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.

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).

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.