About time, I know...

Well, this one's taken a while, so without further ado: Sylvi!




The specifics: Sylvi, by Mari Muinonen. I used 12 skeins of Cascade 128 Chunky Solid, with a 6mm circular needle.

The rambling: I am not normally one for abusing the poor defenseless Caps Lock button, but there are certain select situations where I think that it's called for. I FINISHED MY COAT! FINALLY, I FINISHED MY COAT!

Ahem.

I've been working on this one since July, so having it finally finished is a huge weight off my mind (and also my fingers - knitting the hood with the entire weight of the body hanging from it was difficult!). I'm glad to say that I love it. Or perhaps I should say, relieved, as I honestly don't know what I would have done if I'd finished it and been anything less than delighted with it, after all of the time that it took. The only problem I can see with it so far is that people don't fall down and worship me in the street when I wear it, which really you're half expecting when you spend this long on a project (okay, not really, but you know what I mean), but I suppose I should give the poor unenlightened fools some time to come to their senses before I start getting irked... Oh, and also the fact that it is only a month and bit off of summer. But then again, this is Melbourne we're talking about here, so I'm sure there will be the odd opportunity to wear it out and about.




As far as actual commentary on the knitting goes - the pattern was awesome, of course, and very clear and easy to follow. I did make a few modifications though. I changed the cuffs because it was the only part of the original design that I wasn't too keen on - I made very slightly belled folded up cuffs. On the hood, I worked another leaf motif instead of a flower, partly because I didn't like the look of a flower randomly sprouting from my head, and also, I'll admit, because I was just so sick of marking petal stitches and working the leaves had gotten pretty intuitive by that point in proceedings. I also lengthened the body by a few rows, and there are a couple of places in which I deviate from the chart a little, just because I was up a stitch or two, or couldn't get the moss stitch to line up as instructed (disclaimer: I'm definitely attributing this to it being my first time following a chart, and definitely not to any errors in the pattern!).




Why yes, I am going to spam you all with excessive amounts of pictures. If you had just finished a coat that took four months to complete, you would be spamming too!

Oh, and the last modification: as you can see above, I didn't add button holes, as I'm going to opt for some kind of clasp closure instead. I haven't added them yet because I'm still deciding if I like the ones that I have.

I was very pleased with the length in the end too. It seemed woefully short while I was knitting it, but I put my faith in gravity and the tales of those who had gone before me, and it did indeed grow a mile with blocking. I know it's still a little shy of full length, but bear in mind the fact that I am nearly six feet tall - this is not a short coat!

And now I'm going to stop rambling about the coat. Nearly. It feels great to be finished with this one. This is definitely the biggest project I've ever undertaken, and judging by the incursions that it made into my sanity, I think it will be the last. I may later embark on projects as big. I may also start projects that are just as elaborate. But never again will I ever try anything that it both this huge and this intricate! It's been fun though, in a masochistic way, and I learned a lot. I am now a lot better at following charts, and have a much better understanding of the ins and outs of cables. I realised that seaming a slipped stitch edging is actually the opposite of scary, and that bobbles aren't nearly as difficult as I thought they'd be!




At any rate, now I am free to dive into all my new projects with complete abandon! Or as much abandon as I can scrounge up, given the fact that I have a massive essay due in a little over a week. Doh. But still, it feels awesome and really very liberating to be finished.

Anyway, farewell all - I have a wedding to attend, and baked goods to muster!

Food related diversions

See, this is the part where I feel torn. On the one hand, last post I (foolishly) promised that I'd be showing off my newly completed Sylvi coat in the next update. But on the other, it's been quite a while since I updated!

Behold, my compromise! I shall indeed post, but it will be food related! I've been languishing, sad and baked-goods-less, for quite a while now due to oven related technical difficulties. But then my delightful engineer father returned from overseas and managed to convince the cranky old contraption to work again, so I have been making the most of it.

As shown above, I made Spinach and Feta Pie (under the guise of being Very Sensible, as I froze a goodly portion of it for my upcoming exam period and all those nights when I want to eat breakfast cereal for dinner because I'm just too burnt out to cook).

