Delays and confumbuments

The knitting has slowed down a little, cos I had to read the Harry Potter book. But thankfully that only took me until about 3pm on Sunday, so I have my normal life back again! Whether or not that's a good thing remains to be seen...

I worked on the Jaynes quite a bit last night. Both the hats themselves are finished, and the first one has 1 1/2 earflaps at the moment. The excitement is building! I think I'll be almost as excited to give them to their recipients as they will be to receive them!

Next, I want to work on finishing Ami Chihuahua and the Sachets (both Fruit and Square). I figure if I get all the nasty stuffing and such out of the way in one hit, I'll feel better about it. Plus, there'll be the pleasure of working with my essential oils to scent them. I haven't done anything with them for so long. I'm eyeing off a bath bomb making kit on Ebay as we speak!

I bought some wool to make an Amigurumi Cat when I was at Lincraft the other week, but now I'm thinking of making an owl instead. Cause I bought my Harry Potter at Borders, and you are supposed to get a free stuffed owl, but the lady wrote "no owl" on my collection slip, and the handwriting was so bad and I was so bored, that I didn't realise til I was paying for the book. So I didn't query it, because I was just happy to have the book, AND to get the adult version and not the fugly, Pratchett-style kids version. But I'm not sure if my personal Potter-mania will last long enough to carry me through a whole project.

No pictures today as I'm at work, but here's something:

Your Score: Sad Cookie Cat

60% Affectionate, 45% Excitable, 73% Hungry

You are the classic Shakespearian tragedy of the lolcat universe. The sad story of a baking a cookie, succumbing to gluttony, and in turn consuming the very cookie that was to be offered. Bad grammar ensues.

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P.S. I've decided to call acrylic Muggle Wool from now on.

Knittin' Time

Things are coming along nicely. Which is quite surprising considering how much full-time work cuts into your crafting time. *sighs*

I finished the main part of the first Jayne on the weekend, so I started the second one. I always do it when I have to make two of something. It cuts down on the Second Sock Syndrome. The hats are coming along so quickly though! I'm really happy with them so far:

Jayne 1

Jayne 2
Sorry, I just couldn't resist trying them on!
I'd say if all goes to plan, they'll be finished by the end of this week! Yay!

I also started my amigurumi journey last week. I decided to start with the Ami Chihuahua that I found on Ravelry:

Puppy Guts
As of tonight, I've finished the head, body ears and legs. I still have the tail and muzzle applique to go. And the optional bandanna around the neck. To be honest, I wish I'd chosen something a bit simpler for my first one. All the little legs etc are a bit fiddly to make, and the head is a different shape to the picture. But as Boy says, it'll probably take more of a proper shape when it's stuffed (I hope!). Or else it'll just be stuffed! E-heh-heh Bad pun, excuse me! I don't know what came over me.

The Ami Snake pattern is looking really good to me right about now though...

Last but not least ... I finished the Boy scarf tonight!!!:

What a handsome neck!
Yes, that's right, poor Boy no longer has to go around with a freezing cold neck, in the coldest winter since it was last really cold. He seems to like it, and I really like it too. The only disappointment is that I used a wavy cable pattern that I made up. But it's difficult to make out the pattern with the yarn I used, but it's so lovely and squooshy and warm that it makes up for that.

I am freaking out a bit, cause when I put things on Ravelry, people seem to see them. I know it's supposed to be a knitting "community", but I'm the original Knitting Hermit, and I'm not used to other people taking an interest in or even noticing what I do craft-wise. I mention this because I entered the wavy cable pattern for the Boy Scarf in as an original pattern made up by me. A few days later, one of the administrators of the site sent me a message asking if they could use my photo of the Boy Scarf to illustrate it! As if it was actually good or something! I was very flattered, but I was also a bit freaked out. I never thought of myself as a designer, I just make things up as I go along because it's easier and quicker for me than trying to figure out a pattern most of the time. *shrugs* That's just how I work. To me it doesn't deserve to be singled out on a website. I'm just lil ole me! Barely Competent, like it says!

*tries to hide behind a bush*

Drug-Induced Purchasing

Oops. I went to Lincraft and I bought some stuff. Quite a lot of wool. I'm a bit ashamed. Here I am hiding behind it.

Yeah, quite a bit. BUT! (There was always gonna be one of those!) All of it was on sale. Some of it was even half price! And some of it I needed to make specific projects. Well, about a third of it, actually. And the rest I chose with an idea in mind of the kinds of things I can make in the future. i.e. scarves. Besides, I just really wanted to buy some pretty yarn for once!

It's so purrtty!
It took me all evening to list them on Ravelry! But I got there in the end. I'm still working on entering the stuff in my fancy bag. It takes a while when you have such a large stash...
I want to use the orange in the middle there to make an amigurumi cat. I got the lovely red 100% wool in the top left-hand corner to make the Jayne Hats with. (None of your crappy acrylic here!)

