Diary of a TwentySomething Knitter

Time management

2011-01-16T11:37:00.001Z

This week, Uni started up again. Technically, term started last week but this was the first full week back. On Monday I started at my new school, its a lovely little school and the staff were really friendly so this placement will hopefully be a fun experience. Tuesday I was late to school because of trains, the less said about that the better. Wednesday to Friday I was back at Uni to find out what is going on this term. In short, life is eating away at my knitting time once more.

I have been filling by 2+ hours travel time by reading this book...

Yarn Harlot by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

I have a strong suspicion that in a few weeks the only time I will have to devote to my craft will be travel time, so I'm attempting to get my fellow commuters used to the idea by introducing things slowly. I also have a strange fear if knitting in public, which I have made it my mission to overcome during the coming weeks. If I can't knit at home I must knit somewhere or I will go mad.

In other news, I started something new. I know, I know, I said I would finish old things before starting new things but you don't understand. I was reading about SpillyJane over on Yarn Harlot and I happened to look at her website. At the top she has a button titled "Free Patterns", and you know I love the word "free". I clicked on it and found these. I was seized by the desire to knit them right away. I started looking on all my favourite yarn websites to find the perfect yarn. I was adding up the price of this yarn versus that yarn and comparing colourways. Then I remembered this:

This is Patons Diploma Gold 4ply acrylic that has been in my stash for about two years. I bought two balls of four different colours, enough for a few pairs of socks. I was feeling a little broke at the time so I only picked colours that were on sale. I can't say I loved any of the colours enough to make socks out of them, I was hoping at the time that I would find someone who did love them and make the socks as a gift. Then my Mom made me tidy up my room and the Diploma Gold ended up in a big box of stash at the bottom of my wardrobe, forgotten but for an entry on my Ravelry page.

Now it is going to be pretty mittens (if I ever find the time to knit them!)

A week in pictures (and links)

2011-01-09T15:10:00.001Z

Monday

Essay

Tuesday

Museum

Yarn shopping

Wednesday

Deadline day

Crochet on the train

Thursday

Charity shop raid

Operation unravel

Friday

University

Knitting (New Year KAL chart by Shandeh)

Saturday

Swatch

Sunday

Blogging

A New Year

2011-01-01T20:23:00.000Z

Last night, I stayed in, ate chocolate, knit a gorgeous pattern and spent the night in the company of my knitting family over on KnittingHelp. We had tremendous fun chatting and knitting until I couldn't stay up any more and had to call it a night. I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who participated in the New Year KAL 2011 and to Shandeh for hosting it.

While I was knitting in the New Year, I made this:

Its a mini dishcloth made using Shandeh's chart from KH New Year’s Eve 2011 Sleeve for Large Coffee Drinks. I started with the chart, added four stitches each side, knit 5 rows in moss stitch then carried on the border up the sides while knitting the chart in the middle. All in all it took 2-3 hours while chatting online.

I have a few more things on the needles at the moment, I haven't forgotten the Irish Hiking Scarf. Its on hiatus at the moment while I work on a sweater I wanted to get done. More on that tomorrow.

Finally, as its the start of a brand new year I thought I would share with you my New Year's Knitting Resolutions.

Use up some stash yarn.
Finish the blanket I started in January 2009
Knit an Aran sweater (probably for one of the small children in the family)

Those are mine, what are yours?

Daybreak

2010-10-27T19:09:00.001+01:00

Last week, I was sitting on the train, rubbing the sleep from my eyes on my way to Uni for another long day and I saw this...

I apologise for the picture, it was taken on my phone on a moving train. Its amazing how views like this can cheer you up in the early hours of the morning when you would much rather be in bed.

Finding a Balance

2010-09-24T19:26:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago the new University term started. Since then I have been busy busy busy. Last week I was doing a school placement in a lovely local school. It was fabulous but did eat into the knitting time. I did manage to complete a few more rows of my scarf.

At the weekend I dragged my boyfriend yarn shopping and came back with enough to knit a whole jumper. Saturday night I cast on and knit five rounds of the neck. I put it down intending to go back to it. Of course Sunday was then taken up with preparation for going in to Uni on Monday and then attempting to go to bed early because of the early start so two lots of knitting spent the day gazing sadly up at me from beside the bed.

Then Monday hit. On Monday I left the house at 8am, spent a long day at Uni then arrived home after 6pm. Once I got home, I shoved a lot of paper work into folders then collapsed in bed watching the TV. There was no knitting on Monday, my brain could not cope with patterns.

By Wednesday the projects, and everything else in my room, smelt of Olbas Oil! The start of term cold has been raging all week - I think I'm getting better now. What is more, I left the house at 9am and did not return until after 7pm. After more shuffling of papers I crawled into bed without so much as a glance at the projects.

Today I am very tired but tomorrow is Saturday and Saturday means not working. Hopefully this will mean a return to our regularly scheduled knit blog. I just need to find that work/life balance people keep telling me about.

A Holiday

2010-09-05T18:12:00.000+01:00

As many of you know, I have spent the summer working at a Play Scheme. It was wonderful but the downside has been watching all of my friends and family go away and not being able to join them. Last Thursday the Play Scheme finished and on Friday my lovely boyfriend whisked me away to Wales for the bank holiday weekend.

We had a lovely time, sitting on the beach, eating freshly made doughnuts and exploring the sites of Pembrokeshire. The weather was good for the first time in ages and I actually came home with a bit of a tan. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. So while I attempt to get hold of my boyfriend's memory card to show you where we went, I will leave you with the best shots I could manage using my phone.

(I did not knit at all while on holiday, my scarf would not have enjoyed it much - too much sand.)

Thoughtful Friday

2010-08-20T14:03:00.002+01:00

Today I've been thinking. I've been thinking about Egypt. Egypt is at the top of my 'places to visit' list and has been for a very long time. A few years ago I mentioned this to a friend and she said that she had seen an advert for a cruise down the Nile in one of her parents' magazines. We decided then and there that we would go. One day we would have the time and the money and we would go.

This year I have been working. I have enjoyed myself but after all the tales I've heard from people on their travels I've felt like I've missed out a little. This was my gap year between my degree and postgraduate courses and all I did was work.

Next year, with any luck, I will have qualified as a teacher. I will be broke and exhausted but free for the summer. So I started thinking about the trip to Egypt. I looked on the internet, not too much because I don't want to be disappointed if I can't go. I have no idea how I will be able to afford it, or whether my friend will be able to, but I've got it into my head that next summer is the time to do it. If we wait much longer we will have too much responsibility to be able to justify spending all that money on a trip. I will keep thinking and maybe find a way to make it happen.

In the mean time, I have been knitting.

Irish Hiking Scarf, pattern by Hello Yarn. Knit with Robin Aran with Wool on 5mm Knit Pro needles.

Irish Hiking Scarf

2010-08-08T20:34:00.001+01:00

Work in Progress (WIP) - Irish Hiking Scarf

I'm not a big one for hiking but this scarf just speaks to me. I love cables, its such a cool effect and a skill that I coveted when I was first knitting. I cast on and ripped out this scarf many times, in many colours with many different yarns and needles when I was learning. My big problem was that I had big gaps where the cable row was because of the difference in tension. The cable row tends to be really tight because you have to rearrange the stitches to get the crossed over effect. It can be a bit fiddly and can create big holes. This is all normal, and I'm sure the holes would have evened out a little in blocking but I just couldn't live with it.

The other day I realised I needed a new project. Something that is easy enough to do when I come home from work feeling tired but interesting enough that I don't put it down and never pick it up. I think this is it.

Having more success this time too. I'm using Robin Aran with Wool from a local odds and ends shop on size 5mm needles. Pattern and pattern photography courtesy of Hello Yarn.

Don't you just love watching cables grow?

Stumped

2010-08-06T14:42:00.000+01:00

Its been over a week since I picked up my knitting needles and I'm starting to feel a little withdrawal. The problem is that between sorting out my student finance, registering with my University and starting my new job I've been busy and kinda tired most of the time.

I also can't decide what to knit. I don't know what I'm in the mood for. I could knit some plain socks - a quick and easy pattern that would be easy to carry around and fill in those odd spaces of the day when I don't know what to do with myself. I could knit Corona - which is beautiful but would require a shopping trip for yarn on the bus. Finally I could knit the Irish Hiking Scarf - I have been meaning to knit this for ages but have never quite found the right yarn, this would also mean a shopping trip but I could walk instead of using the bus.

So there we have it, three options. Anyone have a preference?

A) Socks
B) Corona
C) Irish Hiking Scarf

Shout out in the comments.

Links are to Ravelry pattern pages, as usual, if you are not a member it is free to sign up and may even inspire you to pick up some knitting needles or a crochet hook.

A Gail Fairytale

2010-07-28T19:05:00.005+01:00

Once upon a time there was a knitter. The knitter was in the middle of a terrible knitting drought. It did not matter how hard she looked, she simply could not find a pattern that inspired her. She searched the magical Kingdom of Ravelry everyday, each time trying a different place, but alas her knitting mojo was gone.

Then, one fine day the knitter happened across a lace shawl that one of the citizens of Ravelry had made. She knew at once that she must have one and immediately began her search for the pattern. It was not long before she had located the Gail shawl pattern in the Halls of its illustrious designer, Jane Araujo.

After hoarding the pattern away so it would not get lost, the knitter journeyed to the far away House of Fraser in search of the perfect yarn accompaniment to so fine a pattern. Alas, her funds would not allow a purchase of silk or cashmere. Then, peeping out of the sales bin, she spotted a wonderful shade of green. It was the sort of green that reminded her of lush meadows and wondrous woodland. There were seven balls of it, calling to her to take them home. So she bought them, despite the fact that it was cotton.

With the materials thus gathered, the knitter set about her task; to create a shawl to rival the best that the Kingdom of Ravelry had to offer. After seeking help from the mystical tome Gurnard’s Unchart to decipher the difficult parts, the knitter proceeded to knit half a shawl.

Suddenly, the knitting fates swooped down on the knitter, endangering the existence of the beautiful shawl.
“The progress has been too smooth for a first time lace knitter!” they cried.
“Oh no,” begged the knitter, “I am so close to knitting a shawl that will be the envy of the land.”
“You must fix the mistake to prove you are worthy,” the fates replied.

So the knitter set to work, unravelling hundreds of stitches to restore the shawl to its former glory. Try as they might, the knitting fates could not sway the knitter in her resolve. And lo, the shawl was finished on time and more lovely than ever.

The newly born shawl was bathed in lukewarm water and an infusion of Woolite, then shaped and pinned into place to ensure it grew into its final beautiful form. Now, the knitter just had to wait.

Finally, a full two days after the shawl had first shed its needles, it was ready. The knitter paraded the shawl around the Kingdom of Ravelry, wearing it proudly wherever she went. And they all lived happily every after.

The End.

