Well they aren’t really connected but never mind.

I am racing along with the Teal Top, I have finished the back, and have just started the waist shaping on the front.

I am still really enjoying it, and it is lovely to be able to actually see progress! I am also really looking forward to wearing it, I think it will be a really useful wardrobe item and very comfy.

The only problem is that I am becoming worried about the amount of yarn I will need. I bought 10 balls because that was what was available in the same dye lot, but I have just started the 5th ball, which means that the back used slightly more then 3 1/2 balls. I think it will be very close as to whether I will have enough or not. I went down to the Interknit Cafe yesterday just to double check that there weren’t any more balls left of the dye lot that I had got, but there weren’t. She had 4 balls of a second dye lot, but as she said this was a colour that she would keep in stock, and that whatever I get wont match the first dye lot I thought I would knit on for a bit until I have more of an idea of exactly how many extra balls I will need. If I am fairly close then I can just undo my tension swatch and use that yarn, or can use a different dye lot for the neck band. We shall see. It is strange how knowing that the yarn quantity is going to be a bit tight makes you knit faster 🙂 I’m not convinced that quicker knitting is going to help!

On my way down to Farnham yesterday I dropped into Specsavers in Guildford to pick up my new glasses. They are quite different to my last set and Paul is still getting used to them 🙂

First up, the more sensible pair:

And now the fun pair:

And finally, to make you smile on a wet Saturday, this is the most hilarious of the out-takes, and the reason that I really shouldn’t be allowed out:

Paul had just said “less teeth” and I’m afraid that was what he got. It rather reminds me of the old Maltersers advert with the wide mouthed frog and the crocodile 🙂

I can’t believe it has been nearly two months now since I last posted, time has certainly been moving very quickly around here.

There have been some very long workdays (and evenings and weekends) here in the last couple of months, but I am very happy that I have now caught up with all the desperate stuff, and am left with catching up on my City and Guilds homework and plodding along with the Great Tidy Up of 2008, and catching up on emails and ravelry.

There hasn’t been an awful lot of knitting going on, apart from some socks and my samples for my course homework. My knitting seems to be a good barometer for how I am feeling, I like to knit socks when I am tired, they are lovely and therapeutic as you knit round and round, and also nice and portable. It has been interesting to see that as things have started to calm down, although I am still knitting socks I have branched out a little from my very boring rib socks. Now I think I am ready for some knitting which actually requires my brain 🙂 The main problem I am having is stopping myself from casting on for a thousand things all at once.

My resistance has been quite strong, but I have succombed to the lure of a T-shirt. The pattern is called Go Vertical and is from Classic Elite and I bought it on a trip to the US several years ago, but have been waiting for the right yarn. A couple of weeks ago I found it, in the Interknit Cafe in Farnham. The yarn is Patons Washed Haze, and is a DK weight, 50% cotton, 50% acrylic. It is not as hand-killingly inelastic as a 100% cotton yarn, and is also lighter and a bit more flexible, yet not as plasticy and sweaty as a 100% acrylic, so the best of both worlds! It is nice to be working in a DK weight yarn for a change, since I can actually see progress. I have got a little carried away with it over the weekend and have knitted up past the waist shaping on the back, my shoulders are protesting a little so I will try and add in some other knitting for a change.

The pattern itself is multi-gauge which is a really good idea – the same pattern with variations of sleeve-length and neckline, written for four different tensions. Unfortunately in typical Heather fashion, the tension I get with my yarn is none of those given. Also the sizing on the pattern assumes that the wearer has a larger chest than tummy which sadly I don’t 🙂 So I have spent the weekend happily with my calculator working out the numbers which will hopefully generate a top which will fit me (if not I will be quite cross!).

I will end the suspense now and show you the progress so far.

First my swatch:

This is the progress so far:

And this is a detail of the waist shaping:

I am going to go and organise some of the sock pictures for future posts. I seem to have a lot of future posts backed up now, unfortunately they are almost all in my head rather than on the computer. I could do with a cable like the camera has so that I can plug myself in and download my brain (or what is left of it!)