F is for Friday and feet and failures...

Friday! The day before the weekend. I have managed to stick to not knitting, and have been occupying myself with lots of other activities: baking, crochet, and printing out things for Eurovision tomorrow!

First up, baking: one large batch of cupcakes and a batch of brownies. The brownies went perfectly. The cupcakes created havoc in the kitchen - I dribbled mixture everywhere while spooning the batter into the cases (and that was without any assistance from my kids), then exploded icing sugar everywhere when making icing with the Kitchen Aid. The worktop is still rather sticky...

Second: feet! My chameleon is finally back on track. Today I finished one leg and have started the second. I have no idea whether the feet are correct (I didn't realise from the picture that the chameleon has toes, but apparently he does), but I have done one and the other three will match.

Thirdly: printing failures. I order a couple of new printer cartridges earlier in the week as ours had finally totally run out. I excitedly loaded them into the printer ready to print some bunting for Eurovision tomorrow night (I am taking it seriously this year!), and the black one doesn't work. Boo. So I got as far as half an Albanian flag before giving it up as a bad job (it also turns out I was printing out bunting from last year's contest).

Not the best Friday, but onwards and upwards... What do you have planned for the weekend?

********

I'm blogging every day in May. I you fancy reading along, follow this link.

Yarning Along: Chama, chama, chama, chama, chama, chameleon!

Last weekend I had a little look through the cupboards at some slightly neglected projects. The one that stood out most was my TOFT chameleon. I had been so excited about the chameleon when TOFT launched it last summer, and only resisted buying because the hand-dyed kits were cost-prohibitive. In the autumn TOFT released new kits featuring their coloured yarn, which, while expensive, brought the cost down to an amount I was willing to pay.

I started excitedly in the gap between Christmas and New Year, optimistic that I could finish the chameleon pretty fast. But it turns out I couldn't. There is nothing difficult about working on the chameleon (fiddly, but not difficult); the pattern is really clear, but I have to concentrate on every stitch, which makes it hard to work on when I have the children around, and when I don't I have other things I would rather work on. But I want the finished chameleon, so this week I am going to work on it.

The chameleon's body and head are already done (I finished the head on Sunday), just four legs and two eyes to go. Maybe I'll have a finished chameleon by the weekend...

And as it's Wednesday I'm joining Rachel for Yarning Along. I'm still reading After You, and enjoying it. It's rather different to Me Before You, with only one central character in common, but I'm finding it interesting and want to know what happens.

********

I'm blogging every day in May; this is post three. If you'd like to read all the posts, follow this link.

Blog every day in May: I have a cunning plan

Morning!

And suddently it's May. April whizzed past just as fast as all the other months have so far this year, so I fully expect we'll be at Christmas before I know it... Today is a(nother) bank holiday - you wait ages for one then four come along at once, and I'm pretty sure the plan is to lounge around and maybe head out to the local soft play later. I have a couple of magazine projects that need working on too, so those are going to get some attention, and tonight I have my regular knit night (in the local pub with friends), which is always a highlight of the week. What are you doing today?

I have also decided to take part in Blog Every Day in May; a blogging challenge initially set up by Rosalium, and while I don't think it's officially running this year, I thought I would give it a go. Let's see where it takes us. If you'd like to join me, post a link to your blog in the comments and I'll pop over to yours to say hello.

Image from SkitterPhoto on Pixaby

My major plan for May is to get a few long-term projects off the needles and hooks. Last night I dug out my TOFT chameleon and he only needs legs and eyes, which I could probably do in an evening if I find a quiet corner (I have to concentrate on every stitch while crocheting amigurumi, which is why the chameleon isn't finished yet). I have about 100g of yarn left to knit for my Dotted Rays, so that's definitely do-able (especially as the wedge consturction means I may not have to knit very much of the final 50g ball of yarn). And it's my husband's birthday soon, and I would love to be able to give him the socks I started knitting him earlier in the year (an ambitious plan, but possibliy possible, and if they're not done for his birthday they'll definitely be done for Christmas. Apparently there are no photos of these, and no Ravekry page...). And last but not least, I need to finish my Lynda socks for my Knit Night Collection KAL, which finishes at the end of May (there's plenty of time to join in - head to the thread in my Ravelry group for more details*). What are your plans for May?

TOFT chameleon

Dotted Rays

Lynda socks

*Ravelry link. You need to be logged into Ravelry for this link to work.

A week in the life: 8th January 2017

I've decided that this year I will try and post a few more progress shots of projects, rather than just declaring them done before I show pictures, so thought I would start by trying a little round-up post for the week.

This week has been a busy one, with the kids going back to school and nursery, and I've had lots of little bits and pieces to catch up on that didn't get done over the holidays. I have enjoyed being in one place for the whole week and not having to travel the length of the country.

My main project this week has been a sample for a new design for a magazine, so I can't show you more than these two pictures (it's seamed, and is purple), but now that's done, and I have been working on some things I can show you.

I've been working on my Toft chameleon. Progress is a little slow as I can't work on him while I watch TV (I have have to look at crochet all the time, and as every round is different, it takes a lot of concentration). I have made it to the neck, and finally made a start on stuffing him yesterday, only to realise that I really ought to have started that step rather earlier! I had to use the blunt end of a knitting needle on the inside of the piece to poke the stuffing into the tail, and then the pointy end of the knitting needle to shuffle the stuffing around from the outside of the tail to give it a good shape. So fiddly! But worth it; the tail looks pretty fab now.

My out and about knitting is the pair of socks I started during the holidays. I've not made much progress, but feel I ought to get cracking on them as they're currently housed in a Christmas project bag, and I don't want to hunt out a more seasonally-appropriate one.

Annoyingly I've injured my 'pushing finger' (the one that I use to push the stitch off the needle when I've finished the stitch, so I constantly have a plaster on that finger (it is healing, but very slowly, occasionally I forget about it, remove the plaster, then promtly stab myself again and am back to sqaure one), which is starting to get annoying. Hopefully it'll be better soon.

Yesterday I cast on a new project: a jumper for me! It's a reimagining of the Antler cardigan I cast on last year, then decided that I wanted it to be a jumper instead, and a bit bigger. I have knitted as far as the elbow on the first sleeve, but the only photo I have shows way to much of the chaos on my living room floor, so I'll wait until I've done a it more before sharing any photos.

I have managed to stick to my target of reading for 15 minutes every day (though not necessarily by going to bed earlier - I slept for longer into this morning than I meant to, oops), and have finished my first book of the year: The Christmas Surprise by Jenny Colgan. I started reading the book over Christmas, and enjoyed it. It's part of the Rosie Hopkins' series (not that it matters - there's a series summary at the start of the book), and is a light, easy read. The surprises start pretty near the start of the book, so there's not much I can tell you about the story, but it's lovely and heart-warming, defintely one of the better examples of chick-lit out there.

Hope you'vbe had a good week this week. What have you been up to?