Hello, crafty and sundry!
I swear, one day I will stop with the cutesy rhyming titles. That day is obviously not today so… nyah nyah? 😀
Why yes, I *am* making a goofy face. My brain is fried after days of sewing.
But yes, I had the pleasure of finishing my cardigan off Tuesday night, just in time to show off at my Stitch ‘n Bitch group yesterday. I’m always really happy to show off my work and get feedback on it, which is usually positive and friendly. Sometimes I feel like I’m a total show-off because it feels like I’m the main one showing things off. Am I doing more projects faster or something? Maybe. I certainly give accolades where due to anyone else who shows off a project, and take joy in helping people out with things.
Anyways, to the cardigan itself! It’s loose and comfortable, and warm without being too warm (in short, perfect for late summer/autumn/early winter). It’s thinner than the purple cardigan I finished back in February. And while the colour didn’t quite match what I thought it was from the website that I ordered it from (I thought it would be blacker), it grew on me as I was working on it. And I didn’t realise just how oceanic it was going to be in spite of being named Atlantis; that became apparent when I attached the buttons. But yeah, it’s a good colour, and I agree with the assessment that it suits me.
I’m also really happy with my sewing up. Yes, as said, it took something like two and a half days. I had to restart on a few bits because I’d forgotten what to do between projects, and my favourite reference site didn’t seem to be working for me. But on the whole, I think the joins are neater, and certainly on the whole less visible than on the purple cardigan. The only particularly wonky thing was the button spacing. I’d measured on the wrong part of the front panel when I was spacing them out and had to sort of improvise. I don’t mind though — I think it looks really freaking cute. I actually have a button left and I keep thinking about putting it right at the very bottom, which would be a similarly close spacing as the two closest near the top, but… that requires more sewing. And really, I’d rather say ‘yay this is done and done and thrice done.’
Free from knitrowan.com
So then (and groan at the potential so/sew pun), what next? For the second, I’m doing one of the little baby beanies for charity. It’s a quick and mindless knit to clear my palate before my next big project. And what’s that? It’s the Hobo top, which is a free pattern available at knitrowan.com. I managed to score some gorgeous Debbie Bliss Cotton DK in Navy from Deramores in the sale (the colour representation is more accurate on Deramores), and I am looking forward to making it.
The problem? I don’t have the right sized needle.
Seriously. Gah.
You see, I preemptively tried to buy any size I could ever need over the past couple of years, so I didn’t expect to see one crop up that I don’t already have. In this case, it’s 2.75mm. It took some fiddling around on Amazon to find a reputable manufacturer that made needles in the right size, which is how I found out about the recently released Knitpro Zing range. Man, I’ve got to say that it gets me unreasonably excited for aluminium. Now, that’s something I never thought I’d say, ha ha, but they’re really pretty and they look fairly quality.
And then a friend pointed out last night that straights are probably going to be too short, and I should borrow a circular off of someone else. Gah. Mild profanity. No problem, Knitpro has a huge range of interchangeable tips! Except… not that small. They only have fixed circular needles in that size. Thankfully, they’re not too expensive, so I have a couple of different ones sitting in my Amazon basket while I think about it. Plus yanno, I love shopping for knitting needles, so it’s a delightful bit of self-soothing.
In the interim, I’ll either make a few hats and use up some scrap wool, or make myself a pair of socks. After all, I have the wool and needles for that!
Past that, my gaming habit has taken me back to one of my cardinal loves — Sims 3. I’ve been addicted to running Legacy games for years, and no matter how many times I’ve done one or tried to do one, I inevitably get back to it a couple of times a year. So far so good on this one — I’m close to starting the 4th generation and haven’t gone off the deep end trying to fill the neighborhood with horses, or using the Master Controller suite to ensure that everyone extending off of my main family has like, 20 children. But anyways, it remains my favourite because it offers the most. Sims 4 is pretty, but it just doesn’t do much for me or anyone I know yet. Maybe it will as more expansions come out, but based on what content there is already, I’m not impressed. Also, my Sims -still- don’t have a dishwasher and what the hell is up with that.