tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34612894986447410502024-02-20T00:53:16.646+11:00Tales from the Paperback FortressKnitting and other procrastinatory endeavours...Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.comBlogger138125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-17251895699594443512010-09-15T19:06:00.003+10:002010-09-15T19:12:07.837+10:00Jumping ship!Greetings to any fair readers who have found themselves here.<br /><br />The bad news: I got restless and started a new blog.<br /><br />The good news: my new abode is <a href="http://thepaperbackfortress.wordpress.com/">only a click away</a>, so you should come and visit me!<br />(pretty please?)<br /><br />This blog has seen good times and bad alike, and I remain fond of it, but for quite a few reasons I felt like it was time for a change of scenery.<br /><br />And fear not, Blogger buddies - you'll still see me around in your comments box!Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-25164309795789497122010-09-01T17:16:00.006+10:002010-09-01T18:00:33.784+10:00Mitts, handspun and cupcakes!Whew - you can't half tell that it's semester time again! Between my lack of regular posting and my comparative lack of knitting progress, it probably goes without saying that life is busy. I'm keeping on top of it rather well though - I've even stopped leaving my assignments until the last minute. Wonders will never cease.<br /><br />But let's forget about the I'm-so-busy whinge and cut straight to the knitting I <span style="font-style: italic;">have</span> been doing. Behold! I <span style="font-style: italic;">finally</span> finished my long-suffering New Orleans Mitts:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWOdUfZkP-aGL65cDFWY3xovv0TRcTlTm0GEJPcl27puDy24HkQA8iby9_zJjNvaDUpnWRHDYIzg2Iawb8DTXeuNuOa03CQiKj3JsMTfzCS79Sz6AFA0KHvYYAOgNf5wEdXwnzSCFH2c/s1600/P1030477.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWOdUfZkP-aGL65cDFWY3xovv0TRcTlTm0GEJPcl27puDy24HkQA8iby9_zJjNvaDUpnWRHDYIzg2Iawb8DTXeuNuOa03CQiKj3JsMTfzCS79Sz6AFA0KHvYYAOgNf5wEdXwnzSCFH2c/s320/P1030477.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5511842089081234162" border="0" /></a><br /><br />(it only occurred to me after uploading this picture to Ravelry that I'm doing the stereotypical pregnant woman pose with my hands - I assure you all that I am most definitely not pregnant!)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The basic info:</span> Used Classic Elite Inca Alpaca (100% alpaca) yarn knitted on 4mm dpns. Didn't really use a pattern. Cast on 30 stitches and basically just worked a tube, adding a hole for the thumb (I used the thumb hole method from <a href="http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/PATTfetching.html">this pattern</a>, since it works a treat). There's ribbing at the start, end and on the thumb, and there's a few increases here and there to improve the fit (I have narrow wrists but comparatively wide hands), but there really wasn't much to these. The stripes are 2 rows long, and I made them jogless by slipping the first stitch of each round on the second row of each colour.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Commentary:</span> These aren't really anything exciting, but I'm happy with them. I love the way that the subdued colours look when striped. I love stripey things, but sometimes they can be a little bit loud - these are much more low key. They're also beautifully warm thanks to the alpaca.<br /><br />Still, the thing that I like the best about these mitts is the fact that I had to restart them, odd though that sounds. Originally I cast on too many stitches, and was about three inches in by the time I realised that the mitts I was knitting were going to be much looser than I was after. However, the reason why I restarted is inconsequential. The main point is that I was willing to do a little bit of work and restart rather than just push on and ultimately end up with a project I wasn't entirely happy with. I honestly think that I would have taken the latter route a year or so ago, and it makes me pleased that I'm now willing to do what it takes to get something right. Makes me feel as if I've matured as a crafter, as incredibly pretentious as such a sentiment sounds.<br /><br />In other news, I plied some of the handspun from last post.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiaBiBI6PxiBi-VwY4Wqvh3NaiUMQaqD0PGI5IvkogGC2uMVc3Ca8A55BgAw3TgZ8Clc3ZdoR7q0EU2sWHXQgwnc_1gFBRJ_AEBy_Gmm_kN13HCAsYofPuegcP620RV6s-tr8AZ7_2BG4/s1600/P1030462.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiaBiBI6PxiBi-VwY4Wqvh3NaiUMQaqD0PGI5IvkogGC2uMVc3Ca8A55BgAw3TgZ8Clc3ZdoR7q0EU2sWHXQgwnc_1gFBRJ_AEBy_Gmm_kN13HCAsYofPuegcP620RV6s-tr8AZ7_2BG4/s320/P1030462.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5511845998647714818" border="0" /></a><br /><br />If we're being honest, I really have no idea what I'm going to do with this yarn. It's not really my thing. That said, I love it fiercely, so I suppose I'll have to think of something!<br /><br />And alas, there hasn't been all that much else going on as far as craft goes. I've been working away in fits and starts on my tweedy cardigan, and although it's not coming out exactly how I'd planned, I'm still happy enough with it. Only one sleeve to go, so hopefully you'll be seeing it soon. I've been doing a fair bit of cooking; lots of delicious winter soups, and one day when I was feeling inventive I tried my hand at making chai-flavoured cupcakes. They were lovely!<br /><br />I'd like to say that I've been doing more knitting than just mentioned, but the truth is that I haven't. Don't get me wrong, I still love the craft - life has just been getting in the way. Partly it's been due to me falling down into the Designer's Void, where I drag my feet because I have to actually - gasp - <span style="font-style: italic;">think</span> to finish my half-completed projects, instead of just looking at someone else's pattern notes. I've also been on a massive creative writing kick the last week or so, and while this is awesome, it does take away from my knitting time. Still, I suspect that once I finally get this cardigan off of the needles I'll be back into knitting with a vengeance! In the mean time, kindly admire my handspun yarn and homemade cupcake:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisQ3_jVg8YXIjzrpImlVrW-tTY1qaiq8VX8lhZ0v4qAU_VmaDl3anrTyaiDUKRYvzirk9LsRV9VIzCgHvSjCJn68qWQOvz6v_QzSr4_pD_YctvLwRc9Bsu2l3f8-ttw0va2JtXJtVvGQE/s1600/P1030475.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisQ3_jVg8YXIjzrpImlVrW-tTY1qaiq8VX8lhZ0v4qAU_VmaDl3anrTyaiDUKRYvzirk9LsRV9VIzCgHvSjCJn68qWQOvz6v_QzSr4_pD_YctvLwRc9Bsu2l3f8-ttw0va2JtXJtVvGQE/s320/P1030475.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5511849503012012146" border="0" /></a><br /><br />(Not to be confused with handspun cupcakes. That would be odd.)Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-54945445235170709842010-08-21T13:44:00.007+10:002010-08-21T14:04:44.622+10:00Procrastination in all its formsApologies for the blog silence. Uni has been busy, my internship has started, and to top it all off, I spent a lot of last week being sick with a rather rotten head-cold. Being sick is never a lot of fun, but at least I got some of my assignments done. For some reason though, I never feel like knitting when I'm ill. I've done a little bit of work on my cardigan, but I've been terribly lazy when it comes to finishing my hand warmers. This is especially deplorable because I know very well that all they really need is an hour or so of work, and then they'll be done. Bad Anna.<br /><br />On the up side, I have been doing some more spinning!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz7ZNUsLJHfX4veQKm8_F45047F_qodM43xqLDAGSAGKyO2r6p8CCx-0prpjbK6tk99jwgjX4NhoCjxZuW8jYUritEItXzbCPQLEGVh7HKEPX-d7vhT7i41bzBSq-ctdvXsf-M1borDNg/s1600/P1030438.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz7ZNUsLJHfX4veQKm8_F45047F_qodM43xqLDAGSAGKyO2r6p8CCx-0prpjbK6tk99jwgjX4NhoCjxZuW8jYUritEItXzbCPQLEGVh7HKEPX-d7vhT7i41bzBSq-ctdvXsf-M1borDNg/s320/P1030438.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507706267774280562" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I bought this a while back, but wanted to go through all of my dodgier 'learning' fibre before I tackled it. And I actually kept this resolution - the last of the plain fibre was dyed with avocado pits and spun up during the week, so I've started on the nicer stuff!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV-QeAalyozHRc051YhHUYJnqr1AwbtdDGvMUeMTe5MRGAoHI5PbuA0eedY-EYWefVfT1bchXzKpaywf9N0q544vCAFZNg2cwjCbpTWl1Rx_i_o3iYLnuDm5MyJ9Hcqww-JYMqoa6cUyA/s1600/P1030445.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV-QeAalyozHRc051YhHUYJnqr1AwbtdDGvMUeMTe5MRGAoHI5PbuA0eedY-EYWefVfT1bchXzKpaywf9N0q544vCAFZNg2cwjCbpTWl1Rx_i_o3iYLnuDm5MyJ9Hcqww-JYMqoa6cUyA/s320/P1030445.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507707374287287714" border="0" /></a><br /><br />(I know the photo is slightly weird - I am having Camera Issues at the moment). I'm really enjoying learning how to spin. I find it very relaxing, and kind of addictive. And I can do it when my eyes are too tired to knit, which is a plus. And as you can see, I'm gradually improving - the above skein is bordering on respectable! That said, I tried my hand at plying last night and the result is, erm, not quite as impressive. But still, that's what learning is all about, I suppose.<br /><br />Next post, actual knitting content - I promise! In the mean time, I leave you with a picture of the home brewed beer we bottled a few weeks ago. Still needs a little bit of time to improve, but it's pretty good - the first brew I've been involved in from start to finish. Exciting! (well, I think so)<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifvqk3sklvIcDuz63_Aq5BRQbmV3JTA6O2i8FeizqnGMvlxQOONhM7xCYIm7GXsDxgAj5nUfQujTTg89yM4WywY902yBnMEMXaqld9EuG67Semptf5Uo2hEaGOSpjU0bDIqraCoDTVLCI/s1600/P1030439.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifvqk3sklvIcDuz63_Aq5BRQbmV3JTA6O2i8FeizqnGMvlxQOONhM7xCYIm7GXsDxgAj5nUfQujTTg89yM4WywY902yBnMEMXaqld9EuG67Semptf5Uo2hEaGOSpjU0bDIqraCoDTVLCI/s320/P1030439.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507708493929631410" border="0" /></a>Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-54462082623730093902010-08-06T12:29:00.003+10:002010-08-06T13:18:30.978+10:00Learning by Doing is a Grand ThingOkay, fine, no completed set of hand-warmers just yet, but one thing that I neglected to mention last post is that I have been renewing my assault on the pile of fibre that lives in my craft pile. I did make a few attempts at learning how to spin last year (or was it the year before... jeez, I don't even know), but I then, cleverly, managed to lose my drop spindle. And it was the most frustrating variety of losing something though; the kind where you know that it has to be in your house somewhere, so you refrain from buying a new one because you are quite convinced that the moment that you do, the old one will reappear. So my pretty fibre languished. But then the drop spindle did, in fact, reappear (it had fallen down behind some books on one of my shelves... because this makes perfect sense, right), and recently I finally found the time to use it.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCHohEDZn5qxO-3o39UclTmWdpaixJEtNlbxY4wA5Puj2R3vpPi7rS8q5uRSgyY5zmNX8NNT1gtM20Og5gniDpx_a2XFXxAFTFqERmPy_31-q13guqherk0br1KvayDtAEJqU59w-ngko/s1600/P1030428.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCHohEDZn5qxO-3o39UclTmWdpaixJEtNlbxY4wA5Puj2R3vpPi7rS8q5uRSgyY5zmNX8NNT1gtM20Og5gniDpx_a2XFXxAFTFqERmPy_31-q13guqherk0br1KvayDtAEJqU59w-ngko/s320/P1030428.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5502120827707417314" border="0" /></a><br />These are the first three results of the renewed attempt to learn how to hand-spin. Three guesses which is the first try. What's that, you say? They're all sad looking skeins of noob yarn? Okay, fine, the blue was the first attempt, the green the second, and the variegated was the third.<br /><br />Perhaps you can't really see in the photo, but the improvement from the first to the most recent is amazing. This is one of the things that I love the most about knitting, and crafty things in general - you can actually see yourself improve in quite a short time if you only take the time to practice. The above were spun over a period of about a week, and every day that I picked up the spindle, I was better at it. Don't get me wrong, I'm still very much a clumsy, beginner. But seeing yourself make progress is fantastic. I really do think that it's the little things in life that make you happy, and this is definitely one of the little things in my arsenal.<br /><br />Next time, hand-warmers! Now it's back to what I was doing: drinking tea, eating freshly baked <a href="http://www.mymacedoniankitchen.com/?p=630">lavender, honey and lemon shortbread</a>, watching the Arcade Fire concert being streamed on You Tube, and knitting with my divinely imperfect hand-spun. It is good to be Anna this afternoon.Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-65196757562178870782010-08-04T10:55:00.006+10:002010-08-04T11:29:02.392+10:00Time TravelOkay, so I can't actually time travel. But the start of another semester of university always makes me feel like I can. Weeks can pass in the blink of an eye - weeks in which I tragically neglect my poor little blog. But here I am, back again.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT5YPCgpFnfmhiFiWkEbqSqvdg4LohAJDCLXNMW9C9otkM8z2VY5SQEqN1E7U4DhzAteDkZxUNCQ9ovx1tqUZUcJIG2ZvJLMot6Ob_YJ6XvsI-DRwUaEtbG5c1FcFg04YMaTVf-i966aQ/s1600/P1030421.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT5YPCgpFnfmhiFiWkEbqSqvdg4LohAJDCLXNMW9C9otkM8z2VY5SQEqN1E7U4DhzAteDkZxUNCQ9ovx1tqUZUcJIG2ZvJLMot6Ob_YJ6XvsI-DRwUaEtbG5c1FcFg04YMaTVf-i966aQ/s320/P1030421.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501355353391788658" border="0" /></a><br /><br />University started last week, and it looks like it's going to be a good semester, as I've lucked out with teachers and subjects. Very soon I get to start my internship, and that should be a really good experience as well. And I've been catching up with all of the university friends that I missed when I was travelling. One of them gave me some lovely beeswax candles that she had acquired on her own travels - aren't they pretty!<br /><br />Now, I have actually been managing to fit a surprising amount of knitting into all of this. However, I don't have photos. Partially because I am too lazy and/or busy to take them, but mostly because pictures of half completed projects are just never really that impressive. Or not when I take them anyway. I've seen some lovely shots of works-in-progress on other people's blogs and Ravelry pages, but if there's a knack to taking them, I don't have it, and I don't feel like subjecting people to a blurry shot of my single completed hand-warmer today.<br /><br />Rest assured, however, that the handwarmers are coming along swimmingly. I've finished one bar the thumb, and the other should follow very quickly since I can just brainlessly copy the first one without having to turn my mind to questions of length, width and ribbing. Hurrah for mindless knitting.<br /><br />I've also been working on a top down wrap-style cardigan out of some dark blue tweedy yarn that I've had kicking around for a while. The top down style is of course very familiar to me. The wrap style however is not, so it will be interesting to see how that one pans out. It's probably near to half finished, at any rate, so we won't be waiting that much longer.<br /><br />So while there is indeed knitting progress, unfortunately it doesn't lend itself well to photos. Thankfully, however, other things do! The Boy and I celebrated our anniversary last week; we made celebratory pizzas and had Floor Picnic in front of the television because the weather in Melbourne in July is nothing to write home about. But the pizza was lovely (if a little poorly lit in this photo!).