just a note

Adding these to my "to do" lists at no 2039845712983 and 2039845712984

A few good things

I finished these leg warmers last month before scarpering off to Budapest, where someone told me the weather would be freezing. Well, it turned out that global warming got there first, and it ended up being a bit warmer than expected but I still managed to get them done. I love the 80's colours in them. Really retro. Really horrible cheap yarn though but who really cares when they'll be dragged round my ankles when I jot around the house barefoot.

I was also looking over my blog and realised I'm a bit disatisfied with the pictures I have of empire so I did a few more still photos (my autoportrait abilities are a bit rubbish). The lace element is really lovely but the cables give it interest.




















Well, a while ago, I mentioned I wanted to knit this:




















(Plaza from RYC book1)
Thus far, I have this:
(left front half and back)
















(notice I should be revising! - That's mechanics of rocks in the background for any interested parties)
The original pattern calls for RYC cashcotton. However, I had a bulk of debbie bliss cotton cashmere (which knits up to the same tension) hanging around. The only difference is that the RYC yarn is fluffed up with a bit of angora whilst the Debbie Bliss yarn isn't (15% casmere and the rest cotton) so the former looks more fluffy whilst the latter looks more crisp like cotton. Infact, there is little difference in texture between the Bliss yarn and regular cotton yarn, except for it might be a little softer. But that's OK because I didn't pay a great deal for the yarn to start with and angora itches me to death (don't really know why) and I really like the crispness.















The garter stitch looks really nice with the crisp yarn.

Free Pattern, Shhhh!

Well. I thought I would share this RYC alpaca pattern that's available through the V&A website.
click here. It's the Cambridge Woman's sleeveless sweater (like a tank-top thingy). I loved it when I saw it in the books but didn't have money to buy yet more books so yay....
And I have a bit of alpaca dk (of another brand) to use up so double yay!
Hopefully there'll be enough left to finish the sweater!


Enjoy!

PS best not to tell too many people or else everyone will be knitting it.

Ta Dahhh...

Well, anyone who reads this will be aware that I have been struggling over the past year to knit and finish things, in particular, a cardigan designed by Debbie Bliss which is called Empire.


Well, tonight, I have done everything except weave in 2 ends from the picot edging and one from the sleeve seam and so... pretty much... I have a finished garment.

There are several issues I have with it, namely the colar is a bit strange due to the fact that there is a cable that is knitted horizontally around the neckline which then sort of sticks out and also made the neck line about 30% too wide for my liking, but apart from this, it seems OK. I may block it again to see if I can fix this.


















First shot is with just a ribbon to secure sides together. The second has a clasp type thing which I actually prefer because it brings up the cut/reduces the cleavage element a bit... but looks a bit sucky with the ribbon there.

It may not be Christmas

But I still love my Reindeer mug I picked up in one of the sales before Christmas (the retailers finally succummed to poor show at the shops). It's nose glows red when it is warmed up with a cup of tea and goes black when cold.
Appologies for all the mess you can probably see in the background.


















A while ago you may remember I bought a few craft books.
One of which was the 'inpatient patchworker'. It uses all the kaffe fasset cottons beautifully.
Whenever I look at Kaffe's quilts I always squirm as they are all a bit maximalist and they really put me off his fabric, but this book really uses them well. I think I may start my patchworking experience with the cushion above.
I think, when I stop getting new bits of coursework and exams to revise for, I am going to have to acquire all the patchworkers' tools like a decent rotary cutter and mat, and get going with it.
I've always dreamed to make a patchwork quilt little by little but it seems the fabrics available in the UK are dreary and expensive, together with my little determination to see projects through to the end... but I suppose there is always retirement.

the perils of ebay bargains

well, slowly I am getting there with this whole pictures thing in japanese. (working on mum's japanese laptop. very difficult when you can only read about 50 characters out of about a million and I really have no idea of changing language settings on blogger)
The above pic is of a cross-over cardigan in cashmere i ebayed. Sadly, I am half way up the second front side and have discovered that the yarn has gone from a 4 ply to a 3 ply.
It looks like I will have to un-ply yarn to get to the end of the side and the back and sleeves will be knitted in 3 ply and on smaller needles as I don't think I will have the patience of untwisting yarn any longer. It is also annoying because it means I am going to have to recalculate the pattern to compensate, which is annoying as I have to actually get the calculator out and waste more yarn on swatching. I also don't know if the yardage the ebay people gave me will be enough if I am knitting at a tighter guage.... well I suppose there is only one way to find out and that's by knitting it, and I can always order some more in another colour and dye the whole thing black (I wanted a greyscale coloured cardigan so going black is no big issue... just another bulk of money added to the total cost. ho hum)... and lets hope they give it to me in a three ply or else I can't finish off any sleeves I've already started, or I'll end up with a lop-sided cardigan... or something terrible.
I am just annoyed it's taken me so long to notice the transition in the yarn cones... otherwise I would have asked for a refund/exchange.
I may use the seller again but I definitely will be staying clear of the "twisted by us" yarn.

stressed but prefer knitting

This scarf is one of many projects I have found about my room at college/london.
I don't know if I will have enough yarn to get it as long as I would like. You may be able to see the basic cable twists at the beginning which I have overlapped to make a pocket? well I will probably rip those and reknit them in a different yarn to get more yarn/increase the length. Sadly the yarn appears to have been discontinued a long time ago and to be honest it was only left overs from my moonlight sweater so I didn't specifically buy the yarn for this project.
I have a 5,000 word essay for monday but I can't conjure up the mental staying power to start it. I have done most of the research but sadly... can't put pen to paper/fingers to word-document key pad (though happily procrastinating on the web!)
I did have more photos to show you but for some reason blogger is not liking my photos so I can only manage to upload one today. Though I don't really have anything too exciting to show.