Showing posts with label knitting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label knitting. Show all posts
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
Resemblance
The Wrong Socks
I've been wracking my brain for topics to write about for this abc-along post... wrangling with a few ideas and wringing my hands when they had to be written-off, to wretched disillusionment...
Heh!
So, I decided upon 'Resemblance' as I've just finished 2 items of the family knitting, genus sock... subcategory SSS...
Firstly is the finished 'Crooked Cable Sock' by Sockbug. It's very cute in the Phildar 'Phil Luxe' yarn in the Nympheas colourway!
Then we have the first 'Monkey Sock', by Cookie A. Yes, I jumped on the bandwagon - surely hundreds of knitters can't be wrong? And, no, they're not! This is such a fun pattern to knit up... (actually the Crooked Cable pattern is a lovely knit, too...)
Heh!
So, I decided upon 'Resemblance' as I've just finished 2 items of the family knitting, genus sock... subcategory SSS...
Firstly is the finished 'Crooked Cable Sock' by Sockbug. It's very cute in the Phildar 'Phil Luxe' yarn in the Nympheas colourway!
The wool is the hand dyed Shetland sock wool in 'Damson Delight' by my fave 'Angels & Elephants' team in Cornwall! Man, I love their yarn!
Well, I guess I'd better resume work on the replication of this, um... raiment...? Okay, that's stretching things just a wee bit! Heh!
p.s. Thank you for all your lovely comments on the treasure chest! I'm VERY chuffed to tell you that the recipient loved it! Huzzah! I might try and post a pattern for it in the near future...
p.s. Thank you for all your lovely comments on the treasure chest! I'm VERY chuffed to tell you that the recipient loved it! Huzzah! I might try and post a pattern for it in the near future...
Sunday, 24 August 2008
My stealth objects are slowly being revealed... slowly...
. . . t o o s l o w l y. . .
So, to assuage my thumb-twiddling, clock-watching and hum-hahing I have decided to reveal (drum-roll, please...) the Wire Treasure Chest. Dun dun DUUUN!
uh... the Wire Treasure Chest...
Okay, so it's a treasure chest. And it's made of wire. You can tell my naming capabilities have been stretched to the max on this one...
There are a couple hundred gold, silver and pearl beads and bugles adorning the the chest...
pearl necklace an optional extra
The front, back and lid are all 25 stitches wide and roughly 12/13 rows long. (Ah... one of the beauties of knitting with wire is that it can be manipulated to make everything look the same size! Jolly handy!)
arty-farty lid shot
The sides were roughly 15 stitches wide and 16 rows long and I attempted to mould the last couple of rows into an arch shape by doing a k2tog at the beginning and end of each row and I curved the lid to make the overall casket/chest shape.
After sewing all the pieces together, with the exception of adding the lid, I decided that the chest needed a little re-enforcing. The wire frame itself was quite sturdy, but the box was just on the wrong side of wobbly for me to be happy with, so I cut some board to size, covered them with black velvet then sewed them onto the frame. I did the same to the lid and then attached it to the box. And bygorrah, it fit and everything!
and it opens and closes, too! w00t!
Now I just have to wait and see whether the recipient likes it...
cue music of the nail-chomping variety and fade to black...
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Quixotic
Ravelry icons
Our favourite knitting site is a host for many wondrous things, one of my (many) favourites being the quixotic nature of some words... (I use this in its 'whimsical' and 'fanciful' sense.) If, when conversing on the forums, you type the words 'cup of coffee, cake, killer rabbit (there's a long story there, but not for the telling right here) and ice cream, to name but four, the magic of Ravelry then depicts the words in a delightful little icon which follows your text. It is very amusing, and the 'cake' especially has come to mean a lot to the members of a certain CPaAG...
I decided I liked these little symbols so much that I'd try to turn them into 3D knitted representations... I found patterns that I could adapt for three of them, and so determined was I to make the fourth, I made it up myself!
But I run ahead of myself...
Firstly, may I present unto you the ice cream:
um, ice cream...
Notice the waffle cone and the blueberry and strawberry scoops! Heh! This is from the marvellous pattern by Marcie Nishioka, called 'Scooped' of all things!
