Tempestuous Yarn

There is a quintessentially American treat that doesn't make it's way down here, most likely for the same reason McVitties have problems exporting Jaffa Cakes with any regularity.

From what I've heard, they're just too damn tasty to last long enough to make it out of the country.

The treat in question: Girl Scout cookies.

In New Zealand we have Girl Guide biscuits, but they aren't quite the same. While they're also incredibly tasty and can be used in a bunch of different recipes, they don't have quite the same range of flavours.

Thin Mints, you say? I gotta try me some of these!

So: I'm putting together a bunch of bribes to see if I can convince a certain someone to send me Girl Scout cookies.

Because bribery and corruption is how friendships work ^.-

The Certain Someone is also a knitter, so I figured handspun yarn would be a good place to start. The fibre used was a lovely bag of pre-dyed merino sliver acquired at the Milton Wool Mill's factory shop.

The colours didn't show up very well there >.< It's a foresty green and golden yellow with a touch of white.

Here is is mid-spin:

The full bobbin against an imperial-style ruler for an idea of the thickness of the single:

All plied and setting the twist! (Please ignore the hoops)

Finished and ready to be used as bribe material!

Time to move on to the next part of the bribery materials. If Girl Scout bikkies are anywhere near as good as they've been made out to be, it's gonna take more than this to get me some!

~Topaz

Mini Mitten Dump!

I've gone on a minor mitten-knitting spree.

Just a bog-standard mitten pattern from Ravery, made using 4.0mm and 4.5mm DPNs with a few modifications

My Sister from Another Mister has been complaining about having to use her nose to operate her phone this winter, as it has been too cold to take her mittens off a lot of the time.

Touchscreens, oh joy.

It also turns out you can even lick them if you get desperate enough! Talk about incentive to keep the screen clean D:

So: Mittens in Elle Rustica Chunky with handy dandy holes in the thumbs for ease of phone operation.

I got a little carried away on the thumbs after casting off and on again for the holes. . . I guess they'll make a good place to keep peppermints or something o.O

They also feature extra-long cuffs to tuck way up under jacket sleeves to prevent those annoying drafts that happen when your pocket pushes your sleeve up.

Our beloved Deli Manager decided to leave us, so I made her some mittens as well.

Because winter is coming and she also gets really cold hands.

And I'm on a roll with this mitten thing.

Same needle sizes, same yarn, different colour. Elle Rustica Chunky in 134 Mauve.

Gah, this yarn is so soft and snuggly warm it was hard to give these away.

No thumb holes this time and standard cuffs. She has other people to do her texting for her XD

Have a wonderful crafternoon!

~Topaz

*Shrugs*

Yeah, shrugs.

Also known as "adventures in knitting sleeves for those too lazy to make the rest of the jersey"

^.^;

Hey, the pattern was lying on the top of the $1 pattern box at Knitworld when I was between projects.

Impulse shopping is so very, very evil. . .

I got the pattern and ended up making two shrugs.

The first one is ALL MINE MUAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA *ahem* the large size made with King Cole's Mirage.

I'm already regretting the choice of yarn a bit. While it looks utterly lovely all knitted up the halo is kinda scratchy and it pills like an absolute beast.

Blargh.

Knitting with Mirage can be a bit of a pain as well. It is basically a DK-thick single, meaning you have to manage the twist as you knit. Because of the way I knit mine tended to wind itself into an overspun state so every now and then I'd have to stop knitting and un-twist my yarn so it was puffy and relaxed again.

Even knowing all that it looks so good I'd probably use it again if I found the right project.

Shrug Number Two was made with Patons Rainbow 8ply (Colour #249). This yarn comes in truly ginormous balls so the small size shrug only needed one of them, opposed to the 1 2/3rds for the large in Mirage.

The final result came out a lot better than the Mirage, all thick and soft and squishy. If the arms were longer I would definitely keep it.

This one is going up to England to keep my Sister-From-Another-Mister warm in the chilly winter wind, so I'm going to have to wait to see if it really is as snuggly-soft as I think it is.

