A stitch in time...something something...

It seems that Ruth, one of the SnB group, hates seaming almost as much as I do. I don't feel so bad that it has taken about 10 times the number of hours spent knitting to seam up the baby shrug. In fairness, most of those were spent procrastinating.



It is rather cute though. Especially when I get it ready for posting with the hat and booties.



Well I'm rather chuffed anyway. It's the first lot of baby clothes I've ever knitted. Darling mother keeps making comments about it being "good practice" for the future.




So as a reward to myself for getting the seaming well under way, I allowed myself to cast on a Calorimetry. I finished seaming yesterday, and sewed the button on to the calori. I think it balances out. I think future projects involving seaming should be partnered with some form of instant gratification project. Or another calori.




I spotted the button in my fab LYS before I cast off. It's made from coconut shell, and it rocks my socks. I love ivy and vines. My advise to anyone who hasn't started a calori yet and is thinking of it - don't buy your buttons til you've cast off. You don't make any buttonholes in the calori, as the holes from turning the short rows suffices. This is quite a large button and I really thought that it wasn't going to work in the end.

Plus, it's an excuse to go to your LYS with an FO, and pick up something shiny for your next project while you're there!

My "bad day swap" package is in the post. Yay.
Postage really is mentally expensive. Still, it's worth it, and I hope my swap partner likes the goodies that eventually wing her way.

Other news today, it being one of those days...the wedding is being postponed til the Spring. We thought that we'd get away with it being this year, but I'd rather have my dad be less rushed and better able for it. I'd have liked December, but it would put too much pressure on people both in terms of time and finance. We have lots of friends who are still studying, and it's exam time for them.

This makes me feel much better about having frogged incarnation 3 of the wedding wraps.

Yes, I am a bad, bad person.

I just fricking hate this yarn. It feels nice, but is a nightmare to knit with. I was almost tempted to substitute the lurid pink baby acrylic, but thought that might be noticed. Also, 10mm needles? Rather heavy when you've been knitting with them a while. They do double as nunchucks though, which is handy when you're wip'ing on the bus in a bad neighbourhood.

OH is downstairs hoovering and sorting laundry. Bless.
He is still sans emploi, as they say. The case of the butthead boss is getting more interesting by the day. Can't say much, just in case, but we are looking forward to his next letter to see how many times he contradicts his previous letters in it.
At least he knows where the washing machine is, and no longer whinges when I tell him that he has to clean up if I cook and work all day.

It's amazing how fast he can run through a whole list of chores when he knows a trip to see Transformers is on the cards this evening!

I must not knit while sleepy

This really should be my mantra at this stage. Too, too often I continue knitting when I really should be getting sleep or doing something that doesn't involve moving, thinking or counting.

This little bundle of cuteness is the first of a pair of booties that I cast on last week. It's a simple, fast knit, and I love it.



I thought I'd be clever and get the second one done on the train to Cork. That was my first mistake. Sure, I have a pair of cute bootees now, but one is newborn-sized, and the other is baby-sized. Once more teh blonde strikes. At the moment, I'm ignoring my inbox and knitting up bootee number 3. After that, I'll have to do bootie number 4. No idea who I will give the second pair to, but I guess they'll always come in handy, what with everyone in the world having babies and all.

It was my mothers birthday on Friday, so present was bought on behalf of myself and dad, and cake was baked on Thursday night. She cried. Bless her cotton socks.
(Note to self: get off the pot and cast on her socks!)

I finished the ribbing on the shrug, and have it all pinned together, and have started the seaming. I fricking hate seaming.



It will probably take me the rest of the week to get it done, as I can only sit still to do a few inches at a time. Anything more, and I start getting that strange restless sensation in my legs that normally only comes after 3 hours in a train with my legs jammed up against someones suitcase.

Tonight, though, will be bootie city.
Hrm...that sounded less sordid in my head....

I want to cast on a Calorimetry tomorrow night, and get it finished on Wednesday. I even have a button for it, and it's going to be made from my nice Purple Iris yarn that just arrived.

Ain't I a good little stashbuster?

Faster kittycat, kill kill!

Stitch and Bitch today, and not a teal sock in sight.

No, I haven't actually managed to fix the thing. The thought of frogging it makes me want to cry or throw up or both. I was not built for picking up close on a hundred 2mm stitches in dark yarn. Not without lots of chocolate.

Work on the baby outfit has progressed well since last post. Hat is done, and shrug is going to be done tonight, I hope.



I've picked up the stitches for the ribbing, and it's going well so far. Will be bringing it with me to Starbucks, where I hope to get the ribbing finished, and the stitching started. Optimistic, aren't I?

Some yarn may or may not have arrived in the post today.....




On that note, I'm gonna go and grab some food, as I have yet to eat today, and somehow I don't think that 15 caramel machiatos and 4 slices of lemon cake counts as a balanced diet.

The hills are alive with the sound of....sirens

It's a fabulously gorgeous day outside. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and fire engine sirens are wailing in the distance.
Nothing too serious, I hope.

The major downside with a day like today is being stuck indoors. It's the kind of day that makes me wish I were doing some sort of outside job, or had a garden to potter in. I guess I'll have to settle for hanging wet washing out on the clothesline.

Last week, I knitted up a baby hat for OH's niece, and here it is


Looking all squishy and cute in its dual role as head warmer and bannister decoration. My box of bits is in Dublin though, so I've not been able to stitch it up yet.

When I received my package of even more cashmerino and addi's on Friday, I squeed. Squeed a bit more, then inhaled suddenly, as I realised that the shade of green in my package was not just beautiful, but an entirely different shade of green to the hat. Bummer. On the plus side, I'd ordered a ball too much, so running up another one is not a big deal. (As a side note, I also found out on Friday that one of my friends is finally pregnant, so my apple green bannister decoration will be going to her as a belated meme craft present!)