Next we have some cake. This is a very important part of the 'Very Longest Thread' in the 'Completely Pointless and Arbitrary Group' on Ravelry. Newbies are asked for cake when they post for the first time and it occasionally incurs a bit of confusion along the lines of:
Next we have some cake. This is a very important part of the 'Very Longest Thread' in the 'Completely Pointless and Arbitrary Group' on Ravelry. Newbies are asked for cake when they post for the first time and it occasionally incurs a bit of confusion along the lines of:
"Cake?"
"How can I bring you cake?"
"Oh. I see."
"When I type 'cake' the icon turns up and you all get Rav cake..."
"D'oh"
etcetera...
(There's a small possibility that I'm re-living my first postings on the VLT for your delectation right here and now...)
Childish? Well, yes, but good, clean childishnessy-type fun!
And so: cake.
cake (like you'd never guess it by now...)
Now, I don't know exactly what kind of cake the Ravelry cake is supposed to be - it has a cream-coloured sponge, pink icing and filling and some cream on the top edge... For me, I think I shall go with a Victoria sponge with a strawberry filling and fresh double cream piped around the edge of the pink icing on top. And now I'm getting slightly peckish... This cake is only slightly altered from the 'Let them knit cake' pattern by Hannah Kaminsky.
Then we have the killer rabbit. Um. Well. How to explain... It involves cake, or the lack thereof...
Once upon a time in a Ravelry Land not far away, cake stopped being followed by its icon. Gnashings of teeth, howls of frustration and tears of despair ensued (indulge me, people, I'm writing a story!) causing an outpouring of grief on a main board. The multitudes were uneasy, scared and lonely for the lack of the pretty pink frosted cake but were delighted to find out that in fact the cake was being guarded by a killer rabbit. I think Casey, one of the founders of Ravelry and the code monkey, was drinking rather too much coffee that day. But anyhoo, the killer rabbit and its cute little bunny icon made it onto our pages, and therefore onto my knitting needles...
Then we have the killer rabbit. Um. Well. How to explain... It involves cake, or the lack thereof...
Once upon a time in a Ravelry Land not far away, cake stopped being followed by its icon. Gnashings of teeth, howls of frustration and tears of despair ensued (indulge me, people, I'm writing a story!) causing an outpouring of grief on a main board. The multitudes were uneasy, scared and lonely for the lack of the pretty pink frosted cake but were delighted to find out that in fact the cake was being guarded by a killer rabbit. I think Casey, one of the founders of Ravelry and the code monkey, was drinking rather too much coffee that day. But anyhoo, the killer rabbit and its cute little bunny icon made it onto our pages, and therefore onto my knitting needles...
watch out for the fangs...
This little beastie was designed by MeganAnn and called 'rabbit'. (And I shall hug him and squeeze him and call him George...)
Lastly I decided I wanted to make a cup of coffee, as... well, it's as important to me as it is to the list of icons... But could I find a pattern? Um, well, yes actually, I could, but it was a crochet pattern, and I can't crochet my way out of a wet paper bag... So I searched again but to no avail. Well, thunk I, maybe I can just do one myself... It can't be THAT hard, right? RIGHT?
Lastly I decided I wanted to make a cup of coffee, as... well, it's as important to me as it is to the list of icons... But could I find a pattern? Um, well, yes actually, I could, but it was a crochet pattern, and I can't crochet my way out of a wet paper bag... So I searched again but to no avail. Well, thunk I, maybe I can just do one myself... It can't be THAT hard, right? RIGHT?
cup of coffee (oh, for a latte icon!)
Actually, RIGHT! Heh. 3 stitches cast onto 3 dpns, m1 on each stitch for the first round, and k1, m1 for the next few, a couple of purl rows for the base of the cup, then k1 and m1 whenever I thought it needed to curve out a bit more... Then a length of browny i-cord for the coffee part and a small i-cord for the handle and Bob's your Daddy's Bro!
And so you have it. My own quirky versions of some Rav icons...
Actually, RIGHT! Heh. 3 stitches cast onto 3 dpns, m1 on each stitch for the first round, and k1, m1 for the next few, a couple of purl rows for the base of the cup, then k1 and m1 whenever I thought it needed to curve out a bit more... Then a length of browny i-cord for the coffee part and a small i-cord for the handle and Bob's your Daddy's Bro!
And so you have it. My own quirky versions of some Rav icons...
huzzah for arty-farty shots!
(Ah, pants - Q could've been for quirky...)
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
Ugh, blogger have changed formats again. No longer can I justify the text paragraphing. This annoys me. There are now only 4 text sizes. Okay, I shouldn't complain about that as I only use two, normally, but just the same... Ooh - woopee you can format the HTML on the page, but as I don't know enough of the code to do that, it'll just be another button I won't press.
Oh dear, I've started off on the wrong foot. It's the heat. It makes me cranky. It's 32 degrees outside and 30 degrees inside my apartment and as I have no a/c, my standing fan is only succeeding in blowing hot air about. A bit like me, in fact.
So, there's a tag/label for this post and it says 'knitting'. It's there for a reason, I promise. In fact I've been doing a lot, but for reasons of stealth, secrecy and something else beginning with 's' that I can't think of at the moment, I don't have much to actually SHOW you. But I'll do what I can.
Here is a cuff, an ankle and a heel flap.
Crooked Cable Sock № 1
[OOOO! I take it all back. Blogger has not only allowed me to place the picture WHERE I WANTED IT, instead of putting it at the top of the post where I normally have to cut and paste it to where I really wanted it, but it gave me options as to what size I wanted it - ON THE PAGE. I may be easily amused, but this amuses me, easily!]
This little sock pleaseth me also. The cable pattern is très simple, the *gulp* lacy-holey things aren't too nasty (well, the first few rows were pretty nasty until I figured out that tension of the correct variety would enhance things visually no end), and I have figured out that the 'eye of partridge' stitch for the heel works a lot better when the slipped stitch in the knit row is slipped 'as if to knit' and not, as I have been doing, slipped 'as if to purl'. The fabric is much denser, and although the pattern isn't visually as strong as the purl version, who's going to notice when it's in a shoe?!
I do love the EoP stitch though. There is something altogether soothing about it. So much so that I took close-up photos for my enduring ocular gratification.
Celtic Cable Socks № 1. Heel-flap pr0n.
cables, cables, cables, cables, cables...
Stealth projects? Yes, well... One is, um a secret to send to someone who doesn't know about it yet, but who may occasionally peruse this blog, and the other is a secret something being knitted as a test for a lovely person, which is Super Stealth Top Secret. And, child that I am, I am loving the subterfuge! Even if I'm making no sense in any form whatsoever! They're both immensely enjoyable to knit. So much so that the secret-present one is already finished and the stealth test has taken over everything else. It is GORGEOUS (even if I say so myself!) and I look forward to the day, in some months hence, where I'll be able to post about it in a more definitive manner.
Until then, I will watch the world from a hole cut into my newspaper and will endeavour not to attract too much attention to myself...
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Lace.
Um... actually, no, not really. It was originally going to be 'lace', I promise you, but after the Lace Fates conspired against me (see an earlier post) I had to give it all up. So instead, here is a picture of a not-quite-so L-is-for project:
L is for Little White Bag?Mina is the daughter of very good friends and neighbours here in Tours. She turned four years-old on the 9th of June and I've known her since she was, um, almost before she was merely a twinkle in her daddy's eye, as it were... Her vocabulary is scarily impeccable and she can already spell my name out on her mini white-board. With a pink pen, of course. She is a precocious wee darling. A but naughty at times (well, she is only 4!) but always says please, thank you and gives you a kiss on each cheek. *sigh* I made her this little bag as she loves the things I knit for her. She wants me to teach her now, which will be interesting. I shall attempt to view it as a French vocabulary exercise as I can only really talk about music, beer and noise with any kind of authority at the moment (the word to be used lightly) and even then...
Fimo-licious buttons
I also gave her a wee necklace made from the extra buttons I made out of FIMO for the bag, and attempted a crochet chain with REAL yarn. It was a lot more scary than doing the same thing with wire, I can tell you. I don't have a photo of the necklace (it was more of a spur-of-the-moment, very-last-minute, OMG-is-a-bag-enough kind of thing...) but I do have one piccie of the buttons, artfully shot by moi. The blurriness was, um, artfully intentional...
Fimo-licious buttonsMina came round to say thank you after she had decided to change into a dress that matched the bag. I wish I'd taken a photo - cuteness in a pink and blue flowery dress, wearing the necklace and holding the bag that was already stuffed with her favourite things of the moment, including a toy mobile phone in the phone pocket. Way, way too sweet! So I am happy that she is happy. Huzzah!
And now it is time to decide what knitting projects to take with me on the next foray away from home... My Tsarina of Tsocks 'Vintage' sock kit arrived today (to much jumping around and squealing 'wheeee') but that is definitely a 'home' project. I may be able to fit in a few balls of the Noro Kureyon into my case to continue the log-cabin squares (oh, I decided to make a bag out of the afore-mentioned log cabin' technique - I don't think I have enough yarn for a full blanket, and I do love me my bags), and the Zombie Sock number 2 is nicely portable and the pattern is already in my head... Nicely written pattern, that one... I don't know how much spare time I'll have, though, as it's only a 4-day project.
I think I'll bring along another sock to start, just in case... Just probably not a lacy one...
And now it is time to decide what knitting projects to take with me on the next foray away from home... My Tsarina of Tsocks 'Vintage' sock kit arrived today (to much jumping around and squealing 'wheeee') but that is definitely a 'home' project. I may be able to fit in a few balls of the Noro Kureyon into my case to continue the log-cabin squares (oh, I decided to make a bag out of the afore-mentioned log cabin' technique - I don't think I have enough yarn for a full blanket, and I do love me my bags), and the Zombie Sock number 2 is nicely portable and the pattern is already in my head... Nicely written pattern, that one... I don't know how much spare time I'll have, though, as it's only a 4-day project.
I think I'll bring along another sock to start, just in case... Just probably not a lacy one...
Sunday, 1 June 2008
I seem to be rather lacking in FO's at the moment. There is a reason, of course. In fact there are a couple... The first, and most important, reason is that my Bestest Friend in the Whole Wide World (hmmm, he might puke if he actually saw that nomenclature) finally visited mon petit chateau for a long weekend. He's currently working with an opera company in Eastern France (he's a conductor, not a singer, so he's more akin to a 'normal' person... As a lump of coal is more akin to a piano than a teapot is, for example...) and took his free days off chez moi. I didn't touch a single skein. Lots of gin, yes, but no yarn. Much was drunk while admiring the thunder and lightning storms.
Very faint double rainbowSo it wasn't just the gin, after all...
So, that's 3 days covered. Then you have to add the week it took me to unearth the floor, clean behind silly things like toilets, yarn-stashes and fridges (he lives in IKEA-land - everything sparkling, matching, in its right place... I inhabit a more, shall we say, rustique suburb of said land...) and buy gin. I kept sampling it, you see, and having to run out and buy more. Well, stagger out and buy more, at any rate.
But the biggest time vacuum has been the lace. LACE. That pretty, pretty fabric that all knitters seem to be able to churn out at a rate of knots... Um, sorry about that... Lacy socks I have queued in abundance. Lace shawls are constantly under drool-alert. Lace-irific evening bags shimmy and dance in my dreams. So I thought "Why not?"
Why not? I'll tell you WHY NOT... I am so ungenerously gifted in the art of knitting lace it's not even funny. Well, actually it is moderately amusing! I didn't aim high - I began with, well, I won't tell you what I began with, as it's supposed to be an easy pattern. A beginner's pattern. A 'Knit With Mother' pattern. Let's just call it 'That F****** Lacy Sh*t Piece of Bag' pattern.
Yo. Yes, I can do those. Not a probl... oh, yon. And yfrn. Okay - that's just a yo between a purl and a knit, and the other is between a knit and a purl. Yeah, not a problem. Oh cack. Yrn and yfn? Hang on, I may need paper and a pencil here... SSP. Hmm, like a SSK, but with a purl. Obvious. I think? Yes, I can k2tog and p2tog. Check. TBL? Oh, through the back loop. Yes, can do... Slip purlwise and knitwise, yup, them's already on board. (I may be elaborating things a... *cough* tad here...) Okay. So. Get needles, get yarn, get pattern and KNIT...
3 days later... And frog. Again. Accompanied by air a vivid shade of blue and some fine and pretty cotton, not so fine or pretty any more.
I shan't go into details. I love you all that much! It is suffice to say that the very long list of all things lacy that I wish to produce in the future shall stay looooong. I think I may have inadvertently summoned the Lacy Demons Who Abhor Cable Lovers. Maybe they don't like chocolate?!!
