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.

Christmas wine bottle sweaters by Deborah Tomasello.

!!!!

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 :)

FO Friday: Lotsa socks! (2014 FOs 13-16)

I have not been blogging very much recently. This is not because I haven't been knitting or doing things; rather, it's because I am completely infatuated with Instagram. It's fantastic - it's made up of beautifully composed snapshots of people's lives. I know one of the biggest criticisms of Instagram is that by presenting only beautiful, happy things it is creating an unrealistic idea of how great other people's lives are. I can see why that would be a problem, and Instagram certainly isn't for everyone, but I know that no-one's life is perfect. However, if I wanted to hear people bitching about their boss or car or real estate agent, then I'd sign up for Facebook, that amazing medium of self-involvement and tedium. I read the newspaper, I follow current affairs and I know how shitty stuff can be. Yesterday's awful heartbreaking news about Phillip Hughes illustrated how random and tragic life can be. That's why I love Instagram so much - the representations of happy, fun and pretty things temper the harsh reality of everyday life.

Instagram love session over, here is the picture I posted on Instagram yesterday that I figured I should blog for my FO Friday. These are all of the socks I have knitted for Christmas presents so for. It's a Christmas miracle that they are all ready one month early! From left to right, they are Bendigo Woollen Mills wool-nylon sock yarn in Burgundy; spiralled Patonyle (shades blue and 4303), Opal Rainforest in 1613 and Cleckheato Merino Bambino in 2202. All stocking stitch with a flap and gusset heel and all individually shaped for their recipient. I hope the giftees like wearing these socks as much as I liked making them.

I have a ton more finished projects to share before the end of the year, so I will definitely be hanging out on the blog a bit more over the next month.

Until then, anon :)

WIP Wednesday: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Today's WIP Wednesday is brought to you by the spirit of Christmas. Buy being the operative word, because this year I have decided that every time someone I know behaves obnoxiously because of Christmas, I am buying myself a Christmas present.

My first gift was a set of fancy schmancy KnitPro Karbonz needles that were purchased when I was accused of hiding a big secret because the present I wanted to buy a certain person was so nice that I must be feeling guilty about something. *sigh* The packet says they are made out of high-tech carbon fibre, "one of the most versatile material used in manufacture of the new generation aircrafts, spaceships, racing cars etc.!!" I am excited about knitting with the same material that spaceships are made of; I am also thinking about applying to Knit Pro as a proofreader.

My second gift was a ball of Regia Design Line Hand-dye Effect by Kaffee Fassett. This was purchased after the Christmas dinner that has been organised since July was moved to Christmas lunch, meaning that instead of having lunch at one place and dinner at another, I now have to choose between two lunches. I just cannot, really.

I have no excuse for giving myself the third gift except for that I really wanted it: an hour outside in the sun hanging with Lucy playing with my new needles and wool. 

Despite my bitching and moaning, all is right with the world. I am a very lucky person :)