Yarn!

Hoooooot! Today was hot and humid and waiting for a storm.
The storm started about 4 or so, and quieted just when I went home. However, it didn't rain enough to cool down, just to get steam coming off the pavement (this might be and exaggeration) and make it even more humid. One of the most un-fun journeys I've had in a while.

It is raining quite a lot now, and it's considerably cooler and nicer, so I do feel again like dealing with yarn. Get Knitted was doing a sale on Rowan Classic, as they are not going to have it any more, and I went and took full advantage of that.

I don't normally stash, so all my yarn is going to planned projects. It was expensive to get it all in one go, but at least now I won't have to buy more yarn for a while, and it was much cheaper than it could have been.

Future projects are:
Emerald (rav)
Sizzle (rav)
Afternoon tea fingerless gloves (rav)
Assorted projects are like the knitted flower (rav), to for some accessories for my cousin's wedding (to which I really don't want to go, so at least I'll get some nice knitting out of it).

The blue cotton glace is to make a Tachikoma, as I have just finished watching Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. There is no known pattern for a tachikoma, though, so I'll free-crochet it, and then post a pattern. Tachikomas are sooooo cute, people will want to make them!

I also have 1 FO (the möbius cowl) and three nearly-FOs (the lacy summer tee, the black knitted flower, and the dice bag), hence my stocking up on yarn for new projects. I have also figured on what to use the yarn from my crap attempt (via which I learned that gauge *does* matter) at Isabella: Bottoms Up!

The designer itch

I am slowly getting the designer itch. This cannot possibly end well :)

I have mostly designed a/the little bag to keep my last meds, which is nearly finished. It is partly influenced by other bags, but I think I can still mostly count it mine, if I turn the page and squint. I should be done with it and post pictures this evening, but don't hold your breath, I don't want my readers dying.

Now I want a belt. Well, sort of. I want some sort of sash/belt/obi to wrap around my waist and give some shaping to some of my short sleeve shirts, to make them look slightly more formal. However, I can't find on Ravelry any belt-y type thing that is a bit thick! Well, there is one pattern (non-Rav link), but it is in a Berroco book, and I don't think I'll buy the whole book.
Ergo, the correct answer here is to design and knit my own!

So, requirements for my belt:

• about 10 cm thick
  
• grey as my normal work trousers
  
• ability to close in a pretty way,and "change" size
  
• maybe with a little cute pocket!
  
• some manner of decoration. I was thinking to small cables along the edges, and maybe some lacy squares along the centre. My trousers have some sort of square-ish pattern (tweed style), so I think it might go nice. I have a book that includes some lace stitch patterns, so I will have a look at it, as I don't think I can make up my own lace yet.
  
• some actual obi inspiration? I shall have a look online at pictures of real obi, and see if I can somehow incorporate that design into mine

I am going my LYS today, to browse and get some white yarn for some more amigurumi¹, so I can have a look at some dark grey yarn, and get a bit to start swatching and designing the patterns. I am being very good and not buying yarn for my next big project (non-Rav link) until I finish the cardigan, but small project are a fair go because the cardi is too big to carry around.


1: I am having trouble with the magnets for the Katamari. I might have somewhere else to look for them today, otherwise I will have to look for them online. ↑

Wish me luck

Because I have apparenly nothing better to do, I have decided to start my first own pattern: socks. I have a mostly clear concept of what I want, so I can post a sketch when I have scanned it (I tried in Paint, and you could barely tell it was a sock).
Here are some things to watch out in the creation of my socks:

Limitations

• As said earlier, it can't be wool. I'm going for cotton, and hopefully I can find something with a bit of synthetic stretch on it.

Concepts

• They have to be warm sock to slip my feet in when I come back from work
• Chunky yarn, so they are warm socks and knit up fas
• To make them fit without the stretch, I'm going to make the leg open, kind of with a cut in the outside, and hold together with buttons.
• In the outside, possibly starting with the leg and continuing down the side of the foot, a cable
• Some thick stitch for the sole, might have to ask knitting for help on this one
  

Things to know

• Never done cables before! You take some stitches out to a cable needle, and then knit the next n stitches, and then the cable needle. The cable slans to one side or the other depending if you take the cable stitches back or front. Then you knit as many plain rows as stitches you cabled, and start again. At least the stitches right before and right after the cable are purls.
• You will finish Tomato, but you ought to finish some of your UFOs too.

This is all.