Productivity. And a Cat

Well, life has been a bit crazy here. But that's just normal really - I've noticed that I tend to say that every week. On the bright side, I'm on mid semester break from today, so hopefully the crazy will subside as I catch up on some sleep and get on top of my exam revision (and by get on top of my revision, I mean ignore it and play outdated computer games... as usual).

Sylvi is getting there slowly. I've finished both sides, and now I just have a couple more inches of the top part of the back. Then I can seam it and get stuck into the hood, and after that all of the substantive knitting is done and it's just the endless finishing to go. So I'm nearly done. Umm, sort of...

How about I shut up and present you with more tangible evidence that I've been constructive on the knitting front? Yes, let's do that!




The specific yet unhelpful part: This is, well, um, Anna's short sleeved pullover, by, um, me! I'll give it a proper name if/when I write the pattern up. Yarn is Sanguine Gryphon Free Range - about 1.7 skeins of the Green JungleFowl colourway (100% wool). Knitted on a 5.5mm circular needle.

The part where I ramble for even longer than usual: Yay - I tackled bottom-up raglan designing and actually produced something that fits! Yep - I did all of the maths and everything. I am inordinately proud of myself for this. I took detailed pattern notes too for a change, so I'm thinking that I'll try knitting it again some time in order to iron out the kinks, and then post the pattern up if anyone is still interested.

I am mostly happy with how it turned out. I would have preferred slightly less ease - it grew a little on blocking because of my loose gauge - but that's just personal preference. It really does fit just fine as it is. I'm not entirely happy with the sleeves, though. I ended up doing basic stockingette cap sleeves with a garter edging in needles several sizes up to make them flare out slightly, but I'm not sure that the experiment was a wholly successful one. It requires some fine tuning. So fine tune I shall, at a later date.

This yarn. Nom. I love Sanguine Gryphon so, so much. Admittedly I am yet to lay eyes (or hands and needles) on the fabled Bugga yarn that everyone else is foaming at the mouth over, but I just can't bring myself to feel too disappointed about that, given that all of her other stuff is just so lovely too. Knitting with yarns like this one is hardly a consolation prize! Seriously - it's beautiful. Just look at those colours! Click the photo and actually look at them!




Seriously - it's beautiful. I never thought that I'd feel compelled to knit a garment from variegated yarn, but these colours made me do it anyway! I had no choice in the matter! Great yardage too - I made this with less than two skeins! I mean, I don't normally use that much yarn for projects since I often opt for looser gauges, but less than two skeins! I still have one and a bit to do other things with!

Anyway, so now that this happy diversion has been concluded, it's high time that Sylvi got finished. If I ever get the cat out from under my feet long enough to actually work on it. Family are away, so he has gotten mega-clingy over the last week. Do you know how hard it is to do your tai chi practice when there is a cat determined to sit 15cm from your feet at all times? And if I leave anything that I've been wearing unattended for more than ten seconds, I come back to find him sitting on it. Not just jackets and t-shirts either. Yesterday it was my university bag, and then I found him trying to balance on top of one of my hats. Idiot.




He's *my* idiot though... Poor sweet old man - we've found a compromise where I accidentally-on-purpose leave my tracksuit pants unattended on the floor next to my bed. So hopefully that will keep him happy for a while.

Seasonally inappropriate finished objects!

Well, winter finally seems to be over. Melbourne cranked out a toasty warm day today (forecast was for 25 degrees but I think it might even have been warmer). Happily I was out in it - and only about an hour of sunshine was sacrificed to law school servitude! I even raided the bookshop on the way home...

Anyway, to celebrate the warm weather, here are the two latest finished objects - both of them things that I won't be able to wear until it's cool again!

Firstly, yet another pair of Garter Mitts:

I love this pattern to an extent that is truly ridiculous. It's easy and quick, but clever enough that it's immensely satisfying too. This is my third pair, though the first pair that I've made for myself that have actually fit - the last ones were a little too big because I made the large size. Apparently my hands aren't as big as I think they are! This pair were made in the small size (actually, with slightly fewer rows worked than the pattern specified), and they fit perfectly (sitting neatly underneath my sleeves, which was what I was going for).

Reason #8,437 that I love this pattern - it's a really good use for varigated yarn. I have a little bit of a problem with varigated yarn. Nine times out of ten, I don't like the way that it looks when it's knitted up. But for some inexplicable reason, I can't seem to stop buying it... Anyway, this pattern more or less circumvents the whole unpleasant pooling issue, and that is a fine, fine thing. Soon after I bought this yarn (Moda Vera Fun - $2 for the ball, so I couldn't exactly complain), I had one of those "erm, why did I buy this?" moments. But I actually love the way that the colours look together here - kind of rustic. I love these, and I can't wait to wear them.

Anyway, moving right along... to the Mrs Darcy cardigan - finished at last!

I guess "at last" might be a little too strong a phrase, given that this was knitted in a little over two weeks... But it felt like it took forever to block (we've just turned off floor-heating-what-makes-things-block-at-super-speed), so for my attention span, "at last" is appropriate!

I'm very happy with how this turned out. The style isn't one that I normally wear, but it's more flattering than I was expecting it to be, and I Love This Shade of Green. Seriously. If all yarns came in this particular shade, I would be one happy camper. As it was, they don't all come in this shade, so I used Lincraft Merino Crepe 8 ply (about 8 balls of it). Not particularly excited about the yarn, but at least it was cheap (cardigan cost about $25 all up). And did I mention the colour? Mmmmm... bottle-y forest-y green...

