In which I pretzel (yes, pretzel is now a verb)

Ok, so I know I promised gloves, and that post is coming (still weaving in ends...), but for now, I would like to share with you something of a whim.

Pretzels.



As you may recall, I am internetless, and, being the impeccable student I am, this has taken a great big toll on my procrastination lately. Now, I have a certain nostalgia towards soft pretzels. Well, not I don't, that's a lie. I have a perceived nostalgia towards soft pretzels. I did not grow up eating them at sports games, from street vendors, or wherever else they are sold, but gosh, do I wish I had (this is concept of perceived nostalgia is quite common for me, especially if food-related). Long story short, I made pretzels! From here and gosh if they didn't just bring back unmemories of days past.



Mine came out quite chewy (I also opted for a rosemary and rock salt topping), and a little burnt, but delicious nonetheless. They turned out well enough that I opted to bring the bulk of the batch to a Super Bowl party the next day, and they were all claimed within minutes. I even invested in some real hot (quite hot, in fact!) mustard. Mmmm. When I feel a need for carbo-loading, I will make these again. Quick, easy, ridiculously simple ingredients, and fun! (I like kneading, and dough-rigami.

Oh, and as an aside, I would live to hear what tips everyone has for getting over procrastination... because I am very very good at it.

In which colour abounds

Well, a week without my computer (and it really is much, much happier now), and a few days sans-internet (this is still ongoing... lots of time at cafes to study...), and I am far overdue for an update.

I meant to post about starting the Beaumont Tam (also from Made in Brooklyn), but it was finished nearly before it was started! Knit in Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool (ecru) and Noro Silk Garden Sock (colours+), I think it took me all of five days to knit (and that was with some serious pacing: 5 rounds a day to make sure I would be able to bright it to knit night). Coupled with the three days it took to knit Grove, and... well, I'm starting to see a pattern.



Colour, colour and more colour! The Elsbeth Lavold was lovely as always. The Noro... well I have a Thing (yes, a Thing) about Noro. In fact, I know many people share this Thing. Noro can be like a beautiful temptress, luring unsuspecting sailors (knitters) to the shore of her apparently beautiful paradise (the undeniably gorgeous colourways), only to reveal a hideous monster (the all too frequent shades of sick hidden inside the ball) lying beneath the glamer. And then there is the quality. Handspun? Sure, gorgeous, but do we really need to be faced with unseemly amounts of plant fiber, not to mention the unpredictable thick and thin nature of the yarn? Now, to be fair, this ball of Silk Garden Sock was not so bad; there weren't any thick points, and while I would not have trusted some of the thinner areas for socks, it was OK for a hat. And even the colour turned out alright! But a few more rounds and I would have been faced with a nice crown of sick at the tip of the tam...

Noro, I like you, and most of the time, you are just fine! But... the unpredictability makes me antsy to use you too often.



I can't speak to the fit of the hat, as I have not yet found anyone to give it to! But the pattern was a delight to knit, the yarn was nice to work with... all around, a great knit!

Next... a blanket (finished mere hours after Beaumont), and maybe some gloves (knit in - get this - three days!)

Oh, and as an aside, I have begun hosting a small local knit night. If anyone in Victoria cares to come out, we've been meeting at the Cornerstone Cafe on Wednesdays at 4pm - we'd love to see the group grow.

In which my hands are toasty warm

I am by nature not a mitten person. Or a glove person. Or a hat or scarf person. So I rarely keep or even make knits for myself.

But I have actually been wearing these around lately! Sure they're slightly fraternal (no, I didn't block them), but they fit and are so nice and sqwooshy.



Pattern is Grove, from the absolutely amazing Jared Flood's Made in Brooklyn (have I mentioned lately how I want to be him?), knit on 4.5mm needles with just under two balls of Rowan Felted Tweed held doubled to beef up the fabric and size them up for large hands. I also replaced the YOs with m1s and the ptbls with regular purls.



Click through to flickr for a few more photos.

Next... Colours!

In which all is good in the world

Hello lovely people!

Who remembers this photo?



Good, and I hope you were all as excited then as I was about the prospect of a matching schnitzel shnauzer sweater (well, the dog is a daschund, but who doesn't love alliteration?). I finished it a few weeks ago and handed it off, and I just got the photos back.



The pup (Charlie) is such a good model. One more for good measure. Awww.



This was the first incarnation of the photoshoot. A bit manic, very British, altogether, pretty good match I'd say!



But it gets better, friends. The following image is a thing of glory. Not only for it's perfection unto itself, but for the fact that it more or less fits PERFECTLY with what I envisioned when I started planning the sweater. I say yes! A thousand yesses!



Max, Charlie and family: Thank you for making my dream come true!

Thanks also to Pamela of Flintknits fame for the wurstwarmer pattern (couldn't have worked out better!).

Back to regular knitting soon!

In which, oh hai

Oh hey there mitten. You're looking mighty green. And oh so much nicer than last time I knit you.





So while this looks a lot like the mitten in my last post, it is not quite. I wasn't happy with the fabric so I ripped, and then re-knit it with the yarn doubled on larger needles, and replaced the YOs with m1s, and subbed regular purls for the ptbls. So much nicer, and big enough to fit my hands! One down, one to go!

In which I make a return?

Oof, lots going on... I will say more later, but for now...

Yarn!



And a cuff by noon...



And put the thumb on hold by dinner!

In which there is a collar

As of yesterday, this is the state of the wurstwarmer. I've got a good chunk done since then, too!



I am also mid-swatch for a cabled cardigan for a friend... Ambitious and slightly unnerving task...

In which I introduce the ski sweater

So I totally goofed on getting proper FO photos of Celes... Oh well, I know it is getting heavy regular use at least!

But this sweater, oh... read on.



My friend's grandmother knit this sweater for his sister, whom it did not fit, so my friend appropriated it for himself.
My friend's family has a daschund.


If you guessed that I am going to make the wee doggie a matching sweater... you guessed right.
I have no doubt the dog will hate me forever, but it's not really for him, is it?

Now, to find a daschund sweater pattern...

Also, if anyone out there has a dinosaur slipper pattern? That would be amazing.

In which celes is blocked

I love turning this



into this

In which something is almost done!

This photo is a few days old, and now I'm nearly done the edging! After having bought a 4th ball of yarn... I knew it was going to be tight, grrrr!

Still have no idea where/how I can block this... it's quite large!