Yes, still here...

It has been in the back of my head somewhere for the last while that 'yeah, I must do a blog post, it's been a while', but I genuinely didn't realise just how long it had been until I checked over the weekend. And nearly gave myself a heart-attack.

So I'm sitting here now, (1:30am, for those not on GMT), wondering what to write? Thinking of how I have neglected you all, and how bad I feel about that (okay, not REALLY bad, but a little), and what have I finished knitting since last we spoke, and what have I been meaning to tell you about, and, and, and...

Deep breath. There's a bit. And I won't get everything in on this post. I'm kinda sleepy.

Anyway. First up, last time we spoke I was on holidays with my Botany Lace. Botany Lace was thirsty and encouraged me to have a little beer too. Just a little though, I don't knit drunk.

Well anyway, me and Botany Lace came back from holidays, to absolutely beautiful weather. So I posed it for its FO pic...

Obviously it still needed beer, as it was hot weather and stuff. Seas Shawl by Suzy Crancer.

(And yes, that's actual Duff beer, as seen on The Simpsons! Just the one bottle brought home, it probably tastes like crap, but we'll never know. It's still unopened, sitting on display in the kitchen, and no-one wants to mess with it. Ornamental beer, basically).

I have, of course, stocked up on some more Botany Lace since last we spoke (well duh, like we didn't see that coming), but I'll save that for another post. Because the colours are possibly the nommiest of all the nommy yarn I've acquired to date. Possibly. Nom. 

Anyhoo, I digress.

Next up, I finished this...

...which was a long-awaited requested knit with a looming deadline, that, even though I can do it with my eyes closed, I still managed to screw up completely and utterly, and repeatedly, in the last ten rows. Oh, and then I ran out of yarn half-way through the LAST ROW.

Cue a very panicked visit to The Constant Knitter, where I discovered, to my horror, that this particular colourway was aaalllll gone. NOOOO!!! However, Rosemary absolutely saved my ass on this one, by giving me some of the same yarn in a different, contrasting colourway...

...which really works, I think! Makes it look all sophistimicated and stuff. Like piping. I love it! :o) Thank you, Rosemary!

So it was wrapped up all pretty and dispatched with my father on Saturday morning last as he headed down home for the weekend. The recipient is away at the mo and won't receive it til tomorrow, but fingers crossed she likes it.

(And yes, I have checked with my dad more than once that no, he didn't lose it/accidentally destroy it/give it to the dog to sleep on/forget to pack it/set it on fire. He knows his fresh home-made brown bread supply will dry up fairly sharpish if he screws this one up).

Then there was this one...

Yes, I know. Another beaded Swallowtail! But they're just sooo pretty, and at this stage (this is my seventh, I think) fairly bloody fast!

The beads in this are Swarovski crystals. I've been planning this project for a while, so basically I've been acquiring the beads about 5 at a time, since January. Yes, the beads cost me WAY more than the yarn! But I happen to think they're worth it...

Really sparkly and twinkly. Funny thing is, I alternated the colours between clear crystals and ones with just a hint of aqua. However, once I'd put them on the yarn, I could no longer tell the difference between them, at all! Which is just as well, as I think I may have screwed up the sequencing more than once.

FYI, the pattern as written uses 208 beads in total. I have received a LOT of queries regarding beading in general and Swallowtails in particular, so I'll do a separate post on that in the very near future.

So coming soon to a monitor near you... a post all about slapping beads onto your knitting. And one on my latest Botany Lace acquisitions. Also a post on what happens when your brothers figure out that your knitting can possibly mean them getting stuff made for them (hint: varying degrees of success on this one, to be fair). Also what happens when you drag your dad into your LYS for the first time (hint: my dad swears a bit. Sometimes loudly). And what happens when WWKIP Day coincides with your actual birthday (hint: I have added to the stash, but not entirely my fault. Teaser: it's NOT Botany Lace).

But, as it's now 02:21 (yes, it took me THAT LONG to do a post!), I'll just leave you with this...

Yes, I rock. I knew that. It just turns out that I rock really, REALLY slowly! ;o)

Icarus

So we've all hit that point where we get complacent  in our knitting, right? We think 'yeah, I know how to do that, I'll just wing it from here, who needs a pattern?'. Right?

C'mon, I KNOW it's not just me!

Anyway. I had a fantabulous skein of Malabrigo Sock...

...that I was going to turn into an Ashton shawlette. But after a lot of build-up and excitement (saving it as a 'special reward' knit - why do I do this to myself?), it just wasn't working, the colours were almost too variegated for the pattern. So I frogged it. :o(

I decided that a nice stockinette shawlette with a pretty edging was the way to go. I've done a few of them, but didn't want to do another Holden just yet, so thought I'd improvise. How hard could it be? Pick a nice edging off one of the shawls I've knitted, work stockinette til I'd the right multiple of stitches, then knit on. Right?

Well, urm...

...maybe not! Crash. And. BURN!

Stuff I learned from this...