Pattern Information: Gail (aka Nightsongs), Gail FAQ
Yarn: RYC Siena 200g (Grasshopper)
Needles: Knit Pro Nova Interchangeables (4.5mm for lace, 5.5mm for bind off).
Blocking info in this post (the basic directions I followed are here).
With thanks to the Yarn Harlot for teaching me how to block, Jane Araujo for the pattern and Gurnard for the Unchart. If you want to knit Gail the pattern link is above, along with the FAQ page, which contains links to the Unchart and many other helpful worksheets and groups should you need them. You will need to be a Ravelry member to view the links, it is free to sign up and contains a wealth of knowledge and patterns.

The Magic of Blocking - by a first timer.

2010-07-26T08:47:00.004+01:00

What is blocking?
What is blocking? I hear you cry. Blocking is something you can do when you finish a knitted object to make it look 'better'. When you block something you can adjust the size, even out the stitches and make your finished project look far more professional - or at least this is the theory that I am about to test.

What needs blocking?
In my opinion, some things just don't need blocking. Scarves don't get blocked in my house. Once I had established that my Owls jumper fit, I gave it a quick wash and let it dry to even out the stitches but didn't bother pinning it out, it was a jumper, it was for me and it fit. I once made a baby blanket that was not blocked. In fact, I don't think I've ever blocked anything before. Some people block everything and some people never block - it depends what you are making and what your preferences are. Lace usually looks better blocked - hence the experiment.

How to block
There are a number of different ways to block a garment and it depends upon the pattern and yarn choice. You can block using steam, full immersion in water, a spray bottle, a damp towel, etc. There are lots of methods out there and a quick Google search will give you several good articles on blocking. My shawl is a lace pattern made from cotton. Lace apparently needs quite severe blocking. This is what I did...

Yesterday, after 1.5 hours binding off over 350 stitches, I finished the shawl.

Then I went downstairs, found a large tub and filled it with 5L of water and 40ml of Woolite (I have the pink one, works for all delicate fabrics. The use of wool wash is recommended by the Yarn Harlot). This is where my hand started itching so I found a rubber glove before dunking my beautiful shawl in the water.

I found a large and still relatively fluffy towel, lay it out on the floor, put the soaked shawl on top, rolled it up and pressed down. I did this several times to get the worst of the water out before pinning. I took the shawl, still rolled up in the towel, upstairs and tried to pin it out - not enough room. I have enough floor space in my room to lay out 3 of my 4 foam pads - not enough! I took everything downstairs again (I know the hardcore among you would have used your bed but I needed to sleep in it as it was getting on for 10pm) and proceeded to block it using the Yarn Harlot method, or at least what I could remember of it, it's been a while since I read that post.

Simply put, I threaded a long strand of white cotton through the top stitches, pinned the middle of the neck, the bottom point and the sides. Then I pulled the string until the top was straight (ish) and pinned in place. I then finished pinning, moved pins as necessary and played with it until it looked about right. This process is explained much more thoroughly, with pictures and everything, at the above link.

The foam mats are my blocking board. I bought them from the Early Learning Centre for £18. Its a tip I picked up on Knitting Help. The mats don't absorb the water, will take pins, are inexpensive, can be stored fairly easily, interlock to make the shape you want and you can always just buy another set if you need a bigger blocking surface.

Now I just have to wait until it dries...(and hope it doesn't get in Dad's way.)

On the whole, my first experience of blocking has gone quite well. It was simple enough, if a little time consuming. It's the waiting I'm having the problem with!

Organising

2010-07-21T18:28:00.001+01:00

Yesterday, my Dad assembled my new desk. I've been after a new desk for years - one that is a computer desk but also has enough room to sit and study as well. I finally found the perfect desk in Argos, threw the budget out the window and pounced on it before they could sell out.

Note the use of my Versace perfume tin as a handy desk organiser - I thought it was very resourceful of me, and certainly nicer than a plastic one.

The postcard sitting atop my desk arrived this morning from Helsinki. A friend of mine is currently cruising the Baltic and sent me this pretty postcard detailing all the places she has been so far and some of the places she is yet to go. She is having fun and seems to be having much better weather than I am.

Anyway, I have spent the day arranging my desk exactly how I want it (or at least as close as I can get it). Then I sat and sorted out my folders for next year (I am fully expecting to have to expand into several folders before the year is out so I thought I'd start with two). I have typed up two of the three things I am expected to hand in when I get there in September and planned the next few weeks in such a way that I can catch up with the reading I was supposed to be doing before I order the next wave of text books. I have researched travel cards, checked up on my student finance application and found bus times to and from my new job that I start next week.

Now its knitting time...

Owls

2010-07-20T15:57:00.001+01:00

As promised today I’m going to give you a run down of how I made my Owl jumper. I love this pattern, its gorgeous. The owls around the top give it a really unique look, the shaping in the middle makes a really fitted jumper, and the chunky wool makes it really quick to knit up.

The pattern is by Kate Davies, who has recently done a huge update and rewrite of the pattern and is charging £2.50 for it. I knit my jumper from the free version. I’d say its well worth the £2.50 if you are interested in making it, I can’t believe she wasn’t charging before, but thanks Kate for the lovely pattern.

After deciding in September last year that I absolutely must make my first jumper after 3 years knitting, I looked on Ravelry (a must join website if you knit or crochet because its an endless source of patterns and inspiration – you can even search for exactly what you want) and found Owls. I looked at the projects and found loads of amazing jumpers (thanks to all who have knit this before for your inspiration and your notes!).

Once I had decided that this was ‘the’ jumper. I began a yarn search. This usually involves a trip to House of Fraser, but I did also price up ordering the yarn suggested on the pattern – it was a bit expensive for my budget at the time and having read the notes on Ravelry I decided that it would be too itchy for me. I searched but failed to find anything so the project went on hold. Then I was in HoF looking for something to make socks out of and I noticed some yarn on sale in the display next to me. It was Patons Inca, and was £1 a ball! I checked the weight – perfect – I checked the yardage – I would need 11 balls – I checked there were 11 balls – I cleared the display!

I got home and checked the gauge with my 6mm needles and it was perfect (this has never happened to me before – I’m always a stitch or two out). Clearly this was meant to be. I started knitting and knitting and knitting. The jumper is knit in the round on a long circular needle (KH has a good video of that). Knitting in the round means that you are always on the ‘right side’ of the work so once you have done the ribbing you just knit and knit until the pattern tells you otherwise. Then you do the sleeves, join it all up, knit the owls and finish off the neck. I promise it looks and sounds harder than it is. There are loads of notes on Ravelry, some of the ones that I used are linked from my project page.

The jumper is really warm because the Inca yarn is made of wool. You could go with acrylic for the easy care option but it would lack some of the warmth. I love it, but have to have something with sleeves under it because the wool is itchy! I wore it a few times over the winter when it was really cold but since then it has been sat waiting for the cold weather to come back. I’m thinking of making an acrylic version with ¾ sleeves, perhaps in white or cream. It will have to wait though, until I have finished my shawl and knit…

Corona – what do you think?

Oh and just in case you are inspired, anyone can knit if they set their mind to it. Knitting Help is a great place to start!

My Library

2010-07-19T11:00:00.002+01:00

I love books. I have applied for jobs at bookshops and libraries just so books can surround me. The library job fell through because of lack of funding and the bookshops won’t have me because I have no sales experience. Failing that, I have to surround myself with books. I’m working on it. I have all the Harry Potter books, the six finished Jane Austen novels, the Complete Works of Shakespeare, lots of Terry Pratchett and Agatha Christie. I also have a collection of recent bestsellers that includes the Kite Runner, The Time Traveller’s Wife, The Lovely Bones, My Sister’s Keeper, etc. I have a large bookcase filled with books and am in desperate need of a new bookcase to expand the collection into. When I have a house of my own there will be a room just filled with books and comfy chairs (and perhaps a desk) – my own library.

I never give away a book that I like; I hang on to them indefinitely just in case I want to reread them. Books that I didn’t enjoy go to one of the local charity shops to find a new and hopefully loving home. Incidentally, this is where I pick up most of my books as well. I have a list of books in my purse that I am currently searching for. This list is mostly because I can never remember the author – remembering the author is a great help when trying to locate a book, wandering along rows of shelves attempting to spot the one book you want amongst a sea of others is not easy!

Currently, I am reading The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. I’m not sure enjoyment is an accurate description of how I feel when reading this book. The first chapter describes a horrible accident in such gruesome detail that I was both appalled and engrossed. Following that the unnamed narrator goes on to describe his recovery and meeting with Marianne, occasional psychiatric patient and sculptor of gargoyles, who believes she cared for him when he was burned in the 14th Century. It sounds very strange but is well written and totally absorbing. I have devoted an inordinate amount of my knitting time over the weekend to reading instead.

Tune in tomorrow to find out all about Owls (not the bird, the pattern by the fabulous Kate Davies). Since Trish has taken such an interest in the pattern and I haven't blogged about how I did it yet I thought it might be nice to explain how easy it is on the same day as her feature on it in the hopes that it will then convince lots of people to learn to knit so they can make it.

The Return of the Knit Blog

2010-07-18T19:20:00.002+01:00

I realise that the last few posts have contained only flimsy references to knitting so thought I would endeavour to post something a bit more knitterly.

First of all, I give you a shawl update. (Pattern and yarn info here.)

It is now 5 pattern repeats big and still growing. I am not even going to attempt to work out how many stitches I currently have to a row – I am only interested in counting how many are between markers. I am worried that the realisation of how many stitches there now are even as an estimate will cause me to have a breakdown and refuse to go any further – this would be bad as I have almost committed myself to making another one.

A few months ago a friend of mine was thinking of launching a blogzine, she asked me if I might be interested in writing a knitting column. I wasn’t too sold on the idea, her blog is getting quite big and I didn't know what I would say or whether I could commit to it. I did however write a short snippet about how and why I decided to learn to knit and have decided that since I went to the trouble to write it, I may as well share it…

…When I was 18 a friend of mine showed me a piece of knitting that she had done. It was holey, misshapen, and uneven. In short, and I say this with all the love in the world, it was really not much to look at. But when she waved it at me, she was so proud of what she had made that I decided it might be worth investigating. I toiled away with an old knitting book that used to belong to my Mother and ended up with several pieces of fabric that looked really ugly and were subsequently unravelled. After a few days I gave up completely, dismissing the whole thing as a waste of time and energy.

A few months passed and I didn’t give it a second thought, until I caught my Aunt knitting a scarf out of blue fun fur. I was mesmerised. Who would have thought such strange wool could make such an interesting object? Suddenly the knitting mojo returned. It just so happened that my Nan had heard about the recent knitting escapade and bought me some fun fur of my own to play with. But I STILL did not know how to knit!

Then it came to me, like a bolt from the blue, “use the internet.” I could have kicked myself, why use a book when I can use a video? I Wikied and Googled and came across Knitting Help. What a revelation! You mean the reason it was a holey mess is because I was using thin wool and huge needles? And the huge ladders were actually dropped stitches? And the reason it didn’t look like the picture is because the picture is stocking stitch and I was doing garter stitch? So, I really could knit all along.

Armed with this new information, I cast on 25 stitches while carefully watching a video entitled “Long Tail Cast-on” and began knitting merrily on with my fun fur scarf, ignoring the advice about not knitting with fun fur or small needles when first learning.

Long story short, it took about three months between lectures, assignments and other things. The number of stitches I knit on each row varied from around 23-27 depending on how many I had dropped or added along the way. One end of my scarf is wider than the other end and there are holes in random places that I didn’t know how to fix and they didn’t seem to be causing a problem. It is certainly not the most fetching scarf I own. But I don’t care. No one will ever own a scarf quite like mine. The mistakes, or “design features”, make my scarf unique. I will never knit another one like it, thought that is partly because I now know how to fix the holes.

Baking

2010-07-17T23:33:00.002+01:00

As I have mentioned before, I like to dabble in all things creative. This means that I have tried my hand at many things, from photography to painting to needle craft. I like to cross stitch, knit, crochet, draw, paint...the list goes on.

I like to think that baking can be added to the creative list, after all you take a number of parts, mix them together and end up with something new. You can add new ingredients, take ingredients out, experiment with new flavours and textures and generally go to town adding your own flair and style to the items you make. I enjoy baking, not just because I get to eat lots of yummy things, but also because I like the process. I use a wooden spoon instead of an electric mixer because I like to watch the mix come together. I check the cupboards for other things I can add. I search through recipes for new ideas.

The other day I had a cake craving. I checked all the cupboards and decided that we had just about enough of everything to make some cupcakes. I followed a standard recipe and added a little vanilla extract to add to the flavour. Then I baked them for about 20 mins following the recipe instructions and compensating for the uselessness of our oven. Once the cakes were cool I froze half (not my idea, Mom suggested it!) and then came my favourite part of the whole process...decorating. Decorating cakes is what makes them truly your own.

You will notice that mine were decorated using chocolate butter icing and sugar flowers (that I got from the supermarket a couple of weeks ago to decorate Birthday cupcakes for a little girl - I lack the skill to make sugar flowers from scratch).

I think they turned out rather well, they tasted good anyway!

In knitting news, I have finished the fifth pattern repeat and started the sixth. I don't have a progress shot to share at the moment but just imagine the old shawl pictures with another set of leaves added. I'm currently debating whether to do seven pattern repeats as suggested in the pattern or to end with six and start the edging - I'm dealing with a lot of stitches now and fall a little further out of love with it every time I have to tink back half a row to undo a mistake. Its times like this that I wish I was Hermione Granger (if you don't understand that try reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire).

Pass!

2010-07-14T12:13:00.002+01:00

For those of you that don't know, I have spent the last year taking a Teaching Assistant course at the local college on Tuesday evenings. Its been a lot of fun. I have met some great people and learned a lot about myself and the inner workings of a school.

On Friday, I received a letter from the college to tell me that I had passed! Its a strange feeling. For the last year I have spent most of my Tuesday nights at college with my wonderful class, feeling hungry because I hadn't had dinner yet. I had a few hairy moments, particularly the observation, which ended with me in tears in the staff room because I had put too much pressure on myself. The upshot of that was that I realised how much support I had around me at the school. But, on the whole its been a good experience.

Yesterday I went to pick up my portfolio. This is a collection of workbooks, assignments and work placement logs that I have handed in over the last year to be marked. The course isn't graded, just pass/fail.

I then spent yesterday emptying the folder of work so that I can use it for the PGCE I start in September. I sorted through the pieces of paper I did not need to keep and ended up with quite a lot of things that could potentially be useful in the future. I hate having things all over the place in lots of folders because it looks messy. My solution for where to keep this work is this...

I have separated the work into workbooks and assignments, printed off a front cover for each, and will take them to be comb bound at Staples. That way I have two books of notes and a spare folder to use later.

In other news, there is no knitting progress to speak of as I spent last night watching the Gilmore Girls and learning about decimal numbers - fun stuff.

Have a lovely day everyone

xxx

Back on Track

2010-07-12T23:10:00.001+01:00

This pattern is really kicking my ass at the moment. I decided that I really could not live with the hole in the stem and ripped back to the start of the pattern repeat, several hundred stitches. I put the stitches back on the needles and started knitting again.

It took three tries to do the first line of the pattern! I have never found it so hard to count to 18. That done I sailed through the rest of the pattern, then tried to start the next pattern and realised I had missed not one but two yarn overs on the pattern row before. I tinked back hundred of stitches and fixed the mistake, its taken hours. So now I'm back to where I was before and leaving it for the night before I find any more mistakes.

The Frog Pond

2010-07-11T12:39:00.005+01:00

I spent last night diligently knitting away on Gail so that I would have some shawl progress to show. Unfortunately, I was knitting in front of the TV and fairly far from the light source. By this morning, I had completed the fourth pattern repeat and smugly took this photo.

Then I noticed it. On one of the stems there is an error. An error that I would have spotted last night had it not been dark.

Do you see it? No. Here, I'll show you.

Right there, in the red circle is a big problem. It looks like I've managed to get some stitches twisted up so that they have changed positions on the needle. The yarn over has jumped over the centre stitch and ended up knit in the wrong place.

So now I have to decide what to do about it. I can't see a way to undo this error without ripping back to it, I don't want to make it worse but its a fair few rows back and I can't get all those stitches back on the needle. I have three options:

1) leave it, and hope nobody ever notices

2) tink very slowly back undoing one stitch at a time until I get there (which will probably take the rest of the day

3) rip it back to the previous pattern repeat where the lifeline is and knit the whole repeat again

What would you do?

Summer Days

2010-07-10T17:13:00.002+01:00

Its so hot today! My room is sweltering, outside is a little better but there is nowhere to sit and my laptop can't manage being unplugged for very long.

To make up for the loss of Powis Castle and the nice B&B we had been planning on, today my boyfriend and I went out for lunch. Lack of a car severely restricted our movements to the Town Centre so we headed over to Frankie and Bennys for a bite to eat. Its a nice atmosphere, relaxed and comfortable and the food is good.

From there we headed around the nearest clothes shops to find something for Dave's holiday wardrobe. He managed to get what he needed. I found so much nice stuff but couldn't afford to buy any of it, charity shops here I come!

I would love to add in some images of the nice meal, the pretty flowers next to the restaurant and the shops we went in but I forgot to take any - I'm still learning this whole blogging thing. What is worse, I don't even have any shawl progress to show you at the moment - maybe later.

Best Laid Plans

2010-07-09T22:35:00.002+01:00

So, a few hours ago my boyfriend swung by to whisk me away to Welshpool, where we were planning to have a nice meal and a look around and spend tomorrow at Powis Castle. Twenty minutes later, we were pulled up at the side of the A5 with the hazard lights flashing because the engine had seized up. Luckily, we were on a fairly quiet stretch of road at the time and were able to just pull over without getting in anyone's way or causing an accident.

Once we were off the road we made a hasty retreat from the smoking car, headed as far up the grass verge as my wedge sandals would allow and rang for help. Having established that we could not call the AA without my boyfriend's Dad present because we needed his membership number, we settled in to wait. I grabbed my rucksack from the car and changed into my trainers so we could get a little further up the verge, my boyfriend grabbed the bottle of water I had suggested he get for the trip, and we stood and waited.

My boyfriend's Dad arrived with a little help from his Granddad, the AA man was called, the car was pushed to a slightly safer place and we waited some more. Around an hour after we had pulled over, the AA man arrived. He looked at the car and decided to tow us back home again (thank you AA man!). An hour after that we arrived back at my boyfriend's house, tired and hungry but otherwise unscathed. His Mom made us a pot of tea, we cooked pasta and then we ate chocolate while recovering from our ordeal. Fun times!

They say bad things happen in threes...

Short and Sweet

2010-07-09T17:12:00.001+01:00

I'm afraid I really don't have time for a proper blog today. I've been at school all day, got back, packed a bag and am off to Welshpool in about half an hour. Tomorrow I'm headed to Powis Castle, but I'll tell you all about that when I get back.

Until then, I will leave you with some more shawl progress shots...

Here it is on the laptop again for a size comparison. Below is the shawl heaped on the bed after I had joined a second ball of cotton.

Pattern and yarn info here, just in case.

See you all later
xxx

Green Leaves

2010-07-08T13:40:00.006+01:00

A few progress shots of my pretty shawl...

Pattern and yarn details here.

Updates

2010-07-07T12:03:00.014+01:00

Long time no blog again! I've been sat reading Trish's blog and thought it was high time for an update.

So since you last saw me I have made very little crafting progress on anything except perhaps my long neglected Log Cabin blanket that has been enjoying the last few weeks of Tennis coverage on the BBC.

I had a booklist from Uni and started work on learning GCSE Biology all over again, then promptly gave up as Lego Harry Potter came out and was far more entertaining than naming the bones of the human skeleton.

I quit one job and am waiting impatiently to start my summer job at the end of the month.

We have had numerous birthdays and I have spent more money than I should considering I haven't been paid since the end of April.

I'm still volunteering at school and loving it - they are such great kids and its such a supportive atmosphere that I would really like to go back once I'm a qualified teacher.

In other news I have recently started knitting a pretty thing. It is Gail(aka Nightsongs) by the wonderfully imaginative Jane Araujo (which can also be found here for those of you who have not yet discovered the magic of Ravelry). I'm knitting it from RYC Siena in Grasshopper bought from House of Fraser's bargain bin.

Here we see the lesser spotted lace shawl artfully reposed upon the common laptop. Note the use of lifelines to ensure that it is not thrown out of a window.

I'm not sure I really have the patience for a project like this but it is so beautiful I couldn't not do it. I'm also not convinced cotton was the way to go as I am currently freaking out about working in cotton ends in a lace pattern - yikes! I love the colour though and I really want this shawl so I am persevering, using the help listed on this page.

I can sort of see this at a wedding. I'm thinking cream/antique white, with a pretty fastening. Maybe some soft merino wool - or perhaps not, perhaps easy care is better - superwash wool?

Suggestions?

Of course this is all speculative, it depends largely on whether the green one ends up in 'time out' or not.

MIA

2010-03-04T16:55:00.003Z

I know, I know, long time no blog.

I have no excuses to offer, I just haven't blogged anything in a while. This is largely due to a lack of crafting, for which I also have no excuses to offer - I've just been doing other things with my free time.

So without further ado I give you....

A Hat

Please excuse the glare, I was looking in the mirror to check the hat was in the picture at the time. I cropped myself out but then it looked really weird so I decided to leave it alone. The pattern is from the magazine 'The Art of Crochet', a part work that I picked up a few issues of before it went out of the shops. It was made with Patons Diploma Gold in colours 6242 and 6245.

In other news, the little hat that I made my cousin for Christmas, and which I never got round to uploading a finished picture of because my laptop was being awkward, is now getting too small for him so there will be another hand knitted hat coming his way (assuming I have enough of the RYC Cashsoft left because HoF has now stopped stocking Rowan yarns - I wonder if this is just the one near me or if they have all stopped stocking it.) Grace managed to score 10 balls of Cashsoft Aran for £20 last time we were there (jealous, I spent my yarn money on decorating). She plans to make a scarf, perhaps I will have to do a spotlight blog when she has finished it and showcase her new found knitting talent.

If you are interested in my life outside craft, we recently held a surprise engagement party for the couple mentioned in my last post. Although, it was less of a surprise than we had been hoping for.

Congratulations J&A!

Please check out Trish's blog for some wonderful photos of the party arrangements. If you like those photos check out the rest of her blog, her talent with a camera knows no bounds.

Congratulations

2009-12-28T13:29:00.002Z

Last night a friend of mine gathered all of the girls (and Tom) together to make an announcement. We met in Shifnal, found a pub and ordered drinks. We all sat around a big table and had a little catch up and then Jo said...

"He asked me to marry him!"

Much squealing ensued during which the ring was carefully examined by all of us and everyone got very excited. Before Jo knew it she was having a Disney wedding with Eeyore bridesmaids and we were all going to turn up wearing huge hats and dresses that were different shades of the same colour!

So Jo, congratulations, I wish you joy and happiness and I promise not to take the whole wedding thing too far. I'm sure he realises how lucky he is.

Rachel 1 - Technology 0

2009-07-29T19:18:00.007+01:00

I probably shouldn't say that but hey, I've had a minor victory.

The card reader is working!!!

So, without further ado, I give you socks!

I also finished a very large baby blanket, which has gone to baby Joe who is now 4 weeks old (his jacket is still a little too big).

This blanket was almost large enough to cover my single bed, it is bigger than the dimensions on the pattern. My old nemesis, gauge, reared its ugly head again. At least it will keep him warm!

Here is the jumper I was struggling with last time...

It is a very old pattern that my Mom has owned for my entire life! The back was knit as written and on the front I added a couple of embellishments, taken from charts in this book. It is still kicking my arse! I did rip back to the ribbing after the previous post and then knit the back properly. The front was going fine until I started the chart for the stars, I proved that I cannot count and therefore had to rip out and redo the stars several times before I got them right. I then began neck and shoulder shaping, and due to a complete failure to measure correctly had to rip back a few extra rows of right shoulder. Once I started the sleeve I was so relieved, until I realised I had forgotten to change needles after the ribbing!!! After putting the sleeve in a time out for a few hours I had another go and it has gone well since then. I am not sure I will finish this before Robert grows out of it, but at least he has a little brother who will grow into it!

Finally, after 3 years and the negotiation of huge gauge problems (which came about due to the massive change in my gauge that occurred while it was sitting around waiting for me to finish it), I give you my Dark Mark Illusion Scarf...

...seen here posed artfully over the laptop to try and bring out the design. The green is brighter in person.

That is all, now if you will excuse me I need to get back to my new pair of socks...

I have an award...

2009-07-29T18:36:00.004+01:00

My lovely friend the Princess has sent me the following award.

I am lead to believe that I am supposed to pass it on to 10 people whose creativity inspires me. This is difficult as I don't really read many blogs but I am inspired by a lot of people. It doesn't seem very fair to only acknowledge the people who have blogs so, I would like to pass this award on to Knitting help members. You all inspire me to try new things and I am constantly awed by your creative genius. If you have a blog and are so inclined please accept this award (but please don't hotlink, thanks!)

Further to the receipt of this award I am supposed to tell you 10 things about myself.

1. I have more clothes than I could possibly wear.
2. I am not ashamed of this.
3. I collect shoes.
4. I am in the process of remodeling my bedroom.
5. I have a BSc in Psychology.
6. I knit a scarf to wear to the Harry Potter 6 movie.
7. I did not wear it (too hot!)
8. I am a little bit obsessed with the Wimbledon tennis tounament and will quite happily sit and watch it all day while its on.
9. I am a sci-fi geek of epic proportions.
10. I am proud of this.

Right, did I cover everything?

Knitting update will follow shortly, just as soon as I can convince the card reader to work with the laptop or I switch to the desktop, whichever is first.

I meant to do it I swear!

2009-06-28T22:08:00.003+01:00

So, today I finally got to knitting the little jumper I've been thinking about doing for one of the twins. Its squares knit in two colours, front and back. I cast on and did 16 rows of ribbing for the back then swapped to my 4mm needles and kept knitting. Then sitting watching NCIS I realised something, I did not have squares. I had in fact continued on in the same colour for another 4 inches. Loathe to admit that I had not in fact read the instructions properly I kept going and decided that I was right and perhaps the back was all one colour. Wrong!

I still do not want to admit that I may have possibly done it wrong and am now considering the possibility that my subconscious decided that I did not want squares and was in fact saving me from ripping it out later. I'm currently looking for other possible design elements. I should have enough of the blue left to do most of the jumper and just put squares on the front, or perhaps a large stripe across the middle, or knit the bottom half just plain blue and put squares of different colours on the top half. Any ideas? Do I just bite the bullet and rip back to the ribbing to start over in the morning?

2009-06-16T00:41:00.001+01:00

Party time tomorrow.

Despite not knowing if I have actually passed it is my Graduation Ball tomorrow evening. My friend and I are having a super cool make-over tomorrow to mark the occasion. There is a photo shoot included as part of the deal, so its supposed to take hours. I then get to have a print out of the best photo to bring home with me! I got all of this for £25, score!

I had a hairy moment with my dress earlier. I bought it on sale a couple of years back because it was at a price I could not refuse (75% off). Anyway, I tried it on and could not get it to zip all the way. A few minutes later, having deduced at least part of the problem was the padding in my bra, I managed zip it up but it is a little tight. I'm trying to remember if it was always this tight but am forced to conclude that I am probably a little wider than I was when I bought it. My housemates assure me that once I've been wearing it for a while tomorrow it will loosen off a bit and that their dresses are the same.

For anyone who is interested, it is a full length, strapless dress in various shades of green. I have a pair of (similarly uncomfortable, but also on sale) green court shoes that I am going to wear with it because I am short and the dress is not (it never occurred to me to have the dress altered!)

I'm a little worried. The ball is in a field and it has been raining today. I am wearing heels. Can you see the problem?

High time I updated...

2009-05-28T00:01:00.010+01:00

So since you last saw me I have been buried deep in books, notes and journal articles trying to cram too much information into my brain so that I can pass my degree. Incidentally, I should still be buried in journal articles but having been revising for the best part of 9 weeks now I am so thoroughly fed up with the whole concept of exams that I have stopped caring and have dedicated the last two days to knitting a hat and watching late night television - I have the house to myself so have spread out my stuff into the living room and am camped out downstairs with the TV to keep me company.

I also figured it was time for a knitting update so that anyone who cares can see what I have been doing with myself on the occassions when I threw the notes on the floor and stomped off in disgust at the sheer volume of information I am supposed to remember.

Up first, purely because I haven't labelled any of the files and am simply working backwards through the most recent pictures from my camera...the Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason Dixon. I am knitting this for my cousin, who will enter the world any day now. The picture is really dark because I lack basic photographic skills that my friends possess but hey, you can see it and that is the important thing.

Following that, we have...

the rainbow monstrosity I decided to knit because I needed a novelty yarn fix. I intend to give it to my other cousin who asked her Mom to knit her a pink scarf (not sure if that will happen so I stepped in but could not find pink novelty yarn - the rainbow has a fair amount of pink in it). I am reminded of some words of wisdom from the Yarn Harlot that went something along the lines of don't knit for 4 year olds...oh well. If she doesn't want to wear it she can keep it for dressing up.

The next picture from my random troll through my camera pictures is...

The Knit Picks Victorian Lace Cap that seduced me away from revision. If I fail my exams I will blame it on this hat! The picture does not do it justice, perhaps when I next encounter another living being I will ask them nicely to model it for me, or at least take a picture of me modelling it so that I can share the pretty lace with everyone. Its on raverly under Victorian Lace Sampler Cap in case you are interested, getting the link just seems like too much effort at 20 past midnight.

There are only two more pictures left, I promise. Up next...

Socks! Or rather 2/3 of a sock that I started before Easter break and have not touched since. I think it is jealous of the lace hat, which I finished in a matter of hours.

And finally...

The baby jacket that I started months ago, you may recall I mentionned it. So, I finished knitting it ages ago but never quite got around the the buttons. Well...tada! I bought buttons when I bought cotton for my hat (which was on sale so its not too much of a stash crime). I then learned to do i-cord and made loops, learned to sew on buttons properly (I could do it before but not so they would last very long). The jacket is now sitting in a gift bag waiting for baby cousin to come along and wear it. I'm very proud of this, I've never made a jacket before and I think it turned out well for a first try. I can't remember the pattern off the top of my head but I altered the garter stitch at the cuffs, collar and button band to make it moss stitch (I have a thing about moss stitch).

Ok, so that is all the pictures I have to share. I had a picture of my teddy bear wearing the baby jacket but I'm bored of uploading now and I don't think anyone really wants to see it.

Goodnight all!

Pictures!!!

2009-03-30T20:18:00.007+01:00

I have now finished Uni for Easter!!! Yay!!! 4 exams and then I will be unleashed on an unsuspecting world. In the mean time, pictures...

I claim no photographic skills whatsoever, the pictures are nowhere near as good as my dear friend the Princess (who has her own photographic exhibition booked for May - yay!)

So, up first is the finished baby jacket (when I say finished I mean the knitting is done, it obviously does not yet fasten up).

The jacket is a pretty lilac colour, the carpet is actually light green but unfortunately the camera does not work so well without natural light so I had to make do with this photo.

Up next, we have the log cabin blanket, which has grown slightly since I took the picture but not enough to warrant taking another picture. It is artistically draped over the work I should have been doing while I was working on it. You can just about see the two folders worth of notes I am supposed to revise over the Easter break. Surprisingly, I have done about 6 hours of revision so far, much more than in previous years in the first week of the holidays.

And finally...the sock in all its socky glory (artistically shot on top of the blanket!)

No pictures...

2009-03-23T14:45:00.002Z

I have begun knitting a new pair of socks after being inspired by the Yarn Harlot to cast on my third pair of socks. Unfortunately, though I have my camera in Birmingham and it works and is charged...the card reader does not work with my laptop.

Imagine a picture of pretty orange, red and yellow striped socks here. Its Lana Grossa Inca sock yarn #1526.

