Haha! I had a brilliant day yesterday. The husband and I went to Tockington to meet up with the rest of my immediate family for lunch. We went to The Swan which was packed- and rightly so, as their carvery was just brilliant. My pa had doorstop wedges of beef on his plate. All the food was mmmmm, yummy and came in big portions. It was one of the few times that I haven't been able to fit pudding in when out for a meal (which is saying something).
Anyway, the really brilliant bit of the day was that I manged to finish not one, not two but... two and a half knitting projects off! Yay!
I completed my Best Friend scarf that is intended as a gift for one of the ladies at my knitting group. Hopefully she will be there tomorrow so that I can pass it on. The only thing that I have left to do with it is give it a quick wash and block so that stitches even out and it is done. Am quite pleased with it. The slightly fluffy yarn that I used actually quite complements the pattern. I was a bit worried that it would fill the little lace holes up but its not so fluffy that it does that. It just gives the scarf a nice halo and softens up what might otherwise be quite a squeaky acrylic yarn.
I also completed a last minute Christmas gift. I made a short scarf (the kind that wraps round your neck and tucks in to a jacket without looking lumpy) using four strands of DK yarn held together- 2 different pinks, a grey and a sparkly silver yarn. It took me a while to work out what I wanted to do with it. I had originally intended to make a loopy scarf using a strange 'C' shaped device that my mother had given me but I wasn't pleased with the results and it was going to take ages so I switched to hand knitting it. I then tried to do a simple yo/drop stitch pattern to give it a bit of interest but I realised that I didn't have quite enough yarn to make something wide enough. In the end I went for simple moss stitch though it took me a couple of changes of needles size to get the finish that I wanted. After casting off I pulled the scarf gently to stretch the stitches out a little and make the scarf a bit longer. As it was knitted on 8mm needles it grew another 6 inches or so. I was going to take a photo to show y'all the pretty twinkly bits but I have packaged it up ready to go into the post this morning.
Finally, I have finished the first sock out of the pair that I am making for my Pa (hence the two and a half projects). For some reason they seem to be taking me forever to get done so I am glad that I finally got the first one finished- and that it fits. I got him to try it on yesterday when I saw him and was very pleased to find that my calculations where correct. I couldn't have gotten it any better size wise. Luckily for me my parents are off on holiday over the Christmas period which gets me a few days grace on getting sock number 2 completed. This means that I should now have enough time to get the last pair of Spirogyra mitts finished in time to give them to the best friend as part of her Christmas present. I have a longish train journey down to Devon next week that I hope will provide me with enough time to whip through the bulk of the remaining glove. Then it's just the slightly tricksy thumbs to do and its all over bar the small talk.
Monday, 15 December 2008
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Surprise parcel
I got another gift from my TSG swap buddy today which was a total surprise as I have already been spoilt rotten for this month. It's all wrapped up in christmas paper so I'm going to put it under the tree and save it for christmas day as a real treat. I couldn't believe it when I went to fetch the post- ANOTHER parcel? WOW!
I'll make sure I take some pictures of it when I open it.
What is useful though is that I have now had two parcels both from London. They were different postcodes right enough but it might be a little clue as to the person is. Hmmm, some sleuthing is in order I feel.
I'll make sure I take some pictures of it when I open it.
What is useful though is that I have now had two parcels both from London. They were different postcodes right enough but it might be a little clue as to the person is. Hmmm, some sleuthing is in order I feel.
Stripped
Last night was spent doing something very naughty. My husband and I didn't go to bed on time, oh no. Nor did we make the sandwiches for lunch today or do any of the washing up. No, we left the house, in fact we left the city and headed on down to London to go and see Eddie Izzard performing his new show 'Stripped' (and you where thinking something else then weren't you!).
Normally we would not go out on a weekday night- we have very early starts in the morning and both require lots of sleep- but I couldn't pass up the chance to see Eddie live. I have been a massive fan of his for about 12 years now, maybe longer even, and this was the first chance I got to see him. Before now I've either been too young, too poor or in the wrong part of the country to catch one of his shows so when the tickets came up for grabs a couple of months back I purchased two without stopping to breathe. Am I glad I did?- you bet I am. Tickets were expensive it has to be said- we got the cheapest ones of course for a mere £20 each. You know, the kinda seats that are that high up in the flies the person on stage appears to be a Munchkin and you start getting dizzy from the vertigo. Seats nearer the ground where £40, £60+ which had I a massive disposable income to fritter away, I would have bought. But I don't, so up in the roof space we went. To be honest though the view wasn't tooooo bad. I could see most of Eddie for most of the show. He does a lot of miming but I caught everything that was important and he was so funny. Like so funny that I almost stopped breathing at one point. But, and there always is a but (could you hear it coming folks), once again the Kool Aid guy had followed us.
