Shimmer Shrug

In an effort to destash some cotton I have, I'm now knitting the Shimmmer Shrug from Knitty.




I'm using some Patons 100% cotton that I bought off ebay last december. I remember buying it cos I thought the postie had stolen it (well, not my postie, cos she's very nice and doesn't steal things, I just mean the post office in general), cos it had been AGES and two other packages I ordered at the same time didn't come (they did just disappear), but it turned out that the seller had actually forgotton to send it. So that's how I remember that particular purchase. I remember that at the time I had also decided that it was going to be used to make the Shimmer shrug, but somehow never got around to it. Ah, I know what it was - I got confused with gauge. The pattern said to get gauge of 20 sts with 5mm needles, and I got confused because I got it with 4mm needles. Somehow that threw me, and I never got round to realising that I could just make it with the 4mm needles and it would be the right size. That didn't register for some reason. But now I know better, and I'm finally making it. I'm doing my usual worrying about if it's going to turn out too big (I'm making the 19" back size, and I'm wondering if I should have made the 17" inch size). I get a bit confused about the sizing for shrugs. But I'm just going to make this one at 19", and if it's too big, I can rip it out and start again. I'm getting better at realising there is the option to rip knitting out, and not throwing something in the corner to forget about it because I'm worrying about something. And this is a very quick knit. I only started two days ago, and I've done both sleeves and I'm half way up the back already, so I'm sure there's nothing to worry about. :)

Checking Back In

Erp! I didn't realise it had been so long since I posted! I've been really busy, mostly with dancing, but also with preparations for christmas. Next year, I swear I'm going to start getting presents and stuff in October, just so I'll have enough time toget it all done. I always leave it till the beginning of December, and one month just dosn't seem long enough. It should be, but it's not. I still have a few presents to get - I've given up on the idea of making them.

Dancing-wise, it's been all go until now, and now there's nothing till after xmas! Boo! I performed at a hafla a couple of weeks ago, which was fun, then last week I performed at a charity event. It was a supposed to be a duet, but my friend had to pull out at the last minute, and I ended up performing in front of a group of strangers all on my ownsome! The weird thing is, that wasn't the scary part for me, the scary part was having to go in and introduce myself and talk to everyone. The dancing was the easy part - just listening to the music and making sure to keep my smiley face on. Most people would say it's the other way round, but I have to be different! I suppose when I'm dancing I have something to concentrate on, but when I'm not my social anxiety goes into overdrive.

The main dancing thing I'm working on now is an Isis wings routine for a hafla in March. I even dreamed about it last night, that's how much I've been working on this, and thinking about it, and listening to the music, and imagining bits of dancing that might go with it. All while I'm supposed to be Xmas shopping, aarg! Still, I'm planning to have it all done by Thursday. Let's just hope that goes to plan.

The End of the Endless Ribbing (at last!)

Yay! The jumper is complete!



After that I tried to cast on for the jumper I was going to do for the Fall Cable KAL , but that didn't turn out too good. I don't think the yarn is right for the pattern so it got frogged. I think I'm just going to do lots of small projects instead. After the bf's jumper I'm in the mood for small, quick knits. Speaking of which:





The first one is Jackyll&Hide from the latest Knitty. I knit this cos I like the way it looks as a hat, but it's pretty cool that it folds down into the mask. Should make for an interesting talking point when I'm wearing it, lol! It knit quite fast, only 3 days.

The 2nd is the Aran Tam, form One Skein Wonders. This also knit super fast - only one day for this, and I'm now working on the Yorkshire Tweed Beret from the same book. This is actually the first pattern I've knit from this book. There is errata for the pattern, but it's just a case of an extra knit stitch being placed in rows 7 and 8. You'll know it if you knit the pattern, it just obviously shouldn't be there. I really like this hat, and may knit more, who knows?

I seem to have become obsessed with knitting hats - must be winter coming on!

The End Of The Endless Ribbing (almost)

The bf's jumper is almost finished! All the main knitting is done, all that's left is the neckline and the sewing. And I'm going to say that it will be done tomorrow, but it seems every time I post a deadline or time on here, that it never works out. So don't be surprised if it doesn't, but that's my plan.

I cast on Eunny Jang's Print O' The Wave Stole in an unknown yarn from the charity shop (probably acrylic but it feels very soft so it might not be).