Erm, moving right along from salivating over tasty viridian shades - this pattern was great. I made it nearly exactly as written - the only modification I made was to add a few rows to the back/sides, since my row gauge was ever so slightly off, and I'm tall so I wanted to be sure that it would be long enough. I didn't change the number of rows in the sleeves, because everyone on Ravelry seemed to be saying that the sleeves were too long, so I figured that mine would come out about right unaltered (I was actually right for a change!). Oh, and I didn't crochet around the bottom, because I wasn't having the curling issues that the designer had. I did however crochet around the back neckline, because it was curling a little there. Problem seems to be mostly remedied now.

I was very impressed with this pattern all in all - minimal shaping but it didn't end up boxy at all (hurrah for ribbing!). I would definitely recommend this pattern to anyone knitting a garment for the first time - it was ridiculuosly quick and straightforward. As whinged about on Ravelry, the only even slightly difficult part (in my opinion) was seaming the ribbed section - my seaming skills are not particularly impressive, and that combined with the comparatively loose gauge of my fabric meant that there were a few parts that looked a little dippy. I'm not too fussed though - it isn't all that noticeable, and I'm no perfectionist! Some people have had trouble with the sleeve cap, but none of that here - it fitted just fine for me.

And yes, I was roasting when these photos were taken. Double layers, one of them wool, on a warm spring day = an uncomfortably toasty Anna!

So yes, lots of warm clothing that is thoroughly inappropriate for current Melbourne weather. Thankfully, I'm not fussed by this for two reasons:

1. It's Melbourne we're talking about here. It'll probably be snowing by dinner time.
2. In a little over two months, I'm off to Europe! Bring on the woolly scarves!

Unfortunately, before I get to gallivant merrily around Germany, Austria, Italy and France there will be exams. Grumble. On that note, I'd best go and tackle the Constitutional Law textbooks. If anyone hears a banging noise, don't worry - that will just be me repeatedly bashing my head against the table in an attempt to euthanize myself in order to avoid the otherwise long, slow and painful death by boredom that awaits me... Or something.

Birthday, and other happenings...

Well, I've been really getting on with knitting things the last week or so, which is good (and probably due in no small part to the fact that assessment is creeping up on me, and I have a chronic need to procrastinate):

I finished the Hedera socks:

Behold, my whacking great manly feet posing on my freezer (yeah, there's not much natural light in most rooms of my place) in socks that actually fit. Yeah! Go Hedera! After I posted the FO on Ravelry with the comment that I got it to fit my hulking feet with no mods to the pattern, people started messaging me about it, wanting to know my gauge, etc, so I guess there's a fair few other big-footed people out there curious. For anyone who still wants to know, I give this pattern a hearty tick of approval on the giant footed front. Also, now I understand why people like Patonyle so much. Lovely soft, stretchy yarn, that probably also helped with the fit.

I started a Woodland Shawl:

Here's the blurry photographic proof. I figured that now my assignments are looming, I needed the diverting power of lace (ie. something I can concentrate on and use to not think about essays for a few precious minutes) without tackling anything scary. I tried this pattern a while back with some sock yarn, but the varigation totally masked the pattern, so I used it for something else. So, this time around, I decided that I wanted to try something with very subtle vargiation. Now, a normal person would just buy some yarn, but because I'm me and I'm overambitious/impractical/a bit of a mad scientist at heart, I had to try and dye myself some. So the above shawl is being knitted in Naturally Haven 4ply Merino, dyed green by yours truly. I was actually quite pleased with how it turned out; there are noticeable differences in the colours, but they're not too glaring.

Unfortunately, it turns out my camera is a man, or more specifically, my camera has what my husband refers to as the 'man's' way of seeing colour (and by 'man's', he means his): it simply can't pick up subtleties in colour. So, you can't really see the proper effect in the photo. Oh well, I can see it. The yarn is lovely by the way, very soft and smooshy. And I love green; especially since we're heading rapidly into winter. The shawl doesn't look like much yet, but I'm only one repeat in, and lace always takes a while to get going...

Also, I had a birthday (my 24th, if we're getting technical):

My mother in law procured for me (amoung other things) a pattern book, some new bamboo needles, and some of the above yarn (the chunky blue stuff to be specific). It's acrylic, but I actually quite like the colours (sort of blue and teal shot through with metallic streaks), so I'm thinking I'll do as she suggested and make a scarf out of it.

Incidentely, the other yarn in the picture is stuff that I've dyed myself (yeah, I'm hooked, for better or worse). The green is the stuff I was talking about earlier, and the other ball was an experiment that didn't quite turn out how I planned, but it has a certain festy charm that I can't quite resist. Blue/orange/grey brown is not a colour scheme I would have picked, but meh. Actually, when I was winding back into a ball, I was thinking (nerd that I am) that if chaos could be embodied in sock yarn, it would be this colour. So watch out for some Chaos socks in the future.

And then there's cake :D Since we took over the shop, I haven't been baking nearly as much as I used to do (I used to bake a lot). So it was very nice to get back into it, and make myself a birthday cake of sorts (chocolate of course). The recipe is from Nigella Lawson's Feast - it's the 'Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake' and it's mighty tasty. Very rich though; the recipe made a fair bit more icing than the cake really needed (though I'm not entirely sure that's a bad thing).

So now I have the wherewithal to have tea and cake, two of the finest things in the universe. Yay!

In other news, I also celebrated my birthday by diving headfirst back into my writing project (it's been languishing a little lately... not being neglected, just progressing slowly) and cracking 50k words on the second part. This pleases me.

In other knitting news, I also started a pair of garter mitts for my brother as part of his birthday present (just in boring black though, since I doubt he'd wear a pair that were in colour's like mine) and started and promptly frogged a plain sock (they were too short, and the heel flap wasn't big enough). Also, I finished the first sleeve on my Honeymoon Cardigan. It's nearly there!

Now, off to enjoy tea and cake...