A day out with my mum

Pigs
More pigs ( photo's came up in wrong order....... Blah )
And more pigs.

For some strange reason we have these pigs in the middle of Rundle Mall. Kids love them, you quite often see kids trying to put their fingers in the pigs noses. I tried to take a pictue of the little boy doing it but his Mum started giving me funny looks.

Cupid displays in shop windows. Ready for valentines day already.

Miss B was in a weird mood and wasn't letting us take pictures of her so this is what we got. Her feet.

We spent the day walking and walking and walking. Up and down the Mall, into Spotlight and Lincraft to look at yarn ( of course), into the camera shop to get pictures developed, into Hungry Jacks for lunch. Down one arcade and up the other, just looking looking and more looking. Once we had enough with the looking we decided we need another day out at the real yarn stores, you know , the ones that actually sell sock yarn and stuff........

I have no Idea when this outing will eventuate but it is definately one that I will be making happen. Might be an idea to wait a couple of weeks and put some money aside.

I do have one problem though....... Do I really want my Mum to know how much I am prepared to spend on yarn???

Sleepy Happy Dances

I seem to still be receiving birthday presents. Not just actual gifts as such(although I am still getting those :) ) but nice things are happening, things that matter. My mother and I are actually getting along, not only are we getting along but we are being honest with each other, we are bonding.

I was thinking this last Tuesday on my birthday after spending nearly 2 hours on the phone with her then. I was too scared to acknowledge it then in case it was just one of those things..... You know....... Mum was in a good mood but next time we speak it will be as distant as ever.

To totally understand what I am trying to say and how big a deal this is you need to realize that my mum and I generally only speak two sometimes three times a year.

Usually once around Christmas and then again in July for Miss B's Birthday.

It's usually stilted and awkward and uncomfortable with neither of us knowing what the hell to say to each other.

For those of you close to your Mothers I realize you probably can't even begins to understand this..... but it's how we have been for years.
Several times we have both tried to talk more and spend more time together but I don't think either of us was totally ready to just be ourselves and say what needed to be said. There was a lot of you annoyed me when you did blah and it hurt when you said blah and none of us was ready to just say it.

So for us to be able to be saying some of those things and asking questions and really listening to the answers is a big thing.
Previous family history is coming out and emotions are being discussed honestly instead of being denied or not accepted. We are just being us.

Our reasoning for different things is being discussed and we are getting to know how each other thinks, what matters to us, what our priorities are and why we value one thing over another.
We are finding common ground with Knitting and craft. Yay for knitting!!!

I called Mum last night to confirm the time and place we are meeting up today. I called about 6:30 pm. We didn't get off the phone till 1 am.
6 and a half hours......... That would have previously been about 3 years worth of contact. And I get to spend today with her too.
Amazing.
It has only taken me till I am 30 to finally get my mum back. She is no longer the person called mum that I feel I should call every now and again. Now she is MY MUM and I want to call her and I want to know what she is doing, how she is. I want to send her silly things just cause. I want her to know what I am doing, how me and Miss B are doing. I want to share things with her.
Does that explain why I am doing sleepy little happy dances all around the house this morning.

Oh yeah knitting content........... Well there is none......... Blame mum and the phone call ;)

Jawalkers don't go any faster when it's hot

I'm loving these sooooooo much, they are colours I wouldn't normally put together and if I was choosing colours I personaly would have skiped the orange and green. But in this I love them. Unfortunately as the temperature gets hotter the knitting gets slower so I am only knitting a row here and there. Today is going to be 41c or about 106f today so send cool thoughts this way.

For some reason the colours are showing ok in the heel but the rest of the sock looks muddy. Imaging the whole sock as bright and cheerful as the heel.

My birthday gift

12 Balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran................ To make Tubey.
I figure having a Birthday is a fantastic excuse to go wool shopping. Oh wait, who said I need an excuse.........

Knitting in the park

We have knitters, real life proof that I am not the only one here in Adelaide that knits.
Miss B hiding behind the start of her scarf. The ducks that kept us company during our knitting, They would wander from the lake and creep up to the edge of the tables and quack. Maybe they wanted to knit too.
More knitters

We had a great day, with most of the knitters being new to the group. It seems I wasn't the only one who just couldn't go on a wednesday night. There was lots of shawl making and pattern testing going on aswell as some socks and scarves.

It was fantastic to be with others who share my love of knitting and the best part........ no one asked me why on earth I was making a sock.

Disapointing socks

Opals chameleon. Looked gorgeous in the ball but just isn't that great knitted up. I'm thinking perhaps it's the stripes, I'm not liking the wider stripes. Is it just that they seem so plain after working on the jaywalkers? Whatever it is these socks leave me feeling rather blah.

Good news though. Today I get to meet up with other knitters YAY!!!!

Looky Looky

What do we have??

Besides a serious case of unsettled startitis where I don't seem to be able to work on just one thing ( even more so than normal) and want to start even more things. I have the start of my second pair of Jaywalkers. This time with the picot edge. I am loving these even more than the first pair, mainly because I know the pattern and don't have to think too much this time. Also because the pattern just works so well for this yarn. It turns what would otherwise be a rather blah smudgey mish mash of colour into something just amazing. How can you not love that?

1 year = lots of socks

Like many others I have been reviewing the completed objects in my side bar.

