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.

FO Friday: It's been a while!

I've been doing a lot of knitting for craft fairs and Christmas commissions, but by the time I get home there's not enough light to take decent photos.

I found time to knock out a hat for myself though!

The pattern is from my recollection of this one, which has sadly disappeared, and it's knit with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. I knit it as-written the first time, but it came out far too big. I ripped the whole thing out straight away, knocked fourteen stitches off the cast-on, made it shorter, and ended up with something I'm far happier with. I don't mind repeating things - it's a trait which makes me suited for a career in science, hopefully - but if I leave redoing something for too long it becomes a looming gargantuan task that I can't possibly tackle.

Every other hat I've made has ended up frogged, gifted or sold, but I have a good feeling about this one! If nothing else, I can pretend that I look like Link for as long as it's cold.

My aunt asked for a few neckwarmers and scarves to give as Christmas presents.

I really like how the green one turned out. It's knit with Studio Donegal Soft Merino, which, incidentally, can be bought by the kilo.

 

I got around to making a physical Christmas knitting list, because I do love me a list, and between commissions and "You know that [item] You made X? Could you make me one of those for Christmas?"s it's a little bit longer than I'd like it to be.

But since taking that photo I've finished the last entry - it's blocking on my floor now, so I couldn't take photos - so I'm pretty much half-way there.

My sister didn't believe that the first entry was 'circle scarf', so I had to show her how I write the individual letters in 'circle' in order to convince her. I wasn't just practising at the top of the page. Over the Summer I worked with some teachers with beautiful hand-writing, and resolved to improve mine, but apparently it hasn't taken.

I won tickets to the RDS National Crafts and Design Fair this Thursday through May Fly, so I'm very much looking forward to that. Can't argue with free! :)

I also posted some pictures of my craft-fair knitting here!

Lots of scarves!

Some low-bandwidth projects, as the kids say.*

1-2. Triangle scarf in Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton. 3-4. A long neckwarmer in Katia Big Merino. 5-6. A triangle scarf (an early Christmas present for my brother) in Malabrigo Merino Worsted. 7-8. A snugger neckwarmer in  Katia Big Merino.

Woo webcam-quality photos! For such speedy, lazy projects, I didn't feel like going outside in the cold and taking dozens of awkward photos of myself. The first two of these are commissions, the latter two are Christmas presents (one if for my little brother to give to his godmother, which doesn't help me with being organised, but means I get paid back for the yarn, so!). I have finished three Christmas presents, and am currently debating whether to keep going on with them, or take a break and do some craft fair knitting for the end of the month. In any event, it looks like I won't be up until ungodly hours finishing presents this year. This is EXCITING TIMES.

*I am not sure if the kids actually say this.

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.

-

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.

-

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.