Knitting update - I took both. I knitted another rook and the queen and mostly-assembled both - the rook first, and I wound up undoing it, replacing the card, redoing it, then undoing it again to add another nut and redoing it again, and I ain't doing it again even though it's not entirely steady. The queen worked better because it tapers. I just need to glue stuff for both of them, as I didn't have glue, but I do now.
I also started the cardigan. First with seed-stitch border, forgetting the cables would be narrower, then with seed-stitch and increases which didn't quite work, then provisional cast-on which on reflection was too narrow, then I got it right. I hope. It's only got a few more inches to go and then I need to start thinking about shaping and things. Probably I'll go back to the chess set for a bit.
Today I went to IKEA and got two flat-pack shelves (Albert, if you care) and I just put one set together in about an hour and a half, and my arm hurts a bit (really I should have got out the electric screwdriver, shouldn't I?)
What else? I got a couple of good photos of my nephew, more by luck than judgement; I did more chores in my sister's house over five days than I do in mine over a fortnight; I got less sleep than usual and have spent a good chunk of the last two days catching up with it.
Oh, and I have been keeping a food diary to see if I can figure out what's messing with my guts, and it's pretty depressing reading, but I'm not going to stop eating junk, so I might as well keep track in case there is something specific to cut out.
Friday, 17 May 2013
Wednesday, 8 May 2013
hmm
I am going away tomorrow for a long weekend and I don't know what knitting to take... I usually get a decent amount of knitting done on the train either way, but I'll be decently busy while I'm up there, as my nephew is not quite two.
The last few days, I have been knitting pieces from Alan Dart's Chess Set - so far I have three pawns, a rook, a knight, a bishop and a king, but they are not assembled because I don't have nuts to weight them yet (I bought them off ebay Monday night). So, I could just take the yarn to finish the black side, which would probably be enough, or I could take yarn for the white side as well, or... If the nuts arrive tomorrow I can take stuffing as well and sew up some of the bits, because sewing up is horrid and I'm not leaving it all until the end or it just won't get done. I'm already doing all the arms and most of the pawns in the round.
Or I could do something completely different. At the weekend I started trying to design a cardigan, and it started getting over-complicated, and with a bit of distance I think I was just trying to do too much - with a fitted waist and boob shaping, and a cable pattern, and then hip shaping, and what about the sleeves, and... I think I can do a cropped cardi with the shaping I was thinking about, but I don't know.
So do I take a creative project that might go horribly wrong, or a pattern which will have me scattering a dozen little pieces down the back of the sofa?
ETA: I keep thinking of packing as a huge thing, but it really isn't. Fifteen minutes and I'm done, except for the ongoing knitting swither. And when I'm going to my sister's, it really doesn't matter - I forgot black trousers and she had half-a-dozen pairs in the wardrobe, I forgot socks and I went into the shopping centre by the station and bought a pack of new ones, it's not the end of the world.
I think it's a learned thing from childhood, and the thing is, taking trips with kids is difficult, and packing for yourself and three weans is stressful. But packing for yourself, when you've travelled enough, and know what you're going to want and what you couldn't care less about... it's really not a problem.
The last few days, I have been knitting pieces from Alan Dart's Chess Set - so far I have three pawns, a rook, a knight, a bishop and a king, but they are not assembled because I don't have nuts to weight them yet (I bought them off ebay Monday night). So, I could just take the yarn to finish the black side, which would probably be enough, or I could take yarn for the white side as well, or... If the nuts arrive tomorrow I can take stuffing as well and sew up some of the bits, because sewing up is horrid and I'm not leaving it all until the end or it just won't get done. I'm already doing all the arms and most of the pawns in the round.
Or I could do something completely different. At the weekend I started trying to design a cardigan, and it started getting over-complicated, and with a bit of distance I think I was just trying to do too much - with a fitted waist and boob shaping, and a cable pattern, and then hip shaping, and what about the sleeves, and... I think I can do a cropped cardi with the shaping I was thinking about, but I don't know.
So do I take a creative project that might go horribly wrong, or a pattern which will have me scattering a dozen little pieces down the back of the sofa?
ETA: I keep thinking of packing as a huge thing, but it really isn't. Fifteen minutes and I'm done, except for the ongoing knitting swither. And when I'm going to my sister's, it really doesn't matter - I forgot black trousers and she had half-a-dozen pairs in the wardrobe, I forgot socks and I went into the shopping centre by the station and bought a pack of new ones, it's not the end of the world.
I think it's a learned thing from childhood, and the thing is, taking trips with kids is difficult, and packing for yourself and three weans is stressful. But packing for yourself, when you've travelled enough, and know what you're going to want and what you couldn't care less about... it's really not a problem.
Thursday, 2 May 2013
success, sort of
I finished the shrug!
I wound up doing a variation of Kitchener stitch, and boy did I regret it halfway through.
I did not regret ignoring the ladies at knitting who said I needed to knit a couple more inches before I joined it together. I was pretty sure it would stretch, and also fit better over something without sleeves, and I was right, so there. Actually it may be a bit big - the bottom of the back sort of flaps out a bit, so maybe that wants elastic, which is to say probably it wants cut down a little but I can't be arsed doing that so elastic might work.
Apart from that...
No, that's all the craft I've been doing the past few days. And now I am at that stage just past success, where you go... "what now?"
I don't know. I have a baby jumper which is only half-done, but that is dead easy. I kind of want to do something interesting. But having made something up - two things, in fact - even difficult patterns are looking sort of boring. But there's nothing I particularly want to make that I can try making up. I've been poking at ravelry, but nothing is jumping out saying "knit me!" Or "crochet me!" Improving my crochet also sounds boring.
Bah.
I wound up doing a variation of Kitchener stitch, and boy did I regret it halfway through.
I did not regret ignoring the ladies at knitting who said I needed to knit a couple more inches before I joined it together. I was pretty sure it would stretch, and also fit better over something without sleeves, and I was right, so there. Actually it may be a bit big - the bottom of the back sort of flaps out a bit, so maybe that wants elastic, which is to say probably it wants cut down a little but I can't be arsed doing that so elastic might work.
Apart from that...
No, that's all the craft I've been doing the past few days. And now I am at that stage just past success, where you go... "what now?"
I don't know. I have a baby jumper which is only half-done, but that is dead easy. I kind of want to do something interesting. But having made something up - two things, in fact - even difficult patterns are looking sort of boring. But there's nothing I particularly want to make that I can try making up. I've been poking at ravelry, but nothing is jumping out saying "knit me!" Or "crochet me!" Improving my crochet also sounds boring.
Bah.
Monday, 29 April 2013
blether
Saturday morning, I was late for my stained glass class and then spent the whole time drawing out my design. I missed the usual train because I was looking up something for the pattern and lost track of time, and the next one because I was sitting on the loo, not very happy. Anyway, teacher helped me out and I have a design all set, and I like it quite a bit. It has 103 pieces, which is a lot of cutting. I might well buy a cutter so I can do most of that at home and do the piecing together at class; if I don't, I certainly won't finish it this term.
On the train on the way to class, a woman leaned over and talked to me about my knitting. General compliments and then a bit of discussion on dpns versus circulars.
I have been knitting like a fiend - a fiend, I say! - and have less than twenty rows to go.
I have also knitted a few little bits for purposes of experimentation. I did and undid and did a two-colour Kitchener stitch improvisation, which looks ok colour-wise but has a half-stitch offset which is... not great. Then I did a Kitchener stitch variation - the second trick from this post - which looks fine, with a little bit of colour show-through. Um, I did the cast-off in one colour, so the stripes of the other colour have a little bit of that showing through at the join. Then I did a three-needle bind-off, which has the same colour problem, slightly more pronounced.
I think I will probably do the three-needle bind-off, as with the grey and black colourscheme it shouldn't show too badly, and it's the easiest of the three.
It's nearly done! I'm in the final stretch! Woo!
ETA: Having done another sample - a variation of techknitter's variation - I'm not sure what to do. Because this one looks quite good - possibly the best of the four - but it is more complicated than the three-needle. I think I will take the samples to knitting tomorrow night and ask for opinions.