I made an absolutely delicious Honey Chocolate Cake as dessert for some visiting friends (see, this is why I need a functional oven - baked goods are my social currency and without them I feel woefully inadequate!).




And in a fit of silliness, myself and a gentleman caller (haha, yes indeed...) made Triceratops Pie. Kindly note the delightful dinosaur shaped pastry decoration. I should probably note at this point that the pie did not contain any actual triceratops - and my most sincere apologies to anyone who is disappointed on that front. The pie did however contain pumpkin, leeks, onion, ricotta, garlic, parsley and other such tasty things, so none of the parties involved felt shortchanged by the lack of actual dinosaur product.




These culinary achievements aside, there is no reprieve in sight for the poor hardworking oven. A good friend of mine is getting married on the weekend, and I have been conscripted to provide some delightful nibbly baked goods for us to graze upon while we prepare and make merry. I shall do my very best not to suffer from any kind of performance anxiety at the prospect of cooking for such an auspicious occasion!

In other, less pleasant news: it was confirmed week before last that my poor old man cat does indeed have cancer. This was obviously not good what we were hoping for, and I'm sad that my family are all away and are therefore unable to spend more time with the poor old fellow while he's still around. However, the fact that he's had such a good run of it is somewhat of a comfort - if only all cats were lucky enough to live to his age, after all. The good news is that despite all of this, he's perfectly chipper and is acting his usual nuisance self (i.e. stealing my computer chair every time I get up to get more tea). He's not thrilled about the various pills I have to wrestle into him twice a day, but you can't have everything, can you?

Oh, and many thanks to all those who sent good wishes his way via the blog, Ravelry etc - much love and gratitude to you all! The senile old man says thank-you too!

(well, actually in this photo I think he's just irked because I'm bothering him, but I'm sure he would have put on an obligingly grateful face if he knew the purpose of the photo!)




In closing, back to the details of the compromise. The next knitting related post shall remain reserved for my Sylvi (which is anyway so close to being finished that I could knock it off this afternoon if I put my mind to it, so hopefully the wait won't be long!). So I'm not waffling! Not even a little! Most definitely not!

Self Restraint and a Cat

So. It occurs to me that I probably have enough yarn (see above for pretty green things!). More than enough yarn even. Realistically speaking, I could probably continue knitting at my usual rate for an entire year without needing to buy more yarn. This is arguably a rather delightful problem to have, if indeed you could call it a problem, but I have decided that seeing as I don't really need more yarn, but will have a need to conserve money (exams are not too far off, so I won't be working nearly as much as usual), some self restraint might be in order over the next little while.

I'm not going to use the word "diet" because I'm not keen on it. It's not something I do when it comes to food (frankly, I'm young and healthy, so what on earth is wrong with just eating well and exercising?), and I'd really like to keep my life "diet" free. So I'm not going to stop buying yarn all together. However, there shall be creative and productivity-encouraging restrictions put in place: the rule of this Not Yarn Diet is that I am now supposed to knit 500g (so ten 50g balls, or whatever) from my stash for every yarn purchase I make. Blog will keep me accountable. Hopefully this will curb the unwarranted impulse buys.

I considered putting a meterage requirement instead of weight, but decided against it: I'm too lazy to add up lengths, and I don't really care about yarn weight as long as it gets used up. Yes, I know that I'll burn through 200g of bulky yarn in the same time it'll take me to knit up 50g of fingering. I don't much care - it's not a competition. I just want to reduce the space being eaten by my terrifying stash of knitting fodder. To play fair though, I'm not counting any part of Sylvi, as it's been going for so long (shame, because I believe that there's over a kilo of yarn in that monster). To not play fairly, I'm counting all yarn knitted from the point that I received my last purchase in the mail. Which puts me at nearly 100g, all from the Gathered Pullover (which is coming along nicely, thank you very much).

That's the plan. Now let's see if I stick to it.

In other news, well, life is crazy. Beyond crazy. Between uni, work, and social commitments, I have so much to do that it isn't even funny. For the first time in my life, I'm being afflicted by semi-regular insomnia, because I lie in bed unable to sleep because all of the pressing demands on my time are dancing around in my head humming circus music loudly. Thank heavens that knitting is a hobby that you can sort of slot into the gaps formed between everything else - one of the many reasons that I love it.