<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSgM4GN49q4ONDh5qI4rLLlBSLVqO1-WMx3K5xjyuWPbeNHIvnq754Nd-nNk_39009mOOIZ7RCVkiT6M2d_PrnObhUpbrsc_GWO7L9w2xhYqwYFaViauaf0r9K_GkjKkm3HagOl4rce3M/s1600/P1030398.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSgM4GN49q4ONDh5qI4rLLlBSLVqO1-WMx3K5xjyuWPbeNHIvnq754Nd-nNk_39009mOOIZ7RCVkiT6M2d_PrnObhUpbrsc_GWO7L9w2xhYqwYFaViauaf0r9K_GkjKkm3HagOl4rce3M/s320/P1030398.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501356884160428194" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The cold weather has also brought some of the local wildlife into the house. A recurring guest in my abode is a tiny little gecko, who made his first appearance a few weeks ago in the laundry/toilet area of all places. So it was only logical to christen him Mr Toilet Gecko. Ridiculous name aside, he's a cute wee thing:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-i9cV1ObCR-PprVNEpz4dLcHWtUi8cgI0OksZMP9FrvP2ICkaAusgfserDSgeHBXxTGcUaO1h59QDsRPWj8y9rWWWyKY6JN1bEN8ehz5SyWCVqN_k9sW-5-Ghtnfwqda-Djbak5BUD7I/s1600/P1030404.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-i9cV1ObCR-PprVNEpz4dLcHWtUi8cgI0OksZMP9FrvP2ICkaAusgfserDSgeHBXxTGcUaO1h59QDsRPWj8y9rWWWyKY6JN1bEN8ehz5SyWCVqN_k9sW-5-Ghtnfwqda-Djbak5BUD7I/s320/P1030404.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501358196117255554" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Well, I think he's cute anyway - look at that little beady eye!<br /><br />Next post: finished handwarmers!Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-29394855241726249112010-07-22T14:55:00.007+10:002010-07-22T15:54:32.270+10:00Holiday Finished ObjectsAs previously mention, I did plenty of knitting while I was away. Between the hotels and hostels, cafes, buses, trains, planes, picnics and knit-nights, I managed to squeeze out three different projects in the time I was away.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijx2qp7otYP-eGVCfW06iuAPUVRzpoayFtVU0Tkxf-2Ph3lpTy27WT-uQ7WK9bgOT7Mg5suwAZo09H14IMwNDoscHOnECOWzUOhKx5VX_oKZ7-DgKr_ZZO5A3co3UMDUikR8NYseNbCLA/s1600/P1030332.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijx2qp7otYP-eGVCfW06iuAPUVRzpoayFtVU0Tkxf-2Ph3lpTy27WT-uQ7WK9bgOT7Mg5suwAZo09H14IMwNDoscHOnECOWzUOhKx5VX_oKZ7-DgKr_ZZO5A3co3UMDUikR8NYseNbCLA/s320/P1030332.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496591724552849586" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">First off:</span> <a href="http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEss10/PATTannis.php">Annis</a> by Susanna IC, knitted in Wired for Fibre Elizabeth (in the 'Fate' colourway) on a 5mm circular needle.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Climb aboard the ramble-mobile:</span> This is definitely the project I'm the most proud of. For a start, it's pretty: the lace pattern is lovely and the yarn is simply gorgeous. I just wish I had a picture that did the beautiful colour justice - it's a much deeper, richer green than the pictures show. Also, this was the most challenging knit. It's not so much that it was difficult - the pattern is well written, and although the nupps were something new to me, they weren't too tricky - it was more than I had a bit of lapse in sense and brought the single bluntest needle I owned along to knit it with. P7tog is all well and good when you have the right needle, but the one I was using was probably blunt enough that I could have jammed it repeatedly into my eyeball and not sustained any damage. So working the nupps was slow and painstaking. Still, I got there in the end.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm9c9i_6x0f8WHgxlQQMLo891fxlRqeq5k7-aZqN8KJPtwFM9yxMAoFYVjXairW9kIWHBNWuF0ieA1FVr5JXU22ZRXkHLGGWOGO3rFRuSQWF-t-XA_WFqcs5G2IlYE3lXh1lt39LAcw-o/s1600/P1030342.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm9c9i_6x0f8WHgxlQQMLo891fxlRqeq5k7-aZqN8KJPtwFM9yxMAoFYVjXairW9kIWHBNWuF0ieA1FVr5JXU22ZRXkHLGGWOGO3rFRuSQWF-t-XA_WFqcs5G2IlYE3lXh1lt39LAcw-o/s320/P1030342.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496595152157422754" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I won't lie - I made quite a few mistakes. I had to redo the first few rows, and I worked a portion of the lace pattern while I was feverish and headachey, and it kind of, erm, shows. But thankfully it's not very noticeable in the finished product - the errors are mostly at the ends, which tend to be tied and dangling. And all in all I'm definitely happy with how it came out - I can't wait to wear it out and about. The design is wonderful too - it was fun to watch how the short rows created the shape of the shawl, and I think it would lend itself very well to all kinds of variation. I definitely look forward to finding out!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIWgDCNjlDuNnu-jNoy1slZvd1RXKxg105qZz-IvQKarCuXju_rEGquIMSCIr_8VpRf8tQmIuPQPrrnUaiu7B0iZV0WuTODexNu9vqAZ6e_HKg6ww0roWnAEDQkhsjhxvKjxivkdn29kA/s1600/P1030371.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIWgDCNjlDuNnu-jNoy1slZvd1RXKxg105qZz-IvQKarCuXju_rEGquIMSCIr_8VpRf8tQmIuPQPrrnUaiu7B0iZV0WuTODexNu9vqAZ6e_HKg6ww0roWnAEDQkhsjhxvKjxivkdn29kA/s320/P1030371.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496597570250861810" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Project number two was just a basic, stash-busting hat made out of some random scraps of black dk weight wool and some Panda Purla that I've been wanting to use up/get rid of but wasn't sure what to do with. I didn't use a pattern, and I won't bore everyone with talking about it in detail, because it's just the most basic of basic hats (worked in the round, two row stripes, rolled brim), but I'm rather happy with how it turned out. As previously mentioned, I've really been feeling the love for stripes lately, so I'm quite keen on this, even though I look like the grotty student bum that I am when I wear it.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik-mHMKlKXhICss6hMwhE1MReJDFRxC2Z5Me_2wsH6vXaKkevvMjumfwMe0CkIYlErc1-ppxPdXYa2SJVDNOcJZ6-7eDHYUJTEPdburnK-ecxPcuqyU2damt8a063ShOxXL2b4EsYsQ8A/s1600/P1030379.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik-mHMKlKXhICss6hMwhE1MReJDFRxC2Z5Me_2wsH6vXaKkevvMjumfwMe0CkIYlErc1-ppxPdXYa2SJVDNOcJZ6-7eDHYUJTEPdburnK-ecxPcuqyU2damt8a063ShOxXL2b4EsYsQ8A/s320/P1030379.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496598639653393570" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Number Three:</span> <a href="http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer07/PATTwisp.html">Wisp</a> by Cheryl Niamath, knitted from Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn on 5.5mm needles.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Blatherings:</span> This pattern was pleasantly easy, and I'd made it before already, so this was a great travelling knit that I didn't have to think too hard about. I'm quite pleased with how the finish product worked out. I would have appreciated a slightly longer scarf, so in retrospect I probably should have made it narrower in order to accomplish this, but I'm still happy with it. The Silk Garden Sock is very pretty, though I found it a little frustrating to work with at times as it had a tendency to break in the loosely spun sections.<br /><br />So, there you have it - one month's worth of travel knitting. They were all fun projects, but now I'm home I'm really craving a bigger project. It wasn't really feasible to lug pullover quantities of yarn around the US with me, but now I'm home again, I'm looking forward to getting stuck into garments again. I have so many ideas in my head to play with! If only I had more than three days before uni starts again...Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-44700123447832990802010-07-19T21:51:00.006+10:002010-07-19T22:28:58.448+10:00Yarny Acquisitions...and now to the part where Anna drools over her new yarn. As alluded to in the last post, I picked up quite a bit of new stuff while I was gone. Not a completely over-the-top amount - after all, I did have to worry about how I was going to get it home. But definitely a goodly amount, especially considering that I haven't bought much this year. Actually, that has a lot to do with it - the self-imposed yarn diet of last year let me kick my impulse buying habit, so I've purchased comparatively little by way of yarn lately. As a result, I felt a little more justified in lashing out a bit while I was travelling. And besides, when it comes to yarn the range of what you can get in the US is just so vast compared to what is available here in Australia; I was happy to let myself indulge a bit.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNEn64tgGkrMf3iyNG2xhtWK0mW3NybFCYij_xf3tWNsNn7oOvfLZGAI5XwCx4-58P7O92oZspd05LQSawtJ_xR0r8V3HuStV0APbz_rAewgUPKlsfcnY33Nksn-oTVkyA5V8jWwJUEHk/s1600/P1030307.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNEn64tgGkrMf3iyNG2xhtWK0mW3NybFCYij_xf3tWNsNn7oOvfLZGAI5XwCx4-58P7O92oZspd05LQSawtJ_xR0r8V3HuStV0APbz_rAewgUPKlsfcnY33Nksn-oTVkyA5V8jWwJUEHk/s320/P1030307.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495585705746605538" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This is not quite all of what I bought - I left out some of the doubles, there's some Malabrigo Twist to the right that you can only see a hint of, and I think there was one ball hiding in parts unknown that didn't make it into the shot. Still, not a bad haul, right? I visited so many lovely yarn shops (including <a href="http://www.yarn.com/">WEBS</a>, thanks to some awesome LSG Ravellers), and I ended up picking up a little something from most of them. Highlights included some discounted Noro and some lovely Misti Chunky Alpaca from WEBS, some gorgeous alpaca from The Quarter Stitch in New Orleans, and some Koigu and Malabrigo Lace from <a href="http://froggiebecky.blogspot.com/">Rebecca</a>'s work.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwk457HJKroREQrefh9yQnhaSTQ0ImLl5-xDpO5qYAYu8V5ZC6qo2Vn9LvLy4q9dfbl6EAzMSnTnW2P4vWvom5NAn8lQXMH9ihgOIaAnLTsFbGQc7tjRxDKUVTsPgQd97itjxssM6tU6M/s1600/P1030316.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwk457HJKroREQrefh9yQnhaSTQ0ImLl5-xDpO5qYAYu8V5ZC6qo2Vn9LvLy4q9dfbl6EAzMSnTnW2P4vWvom5NAn8lQXMH9ihgOIaAnLTsFbGQc7tjRxDKUVTsPgQd97itjxssM6tU6M/s320/P1030316.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495589899719160946" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Pretty right? Also, besides showing off my holiday indulgences, these photos are a good idea of where I'm at right now when it comes to colour. I've always loved black and green, and I definitely still do, but over the last year I've found myself thinking more and more of grays, purples and reds as well, and sometimes even blues when the shades were just right. And just look at all of the lovely colours I have to work with now!<br /><br />Anyway, back to the yarn. Not all of them have been allocated to projects yet, but I'm working on it. I didn't really want any of these to languish in the stash for too long, and I'm off to a cracking start on that front: the Misti Alpaca Chunky (the large skein in that gorgeous shade of dark reddish purple on the right hand side of the picture) has <span style="font-style: italic;">already</span> become a scarf. None too shabby, right? And there were a couple of skeins that I had plans for before I'd even left the store in which I bought them.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhueTRkBxyjv0cJiwOMNIlbP5PKqyZ2-LQ9sGXvsJdGAsKjDbfnMD8SwGOgG_AvWnQ7XA3obSEYenOSyaSUw0WH08rwI4_bIfa7FOgZsgOvvMmum58I3wixIKYeO_82dnkZpTglf6QaQI8/s1600/P1030387.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhueTRkBxyjv0cJiwOMNIlbP5PKqyZ2-LQ9sGXvsJdGAsKjDbfnMD8SwGOgG_AvWnQ7XA3obSEYenOSyaSUw0WH08rwI4_bIfa7FOgZsgOvvMmum58I3wixIKYeO_82dnkZpTglf6QaQI8/s320/P1030387.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5495589110506081858" border="0" /></a><br />The moment I saw these skeins in New Orleans, I knew that I had to stripe them together, and I knew that they were destined to adorn my hands. I have every intention of casting on tonight, so stay tuned for news on that in the near future. However, the next post = holiday projects!<br /><br />But not tonight. I have knitting to do, tea to drink, and an episode of <span style="font-style: italic;">Skins</span> to watch... Have a nice evening, everyone!Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-43380431280728160512010-07-14T11:37:00.006+10:002010-07-14T12:58:31.955+10:00Home again!Well, it was fun while it lasted, but lo and behold, here I am once again in my dear hometown of Melbourne. Hmm, that sounds more dismal than it should. Actually, I'm very happy to be home - I love Melbourne dearly, and though I (obviously) adore travel and do it as prolifically as I can afford to, the places that I've been where I would be happy to live can probably be counted on one hand, and I don't honestly think that any of them can compare to my current place of residence. I wouldn't rule out longer trips, or even extended stays elsewhere, but I can't help but suspect that Melbourne will always be my home. I do love it so - it's a wonderful place to live.<br /><br />Anyway, enough of that waffle - I'm now going to subject you all to a different kind of waffle: what I did in the latter third of my trip!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpTABuZaVNm6fss9BSItu2_PQM8hlLRH45LLg-EtIoLRyZ8K9K75ZphAyIsUD7xtVO-2zyuipNoefMiXkUu730Mqp2RWi_VLDREp7eoxuci4f0z2aSapG8J8erngXK-C6Mn01agEIyyPc/s1600/P1030225.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpTABuZaVNm6fss9BSItu2_PQM8hlLRH45LLg-EtIoLRyZ8K9K75ZphAyIsUD7xtVO-2zyuipNoefMiXkUu730Mqp2RWi_VLDREp7eoxuci4f0z2aSapG8J8erngXK-C6Mn01agEIyyPc/s320/P1030225.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493574288423814882" border="0" /></a><br /><br />On July 5th we shoe-horned ourselves out of bed painfully early and made our way to the airport, and by mid-morning found ourselves in New Orleans. I honestly think that of all of the places that I visited on this trip, New Orleans was my favourite - it's beautiful, has so much character, and a really great vibe to it. Also, when I compared to some of the other places I'd already visited, it really drove home to me again just how diverse a nation the US is - New Orleans and Boston are very different places!<br /><br />Unfortunately we only had a few days to stay, but we packed as much into our days as was humanly possible. Of course, we started by wandering around the French Quarter and seeing the sights there. We also met up with the very lovely <a href="http://hushedsunrise.blogspot.com/">Cadence</a>, who was awesome enough to meet up with us and show us around to a few places (thanks again!). One of the places we went was The Quarter Stitch, a yarn shop in the French Quarter. I bought some lovely yarn there, which is not particularly surprising, but what was surprising was how beautifully our purchases were wrapped up for us. Alas, I don't have a photo that entirely does it justice, as by the time this shot was taken the poor package had been squished into my pack for over a week, but to give you a rough idea:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL1yCWOZoFSL15C_-_2-MdqqV28zcapskfIbmL9BAC8O7EHtwVLRwUhf7F6mOpH01BMhkKtC-1atariA5cVxA0eHMdhF1Jrj4Ne0StjAQ0-1xTh9_FPAg8W1vi6QaMK9ic47YA4IOwVzU/s1600/P1030306.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL1yCWOZoFSL15C_-_2-MdqqV28zcapskfIbmL9BAC8O7EHtwVLRwUhf7F6mOpH01BMhkKtC-1atariA5cVxA0eHMdhF1Jrj4Ne0StjAQ0-1xTh9_FPAg8W1vi6QaMK9ic47YA4IOwVzU/s320/P1030306.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493578992155945682" border="0" /></a><br />Why yes, those are ribbons, and those pink things on the left are cut-out tissue paper hearts inside the bag. I saved the tag, and it now has its own little place on the wall next to my desk. Yarn shopping aside, over the next few days we wandered far and wide through a couple of other areas of the city, ate gumbo and beignets, and did a tour of some nearby swamps (alligators!).