Now CABLES are another thing entirely. Cables are my reason for spending my rent money on yarn... (Gads, I hope my landlady doesn't see this...) Cables are my friend, my life, my everything. I'll see your CF4 and raise you a T4B... I laugh in the face of T6R and have T5BR's for breakfast.
Or I would do if I wasn't now trying very hard to make a non-lacy bag for my neighbour's too-soon-to-be 4 year-old daughter!
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
::WARNING::
Shameless self-promotion and own-trumpet-blowing
Shameless self-promotion and own-trumpet-blowing
included in this post
I was perusing some online cd shops this afternoon and stumbled across this! I'd almost forgotten about it, but it's out at the end of the month! Well, according to Naxos, it will be! Wahey!
It was recorded over 2 live performances (a cheaper way of getting cds recorded these days) but that's cool as I rather like hearing the odd bit of audience noise. Actually, I have to admit to my own singing not being completely perfect all the way through and unfortunately the recording guy chose a section where I decided to go off on a ridiculous flight of da capo fancy in one of the arias and my GOD, I'm a tad embarrassed! (It was at a point where I thought I'd make it up higher, but I... um... didn't!) *shudders* I suspect I may be ripped to shit by critics, but it was way too much fun to do to worry about that, and I know my Dad'll love it anyway!
Well, I'm officially 36 and 40 hours old now. (I had the indecency to be born at 2:15 in the morning - my poor mother!) It feels a bit weird. I didn't have a problem turning 30, or even 34, but 35, as my mother keeps reminding me, was the age by which she had had all her children. *sigh* And now I'm 36 and lacking in the commodities needed to supply such things as grandchildren for Mum. (But it's on the list - 'kids' - before 'get proper job' and after 'find nice man'.)
But enough of such maudlin thoughts. Knitting-wise I seem to have turned into a serial commencer. I keep starting things then starting more and - oo, look - something shiny...
Well, I'm officially 36 and 40 hours old now. (I had the indecency to be born at 2:15 in the morning - my poor mother!) It feels a bit weird. I didn't have a problem turning 30, or even 34, but 35, as my mother keeps reminding me, was the age by which she had had all her children. *sigh* And now I'm 36 and lacking in the commodities needed to supply such things as grandchildren for Mum. (But it's on the list - 'kids' - before 'get proper job' and after 'find nice man'.)
But enough of such maudlin thoughts. Knitting-wise I seem to have turned into a serial commencer. I keep starting things then starting more and - oo, look - something shiny...
3 socks: Giles Wavy Sock in purples (down to the heel turn); Trekking/cable socks in blues/purples (finished cuff); Zombie socks in green (totally wrong yarn for the job, but looks so pretty that I don't want to frog it), 2 scarves: Mcfluffy scarf in green, purple and black (nearly finished) and a black and silver (oo, sparkly) cowl scarf. Then there's a purple mix cushion cover that I'm slowly cabling through and finally the black 'Aoife' bolero jacket that has just reached the arm-hole shaping. And yet, I keep thinking about that Noro... I can't decide what to make with it. I've spent much of the time since I received it looking through pattern books and online at our favourite knitting site. I really can't decide at all... But maybe I should finish something... ANYTHING... first.
And I must stop ordering sock yarn. I'm my own worst enemy!
And I must stop ordering sock yarn. I'm my own worst enemy!
Thursday, 21 February 2008
I was determined to have Percy finished for the next time I wrote here, but alas, alack, it is not to be... Unless, of course, I leave my scribblings until next century. I have been waylaid in this task primarily due to the strap taking an unconscionable amount of time to get through. Damn that 1x1 rib... Mind you, this strap has temporarily become my bedtime knitting, and it serves very well as a sedative. I would offer a prize to those who manage to spot all the mistakes, but I suspect I wouldn't have enough money, gifts or cake to give out! Thank the stars that the yarn colouring hides them to an extent!! Huzzah!
BUT - I have two FOs for your delectation... Ya see - not been spending all my spare time playing Command and Conquer, you know!
First up is Q's Bear. He (the bear) is such a sweetie and I know he (the best friend) will love him! It takes me a little longer than the 'advertised' amount of time to make, but still, it is rather a quick knit, all things considering. He's so squishy and soft and huggable and cute and snuggly and... mmmm - I want one for myself!
