Collection

Yes, I collect yarn. In fact, I seem to do a whole lot more collecting than knitting of yarn lately. But to reassure a few people (you know who you are!) my Wollmeise collection is not as large as rumoured.

(By request, the colours are -
Row 1, from top - Tutu Medium (100%), Tutu Light (Twin), 2 x Magnolie Light (100%), Magnolie Light (Twin), Dornroschen (Twin), 3 x Rosenrot (Twin), 1 x Vamp (Twin)
Row 2, from top - 3 x Fliederbusch (100%), Amethyst Light (Twin), Lila Lludmilla (100%), Ballerina (Twin), Turkis (Twin), Spina Di Pesce (Twin), 2 x Hortensie (Twin)
Row 3, from top - Ruby Thursday (Lace), Ballerina (Lace), Vergißmeinnicht (Lace), Schwarz (Lace), Schwarz (100%), Lowenzahn (100%), and Pfefferminz Prinz (100%)

But it might be time to stop collecting until I actually knit some more of it. (and I don't think anyone will be surprised by the colour representations!)

Sewing mojo

It's been a pretty eventful week this week at Casa del Random. Not in a good way! When things around here go boom, they usually go *!*!*BOOM*!*!* And they did. All sorts of things happened, but I'm only going to mention the relevant ones here.

The most minor of these annoyances is my being computerless. I'm now reduced to my iPhone, and Emily's laptop when she isn't home. Being computerless, and lacking a knit mojo, my sewing mojo came back into my life with bells on. And it was dandy!

I got creative! There's new things in the shop! I've had some ideas rattling around in my head for a little while, and this week they came to fruition. First up, DPN rolls.

I find it hard to keep my double points together. I do have a lovely DPN roll that a friend gave me a few years back, but I have too many needles for it. So I whipped up this little cutie. The top flap keeps the needles in place, and I can roll it up and toss it into my knitting bag without worrying about losing my needles.

I had a dig through the fabric stash, and right now in the shop you can find rolls in pink cupcakes and lilac baby deer!

And there's something else, something I'm really excited about! But it's not in the shop yet.

It's an interchangeable needle set holder! There's a nice roomy zippered pocket behind the needle tips, for your cables and assorted bits and pieces. I'm so pleased with it.

But it's not in the shop yet for a very good reason. Whie I had the sewing mojo in a big way, my overlocker didn't want to join the party. It's off to be serviced.

So now I'm sans laptop and overlocker. I think the universe is trying to convince me to knit. So I did.

Oblique now has two fronts in addition to a back.

I'd rather be sewing! Once the overlocker is back, there'll be more colours in the needle rolls in the shop, and some interchangeable holders, too. Unless the knit mojo returns.

Let's hope this week is better.

If you see my mojo...

So, has anyone seen my knitting mojo? Nope, me either.

That's not to say that I've not been doing any knitting at all. I have, I just can't seem to whip up any enthusiasm for it right now., so it's going more slowly than usual.

Oblique has seen some action. I finished the back, and started the fronts.

I think this is what might be sapping my knitting enthusiasm. I don't know why, though. I like the cardi, I like the colour. It might be because it's such a heavy weight yarn. I'm not really a fan of working with heavy yarns, and it's starting to get warmer here, so I doubt this will see any wear this year.

The logical thing would be to put it down and start something new, right? I'm afraid to do that. Generally, once I put something down, it never sees the light of day again. So I'm slogging away on it, slowly.
It's not really portable, so I've also started a smaller project.

Pink socks! The pattern is the Akomeogi socks, and the yarn is Wendy "Happy" which the lovely DrK gave me for my birthday. I was going to knit plain ribbed socks with it, because the stripes don't often work with a pattern, but then I saw this pattern, and knew it was meant to be!

In other news, the screen on my laptop died over the weekend. So it's going off for repairs, and I'll have less computer access than usual. Maybe I'll get more knittiing done! (That may also have something to do with lack of access to "Plants vs Zombies" ;)

On the other hand...

And on the other hand, I finished something that I really like!

My blue blouse is done! Not only that, but it's been worn several times already. I.Love.It.

Specs:
Pattern: Sage Blouse by yellowcosmo (free Ravelry download!)
Yarn: Cleckheaton Country Silk, 10 Skeins in colourway 12 (Blue), won at Knit Camp!
Needles: 3.25 and 3.75mm Knitpicks Options

Mods: Just a few little ones. A few people have commented that the neckline is a bit wide, so I did the first few garter rows on a smaller needles, which did the trick nicely. Apart from that, I fiddled around with the sleeve cuff decreases a little bit, because when I followed the pattern directions as written, they didn't gather quite as much as the picture. That was about it for mods, I think.

(Photos by knitabulous again!) Overall, I'm really happy with it. Free pattern, prize yarn, great result - what's not to like?!?
The pattern is relatively easy, worked in one piece from the neck down. The pattern can get a bit tricky when you're trying to incorporate the increases, but nothing too dramatic.

And with my absentee blogging, I'm managing to make it look like all I do is finish things. Not true, I promise. I've started Oblique from Knitty.

And already run into a hitch. I badly underestimnated the yarn I'd need. I picked up 3 x 200g balls of Rustic 12ply from Bendigo Woollen Mills when we went to Bendigo a while back
Yesterday I finished the first ball before I'd reached the raglan shaping on the back. I placed an emergency call to them yesterday and ordered two more balls. Hopefully they can match the dyelot!