Wintry goodness

Finished the Calorimetry the same day I started it and haven't stopped wearing it since. A day of knitting seemed to do my neck the world of good, thank goodness. And I thought it was just tea that was a cure for all.



I've seen a bit of debate on the Knitty forums as to whether or not the pattern is correct as published; but while I agree the picture to go with the pattern certainly doesn't seem to match what you get if you follow the instructions to the letter, I must say even if it is wrong I'm sticking what I've got. It's lovely and warm -- keeps the wind of my ears nicely so I can enjoy the wonderful wintry weather all the more.

The joy of comfort knitting

Woke up in the middle of the night last night with an agonising cramp-like pain in the back of my neck. Still not being able to turn my head or sit up without great care this morning, went off to A&E with my fiance when he left for work (I'm very lucky to be engaged to a lovely someone who happens to work in a hospital), returning home a couple of hours later with some pain killers and advice to just wait it out. Pulled muscle probably from sleeping funny. Wonderful.

Thus today I have been curled up under a blanket, sitting very still and knitting my way through Calorimetry using a ball of Noro Kureyon I picked up in York last week when I went to visit my sister. Beautiful stuff! I adore the way the colours are coming out, all dark greens and dusky purples -- just looking at them makes me feel better, even more so than the pain killers and a jam doughnut.

Alas, if only I could say the same for my socks. Having figured out the basics with Thuja, I thought I'd have a go at these lovelies. Several froggings later however, I'm feeling very much the novice knitter I am and very frustrated at the bloody stitches that keep wandering off somewhere when I'm not looking. Annoying of them.

I think I'm going to have another jam doughnut.

A real live sock

Goodness me, but sock knitting is fun. I finished one of the Thuja yesterday and am highly thrilled that it is actually sock shaped. True it my be a bit wobbly were I divided the stitches onto the wrong needles for the foot and has holes at the ankles where I missed picking up a couple of stitches, but it a real live sock and it even fits!

I'm going to cast-on and start the next one this evening, so I can have myself a comfy pair of bed-socks or "post-yoga" socks (for when I take up yoga again... this seems to be a recuring theme for me). Then all I have to do I wait until my student loan comes through to stock up on sock yarn and knit to my hearts content. Or dream I had more time to knit to my hearts content, while finishing my pesky dissertation. My dad is going away hiking in March, so I'd love to knit him a pair of socks for that. I wonder if I could knit some with little intersia mushrooms on in honour of his toe fungus? After all, it's almost a family pet (I love my family).

My year of knit

Very very nearly finished the purple gift scarf I've been working on for the past week. Just a little bit of a skein left to knit and it should be done (two skeins used in total, meaning I have a fair few left to ponder what to do with at a later date), save for weaving in the ends which I always find oddly therapeutic. While knitting, I've been spending the last few days making a mental "to knit" list for 2007, but am determined my next project will be finishing the Thuja socks. I seems silly to give up on them now, seeing as I finally got my head (mostly) around turning the heel.

I have decided 2007 should be my "year of knit". I'm fed up with knitting the simple stuff; my aim is to try as many different projects as possible over the next twelve month and to improve my knitting skills. Other than the projects I've mentioned in my last few posts, I'd love to knit my first jumper or cardigan. My big ambitious aim in to knit a yoked fair isle garment, since I have always had a great love of such wonders. Who knows if I'll actually manage it, but one can but dream.

Fair isle is fabulous

Christmas and New Year have been lovely and filled will knitting goodness. True I still haven't got round to finishing those bloody socks, but this is mostly because I have been distracted by the joys of fair isle. Never a more wonderful craft have I come across! My first fair isle project was a iPod case based on the chart from Corazon from the Winter 2006 issue Knitty, knitted in black and grey with a cute little wooden toggle to fasten.

Next I have set my mind on the Manresa legwarmers -- just as soon as I find a suitable yarn to use. I would love to be able to use the recommended yarn for its alpaca warmness, but I have been unable to find it sold anywhere that will ship it to the UK. Oh well. Perhaps I should just stick to sensible acrylic: I am far too frugal for yarn-snobbery, and since I intend to wear them (when/if I take up) running, perhaps something nice and machine-washable wouldn't be a bad idea.

In the meantime, I have on my needles a gift scarf of a feather and fan design knitted in a pale purple chenille yarn. I've had several skeins of this yarn in my stash a while; it originally came from the charity shop where I volunteer from time to time, and I am very glad to finally be able to put it to a good use. It has knitted up just wonderfully! The pattern repeat is simple enough to be almost mindless, so I can knit while watching telly or while travelling, but at the same time not so mindless as to be mind-numbing.