I really like this pattern so far. I'm adapting it in that I'm not going to do two halves then graft because 1) I suck at grafting and 2) I hate it with all my soul, probably because of 1). I just don't get how it's supposed to be seamless but every time I try it I end up with a horrible big line down the middle. Oh well, with this pattern I decided just to ditch that idea, and make the pattern go one way all the way till the end. The number of pattern repeats might also differ eventually, because I don't know how much yarn I'll have, and it's looking quite big already at 20 repeats. That's another reason I like this pattern. I've been knitting for 3 days on it, and I'm at 20 repeats already. I can't memorise the pattern completely, but it's pretty easy so long as I have the pattern close by to peek at every now and again, just to make sure.

Help! I've become a yarn snob!

I started monkey!

I'm making it from Opal yarn, in the colorway Schlange. The stripes in the yarn might be overpowering the pattern a bit, but that might just be me doing my usual this-isn't-working paranoia bit that I do in the middle of every project. It gets a bit tedious actually. I know it'll probably work out fine, but I spent most of my knitting time wondering if I should frog. With this one, I'm just going to keep knitting, and if it doesn't work out, I'll try it in another yarn. Part of me is thinking that's very exuberant and decadent (frugal Scottish Calvinist heritage rearing it's ugly head there, I think), but I do love this pattern. It's very addictive! I started it last night thinking I'd get a little bit done then go to bed and didn't actually notice the time till it was like 4 in the morning! I had to get up at half eight too! So I think there'll still be enough enthusiasm to try it in another yarn.

One strange thing while I was knitting - I got this really weird feeling/thought thing like, now I'm a real knitter cos I'm using this pattern everyone else is using, and an actual branded type of sock yarn. What's that all about? I've no idea where that sprang from. When I noticed myself thinking it I was really surprised. It was like all my other knitting, sweaters and lace and all, didn't matter unless it was with a real yarn. Of course, when I think about it, that's complete bollocks. All my knitting counts as 'real', even when it's some obscure unbranded acrylic from the 70s rescued from a charity shop. And I certainly don't hold with yarn snobbery, and think oh, the price tag says 7 quid a ball, it must be better than the rest. That, again, is just bollocks. (Sorry for the sweary making, but honestly, that's how I think of it) So why did I suddenly get this feeling of validation? Have I been subconsciously affected by people raving about 'proper' yarns, and if so, why? Am I that weak? I didn't even realise it was happening.

Anyway, the yarn is lovely, and the pattern especially so (and fun, too). I'm just going to have to learn not to take it so seriously, I think :)

What I've Been Knitting

Well, there's the pic from my last post, but that's going to stay a little secret till probably Sunday. :) Hee hee, I'm such a tease!

And then there's this:



Oh. My. God. Will the ribbing never stop?!!!! It feels like I've been knitting this sweater for EVER. It's going to be for my bf, and he won't wear anything with an interesting stitch pattern. Well, actually, he's asked for cables on his next one, which is totally adventurous for him. But it's 'safe' cables, just running straight up and down. And this one is taking forever. I've done the front and two sleeves, and I've only got the back to do now, but it just seems to be dragging on. That's six inches of ribbing in 4 ply yarn there, and there's about another 17 inches to go till I get to the armholes. I can't believe I'm desperate to get to armholes just for the interest created in shaping them! I just keep reminding myself of how pleased I'll be when he's wearing it, and that keeps me going.

Oh, and I've started my project for the Fall Cable Knitalong, but I've only done the ribbing for the back so far. I can't remember if I posted about it here or not so here's the pic just in case I haven't (can't be bothered checking):



It's from VK Autumn 2000, by Melissa Leapman.

And that's it. There's loads more that I want to knit (my ravelry queue has 26 projects in it, and I haven't really been looking hard for things to add) but I'm a bit wary of having more than 3 items on the go at once. I'll never get any of them actuallyy finished. So I'm trying really hard to get these done, then I'll cast on something new, but I can definitely feel the startitis bug developing. Ravelry's such a bad influence! :)

Last JoY Post

OK, so there's not many pics from JoY, cos my camera doesn't work well in the dark. (Yet. I've got a feeling it can, it's just that I haven't learnt the magic secret to it yet. I think it's something to do with shutter speeds, but I'll have to get my bf to look at it some day). Anyway, the view from my hotel room window was quite nice:



Here's the building where the workshops were held:



And here's what I was working on when I wasn't dancing:



(I'll blog about that later)

Here's some links for JoY:

Jewel of Yorkshire
Djamila
Khaled

I couldn't find one for Seetha, which is a shame cos she's fantastic. Or Asmahan, which is weird. I'm not the best person at finding things though, it's probably on Google somewhere and I've missed it.