Impatience

I am fidgeting about flitting all over the place. I really, really, really want to start the Central Park Hoodie.

Instead I have finished the Blue Opal socks, cast on and undone the purple mittens....... wrong size needles. Cast on yet another pair of fetching, this time in a pale blue Zhivago.

I probably should work on the purple jumper but all I seem to be doing is playing with yarn and mentally rearanging the craft room.
Nothing fits as it is and of course however I move it , it isn't all going to fit.

The problem is that the whole house is like this, so there isn't anywhere else to move things to in any other room.

I think it's time for a clean out. Blah. Why do I always want to do these things in the middle of term when the holidays would be a much better time for it.

Anything to avoid assignments I guess.

On changing my mind

I started knitting the purple handspun, I had knit most of the ribbing.
Then I decided it looked way too pretty to go on my foot. So I think it will become a pair of mittens instead.

I am still sneaking in rows of my sock when I can and I really need to learn how to knit and read at the same time.

Does anyone know how to type and knit at the same time????

Drowning in books

Surrounded by papers and books and of course not the books I would like to be reading. Books I have to read to write another essay. Sitting in amongst all the books is my blue opal sock and I keep sneaking in a row whenever no one is looking.

I have given in and started a pair of socks from the handspun yarn I bought at Mt Pleasannt. I couldn't wait anymore. Besides, it's better to start a sock than start the Central Park Hoodie. Only a few more days till the KAL starts.

Computer is still down

But I am still here and sneaking in a read of your blogs when I get a chance.

My Blue opal socks are growing, the purple jumper is growing very slowly and my assignment is glaring at me. Why is is knitting research is fun but any other research just isn't???

I am still restraining myself from starting any new projects like the hoodie top and I really want a pair of socks from the handspun yarn I bought at the Mt Pleasant Fibre festival.
I spent too much!!! I bought fibre and a drop spindle....... even more stuff to distract me from homework.

And the computer sleeps

My computer seems to be permanantly sleeping at the moment. A nasty virus has snuck in and stopped my computer from working. Hopefully I can fix it but at the moment I have no idea how. Throwing the computer out the window is sounding pretty good about now.

Sunday was knitting day

Miss B and I caught up with Tigers and Miss A who also gave Miss B a knitting book for her birthday. No picture of that yet. Why is it I always forget I haven't taken pictures until I am sitting here blogging?

I think I knit all of 3 cm of ribbing on Sunday and it ended up having to be frogged. I miscounted the cast on row. I really shouldn't try to talk and count at the same time.

Knitting this week seems to be slow as all I have managed to achieve is fixing up what I did on Sunday.

I got mail yesterday. My tin needle protector arrived!!!!
Nat has been hunting these down and solving all the niggly shipping issues and being a fantastic enabler. Thankyou also goes to Donna for thinking of me when the idea of getting these needle protectors first came about.
So of course I had to start something on dpn's just to try it out.

My first toe up attempt. I really don't know if these will grow into socks or not, but it was good to try out a new method.
And of course in the needle protector.

I love this, no more lost needles in the bottom of my bag.

No more stabbing myself when the needles poke out through my bag.

Today...... So far I managed to wash my hair with conditioner again.......The bottle is nearly empty and I suddenly can't read the label anymore. I have no idea what that is about.

Miss B is home from school..... She had a headache and a sore throat yesterday but said it was ok. I was thinking I would just keep her home today and hope she can fight it off with some rest.

Well she woke up today and has a cough too. So the keeping her home I had been thinking about became a definate, possitive, has to happen.

All I can hope is that she doesn't decide to share.

Now to see if I can get my knitting to behave.....................

And my brain is where???

I seem to be having one of those days where my brain just refuses to function. After forgetting to boil the kettle for my cup of tea this morning I thought I would go and have a shower while blogger decided if it would load pictures today or not.

I then tried to wash my hair with conditioner instead of shampoo....... was wondering why there were no bubbles.

I am almost to scared to pick up any knitting today in case I mix that up too.

Anyway here are the pictures blogger was holding out on.
Is there some kind of bribe /sacrifice /offering thing with blogger I don't know about cause it sure seems to like keeping my pictures for itself.

The Shawl that finally ended.

And the sock that got forgotten.


Ok not forgotten but I just couldn't seem to get around to that heel for months.

Now do I try and make my brain function and knit or just go back to bed???

