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Cotton Dress!
June 24, 2005
Thanks for the comments on Elspeth! I have also finished one of the secret projects, so now onto the others! One of them is less secret so I'll show it next week I reckon.
But for now, here's the dress/top I made from the fabric I bought last friday :) It was pretty quick and nice to do some sewing! I have a ton more fabric to use to I should do some more really - especially as I need summer clothes really badly!
Click for more photos!
Right, back to working on the secret knitting projects. Somehow knitting is less fun when it HAS to be done.....still loving it though really :)
Posted by jen at 11:52 AM | Comments (23)
FINALLY! A finished Elspeth!
June 22, 2005
OK the reason this has taken so long is that now I'm at my parents, and the internet is sloooow, and the modem on my laptop is even slower, and it's too much like torture to use the internet. So I might not be posting much or reading many blogs - sorry about that!
Well, firstly my weekend! On friday I went shopping with Kerrie, which was bags of fun as always :) I didn't buy any yarn, because as you may have noticed I have been majorly stashing lately, and then attempting to hide it by saying it's all for secret projects.....
I did buy some fabric - and some of it has already been used! I will try and put a post up about that later this week. Also we went to a lovely make-up/perfume shop and had lots of make up put on, which was ace because neither of us wears make up often. I loved that.
And I got to stay at Kerrie's for her birthday BBQ, and lots of knitting and chatting - it was lovely :)
Right - Elspeth!
Elspeth turned out a size too big - I didn't swatch, because I swatched for Gemma, which is also in Calmer, so didn't think I'd need to for Elspeth. Maybe I should have, oh well! I still like it a lot, it just doesn't sit as well on me as on mum or Kerrie....I'm still going to wear it though, because I think it's really pretty :)
Here she is:
Click to see more!
Well, back soon I hope :)
Posted by jen at 12:26 PM | Comments (21)
Secret project no. 17634598726398456
June 16, 2005
I bought SOME MORE yarn that I didn't mention. By the way my stash and current projects pages are very out of date....I should do something about that.
Back to the yarn....6 balls of Rowan Chunky Print in Temper, which is a lovely grey.
I got a bit distracted by its exciting newness, and started knitting. I'm fed up of only knitting secret things (meaning nothing to show and a boring blog), so I took a photo on the macro setting and cropped it:
Suitably unclear what it is I hope! Oooh the mystery!
Chunky Print is sufficiently chunky that this should be a quick one, which is good because I have a million other things I should be working on. I'm going to see Kerrie tomorrow (I can't be bothered to link! You all know who Kerrie is!), and I hope I can persuade her to take some photos of Elspeth for me, so that will be here soon :)
Bye for now!
Posted by jen at 09:44 AM | Comments (9)
Gorgeous new yarn!
June 15, 2005
Well, I finished Elspeth, and wanted to take photos before I next updated, but for one reason or another I haven't got any yet, so I thought I should just show off the new yarn!
I got this yarn from Angel Yarns as a donation for a Magknits project! So kind! And so exciting!
The colours are gorgeous. It's Rowan Kid Classic by the way, almost forgot to mention that. I seem to be buying loads at the moment, I think I should get my arse in gear and knit it up! Well, that's another one I will be working on in secret. I seem to be doing a lot of that at the moment....doesn't make for gripping blog reading! I will try and show some teaser photos as I go along, that would be more interesting maybe! Hopefully I can show off Elspeth next time though :)
Posted by jen at 08:41 AM | Comments (4)
The biggest finished project for a while!
June 09, 2005
Haha sorry, I'm talking about my thesis! I handed it in today! This is the result of an entire years work in the lab, and counts for a quarter of my degree - the examiners had better like it!!
But now it's all over (well, I have a 20 minute viva exam in 3 weeks), I can finally get back to my hobbies :)
I am back onto Elspeth, and hope to finish her really soon. She's looking better now I've started doing the picot part of the crochet edging. Here's a close-up:
Pretty! Well I think!
Tomorrow - lots of new yarn!
Posted by jen at 06:11 PM | Comments (14)
Whatever the opposite of zoom is......
June 06, 2005
I've been so busy recently, and this week will be the same, but then not again for ages so hooray for that! I can't remember if I said why or whatever, as it certainly wouldn't be very interesting! But basically I'm writing a thesis on the lab work I did this year, and it has to be in on friday.
So what knitting have I done? Well, I've STILL not finished Elspeth! BUT I have finished the knitting, and have seamed her, and am now doing the crochet edge. It's taking an age - although it might just feel like that because I only fitted in a hours knitting this weekend.
But about the finishing. I like finishing things as neatly as possible. I didn't know how to do this a couple of years ago, but now I have more of an idea, and so I like to use that. But I didn't really think all that hard when I knitted this pattern, I just blindly followed the instructions, cos I was in that kind of a mood, and I think I missed a lot of tricks that would have made things neater and easier.
For a start it really needed selvedges. This didn't bother me TOO much when seaming, I backstitched the seams, and they aren't invisible, but they aren't messy either:
So that's ok. But it made crocheting around the edge really tricky! I kept getting holes, so I'd put the crochet hook in the wrong way and then turn it round (I was trying to achieve the crochet equivalent of knitting into the back loop, if that helps you imagine what I was doing) and that fixed the holes.
The next problem was not short-rowing the shoulder shaping or the shaping at the top of the raglan sleeves, but casting off in groups of sts instead, because now my crochet looks kind of stepped like the shaping!
That BLOB is an unwoven-in end, my crochet isn't that bad!
I didn't have the iron at hand so I sort of pressed it with my fingers, and it looks a bit better, and I think once I've done the picot round this will be less obvious anyway.
So just minor problems I guess.....I know I could have modified the pattern so these problems didn't happen, and I'm annoyed I was too lazy to do so!
I am definitely taking photos of this top outside when it's finished, these photos I've shown today are completely the wrong colour!
Posted by jen at 08:13 AM | Comments (5)
Organic wool
June 02, 2005
I have absolutely no progress to show, on anything, but I do have some more WOOL. My Dad has been saying for a while now that he'd really like a dark brown jumper, but made from wool from sheep that are already brown, so it's undyed (a very cool idea I think!), and organic and all that.
I found a website that sells this kind of stuff, they're based in Wales, and can be found here. And I got exactly what he wanted! Plus an extra ball in a light grey heathery shade:
It's a very dark brown, almost black if you're not in good lighting. It's not really soft or scratchy, just wooly!
I have no idea if this is the right sheep, but it reminded me of a photo Adam took in the lake district 18 months ago, of a little brown sheep!
SHEEPY!
I'm going to design his jumper, but have no idea how long it will take etc etc, so I'll probably keep it a secret until it's finished in case I submit it somewhere or whatever. His birthday is in October so it would be good to finish it by then!
Posted by jen at 07:23 AM | Comments (8)