* Purple Scarf
* Debbie Bliss Aran Lace Scarf
* Feathers scarf - Gift

*Black Beanie 1- C
*Black Beanie 2 -C
*Grey Beanie 1 - C
*Grey Beanie 2 - Gift
* Brown Beanie - C

* French Market Bag

* B's Mittens

* Purple Fuzzy Feet - Gift
* Pink Fuzzy Feet (mine all mine :)
* Blue not just bootie socks - Gift
* Purple Zhivago Socks - Gift
* Pink Zhivago Sock Pal Socks - Gift
* Orange Socks - B
* Blue Socks
* Blue Stripe Socks
* Grey Socks
* Pink Cleckheaton Socks
* Pink Retro Ribby Socks
* White Cozy Wool Socks
* Blue/ Brown Striping Socks
*Jaywalker Socks
*Green Socks
*Orange Secret Socks -B

13 Pairs of socks

Looks like 2005 was the year of the sock.

I seem to really have trouble finishing bigger items. I either get bored with them way too quickly or they require more effort and concentration than I am able to produce after a day of studying. I envy those knitters out there who have a years worth of jumpers and intricate work. Having said that I think 13 pairs of socks is a pretty good effort considering how much time I actually get to knit. Who knows, maybe this will be the year I actually finish a jumper.

Socks , socks, socks

Why is it with all the things I could be knitting all I want to knit are socks? I can't even wear them for months and months as it's too hot. But still I want socks. The ones that are calling me lately are the 'go with the flo socks' from interweave knits summer 2005. If anyone has a copy of this I can borrow ,trade, or buy, let me know. I seemed to somehow miss that issue but end up with two copies of the fall 2005 issue.( Mumble something about mean newsagents who don't get knitting magazines in)

Adelaide Knitters
There is a meet on Sunday at the Botanical Gardens from 2 til 5pm meeting at the kiosk.

Yay, finally something I will be able to attend as their wednesday night meetings are just way too impractical. Transport, traveling at night, Miss B, School Night ......... yeah it just doesn't work. So it will be great to meet up with other knitters instead of stalking anyone even remotely looking at yarn in a store.

Some goodies that I forgot to blog about . Opal sock wool and Patons Lush. Still not much knitting happening but maybe some will get done later tonight when it cools down.

Excuses Excuses

This is why I haven't been knitting......... I've been too busy shopping for yarn and drooling over yarn to actually knit any.
I spent a week in Melbourne where unfortunately many of the yarn stores I tried to visit were rather rude and closed over the holiday break. Didn't anyone tell them they were supposed to be open just for me?

My favourite would have to be sunspun where I raided the gorgeous kidsilk haze in liquer. It's definately as beautiful in person as everyone has ever said it is. I haven't decided what I will knit with this yet. I am thinking some kind of lacy shawl, something like birch perhaps although I'm really not keen on tracking down a book for one patern. Any suggestions are definately welcome.

There is also a ball of Calmer in there as well as some Opal sock wool, blue and grey with sparkles. The yellow, pink and blue ball is Jigsaw sock wool and destined for Miss B's feet whenever she decides to give up her feralness* after visiting her dad for two weeks.
* Feralness refers to the attitude, answering back, rudeness and basically ignoring everything I have asked her to do since she walked in the door last night. She hasn't even been home a full 24 hours and I am seriously considering sending her back.

The orange, purple and green is a discontinued colour of patonyle as is the odd ball of purple,green and mustard. This last one matches the odd ball I had left after making my jaywalkers.
I can only try and describe the store I found the discontinued colours in. It was small, with lots of cubbyholes. All the cubbyholes were full, like any other yarn store so far. But then you walk past the first shelf of cubbyholes to the next one and between the 2nd one and the third shelf you find yourself stuck. You can't get to the last shelf of yarn because on the floor is even more yarn. Not just little baskets of sale yarn or special yarn. Not even a box or two. No. This was a pile of yarn. A huge ginormous pile of yarn. Bags and bags of yarn all sealed in their plastic bags piled up on top of one another.
The pile was up to my waist and about a metre and a half square. It looked like someone had dropped off a huge box of yarn, taken the box away and left the yarn still in the square shaped pile. And this yarn was old. I'm sure it was so old that not even the lady running the store could have told you was at the bottom.

On Knitting Gloves in the round

I love it, it gets rid of the giant, huge, monstrous seam down the side. Can you tell I don't like seaming???
What I don't like is remembering to convert every second line of the pattern seeing as it was written to be knit flat.
Not that it's really hard, because it's not. Just distracting to try and remember while you are watching TV.
You look up at the next add break and realize you have been following the pattern for flat knitting again and have to rip back...... again.
I ended up writing out the pattern for in the round on paper instead so I could just knit and not have to really think. Much better and the glove is now looking like it should. Now I just need to add some fingers and a thumb and try not to leave any gaps between the fingers.

This is Lucy, the one who always insists on sitting on my knitting and just can't seem to understand why I don't want her fur on everything.
And this yumminess is a Christmas present I recieved from Miss B's Nanna.
100 gm of Boucle Random in shade 591 from www.touchyarns.com
The only question I have now is what am I going to make with this?

After Christmas Blahs

After all the mad rushing around shopping, buying presents, wrapping presents, exchanging presents, catching up with my family and C's family this week I woke up this morning feeling a bit flat. Nothing wrong, just blah. I finally have a couple of days to myself which I had been looking forward to for weeks, now that it's here I find I can't settle to anything for very long. I got this out.
And started knitting this. Another pair of orange socks for Miss B. Perhaps ankle socks this time as I really don't think I can face a full pair in orange.

Then I spent some time keeping Kit company and reading blogs. Mary and Bliss both blog about their pets and definately cheered me up with their pets crazy antics, thanks so much. I just love Bunny's little jammies they are precious. And hide and seek with Mary's little sooky cat Ali. I mean sook in a good way, in that Ali is just so cuddly she couldn't get any closer to Mary if she tried. If I didn't already have Kit and Lucy I might be tempted to run off with Ali. Here is my sleepy Kit.

I pulled out a glove that has been waiting to be sewn up properly for months. It was knit on two needles and there is way too much sewing left to be done for my liking.
I didn't sew it up but made a start on the second one. This time using dpn's to save on the sewing at the end.

Christmas Eve already???

Yes, yes, yes, Grumperina these socks can definately go in your gallery. I love them. I love them so much I even put them on in yesterdays ridiculous heat for a photo. If it wasn't so hot I would have left them on they are so nice and comfy. I am very tempted to make more.Check back after the christmas break.

This is the big ball of yarn I was left with after frogging the pink jumper. Thats 3 balls of lincraft poodle, 83% mohair, 17% acrylic all rolled up there. My hands and wrists were sore after unraveling and I now understand what ball winders are for. Can I add one to next years x mas wishlist???




Miss B's secret traveling project socks. Ok so they are no longer the secret traveling project as Miss B barged into my room at 6 am the other morning while I was knitting and saw them. She immediately got all excited and knew they were for her. She is the only one crazy enough to want such brightly coloured socks. She was even more impressed that I had been knitting them secretly for the last ten weeks on the bus to tafe so she couldn't see them. The only problem with this is the bus ride to tafe isn't long enough to get much knitting done hence the secret knitting in my room and her discovering them.


And here is my little christmas corner on top of the yarn drawers. Seems it's a perfect place for the cats to sit aswell.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=0263787433
click the link for your chritmas card from me :)

If it doesn't work just copy and paste it to your browser.

Jaywalkers Done

They were done last week but I needed a picture. Here you go Cara, picture proof they are all done. I love them. They are so soft. Now I just have to wait till it cools down enough to wear them.
Patonyle yarn in discontinued colour, knit on 2.5 mm addi.

38c or 100 f = HOT!!!

Either way yesterday was way too hot to look at knittning. Instead it was spent shopping (airconditioned shops) and wrapping a gazillion presents. Wrapping, wrapping and more wrapping.
Then a visit with my Mum to exchange presents.
After worrying needlessly about wether she would like what we bought for her, she likes it so much she ripped the box open instead of opening it like anyone else would. Was begining to wonder who the child was....... Miss B or my Mum. At least we know she liked it.
We also went to the beach for a couple of hours to walk along the sand and cool down. All I needed was a camera to be able to take pictures of it all. Soon. Very soon I will give in and just go buy a digital camera and then the blog will be smothered with way too many pictures.

Now there is a pile of christmas paper all over the lounge floor to be thrown out and some more wrapping and sending to happen.

Frogging

Frogging is fun!!

But only when you know what you are working on really isn't working out. That's what happened with the pink jumper. The back of the pink jumper , that's as far as I ever got and it has been sitting around for two years. I started working on it today, decided to stop and measure it. Crap 7 cm out. Add that to the 7cm out the front would have been and it would have been a sleeping bag, not a jumper. No way that would have been wearable, although the cats would have loved to claim it as a kitty bed.
So serious frogging happened and I now have a large ball of yarn sitting on the coffee table and a decision to make.

Do I restart the jumper or let the startitis that I've been fighting take over?

About the green sock

It is done, finally. It was the first pair of socks I ever started. I had finished the first one and then done the leg of the second before I ran out of yarn and left it for months.

Can I tell you just how ugly these socks are? They are green. Green is ok but not this green . They are acrylic .100% acrylic.
They are long, up to my knees. They are ribbed with a 4,3 rib.
I have ladders between every plain and purl and yet from purl to plain it is fine. I have no idea why........ a tension issue perhaps???

The only reason I finished these socks is that I like to keep them as a reminder of how much better my sock knitting has become.

Jaywalkers are done!!!

I love these socks. They are done and I want more of them. Lots, lots more. Unfortunately I have no more yarn suitable for this pattern. Yarn shopping anyone???

Ok Ok maybe I do, but the shopping bit sounded like fun. Time to raid the yarn stash and see what I come up with.

Continuing Jaywalkers

Yes I know it's the same pic as before but it's where I am up to on the second sock now. So just imagine a completed sock placed next to this one and thats what I have.

And imagine my eyes skipping from project to project amongst all the wip around the house trying to figure what I should work on next while the whole time I am really wanting to start something new.

All done

Assignments are all done that is. Finally, all done!!! Untill next year anyway.
This means hopefully some more knitting time and more importantly some jaywalker knitting time. I am almost up to the heel on the second sock. Then I have to figure out if I have any other yarn that is suitable for this pattern. Would yarns printed to knit up in fair isle patterns work ? Are there enough stripes in between to be able to get away with it or will it just look a jumbled mess?

Teresa was kind enough to e mail and let me know she couldn't add a comment. I have changed my settings now, so feel free to say hi.
Yes that includes you Col.

Firstly we have pics of the finished fuzzy feet. They are probably about a cm too long, but compared to the unfelted 45cm that they were I can live with that. Miss B is still waiting for a pair for herself.