And it's done!!!

Thanks to Tigers who suggested I work on it for just a little bit each time I knit before I pick up what I actually felt like knitting, the never ending shawl actually ended.
Well it's cast off and now I have to wash it and figure out how to pin it out. I haven't done this before so me and pins, um yeah.

I have joined the Central Park Hoodie KAL and of course I want to start right now. It doesn't start till September.
Do you think they would mind if I started early? You know, just swatched..... and kept knitting?
I would still finish late as assignments and things will get in the way later.

Oh Ok I'll wait.

And make a cup of tea and read blogs. It would help if I had actually boiled the kettle first. That mouthful of lukewarm tea when you are expecting nice hot tea is just gross.

And just cause it has been looking incredibly lonely and unloved I picked up the blue opal sock. It now has a heel. Lets see how long it takes to actually get a foot.

Never ending shawl

still hasn't ended. It is growing though. Just very slowly.
Nearly there..................

Blah

Why is it I am now halfway through this jumper and suddenly I am really not liking it much at all???



Probably because I know I have Bendigo yarn to play with.

Stash enhancement

Courtesy of Bendigo Wollen mills




I now have 5 balls of Rustic in Pink Opal




and another 5 in Bluestone.




I couldn't make up my mind so I ordered both.

The pink is to make an adaptation of the ballerina wrap I saw over at Cindy's and the blue is for the Central Park Hoodie that Tigers and I have been drooling over.

I did end up shuffling bookshelves around and now I have to keep shuffling to make everything fit. Funny how stuff never goes back how you thought it would.

On living with a teenager

BLAH!!!

Miss B was officially 13 yesterday and is now of course totally full of herself. She has also warned me that she fully intends being even more obnoxious, irritating and disrespectful than usual, as that is a teenagers job.
My reply was that I wouldn't bother putting much effort into that job as it doesn't pay well.
She kind of huffed and walked off LOL.

Realistically apart from being totally buzzed up on chocolate, chips, lollies and pavlova she has been fine.

We spent the afternoon with friends and family. Miss B and Granny tickling each other and dragging/sliding each other around all over the wooden floor in the lounge. I knew there was a reason I didn't bother mopping the floors.
My mum is totally nuts, but then so is Miss B so they get along fine. I just stand there shaking my head at the pair of them and leave them to it.

So amongst all the chip, lolly , pavlova and roast dinner eating there was no knitting done.
I thought I would make up for it today instead and take the abandoned sock to tafe with me. OOOps , I took the pattern but left the sock at home.

Maybe some will get done tonight, or maybe some bookshelves will get shuffled about, or maybe I'll just go to sleep.

So today is the last day of my holidays before re submerging myself into endless study and not much knitting.

I had hoped to finish a few more things before Tafe started up again, but then of course I got distracted and started some new things too.
There had been so many things I wanted to do this holidays that I didn't get quite as much knitting time as I had imagined. Then again I think I always imagine I can knit more in a certain amount of time than what I actually can.

This blob represents the never ending shawl I really, really want finished so I can focus on the DSF.







And after starting again this is the Sirdar Eternity swatch that grew bigger than a swatch.

Saved

Saved by a $2 purchace made in April.

Yep the 6mm circular I bought at a thrift store in Bundaburg earlier in the year is the one that seems to be fixing the guage issues......... for now anyway.

And here I was thinking I didn't own a 6mm circular and would have to go and buy one. Hmmmm maybe there is method to actually listing what needles I have.

mystery guage???

Instead of working on anything I have going like the shawl I really should finish or fixing the mixed up row on the DFS I swatched for yet another project.

Swatch using Sirdar Eternity met the required specifics of 17 sts and 24 rows to 10cm.

Start knitting get past the ribbing........... progress to the stocking stitch.
Think it is all looking a bit small.
Measure guage and go blah.
Somehow it changed and I am now getting 23 stitches for 10 cm. No wonder it's looking small.How does this happen??? That's an extra six stitches. Blah.

Looks like time for a needle change.

Somehow I am guessing I will be needing one of the sizes I don't have in a circular.

Back to the projects I DO have the right size needles for.

Finally a picture

Blogger has been consistantly painful with it's persistance in eating my pictures. But finally here is the minute amount of progress on the diamond fantasy shawl.