<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQqBIpzwdaS5GTh3g8rmL0RCmVGVfoBCwTQZLH3neyOhUt_qmEaiMlnkZeAigqP2Y_xJmowzim9h-T_uKagE4EH0J_P0921qcUe7aVp59b-7nifJQHykwY47CF9DrlBmI_rMqGmo-NjuY/s1600/P1030266.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQqBIpzwdaS5GTh3g8rmL0RCmVGVfoBCwTQZLH3neyOhUt_qmEaiMlnkZeAigqP2Y_xJmowzim9h-T_uKagE4EH0J_P0921qcUe7aVp59b-7nifJQHykwY47CF9DrlBmI_rMqGmo-NjuY/s320/P1030266.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493590371522409218" border="0" /></a><br /><br />On Thursday it was off the airport again, and by mid morning we were in Houston. We had a poke around the Space Centre, and then went out for delicious tex-mex and margaritas in the evening. The next day it was off to San Antonio. We saw the Alamo, so now I can remember it (sorry, lame joke I know...)!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEO77SjiArpf0kGTePV84cKPuDCSkFUoOlt1jL5gE10UAORaDbku20E7NkkmDHysYVGrHfXv3_5c4EItgw8mrmO-tilwPXlCA3ANAlTAnxvL99FRf-gtcJXxD4k2MMSQm0m0kVc7swAF4/s1600/P1030289.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEO77SjiArpf0kGTePV84cKPuDCSkFUoOlt1jL5gE10UAORaDbku20E7NkkmDHysYVGrHfXv3_5c4EItgw8mrmO-tilwPXlCA3ANAlTAnxvL99FRf-gtcJXxD4k2MMSQm0m0kVc7swAF4/s320/P1030289.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5493584928815011938" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The next day we looked at some of the missions in the San Antonio area, and then went tubing on the Guadalupe River. Tubing was tremendous fun (how can you really go wrong with floating down a river, drinking beer and nibbling on fruit and snacks), though things did take a turn for the somewhat dangerous near the end - I collided with a girl stuck against a tree, was thrown from my tube, and got my foot stuck in some underwater tree roots, which had the unfortunate effect of making it rather difficult to come up to the surface for air. Thankfully I got free quickly - once again, I'm so thankful for being a strong swimmer. So that was some excitement at least!<br /><br />The next day we packed up and headed back to Houston, where I was equipped with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and turned loose at the airport. I sat through four (yes, four) flights, and then, some enormous number of hours later, found myself back in a rather wintry Melbourne.<br /><br />All in all, it was a fantastic trip. I got to meet some wonderful people and see some amazing places - I know this is getting repetitive, and I'm beginning to run out of positive adjectives, but long story short, I count myself extraordinarily lucky that I was able to have some of these experiences, and I definitely left a lot of places thinking 'Wow, I have to come back here...' The wanderlust, it is strong in this one.<br /><br />As for the yarn I acquired along the way, and the knitting I did on the road; I'm allocating them separate blog posts, because I don't want to weigh too heavily on everybody's attention spans, but hopefully they'll be up soon enough. So now all that's left to do is go and finish unpacking, and to say thanks again to everyone who I got to catch up with (especially Rebecca, who drove me countless places and never strangled me, despite my irritating tendency to talk to inanimate objects). Thanks again everyone - should you ever find yourselves in Melbourne and need a couch, a tour-guide, or a personal baker, you know who to call on!Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-34544760760780136272010-07-05T03:10:00.009+10:002010-07-05T03:53:50.633+10:00Posting from the US: North Carolina edition!Greetings all! I am officially still alive, and haven't been swallowed up into the pit of travel oblivion. Right now I am in the abode of the lovely <a href="http://froggiebecky.blogspot.com/">Rebecca</a>, resting after a spot of baking. Oh, and it's the 4th of July, which is a complete novelty to someone not from America, so I'm looking forward to seeing what the day holds. But first, a (brief!) outline of what I've been up to.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnALBuALH70nMFFpaUDk0SEU97mJkTBK61x5V-9RevnF0Op9qCdMq_L58GbjBInusmMT0tlFnihWRF5_aYc5Ns7gqcf8ObkqRR-J6tvBFxtLHppuZILXRSuWLbVI8GY-yRSnLoy37GVeU/s1600/P1030084.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnALBuALH70nMFFpaUDk0SEU97mJkTBK61x5V-9RevnF0Op9qCdMq_L58GbjBInusmMT0tlFnihWRF5_aYc5Ns7gqcf8ObkqRR-J6tvBFxtLHppuZILXRSuWLbVI8GY-yRSnLoy37GVeU/s320/P1030084.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490102064298780770" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Alas, my experiences in New York City were not what they could have been. I believe I mentioned in the last post that I was experiencing blisters? Well, they only got worse, until it finally got to the point where one got kind of infected, and I actually couldn't walk more than a block or so. If that wasn't fun enough, I also managed to come down with a very lovely case of strep throat (which eventually meant a trip to the doctor, something I had very much been hoping to avoid, as I am a spoiled - and obviously not insured in this country - Aussie who is used to free health care). Still, what are you going to do? Not much, really. I did my best to enjoy what I could of NYC. On the day I couldn't walk, I took the subway down to the Staten Island ferry and rode that around for a little bit. On my last day I went out to see the Chelsea Market and the Highline Park (pictured above), as these were two things I'd had my heart set on, and they were a short train ride from my hostel. Alas, I didn't get to do museums, or even see as much of Central Park as I wanted to, but these things happen I suppose. Guess I'll just have to come back!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwjzrzZ14yo0WEc_fFTldyPStI8_rKsmdcZ28OKtLSQQQicL_HewmSZV_Pj0-r-h4tSyvOwEtLzDZDOWmKeeagv2Wd1nsZIKxWvkSW618ZBHFv6yonIGRnJgkaEQC75Kjx-XufbhVaNpg/s1600/P1030139.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwjzrzZ14yo0WEc_fFTldyPStI8_rKsmdcZ28OKtLSQQQicL_HewmSZV_Pj0-r-h4tSyvOwEtLzDZDOWmKeeagv2Wd1nsZIKxWvkSW618ZBHFv6yonIGRnJgkaEQC75Kjx-XufbhVaNpg/s320/P1030139.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490104119527799010" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After NYC, I made my (feverish) way to Washington DC, where Rebecca finally carted me off to the doctor and supplied with antibiotics (and man, was I grateful). The next few days were spent convalescing and staggering my way feebly around the Smithsonian museums and the Botantical Garden, but by the weekend I was well enough to take in some of the sights properly. We were there during the Smithsonian International Folklife Festival, which was fun, and we got to see some traditional dancing, cooking, and even spinning (which was exciting to two fibre nerds like us). We also checked out the American History Museum and the Holocaust Museum. The thing is however that I don't tend to take many pictures in museums - I've never really seen the point. You can find a much better picture of a triceratops skeleton by Googling it, after all. So above is a picture of the DC subway system, which I thought was super cool and vaguely reminiscent of the sets of 1970s/80s British science fiction shows.<br /><br />Oh, and we went kayaking on the Potomac, which was as awesome as you'd expect.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmno1_BQUXQtGTQ6NNAUWYUuEYXhKe_862ii8f1YJQWGoD44ny9ozPSs-yD3C9VhCpy3QrAQ9_AHv8xg9xd0Aa-KhnjM4O_AYer-2RowbtsICqF4k7UEIHnjSotZ8sZvhQnSD3Vi64ohU/s1600/P1030133.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmno1_BQUXQtGTQ6NNAUWYUuEYXhKe_862ii8f1YJQWGoD44ny9ozPSs-yD3C9VhCpy3QrAQ9_AHv8xg9xd0Aa-KhnjM4O_AYer-2RowbtsICqF4k7UEIHnjSotZ8sZvhQnSD3Vi64ohU/s320/P1030133.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490106519594867618" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After DC it was off to North Carolina and then to the Smoky Mountains National Park, which was just as awesome as I'd hoped. We camped and hiked our arses off - we did over 20 miles in the three days we were there, which is none too shabby considering I'd been feverish and virtually unable to walk only a little over a week earlier.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidR66unC-ILH8NkCAMS2H-vYGIyYH1krrAb64CH28ewcfJ-r_LUeGivhj1qt1FJ7S2AcEnsbllGqHYiGw4ophse2VxxejJriGTh4cWrHC7NcL8mQEIsYl1MV0us3Ne_o9thENJQ58O2g0/s1600/P1030167.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidR66unC-ILH8NkCAMS2H-vYGIyYH1krrAb64CH28ewcfJ-r_LUeGivhj1qt1FJ7S2AcEnsbllGqHYiGw4ophse2VxxejJriGTh4cWrHC7NcL8mQEIsYl1MV0us3Ne_o9thENJQ58O2g0/s320/P1030167.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490107935390312466" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I took a whole pile of photos, but all you really need to know is that the mountains are completely gorgeous. Go see if you don't believe me. We even hiked a small part of the Appalachian Trail, which was completely awesome. And, as you can see, I did not get eaten by bears. I didn't even see one, and I'm still not sure if I'm relieved or disappointed about this.<br /><br />Anyway, so now we're back in North Carolina. We went to the baseball last night. Baseball! Can officially say it's more interesting than cricket! And then tomorrow it's off to New Orleans for a few days, and then to Texas for the last leg of the trip. Can't wait!<br /><br />Oh, yeah, and I've knitted stuff too. I promise! I'm still going on my shawl, but I've finished two other pieces - I'm just too lazy to take their picture, or rather, I've been saving my camera battery for things like the Smoky Mountains!<br /><br />And apologies to all of you whose blogs I haven't commented on in a while - there's just too many other things to do here, but I'll catch up when I get home, I promise!Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-86702784963422499742010-06-21T05:28:00.008+10:002010-06-21T11:42:00.375+10:00Holiday: Part OneWell, the wireless gods are kind, so I get to update my blog! Greetings from NYC, faithful readers!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRQzgfO2BMVnMAlLD7LcPdkds8Mo2dfEOvlTfksQNmXr9Ya0XDSkeTQyAiWUBxsmJrBw9fTXwS-DieXjPb4YOTK3k9CCTdqnXaj98sDWB92nBc9QzgdtoGVvfUl1ymAbP34WU0LjZcUp0/s1600/P1030043.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRQzgfO2BMVnMAlLD7LcPdkds8Mo2dfEOvlTfksQNmXr9Ya0XDSkeTQyAiWUBxsmJrBw9fTXwS-DieXjPb4YOTK3k9CCTdqnXaj98sDWB92nBc9QzgdtoGVvfUl1ymAbP34WU0LjZcUp0/s320/P1030043.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484963971483032194" border="0" /></a><br />Disclaimer: This is probably not how New York City looks all of the time. This was the Coney Island Mermaid Parade...<br /><br />The trip has awesome so far! It was a very long 24 hours getting to the States, but get there I did. Boston was lovely - a really nice place. It was a good way to start off the trip, I think, as the temperature wasn't too crazy-warm, and it's a similar size to Melbourne. So I got to adjust at a nice rate. I saw lots of things in the time that I was there - probably too many, as I seem to have crippled my feet something awful, which is not enhancing my NYC experience so far. Still, it's hard to feel too regretful about it.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVqJksmZKBVAsAOGxPvA7c29BRGvFswULaGND8djf7pxwkbvlLp7IAOO4Ruch7lZpSQuukT4zZPuFnfE_PnD-B5HUurPRS_dD3Mwd49DC8h1w3aJBGj1r7FxS1___9uYPDYi8iu1mWXCI/s1600/P1020905.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVqJksmZKBVAsAOGxPvA7c29BRGvFswULaGND8djf7pxwkbvlLp7IAOO4Ruch7lZpSQuukT4zZPuFnfE_PnD-B5HUurPRS_dD3Mwd49DC8h1w3aJBGj1r7FxS1___9uYPDYi8iu1mWXCI/s320/P1020905.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484980578039893266" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Boston Common is so pretty. I also did the Freedom Trail walk, climbed the Bunker Hill monument, had a quick stint on the USS Constitution, wandered around the Fens, went to the Museum of Fine Art, sauntered around North End, ate chowder and sweets from Modern Pastry (as instructed!), squizzed at Harvard, and went to the Natural History Museum. I also met up with some lovely knitter type people and got taken to a gorgeous little local yarn shop. Not bad for only three days, right? The weather was gorgeous the entire time I was there too - sunny, with a nice breeze. And I loved the Boston subway system - so much clearer and better than Melbourne's trains (not that that is particularly difficult most of the time *grumble*)<br /><br />On Friday it was time to head south. I was sad to leave, but the upside was that thanks to the assistance of a few generous knitting friends, I was escorted to <a href="http://www.yarn.com/">WEBS</a> on the way down. WEBS! I was a little overwhelmed at first, given it's probably at least five times the size of any yarn shop we have in Australia... but I got over it fairly quickly and got stuck in. It was great - and Northampton was a really lovely town as well.<br /><br />After getting a generous ride down to New Haven, I plonked myself on the commuter train to NYC. I was really tired by the time I got there, so it was a little overwhelming at first, but once I'd found my hostel, dumped my bags and foraged for some food, I felt a lot better.<br /><br />I had a very pleasant sleep in on my first day and then travelled down to Brooklyn to attend the aforementioned Mermaid Parade, though not before being fed bagels (real New York bagels - squee!) and mimosa by a friend. The parade itself was good fun - lots of outlandish costumes and floats, with a lot of commentary on the BP oil spill (somewhat unsurprisingly, I suppose).<br /><br />I think this is my favourite picture, even though it isn't of a mermaid:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiIuAyY8PaMhRzEENMMUPZr8fqjPuFVSPfgOJsBjhVhzA4IRMJGdJG8NB-WgXBLUnaunOIU-5gPKnLMjDjybCPe-BdntBsggIpnR9qdLdfeAMBFd4maRB9p3ZPvzMM3F_KosetaQzvD4A/s1600/P1030037.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiIuAyY8PaMhRzEENMMUPZr8fqjPuFVSPfgOJsBjhVhzA4IRMJGdJG8NB-WgXBLUnaunOIU-5gPKnLMjDjybCPe-BdntBsggIpnR9qdLdfeAMBFd4maRB9p3ZPvzMM3F_KosetaQzvD4A/s320/P1030037.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485033526841683394" border="0" /></a><br />Today was a bit more low key, as my feet were sore and it was rather hot. But I got to walk around the Midtown area a bit (including around <a href="http://www.strandbooks.com/">The Strand Bookstore</a>, which was as awesome as you'd expect), and in the late afternoon I checked out part of Central Park, which was absolutely lovely.<br /><br />Two more days in New York, and then it's down to DC! Whew!<br /><br />Knitting has been slow, because I've been doing so much walking, but I am doing some (and not just hoarding yarn from WEBS). I cast on for an <a href="http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEss10/PATTannis.php">Annis</a> shawl, and then promptly made a mess of the fifth row and had to begin again. But the second version is coming along. I also cast on for a second <a href="http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer07/PATTwisp.html">Wisp</a>, as I wanted to have a mindless project that I could work on while chatting.<br /><br />And that's about all I've got for the moment. I'm having a great time - if only my feet would heal up, it would be hard for this trip to have been any better so far!Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-10420276502339845632010-06-13T16:35:00.005+10:002010-06-13T17:13:29.488+10:00A Shrug and an AdventureWhew! Essays are now officially finished! It nearly annihilated my brain - just the sheer stress of having them all due on consecutive days - but they're done now, so can turn my attention to more enjoyable things! Like long neglected shrugs!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKXKL2A8AYQCrQmiR9Q5MT_1XtkMBENBPNY0UDcfY-9skeMmz6Q-B69DetLtcLMPnA413OAEOJkD_wjUXSbyK0Gc03OfQ6DnXFfUpHy1_seLCWzBbZ3CXGcEmCf0IjAGR0zFt-qQb9B5s/s1600/P1020885.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKXKL2A8AYQCrQmiR9Q5MT_1XtkMBENBPNY0UDcfY-9skeMmz6Q-B69DetLtcLMPnA413OAEOJkD_wjUXSbyK0Gc03OfQ6DnXFfUpHy1_seLCWzBbZ3CXGcEmCf0IjAGR0zFt-qQb9B5s/s400/P1020885.