Knitting Challenge

A few days ago this was the amazing view from Arthurs Seat in Edinburgh. We went up to remind ourselves what it looked like to be above the clouds and I wore my Glarna so that we could get some photos of it!

Finishing this jumper and loving it so much has spurred me on to complete a few other projects. So here is one I've been dithering over for about a year. Some mitts! I had the yarn, I had a lot of patterns (couldn't decide on one though) but eventually, I was inspired to make these beautiful mitts by Michele Rose Orne. 

That's only the one mitt, so I better go and get started on the other!

X!

At Last!

It's done!

It's taken some time and not one, but two attempts... But it's done.

X

Working hard...

... But maybe not at what I should be! I've got a university project looming over me at the minute, but my parents have been visiting, I've had a lot to do outside uni and I've also been way too excited about knitting my Glarna take 2!

So I have the whole body, and one sleeve done, just another sleeve and the yoke to go! Can't wait to get to the yoke part, plain stockinette stitch gets quite tedious...

Here's a quick picture of what I've got so far...

... not long now...

X

Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so...

For the past few weeks I haven't had a minute to myself. Every spare moment has been filled with lesson planning, report writing, sorting out playground tiffs and trying (or rather failing) to keep the flat in an acceptable state. Despite having no time to do any cooking, or even to grab a sandwich for lunch most days, there are a lot of dishes around... 

...Worse still, in the most severe of times when all I can fit in is a cup of tea, I will invariably discover that all the mugs and teaspoons are gone...

The last week in particular I've felt more like a mother than a girlfriend. I wont dare to admit to how many loads of laundry I had to do the other day I could almost hear the polar bears crying out in despair...  

I've been so busy taking care of everyone else and the flat that yesterday, I managed to wash, dry and pack a 4 day rucksack for a certain someone else (who had more or less forgotten about their trip), before realising that I had no clean clothes for myself!

So now, with no formal lessons tomorrow to plan for, only myself to take care of, and a tremendous 5 day weekend on it's way (thank you Victoria Day!) I can finally relax...

What will you do with yourself?? I hear you say... Why, knit of course! I did a few more twists on my Begonia DNA scarf (only 11 more to go, and 6 weeks to do it in) before deciding to treat myself to some lovely yarn that looks like this:

from which I want to make a set of crocheted cushion covers. The picture is from the wonderfully cheap website that I bought it from so it isn't the best... But the yarn is Louisa Harding Kashmir DK in (clockwise from top left) Olive, Burgundy, Plum and Rosebud. I already have some cushions in these colours so it should fit in nicely on my sofa.

=)

Next Thursday I have my observed lesson which is fairly nail biting stuff, luckily I have those immortal words in large, friendly letters to keep me company.

X

The graduation scarf begins...

Of course, with my deadline for this semesters portfolio looming in less than a week, I not only have the infamous "fear" experienced by many university students around this time of year, but I also appear to be suffering from the apathy and procrastination that serves to strengthen the "fear's" vice like grip....

At least as a result of my procrastination, I have finally got the motivation to start making the graduation scarves that I've been planning!

I saw the pattern for this scarf several years ago and being such a geek knew I had to make one, but as a humanities student I didn't think it would be socially acceptable for me to wear one.... Fortunately I have some rather geeky plant science friends who would delight in helping me out there

So luckily for them, I am making two of these, both displaying parts of the sequence for a particular type of Begonia that was grown in the botanic gardens where they are both working!

I want to make backs for these as well so you don't see the mess on the back of the work, so I have a lot of knitting to do before June 26th when they graduate. I can't wait until May 21st when I hand in my last assignment and can be stuck to my needles until these are done!

Wish me luck!

x

**Update! I finished it, check it out here, or on ravelry**

Disaster breeds innovation!

Today, after the second bread baking disaster within one 24 hour period, I decided I needed to so some crafting to wake myself up. I have so many unfinished projects (they even have their own special draw these days) that i decided they HAD to be finished.

I wombled over to my sewing machine to finish making my bunting. I had to do a lot of ironing and pinning and even more faffing trying to post string through the ribbon loop to get it done, but now that it is finished, it looks really cool! I'll get some photos of it once I've cleaned my bedroom/makers heaven enough to be able to uncover the camera. (Actually, that reminds me I still haven't unpacked my suitcase yet from my People to People tour... So THAT'S where all my clothes are!)

I still haven't decided what to make for my neighbours to celebrate their new delivery into this world (a baby boy!) I keep going from jumper, to hat and mits, to baby blanket, do I knit it or do I sew it?? Basically I'm in a creative code red. I got a book from the library the other day about quilting and patchwork so obviously I'm dying to get to grips with my sewing machine... but on the other hand I can't buy any new materials because I promised myself I wouldn't until I had dramatically depleted what I already have!

Dilemma aside, I figure a good way to use up the yarn is to make cushion covers. They are a nice easy way to use up lots of yarn in a functional yet cool way. So I put in a punch card into the machine to kill two birds by figuring out how this very useful feature of the knitting machine works and use up extra yarn! It is very snazzy indeed! But knitting 130 stitches and 200 rows on this machine is positively exhausting. I'm going to end up looking like Popeye because I tend to use my right arm all the time to move the carriage... Even at the loosest tension it doesn't seem to make it any easier today hmm...

