Coming towards the end of January

  How are we here already?  It seems only yesterday it was New Years day!  Well, I have had a busy month.  I’ve read Charles Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend - an excellent book, although I frequently lost track of the plot – and have started on The Moonstone by the wonderful Wilkie Collins.  I have received two prizes, one from Denise at LostCityKnits and one from Sligo through Seasons of Lace.  Both are beautiful and wonderful and worthy of as much praise as I can fill a page with. 

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So, from Denise, a beautiful skein of her Lost City Silk in the Silver Bells colourway. 

Lost City Silk in Silver Bells

Isn’t it stunning?  It will become an Aeolian shawlette.  I am thinking of using either ice-blue square beads, the sort used in my Swallowtail, which you can see in the blog header up there, or royal purple seed beads.  Thoughts? 

My second prize came from Sligo, and is a crochet hook holder for beading made of purpleheartwood.  It is gorgeous!  I love it, and am tickled by the fact that it looks like I have a tiny piano sitting on my desk, particularly when I have a MeToYou bear sitting next to it. 

Crochet hook holder

This is dead useful.  I’d keep an eye out for when they become available – you’ll wonder what you ever did without it.  Lovely.  And the colour is stunning. 

Now some of you might remember that I wanted to learn to quilt.  I have spent the last month getting acquainted with my brand-new sewing machine. and planning out a Harry Potter quilt.  Well, I might as well combine my passions.  These are my first attempts.  Patterns are by Jennifer Ofenstein at Sewhooked.com.

Fawkes the Phoenix

 

Zonko's Joke Shop

 

Ravenclaw

I have also been working on a bit of spinning and some Kingdom mittens for the HP Knit/Crochet House Cup over on Ravelry.  I have had to pause in these because I am 5g of yarn short on the second mitt, and the guy who runs the yarn stall says he won’t be getting any more in for another 2 weeks.  I’ve started another pair for Mum in grey so if I finish the first I might be able to get points for a full pair anyway   I’ve also started work on a Norwegian-style sweater and am casting on Queen Anne’s Lace by Mmario tomorrow.  Busy, busy, busy.  I’ll keep you posted on progress.

Giveaway

Just a head’s up for all the lace knitters out there: lostcityknits is having a giveaway to celebrate the 10 shawls in 2010 challenge (I’m taking part).  Get on over there and suggest some shawls!  And browse the suggestions, there’s some beautiful ones on there.  My queue has grown!

ETA: The contest is now over.  And Denise picked my suggestion, which makes me unbelievably happy.  And I’ve made a new friend out of this, which is wonderful.

FOs of December

Alright, so we’re only halfway through December, but I have been a knitting fiend between the reading and the dissertationing and the general Christmas Craftiness (yes, it does need capitals).  I’ve baked, iced, made stuff with cloves and oranges, tied ribbons, decorated trees, melted down boiled sweets for stained glass biscuits… It’s been fairly non-stop.

But, the projects.  I believe I promised everyone pictures once the gifts were handed out.  Now, most have been.  Only Angela’s gift remains un-given, and at this rate she won’t be getting it at all, let alone before Christmas.  So you get the photos anyway.

1. Knotty or Knice Socks
Gifted to: Chloe
Pattern: Knotty or Knice by Chrissy Gardiner
Yarn: Woolcraft Superwash Sock
Mods: I did 4 repeats on the leg instead of 5 (possibly a mistake – it would have been better with 5), and used the afterthought heel.  Knitted top-down instead of toe-up.  I forgot the decreases on the second sock, but caught the mistake in time.

2. Hood
Gifted to: Laura
Pattern: Loosely based on Riverbanks by Isabelle Boutin
Yarn: Rowan Romance (glitter) and Sirdar Spree (purple)
Mods: I changed the number of stitches to fit chunky yarn, did 5 rows ribbing at the bottom without a provisional cast on, and left out the lace pattern, since the yarn more or less did that for me.

3. The Christmas Stocking
Gifted to: Faye
Pattern: Loosely based on Christmas Snowflakes Stocking by Laura Gebhardt
Yarn: King Cole Big Value DK and Sirdar Snuggly Snowflake
Mods: Took out the colourwork, using the pattern only to get a basic sock shape.  I began just below the top band on the pattern, using a provisional cast on and went back later to add the fuzzy edging.  Faye’s name was put on with Dylon 3D Glitter Paint (which I have been assured is machine washable).  The hanging loop just went through the white section.