The almost even colour-banding on this was a complete accident. I'm still not sure how that happened o.O

I hope you are well and not dying of overheating or turning into a giant iceblock.

~Topaz

Blanket Case

Since I hear that Canada and North America are currently being subjected to some mind-bendingly hostile winter weather, I thought I'd share a very small collection of warm fuzzies.

By "Warm Fuzzies" I mean a few photos of Dralion with a crocheted blanket.

Last year The Long Thing got ripped up and reincarnated as a Yarn Eater Blanket, and the first time I put it down Dralion staged a hostile takeover.

I kid you not, this cat wastes no time at all when it comes to warm objects -.-;

It's still growing slowly whenever I can pry it out form under her, which honestly isn't very often because she just looks so darn CUTE I can't stand the thought of waking her up.

Stay warm up there in the frozen north!

~Topaz

Shawl-ly It Hasn't Been That Long?!

Time goes far too fast at this time of year!

At least during November I had an excuse for not posting. Once again I competed in NaNoWriMo and just barely dragged my sorry carcass across the 50,000-word mark.

Now though?

Just plain lazy ^.^;

To make up for the long silence, I have two completed shawls for you.

The first one is a simple stockinette shawl knitted from some unidentified handspun acquired at Seriously Twisted down in Port Chalmers.

The yarn knitted up fairly chunky, despite being rather variable in thickness. Rather a pain to block when you're using polystyrene and sewing pins! It still smells clean-sheepy good.

The second is the Dia De Sol pattern from Ravelry, executed with John Q Sands' "Impressionista" sock/lace yarn in the Garden Path colourway.

I don't like the John Q Sands yarns in general, but I will admit that they do make a nice 4ply. Both the Impressionista and the Jewel lines are very smooth to knit with and the colours are an absolute delight.

Really, my camera doesn't do it justice.

There wasn't quite enough yarn in the first skein of Impressionista to finish the shawl, so I had to go back and acquire a second skein just to do the final chart of the pattern. It is pretty expensive, so I wasn't very happy about that.

I'm going to have to find something to do with the last bit of that skein when I can find it. I'm STILL not sorted out from moving flats! It will have to be something with a fairly simple stitch pattern, though. I feel like the wonderful colours I saw on the skein got rather lost in the final product.

What do you reckon?

~Topaz

Arms of an Indian God

Oh man, do I not enjoy knitting gloves.

I love wearing them and I love looking at them, but actually making them comes in pretty low on the list of activities I enjoy and actively seek out.

A few years back I got pretty desperate for PROPER fingerless gloves, so I broke and made myself some.

Warm hands? YES PLEASE!

Purple possum-merino goodness.

If they're so pretty and snuggly warm, why do I dislike making them? BEHOLD THE REASON:

Successful juggling of all the needles and stitch holders requires that you posses approximately the same number of arms as the average Hindu deity.

Yeah, seems legit.

Did you know that threading the on-hold stitches onto a circular needle makes thing much easier?

I do now -.-;

These are Glamour Nana's Wintertime Driving Gloves, in the same Corridale she used to make herself a cardigan. There wasn't quite enough there is grey possum/merino to pad it out.

I really shouldn't watch Doctor Who while knitting.  Fingers are different lengths, silly Topaz!

Have a wonderful crafternoon!

~Topaz

Long Time, No Knit.

I have been a delinquent knitter of late.

I've been thrashing last year's NaNoWriMo atrocity into shape and taking notes in preparation for this year's event. Sadly, that doesn't leave much time for mucking about with yarn :(

When NaNo2013 starts I'll put a little widget in the sidebar so you can stalk my progress if you feel like it :p

To celebrate the finish of the first edit, I shall be following some advice found in the NEV Knitting Squad's Library:

(Yes, most of the books were purchased at Library sales. They're in a better place now)

TIME TO CAST ON, MY KNITTERS!

~Topaz