Well, that year got busy.

While I was forgetting to post, I...

... made some cards.

[top: Valentine for my best friend, bottom: birthday card for a friend] 

... made some scarves.

Fragile Heart in Malabrigo Superwash Lace

Ravelry pattern page

Ravelry project page

Malabrigo Superwash lace is the loveliest thing in the world.

Heartbreak in Hedgehog Sock (pink and navy) and Auracania Lace (turquoise)

Ravelry Pattern page

Ravelry project page

My sister-in-law has moved back to San Francisco from the wintry wilds of New York, so I can make her non-Wintry presents.

... went to Glendalough.

... went to California for my brother's wedding.

... submitted my Master's thesis.

It's a page-turner.

... posted to this other blog.

I let myself get subsumed by thesis for the last few months, and haven't really been making. I'm trying to remember what I like doing. I want to get back to knitting, drawing, and running around outside. I don't know if I'll delete this or not - if I haven't posted in a month, I think I will.

Up all night to get Loki

One of my jobs had a KAL of Vera Valimaki's Colour Affection. I had just seen Thor 2, and god damn I love a good villain*, and what better way to show that than through a scarf-based reference that only I will understand? Loki and I apparently favour similar colour schemes, too, so that was also a plus.

The green is Malabrigo Arroyo in Vaa, the grey is Louisa Harding Orielle, the black is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. I knit it on 4mm needles, finished it, and realised it was impractically gigantic (and that was the small size). I found the masochism to rip it out, halved the number of all the section repeats, and was a lot happier with the end result (though i could have saved quite a lot on yarn if I'd known I was going to do that.)

I worked on this while I went to visit my best friend in New York in January. (I thought I would have something to knit on the plane, but then was too much of a chicken to risk taking the knitting needles on board and having them taken away.) One evening we were hanging out with her friends in the common room, me knitting and her solving a Rubix cube as we sat on the couch at the end of the room. One of her friends' friends was a film student, and commented on the fact that both of being casually engaged in activities as we talked made it look like we were in a film - characters flatly delivering dialogue is dull, so you want to have them doing something else, as people often are. I hadn't consciously noticed that before on-sceen, and now I can't not.

What I can also take from that is that my natural behaviour comes off as artifice contrived  to appear natural.

* I actually preferred the treatment of Loki in Thor and Avengers to Thor 2. A lot of the character's strength came from the fact that the role was written a little flat, and given a great deal of depth by Tom Hiddleston. It seemed like the writers of Thor 2 picked up on what fans liked about the nuances of his performance, and then wrote it all in explicitly. I found it a bit heavy-handed. Still a fun silly film, though.

Octobirthday presents.

Like... presents for birthdays happening in October, not eight birthdays, or a birthday shared by eight people. You know a joke is hilarious when you have to explain it.

K-9! He doesn't quite balance, but he is supported by his associated on the shelf of things I have made for my boyfriend. Remember the time Giles was in Doctor Who? That was a good episode, even if Giles was not employed to best use. I used this pattern and Cygnet Chunky.

A neckwarmer for my friend Steph, who has emigrated to what will soon be the frozen wasteland of upstate New York. I used this pattern, casting on 49 rather than 63 stitches, and with an extra repeat, so it can be snug and long enough to meet the brim of a hat. It's a simple pattern, but I like it a good deal. I'd also been dying for a chance to use the yarn (Debbie Bliss Paloma) and it's so soft and squishy and lovely. I am selfish in what I choose to make and use, but I also hand-make things with love, so I feel I net at "neutral" in my gift-giving consideration.

I know I always say "Maybe I will make one of these for myself!" but the way it sits and the length my hair was when I made it put me in mind of Sheik from Ocarina of Time, who has a place in my heart, and Hallowe'en is coming... so maybe I will make one of these for myself!

My little brother loved the bobble hat I made him last year, so much that it disintegrated. I made him this replacement for his birthday on Thursday. (He also loved the Enterprise.) The pattern is Bobblehead Ray, which is about the nicest simple bobble hat pattern I've found.

More to follow, as October is disproprtionately full of birthdays.

Myself and a friend have started a knitting and crochet group in the asylum seekers' centre where we volunteer, so I am scouring Ravelry for projects interesting enough to stick with, but simple enough for beginners. Exciting times!

Crochet in Middle Earth-tones

My sister kept mentioning last year that she wanted to learn to crochet, so I got her Debbie Stoller's The Happy Hooker for Christmas. I think I showed remarkable self-restraint by not flicking through it until now. (I honestly didn't by it with myself in mind, but I might be a terrible person regardless.)

