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.

~*~

I'm here, I'm here!

Oh god, that was fun. My computer decided to explode last week, but it has now been fixed and I'm slowly putting all my stuff back on to it. Gah. Actually it was overdue a rebuild, but it would have been nice not to have it inflicted on me. At least it sorted out my emails. I've also been away down south, visiting the parental units for their respective birthdays and then even further south to see my man who is in Essex at the moment. Which is a LOOOOOONG way from Ayrshire, believe me. I think I have corns on my backside from spending so long in the car.

Next time, I think I might have to catch a flight to Stansted. It will probably be cheaper!

All this gadding about and beating my PC with a brick means my house was ditched, I have a colossal amount of ironing to do, and there were dirty dishes sitting for a week before they got washed up. Housework avoidance? I haz it. My sink smells funny as well. Sort of like compost. Not much knitting was achieved either - I haven't figured how to knit and drive at the same time yet. However I did finish the Luna Moth shawl:



and as I seem to have gone into some sort of lace kick, I cast on for the Fountain Pen Shawl from IK, in Old Maiden Aunt laceweight.

I've done some sewing:



I maded a PINCUSHION! Yay me. I'm actually rather pleased.

I also did some Wardrobe Refashioning, more as an experiment than a serious attempt at something wearable. I turned this:



into this (along with hacking up the cream sweater)



which is not nearly as wonky as it looks. I'm not sure how practical a jersey skirt will be, but hey. Good practice.

I suffered my first sewing injury (warning - BLOOD!)



Them rotary cutters? They is SHARP lemme tell you. Ouch.

I found that Colchester has not one, but TWO fantastic haberdashers / fabric shop / yarn shops, so I am now skinted :-)

And finally I did some thrifting and scored a fantastic LK Bennett skirt and a madly funky top wich I may never wear but was too pretty to leave in the shop:



I haz teh Charity Shop love.

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In Which I Uncover the Ravelry Curse

I think I have discovered something truly evil.

In the last couple of days, brung low with yukky cold germs from hell, I have been attempting to start my first lace shawl. Yes, I realise a cold-addled head is perhaps not the best thing to bring to a lace-knitting party, but I figured if I take it slow, it would take my mind off it.

So I pulled out some vintage Falcon DK, with which I had attempted the Woodland Shawl some time ago. No fault to the pattern, I had moved house and lost my place, so I'd pulled out the needles and left it. I decided to try the Heartland Shawl instead. Lovely and simple design by Evelyn Clark, who knows a thing or three about lace. OK.

I duly cast on, knit the funny tab to start, and got stuck in. After a bit, I put it down and went to see what was happening on Ravelry. After a little pointless and arbitrary posting, I popped by my projects and added the shawl.

I went back to the shawl, and discovered it looked like ass. I'd made a honking error, and the cast-on looked pants. Rip rip rip. Start again. Knit knit knit. OK. looking good. Breaktime. Back on Rav.

Back to shawl. Knit knit knit. Hang on. Again, something had gone awry, and I realised the yarn just blew goats in this pattern. Buggrit. Rip rip rip, put yarn away. Stomped over to Rav and deleted the project.

I shopped the stash. Jaeger Matchmaker 4-ply in a soft grey called to me, so I scooped it up, stopped by Rav and pattern-surfed until I came up with one from Elann - the Luna Moth. Yep. Likes that. Not too sure about the moth reference, but we'll go with it.

Cast on, knit knit knit. Looking very nice. Liking the yarn lots. Knit knit knit bed.
Got up, knit knit knit. Count count count. All good. Yay me.

Stopped by Rav and loaded in the project. Knit knit knit. Count count oh. I've got the wrong number of stitches. Study knitting carefully. Count again. Yep. I'm one short on one side, and something's way wrong on the other. Tink tink tink. Pick up, count. Count again. Crochet hook comes out. Count. Correct. Finally. Continue.

So. Why is it as soon as I put a project into Ravelry it goes tits-up? I think we should be told. This is also I suppose karmic vengeance for laughing so hard at the Yarn Harlot's escapades with her Estonian shawl. Karma can be such a bitch sometimes, especially when it's delayed.

In other news, I haz some sewing books, and I have set up a sewing corner upstairs in the spare bedroom. I'd show you a picture but, as usual when I am being creative, it is an utter tip and totally embarrassing. Also I am full of cold and do not want to trek up the stairs. I have even sewn something. A sweater (shop-bought, don't get excited) was far too big for me. So, in a spirit of "what the hell" I took the seam ripper to it. Out came the sleeves and I stitched up each side taking about 2" off the width. I deliberately stitched on the right side so I got raw edges. I now have a close-fitting sleeveless top to wear! It's actually not too bad, I want to wash it to bed in the sewing then there may be a modelled picture. I have now realised what I really need is a pincushion or two, so that will probably be the next project while I save up for some skirt fabric and some more fat quarters for the quilt I'm plotting.

By the way, have you all seen what Google have added to their maps? You can now "walk around" a load of British cities, including Edinburgh and Glasgow. I have spent a few happy, if snotty, hours strolling virtually around Edinburgh this afternoon. I should really get out more I think.

Right, I am going to go and look for cute pincushion patterns. Later folks.

Aaachoo!

~*~