Musings

Quick updates!

I finished the cardi this morning (Monday), after starting it on Thursday. If I could finish all my projects this quickly, I wouldn't have a stash! Here it is, unblocked.

It would actually have been quicker, but I had a hectic weekend. SnB was Saturday afternoon, and Em had a dance comp on Sunday. Both of which I always think will give me plenty of knitting time, but both of which fail me every time.

I had an unpleasant experience at SnB. I was talking about Twinkie to a friend, and she was asking if Twinkie had Angora in her. I explained that we didn't really know, but that she'd been sold to us as a dwarf rabbit, but at 5kg, she obviously wasn't a dwarf.

Someone I don't even know, who wasn't even involved in the conversation butted in with "That's eatin' weight!" and smacked her lips at me.

I was dumbfounded. I just grabbed my stuff and moved to the other end of the room where I fumed for a little while. Shelley, if you're reading, I'm sorry I walked away mid-conversation, but I was angry. Would a person talk about eating someone's pet cat or dog?!? Of course not, so why is it acceptable to tell me you'd like to eat my pet bunny?

Simply, it's not. It's rude, and it's enough to piss me off badly, and have me never, ever talk to you again.

In other (happier) musings, I'd like to ask a favour of a friendly US knitter. Knitpicks for whatever reason, refuses to ship to Australia. The cite reasons such as mail unreliability, but we all know that's crap. Personally, I'm thinking it's laziness, but whatever.

I'm in love with Autumn Rose. I want the kit in that colourway, and the pattern book. When I discussed it with Ailsa at SnB on Saturday, she decided she'd like to knit it too. In total, we're talking about maybe 25 balls of yarn and a book.

So we need a friendly US resident who'd let us have the parcel shipped to them, and who would then send it on to me. I'll gladly pay you for the postage via cash funded paypal, and there may even be a small thank you gift of some description involved. One of the colours is out of stock until October 10, so we'd be ordering in two weeks or so.

Anyone? Pretty please?

Random Knits

I also finished my Yarntini socks earlier in the week.

The colour is wrong, wrong, wrong. They're actually much brighter in person, and I love them!

I also have a decent amount of yarn left over, so if I can find a complimentary colour for toes and heels, I may be able to manage another pair.

This means that I finished two pairs of socks in September, yay me! However, I didn't let that stop me casting on for the next pair.

Marina Piccola in Fleece Artist Basic Socks yarn. While the socks are nice, I wanted to use this picture to show off some of my recent etsy purchases.

I love my Sunnyboy bag! (I actually have two!) It's the perfect size for my sock knitting, and I love the knitting related fabric it's made from. I got this from my friend Quilting Mick's etsy store, Buttontree Lane.

And the other item is my super cute new DPN holders. Here's a close up.

I got these from Compulsive Crafter on etsy, and I got a little pair of pigs too, that I forgot to take a picture of. (And she's keeping an eye out for Polar Bears for me, too!)

I love these little finds.

I did cast on something other than the socks, too. I've had some Blue Sky Alpacas Sport weight in the stash since we visited the US, and it's divine. I finally decided what to make with it, and yesterday I cast on. I'm making the Cropped Cardigan by Amy O'Neill Houck, from Blue Sky.

I cast on at lunch time yesterday.

By midnight last night when I went to bed, this is where I was up to.

(First picture is more accurate for colour)

Talk about speedy knitting! If I could knit everything this quickly, I wouldn't even have a stash! Mind you, I did have some difficulty wielding the 7mm needles at first. Quite a bit different to 2mm sock needles, and 3mm lace needles!

Magic Carpet Ride

I finally pulled my finger out and finished the Magic Carpet Ride.

Specs:
Pattern: Magic Carpet Ride(Ravelry Link) by Susan Pandorf. (Purchased as a kit from The Woolen Rabbit)
Yarn: The Woolen Rabbit Laceweight Merino in Moroccan Spice
Needles: 3mm Addi Lace
Extras: Seed Beads purchased from eBay. I have no idea what the colour is called, but they're a rainbowish light Topaz.
I started this scarf on June 24ish, and finished it a few days ago, so around 3 months total, but it sat, ignored, for quite a bit of that time. I just didn't have the lace mojo going on.

A close up of the beads.

But the colour isn't great. This picture is much better in terms of colour.

And I'm very proud of my grafting!

See the line of plain triangles across the middle? That's where it was grafted. I think that's the best grafting I've done yet.
I still don't think I'll ever be fond of grafting in general, though.

Twinkie is unimpressed.

And so Snow White headed off to the ball...

And so Snow White headed off to the ball.

(The ball that was really a party for students of her dance school. So she'll find plenty of vertically challenged little people, but Prince Charming might be a harder task!)

Artistic Interpretation

So I've been working on my Magic Carpet Ride scarf in fits and starts lately, but much more since I finished Em's shorty and the Firestarters.