Secondly we have completed blue/brown stripy socks. These were the first socks I ever made using my addi turbo and they went so fast. There is definitely more brown in this than I would have liked, but there is still something about them that makes me like them.
Third is one patonyle self striping sock for Miss B . Sshhhhh It's a surprise. These socks are sooooooooo bright, I'm really not sure about the colours but I think she will like them and the Patonyle is softer than I would have thought. The only problem is sneaking in any knitting time on these so she doesn't see me making them.
And of course the Jaywalker. This one actually got finished last night and I am about to start it's mate. I love this so much, I am also loving the yarn. Also Patonyle but unfortunately it is a discontinued colour. I will have one ball left over after finishing these socks and am wondering if I could get away with using it for the top of a pair of socks with a solid colour for the foot. Something to think about for now.

Slow socks

Jaywalker's are growing so slowly still. I'm not sure why this is as everyone else's Jaywalkers seem to be flying along.
The pooling has stopped and the sock is looking very pretty. Maybe that's why it's not growing....... I keep looking at it instead of knitting it.
It's also the fact that after having tried the sock on, I have found that everyone is right, the sock is a tight fitting sock......DUH! It will still fit but not with as much give as I am used to my socks having. If I were to make another pair I would definately make the larger size. I am dreading the thought that Miss B may realistically be able to claim these socks as her own.
I really don't think Grumperina's plan when making these socks was for the finished product to be used to slide across wooden floors.

Knitting continued

Cara over at January One has added me to the Jaywalker kal. The Jaywalker socks are growing, just very slowly. Something to do with assignments being due. I am up to the gusset decreases and I'm not sure if I like the pooling that seems to have appeared. I am hoping it will look better once I get further into the foot.

I have finished the blue/brown self striping socks and Miss B is now loudly saying she wants me to actually knit something for her. She wants socks and she wants them now!!! What she doesn't know is that I already planned on making some for her but am trying to hide them from her. I want it to be a surprise.

Bliss over at I Hide Yarn is having a birthday so go over and say Hiya. And Bliss, Miss B and I have a little something here for you. E mail me with a snail mail addy.

After me telling Miss B about Yarnharlot's entry with her daughter using dpn's, Miss B decided she wanted to try them.
Not a complete success but not as totally unco-ordinated as I was with them at first either.

Procastinating

Your Aura is Purple Your Personality: You're a dreamer and visionary. You believe you were put on this earth to do something great. You in Love: You're very passionate but often too busy for love. You need a man who sees your vision and adopts it as his own. Your Career: You need a job that helps you make a difference. You have a bright future as a guru, politician, teacher, or musician. What Color Is Your Aura? Take This Quiz :-) Find the Love of Your Life (and More Love Quizzes) at Your New Romance.

Ummm yep this is what I do when I should be typing up an assignment. Pleasant quiz diversion tactics. That and knit. And keep reading over my information , but somehow not seem to take any of it in. Blah

Jaywalkers ressurected

The Jaywalkers have been restarted, this time using patonyle in colour 4305. This is giving the zig zag effect a much better result. It's still rather short colour repeats but definately long enough to show the pattern.

Jo has convinced me to join the Jaywalker kal . She has just started some socks herself and will be knitting the Jaywalkers later.

A frogging expedition.

Yep those Jaywalker socks I spent an incredibly ridiculous amount of time casting on for, knitted the ribbing, knitted about 5 repeats and it just wasn't right. The yarn wasn't right for the pattern. The yarn is definitely variegated, but a little too much so. No lovely zigzag stripping happening here, just mottled splodges of colour that looked a lot nicer in the ribbing than in the pattern.
So it all got frogged. C looked on horrified at first, he hasn't ever seen me deliberately undo knitting before. Then he wanted to undo it. Watching him pull the sock undone was like watching a little kid, he liked frogging. I finished winding up the yarn and C turns around and says "Can you knit something else I can undo? Can I undo that other sock you have half done in the loungeroom?"

What the????

Shall we just say man bits were seriously threatened and half done socks are safe.

40 minutes

Is how long it took me to cast on and knit ONE row!
I was casting on for a pair of Jaywalker socks on the addi and it just really didn't want to happen. I seem to be casting on extremely tight and therefore totally struggle with the first row.
Having now knit the first twelve rows of rib it seems that it would be totally possible to knit a pair of ribbed socks on the addi after all. Unfortunately ribbing and my hands don't like each other. My hands are already so sore I don't think much more knitting will get done today.
I did manage to knit the first pattern repeat and totally stuff it up, seems I cant count at 6am for some reason.

Donna suggested I join the sock it to me summer kal so yep I have and the Jaywalker socks will be the first ones to be a part of this if I can remember how to count.

The benefits of feeling crappy

Are that you get to spend some time reading. Yes feeling too crappy to knit, argh. Not really getting much reading done either, mainly just flicking through pages and not really understanding much. Might have something to do with the fact that the book is about creating webpages with HTML.

After taking months to figure out how to add stuff here because I was too stuborn to ask anyone and wanted to figure it out myself, but not thinking to get a book. I decided I wanted to be able to understand what the little code thingy's I was typing in were actually for.
This alternated with Monste Stanley's handknitters handbook and a book on Roman Mythology. No wonder I'm not understanding anything!

Another bonus are the kitty cuddles. And if I push it Miss B might even get me a cup of tea.

Fuzzy Feet Felted

The Fuzzy Feet are all finished and felted, and they fit !!! All my worrying was for nothing. I just have an impatient Miss B wondering when I am going to be making some for her.

