A Very Varied Post

Phew.. it's taken forever to upload all these photo's!

I'm not getting tonnes of knitting done at the mo, because I'm somehow busy with other stuff, I'm not sure how, but I seem to be insanely busy without getting much done.. how does that work?


So first I'll show you the gloriousness of Scotland.



And looking north towards the Aviemore area.

Images are all clickable if you want to see them *even bigger*!




My camera battery ran our shortly after, which was incredibly unprepared of me but forced me to see the world through my own eyes instead of through a camera lens!

Ok here's the knitting bit. This is the jumper, which was fine to knit, quick even, but oh the finished garment was another kettle of fish (which when you think about it is rather a strange saying.).

The shoulders were so baggy it wouldn't stay up, and they wouldn't fold over, so I sewed the down, hoping that if it was folded it would hold it up a bit (it's supposed to be folded by the way).
So I did that, but it didn't make much difference, so on each shoulder I put a thread round the top and pulled it tight, so the shoulder tops were kind of gathered up, if that makes sense.

Anyway that's how they are now, and it fits better, but still falls down a bit. Also the front's short, and I followed the pattern exactly (for once), and the measurements are right. It is insanely stretchy, so I can pull the front down a bit.

I'm hugely disappointed with the pattern, it was great to knit but the finished garment just doesn't behave itself. It's good for slouching about, and is very warm despite being mostly acrylic.




I could only get photos of the top I'm afraid, but the rest is stocking stitch with a ribbed bottom and cuffs.

It's notoriously hard to photography black, particularly in a dark flat on a dark Scottish day!! So I hope you can actually see it a bit.

I'll just explain about this - the pentacle represents the five elements - fire, earth, water, air, and at the top point - soul - which brings the rest together. Also the circle around the tips encapsulates the elements and is the never ending cycle of life and death.

(People who are "satanists" and follow "occult" (depends how you define these, hence the "), turn this upside down, putting soul at the bottom and removing the circle - breaking up the elements and destroying the soul - often known as a pentagram which is associated with occult practice).

Anyhow.. lecture over ;) I hope that wasn't too boring!

It's only long enough for one wrap and one end to dangle, so I button it at the neck. It's also *ridiculously* warm. So warm in fact that I've not been able to wear it yet! lol!

(I hope you can't actually see up my nose there)




My OH was up for the weekend too so I kntted these Fetchings for him in Wendy Fusion. I did them one cable repeat smaller, so they are a great fit and kept his hands warm on the very cold walk we went on.

He was very chuffed with them :D

And I was chuffed with him, because he's so incredibly well trained... look what he brought me!!

Mirasol Hacho... isn't it just divine!

Two skeins of beauty. *Droooool*

I do already have one skein of blue and one of this pink, so now have 3 of the pink altogether. I've no idea what I'll do with it, but for now I'm happy to fondle it and lust over it :D

My parents came over last week, and brough the hounds, which was ace. Inca (the black one) took a flying leap onto my cosy double bed, only to land about 5cm higher than she started, as my mattress's on the floor. The look of surprise on her face was priceless :D

Bonnie, below, claimed the sofa, including three cushions and my best sheepskin rug. My Grandma went mad!

Here you can see her sulking having been moved.

I know I'm biased but I don't think she looks 12 :D She's pulling a face here because she doesn't like having her pic taken, so she's looking all coy. She's a wolf in sheep's clothing, you can't leave her with the knitting or stash, she'd rip it up!

Ok here's the non-knitting stuff. Well it's kind of knitting. There's an abundance of strawberries for some reason.

Strawberry earrings:

Strawberry buttons:

Sheep buttons:

Bertie the Blueberry stitch markers:

Sheep stitch markers... my sheep do all have wee eyes and noses on them, which look really cute.. except I can't get them to show up on photos! Grr!

They also have wee bobbly feet which I think are really cute.

Oh more strawberries!

I'm going to get these on etsy now. eBay, sorry greedBay are having a half price listing day on Thurs, so I'll be listing them then. I think it's a lot to pay a 50p listing fee for something you're making say £1 profit on, then be charged 20p commission too... I'm off my soapbox now don't worry!

I've just made some cute carrot buttons too, they need cooking and glazing yet though!

So, WIPs this week - finish green sock, arctic lace, forest canopy, swap mitts, and mitts for the nice lady in the charity shop. Also want to wind off some 2 ply yarn for dying! And also I've just posted off the application for the OU :D

Ravelry Baby!

I'm in I'm in I'm in!!!
I'm VikingKnits on there, and I love it! It was very addictive uploading all my stash, projects and stuff, and it's a brilliant resource. For example I wanted to see what I could do with one skein of Colinette Point 5, so I had a look at all the projects done in the yarn and found some great stuff!