This seems to be happening every time we go out now. We first noticed this phenomena about three years ago at a Franz Ferdinand gig when some complete idiot in the crowd kept up a constant and repetitive cheer of "Yeah, oh, yeah!" for the entire 2 hours we were there (we left early it was that bad). Ever since then someone has felt it necessary to repeat this performance in one way or another. Sometimes we can ignore them. They kinda get drowned out in a crowd and if it's a really good gig for instance then everyone is jumping around clapping and cheering so you don't notice. But they popped up at the Ryan Adams gig that we went to recently and nearly ruined it. The guy last night, well, he didn't shout "Oh yeah" all the time but he did have a laugh that was about 5 times louder than anyone else. And he laughed at EVERYTHING. And he was sat right in front of us, yes directly in the seat in front of the husband and I.
Argh.
I couldn't believe it. By the end of the gig you could see about 40 really angry looking people all giving him evils for having been so annoying. I can't explain just how frustrating it was. Looking at him I guess it was just exuberance on his part. I reckon he was maybe 16/17 years old and really excited about being there. But so excited that he was giggling before the show even started like a five year old on a sugar high and he could not control the volume of his voice at all. I just about managed to tune him out. It helped that some brave person went and had a word with him during the interval- it made the second half just that bit more bearable. The husband however really suffered. By the time the show was over he was really tense and angry and it was only his British reserve and natural politeness that was keeping him from strangling the guy. So that kinda ruined it a bit for us. We didn't really get into the flow of the show so didn't get to leave with that wonderful feeling of 'wow' that you get after gigs and shows where you just get so caught up and carried away in it that it takes you all the way home and beyond.
Sigh.
But it was good and I am glad that I went as it's unlikely that I will get a chance to see Eddie again soon. Not only because of the extortionate tickets prices that he can command but also because he doesn't seem to be doing as many stand up tours nowadays as he is concentrating on his TV/Movie career (hopefully you've all seen The Riches and thus will be pleased to know that they are making a film version as well). The downside though is that we didn't get to bed until 1am and the alarm went off at 6am so today I am sooooo sleepy tired that I'm going to need to drink coffee until it comes out of my ears just to stay awake.
Speaking of which....
Oh, and P.S. I manged to knit some more of my Pa's socks whilst on the bus. I've nearly completed the first- just a few more rows on the short row toe and it will be done. That leaves me with two days to knit the other one. Ah. Maybe I won't be catching up on my sleep any time soon after all.
Normally we would not go out on a weekday night- we have very early starts in the morning and both require lots of sleep- but I couldn't pass up the chance to see Eddie live. I have been a massive fan of his for about 12 years now, maybe longer even, and this was the first chance I got to see him. Before now I've either been too young, too poor or in the wrong part of the country to catch one of his shows so when the tickets came up for grabs a couple of months back I purchased two without stopping to breathe. Am I glad I did?- you bet I am. Tickets were expensive it has to be said- we got the cheapest ones of course for a mere £20 each. You know, the kinda seats that are that high up in the flies the person on stage appears to be a Munchkin and you start getting dizzy from the vertigo. Seats nearer the ground where £40, £60+ which had I a massive disposable income to fritter away, I would have bought. But I don't, so up in the roof space we went. To be honest though the view wasn't tooooo bad. I could see most of Eddie for most of the show. He does a lot of miming but I caught everything that was important and he was so funny. Like so funny that I almost stopped breathing at one point. But, and there always is a but (could you hear it coming folks), once again the Kool Aid guy had followed us.
This seems to be happening every time we go out now. We first noticed this phenomena about three years ago at a Franz Ferdinand gig when some complete idiot in the crowd kept up a constant and repetitive cheer of "Yeah, oh, yeah!" for the entire 2 hours we were there (we left early it was that bad). Ever since then someone has felt it necessary to repeat this performance in one way or another. Sometimes we can ignore them. They kinda get drowned out in a crowd and if it's a really good gig for instance then everyone is jumping around clapping and cheering so you don't notice. But they popped up at the Ryan Adams gig that we went to recently and nearly ruined it. The guy last night, well, he didn't shout "Oh yeah" all the time but he did have a laugh that was about 5 times louder than anyone else. And he laughed at EVERYTHING. And he was sat right in front of us, yes directly in the seat in front of the husband and I.
Argh.
I couldn't believe it. By the end of the gig you could see about 40 really angry looking people all giving him evils for having been so annoying. I can't explain just how frustrating it was. Looking at him I guess it was just exuberance on his part. I reckon he was maybe 16/17 years old and really excited about being there. But so excited that he was giggling before the show even started like a five year old on a sugar high and he could not control the volume of his voice at all. I just about managed to tune him out. It helped that some brave person went and had a word with him during the interval- it made the second half just that bit more bearable. The husband however really suffered. By the time the show was over he was really tense and angry and it was only his British reserve and natural politeness that was keeping him from strangling the guy. So that kinda ruined it a bit for us. We didn't really get into the flow of the show so didn't get to leave with that wonderful feeling of 'wow' that you get after gigs and shows where you just get so caught up and carried away in it that it takes you all the way home and beyond.
Sigh.