I have been using my new addi whenever I have had a chance over the weekend which has made the blue/brown sock grow rather rapidly. Now that it is longer it is much easier to move about so perhaps a ribbed sock would be managable on the addi.

I forgot to mention how wonderful the store I got my addi's from was. I had sent extra money to cover postage which it turned out wasn't needed. They were lovely and returned the extra money with my order. Yay for honesty. I will definately be ordering more addi's from them.

On abandoning all current ufo's

Sorry but a state of startitis seems to be happening here. It's all the addi's fault. The new 30cm circular and the sock yarn I bought from the craft fair got together and as a result all other projects are sitting and glaring at me in disgust. I may end up feeling guilty and knit a bit of something else later tonight but not promising anything for now.

I'm still not sure if knitting socks on the circ is that much easier than dpn's as the ribbing makes it all tight and doesn't leave much room to move with, but once I got to the plain part of the sock things moved much more freely. I still have to shuffle the sock around more often than I'd really like but I'm getting used to it slowly. I probably wouldn't want to do any ribbed socks this way, but for plain socks using self striping yarns it's great. Definately more travel friendly too without the million needle ends sticking out you get with dpn's.

What the boss does on his day off

Yep he sends me more pictures of my knitting. :)

Firstly we have a completed fuzzy foot along with a normal sized sock to show just how huge the fuzzy foot really is.

Then we have C's beanie which he sometimes sleeps in.... it isn't cold here, guess he likes it.

Next is the pair of huge gigantic fuzzy feet that were so big they really didn't want to fit in the picture.

Now for the scarey part....... felting.
Will they felt enough and become smalll enough to actually wear? Or will they become oversized, weird cat toys?

I spent some time showing Col how to use power point, he has now learnt how to apply music throughout his slideshow and set the timings on each slide............. no more clicking each slide for him!
If only he was as quick a learner when needles and yarn are involved.

Once I got home there was a nice lil envelope waiting for me. My Addi needles had arrived, my 30 cm Addi's that every yarn store I called in Adelaide said " 30 cm circulars? Nope they don't exist." Guess who will be taking her Addi's to yarn stores to prove them wrong.

Nice Boss Person

Thanks to a nice boss person who sent them to me, hiya Col, I actually have pictures of the white cozy wool socks and the retro ribby socks.Yay for nice bosses.
Col, you seriously need to hurry up and take up those knitting lessons. Because only then will you understand when I call and say " I can't come in today I need to knit."
And hiya Ann who was lovely and took the pictures for me. Pssssssst I need pics of those purple socks and purple fuzzy feet too. Oh and one of Col really trying to knit. :P

Giant Feet

That's what it looks like I have if you were to look at the one completed fuzzy foot. It's Huge!!! I am really tempted to just felt this one on it's own and see how small it felts down to. But if I do that the other one will never felt to the same point and I'll have odd fuzzy feet.
I have made fuzzy feet before and I don't remember them being this big. I guess I'll just knit the other one and see.

Other crazy stuff..... all the stuff in my sidebar seems to have disappeared on me. I'm not sure what happened there.

And no I didn't catch any fish with my knitting, but Miss B did manage to catch a little one that had to be thrown back. She was still happy as no one else caught any at all.

Finished Objects All Over The Place

Yep finally, the retro ribby socks are done. So are the white cozy wool socks and C's beanie.
I have even started the fuzzy feet. C, Miss B and I went fishing.Actually Miss B and C went fishing and I went knitting. I have knitted the first three inches, the heel flap, picked up the stitches and then decreased for the gusset and just have the foot and toe to go. And then the other one. I am using a raspberry coloured yarn called cozywool by lincraft, and 7mm dpn's. Will just have to wait and see how they turn out.
I haven't even finished them yet and Miss B has put an order in for herself.

Whoot!

I found another woman at Tafe that knits. It has only taken me a year. Perhaps together we can convert the others, hand out needles and yarn at the start of classes. Surely it would be more benificial than keyboard skills and essays??

Do Australians Knit?

Apparently not according to how many stalls were allocated to knitting at the craft fair.
5 stalls. That's it. 5
Actually one of those was for crotchet.
One was for machine knitting.
One was a display by the handknitters guild.
One was a display by the spinners guild.
And there was only one measly little stall where you could actually buy yarn.
All the other gazillion stalls had either fabric or sewing machines or both.

Admittedly it was a Quilting and craft fair but sheeeeeeesh. That's just pathetic.
One lonely little yarn stall that offered very little in real yarn. Lots of novelty crap. If I am going to buy novelty crap I will go to Go Lo and buy it for 50 cents a ball, not $15.
But the one redeeming feature of this lonely stall was the needles. They sold Addi's. Yep Addi's. Whoot! I have finally seen an Addi in real life and not just in peoples blog pictures. Guess what....... That sneaky little Addi followed me home along with a ball of sock yarn.

Even better, the lonely little stall has a store in Australia where I can order more needles and pay by money order. Yep I am one of those strange people who as much as I love my internet I am not going to be putting any account details out there. So off to the post office to get me a money order I go.

Progress of sorts

The Retro Ribby Sock, see it's growing. It would actually grow quicker if I picked it up and knit it instead of just looking at it from accross the room. It is further along than the picture shows as I have done the gusset and part of the foot.

The other thing I seem to keep just looking at and not working on are fuzzy feet. I have the yarn, the pattern and the needles. But that is as far as I have gotten this week.
Hopefully some knitting will get done over the weekend although there are some fun distractions happening. http://www.craftfair.com.au/craft/adelaide/adelaide.html

For a Boss who supposedly doesn't want to knit...

