More Project Spectrum

A new scrap wrap, expertly modelled by Buster Dog.



My first Blue / Water / Glass / West / Autumn mosaic. Not much Autumn in there yet, but there are subtle signs of it everywhere now. On a walk yesterday, in miserable drizzle, the first leaves were falling. The range has been lit all weekend to heat the house, and we could have the first frosts within a week or so.



My first Feather and Fan Organic Wrap, from the pattern / recipe by Jane Thornley. I love this. I've already cast on another, and am plotting my own free-range projects too :-)

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New Direction

Looking WEST
Color: Blue
Material: Glass
Season: Autumn
Element: Water

Time for a new Project Spectrum Cardinal Direction!

I must admit, I have been something of a bad PS follower. I was very taken with the Green, which was first, and really got stuck on that one.

NORTH (March/April)
Color: Green
Material: Stones/Gems/Rocks
Season: Winter
Element: Earth

The whole combination of colour and material really floats my boat. I have SO MANY photographs of rocks it is unbelievable, and I also have a strong interest in crystals and minerals so it worked for me on a lot of levels (and still is working to be honest.) However, PS isn't a race, and it has made me go and look around more, take photos and generally stop and smell the flowers, which has to be good, yes?

EAST (May/June)
Color: Yellow
Material: Wood
Season: Spring
Element: Air

I really struggled with Yellow. Poor yellow, its actually a lovely colour and so happy and cheerful, but I find it SO HARD to work with in quantity. I settled on some photography, and I did spin on a wooden spindle, so I guess that counts :-) I would like to put together some photo collages, and hopefully learn to get on with yellow a bit better! I might explore the material a bit more as well. I live in an area well-blessed with beautiful trees.

SOUTH (July/August)
Color: Red
Material: Metal
Season: Summer
Element: Fire

I never really started South! I was too busy being outside, enjoying the odd fragments of summer that we've had here (very few - wettest August on record!) I guess chopping logs counts as Fire, and probably metal (axe) as well :-) I do have some lovely red lambswool / angora worsted-ish weight that I bought on the Isle of Skye last year, which would make a lovely cardigan, so that's on the list. Maybe a February Lady Sweater.

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I am currently going through a Jane Thornley phase. I've nearly finished my first wrap, and am plotting about a dozen more things. Actually, these would be very appropriate for PS, as you can use whatever yarn takes your fancy. Hmmm. There's an idea. Excuse me while I go shop the stash...

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Random on a Saturday

Thank God and all his angels, it's the weekend again. Hoo-bloody-ray. The last couple of weeks have sucked most mightily in some ways, which I'm not going to discuss in detail but involve the Man In My Life and also work being very weird. Meh.

So, when all seemed rather grey and miserable, and things were all getting a bit much to be honest - you know, when you're staring out the windows looking for a car that never comes and missing your Mum and wondering what the hell is HAPPENING with your LIFE, DAMMIT, Mother Earth decides to take pity on you and send you a wee reminder that whilst all may be going to shit, there is still good stuff. You just got to look for it.



Sometimes Mother Earth is not so subtle :-) This is her basically going postal on my lousy ass and informing me to cheer the hell up and get over myself (and maybe a few other things too.) She's been sending me awesomely cute baby birds too. Awwwwww.

It's actually not been a bad week in some ways. My landlord dropped me round a bookcase (finally) which is already full and I need more...Yes, my name is Helen and I have a book acquisition problem. Bite me. At least I don't waste my money on drink and high living and unsuitable men. Well, not much anyway. Also my neighbour, along with Colin the handyman, kindly strimmed all the side path and the wild bit of my lawn with a big petrol strimmer so I'm not looking for David Bellamy in the back garden any more.
I had to move my car for them while they did the front (so they didn't ping up a stone and chip it - very thoughtful I thought) On getting out of the car, Colin's adorable big daft collie (which had been rounding up the car while I moved it) immediately bounced on me, knocked me back into the car, pinned me against the wing, vigorously humped my leg and slobbered all over me. It's good to know I'm still desirable, even if it is by another species. It's been a long time since any species thought me worthy of pinning up against something and humping. *sigh*

So amidst being ravished by collies and having rainbows thrown at me, I completed my first spin-to-knit project. Ta-daaaaaaah:



Cosmicpluto's "Simple but Effective Shawl" worked in various bits of my own spindle-spun and some leftover Shunklies handspun. I just unpinned it this morning and need to trim the ends and it's all done. Waaaarm and snuggly.