But it was good and I am glad that I went as it's unlikely that I will get a chance to see Eddie again soon. Not only because of the extortionate tickets prices that he can command but also because he doesn't seem to be doing as many stand up tours nowadays as he is concentrating on his TV/Movie career (hopefully you've all seen The Riches and thus will be pleased to know that they are making a film version as well). The downside though is that we didn't get to bed until 1am and the alarm went off at 6am so today I am sooooo sleepy tired that I'm going to need to drink coffee until it comes out of my ears just to stay awake.
Speaking of which....
Oh, and P.S. I manged to knit some more of my Pa's socks whilst on the bus. I've nearly completed the first- just a few more rows on the short row toe and it will be done. That leaves me with two days to knit the other one. Ah. Maybe I won't be catching up on my sleep any time soon after all.
Cthulhu 2
Gratuitous link to show show you the second mini Cthulhu toy that I have made. I'm still so impressed with myself for picking up a crochet hook that I have to do a happy dance whenever I look at these guys.
Only thing is that I rushed taking this picture (after getting paranoid about missing things since I missed a scarf out) so it was taken pre-wing attachment. This little Cthulhu is for a friend and I was hoping to present it to her last Tuesday evening at knitting group but she wasn't there. It did give me the chance to finish him off nicely though and he looks super spiffy with wings. Now all I have to do is try to remember to photograph him again...
Edited to add the above photo. Look! I remembered!
And doesn't he look just wonderful? I even made him a little tie using a piece of black ribbon so that he would look smart for when I gave him to his new mom.
Only thing is that I rushed taking this picture (after getting paranoid about missing things since I missed a scarf out) so it was taken pre-wing attachment. This little Cthulhu is for a friend and I was hoping to present it to her last Tuesday evening at knitting group but she wasn't there. It did give me the chance to finish him off nicely though and he looks super spiffy with wings. Now all I have to do is try to remember to photograph him again...
Edited to add the above photo. Look! I remembered!And doesn't he look just wonderful? I even made him a little tie using a piece of black ribbon so that he would look smart for when I gave him to his new mom.
Monday, 8 December 2008
I forgot to photograph it
I am so unamused with myself right now. I have just put Travelling scarf #12 (numbers are not sequential- this is the fourth scarf I have had) in to the post box and only afterwards did I realise that I had forgotten to take a photograph of it! Grr. I am so cross about it despite the fact that really it just doesn't matter all that much. But it's a break in continuity and that's annoying, PLUS it was quite a nice square. I ended up using a blue and green tweedy style yarn and doing a very simple moss stitch square. I had unpicked it about nine times before I finally settled on the stitch- it really needed something simple to show the nice mottled flecks in the yarn though I had tried a few more complicated ones first just to see how they would look. I also made some nice ring shaped stitch markers in gold and red that I thought quite pretty.
Friday, 5 December 2008
It's been a busy week
It's that time of year again. December is always a hugely busy month for me. I have three birthdays as well as Christmas to deal with and I have to try to be super organised with my money and time to be able to get everything done. So far this year has been no exception- it's been a case of hitting the ground running.
Last Friday we worked the open evening event at the museum. There where three of us doing the bug handling and it wasn't enough- we got totally swamped and things like breaks, drinks and patience where either skipped or ran out.
We then had to get get up early Saturday morning as my husband and I went to London to meet up with my parents. We had lunch in Chinatown in Soho (I ate so much Dim sum I thought I was going to explode) and then went to Vinopolis to do some wine tasting. My mum had bought some tickets for my dads birthday and via a long convoluted route that involved much complaining, got some free tickets as well so we got to go too. It was quite an experience. I'm not much of a drinker- I don't know why but it just isn't something that appeals to me all that much, but then it's not something I dislike either. It's kind of a take it or leave it situation and I'm just as likely to take as leave. So wine tasting wasn't ever something I really considered insofar as going out and learning the correct way to assess a wine. The 'tour' consisted of a learning to taste session, tastes of three different kinds of Champagne (none of which where any good according to our popular vote), eight tastes of 'standard' wine some of which where okay. It was amusing to see how between 4 of us we all liked different things. There was one wine from South Africa that I quite liked but everyone else hated. My mum said it tasted like burnt tires whereas I felt it was pleasantly smooth and quite drinkable. We found one really nice red Argentinian wine that we felt might be worth a revisit. We then had 2 tastes of Premium wines. I picked out a sticky German dessert wine for my first one and then had it again as it was so nice. By this point we where getting bored of queuing though. The 'tour' of the wines is more like a scrummage. You have to go to the tables that have the wine on (of which there are 3). Each table has a selection of about 6 different wines from say, 5 countries. You then have to wait to be served a taster of wine which you exchange for one of your prepaid vouchers. Easy enough but the queues where huge and you spent more time waiting for wine than enjoying it. Okay, so going on a Saturday afternoon would always mean that it was going to be busy but I think that they where packing just a few too many people in for it to be a really comfortable and enjoyable experience. Rather than it feeling classy, fun and effortless it ended up being a bit stressy and boring. At least we got a gin cocktail to finish the tour off.