Equipped with my bag o' yarn, needles and a 3 hour stint on a train, I cast on the Baby Shrug from Debbie Bliss Simply Baby. Lovely pattern, and quite easy, even though it's all knit in one piece. Granted, I haven't gotten to the "pick up on million stitches" part, but I'm quietly confident.

So here's what 6 hours of train knitting will get you.

Train knitting is a funny thing. The Dublin-Cork train is the most fancy and fabulous in Europe, apparently. They're new and shiny, and meet all the carbon emission standards for 2012 already. They do, however, sway a bit more than the old diesel warhorses, which makes knitting impossible at times. They also vary between artic cool and sahara hot at other times, resulting in my fingers being too cold to knit, or my dozing off, needles in hand.

That said, I knit pretty much every time I'm on public transport, even if it's just a few lines here and there. Every journey I knit on (save local busses) someone has struck up a conversation about how they/their mother/their aunt used to knit all the time. I've even had a 7 year old boy demand that his granny break out some needles and yarn when they got home to teach him.

Are knitters more approachable than other people? Or just seen as being? Is it that a WIP is an instant icebreaker, and people are insanely curious beings?
In my mind, there seems to be something a bit magical about it that draws people in.

Anyone else had some interesting WIP experiences?

Now with 15% more natural or artificial flavouring!

Yes, I promised photos on Monday.
Work demanded attention though, and as much as I may like to believe that I get paid to sit in front of my laptop and knit all day while listening to podcasts, it just ain't so.

On the plus side, I have some piccies. Well, two.
Today is all lovely and sunny, and good photo taking weather. Naturally, my camera batteries have picked this time to run out.

First up, the blue monstrosity.
Like how it's artfully draped over the bannister? I've also just noticed that my laptop case has weaseled into the frame. It's such an attention whore. Still, at least it's not something really embarassing, like...bras left out to dry, or a shrine to Debbie Bliss.


I don't really mean monstrosity though. I think it will be lovely when I get it finished. It's just a bit boring to knit. The wonderfulness of the yarn is all that lies between me and it being an eternal UFO. This afternoon, I'll get the body cast off, and get the first sleeve on the needles. Or that's the plan.

The really exciting bit o' news is that I went to my first Belfast Stitch N Bitch session last night. Much fun was had, and despite the girls *coughNikkicough* thinking that they've scared me off, I'm really looking forward to next week.
I didn't bring my camera, in an attempt to keep from looking like some crazy woman with an obsession. The purring noises when Collinette was mentioned may have killed that. Oops.

Sock 1 got quite an outing yesterday! My fingers are still cramping. I knitted on the bus to town, in Starbucks, while waiting for the bus home, on the bus home, and managed to have 3 glasses of wine while watching a movie til 1am and still knit away without any frogging being required this morning. Well, I thought it was impressive!

As a result, today we have artsy shot 2 of the day:


Taaa daaaaa!
My first magic loop sock. Complete with yarn tails hanging out, and with a severe need for blocking. It's a plain vanilla sock, but it's a pattern guaranteed to be acceptable to everyone, especially manly men who shy away from colours, stitch patterns or yarns that might possibly mean that they'd be taken for being anything less than manly men.

Addi turbos are wonderful things. I never really got the hype until I finally tried them for myself. I love them so much that I have 2 more sets on order - which I should have tomorrow. Squeee!

Things from to do list done:
One sock.

Things from to do list to cast on this weekend:
Second sock *gulp*
First cardigan sleeve.
Baby shrug.

Yeah, this whole thing of having one handbag project and one sofa project really isn't working out too well for me.

Work in progress

Well this week vanished on me entirely.

Yes, I've been quiet, but I've been knitting up a frenzy. I'm nearly at the ribbing on my first sock! It's been going so well! I used Knitty's universal toe up sock pattern on the magic loop. I no longer have to hide my sock yarn stash :)

I also got a hat knitted for OH's new niece in that lovely green cashmerino. OH was very impressed that I cast it on while watching tv after dinner, and had it done by the time he got home from work the next day. He's also volunteered to fund the buying of more cashmerino if I make bootees and a cardigan to go with it. Score one for me!

Yes, I realise that this means my projects for myself are getting further and further down the queue, while those around me are looking more stylish (ha ha!) by the minute.

So, what is the queue?

On the needles:
Moss stitch cardigan - 5 more rows, then on to the sleeves!
Lace wrap - mohair and lace. Concentration required. Can't do while people keep interrupting to ask for dinner/keys/other shoe/whatever.
Sock - Opal yarn, toe up. Photos on Monday :)

To do:
Second lace wrap - have yarn
Bootees and cardigan for niece - to match hat.
Socks for OH )
Socks for wedding for OH and 2 best men.
Socks for mother - can't make socks for everyone else and leave her out
Purple and black stripey scarf for S
Hat of some description for D
Cable baker boy cap for other S
Scarf - that Sublime mohair that recently came home with me shall be Branching Out
Scarf - Blossom scarf from that Velvet yarn
Summer mohair sweater thing from Stitch N Bitch - which won't be ready til next summer

The 3 items for friends were supposed to be done for Christmas, but keep getting bumped down the list. In fairness, I've bumped my own stuff down even further - the last 3 on the list. I think I've knitted myself one thing in the last year, a scarf, which I may need to sacrifice and frog if I run out of yarn before I'm done with my cardigan.

No one else is allowed have a baby or get married in the next 4 months.