On the train on the way to class, a woman leaned over and talked to me about my knitting. General compliments and then a bit of discussion on dpns versus circulars.
I have been knitting like a fiend - a fiend, I say! - and have less than twenty rows to go.
I have also knitted a few little bits for purposes of experimentation. I did and undid and did a two-colour Kitchener stitch improvisation, which looks ok colour-wise but has a half-stitch offset which is... not great. Then I did a Kitchener stitch variation - the second trick from this post - which looks fine, with a little bit of colour show-through. Um, I did the cast-off in one colour, so the stripes of the other colour have a little bit of that showing through at the join. Then I did a three-needle bind-off, which has the same colour problem, slightly more pronounced.
I think I will probably do the three-needle bind-off, as with the grey and black colourscheme it shouldn't show too badly, and it's the easiest of the three.
It's nearly done! I'm in the final stretch! Woo!
ETA: Having done another sample - a variation of techknitter's variation - I'm not sure what to do. Because this one looks quite good - possibly the best of the four - but it is more complicated than the three-needle. I think I will take the samples to knitting tomorrow night and ask for opinions.
Friday, 26 April 2013
bleh
I knitted quite a lot, with such terrible posture that my back hurts. Sixty rows to go!
I sketched out my idea for my stained glass window, and I think it will work, I'm just not sure how far I have to simplify the original design (which is a Mayan monster and incorporates glyphs and such). And it is quite curvy which is more difficult. But I like it. I will talk to teacher at class and see what she thinks.
I have a meeting tomorrow about doing a volunteer thing for a few months, and I shouldn't be nervous but I am. Ugh.
Yeah.
I sketched out my idea for my stained glass window, and I think it will work, I'm just not sure how far I have to simplify the original design (which is a Mayan monster and incorporates glyphs and such). And it is quite curvy which is more difficult. But I like it. I will talk to teacher at class and see what she thinks.
I have a meeting tomorrow about doing a volunteer thing for a few months, and I shouldn't be nervous but I am. Ugh.
Yeah.
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
needles
This morning I went to the dentist. I had to have a filling done in what the dentist said was one of the most awkward places possible, the outer face of a wisdom tooth (and my back teeth are a bit crammed in - in fact, I think one of my sisters had her wisdom teeth out, or at least had the possibility mooted.) It wasn't too bad, I only gagged twice, and I can put up with the drilling etc. I think the dentist thinks I am afraid, because before my last set of appointments I had not been for a few years, but that was partly that I am terrible at making appointments etc and partly the lack of self-care often associated with depression.
I was talking to a friend of mine, who has chronic depression and who smokes. (The link between poor mental health and smoking was discussed in a fairly recent article on the bbc website, and I was entirely unsurprised.) She said: the normal arguments don't work, because you tell me I'll die ten or twenty years younger, and I say, great! I don't want to live!
So the lack of self-care on a day-to-day level is mostly apathy, but longer-term... well, it's hard to think long-term when you've contemplated suicide in the past and wouldn't be surprised to wind up in that place again. What do I care if my teeth fall out, I'm amazed I've made it this far, never mind thinking about the far side of the next ten years. Also I don't deserve any kind of goodness, but hey.
That wasn't what I was going to write about, really, but it's a thing that's true.
I also went to knitting this evening, a bit later than usual because I was running around trying to find a new ball of wool (which I haven't got to yet) and then I realised the bra I was wearing really doesn't fit any more, and I threw up my hands and whined for a bit.
I need to get new bras, but I am currently attempting - not with great dedication, I admit - to lose a bit of weight, and if I do then old bras might fit again, and it is expensive and annoying anyway, but then again I might be going to do a full-time volunteer thing in which case I should probably get a new one or two before then (because the shop is not very busy weekdays so I could go in and get fitted without having to cringe away from crowds.) But. I will think about it.
Sleeve Two is progressing nicely - should get to the split tomorrow, after which there's only... eighty-odd rows to go! with only a hundred-forty-some stitches in each!
