I love trying new things...

Hurrah! On Saturday I finally tried my hand at dyeing some yarn with food dye. I used this tutorial - it's absolutely made of very comprehensive awesome. What can I say except that it went off surprisingly hitchless, and I may have a new obsession on my hands...


Here be the components (well, minus the yarn, copious amounts of Glad Wrap and a few other bits and bobs). I think the food colouring was 94 cents a bottle, the vinegar about $1.20 and the gloves about the same (for 80 gazillion pairs), so I felt merrily thrifty. Yes I did.





Here is yarn merrily sitting in my vegetable steamer (or at least it's a vegetable steamer when husbandy type creature isn't defiling it with his nasty dim sims). The instructions I was going by suggested a baking dish, but I didn't really have anything suitable, so instead I just used a steamer in a saucepan of simmering water, covered the top with foil and then wodged a confectionary thermometer through a hole in the edge so I could keep tabs on the temperature. Worked very well this way.




And here is the finished yarn. Yes, this is a lousy photo (well, they all are frankly), but it was the only one that came even close to showing the colours of the end result; it came out so vibrant that I just want to eat the yarn. I think I'm going to make something to keep my hands warm now that the weather is getting nippy.



So, all in all it was terrific fun, and I still can't believe just how well it worked. I am not a person for whom things involving any level of science/competance/neatness come easily, yet this worked like a charm. Nothing went wrong (!). This doesn't happen very often.

I'm so glad that I've found a good method to do this. I love colour, and more to the point, I love weird combinations of colour. So now I can indulge my perverse senses and thoroughly blind everyone else. Sounds good to me. I can't stop concocting wicked plans in my head, and there's a big ball of unsuspecting sock yarn in my lounge room that's going to get it next...

In other news, um, well, not that much. I am, among other things, a partially reformed binge reader (a reformation due more to lack of anything grabbing me lately than any actual inclination to change my wicked ways) and a sci-fi/fantasy addict. There has not been much knitting lately because a bit over a week ago I picked up the first book in Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series, and then felt compelled to read for the better part of my waking hours until I finished the rest of the books. Oh my, what a series; I was in thrall, there's no other phrase for it. It's been a long time since a series picked me up by the scruff of my neck and dragged me away kicking and screaming, but this one did it. Thoroughly recommended (though I'd rather not consider right now the classes/meals I missed in the process).

Anyway, so all of the binge reading has meant that not a great deal of knitting took place. I finished the tea towel/wipey cloth I was making - not particularly exciting there. More interestingly, I finished my first Hedera sock and am pleased to announce that it fits my great big hulking man-feet perfectly. Consider me pleased. I've already taken too many blurry pictures today though, so there shall be no iffy photographic evidence of said sock-fittage until a later date. I'm sure the world can wait...

Now, off to read more (did I mention there was a follow on series...), drink my tea, and fondle my lovely dyed yarn. Mwa ha ha ha...

Well, I bit the bullet...

Well, here it is. I bit the bullet and finally sunk in the whole fifteen minutes of knitting required to finish my Basalt tank. The reason I'd been putting it off was because I had this sneaking suspicion (okay, certainty) that it was going to come out too big. And, you know what, I was right...

This photo doesn't really do justice to how big is it (not to mention it shows off just how disgusting my bathroom mirror has gotten while I've been busy doing other things). Basically, I swim in it. And please excuse the bra escape...

The weird thing is that I still love it; it was fun to knit, the design is awesome, and I think it would suit me if I'd just made it smaller. I am still very much a fan of this pattern, and I very much intend to try it again some day (maybe in time for next summer, since in Melbourne the weather for tank tops seems to have passed...). That said, it's still going to be frogged because the yarn is too lovely to languish sadly in something that I am, in all honesty, probably never going to wear (the colour! I love this colour so much I could eat it).

I'm not really sure what happened with gauge; my swatch said it was bang on, but then again I wasn't sensible about checking throughout. I have absolutely no idea why I didn't measure the first hexagon after I finished it. Really. It was stupid to a colossal degree. I guess I'm just not long on common sense most of the time... Oh well, that's life, eh? And I suppose it wasn't all gauge either; courtesy of pizza shop drudgery and not enough solid meals, I've lost about ten kilos since I started it. So any existing gauge issues would have been exacerbated by the fact that there just wasn't as much of me for it to cover as there was when I started. Meh.

Anyway, I was having a crappy morning (splitting headaches, essay proposals that won't get written no matter how many times I order my brain to do them, and having to write kiss up letters to apply for jobs that I don't even want do not put me in a fantastic mood), and when that happens, I usually try and cheer myself up by doing something constructive. This was that constructive thing. So now the Basalt tank is finished. I can bid it a happy farewell, and go on to other things. Yay for closure! I was, after all, getting a little guilty about leaving the poor thing kicking around my study like it had been...

