Also, photodump.

I’m TNT, dynamite!

After finally getting around to buying darning needles, I’m on FIRE finishing stuff.

I finished knitting and blocking the TARDIS-cowl I made for the KAL in the Who Knits? Ravelry group. Like I’ve said before, it’s made from butter-soft, light, teal alpaca, and while it’s a bit big, it was a joy to make and I can’t wait to find buttons for it. I want very light mother-of-pearl ones, and I hope I won’t have to wait another half year, like for Tempest.

And then… Haruni. I don’t know how exactly, but the edging just flew off my needles. Contrary to what the pattern said, it took only a quarter of the yarn, and that despite the middle being larger: I have eight pairs of leaves on each side instead of six.

I finished it yesterday afternoon, with a bind-off that took almost exactly two hours. Two hours with a crochet hook in my hand – not my favorite way of spending time. But it did give me opportunity to listen to a Horrible Histories audiobook, and start with Lois Lowrie’s ‘The Giver’ again.

Blocking took another very cramped half-hour, and by the end of it my thighs were trembling uncontrollably. But… it was totally worth it.

It’s Zitron filigran Lace No. 1 in a wonderful denim blue, on 3.5mm needles. It’s also slightly bigger than the TARDIS cowl.

I also finished a sock last night, nothing extraordinary, just a high-shaft 1×1 rib sock for cold days, and I’ll probably try and finish the first Tadpole sock tonight. Man, I started the Tadpoles in March, it’s been such slow going with my knitting recently. Half a step before the finish line, I somehow lose interest.

Like the Swallowtail Stole: I’m done with the Lily of the Valley motif, I have been for a while. But there’s some mathematical inconsistency, the number of stitches I have isn’t divisible by 8, but I can’t get myself to calculate how many stitches I’d have to add, look where I could put them, and do that whole shebang. So the poor thing’s just languishing there, in the corner of my desk, and sometimes I feel bad.

Which isn’t stopping me from participating in the Rav SPN group’s loosely wing-themed Summer KAL. I’m doing Garden of Alla for it, I just need to decide between yarns: fingering-weight Kauni or laceweight Drachenwolle.

They’re both gorgeous. Ah, decisions, decisions.

Oh the weather outside is frightful

After a beautiful April and beginning of May… the weather has been terrible recently, which kind of drags down my motivation as well as my mood. Which, after my last post, sounds ominous. But never fear, dear readers! Things got better before they got worse. There was a barbecue in my kitchen, chocolate fondue, drinking and fraternization with my Spanish teacher, who assured me I had absolutely nothing to worry about regarding the oral exam – even though I’m still periodically undergoing phases of cold, crippling terror – and lots and lots of therapeutic knitting.

Also, the third Leipziger Wollefest is this weekend, and I’m so glad I decided to skip the SPN con. It would’ve been a great opportunity, but… it’s all good. I think part of what dragged me down before was the uncertainty of not having a room down there, and… just everything.

Instead, I’m doing the Doctor Who TARDIS cowl KAL, and I’m doing pretty much fabulous. The yarn I ordered is a bit too teal to be a true TARDIS blue, but it’s still got that comfy feel to it from the color alone, plus teal goes better with my wardrobe. Adding to the comfiness is of course the fact that the yarn’s 100% alpaca, handdyed by Drachenwolle. Same stuff I made the Perfectly Cromulent hat out of, just a different color.

It’s pretty spectacular, if you ask me. The color, I mean.

Speaking of spectacular, I made chili today. Knitting alpaca, eating chili, bundling up in an oversized hoodie and sweats after a hot eucalyptus bubble bath… yeah, it’s that kind of day.

Also, I have a confession to make. It’s no secret I like photography, even if I hardly have the equipment for anything approaching professional. But…

I love photographing boring things.

The other day, I spent the longest time photographing my grey stadium blanket. I played with contrasts, aperture, color and saturation, and I had the grandest time. Photographing a grey blanket. And I’m really quite in love with some of the photos I got out of the possibly most mundane photography session in the history of the world – I like to think they exude a wonderful sense of minimalist calm. Which… I don’t know. I’m not big on minimalism, or any kind of stripped-down modern art, but I really do love these.

I know. It’s a grey blanket.

Don’t judge me.

*

Oh, also? My Spanish teacher has a blog… with this layout. Which was disconcerting, to say the least :D

What’s my age again?

I haven’t been blogging a lot recently, and truth to be told, it’s not necessarily because I don’t knit as much as I could. Hell, I’ve written a lot more about a lot less. No, the real problem is that for some reason, I seem to be going through an extremely puerile phase of general dissatisfaction and cantankerousness.

I don’t know what it is, either. The weather has been gorgeous for the most part, I’ve been eating healthy except for the enormous amounts of coffee I ingest Tuesdays and Wednesdays, uni is interesting, we finally got our queer uni group rolling, I have a super-hot teacher, I’m making progress on the Stole, I just updated my blog layout… it should be all good.

Except for the part where I’m cranky and bitchy and generally kind of a major pain to be around. I’m mostly chalking it up to being in a perpetual state of terror from Spanish while at the same time being bored out of my skull, but in this case identifying the problem hasn’t helped the solution. I don’t feel like studying, period, and when I do manage to motivate myself, I can’t even come up with anything resembling focus – the words just slide off my brain like water off glass.

Honestly, the color of those damn vocab cards alone has such rage welling up inside of me. Just… rage. Terrible. Especially for someone who’s usually a happy, well-adjusted person.

I know, bitch-bitch-bitch. I sound like such a brat. Which is, you know, exactly my point.

Have some delicious breakfast instead.