4. The Sock Advent Calendar
Gifted to: Meant for Angela, but she doesn’t have it yet.
Pattern: Knitcellaneous Keychain Sock Blocker by Debbie Jennings
Yarn: Wendy Happy and Opal Petticoat
Mods: None, except for day 25, which is identical to the stocking above, but is knitted in worsted weight rather than sock and is 12 stitches circumference.

So that’s the Christmas knitting.  I have an interview on Sunday for knitting as a job, and some things left to finish before Christmas (hopefully, Gail and my long-neglected Bacchus socks).  We’ll see how it goes.

At long last, an update

Well, it has been a busy week. What’s been going on here?  Well first of all, I finished nano.  Crossed the 50k mark with 59 words to spare on the validator, even though word tells me I had 50k exactly.  Somehow, the book still isn’t done, despite the fact that it is now well over 150k and, even more bizarrely, I only wrote 2 scenes in the whole of that month of nano.  This will need some serious editing down.

But I digress.  Knitting has been going very well.  I have finished Chloe’s socks, Faye’s Christmas stocking, Laura’s hood and 12 of Angela’s mini socks.  Photographs (except of Faye’s sock, which I forgot to photograph, will be forthcoming after the 9th, when everyone receives their gifts.

The semester is over at uni, which means I can take some time to work on my dissertation.  Very good news indeed.  So I thought it might be an idea to have some holiday resolutions.  Pre-New Year’s ones, you understand, so I can work up to New Year fairly certain that it won’t be a complete failure.  So…

1. I will exercise.  Every day except Friday, without fail.  This way, I might actually manage to lose some of what I am bound to put on, and get into good habits so I can lose the rest of it by the graduation ball in the summer.
2. I will learn to quilt.  This will probably be post-Christmas, actually, but I would like to learn when I have time.
3. I will write a first draft of my dissertation.  Not so much a resolution as a necessity.

I think three will be enough to get me started.  This way, when New Year comes around, I can have maybe one new resolution, and the rest can be ‘continue to’ ones, which are, after all, so much less intimidating than ‘begin’.

Sony

Well, it’s official.  I am ereaderless.  I recieved an email from play.com saying that they were out of stock and that I would be refunded.  I am really quite upset – I loved that ereader, but if it doesn’t work there is no point in having it.  I haven’t managed to find another either, but I’ll keep my eyes open.

Of course, this meant I had to return the accessories I bought too.  Shame.  I never even used that lighted cover.

An email has been sent to Sony with the full story and a bit of a whinge about how their warranty doesn’t cover batteries.  We’ll see if they get back to me.  I’d like to know what they have to say about all this.

A Little Bit of Everything

Well, it has been a little while since my last post, hasn’t it?  11 days, I think.  So what has been going on in my busy, busy life?  You’re dying to know, aren’t you?

Ereader
Well, the ereader has been returned to play.com.  I was having enormous trouble with the battery (4 bars to empty in two hours), with pages freezing and with my reading history and bookmarks being randomly wiped.  I think the whole thing is battery related and Sony’s warrenty doesn’t cover that (not impressed!) so I called play.com, who were very helpful.

Nano
Last night I hit 50%, so things are going well.  Right on schedule, more or less.  I am rapidly running out of interest, though.  The amount of time it takes me to get through bits of of the plot is rather depressing, and I keep having to add random things in just to keep me writing.  If I’m bored, what will the reader feel like?  Right now, the 7 dwarves have just sat down to tea with Little Red Riding Hood.  If that doesn’t get me writing, nothing will.

Knotty or Knice
I finished the first sock yesterday, minus the heel, so again this is right on schedule.  I’ll have to keep at it to get them finished before the month is out though.  I cast on the second sock today.  Beat that Second Sock Syndrome!

