WIP Wednesday 173: Oddments

Mystic Dreamer Tarot

So with the pressure of NaKniSweMo removed successfully by completing the Strawberry Cabled Cardigan - see how clever I am referring to this again, just so I can slip a couple of way better photos in:

So anyway. I didn't want you thinking for a moment that I was sat doing nothing - perish the thought ! Instead I have fallen victim to Christmas making: with 20 days to go, I have 3 items I MUST make. In fact, they need to be posted, so I have much less time than that. Did you hear my voice go up a notch or three ?

Yep, this is what I have to work with. I am getting really good at fudging creative problem-solving, since I don't really know what I'm doing. Thankfully, I don't think anyone else will, either.

You may enjoy the leisure of a jump to Tami's Amis, while I work my fingers to the bone .....

FO Friday 164: Take That, Bainbridge Scholars !

Tarot of Pagan Cats

It is wet and grey, there is no-one to either model or take a photo of me wearing my newly-completed Blackberry Cabled Cardigan; which I am calling the Strawberry Cabled Cardigan because of the lovely dusty rose pink shabby chic color of the Stylecraft Life DK yarn that I used, in which I look most becoming.

So here are the final NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater Month) 2013 statistics:  60,720 stitches.

Umm ..... that's about the only statistic that matters, actually. 

I promise you it looks a lot better when being worn. It is a shame that a design with such unusual  characteristics (knitted-on shaped border) and a relatively high pattern price was not as well-written as I feel it should have been: for instance, when attempting to make some of the key elements of the design, like the curved fronts, I feel it would be far more helpful to specifically say where and when to insert the increases, and for how many rows, rather than leave it to the knitter's guesswork. The same goes for the placement of the cable panel on the right front - some of us do not have a very well-functioning spatial brain. Or whatever is that bit that reverses and visualizes at the same time.

Anyway. I am super-chuffed with it, but exhausted. I am allowing myself a day without hooks or needles so that the blisters can heal, and merely surfing other people's projects via Tami's Amis  ....

WIP Wednesday 172: Cutting it Fine

Tarot of Pagan Cats

I know you'll be relieved to hear that Mini Diva made it back from her residential trip safe, if not sound. No, nothing exciting - a bad sore throat, cough and cold from some generous dirty germ-infested child who does not wash their hands and/or cover their mouth. The actual rock-climbing, abseiling, archery, swimming, assault course etc was all absolutely BRILLIANT, apparently. In spite of the wet dark cold weather and the mountains of mud. It must be Titch's genes making a showing, as I would have totally hated it, it is the entire polar opposite to anything I might remotely consider as 'fun'.

Aunty Fashion is back in hospital for a couple of weeks to have her blood 'washed', and then another Campath treatment, but I am hoping to make a trip to visit her. I don't like hospitals, but sometimes I can get a lot of knitting done; and Belo is in rehab.

No, it's not that. 

Or that, actually.

It's cardiac rehab that he should have had about 5 years ago after his triple bypass. So of course he is wanting all kinds of healthy foods like pizza, roti and curry. We are not even discussing goose or duck, just the thought of those makes my arteries constrict.

And here it is. It looks like we might be coming right down to the wire with the NaKniSweMo Blackberry Cabled Cardigan - all I need to do is finish it by the end of Saturday. Both sleeves are set in, all seams are sewed, all ends woven in, and I already have a total of 50,816 stitches - that's without the border, for which I picked up 544 stitches last night ...

Yes, that is my last ball of the Stylecraft Life DK in 'Rose'. The size I'm making requires 1600m/1750yds, and I had 1490m/1630yds. It could get .... interesting ....

Anyway, while I wrestle on with my self-imposed burden, you could go over to Tami's Amis and see happier, more productive people.

FO Friday 163: Umm ....

Fantastic Menagerie Tarot

So I seemed to have been really efficient this week - I have caught up on NaKniSweMo by completing the left front of the Blackberry Cabled Cardigan, which leaves me only the right front and a million miles of border to finish by next weekend.

I have also finished the last clue of the SusannaIC MKAL. Then for no reason whatsoever apart from an empty head, left it in a heap for two days before washing and blocking it. Not only did it take forever or nearly 3 hours to bind off (70 squillion stitches. Yes, I counted.) you can  imagine that blocking it this morning took quite a while as well; and now I have no sensation in my fingertips apart from pain.

I have mucked out Mini Diva's sty in anticipation of her return from her residential school trip later - but only reaped the rewards of one full black bag. I have even had some lunch. 

Then I sat around wondering why I felt like I had forgotten to do something - I had paid the bills and spoken to the landlady about the wet walls in Destructo Boy's room, so the ooky stuff was out of the way. 

And then, with only an hour left before Mini Diva's return, I remembered: I had planned to blog. So here it is. Worth the wait, wasn't it ?

No ?

OK, here, look at some pretty pictures of the Romanesque Shawl (Emily Ross) that I finished a while ago, and gifted (I'm sorry, Jill, truly I am, but the sound of your teeth on edge is kinda oddly appealing) the day I unpinned it to a lovely friend of mine who has been having a tough time recently, but still keeps smiling. I wonder if she might share with me those drugs she must be taking ?