I'm about two thirds of the way up the second half.

Looking pretty good, huh?

So last night, I decided to have a bit of a read of the pattern. And discovered that I had stuffed up. Or done an Artistic Interpretation, you decide. (Personally, I'm going with Artistic Interpretation!)

See these diamonds?

They aren't right. Well, there's too many of them, anyway.
You get the diamonds by working one chart, then repeating the same chart, but offset by 4 stitches. After I did that four times, I was supposed to stop offsetting the chart, and work it all in a row again, getting triangles instead of diamonds.

I just didn't read the pattern properly the first time around. However, after looking at it all last night and today, I don't think it's bothering me enough to go back and redo it. I actually had no idea at all that mine wasn't right until I read the pattern last night and then went and looked at some of the finished ones on Ravelry.

I do like the triangles on the others, just not enough to rip out and redo 80 rows of lace!

Shetland Shorty in Spring

I am very pleased to let you all know that today it was finally warm enough for a t-shirt. It was a lovely Spring day! Twinkie frolicked outside all day, and while I would have loved to have joined her, I was chained to the sewing machine by that evil princess Snow White. Or something. (That big beautiful white collar? It's totally kicking my butt.)

However, we did take advantage of another nice day earlier in the week and finally took a picture of the Shetland Shorty in action.

Not only does she look pretty happy with it, I'm pleased to say that she's actually worn it twice in the week since I finished it!
I think this one can be dubbed a winner.

Specs:
Pattern: Shetland Shorty by Gudrun Johnston from Knitty, Summer 2008.
Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr in Plum held double, around 70g total.
Needles: 3mm and 3.25mm Knitpicks Nickel fixed circulars.
Mods: I was going to say none, but then I remembered the beads,

You can't see them in the picture, but I added some tiny seed beads in the lace work. Every fourth row, I added a bead roughly every 3rd pattern repeat or so. They're not obvious, but they add a nice little sparkle to the top, and Em is all about the bling!

Em looks tired, doesn't she? That picture was taken on Wednesday afternoon, when she was still recovering from a slumber party she went to on Saturday night. Why are they called slumber parties? The last thing anyone does is slumber!

Firestarters

So, I finished the Firestarters.
They look gorgeous!

However, they're h-u-g-e. Gigantic.

I have no idea what happened. I used Dream In Color Smooshy sock, and 2.25mm needles and followed the pattern to the letter.
They're only 60sts around.
For myself, I usually cast on 64sts, but I've got pretty broad feet. These were intended to be a gift for someone with smaller feet than mine, and they're too big even for me.
Smooshy must grow when blocked, it's all I can think of.

Admittedly, I like my socks nice and tight, but these are just too loose. Like move around on your feet when you wear them loose.

Back to the drawing board.

I did start the next pair in the sock parade.

Appletini socks!

These ones are all mine, no matter how much Em pouts. The yarn is the elusive Yarntini Self Striping (Sportweight) in the Appletini colour way. I'm in love with these. (So is Em) I scored the yarn in a Ravelry destash. Lucky me!

And speaking of Ravelry destashes, I managed to nab some Grignasco Tango from a lovely WA Raveler.

It's a gorgeous blue-green colour that I wanted for a Tangled Yoke Cardigan. However, there was only 6 balls, and I needed 7. So yesterday when it arrived, I called The Wool Inn to see if they had any in stock.

Not only did they have it in stock, they had the exact same dye lot. Sometimes things are just meant to be.

In sewing news, the Princesses are done and waiting to be delivered. Here's a few of them.

The Professors are almost done. To celebrate, Twinkie donned a party hat.

Then Emily came home and announced that she was going to a costume party. In two weeks. And she'd like to go as Snow White.

Every time I think there's an end to the sewing.....

Still AWOL

Still here, but not really here. Surrounded by fabric. At least Twinkie enjoys this time of year. She like sit when I'm sitting at the table all day sewing. She sits under the table with me, or sits on my feet, nudging me occasionally when I'm not paying her enough attention!

So, the sewing is still getting in the way of the knitting, but I've managed a row or ten here and there! I finished the Shetland Shorty.

Finished, but unblocked. It's tiny! Just to show you how small it is, here it is with a 100g skein of sock yarn.

It has since been blocked, and hopefully on the weekend I'll get a picture of Em wearing it.

The Firestarters are also coming along nicely.

These are my September socks, and they're almost done already, hooray!

The weather still isn't co-operating. Monday morning, September 1, first day of Spring was beautiful. Beautiful. I woke up, and it was sunny and warm and just gorgeous. Tuesday? More of the same. Spring had arrived, bang on time. I was happy, felt my spirits lifting immediately.

Wednesday? Blah. And it's still gray.

And wet.

I think I'll just sit here and cuddle my bunny.