One sock down, one to go.

I haven’t posted this weekend because I didn’t have any new pictures to show and posts without pictures are rather boring.
2 days ago I finally finished the back of Demi, it took just over 2 balls of yarn and now I am slightly worried that 7 balls are not going to be enough, this is a new fear for me which started after my small disaster with Gedifra. I personally call it: the problem with difficult to obtain yarn. If I was knitting with something like RYC DK I would not have worried as popping into LYS could easily put an end to my misery but it just so happens that I fall in love with discontinued yarn.

I wish I could show you Demi’ back but it is awfully tricky to photograph. Instead, I would show you the first Miranda sock. I love it!!! The pumpkin colour is so pretty in real life. The sock is steaming hot from the needles and so without washing and blocking.


I am modelling it myself and it is slightly large for me as the pair intended for my boyfriend. The yarn is stretchy, so after the wash it will be suitable for European size 43-44. Fingers crossed ;)

Snow

It has been really cold over here recently, so cold in fact that it even snowed last night. I know for many parts of the world snow is nothing more than an every winter event (I am Russian, I should be used to it), but for England it is something rare and unusual.
Thank God, I don’t have to travel till Friday, when it had snowed last year trains stopped running.

Anyways, because it is so cold I’ve got a chance to wear my River shawl together with the matching hat. I even bought a lovely felted broche to go with it.




On the knitting news: all of my knitting will have to wait till weekend as I have left it in Cam deliberately (it is a new term and I have to focus on it). However, on Sunday night I made further progress on Demi: it is 4 complete diamonds now. I find it quit a struggle to photograph it as the colour is so dark. Honestly, I am not sure I will make it justice when it will come to modelling for the FO post.

Tweed

I don’t know what is gotten into me but all I like recently is tweed. Maybe it is because I spend too much time in Cambridge?
I still have absolutely no progress on my Phildar jacket but I have casted on two new projects and both of them are tweed and discontinued tweed as well.
The first project is Highgate which is from 2003 Jaeger Pattern book and I saw it at sweetgeorgia in September, fell in love and started to look for the yarn. Back in October I managed to buy required quantity in the colourway I wanted (I am not much of the pink person). What can I say: LOVE it! This yarn is fabulous! I have knitted up to shoulders, spotted a mistake I have done 65 rows back and sadly had to frog.

Every time I do frog something I get angry with it and my interest in the thing wears off for some time, so I have started Demi. I am much more advanced now since taking this picture yesterday.

Initially, I was not planning on knitting it this year, I wanted to knit Beau for my boyfriend: ordered this discontinued yarn, and after I have paid, the seller on the internet shop said they run out of the colour and since it had been discontinued I could either get a refund or choose a different colour. I chose a different colour… everyone(ckeck out Ashley and Miss Elliphantom ) seems to be knitting it now, I just got the vibe...

Splash of colour

My interlock Gedifra sweater is done and it is so bright in our rainy-gloomy-miserable weather. I wanted to take some lovely and happy shots with it, to do some justice to the projects, try to give you the feel of it. But the end result is: fat-yellow-skin-looking-girl.
Just to let you know: in real life/light yellow colour doesn’t make me look like a HP B patient and I don’t look that big in it.





Pattern: Model 755 Gedifra Highlights 052
Yarn: Gedifra Fashion Trend Colour 150g in green and 450g in yellow
Needles: 6mm 40’ Addi circulars
Modifications: none

There was a mistake in the pattern yardage and I was left with one extra ball of green colour yarn and one yellow ball short (fortunately, my yarn problem was quickly resolved). And the extra green ball soon became a helmet hat.

Helmet Hat
Pattern: my own
Yarn: 1 ball of Gedifra Fashion Trend Colour in green
Needles: 6mm 40’ Addi circulars and 4mm Addi DPNs


P.S. Ava, the lovely item from previous post is a shawl, though it is more like a large scarf.

Stick a fork in me

The grant is done; I cannot even begin to express how please I am about it, 3 days of continuous writing or prelude research for the writing. Hopefully, next time I will do it with some ease if not to say enjoyment. At least that was the point of this exercise
In view of the above, I haven’t actually knitted a single row and I have been longing to finish my Gedifra sweater, so I am going to do it this week.

Anyway, that is not what I was to blog about. I actually wanted to show you the present my boyfriend's mum gave me this Christmas, I only got it this Monday.


Hand crocheted on Madagascar, remarkable if you understand how long it would have taken you to actually do it and then to weave all the ends. I know for certain I would never be able to do it, but then again I am not a crochet confident knitter. End weaving just kills the beauty of the modular knitting for me.

Grant Application

I think, I would have to change the name of my blog as there will be very little knitting soon. With holidays being over, I am back with studying.
I want to be a scientist, I want to conduct my own experiments, and hence I must know how to fill a grant application. I have never seen or done one in my life, and now I have been given an article on the subject I know absolutely nothing about, some guidelines, list of equipment and that is it. I know it is only a test (not an actual application) and it is for my own benefit in the long run, but I HATE IT!
It is massive, it is even longer than a student visa application, longer than most of the PhD applications (unless it is a German application form ;)) and worst of all is that I have absolutely no idea from which side to tackle it. I can’t believe that in real life one has to do it every 3 years or so.
There has been absolutely no knitting since the beginning of this year, sad isn’t it? Sigh.
It is Friday however, and I wanted to show you something pretty, so I will show you wonderful vintage buttons I have bought on etsy, it is not for anything particular, just impulsive-stashing.

New Year, same life

I hope all had a nice time over holidays. It is just so sad it is so soon over and done with. I didn’t knit as much I would have wished for and spend most of the time in bed ill.

This is a strange thing: I am getting the cold every two weeks now and my immune system doesn’t have enough time for the simplest rehab. Awful… it all started this September as I had get another abscess on my toe (as if 3 operations last year wasn’t enough), last year I had been found to have an MRS infection which I got in the hospital over here in UK. I was treated with yet another extensive course of antibiotic cocktail. It sort of worked for the toe, but now I am so weak I have these continuous relapses of cold. I only hope it would pass soon.

Anyway, I was ok on the actual New Year Eve and went out with my boyfriend and friends. It was nice, not too outrageous, not a drinking-dancing night, just a nice conversation night.

I have been thinking about resolutions for some time now and decided to say a no to them, chances of me keeping them are just too faint because what could the resolutions of the knitter be? Yes, as usual: not too buy too much yarn and try to use the stash. I would love to do it, but not sure I am strong enough.

On the more cheerful news: I have received the ball of yarn needed to finish Gedifra sweater off. Thank you, a wonderful Lana, a woman in Germany whom I never met in my life, but who has such a generous heart.