Gnomes done!

Yup, I've finished the gnomes. All in all a fairly quick knit! Just goes to show what you can do when you really like the pattern.

Here's the back:



And the front:



Cuteness overload.
Pattern: Gnome Mittens by SpillyJane
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette, various colours from stash
Needles: 2.75mm Harmony dpns

No mods, although if I were to make them again I think I'd jiggle the pattern a bit to avoid the ridiculously long 7 stitch floats. I'd change the decrease method at the top too, as it's unusual and I think I prefer standard ssk & k2tog decreases. Also I'd make the thumb larger as it is very narrow.

So Alice has nabbed them for school. They're too big, but she loves them so what the hey. I had figured she'd rob them anyway. Plus she's great for showing off "Mammys knitting" so you never know, I might gain some kudos. :)

A lot has been happening over the last day or so. A couple of us Dublin knitters were talking about our mutual love & adoration for EZ recently. We ruminated on how great it would be if we had a blog for knitting EZ patterns and unventions. Well, last night, sheknitupthatball took the initiative and created a blog for just that!
It's called KnittingElizabeth and so far there's 5 of us set up to contribute. My good self, sheknitupthatball, teaandcakes, Currantine and Léan. A few others have been invited too, so it looks like it's going to be a fun project!
I couldn't wait to get started so last night I wrote a catch up post on the blog of all the EZ things I've made so far, along with much gushing about how much I love her. Check it out!

So, now that the gnome mittens are done, I'm going to selectively ignore the other WIPS that are crying with loneliness & neglect in the basket beside me and cast on a new EZ project.

I'm going to attempt the Pi shawl again. Remember I said I wanted to make one as a lap blanket for snuggling on the sofa watching tv in winter? I even bought yarn specially for it:



The real McCoy, unspun Icelandic just like EZ and Meg used for theirs.
I can't wait to get started! Although I think this may be a longish project as it is a large item, I know it's going to be fun. I'll be blogging about it here as well as on Knitting Elizabeth.

So that's yer lot!

Good knitting!

Half knit gnome

I can't quite believe this is my last week off before I go back to work. Time has absolutely flown. All my plans to get things done seem to have come to naught!
Still, I had a lovely rest and we got a few things done round the house.

Like this:



Something happened on Saturday and we bought this gas BBQ. Hubby has always wanted a good BBQ but this baby is rather large! It's fab though. We ate "al fresco"on Sat night and yesterday. It was lovely. Although since yesterday evening it has rained non stop so no eating outside today! Typical Irish weather. :(
Hopefully that's the end of the house purchases, we have to save money for our holidays in October!

Last night I finished the first gnome mitten:

I'm pleased enough with the results, although the fingertip decreases were really strange. I think they could have been written much better.

The thumb is very narrow too, it's a tight fit. The stranding is un-typical too. There are float carries of up to 7 stitches at a time. Too long in my book. But, they are gnomes, and I love them. Definitely to big for Alice though! Still, I can use the chart and make her a pair of mittens that fit.

EDIT: She has nabbed the mitten as is. It's a little big, but she refuses to give it up.

Plenty of ends to weave in, too!

I said last post that Alice & I were cardmaking for the big C. Well, here's a slideshow of the cards we made the other day. 9 in total:

I think they're great, and Alice loves them. They should make nice cards for family.

That's about it for now, I'm determined to enjoy this last week off, it will involve some relaxation for sure. We haven't had a day where we've done nothing, such as a movie day. That's a must. Other than that, I'm just going to try and ignore the impending return to the job as much as possible!

Good knitting!

The Laughing Gnome

I'll explain the blog post title in a mo. Let's just get the first item of business out of the way.
Card making seems to have become another hobby here. I know Alice loves it, and I originally was helping under the pretenses of helping her do them, but if I'm really honest, I kinda enjoy it too now. It's grown on me.
My niece got her Leaving Cert results (final school exams that decide college entry etc) the other day, and she did very well. So, Alice & I decided to make her a Congratulations card:



I think it turned out pretty well, no?
We also spent ages yesterday afternoon making cards for the big C. Y'know that winter religious holiday? I hate talking about it beforehand, there's enough crap in the shops for the months leading up to it as it is. But, card makers seem to get started on this really early, and all the shops have their magazines out with the big C stuff in them already. So we made 8 or 9 yesterday. Pics next post if you like, they turned out great!
On the card making thing, let me know if you mind seeing them on the blog or not. I know this is primarily a knitting blog and will remain so, but if you don't want to see the cards, that's ok.

Now, on to the title!
The other night, BionicLaura tweeted about a blog she'd found, SpillyJane, and the cool mitten patterns she had.
I looked, and I fell in love. They're so cool! Little pints of beer, flamingos etc.
I decided to investigate further and checked her out on Ravelry, here. I absolutely love her designs, I think they're great.
So I was browsing and I found, GNOMES! I love gnomes. Mischievous & cute little guys. I couldn't resist. Right then & there, all knitting was suspended. I had to make these. I bought the pattern within about 5 minutes, ran upstairs and to my delight, I had the yarn in my stash! Yipee!
Now Alice has begged for these, but I think they're going to be too big. I may have to make these for myself and another pair smaller for her. Naturally I'm devastated that I'll have to wear them. Did that sound sincere? Excellent :D

So here you go, the gnome so far:






The cuteness! Squee!

I was in bed last night and I couldn't stop thinking about my cute little gnomes. Then I remembered these songs and suddenly things weren't so cute any more.
I blame these two videos on the 60s, 70s and drugs. Lots of drugs.
Watch at your peril!

There's no official video for this one, but the song is just mad. The Laughing Gnome by David Bowie:



This next one is just insane. It's Bilbo Baggins by Leonard Nimoy. I know Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit, before you all comment, but I think the link is tenuous enough to justify it. It's such a mental song & video.
WTF was Spock thinking???



Oh my.

Good knitting this weekend!