Made with one ball of Phildar Phil Peluche in the Marmotte colourway - brown with some tinges of dark blue - to the 'Loveable Toys' design in 'Last-Minute Knitted Gifts' by Joelle Hoverson. (Such a lovely book.)
Second up is the wire rosebud, which turned into a rose as I the wire I bought just *cough* happened to be the wrong gauge. Yeah, okay, so I thought gauge 24 was smaller than gauge 28... Now I know! And so do my fingers...
So, I used 24 gauge gold-coloured wire (yes, yes, it was supposed to be 28 gauge) to knit the rose itself and emerald green 28 gauge wire for the leaves. The pattern was from 'Wire Knits' by Heather Kingsley-Heath. And now that I've managed to figure out some of the basics, there are quite a few things in there I'd quite fancy turning my needles to...
Percy, ah - dear, sweet, unfinished Percy... He is nearly complete now, though: I have blocked the shell; lined everything that needs lined; added inside pockets to the lining (have sewing-machine - will make pockets) and knitted up the inner yarn pocket/divider. Now just the 's' word to finish and then I can put it all together... Wheee! Maybe by next post...
Sunday, 17 February 2008
...D'oh!
No, not really. But my fingers hurt a little after my first attempts at wire knitting... There is a *small* possibility that I may be making it harder for myself than it should be, but I've been reliably informed that the knack will kick in soon... Effing well better, or my fingers will be in no shape to tinkle the old ivories. (Yes, I have been practising as well as swearing at wire!) Blood, guts, needles, bobbins and blue words flying this, there and everywhere. Well, not quite, but I'm sure this gives a good general impression of my fumblings.
Anyhoo, this little number pictured below will eventually be a rosebud from the lovely book by Heather Kingsley-Heath entitled 'Wire Knits'. It's a close-up photo because I've only managed to do one leaf and 8 rows of the rose so far! I love my tired, old camera! The wire... well, we'll see...
No, D is really for:
No, not really. But my fingers hurt a little after my first attempts at wire knitting... There is a *small* possibility that I may be making it harder for myself than it should be, but I've been reliably informed that the knack will kick in soon... Effing well better, or my fingers will be in no shape to tinkle the old ivories. (Yes, I have been practising as well as swearing at wire!) Blood, guts, needles, bobbins and blue words flying this, there and everywhere. Well, not quite, but I'm sure this gives a good general impression of my fumblings.
Anyhoo, this little number pictured below will eventually be a rosebud from the lovely book by Heather Kingsley-Heath entitled 'Wire Knits'. It's a close-up photo because I've only managed to do one leaf and 8 rows of the rose so far! I love my tired, old camera! The wire... well, we'll see...
No, D is really for:
Door.
BIG door.
This is a gorgeous example of 17th century carving, found in Tours.
Wandering around this ancient town with a camera is a discovered necessity. You *think* you know a place, then take a side-street short-cut, get lost, (I can only tell what direction I'm facing if the sun is rising or setting...) and stumble across a wee nook or gated courtyard that you never knew existed. I wandered back recently to the building where I found this door and was sorely disappointed to find a huge 'vendu' (sold) sign fixed to one of the windows and the place where the doors used to be were filled in by plywood. AAARRRGGGHHH! How can somebody DO that to an ancient building? I can only hope that when I next get lost and find myself outside that old building again, that the doors will be back in place, looking nicely renovated... Hey-ho - A girl can dream.
Percy bag, on the other hand, is behaving himself very well indeed. I've decided not to post a photo yet (he is shy, you must understand) but soon he shall be fully clothed and presentable to the viewing public. And I'm starting to anthropomorphise my knitting... oh man...
Percy bag, on the other hand, is behaving himself very well indeed. I've decided not to post a photo yet (he is shy, you must understand) but soon he shall be fully clothed and presentable to the viewing public. And I'm starting to anthropomorphise my knitting... oh man...
Sunday, 10 February 2008
I've finally gotten around to doing some knitting. Praise be! Yeah, yeah, okay, I may have also been foutering* around with the template for a couple of hours, too... *cough* ahem. But it's all worked out nicely (although I think more by co-incidence than anything else) as the colours on this page match the colours of Percy! Okay, that sounds a bit sad, but really, it was a co-incidence - I just happen to like greens and purples! I'll even upload an image to see how sad I really am... Hold on...
