Year of Projects Week 31

I'm still plugging away at the boy's scarf. It's now 43 inches long, and I'm just about to attach another ball of yarn, which will be a very exciting moment! I'm waiting for the rest of the yarn that I've bought to arrive so I can finish it up. I'm not taking any more pictures of it, there doesn't seem to be any point. It's black double knitting. And since this is a very boring blog post, here's some gratuitous cat pictures:

Look at that little face!

Smiling Tom cat!

A recap of my aims for the year

I thought, since a month had passed, that I would go back and look at how I was doing on my 2012 goals:

1. Finish my dissertation
   Well it's done! It was stressful but I'm happy with it. I have my viva (where I have to discuss it for an hour or so) on the 22nd Feb, then after that it's finished with forever


2. Lose weight
   I've lost 20 pounds since I started in October, and am under 10 stone for the first time that I can remember. I've gone down a whole clothes size, and I'm so much happier with how I look. My stomach is pretty much flat. Going to lose another 1/2 to 1 stone but that's it.So well on the way!


3. Go to the gym 3 times a week
   Yup done, I've been exercising about 6 times a week (trampoline and running) so I'm very happy and I think it's definitely contributed to my weight loss success. I feel so much happier, healthier and have more energy.


4. Knit an adult sized garment
   Nope, not started yet. My half finished jumper is still in its bag by the sofa...


5. No buying yarn
   Well, I did fail on this since I've had to buy more to finish some projects. But it's ok, my stash hasn't increased too much, and I haven't bought any that will just go straight into stash.


6. Learn to spin
   Done! I just span up the last of my kit last night, and it's getting so much better! This is only 18 yards, as it's what's left of the single I had, but it's about DK weight and so much more even than the yarn I spun when I first started. I still have a way to go, but I'm getting there.



7. Write more blog posts
   I wrote 10 last month, which is about average really. I do need to write more, but I need to actually have something to write about! It's going alright though, I'm sticking with the blog.

So all in all, 4 good successes, 2 that have been partial successes and 1 that I haven't tackled yet. And it's only February, so not too bad!

Free Pattern - First Handspun Tablet/eBook Reader Case

I've finally done the maths to publish my pattern for the tablet/eBook reader case. This is perfect for small amount of frist handspun. It's desined to show off thick and thin yarn, and the soft super bulky first handspun is perfect to protect your tablet or eBook reader.

Click here to download

It is available for:

Samsung Galaxy 7.0”, 7.7”, 8.9”, 10.1”

iPad, iPad 2

Kindle original, 2, 3, 4, DX 2, Touch, Fire

Nook 1^st edition, Simple touch, Colour, Tablet

Yarn: 40 - 100 yards bulky or superbulky (thick and thin yarn is perfect for this)

Needles: 8mm DPNs 

Please let me know if there are any problems with the pattern, including the sizing, either here on on Ravelry.

Year of Projects Week 30

There's no point in me putting up a picture this week, as I've been working on the boy's double knit scarf, and there are only so many ways you can artistically take a picture of black stockinette stitch. It's grown a fair few inches (OK, about 3...) and I've attached a new ball of yarn (a very exciting moment.)

I also think I've found someone on Ravelry with the same dye lot who might be willing to sell me some of her stash, which means I might actually be able to finish this!

I'm doing lots of knitting on it today, since I'm in bed feeling very rotten and sorry for myself. I blame the burger yesterday, I thought it tasted funny...

Snow!

The view from our bedroom/living room. I love snow!

Snow update:

About a foot. And to all my American readers, yes this is enough to stop all traffic!

FO Friday - Gifts

Since these have now been recieved I can post them up. Renee Anne over at Confessions of a Yarn Addict sent me a large parcel of yarn last year, and I wanted to send her a little something to say thank you

A little hand stitched thank you card, which I really enjoyed making. I don't feel like I've cross stitched for ages! I sent a couple of gifts, a pattern, a LARGE bar of chocolate and a hat for her son, Little Man:

The pattern is Nottingham by Melissa Mall, which come in sizes toddler to adult, and I thought it was very appropriate since it's the city I live in (and I managed to send Renee my parent's address rather than mine to post the parcel to, meaning I was very delayed in recieving the package). The yarn is Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran, and it was gorgeous to knit with, really soft and yummy, and I can highly recommend it! That hat does actually fit as you can see here!

For more FOs, head over to Tami's Amis

Rise to the Challenge - Knitting

The final part of this January challenge is finished just in time!

This time, I took this:

And came out with this:

It's a cover for my galaxy tablet (currently unblocked so I could enter this in time!). This is another first, the first pattern I designed which had to be a certain size. I wanted something that wouldn't take much yarn to knit, but would be a nice way to show off a first handspun. This is perfect, as the yarn is soft and thick, so will protect and cushion the tablet whilst it's in my bag, and I love the look of it with the thick and thin yarn. Plus, this is my first time doing any sort of stranded colourwork, even if it's just stripes!

I did have to cast on 4 times, to get the correct number of stitches, and I frogged the flap once as well. It was definitely trial and error designing, but I'm really happy with the design now. The pattern will be available soon, I'm just calculating the number of stitches needed for different sizes of tablets. I was thinking of doing it for galaxy and iPad, though I can do others (maybe iPhone or Kindle) what do you think?

I can believe I have spun, dyed, designed and knitted this project myself, with so many firsts, and I'm really proud of it!