I also finished the little baby jacket I have been working on for my cousin (due in June). It just needs a zip buying and sewing in. I liked that pattern, was quite quick apart from the depressing number of stitches on the needle when you are increasing from the collar down to the shoulders. Its all knit in one piece, which is good cos I can't seam to save my life. When I get back home to it I will figure out which pattern it was and post appropriate acknowledgments.

Imagine a tiny lilac baby jacket with moss stitch collar and cuffs and no fastenings. I just hope it fits, it looks about right.

I have also started a fuzzy scarf out of some rainbow coloured furry, novelty yarn. Its really quite pretty. Only cost £2.50 for 3 balls of the stuff and some 5.5mm needles. I intend to give the scarf to nearly 4 year old (another cousin). Hopefully she will like it, but if she doesn't its not like it cost a fortune to make and given the rate I actually knit stuff it won't be finished before the winter anyway so at least it will keep someone warm.

Imagine a very small, rainbow coloured, furry mess.

Pictures will hopefully be restored next week, now that I have something to take pictures of.

In other news, I have 700 words left to write in my final assignment and have made a significant dent in the laundry. Have yet to do my washing up though, mite be time to do that.

The joys of doing nothing

2009-03-16T15:50:00.002Z

After a hectic week baking, writing, listening to small children read, and editing 7000 words worth of assignments I gave myself a well deserved weekend off.

On Friday I went and played with the twins (now nearly 2 and chattering happily away in a language that I don't understand). I then watched Comic Relief (which was not as funny as the name would imply) and finished knitting baby 3s cardigan - all I have to do now is figure out how to fasten it up at the front.

Saturday I spent wandering lazily around town with my darling boyfriend (who unfortunately does not know how to make a shopping trip stretch to a whole afternoon) and buying a present for my Mom, who thoroughly deserves every pound I spent on her (but since my brother wishes to put his name on it, he now owes me money).

Sunday I spent watching TV and surfing the net and generally being very boring, but it was so nice to actually be able to say I did virtually nothing and then not feel guilty about it.

Stephen Fry would tell you that there is no such thing as doing nothing but as nothing that I did this weekend was really blogworthy I'd argue that I did as close to nothing as I could, unfortunately, even doing nothing is too hard for me since I get bored very easily.

I'm looking forward to a nice evening with the girls (even Gracie, who has made it back on a Monday for this special occasion), involving wine, chocolate and general girly catching up.

Good Times!

Happy Dance!

2009-03-11T23:56:00.002Z

I have just handed in one completed 3000 word essay and one completed 4000 word dissertation! Done! Done! Done!

Happy Dance!

I got sick of looking at them both, I've been working on the dissertation so long I know it almost by heart and the essay was in real danger of being over edited. I always get a bit antsy about the plagarism scanner so I have to go back through and make sure that I've referenced everything properly and that there are no points in there that I did not think of myself and if there is a remote possibility that something occurred to me because of something else I read I stick a citation in just in case - its silly really since I'm told you only get picked up on it if its a lot of stuff and even if I did slip up somewhere the sheer volume of citations in the piece should be enough that, fingers crossed, its not that bad. But its DONE!

Only one more assignment to go (and 4 exams but we don't discuss those until Easter when I start panicking cos I need to revise!) and then its almost over and I graduate (again, fingers crossed!)

Do the happy dance, share in my celebration. Everyone in my house is asleep so I can't share the joy with them (boring!).

I feel a yarn spree coming on this weekend, just as soon as I get home to pick up suitable sock sized needles!

A day in the life of a student with a yarn obsession

2009-03-11T16:03:00.003Z

9am - alarm that you remember turning off last night cos you didn't need to get up for anything goes off regardless just to spite you for trying to have a lie in. Turn it off and go back to sleep.

9:30am - wake up, someone is watching tv in the next room! Place pillow over ears and go back to sleep.

10am - wake up, really should get up now since the essay deadline is tomorrow and there is much still to do on the editing front. Go back to sleep.

10:10am - someone has got it in for me! Lye awake thinking of all the things you need to do and the fact that all you really want to do is go back to sleep.

11am - drag self from bed and proceed to bathroom without tripping over the table in the living room or stubbing toes on any cupboard doors (score!).

11:30am - sit in front of laptop ready to start work. Edit first paragraph then head to kitchen to investigate possibility of brunch. Prepare tea, biscuits and cereal and sit in front of the tv for an hour.

12:30pm - recommence editing. Finish checking dissertation and check word count (3700 words - its grown and is now close enough to the word limit to abandon!)

12:50pm - decide its been far too long since last sock was completed. Search ravelry for suitable sock patterns. Find pattern. Search for a Rowan yarn to substitute with. Find yarn. Calculate required yardage of yarn. Realise all sock needles are still at home - insert favourite expletive here!

1:50pm - Decide to go buy yarn anyway and get needles while there - you can never have too many needles. Abandon essay with willing victim for editing and head out of the house.

2:12pm - missed the train - insert another expletive here!

2:30pm - navigate the purfume floor at House of Fraser with minimum difficulty - didn't get sprayed with nasty purfume once - and head upstairs without checking the floorchart to find out where yarn is. Keep going up, you know yarn is up, feeling a little lost and find another floorplan. Realise you've gone too far up and walk around to the down escalator, trying to ignore the stares you are getting from the staff in the bed linens department.

2:40pm - finally found haberdashery! Wander through the wools looking for the right weight. Find the correct yarn in the correct colour with minimum effort (score!) and wince slightly at the price - but its alright because it will help maintain your sanity and that is priceless.

2:50pm - find dpns. Stare at the selection all strewn over the shelf. Push aside packets and boxes to locate the right size, find only huge and tiny sizes, nothing between 1.75 and 5mm. Ask at counter, on order. Put yarn back, get asked by sales woman if everything is alright - must work on not sulking in public.

3:00pm - console self with fact that you didn't spend money you didn't have, while renavigating the purfume department with a quick detour through the handbags. Once outside realise how close you are to the big waterstones with the beauty and the beast stairs. Head to waterstones to cheer self up with knitting book.

3:10pm - leave disappointed, the selection was not good, the shelves were all being restocked so nothing was where it should've been, the books were all too expensive anyway. Head to Claires for a Red Nose Day wig to appease the willing victim who edited the dreaded essay.

3:40pm - arrive home. Deposit wig upstairs and head back downstairs to own room for work. Pick up work and move to living room. Give up and start blogging instead.

Distinct lack of motivation

2009-03-05T20:06:00.002Z

I am currently 1500 words through my 3000 word essay. Need to get a draft finished by monday so that i can spend the rest of next week editing it to hand in. So far my coursework is averaging a good 2.2, which as anyone who knows me will tell you is nowhere near good enough, so I need to get a good mark on this essay! I also have to edit my dissertation for the end of next week - its scary, I have two folders with my name and supervisor on and two cover sheets and I had to pick them up from the office and sign to say I got them, then I have to print off two copies and hand them in the the office and sign to say I handed them in!

Have been 1500 words into my essay since about 3pm, its now after 8pm and still no progress. This afternoon my excuse was that I had written 400 words today and I deserved a little break. Then I promised myself I'd pick it up again after tea. Then I said I'd wait until my housemates had finished watching tv because the noise was too distracting. Now I have gone to the trouble of opening the file and finding the right articles that I need to write the next section but my current excuse is that my housemate has a friend over and they are sitting in the living room talking, the noise is too distracting! I'm far too easily distracted.

My poor essay is sitting on my desktop feeling ignored and neglected while I surf the net, I really haven't got any reason to surf the net, I've run out of sites that I frequent regularly to check as none of them update every 5 seconds! So now I've resorted to blogging just to put off the inevitable, knowing that if I can find a way to put it off til 10:30 I can then decide its too late to work and I'll go to bed early and read a book!

I hate deadlines!

All Knitting Currently On Hold

2009-01-28T22:33:00.002Z

I am currently sitting under a work mountain! I have notes to copy up and reading to do and a project to draft so I can get the draft in by the deadline on Feb 9th. I also have to do a 15 minute presentation about my project in front of a room of academics (eek!). Following that I will get my project back to make revisions while trying to write another 3000 word essay that is in for the day before the project!!! Then I have to figure out how to write a grant proposal, find a topic to propose and write that before the end of term. I never thought I'd say this but bring on the exams - at least then all I have to do is revise.

Consequently, apart from weekends when I manage to make it home and not take loads of work with me, all knitting, cross stitch and anything else craft related is on hold until further notice. On the bright side in my the final half of my final year at University I have just learned how to study effectively!

Delivery!!!

2009-01-03T10:54:00.005Z

I got my new options needles today! Along with some new dpns and a needle sizer! Excited!!! Think of the knitting possibilities! I love the free pen and sweets I get with every order from Get Knitted too!

So here they all are. I got one set of KP harmony dpns and one set of the metal ones to see which I like better. My next order will most likely involve buying the complete set of one or the other for sock knitting purposes. I will test then out first though and decide what to buy - the harmony ones are more expensive so I have to make sure I get the right ones before treating myself to them and wishing I had the metal ones. I tend to prefer metal needles but I figured I should try the harmonies - I've heard good things about them!

Here is a better look at the options! I'm excited! So many possibilities, so little time!

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-01T00:38:00.004Z

It is now officially 2009 here in the UK!

This New Year's Eve I have been knitting along with the KH gang and managed to produce these two little items. Thanks to Sandy for designing the KH one, the 2009 cloth is from this website.

I changed the garter stitch border on the KH pattern to moss stitch just cos i like it better.

Hope everyone had a great night welcoming in the new year. Have a great 2009!

All I want for Christmas...

2008-12-15T14:59:00.003Z

...is a little time off! Between my experiment, deadlines, lectures, seminars and the reading that I didn't manage to keep on top of my knitting has gone completely out of the window! When I do have time to do some I generally end up just watching TV or playing PS2 instead cos I just didn't have the energy or inclination to knit anything.

It is now the Christmas holidays and I get a whole month back at home. Unfortunately, I still have an assignment and a mountain of reading to get through plus starting the write up for my final project. Right now though I am getting back into the knitting by starting a log cabin blanket - which I may or may not frog but seemed easy and a way to get rid of some of the huge balls of aran with wool that my nan gave me and are driving my mom nuts because I have nowhere to store them. It also gives me a great excuse to get some options needles cos its gonna get to a point where I need something really long to hold it (that is unless I get bored and frog - which is possible but if I like it and its gonna be another cold summer is highly unlikely).

Right, so there is an update for anyone who reads this.

