So Beautiful

I finally finished my Celestarium! I can't tell you how happy this makes me - partly because it's one of the most beautiful things I have ever made, and partly because it felt like it would never, ever be done *laughs*

I love it, I want to wear it everywhere. To the supermarket, to the petrol station, even sat in my office with no one here to see it ;)

 I had quite a few beads, and plenty of yarn, left when I got to the border, so instead of doing the plain knit on border, I added a few rows of k2tog, yo, which gives a nice lattice, and added a row of beads. This plan also gave me the flexibility to block the garter stitch border into points... Which saved the headache of trying to figure out how to block a perfect circle *laughs*

This is an intermediate in-action shot, hopefully to be replaced with a proper picture of me wearing it once my photographer gets home ;)

The way I shaped the edges means it actually sits really nicely on my shoulders, which is great because I had no idea how I was going to wear it! 

I love the yarn (malabrigo sock - and I even have enough left for a short pair of socks!) and the colour, and the beads, and the pattern.... I just love it all, in case you couldn't tell!

It's my first circular project, and my first ever project with beads, so I'm really happy with how it came out.

Awesome Knit Night

Last week I had the good fortune to be invited to an event to help launch Save the Children's new Christmas Jumper Day - to make the world a better place with Christmas Jumpers on 14th December.

The event was held at the Save the Children shop in Primrose Hill, which is gorgeous and I would like to move into *laughs*

The event was hosted by Debbie Bliss, with her special guest Trisha Malcolm, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Knitting. Debbie had designed some patterns for the event, which are so cute...

There's a third mini jumper, but I'm saving that one until I can show you the one I made ;) I only managed to knit the front at the event, as I was so busy chatting *laughs*

I had a really lovely time, meeting bloggers and some lovely ladies from Save the Children who were telling us about the work they do at home and abroad.

One of the bloggers I met was Susan, from Damn, Knit and Blast It... I was a bit of  dork when I went over to say hi, as Susan's was actually the very first knitting blog I ever read *laughs* I think I managed to chat to everyone, at least briefly, and walked back to the tube station with Susan and Gemma, from the Knitting Fraggle. We also discovered that all 3 of us have boyfriends/husbands with the same first name, which was quite amusing.

I had a great time chatting to Debbie Bliss, especially when I realised I was wearing a jumper made from her Fez yarn. We bonded over our mutual sadness that both Fez and Alpaca Silk had been discontinued by the manufacturer *laughs*

And I did do some knitting in amongst the chatting, snacking and drinking, see... ;)

I'll post a bit more about Christmas Jumper Day tomorrow, as it was the whole reason for the fab night, but in the meantime, check out the other lovely ladies' blogs too...

http://susancrowe.co.uk/

http://angharadhandmade.blogspot.co.uk/

http://beeandbuzz.blogspot.co.uk/

http://chichidee.yolasite.com/

http://shoreditchsisters.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.iheartteachingart.com/

http://mylifeinknitwear.com/

http://dorothydoes.tumblr.com/

http://theknittingfraggle.blogspot.com

http://planetpenny.co.uk/

http://www.handmadenest.co.uk/

A Week of Insanity

I mentioned yesterday that my crafting time over the last week had been somewhat taken up by GISHWHES...

What is it, I hear you ask? It stands for the Greatest International Scavanger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen. The brainchild of Misha Collins (he plays Castiel in Supernatural), it is a week of finding/creating/doing crazy things.

I joined up with a bunch of my team mates from Nerd Wars and we coordinated getting some of the following items:

• A mechanical catapult that can throw a pumpkin 100m
• 3 people dressed as frogs, leapfrogging through Starbucks
• A kilt made entirely of cucumber
• A picture of a priest, a minister and a rabbi walking into a bar
• Build a tea house using recycled materials under a bridge and have a cup of tea in it...
• The prime minister or president of a country modelling a bra

Anyway, there were 150 items, some crazier than others *laughs*

I volunteered to make a model to answer the challenge "We know what a flea circus looks like, but what would a flea strip club look like"?

Yep, the pole is a DPN ;)

I also tried to "recreate the seduction of Eve, with fig leaf, snake and apple, at a bus stop:

I didn't use this picture, as the leaves were in the wrong place, but I like the shot anyway - boyfriend took it while I couldn't stop laughing and I think it came out really well.

