Bits and pieces

Wow people, thanks so much for all the pomatomus love! It was definitely worth it in the end.

I've felt like a bit of a break from knitting since I finished them so i've been doing some needlework. It's so fast and satisfying in comparason. JD kinda likes it too, we've been making up little crossstitch patterns based on movie lines and song lyrics. I'm going to make myself a 'where is my mind?' plaque to put up at work (the pixies have been touring). It seems appropriate at the moment.

The options are pretty endless though, I made this crossstitch for a wonderful friend for her birthday. She's a bit of a Grates fan.


On a side note, I don't believe you've met Zeus? Our third (and final) cat. She's opens doors and can almost turn a key. I kid you not.

Anyway, I was enjoying the cross stitch so much I decided to give embroidery a go (dum-da-dum-dum).


It's not going too badly. It looks a bit amateurish, but it's a first-born so hopefully you can excuse me. I splashed out on some $10 vests and the plan is to spiff them up a bit with some embroidery once my skills improve a bit. We'll see how that goes...

And because it seems that I am a masochist when it comes to knitting deadlines, I've been making a pair of gloves for a visiting friend


They're a belated birthday present so I said I'd have them done before she leaves. Which is tomorrow.

Looks like it's back to the knitting after all.

Fetching Albert

I was trying to take a picture of the gloves but my fetching photo shoot was gatecrashed! This is Albert (AKA Alby or Boo.) I've mostly avoided 'real life' stuff in this blog , but I thought I might share a bit about Alby. (I apologise to those people not keen on cats. You can feel free to tune out now or skip to the end! I understand.)

For a year or so Mr BP and I took in homeless kittens and willingly let them destroy our house and all of my stockings (seriously, you may be small and they may be large, but my legs are not trees, kittens! We don't climb legs!) We would basically have them anywhere from the time they were born (in the case of Buzz, she was a hairly slug with an umbilical cord when we got her) to a couple of weeks old, until they weighed 1kg. Then we would return them, they would be desexed, and (i like to think) go to loving families and cared for them as much as we did. This process generally worked well. Until it came to Albert.


We already had two cats (OK, so maybe the giving back part didn't happen so easily all the time) when we got Alby and his two brothers. They had been dumped in a sack at the door of the shelter, caked in a healthy layer of brown sludge. We had them for 3 months and they were hilarious! The middle brother loved cornflakes. When MrBP would have his cornflakes in the morning we would have to lock him in another room. One time he managed to get though the door and came tearing straight into the dining room, took a leap onto the table and then leapt smack-bang into the bowl of cornflakes. It still makes me laugh thinking about it! Alby was sick as a kitten, so we spent lots of time with the Vet and doing different things for him. Having no mother around he thought MrBP was his mum and would follow him all over the place (kittens don't understand 'bathroom time'. Or any other adult time for that matter). There wasn't a lap (kneecap rather) he didn't occupy within 3 second of it becoming available. He was, and is, the most ridiculously affectionate being I know.


Needless to say when it came time to return him I was devastated. A wreck. Couldn't work. Wouldn't eat. Didn't sleep. I was ridiculously and illogically upset. I kept calling the shelter to see if he was OK. Eventually they told me to just come and get him. I suspect they gave him to me because it was cheaper than taking out a restraining order.

He's been my ("our", sorry Mr BP) boy ever since.

Gosh, sorry for all the soppy stories! It musy be happy-ending week or something! I'll try and stick to craft now people.


Pattern: Fetching by Cheryl Niamath from Knitty.

Yarn: This was a destasher! Less than 1 ball of Filatura di Crosa Zara in a #1666 Fuchsia (the colour of the devil? Ha!) I got this on sale at the Woolshack a while ago.

Needles: 3.75mm bamboo DPNs. I didn't have 4mm. Oooooh, breakin' the rules!

This is significant because: I know fetchings are all over blogland (i'm a bit behind the times...) but this is my first, yes, FIRST, project on double points. I was a double point virgin. They scared the bejeezes out of me. It wasn't so bad though. I only poked myself in the face once. No permanent damage. Pretty good really.

I've been supervising a student on placement at work and these are being gifted to her. She's on her way to Europe for (our) Summer holidays, so i'm hoping they'll be handy! Ha! Get it! Handy...

*sigh*

Um, and thanks everyone that left a comment about Clap v2.o. I was shocked, SHOCKED, at the response. You made me feel all warm and fuzzy :)

Forest Canopy Shawl

May I present my first lace knitting project, the Forest Canopy Shawl. Thanks you to Buzz for the excellent modelling job (she thinks she's a celebrity and tries to get in all the photos)



A big shout-out to SadieandLance, Stephanie, Brenda and Meg (how cool is that calculator!) this first-born shawl is dedicated to you. I was trying to come up with an appropriate amalgamation of your names to call the shawl but couldn't make it work (BrestMes? No, I don't think so.)

Pattern: Forest Canopy Shawl from I'm knitting as fast as I can.

Yarn: 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Yarn in Bittersweet from here. I hope I haven't broken some lace knitters code by using sock yarn...it's so soft and lovely.

Needles: Addi circulars 80cm 4.5mm. I found these mostly fine with this pattern, a couple of times I could have used something sharper, but that was generally on rows that I had attempted to unknit. And it's best to avoid sharp object when I unknit.

Final Measurements: 66 inch wingspan, 28 inch length (the finished dimensions on the pattern were 52 x 23, so I could possibly have blocked it a little longer...)

Modifications: I wasn't game enough to deviate from the pattern! The only thing I did was slip the first stitch of each row because otherwise my edges get a bit sloppy. I also did an extra 4 repeats on top of the number in the pattern because I still had more yarn and I wanted it to be a little bigger. But the pattern said it was OK to do this so I don't count that as breaking the rules!

Blocking: I did it! My first blocking experience, yay for me! I tried to follow these instructions, which are pretty clear, but I still managed to get confused. I did the string thing along the top but when I pinned it all out it just wasn't sitting flat and stretched along the string. It wasn't 'grabbing' it properly or something? So I just put a few pins along the string to get it to sit and tried to do it so I didn't get a scollopy top edge.

I wish: I hadn't had to unknit and/or rip about half of the thing by the time I finished it. I suspect being able to use stitch markers would have helped me out here, but there wasn't anything about them in the pattern and I couldn't figure out how to work them in. Oh well.

Overall: Two thumbs up. I enjoyed knitting this. It took me about 2 weeks or so, which isn't too bad (I think).