Merry Christmas all xxx

Deadlines

2008-06-06T16:12:00.003+01:00

So, exams are now over, thank god for that. All that knitting time wasted reading boring text books! I may have to resit one in the summer but I don't find that out til the 20th. Until then I have two deadlines to meet. The most important is the project deadline - have to get all my forms handed in by the 13th so I can start my project in September. This is my big final project for the last year of my course and is worth 1/3 of my mark for the year so its kinda important to get it all the proposals and budget stuff handed in so I can actually start it on time. The other deadline is self imposed - also the 13th - as I promised my friend hand knitted socks for her birthday which I have been neglecting because I've been revising for exams, I'm actually still on the first sock so I better get working on them this weekend and then I may finish them in time. If not I did warn her they may not be done on time - besides she still hasn't decided what she is doing for her birthday if anything so at this rate I may not see her until a few days after anyway.

Oh well, nothing new to add so I shall leave it there for now.

Exams

2008-05-01T11:57:00.002+01:00

For anyone who bothers to check in from time to time and has been wondering where on earth I've been for the last couple of months...I have exams starting in less than 2 weeks. I started a new pair of socks over easter but have had to put them on hold while I try to learn enough information to pass said exams. I've only been back at uni a week and I'm already stressed to the point of exhaustion but my tutor tells me that they changed the course this year to make it less stressful when it comes to exams. I don't believe him! Its at times like this when I need to knit but I left my knitting at home so that it wouldn't be a distraction. I spent many days over easter knitting when I should have been revising. Fortunately I'm going home later so I will sit and knit for a couple of hours rather than working. Anyway, I better get back to it, lots of psycholinguistics to learn!

Finished socks!!!

2008-02-23T22:07:00.003Z

So, after posting the previous entry last night I decided to sit on my bed with Stargate SG-1 DVDs on and finish my socks. After dropping a stitch, tinking back a few times after I had forgotten to decrease, and a few generally sticky moments with stitches too near the end of the needle threatening to fall off...I finally finished. Pics when I get round to uploading them off the camera.

Also, my nan just donated me 400g of yarn that she was planning to use for a baby sweater - I am now going to use it for a baby sweater, and maybe a scarf, there is so much of it!!!

Knitting and shopping

2008-02-22T21:43:00.012Z

Well the whole pain in the arm thing didn't stop me knitting for long! I decided it was time to post some progress shots of my first pair of socks (which is nearly done!!!) and the scarf that I am knitting for my boyfriend (I was hoping to get it done by now but assignments and life in general got in the way).

Earlier today I went shopping, not anywhere expensive, just cruising the charity shops (yes charity shops! Am student - cheap is good!) It comes to something when looking at something in the charity shops you think 'that's expensive'! But I did do that a few times today. I found a few really nice things but most of them were hand wash or dry clean only - not worth the effort. I did find a couple of things worth buying though.

This sweater dress was fairly cheap and new, it still had the tags in. I has belt loops and I assume it probably used to have a belt but perhaps before clearing it out its original purchaser decided they liked the belt and would keep it. Anyway, I shall buy a wide black belt to wear with it and nobody will be any the wiser.

I also found a long knitted jacket, the one I own gets lots of use and I've frequently thought about adding a toggle to the front to keep it closed. This one already has buttons so seemed like a good idea. Seemed in fairly good condition so I bought it.

(Just in case you are wondering, that is me in the photos but once uploaded they turned out to be terrible ones of me, the clothes looked alright though and as that is what I wanted to show I just decided to decapitate myself.)

Can't knit

2008-02-08T13:35:00.000Z

Spent the last couple of days doing a lot of knitting, I picked up my boyfriend's slytherin scarf a few minutes ago and after completing two rows my arm decided it'd had enough. I think it'd because when i'm knitting at my desk i lean my elbows on my desk - this is bad! Anyway, have decided that the best way to get back to my knitting quickly is not to knit anything until it stops hurting, on the bright side the cross stitch David Tennant that i have been neglecting for my knitting is getting some attention again - i can't just sit and WATCH the TV now can i?

Recent FOs...

2008-01-03T16:58:00.000Z

1) the Gryffindor scarf I've spent 5 months on which I finally finished shortly before my birthday

2) The first sock I finished a month or so ago

3) And finally, the New Year KAL dishcloth which I finished last night - this was my first attempt at colour work

Quick update

2007-12-09T10:44:00.001Z

Ravelry invite came today and in celebration I thought, as I don't have time to get sidetracked by it at the moment, I would update my blog with a picture of my most recent creation!!!

This is my mini xmas stocking. The picture was taken during the little party we decided to have at my house at Uni since we go home for Christmas on the 14th. It didn't work quite as well as I had hoped but as I wasn't really following a pattern I'm quite proud of it. I used two needles and seemed it because I couldn't find any 4mm dpns.

socks

2007-11-20T21:25:00.000Z

I know, I haven't updated in a month. Live got in the way of knitting. However, am happy to say that I have redressed the balance and now have once again managed to find the time to get some knitting in that is worth reporting progress on.

Yesterday I finished my first ever sock. I've been wanting to knit socks for a while but haven't quite found the time in between Uni work and stuff. I decided that after finishing my essay I would treat myself to the materials I would need and give it a go. I went to House of Fraser and bought some DPNs and two balls of Regia Stretch sockwool then cast on that evening, just over a week later I had a finished sock. I'm quite pleased with myself.

KAL Buttons

2007-10-21T11:44:00.000+01:00

Just a post so I can put my KAL buttons on here and link to them on KH, it will be updated whenever I join or leave a KAL.

Narg

2007-10-16T21:41:00.000+01:00

sitting in my room, can hear Greebo watching QI in the other room. I need to do work but I can't do it here cos I keep getting distracted by the pc and I can't do it in the living room cos of QI!!! The washing machine has packed up, I'm tired and headachy and I need to do work!!!!!!!!!

ARGH!!!

sitting in Frankland 407 a.k.a 'the other computer room'

2007-10-16T11:52:00.000+01:00

Currently at Uni, for those who don't know Frankland is the psychology building. I am sitting in a computer room on the fourth floor not doing anything constructive at the moment.

I had to get up for a 9am lecture this morning, grr. Its a good job the TV was on a woke me up because I forgot to set my alarm. I sat for an hour listening to Andrew go on about linear regression while trying to stay awake then retreated upstairs to the computer room that not many people bother with. Its the overflow room, when there are no other computers downstairs people come upstairs, except for me as I like that it is quiet most of the time. When we came in the lights were still off and none of the computers were being used, great for a quick nap!!! So I have now been sitting here for nearly 2 hours doing stats labs and finding papers to read. I feel that I have now earned a break so the next two hours will be devoted to blogging, playing games, facebook, KH and the search for food. Next lecture is at 2pm, I am going to fall asleep!!! Then after the lecture I have to go to a workshop until 5pm, then I will trudge back to the house and flop in front of the TV, I have to watch neighbours!!!

Finished my calorimetry last night, no pictures though as I have no camera and no buttons to attach to it so I will wait until I can put it on before I try taking pictures. It was a really quick knit, only problem was I got all knotted trying to bind off after a purl stitch so I gave up on a ribbed bind off and just knit it all! It doesn't look too bad and its fairly loose so it doesn't ruin the sizing or anything. I'm happy with it anyway and that is all that matters. I really want to go to the market and get more pretty yarn and a new pair of 4mm needles because the coating is coming off mine and snagging on stuff. Can't go until after the teaching talk tomorrow though because I want to see how to get onto a PGCE course and then I can teach Primary School children!!!

Fingers cramping

2007-10-14T19:55:00.000+01:00

I have been knitting since about 1pm today, it is now nearly 8pm, my fingers were starting to cramp up so I thought I'd take a break for a little while and do some typing instead to try to stretch my fingers out a bit (I do touch typing so all of my fingers get to move a bit!)

What have I been knitting I hear you cry...well, I found this pattern last week when it was in a post on KH. I thought it looked like a quick and easy knit without being too easy, it has short row shaping, which is something I have never done before and wanted to learn so I thought I'd give it a go and learn something new while also starting a project that I can finish some time in the not too distant future. My scarves are not growing as quickly as I would like because I keep finding myself sitting in front of my pc trying to do some work (and failing miserably, see previous post 'banging head against desk'.)

Ok, so the pattern is Calorimetry from Knitty. It is a head warmer thing, the idea is that you can wear it to keep your head and ears warm but still be able to have your hair the way you want it as wearing a hat means that you have to have your hair down. I started the pattern last night with this yarn, which I found at the garden centre and I thought was pretty but...

It is pretty, problem is that once I had got about 5 rows in the working yarn snapped. Snapped it perhaps not the right word...perhaps frayed would be better. I know, I could have kept going and just knit the good end with the bad end and kept going but by that point I was so annoyed with the yarn in general that I frogged. Basically I found it a nightmare to work with. I was constantly splitting the plies, pulling apart loops of yarn that had stuck themselves together and it made my arm itch every time it brushed past. I had bought it with a scarf in mind but quickly decided I couldn't wear it against my skin, calorimetry would have meant less skin contact as my hair is quite thick but I juct couldn't work with it. I guess I'll find something to do with it eventually, Maybe a hot water bottle cosy - I've started one of them with my really chunky wool, it was a scarf but I frogged it because it wasn't looking great.

So, I started again today with my purple yarn that I had bought with another scarf in mind but decided was too thin. I have done about 15 rows now, I think I need to decrease my short rows a couple more times and then I'll start increasing again. The yarn is DK weight and I worked out that I was getting about 6.5 stitches an inch and I needed 22" so I cast on 132 stitches rather than the 120 called for with a guage of 5 stitches an inch. I'm working on the principle that if it's too big I can use an earlier hole as the button hole but too small is bad. I tried to get a decent photo of the work so far but as it is now dark outside so I have the light on it is hard. If I use the flash it is too bright, with or without the light on, and if I don't use the flash it is too dark so I shall leave it and maybe photograph when I have finished it.

I don't feel like quite such a novice

2007-10-12T01:08:00.000+01:00

I remember promising pictures when I finished chart two of Dark Mark scarf from Storm Moon Knits so here are some pictures. Also I managed to insert a lifeline into an already knitted row, frog back and fix a mistake a few rows down so I'm feeling good. How bout everyone else?

And here is a random picture of the gryffindor scarf from atypically knit that I took a few weeks ago and never uploaded, just because I think my blog needs a little more colour...

A banging head against desk moment...