One of the other challenges I did made use of my rudimentary drawing skills - it's supposed to be Misha Collins and the Queen of England, dressed in Steampunk garb, riding a single stallion:

I Think I Found It...

...My knitting mojo that is *laughs* Well, I have figured out where it went at least ;)

Months ago, I agreed to make a scarf for my grandmother. She wanted a grey scarf, maybe with some pink, with no pattern requirement. I bought some yarn and got going. And stalled.

It has been stuck at this stage for months. The yarn, while very pretty and soft, is just awful to work with. I've switched between metal, bamboo and wooden needles, and it sticks and squeaks on all of them. So I'd manage a row or two before throwing it to one side.

Now, because I had promised to make it, the weather is getting cold and I know my gran is getting a little impatient, not knitting it was no longer an option. So I didn't pick anything else up, to try and force myself to knit this. But I really didn't want to *laughs*

In the end, I decided that the yarn just wasn't working and I would therefore need to buy something different otherwise the scarf would never get finished and I would never knit again ;) At the weekend I bought new yarn...

Malabrigo Worsted in Pearl. The colour is gorgeous, grey with some pink, as requested. And the yarn is beautiful to work with. It also has the advantage of being worsted/aran weight rather than DK as I was using before *laughs*

I cast on yesterday and the scarf is already as long as the previous incarnation ;)

The pattern I'm making up is similar to the one I started with on the original scarf, fishnet lace interspersed with garter stitch. Because this yarn is much nicer to work with, as well as being thicker and warmer, I have got much larger lace sections, which I think looks really good.

It'll look better once it's blocked, but I actually like the pattern even without blocking.

So, after a few weeks of little to no knitting, I knit half a scarf in an evening *laughs* I think I might be back on track ;)

I bought the new yarn at the Knitting and Stitching Show, along with a few other goodies, but as this is already a long enough post, I'll show those off tomorrow *grins*

Woo Hoo!

Ok, today gets a very quick post before I dive back into blogging about the usual stuff, because I am too excited not to share...

I passed my driving test!

I know 28 is quite late to start driving, but for years I had no desire to learn, and then I'd got pretty comfortable getting around using public transport. But it was about time I got on with it, so I did, and this morning I passed my test.

I was shaking like a leaf, and so not expecting to pass, and I'm still on a bit of a high *laughs*

I bought a car a little while ago, so I could practice driving under the supervision of cunning boyfriend, and now I can burn those L plates and roam around under my own steam.

Watch out those of you in the UK, I might pop round for a cuppa now that I can ;)

Family

This weekend I spent a few days with my mum - we haven't seen each other in a while so it was great to have a proper weekend together.

One thing we did was go to the hairdresser... Something I haven't done in about 13 years *laughs* I tend to just trim my hair myself, which means I have had pretty much the same style for that entire time. So, time for a change!

Then we bought mum an iPad - hurtling her into the 21st Century *grins* We had quite a lot of fun setting that up and face-timing with my brother.

And, talking of iPads and my brother - check out this awesome pneumatic stand he made:

You use a little switch to make it change angle. I think I need one of these for my iPad now (not that I'm hinting at all!) I love how versatile lego is - it's not just for kids people *laughs*

And one final update, in my slightly scattered thoughts this morning... You remember the steampunk iron man I made based on a tutorial from Jen at Epbot? Well, I sent her a picture and she posted about it on her blog *huge grin* He's just over halfway down the page.

Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. Hope everyone had a great weekend :)

Paper Punk

I don't know if I've mentioned before, but I'm a huge fan of the blog Epbot. Recently Jen posted a DIY Shadowbox tutorial to display a paper figure. I really liked it, so I decided to have a go myself...

Using a template from Gus Santome, I made a little Iron Man figure (his site has some seriously cute paper templates, I made another which I'll show you tomorrow).

And then I set to work on creating a little display. Rather foolishly, I didn't take any in progress pictures at all - probably because I was having so much fun making that I forgot to document *laughs* So instead I'll give you a tour of the finished product ;)

Presenting my little steampunk(ish) Iron Man display *grins*

After attaching a little metal corner piece to his head, I decided that the box needed to match, so I customised in lots of different ways. First I sprayed a plain cream box with copper paint, then used a black ink pad to give it some more depth:

The texture on the box really helped, I think.

