Blogoversary +1

I missed my blogoversary which was yesterday.  I don't know how many years it has been.  5 maybe?

I try not to buy pattern books, much like I try not to add to my stash.  Sometimes it is just better to buy something.  If I buy a book or yarn and it gets me free shipping, this is a good thing.  I have something to show for the money spent.  I think that is how I ended up with Needles and Artifice.  It also may have been on sale.  It is an adventure story with knitting patterns.  The story is a fun, steampunk-ish tale of the Ladies of Mischief.  I have to say that I enjoyed the story a bit more than the patterns.  The patterns were fine.  I'm not criticizing them.  They just didn't suit me.  I don't do cowls and mitts.  I don't do cropped anything.  And corsets?  No.

It does include one pattern that has tempted me ever since I first saw it:  the Null Hypothesis Scarf.  Let me go snag a picture of it.

Here's what the book had to say about it:

The Ladies all said no one in their right mind would knit a six foot long double knit scarf with a non-repeating pattern!  So Dr. Erma Melanogaster set out to prove them wrong.  However, the good doctor didn't realize her stunning success failed to contradict the Ladies proclamation, as she is seldom of her right mind herself.

I think Dr. Melanogaster and I have something in common.

Who in progress Wednesday

I returned to working on struggling with the Doctor Who Christmas sock this week.  The new season started and I thought it would be good to knit something Who-ish. 

There are many things about this pattern that baffle me.  Why did the pattern have the words "OH YES" on either side of the cyberman?  (That's the little gray thing you can hardly see because of my bad choice in yarn).  I replaced them with the little holly leaves.  Why does the pattern have a band of little fishes on the foot? Why didn't the designer post a picture of the completed sock so I at least had a chance of guessing on what to do?  The front of the foot says to continue in pattern.  At that point, no pattern is in progress so there's nothing to continue.  Arrgh!  I'm doing the Christmas tree again.  I expect to run out of the blue background yarn before it is done.  I also expect that the gusset decreases will be done before the tree is done.  This may also cause a problem.

I'm going to finish it more for colorwork practice than anything else.  Some of the worst of it may block out.

Finished Object Friday

These are finished things from the last several weeks, not just one.

Daisy Cloche:  this hat and the next one are part of my 2015 Love Your Library project.  The book is A Head for Trouble.  The hats are all inspired by female detectives from books in the 1920s.

It's obviously too big for Chocolate Truffle, my teddy bear.  It fits me okay.

Verity Tam:  I made this with yarn I spun myself.  I'm not about to win spinning prizes any time soon.  I did like how it came out kind of tweedy.

Cat Hoodie:  It got cold about a week ago so I thought I'd give this a try.  Jasmine was really good about letting me put it on her.  I thought it would be unreasonable to also expect her to hold still for a picture.

Bigger on the Inside tote:

Before:

After:

 Looks like that's it for now.

WIP Wednesday

Spectra scarf.  I'm making it to use up a bunch of little Tosh Merino sock yarn samples.  It is a clever pattern, easy to memorize yet with enough going on that you don't get bored easily.

I'm not letting myself start anything new until I clear out out a few things.  We'll see how long that lasts.  I signed up for a Halloween sock mystery knitalong about five minutes after I made that decision.  My excuse is that the price of the pattern is being donated to UNICEF.

The three KALs I'm in already are up to date.  Only 8 more squares to go in the mystery afghan.

The Zolotoy mystery socks are almost done.  They look much as they did in the last picture but longer so I'm not going to do a picture.

Let's see if I can get a reasonable shot of the Globe socks:

The real dark color is shaded purple and blue, but much more on the blue side than what shows here.

I'll be glued to the Doctor Who marathon for the next several days. I saw a big screen 3D version of the last two episodes of the most recent season last night.  I'm not much into 3D, but the intro with the titles and stuff was very, very cool.  Also, Psycho Mary Poppins (aka Misty) is even scarier in 3D.  Hmmm, maybe this is a good excuse to drop everything and start that Doctor Who Christmas sock up again.

Now go see what Tammy and friends have been up to this week.

Stash Enhancement Saturday

I've been working on things.  I've even finished some things.  What I haven't done is take any pictures of most of them.  I did get a picture of my Fruity Oaty yarn.  I'm sure it is not everyone's cup of tea, but as a Browncoat, I'm fond of the colors.

It's a bit more pink and a bit less blue in real life.

Stash Enhancement Saturday

This is the last in a bunch of yarn I bought when I had a buy all the yarnz attack last month. 

Desert Vista Dyeworks did a series of 1970s-inspired yarn.  This one's called Tupperware Tumblers.

This is from Mad Color and is a Doctor Who club yarn:

It's called Slim and a little bit Foxy.  Whovians will recognize the quote as coming from Cassandra when she took over 10's body.  I wasn't crazy about the colors when I first saw the yarn.  The dyer showed it knitted up and it comes out really nicely.  It is self-striping. Note to self:  match gauge and do a 72-stitch sock.

Mysteries in Progress

I've got a bunch of things in progress.  This time I'll report on the mystery knitalongs.  Ever done one?  You get the pattern in pieces, like one portion each week for a month.

I signed up for a new one which will be several pairs of socks.  The first pair is called The Globe, after the theater Shakespeare made famous.  All I've got done is about an inch of the cuff on each so no picture.  Actually I had a picture but it came out blurry.  How can I take three pictures in a row and one of them doesn't come out correctly?

This is week 36 (of 46) of my mystery garden afghan.  I'm crocheting borders around the knitted squares so they all are roughly the same size.

The borders will look better when it is assembled.  This was the last square using some Knit Picks Chroma.  I like how the colors change.

This is week 3 (of 6, I think) of the Russian-themed Zolotoy knitalong:

Blocking will help these a lot.  The pattern's fun.

Now go see what the other folks are working on via Tammy.