The void

I’ve just finished knitting something.

Something I’ve been meaning to knit for ages.

Something for a friend, and I can’t say any more than that (except all will be revealed, and it came out a bit bigger than I expected).

This was an intense project, and one that I had started this a few times before. First I tried it on the recommended needle size, and it came out chokingly small. Then I made two thirds of a completely different pattern before I realised it was coming out huge. And finally, I cast on on 3mm needles, and then I went on holiday and forgot about it.

Last week, I found out that this person was expecting it on Wednesday, so I got to work. Eight hours knitting on Saturday, five on Sunday. Two on Monday. I was all set to be ready for Wednesday but work got in the way. I started a new job recently and it is stressing me out like you would not believe and so on Tuesday I went out for dinner, and on Wednesday we watched a film and shared some wine and not a whole lot of knitting happened.

I finished it this morning (Saturday) and it’s blocking. This has been one of the most intense knits I’ve ever completed, matched only by the intensity of my job at the moment. I can’t wait to share it with you – but first, I have to share it with the person it was made for. But now I have this weird gap – I’m not knitting something – how can I not have a project on the go – and I’m browsing ravelry desperately trying to find the right thing to start on. And I think I’ve found it.

Another gift for someone – so you’ll just have to wait and see.

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Ginger Leaves

I feel like I bought this pattern about 100 years ago. It was part of my pledge to support more independent designers, and also to get into knitting lace in a slightly bigger way. I liked the organic shape of it, the fact that it wasn’t huge, wasn’t expensive (hey, I gotta eat too) and knit in 4ply, so would be relatively quick.

I actually picked it up and started knitting about two months ago, and I was getting on well – but then my pattern went missing during a living room tidy up and with it the notes of where I was. And I was having my doubts about the yarn choice and did I really need another green shawl and do I like the way lace looks in 4ply?

Anyway, you may have guessed from the photos below that there’s a happy ending to this story – a few weeks later at my craft club, I spent a bit of time figuring out where I was and got back on the wagon. About a week later, it was finished!

Here it is pre-blocking (I do enjoy these before and after pics – it’s like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly).

And here are a few after shots. I really enjoyed the way the pattern just flowed into the different sections – very organic. All in all, a good knit. I’m still not 100% convinced by my yarn choice – I feel like I ought to have picked something a little bit fuzzier and less tightly plied – but all things considered, I’m going to call it a success.

I wasn’t going to do any more just-photos blog posts

But I love this one (from my latest batch of processing) too much. A quick snap in the main square in Amsterdam.

My new camera is too cute to be true – it’s a Diana Mini that I got in Berlin. I had been thinking about getting a digital camera for ages but I just wasn’t that excited – and then I saw this and I had to have one.

It takes a while to get the photos back because fiddling about with actual films and processing times takes a while. But I do think it’s worth it.

It does, however, leave me  little concerned for something.

I might be turning into a hipster.

And I have to be specific here – I mean a London hipster. Even an East London hipster. (While doing some internet research looking for a pithy website to hyperlink the word hipster to, all I could find were vaguely positive American websites. In London, I’m not convinced hipster is a word I would use as a compliment.)

So, hipster check;

1) Glasses: check (though I lose points because they’re not enormous and I actually have a prescription).

2) Lomo camera: check

3) Job with an NGO: half points (it would be better if I worked in media, somehow. But I do work in a super trendy bit of London now.)

4) Obscure bicycle: check (it’s no fixie bike but it’s definitely retro, being older than I am).

Argh … truth is, I’m quite a long way up the scale.

 

Amsterdam in redscale film