These are some pics Col sent me aswell as an e mail asking for a little help.......





I am trying to knit some undies for my wife but need a few lessons, can you help me, I was able to knit the string part of the g string and then got stuck.....
Regards the phantom closet knitter..



So does anyone have a knitted g string pattern???

About My Mum

My Mum has always knitted for as long as I remember , it was her who taught me to knit.
My Mum knits beautifully and so damn quickly.
I remember the cabled jumpers my dad wore and the reindeer jumpers she made for my brother and I. The school jumpers she made for us. For some reason I don't remember hats or scarves though.
I remember the pattern she couldn't read as it wasn't in English. It was a jumper made from wrist to wrist in two pieces, just a front and a back with no separate sleeves. It had a parrot ( or some bird) that went right across the jumper and around. She couldn't understand the pattern at all and still made the jumper just from the pictures. That jumper is amazing.


When I first tried making a sock my Mum said " Why on earth would you want to make a sock? " I told her I just wanted to see if I could. I wanted to see if I could understand the pattern. My first pair of socks is still unfinished as I finished one and then did most of the leg of the second and ran out of yarn. But I was happy, I could make a sock.
So when Mum saw the Retro Ribby Sock that I am working on I wasn't expecting much of a reaction...It's a sock.......
But Mum loved it. She loved the pattern, she loved the yarn I was using,
she was actually excited about something I was making. (At this point I started pinching myself cause I must have been dreaming)
Mum and I discussed what other yarn she would be able to use to make some.
It turns out she has some BlueBell yarn that should be ok for her to substitute. White Blue Bell yarn that has been sitting in the cupboard from the last baby cardigan she made.23 Years ago. She has yarn that has been sitting there for 23 years.
After 23 years, surely it must fall apart when you pick it up. I asked her if it's still any good after all that time, she says it's fine.

Anyway she sat down to start making herself some Retro Ribby Socks....... got out her yarn, her dpn's. Then she read the label on her yarn and found that as it is so ancient it will need to be handwashed. ( her words).
So she decided she isn't going to be bothered to handwash her socks and didn't make them after all.

WHAT THE?????
Is it really that hard to handwash one pair of socks????
Isn't the specialness of wearing handknit socks worth the handwashing?
She could just buy some other yarn that is machine washable.......
Blah I do not understand my Mum.



So this brings up a question.......... What is the oldest yarn in your stash and how long have you had it for?

Ok two questions......... Are handknit socks worth handwashing for?

Monday morning.....

Well I was unable to discover if Kit actually liked vodka or not.......... will save that experiment for another time when I can actually be bothered getting out the vodka and glass ect.
As strange as it may seem Monday morning here is actually quite peaceful as Miss B and I are all worn out from dealing with yesterday. I have a week in which Miss B should now behave like what resembles a normal human being. I have a week in which to find new tactics or get better at ignoring certain behaviour. Suggestions are definately welcome, even if they include big boxes and posting her far far away, with no return address.

As much as Miss B wasn't nice yesterday the yarn definately was. The frogpond socks are definately behaving very nicely now.

When children behave so badly

You want to go and read spam to escape them.

Ok so I want to other things too like scream and stamp and jump up and down and cause as much pain as I am feeling.

Miss B is fine during the week....... but as soon as the weekend hits..... WATCH OUT!!!!
For the last 5 or 6 weekends this extreme behaviour change has been happening and it is driving me nuts.
Todays come back was......... " well if you don't like it so much why don't you send me to my Dad's?"

Finally we get to what is behind the behaviour.
Ok so maybe not even whats behind the behaviour but what it is that she actually wants

Crap if only it was that easy.
I would happily send her there. After putting up with and trying to live with her behaviour I could even be tempted to leave her there for a while. And maybe move while she is there. Ok maybe not.

Problem is he doesn't want her there.

Blah.

Problem is I only have so much sympathy and can only put up with so much bad behaviour.

Blah.

Problem is she needs to accept that he isn't the Dad she wants and no one can make him.

Blah.

Blah.

Blah.

I need some yarn and chocolate and some vodka sounds like a really good idea about now. I wonder if Kit likes vodka..........

Introducing.....

KIT.
Kit has a weird relationship with Donna's twinkie that Donna doesn't yet know about. Before you get too worried Twinkie is a bunnny.This relationship has evolved without the two having ever met and over the distance of several states.
Kit seems to know when there is a picture of twinke on Donna's blog and races in to jump up on the desk and walk back and forth over the keyboard and sniff the monitor. Then she will just sit and stare. Oh ok I'll tell........ I call her in so she can see Twinkie. But Kit really is fascinated.......I'm just not sure wether it's with Twinkies ears or with Twinkies dandelions....

When your boss finds your blog

Yep..... that would be you Col. It feels kind of weird. He now knows just how totaly obsessed with yarn and knitting I really am.
What he doesn't ( or didn't) realise is that this obsesiveness is contageous. I have passed it on to his wife!!! He he he.
But knowing that your boss went through and read EVERY archive and post you have ever written....... and they are not a knitter......... well that just makes THEM weird.
Or maybe it means they secretly want to learn to knit??? Col, do you want knitting lessons? Just leave me a note in the comments. I won't tell anyone....... I promise!!!

When whole posts dissapear.....

Crap! Crap! Crap!!!!!
Lets just put the kettle on and start again shall we???

Ok I have a cup of tea and some Lindt chocolate.

