Tuesday, October 27, 2015

WIP Wednesday: Stop the Presses Edition

About 4pm last Friday, my energy started to flag. I still had work to do so instead of turning off my computer and having a nice cold glass of wine as I normally would on a Friday afternoon, I flicked over to Ravelry. I am so very glad I did, because as I was browsing through my friends patterns, I saw It. You know, It - that one pattern that you were meant to make. That one pattern that you cannot imagine living a knitting life without have made. The One True Pattern.



!!!!

I was at the wool store literally the minute it opened the next day. I am fairly certain the woman working at the LYS thought I was crazy ("they're jumpers for what, exactly...?") but I did not care. I bought enough wool to make about 12...



.. and started straightaway.


With Lucy's help, of course.

It was such a fun pattern to knit! I carried it around with me everywhere for the next few days so I could knit a round whenever I had time (honestly, not very often. It's a lot more time-consuming doing a fair isle row with the two yarns and having to check the pattern than it is knitting my standard stockinette sock).


Four days later, it is done!



I took the photo in direct sunlight so it's not super great and you can see the seam in the middle where the pattern moves to the next row but trust me - it's delightful. I love it! I have already started the second one and I can't see me stopping any time soon.


Christmas kitsch forever!!

On an unrelated note, I have found my summer drink. It's called a Campari spritz and it is delicious, refreshing and light enough to mean I can still safely drive after having one. In short, it is the perfect party season cocktail.


I am so set for Christmas :)













Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Spring is well and truly sprung

My neighbour's blueberry hedge has started to grow berries.



These birds of paradise look kind of like a flock of emus.



These cuttings are prettying up my kitchen and (maybe) making new pretty plants at the same time.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

WIP Wednesday: Fair Isle Edition

On Sunday evening I bundled up all of my thesis to date and sent it to my supervisor for review. The file was so big I couldn't send it via email! I have some small stuff to work on but I can't do much until I get her feedback so this week I've been in study stasis. Which has resulted in...

BOOM! Fair isle everywhere.

First up, the Fair Isle Socks from Toe Up Socks for Every Body*.


I did one sock with just variegated yarn as a contrast and one with both solid and variegated. Now I can't decide which one I like best.

I tried moving them around but that didn't help.


I stood them up...no help whatsoever.


In the end I posted a plea to Instagram and the designer herself responded, preferring the one with two colours. I agreed yesterday, but this morning I looked at them again and I am just not sure.

While I was making up my mind (am making up my mind...) I cast on the Eesti Hiking Socks from Favorite Knits. I'm using Bendigo Woollen Mills 8 ply Luxury in Lake and Ghost. I had forgotten how quickly thick socks knit up - this felt like it happened in an instant. Maybe these could be another pair of Christmas socks...


I almost like it better when it's flipped inside out.

It turns out that when I am not channelling all of my energy into my thesis then I have a lot of energy left over for other projects and my preferred way of using up this energy is knitting. Knitting is the best :)

Lucy has no extra energy:



The poor thing is completely pooped from lying in the sun all day. It's a hard knock life for some, I tell you.

*A really excellent book for those who like their socks spicy. I love it.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

FO Friday: The Knit-Purl Blanket (2014 FO #13)

I am back! But only briefly, so please don't tell my supervisor I stepped away from my thesis for a bit. This is our little secret.

The last few weeks have been pretty crazy, uni-wise. I have put on without exaggeration 1.5kg from spending so much time sitting on my arse (both working and eating chocolate). I've been trying to take breaks and go to the park and the beach but the truth is that the final part of any research project requires a bit of slogging to get to the end and there's no just no way it can be avoided. Fortunately, slogging away is an activity that goes remarkably well with stockinette stitch, which means lots and lots of finished projects.


For example, this baby blanket is finished TWO MONTHS before the baby is due. This is an event that surely has never happened in the history of knitting baby blankets before.


Where's the tension? Where's the desperate race to finish it before the mother leaves hospital? 


The pattern was simple - I cast on 100 stitches and then knit it until it felt big enough. I then picked up stitches all the way around and knit the border in garter stitch until I felt it was big enough, then I cast off (yarn is Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 8ply in Citrus, Frost and Ghost. I used maybe half a ball of the Frost and Citrus and about 160g of Ghost. There are lots of leftovers).


It felt seriously weird not to be weaving in ends on the way to meeting the baby for the first time.


Of course, Lucy helped me block the blanket.


She is going to be so annoyed when she realises the blanket is not actually for her.

Have a great weekend, everyone!