Happy Tuesday!

Why is it Happy Tuesday? Well, the Davebeast is off work this week and we're having fun just loafing around together. My broadband connection is up and running after the breakdown at the weekend. We saw a fab film yesterday - Beowulf. I managed to take some good (for me) pictures this morning.

This is the raglan sweater I have been working on. It's done in James C Brett Marble Chunky and is my first go at working a sweater in the round. I have been using Ann Budd's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, which is Plug & Play for knitters.

I like the way the stripes have worked up, though it was a bit of an issue for me at first. I do like things to be symmetrical, you see, and the sleeves definitely don't match. I mucked around trying to find the same starting point for the second sleeve and eventually decided that I would lose too much yarn and hey! why not just go for it? The sleeves are thus totally different up the raglans.
This is my second attempt at joining all the pieces together and finishing off the top. I was unhappy with the decreasing the first time, and when I cast off, I flung the damn thing across the sofa. 'S not a good reaction to a nearly finished WIP, is it? So I frogged and re-did, this time without the pesky stitch markers (which I don't need) that had caused the problem in the first place. Now I'm pleased with raglans, and those lovely angled shoulder stripes.
I love decreasing, so raglans (like hats) are always going to be favourite projects for me.

This yummy redness is for my Vince Noir Glam Rock Ski Hat, or Tundra Hat, from The Mighty Boosh, (Series 1, Episode 4). There is an informal KAL in the Ravelry Boosh group I'm in. Donnac1968 and Knittyinpink have already done theirs.

I'm going to follow in Donna's footsteps a bit. I've bought the same yarn as she did - 100% wool chunky, made in Latvia (!) because I want a felted hat. Mine is going to have a touch of glam rock added by the use of a red lurex thread knitted along with the main yarn. I have already knitted a tension square (which went missing two minutes before I got out the camera) and four inches by four inches equals 15 stitches by 18 rows. As soon as I find that gorram thing it's getting tortured by being dunked in very hot and then very cold water and scrubbed violently. Once I've got the post-felting size I can start what pattern (if any) I'm going to use. I like the way the lurex looks in my sample and it will be interesting to see what felting does to it. I'm travelling to Belfast at the weekend, and a hat on thick circs in thick wool seems like an ideal coach/boat project.

I got some great acquisitions at the weekend but I shall post about them separately because otherwise there would be too many pictures for one poor post to sustain.

Booshfest!

I've spent a large part of this afternoon absorbing Booshness. The following is just one of the many fine things my eyes have viewed this day, sir. It is a compelling and intellectually dark piece from Comic Relief. I hope your psyche can deal with the dark darkness within this clip.

Do not forget, sir, that Series 3 of the glorious brilliance that is the Mighty Boosh starts tonight on the televisualbox. Or if you are a fiend, sir, a veritable fiend, you may have already watched it on the BBC website. All I can say, sir, is Shame on You. Yes, Shame on You, sir! You have deserved to suffer in silence, swallowing back salty spoilers while your friends quiver in orgasmic anticipation. Yes, sir, ORGASMIC anticipation.

I have already completely covered my sofa in plastic sheeting for The Event, and fluid-proofed my knitting. No more need be said on that subject, sir.

Resolution? What resolution?

Yeah, yeah, I've made several resolutions recently, and broken them already.

1. Blog more often. Kiboshed by illness.
   
2. Work every day on Liliana & Smoke Ring. As above.
   
3. Not start any more projects until current two finished. Sabotaged by illness.

I've just not been able to cope with any sort of stitch pattern, because my brain is foggy. After spending three hours last week crocheting Liliana, with a net result of minus one round, I decided that it would better to leave off working on anything to which I have an emotional commitment. The experience was so frustrating that I became very depressed and upset. After that I decided that comfort knitting was the order of the day.

Hence James C Brett Marble Chunky and fat circular needles. I now have a new mildly daft hat, most of a pair of mittens (number two needs a thumb & a finger) and the main body of a child's raglan sweater. Sleeves are almost progressing. These items have provided proof of my contrary nature, as if anyone were in any doubt about this.

Recent purchases included Ann Budd's Handy Book of Patterns and Handy Book of Sweater Patterns. I decided to eschew my usual scraps of paper and follow the instructions provided in these books. It would be soooooo simple and straightforward - no brain work required, just read and knit.

Except I didn't bother with any of the crown shapings for the hat, using a three needle cast-off so I could just stop knitting at a point when I got fed up. And the mittens? Well, I decided I wanted trigger finger mittens, and that meant mixing and matching the mitten and glove patterns, using numbers for two different tensions because my mittens were 4 stitches per inch and the 'largest' tension for the glove pattern is 5 stitches. My tension for the raglan is 3.5 stitches, and the book instructions are for whole numbers only. So, I'm using the length measurements for one size and the stitch numbers for another size. And I couldn't decide what kind of ribbing to use, so I've done a provisional cast-on with the intention of knitting on an I-cord edging later which is a suggestion from the book, except now I'm thinking I want a garter stitch border worked so the rows are at right angles to the sweater body and attached as I work, which isn't suggested. Contrary, definitely. At least I didn't spend several hours looking through my pattern collection in order to choose a pattern I could largely ignore.

The Marble Chunky is feels great to knit with, and I think it looks lovely. Pictures soon, once my brain can cope with the extra activity.

*There's a better way of saying that, but my brain can't remember it at the moment.

Nighty-night!