In knitting news, I have started seaming my Sylvi and have commenced the hood. I am so close to finishing that I can almost taste it - and I'm hoping that that will help me finally knock it on the head. Even the fickle Melbourne weather wants me to finish - the weather at the moment is bitingly cold for October, and it's just begging for a slightly unseasonal woollen coat. The Gathered Pullover is coming along nicely as well - I am still in love with the colour.




Unfortunately all is not well in other areas of life - the furred and finned areas, more specifically. More diligent readers might recall me gabbling happily about Titus, my fighting fish. Well, alas, poor Titus succumbed to a fungal infection yesterday, despite putting up a brave fight while we treated him with scarily green medicine. Poor wee fishy - he was a lot of fun, had a lot of character as far as fish go, and I will miss his hungry little face in the mornings.

If that wasn't enough, my poor old geriatric cat Alex has a large nasty swelling in his neck. The vet is not sure whether it's cancer or just a gland that's swollen up as a result of an inflamed tooth - he's going in tomorrow for blood tests and possibly dental surgery if he's stable enough. Anything involving anaesthetic is risky for a 19 year old cat with heart issues, so I'm trying to be prepared for the worst, just in case it happens. He's content enough at the moment though - asleep on my dressing gown, which I suspect is now officially His dressing gown. At any rate, please send cat mojo for my poor old man!

And that's about it. Hopefully the next post will involve a finished Sylvi - let's just hope that procrastination doesn't strike (again) in the meantime...

Where Anna is a Bad Melbournian

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

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

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




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




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




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

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

Productivity. And a Cat

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

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

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




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

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

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

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




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

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




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

Silliness

Well, it's assignment time again. So, as usual, procrastination is calling...




On this particular occasion, procrastination came in two forms, as is made obvious by this very fine and not even slightly ridiculous illustration. Firstly, it came in the form of a renewed assault on Mount Sylvi (left front is now finished). Secondly, in the form of... well, let's just say that it is a mistake to keep charcoal on your desk when you have a coat to knit and an assignment on the Geneva convention to write. That and a cracked sense of humour (I didn't look scary enough at first, so I gave myself fangs, eyebrows from hell, and an evil genius goatee).

Anyway, back to the, erm, assignment. Yes, definitely the assignment, and nothing else. In other news, this is apparently my 100th post. Haha, I sure wasted that opportunity to say something auspicious, didn't I?

Reasons for Neglect, Part Two

As alluded to last entry, I did actually do a little bit of knitting during my absence from the blog. Not as much as I would have liked though - there are more demands on my time this semester than there have been in a very long time, so I really haven't had the opportunity to do as many things on the craft front as I would have liked.

Exhibit A: my Sylvi is still not finished. I think I've pretty much abandoned the hope of getting a lot of wear out of it before it gets retired for spring/summer weather - I'll have to be satisfied with one or two. Oh well - I'll live. Actually, I'm just looking forward to finishing it. While it's coming along nicely enough, and behaving itself perfectly well, I'm just not used to undertaking such large scale projects. It will feel really, really good to have it finished so I can move onto all of the other things that I want to do - right now it feels like they're all standing restless in a queue behind this bloody coat! Sigh. Little by little, I shall get it done.

At any rate, there have been side projects slotting in around the Sylvi - one can't work elaborate cables and moss stitch all day long without going insane, after all. Here is one such diversion:




First thing's first: Pattern: Cinnamon Grace, by Katie Harris. Yarn: Eki Riva Natal (alpaca/silk/nylon blend). 4mm circular stainless steel needles.

The stuff what I thought: This was the pattern that kept me sane while I waited endless hours in Hobart Airport (or some of it anyway, as I had to stow it away in my checked luggage - stupid Australian air travel with its stupid knitting ban). I originally started it as an antidote to Sylvi, as it's a very simple knit. This is a great pattern - it was undemanding without being too repetitive (until you got to the bind off anyway). Since I used to have a bit of a phobia of picking up stitches, I can't say that I really enjoyed picking up a few hundred (I didn't actually count - I figured that I'd get too depressed) for the ruffle. At least I had the Tassie SnB ladies to keep me company while I did it... Also, this project has the longest cast-off ever. Or it definitely felt like it anyway. Stupid picot bind off - we are talking hours here.