Let's just say Donna has been brilliant and spent way more time and energy than I ever expected to photagraph all her needles for me. Go on, go and have a look. She makes all my affordable, easily accessable Birch and Pony needles look rather boring after seeing her fabulous Lisa G's. Sheeeeeeeeeeeesh she is also the queen of circulars. I have never seen so many circulars. My LYS doesn't even have that many circulars I'm sure.Donna has an astounding amount of needles, an enormous amount, a huge amount. An amount that means I can happily and free of guilt continue buying more needles. LOL
I think Donna's house is really a secret yarn shop. I just have to figure a way to teleport myself accross a couple of states so I can go and play with all the pretty needles.

Katie has also promised to Flash her needle stash in the near future so keep an eye out for that. I can't wait.

I have jumped on the Crazy Aunt Purl bandwagon and will be making some fuzzy feet too. They have been sitting on the sidebar long enough and they are something simple to work on in between Tafe assignments. Who knows I might actually finish these. So many projects.. such a short attention span..

On storing pliers and walking with boyfriends.

Doing both of these things are very dangerous and can prove to be hazardous to your health!

Firstly pliers that have been stored under the coffee table for three weeks should probably stay there. Under the coffee table is a fine home for them, even if the cats do like to play with them a lil. Because as soon as you actually put them away in the box on top of your wardrobe they will insist on jumping out at you and stabbing you in the head. OUCH!!!

Secondly walking along with your boyfriend and playing silly games of being dragged along quicker than you can actually walk every couple of steps isn't such a good idea when the footpath you are walking on isn't exactly level. Lets just say it involves falling splat, twisting an ankle, bashing a knee and somehow also hitting both elbows in the middle of the street. OUCH!!!

I think it's time to cuddle up on the couch with some nice friendly yarn and some chocolate.

When Homework Gets In The Way .....

Not much knitting gets done. Not much of anything fun gets to happen which is why I have been bugging some poor bloggers in their comments to post pictures of their needle stashes. Yes I want a distraction from homework and I am just totally nosy.I realise most bloggers have better things to blog about than their knitting needles, it's just that I am fascinated with the array of needles I have been able to find myself and want to see what others have found. Donna is really nice and has promised to post a pic/ entertain me later in the week. Whoot for homework distraction!!! YAY thankyou Donna.

On Frogpond Escapability

Why is it that some projects don't even make it to the frogpond?

Some projects you drop a stitch, pick it up and continue on your way no frogpond nessessary.

Some projects require a bit more repair and might stay in the frogpond overnight, just until you can face the repair work in the light of day.

But other projects seem to just live in the frogpond. The projects that you are too scared to even let out of the frogpond for fear you will some how instantly do something that requires an immediate return to the frogpond.

For me this project is the Retro Ribby Sock. Don't ask why as it isn't a complicated pattern. Its just one I need to concentrate on and as soon as I get even slightly distracted I loose count, drop stitches and other unknitterly behaviour happens.( insert swearing and much stomping and glaring at misbehaving project)
So yes I have been working on the RRS but am leaving it in frogpond status on the sidebar. So one day you will come along and RRS will be a completed project without ever having had a progress bar to follow or even officially leaving it's home in the pond.

Trendy Sheep huh?

After looking at my quiz result of trendy sheep I kind of went nope thats not me. Ok so yes there are times I do knit what others are knitting because I have been inspired by pictures on blogs ect. But then I also knit what I want in whatever colour or yarn I want, even if everyone else around me totally hates it.
The fact that I knit at all is definately not a sheep following behaviour around here. Very few people that I spend time with actually knit. All of one other person really. ( Hiya Ann)
So if you could see the looks and stares I get when knitting at Tafe you would see how unsheeply my behaviour is.I haven't seen another person knit at Tafe at all. Actually what is really funny are the looks and strange comments I get when I decide to knit socks at Tafe. The comments are strange in that they aren't really even comments... people just have no idea what to say when you tell them you are knitting socks.

Socks, why on earth would anyone want to knit socks?? You can see the question on peoples faces. Yes it's the same question I thought originally. So I can totally relate to their total unability to comprehend. I vaguely explain it's one of those things that they just wont ever understand untill they wear a pair of handknit socks. That after wearing handknit socks the store bought ones just aren't the same. It is something that only sock knitters will ever understand fully and that no I am NOT going to be making them handknit socks .
These people may never understand the joys of handknit socks and to be totally honest it doesn't bother me, it leaves more sock yarn for me.He he he.

Knitting Needles

How many knitting needles can one knitter need?


I started off with only one pair of 4mm needles.
Then Great Grandma passed on her bag of needles as she no longer knits due to failing eyesight. In this bage were several sets of double pointed needles and a lot of plastic needles in smaller sizes, 2.25mm and 3 mm mainly. I held onto this bag for years with the majority of the needles sitting there unused. This was until I discovered beanies. Miss B wanted a purple beanie and the pattern suggested 3.25mm and 4mm double pointed needles. I went to Great Grandmas knitting bag and both sizes were there.
WOW!!! I finally understood what those crazy needles with no ends were for. But damn they were soooooo awkward. Knitting that beanie drove me crazy. I then discovered the joy of the circular needle. The next beanie was so much quicker to knit simply because I wasn't constantly worried about dropping a needle in the middle of a round. Then came the socks, I needed smaller dpns for them , and then the market bag, a large circular, then the fuzzy feet....large dpn's ect.......
Basically the needle collection has just grown and grown due to project and tension needs as I'm sure most knitters has. But then I have another issue known here as Miss B.
Miss B likes to "borrow" needles for her own lil projects, but somehow they conveniently end up lost or one needle ends up broken....... she likes to sleep with her knitting.....don't ask.
To counteract this problem I constantly raid second hand shops for cheap needles that I am prepared to let Miss B run off with. This has caused a problem in itself as having done this I find I am quite often prefering to use needles that have been previously owned by other knitters than needles I have bought new. So now the second hand shop raiding is for me aswell. I am loving the variety of needles I am finding. I love using great grandma's needles as it makes me feel closer to her , but I'm really not sure why I love the other needles. Is it strange that I love the pre loved needles???