Speaking of the Jayne Hats, I got a bit excited and cast right on for the first one as soon as I had finished with Ravelry, and spent most of Saturday night and Sunday morning working on it (yes, I totally have a life!) I got about half-way into the yellow section when I realised I wouldn't have enough yellow to make both.
Yes, it happened again.
I didn't buy enough yarn.
What kind of stupid idiot am I?? If I had only thought about it for 2 seconds, I would have realised that the yellow section is much bigger than the orange section, and so therefore I would need more yarn! This is why you shouldn't go wool-shopping when you have the flu! D'oh!! Double triple quadruple D'oh!!

Thankfully though, this time I chose a yarn that's easily available from at least two different sources that I know of. I just won't be able to get there until next weekend. But at least I can finish the first hat and start the second one in the meantime. It won't be too long!

Pictures and Illness

Indeed, I did finish my handwarmers on Thursday night, and I wore them to work yesterday, and they kept my hands wonderfully warm and toasty. Just as well, because I came down with the Ubiquitous Lurgy™ yesterday. I swear, I felt like I was in an infectious diseases ward, not an office! The cough, cough, nose-blow, splatter, wheeze, chesty cough, sniff chorus rang out all day long. It was pretty disgusting.

So anyway, here are some pictures of them!:

Hip-hop hands.

Dove handsTaking these photos has made me realise that it's really hard to take photos of your own hands with no-one else at home to help you! Especially when you don't want any other part of yourself in the picture because you have the flu and you feel like utter crap. Anyhoo.

When I got well into the second one, I found an imperfection in the wool, which seemed to be some green threads tangled around the yarn that were impossible to get off. I was pretty annoyed at that, but I kept going anyway. Thankfully though, on the finished handwarmer, it's on the inside of the hand, so I won't normally see it:

Crappy-arse yarn.Overall, I'm mostly very happy with them. The only thing I'm disappointed at is the decrease and increase shaping at the wrist looks very jagged and isn't smooth. I'm sure there's a way of avoiding that, but I didn't realise how it would look until after I put them on, and by then it was far too late. I'd rather wear them like that than not wear them though!

Now, I have been very naughty, and I have started another project, even though I was already on my limit of 12. It's the Tangerine and Lemon Sachets from Jean Greenhowe's Bazaar Knits:

They look a little squished cause they're not stuffed yet. I have a hug bag of stuffing in my cupbboard, so it's just a matter of being bothered. I have no idea why I'm making these. I don't really need sachets, though it's nice to have them. I guess I'm just sick of making projects that take For. Ever. I just want a little bit of instant gratification. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?
To make up for it, I've told myself that I won't start my first amigurumi until they're finished. I think I might make a big, squishy magical cat that I can take with me when I stand in line for hours like a total dork* to buy the last Harry Potter book. Yes, I finally bit the bullet and pre-ordered it from Borders yesterday. I put it down to the flu-induced delerium.

I'm also well into my 3rd AIDS Baby Vest:

I made a pact with myself a while back that I would make 5 vests, and that would just about fulfill my charity knitting obligations as I see them for this year. I always make sure I fit in a little vest knitting every week, so I can keep telling myself I'm a good girl. Right? ;) Although, I do have to admit that I'm using some lovely bamboo needles to make them with, so there's just a little bit of indulgence there.

Now, I'm off to Lincraft. They are having a huge sale, but the main reason I'm going is that I still need to get the wool for Emilie's Jayne hats. Plus I need a crochet hook and some goggly eyes for my amigurumi. Plus some card stock for my ACEOs. Perhaps I shoud make myself a list so that I don't just buy one of everything in the store in my delirious state.

*wanders off aimlessly*

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* Please don't anyone be offended by the 'total dork' comment! I consider myself to be a total dork for doing this, not anyone else. I have a thing against doing what everyone else is doing. It's just me.

P.S. They're finished now!!

Pics tomorrow. Sorry.

Finishing... and Starting

I only have 2 threads to weave in, and my Work Warmers will be finished! I'm too tired to be very excited though. I'll be excited tomorrow when I wear them for the first time. (Actually, I am a little excited, despite myself!)

I decided to take the plunge yesterday and overhaul the look of my blog. That's why (if you're reading it independently and not part of a list) you'll see that everything is blue now instead of pink, and looks much easier on the eye. I've also FINALLY found out how to add percentage bars to my blog!! Check it out!! ------------------->

Thanks so much to Yarn Tomato (link on the side there) for this blogging miracle! Also thanks to Laura (lmr743), whose blog I first saw it on. (Hi, by the way, and thanks for being my friend!)

I have also put a Flickr badge on there, but it doesn't seem to be working. I'll have to figure out what's wrong.

I think my brain is reacting to working full-time for the first time ever by just going totally insane creatively. I've had more ideas in the last week than I have in years. I started a tangerine-shaped sachet yesterday. I've suddenly discovered amigurumi toys and I'm desperate to start my first one.

And cause I'm too lazy to upload any pictures, here's a random one I downloaded from google:

Yes, it's a knitted ham sandwich!

Good night, and good luck.