I've picked up the green ripple afghan again in a drive to get at least something out of Project Spectrum. I want to do Girasole, by brooklytweed, for Yellow / East, so I need to pull my finger out! I also still want to work a green vest. I think PS is going to last a long time for me :-) Lucky it's not a race.

I finally managed to go for a walk with the camera. I hate this camera with a passion (Fuji S5700) it's TERRIBLE in low light but outdoors it does a pretty good job. I still want a DSLR but it will have to wait until I've seen off the electricity bill of doom that I received. Ouch. I'm not sure how the hell I afforded the winter, what with the coal I had to buy as well. I shall have to knit more sweaters and some nice warm socks I think. Anyway, my walk. Here's a few snaps of Scotland when it's not raining:



The lane that leads up to my house, planted with beeches.



Some elderly tree-graffiti



The original gatepost to the farm, at the end of the old access road, which was destroyed by British Steel in the 70's. They were going to build a huge rolling mill right the way across the peninsula. Fortunately it never happened, but a lot of the earthworks were completed before the project got pulled, hence the road being wiped out. I didn't even know this existed before now. I've only lived here for a year...Need to get out a bit more methinks!

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Nibbled by Zombies

Sorry, another month has passed and I am a bad blogger. June already. I've been up here in Scotland about a year! I can hardly believe it. And would ya believe, I'm sick again. My neck has swelled up to icky proportions on one side, enough to send me scuttling to the doctors in horror of glandular fever or swine flu or the plague or summat. Typical quack - reckons I've got an infection, or possibly a dodgy tooth, or maybe a bite. Or maybe she doesn't really give a fuck. Pah. I reckon I've been bit by a zombie. Sods get everywhere.

Anyway.
Project Spectrum has fallen somewhat by the wayside - I just can't get excited about yellow. I'm trying real hard but it's not working. Also...the weather's been nice! Fabulous in fact. I'm having to water the garden. It can't possibly last, so I've been making the most of it so crafting has taken a bit of a back seat. Also, I found a new time-suck - Folia. It's like Ravelry for gardeners. Great fun, and I've found that their database has at some point been fed some rather out-of-date info on my favourites, Rhododendron. So I'm busy updating and correcting information on the genus and learning lots at the same time. Yes, I am a geek. A taxonomic geek at that. Well, I like things to be right, you know? It's keeping the "I wanna be a gardener!!!" vibes calmed quite nicely at the moment.

I also had to invest some fairly serious time tidying up. Because I had a visitor! Yay me. I get very few visitors (feel free to be sympathetic at this point) so it's a bit of a treat but means I have to make the place look presentable. Jules is one of mah bestest buddies (i.e. he's one of the few people on the planet who can actually tolerate me for long periods) and my former boss. He's only been trying to get up here since January, but bearing in mind his history of punctuality, May wasn't too bad considering. (Ohai Jules! *grin*) He wasn't staying here (I think he's worried I might keep him) so at least I didn't have to try and elbow enough room out of the spare bedroom / sewing room / painting studio to accommodate the airbed :-) instead he stayed at the Seamill Hydro down the road where we had a very nice dinner on Friday night. Jules - you can come up any time if you bring the sunshine with you like this time, and if you take me out for dinner :-) I don't get out much these days y'know.

Meet Jules' very unsubtle car:



Cool innit?

And we went to Largs on Saturday, enjoyed the sunshine (next time Jules, tell me when my back is going pink, ok?) and stuffed ourselves at Nardini's before coming back and stuffing ourselves again at the local restaurant Chu-Chus. I haven't eaten so much in weeks.

Look! Sunshine! (This is Jules on a work call. While he's on holiday. *sigh*)



So a jolly, if rather fattening time was had by all.

And next weekend...it's the UK RAVELRY DAY!!!!! Lock up my credit card someone.

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Where the hell did April go?

Jeez. It's the 26th already. I think I lost a couple of weeks somewhere. I got slightly broadsided by hurting my back, leading to working from home most of last week. It was nice, but annoying as I couldn't really do much around the place as I didn't want to aggravate my back. It was only a pulled muscle so all better now pretty much, but another sign of my increasing age :-) It was interesting to watch what goes on when I'm not normally at home, mainly the hens running riot in my front garden. If they carry on that game I'll put one in the pot. Probably the noisy cockerel first.

