Progress on various things

[regshoe]

I've been practising the Fair Isle pattern that I'll be using for my next jumper. I've wanted to be able to do Fair Isle patterns ever since I started knitting, so I'm very pleased that this is going well. And I've got some really lovely wool colours to work it in! Here is a poorly-lit photo of it:



It's a fairly simple pattern with only six colours, and basically it just seems to be a matter of keeping track of where you are in the pattern and stopping all the different bits of yarn from getting tangled up, which is a bit fiddly but not actually very difficult. Now I've practised the pattern enough to be comfortable with it, worked out the tension and everything, I'm going to make a start on the real thing.

Sir Isumbras at the Ford is very nearly ready to submit to Project Gutenberg! All the important html is done—there's a widget on their site that converts an html file into an ebook the same way they actually make the ebook files, and I tried using it today and it's looking very nice. I'm going to do one more proper proofread to catch any lurking typos and errors in the invisible bits of html (the fiddliest thing so far has been languages—Sir Isumbras has a lot of bits in French, Scots, Latin, Middle English etc. that all need to be marked in the code, and I've probably missed some of them), and then it should be ready to go.

I've finished a first draft of my Once Upon a Fic assignment. It's definitely wobbly, but I reckon there's a decent fic in there somewhere, and it's very good to be writing again and to know I can still string a sentence together.

Meanwhile, the book club over on the Raffles discord is sending me spinning back into fannishness about Raffles. We're doing 'The Gift of the Emperor' today, and I've been re-reading it—my goodness, I knew there was a lot in that story, but there really is a lot in that story, isn't there. Wow. Anyway, as a result of all this I've got another moderately ambitious fic idea working itself out in my brain. We shall see what happens to that...

I'm getting out for walks again! Argh, today was such a lovely day and I really wanted to go out and walk for miles and miles, but half an hour first thing in the morning will have to do for now. At least the birds are beginning to sing—they're very keen, so even though it's still dark I'm getting to hear a lot of them at the moment. Little things, I suppose. :)

Comments

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Ohh, that jumper is going to look so awesome!! And yay for writing again!! Having a first draft already is excellent progress *high fives* and good luck for the rest of it! :D

And books and walks and birds and everything! It *really* is all about the little good things, isn't it? ♥ May it continue!!!

[regshoe]

Thank you :D I hope so.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

That's a great jumper! I love the colours. You are very skilled.

Oh, Raffles. I hope you write the fic.

Glad you are getting some fresh air and birdsong!

[regshoe]

Thank you! They are nice colours, aren't they—I really like this yarn.

[hyarrowen]

Nice knitting, with lovely subdued colours! And congrats on getting the tension right - that was always a problem for me when I tried to do Fair Ilse.

[regshoe]

Yes, it took a few tries to work out—I've found that the trick is to knit in the round inside out, so the loops of yarn have to go round the outside and don't pull too tight. Slightly awkward, but it works!

[hyarrowen]

Oh, that's really clever! If ever I take up knitting again I'll remember that.

[luzula]

Oh, lovely! It looks so impressive and advanced, and I like the muted colors. : )

Congratulations on soon having SIatF ready! What's the quality assurance process--will there be someone else looking it over as well, or do they just trust you do to it?

[regshoe]

They are nice colours, aren't they :)

I'm told the ebook will be quality-checked by PG volunteers, who may ask questions or suggest changes—I'm not exactly sure how the process works, but hopefully it goes smoothly.

[starshipfox]

Beautiful Fair Isle! I love the subtle colours. For some reason, I've been entirely unable to knit during lockdown -- not a stitch. But I still appreciate looking at others' work! :)

Well done on Sir Isumbras -- sounds like you've done lots of great work.

[regshoe]

Glad you liked seeing it :)

Thank you—I've enjoyed putting the ebook together, and it's certainly been interesting.