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482145124043761842" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">You are looking at:</span> The Kypria Shrug Without a Name, designed by yours truly. It's knitted from Sanguine Gryphon Kypria in 'The Deep Bosomed Earth' and Sundara Sock in 'Brambleberry' on 4.5mm needles.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Anna says:</span> I am mostly happy with how this one came out. The yarns are really lovely, and I'm pretty keen on the way that the colours work together.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3bhNuJ5yCCwxmm_8ON3mub3fqpoyhZ8WZtLfLzzbnrRVU7V2CjkRMFkTb3nr4hHhZKVBc6CiiLWX_1XgNoBpFTXNGOn_4-ohm5kby6bvagDMdytNk8ACQShblpmceCJttB2-7yDoWKOo/s1600/P1020894.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3bhNuJ5yCCwxmm_8ON3mub3fqpoyhZ8WZtLfLzzbnrRVU7V2CjkRMFkTb3nr4hHhZKVBc6CiiLWX_1XgNoBpFTXNGOn_4-ohm5kby6bvagDMdytNk8ACQShblpmceCJttB2-7yDoWKOo/s400/P1020894.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482149840240967938" border="0" /></a><br /><br />For all those playing along at home, this is just a basic top-down raglan, except without the front part. I wanted to make something really light, loose and drapey that I could just throw over my shoulders when it was slightly too cool for just a singlet. Kypria has a lovely drape at this gauge, so that part definitely worked out well. Honestly, it's a little bit too large for me, but thankfully this is the kind of garment where that doesn't matter a whole lot. It slips off of my shoulders occasionally, but that's okay.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0S4gyJFyxem58XcOasrAlU_PkiZ2XoiH8DrzCdQAD8hzfcDKYN8rEDRzMwzgvvhFoOdLUkb6Y3KkifWx976vhO-jP-gxIIoTE6JMOY6IEAYrQz8xENkQ7_J3XHiyJ5pjhx02nyQAWtfs/s1600/P1020883.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0S4gyJFyxem58XcOasrAlU_PkiZ2XoiH8DrzCdQAD8hzfcDKYN8rEDRzMwzgvvhFoOdLUkb6Y3KkifWx976vhO-jP-gxIIoTE6JMOY6IEAYrQz8xENkQ7_J3XHiyJ5pjhx02nyQAWtfs/s400/P1020883.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5482150404665662914" border="0" /></a><br /><br />One other thing: I'm not sure it was the best idea to try and do a picot cast off on the sleeves. The loose gauge makes it look kind of weird. Still, you live and learn, don't you? I like that I still make mistakes to learn from.<br /><br />The other, more obvious thing that I'm turning my mind to now that essays are done is travelling! I'm off tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow. Bright and early. It's going to be a hatefully long day: I get on the plane in Melbourne at 11am, and then it's a 15 hour flight to get to LA, at which point it's morning again. And then I hop on another plane to Boston and get there late in the evening. Urgh. But I'm still completely psyched! I have so many awesome plans, and hopefully plenty of awesome spur-of-the-moment things to look forward to as well. I just wish I had time to do more, and see more people while I'm there.<br /><br />On the note of travelling, there might be blog silence for a while. I'm going to try and update while I'm away, but that will obviously depend on the internet gods smiling on me at the right time, and I am a big believer in Murphy's Law. But I'll try. Until then, take care all, and wish me a happy trip!Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-51440267972532286952010-06-05T15:10:00.004+10:002010-06-05T15:53:20.716+10:00Open Minded KnittingYes, I'm still alive. Essays haven't destroyed me yet. And unsurprisingly, the forces of procrastination have seen me get a surprising amount of knitting done. I even tackled a mini scarf - a species of knitwear that I've always been profoundly skeptical about. I always thought cowls and neckwarmers and scarflettes to be something that I'd never really wear, for all that they looked seductively quick and easy to make when compared with normal length scarves. But then I saw the Bainbridge Scarf and it was just too cute to resist. I made it, and found that it definitely pays to be open-minded about what patterns you think you are "into", because I am very happy with the result.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZt-Xc4XgzF8yUlfpB0JC6gS7aQo-pPdcOrO-HSNxxb8jHWxS0_sfDjUou-mpS_JwWL2lKxHkQGaTvRYPDKBJnBcYTdcmMBhMq2-fEp6IcTDG2H5U8sjrvg4aLlKGg7Jmt79_G6GYyHtQ/s1600/P1010983.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZt-Xc4XgzF8yUlfpB0JC6gS7aQo-pPdcOrO-HSNxxb8jHWxS0_sfDjUou-mpS_JwWL2lKxHkQGaTvRYPDKBJnBcYTdcmMBhMq2-fEp6IcTDG2H5U8sjrvg4aLlKGg7Jmt79_G6GYyHtQ/s400/P1010983.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479154656521138258" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pattern:</span> <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bainbridge-scarf">Bainbridge Scarf</a>, by MintyFresh, made from Louisa Harding Grace (50/50 wool and silk blend), on 3.75mm needles.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The extended rambling:</span> This is a really cute pattern! I modified (as some other Ravellers have done) it to have i-cord ties with leaves on the end, but the original pattern is just as lovely, and a little less precious looking. It was a fast knit too - I think I took about a week and a half to finish it, but you could do it in two days if you were pressed for time (and this would make a dreadfully cute gift). I have every intention of making more of these. I'm thinking perhaps with a couple of different variations on the ties, perhaps in red or gray... *muses*<br /><br />I loved the yarn as well. I bought it last year, was gobsmacked by its gorgeousness, and then foolishly tried to turn it into a beret, a beret that ended up looking far too much like a showercap for me to be happy with it. So I frogged the misbegotten hat, and the poor yarn languished in a drawer until I picked it up for this. It's lovely though - the softness and sheen are amazing, and I would love to work with it again.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAJZc0xaqGnif0-t7zSKRtTv7DQXWPePMXj8dVVCu8WwxhgFpRmSfgKWtRY0vWQLrzoHD29DWjPyjlkzzQJy_LjWY3y7BTDgMBYTXtD7wX3c1eB1rrPYrpizpzcETzUyEJut4S329fwBk/s1600/P1010987.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAJZc0xaqGnif0-t7zSKRtTv7DQXWPePMXj8dVVCu8WwxhgFpRmSfgKWtRY0vWQLrzoHD29DWjPyjlkzzQJy_LjWY3y7BTDgMBYTXtD7wX3c1eB1rrPYrpizpzcETzUyEJut4S329fwBk/s400/P1010987.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479157460890214210" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This pleasant little diversion having concluded, I am now back to working on that raglan shrug I've had going for the last while. It's nearing completion though - with a bit of luck, I might even knock it on the head this evening. I'm quite happy with how it's coming along, although if I make it again, I'll definitely make some alterations (note to self: picot bind offs and loose gauge are not good bedfellows).<br /><br />When I'm not knitting, I'm fish gazing (I have guppies now, and they are cute as hell), essay writing, or travel planning. Particularly the latter: I'm off in a little over a week! This is terrifying and exciting all at the same time. I'm looking forward to it, obviously, but I've also never travelled overseas on my own before, so I'm a little nervous. Still, I am firmly of the opinion that it's does you good to push out of your comfort zone from time to time. Plus, my younger brother visited New York on his own last year, and if he can do it and not manage to drown or get eaten by squirrels, then surely I can too!<br /><br />My rough itinerary is as follows: I'm spending some time in Boston, and then heading south to New York for a few days. Then it's down to Washington DC, where I'm meeting up with <a href="http://froggiebecky.blogspot.com/">Rebecca</a> (as made famous by last year's trip to Tasmania). Then we're heading back to her neck of the woods for some national park adventures (ignorant Australian that I am, I'm firmly convinced that I will be eaten by bears). I'll get to be in the US for the 4th of July - this will definitely be an experience, as nobody here really gets too excited about Australia Day (our closest equivalent).<br /><br />After we're done letting off fireworks, drinking beer, or whatever else it is that you do on July 4th (hey, I'm sure I'll be educated), we're heading down to New Orleans for a bit (to hell with oil spills!), and then on to Texas. Then a very tired Anna will clamber back aboard a plane and head back to Melbourne, having effectively dodged nearly a month of vile winter weather. Win!<br /><br />Hopefully I'll squeeze in at least another blog post before I leave though. After all, I have essays to write, so procrastination will definitely occur - I just have to channel it into blog form!Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-91426963178625990352010-05-29T16:01:00.006+10:002010-05-29T17:20:13.122+10:00Tea Leaves: Not Just for Teapots!Happy weekend everyone! I'm pretty tired - I spent last night baking 60 blue and yellow iced cupcakes for a fundraiser at work. However, bearing in mind the promise that I made last post regarding more knitting and less food, I did not take pictures. Perhaps I'll take a few shots of the second batch. And following up on the other half of that promise, I give you the (finally completed) Tea Leaves Cardigan!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi12xnhYdOJP_HHCb0nhsdpTWDwDaRRfYmnExUeEmpo2o7XwL2cNi76Qf2jjvJ07iLwDUtypdI48VlIz7lxWnCuwBS2DGQpLjv9puk11oAH3Vem-1OexFt6dm7ABTsId0CYiQ3kexIsm6c/s1600/P1010927-1.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi12xnhYdOJP_HHCb0nhsdpTWDwDaRRfYmnExUeEmpo2o7XwL2cNi76Qf2jjvJ07iLwDUtypdI48VlIz7lxWnCuwBS2DGQpLjv9puk11oAH3Vem-1OexFt6dm7ABTsId0CYiQ3kexIsm6c/s400/P1010927-1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476569218762963522" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What, this old thing? This is:</span> The <a href="http://www.madelinetosh.com/patterns-tea-leaves-cardigan.html">Tea Leaves Cardigan</a>, by Melissa LaBarre, in Dream in Color Classy (November Muse), knitted on 4.5mm needles.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Anna says:</span> Wow, this felt like it took forever, especially since I normally burn through patterns with this much stocking stitch! But I'm rather happy with how it came out. I had a few reservations about the pattern and yarn choice: I don't wear a lot of brown, I'm not convinced about these buttoned-at-the-top, loose-at-the-bottom cardigans that are so in at the moment, and so on. But all that aside, I quite like the finished product, and I've already worn it out and about!<br /><br />The pattern was very well put together. I made a few modifications, but not many: I shortened the body a little bit (hip length things don't tend to be particularly flattering on me), and made the garter stitch band at the bottom a little narrower. I had heard people saying that the upper arms were a little snug, so I picked up two extra stitches at the arm hole, and did not do any decreases while working the sleeves. I made them 3/4 length, and once again, I made the garter stitch bands a little narrower.<br /><br />The yarn is just lovely - but we we all know I have a bit of a thing for Dream in Color (jeez, I'm never sure whether to write 'colour' with the 'u' as we normally would down here, or without because it's a brand name... *gripe*). There wasn't that much variation between the skeins, thankfully. One was a little darker, so when I was working the sleeves I alternated it with one of the lighter balls, and there's no pooling to speak of in the end product. For some reason, one of the other skeins decided to break a lot, which was a little disappointing (and made for <span style="font-style: italic;">a lot</span> of ends to weave in), but I've never had this problem with DiC before, so hopefully it was a one off.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyVZjrj0SFHB-VMD-l53oVciXjfzuWpFLrwkkE3pE7gQC5QqZeAE_2sQXjPaDnZunTIq795tj1S_sQd6fJqmSsn2av-UlYLFBmnUnUVbkrXZFDp6ptxnKJPSqRp1FLRBrPJlqx_PBFuy0/s1600/P1010942.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyVZjrj0SFHB-VMD-l53oVciXjfzuWpFLrwkkE3pE7gQC5QqZeAE_2sQXjPaDnZunTIq795tj1S_sQd6fJqmSsn2av-UlYLFBmnUnUVbkrXZFDp6ptxnKJPSqRp1FLRBrPJlqx_PBFuy0/s400/P1010942.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476577262515841026" border="0" /></a><br /><br />See that? That's the yoke that felt like it took forever! Worth it though - I really like how the gathered pattern looks in the semi solid yarn. I even managed to work a semi decent button band - I'm gradually conquering my phobia of picking up stitches!<br /><br /><br />Okay, now that I've discharged my knitting-update duties, I can talk about other things! This morning I staggered out of cupcake servitude and made my way to the Handknitters' Guild Wool Show in Brunswick. I saw lots of lovely Ravelry people, and had a good chat with many of them. I went home earlier than I was expecting to in the end, as I wasn't feeling very well, but not before picking up a few lovely, lovely bits and pieces from lovely local spinners/dyers like <a href="http://ixchelbunny.blogspot.com/">Ixchel</a> (angora! Whee!), <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/msgusset">Ms Gusset</a>, and a couple of others.<br /><br />It was a crafty week in general actually. On Tuesday it was a good friend's birthday, so she came around and we tried our hand at making candles! We started small - just little beeswax tea lights - and they came out beautifully. They have a lovely subtle honey smell when you burn them. I've also been sewing lots of rice packs (as in the kind that you heat and then apply to aches and pains). They're quick and easy, but rather satisfying. I made one for a friend with lavender in it, and another for myself with chamomile flowers.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieDtnAY2RffN-kWk_MFGS5MpNVFz8UCv-BTSP52LEkHdeoICmGe3qPeaANKDXvOb4orULnJNYdDALwhr9XF7waQpD0GnPquW4Fnjvx1LgAwlmKWSTbTyQNDQMfBV-XHCSfMq1urUxnruA/s1600/P1010956.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieDtnAY2RffN-kWk_MFGS5MpNVFz8UCv-BTSP52LEkHdeoICmGe3qPeaANKDXvOb4orULnJNYdDALwhr9XF7waQpD0GnPquW4Fnjvx1LgAwlmKWSTbTyQNDQMfBV-XHCSfMq1urUxnruA/s400/P1010956.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476583974886753010" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So, the above depicts my week in craft! Rice pack and candles in the middle, some lovely acquisitions from today at the sides. Okay, fine, there were a couple more acquisitions at the wool show, but they're a secret for the next few weeks *is mysterious*.<br /><br />And now I'd probably better try and be a good student and get some of my essay done before I renew my assault on Mt Cupcake. Wish me luck!Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-59783202367764312712010-05-24T11:13:00.006+10:002010-05-24T11:51:57.768+10:00Food and Hats: Both Good Things!Life is going on, and alas, I am no less busy. But it's a good kind of busy - the kind where you feel like you're getting somewhere, where none of the tasks are loathsome, and where at least you have time to stop and pause once in a while, even if it's not for very long (just long enough to read a few chapters or eat some cake or knit a few rows).<br /><br /><br />Anyway, to business! First off, here's the hat I knitted for my brother:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHOmZhkmNSF8gAqNTW_PqDvUk7wpUvp5gl7uAHsE7Xs6Ap5UJybMQCYukhSP4F8yZKQQClFhhamzKnxiqYDnZDdh1FRdC-4RdA2eU2PwfqzqfGl0CRpbIF_WhjZnODZiqXv_uP0xVoTfI/s1600/P1020803.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHOmZhkmNSF8gAqNTW_PqDvUk7wpUvp5gl7uAHsE7Xs6Ap5UJybMQCYukhSP4F8yZKQQClFhhamzKnxiqYDnZDdh1FRdC-4RdA2eU2PwfqzqfGl0CRpbIF_WhjZnODZiqXv_uP0xVoTfI/s400/P1020803.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474641889428826338" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Specifics:</span> Pattern is <a href="http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/2008/07/turn-square-pattern-now-available.html">Turn a Square</a>, by Jared Flood. Yarn used was Bendigo Woollen Mills Rustic 12ply in 'Redcurrant' and Cleckheaton Merino Supreme (black). I used 5.5mm double pointed needles.