Neue Gesicht, Alte Herz

hey, i've revamped my knitting blog... now it's knitting/music/general crafts.

my most recent projects are a lace scarf that's taking like, forever, and a cup holder for paper cups. because my uni cafes here in FFM do not provide the little cardboard protectors, meaning i hurt my hand everytime i grab a cup of tea to go. and this is me. i can't make it through a 2 or 3 hour class without TEA!!!

pictures soon, i promise.

something that isn't knitting? what?

i made chocolate pretzels today :)

i accidentally doubled the recipie, and for some mysterious reason one of my housemates has removed my baking trays from the kitchen so i had to go round and borrow some from the boyfriend's house (round t' corner, luckily enough) but other than that... yum!

also, tidying up found lots of lovely left over yarn from my hat that i set aside for mittens (woo! just need to figure out a pattern) and a half-finished cabled scarf. woo! knittting to do while i await the arrival of my ebay dpns.

home for xmas in a week, which means: booze, cheese, too much food, central heating that works, my lovely family, crap telly... and most important hours of important knitbonding with my mother (craftswoman extraordinaire)

some knitting tips

most of you are probably aware that safety pins can be used as stitch holders and paper clips as stitch markers, but you can also used rubber bands as ends for dpns to stop your stitches falling off all those pesky ends. if you wrap it round just right you can pull it off one needle and slot it straight onto the next without unwrapping (too tight will be too tricky to slide into, too loose will fall apart in your hand)! there's a knack to this, but you'll soon get it, and in the meantime it doesn't take long to re-wrap.
even more useful for when you put dpn knitting down, especially if you're carrying it about in a bag (i always find that my stitches want to escape dpns. esp if i have to use a set of 4)

BUT have bought 15 sets of 5 bamboo dpns off Ebay. expecting deliveray soon :)

also: bought mum an xmas present in 2nd hand book shop yesterday - Traditional Knitting of The British Isles :)
and bought yarn (yummy yummy merino wool) for Iain's earflap hat - a different pattern than the 3 i've knit so far! woo! with fairisleing! pictures, as usual, when complete.

well, with the help of a phonecall to my mother (craftswoman extrodinare) and by checking in a crochet book, i've figured out what i was doing wrong, restarted the guitar strap and am making good progress. yay.
got 3 weeks to finish it before term ends and people go home. shouldn't take that long now i'm on the right track.
woo.

look what i just found! it's my hat as modelled by the lovely Iain.
it is hella cosy.
and after trying it on, he's been bugging me to make him one too.
*proud*

just finished a hat for my aunt.
stupidly forgot to take a picture before i sent it, but... it's a variation on a theme, the first one being my own super-sexy stripy earflap hat that i made last easter. i've got one planned for my mum and something similar in the pipeline for my boyfriend so maybe soon there'll be an exhibit of photos of the hats' progression (i'll ask my aunt to email me a pic).

begun a crocheted guitar strap for said boyfriend... why can't i crochet as well as i can knit? (answer: practice).
damnit.

but it interested/amused my university dutch tutor and the GM of my roleplaying game :)

photos and updates to follow as and when.