New knitty? Really, I hadn't noticed...

My lovely model - Uslan.

He's single. Straight. Smart. And been known to make his own clothes. Doesn't knit, but dare say he could learn. Easily bribed with beer and brownies.

I warn you, the dude has a filthy mouth and terrible taste in football.

My life in orange

There is a book called My Life in Orange. It's about a childhood living in a cult. My life in Orange wasn't quite that, but the book did come out about the same time my uniform for work went orange and I always feel and affinity with it, albeit a tenuous one. I left that job about a year later, but still spent too much of my life in orange, which is why I still tend to think of it as an icky colour.

However, thinking about the oranges in my life for Project Spectrum has reminded me of the beauty of that colour.

In the photo: one ball of luxury tweed that will become a CC in an argyle tank top (see link in sidebar); some yellow acrylic and orange merino (both half balls, leftovers). The fabric is some cool stuff a friend gave me for xmas, you can iron it into shape to make bowls, etc. On the screen in the powerpoint for the paper I'm giving this weekend.

EDIT: the job? It was working as an Explainer at the Science Museum. When I left I realised I'd been there a quarter of my life. It wasn't like living in a cult, but the place can institutionalise you somewhat. I have a slight aversion to green for the same reason.

Felted cable

My flatmate has this theory that there are few things in the world that can't be inproved by throwing in a cable.

I was using a leftover half ball of tweed to do a felted case for my new electronic diary and I thought test this out.

Its inspired in part by Alterknits - Radford suggests felting old jumpers into bags and some of the ones in the photo looked cabled. I wasn't sure how it'd work out, this was really just a test run, but I like it. You loose the definition in the felting but that's part of the beauty - I like to think of it as a "sunken cable".

Next time I'll try with with wool that gives a better stitch definition and work a more complex cable. All I have to decide now is weather felted cabled socks would be (a) be too thick and (b) involve too-painful maths.

frogged out

My "chocolate socks" idea is not going as planned. And the versions I've rejected have been sitting at the bottom of my knitting bag looking poo and taking up yarn I'd rather knit with. So on my bus home this eve I unravelled and reballed.

Have you any idea how annoying it is to frog fair isle?

Also, while feeling rant-like I'd like to complain about my inability to buy 2mm dpns today. None at John Lewis, Liberties had some, but only 20cm long ones, I might as well magic-loop.

I'm going to my room to hide with a Buffy DVD and bead icord - see link to example in sidebar. I have some mini FO's to show, but they are washing/ blocking so I might leave posting about them till I'm back from Newcastle (another conference this weekend).

yellow

It was getting all quite spring-like last week, but its grey and cold again. Still, the moments of sun seem to have prompted a few buds. To celebrate this odd freezing cold spring I give you Project Spectrum glowing candles, complete with orange-yellow flower arrangment my flatmate did over the weekend. The candles are from my SP (the pic I was holding out from my last post) and just sum up our mix of blossom and night frosts - flowers, but they give out much needed heat.

I've very nearly finished a pair of socks with some of the purple sockyarn my Secret Pal sent me. I was going to do Falling Leaves, but with a figure8 toe. But as I was about half way into the toe I realised the 72sts round it called for would be way too big. This is the beauty of figure8, its like a toe and gage swatch in one.

So I thought about Elfine socks, which is about 65sts. Still too big, I stopped at 60sts and found my own lace pattern that worked over multiples of 10sts. Its basically the same idea as Elfine and Falling Leaves, just a different lace pattern. Something similar, nothing to complex, just break up the verigation stripes and give it a bit of texture without looking crazy. I think I'll call them them "Purple Peaks" because of the mountains the pattern makes pre-blocking.

So I have an FO! I finally completed the giant green garterstitch monster (using Collinette Prism, on 6mms). It is HUGE and lovely and warm.

Do I sign up for this? Or this? Or neither? Mmmmm.