Stitch-Along Wednesday: False Start

Tarot of Durer

Well, here we are with the first WIP post of the New Year - Titch is back at work, the kids are back at school, the house is almost back to normal after the holidays, it's super-frosty and cold outside - must be time to knit, right ?

Well, almost.

I'm waiting for the Lily Go The Lightning Thief MKAL to begin - tomorrow. I shall do the Medium size, for which I am all wound up and have beads galore: 50g of size 6/0 and 50g of size 8/0 clear silver-lined seed beads, which I had for a very reasonable price from Nicola at Chromabeads on eBay, whose service is fast and friendly. Yes, I am afraid I have bought there far more than once now, and thought I should share my good fortune with you.

I know, you're wondering if I have enough. I was too, actually. But 50g of size 6/0 is about 450 beads when the pattern calls for 468, and 50g of size 8/0 is approx. 1400 beads when the pattern calls for 1242. Oh yeah, that's me, living life on the Raggedy Edge again.

At least I have plenty enough yarn - I have 724m of GorgeousKnits 4ply superwash in the colorway 'Mallard', otherwise known as a dark teal that Mini Diva loves. She's also a huge fan of the Percy Jackson books, having read them first on her NintendoDS a few years ago, so there are 2 obvious reasons why I'm doing this MKAL.

While I have been waiting, I thought I would start Tru Wuv (who doesn't love a Princess Bride reference ??)

 using a skein of Violet Green Hand-dyed Merino 2ply, which was undyed and so a nice shade of cream, along with a ton of beads. Here is what happened:

Yeah, looks like a major malfunction to me, too. What it actually is is the remnants of the first two sections after all the beads had been cut out. No, this isn't some super-insane form of steeking gone wrong, this is what happens when you try to tink back and you can't because the centred decreases (I chose to do S3K2P rather than K5tog) had sort of felted in this sticky yarn and were impossible to unstick, separate and generally return to a yarn status. I couldn't even unravel the plain stockinette part.

Swearing ? Oh yes, lots. And lots. 

And then some more.

So I've ordered some nice smooth alpaca and silk Drops Lace, and shall start over. But not immediately - you can imagine the pattern and I circling each other like boxers right after the bell to start the second round has been rung ....

Pop along to Life & Yarn to see what else is being stitched this Wednesday .....

Learning Experience

World Spirit Tarot

Mini Diva's school production of 'Oliver!' is this week - and it being set in Victorian times meant I was suddenly cooler than ever amongst her friends, who are all aware that I knit shawls. Many shawls. Many shawls in many colors. Many shawls that could be borrowed to wear as part of the costume.

I thought I'd better whip up a quickie just in case there was a need for an extra shawl, and chose the Thimbleweed Shawl: being for 4ply/fingering yarn, a fast knit, not too complex but without being too boring. And I had 2 balls of Drops Alpaca in charcoal gray hanging round which I had no other plans for.

No, I have no idea why they were in my stash either, actually. It's not exactly like I'm a jay for color, and have nothing but ponycorn rainbows in my stash, but dull drab subtle colors like gray are definitely not my bag at all.

About halfway through, I decided the color and the pattern were both 'meh' without much to redeem them. But I plodded on, finished the shawl in a couple of days, then washed and blocked it. It did look better.

I left it on the back of the sofa prior to photographing it and giving it to Mini Diva.

Somehow, someway, somewhere, someone .... managed to swoop it up into a pile of dirty laundry.

Yes, one of the markers of a tragedy is the inevitability of the result. I know you know what that was, and here is the crime scene photo evidence:

No, I shan't be bothering to re-make the pattern. It might be a good thing and a lesson from the Universe that this was ruined ie. at least it was inexpensive yarn and a pattern I didn't care about, the lesson being not to waste one's time with things one doesn't feel enthusiastic about.

It's a Dutty Job

I have been distracted this week - not only was it the first of the May Bank Holidays, but the landlady has sent a proper builder to fix our bathroom, which has had problems with damp and mildew, especially during winter.

There has been an extension of the time it will take, as underneath the first layer of wall tiles to be removed were a further three layers. Can we say 'shonky' ?

I have to say, I despise people who take the short, easy route; who do a crappy job of something just to make it a quick and cheap fix; and additionally, it usually turns out in the end to be more expensive than doing the job properly in the first place, because the fixing the rubbishy short-cut(s) costs money and time on top of doing the actual job required.

Add in the grey and wet weather,which means oh so many muddy footprints across the floor (in spite of a doormat) and it explains why there is no point to housework this week. Hence the 'dutty' of the title; which also means that I have caught a whole bunch of Law & Order episodes that I hadn't seen, while I race along with knitting Mini Diva's Delphinium Shrug ...

shower after removal of 4 layers of tiles

waterproof  paint, new plasterboard, single layer of tiles started,shower tray replaced

Of course, Destructo Boy thinks it's all fabulous and makes us rush home from school so that he too can officially take part in the grown-up permitted mess-making. It should all be done by Monday, and then I will begin my search for a new excuse not to clean ....

WIP Wednesday 45: Mangy Cur

So Monday ambushed me this morning: the dog wet his bed, Jewel the cat was sick, and Destructo Boy spilled his juice over the floor. As if this wasn't enough, my MIL came for a visit, walked through the door, took one look at the dog and said ''Oh, look- fox-mange''.

I Googled it and discovered that fox-mange is sarcoptic mange. Sarcoptic mange is scabies. I freaked when I read that bit, because scabies is also a human affliction - I know because I had it as a young child, picked up from school. As a result, to this day I have an OCD fetish about not ever. ever. ever sharing towels.

Giving up my idea that he had a food allergy (he's been on a gluten-free diet for 3 weeks now) I called the vet for an appointment tootsweet. £180 ($295USD) later, blood has been taken for tests, steroid tablets prescribed for the itching, a drug called Stronghold on the offchance that it's mange, antibiotics for any secondary bacterial infection of the skin, and a medicated shampoo for the yeast skin infection on his skin ... shampoo for the 36kg/80lb. dog who is afraid of water.

The vet didn't do a skin scrape for mange because he thinks it's an environmental allergy; perhaps the blood test will tell us exactly what to, but he thinks it's more likely it will come back as a generic allergy, for which Sebastian will need a £500/$820USD course of initial treatment which is not a cure, but will control the symptoms; then he will have to take this drug for the rest of his life. He is insured, but even so .... I kind of wish it had been mange: at least you know what you're dealing with, and it's straightforward to treat.

So rather than throw the dog's mangy carcass off the nearest bridge with my gin-sodden one, let's distract ourselves with a little more baby knitting - the last item for my neighbor's Bump. It will be a cabled sweater ...

I'm sure the good people over at Tami's Amis will be far more cheerful than me today ....

WIP Wednesday 2

To be honest, I totally forgot about this meme today, so I've just been running around taking pics of what I'm in the middle of. And there does seem to be quite a bit, all at the same time, which is perhaps not the most effective way of getting things done.

Firstly, I transformed Mini Diva's room from this:


























Over the course of approx. 3 1/2 hours, 3 full trash bags, and 3 loads of washing in the machine, to this:





















And then I cut for curing some Lavender and Camomile soap:






Then the UK/EU soap swap box arrived:


















which meant I needed to sit and fondle/gloat at all the posh stuff it contained with one of these:


















And my plan for the evening is to attempt to complete this: