New Goodies

Quick post because it's Australia Day and I'm about to head out for some good ol' fashioned fish'n'chips at the harbour and fireworks with my bf who is back for the long weekend...

My yarn order and Vogue Knitting finally arrived! I was originally going to use the mint green cotton pictured for another Cherry Cardigan, but am now unsure as to whether I will like it. The aran weight pink yarn is for the leaf sweater in the Phildar catalogue, and I'm unsure what yarn to use for that gorgeous Nora Gauhan cardigan on the front of VK....

A new project!

I don't know about you, but I'm a little embarassed by my passion for knitting. I know that it's no longer the hobby of grannies anymore, but when people ask me about things that relate vaguely to knitting, I tend to mumble my answer with hope of not being laughed at.

Take for example, when my good friend Tuan asked if I wanted to go watch their new basketball team play their very first game at the local rec centre. After enquiring about what day it would be (monday), I quickly apologised and told him I wouldn't be able to make *any* games in the future. Being the natural thing to do, he asked me what I have planned on Monday nights, and I said to him with pleadingly embarassed eyes "well, I can't lie to you because you're my good friend.. but I knit on monday nights with a local knitting group"... to which Genevieve (another friend who was present) replied "I would've lied instead"... *hangs head*


But anyways, what is this beautiful looking thing you see? Besides that gorgeous blonde girl, it's also my new project. I am still waiting for my wool order to arrive, but I decided to try and do a destash project, and this is it. The Rustic Wool in Elm that I'm using knits up perfectly to gauge with this cute little cardi and so, success! The yarn is lovely to knit with and I've been putting the resulting fabric next to my skin and I love the warmth minus any itchy wool characteristic.



I've finished the 10cm of 2x2 rib (very boring knitting), and am now starting the main part. I'm not sure whether I like the reverse stockinette body, so I might just flip it over and use the stockinette side as the "right side" .

Also, tomorrow is monday, so i'm hoping my yarn order and the cute little yarn winder my bf got me will be on my doorstep when I get home from work...

No knitting

I have had a been of a drought in my knitting week. Work and Life has caught up with me, and coupled with having no yarn to use (no, nothing in my stash is suitable for what I want to knit), i've had a pretty knit-less and hectic week.

But today is a saturday and besides going out tonight, I'm looking forward to staying home during the day and catching up on my serial tv (yes, I'm a huge fan of grey's anatomy, one tree hill, desperate housewives - all that !) and just doing tv-knitting to relax.

*ah... bliss*

VK Spring Summer 2006 Embroidered Cardi

She's finished! After a previous frogged attempt, I resolved to finish the embroidered cardi from the Vogue Knitting Spring Summer 2006 edition.

As you can tell by the photos, she's not 100% done - I am yet to block her (jeepers, i'm referring to knitted goodies as he and she's now!!) and I am yet to get her a nice big button to match.

Oh, and she looks quite a bit like a santa claus outfit in these photos because of the way the colours turned out She's definitely not as red as it looks in the photos - she's actually a fuschia pink with very bright white trims, and umm... yes, those are my pj shorts you're witnessing ;) I think i'll call her the santa cardi for future refer

Project Details:

Pattern: From Vogue Knitting Spring Summer 2006 Edition, Pattern #34

Yarn: 5.5 balls of Jo Sharp Summer Soho Cotton DK in Blush (main part) and 1 skein of Heirloom 8ply Cotton in white

Needles: 4.5mm Straight Needles, 4.00mm 60cm Circulars, 4.5mm 60cm Circulars

Comments:

Before you begin this project, make sure you download the erratum that's posted on the VK site. It's not a big error but you should get it anyways to make it complete.

I found the pattern fairly easy to follow but there were a few frustrating moments where I didn't read a few bits ahead to find out "At the same time" and then had to frog back 13 rows or whatever it was that I missed.

The stitch patterns are basic - the main part is done in plain stockinette stitch, and the sleeve edge done in seed stitch (as much as I hate the actual stitching part of seed stitch, i quite like the finished texture). Once seamed, you need to pick up the edges and knit 3 stitches in garter. I think if I did this project again, I would actually skip the garter and put a different trim on it instead - i think the garter is quite ugly!! hehe. At the edge of the garter is the picot bindoff .

There is a lot of stockinette though, and at times I wanted to tear up the cardi or at least forget it. The stockinette was much boring, and may I also add the picot edging drove me insane too! hehe.

A few funky stitches - but that's what happens when you give me stockinette on cotton to work with!

The fit of it is pretty much like the photo. It's a bit floppy and drapey, and not very fitted. But it makes a cute little cropped cardi to wear with jeans and a plain singlet.. :) The smallest size on the pattern was a 34, and I knitted that one.

Me in my pj's and in the ensuite

I didnt finish the embroidery because well, i did such a dreadful job of it in my one corner that I decided not to do anymore until I had more practice. haha. As you can see, there are no closeups of the embroidery.

Worse than the stash ban!!

I've always prided myself in the fact that I've been able to save for what I want quite efficiently. When speaking to long lost relatives, my dad has often mentioned that I'm the good one, and my brother the silly one - and of course, being a little eavesdropper that I am, i've taken it all in and added it to my smugness hehe.

So, it was with much dismay when I finally worked out my budget for the next three months. You see, I was given a lovely payrise at the end of 2006 , but at the same time, I booked myself a 2.5 week long holiday out trekking in Nepal. At first my trip seemed oh-so-cheap with it's $850 fee (plus airfares) and the mighty australian to nepalese dollar currency was just winning favours left right and centre.

Then i sat down to work out how much I needed to budget for flights, visas, vaccinations, additional accommodation when I stopover in Bangkok, all that equipment and additional spending money.

... oh woe is me!!! Because I want to continue saving as much as I normally do, I budgeted only using my disposable income

End figure? I can spend a wholesome $150 EACH MONTH for leisure (this does not include transport, bills etc - only leisure)... which means, in the entire month, I am restricted to entertaining and KNITTING for a whole $150 each month.

I am already struggling. I have all these projects I want to do, but alas! the yarn will take at least 1/3 of my monthly extravaganza. So - my knitting is going to be minimal at best until the end of March and I'm praying that all this talk i've heard about himalayan silk and nepalese yarn is going to eventuate when i get there..

*cry*

It all got too messy

My family often complain about how I leave my knitting all over the house. Needles on the couches (bad idea on my part - those needles will snap if someone sits on them), bits of wool left on the couch or at the desk (where I like to watch Grey's anatomy or desperate housewives and knit), project books in the lounge room, in my room .. the list goes on.

So today I decided to give each of my projects a little house .. I decided to make project totes for each of the projects I'm working on - miniature tote bags with a few pockets and enough room to carry the things I need, some balls of yarn and other pieces of the project..

Measuring at just 20cm x 25cm, I came up with this:

[Square mini totes for my knitting projects]

[The ladybug detail]

Apologies for the bad photos. I seem to have lost my digital camera amongst the new year's mess, and have had to resort to using my mobile's measly 2.0MP lens... When I find my digital camer i'll post new pics..

Given that each bag only took about 1 hour to make including cutting, I'm going to make about 4 of them to house each WIP .

Knitty New Year's Resolutions

Everyone seems to be doing it, so here are my knitty new year's resolutions for 2007:

• Learn to knit with dpn's
• If making mittens or the like, always finish a PAIR (not just one)
• Maximum of 3 WIP's only. This includes accessories and small items, not just sweaters etc.
• "Almost done" projects that haven't been seamed and weaved do NOT equal done. They are still 1 WIP.

They don't *seem* so hard from the outset, but how come I can never stick to these? I hope you have some luck with your resolutions!