Wednesday 20 January 2010

Tam Jacket

I finally cast on something from the amazing 'Unexpected Knitting' book at the weekend. I deliberately chose chunky yarn so it went quickly.

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I really like it! I sewed back the corners of the front to make it look like a little collar.

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Next time a baby comes along I'll make one of these in fairisle. Should look beautiful.

I've finally got around to taking some decent pictures of the stitchmarkers I got last year. I had been emailing the creator and asked whether he ever did personalised ones of people's faces - children, partners etc. The conversation developed and I sent him a pic of the Pooch. And look at this!

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Isn't that amazing? I also bought a pig, rabbit and black sheep at the same time. He is amazingly talented and the finishing is awesome.

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So cute!

Now Pooch and I have a fairly entertaining relationship. There are certain disagreements but they rarely last too long. Tonight, for instance, he wouldn't give me any of his chocolate yoghurt, so I took his glasses and hid them. He went and found his old pair and when I went onto Ravelry this is what I saw.

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..............Hmph. Next time I take his glasses, I'm going to take the spare pair too.

Sunday 17 January 2010

More Kanzashi, and a crush returns

I love crushes. I had a couple when I was younger - Ed Lewis and Matt Andrews, ah, where are they now....probably bald... - but having them as an adult is so much more fun. You know it's a crush and you know it's fantasy, and you know you're not actually going to meet them, but it doesn't matter. It's just fun. So as the second series of Being Human has started I can get back into my crush on Aidan Turner. He who must be adored.

Phew. My crush for him after series 1 was great enough to get me to watch several episodes of the weird romantic painter thing in BBC where he played Rosetti with an english accent. Judging by the first episode of series 2 he's buffed up a bit. Promises gratuitous body shots later on in the series. It's only a matter of time before he gets onto GaySpy. Being Human also offers Russel Tovey, frequently completely naked, which is also very nice.

Some of you may now be wondering what GaySpy is. Click on that link. Honestly, it's fine. Your microsoft safesearch is not going to pop up with a warning. It's something young-gay-about-town at work put me on to. I can only assume that I have different taste to young gay men as too many of them are what I think of as sinewy. Like Ronaldo. Never mind all the airbrushing on his face - I just do not think there is one attractive thing about his body. But then there are some verrrrrrry nice ones on there too. David Boreanaz, one of my personal favourites, was on there in his boxers a week or so ago. He's on the list, and if anything he's 1 and Aidan is 2. I tell Pooch he is 3. But he's not really. Just don't tell him that.

Anyway, Kanzashi.

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I made the brown one to go with the dress I made - it's the same fabric - and the red one just because red polka dots are brilliant. I wore the dress to the private view of an astonishing exhibition that's on in Ealing Broadway at the moment. It is called "Beware of Embroidery". I've been bigging it up on Ravelry as it really was brilliant. Well worth a visit if you are down that way.

I've also been doing a bit of Debbie New knitting on one of her Tam Jackets. I've been thinking about making something for my physio's impending arrival and so thought I'd try this out. It would work brilliantly with fairisle. This is it pre folding. In the garter stitch version you make 2 of these.

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As with all these types of patterns it's really hard to work out how it is going to work until you fold it just right. And when you do you get this:

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I should have it finished tonight.