The devil makes Work for pointy sticks

[susie_flo]

The up side of my internetless weekend is that I was forced to find some other futile, life-wasting activity to stop my cold turkey hands from shaking.  So while the weather did its worst outside, I wrapped up, watched back-to-back movies and finished off a couple of UFOs while sorting through my obscene yarn stash...

Number one - a lace concoction
 


This was meant to be a gift for my mum on Mothers Day 2007, but sadly she died before I finished it and it has been hidden away unfinished ever since.  This weekend I decided to finish it once and for all, and I'm really rather pleased with it.  It's made from my beloved Rowan Kidsilk Haze and is as light as a feather, yet strangely warm.  In real life the colour is a cooler purple (the artificial light in these pics has turned it cerise)

More details on Ravelry here...   www.ravelry.com/projects/flockhartsl/branching-out

Number two - a frilly concoction



This turned out to be a bit more "froufrou" than I was expecting...  but it was a quick little knit made from 100% cashmere gorgeousness.  I'm talking seriously soft.  Faces were made to be buried in this.  I do declare everyone should knit with cashmere! 

More details on Ravelry here...  www.ravelry.com/projects/flockhartsl/lace-spiral-scarf

What's Next?

In rebellion against such ludicrously girly fripperousness, I now have something a lil more sober and grown up on the needles, but promising nonetheless to be totally and unadulteratedly gorgeous.   It is a blatant copy of what this stylish, tweedy chap from Brooklyn made:  brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/2007/04/noro-scarf.html   (Noro Silk Garden... I fear it is about to become the new yarny addiction of my life).

 
Recent movies watched while knitting:

• How to Marry a Millionaire (enjoyable vintage fun)
• Once Upon a Time in America (4 hours of thoroughly engaging piffle)
• The Cat's Meow (watchable enough, but didn't rock my world)
• The Aviator (ok, if you like that sort of thing...  Matt and Leo - separated at birth?  It's no wonder one of them had to be beardy in The Departed)
• Lucky Number Slevin (not as dreadful as I was expecting)
• No Country for Old Men (brilliant, tense, edge-of-seat stuff with a truly menacing baddie.)

Apparently this evening has a bottle of Moet with my name on it.  Not to mention being fed - how nice!
 

Comments

[r0ck3tsci3ntist.livejournal.com]

OMG those are GORGEOUS! SO LOVELY!

Gosh, I'm so glad you finished that, I'm sure she'd be pleased. I would wear that every day, it's so pretty. *gushes*

Hey, I'm on Ravelry now, what's your username again? (sorry for forgetting. I fail)

eta - oh, right. Found you! I hope you don't mind if I add you to the flist? I think you said it was ok before.

(i'm very absent right now, i'm working on a wedding and i'm a bit scattered)

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :-)

I'm v. flattered that you like them, given your designer credentials! And yes please do friend me on Ravelry!

Are you doing costumes for the wedding?

[r0ck3tsci3ntist.livejournal.com]

Oh I design wedding dresses and wedding parties and all that as well. I try to make things for people that they actually would like to wear again, I mean aside from the wedding dress. ;)

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Wow... you've got an amazingly creative career.

I think I would trust you to make mine... (not that I'm ever likely to get hitched!)

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

Oh, those are beautiful!

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Thank you! (Let me know if you'd like the patterns - the lacey one is free, and the spiral one I would happily lend you.)

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

I can't knit, sadly! I crochet, but nothing fancy, so I am in awe of your l33t skills!

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Heh - I'm the other way round - I think crochet is much harder than knitting! I tried to teach myself crochet from a book but ended up with an amorphous blob where I couldn't telll what was a stitch and what was in between.

(Knitting is all smoke and mirrors - you basically just learn 2 stitches and everything else is a result of what order you do them in.)

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

*heh* That's funny, because I think of it exactly the other way round; knitting is hard (mine always went wonky) but crochet is really only variations on two stitches, and basically just involves grabbing a whole load of holes and hooking them together. (Of course, getting hold of the right sort of holes can be apain, although these days you can order them on the internet.)

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

PS... if you're not already on there, you might enjoy ravelry (www.ravelry.com).

[kissmeforlonger.livejournal.com]

They're really beautiful - I love the idea of you wearing one made for your mum.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Thanks K! You're right - I should wear it as a good thing.

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

1) Ooh, pretty knitted things!That lace scarf is stunning.

2) Films.

The Cat's Meow

The best thing about it is Joanna Lumley (of course). And it also goes to show that Caray Elwes is better playing morally ambiguous people, due to his little slitty eyes.

Lucky Number Slevin

It was very "Mamet-lite", with all the twistiness going on. Hartnett was far better than I expected him to be, and Ben Kingsley once again proves that he is SCARY AS FUCK.

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

"That lace scarf is stunning. "
Thank you!

"The best thing about it is Joanna Lumley (of course)"
Yeah she is suitably British, cutting and bitchy:-)

"And it also goes to show that Caray Elwes is better playing morally ambiguous people, due to his little slitty eyes."
Better even than Wesley??

"Ben Kingsley once again proves that he is SCARY AS FUCK. "
God yes... though not as scary as he is in Sexy Beast, And even then he is not as scary as Ray Winstone's yellow pants...

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

Elwes is now too slitty to play cute - a bt like James Spader, who's now reptilian and sleazy (although that's no bad thing). He was very good as Wesley, of course, but gittiness suits him.

[steer.livejournal.com]

You should take up geeky knitting

http://bajada.typepad.com/everybody_wants_a_rock/2005/03/calling_all_gee.html

http://www.ripten.com/2008/02/03/improve-your-hand-eye-coordination-with-nine-knit-game-projects/

[the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com]

Heh - you crazy loon! Geeky knitting indeed... though I confess there is temptation in the knitted T-Rex, It may be on a par with the Knitler (knit your own hitler) that I posted a few months back...

I draw the line at knitted universal translators.

[steer.livejournal.com]

I think you should develop steampunk knitting. It needs to be done!