I need to recount the stitches on the current row ( again and again, if I count it enough times I will eventually come up with the number I am supposed to have........ right??) and then I will hopefully be able to move on to the next chart sometime today. Sooo pretty, so much concentration.

Beginnings and endings

I spent a fantastic day shopping at the LYS with Tigers yesterday. We spent the day shopping and talking yarn as you do. The discussion got around to our current projects and why we can't wait to finish some things and others are left sitting there untouched for unspeakable amounts of time.

One of my untouched projects has been Rogue.
I love it and I want it finnished so I can wear it.
But I am hating the striping I am getting from trying to blend the two dyelots.
For a while I was trying to talk myself into believing it would all be ok when it's finished. But I am not even working on it let alone finishing it.
So to the frogpond it is going. The yarn will be seperated into the different dyelots and then can be reassigned a few smaller projects.

Of course as soon as there is a place cleared in the que something else needs to be started. Diamond Fantasy Shawl has been started.
With lots of frogging I am almost done with chart A.

Lace totally befuddles me and I seem to loose yarn overs consistantly.
I spend more time counting my stitches than doing any actual knitting.
But it's soooooooo pretty. I will just have to keep practicing.

Fetching 3

All finished!!! Miss B's blue fetchings are done!!

So of course I am itching to start on something new ( Like the Diamond Fantasy Shawl) but have been trying to work on some of the stuff sitting on the list. I spent a couple of hours last night working on the shawl I currently have going. The rows are really long now and take forever. It seems I am not getting very far and will more than likely cast on very soon.

Why is it that at the start of a project you can see a lot of progress and yet once you get just over halfway done it doesn't seem to matter how much you knit it doesn't grow??

Totally awed....

I will never cease to be in total awe of knitterly peoples generousity. They share their time and their knowledge, they let us learn in our own way and they listen.

It seems knitters are amongst the people who believe in sending surprise packages just because.

Donna
was the source of some amazing surprise kindness and Kit just had to check it out.

Sorry about the bright flash/colour distortion but I had to take it before Kit ran away.... she is really camera shy.

In there is some Zarina and fluffy stuff to make Miss B a pair of socks. That's if I don't run off with the purple yarn myself he he.

The pattern for the Diamond Fantasy Shawl I have been drooling over at Cara's. And to leave me totally speachless Donna also sent some Twinkletoes yarn so I could start right away. How is that for enabling???

I do have one problem...... I can't see through the happy tears to cast on.

Oh and the chocolate......... it was yummy :)

Thankyou so much Donna.

Fetching 2

Fetching 2 off my hands for 2 seconds so I could quickly take a pic.
The colours appear a bit more muted in person but I love them. I can see myself making more of these later as I am going to want some for when these are in the wash. They may need constant washing as the cats have already tried to spill a cup of tea all over them this morning.



Off to start Miss B's pair and try and sqeeze in an appointment at the Dr's.
Miss B has an ingrown toenail..... surgery was recommended.
Now that the surgery date is near it seems to be pretty much healed of it's own accord. Typical. The infection has gone but it's still a bit lumpy. So I want to see if it will be ok on it's own now or if she still needs the surgery. I am hoping the former for her sake as well as mine. I really don't think I can sit in the room with her and watch them cut her toe up. I know she will want me in the room with her, but I just want to be far away so I don't have to watch.

I can happily watch Doctors give me needles and things but not on my little girl.

A little housekeeping....

Finally. My progress bars are fixed and I have added some more to the list of things I want to make. The list is of course longer but these are the things I really really want to make.

What I really need to do is some housekeeping in the house instead of just on the computer. But of course knitting is more fun, so I have the second pair of fetching finished. I put them on to see how they fit and haven't taken them off since.

Now that I have made something for myself of course Miss B has put an order in. I kind of feel like making something different now but I guess I better make her a pair or she will just steal mine. Maybe if I just start hers, she won't notice when I put it down to work on something else.

What I want to start is a scarf. I have one that I made a while ago but it is very drapey and squishes down and doesn't keep my neck warm so it doesn't get a lot of wear.




So I am thinking of frogging it and coming up with something a bit chunkier and warmer. Maybe an Irish hiking scarf to keep with the cable theme of the fetchings but I haven't decided yet. Suggestions are welcome.

And ooooops, I think I just mentally added to the "I want one list"
Over on 2paws blog is her finished Bolshoi and it's making me want to rush out and buy yarn and start one right now.