Anyway, apart from plotting the brutal murder of the livestock, I've managed to achieve a few things. I had a Project Spectrum moment, when I realised we're nearly into May and the next Cardinal Direction, and I haven't finished half the stuff I wanted to do for March - April. I may have to alter my timescales a bit, but that doesn't really alarm me too much. I did manage to snap a few photos for East already, we had a few really nice sunny days so I took full advantage. (I also did gardening which was what did for my back. Win some, lose some.) Of course the weather now has turned, it's raining, windy and I've had to light the heating again. So I started an afghan, for Project Spectrum North. This is all manmade fibres for easiness of care and because I wanted fluffy bits. I like fluffy bits in these sort of things, it adds a nice variety of texture both visual and tactile. I am an equal-opportunity yarn crafter.



I love green, which is why PS North has been good for me so far. Funny for someone who supports Hearts to like green, but hey. I can't help my tastes. There's also lots of springy new growth busting out all over, so photography has been really easy. PS North is actually put under Winter as its season, but I guess that's aimed more at people in the Northern US. Here Spring has definitely sprung.

I've one more project I'd like to do for North, which is a vest / sleeveless top in some gorgeous Scottish Tweed DK in a lovely sharp green. I think I've tracked down the pattern I want (finally!) - Vestish by Robin Dodge. It's very cute with the pockets and neckline flowing into the straps. I'll probably knit in the round up to the armholes though. Hate sewing up, you know? :-) It seems very wearable as well, I can picture this over a shirt for work, or over a flowery blouse with a cute twirly skirt.

I've also had a couple of distractions from Project Spectrum. One is lace. Remember I said I was going to do the Fountain Pen Shawl? Well I'm not. Let us speak no more of the matter. I've swapped over to the Large Rectangle in Leaf and Trellis Pattern (rav link) from Victorian Lace Today. I'm still using the Old Maiden Aunt laceweight merino in the Gothic colourway, which is gorgeous. I'm working it on a 4mm needle which, in all honesty, may be a little bit too large for this, but I am not frogging this yarn again as I don't think it would like it very much. The original pattern calls for a slightly heavier yarn, though I notice Rav has it listed as 4-ply which is interesting (and I think is a mistake - many people are workinging this in 2-ply / laceweights). I thought it was more like a 3-ply weight but meh. I'll just not block the finished article too hard. I don't have a picture as it currently looks like a small piece of tangled pinky-red-black spaghetti.

I also saw this on Flickr. Go on, click. I'm never too sure if I can post someone else's work on here, so I've just linked. This is inspired by the work of Anu Tuominen, a Finnish artist. She does some wicked things with crochet potholders. Seriously. Do a Flickr search and you'll see them. So of course, this has triggered a potholder kick, which in turn sparked off a general dishcloth / facecloth / tawashi exploration, which now means I have a load of dinky flower-shaped facecloths sitting in the bathroom. (Pattern here) I also may have bought some more crochet cotton. Ahem.



Mmm, Peaches 'n' Creme, finally available in the UK from here. The colours are to die for, however it is a true worsted weight which means it may not be suitable for UK patterns. It's between a DK and aran, I would say.

It's not been all yarn here either. Today I started a drawing for the first time since, well, I actually can't remember it's been that long. I will take some pictures once it's a bit more advanced. I've also been patchworking, piecing the top for my quilt. Experienced quilters may wish to look away now. There is no plan. no overall design, my seams are best not discussed in detail and I can't cut a straight line to save my life. However, I am enjoying the process. It's nice to work with fabric again.





Somewhere I have a quilt that I never finished, that was falling apart because I didn't know about proper seam allowances. I must dig it out and see if anything can be done with it.

And finally, this big box arrived:



What could it be?

No, surely not. It's not a...



It is! It's Roomba's little brother, the Scooba!

Here it is in action:



I tell you, with a bad back it was a ruddy Godsend. Yes folks, I am the proud owner of a £300 mop. My parents now think I am insane, I dread to think what the bf will say when he sees it, but to be honest, I do not care. My floors are clean and that is awesome. I plonk it in the room to be done, shift any stuff out of the way, press "go" and off it potters. I can then go and do something else far more interesting. It even plays a little tune to tell you it's finished. Awesome. I reckon this saves me 2-3 hours work easily. At that rate it's paid for itself after a few uses, and it's far more effective than sloshing a mop around. Also it's rather compelling watching it. I have yet to introduce it to the cat. That could be quite funny.

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Project Spectrum 2009

OK I surrender.

More details here.


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