Spacecrafty

I have a fairly ridiculous collection of beads and bits and bobs and I have decided that this year, aside from knitting my stash, I also need to sit down and sort through my collection, work out what I am going to use and what I’m not and then actually do something with them.

So, while I haven’t sorted them out yet, I did make something. It was a rather belated birthday present for a fellow crafty librarian, the lovely Jennie Law.

It’s a kilt/shawl pin, with vintage pearls and silver findings. I also busted out some embroidery thread and did some paper embroidery, using a modified image from What Katie Does’s tutorial but didn’t think to take a photo of that, alas!

SMSKAL: Jaded, originally uploaded by halcyonday.

The Socktopus Mystery shawl is complete! I did end up casting on again on bigger needles, 6mm this time and that plus the DK-y weight of the yarn means my shawl is huuuuge. But still, lovely!

Clue one of the Socktopus Mystery Shawl

I’ve joined the knit-a-long for Alice from Socktopus’ Mystery Shawl [Rav Link] and up there you can see clue one, in its completed state. I’m knitting mine in Socks that Rock (Heavyweight) in Jaded and I’m loving both the yarn and the pattern. Although, really, I think I should have knitted the first clue on 6mm needles as the StR Heavyweight is very much a DK-y sock yarn but I do like the effect it gives now – and there’s still the blocking to take into consideration.

Hilariously, this is the first time that Jam and I are knitting the same pattern at the same time – we often knit the same things but staggered, so it’s quite nice to be able to compare and contrast as we go, particularly as we’re using very different yarns.

Milkweed, originally uploaded by halcyonday.

I was on holiday in sunny Cornwall recently and aside from the walking and the constant eating (om nom nom, clotted cream!), I got quite a bit of knitting done. Chiefly, I finished off CosmicPluto’s Milkweed shawl.

It’s an absolutely lovely pattern to knit – I had one or two hitches but it was mostly where I’d missed out an kfb a couple times and tinking back soon fixed that. Mine [Rav Link] is knitted in Fyberspates’s BFL sock yarn (a very old sock club colourway) and I just made it on yardage – I think I stopped two rows early to make sure I had enough yarn for the bind off.

And as soon as I bound that off, I immediately cast on for the Dream in Color shrug in DiC’s Classy (Go Go Grassy), which I am juuuust about to finish, so I will save that for another post. It’s another very quick and easy knit – ideal for a holiday!

(I am trying to get back on the blogging horse, so there may well be a flurry of posts shortly as I try get into a posting routine again!)

Now that I’m done with academia and work has settled down and the summer actually feels like it’s actually going to arrive, we’ve been spending a lot of time in what passes for the garden – we do actually have bed space as well but it’s still a bit of a mess until we finish dealing with a pest problem.

But I have herbs (although my majoriam hasn’t taken, woe!) and window boxes and shortly, salad leaves!

And because it requires me to do a lot of it outside, new uses for Altoid tins which have involved spray paint and a semi-fruitless trek around various different hardware stores. Further photos to come, once I pick up the remaining bits and assemble the whole thing.

And, of course there has been knitting. Some of these are finished and others are still works in progress. And there’s more works in progress that don’t have photos yet.

I knitted Ysolda’s Ishbel in Lorna’s Laces sock weight but try as I might, the pattern and I just never properly clicked. There are some mistakes in the finished shawl but they’re all ones I’m willing to live with and it’s certainly been used often since I finished it, so it was a success in that sense! The Abby cowl is my commute project at the moment and is also using up some handspun lace weight wool that I bought off Etsy ages ago.

The socks are Mona Schmidt’s Embossed Leaves [Rav Link] from 25 Favourite Sock Patterns. They’re knitted in Sheldridge Farm Ultra in Apple and I <3 them. And the final picture is my Lace Ribbon Scarf, which was another commute knit.

Also on the needles but currently not photographed is Anna Bell’s Cherry, which is knitting along nicely in a plum Debbie Bliss Cathay and Jared Flood’s Hemlock Ring Blanket, which I attended a class for with the lovely Jared himself at Socktopus last week and look forward to having on my lap come Autumn! I’m using Drops’ Alaska in grey for it.

I’ve also been secret squirrel crafty but I can’t post pictures and talk about them until I’ve posted them all off to their respective recipients! Soon though, soon.

Cheshire Cat Stole, originally uploaded by halcyonday.

Oh, oh dearie me. It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? Er. I moved flat (again, still sharing with Jam), changed jobs (still a librarian but now out of the legal sector) and graduated (Master of Science, baby! Wooooo!) and blogging kind of fell to the wayside for a bit.

I have much more to show but for the moment, I’ll just point at that image there and go bweeee! My Cheshire Cat Stole [Ravelry] is done, blocked and making me grin every time I wear it because the colour is just So Damn Cheerful!

There’s a few more photos of it on my Flickr, plus some photos of the other things I need to post about. Sneak preview, if you will!