Month: January 2006

Bow down to my great purchasing powers.
Here we have the xmas pressie which I naturally didn’t know existed (despite ordering it and signing for the parcel 😉 )

5 balls of Rowan Felted Tweed, awaiting their lover, Kid Silk Haze, before they can be knitted up into scarfy goodness together. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Next up we have some other yummy goodness…

Lorna’s Laces in Desert Flower (destined for Jaywalkers I think) – I just love the colours and the way they go together so well yet create contrasts. Get Knitted had a pic of the yarn knitted up that just defied their camera and looked quite beautifully strobey because of the bright blue in the yarn. I can’t wait. But first, the lovely Noro will be knitted – Silk Garden in two different colour ways, because 1) I really wanted to try it, and I love that purple colourway and 2) I really want to make a version of the very cool Mistake Rib scarf in Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Noro may be poorly spun sometimes, but the colours? Woof.
Which brings me on to something else – I got Last Minute Knitted Gifts at last 😀 plus Debbie Bliss Home. I want to make sooo many things out of these books, and hopefully they will encourage stash busting. But clearly not so far given the small Noro purchase. I’m still deciding whether to take the Noro project with me for the train tomorrow when I visit my mum, or the project below…
Which brings me smoothly to this.

Here is Angelica v2.1. Some of you are already aware that I had to frog the first one because it was quite simply enormous. This version is knitted in a size smaller, AND using the suggested needle size. This pic flatters the fit quite a bit I think – it is a little too tight for my liking showing the wrong lumps off at the back, even if it does make good use of the boobular area at the front. Blocking should make it the perfect fit. I love this pattern, mistakes and all in it (there are a couple, but these have been resolved pretty quickly on the KAL and personally thanks to Stef and her tech ed). The .1 in the version comes from me playing a little with the increases at the bottom of it. There is a mistake in the pattern for them, but rather than be sensible and wait for corrections to be released, or even work it out myself, I used a completely different version from another pattern, and it has worked quite well as far as I am concerned 🙂 I just have the sleeves and neck to do, with some weaving in, and the scary blocking (if I dare – no idea where I will put it to block as we have no flat surfaces that would look after it except the floor near the radiator…). I am so going to make this again in a different yarn (maybe some cotton?). Mmmmmm.
Anyway, lunch calls me (or at least some of the uncooked parsnips and roast pots need turning!). Hopefully the next time I post will be either with a finished object or some Noro/socky aceness.

Happy new year y’all.
This week has been funny, but nice too. I took many, many pics of yarn, but I’ve been too interested in fixing my problems with Angelica and blowing my nose to do anything beyond that yet.
Angelica was going so well. Then I realised that I may run out of yarn, so I tried the thing on, and found that she was a tad too big. About 6 inches at least too big. So I ripped back, and have been reknitting it, and will hopefully have the body finished by the end of tomorrow. I tried her on again last night just after joining the front, and found she fit much better. Couldn’t take pics thanks to it being dark (as usual) and also that I had consumed a small amount of alcohol, it being new year’s eve etc. I’m very excited about it now 😀
Unfortunately other event conspire to keep Angelica from leaving the needles. I have to do some work for my research – literature searching, ordering reports and all that stuff, nevermind actually reading them. I also need to find someone trustworthy to test my online questionnaire and see if it needs some revision. Bummer eh? All these things that keep setting out to stop me from enjoying myself 😉 Getting rid of the cold though means that these things have to be done. Hence I’m blogging…
Also, the yarn diet is out of the window temporarily. Something arrived yesterday while I was out shopping in Manchester. I’ll post pics tomorrow of the wooly goodness, but needless to say I’ve been a little naughty, but only a little… But it has come from Xmas money, so that’s ok 😉 Also a lovely Amazon parcel arrived the other day (partly the inspiration for the yarn parcel). The shopping yesterday involved no yarn or yarn related purchases at all, unless you count the Primark black v-neck jumper I bought for a fiver. Primark is my saviour. It means I can buy clothes and yarn at the same time without running out of cash. For those of you in the US, Primark is a little like Target but without the food and electronics stuff. They do good solid cheap clothes that are still fashionable, plus some lovely lovely homewares like towels and bedding and stuff. And they last much longer than more expensive places too. The best cords I bought were from there, and they lasted ages longer than stupid old Levi ones I bought. We also visited the fabulous Lush shop. I heart Lush. They had a sale on, so I bought some Honey soap, some Fig and Leaves soap, and some Almond butter cream. I also got the world’s best lip balm – Whipstick. If you haven’t tried this and you live near a Lush store, go and have a look – it is choccy orange lip balm, and it smells and tasted divine, as well as doing the job well. And it is veggie and free of animal testing. Yummmmmmmmm.
Anyway, I have a looooong list of relevant articles to go through now, plus the last little bit of Gone with the Wind to watch while I do so. Cross your fingers that the next time I post will be with a lovely almost complete Angelica that fits and will continue to fit regardless of stretching etc…