Too Cold to Think of a Decent Title

Good morning on this freezing cold Wednesday *shivers and tries to smile*

I'm rethinking my current WIPs, and wondering if I should cast on lots of hats, gloves, mitts and scarves *laughs* I have actually finished my tweedy green cowl, so I shall post more about that on Friday.

Since finishing that, I have been giving my Subtle Stripes cardigan some attention. I think I've done about another inch, so not a huge amount, but enough that I feel good about finishing it sometime ;)

I have done a little bit of reading this week, which makes a nice change as I haven't read much in ages. I re-read (for the umpteenth time) Memoirs of a Geisha. It's one of my very favourite books of all time, and I read it every couple of years. It's been longer than that since the last time I picked it up, and it was like meeting an old friend.

Does anyone else re-read books they love over and over, or is it just me?!

As ever, if you want more lovely knitting and yarn along content, head to Tami's and Ginny's *smiles*

Projects AND Progress ;)

I have works in progress, yay *laughs*

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the scarf I posted about on Monday is my primary project right now, and I am pleased to find that I have nearly finished it *grins* This is particularly helpful as I am heading back to see family this weekend and can hand it over if it is fully done.

See, very small ball of yarn remaining *smiles*

The top picture does have another project in it - which I was working on during my "I-hate-this-scarf-don't-wanna..." phase *laughs* It's nothing particularly exciting, but I have been planning to make leg-warmers for ages and it's cold now so I cast on.

First one is nearly done. Knitting this has demonstrated quite clearly why I don't particularly like the jumper I made with this yarn... I like brown, but this is so flat and boring a brown. There is no variation, nothing catches the light, it is just all one flat brown. Ah well, it'll keep my legs warm at least *laughs*

The book in the top picture is the third in the Maze Runner trilogy. I think I mentioned before that I don't think these books are particularly well written, especially compared to some of the other young adult fiction out there, but I am still really enjoying them which is what matters ;)

As ever, if you want more lovely knitting and yarn along content, head to Tami's and Ginny's *smiles*

Project Monogamy

Surprisingly for me, I have only been working on one project this week. It's pretty close to being finished now that I'm on the last wedge. I'm really enjoying this knit, watching the yarn change through its colours is fun, and I'm a big fan of garter stitch when there is enough of a pattern to keep the interest *smiles*

Of course, project monogamy leaves little to write about on a Wednesday *laughs*

As for the book - I'm currently sticking with my young adult dystopia theme, with The Maze Runner. I enjoyed the story but I have to say the writing is not the best. Definitely not up to the high standards of some of the books in this genre that I have read. Having said that, I do plan to read the rest of the trilogy, so it can't be too bad!

Pop over to Tami's and Ginny's for more lovely knitting and reading content, and have a lovely day *smiles*

Intermission

Sometime last week I looked at my WIP pile and was completely uninspired. I wanted to knit, but I didn't want to knit anything that I was already working on. I still want to complete them all, I just wasn't in the mood for them last week...

So I had a brief crafting intermission. I did some spinning, I dyed some yarn, and I cast on 2 new projects. And it felt wonderful. Instead of telling myself I should finish the projects already in progress, I shrugged and told myself it was totally ok to knit something completely different. Which sounds obvious, but sometimes I need to remind myself *laughs*

The rusty coloured knitting on the left is actually already finished, it only took a few hours. I'll show it off on Friday, so more details then ;)

The sage green is going to be a lacey shrug, using yarn I bought while I was in Las Vegas. The yarn is Cascade Dolce, a beautifully soft blend of alpaca, silk and wool. It's been really lovely to knit with, and this project is almost finished too. I just have a few more rows of ribbing to do around the neck and it's done *grins* And the lace pattern came out perfectly.

These 2 projects have really been a nice break from what I was working on - 2 things in fingering weight and 2 things in acrylic... Soft, fluffy, bigger yarn has been a nice change!

As for the book - you may have noticed a bit of a theme in my book choices recently... I've always loved Dystopian fiction, and with the recent success of The Hunger Games, there's a lot of it about at the moment. This one is based on the premise that all the adults/anyone over 15 disappears. It kinda reminds me of a little known TV show called The Tribe.

I do go through phases with reading - I'll read loads of crime fiction and then move on to satirical stuff, then on to dystopia, and so on.

As ever, if you want more lovely knitting and reading content, head to Tami's and Ginny's *smiles*

Wednesday WIP and Yarn Along

As I mentioned on Monday, these 2 projects have revived my love of knitting (which was waning a little) *grins*

My grey Narragansett  is progressing nicely, I haven't done a huge amount - I finished the twisted rib and now I'm on the increases for the yoke. In the picture you can see the small cable detail, which is great for keeping my interest without having to think too much ;) I'm loving the way the Fez yarn feels, it's all smooshy and lovely *grins*

My Euro Cowl is so much longer than last week (I think I had only done a couple of rows at that point)...

A couple of train journeys and the fact that it is perfect to work on while chatting means that it's now about 75% done! It looks bizarrely long for a cowl, but that's because the pattern is designed to stretch around the shoulders. It's so light and soft and I can't wait to finish it and show it off.

