Still here

Hello there. Long time no speaky. You may recall, before Christmas I was quite busy with some seasonal employment, and what crafting I had time for was for gifts, and to blog would be to spoil the surprise. That's all over now, so I suppose I should get back in business. Naturally I forgot to take pictures of the gifts I made, but here's a few things I've been working on since Christmas.

These were intended as socks, but I didn't cast on enough stitches (I've yet to go to the effort of figuring out gauge or the lie beforehand, I tend to just wing it). I couldn't be bothered to rip back - I was enjoying the knitting rhythm I was in - so I just kept going and made myself some arm-warmers. The white is some homespun featured previously, and the grey is a wool/acrylic blend I originally included to give the socks a bit of extra strength around the heel, as I wasn't sure how the homespun might hold up to such punishment. While these aren't what I originally planned to make, I'm glad it turned out the way it did, as I've been wearing them quite a bit since completion. They're very handy for someone like me who lives in t-shirts and little jumpers.

This patchwork bag was being gifted to someone as a birthday present. I think I must have developed a lot more patience over the last year or so. Not only did I iron, cut, pin, sew, press, re-pin, re-sew etc. etc. this bag is only 2 sittings, but I actually quite enjoyed the process. Normally lots of little finicky tasks annoy me, but as I say, I think I'm accepting that it's a lot more fun to take the time to try and do a job properly.

With this in mind, I've had a hankering to knit something proper lately. I'm now well versed in the arts of the small profects - mitts, hats, socks and the like. Time to challenge both my skills and my dedication. I saved up my pennies, sold a few things on eBay, before buying what someone called 'a seizure worth of wool' (as in, like a drug seizure, not you know, that you'd have a fit just looking at it or anything). After coveting it for so long, I've finally cast on the Skully jumper from Stitch'n'Bitch. I went to This Is Knit when I was in Dublin last weekend, as I knew they had the Lamb's Pride Bulky yarn recommended in the pattern. However - crisis! - they did not have enough of any one color for the whole jumper. Luckily, the staff couldn't do enough to help me, and we eventually settled on the relatively inexpensive Freedom Purity yarn as an acceptable substitute. I did a gauge swatch and everything before I cast on - my ways have really changed. I only cast on the front yesterday but I spent a few hours in front of the tv yesterday so I've got a few inches to show for myself.

This jumper has skulls in the sleeves which is not a problem as I can do intarsia now, yay!

And finally, a heart. Always hearts.