Anyway, my Forest Canopy's going slowly but well. I have loads on the needles right now, and knitting with mohair is a skill in itself!! I have found I have made the same mistake now on every Forest Canopy I've knitted. I'm wondering if when I purl back accross the WS if I'm picking up a stitch or purling two together by accident. I'll explain below.


You can see the left side on the left, which is fine, and compare it to the right side, on the right (assuming this stays how I laid it out when I save). I'm not entirely sure what the mistake is, but if someone can tell me that'd be great!

I unpicked that and redid it and it was fine. I'm now much further on, and am doing it quite slowly so as to be sure with the stitches. The other thing is that the yarn isn't of a great contrast from the colour of my Addi Turbos, so it can be difficult to see. If I can get some bamboo circs I will use them instead.

The pictures below are from yesterday, it's now two repeats bigger.

Ok, I had to take pics of my latest stash for Ravelry, so I've put some below.

First, Mirasol Hacho, in blue, then in pinks. It's 100% Merino, and is sooooo lush! I don't know what I'll do with it but it's so beautiful I'm happy just looking at it!

*drooooooool*

This is Trendsetter Tonalita, for the Cerulean project from Knitter's, Fall 07. It's designed as a table runner, but I'd like to use it as a wall hanging. It's a series of squares, that are crocheted together in a diamond pattern.. if that makes sense. I've never crocheted so it'll be fun!

Below is Jaeger Matchmaker 4 ply in lilac. I have it in this and black for my endpaper mitts when I eventually get round to them! I've never done colourwork so that'll be fun as well!

This week I had a crazy idea. I thought I'd enter the embroidery competition on Craftster , having never embroidered in my life, and having two weeks to learn, design and make it. It was for two pillowcases, depicting opposite ideas, and I was going to do summer and winter. BUT... I can't afford to go buy the stuff for the summer one, so I've had to give up on the idea.

However, I did teach myself to embroider and really enjoyed it!! So with my new skills, I'm going to still make a winter wall hanging for my Mum for Christmas! :D

Here's a small amount of my practising piece....

The other day I had a request on eBay (greedBay), to make these strange, scary, slightly cute, rabbity things from an anime film called Spirit Away.

I personally think they are terrifying.

I made these cute strawberries, tried to give them wee faces but couldn't pull it off, so left them plain. I quite like them, but will try again.

And here's some of my successful ones. I made a set of ghosts, called George Ghost. He has a wee tail that you can't see too!

These are being copyrighted (I'm a meany I know), because they are my own design and I'd be upset if I got ripped off basically.

On a nicer note... below is Peter Pumpkin, and Timothy Tomato, as you can see they are dancing about trying to avoic being squished into sandwiches!!

I think I'm going to make these into Keyrings too, and give them my friends for Christmas! I think they'd be cool wee presents! The only thing is I'm wondering if I should glaze them.. I'll give it a try and see what happens.

Aren't they cute!!!

Anyway, Mum's lace scarf is coming along slowly, it's 272 stitches, because it's knitted lengthwise. The Lucy Neatby is beautiful if somewhat impractical, and it's a great chance to test my stitch markers for being snag free seeing as I'm using about 20 of them!!

My Blur jumper's knitting up fast, I'm halfway up the font and have finished the back, so it'd be great to do it before my Grandma visits next week if I can (not sure).

My moss socks are *finally* getting done, I'm on the heel so will finish them soon I hope!

I do have other news... if you're not asleep by now :p

I'm registered to start with the OU in Febuary, starting with two modules, which I'm very excited about - Child Development (attachment, psychosis, etc), and Biological psychology (neurotransmitters, depression, exploring the brain etc). These are two of my favourites, I have tonnes of notes on it all, and books, so I'm just waiting for the forms to confirm it all now :D

Cabled Hat is finished!

You know I think I'm getting old before my time. My idea of enjoying my evening is sitting with my pyjama pants on (nice and baggy and comfy), with a brew and the rythm and blues programme on radio 2 on, and doing my knitting! I choose to call it being "arty" or "cultured"! Oh and on my couch I have a lovely warm sheepskin rug to prevent my sciatica - that bit's definitely old fashioned!! good job I don't a) have any visitors, and b) care what other people think!! I did have my friends, who are three male geeks living next door but 3 (ish), and they totally loved the cosiness and "coolness", which I was appreciative of, though I think they just said it to make me happy!!