2007-10-10T22:02:00.000+01:00

Been back at Uni a couple of weeks now and I'm already banging my head against the desk. Why? Because as part of the research methods module I have to do an essay exploring theories and concepts in psychology. Basically the psychology lecturers have got together, made up titles and dished them out to each other's tutor groups.
What my tutor group has ended up with is an essay about psycholinguistics, our tutor knows next to nothing about this topic so except for pointing us in the direction of a book which may or may not be helpful can't explain it very much. We have a load of references about a topic which we have never been taught anything about and 1 book that we have been told may help but which is currently not available as the library only has one copy.
Knowing that I would feel like this I thought I'd start it early but I just don't get it. I have been sitting reading through one of the articles and while I sort of understand what they are talking about there are lots of things that I just don't get. For example, we are supposed to be looking at two different approaches but the paper mentions three, are there really three or is it just because he is using different terms and this third one actually falls on one side of the debate we are looking at?
I realise the point is to read the articles, find some more relevant sources, and write an essay describing the concepts and evaluating the evidence that goes with each in order to reach a conclusion so there is really very little need to understand all the theory but its so much easier to write an essay when you know what you are talking about!!! I just want to do a good job because the other part of the course is an oral presentation and I know that is going to be horrible.
Ok, I know, take a break and come back to it, right? That would be great except that I feel I have been avoiding doing any work for the last couple of weeks so its really time I did some. In reality I have had this title about a week and have found and printed off the seed papers, I have also been trying for the last week to get hold of the text book but to no avail. I know I'm going to have to tackle it eventually but I just feel like I have a mental block at the moment. Perhaps if I leave it until tomorrow and ask those in my tutor group who have looked at the title since we were given it what they think I might be able to come at it from a new perspective.
If I had a current knitting picture on my pc at the moment I would add it just to break up the tedium of all this text but I don't have one and I won't be able to get one until the weekend, when I will take a picture of my dark mark scarf regardless of whether I have finished the 2nd chart, its taking a back seat to work this week, as yesterday I did actually spend 90 mins transcribing an interview for our current practical project. I've tried working tonight but I just haven't been able to get any done!!!

Almost halfway through week 1 term 1

2007-10-03T00:26:00.000+01:00

9am start monday, 9am start tuesday...grr. Fortunately my lecturers have decided that I don't have to be in on a wednesday until 11am which means I can doss on the net for another hour or so and still manage to get up. Lets see, last week we set up the internet, got the heating fixed and did some vital food shopping - chocolate and wine...oh and bread and milk. This week so far I have been to lectures, played guitar hero far too much, bought more vital food supplies, and managed to get half way up chart 2 of the dark mark scarf (pics when I finish the chart!)
Anyway, things to do...

Back to Uni

2007-09-23T22:42:00.000+01:00

I'm going back to Uni tomorrow. I'm not sure how much I'm looking forward to it. You would think that after managing to live away from home for the first year I would be alright going back for the second year. I'm not. I was fine until Friday afternoon when I realised it was time to pack up and go back. Incidentally what stopped me crying in the end was deciding I needed to find a knitting pattern online.
We took my things up yesterday and I was fine because I knew that I would be coming back home again. Tomorrow I have to go back and stay there and, as much as I'm looking forward to it, I can't help feeling a bit upset by it all. I've been at home for four months and I've got used to being here again. It was always hard being away from home anyway, I'm very close to my family and I hate not being home to be a part of it. It's not even as if I'm far away or anything. It's easy enough to get back and I know what I'm going back to. I know the people and I chose who I'm living with this time. I know my way round and how things work, where to get lunch and where everyone hangs out.
I haven't been really happy at home either, because I've been bored stiff and wanting to do something, wanting to go back and be with my friends and start the next year of my course, it's just that now it's time to leave I feel sad. I guess that's normal. I guess it's always going to be hard to leave.
Hopefully when I get there I will feel a bit better. I can busy myself with sorting out my room and getting to know my new housemates and sorting out the rest of the house and the garden. I managed last year, I should be alright this year.
Last year I was upset when my parents first left me and then I was alright until it was time to go to bed that night. I think I cried most nights during freshers week and then felt a bit better once the work had started because it gave me something else to do and think about. I also cheered up no end when I made friends with people on my course and didn't feel the need to sit next to my flatmate who was on the same course but I didn't like very much. There was nothing really wrong with her, except that she was a bit of a Princess and she irritated me. Perhaps, had I not been living with her, I would have found her easier to get on with, then again I probably never would have met her in the first place. I think I was a bit unfair to her. She didn't seem to know how to live with people, but I guess I didn't either.
This year I am moving in with my best friend, we will probably have arguments about things but that is just living together. However, at least I know if I do get homesick she is just upstairs rather than on the other side of campus. This year should be better than last year, once I get over the leaving part. But, as my things are already there, I am getting the train so I haven't got to worry about my parents suddenly leaving me there or anything. I'll probably cry tomorrow night but I'm sure my new housemates will be sympathetic, they might even feel the same way. Hopefully after I've spent a few days there I will feel more at home and then I will be happier.

I have a cunning plan

2007-09-17T23:29:00.001+01:00

Not quite as cunning as a fox who has just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford Univerity but still a cunning plan. I have been going backwards and forwards between sets of interchangable needles for weeks now, trying to decide what to have for christmas, I can't decide. It's either Denise or Options. A few months ago the choice was easy because Options were not available in the UK, unless you have a friend in the US who you can ship them to and will then forward them on. However, Get Knitted are now the first (and to my knowledge the only) UK Knit Picks stockists. Pricewise Denise are the better option, plus if I get the pink set money gets donated to a breast cancer charity. Denise are also more practical in terms of cable length, as the set includes a 17" cable. My big problem is that they are resin, I am not a great fan of plastic needles, they just don't feel...right. Options are metal, not that much more expensive and even though the cables are longer are better for magic loop knitting, which I would like to try.

So my cunning plan is to test them. Well, testing the Denise set might be hard as I've yet to find somewhere that sells normal sized tips and cables separately. Knit Picks, however, do normal cirulars as well so I thought a 5mm 40cm circular would be good and it would solve the problem of long cables if I do get the set as the most common sizes that I use at the moment are 4mm and 5mm and I have a 4mm 40cm circular already.

At the same time I am tempted to get 4.5mm tips and an 80cm cable from the options range and test out an options needle, that way I can check the joins and things and make sure that they work for me without wasting money on the whole set if I don't like them and I can have a go at Magic Loop, obviously if I don't like magic loop an Options set might not be the best way to go at the moment as I mainly knit small diameter when knitting in the round.

While I'm at it I thought I'd test an Addi Turbo as well to see if I like them any better than the KP, they are more expensive but if they are better for me it might be worth investing in a few of these rather than a whole set of KP when I might only use two or three tips. Perhaps by next year I will want more sizes but at the moment I really only use the 4mm, 4.5mm and 5mm as most of the yarn that I use is DK or Aran and those are the recommended needle sizes. I thought, as they do a 30cm circular I'd get one of those in 4mm from Addi for my dratted HP scarves, my bf has requested Slytherin. It's not that I dislike knitting them, they just take so long to do!!! 10cm less cable will mean less stitches, which means less time per round. As long as I stick with DK for the HP scarves I shouldn't want a bigger size. If I do change yarn it'll be heavier and should use a similar amount of stitches on the 5mm KP, or I can test out magic loop on the 4.5mm Options.

See, a cunning plan worthy of Baldrick!

Oh, and if any of my friends reading this are wondering what I want for Christmas, yarn is good - preferrably merino wool or wool blend, something soft that won't itch too much. I really want Malabringo but thats expensive and I've only found it on Get Knitted so you'd have to order online. I'd never say no to needles but as you have most likely just read the cunning plan you might not think it a good idea. Failing that, learn to knit and do me a nice scarf - I have a thing about scarves, I seem to collect them.

Shutting up now

It’s been a long day…

2007-09-17T16:16:00.000+01:00

...and I’ve only been up 6 hours!!! So far today I have phoned the student finance direct helpline 3 times only to be played a recorded message saying ‘Unfortunately, all our operators are busy at the moment, please try again later,’ not even a queue or anything, just ‘please try again later’. The only reason I called is because the website isn’t letting me log in and I need to know what is happening about payment of my student loan!!! So then I call the Uni to see what is happening about my Registration Pack – which should have my new ID card in it, which I need for the start of term. No problems getting through there but because I tried to make their lives easier by registering early my name was put to the back of the print queue so I won’t get a pack in time for the new term starting, meaning I have to go and annoy some admin people so I can actually get a new ID card!!! Also it means that I had to find the address to send my financial notification to so that they know I am getting a loan to cover fees, there is a freepost envelope in the registration pack but since I won’t get one I just had to find the address and send it. I spent most of the last 4 hours seething and ranting at anyone who would listen just to try to blow off steam. I know it doesn’t sound like much but I only have a week until I leave and I need to make sure everything is sorted out, its no good all these letters arriving next week when I won’t be here.

So I just spent half an hour trying to figure out how to apply for contents insurance for my term time address. I really wish I had more of a head for these things. I have just gone with the company that has a branch on campus because it is easiest. I just hope I have filled in everything properly and that I won’t have to claim, but knowing my luck I’ll be home for the weekend and someone will break in and swipe my PC. I have also insured my expensive designer glasses against theft when I’m out and my phone is covered, provided I filled it in right. So at least that’s one thing sorted, I hope. TV licence is sorted, because it’s in my name and I sorted it out months ago. Internet is not sorted, not really a problem as the person who is sorting it is really only waiting for everyone to say 'okay' but it’s just another thing for me to stress about because I get stressed easily (this being part of the reason I stuck with knitting, though not really the reason why I started!). We are not having a landline so nothing to sort out there. Also we are getting a Freeview box so apart from installing it there should be no problem there. Bills are taken care of; rent is going out monthly without any effort from me so the house is almost sorted. Just got to make sure the loan is coming and then I will be sorted. I am also going to stop saying sorted now.

Ok, calming down a little now. Perhaps time for a little knitting to relax.

Ok so its been a week...

2007-09-15T23:01:00.001+01:00

...but just because I haven't been blogging doesn't mean I haven't been knitting. I now have 10 stripes on the Gryffindor scarf so should be finished soon with any luck. Did chart one of the dark mark but haven't picked it up since I put it down last week so no real progress to report on that. I did do the knitter's geek code tho, you may have noticed it in the blog description. If you don't understand you will have to google it. If you still don't understand it is because you are not a knitter.

Anyway, just thought I'd let any readers that I do have that I am still here and have not been abducted by photosynthesizing aliens!

For the uninititated Mr W's alien theory goes something like this:

Aliens who travel around in space would need food of some kind. Since to my knowledge there has been no intellegent life found in our solar system aliens travelling to Earth would be travelling from another solar system (in other words, they would be travelling a long way). In order for said aliens to travel such a long way they would need a lot of food as they may be travelling for several years, thus this would take up a lot of room on the space ship. So Mr W hypothesised that aliens photosynthesize, thereby meaning that they don't need lots of food on the space ship and can travel long distances through space.

Disclaimer: I claim no rights to the aforementioned theory, it was related to me by Mr W, please do not sue.

My former teacher Mr W's other claim to fame is that upon entering his class he promtly proved with the use of statistics that all of his students were in fact hedgehogs!

Pedometer

2007-09-08T17:28:00.000+01:00

While wandering around the supermarket in my typical 'I don't know what I want so I'm going to walk around until I see something interesting' fashion I found the range of tickled pink stuff. I usually get something from the range when they have new stuff out cos the money goes to Cancer Research and when I buy a t-shirt I feel like not only an I donating but I am advertising the cause whenever I wear it. Problem is they didn't have a t-shirt in the right size and I didn't have enough money on me to buy the tracksuit I liked.