Wow, laying it out like that is not encouraging. Still, Susan-from-knitting swears by doing ten rows a day, which would get this done by the end of next week, which sounds good to me. Well, the knitting would be done, I still have to figure out the grafting. Always something...
I was talking to a friend of mine, who has chronic depression and who smokes. (The link between poor mental health and smoking was discussed in a fairly recent article on the bbc website, and I was entirely unsurprised.) She said: the normal arguments don't work, because you tell me I'll die ten or twenty years younger, and I say, great! I don't want to live!
So the lack of self-care on a day-to-day level is mostly apathy, but longer-term... well, it's hard to think long-term when you've contemplated suicide in the past and wouldn't be surprised to wind up in that place again. What do I care if my teeth fall out, I'm amazed I've made it this far, never mind thinking about the far side of the next ten years. Also I don't deserve any kind of goodness, but hey.
That wasn't what I was going to write about, really, but it's a thing that's true.
I also went to knitting this evening, a bit later than usual because I was running around trying to find a new ball of wool (which I haven't got to yet) and then I realised the bra I was wearing really doesn't fit any more, and I threw up my hands and whined for a bit.
I need to get new bras, but I am currently attempting - not with great dedication, I admit - to lose a bit of weight, and if I do then old bras might fit again, and it is expensive and annoying anyway, but then again I might be going to do a full-time volunteer thing in which case I should probably get a new one or two before then (because the shop is not very busy weekdays so I could go in and get fitted without having to cringe away from crowds.) But. I will think about it.
Sleeve Two is progressing nicely - should get to the split tomorrow, after which there's only... eighty-odd rows to go! with only a hundred-forty-some stitches in each!
Wow, laying it out like that is not encouraging. Still, Susan-from-knitting swears by doing ten rows a day, which would get this done by the end of next week, which sounds good to me. Well, the knitting would be done, I still have to figure out the grafting. Always something...
Saturday, 20 April 2013
glass
Yesterday I slept. A lot. Like, I woke up late in the evening and wound up staying up through to morning for my stained glass class.
Stained glass is pretty fun. I had planned to have a design for my light-window but it didn't really happen; I did however get up the ladder and measure it, so I know exact dimensions.
This morning I felt like I had forgotten how to cut glass, because it really wasn't going well, but it got there in the end. I made a sun-catcher start to finish over the three-hour class (which is not bad considering it is only my fourth class) - from drawing out the design (copied off a birthday card), cutting and grinding the glass (and losing a piece and thinking it had gone down the drain and having to cut another one, only to find the original just before the end of class), sticking on copper foil and soldering. It's not perfect - I haven't quite got the hang of getting all the pieces to fit smoothly together, and I'm not patient enough to get it all symmetrical - but I like it.
Over the next few days I will figure out a pattern for the window. I mean, I could do something traditional, but I think I'll mess around a bit more. I'm not going to do dinosaurs. I have some Mayan designs I like, I'm just not sure how much I'd have to simplify them. Or I could go fannish, or celtic, or...
Decisions, decisions, decisions...
Stained glass is pretty fun. I had planned to have a design for my light-window but it didn't really happen; I did however get up the ladder and measure it, so I know exact dimensions.
This morning I felt like I had forgotten how to cut glass, because it really wasn't going well, but it got there in the end. I made a sun-catcher start to finish over the three-hour class (which is not bad considering it is only my fourth class) - from drawing out the design (copied off a birthday card), cutting and grinding the glass (and losing a piece and thinking it had gone down the drain and having to cut another one, only to find the original just before the end of class), sticking on copper foil and soldering. It's not perfect - I haven't quite got the hang of getting all the pieces to fit smoothly together, and I'm not patient enough to get it all symmetrical - but I like it.
Over the next few days I will figure out a pattern for the window. I mean, I could do something traditional, but I think I'll mess around a bit more. I'm not going to do dinosaurs. I have some Mayan designs I like, I'm just not sure how much I'd have to simplify them. Or I could go fannish, or celtic, or...
Decisions, decisions, decisions...
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