My juvenile whinging aside, this is a great pattern. The only mod I made to it was to use a slightly thicker yarn (DK - pattern called for a sport weight) and to make the ruffle slightly shorter as I was running out of yarn. I was worried that the pattern might be lost in the slightly thick/thin yarn I was using, but it ended up coming out just fine.




As it's sort of a shawl/scarf hybrid, you can wear it in a couple of different ways too, which is always good. I suspect that this pattern will turn out to be quite popular - I'm actually surprised that more people haven't made it, since it's been around for a few months now. Anyway, I'm very happy with how it came out, for all that I had a few moments of doubt while I was actually knitting it. I'd definitely recommend it, at any rate (note: pattern also seems to be blissfully error free - hurrah!).

Anyway, and that's about all I have to show for the last month, knitting wise. I've also started a hat for Richard, which will unfortunately have to be mailed to him, as he departed for Canada last weekend, before I had a chance to finish. And I've been swatching for a self-designed hat project using some of the yarn I acquired at the Bendigo show a while back. I don't normally do a lot of stripey things, so it's fun to experiement. I was amazed at how much difference a change in stitch can make to stripes - look it:




I was worried that the stripes wouldn't be obvious enough in stocking stitch, so I tried adding garter ridges as well - definitely the way to go, I think! Gives it a different look, anyway...

And now it's time for Anna to be off - she needs to get in a couple more rows on her Sylvi before heading off for uni and tai chi. Wish her luck... *sigh*...

A Scarf, and Unimportant Decisions...

Well, I am now happily mired in the third week of semester, and lo and behold, my head has not yet exploded. Though that said, I have been suffering from an unusual amount of headaches this week, so perhaps it's only a matter of time before said explosion occurs. Note to self: remove all easily stained items from desk before starting homework.

Whinging aside, I finally finished the scarf I was making:




Details: Pattern is Wisp, by Cheryl Niamath (Knitty, Summer 2007). Yarn used was Moda Vera Boutique (a wool/mohair/soy blend), and the needles I employed for this merry undertaking were a pair of 6mm plastic straights.

The blathering commences: For some reason known only to the gods of retail therapy, I keep buying mohair yarn. This makes no sense at all, because I really don't like mohair. Fluffy is just not my thing - never has been. Yet for some reason I bought two balls of the aforementioned yarn. I think that the colours might have had something to do with it, and true enough, I do like the colours of this project. Just not the fibre content. At any rate, I started this project specifically to use up the yarn, and thankfully, a friend of mine saw me knitting away in that slavish way that I have, and exclaimed over the developing scarf. I believe my reaction "Awesome. Do you want it? Please take it! Really, please! Oh won't you please say that you'll take it?" Thankfully she acquiesed.

That rant aside, this is a very nice pattern. It's straightforward, and would be a great project for someone who wanted to learn the basics of lace, as well as getting the hang of thinner yarn on larger needles. And the finished product is nice enough, for all that it's not my thing. I can see why this one is so popular. Oh, and the only modification I made was to work a couple more repeats of the pattern, since the whole purpose of this project was to Use Up The Hateful Mohair - I didn't want any leftover!

So now everyone lives happily ever after. I got rid of the troublesome yarn that was clogging up my collection and sewing the seeds of dissent amongst my lovely wools, silks and cottons. My friend Zia gets a scarf. Everyone wins. See this picture? This is me winning!




In other crafty news, my Sylvi coat is gradually getting there. Look, see (and please excuse the scary pink tufts of waste yarn - they will be gone soon enough!):




I can probably finish the back in a night or two if I really put in the effort. And after that the sides should go pretty quickly - after all, they're just moss stitch, so I can do them on the bus/train/tram/hovercraft, etc. Good thing too - I really need to get on with this one if I want to get any wear out of it this year. I have issued Rebecca with strict orders to kick my arse if I haven't finished it by the time she gets to Melbourne in a couple of week's time... So there's my deadline! Wish me luck!

