Grumble.

I finished my left Amy glove for the second time today, but it still has too much wiggle room.  After dropping down two needle sizes, I don't think there's a great deal I can do about it, and I don't think I mind enough to remake it a third time.  In the interest of science, I'll make the right one with a tighter tension, but the way I usually knit feels 'just right' in terms of tension for me, so I don't know that it will make much odds.

I made muffins the other day, from the Moosewood recipe book my brother's girlfriend gave me.  I also added almonds and raspberries, because I am a muffin maverick, which made them pink on the inside.  Fun with food!

Aaand we're back.

I finished exams!  They could have gone better, but could have been a whole lot worse, so I shouldn't complain.  I also broke my one-post-per-fortnight rule, but my laptop broke the day before my last exam and I only got it fixed yesterday, so I think I can be excused.

To reward myself for finishing exams, I made this hat:

Check me out, taking photos outside where there's light instead of in my room where there's not.

I don't have a good photo face.  I've decided to stop trying.

The pattern is Tori by Erin Kate Archer.  The pattern calls for bulky yarn, but I really liked the striping of it and couldn't find any nice variegated bulky yarn.  I used Louisa Harding Grace - so lovely and so soft.  It's worsted weight though, so it didn't come out as slouchy as the original, it's more of a beanie, which I wasn't going for.  I am happy with it though (and I don't usually wear bright colours but I am trying NEW THINGS).  The pattern is lovely and it knits up quickly (I made it while letting my brain melt watching horror films), and I might keep an eye out for suitable bulky yarn to make another more suited to the harsh winter months.

My follow-up indulgence was my Amy Gloves.  I'm using 4-ply yarn (Debbie Bliss Rialto), instead of 3-ply as suggested by the pattern, both because there's a wider selection and I'd imagine it to be snugglier.  I finished the left one the other night, but decided there was just a little too much wiggle room.  I've ripped it out and am reknitting the whole thing on slightly smaller needles (2.75mm), so it should be a better fit.  I'm glad to be redoing it, the lace pattern was just a little wide and sloppy for my tastes as it was.  I find lace on large needles just looks gappy.

Red toenails are Summery for me.

I'm nearly finished my friend's hoodie.  This photo was taken before I'd sewn up the sides.  I didn't think through the pocket properly.  I intended to pick up stitches, but realised that that left me with the yarn on the wrong side, so I pulled a length of yarn to the back to pick up at the front and then kept on knitting at the front.  Then to attach the top I sewed the last row, pulled the live stitches through using a crochet hook and bound them off on the back.  Not ideal, but I'm satisfied with my minor feat of engineering, and it's a lesson in planning ahead for next time.  I also grossly underestimated how much yarn I'd need, and when I went in it was clealy a different dye-lot.  Oops.

In PLAN news, I still want to make myself a hoodie, though I'm now thinking of making something light and summery, maybe in cotton.  I also want to make a big snuggly cardigan because I can't find any I like in shops.  I also want to make a skirt out of fabric I've had for ages now.

I'm starting an internship in the developmental biology lab on Monday.  Exciting!

Tea-cosy

I came across photos I thought I hadn't taken of things made a while ago, so in the interest of making the front page of this less of a wall-o-text, here's a tea-cosy I made for a friend last August or so.  (Same friend who's getting the hoodie I mentioned yesterday.  True story.)

I was quite happy with the fit, given that the tea-pot was at the other end of the DART line while I was making it.  (The friend took photos after I gave it to him.)  I was given the dimensions, but given that following patterns exactly never woks out for me, switching between knitting fresh and foostering with my own half-pattern had a lot of room to go wrong.  But it didn't!  There's a lesson in there.

This was knit on 6mm DPNs, and very helpfully let me use up lots of bits and pieces of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky I had left over from lots of family hats.  (The amount of each dictated the pattern, really.)

I had originally intended to write out the pattern to post here, but since it would only really be of use for tea-pots with these dimensions (and I think this is unusually short and stout, the family tea-pot tends to be taller), I'm not sure it would be of much benefit to anyone.

wips and project wantings.

I have a habit of only posting FOs here, mostly because I forget to take photos of anything I'm doing.  I'm working on a few different things at the moment, though, so between that and exams it will take a while for anything to get finished.

So here are some wips!  Crummy photo quality as the photos were taken on my laptop and the light here is good for studying but not so good for webcam.

A friend asked for a jumper with big pockets and a hood.  I couldn't find a pattern I liked, so this is a bit of an amalgamation.  The main body is the Skully (best pattern for knocking out a quick big comfy jumper) from the first Stitch 'n' Bitch book, and the I'm basing the hood on Under The Hoodie in the same book.  It's a bulky acrylic yarn on 6.5mm needles.  Everything else I'm working on uses smaller needled and finer wool, so it's nice to have this to take a break, and be able to see results faster.

Another goddamn Grumpasaurus, this time for my brother's girlfriend's sister.  This one has kind of been put on the back-burner as she's gone home, and I've made so many, and my brother has asked for more for other friends...  DK merino wool (I have two skeins of this colour in my stash and I don't know where it came from) on ... 2.75mm needles, I think.  I much prefer using two sets of circs for knitting in the round, but didn't have the right size, so I started off being kind of lazy and only distributing stitches on two DPNs, and then.. didn't incorporate the third.  It's more sac-like on circs or with the third needle.

I am also making a SECRET THING, but it's for my boyfriend who reads this, so I can't post pictures.  It's a pity, it looks cooler than the others even unfinished.

My sister has requested a jumper like the one I made for myself, so on Friday we met up for lunch and then went to This Is Knit (best shop best shop) for wool-shopping.  She doesn't knit (she tried a rectangle once but it kind of turned into a triangle), so there was some explanation of wool weights required, and then some time of "Does this blue look kind of purple to you?  I don't want it to be purple.  This blue is kind of grey, I'm not sure cool colours suit me.  What do you think of this?  Wait, is this the same as the blue I just said was too purple?  I'll go with this one.  Actually, I like this pink."  So we left the proud owners of Louisa Harding Ianthe.  Is nice wool, fun to touch.

My craft-related feelings at the minute are split pretty evenly between "Yay, lots of projects!" and "Oh god, so many hours of stockinette."  It would be nice to take a break from it with projects that call for more interesting techniques, but I do feel bad putting my own projects before someone else's request.  The two biggish projects I'd like to make for myself at the moment aren't really any respite in that regard, a top which looks like mostly stockinette and the Tom Baker-era Doctor Who scarf, which is nothing but garter stitch.  I'm also tempted to make Under The Hoodie from above, but again, hours of stockinette, and I'm trying to reduce the amount of non-machine-washable clothes I make.  Maybe if I find something nice in acrylic.

More interesting projects I would like to make are this lace hat (how do I pay for things on Ravelry?  Do I have to set up a PayPal or something?  But it's only 70cent!  Hassle of that, etc., and that is why I probably will intend to make this indefinitely) and these mitts (yes another Doctor Who pattern, but I am a geek and the wardrobe department clearly know their business.  Also I like cables and fingerless gloves).  They're both small enough projects to make a nice break, I think.

In other news I haven't had a haircut in three months, have passed the point of being a Westie and am now turning into a mop.