cottage plans

our week at the cottage is almost here! so i need to decide which projects to bring with me. the long-hibernating quilt is definitely on the list, because i intend to enter it into the fenelon falls fair. also i think the dreaded surface wrap, because it's mindless at this point and i want it done. and harry's squid sweater. is that enough? should i bring more? what about the "spring dreams" dress? it's the most exciting to me at the moment, but it was going to be my "work" project. i am keen to get stuck into the frost flowers though and see how it all works out.

so far, i've done 10 rows of 17 of the modifed half-chart i'm using on the sleeve:

holy slowly!

have completed row 3 of the main "frost flowers" chart! go me! not that it looks like anything yet though.

dumbest project ever

so i had this idea that my real problem in life is that i don't have any "spring/transitional" clothing, and if i did - say, an apple green 1930s-style day-dress with elbow-length sleeves and a bit of lace - my life would be infinitely better. why i would be thinking such a thing in the middle of july is beyond comprehension. so i thought "well i'll just look at knitpicks to see what's out there as far as superwash wool fingering in apple green is concerned." and just by coincidence they happened to have stroll on sale in a colour called "granny smith" (discontinued i think - it's gone from the site, so i guess i got the last of it).

anyway i've cast on and started knitting. i really need to swatch the lace, but kind of can't bear the idea of knitting a bunch of lace and not using it especially on a project of this size where i am likely to get bored well before i finish. so, if all goes well, this swatch will become a sleeve. i'm almost done the first chart. we'll see how it goes!

actual project:



inspiration:

peanut butter pie?

take two on the peanut butter pie experiment was better than take one (which it seems i didn't blog about), but i haven't quite hit the sweet spot. the peanut butter pie of my memories is a bit more custardy, and the crust i used isn't quite there - adapted from this recipe but cocoa without any sugar is a bit too bitter with this pie (which is more rich than sweet).

more experiments needed! recipe to come once the ideal is found.

finally!

after monopolizing the kitchen table for weeks, unable to find time to work on harry's pjs between my bad back and entertaining harry and other obligations, i finally managed to get one pair finished! grabbing 20 minutes here and 20 minutes there is really not that efficient a way to do it, though... especially when somewhere in the meantime i seem to have lost half of the buttons. argh.

it is also getting harder to get a decent shot of the young model as he likes to make funny faces and jump up and down!

keep on keeping on

not much news around here... i am pleased with how quickly the amy pond scarf is knitting up though. it's never quick enough of course, but it is already close to two feet long which means i am about a third of the way done! (the plan is to keep going until the yarn runs out, so it might be longer or shorter, but i'm hoping for roughly six feet.)

a strange twilight world opened up before me, and i felt as the first man to set foot on another planet, an intruder in this mystic garden of the deep

i've finished the back of the 20000 leagues under the sea curling sweater! and even though yesterday when harry was playing with my orange yarn, he said he hates sweaters when i told him i was using it to make him a sweater, today when i showed it to him, he thought it was pretty cool.

oh, boo

well i picked up some more briggs & little heritage from lovely laura on monday for harry's "20000 leagues under the sea" cardigan, and guess what? when i had a look at what i had already done, i realised it was waaay too large. i.e., size 12 when he is only 3. whoops! so i ripped it all out and started over, and now i have reached the same point in the pattern as i had before i frogged. i told my husband that this is the great thing about knitting - even if you make a mistake, you are rewarded by getting more knitting to do! he seemed somewhat dubious about that though.

does it ever bother you that your life doesn’t make sense?

I think that's the proper quote from the show, but in any case, close enough. My fingerless gloves are done! Just in time for a heatwave. But you wouldn't wear thrummed mitts or something in a heatwave, would you? No, fingerless makes much more sense. I've typed up the pattern, based on the supremely clever Tilting Tardis Cowl pattern by Novembergirl. Re-written to be in the round, and have thumbs, and with a few tweaks because I am incapable of leaving well enough alone. Enjoy!

squidoo

i have many things on the go - the amy gloves, the re-awoken surface stole, the stripey dress, the neverending quilt... but instead i just had to start on this old to-do-list-er today. so, i spent the morning charting and doing math. the style is the classic zip-front curling sweater, and the inspiration is the old disney movie 20000 leagues under the sea. the front features a diver with a crazy helmet and a starfish, the sleeves feature some generic fish, and the back - the back! features this:



only my giant squid will be orange!

i'll get some charts up once i'm satisfied with it all. or hey, maybe this will be my first for-sale pattern. i keep saying that though, don't i.