Quick before blgger is nasty again

Here are the first finished Fetching mitts.

Using 1 ball of Debbie Bliss Aran Cashmerino

And started is the second pair using Jet.

The cables dissappear in the mix of colours and you end up with a slightly longer mitt using this yarn.

fetching........

Would be really pretty if I could actually show you. Blooger as I am calling it today just isn't playing nicely.

Fetching is finished ( appart from a few ends that need to be sewn in shhhh) and I liked them so much I have started another pair in Patons Jet Col 6 which isn't really a colour. It is an incredible mix of colours that is knitting with a rustic look to it.

It's not as impressive as the single colour in the Debbie Bliss yarn, the cables are a bit hidden, but it's still a lot of fun.

Argh!

Pictures would be a good thing, yet it seems blogger thinks you all need to use your imaginations a little.

Holidays have started and appart from having Miss B home and in my face 24 hours a day it's been ok. Knitting has been happening.
Waffle socks are done.
Shawl has grown oh about 3 rows .

It's not my fault......... the new knitty is up.
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/PATTfetching.html


Serendipity has hit.
I have the yarn, I have the right size needles and I have cold hands.

And it's over for another term.....

I spent a lot of time not knitting this week as I had to turn this

into typed notes that actually made some kind of sense.

Then I spent a horribly terrifying 20 minutes in front of the class doing what was hopefully an understandable presentation.

I don't remember much I just felt sick. I still feel sick even thinking about it.

But I did get this at the end of it:

That little PA in the corner is a pass achieved.

Seems like a bit of a let down considering how much effort and stress were involved.

A yarn purchase is definately in order.

Just so you know

In responce to Donna's comment and her spotlight staff's ignorance.

Cleckheaton country does NOT felt.

I have tried it and all it does is get bigger and bigger and produce more and more fluffballs. Actually by the end of it I am surprised there was any yarn left as I had removed so much fluff from the washing machine and dryer.
Yep I tried everything I could think of to make it felt and it just wouldn't.

3 times through the whole wash cycle in hot water. With cold rinse.
Extremes in temperature alone should have done something if it was gonna felt.
Water straight from the kettle added to make the water hotter.
Whole thing thrown in the dryer and left on the hot dry cycle.
Nope not one bit of felting happened.

I just ended up with a huge yarny thing which I ended up undoing....... yes I was able to unravel this yarn no problem, just fluffy bits coming off all over the place as I unwound it.

So nope it doesn't felt................ but panda woolbale does as does lincraft's cozy wool.

Spotlight Knitting Party

I went to the Port Adelaide store and there were people turning up all day.

They had put aside 4 tables that normally have their sewing machine displays on them and yes the yarn was acrylic and the needles were the cheap bamboo ones and most were knitting squares for charity.
But others had brought in their own projects and were more than happy to share patterns and teach new methods.

The staff happily photocopied for us and provided continuous tea, coffee and hot chocolate (which Miss B loved).
They also gave demonstrations on invisible cast ons and how to change colours in your work. As well as a raffle where you had to guess the meterage of an unseen 10 balls of yarn.

Appart from having to finalise it with management they are also looking at having a knitting group of their own on the first saturday of the month.

People were constantly coming in as others left so there was a continual state of the tables being occupied and I did manage to interest one lady into some felting and others want sock yarn so not everyone wanted acrylic.

One of their staff members said she wants to come to our group on Sunday so I hope she does. She is one of the ones who also wants to knit with nicer yarns and will be trying to get some sock yarn into the stores .

Others were giving demonstrations of crotchet and explaining hwo they make particular blankets.. sounds like a lot of work to me and another lady was teaching tricot, no idea how you spell that but anyway this used a needle that looks like a big knitting needle with a crotchet hook on the end. Looked like it could be fun.

So considering what I thought it may turn out to be I had a great time and learnt lots and Miss B has turned into a hot chocolate.

They say nothing

Not much happening with Mr Pervert man, he seems to be hiding for now. The school sent home a pathetic letter about not using certain gates but not saying why at all. I spent thurday and friday afternoons talking to other parents letting them know what is going on and walking the looooooooong way around to avoid the gates we are no longer allowed to use. I'm sorry but not using gates doesn't remove Mr Pervert. Perhaps a petition of some sort will???
How would I go about wording that??
Suggestions please.


And knitting........ one waffle sock done and one black beanie done.

