resolved this issue by starting a shop specific project: more tea-towel/bench wipey cloths, with that Cleckheaton Fiddle di Dee yarn that's been hanging around... They don't exactly blow my mind with excitement, but it's a lifesaver to have at work - when customers have gotten stroppy for no good reason, when the phone finally stops ringing for the first time in ages, when all the other staff are out on delivery, I can pick it up, hammer out a few rows and feel a lot better. Knitting = sanity remains in place. I suspect that this is a good thing.

This is what hangs around our living room: knitting and Warhammer 40k manuals. Unit of supreme nerdiness stikes again! Also, kindly note the amusingly pink needles - they're some of the batch inherited from one of my grandmothers (not sure which one), at least 20 years old, probably more. Amusing. Heaven knows pink objects are somewhat thin on the ground in this household.

Anyway, in other knitting news, the Basalt tank is probably about fifteen minutes off being finished, but I'm procrastinating because I know it's not going to fit, and this is discouraging. In happier news, the alpaca cardigan I've been making is coming along nicely, and should be finished within a week if I can keep up the rate I've been working on it. Pleasing.

Also, since Melbourne has been in the throes of its usual weird weather the last week and a bit, I've rediscovered the joy that is bed socks. The night have been bloody cold, and I've had a couple of pairs of hand knitted socks kicking around that came out a little on the large side because I was still getting the hang of socks and dpns when they were made. So, I put two and two together, and now I have the toastiest feet that ever toasted and have slept like a log every night since. I especially love my stripey ones. Just the sight of them makes me happy:

Something that may or may not have come up in this blog is that not only do I like to knit and write (both not all that proficiently at times), but I'm also, well, a little bit (okay, a lot) odd. Kind of eccentric, would be the nice way of saying it. Anyway, the other day I'd just washed the socks in question and was trying to finish the drying process off in the small smattering of midday sunshine that the fickle gods of Melbourne weather were kind enough to bestow on us. It was only until a person walked by on the footpath and looked at me oddly that I realised that I was singing a song to the socks (a song all about socks and how great they were). Hmmm... Probably not healthy.

Anyway, maybe next time there'll be finished objects. We can only hope. At least I'll try very hard not to be dead next time I post. Make no promises though...