As for the decision alluded to in the title? Well, I can't decide whether I want cupcakes, pancakes, or gingerbread. The upside of cupcakes is that they'll be quickest. But I just bought some new (real) maple syrup, so pancakes are calling too. Gingerbread will take the longest, but it will also last longer than the other two. Hmmmm.... Or perhaps I should just do my homework like the good little non-disgraceful law student that I am...

Busy, busy, busy...

Well, things have been weird around here - a strange blend of busy, yet not busy. More specifically, there has been lots of me making valiant attempts to be constructive, but getting thwarted at every turn. Curse you, foolish reality! Why won't you work the way I want you to?

Anyway, one thing that I have found time to do in between running-around-like-a-crazy-person-to-no-avail is work on my Sylvi. I will make this coat if it kills me. Which it probably will, for the record, provided it is indeed possible to die of convoluted chart poisoning. Anyway, I realised that it was about time to get my arse into gear if I actually wanted to have a chance to wear it this year. I know that it's only mid July, which gives me a good month and a half of winter left, but it takes time to knit a full length coat, you know? And the fickle Melbourne weather does love to thwart me... So I started last weekend and went about it rather vigourously all week. As a result, I am now in possession of two sleeves, and the start of the back:




Doesn't look like much now, but hopefully it will be cool. Or rather, the pattern is definitely rather awesome - I just need to deploy higher/equal levels of awesomeness in order to live up to it. Hopefully this shall occur!

And this is all that has really taken place on the knitting front. There has also been a lot of reading, and a lot of baking - more birthdays and other cake-requiring-occasions than I've been able to shake the proverbial stick at. There was also lemon meringue pie, because I was having a sorry-for-myself day. And whenever I'm down and really don't know what to do with myself, I make lemon meringue pie. You can generally tell how good a year has been by the number of pies I make. For the record, it's now mid July and I've only clocked in at two - this is good!




Mmmm... medicinal pie. I cheated and used a bought base, which is normally the very antithesis of how I go about these things, but on Monday I needed to busy myself with therapy pie more than I needed to buggerise around making pastry. So there. Surely my otherwise exemplary levels of baked-goods production compensate for this little hiccup, yes?



And these little blighters are biscuits for Bendigo (oooh, what delightful aliteration!). Tomorrow, complete with Ravelry buddy and train munchies, I am heading off to the Bendigo Sheep Show like the fibre nerd that I am. It sounds like it's going to be far, far too much fun. I am embarrassingly excited... Full report and hopefully some photos next time.

(disclaimer: photos may or may not contain graphic footage of my biscuit riddled corpse, depending on how hungry I get on the train on the way up there...)

Potentially nonsensical...

Okay - there is a very real chance that this post will not make a great deal of sense, because approximately five minutes ago, I was asleep. Ahh, the wonder that is exam period. Mind you, why I'm bothering to nap at 11:42pm instead of just going to bed is anybody's guess...

At any rate, I'm still busy, but definitely alive and kicking. Without the kicking part though. And I am posting for a reason - it isn't procrastination alone that's fuelling me. Because behold, I finished my second Terra:

And this would be: Terra, by Jacqueline Landry. Size XS (32"), knitted with several inches of negative ease, on 6mm needles. Used 3 balls of Bendigo Woollen Mills Rustic 12ply (in colour "Red Currant"). No significant mods to speak of.

The part where I blather: I love this pattern, and I honestly don't know why more people haven't made it. It's easy, ridiculously fast, and the end product is awesome. The pattern suggests you pick a size with several inches of positive ease, and for my first Terra, that was what I did. The fit was good (and indeed I still love this jumper dearly and wear it several times a week), but because of the loose gauge, it stretched a little over time. It got me wondering about what the next size down would look like, so I figured that I'd find out.

It's always a little bit nerve racking knitting garments with negative ease, because they always look far too small before they're seamed and blocked. But this, as you can see, came out just fine in the end. It's rather close fitting at the moment, but I'm counting on it stretching a little like the last one did, so it should ease up a bit. I'm not complaining either way.