And school... one presentation still floating about in my head and nothing much of it done. 5% perhaps eeekk!!!

Pervert man update

Unfortunately no one had a camera of anysort on them except pervert man.

The mas was arrested................ and is now out on bail. BLAH

The man lives almost right next to the school so the protection order stating he must not enter the school or approach any students seems totally irrelevant........ toilet paper has more value.

The school have disscussed the issue with all students in all classes but weren't too keen on letting parents have much information.

I pointed out all the parents that now work or study ( thanks John Howard) that are now unable to walk their kids to school and won't know what has happend as kids don't always come home and tell their parents these things, they forget or they don't always understand the importance or they just want to go and play.

So I finally got them to say they will send out a basic letter but it may not state all the information due to legalities.

Huh??? Who cares about legalities? He is the one doing something wrong.

But anyways that's all good for now but if I am not happy with whatever letter makes it home or no letter makes it home, I will be making sure parents get told what really happened and that this man lives right there and wont be going away. That this is an ongoing danger for their kids........... the school wasn't too happy with that but agreed that I can do that as I am not tied up in their legality crap.

I was there, I saw him, I saw what he did and I have the right to tell whoever I want. To be honest it's not even a right, it's a duty to protect the kids and parents can't protect their kids if they don't know what is going on.

I'm sure every other parent at that school would rather know about it than have something happen later and find out the school knew about this guy but didn't warn them.

Blah, now to go and walk past where this guy lives ( no I don't know specific house number but I know within which block) hope he is outside so I can slap him ( ok maybe not, I don't actually want to touch him) and go and pick up Miss B from school.

I WILL be taking my camera!!!!!

And my mobile.

Scarey Times

After obsessing and being told I am being overprotective by certain people I had almost decided that at nearly 13 Miss B could possibly be let walk to and from school on her own.

Realistically Miss B is responsible enough to do this although I do have concerns about one of the busy roads between our house and the school.
This was all settling in my brain as being something I have to let her do in order to let her grow up and become independant.

That was until I picked her up from school today.

There was a man standing by the school fence as I walked through the gate. As I met up with Miss B,
I was also approached by two teachers who had come out to make sure the kids left ok as this man had been taking pictures of the kids and making inappropriate suggestions to them.
The police were called but meanwhile the man was still standing there and had decided to put his hand down his pants and have a play right there in front of us. He had no problem that we knew what he was doing and seemed in no rush to leave. He had this big smile on his face. Ewwwwwwwwww.


I left with Miss B and somehow the walking home from school on her own doesn't look like it will be happening anytime soon.

Miss B suddenly seems more than happy to have an overprotective mother who picks her up and embarrasses her in front of her friends as she is totally aware of what sorts of things this man may have decided to do if there were no other adults around. He really scared her.

I will also be making a request to the school that teachers watch this exit point to the school as it is often left unsupervised as fewer children seem to use it................ all the more reason to watch it.

Ok Knitting.......... um a little more of the beanie got done..... I normally would have finished it but a book distrated me........ funny about that.

Sneaky knitterly things

Knitting seems to be incredibly sneaky at the moment. Seemingly all on it's own a beanie has been started, nothing to do with the fact that I have a couple of busses to catch later and want something I don't need to concentrate on........

And resurfacing from wherever it was hiding is the blue opal sock.

I'm still not sure that I totally love this but I am liking how it looked knitted in rib a lot more than I liked it plain.


Even more sneaky was the book that followed me home on Sunday and insisted I start reading it straight away.

I am loving this book, I love how it is all what I would say about knitting, but said so much better than I could ever say it.

Go and say hi to Helen and Denise, they are new to blogland and I am hoping they are going to teach their cat to knit. ( Just so then it can teach my cats to knit and they can then do all the boring bits like cast on and sew up)

Studying = Startitis???

Studying sure seems to equal not much knitting and even less blogging. One essay is done, one presentation still needs to be done and a few other smaller pieces are still floating about. Hurry up holidays.

I also have a really strong desire to catch a million buses and go drool over some really nice yarn. I have more than enough yarn here and not enough time to knit it all, and yet this really wants to take priority over any study regardless of impending deadlines. EEEK!

Stolen from the fisherperson and ends sewn in we have finished mittens




And started instead of studying are the waffle socks




Another thing that seems to happen when I am studying is that I loose things and leave things behind in strange places.
So far this week I have lost my 4.5 mm dpn's, my blue opal socks and I have left my new magnetic board at the counter when I bought a hotdog.

