What goes around comes around. And what goes around was weird to start with.

In January my friend Jenni posted a pay it forwards craft thingy. Basically the first five people to yell got her to make them something, and they in return made something for five people. Not that surprisingly I signed up, and even less shockingly I haven't yet actually done a damn thing about it. But we are shoulder deep into revision time for final exams at Warwick uni, so what better time could there be to procrastinate with totally random knitting projects?


On that line of thought, I bring exciting news (to a certain kind of mind its exciting) about one of my Christmas present knits.
Apparently, Mrs Darlick has acquired a boyfriend.

I think someones sanity may have cracked, the problem is I can't tell if its mine, or Timo and Aicha's. Oh well. another rung knit.








by the way - I only had 3 takers in January. 2 random knitted things remain for the taking

The Mattinator

So Matt Brennan is one of my close friends at uni. He's a second year mathmo, and is the publicity officer of Focus, president of Photo Soc, and all round computer wizz. For example, last year at the end of term my computer totally died - due to lack of memory as it turns out - and within 6 hours Matt and Ste had totally revived it. Incredible - cause I couldn't actually turn the damn thing on.
Anyway. Tonight in the pub Jenni mentioned something about a program that would really help with knitting complicated repeating patterns - say 8 rows or something - that you use a row counter for. Her idea was that if you had a computer it ought to be possible to have something that highlights the relevant row of the pattern - specially as me and Jenni both get most if not all patterns off Ravelry.
So, Matt, the awesome, the Mattinator, got out his laptop in the middle of the pub, and started spewing code in such a way that he has created such a program. Its awesome. Try it sometime.
http://onehundredandfiftythree.co.uk/knit/
This is totally and completely Matt's hard work, but it is going to be so useful I can't quite resist sharing it. Thanks Matt!

Its really awesome having pet computer geniuses.
ps. Not a derogatory term, but a term of AWEsomeness.

Needle Roll of Happyness

Jen gave me a (somewhat belated but AWESOME) birthday present today. A really pretty and awesome needle roll! Its soo pretty! So I just spent the last half hour or so filling it up with needles. My gran gave me her lifetime's stash of needles and wool - all of the wool was beige. Beige. I mean, really? but still its awesome wool - so I have many many needles. I have 16 number 11s, and 11 number 10s. I never even use that thin wool. But its cool.
I have also just spent some time wandering around my house probably irritating my housemates by saying "it's really pretty!" In case people hadn't noticed I would just like to officially say - it's really pretty!

Now all I need to do is sort out all the wool all over my room so I can take what I want for the next month home tomorrow. That shouldn't take more than about 2 days. Hang on. Let me do the math on that.

the start of my Crazed Knitting

I started knitting a year ago, largely because I came back to uni two weeks early and had NOTHING to do. I don't like being useless. So I started knitting. Knitting because some of my friends here also knit, and its something you can do when watching TV or listening to music, both of which I enjoy, but get itchy fingers. So knitting.

My first knitting project was the traditional scarf, and as tradition dictates it got way wider at the end than it was in the beginning. Enter the first piece of randomness. I have a cuddly toy weasel (doesn't every uni student?) and, well it was in need of a cape. So I turned my first ever piece of knitting into a cape for a weasel. Obvious when you think about it really.

Unfortunately knitting then sauntered back into the mundane realms, with me knitting an actual scarf, another scarf that just barely qualifies as a scarf rather than a length of material (I was running out of wool) and a pair of gloves that match in precisely no way other than colour. Oh well. It was my first try. And they are still usable as gloves so it all works out in the end. Next I tried (and succeeded) a lacy scarf, and a rainbow scarf, both of which I actually use where people can see them. They're THAT not-awful. Oh yeah.

The only problem with this is that now whenever I have any time to spare I knit. Not a problem I know, but when you are 20 years old moaning on the train cause there's not enough space to knit, something has probably gone wrong in your life. Or everyone else's. And when I went on safari this summer I was also irritated about not being able to bring knitting. I didn't want the knitting for the actual safari - my life hasn't sunk that far quite yet - but I did want it for the 11 hour flights. However the powers that be believe that if I were allowed to take knitting needles on board a plane then I would instantly turn into a homicidal maniac and skewer the pilot. Not that the thought has never occurred, I'd just be more likely to skewer my family. And I can do that before airport security.