Indy Christmas Market - the start of Christmas fun!

Consistency is key, I'm sure - unfortunately I haven't achieved that with blogging! Maybe patience is key right now ;)

Anyway, I've finished TWO sweaters in the last week (go team!): one for my niece and one for my nephew. I'm looking forward to sharing a bit more about my (insanely ambitious) idea to knit something for each family member's birthday. So far I'm up...eleven knits? And I still have two more to go, not to mention the sweater that's in the offing for the Doctor. For which I intend to strictly follow the pattern...because he's already got a sweater from me that's languishing in his drawer, ill-fitting and sad. That thing's begging to be frogged.

But! Enough of that. Today is the start (for me) of all the exciting Christmas fun in the month leading up to the actual holiday! Never mind that Black Friday stuff - I did a bit of shopping but it was all gift-related...by the time I got to the part where I'd buy myself something, my shopping muscles had atrophied again and I couldn't seem to purchase anything. We'll see how that holds up today - it's good for my wallet in any case! Today is the Independent Oxford Christmas Market and I'm pretty excited because it's a little bit of a departure from the usual markets in that it's only independent shops from around the area. My yarn store will be there, and some other really cool-looking shops I've never been to, so this will be a good chance to see everything that Oxford's independent shop owners have to offer! After that, the Christmas tree lighting takes place in our town tonight so it's time for the first mince pies of the year, mulled wine and some fireworks - and here's hoping it's NOT raining for that part because although we started out sunny this morning, looks like that won't last. Classic England.

I'm also getting ready to do some serious shipping. We've got a lot of gifts (some that are insanely overdue...) and Christmas shipping is sketchy at best, so hopefully I'll beat the rush by shipping this week for most, if not all, of them. Our experience with British shipping seems to have been mostly good so far, so I'm crossing my fingers everything makes it safe and sound!

And then maybe I can work on some projects for me for a year, haha: I'm still plugging away on my Veronika (well, it's on hiatus just now), but I stupidly joined two KALs that are due by Christmas. Thankfully I've pledged small things and let's be real, I could bail, but I can't bring myself to do that just yet! Plus the Leydon handwarmers (for Plum Dandi's Deep Fall KAL) that I want to make are quick and good for the office, the land of eternal air conditioning. Seriously...some epic downsides to an "open air" office.

But for now it's time to finish my coffee and lace up my boots - off to the market!

Just super quick

My office here at work is so cold (the air con is constantly on - I'm wearing two cowls as well as a shawl as a lap blanket) that I was just inspired to write a pattern. Fabulous! I'm looking forward to testing this bad boy out; I've got some Malabrigo Arroyo at home in Arco Iris...a colourway that was deceptively photographed on LoveKnitting as being blues and pinks and is actually 50% green (or at least the skeins I have feature a lot of green). I suggested to the site that they put up a new photo, possibly closer to the one that Jimmy Beans Wool has for the colourway, but the site still has the same one. Whatever - it's tough with small dye batches and variegated colourways, I get it! In any case, looking forward to winding and casting on since I'm sure it'll knit up beautifully :)

But tonight, ALICE COOPER AND MOTLEY CRUE!! I've seen them once already this year and it was a total revelation - I hadn't seen Alice Cooper before or listened to much of his music aside from whatever wandered on the radio, but after the show, I'm a full-on convert. I can't wait to go tonight and share it with the Dr.; it's because of him that we're even going, so props, haha! Happy Friday!

Hiatus?

So! I don't know if I intended to ghost on my blog like that, but my last post was like 8 months ago and shame on me! I'm sure it will relieve everyone to know I've still been knitting (a LOT) and I have a whole pile of finished projects - some good, some not so good.
Although my store is kind of still on hiatus, at least for now, I'm going to try to keep up with the blog a bit more. It gives me a chance to wax poetic about my yarncraft, and a bit of a venue with which to explore ideas for my yarncraft future - pattern design and so forth.
Since it's almost bedtime, I'll just leave a quick note about my latest FO, the Dianthus sweater by Amy Christoffers for Berroco. I completed it as part of Berroco's October Sweater Challenge, although I'd meant to do it anyway and it was patiently waiting for me to finish all the other things when I came upon this sweater challenge. I seamed it up on Hallowe'en and wore it to work today, and while overall I'm pretty happy with it (and I love how simple the pattern was!), I have a few tweaks:
- fewer cast-on stitches. I'm still not on gauge.
- Short row shoulders. I really hate the "stair step" look of the existing ones.
- Kitchener stitch shoulder seam graft. I hate seaming at the best of times, so the less, the better. I think it would look a lot cleaner too.
- a more aggressive blocking! This is clearly my own note for myself (and not a pattern mod) but the bottom of the sweater was curling up all day and driving me nuts. I haven't washed it yet and I'm sure that will help but good grief!
Right now I'm still on my Veronika which is just as gorgeous and drapey as I wanted - just working on the front bottom bit before attaching the whole thing to work in the round. I was inspired by Tanis Lavallee (of Tanis Fibre Arts)'s Veronika and couldn't get the sweater out of my mind so I purchased some delicious Rooster Delightful Lace one night and after 2.5 hours of winding, I had a ball to cast on with! Love it.
Stay tuned for the Finished Object post about all the fun I've been having since February. I won't lie, that might be more than one post :)
Welcome back!