Quilting
Ah, a new section.  I’ve wanted to quilt for years, but always thought it looked too difficult.  Sewing machines and myself do not get on.  On the other hand, I’ll never manage it if I don’t even give it a go.  I’ve done some research and your average everyday patchwork and paper piecing really appeal.  I even found a group of Harry Potter Paper Piecers so I am now looking around for some scrap fabric to give this a go.  I really want to make the owl and his letter.  It’s such a lovely square.  If anyone knows who sells fabric scraps (preferably cotton) in the North East of England, I would be much obliged.

National Novel Writing Month, day 5

Well, I have had the novel window open for over two hours now and haven’t written a word.  I really need to.  It’s not going to write itself.  My problem, I think, is that I have injured a central character.  Now I’m not sure what to do with him.  Do I kill him?  Probably not.  Leave him lying there for the remainder of the novel?  Tempting.  How is he going to recover?  No idea.  Problems, problems.  I might skip this scene and skip ahead.  Maybe something will come to me later.

I have reached the 20% mark on the Knotty or Knice socks.  They look lovely, even if I have been miscrossing my cables.

Cast off: Ice Queen

Well, it’s all done at last.  Ice queen is cast off (in two colours, no less) and ready to hand over to Mum for the winter season.  I’m quite proud of it, although the picot bind off in yarn this thin and fuzzy gave me a headache of epic proportions.

Ice Queen

Beads

Glad to have that one out of the way, at any rate, even if it was a fun project.  I have now moved onto other Christmas knitting and have cast on the Knotty or Knice socks by Chrissy Gardiner.  I’m learning to cable without a cable needle – the pattern is really easy to memorise and has a logical progression so so far I’m really enjoying it.  After 18 repeats of the cable I may change my mind.

In other news, National Novel Writing Month is underway, and I am continuing the adventures of my still unnamed MC from last years novel.  You never know, by the end of this year I might have another 50K, 20 chapters and a name!

Essaying

Ah, I hate deadlines.  I have three essays due Thursday, but between dentist appointments, phone calls to various universities and my dissertation research, I really need to get them in on Tuesday.  Progress is alright: I’ve finished my essay on Swift and my interim report for the dissertation is almost done, but the Dickens essay is terrible!  Only 1000 words long; that is just not enough to get a decent amount of analysis in.  I’m worried that the whole thing will feel rushed and shallow.  I really need the marks this year too, so I hope it all comes out alright.  I have a new lecturer for this one too, so I don’t know what he looks for when he marks.
I hope he thinks it’s okay.  Perhaps I’m worrying needlessly, but if I’m not, that’s when I need to really worry.

The Sony Reader PRS-505

Yesterday I recieved my ereader from play.com.  I had to wait until getting home from uni to play with it, but I’ve been having a lot of fun.  Here is my review, for what it is worth.

The look and feel of the reader is brilliant.  It took me a little while to get used to holding it in one hand (practicing for busy buses) and in all honesty I think this would be easier without the cover, but perhaps I just need more practice.  The screen is beautifully clear, and although there is a quick flash of black between page turns (this seems to bother some people), I barely notice it.  Mum, after being asked what she thought, still can’t see the flash.  The buttons are sturdy and easy to use and the software (I went over to calibre straight away after some bad reviews of Sony’s software) keeps everything very well organised.  Something to note, though: I tagged The Fellowship of the Ring with ‘Tolkien’ in tags and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ in series but it brings up both on a single list.  Pick just one.

However, last night I transferred an HTML document onto an SD card to test that out (also works brilliantly, thought a bit slower at first while the card formats) and read for a couple of hours.  Then I shut the reader down – Sony reccommends this to save battery, though it is not required – and the screen froze.  I assumed the card was just slowing it down and went to sleep, leaving the reader to sort itself out.  This morning it was still stuck on ‘Shutting Down’.  Gave me quite a scare.  After consulting the manual (in PDF fom in their software package) and the troubleshooting guide on Sony’s website, I reset the ereader and then recharged it.  I suspect that it was the battery to fault, though it doesn’t seem to be lasting nearly as long as Sony says it will at the moment.  Perhaps I haven’t yet charged it fully?  Anyway, it is fine now, but not how I wanted to spend my second morning with my ereader.

Take it as you will, but the answer to most problems with this seems to be ‘Get it serviced’ on Sony’s website.  Not a shining endorsement considering how quickly things went wrong with mine, but I love it anyway.  We shall see if the love lasts.