I finished the Hunger Games trilogy last week. I enjoyed them, I found it easy to get lost in the story, but there were lots of things that annoyed me about them too *laughs* The third book could have been much, much better, but as I had very low expectations (lots of people had mentioned that the third installment was awful) it actually wasn't as bad as I was expecting ;)

This week I'm about to start The Retribution, which is a follow up to a book earlier in the Tony Hill series. I haven't started it yet though, so not much to say about it!

As ever, if you want more lovely knitting and reading content, head to Tami's and Ginny's *smiles* 

Work In Progress Wednesday Number 42

As you can see, I have taken a slightly different approach to my picture this week *laughs* I know black and white isn't the usual for taking pictures of knitting, but the colours just wouldn't come through properly so I gave up on them. Also, the project at the bottom of the picture is a secret project for a swap, so I thought it would be a good way to show what I've been working on without ruining the surprise ;)

I didn't dig out the socks or vest, as I haven't worked on them at all this week. Time has been taken up by the swap knitting and the Shalom (as planned last week). I've also cast on and finished a couple of little projects for Nerd Wars, but I'll show them off on a Friday at some point.

I'm happy to say that I have made some good progress on Shalom...

The body is finished and I'm working on the arms now. I've decided that elbow length sleeves will look best with this, so I've got a few more inches of the first one to do, then the second and then I'm done *grins* Well, it needs blocking pretty badly, but still, pretty close to finished.

Book-wise - I decided to read the next Hunger Games book. Although the first one did annoy me in many ways, I still enjoyed the story. So I thought I might as well read the rest of the trilogy.

As ever, if you want more lovely knitting and reading content, head to Tami's and Ginny's - not that I need to tell you this by now ;) 

Work In Progress Wednesday Number 41

As I mentioned yesterday, I spent the last week in Las Vegas *grins* Perhaps unsurprisingly, I didn't do a whole lot of knitting while I was there. In fact, I didn't pick up my needles at all (although I did buy some yarn) ;)

So this post is not a whole lot different to last week, although I did remember to take a picture this time!

So, the 2 socks on the needles - boyfriend's sock is still halfway through the cuff, and brother's is halfway through the toe (which would be more impressive if they were both cuff down, but his is toe up, so not much done!)

As I mentioned last week "I also cast on for a vest to go over a shirt, in my lovely 100% alpaca yarn that has been waiting patiently in stash for a while." - that's the purple in the middle. I'm cobbling together a variety of patterns for this one, as nothing fit quite what I wanted, so I'll make sure to write down what I do in case it works out well *smiles*


Shalom is at the waist shaping stage, so not too much more to do on the body:

Then I'm adding sleeves, and it will be done. I think this one should get some attention next, as it shouldn't take too much longer. 


As for the book - I quite like Jodi Picoult books, although after reading one I can't pick up another of hers for at least 6 months or they all seem to blur into one. This one is pretty good so far. Last week I was reading the first book in the Hunger Games trilogy and a few people asked what I thought... The concept is seriously similar to the film Series 7: The Contenders, and clearly inspired by Battle Royale, so it's not quite as revolutionary as the author would have you believe (based on the interview in the back of the book!) 


Having said that, I quite enjoyed it. The main character was somewhat annoying, and I would have liked more history of the world they were all living in - the premise of the games was a little weak to me. But overall, I still enjoyed it enough to read the next book (although I've heard that book 3 is pretty bad). 


As ever, if you want more lovely knitting and reading content, head to Tami's and Ginny's *smiles* Also, I'm linked up at Keep Calm Crafting On again this week

Work In Progress Wednesday Number 34

Oooh, first week back for the work in progress Wednesday and yarn along  parties *waves* Hi everyone :)

Having finished my Cria (finally! More about that on Friday), as well as a project that was started and finished before ever setting foot on the blog, I actually only have a couple of WIPs on the go at the moment. Shocking, I know *laughs*

My Noro Striped Scarf version:

It's actually King Cole Riot, so the colours aren't as saturated as Noro would be, but I really like the more muted tones. It's quite a skinny scarf, as you can see, and I am planning to make it really long. Which makes it quite hard to photograph *laughs* I'm about halfway done, and it is a nice mindless knit, so hopefully it'll be finished fairly soon.

My other WIP is one I started as part of my desire to learn some new skills this year. As I haven't been knitting that long, everything I have learned so far is technically a new skill, but I feel like I haven't tried anything to challenge me in a little while.

So I decided it was time to try out colourwork *grins proudly* Plus, the pattern is of course charted, and I've never knit from a chart before. The fact that the chart is simple, just showing which colour goes where, seems like an excellent introduction to me ;)

I'm quite pleased with how this is going, I am even knitting with a different colour yarn in each hand (I started with both in one hand, dropping the colour I wasn't using, but that got annoying very quickly!) My tension isn't perfect, but hey, it's my first time with 2 colours and I'm just happy that it currently looks like it is supposed to ;)

As for my book, it's one I spotted on someone else's yarn along post a while back (I'm sorry, I can't remember who it was now) and thought it looked interesting. So it went onto my Christmas list and mum couldn't help but by it because it looked so strange. I'm quite enjoying it *smiles*

Work In Progress Wednesday Number 33

As I'm sure you can imagine, the time of year means that the majority of my crafting time has been taken up with gift knitting *laughs* However I have had time for a small amount of other knitting as well...

