Needles of Steel

Thursday, February 4

I wandered, mojo-less, as a cloud...

..that floats, and tangles, and comes up with the wrong number of stitches.

Yes, I made it up the the armholes in my Colinette 4 colour intarsia. Done some raglan decreases, and still too many stitches. Think I must have mis-counted about 20 rows back. Thought it looked a bit short for a back.

So, some ripping is required. Maybe tonight - discovered the fault at 20:45 and was in no mood to start ripping then! :)

Must crack on with the second MK white cardi, too, and clear the UFO list. It's getting out of hand, and yet I'm still hankering on starting new projects! Fighting my Aries-ness is hard! :)

Oh, I must remember to take a photo of my belated xmas present from the Cog's family - a long, snakey overhead light, which is perfect for my knitting machine. It was delayed because the Cog's older brother managed to order it online from a company that had folded three years earlier. Luckily he finally got it all sorted out, and I have my wonderful lamp. Thanks, guys!

Busy weekend coming up - trip to Metropolitan on Saturday with a friend, I've a shopping list all ready - and then some family things which will keep me away from the machines most of the weekend.

Oh, I have booked myself on their Dream Week again, too. It was such fun, and I've not been spending my money much lately, so I have savings to dib into (although they don't want the balance until June anyhoo - let's hope I don't spend it beforehand, haha!). Might also do a Passap week, camping, if money allows - will be the summer one if so, but then I'm running quite low on holiday to share with my beloved. B&Bs/hotels really put the cost up.

Hmmm. Knitting holidays, or holidays with the Cog? It's a toughie! :D

Monday, February 1

FO: Fingerless mittens

Fingerless mittens
Originally uploaded by steel breeze

Finished these for the Cog and he tells me they are "awesome" and make him look like a boxer.

Here he is, with his hard man expression.

DK yarn knitted at T2 on the Brother 260 (knitted circular). Ribbing added by hand.

Friday, January 29

You know you're addicted to knitting when...

* You find yourself replacing all your store-bought plastic and metal needles for expensive bamboo or something similarly damaging to your bank account. It's an investment, right?
* You rarely buy knitwear because you know you could make it yourself at home. Even if you never actually get around to it.
* There are yarn or yarn-related items in almost every room of the house. Including the bathroom.
* You find that your 9 to 5 job really cuts into your knitting time (and am slightly resentful).
* Ravelry is not just a website, it's a way of life. If you're offline for more than a few days you get withdrawal symptoms
* Your sofa and carpet suffer much more from yarn scraps than pet hair - the cat just can't compete!
* You've contemplated knitting whilst stuck in a traffic jam, and tried to calculate if you could finish a row before the traffic lights change.
* You've turned up for work in at least one item you've knitted. Extra points for more than one item, and bonus points if it's underwear.
* You find yourself sometimes wishing you lived in a cold climate e.g. Scandinavia, so you have an excuse to knit and wear even more items.
* You've taken at least one work-in-progress to a beach holiday, and then sweltered under the weight of it.

Thursday, January 28

Gobs of colour

The Coventry Knit Wits had another destash night last night and I snaffled this lot pronto - it didn't even touch the table!

10 skeins of Berroco Poppy - a linen mix with gobs of coloured fluff in it, and 1 ball of Wendy Dolce Mia - pink and fluffy, to replace the pink and fluffy fingerless gloves I seem to have lost half of.

Because I need more yarn, of course!

Kudos to Debbie for standing up to the bloke who was insisting he wanted to buy the entire table a drink - I don't think he realised that there were twelve of us and that we might all potentially demand pints of brandy!

Oh, and thanks to Monique's suggestion (what to do with a too-small amount of yarn) I am wearing my shrug today - and it's surprisingly good! I've never been a fan of clothing that doesn't stay put and falls off shoulders etc but it's holding up very well! :)

Tuesday, January 26

Banish the blues!

100_3096
Originally uploaded by steel breeze

Decided if anything would cheer me up, and get my mojo back, that it would be casting on in a riot of colours. This is Colinette Iona, and I'm making it in intarsia. Because I can!

Edit to add: Oh, the pattern is called Armelle, it is a round-neck cardigan or jumper. Not sure which I will make yet, I have enough yarn for either.

Monday, January 25

Almost FO, definitely UGH!

Front and back views of Rowan Kimi. Made the largest size, but it's very oversized and far too heavy to ever wear. It'll get unpicked and converted into a simple V-neck top methinks - at least that will be something I can wear!

FO: Simple shrug

Front and back views of a simple shrug made with Patons Parade. Love the stripes on the back of this.

FO: Square neck top

Picture 017
Originally uploaded by steel breeze

Constructed using Knitware, and using the tight ease and the shaped waist options. Just had enough yarn!

FO: Black lurex top

Picture 023
Originally uploaded by steel breeze

Looks a lot better with cut and sewn armholes

Monday, January 18

Feh and meh

Ravelry are holding "Ravelympics", to coincide with the winter olympics in Vancouver. We have to cast on during the opening ceremony, and (hopefully) finish before the games are up. I made some logos for the team:

I like the Arnie (Aka Y-Arnie!) and skull ones the best. They get reduced down to 100 pixels square :)

Finished modifying the black lurex top and it came out quite well, although if I'd started from scratch I would have probably made the armholes a little less deep. Ah well. Turned the heel on the first mini-mochi sock, but need to stop and check it fits my foot, I suspect it is too short. Started a square-necked top in some multi-coloured acrylic I bought from Riverside for no particular reason. Looks like it will fit ok but came out longer than Knitware said it should, so am now worrying there'll not be enough yarn for the sleeves.

Bit fed up with it all, ATM. Dunno if it's the weather, or a trip to Brum to spend M&S vouchers yesterday. I got nothing but a snarky remark from the Cog, regarding a mac I liked - he was in a funk all day over some work stuff and brought us both down. Lost my crafting mojo at the moment - all I want to do is curl up in front of the telly and become a hermit! Sob!

Current mood: sad