More procrastination

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Purging my poor little brain

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

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

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

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

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

I think I need another cup of tea.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Still alive..

Yes, still alive, just haven't finished anything in, well, a while. What can I say? Law school and pizza servitude have a tendency to eat one's brain and time. This week was the first time that I'd had a day off in close to a month.

That said, things are still happening on the knitting front. I thought I had nearly finished my Basalt tank, but not it's appearing there are *tremble* gauge issues. Which is a nice way of saying that it's going to be far, far too big on me (the fact that I've lost weight since I started it doesn't help... stupid pizza shop). However, I'm still rather fond of it, and am going to avoid frogging it if possible. If it comes out stupidly big, I might try and add sleeves to it and make it a jumper-type thing. We shall see.

Bought yarn yesterday, like the filthy depraved person I am. Among purchases was some Noro Silk Garden, and some lovely Filatura di Crosa Centolavaggi - lace weight whatnot in a beautiful teal blue colour. I haven't decided what to do with the Noro yet; I've got a few ideas kicking around, but more than anything else, I just wanted to buy some because I was bothering to make the trek out to WoolBaa - the shops that are not out of my way don't carry it, so this way I'll have some if any appropriate patterns grabs my attention. The other I bought because I'm itching to knit some kind of big, lacey thing. I've only made small forays into the world of lace so far, but found it immensely enjoyable when I did, so I figured it was about time. Thinking of making a Kiri shawl, or something along those lines...

Writing is still happening, albeit at a slower rate since uni went back (not all that surprising really, I guess). I'm 27k into the follow on, and sometime this week I'm going to go back and start reworking the draft of the first one. I haven't touched it for around a month now, except for referring back to the final chapter now and then just for continuity stuff, but I've started making a mental list of stuff that I already know needs fixing. *happy sigh* I love writing, so much fun.

Hat-ness and new yarn!

Well, Richard's hat is now finished, though I think it's going to end up being a hat for me, because I honestly don't think it would fit him and his giant teenage boy type head. Here it is on me, anyway:



I look like some kind of cartoon character in this picture... Sorry about the blurriness... what can I say, but I suck at photos (especially ones taken of myself in the bathroom mirror).


Anyway, this means that I have successfully wrangled colour work for the first time. And had to do it with a self-designed thing, because I am stubborn and overly ambitious. Well, it worked anyway, or at least the colourwork part did. However, the top shaping fell victim to my short attention span, and my lack of botheredness when it comes to maths. So the decreases are bizarrely random and weirdly spaced, and it's a little too short. Methinks I shall refine the design a little (change the colourwork pattern so it's worked over a saner number of stitches, or at least one that's more easily divisible for decrease purposes, and make it a little bigger) and then make another one for the brother dear. Since I do still owe him a hat. Oh well, it's still thirty-odd degree weather here, so I'm sure he can wait a while longer...


Anyway, still beavering away on the Basalt tank. I picked up stitches with no issues (for some reason, I'm still deathly afraid of it, one button band and half a log cabin later), and am now happily working my way through hexagon two.


Oh, and I have shiny, shiny, lovely yarn.

I ordered some Merino/Cashmere sock yarn from The Knittery earlier this week, and was beginning to wonder why it hadn't arrived yet (it didn't have to travel very far, and the website had implied that it would be there within a day or so - which had passed). I got home yesterday from a three hour lecture all cranky because my bank account was overdrawn again and I had blisters on my toes that were as big as the toes themselves (or very nearly anyway), hoping that my shiny nice yarn would be waiting for me. There was no yarn...


Anyway, so I cheered myself up in other ways (other ways in this instance being eating cheese on toast and Lindt chilli dark chocolate, reading some Michael Moorcock, watching Lady Chatterly and knitting some more of my Basalt tank - all fine things), and then at about 11pm Chris got home. When I was just going to bed not long after this he said "By the way, a package came for you the other day. It's in the car, because I keep forgetting to bring it in". So, while I was languishing and yarnless (okay, not yarnless, but without this yarn), my beloved Merino Cashmere 4ply was going for pizza scented joy rides in Chris' car.... Right...


Anyway, we finally got there!
I bought two skeins, one in Moonlight (the bottom one) and the other in Earth, and they're... just... so... pretty.
I should not be allowed to own things as pretty as this:

*swoons*. And they came with a Chuppa Chup in the package!

I'm thinking I quite like The Knittery...