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Comments?</span> This is a great pattern. Followed unaltered it makes a rather nifty, very wearable hat, and it also provides a useful template to work from when you want to do something a little bit different. This is the second time I've made it, and both times I actually ended up using a different weight of yarn, but it's a great starting point, and very easy to adapt. This time around I decided to do some colourwork instead of stripes (my brother already has a stripey hat), so I just made up a very, very basic red/black chequered pattern (didn't bother drawing up a chart or anything - it's not like you really need to with something this basic!).<br /><br />I managed to make the entire thing in a day without having to stress about it too much - the heavier yarn makes it a very fast knit, and the colour stranding doesn't slow you down too much since you don't have to be forever consulting a chart. Brother seemed quite happy with it, so I'm calling it a successful project!<br /><br />My other knitting is coming along well. I have high hopes of <span style="font-style: italic;">finally</span> finishing the Tea Leaves cardigan today, so stay tuned for that one in the next few days. I also started a cute little mini-neckwarmer in the lovely Louisa Harding yarn that I found squirreled away in a bedside table drawer.<br /><br />Still, the last few days have really belonged to essays, work, and kitchen!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpB7Le33uYit8sD_S_7FRhyphenhyphen6Syc-WX8P9S9I9cdjG04n8lmVUcUQevVTpQx3J972AzJS5AKyvJbshyucZsEaF2rzuqAv-5FqyMNSAxT_Y6Acfzpvdq4cttNAnPufQUTVxxCbUxJuXZbKY/s1600/P1020786.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpB7Le33uYit8sD_S_7FRhyphenhyphen6Syc-WX8P9S9I9cdjG04n8lmVUcUQevVTpQx3J972AzJS5AKyvJbshyucZsEaF2rzuqAv-5FqyMNSAxT_Y6Acfzpvdq4cttNAnPufQUTVxxCbUxJuXZbKY/s400/P1020786.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474645254104972370" border="0" /></a><br />On Saturday night I made <a href="http://www.shutterbean.com/baked-falafel/">baked felafel</a>, and then proceeded to eat nearly the entire batch, dipping them in Greek yoghurt and hummus as I shovelled them down. Even though the ingredients are pretty humble, they are really, really good, and I foresee many more batches in my future! Possibly starting tonight... And for all those omnivores out there who never know what to cook when they have to entertain vegetarian/vegan friends, I strong suggest these - they're very easy.<br /><br />I also made the cupcakes to end all cupcakes. It was a coworker's last shift on Sunday, and she had requested something chocolatey. So, I complied... and then some.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTyWQEAvZpg3vFVhS8V7ekmAwqU2fk8iSNGyhpXxDaZGWvAkIpVuHBSLOV_U9lgNainEEzAs5A29Yj7fjpuIhyYgQpymN6MyBautDe1o0CLAf9XXDaM4JyVodI4vWuxdnGHOyCLosBbhA/s1600/P1020797.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTyWQEAvZpg3vFVhS8V7ekmAwqU2fk8iSNGyhpXxDaZGWvAkIpVuHBSLOV_U9lgNainEEzAs5A29Yj7fjpuIhyYgQpymN6MyBautDe1o0CLAf9XXDaM4JyVodI4vWuxdnGHOyCLosBbhA/s400/P1020797.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5474646906416289346" border="0" /></a><br />The base was Nigella Lawson's chocolate cupcake recipe from <span style="font-style: italic;">How to Be a Domestic Goddess</span> (amazing book - I have made so many wonderful things from her recipes). Some are iced with basic chocolate butter-cream and topped with a Malteaser, and the others have a cookies and cream icing (made by folding roughly chopped Oreos into vanilla butter-cream) and are decorated with an Oreo quarter. They were actually very easy to make, despite the fact that they look pleasingly fancy. I got out my piping bag. I love my piping bag.<br /><br />More knitting and less food next post, I promise!Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-17346108899257096202010-05-19T14:48:00.007+10:002010-05-19T15:24:12.895+10:00Birthday! May Also Contain Traces of Zoo.So, it was my birthday two days ago! Alas, I had a lot of study to do on Monday, and several hours of classes to not only attend, but also lead discussion in, so there was not a lot of birthday-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ing</span> on my actual birthday. However, last Saturday we celebrated with (another) trip to Melbourne Zoo. Yes, I know that there was a zoo trip only a few months ago. But the zoo is fun! We all brought cakes and biscuits and savouries and picnicked on the grass near the seal enclosure. This was the first time in over 10 years that I'd dared to plan an outdoors event for my birthday - Melbourne has enjoyed <span style="font-style: italic;">torrential</span> rain on May 17<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">th</span> for the last two years running, so I was a little wary. But I am happy to report that the sun shone on both my plans and all of the intrepid (cake-bearing) adventurers who came along for the fun.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBypNTVFX2tJeXqSReCKbNDvfW8wUZnikSF-3Hc8w3UbxWspbt_vm30Zjt3z5gQCQxD7UkL9hf71dV6hZd3-GLwppSlgBjMV4XKCv2CLtrzOJDpkxoG9vnvAvYV_ezKPBxR5R_THAZG_U/s1600/P1020726.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBypNTVFX2tJeXqSReCKbNDvfW8wUZnikSF-3Hc8w3UbxWspbt_vm30Zjt3z5gQCQxD7UkL9hf71dV6hZd3-GLwppSlgBjMV4XKCv2CLtrzOJDpkxoG9vnvAvYV_ezKPBxR5R_THAZG_U/s400/P1020726.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472840492003034514" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I had never seen the bottom of a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">bear's</span> foot before. It looks entertainingly like a slipper (<a href="http://impostination.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html">these slippers</a> in particular). And just to make sure our good old Aussie wildlife is represented:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX2miqm9ZwuyezjVp-_NjobnmttaA1dkofBJM8_CjP_uNcs-le_D9p_uFqOwCvXXFASzLreynifgoFPNTQpxKeLCCKXel031SIDWxedIJDEWJQe2wiyKRxP9zcq7lZ6SfPNFb7gGfkOJw/s1600/P1020731.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX2miqm9ZwuyezjVp-_NjobnmttaA1dkofBJM8_CjP_uNcs-le_D9p_uFqOwCvXXFASzLreynifgoFPNTQpxKeLCCKXel031SIDWxedIJDEWJQe2wiyKRxP9zcq7lZ6SfPNFb7gGfkOJw/s400/P1020731.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472842396206900066" border="0" /></a><br />After the zoo, there was a knitting at the pub, and I ate a cupcake with a criminal amount of icing (I got some assistance from The Boy, and even so I was barely able to finish!). On Sunday, my family presented me with some new cupcake and muffin tins, a new teapot, and a couple of nice leather notebooks (I plan on lugging at least one of them along with me on my travels). And yesterday The Boy and two good friends organised a surprise dinner at <a href="http://www.kamelrestaurant.com/"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Kamel</span></a>, which was lovely. We ate the vegetarian banquet, and walked out very full afterward. Oh, and they gave me the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Wuthering</span> Heights mug that I have been coveting for months now.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGmskOACxnH9ITmFOBuJq3wsBnsAQ9jadENavQSOZ34BYJfAa97lHr-S06HlrmdiLNLlT7pryxsW7FXyFATHEwcbfcJs-x2X4r1wmxAv2USeXVRCGnYUcZu-LZdHt3B5O9qZ44UpQAZtU/s1600/P1020779.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGmskOACxnH9ITmFOBuJq3wsBnsAQ9jadENavQSOZ34BYJfAa97lHr-S06HlrmdiLNLlT7pryxsW7FXyFATHEwcbfcJs-x2X4r1wmxAv2USeXVRCGnYUcZu-LZdHt3B5O9qZ44UpQAZtU/s400/P1020779.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5472844459602314850" border="0" /></a><br /><br />In knitting news, I made an impromptu hat for my brother's birthday. Amusingly enough, it's from the same pattern as his Christmas hat, but instead of stripes I made up a chequered pattern in red and black. I think he liked it. Pictures next post, if I can coerce him into modelling for them.<br /><br />I've also been knitting away on my Tea Leaves cardigan, but it's been a little while in finishing because I just can't make up my mind about the sleeves. More specifically, I can't decide whether to make them 3/4 length or full length. I am pretty sure I have enough yarn for full length, but not 100% positive. So then I started considering 3/4, and now I just can't decide. I've reached the stage on one where if I wanted to go 3/4 I would have to start the garter edging, so I'm thinking that I'll just slip the stitches onto waste yarn for the moment, knit the other sleeve, and then see how I'm going for yarn when they're at matching lengths. I've already knitted the button bands, so I don't have to factor those in. Urgh, I hate indecision - it's the single biggest enemy of creativity, in my experience. Even more so than procrastination.<br /><br />On other fronts, I've just been busy busy busy. I'm trying to get final assignments going, trying to organise my internship for next semester, and just dealing with all of those other random things that crop up (like, oh, I don't know - planning an overseas holiday that starts in LESS THAN A MONTH!). Still, busy is good. Makes you remember that you're alive! Or something.Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-51679129060547518512010-05-10T23:23:00.006+10:002010-05-10T23:53:06.806+10:00Episode Eighty-Four: In Which Anna Emerges from her Book PileWhew! (Comparatively) Long time, no post! The strange thing is, I'm not really sure what's been holding it up. I would like to pin it on assignments, but I haven't really been grappling with any more of those than usual. I'm not working a larger number of shifts than usual. My social calendar has <span style="font-style: italic;">not</span> been filled to bursting point with glamorous social events, leaving me too time-short to post. Nope, this is the scary kind of 'life going fast' - the kind where you don't even know where all of the time has gotten to!<br /><br />All of that said, life is going well enough. I got the results from my first round of assignments, and for the most part they were all very pleasant surprises. I have been busily planning my holiday - a good thing too, seeing as I'm off in a little over a month. I acquired a brand new fish tank. I will be retiring my old, too-small one (because I really don't need three tanks to maintain) and hopefully making a valiant attempt to turn it into a terrarium (for some reason the urge to make one has been circling in my head like for the last few months). My fish seem very happy in their new home, and this pleases me to an extent that is probably quite silly. And finally, people on Ravelry have been making <a href="http://impostination.blogspot.com/2010/04/pattern-practical-procrastination.html">my pattern</a>, and this fills me with excitement.<br /><br />As for the knitting, I have been working feverishly away on my Tea Leaves cardigan, and it's not too far off of being finished. The body, including the Yoke That Just Wouldn't End, is all done, and I am about halfway through the first sleeve and progressing at a good speed.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhLRMbCISnFbIUSStnR3tE09iGmPdjdFONvkcm7KGOvO4dH_QzhRWjX5xH2_IkgA6Yx28xvhNZa9UAD0ABKrlJyxPd9F6tQRKLAjjGnwOKjyaqgGBY-eqrKVDv0hqGrupbeEWzsoXVUTY/s1600/P1020720.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhLRMbCISnFbIUSStnR3tE09iGmPdjdFONvkcm7KGOvO4dH_QzhRWjX5xH2_IkgA6Yx28xvhNZa9UAD0ABKrlJyxPd9F6tQRKLAjjGnwOKjyaqgGBY-eqrKVDv0hqGrupbeEWzsoXVUTY/s400/P1020720.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469633763058877506" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Despite at least one friend concluding that the yarn is 'poo-coloured', I've decided that I quite like the colour. I can't say that there's a lot of brown in my wardrobe, and I wouldn't have the first clue as to what kinds of colours go well with brown, but I look forward to finding out! Besides, jeans go with everything, right? Even poo-brown.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXNncZpu18XXqwJut4PpF4UlVS-AerAHU_F4f-BQayA4dN0-O5X56_Afp56tyqTX6gfmqonpgavQNKZe3v93TS6Bzf2M2Ll972K2WWCJnTyCsU3m25S5WrHfrPayxKE0rqIyA5AmyE6yk/s1600/P1020718.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXNncZpu18XXqwJut4PpF4UlVS-AerAHU_F4f-BQayA4dN0-O5X56_Afp56tyqTX6gfmqonpgavQNKZe3v93TS6Bzf2M2Ll972K2WWCJnTyCsU3m25S5WrHfrPayxKE0rqIyA5AmyE6yk/s400/P1020718.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469634504608575250" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Besides, Dream in Colour yarn is gorgeous. Just plain gorgeous.<br /><br />Now, because I'm sure you're all sick of looking at the poo brown (see, now I'm saying it), I have been working on other things too. The sock yarn shrug that I was playing around with a month ago is coming along, though it's been on hold the last week or so, just because magic-looping the sleeve was grating a little. I've finished one sleeve though, so now there's just the other and a bit more of the back to go. I edged the sleeve with a picot bind-off in a contrasting colour and I quite like the way it looks, though I'm not sure how well the bind-off worked with the loose gauge. Oh well, you live and learn.<br /><br />In other news, I finally caught up with The Boy and was able to apply my lovingly knitted scarf to his Melbourne-autumn chilled neck. See!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc57IcI1pGQYDg3Jf04TmkS_J2J-MzGFrClZSDn9EQhC3vwKhtrXZmXXwSjUXCR-wb959kvTWcZ1PH1z7DtSM6erNQ85tKVuZGOGVVV84S0ZpWTQcpkpuG09F_gYXamMRQ5faQscBWZeU/s1600/P1020711.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc57IcI1pGQYDg3Jf04TmkS_J2J-MzGFrClZSDn9EQhC3vwKhtrXZmXXwSjUXCR-wb959kvTWcZ1PH1z7DtSM6erNQ85tKVuZGOGVVV84S0ZpWTQcpkpuG09F_gYXamMRQ5faQscBWZeU/s400/P1020711.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469636434103527634" border="0" /></a><br /><br />(note: he does not actually have a Man-Bob. It just looks that way because the rest of his hair is covered by the scarf, I swear. And yes, my desk is apparently covered in fish food and limes. Want to make something of it?)<br /><br />And that's about all I have for the moment. Stay tuned for the conclusion of the Tea Leaf cardigan saga (okay, perhaps saga is a strong word), and also for cupcakes. I've been conscripted by my work to bake a huge batch for a <a href="http://www.biggestmorningtea.com.au/">cancer fundraiser</a> in a couple of weeks, and I'll be sure to take pictures...Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-52865987296194329202010-04-26T19:18:00.007+10:002010-04-26T20:10:01.921+10:00Survival, a scarf, and yet more garlic.Good evening internet! I am pleased to announce that I have officially survived my Week-of-Assignment-Hell. I even have my sanity intact (more or less).<br /><br />Okay, perhaps I'm blowing it all ever-so-slightly out of proportion, but it has been a long and gruelling couple of weeks. Once I had handed the last essay in, I was so wrecked that it was all I could do just to stagger onto the tram and let it carry me a few blocks to my comfort food joint of choice. Half an hour, a dozen steamed veggie dumplings, and a thermos of tea later, I felt more or less ready to face the world again. That was late last week, and while I've had work and uni since, I spent the last two days making the most of my long weekend, and sleeping as much as possible. Which is not actually all that much, as I tend to wake early and get hungry, but hey, I'm trying!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_gXlpBPcAHRpZDv8QS17kD3irFdXe-CNXA9VmrbVbxa1CZyZhe8zyeSBja6ylFFpqJN1Qq2ZbyFvLhxrvxvrPNbnUhBdfmHqZeZnSfmbA6kNEK5ym1C6KY56tWpElpqvkbq3z2asmnII/s1600/P1020708.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_gXlpBPcAHRpZDv8QS17kD3irFdXe-CNXA9VmrbVbxa1CZyZhe8zyeSBja6ylFFpqJN1Qq2ZbyFvLhxrvxvrPNbnUhBdfmHqZeZnSfmbA6kNEK5ym1C6KY56tWpElpqvkbq3z2asmnII/s400/P1020708.