Sunday was a horrid wet and rainy day. The husband had lots of work to be getting on with so I shut him in the back bedroom and went out to do some shopping. I had to do the weekly food shop by myself which is a real mission at our local Tescos on a Sunday. I had much dodging and weaving to do to get through the shop but thankfully found a cash only till which was a real break as it meant that I could walk right up instead of joining the usual mile long queue. I really hate the weekly shop- its such a boring chore so on this occasion I treated myself to some girly shopping at TK Maxx afterwards. I didn't find half the things that I had been looking out for but I did some therapeutic trying on of shoes (all very pretty but none fitted), rummaging through handbags, laughing at the awful tacky tack that seems to end up in the household goods section and browsing the books in hope of a knitting book bargain (they have come up before- it's one of the weirdest places to find knitting books and you only get one for every 10 times you look but its so pleasing when you do find one its worth it). I did come up trumps on 3 Christmas presents though. I got gifts for both grannies and something for my mother-in-law. Awesome. The final part of the day was spent trying to get some knitting done. I say trying as I ended up ripping out nearly everything I did do but I was working on a travelling scarf and couldn't quite figure out what kind of stitch I wanted to use.
The work week has mostly involved moving furniture (we are getting new carpets next week). I worked late on Monday, went to my knitting group Tuesday (I created fugly things with a crochet hook and sparkly yarn) and then made an emergency trip to see my grandmother on Wednesday. That's been the worst part. Wednesday was meant to be my catch up day when I could write my blog, sort my knitting out and get an early night but my Nana has caught a cold which has developed into a chest infection which has developed in pneumonia. The husband and I went over to make sure she got some food and took her tablets. I love my nan and it was nice to spend time with her but she's so ill at the moment that all I can do is worry. I couldn't stop myself from fussing around the house the entire time I was there though it didn't help that I had a constant stream of relatives phoning up to find out how she was. We were exhausted by the time we got home but happy that we had visited. Thursday finally arrived and my husband had to work late and I spent the evening baking a cake for him to take into work. Now that should have been all nice and restful but the kitchen was a bomb site as we hadn't been able to do anything in the house all week so actually it meant a lot of work. He does at least have a pimp cake to take into work today (no competition there of course).
So that's my week for you. Not terribly exciting really though busy busy busy. And it's just going to continue like this for the next few weeks until either I die or Christmas arrives. It's kind of nice though. My swap group for TSG on Ravelry are sending nice messages thanking me for my work and it's real good to catch up with family and friends. Today is going to be especially nice as its the husbands birthday so we have an evening in for the two of us planned with nice food, nice wine and a new wii game to play. Yay!
The arrival of Saturday will herald yet more chaos as we have stupidly busy weekend planned but for now I'm just going to sit and relax for a few minutes. I might even try and find something fun to do at work for the day as a treat for working so hard for the last 7 days. Actually, speaking of treats- I did do one really naughty thing this week (ssssh, don't tell anyone!). I have done nearly all my Christmas shopping this week (that's about £400 on to the credit card then) and just happened to be on Etsy. Complete accident you understand, and I might have accidentally ~hushed voice~ bought a couple of skeins of Angora bunny yarn. I don't know how it happened. I was looking at it and now I own it. I can't wait for it to arrive. It's coming from America so it'll take a little while. I so totally shouldn't have bought it as I no money to spend on myself this month- I don't have enough for presents for everyone else let alone me! but I keep thinking about how lovely and soft its going to be and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Ah, it can help line my happy little place :)
Last Friday we worked the open evening event at the museum. There where three of us doing the bug handling and it wasn't enough- we got totally swamped and things like breaks, drinks and patience where either skipped or ran out.
We then had to get get up early Saturday morning as my husband and I went to London to meet up with my parents. We had lunch in Chinatown in Soho (I ate so much Dim sum I thought I was going to explode) and then went to Vinopolis to do some wine tasting. My mum had bought some tickets for my dads birthday and via a long convoluted route that involved much complaining, got some free tickets as well so we got to go too. It was quite an experience. I'm not much of a drinker- I don't know why but it just isn't something that appeals to me all that much, but then it's not something I dislike either. It's kind of a take it or leave it situation and I'm just as likely to take as leave. So wine tasting wasn't ever something I really considered insofar as going out and learning the correct way to assess a wine. The 'tour' consisted of a learning to taste session, tastes of three different kinds of Champagne (none of which where any good according to our popular vote), eight tastes of 'standard' wine some of which where okay. It was amusing to see how between 4 of us we all liked different things. There was one wine from South Africa that I quite liked but everyone else hated. My mum said it tasted like burnt tires whereas I felt it was pleasantly smooth and quite drinkable. We found one really nice red Argentinian wine that we felt might be worth a revisit. We then had 2 tastes of Premium wines. I picked out a sticky German dessert wine for my first one and then had it again as it was so nice. By this point we where getting bored of queuing though. The 'tour' of the wines is more like a scrummage. You have to go to the tables that have the wine on (of which there are 3). Each table has a selection of about 6 different wines from say, 5 countries. You then have to wait to be served a taster of wine which you exchange for one of your prepaid vouchers. Easy enough but the queues where huge and you spent more time waiting for wine than enjoying it. Okay, so going on a Saturday afternoon would always mean that it was going to be busy but I think that they where packing just a few too many people in for it to be a really comfortable and enjoyable experience. Rather than it feeling classy, fun and effortless it ended up being a bit stressy and boring. At least we got a gin cocktail to finish the tour off.