The background isn't too easy to see, but I stuck in some gears and some circles cut from antique book paper:

The gears are also replicated on the front of the box, as shown in the first picture. I decided the front needed something more, so I added a line of "rivets" (stick on pearls that I stained with copper ink)

I carried on the rivet theme onto Iron Man's chest, to tie him in a bit better! I followed Jen's lead and added some flames to the front of the box (I know Iron Man doesn't really have reddish coloured flames, but they fitted better into my colour scheme *laughs*)

I coloured the tops of the flames with copper, and I used spacers between them to stagger the depth.

Overall, I totally love how this came out. It took ages, but I think it's worth it *grins*

To Dye For...

So, as I mentioned yesterday, boyfriend had a go at dyeing yarn *grins* He'd been quite impressed with my attempt  some time ago, and had suggested he might find it fun to have a go. So I bought undyed yarn at Knit Nation and ordered some more Kool Aid. We agreed that he could dye the yarn for my use, being somewhat reluctant to venture into the land of crazy coloured socks himself. Works for me ;)

We assembled our supplies:

I decided, having reviewed my sock yarn stash, that I was lacking in the green department, so we went with blue, green and yellow Kool Aid. I did order a purple one as well, in case a blue/purple combo might work, but we didn't use that in the end.

Boyfriend looked beautifully fetching in yellow rubber gloves and my cowprint apron *laughs* However, and I'm sorry to disappoint, to save his blushes there will be no photographic evidence of this. He did look cute though, especially while he was concentrating on dipping the yarn into different colours and being quite specific about what he wanted next ;)

Dyed and ready to go into the microwave to cure:

These colours are obviously a bit more saturated due to the yarn being wet. Also, being a wool/tencel blend, the yarn only adheres to the animal fibre and not to the tencel, so the final product looks a little different. However I was prepared for this, having dyed the same blend myself. I actually quite like the almost chalky quality of the colour. Next time I'll go for something a bit more vibrant though ;)

I took quite a few pictures of the finished skein (or hank if you prefer) to show off the subtle colour variations.

 Boyfriend has named his colourway "Seaweed of Endor" and is, I believe, really quite proud of it *smiles* I can't wait to knit with it and see how the colours combine, I love the icy blue sections particularly. Better get knitting socks fast!

Question Everything...*

I have 2 projects to show off this week *grins* I would usually save one for next week, in case I don't have anything to post then, but I love both of these and they deserve some limelight right away ;)

First up, proper pictures of my Stripe Study Shawl:

I love this shawl, it is so gorgeous *grins* I'm really pleased with it. I wasn't entirely sure how it would sit, being asymmetrical, but it works perfectly. Having one side longer than the other means that it goes around my shoulders and stays there - much more than a regular triangle shawl

The second picture is slightly weird, colour-wise, because I was trying to capture the actual green of the yarn. Not very well! This is what it actually looks like:

Yarn: Wollmeise 80-20 in Im der Jahre den Ratte (grey) and 100% in Minze (green)
Pattern: Stripe Study Shawl
Modifications: None - and I had enough yarn to do all 12 stripes.

My second FO for this week is my Super Awesome Happy Rainbow Socks:

They're so awesome *big grin*

Because I have small feet, and knit them toe up, I was able to get almost knee high socks. I used every scrap of yarn and managed to match them too.

And now I'm posting lots of pictures because these are the happiest socks in the world *laughs*

Yarn: 2 balls Knit Picks Felici in Rainbow (thanks to a kindly blogger sourcing the yarn and sending it to me - Alex, these socks are thanks to you!)
Pattern: generic toe up with short row heel

I'm wearing them right now and bouncing around because... I'm walking on rainbows (and I apologise to everyone who is now singing that to the tune of "walking on sunshine" *laughs*)

It's Friday, so you know what to do... Visit Tami's, Natural Suburbia and Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Have a great weekend :)   

*"Question everything. Every stripe, every star, every word spoken. Everything." - Ernest Gaines 

Quest

A little while ago, Alex over at Mighty Distractible posted about a quest to track down a shawl pattern from a French shop. After having very little luck, she emailed me to ask if there was any chance I could help, being somewhat closer to France. I didn't get very far, but Alex was extremely grateful for the research I did when trying to help *smiles* You can read about the quest, and the happy ending, here.