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464376986824905714" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I've not been idle either, despite all of the aforementioned sleep. I finished the Boy Thing's scarf, and it is just as cosy warm as I'd hoped it would be. Just in time too, as cold weather has hit Melbourne in a big way the last day or so - on my walk last night I experienced the first 'visible breath' of the year. Yes, I know that to all those readers who regularly have snow, this is a little pathetic, but in my neck of the woods, below 10 degrees Celsius is cold, all right!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBjBbB0WPBXEVAl9z0p-y08w5-VnclriL2nCkfDqwbhB94ZQpjoEzuDCDxkifxDSFGNouyn52OAVKgcnE2X9KhUSfZw09WnUWwtB-ks7Ot5m2qkKnzFRrI0rVyRFCGhj-H1SJW_1mRGgo/s1600/P1020701.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBjBbB0WPBXEVAl9z0p-y08w5-VnclriL2nCkfDqwbhB94ZQpjoEzuDCDxkifxDSFGNouyn52OAVKgcnE2X9KhUSfZw09WnUWwtB-ks7Ot5m2qkKnzFRrI0rVyRFCGhj-H1SJW_1mRGgo/s400/P1020701.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464378406113620450" border="0" /></a><br />Mmmm... so warm. I only tried it on for a moment, I swear!<br /><br />I also got a lot done on my current major project - I'm making a <a href="http://www.madelinetosh.com/patterns-tea-leaves-cardigan.html">Tea Leaves cardigan</a> from some Dream in Colour 'Classy' that I've had kicking around, sad and purposeless, for quite a while now.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGot2cX6r8gPjujuKXV89VM0GuTO3lIosv_2dwBMD9fNhQVyNtpzdgm_MuS6umSc7rZ6wS_sWckZApAc8lFWQnIwk-qdQWlwbDdE9J6CWUgB69Epxrj8OOiB7EesWOsjR0gWgEhyphenhyphen8TD4c/s1600/P1020692.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGot2cX6r8gPjujuKXV89VM0GuTO3lIosv_2dwBMD9fNhQVyNtpzdgm_MuS6umSc7rZ6wS_sWckZApAc8lFWQnIwk-qdQWlwbDdE9J6CWUgB69Epxrj8OOiB7EesWOsjR0gWgEhyphenhyphen8TD4c/s400/P1020692.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464380730498390866" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I've just finished the textured part of the yoke, so now it's straight sailing in stockinette until I divide for the sleeves. While I am definitely no stranger to top-down construction, this is the first time in ages that I haven't used the raglan style, so the round yoke is providing quite a novel experience. It feels like it's taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r, but they always seem to. And I'm really pleased with how the semi solid yarn is working here. The variegation is quite subtle, and looks quite lovely.<br /><br />In other news, I have been doing what I always do when I have some free time - cooking! I spent the worst of the Week of Doom living mainly off of tinned soup and breakfast cereal, so the first thing I did once finished (okay, the first thing <span style="font-style: italic;">after</span> dumplings and sleep) was make up a huge vat of vegetable and barley soup. Of course, the wonderful thing about doing this is that you have meals for days afterwards without having to do anything more taxing than turning the microwave on for a minute or two. And, if you feel so inclined, this gives you more time to get creative with your accompaniments. I've done garlic bread before, obviously, and toasted Turkish bread is something I am rarely without, but this was something else entirely:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7zV4xT0SaCzeLrxoQeGH60O5iPPn0NXNM08etdy8LsW2Wi2e192cKdipMwCRSV810pJZmF-oybs93Y7FmQOeEEZceaqL6D089Nin7OZZImYe63EPisOSjcSm-1uNn2rT5azgNaltsDVs/s1600/P1020685.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7zV4xT0SaCzeLrxoQeGH60O5iPPn0NXNM08etdy8LsW2Wi2e192cKdipMwCRSV810pJZmF-oybs93Y7FmQOeEEZceaqL6D089Nin7OZZImYe63EPisOSjcSm-1uNn2rT5azgNaltsDVs/s400/P1020685.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464383716885016338" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Isn't it glorious? Cheesy garlic Turkish bread. I grilled some chopped garlic and olive oil on a square of foil until the garlic was cooked, then spread it on the bumpy side of the bread. I then sprinkled some mozzarella cheese over it and microwaved it just a tiny bit to soften the cheese. And then the whole thing got a good grilling - just long enough to melt the cheese. I always used to just spread raw garlic on the bread, but this usually entails toasting the bread to within an inch of its life in order to cook the garlic through. This was the garlic is properly cooked, but the bread is still ultra soft.<br /><br />I will be making this A Lot over the coming autumn and winter... I know, I know, I have a bit of a tragic addiction to garlic, but how many foods are there that manage to be this delicious, healthy and inexpensive all at the same time? Ours is a love affair that will continue for a long time to come!Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-54495412865966788152010-04-21T12:55:00.004+10:002010-04-21T13:06:12.741+10:00Busy, busy, busy...Alas, aside from this brief post, the blog silence will be continuing on for a little while yet. I am having one-of-those-weeks as far as university goes: three assignments due over the course of four days. I am a very busy girl.<br /><br />But it's okay, because I have stress-free knitting, in the form of the previously mentioned tasty-warm Malabrigo scarf for The Boy:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfHHhelveAkJFfDkDxkbb8aNd2XoJoA-bcRJxcKXuaH0ldIKfg-kwO2s3sSX4vnXHTnWXEzg2Lst_S2qv90pcrKcAu3RJhYdzEzLg4DE3HN8-mLbngvdosCwW0AD13qXFkssxm2QnowuQ/s1600/P1020675.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfHHhelveAkJFfDkDxkbb8aNd2XoJoA-bcRJxcKXuaH0ldIKfg-kwO2s3sSX4vnXHTnWXEzg2Lst_S2qv90pcrKcAu3RJhYdzEzLg4DE3HN8-mLbngvdosCwW0AD13qXFkssxm2QnowuQ/s400/P1020675.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462419908206908738" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I'm also back home, and have my beloved fish to stare at. And a capsicum - I try and make sure that I have some sort of vegie plant growing at times of academic stress, because they're fun to take five minutes to go look at when things are getting hectic. Hah, I'm turning into such a hippie...<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ55m2DehFvqt58UhPyJAsW8suPvAWI5KN5eELn1L2J_QQoP2EwhMSLCw8AXr2MLCypchHL8YsZeUXjAZJ7BdOW5QiFDPAb6R9VuVZoS5847dcqhnuPFwXxErMrHUbmvFZrOXI8Qsg8Pc/s1600/P1020679.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ55m2DehFvqt58UhPyJAsW8suPvAWI5KN5eELn1L2J_QQoP2EwhMSLCw8AXr2MLCypchHL8YsZeUXjAZJ7BdOW5QiFDPAb6R9VuVZoS5847dcqhnuPFwXxErMrHUbmvFZrOXI8Qsg8Pc/s400/P1020679.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462420863699839666" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Hopefully I'll post sometime late this week, possibly with a completed scarf and news of other projects. In the mean time, enjoy my paltry attempts at home-grown foodstuffs!Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-36692733746525575722010-04-13T16:28:00.005+10:002010-04-13T16:57:52.810+10:00Northing ventured, nothing gained......especially when it comes to hats, apparently!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8gIfjOrRLaP83Mkn1b6xVw5lNeWNZKEz1Fv4Mk-tyzkb7aeEKWod8F6_PfYD9KgNaS8oPX1fwm2xBAMQ5-eUEk5_9KbL9AdS5z2fei00ydx86ANAHUR6ddA1jqAJs-cL12LrPKei0sBI/s1600/P1020648.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8gIfjOrRLaP83Mkn1b6xVw5lNeWNZKEz1Fv4Mk-tyzkb7aeEKWod8F6_PfYD9KgNaS8oPX1fwm2xBAMQ5-eUEk5_9KbL9AdS5z2fei00ydx86ANAHUR6ddA1jqAJs-cL12LrPKei0sBI/s400/P1020648.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459505332007880882" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pattern:</span> <a href="http://princesspea.org/?page_id=668">Druidess Beret</a>, by Anna Bright. Knitted out of half a ball of Bendigo Woollen Mills Rustic 8ply (Midnight Tweed), on 4.5mm circular/dpns.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Colour commentary:</span> Hurrah, I knitted a beret that doesn't look look stupid on me! As <a href="http://impostination.blogspot.com/2010/04/peaceful-interlude.html">previously mentioned</a>, I had reservations about starting this one. It was obviously a gorgeous pattern, but I don't have a history of looking good in berets. Really, this looks to me more like a tam than a beret, and perhaps this is why it doesn't suffer from beret-on-Anna's-head syndrome. Either way, I'm happy with it! And I finished it just in time for the cold snap that has suddenly hit Melbourne.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwDxgtVh8i1enlp-UuwZBFT0RtbEUHgBNz4UTcYivDpExCBW7QelaPdfu60olBKhdGQrdzqzX7imYUxwJlzNfEk4sukCYbMntHYDDaAsyOX540sQE252K4PR-_oV8u4AAm4c_dASmMle4/s1600/P1020653.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwDxgtVh8i1enlp-UuwZBFT0RtbEUHgBNz4UTcYivDpExCBW7QelaPdfu60olBKhdGQrdzqzX7imYUxwJlzNfEk4sukCYbMntHYDDaAsyOX540sQE252K4PR-_oV8u4AAm4c_dASmMle4/s400/P1020653.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459508388186739858" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This is a really well written pattern, and given how beautiful the end result is, I'm amazed that more people on Ravelry haven't made it. That said, it was rather time consuming for a hat, though it would probably go more quickly if the cabling was worked without a cable needle (I have, ahem, not mastered that technique yet - or rather I am yet to find a way that I am comfortable with). At first I wasn't entirely convinced that the finished product was worth the time that it took me, but I think I'm convinced now.<br /><br />The only changes I made was to omit the bobble from the top of the centre (for no real reason other than laziness, to be honest), and to work the bobbles in the pattern a little differently than prescribed - the method I used made them bigger, and a little more defined.<br /><br />I also loved the yarn - BWM yarn is awesome, and every time I use it I can't help but feel that I should use it more often. It's so great for the price (and yes, observant readers, you are correct - this is the same yarn I used for my sleevesless pullover <a href="http://impostination.blogspot.com/2010/04/pattern-practical-procrastination.html">last post</a>).<br /><br />In other news, thanks to everyone who said nice things about the pattern in the last post - I've been thrilled with all of the positive feedback! In other project news, my Kypria raglan shrug is coming along well, if a little idiosyncratically. And now that this hat is off the needles, I can finally start putting some more work into The Boy's (now much needed - see previous comment about the cold snap) scarf. He gets a scarf. I have something new to knit on the train. Everyone wins.<br /><br />And now I need to go and feed the cats. Five more days of house-sitting to go - I'm not sure if I'll miss them or just be relieved that they're no longer wrecking havoc on my possessions. These guys are constantly treading the line between cute and infuritating, and sometimes I really can't tell what side they're walking on.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj59GIYeVaOZc07_Bcm8ieEHE0rM3xf0U9Q-zu2sU_JjDVMuI0J5dByHRe5EqmKa44y2XN7KnbKEZveLulBRz3rPQdofauaes4-JtVAPcbugmg7mzClaidiNiH41r2Sn49abpVeTT71FQc/s1600/P1020593.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj59GIYeVaOZc07_Bcm8ieEHE0rM3xf0U9Q-zu2sU_JjDVMuI0J5dByHRe5EqmKa44y2XN7KnbKEZveLulBRz3rPQdofauaes4-JtVAPcbugmg7mzClaidiNiH41r2Sn49abpVeTT71FQc/s400/P1020593.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459511405259441906" border="0" /></a><br />(looks cute, but is pure mischief and evil, I swear. Then again, he is a cat....)Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-59165347686044400152010-04-08T20:06:00.007+10:002010-04-09T00:17:04.675+10:00Pattern: Practical Procrastination PulloverWell, it took a while, but here it is: the pattern for the short sleeved pullover I designed last year and reknit this January, newly christened the Practical Procrastination Pullover. The alliteration is a little painful, I know, but I just couldn't resist. Besides, it's quite true actually. I designed and knit this in a fit of procrastination come exam period (I actually did the majority of the knitting while listening to endless recordings of Restitutions Law lectures).
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<br />But despite these mildly deplorable origins, it's actually a very practical thing to knit. It's good to throw on over a tank top for a little bit of extra warmth when it's not quite warm enough to go without - I've been wearing it quite a lot like this in the current autumn weather, throwing a scarf into the mix on colder mornings. Come winter, I imagine it'll be great for layering. And if one wants to extend the 'practical' theme to finding a use for some of those past impulsive yarn purchases, this pattern lends itself very well. It uses about 420 yards of DK weight yarn, so if you've got anything squirrelled away in an amount that isn't quite enough for a full size pullover, this hits the spot quite nicely. Or if you're feeling all frugal and virtuous, you can do what I did for the purple version - using only one 200g ball of yarn, it cost me a whole $11 to make!
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3475/3927304343_0949a67a98.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3475/3927304343_0949a67a98.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>
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<br />I ummed and ahhed a little about how and when to post this one, if at all. Originally I'd toyed with the idea of braving some maths and then writing up instructions for other sizes, but then I realised that given how hectic my life is, it might take a while for me to get around to doing this. I'll update it when I do, but in the mean time, here's the original version - it probably wouldn't take too much work to up/downsize it. Raglans are pretty flexible that way, which is why we love them.
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<br />Also, a brief disclaimer: the following pattern has, as of right now, been test knit only by yours truly (though people are working on this!), and even though I am yet to find any, there may very well be mistakes lurking in the depths. If you find any, please do let me know!
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4312883009_7fe5d857ef.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4312883009_7fe5d857ef.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Practical Procrastination Pullover:</span><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span>
<br /><meta equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 3.1 (Win32)"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { margin: 2cm } P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm } --></style>This is a raglan style short sleeved pullover, constructed from the bottom hem upwards. Stitches are cast on for the body and worked in the round until being divided for the neckline opening, after which point it is worked back and forth flat. Sleeves are created by provisionally casting on stitches, which are later picked up and worked from the shoulder down once the body knitting has been completed.
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Size:</span> Fits a 36 inch bust with a small amount of ease.
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Yarn:</span> Variegated version used Sanguine Gryphon Free Range in 'Green Junglefowl' (2 skeins). I worked from both skeins at once, switching every two rows to avoid pooling, but you don't need to do that if you're not as neurotic as I am! Purple version used Bendigo Woollen Mills Rustic 8ply in 'Midnight Tweed' (1 ball). This is equivalent to approximately 420 yards of DK knit weight yarn.
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Needles:</span> 5.5mm circular needle for body, and 5.5mm double pointed needles as well if you're not keen on using the magic loop technique for the sleeves. Optional: 7mm needles for sleeves if working the flared sleeve variation seen in the variegated version.