(a) tempting Fate by using phrases like 'winging it' and 'ethereal' is not a good move. Fate is sometimes paying attention.
(b) not enough stockinette
(c) too much edging
(d) yarn is not quite as variegated as I thought, so maybe my original pattern choice was correct.

The edging is a modified version of Ethereal, a beautifully spectacular yet simply intuitive pattern. Pretty, yes. But too much here, I think.

However, I haven't frogged it. Yet. Cuz I has options. So what do I do now?

(a) redo above. More stockinette, less edging
(b) stick with original pattern choice. Knit Ashton.

Help? Please? Seriously need help on this one, as I'm beyond the point of making a decision for myself!

In other news...

1. I'll be AWOL for the coming week and not back at a computer til next weekend, so there will be no blogging or tweeting in the interim. My Botany Lace has been very good to me, so I'm bringing it on holidays! Yay!

2. Birthday greetings to two of my favouritest peeps, T.Bunny and Whirl123. Sorry I'm missing the shenanigans, but, y'know, holidays and crap. :o(

3. For those who are curious, no, neither myself nor Rubysasha are actually insane, we're just highly imaginative creative types! Following a clip on the Ellen show, we got to wondering how a nice alpaca hat could be made so sparkly, and decided it had to be because the alpaca had been cross-bred with a unicorn. Hence 'unipaca'. 'Alpacorn' sounds like something you eat, and while 'unipaca' evokes thoughts of 'unabomber' in this particular knitter's brain, it's probably because I spend far too long in front of the Crime & Investigation channel while knitting!

Anyway... this fibre has all kinds of amazing powers (waterproof, adapts to size, autocorrects lace knitting errors). Neither of us can spin, but to be honest, we have other hurdles to cross first. Though we have, at least, secured my brother's services as a unipaca herder. Baby steps, people, baby steps. Magical fibre someday. Maybe. Here's hoping!

So on that magical note, I shall bid you all adieu for the moment. Hopefully by the time I next talk to you, I'll have another Botany Lace FO. And maybe a touch of a suntan (though probably not. I'm a Factor 50 girl, all the way. I'll definitely have more freckles, though!).

Toodles!

The monotony of persistence

First things first. Some FOs I've been promising for a while...

First up is my Summer Flies, made out of Kidsilk Haze Stripe. Wasn't sure how the striping would work out, but the stripes fell very nicely on the pattern I think...

Pretty, no?  This one was finished a while ago (beginning of last month), and was a bit of a soul-destroyer, but I can tell you more about that another day. Tired now, and buckets to do yet, and seriously, where the hell did this day go?!?

Anyway, second was that fabulous Baby Silkpaca Lace I acquired a couple of weeks ago. I decided to try to break the obviously very clearly established pattern by knitting with it almost immediately. Into a Swallowtail. Yes, I know that's my sixth one. But I'll be honest, I loved this yarn, wanted it to be pretty, did NOT want to be chancing it on a pattern I wasn't familiar with and dreading the possibility of running out of yarn.

So it became this...

Please note that even though the sun was shining in, my faulty (really old) camera will not let me decide for myself whether or not I want the flash to, y'know, FLASH all over everything. The colours aren't as flat in real life, and the little beads are WAY more twinkly, don't look as dead or harsh against the yarn as they do here. Honest!

It's really pretty, if a little smaller than I was expecting. I've worked this pattern A LOT, but it's never come out this small. I know the silk in it is going to limit the stretch, and I'm fine with that, as it also makes it look pretty, and easier to put the beads on! It's a plenty-big shawlette, and I love it.

The only problem? Leftovers. I hates leftovers, and I have a LOT of them here (more than 10g, i.e. more than 20% of my total yarn). I'm guessing I may even have had enough for another bunch of budding lace rows to lengthen the thing. Ah well, I'll know next time! Question now, of course, is what to do with 10-15g of exquisite laceweight? Huh? Huh?

So after all that finishing of WIPs, I thought I'd try to be a good girl this week (well, as good as this girl can be. Turns out I have my limits) and work on a couple of things...

(a) I would NOT buy any more new stash this week at least (that decision was completely taken out of my hands by the fact that I do not have disposable income at the mo. A good thing, as I tend to spend it on yarn).

(Seriously though, when you find yourself stopping in the middle of your big grocery shop thinking 'but if I just skipped dinner on Thursday and Friday, I could buy a skein or two of such-and-such. Rice Krispies are okay for dinner, right?' you need to make your way very quickly to the nearest checkout, get your precious food out of there and home, and then and only then are you to permit yourself to even THINK about knitting again!

Close one. Skipping meals, in general, is never a good idea. When you throw in that this knitter is also an insulin-dependent diabetic, and that skipping afore-mentioned meal could leave her, quite literally, dead, then you can see it is NEVER a good idea to trade yarn for essentials. Well, other essentials).

(And yet, even with that crystal-clear, simple, life-or-death choice ahead of me, I still found myself thinking about the yarn. Really not sure that this is a positive development in my character).

Anyhoo...  

(b) knit like crazy to clear some of my current WIPs, so as I can start on the other projects in my queue.