However, while walking around trying to decide what veggie food to get I found some more stuff, they had exercise stuff, also in the tickled pink range. So I bought...a pedometer (just in case you didn't guess from the title of the post!) The amount of walking I will be doing between Uni and Selly Oak in October I thought it'd be nice to know how many steps I'm doing, how far I'm going and how many calories I am burning just by going in (in the hope that knowing how good it is for me will get me out of the house when I have a cold rather than thinking sod it I'm staying in bed!) Also hopefully will give me an incentive to make sure I do enough exercise every day cos I can see exactly how much I've done.

We'll see how well that goes. What are the chances of me sticking to it do you think?

Not going out

2007-09-07T15:43:00.000+01:00

The friend who was organising the meal out has now decided that she can't make it. I hate it when people do these things, at least she told me I guess, people don't always let you know. Its probably a good thing anyway as I have a cough at the moment that has made my chest hurt. Trying to decide whether to see a Dr but they'd probs listen to my breathing then decide I have to wait a month to see if it goes on its own - which does nothing to reassure me that its not a chest infection but means that they don't have to spend any more money on me than they have to. If they can get away without doing anything then they will, or at least thats the attitude I usually encounter when I go to the Drs.

Dark Mark

2007-09-07T11:16:00.001+01:00

For the last two days I have put down the Gryffindor scarf and been working on my Dark Mark Illusion scarf, while watching Stargate DVDs for background noise. The problem with watching Stargate DVDs for background noise is that I get a bit too distracted by the episode, especially as I am watching episodes that I haven't seen for a while. I wonder if I could find some stargate knitting...maybe not such a good idea - I'd never get any of my current projects finished.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the Dark Mark scarf.

This one was taken a couple of days ago before I picked it up again. Its done in Cascade 220 shades 8555 and 7814. At this point I'm not even halfway up the first chart.

This one was taken this morning, as you can see it has grown a bit in the last two days. I am now on line 64 of chart 1. Chart 1 is 76 lines long so I'm getting there. Then I have to do chart two, then 30" of background, then chart 3 and chart 4, then block it and add fringe so it could take a little while longer. Good job I've got 5 seasons worth of Stargate to watch, then I could start on desperate housewives or the HP movies. I'm really rather proud of this scarf!!!

Anyway, as my bf is working tomorrow I also have the whole weekend to work on it so with any luck I should finish charts 1 and 2 by next week...maybe...if I don't get sidetracked by something else. So actually when taking that statement into account the chances of me finishing charts 1 and 2 by next week are slim but hey, I can try!!!

Supposed to be going out for a meal later, we'll see if that actually happens, my friends are quite bad at organising themselves sometimes. Basically, J-Lo has suggested going out for a meal before she goes back to Uni, she has also told us where she wants to go, problem is that we don't really know who is going so I can't sort out a lift, which means I may not be going. I'd text Wen but she's busy so I might not get a reply any time soon and she was the person I was hoping to get a lift with. If I knew Greebo was going I'd get a lift with her, then again I always get a lift with her and I feel bad for her mom cos Greebo won't be able to stay the night which means that if she wants to go and she wants to drink she'll have to get her mom to take her so I don't like to ask. On a related note, I can't drive but even if I could my brother is nicking off with the car later anyway.
No lift + no meal = sad :'(

If I don't go I'll have more knitting time and I may be able to convince my bro to drop me off at my aunt's so I can see the twins (baby cousins - v. cute). The twins are gonna end up really spoiled cos even their cousins are all grown up. My brother and I bought them bears from the bear factory just before they were born, they haven't come out of the boxes yet. my aunt is waiting until they can appreciate the bears.

Anyway, am starving and haven't yet had a cup of tea today so I will have to sort that out. Will post more progress pics when I have more progress to take pics of.

Bye

I've mellowed

2007-09-06T11:46:00.000+01:00

or maybe its just that I've been so tired over the last two days that I don't have the energy to get worked up about anything. Could be the knitting I suppose, it is meant to be good for stress and anxiety and stuff.

My friend has gone blog mad recently. I posted a link to this blog on Facebook and she read it and decided to do one of her own. She's done 4 posts in two days - possibly the result of having a laptop so she can sit in front of the TV and post randomly about things that have just occurred to her. I have a desktop which means that in order to do that I would have to be sitting in the same spot all day, uncomfortable to say the least. It would also mean not doing any knitting cos I would have to be typing and that would drive me insane. I've got to get her knitting again, we did get her some new needles but didn't get as far as wool cos she was gonna check her mom's stash for wool that she can use in a Dr Who scarf.

Its 11:50 and I'm still trying to wake up. Hopefully when I get back to Uni and get into some sort of routine I won't feel so tired all the time. Then again, I have the ground floor room and its at the front which means people wandering past at all hours shouting and screaming as they come home drunk, also I will hear the bin lorry and stuff like that which appears early in the morning so that might take some getting used to.

I think a cup of tea is in order. Then I shall attempt to finish chart one of the Dark Mark Illusion Scarf (while watching stargate DVDs) and then I may take a picture of it just to show that I did it.

Pictures!!!

2007-09-04T10:24:00.001+01:00

Ok, so I spent the last 20 mins or so taking pictures of my various projects and thought I'd post them while I think about it.

This is my fuzzy novelty yarn scarf. Its really soft and I love the colour, you can't see it so well in the photo but its got orange, red and brown in it which makes a very autumnal arrangement.

This is the progress of my Gryffindor scarf, pattern from Charmed Knits. It now has 3 1/2 stripes so its growing slowly. This is my DVD project, stick on a DVD and knit around and around and around.

There are two photos for now, more to be uploaded later, when I decide which ones aren't too blurry!

New Blog, yay!

2007-09-03T11:35:00.000+01:00

I have been itching for a place to post about my various knitting and cross stitch exploits so I finally decided to set up an account. I have no idea how successful this will be as I have two other blogs and neither get edited on a regular basis, in fact one of them has been sitting unused since I finished the first year of sixth form - it was more a means of communicating without being accussed of abusing the computer system, I think they blocked the site after a while tho. The other blog is mainly where I rant about life at Uni - lots of posts about coursework and my dislike of some of the people that I lived with at the time. This blog is going to be entirely different, as not only will it be a rather more public blog than my other blogs but I am going to keep it rant free (unless I am having considerable difficulty with a project - like my cross stitch threads knotting themselves up when I'm trying to work with them!!!)

So, here is what I am working on so far...
1. Cross stitch of David Tennant from Cross Stitcher magazine (now that I have the right colour for his hair it is growing at an extraordinary rate)

(I have been cross stitching for about 10 years now. I had a kit for Christmas when I was about 9 and have been cross stitching ever since. Its easy to do and you can make some really pretty things. I did cross stitch cards for Christmas last year - the great thing about them is that nobody ever throws them away because they are so nice, the down side is that they take forever, you have to start in August just to get enough to send out and you still need to make about one a week - by the end of it I refused to start another cross stitch for several months and I still hadn't quite made enough so I had to improvise a bit!)

2. Gryffindor scarf from atypically.knit using a DK wool in a brand that I've never heard of (rather than an aran/worsted because it was cheaper and the yarn section of the craft shop I went to didn't have much in - hence I have to add a few extra rounds so the stripes are the right size and I had to add extra stitches to fill my circular needle)

(I started knitting about 11 months ago because my friend had mentioned that she had been learning how to while at work - she works in a Victorian Museum town so as long as she has bamboo needles she can just sit and knit for as long as she wants, in between explaining the history of whichever building she happens to be in to passing tourists. Not to be outdone I went to the market and bought some needles and a ball of varigated yarn and started learning - the internet is a wonderful thing. I did a square in that yarn before I was given more yarn started on a scarf.)

3. Dark mark scarf from storm moon knits in Cascade 220 (that I ordered from Get Knitted, gotta love the internet)

4. Irish Hiking Scarf from Hello Yarn in some random yarn that I have loads of. (This particular yarn has passed from my nan's stash into my mom's stash and now I have it. I just wanted to try cables and its such a huge ball that I wouldn't run out before I finished! Incidentally, the cables are going fine, its the knit stitches just before the purl stitches that are the problem!!!)

5. Random scarf in Sirdar Denim Ultra (I found this yarn some in the craft section of another shop that I frequent for my DMC cross stitch threads and had to have it. So far I have done abot 10 rows in reverse stocking stitch, then two rows of garter stitch and finally I switched to stocking stitch and plan to continue with stocking stitch till it gets to the right length, then do two rows garter stitch and 10 rows reverse stocking stitch and see how it turns out.)

6. Some fingerless gloves in another random yarn (that I bought from the market when I was learning to knit. I started these about a month ago, made really good progress on the first one and finished in within two days then I went on holiday and when I came back I just didn't have the will to do it anymore!)

I also have some things that I have finished (which will surprise some of my friends who have seen all the beginnings but rarely see the finished object.)

1. A baby hat in random baby yarn that I found in my stash. (Said baby hat has since gone to my little twin cousins who are now about 2 months old and have both grown out of it since I made it, however, as soon as I find the right wool I'm going to make more!!! I would have done another one at the time but I just couldn't face it.)

(My stash is the result of everyone else in my family donating parts of their stash when they heard I was learning to knit, I think learning to knit is some sort of right of passage in my dad's half of the family. All my aunts know how but none of them really stuck with it, however I did end up with a lot of knitted toys and jumpers when I was little.)

2. A scarf in some novelty yarn called pizaz (that my nan bought me because she and my aunt were making scarves out of it and thought I might like to have a go, having just heard that I was learning to knit. This is the first project I started, begun at Uni about 11 months ago and finished over the summer because having brought it home at Christmas it never went back.)

As far as finished cross stitches go I've done so many cards and pictures and things that I'm not going to list them all here, its always a good idea to have spare aida and thread and a few blank cards around just in case. The cross stitch item I'm most proud of is a pair of baby blankets that I bought and the cross stitched little designs on (for the twins who had the baby hat of course). They took months because I had to do it with waste canvas and try to line up the stitches on the back of the fabric without holes to guide me. On top of that I was doing coursework and exams so half the time I just did a couple of stitches and put it down, if I picked it up at all. However, they turned out really well and the twins now use them in their cots at night!

Ok, I know I talk alot when I'm blogging (which again surprises my friends because I'm usually the quiet one.) However, I have to mention knittinghelp.com without which I wouldn't have succeeded in learning to knit and the forum at knittinghelp.com whose users encouraged me to try all these projects, even if I have started more than I'm likely to finish any time soon!!! Thanks guys!!!

On a side note, I realise I haven't posted any pictures (which was the whole point of starting this blog) but that is because the camera has no batteries, so there will be pictures eventually, I promise!!!