I got good use out of the Stripes (and Stripes) Forever pattern - when I had reams left over from making a belt, I decided to make a scarf, as well. I used Debbie Bliss Cotton DK, in what was my first yarn-shopping jaunt in an uncharacteristically long time. I wanted to use earth-tones, and I think the colour scheme ended up quite Middle Earthish, which I'm happy with, because I am a really cool and well-adjusted person with a vibrant social life.

I made the belt several inches too long, but at least it's long enough to tuck into the next belt-loop.

The scarf is also self-tasselling, which is pretty cool! It's crocheted in long rows end-to-end, rather than short rows side-to-side. It looks nice and academic, I think, and as I started it while I was in Cambridge, I feel doubly justified in thinking of it as my Shire scarf.

Second and third crochet projects down! (The fourth will hopefully be put together tonight, photos in the future.) The next one I have planned is a biggie - if I do a decent job of it, I'll feel I'm allowed to say that I can crochet.

Also, Irish Premature Babies sent me a thank-you card for the squares I donated, and emailed me pictures of the blankets they've made! I get to feel fuzzy, and I get post.

FO Friday: Gloves and triangle scarf

I found a mystery-purpose ball of Lamb's Pride Nature Spun fingering weight in my stash - I think I bought it for a commission, settled on a different yarn, and lost the receipt - so I made gloves. There is probably a more efficient way of clearing space than "turn ball of yarn into a garment, have garment take up space in a different bag until purchased", but it is apparently how I roll.

I got the stitch pattern from a book, and I like it an awful lot. On green yarn it looks like vines. The yarn is pure wool, so despite the weight it's the warmest thing ever. It's also more radioactive looking in real life. What's not to like?

I made the Blogathon Lace Triangle Scarf (Ravelry Page here) as a birthday present for my sister. (Her birthday is in June, so I'm doing well with being disgustingly organised for crafts this year.) It's a very nice pattern, which would work for just about any weight yarn. I bought this Louisa Harding Ondine before Christmas with a view to making her gloves, and made a failed start, but then she asked for different gloves which the yarn wouldn't suit. Oh Ondine gloves, you were so beautiful.

Speaking of the fact that there is a dinosaur on my shirt in that photo, I visit an asylum seekers' centre every week, and we bring arts and crafts supplies for the kids who live there. Yesterday I drew a dinosaur for one of them to colour in, which meant that the others wanted dinosaurs too. Another volunteer taught them to trace the existing dinosaurs onto new pages, which rapidly accelerated the rate of dinosaur production. Then they decided to Sellotape them together to make a dinosaur train, which, by the time we left, was twelve dinosaurs long. It's so satisfying to be shaping young minds.

FOs: Christmas knitting edition!

I have finished all my Christmas knitting! I even had time to knit an extra scarf today for a family friend.

This hat was commissioned as a tribute to a hat my friend's boyfriend lost.  The only requirement was that it have a stripe of a highlighter-esque shade of green at the bottom.

It looks more yellow here than it does in real life, but it's reasonably garish anyway. I used Rico Essentials Merino Aran for the black, and some James C. Brett Supreme Baby DK for the green stripes. U have a lot of almost-neon green yarn to use up.

I had intended to make this scarf for my brother, but the stitch was coming out quite lacy for me. I'm a little disappointed, as I think it's a really beautiful pattern, but instead I knit rib 2x2 rib scarf, using the Fibonacci sequence for the striping.  It's knit with Debbie Bliss Rialto Chunky.

I didn't want to carry the yarn up the side in case it was obvious, so I cut the yarn at the end of each stripe, and joined a new strand for each new one, and sewed in all the resulting yarn tails, because clearly I hate myself.

 This isn't a great photo of me or of the scarf, but look at the tree!

Another commission! I went to visit my brother and a friend in England two weeks ago, and I thought I would get a respectable chunk of them finished on the four-hour train journey between them, but I accidently read my book for about three hours of it. I queued this pattern (Ravelry page here) a while ago, and had been looking for occasion to make it. A friend asked me to make a pair of teal fingerless gloves for her mother for Christmas, so I got to use it! It's a bit strangely written, but easy to follow, and I think they're beautiful. The pattern suggested using 4mm needles, but with my tension that would have resulted in them being far too loose, so I used 2.75mm. They don't have a lot of give in them as a result - they take a little wiggling to get into - but they're very cosy. I have another pair in pink blocking on the windowsill to give to my sister tomorrow.

My aunt asked me to make a scarf to match a pair of Willow Tweed gloves she gave to her daughter-in-law a few weeks ago. I couldn't get the same yarn, but I used the same stitch pattern and I'm happy enough with how it came out. 