Funny how I only seem to be loosing knitterly related things.............

Knitting in Public

I spent Sunday afternoon upstairs in the state library knitting for wwkipday. Lots of knitting got done and the shawl has grown.
I was inspired by other knitters and have a few more items in my possible to do list. Em was making some really cozy looking slippers and I want some.Tigers was making a scarf in some really scrummy looking yarn, the sort you just want to run off with and cuddle up to. Others were using colours I wouldn't normally choose myself, but I liked how they looked knitted up. All in all definately a day to consider new projects and I came home and reassessed the stash. Some yarn I wasn't so keen on may be resurected yet.

Mittens are done!

No I didn't run out of yarn, but I did stay up late to get them done so C could wear them fishing.
The seaming was horrid, one day I will learn how, till then I think I will stick with making things in the round.
Having said that, C loved them so much I didn't get a pic before he ran off with them, a couple of metres of yarn still attached and not one end sewn in. He just shoved any excess bits into the mitten and off he went.
I guess fish don't need impressing.

Men have big hands..........

I am making a pair of mittens for C and am only half way through the first one and look like I will be running out of yarn.

It seems I am trying to race the yarn to the finish............. eeek.

Quick pics _ trade swap possibilities

It seems Wednesday is to be our swap meet here in Adelaide.
So of course I have been raiding the stash and trying to decide what can be sold or traded and what I really really have to keep. Shhhhhhh about the stuff I am too embarrassed to admit I own.

Cleckheaton Fabfur 2 balls
I made Miss B a hat from this once, she loved it so much I went and bought more, then of course never got around to making another. I still have part of a ball from the first hat left .


Cleckheaton Taboo 3 balls Grey
I think I was thinking a scarf for this and then decided it was too dark for what I wanted.

Panda Finesse 10 balls

Enough to make a jumper/cardi

I like red...... but on other people.

For some reason I still buy it every now and again, I just don't ever wear it.

There is probably more if I dig around but I haven't totaly decided what I am ready to part with.

SPAM!!!

Argh, over the weekend I seem to have an additional 150 annonymous comments that of course have nothing much to do with knitting or any craft. I have changed my settings to include word verification.

Alpaca, socks and a cat

Tempting Alpaca, I am still hunting around for patterns. This yarn is sooooo soft I want to make something really really nice. I'm not sure exactly what yet but I will know it when I see it.




Lucy stalking the grass and avoiding the camera

And stripey socks, hotsocks from lincraft, are done!!!

Now after saying I will never knit another pair of gloves, C came home from work saying his hands are cold can I make him a pair of gloves.

Hmmm nope I don't think so. Mittens have been started though.... don't hold your breath.

The Boss is mean.

On Sunday, Miss B, C and I spent the afternoon in Hahndorf ( a totaly touristy German village in the Adelaide Hills) where they sell gorgeous Alpaca yarn.
Amongst rolled eyes from Miss B and glares from C I bought myself 10 balls of alpaca yarn and spent a fortune in the process.

Monday morning I of course tell my friend all about the weekends stash enhancement and cringe at the expense.
Monday night she tells her husband who also happens to be my boss.

Tuesday morning the boss decides to be Cruel funny and send another coworker to torment me.
Coworker comes up to me and starts asking about yarn, saying alpaca isn't anything special is it? It's pretty cheap stuff isn't it???
I ask why.
She says Oh I just sold some on the weekend for 50cents a ball.
I just looked at her and told her to run..... run very fast.

A bit later on the Boss comes out giggling like a little kid, very amuzed with himself.
Cheeky bugger kept giggling all day.

It's ok Mr Boss person, I may just forget your Turkish Delight addiction next Easter and give you a ball of alpaca instead.

Wandering sidebar

I seem to have lost whatever it was I had in my sidebar, my computer decided to have a snooze halfway through publishing a post and it all dissapeared.
At the moment I am having a bit of trouble remembering what was in there. Links to blogs of course and finished objects, but what else???

Reminders are welcome as well as any suggestions :)

Pictures

Green Hat???


Shawl, Seems to be coming out very small.
Might have something to do with not using recomended yarn or needles.
Still pretty though:)

Startitis hits

It seems the more homework and assignments I have to do the less settled I am and the less I stick to any one thing.
This results in little or no progress on current wip's and the start of a couple of new ones.

