harvest moon and other tidbits

when driving back from work with JJ last evening, we saw a lovely harvest moon (and now Neil Young tunes are cycling through my brain like hamsters on crack). The above is my lame attempt to photograph it later...

Maybe because of the moon, JJ finally agreed to let me post He Gansey (No Sheep for You) pics on the blog:

"Just call me Charles Atlas". Actually, I think he was trying to do a "OPA!" thing.


This is how the recalcitrant moon first morphed when I tried to photograph it:



What a bugger, eh?


And now for today's craft photo... a repurposed cigar box I decorated last year, mostly with broken vintage teacups (and some fiestaware):


I am addicted to those "this china is from Britain" bits on the bottom of the old teacups for some reason.

More creative endeavours - see today's other blog post about haiku.

Finally, just in time for Hallowe'en, I saw this blog post on how to make your own candy bars (I love Twix!!!)

Chow!

Happy Friday!

Christmas in July...

...because I've just finished the He Gansey for DH! (pattern by Jeannine Sims in the No Sheep for You book)

Detail:


Front:


Back:


The grey grew on me. Too bad I couldn't wait for a sunny day to photograph it, though! ;-)

Specs:

Needles: 5mm Addi Turbo (body) and 5 mm Takumi bamboo (sleeves and neck)
Yarn: Rowan All Seasons Cotton - Misty colour (15 skeins)
Size: 45" approx chest
Time spent: 12 hours total for each sleeve and the neck. Didn't keep track of the rest

Notes:

As this pattern was knitted in the round, I loved it - no seaming! It was much quicker to work than I would have thought which was also nice.

I did make some changes to the pattern:

- sleeve pattern was originally all in double moss. I decided to put the tree and line pattern from the front yoke on the sleeves instead, with seed stitch beside... and finish the sleeve under the elbow in stockinette. Official reason: this is more in the style of a traditional gansey. Real reason: I'm lazy and just wanted to do as much stockinette stitch as possible! ;)

- I also changed the neckline from rib and rollneck to 2/2 rib, based on DH's preference

- the sleeves are about 1 1/2 inches shorter than the pattern calls for, again due to DH's preference.

The Rowan cotton was also great to work for. I'm not sure how well the photos show it, but it produced great stitch definition and is also nice and light.

The rest of the pattern ended up fitting DH very well (I had him try it on while working on the first sleeve).

Now - I'm just hoping that the weather will be warm enough so that he can't actually wear it until October! Having said that, it is a cool day today here... SIGH.

Next up... I'm not sure yet. I bought some Kerzner Ranee on sale ($1/skein) and may whip up a tunic.

Gansey and TTC Project #2

Here are my updates:

(a) the gansey sweater

I'm ready to start the neck shaping now... then the sleeves... no seaming! ;-) Gotta love this pattern. Unfortunately for me, it means I've developed a new yarn predilection - Rowan All Seasons Cotton (probably $2million per ball where I live... got this stuff on line at Cucumber Patch but do not wish to develop an online yarn purchase habit...)





Luckily I have some more All Seasons in "sea spray" - for me! Stay tuned...

(b) TTC project #2

After what seems like years, the TTC tank #1 (below) is FINALLY at 14" - after seeming to hold at 13" for about 50 rounds. I must confess I cheated and did a bit at home last night. Now I can't do any more plain knitting without shaping, so time to start a new TTC tank: the Lorelei!

Here's the beautiful photo that led me to buy the pattern book - linked from the Knittyboard:

Knitting Betty's Lorelei

...and here's my swatch:



Too bad it's not big enough to hide my face:


Using good ol' Cotton Fleece this time around (from the stash...! Well, more or less...) together with a skein of Lang Mille Colori for the middle panel.

Wish me luck!

Kristina

PS. Smoking is SO glamourous...

a week in the (so-called) life...!

Well, actually, I must confess that it has been a great life this week and accordingly I've been able to allot a disprortionate amount of time to knitting! Ribbing section of a sweater, two tank tops and other WIPs later, here is the progress report:

I kicked off the week in uncharateristically selfish fashion by starting on the He Gansey from the No Sheep book for DH:



... but then I got bored with the colour, which was DH's choice (sorry, DH, I should never have asked your preference...) so I turned my thoughts to the other items posted below... and to colour choices for the Bacardi cardigan from the same book for ME...



... which I will probably start on Monday or Tuesday after I have finished this little dress...



... and also this (which involves no little frogging of the way-too-large boxer shorts)...



Colour me (apart from the grey gansey yarn) obsessed!!! It has been a thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing week (and I did even manage to fit in a few social events and a trip or two) - and I will have great difficulty going back to the office on Monday. But - I've got to pay for all this yarn somehow... ;-)