Sunday was a horrid wet and rainy day. The husband had lots of work to be getting on with so I shut him in the back bedroom and went out to do some shopping. I had to do the weekly food shop by myself which is a real mission at our local Tescos on a Sunday. I had much dodging and weaving to do to get through the shop but thankfully found a cash only till which was a real break as it meant that I could walk right up instead of joining the usual mile long queue. I really hate the weekly shop- its such a boring chore so on this occasion I treated myself to some girly shopping at TK Maxx afterwards. I didn't find half the things that I had been looking out for but I did some therapeutic trying on of shoes (all very pretty but none fitted), rummaging through handbags, laughing at the awful tacky tack that seems to end up in the household goods section and browsing the books in hope of a knitting book bargain (they have come up before- it's one of the weirdest places to find knitting books and you only get one for every 10 times you look but its so pleasing when you do find one its worth it). I did come up trumps on 3 Christmas presents though. I got gifts for both grannies and something for my mother-in-law. Awesome. The final part of the day was spent trying to get some knitting done. I say trying as I ended up ripping out nearly everything I did do but I was working on a travelling scarf and couldn't quite figure out what kind of stitch I wanted to use.
The work week has mostly involved moving furniture (we are getting new carpets next week). I worked late on Monday, went to my knitting group Tuesday (I created fugly things with a crochet hook and sparkly yarn) and then made an emergency trip to see my grandmother on Wednesday. That's been the worst part. Wednesday was meant to be my catch up day when I could write my blog, sort my knitting out and get an early night but my Nana has caught a cold which has developed into a chest infection which has developed in pneumonia. The husband and I went over to make sure she got some food and took her tablets. I love my nan and it was nice to spend time with her but she's so ill at the moment that all I can do is worry. I couldn't stop myself from fussing around the house the entire time I was there though it didn't help that I had a constant stream of relatives phoning up to find out how she was. We were exhausted by the time we got home but happy that we had visited. Thursday finally arrived and my husband had to work late and I spent the evening baking a cake for him to take into work. Now that should have been all nice and restful but the kitchen was a bomb site as we hadn't been able to do anything in the house all week so actually it meant a lot of work. He does at least have a pimp cake to take into work today (no competition there of course).
So that's my week for you. Not terribly exciting really though busy busy busy. And it's just going to continue like this for the next few weeks until either I die or Christmas arrives. It's kind of nice though. My swap group for TSG on Ravelry are sending nice messages thanking me for my work and it's real good to catch up with family and friends. Today is going to be especially nice as its the husbands birthday so we have an evening in for the two of us planned with nice food, nice wine and a new wii game to play. Yay!
The arrival of Saturday will herald yet more chaos as we have stupidly busy weekend planned but for now I'm just going to sit and relax for a few minutes. I might even try and find something fun to do at work for the day as a treat for working so hard for the last 7 days. Actually, speaking of treats- I did do one really naughty thing this week (ssssh, don't tell anyone!). I have done nearly all my Christmas shopping this week (that's about £400 on to the credit card then) and just happened to be on Etsy. Complete accident you understand, and I might have accidentally ~hushed voice~ bought a couple of skeins of Angora bunny yarn. I don't know how it happened. I was looking at it and now I own it. I can't wait for it to arrive. It's coming from America so it'll take a little while. I so totally shouldn't have bought it as I no money to spend on myself this month- I don't have enough for presents for everyone else let alone me! but I keep thinking about how lovely and soft its going to be and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Ah, it can help line my happy little place :)
Friday, 28 November 2008
The Light Fantastic
More knitting news for you all- I have, as well as finishing my cthulhu, finished my Pratghan square for this month. This is for book 2 of the series (see name of post) and I think I'm pretty chuffed with how it turned out.
I started off by knitting the blue square background and using intarsia to put the turtle and the sun on it. I then added the detail in by hand and embroidered on the fun bits like the elephants trunk, shell detail, baby turtle, and the discworld. The elephants ear and the turtles flipper I knitted up separately and stitched on afterwards. The variegated yarn edging was necessary to make the square the right size but I picked a colour that was meant to represent the swirl of magic that fills the air after the book has been read. I had to crochet this border on which was a new one for me. I really struggled to get that part completed but thanks to someone nice on Ravelry giving me some ideas it got done. I was ready to scrap the whole things at one point and put it through the paper shredder but I'm glad I stuck with it.
The next book is going to be harder I think. It's Equal Rites and so far I can't fix an image in my mind as to what I think might work. I'm still reading the book though so maybe by the time I've finished it I will have figured something out.
Oh, and it is square by the way- it just got a bit scrunched up in my bag.