A green varigated hat......... really not sure if I like how it is knitting up but I loved the colours in the ball.

Evelyn A. Clark's Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style, got to love the library for that one.
I seem to be doing ok on this one after mixing it up a bit in the beginning.
Lets just say I found it is possible to do a yarn over wrongly. So the first repeat doesn't have the lacy little holes it is meant to. So far I am pretty happy with it.

Rogue has just been sitting there waiting for me to attatch another ball of yarn.

Stripey socks have a heel so they might end up finished soonish.

I think I need to start using progress bars for my assignments although it would probably scare me too much. Most of them are at the " have books" stage and not much further.

A quick thankyou post

As I was trying to type that last post I kept getting new mail messages coming in........seems all us Aussies have picked up the kids from school and got on line :)

Thankyou to everyone who commented or e mailed with get well wishes.
I am feeling a lot better than I did. Just a little frustrated with all of our wonderful technology being unable to tell me what is actually wrong.
At least I know what it isn't............ LOL


Anyways I'm off to drool over that shade card and imagine the perfect jumper.........

Not quite so crappy

Just still a little sore but definately able to think about knitting.
I recieved my copy of interweave knits today and am seriously wondering if I will bother to re subscribe. This is the second issue in a row that nothing has really got my attention. I just have this fear that if I stop getting it, it will suddenly be full of fantastic patterns. Maybe they do this so I actually finish some of the things I have started.

I ripped the P socks and have decided they will be done with different yarn and on circular needles to try and beat the big gaps I get between dpn's with patterned socks. The circs should be in the mail soon.

Very tempting is the colour card from Bendigo wollen mills.
So many beautiful colours to choose from and they don't charge postage if you order over $30.............

Crappy crappy crappy

Headache and sniffly nose is what I have left after staying in hospital a couple of days earlier in the week. I went in with pain and left with a bonus cold along with some residual pain. Not quite what I had planned.
No knitting happened while I was there but a little has happend since I came home.

So I have one striping sock done and am almost to the heel on the second sock.

I am seriously thinking about frogging the P socks , I don't like the holes that sit between the needles.

And Rogue.......... I love the cables, but am really not happy with the striping from the two dyelots. Perhaps I could dye the whole thing after.


Oh and I got my Lynx clicker in the mail. Just have to keep it away from C and Miss B.

Rogue

I am loving the cables on this.
I am also loving the stocking stitch in between so I don't have to be thinking the whole time I am knitting.
There is some striping as I am using two different dyelots........ one from a garage sale and the other from spotlight. I am changing yarns every two rows but it is still showing.
Once I wash it and wear it and get it all grubby myself it should all work out.

I can't wait to have this finished and wear it.

While shopping for a friend's birthday present I found this.........

MOOOOOOOOOO!!!

A box

First day back at Tafe and I'm feeling overwhelmed already with the amount of homework and assignments being handed out and that was just in one class!

After class I decided to have a look about in a second hand store and under the dust found this






It needs cleaning up but I can see it being a perfect storage spot for all those little bits that seem to have legs of their own, stitch markers, cable needles, scissors and tape measures.

Now homework for an hour so I can justify the time I intend spending on knitting tonight:)

Jaywalker 3

Pics taken in the middle of the night ( almost) and a little news.

My brother has resurfaced along with his phone and is still wanting to come and surprise mum. Lets just hope he doesn't change his mind and vanish again.

Zooming along

It seems all I needed to get past my dose of unsettledness was to accept it and acknowledge the cause of it. The knowledge of an upcoming knitting get together might have helped too.

Miss B and I spent Sunday afternoon at the State Library Kiosk with lots of knitters. I met some new people and got to know others a little better and just feel I was with others who understand and are happy to talk while they knit. No one expects you to put your knitting down and be polite because no one thinks that knitting while you are talking is rude........ Bliss.

Miss B's Jaywalkers are done and I have started on another sock. This time a self striping yarn in pinks and purples, hotsocks from Lincraft. I love it so much I had to go back and buy myself another ball.

Unsettledness.

I am still knitting Miss B's Jaywalkers, just very slowly.
Unlike many knitters who seem to find their knitting soothing when their brain is all flustered, I find I seem to freeze. I sit there holding my knitting , but don't actually seem to move my hands, my brain is just too distracted.

