Klingon Sweater

Last post I said

“I’ve been continuing with my re-knit of the “Klingon Sweater”. I’m expecting the weather to turn on the day that I cast it off; we’ll have record temperatures and a heat wave.”

Well, the forecast for the rest of the week is glorious sunshine and much warmer! Typical; as I have just finished weaving in the ends for my Klingon Sweater.

 

Pattern: Uffington by Jeni Hewlett, from the Fyberspates Scrumptious Collection volume 1.
Yarn: Rowan RYC Cashsoft Chunky
Needle: 5mm and 6mm
Modifications: Where to start?

1. I knitted it in the round rather than flat; chunky wool doesn’t need chunky seams.
2. I knitted double the length of ribbing specified
3. I decreased for the hip, but then did not re-increase, thus extending the waist section and allowing negative ease to replace the bust shaping.
4. Instead of casting off at the shoulders I worked them as short rows, which I then grafted closed
5. Instead of always k3tog on the corners of the neckband, I did paired matching decreases for a neater corner
6. Because of not increasing for the bust I have much narrower shoulder straps, allowing me to extend the length of the rib for the arms.

Verdict: I’m really pleased with it now. It looks great on and fits me well.



This now means that I’m working on the baby pattern I designed and had tested. I just need to finish the ribbing on the neck and that will be ready for photographing and then I can make the pattern available!

I’ve already started churning some ideas for the next round of Nerd Wars, which starts in 12 days (not that I’m counting!) and teams will be announced on Friday, I believe. I’m planning on having another stab at a dissertation, though at the moment all the projects I want to make are big-ish, and I need to try to remember that I’m on holiday quite a lot over the next few months!

My fun-task for the weekend was to sort out the rest of my clothes. I already got rid of some trousers and shoes, but I wanted to go through all the holiday clothes and work clothes. I now only have clothes that fit me hanging in my wardrobe, and I also know that I have a good selection of clothes to choose from for my holiday. Woo!

End of Nerd Wars Tournament Four

So it’s the end of tournament four for Nerd Wars and I’ve had a blast. I’ve made some cool things, I’ve chatted to some cool folks, and I think I’ve made some new (online at least) friends. So first, achievement news:

As I completed 6/6 challenges in round 1
And in round 2
And in round 3
I get this funky special badge for completing 18/18 challenges in the tournament

Since the end of the tournament I’ve been watching some movies: the Avengers and Cabin in the Woods. These are both Joss Whedon films, and both star Chris Hemsworth in major roles.

The Avengers is a brilliant movie, I loved it. Plenty of action, drama and suspense; I enjoyed the humour and the interaction between the characters, the dynamic was excellent. Robert Downey Jr was excellent as Iron Man once more, Chris Evans’ Captain tightpants America was both lush and lovable, Chris Hemsworth was Godly as Thor, and Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner/Hulk was both believable and unbelievable! Even the evil Loki played by Tom Hiddleston was fantastic, and the lesser but important Black Widow, Hawkeye and Nick Fury were great too.
In fact, the only downside of the movie is that now I have to wait for it to appear on BluRay before I can watch it and all the extras. Oh well, I know what’s going on my Christmas list!

Cabin in the Woods is, in a word, Weird. It starts out in a teen-holiday mood, and ends up; well, I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you. It’s vintage Joss at his best, with some good gore and jumps thrown in for good measure.
My main issue with this was that it wasn’t really that scary. It was horrific, but it was also predictable to a degree. In places it almost felt like a parody because of that. On the whole, though, it was a good movie.

What else have I been doing? Well, I’ve killed some courgettes by planting them out the day before we had a frost. That was a shame. I do have a couple more courgette plants though, so all should be well. I’m still sprouting seedlings on my windowsill, so I’m hopeful that I’ll have some more nice veggies to come. And some chilli peppers!

I’ve been continuing with my re-knit of the “Klingon Sweater”. I’m expecting the weather to turn on the day that I cast it off; we’ll have record temperatures and a heat wave. It’s chunky weight you see. I’m also plotting what I might knit for the next tournament of Nerd Wars. I’m switching teams for the next round, though I have to wait for the team roster to be announced. All being well, I’ll be playing on team Hellmouth for three months.
Then I plan to go back to Enterprise/Space Alliance (whichever is there for T6) to coincide with Star Trek London! (more on that in future posts I’m sure.)

Two more projects!

Two more projects gets me to my 6 for Nerd Wars for round 3! Woo!



I finally finished spinning this yarn

 

Fibre: A Little Bit Sheepish Merino
Colourway: Vampire Rock
Spun using: Highest ratio on the Ashford Traveller
Spin direction: Z (wheel turning anticlockwise, spin to the left)
Plying type/direction: 3-ply, S (wheel turning clockwise, spin to the right)
Yarn Stats: 100g / 247yards (12 wpi, approx sport weight)
Verdict: Nice! I love the long stripes. I think it needs to be a shawlette of some sort.

And I crocheted these slippers



Pattern: Men’s Padded Sole Slippers
Yarn: Cascade 220 in grey
Needle: 5mm
Modifications: None
Verdict: Nice. I like the padded soles. They’re a bit loose for hubby though. I’m going to try fulling them slightly and see what happens then.

And I got a little bit of gardening done. A very little bit. I’ve planted some more beans and peas in some seed trays, I’ve also planted some chilli plants. I don’t know how well they’ll do, but I have my fingers crossed!

Here are my squash plants.



I’ve transferred these to some lovely bigger pots and put them in the greenhouse. The next stage for these guys is to be planted in either the grow bag or the garden. I’m experimenting.