Well, what with it being such a nice day outside I might just have to pause from my epic "project finishing" mission for a little bit and maybe start something new.... crochet sounds fun...

People to People People

Now, I'm not going to make excuses I'm going to write down what I've been up to!

First of all, there were an awful lot more scarves to make and they have finally been sent off to China! (As of yesterday actually). Bad news is that due to swine flu the volunteer group can't actually visit Mongolia... So instead they will be in nearby (ish) Beijing and the scarves etc will be sent on to them. This makes getting pictures of the kids somewhat difficult and possibly impossible.... There is the potential for a future trip though, so hopefully I'll get to see the smiling faces of children with warm hands necks and heads at some point!

Once the final shipment of scarves was out of the way I had a day or two to pack for my P2P delegation. (An american organisation that takes student ambassadors on educational trips around the world). They get to go to some awesome places, my trip lasted 18 days and we started in Ireland, moved through Wales, England, France, Belgium and Holland. I have absolutely no pictures as I was always busy phoning ahead to restaurants or trying to figure out where I was on the various maps I had which showed no knowledge of there being many hundreds of side roads that quite clearly existed in reality! So I finally arrived home (my liverpool home that is) on monday 6th absolutely knackered and since then I have been in a state of suspension i think. Not much is happening in my brain right now and I've achieved very little other than managing to drag myself back to Edinburgh last Sunday.

Since getting back here, I have managed to plant 2 blackcurrant bushes and one Gooseberry bush as well as retrieve a rose from my little, slightly abused, garden. As well as embark on a personal knitting project which is a pair of fingerless flap mittens. I'll get a picture up as soon as I've unpacked the camera from my suitcase which is still lying on the floor perfectly full of clothes and travel paraphernalia. They are really rather nice mittens!

Long time no see...

It's been a very long time since I've logged anything down, but for good reason! I've been very busy. 

The only project I've worked on properly has been the Charity Knitting for Mongolia project (I pumped out another 5 scarves this morning on the knitting machine!) but I've done a random bit of jewellery work, felting and silly magnet making from the eco-fi I bought some time ago.

I think first thing's first is the eco-fi! I was really excited when this turned up, just look at it! It colours couldn't be any more thrilling if it tried (I know, OTT). But I did that thing were you think "wow it's here! Yay! Now what?" So I just fooled around making some magnets. The original idea was to make magnets that kids could play with on the fridge so things like zoo animals, underwater scenes, garden creatures etc. So I started with a bee (yes, I haven't put the wings, legs or antennae on yet)

Then with some fruit (a strawberry and a kiwi fruit)

And also a clown fish for good measure. I think I'll carry on with the fruit theme, and maybe try to modify the bee a little bit. This would be really good if I could perfect a reasonably easy to produce but cute looking bee design because then they could be sold with my Dad's honey and beeswax candles! I also want to try to make some birds like owls, robins, blue birds, doves...

Next thing I want to share is my button jewellery. Sadly, I left my favourite bits at home. I'll put them up when I get them back, but I still really loved making these. This was very improve, I was so taken by an idea that I couldn't bare to wait and buy some findings, so I used staples instead! Which work really well actually, and look a bit different.

I had a bit of a felting mishap this week, I got really far to vigourous with a new (very large very pointy) felting needle and put it straight through my finger in a moment of utter stupidity. That stopped me knitting for a couple of days because it was right on the tip of my pointing finger... But nevermind, I got some very cute little critters out of the experience. They all escaped without being bled on too which was lucky!

Finally, the Charity Knitting. The deadline is looming and unfortunately I head off to my summer job tomorrow so I can't do much more knitting until I get back. But here is the fruit of my recent labour.

Mad Hatter...

The knitting machine is currently steaming with over use so i thought I'd give it a break for a minute and put some pictures of my creations up here.

These were my very first attempts at figuring out how to knit a hat on the knitting machine. I thought it would be easier to make the square hats at first, but actually the beanie thing is surprisingly quick! I need to make it a bit wider though for it to fit a broader age range. (The random clothes peg is for scale.)

This is how i've been making the scarves (which you can see below!) I knit straight stockinette stitch strips, then block them, and sew them onto what used to be a rather delicious black fleece blanket, but has since been transformed into many, many scarves....

I can't take credit for this final set, they were knit by a volunteer for the Mongolia Knitting Project '09 and I think they are very cute! I especially

 like the little scarf!

Sorry about the pathetically dismal setting for the photos (ie the broken office chair which i found in my room one day when i came home) Anyone who lives in Edinburgh knows that today the weather is delightfully damp with a beautiful muggy sky so the lighting is a bit bizarre too! 

But you get the idea anyway. 

I'm also quite proud of this which I hand knit yesterday (for myself!). 

It probably took around 5 hours, at a casual pace, using circular needles and dpns, and an oh so fantastic merino silk blend yarn I bought yesterday morning. In reality the blue is darker, and richer in colour. I started by using the purl beret pattern from the purl bee but altered it quite a lot because, well, because i haven't ever followed a knitting pattern yet, why would I start now?