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.

Stuff It!

On Tuesday, I embarked on a stuffing odyssey!

First, I stuffed my fruits sachets:

A lemon (lemon-scented), an orange (mandarin-scented) and a lime (bergamot-scented). Well, I had to make do with what I had, okay? I dripped a couple of drops onto a cotton ball and placed it in the middle of each one as I was stuffing it. I have to say, I'm very impressed with the results. The scent is much stronger than I thought it would be, and being essential oils, they actually smell like fruits and not jelly babies. They are currently nestling in my underwear drawer, and make me smile in the morning when I'm getting dressed.

Next, I stuffed my magic square mini-pillow:

It's made from an experimental magic square (actually 4 attached together) that I made after I read the modular knitting book. I had made about 5 more squares, but in the end I couldn't be arsed making any more sachets out of them. I knitted a back using 2 shades of purple acrylic, sorry, Muggle Wool held together. Then I attached them together by crocheting around the edges with variegated pink wool, 2 rounds. I scented it with lavender essential oil. The back is much stiffer than the front, so the front puffed right up, making a very cushiony effect. I quite like it. It's currently in my bed, so all I have to do if I'm trying to get to sleep and I'm feeling stressed is put it near my face and I feel much more relaxed.

Speaking of relaxed, or the opposite of relaxed, I also worked on Ami Chihuahua that night as well:

As you can see, I didn't get too far. I'm really, really, really wishing I'd chosen the snake pattern as my first project! See the tiny little leg?:

It's tiny!! I managed to stuff the body, close it up, stuff the legs and the tail, and sew the tail to the body before I gave up in exasperation.

The following night I drew instead.

A Change of Heart

I've been diligently knitting away every day (when not hung over!). But it's no chore. I have restless fingers at the moment. Plus they are very cold at work and need the Hand Warmers ASAP! I decided to take a whole new tack with them. The double-pointed were turning out to be really annoying, not to mention slow, to I changed to flats:

And it's worked! I've nearly finished the first one already! I've been shaping it to my hand as I go along, and writing down the directions so I can make the second one. Of course they'll have a seam down the side, but I'd rather that than fart-arse around with annoying little needles sticking out everywhere so soon after finishing the socks. I need a break from all that!
I'm glad I made that decision, cause it's coming along really well. I might even have warm hands by next week!

I'm also working away on the Boy Scarf pretty steadily as well. I'm in two minds about it. It's turning out stiffer and less squishy than I'd hoped. But I feel like I'm in too far to rip it and start again. I just don't have the heart! Hopefully with a bit of stretching and pulling, it'll be all right.

Bloggin While Drunk

How extravagent. I started TWO projects today. I don't even know if that's allowed under my personal rules of project limitation. Yesterday, I was soooo cold at work, that I decided to knit myself a pair of hand warmers. Seriously. No matter what kind of annoying, crappy-arse needles or how long it took, I was gonna get it DONE! Well, preferably sooner than later or I'll get arthritis or something. I decided to use the "Easy Mittens" pattern, which I had already used once before for a gift, and they had worked out amazingly fine. So I dug that out this morning. Luckily, I already had the yarn for it as well. I am using Paton's Caressa, which I bought a few weeks ago totally randomly from Lincraft. See! I knew I'd find a use for it within my own lifetime! Hah! *waves fists to detractors*

Here is a picture of that:

Yeah, it kinda looks like a Rubik's cube in heiroplyphic, I know.

I was also determined to start Boy's scarf as well, cos I'd kept talking about it and I want him to be nice and warm and cozy. So we went to The Wool Shop (that's actually what it's called, okay??) and I rubbed some wools up against him to see if he broke out in hives or whatever he does. Finally we decided on Wendy X-treme, which does have 24% wool, but he reassured me that it was ok, and I said, ok, but if it makes you all itchy, you have to promise to tell me and not suffer in silence, ok? This wool is gorgeous! Here's a picture of it:

It's all blue and wrapped and chunky and rubb-able. Mmmm. It's been a while since I've worked with really gorgeous wool, and I'm really enjoying it. I am using a kind of wavy cable/rib that I made up, to try and get a cable happening, while keeping both sides presentable to the general public. The original pattern I chose is totally inapproprite for this wool, but who cares. I love this wool. And I think Boy likes it too. So I do my own thing again.

Wgat was I saying? Oh, I'm actually quite drunk right now. No, back away from the needles, and no-one will get hurt. Back away from the keybord too, I think! Ok, I go now.