Although, technically the scarf is a gift for mum, she knows about it and bought the yarn herself, so it isn't a Christmas gift but I'd still like to finish it soon so that she can enjoy it during the cold weather. It's a few inches longer than last week...

It looks a different colour in every picture, thanks to the hideously grey weather and overhead light combination *sigh* It's much more attractive in real life. 

In the top picture you can also see a small purple item poking out. I cast on for something very quick and simple for myself, but it does also have a Christmas-related reason (see, I can justify knitting for myself even at this time of year!) The yarn I'm using is some Sirdar Crofter that my lovely brother bought me for my birthday. He bought a couple of small balls of different yarns, and I think he was a bit saddened to discover that they weren't big enough to knit anything substantial. So, for when I see him, I wanted to be wearing something useful that I made from his gift, to show how much I really appreciated him buying me yarn *smiles*

You will notice that my Cria cardigan is absent from the picture... Well, partly because it is too big to easily pick up and put down between other projects, but mainly thanks to this:

This is the remainder of 3 balls of dishcloth cotton I have been frantically knitting up for a final gift. As Cria is also a cotton yarn (albeit a blend), I decided against working on it as well. Which is a shame, as there is only one sleeve remaining, but important for my continued enjoyment of knitting *laughs*

As for the book, well I think I have read about 6 pages in the last week. Which is horrifying really, as I usually read at least 2 books in that time! But, everything has its time I guess ;)

Have a look at everyone's work in progress Wednesday and yarn along posts... I have a feeling they'll be the last of the year this week (for me they will anyway!)

Work In Progress Wednesday Number 30

I have a very blue work in progress picture today *laughs*

I've been working on boyfriend's hat, as I mentioned on Monday. However, although I said I was using the pattern "A Hat fit for a Boyfriend", I realised that I had done everything in 2x2 rib rather than the 3x2 in the pattern. So I'll have to figure out the appropriate decreases somehow ;)

And then I have to remind myself that I am knitting it for boyfriend, and even though it matches my cardigan perfectly, it is not for me!

Cria now has pockets (which I tried to take a picture of but that didn't go so well, so you'll just have to trust me!) And I am about halfway down the first sleeve. I'm pretty impressed with the continued progress of this, and I'm hoping the motivation holds out!

But then I realised just how close it now is to Christmas, so I have a feeling that progress on bloggable projects will slow as I work on getting the secret ones done in time *tries not to panic*

Bookwise, I got bored of last week's book and I'd seen someone else on yarn along reading one of Philip Pulman's His Dark Materials trilogy. I love these books so I picked up the first one and have been reading so much that I am now halfway through the third book *laughs* This of course doesn't do much for my knitting productivity, but never mind ;) it's always a balance, isn't it?!

Work In Progress Wednesday Number 18

After spending most of my recent crafting time working on some crochet, as I mentioned yesterday, I haven't actually made much progress on my knitting WIPs. So many crafts so little time *laughs*

I only took a picture of a couple of my WIPs , partly because they are the only ones with progress, and partly because I was too lazy to get Cria out of the project bag and laid out to look longer than last time ;) I have done a few more rows, but nothing worth documenting really.

So, my sock and boyfriend's second sock have grown a little (mine more so if I'm honest - I got bored of ribbing!). And current reading material is an old favourite. I love this book (but don't talk to me about the film - ugh) and have read it more times than I can remember. I was in the mood for something uncomplicated after the book I showed last week - which was fantastic; I really enjoyed it but it wasn't a lazy book (does that make sense to anyone other than me?!)

I have also made quite a lot of progress on the blanket. In fact, when the light brown section reaches the end of the dark brown section, I will have finished the blocks from the pattern:

However, because I made up my own dimensions based on how I thought it should look, instead of following the pattern, it is much shorter than I would like. Which means I need to work out a configuration of new blocks to make it longer while still looking balanced. So it'll be a little while before it is finished, but I still love knitting it so it won't be too much of a hardship ;)

Joining in with Ginny's Yarn Along and Tami's WIP Wednesdays, so check out their links to more knitting and reading...

Work In Progress Wednesday Number 17

This week I have really only been working on the neverending blanket. And I've started a new book too.

The last few evenings have been depressingly chilly so I've only wanted to work on the blanket, which keeps me nice and warm while I'm knitting *laughs* I'm thinking that I might add a couple of blocks to the pattern, to make it a bit bigger and use up some more yarn *grins* I'm not following the pattern dimensions, so I think it should work, but I'll wait and see once I've finished the original blocks.

I started a new book this morning, Popco by Scarlett Thomas. It's actually been sitting on my bookshelf for months and months, but I haven't fancied starting it. This morning it jumped into my hands ready for the bus to work and who am I to argue with a pushy book? I'm only a couple of chapters in, but I'm enjoying it so far *smiles*

For more Wednesday knitting and reading, you can find Ginny's Yarn Along here, and Tami's WIP Wednesdays, here.