If you remember, the yarn was Lanas Stop Baby Wool which I bought from one of my LYS', Jenny Wren's, which is well-stocked with a variety of good yarns at all price points, and is warm, welcoming and friendly too. No, she didn't pay me to say that - though if a ball or two of free yarn fell my way, that would be a lovely coincidence, wouldn't it ?

Now, pop on over to Tami's Amis to see who else has finished things ....

Monday Meditation

Housewives Tarot

So having waved Mini Diva off for a week's residential trip with her school, somewhere out in the rain-soaked wilds of Norfolk (I think), the house would have been eerily peaceful and quiet with only occasional thumps from Destructo Boy. 

However, his school has seen fit to torture the parents by handing out recorders as if they were broccoli. The kids are treating them as if it were candy - they just can't get enough. It is quite challenging to look and sound encouraging of one's offspring's raucous non-musical shrieks when in one's heart there are black violent murderous thoughts of using the stove-top to melt the shiny new plastic when he is asleep.

Anyway. I am here procrastinating instead of working on my NaKniSweMo Cardigan - I have over 32,000 stitches done, but have still only completed the back; the sleeves seem to be taking forever. Of course, they will do if you don't actually spend any time actually knitting them. But the last clue for the SusannaIC MKAL shawl was released on Saturday, so I have been paralyzed by utter laziness  indecision.

I decided to put the paralysis to good use, by taking an extended nap meditating deeply while on the sofa in order to recharge my batteries. But I am not feeling refreshed, I am feeling like I want a cake and another nap, because surely that chewing will tire me out again. But I will try to be a decent parent, and instead will add several layers of clothing in order to go collect Destructo Boy from school in the grey November wetness.

If you have stayed with me through that random ramble, well done. You too may have cake, but bring some back with you later in the week when you return for the next enthralling instalment  ....

FO Friday 160: Moving Right Along

The FO this week is me: I am exhausted ! I have been sadly absent this week as it has been half-term, and I have actually been out Doing Things with the kids. Nobody is more surprised about that than me. They have been swimming a few times, saw an uncle and the middle cousin, eaten large, fancy and expensive ice cream sundaes at Ra-Ra's, had a couple of play dates, carved pumpkins, gone trick or treating, and there have been a couple of parties. Here is their Hallowe'en swag:

 

Appropriate buckets, aren't they ? Skulls for the evilness of sugar, and bloodshot eyeballs for the effects of evil sugar. Yes, I have pinched some of their sweeties, yanno, just to check they're OK.

 I have a few hours to myself right now as Mini Diva and Destructo Boy are headed to Auntie Fashion's with Belo, and Titch is not yet home; so I will tell you that the Forest Pansy shawl is in a Time Out right now. I found a minor error, a difference between the chart and the written instructions, which meant tinking back 1 row. But, 2 rows from the end, I found a repeated error I had made back in chart 2, which I cannot ignore, however hard I try - and believe me, I have tried. All the large lilac section will have to be ripped back to the end of the dark violet section.

 

 So, it is in the Seriously Naughty Corner, because I had been hoping to complete it this week, in time to start NaKniSweMo today.

 

I am starting NaKniSweMo anyway. I just need to either find an app for my Nokia Lumia that will do stitch counting, learn how to use Excel in a millisecond, or - most likely - record how many stitches I knit each day using good old pencil and paper.

Blackberry Cabled Cardigan, made in Strawberry

And seeing as how the stitch count that needs to be knitted each day to complete a 50,000 stitch cardigan in 30 days is phenomenal (apparently, I have been told, I haven't done any math myself) I really must get going and make a start. You, however, can pop over to Tami's Amis and see some real FOs .....

WIP Wednesday 167: Clearing the Decks

Halloween Tarot

Wow, the week is rolling by fast, isn't it ? The day after tomorrow is the start of half-term, when I can wake in the early hours, hear the roaring wind and staccato stampede of rain, and simply roll over for more sleep. Yes, I am rather looking forward to it.

My major WIP this week is actually Titch aka DH. I finished his Old Man Cardigan ages ago, but he will not put it on for me to take a photo. I have promised to cut off his head - after all, no-one is interested in him, just the cardigan - but no joy so far. I can't use a hanger as I don't have one big enough, and it looks all wrong and ooky, like a 2D chess board on the Enterprise.

how it should be

As ever, I am focussed on the positive, and that is the progress on the Forest Pansy Shawl:

The yarn is definitely not soft. I would not like to say scratchy, exactly. I shall think of an appropriate description, and will hope that fabric conditioner will make it touch-the-skin wearable. Of course, the yarn is from Shetland, and the Scots are a hardy, dour people who wear barbed wire undervests for fun and amusement, and no doubt this yarn would feel as wussy as angora to them. I love angora even though I have none, but I am a gin-swilling shandy-drinking Southern jessie.

 And I have completed Clue 4 in the SusannaIC Autumn Mystery Shawl KAL:

I have no idea how long the KAL is supposed to take, but as long as I finish the Forest Pansy Shawl, I think I will be ready and able to start NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater Month, 1 sweater or cardigan, 50,000 stitches, 30 days) next week while my authorly friends take part in NaNoWriMo. 

Look at my lovely custom-made badge, with a martini and color co-ordinated to my blog and everything ! How cool is that ?

Thank you to Ana, who made this.

And now I am off to Tami's Amis to see what everybody else is up to ....