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gauge:</span> 15 sts / 24 rows = 4 inches on 5.5mm needles. Note: using this size needle with a dk yarn creates quite a light fabric, so upsize the yarn if you want something more substantial.
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Abbreviations: </span>
<br />K: knit
<br />P: purl
<br />PM: place stitch marker
<br />SM: slip stitch marker
<br />K2tog: Knit next two stitches together (1 stitch decreased - right slanting decrease)
<br />SSK: Slip next two stitches, one at a time, then knit together through the front (1 stitch decreased - left slanting decrease)
<br />RS: right side
<br />WS: wrong side
<br />M1: Increase one stitch
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<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Body:</span></span>
<br />Cast on 132 stitches. PM to mark beginning and join to begin working in the round.
<br />In first round, PM after 66 stitches to mark halfway point of round (used for waist shaping).
<br />Work next 6 rows in garter stitch in the round (i.e. alternating knit and purl rounds).
<br />Change to stocking stitch (knit all rounds), and work 4 more rounds.
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Waist Decreases:</span>
<br />Decrease round: K1, ssk, knit to 3 stitches before side marker, k2tog, K1, SM, K1, ssk, knit to 3 stitches before end of round, k2tog, K1. (total of 4 stitches decreased)
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<br />Work 5 rows even.
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<br />Repeat last 6 rows 3 more times (4 decrease rows worked, total of 16 stitches decreased, 116 stitches remaining).
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<br />Work even until piece measures 8 inches from cast on edge, or length desired before neck opening (note that I am Tall and probably have a longer torso than most, so this length may vary on someone else!)
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Neckline set-up:</span>
<br />K 25, PM, P 8, PM, knit to end of round (these 8 purled stitches will form the garter stitch border for the neckline, so if you desire a wider/narrower border, alter your garter stitch count accordingly here. The important thing to remember is that these stitches are centred on the front half of the pullover).
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<br />Knit 1 round even.
<br />Knit to first neckline marker, SM, P 8, SM, knit to end of round.
<br />Knit to first neckline marker, K 4, turn work and (now knitting on the WS, working flat) knit to end, maintaining garter borders (i.e. knitting purl stitches and purling knit stitches).
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Begin neckline decreases:</span>
<br />RS: Starting at right side of neckline, knit garter stitch border to marker, SM, ssk, knit around to 2 stitches before the other neckline marker, k2tog, SM, knit garter stitch to end (2 stitches decreased).
<br />WS: Maintaining garter stitch borders, work even.
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<br />Repeat last 2 rows until 23 stitches remain on each front side (i.e. in between the neckline and the side marker, including the garter stitch border).
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<br />Note: maintain garter borders <span style="font-weight: bold;">throughout rest of the body</span>.
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Waist Increases:</span>
<br />Continue working neckline decreases as described above, and at the same time:
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<br />RS: <span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>Work to 1 stitch before side marker, M1, K1, SM, K1, M1, work to 1 stitch before next marker, M1, K1, SM, K1, M1, then work to end, maintaining neck decreases and garter borders (4 stitches increased).
<br />Work 5 rows even.
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<br />Repeat last 6 rows 1 more time (total of 8 stitches increased). Stitch total should now be as follows: 4 stitches (neckline), 15 stitches (front), 62 stitches (back), 15 stitches (front), 4 stitches (neckline). 100 stitches total.
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sleeves:</span>
<br />Knit to 3 stitches before side marker. Slip next 6 stitches onto two separate pieces of waste yarn - 3 stitches per piece (removing first side marker), PM, provisionally cast on 42 stitches for the first sleeve, PM, work to 3 stitches before second side marker, slip next 6 stitches on waste yarn as previously described, PM, provisionally cast on 42 stitches for second sleeve, PM, work to end.
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<br />Note: neckline decreases <span style="font-weight: bold;">cease</span> from this point onwards.
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<br />Purl next round.
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<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Raglan decreases:</span>
<br />Row 1 (RS): Knit to first sleeve marker, SM, k2tog, work to 2 stitches before next marker, ssk, SM, k2tog, work to 2 stitches before next marker, ssk, SM, k2tog, work to 2 stitches before last sleeve marker, ssk, SM, work to end. (6 stitches decreased)
<br />Row 2 (WS): Purl
<br />Row 3: Work as for Row 1
<br />Row 4: Purl
<br />Row 5: Knit to 2 stitches before first sleeve marker, ssk, SM, k2tog, work to 2 stitches before next marker, ssk, SM, k2tog, work to 2 stitches before next marker, ssk, SM, k2tog, work to 2 stitches before last sleeve marker, ssk, SM, k2tog, work to end. (8 stitches decreased).
<br />Row 6: Purl.
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<br />Repeat the last 6 rows 2 more times.
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<br />Work as for Row 5 on all RS rows, purling WS rows, for 18 rows more. Stop decreasing when 48 stitches remain (you should have 5 stitches remaining on each front - including garter border, 8 stitches on each sleeve, and 22 stitches on the back).
<br />Work 4 rows garter stitch.
<br />Bind of all stitches
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<br />(Optional: On the purple version, I decreased 1 stitch on each neckline edge in the last 2 rows before the bind-off, just to make the corners a little less pointy).
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<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sleeves:</span></span>
<br />Starting middle of armpit, knit 3 held stitches onto needle (circular or dpn, depending on how you choose to work the sleeves). Pick up 1 stitch between these stitches and the sleeve stitches, then carefully undo the provisional cast on and knit these stitches. Pick up 1 stitch in gap between sleeve and held stitches. Knit remaining 3 held stitches.
<br />Place marker to mark start, then work in the round for 3 rounds.
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<br />Work 4 rows garter stitch in the round (optional: if you want a slightly flared sleeve, switch to 7mm needles at this point).
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<br />Loosely bind off all stitches.
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<br />Weave in ends, block, and you're done!
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<br />If anything in this doesn't make sense, or you have questions, drop me an email!
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<br />Pattern and photos © 2010. Permission is given for personal use only. Please don't copy this pattern or sell items made from it without talking to me about it first.
<br />Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-41873966517667396032010-04-04T12:42:00.005+10:002010-04-04T13:21:10.138+10:00A Peaceful InterludeWell, as you all might have guessed from the lack of new blog posts, the last week and a bit has been absolutely insane in my neck of the woods. I worked quite a lot, had the first major assignment due in my editing subject, and last but not least, one of my dearest friends got married. I am proud to say that during the ceremony, I got through my reading with only a few small, virtually imperceptible mistakes, and that's really no mean feat, considering the fact that I was reading from Dr Zeuss! Erm, bride's choice, not mine!<br /><br />Anyway, the wedding went off wonderfully, the bride and groom had a lovely time, and now that they've departed on their honeymoon, I am house-sitting for them and tending to their two lovely cats.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu8vLwXG6NGdvMkw6mJ3fbA49jQrwxScv_qr7c2z_1LjX2XpvmvjL0T3gn7zBtcUKt4WIIUd86jrlBZO0CNTZREIrzfxO_Bws9y-sTEnUMYxhwvUA3xd6TqOFE0NzDL_kb-qYK641ua6E/s1600/P1020563.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu8vLwXG6NGdvMkw6mJ3fbA49jQrwxScv_qr7c2z_1LjX2XpvmvjL0T3gn7zBtcUKt4WIIUd86jrlBZO0CNTZREIrzfxO_Bws9y-sTEnUMYxhwvUA3xd6TqOFE0NzDL_kb-qYK641ua6E/s400/P1020563.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456110973853577554" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The above kitty is Loki, and there's also a sweet ginger and white boy called Puck roaming around, trying to eat my yarn whenever I attempt knitting. Thankfully I worked yesterday and used the mighty power of my staff discount to purchase a dangly toy to distract them.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh8sJ9lDDS24tI6jxW-8uT9sh6xjRRAYVkVJjSai4UWHh6R2YDffYT0cRuHfGq2Pe4vnpxlqfZXdVqt36eBUggqj2gnZZxtPQzLpKBAucQuOhRVxhb7c-1N7TrLcnmQL3kZHbNVPAwKYc/s1600/P1020583.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh8sJ9lDDS24tI6jxW-8uT9sh6xjRRAYVkVJjSai4UWHh6R2YDffYT0cRuHfGq2Pe4vnpxlqfZXdVqt36eBUggqj2gnZZxtPQzLpKBAucQuOhRVxhb7c-1N7TrLcnmQL3kZHbNVPAwKYc/s400/P1020583.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456112251469455874" border="0" /></a><br /><br />With cats distracted, I've been free to keep working on this hat! It's a <a href="http://princesspea.org/?page_id=668">Druidess Beret</a>, and I'm a bit over halfway through it. I was a little hesitant to start work on a beret, because they tend to look absolutely terrible on me, but then I decided to throw caution to the wind. If it looks awful, I'll just give it away, but I'm hoping it won't come to that - this pattern looks like it can be worn as a beanie too if you just pull it down a little, and I have a better track record wearing beanies. At first I didn't think that the yarn had enough stitch definition to really make the cables pop properly, but it's looking a bit more promising as it grows. The problem was particularly pronounced in the bobbles, so I ditched the method specified in the pattern and adapted a tried and true technique instead, and they're looking much better now.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCrhwRGfukgDn86jbWEnGCyaBxVQjn7JQyRb5xhtGziVxQl5qmeJWLR81Bzt52PT_bAOBux6U0gwUQQnFWMPSyKd15w5fvcacwqkOUyXJB9p_5ftf7c1lxUOjPUI8-oplYw8N81W8_j4M/s1600/P1020587.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCrhwRGfukgDn86jbWEnGCyaBxVQjn7JQyRb5xhtGziVxQl5qmeJWLR81Bzt52PT_bAOBux6U0gwUQQnFWMPSyKd15w5fvcacwqkOUyXJB9p_5ftf7c1lxUOjPUI8-oplYw8N81W8_j4M/s400/P1020587.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456114258825455394" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I also did a bit of yarn dyeing over the last week (I fitted it in somehow, though it did involve frantically rinsing the yellow hank out when I should have been prettying myself up for the wedding ceremony... oh well). As usual, I just used supermarket gathered food dyes, and my lazy take on these <a href="http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/FEATdyeyourown.html">instructions</a> for cold-pour technique dyeing. The blue had a few irksome white patches after its first encounter with the dye, so I tossed it back into my trusty dyeing saucepan and heated it in a weak dye solution for a while.<br /><br />I'm really, really happy with how they came out. Every time I dye my own semi-solid yarn, I always wonder why I don't do it more often. And why everyone doesn't do it - it's so easy!<br /><br />The above yarn is destined for a pair of warm, stripey socks to get me through winter. I deliberately dyed it as brightly as possible, as I think that come June I'll need the extra colour. Until June 14th that is, because that's the day I will be getting on a plane... On that note, I'm off to drink more tea, eat another English muffin, and do some travel plotting!Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-84068091517524064342010-03-25T13:40:00.007+11:002010-03-25T14:16:33.491+11:00A Cardigan, Graduation, and Plans...Wow, did March go quickly! Guess that happens when you're busy. Study is still munching away steadily at my daylight hours (and the evening hours too), but thankfully work eased off a little bit over the last week. As a result, I finally had time to finish my stash-bust cardigan!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoqduUq_3HASXggh91cCsW9WjO19mtsfeEvKwySZwLs8nKhRY1GkWeNogqcOkJJm2aGPVWUZ5WZPFJ7BcupvCU-PcuQinKqoihnjd3CYC3nxyuXL-WhNerHvRQrEtiPoWAU3zYBwNQTI4/s1600/P1020531.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoqduUq_3HASXggh91cCsW9WjO19mtsfeEvKwySZwLs8nKhRY1GkWeNogqcOkJJm2aGPVWUZ5WZPFJ7BcupvCU-PcuQinKqoihnjd3CYC3nxyuXL-WhNerHvRQrEtiPoWAU3zYBwNQTI4/s400/P1020531.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452396914272746882" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">This is:</span> Self designed top-down raglan cardigan, knitted from Cleckheaton Tempo (wool, acrylic and mohair blend) on 7mm bamboo circular needle.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What Anna has to say:</span> Okay, for a start, I promise that the bottoms are not as lop-sided as they look in the picture. They are actually perfectly symmetrical - I just can't take photos, is all. When I get around to buying some, I'll be closing the front with a couple of buttons instead of just pinning it as I did above - this should remedy the problem.<br /><br />As mentioned above, I designed this one myself. Lately I've been keen on cardigans with really low fronts, so I went in that direction again. I did some waist shaping in an attempt to dodge the almost inevitable unflattering tendencies that come with yarn this huge. The edgings and cuffs are garter stitch. So it didn't end up being too generic, I worked the fronts and back separately from the hips down, working to cute little points on the fronts. I worked the sleeves in the round, using magic loop.<br /><br />I don't actually have all that much to say about this one. I suppose I'm happy with how it came out, mainly just because I never had any great ambitions for it. It was always intended to be a basic, unfancy, around-the-house piece - in fact it was basically conceived as a way of getting the Tempo out of my stash, because I wasn't too keen on it, and being super-bulky yarn and all, it was taking up a lot of space. Unfortunately I still have quite a bit of the stuff - but this made a good sized hole at least.<br /><br />Also, now that the cardigan is done, I have officially declared it time for the winter knitting to commence. Just so that I can be prepared when the weather starts to get colder. I really need to make myself some more warm socks - most of my existing handknit socks are getting quite threadbare. I am also in desperate need of a basic black jacket. And I always need scarves. Always. A new hat wouldn't go astray either. Ahhh, plans. I love planning. The best part is that from mid next-week onwards I will be house/cat-sitting for some honeymooning friends, so I'll have plenty of peace and quite in which to curl up with tea, a DVD and some knitting. Okay fine, and homework too...<br /><br />In other news... I graduated!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY6qaI8z3aqLZildkAsonFkoI4WKYkM9B4MTfHuY9zrsCrVPaA8RfUtTtcefPc0VormbDkC24HvzxrXgDVT-Ro9Byg4Ek0HIPCKSbcuMi8ZpXn8NbHwScwuPAAqmyZIi-Amd_Wz8zh8Yo/s1600/P1020511.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY6qaI8z3aqLZildkAsonFkoI4WKYkM9B4MTfHuY9zrsCrVPaA8RfUtTtcefPc0VormbDkC24HvzxrXgDVT-Ro9Byg4Ek0HIPCKSbcuMi8ZpXn8NbHwScwuPAAqmyZIi-Amd_Wz8zh8Yo/s400/P1020511.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452401689628522146" border="0" /></a><br /><br />There I am, on the steps of the Old Law quad, looking every inch the proper student. Why yes, that is two degrees, thank you for asking! That said, the university managed to screw up my testamur - they left the "with Honours" off of my Arts certificate, which was a bit irritating. And they managed to stumble over my surname during the ceremony (jeez guys, it's only the seventh most common surname in the country). It was still a fun day though, after I escaped the boredom of the ceremony and got to the part where my family and I made silly mischief during refreshments afterwards...<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijsdIE1toxcp4q0NZrwU6Kn8Blt_j7UQf-S0jhi1sQ0My_KIe0tP5BM5tO2L1gQTcuzTcgbu4mnklHuI4kKAWRJHr8yrFLWpf16F_98kP7inWneToQm2rMLJ40w38f14c5U0OEkyFuq-w/s1600/P1020540.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijsdIE1toxcp4q0NZrwU6Kn8Blt_j7UQf-S0jhi1sQ0My_KIe0tP5BM5tO2L1gQTcuzTcgbu4mnklHuI4kKAWRJHr8yrFLWpf16F_98kP7inWneToQm2rMLJ40w38f14c5U0OEkyFuq-w/s400/P1020540.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452403229839888754" border="0" /></a><br />Knitting related goals aren't the only plans in the works either... But more on that later!Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-52465388766439811582010-03-14T10:10:00.005+11:002010-03-14T11:14:27.023+11:00A Tale of Two RaglansDoes having two different raglan tops on the needles at the same time mean that I have some sort of problem?<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8aAHTIRNbW8ouLteKJ3O_ak1d4gw_zs-pwQBtd8D8YdmSGZPGvhB6KTmL3rbxbuy_zTIToMbsv1rARKQG5fxPJkMfeLuMwarRwMRuKqEduEtqZ5s_ZJpnveNqVFBXlNiAsr0CE34YXfw/s1600-h/P1020486.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8aAHTIRNbW8ouLteKJ3O_ak1d4gw_zs-pwQBtd8D8YdmSGZPGvhB6KTmL3rbxbuy_zTIToMbsv1rARKQG5fxPJkMfeLuMwarRwMRuKqEduEtqZ5s_ZJpnveNqVFBXlNiAsr0CE34YXfw/s400/P1020486.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448260083389858754" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I like to think otherwise. I love top down raglans - they are the ultimate in brainless comfort knitting, and I've never once had to frog one due to fit issues.<br /><br />The black project in the above picture is nearing completion now - it's a cardigan in the super-bulky Cleckheaton Tempo that I rashly bought way back when I just started knitting. It's not the nicest yarn in the world, but it takes up a lot of room in my stash (you know, the whole super-bulky thing) and I want to use it up. At least the project is going quickly - if I really sink the effort in today, I might even be able to finish it by this evening.<br /><br />The green project is a raglan style shrug that I'm making out of my Sanguine Gryphon Kypria yarn. I'm not using a pattern, but I've seen other garments constructed in much the same way. It's basically a top down raglan knitted without any front. I started it because, having finished the <a href="http://impostination.blogspot.com/2010/03/cure-for-rut.html">shawl</a> I was working on, I need another portable project to take to uni. And I am always, <span style="font-style: italic;">always</span> looking for non-sock uses for my sock yarns (that said, autumn is making itself known, so I really should knit some warm socks as well).<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXf-Qfy4q21FcNlWNFa-DwBZmFI_GaRt2Y3Us-zFba0yaj8WPtZoMZJBg7Yd-rHLnHRoupcIM9u14WXWPDBiJNj6ws4FMJHm2ZH3tqylE3J_h-H7emXPALkOzBaoBJGLG-xfbPv2XNC1g/s1600-h/P1020488.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXf-Qfy4q21FcNlWNFa-DwBZmFI_GaRt2Y3Us-zFba0yaj8WPtZoMZJBg7Yd-rHLnHRoupcIM9u14WXWPDBiJNj6ws4FMJHm2ZH3tqylE3J_h-H7emXPALkOzBaoBJGLG-xfbPv2XNC1g/s400/P1020488.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448266971490754818" border="0" /></a><br /><br />In other news, I've been eating a lot of museli (note also the gratuitous fish-bowl shot). I've started making my own, and I really don't know why it took me so long to get around to it. I've always loved museli, but the varieties that you can buy in the shops tend to be either hideously expensive or full of ingredients I don't particularly like (dried apple - urgh, it's like sour rubber!). And making your own is so ridiculously easy.<br /><br />I used a mixture of oats, sunflower seeds, chopped pecans, flaked almonds, and sesame seeds for my base (that's more or less in descending order of quantities). Then I made a mixture of honey (warmed a little so it mixes easier), vegetable oil, and a wee bit of vanilla essence and cinnamon, and stirred it through the dry mixture. Then I tossed it all onto some trays and put them in a moderate oven until the mixture was toasted and crunchy. When it was cool I added some chopped dried dates and some sultanas. Gorgeous. I encourage everyone else to try it too. I haven't given quantities here because I didn't even use a recipe for this - I just did my usual trick of reading a bunch of them online to glean the basic rules, and then winging it. Anyway, for me to give a recipe would be against the point of the exercise - it's all about making up your own version, with ingredients that suit you! Go and try it!<br /><br />And finally, I got tagged by the lovely <a href="http://hushedsunrise.blogspot.com/">Cadence</a> to produce seven random facts about myself, so here we go:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Seven weird things about Anna:</span><br /><ol><li>I don't drink coffee, and have only tried it about three times in my entire life. I'm not really sold on the taste (though I'll concede that the smell is heavenly), and I am weirdly impervious to caffeine, so I don't drink it for pick-me-up purposes either.</li><li>I have been bitten by a member of an endangered species (an orangutan in Malaysia, when I was about 13)</li><li>I can't whistle, and have only succeeded in clicking my fingers once in my whole life.</li><li>I am hopelessly hooked on sweets, but could probably give up chocolate without too much angst (pop culture would have you believe that I fail at womanhood for this reason).<br /></li><li>I was born without wisdom teeth.<br /></li><li>I love science fiction/fantasy. I was indoctrinated quite young by my parents - they made me watch a delightful British series from the late 1970s called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blakes_7"><span style="font-style: italic;">Blake's 7</span></a> (which hardly any Australians these days have even heard of), and I've been hooked ever since. </li><li>I am a huge bird nerd, and can identify a great many Australian species from just a quick glance (and even by their calls in some cases).<br /></li></ol><br />I always feel weird tagging people - if anyone else wants to do this, they can feel free (just say I tagged you - nobody will ever know, it'll be our little secret!).Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-85843324411663278372010-03-07T12:34:00.007+11:002010-03-07T14:05:32.929+11:00A Cure for the RutSo, a few posts ago I made reference to a shawl that I had started in an attempt to get out of the knitting rut that I found myself mired in. Amusingly enough, knitting the shawl wasn't really as enjoyable as I had hoped it would be. I kept angsting about whether or not I liked the way that the stripes looked, and when you're unsure about whether a project is working, it takes away some of the joy of making it. The fact that the last few rows of triangle shawls last forever didn't really aid matters. Still, I'm happy to say that I'm actually really pleased with how it turned out:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinC53CSmlECskmWPZGSLTnKc3GZUbsoLuM6YIlXTfs4fKoy1QsdcQH7Xg2CjySU1btkpvNh-lhJpMhXJpH-S229yLBEcs6VTdKnnFqoOOqGZCDSxE5wuB3OYL9ZiGbIh0NvNnYa7sXN4c/s1600-h/P1020472.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinC53CSmlECskmWPZGSLTnKc3GZUbsoLuM6YIlXTfs4fKoy1QsdcQH7Xg2CjySU1btkpvNh-lhJpMhXJpH-S229yLBEcs6VTdKnnFqoOOqGZCDSxE5wuB3OYL9ZiGbIh0NvNnYa7sXN4c/s400/P1020472.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5445703146752341906" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">And this is:</span> A basic triangle shawl with stripes of 'Sundara Sock' (100% wool) in 'Brambleberry' and some black Patonyle (wool/nylon blend), knitted on a 3.75mm circular needle.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Anna says:</span> As previously mentioned, this project basically revolved around my desire to finally use the Sundara yarn, and use it in a project that wasn't socks - the colour was far too beautiful to be subjected to the ravages of my feet. There wasn't really enough of it for a garment, or to make a decent length scarf, so a shawl it was.<br /><br />For all those interested, my process went roughly as follows (this is a basic triangle shawl, and about as basic as you can get, but writing this out makes me feel important and knowledgeable!):<br /><br />Cast on 7 stitches.<br />Row 1 (RS): k1, m1, k2, m1, k1, m1, k2, m1, k1 (4 stitches increased, 11 stitches total)<br />Row 2: Knit all stitches<br />Row 3: k3, place marker, m1, k2, m1, place marker, k1, place marker, m1, k2, m1, place marker, k3<br />Row 4: Knit all stitches<br /><br />From this point, work as follows: On every RS row, knit first 3 stitches, slip marker, m1, knit to next marker, m1, slip marker, k1 (this is the centre stitch), slip marker, m1, knit to last marker, m1, slip marker, k3. On every wrong side row, k3, purl to last 3 stitches, k3. Basically you are increasing 4 stitches per right side row - once on each edge, next to the garter stitch edge, and once on either side of the centre stitch. Continue on until your shawl reaches the desired size.<br /><br />My stripe pattern went as follows (MC being Sundara, CC being the Patonyle):<br />4 rows CC, 4 rows MC (72 rows, 18 stripes, ending with MC)<br />2 rows CC, 4 rows MC (30 rows, 10 stripes, ending with MC)<br />2 rows CC, 6 rows MC (18 rows, 5 stripes - end with an extra 2 row stripe of CC)<br />16 rows MC<br />4 rows MC in garter stitch (maintaining increases).<br />Bind off all stitches.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQyQaKukwx4Z7w6E5mgD-yyHVzLCO8RjZeJliSNMX2RAGzUoa8afYkziZRuWmZPXyLamNUsIW82Eoc3HV5i8JncSjzExyCPKi1qeb7Q-1615Qg3xipjj1PeJv-12YjnQ45BGK6ivEZE0w/s1600-h/P1020456.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQyQaKukwx4Z7w6E5mgD-yyHVzLCO8RjZeJliSNMX2RAGzUoa8afYkziZRuWmZPXyLamNUsIW82Eoc3HV5i8JncSjzExyCPKi1qeb7Q-1615Qg3xipjj1PeJv-12YjnQ45BGK6ivEZE0w/s400/P1020456.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5445719419983076498" border="0" /></a><br /><br />As previously mentioned, I really wasn't wild about the striping while I was knitting the shawl. But now I've decided that I quite like the way that it turned out. And while it's smaller than most of the other shawls that I own, it's still just large enough to wear in a couple of different ways (as a scarf, knotted around the shoulders, as a shrug with the ends tied behind the back, etc). And I finally managed to get that Sundara knitted up and out of my stash! This was a classic case of a yarn that just felt 'too nice to use'. Which is arguably a state that no crafting material should ever reach. At least I've found this skein a good home.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZSUvgroxPJsubXSfBe_yOBWAgfuwQJRb2G42N1flRRHYz_f2RiQIleFNUPkKU6ySN4SGjAdghTVYVv9CxUuSCKbFz7ww5KXKfdT4EQTAPuPOuluGsz2v1QNjIeSNzjC0iC8yn2vCPxEU/s1600-h/P1020464.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZSUvgroxPJsubXSfBe_yOBWAgfuwQJRb2G42N1flRRHYz_f2RiQIleFNUPkKU6ySN4SGjAdghTVYVv9CxUuSCKbFz7ww5KXKfdT4EQTAPuPOuluGsz2v1QNjIeSNzjC0iC8yn2vCPxEU/s400/P1020464.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5445720434940970450" border="0" /></a><br /><br />In other news, I am making good progress on my cabled Cybele vest. I've survived my first week of the new course, and I am actually really liking it so far! This week I ate my body weight in delicious home-made museli. Oh, and I forgot to mention this earlier: last week I went and saw <a href="http://www.amandapalmer.net/">Amanda Palmer</a> play at The Forum, and it was awesome! I even survived the crazy rain/hail that Melbourne weathered <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/06/2838586.htm">yesterday</a>. The flooding was pretty nuts though - the underpass next door to my work flooded so deeply that the cars that got stuck under there were fully submerged, to the point that they weren't even visible. This situation wasn't made better by the fact that people kept trying to drive through... *rolls eyes*<br /><br />So yes, I have officially survived the first week of uni, flash flooding, and death by museli. Let's see what next week brings...Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3461289498644741050.post-75105636214327150932010-03-03T10:50:00.004+11:002010-03-03T23:29:28.931+11:00March at Last!So, it's finally March. February felt oddly long for me, but March is bringing a lot 0f change. New season, new course at uni, new plans, and so on. Oh, and now having to pay full price on public transport because apparently postgraduate students aren't real students *gripe*<br /><br />Now while I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about this year and the coming month both, seemingly everyone else I know has taken it upon themselves to get sick (probably has something to do with that lovely alternation between searingly hot and cold and rainy that my beloved city tends to do so very well). As of right now, I do not have this dubious honour, and am attempting to continue on in this way by employing my three proven ways of staying well: resting, staying warm, and good food.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkKUfwxCJ8AYRRnrS7Jzl0rH2TMPYfkXThikDAqRzj21yVy0ltH98NChp1dgVoR01oUQUwmMZU_UV9Ml2e6eFOmElub2ME6OnH8ebgWfW5byBIh7y7s9NiKZIr1mSegii5SY4bkMuaUeE/s1600-h/P1020437.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkKUfwxCJ8AYRRnrS7Jzl0rH2TMPYfkXThikDAqRzj21yVy0ltH98NChp1dgVoR01oUQUwmMZU_UV9Ml2e6eFOmElub2ME6OnH8ebgWfW5byBIh7y7s9NiKZIr1mSegii5SY4bkMuaUeE/s400/P1020437.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444189727462457842" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Homemade lasagne (vegetarian of course). Looks awesome, does it not? And it tasted even better...<br /><br />I was particularly pleased with this one because it was the first time I'd tried my hand at lasagne, and I didn't use a recipe. I've noticed that more and more these days I tend to rely less on recipes. What I do instead (and this is made So Much Easier with the internet, and the wealth of information that it provides upon the simple entering of a few choice words into Google) is find a handful of different recipes for a dish, read through them, take note of the key points, and then make my own version. I did the same thing day before yesterday with homemade toasted museli (which may warrant a blog post of its own in the near future, so awesome was the result). While this method might not be for everyone, I'm finding it works really well for me. I'm very much of the opinion that one of the best things about cooking yourself is being able to tailor recipes to suit your individual likes and dislikes, and this method lets you do this while hopefully making a minimum of fatal errors (and while I dearly love doing my own thing, I'll be the first to acknowledge that cooking does contain a great many non-negotiable rules).<br /><br />At any rate, for all those playing along at home, I filled my lasagna with instant dried pasta sheets, basic tomato sauce (made from onion, garlic, passata, bay leaves, olive oil and a slurp of some gifted red wine that was, ahem, not really a desirable drinking option, with some baby spinach tossed in at the end), thinly sliced zucchini and pumpkin, and a small amount of grated mozzarella cheese. I topped it with more sauce, poured some extra passata around the edges (because I was clever and didn't make enough sauce), and then topped it with some more cheese and some dried basil and oregano. Once it came out of the oven, I put some fresh basil on top, because I am a fiend for basil. And I lived off the leftovers for three days. Happy Anna.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1QqQ0mtllwlwhsLbhKacjpYHxNBFOfWpFEwNPA8XxPTsMgfvAs3bAepJJZ72xWw-xcvujEJpr8301FytV8_iGJVNwTJH9UB3FUZuDnbNmJUbg0bNpQSIksGuenIjOM3U8Pik3MrOvIT8/s1600-h/P1020446.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1QqQ0mtllwlwhsLbhKacjpYHxNBFOfWpFEwNPA8XxPTsMgfvAs3bAepJJZ72xWw-xcvujEJpr8301FytV8_iGJVNwTJH9UB3FUZuDnbNmJUbg0bNpQSIksGuenIjOM3U8Pik3MrOvIT8/s400/P1020446.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444381626076932194" border="0" /></a><br /><br />In knitting news, the boy has been walking around wearing several shop bought scarves. As you can all probably imagine, this simply will not do. It's been a while now - I think I can tempt fate and knit him one. After all, they call it the "sweater curse", not the scarf curse. I am planning on knitting <a href="http://grumperina.com/knitblog/shiftingsands.htm">this scarf</a> in the worsted Malabrigo pictured above, just like <a href="http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/2008/06/shifting-sands.html">this version</a>.<br /><br />Yes, I think I might be in the middle of a bit of a cable binge. Oh well - at least there will be pretty things by the end of it.Goes by the name of Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14546183614528833628noreply@blogger.com6