Yup, pretty sad! I do LOVE how the yarn goes all 'pointalistic' in the seed stitch, though! It (rather sentimentally) reminds me of the holidays with my family in Perthshire when I was young - colours of the glen, heather and gorse!
*Okay - enough blethering*! At this point, maybe I should explain some of the words around here... Except for the welcome message at the top, which is in Scots Gaelic, (totally pretentious - I don't speak Gaelic at all!) all the headings are in Lallans, which is Lowland Scots, a dialect/language that my grandparents spoke, my parents to an extent, and me, well, I understand them, but after studying in England for 5 years, I pretty much had them beaten out of me!
SO:
Aboot - about.
Afore - before.
Am - I'm.
Blethering - to talk, chat or gossip. To say that something is 'blethers' is to say it's nonsense.
Buiks - books.
Yup, pretty sad! I do LOVE how the yarn goes all 'pointalistic' in the seed stitch, though! It (rather sentimentally) reminds me of the holidays with my family in Perthshire when I was young - colours of the glen, heather and gorse!
*Okay - enough blethering*! At this point, maybe I should explain some of the words around here... Except for the welcome message at the top, which is in Scots Gaelic, (totally pretentious - I don't speak Gaelic at all!) all the headings are in Lallans, which is Lowland Scots, a dialect/language that my grandparents spoke, my parents to an extent, and me, well, I understand them, but after studying in England for 5 years, I pretty much had them beaten out of me!
SO:
Aboot - about.
Afore - before.
Am - I'm.
Blethering - to talk, chat or gossip. To say that something is 'blethers' is to say it's nonsense.
Craturs - creatures.
Crivens - a word of surprise, or admonishment.
Feenisht - finished.
Freens - friends.
Footering/foutering - to potter, fiddle with or muck around with something.
Hou - How.
Ither - other.
Larach - home (actually a ruined house or foundation, but I like the word!)
Limn - a portrait or picture.
Locus - a place, site or position.
Masel' - myself.
Mony - many.
Nou/noo - now.
O' - of.
Photies - photos.
Smyte - small collection.
Wee - little or small.
Whit - what.
There - that'll keep you going for a while!! Must get back to Q's teddy and I hear Percy calling my name...
Friday, 8 February 2008
Considering I started this journal in response to my invitation to join Ravelry (hoorah!) I haven't mentioned anything about knitting except in passing. Shame on me. Well, not that I'm a fabulous knitter - I've only been doing it since June 1996 - but I am very keen, if very basic, knitter. (As I may have mentioned previously, it's all C's fault!) I'll have to write a list somewhere of all my projects so far. (Hoorah - more widget searching...) This list will be heavily weighted towards scarves and baby blankets (such is the lot of the knitting learner, but my 'L' signs are in st st!), but after a spate of making bears and bunnies for non-God-son, non-God-son's brother, oldest friend's youngest, sister's best friend's brand-new addition and myself (hey - they were too cute to give them all away!) I feel ready to tackle something a little trickier. And - hey presto - we arrive at the bag-making stage of the knitter's development! I've just started the famous 'Percy' bag with the most gorgeous purple and green yarn!
Got to show a piccie of the bears and bunnies, though... hold on while I try to figure out the adding pictures in blogs thingy works... I suspect the picture of the Tudor gown earlier may have been a fluke...
Got to show a piccie of the bears and bunnies, though... hold on while I try to figure out the adding pictures in blogs thingy works... I suspect the picture of the Tudor gown earlier may have been a fluke...
Whee - html embedding, no less! (Thank the stars for Picasa!) And there they are - SBF's newest's pink bunny (can't be arsed writing all that out again!), N-G-S's blue bunny, N-G-S's brother's brown teddy and my own pink squeezy, cuddly bunny. Did another brown bear for my OF's youngest and am currently working on another of the same for my BF's birthday because he loved the other one so much! Bless 'im! All of nearly 33, but a wee boy at heart!
I might actually get around to rubbing two sticks together later. I spent so much of yesterday re-doing this page, adding thingies (oops 'widgets') and changing everything and starting all over again (soooooo much fun, although I was starting to annoy myself with my perfectionist search for aesthetically pleasing layouts by the end) that I could only shuffle, embarrassed, past my knitting basket as I went to put the kettle on between lay-out tweaking, promising that I'd come and visit soon.
Honest.
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