I've twisted my knee (again)

But before I proved myself an idiot again, I did this:

Sorting out my fabric stash


That's how I found the stripey shirt fabric for the "Sew? I Knit!" challenge.


Speaking of which:


Pattern pieces, masking tape, pencil, scissors and glasses


Essential for this:


Stuff I've seen around:

Wanda's raglan jumper/sweater with lace detail and everything.
Cindy's a-frickin'-mazing Dr. Who cardigan. I am so jealous.

Sugar Almond:

Needles in or needles out? What's a good look for you?

The first gives a better idea of the colour, but they both give an idea of the look. When I finally pull my finger out and get knitting, I'll offer this up for free on the blog (in multiple sizes) if anyone wants. Oh - they'll be wristwarmers, by the way!

And finally ...

Cindy - as much as I love playing comment tag with you, could you email me using the link in the left hand sidebar please. I'd love to talk Geek with you in private!

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Technorati tags: yarn; knitting; sewing;

Sew? I Knit!

Having realised that I'm doing more sewing than knitting at the moment, I thought I'd better join my fellow kind and I've signed up for the June/July project on Sew? I Knit!

The Pattern (shirt on the right)

The Fabric

A true-ism:

Read on the UKHandknitters list (posted by Annette).


How many list members does it take to change a light bulb?

One to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed.

Fourteen to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently.

Seven to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs.

Seven more to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs.

Five to flame the spell checkers.

Three to correct spelling/grammar flames.

Six to argue over whether it's "lightbulb" or "light bulb" ... another six to condemn those six as stupid.

Fifteen to claim experience in the lighting industry and give the correct spelling.

Nineteen to post that this group is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a lightbulb (or light bulb) forum.

Eleven to defend the posting to the group saying that we all use light bulbs and there fore the posts are relevant to this group.

Thirty six to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique and what brands are faulty.

Seven to post URLs where one can see examples of different light bulbs.

Four to post that the URLs were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL.

Three to post about links they found from the URLs that are relevant to this group which makes light bulbs relevant to this group.

Thirteen to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including all headers and signatures, and add "Me too"

Five to post to the group that they will no longer post because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy.

Four to say "didn't we go through this already a short time ago?"

Thirteen to say "do a Google search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs"

Three to tell a funny story about their show dog and a light bulb.

AND

One group lurker to respond to the original post 6 months from now and start it all over again.

Simply lovely blah, blah ...

After mis-reading the heel flap instructions twice and knitting too few rows on the heel flap for the second sock, I'm now here:


The third heel I knit. The successful one!

Posing elegantly on my laptop.

SixSox

The new pattern will (probably) be released 2nd of June British time, but I've already chosen the yarn:


Left to right: Patons "Bluebell" Aussie yarn, Lane Cervinia "Forever Jacquard", Regia "Silk".


Until next time, be good to yourselves, aaaaand each other.

(I had a wasted childhood watching Springer!)

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Technorati tags: yarn; knitting;

Still life with clematis

Taken this morning in my garden.

All the pictures are enlarge-able. The montage of Montana (clematis) has the original photo links in the description on the Flickr page. For the rest of the "All the Green Things" photo set click here.

And woo-hoo on the cricket!

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Technorati tags: garden

I so do knit!

Great, arguing with myself. I blame the weather!

Tubey

What's wrong in this picture?

A closer look?

Yup, I stood on the needle and pulled it out. It's been like this for about 5 days now, and I still haven't done anything to fix it. I blame the weather.

SLLS

Second sock is motoring:

Although I did managed to frell up big time in the patterning. Some rows I forgot to do the lace pattern and then I realised that I was patterning on the 3rd row instead of the 2nd!

You know what I blame? The film "Phone Booth" - despite the slightly distracting accent from Colin Farrell, it was a good movie.

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Technorati tags: yarn; knitting;

Don't you knit anymore?

Apparently not! I present to you a summer(!) top made from a pink and purple camouflage duvet cover (I have two of them!)

The "Before" shot

Front View

Back View

Close up of the "faking-it" facing where I cut it too short and had to do a 3-step zig-zag to join them (oops!)

Click on any of the pictures to make big, or click here for the rest of the photo set.

Fabric: Thin cotton/polyester camo print (duvet cover)
Pattern: Simplicity 5074
Sizes: So many I can't remember!
Modifications: Altered the pattern to fit me, but nothing else. Oh, yes, they show view C (the short top) with sleeves, but I made it without.

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Technorati tags: sewing

Whiplash: color

I love colour (as you can tell by looking around my site!) and I love these t-shirt tank tops. Unfortunatly, individually, they were too short for me. So, realising that 2 too short t-shirts could make 1 long t-shirt I did this:

The Before

The Cut!

The Sewing

The Hem Stitch

How the Hem Looks

The Finished Object 1

The Finished Object 2

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Technorati tags: yarn; knitting;

Jealous much?