I can't help taking it personally when people complain that Christmas is materialistic and shallow. I'm definitely guilty of buying a lot of materials in the run-up to Christmas, and then I spend hours of time planning and working and staying up until three in the morning knitting complicated patterns on tiny needles because I want to create something for my loved ones which will make them happy. There's no reason I can't do this any other time of the year, but Christmas is a time at which it's acceptable to make grand gestures without making people feel uncomfortable, and for me, being given something which someone has put hours of work into is a pretty grand gesture, even if it's work they enjoy. As for shallow, bet the people making that complaint don't even create. So.

That pet peeve aside, I find Christmas to be a very lovely and fuzzy time of year, and I hope anyone reading this has a great one.

FO: Button triangle cowl hates button particle cowl

October birthdays are go! The first two were yesterday. My little brother loves his bobble hat, and my friend Steph's present did not get eaten by the post and arrived only a day late, so I can post it here!

This is the One Ball of Rasta Version of the Triangle Cowl. I rarely use the recommended yarn, but the Rasta really couldn't be beat for colours and softness. (Plus I've never used Malabrigo before!) I used a skein of Archangel.

I don't know if the problem was enhanced by having lost my yarn needle with the largest eye, but this yarn was impractically thick.

I was inordinately proud of my solution!

Ta-daa!

The knitting part of this took about two or three hours all told, but the yarn being so thick, it does take a while to dry after blocking, in the order of days.  (I feel comments like this are increasingly useful with Christmas knitting approaching.) Seaming and sewing on the buttons were also a bit of hassle, as detailed above. I think it turned out well - it might be fun to make another and play with different stitch patterns.

FO: Triangle scarf hates particle scarf

This (Ravelry page here) is a very speedy scarf! I made it the other day because I had bought the yarn at the start of the Summer with this scarf in mind, and my house was really cold that day. It's useful to have earmarked for a last minute present.

The pattern details didn't say what weight of yarn to use, so I used some Noro Kama I bought on sale. If Noro yarns were a person I would have a creepy obsessive crush on them. SO PRETTY.

My scarf came out a little smaller than the one in the pattern photos looks to be, so perhaps I guessed wrongly about the weight. It makes for a nice, non-bulky neckwarmer though. I might go back and make something a bit more suited to bundling up. Possibly this one!

I have a problem taking photos of scarves where if I take a photo myself, I look haughty, but if I ask someone else to take it, I feel I should smile, but then my face usually looks wonky, and I don't want to ask them to take another because that feels narcissistic. This was an attempt at a neutral expression. I blame Irish face. IT IS PART OF WHO I AM OKAY.

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I finally saw The Dark Knight Rises yesterday! I'm fully conscious that I'm a sham of a person for not having seen it for so long. Spoiler-free thoughts:

1. omg omg omg omg

2. Batman makes Michael Caine cry, and yet we are still expected to root for him. This requires too great suspension of disbelief. Why would anyone like anyone who makes Michael Caine cry?

3. I am not really clear on why Bane's voice was so British. Especially when he hailed from "a very ancient part of the world" (and in the Knightfall comics the prison he grew up in was in South America).

4. omg omg omg omg

It also has me thinking things about villains and costumes which I may eventually right about. I do love a good villain.

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I bought yarn for almost all my October birthdays today! After that I can start on Christmas presents. This year everything will be different. This year I will be organised.

FO: DNA scarf

This has taken me a shameful length of time to finish! Cables require my eyes as well as hands, so I wasn't able  to work on it while studying. Quite happy with how it turned out though!

The pattern is here.  I did fourteen pattern repeats instead of nine, as when I was half-way through what the pattern said to do, it was too short altogether.  I was worried fourteen might have been going overboard, but I think it turned out a nice length.

I used 3.5mm needles for the whole scarf, as using the 2.75mms that the pattern recommended to start off looked too narrow. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino - far finer than I would have considered for a scarf, but the projects that used it on Ravelry made the helix look really sharp.  It's cosy without being bulky, and the whole scarf only needed just over three skeins.

I really like this pattern an awful lot, and might make something for myself with it. (A hat? A jumper? Another scarf? WHO KNOWS!) I do love me some molecular biology, and as it is, I don't think I'm making best use of my knitwear to inform people of this fact.

P.S. I have been making headbands/ear-warmers to sell at a craft sale, but I haven't been able to take pictures I can use, because my hair is currently at a length where wearing headbands gives me eighties sports hair. And that's just not a good sell.

So I'll need to either cut my hair, or borrow someone's head, before I can take pictures. (That yarn is from this hat, which I frogged after realising it would do nothing to keep my head warm. But so pretty!)