I'm very enamoured with the colour. Admittedly it does have a bit of a Little Red Riding Hood vibe to it, but red is really nice to wear in winter, and I can't quite bring myself to feel that the hood is anything less than awesome. It's lovely and warm too - I wore it out and about yesterday, and was perfectly toasty despite winter having well and truly set in. If we're being nit picky, some of seaming really could have been better - especially around the sleeves. And the armholes are a fraction too tight in this size. But I'm really having to scrape the bottom of the barrel, complaint wise. I'm really happy with how this turned out, and I plan to wear it quite thoroughly to death over the next while. Now I just need to convince myself not to order the yarn to make another. Given the fact that this is so quick to make, costs under $30AUS to make, and yields such a good result, I'm probably in severe danger on this front...

I have things to keep me occupied though. The yarn for my Sylvi finally arrived, so I'm swatching away busily on that:

That's rather a lot of yarn - I'll be busy indeed. And, you know, with exams. Those as well...

What can I say - I'm slack!

Well, here I am again. It's been a while for the old blog, but life has been crazy busy, as is wont to happen during semester time. Especially after the mid-semester break when everybody realises that it's only a bit over a month until exams start...

I have been knitting though. Most definitely. If anything, I'm over-committed on the knitting front. I keep saying that I'll knit things for people, and keep getting new ideas for projects, when really I don't have the time for even a third of what I'd like to do. Oh well - I'll get there.

One of the more pressing obligations has already been partially filled in the last few days - I started making a cardigan for a co-worker's new baby girl - figured I should get cracking on that one while the wee one was still small enough to actually fit into the size I was planning to make... It's coming along nicely - just a basic top down raglan with ties instead of buttons, in a cute variegated yarn that I'd always liked the look of, even though it's far too bright for anyone over the age of six to pull off actually wearing. Picture next entry, I promise - it's too dark to take one now.

I also finished one of the things mentioned in my last post. Snow White is still in progress, having been put in the naughty corner for a while due to gauge issues (which thankfully don't look like they're going to be too dire), but I did finish my Kaleidoscope cardigan:


The gory details: Pattern is Kaleidoscope, by Sarah Sutherland. Yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy in 'Happy Forest' colourway (about 1.6 skeins total). I used a 5mm circular needle.

The part where I blather on: This was a quick, fun knit, and I very much appreciate non-sock patterns that call for sock yarn, because like most everyone else on the planet, I like sock yarn, despite not being hugely committed to knitting socks. That said, I wasn't entirely happy with how it turned out. This is not a reflection on the pattern, which was very clear and well put together. Rather it's a reflection on my lying bastard of a gauge swatch - I probably should have either made the next size down, or knitted the neckline higher than the pattern called for, because it's a little on the loose side around the back.

The other main beef: if I were to knit this again (which, knowing my inclinations towards sock yarn, I probably will), I'd probably go down a needle size or two in the ribbing, and do yarn over buttonholes instead of proper cast off/cast on in next row buttonholes. I think I would have been much happier with it that way. Otherwise though, I enjoyed this project well enough. The yarn is lovely (why yes, I do have a bit of an addiction to Dream in Color yarn...), and the pattern is great - only modification I made was to add a row or two to the ribbing at the base of the body, and to lengthen the sleeves a little because at the suggested length they stopped right at my elbows, which would have irked me greatly. There's a good chance I'll make this one again.

Other than that, life has been pretty uneventful. I made some blanket squares for the Knit One, Give One charity project. I finished the April component of the LSG Mistress of Knitting Challenge. I gave in and ordered a gargantuan amount of yarn with which to make a Sylvi, because I've come to the conclusion that I need this coat. I read a lot, studied the requisite amount, and started doing a tai chi class with a friend. Same old thing really. Oh, and I had a really lousy day on Thursday, during which I had to employ medicinal Fimo in order to feel better about the word again:


I made crazy, impractical button things, and I think that I'm going to put them on a hat. Because I can!
It's bed time now - take care people!