I started off by knitting the blue square background and using intarsia to put the turtle and the sun on it. I then added the detail in by hand and embroidered on the fun bits like the elephants trunk, shell detail, baby turtle, and the discworld. The elephants ear and the turtles flipper I knitted up separately and stitched on afterwards. The variegated yarn edging was necessary to make the square the right size but I picked a colour that was meant to represent the swirl of magic that fills the air after the book has been read. I had to crochet this border on which was a new one for me. I really struggled to get that part completed but thanks to someone nice on Ravelry giving me some ideas it got done. I was ready to scrap the whole things at one point and put it through the paper shredder but I'm glad I stuck with it.The next book is going to be harder I think. It's Equal Rites and so far I can't fix an image in my mind as to what I think might work. I'm still reading the book though so maybe by the time I've finished it I will have figured something out.
Oh, and it is square by the way- it just got a bit scrunched up in my bag.
Excitement
So you know how I said that I wouldn't ever do any crocheting until they made a left-handed crochet hook? And how I said I had a secret project that I was going to spill the beans on today. Well, guess what- I've only gone and done some crochet!
Cthulhu: "Mwhahaha! Hear me brief mortals for I am the Harbinger of Doom!"
Everyone else with fingers in ears: "I can't hear you!"
Ain't he just the cutest? I used the Tiny Cthulhu pattern that a most wondrous lady has posted on Ravelry and given all us mere mortals access to. There is also a blog accompanying this that has even more details than you can shake a stick at.
I've been thinking Cthulhu thoughts for a while now. This was mostly set of by the best friend e-mail me a link to Cthulhu slippers. After having delved a little deeper and coming across him in his many incarnations (most recently in Munchkin Cthulhu which is another topic for another rant as Munchkin is one of the best board games ever!) I realised that I just had to have my own. So I set out to find a pattern and after hurumphing my way around the internet for a few months I gave in and decided that crochet really was the only way to go. I enlisted the help of a friend who has been telling me I should learn this skill for ages and set to it. I think she quickly realised that I wasn't kidding when I said I was cak-handed and inept at crochet but she persevered and lo! Cthulhu was born. To say that I am feeling all pleased and smug would be a huge underestimation. I did manage to turn his head inside out before doing the tentacles so he has a weird ridge around his brain cave but I think it only adds to his appeal. And now that I've figured out how to do the pattern there are plans for more. I already have a mark2 cthulhu underway- this time with a spiffy red jumper, but what I really want to do is a giant cuddly sized version that I can squoosh when I'm watching films in an evening. Finding the yarn for him will be the trick I think.
Anyway, I'm off to play with my new toy :)
Cthulhu: "Mwhahaha! Hear me brief mortals for I am the Harbinger of Doom!"Everyone else with fingers in ears: "I can't hear you!"
Ain't he just the cutest? I used the Tiny Cthulhu pattern that a most wondrous lady has posted on Ravelry and given all us mere mortals access to. There is also a blog accompanying this that has even more details than you can shake a stick at.
I've been thinking Cthulhu thoughts for a while now. This was mostly set of by the best friend e-mail me a link to Cthulhu slippers. After having delved a little deeper and coming across him in his many incarnations (most recently in Munchkin Cthulhu which is another topic for another rant as Munchkin is one of the best board games ever!) I realised that I just had to have my own. So I set out to find a pattern and after hurumphing my way around the internet for a few months I gave in and decided that crochet really was the only way to go. I enlisted the help of a friend who has been telling me I should learn this skill for ages and set to it. I think she quickly realised that I wasn't kidding when I said I was cak-handed and inept at crochet but she persevered and lo! Cthulhu was born. To say that I am feeling all pleased and smug would be a huge underestimation. I did manage to turn his head inside out before doing the tentacles so he has a weird ridge around his brain cave but I think it only adds to his appeal. And now that I've figured out how to do the pattern there are plans for more. I already have a mark2 cthulhu underway- this time with a spiffy red jumper, but what I really want to do is a giant cuddly sized version that I can squoosh when I'm watching films in an evening. Finding the yarn for him will be the trick I think.
Anyway, I'm off to play with my new toy :)
Monday, 24 November 2008
Travelling scarf- next installment
Sorry for the extended hiatus people- I have been either lolling around in the doldrums or zipping around like a very busy bee. I do have a number of exciting things to share with y'all now which is good though I'm only going to let you have a little taster today and save the really good stuff until tomorrow. Not that this scarf isn't exciting you understand but I have something really peachy to show you tomorrow- I just have a little bit left to do on it and then I can show you.
Anyway, here is the latest travelling scarf that I have just posted on:
Hmm, the pictures doesn't do it justice at all as it's really lovely in real life. All the colours blend into each other very well and it is so soft in the hands. My section is the top one with the red thread through it. I have taken a close-up photo of it
but as you can see- it's really not
that good as it makes it look like a grey blob. I did do something a little more funky than a plain stocking-stitch block I promise. I used some slip stitches with yarn forwards so that there are little lines of yarn across the block in a staggered pattern. The lady the owns this scarf requested something in black or grey and that we keep it manly. I love how many different shades of grey have been added. It's like a little monochrome rainbow.
As I have done for the other scarves that have passed through my hands I have added in some stitch markers. I thought that I'd put in some really pretty girly ones on this occasion.
In other news I have been working busily away on my secret project. I'm not going to say anything else as it deserves an entire post to itself. I have also been getting on with my next Pratghan square. Well, more sort of despairing over it really but I had a break through about three days ago and I'm feeling much better about it now. I had been threatening to put it through the shredder at one point it was driving me that crazy. I think that that was all linked in to the general meh feeling that has been getting me down for the last week or two. Thankfully I seem to have shaken most of it off now and I'm generally in a much more productive frame of mind. I think that this is partly because I have so much to do now that Christmas is creeping closer and closer. I have three big birthdays to deal with in December- my husbands, my fathers and then my mothers (who has her birthday on Christmas eve), so there's lots of organising of presents, visits and parties to be done. It doesn't help that my husband is absolutely pants at Christmas shopping. I knew that this year was going to be both hectic and expensive so I started my shopping and knitting in October. Those presents that I have yet to buy have at least been thought about. I think I know what I am getting for everyone now except maybe my brother-in-law. Yes, you heard it I'm sorting out my brother-in-laws present. I asked my husband this morning about his lack of concern over all this and he protested that he had done some stuff for Christmas as he had already got a present for his father (he bought two birthday presents by accident so it's been sat on the side for like three months now). I pointed out to him that that was all well and good but it wasn't much use it being on the side in our house when his father lives in Scotland. I think I was a bit mean to him bringing this up so early in the morning whilst he's trying to drive me to work but I had this horrible premonition about the next phase of the plan and just knew that it was going to involve me going out and buying wrapping paper, wrapping said item, writing the card and putting it in the post.
Anyway, enough about Christmas as I'm almost bored of it already. What I really want to enthuse about is the Traveling Scarf group that I am a part of on Ravelry (yeah, like you didn't know that already). Other than having the chance to work on all these fantastic scarves that I've been showing y'all I've also been helping out on the Welcome Wagon Team and taking part in the Big Swap. I got my first swap gift yesterday which I still haven't stopped humming about yet. I really wish I had had the sense to take a picture of it as it is just so beautiful. It's a skein of Indigo Moon fingering weight yarn called 'Sunshine' and its a lovely soft buttercup yellow colour. Oh, it's so scrumptious that every time I think of it I get a little warm feeling of squee inside. Now all I need to do is think of a project for it which is almost as much fun as receiving it. Yay! I am definitely feeling a bit more cheery now.
Anyway, here is the latest travelling scarf that I have just posted on:
but as you can see- it's really not
that good as it makes it look like a grey blob. I did do something a little more funky than a plain stocking-stitch block I promise. I used some slip stitches with yarn forwards so that there are little lines of yarn across the block in a staggered pattern. The lady the owns this scarf requested something in black or grey and that we keep it manly. I love how many different shades of grey have been added. It's like a little monochrome rainbow.As I have done for the other scarves that have passed through my hands I have added in some stitch markers. I thought that I'd put in some really pretty girly ones on this occasion.
In other news I have been working busily away on my secret project. I'm not going to say anything else as it deserves an entire post to itself. I have also been getting on with my next Pratghan square. Well, more sort of despairing over it really but I had a break through about three days ago and I'm feeling much better about it now. I had been threatening to put it through the shredder at one point it was driving me that crazy. I think that that was all linked in to the general meh feeling that has been getting me down for the last week or two. Thankfully I seem to have shaken most of it off now and I'm generally in a much more productive frame of mind. I think that this is partly because I have so much to do now that Christmas is creeping closer and closer. I have three big birthdays to deal with in December- my husbands, my fathers and then my mothers (who has her birthday on Christmas eve), so there's lots of organising of presents, visits and parties to be done. It doesn't help that my husband is absolutely pants at Christmas shopping. I knew that this year was going to be both hectic and expensive so I started my shopping and knitting in October. Those presents that I have yet to buy have at least been thought about. I think I know what I am getting for everyone now except maybe my brother-in-law. Yes, you heard it I'm sorting out my brother-in-laws present. I asked my husband this morning about his lack of concern over all this and he protested that he had done some stuff for Christmas as he had already got a present for his father (he bought two birthday presents by accident so it's been sat on the side for like three months now). I pointed out to him that that was all well and good but it wasn't much use it being on the side in our house when his father lives in Scotland. I think I was a bit mean to him bringing this up so early in the morning whilst he's trying to drive me to work but I had this horrible premonition about the next phase of the plan and just knew that it was going to involve me going out and buying wrapping paper, wrapping said item, writing the card and putting it in the post.
Anyway, enough about Christmas as I'm almost bored of it already. What I really want to enthuse about is the Traveling Scarf group that I am a part of on Ravelry (yeah, like you didn't know that already). Other than having the chance to work on all these fantastic scarves that I've been showing y'all I've also been helping out on the Welcome Wagon Team and taking part in the Big Swap. I got my first swap gift yesterday which I still haven't stopped humming about yet. I really wish I had had the sense to take a picture of it as it is just so beautiful. It's a skein of Indigo Moon fingering weight yarn called 'Sunshine' and its a lovely soft buttercup yellow colour. Oh, it's so scrumptious that every time I think of it I get a little warm feeling of squee inside. Now all I need to do is think of a project for it which is almost as much fun as receiving it. Yay! I am definitely feeling a bit more cheery now.
Monday, 17 November 2008
Not quite there yet
Well, I'm almost back to normal. I still have that distracted feeling that is preventing me from really getting on with anything but it's down to fits and starts now rather than a full-time experience. I think it helped that we had friends over for the weekend which distracted me from the meh and after a few hours I was starting to get itchy fingers. I couldn't work it out at first but suddenly it struck me- I wanted to knit. Normally I sit and knit when we have friends over as I'm more than capable of knitting and talking at the same time now after many hours of practice but on this occasion I just hadn't been interested enough to touch it. Once I realised though that the mojo might be sparking a bit I decided that I would deliberately ignore it. I didn't want no bitty bit of mojo- I wanted the whole thing back! So I sat and ignored the feeling and it was almost getting to be too much and then our friends slapped down the trump card and produced the new Mario Kart for the Wii. This then took up several hours as we raced our way around mushroom kingdoms. I won three trophies for coming in first- once just among our little group and twice for winning outright overall mwhahahaha. After this glorious triumph I picked up my needles and started to knit up a storm. I worked on the scarf that I am making for a friend from knitting group and then tackled the next square for my Pratghan. I manged to intarsia a passable discworld, elephant (not sure which one of the four that it will be) and Great A'Tuin all floating around through space. Only problem is that the square is a bit small so I am going to have to pick up some stitches and knit a bit more around the edge. Better that than the other way around though- I can add as many stitches as I need but there's no way to take them back off again. I filled in a whole afternoon with this little diversion and finished it off just in time for bed. The positive feeling of achievement was just delightful and I think it's the first time all week that I felt proud of something that I had done so it was time well spent me thinks.
Two other good things happened over the weekend (and not just that we had lovely guests over). The first thing is that I got my new winter coat on Friday. It is my Christmas present from my in-laws so it's a bit early but I was cold and the coat is just beautiful so I wasn't going to put it away for a month and half. It is a red wool coat. A wonderful fire engine red knee-length warm as toast wool coat. It has a belt with a big buckle round the waist, buttons to do it up and a high collar that can be worn either flat like a normal coat collar or done up so you look like Wilfrid from the Bash Street Kids (only more pretty). I love it. I didn't expect to- I have been searching for a red coat for ages but with extra vigour since the in-laws said that they would get it for me as a Christmas present. I have wanted one ever since I saw one in Paris when I was on honeymoon. I have regretted not buying it ever since and when searching for this one it was the idea I had in my head for how the coat should look. This led to much searching through shops and on the Internet. Nothing quite matched up until I decided to stop looking for a coat like that one and just see what they had in the shops. A week later I own a wonderful coat that I am so so happy with. Just goes to show really...
The second thing that happened was that all the potential problems that I might have had with my swap group on Ravelry have just melted away. No need to stress there then so I am very glad that I decided not to worry. This has left me free to get on with sorting out my first swap gift (which is now complete and oh, how I would love to show you a picture of it as it is just so pretty), my Pratghan square on which you have already been up dated and finishing off the two remaining Christmas presents that are to be done. I just need to keep the mojo revved and hopefully all will be well.
Two other good things happened over the weekend (and not just that we had lovely guests over). The first thing is that I got my new winter coat on Friday. It is my Christmas present from my in-laws so it's a bit early but I was cold and the coat is just beautiful so I wasn't going to put it away for a month and half. It is a red wool coat. A wonderful fire engine red knee-length warm as toast wool coat. It has a belt with a big buckle round the waist, buttons to do it up and a high collar that can be worn either flat like a normal coat collar or done up so you look like Wilfrid from the Bash Street Kids (only more pretty). I love it. I didn't expect to- I have been searching for a red coat for ages but with extra vigour since the in-laws said that they would get it for me as a Christmas present. I have wanted one ever since I saw one in Paris when I was on honeymoon. I have regretted not buying it ever since and when searching for this one it was the idea I had in my head for how the coat should look. This led to much searching through shops and on the Internet. Nothing quite matched up until I decided to stop looking for a coat like that one and just see what they had in the shops. A week later I own a wonderful coat that I am so so happy with. Just goes to show really...
The second thing that happened was that all the potential problems that I might have had with my swap group on Ravelry have just melted away. No need to stress there then so I am very glad that I decided not to worry. This has left me free to get on with sorting out my first swap gift (which is now complete and oh, how I would love to show you a picture of it as it is just so pretty), my Pratghan square on which you have already been up dated and finishing off the two remaining Christmas presents that are to be done. I just need to keep the mojo revved and hopefully all will be well.
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