Anyway, this hat was not all that pleasurable to knit, the pattern was something like this: *K2, (T2,K2) 2 times, C12, repeat from * - that's not exact but you get the picture. So I found the stitches got really tight because the twists were on every row. So it acutally hurt my hands, but I rather like it now that it's done! I do like the colour though! I wore it out today and the girls in my LCS (local craft shop) admired it :D

Look at that face!! Below you can see me laughing at myself because of the one above!! I looked stoned and mighty pissed off!!

So just so you can see that I can smile in pics ^^ !!

Well I couldn't only have two projects on the go could I?? So I cast on for *another* forest canopy, in Rowan Kidsilk Night, in a beautiful smoky blue colour, with aded twinkles :D Here's my baby FC below (aww):

It's bigger now, I'm doing it slowly because I want to get it right because this stuff's inpossible to frog! It's very hairy!! I've had it ages so it's time I used it.

I played with some Sculpey again today, I have loads of ideas, but pulling them off is actually not that easy to be honest, and quite a lot of gone wrong. The ones that went right though are Jack Skellington, below. I'm pretty happy with these! Will be making them again, they are much fun!

I wanted to make some cute sheep. Well I did, but as I half expected, the ears are too brittle. They looked bald with no ears though! So I made them anyway, and lo and behold the first one's ears came off :( I'm not sure how I can get round this, so these poor, folorn looking sheep, with metal bits impaling them, are sat on my desk for the forseeable future!!

awwwwwwwwwwwwww :(

I also wanted to make a ball of yarn with two needles in it. I think this looks ok, but not 'yarny' enough. I tried wrapping it the same as a ball of yarn, but being clay it didn't go so well. I will keep experimenting with this as I think it'd look cool if I could do it.

I've also had a request to make the cute/scary rabbity htings from Spirited Away, so will start on that tomorrow.


I also made some 'posh' stitch markers! They are posh because they have peach Swarovski crystals on, and glass beads, but they get inverted commas because they are inexpensive! They are really sparkly! I love em!

I'm really busy at the mo, I don't know how I had time for uni!! I've cast on a lace scarf for Mum, I expect progress will be slow because it's knit lengthwise, I will take progress pics soon anyway. I'm nearly done on the back piece of my Blur jumper as well, and the green sock is soooo slow and boring, I need to get my ass in gear and do it!! I need to get knitting socky presents!!

So ciao for now, back to my brew, radio 2, sheepskin rug, and knitting :D

If giants needed mittens...

This is what they would be like!!! ->








Huge!


These are my first christmas present, I know it's only October (I nearly wrote September then!), but I have loads to do, so thought I'd make a start. These are felted mitts, done in Paton's Jet, which is a beautiful blend of 70% Alpaca, 30% Wool. It felts beautifully as you'll see below!!

Before.......

....... and after!

This was on a 40 degree economy wash, and they have shrunk absolutely loads, they are lovely and thick now! Can you tell I wish they were for me! :p

Anyway... because I was doing said mitts, this hat, in Wendy aran with wool, got put on hold. I can't say i'm particularly enjoying it, and there's a lot of T2, which makes the stitches tight, and I dont think is overly attractive. A typical row has P2 (or K2), T2 a few times, then cables, then the twists again, so it's not easy because of tight stitches and being fiddly. Not only that but the pattern doesn't seem to show up very well in this colour!! So I'll crack on with it now, and see how it goes. I'm sure it'll be ok, but don't think I'll do this pattern again. Specially not as a cable beginner!

I do love the colour though, I have to admit.

I've been busy today playing with clay, and have made these wee Bobombs, from Mario. I have to say I think they're adorable, and I'm thinking of making a few big ones to give to my friends as keyrings (they are 3 guys who are all geeks so would totally appreciate these).

As usual, here come my bit of self marketing (sorry) - they can be found at http://VikingKnits.etsy.com

I also made these today! My first crack at making my own knitting needles - well the toppers anyway! They are bamboo 4mm needles, and I baked the toppers onto them, using clay and glass beads. I think they're really cool, and hope to make more, but they are pretty expensive to make, so I'll probably not make many.

They are actually purple and red, not blue as they appear here!

And ooh! I nearly forgot about this guy! He's my first crack at clay sculpting (or whatever you want to call it!), he's a wee viking, which I'm probably going to make my shop logo, blog logo and avatar. I was going to put a pair of tiny needles tangled in his beard (but in skull & crossbone style if you know what I mean), but decided they would ruin his beautifully groomed beard, so I left it to it's own devices (the beard I mean).

I'm proud of him! :D

I'm going to have a go at this hat again now, and i'm knitting a sweater in Sirdar Blur, in black, but it's all stocking stitch so it's really just a black lump right now! I want to cast on some lace, namely Kiri, but should get my hat done first!

So much to do, so little time!!