Well, yes I am, actually. I've been watching all these reports coming in from fellow bloggers about fibre festivals (or fiber festivals, since they are in the US!) and frankly, I'm a little envious. Luckily, green is a colour that suits me! I know that there is a sheep-related fesitival in Cumbria, but I don't have the time/energy/money to go. So for the time being, I'm living vicariously.

The time ...

A quarter to midnight on the 16th of May.
The place? In bed.
I had to try on the sock. The bane of my life. I didn't know if it would fit. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get it over my heel.


WooHoo!!!!!!!

By the next day I was up to this:

Glasses - check. Elizabeth Zimmerman - check. Darning needle - check. Sanity - huh? Wha?
Yesterday was my dad's birthday.

Remember that I was knitting the argyle scarf for his birthday? No, neither do I. I'm thinking a wool scarf will be the ideal mid-summer's present. When is the equinox?

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Technorati tags: yarn; knitting; socks

Oooh - look! Green things!

View from my window
Click here to see the photos in close-up. Thanks to Kristi for the link.


My cacti (and the frog!)

In no way is this a distraction from the lack of knitting!

See:

Simply Lovely Lace Socks (still the first one)

Over my Jaywalker for comparison. Eep! I've got a way to go yet.


News Round-up:

o: For those of us of a :cough: certain age - Take That get new record deal!
o: Claudia is raising money for another anti-MS bike ride.
o: I found out through my research that Medecins San Frontieres/Doctors without Borders need child-friendly drugs to help the HIV positive kids. Normally, the antiretrovirals come in tablet form, but you can get them in syrup so babies and children can take them. And guess what - they are expensive and not easy to come by!
o: April's Podcast is now on it's 5th episode! And she wants to know whether or not you live up to your name!

And simply becasue it's cute:



Not quite as extreme as Stuff on My Cat. Now - accidental stuff-on-your-cat (like the time one catIi knew ended up sitting in a fruit basket, or got his head stuck in a yoghurt pot) that's funny. The bar-stool-on-a-cat? Not so much.

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Technorati tags: yarn; knitting; cats; trees; blossom

J is for

Journals

Click on any of the thumbnails to see what my scribblings say. Or click here for the "J" photoset on Flickr


For my main course this year I have to read, anaylse and summarise papers from scientific journals. In order to keep track of this, I also keep a "journal" or diary of my progress. In here go my notes on the papers, questions I need to ask my tutor, ideas for the final report and what I've done when.

When it's done, the report will be 5000 words long (excluding abstract, references and contents).

I've created a slideshow of all the ABC Along photos, so if you haven't seen them all, but would like to, just click the button below:

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Technorati tags: ABC Along; science; writing; essays

I have the memory of a goldfish

(that has a memory like a colander!)

I forgot to say "Thank you" to Kristi, because I won a competition she ran. The prize was any one of her patterns. I chose the "Dimple" socks because I have some DK yarn begging to be made into a pair of boot socks.


Also, the DNA/lace tank I mentioned in my last post finally has a pattern! Go to Squeaky Weasels blog for the instructions.

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Technorati tags: yarn; knitting;

Big Girl Knits: a mini review

"The girl on the cover's cute!" - thus speaketh my brother. I think that Amy and Jill will now rest easy knowing that the model they chose has my brother's seal of approval!

Tubey:

Tubey Sleeves as of 8th of May

I decided that the bell sleeves weren't for me, but I couldn't be bothered doing the necessary maths to do a shaped sleeve. I decided that starting the 3/1 ribbing at the elbow would probably do the job quite well.


3/1 ribbing

Stuff from the last post:



You know, until I got those two comments about the paper-clips-as-stitch-markers I'd forgotten that I use them! They only work for diameters less than about 4.5 mm (I think that's a US 7?), but they're perfect; they don't slip under your stitches, if you get coloured ones you can deliniate different sections, and they're cheap! For needle diameters greater than 4.5 mm, I tend to use my homemade markers or just some differently-coloured yarn.

Science & Knitting News:

The Perils of Cheerleading (!)

A DNA Cable and lace tank top (so cool - I've got to have me one of these!)

Space ship "cloaking device" proposed.

The Summer issue of Interweave Knits looks promising (steady, April, I know they're not you're favourite people in the world right now!)


Sorry about the smilies-as-bullet points. I can't do an ordinary list because of the formating that comes from the blog template. Blah ... blah ... blah ... tech stuff that's probably sent people to sleep!

A little sneek-peek:

This is a new design for a women's cardigan (i.e. for me) in Sirdar Denim Chunky.


It's something I've been thinking about for a while now and this is what I've done so far:

Clickable to make bigable:

Knit-side as right-side (lace more visible)


Purl-side as right-side (more texture for the stocking stitch and lace more subtle)

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Technorati tags: yarn; knitting;