Sheepy Stuff

Which flock do you follow?
this quiz was made by

Some Pictures

This is my new home for the stash
The market bag with swirls.
Ok so they are crappy pictures taken on a phone camera but hey.................

Market Bag Done!!!!

Finally!! This bag is all knit up, sewn up and felted. And I love it. All it needs now is to dry.

Back on track...

The Market Bag is back on track with the colours in the right place this time. Only a couple of more rows to do on the colour work and then my problem will be how do I want the handles. I could just follow the pattern but I'm not sure that is how I want them. I am thinking perhaps a bit longer.
But then this may turn out to be a yarn storage bag in which shorter handles would be fine.

Miss B and I finally made some stitch markers. During the process I managed to drop a tray of beads on the floor and they went everywhere. All in the grooves between the floorboards, all over the floor, under the coffee table. Perhaps beading should be done at the kitchen table in future.
So I picked up as many as I could and then had to sweep up the rest along with some cat fur and fluff. It doesnt matter how often you sweep there is always cat fur and fluff in between the floorboards. I put those ones in a ziplock bag to possibly be rescued from cat fur at a later date and just used some other beads.

By the time I had done that I had lost interest in making stitchmarkers right then, but I had promised Miss B so I ended up finishing a set I had started previously and made another set but this time of 4. The beads I was working with didn't seem to be able to thread onto the wire sticks, the holes were to small. Just wasn't working for me so I decided to leave beading till another time.

Miss B had a ball though, laughing at me picking up all the beads and fighting with the cat for them. She made her markers and they are really cute. She has made each marker totally unique. I think another trip to the beads store may be in the plans next week.

Frogging

Frogging is all I seem to be doing lately. The market bag is once again frogged and is now a lovely tangled mess on the couch. I really can't move it till I re knit those rows I messed up before. This time I just have to make sure I am doing it right.

I had a little knitterly distraction yesterday via a visit to Needle Nook. Their yarn is gorgeous. The Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed in paper rose just jumped into my bag along with the Sirdar sock yarn and the other ball of Debbie Bliss Aran to match the one I had left from making the lace scarf.
I am thinking about making some fingerless gloves or maybe mittens to go with my scarf.

C's Beanie grew a little on the bus ride yesterday. The k1, p1 rib on a circ is perfect for travel knitting. Unfortunately I can only knit for a while before I start to feel nausious. I envy those that don't suffer from travel sickness all their travel time knitting. At least I get waiting at bus stop knitting time :)

Escaping from the frogpond

The retro ribby sock has almost escaped from the frogpond. The 3 rows I did the other day that looked wrong......... they were wrong. I was somehow reading row 1 from the right section and row 2 from another section of the pattern, no wonder it wasn't working. So yes they were ripped and re knit. Only 6 rows or so have been knit so I'm not quite ready to say that these are totally out of the frogpond just yet as I seem to be stuffing them up so easily. And yet its really not a hard pattern. I just keep loosing count.

C's Brown Beanie has been reincarnated after all. It is about 4 cm of k1,p1 rib at the moment but is definately looking much more user friendly that what I was trying to make previously.

Miss B's Blue Jumper has grown too, is almost to the armhole decreases on the back.

The Market Bag is exactly where I left it on the floor in disgust when I discovered my mix up with the colours. I am dreading having to rip back those two rows with all those stitch markers every 10 stitches. Yep I was using stitch markers and still managed to stuff up. So much for my one mistake thing.

Speaking of stitch markers I need some more. There are 20 of them on the market bag at the moment and I am all out. Yes I know , having 20 stitch markers seemed like a lot till they are all taken up by one project. I went to spotlight earlier in the week and bought the rings and wires so this afternoon should be a good time for Miss B and I to get a lil creative. I am hoping that with some pretty stitch markers Miss B will have a lil more interest in her knitting. Or maybe just an interest in earning more pocket money to buy more bead - y stuff. I'll be happy either way as long as it's an interest other than playstation.

Where did the productivity go?

I have no idea because everything I seem to knit now is being frogged for one reason or another. I was working on the market bag and doing the colourwork but for some reason where it was meant to be red I did white and vise versa, so it needs to be frogged again.
I looked at the retro ribby sock and it looked back after 3 rows and I can't tell if it look right or if its just wishful thinking on my part but at the moment it isn't holding my interest.
With c's beanie, neither of us was happy with how it was looking so it got frogged. Now I'm not so happy with C so it may not be reincarnated any time soon.
C doesn't want me to be there when he goes out for his birthday with his friends........ kind makes me feel like he doesn't want me around at all if he doesnt want me there for something like his birthday. I haven't decided how I want to react to this at the moment. part of me wants to walk away and make it easy for him.... let him have his freedom if its what he really wants. And part of me just can't believe he doesnt want me there, why be with me for a year if I just don't matter???