Mission accomplished

Wahoo! Scarf done!

I'll see what I can do about getting some pics up tonight or tomorrow.
I think it looks rather funky, but I may be slightly biased.

This means that I'm back to one on-the-needles project, which is the cardigan.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm still as enthusiastic as ever about the wonderfulness of Twilleys yarn, and the pattern is something that even I can manage without too much trouble.

I was actually doing really well with it until I ran out of yarn and cast on the scarf.
I love the cardigan, even though it involves endless rows of moss stitch, the sloooooowest stitch in the world, ever. I don't mind that it's going to be weeks upon weeks before I get it done, because it's going to be really nice - I hope.
The thing is that the scarf was just so damn fast (once I actually got some knitting time sorted)!! Probably 10 hours from cast on to finished product, including weaving in the ends. It's ginormous, and shiny, and I now have "completed project buzz". If I had a caramel machiato right now, things would be pretty perfect.

I guess the poor cardigan is destined to be on the back burner for a bit, destined to be ignored apart from weekends and train journeys and other times when I have a couple of hours of potentially uninterrupted knitting time available. It's just too damn big for carrying around in my handbag like other projects, waiting for me to do a few lines while I'm on the bus, having coffee or waiting for a movie to start.

Next up then should, if I use the rational part of my brain (as opposed to the bit that makes the squeeeeee noise around yarn) is to get the first of the wedding wraps cast on.

This is the yarn I have for them, except they'll be black. The whole lot is currently in two ziploc bags in my knitting "tidy". I can't remember whether the pattern calls for 5mm or 5.5mm needles. I don't think it matters that much, it being a wrap and all, but I'm sure my lack of 5's would be the perfect procrastination tool. Should I be so inclined....and stuff....

Apart from ordering the rings, I haven't been doing anything wedding-related of late. I'm not consiously avoiding things, I just always seem to find something else to do instead. I guess there's just a little part of me that's completely terrified that my dad won't be able to walk me up the aisle come autumn.

So should I remain in denial (it's not just a river in Egypt, folks!) and possibly end up blocking the wraps the day before the wedding, and start on something else now, or should I get over it and start them, hoping that by the time I get them done that all will be right with the world once more?

I have to admit, that "something else" is looking awfully tempting right about now.

Let the great clearout commence

....just slowly. Very slowly. Most of my stuff, junk and all, is in storage at my parents house, and heavens know when I'll be back there again. So I'm clearing out what I have in the fabled box room.

I'm flogging a few bits on eBay (selling stuff on eBay = money for yarn), and FreeCycling some other stuff at the moment. Don't worry, nothing knitting related. Mostly unwanted gifts and things that have accumulated in my room even though I've been doing my best to avoid said "things" accumulating.

Tonight will involve finishing off the scarf for dad. Only a few more rows to do, and then weave in the ends and block it. I'll bring it down to Cork at the weekend then.

Pity he isn't awake to see it.
Soon, soon...

Wahoo!

Camera cables found, photos transferred, smiles all round.

So, to start, here's the blue scarf of doom that I can now put to rest entirely, having blogged it. It's being modelled by the birthday girl herself.


One down :)

This is the current scarf, for my dad.

It's going to be finished this weekend (it is, dammit!) and blocked next week. The colourway is entirely different to any pictures I've found of it online.That's my foot crammed into the side of the picture. Did I mention that my room is teeny?

Well since I had my camera out, I thought I'd take another couple of pics, to make up for the ongoing drought here.

First off, we have my little yarn tidy.

The blue blob on the left with the needles in it is the cardigan. I'm not going to post pics til it gets to the stage where it's done apart from the arms, because it's knit in one piece and looks silly right now.


Next we have a cone of yarn of mystery yarn in a shade called Lagoon.
It's a nice colour, but not a very nice yarn to knit with. Still, it's yarn. It came to me as part of a large box o' yarn from a destash that my mothers friend was doing.
In front of that is a leftover ball of Kilcarra in Moss, the ball of black is for a craft me-me thing that I should have started months ago.
In the ziploc bag we have 3 balls of Sirdar Blur for starting on as soon as I get done with the current scarf. They will, by the magic of television, be turned into a fabulous lacework wrap for my chief bridesmaid to wear at my wedding.
Underneath that lot is another bag of Blur and a few other bits. I am a one skein ho.

There's more hiding in the wardrobe, and under the bed. And in the wardrobe of my room in my parents house. Oh, and a bunch went to the new house already.


.....and we all know that yarn kept in desk drawers at work doesn't really count, cos we haven't even had a chance to look at (or fondle) properly yet. It's only just out of the mailbag, for heavens sake!

Eureka!!

I quizzed OH about the mythical camera cables yesterday afternoon, and he denied all knowledge. Or gave me the brush off. Technically the same thing. Last night I got home at 11.30pm, and decided to rip apart the box room, just so I could have the pleasure of saying "They're not here so you must have them. Please search" and after about 20 minutes of scrabbling around on the floor, I found them, chucked under the bed.

Now I'm not saying that he hid them for the purpose of making me dump/pack stuff, but lets just say that last time I saw them, they were firmly attached to the usb port at the front of the pc.

So there shall be piccies of a vaguely productive and entertaining nature tomorrow.
Huzzah.

Got absolutely zero knitting done in the last 48 hours, due to work being all-consuming (with this ickle break for updating) and going to see The Lives of Others last night. Very good movie, though not really one I'd recommend if you're in the mood for some brain candy. Funnily enough, I've started reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas this morning, as it was next on the stack.

Oh, and I was a bit blonde the other day with my scarf yarn info. It's not Tivoli, it's Wendy Fusion, and the colourway is Allspice. What spices are blue and purple, I don't know, but who am I to argue.
Mine seems to have massive amounts more mustard than anticipated, which was actually zero. The outside of the ball was a dark red and purply-blue. I didn't poke at the inside, which I really should have, because in the course of working my way through the ball I realized that it's mustard. Very, very mustard.
I have learned my lesson. Variagated yarn shall be poked from this point on.

Well I've been living completely outside of the "real world" for the last couple of weeks - or perhaps too much in it.
This is my first day of net connection since my last post. My dad isn't well, so I've mostly been sitting by his hospital bedside. He won't be out for several weeks, but I've had to leave my mother there as it's rather important that I don't lose my job. I also managed to miss OH's birthday in spectacular style during this period. I suck.

While I was away, I got a nice bit of work done on the cardigan, then promptly ran out of yarn. In fairness, I thought I was only going to be there for 5 days, so I didn't bring all the yarn for the project with me. I'll know better next time.

So there I was, with no patterns, no yarn and a pair of freebie needles off the cover of a magazine. On investigation, there is a rather nice yarn shop in Cork. It's a little on the expensive side for some things, but has a nice selection of the big brands. It was a little worrying that the staff didn't know what I was talking about when I mentioned gauge or blocking though. Still, I've got a lovely dropped stitch scarf for my dad on the needles, which should be finished for the weekend. It's in Tivoli Fusion, but I can't remember the colourway off the top of my head.

I'm breaking the camera out tonight, so will have some snaps tomorrow, all going well. What a boring blog with no photos!

Hope you've all been doing well anyway.

Oh, and my Lornas Laces was sitting on my desk when I arrived in this morning. Yay!