(See above (i.e. Malabrigo Swallowtail). Also the third installment of my Botany Lace obsession is blocking as we speak, so that's done too).

This whole ''2012 is my year of the Stashdown AND the WIPdown'' thing isn't going at all according to plan. I will do a proper 'review' of the carnage to date in June, as it's the mid-way point, and as good a point as any to draw attention to my absolute lack of forward motion (while also, hopefully, theoretically, giving me the kick up the backside required to take control of things once again).

Ya see, it had all started out with my lining up the yarns I had. I then matched them to projects that were on my queue, then arranged my queue accordingly. Good basis, right? A project for everything, every project in its place?

Unfortunately, that 'pattern' tab on Ravelry is like my own personal rabbit-hole. Once I dive down there, I may not be seen for days. Of course, new patterns are going to be added to the queue. New patterns are being added to Ravelry all the time. I have even gone so far as to commit myself to some of them by actually printing them out. And making sure I've the needles.

Not all of these patterns have matching yarns in my stash. Which sometimes results in yarn being 'diverted' from a different project (Ooh, and leaving a poor, abandoned pattern, needing a yarn... well, I may just HAVE to go buy some so!).

Yeah, the plan is getting its arse kicked. I could be wrong (but in this case I doubt it), but I think my original plan was FAR too overreaching. So should I panic? I think not. And why, you may ask, with your plans in tatters, knitting all around you, do you not feel a total failure?

I'll be honest, I really really don't. I have a LOT of knitting here, and I'm getting to it. Honest. In my own way, in my own time. My plan was stupid, because it did not factor in that the person who'd be doing the knitting was me, and apparently I don't know me very well! We shall reassess next month, and give a more formal overview of progress, but I'm good.

No such thing as failure here. Why?  

Because knitting is a hobby!! It's SUPPOSED to be FUN and ENJOYABLE!!

The second it stops being any of these things for you, STOP. We've enough sources of pressure coming at us from all other areas in life, so why the hell would we be pressuring ourselves with our hobbies?

Go enjoy your knitting, people!

So if you'll excuse me, I've about four projects I'd like to go cast on for right now...

(and no, I'm not kidding. You know me better than that!)

Yet more shawls...

...but oh, they're so pretty and satisfying, how's a girl supposed to stop knitting them? Especially in this weather, when you need something snuggly warm to wrap around freezing necks and shoulders?

First up I have my most recently finished article (blocked yesterday morning), Holden by Mindy Wilkes (available free on Ravelry). I knit it using Noro Kureyon Sock, which, as usual, I bought on impulse because I spotted one pretty colour in there, then spent the whole journey home convincing myself that it was really kinda ikky overall, but cast on out of spite anyway, cuz damn was I gonna get my money's worth out of it!

Again, as usual, Noro did not let me down, and the resulting colours and knit look really rather cool and groovy. I think.

The colours are fairly vivid, and a couple of pattern mods (an extra scallop, a little extra garter stitch on the edge) really got every last bit out of the yarn (10m-ish left over!).

Very happy with it, and larger than shawlette-size too, for added bonus!

The next is an altogether more delicate creation; this one is Ethereal, by Lakshmi Juneja (also available for free on Ravelry). This was knitted in my current favourite 'shawl yarn', DROPS Garnstudio 100% Alpaca.
Heaven in 4ply form, a dream to knit with, blocks and holds its shape beautifully, and while light, is incredibly warm. I cannot recommend this yarn highly enough.

As you can see, the bloody thing is huge, I could barely fit half of it on the bed, but it was knitting heaven! Plus I may have kinda lost count of the number of repeats I was supposed to do. Ah well!

The yarn colour is gorgeous, a mix of purple and turquoise, my camera skills as usual do not do it justice. Has to be seen in person to appreciate it truly!

Next up - currently working on a pair of mittens, and then I'm thinking maybe - just maybe - an actual garment. Which will probably take me the bulk of a year to complete (given my crappy-ass attention span, for one!), and all past experience points that way too (several jumpers started over last few years, as yet none completed). But I promise I'll keep you up to date. Row by painful row! ;o)

Photos! (if you can call them that)

Okay, a very brief post today, as I'm kinda busy, have hit that holy-crap-I-still-have-all-this-stuff-to-do-and-it's-going-to-take-me-WAAAY-longer-than-I-thought point of Christmas. Yes, I know it's on the same day every year, yet somehow it always takes me somewhat by surprise. Kinda sneaks up on you.

Anyhoo, for some light relief... as mentioned previously, I finally finished the Half Pi shawl I was working on. Piccies below, please allow for the fact that my camera skills SUCK, and that my knitting is therefore far more spectacular in real life! ;o)

That scallopy edging was a pain in the arse to block, I'd between 10 and 15 pins in each one (I used a lot of pins!), and half of them are still wonky. Worth it though, I think (in my totally unbiased opinion).

The flashes of turquoise here are other bedroom crap I couldn't quite get any further out of the way, this shawl is fairly big, and I just didn't have the room to spread it out properly for pictures! Kinda complements the purple though, I think... :o)