Shortly afterwards, I realised that I had a small quest of my own. Ages and ages ago I'd seen some rainbow socks made in Knit Picks Felici self striping yarn. Since then, I have wanted to get hold of that yarn to make some of my own.

Unfortunately Knit Picks don't ship to the UK, and the only place to buy their yarn over here didn't have that colourway. I do realise that there are other rainbow yarns out there, but this one had got stuck in my head and I wanted it *laughs* No luck was had when I stalked ravelry stashes to see if anyone was selling, but then I remembered Alex...

To save you the suspense (and because there's a lot of text and no pictures so far!) - I have my yarn *grins*

When I emailed Alex to ask if she would possibly order the yarn and then ship it to me, as long as it wasn't too much trouble, I got a speedy reply saying the order had been placed *grins* I love crafty friends.

A brief wait while the yarn was shipped to Alex and then on to me, and then I had the crazy bright rainbow yarn in my eager hands. I, of course, cast on straight away ;)

Toe-up (to use all of the yarn), 2 at a time (to avoid second sock syndrome)... I even started the socks at the same point in the colour repeat so they'll match.

I'm not normally bothered about matching socks - in fact as they're handknit I usually like them to be a little different. But these socks need to match I think.

And one more picture, because I really love how bright and happy this yarn is *laughs* It's gorgeously soft too.

So, thank you Alex, for enabling my crazy sock needs!

Genius and Virtue*

I finished my Narragansett last weekend *grins* Waiting for it to block was torturous - I wanted to wear it right away, plus I was terrified that it wouldn't come out the right size! Eventually it dried and I immediately put it on (ok, it may have still been a teeny, tiny bit damp, but I was impatient *laughs*)

I am now completely in love with this jumper/sweater. I love the shape, the detailing and the soft grey of the yarn.

I wish the pictures did it justice, but sadly I am not a particularly good model! Of course, doing a rushed photoshoot in the morning before work, in the house, isn't the best way to show something off ;)

Anyway, on to the details that make this so lovely:

The twisted rib boatneck is gorgeous, I love this shape.

And the detailing being picked up on the hip works really well, and ties everything together nicely:

Pattern: Narragansett
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Fez - bought in the John Lewis sale at Christmas. I think I used 6 balls, so I have another 4 left to play with. Haven't decided if I want to make a matching hat or if I should dye the leftovers a different colour...
Modifications: I don't think I made any - which makes a change!

Although there are so many patterns out there that I have no desire to make the same things more than once, this might be the exception! Maybe with a different style cable, but I really do love the way this turned out and I'm very tempted to make more *laughs*


* "Genius and virtue are to be more often found clothed in gray than in peacock bright." Van Wyck Brooks

Time After Time

A little while ago I bought this rather boring looking clock. It was in the sale, and I had a feeling I could do something with it. And, as I needed a new clock (my old one just doesn't fit in with how my decor has changed), it seemed worth a shot.

So, armed with some supplies, this weekend I had a go at making it look a little more me...

A combination of copper spray paint, a bronze ink pad and black ink to change the dull colour, plus some embellishments... The copper wire was a treasure found in my dad's workshop, and I bought some really cool metal page corners and cogs. They're the Tim Holtz Idea-Ology range, which I am completely in love with *grins*

Overall, I'm really pleased with how it turned out:

So much better!

Some close-ups of the details...

At the top, I clipped a couple of the page corners and used them to make a bit more of a statement of the empty curve. A bit of ink to create more texture, and some stick on "rivets" and I think it looks pretty cool *grins*

I used ink on the corner pieces to bring out the design more, and a little on the cogs to make them look a little older and more worn. You can also see the slight colouration added to the edge of the clock face.

And, because I am really pleased with this redesign, here's a quick before and after comparison:

Pretty cool, huh? For a total cost of about £15, I have a unique and very me clock. Plus some leftover cogs and corners for my next project. Not bad considering the clocks I was looking at before deciding to try this makeover were £30-£80!