The cause of this is my little brother. ........ He isn't actually very little 6" something plus and 26 years old.
I hadn't seen him or had any contact with him for 8 years and recently contacted him.He has been living in Sydney where as I am here in Adelaide. We spoke on the phone and exchanged text messages.

I told him I wanted to arrange for him to come home to Adelaide and surprise mum for her birthday. She turns 50 this year.
He was all eager and excited and would have come down straight away except her birthday isn't til May.

Now it is nearly May and I can't get hold of him. I want to arrange his transport here and what dates he will be staying and I can't get through on either of the mobile numbers he had given me. Both phones go straight to message service when I try and call and he hasn't responded to any text messages. I have been trying for a week. It's possible he is out of range of the phone service , but I hate not knowing.

I know mum doesn't know what I am trying to arrange, but I still don't want this to all fall apart and let her down and neither do I want to disappoint Miss B. She has been looking forward to seeing her uncle.
I feel all flustered and floundering and unsettled.

Looks like I'm back to where I was when I first tried to get in contact with him.
Back to the humble letter delivered by Australia Post.
So much for technology.

I'm really not sure.......

About the gloves, I'm not sure what I want to do.

I could re knit one and make them match, but I really hated knitting either of them and am not keen to repeat the experience just yet. Right now I don't like they golves or the yarn.

A burning ceremony was suggested....... sounds like it could be fun, epecially if you add some marshmallows to the mix.

Either way I am not fussed, I am just happy to get them off the list of WIP's, they had been sitting around for way too long.

For now they are just sitting in a basket, a reminder for me to knit socks, mittens or gloves together.

Ummmmmmmm

It would seem I wasn't the only one who decided to set myself a deadline or mimimum limit of how much I had to knit this weekend before I could move on to something else. Tigers also set herself a knitting minimum of getting to the heels of her socks before casting on another pair.

I set myself a goal of finishing those Zhivago gloves that have been sitting around forever and getting the leg of the Jaywalker sock done.

I managed to complete the challenge, but look what happened...........







Ummmmmm............ are you speechless???

I was.


The big glove was knit first, I am guessing about 6 months ago.
It was also knit flat.
After knitting it flat and having to seam all those fingers, I hated it and ignored it.
When I came back to do the second one I decided to avoid seaming and knit the glove on dpn's in the round. This worked in theory......... just gave me a totally different gauge. That and the amount of time left in between. OOOOPs.

Lessons learnt..........
*I hate knitting fingers and will probably never make another pair of gloves
* I will happily make mittens
* Must make mittens immediately after one another to solve sizing issues.
* Dpn's are definitely the way to go........... I hate seaming .

It's cold

No idea on the actual temperature but it's just after 5 pm and I want to put the heater on already.

Miss B and I were pretty cold while out and about this morning as well. ( sneaky little trip to get some cleckheaton country 12 ply for beanies sugar.)

You would think this would be perfect for doing some knitting.
Somehow my hands don't think so, they are blue from cold.

Instead I have been drooling over other bloggers knitting and ignoring my own.
And looking at the projects in the upcoming interweave knits. Nothing I absolutely love, but Interweave patterns have a way of growing on me.
Vogue Knitting on the other hand just kind of scared me.

We have pics :)

It really helps when you actually plug the cord in properly and don't just whinge about the ports not working............. oooops.
So there was nothing wrong with anything except that I couldn't see the back of the computer. After climbing all over the desk to reach the stupid place things need to be plugged in we have..........

Spotlight yarn $2.99 a ball.

Two balls later we have a completed Shedir.





And after some grafting we have a finished Jaywalker 3.

I have cast on for the second one so Miss B may get a complete pair sometime this year.

She would have had more hope if Lincraft didn't have Hotsocks self patterning yarn 100g at a very nice price.

Where have the pictures gone?

Seems the pictures are still in the camera. After swapping cords and usb ports with the printer and finally getting the printer kind of working, I am not ready to swap it all again just yet so pictures will have to wait.

But I have finished Shedir.

I used two balls of spotlight brand pure wool in the olive colour.
3.25 mm circ and dpn's.
Very sore hands.

I figured as I don't actually wear hats and just wanted to see if I could follow the pattern and make cables it would be fine to substitute a less expensive yarn.

I was pleasantly surprised, for a low cost yarn it feels nice to knit with.

Sock dramas.

Last night when I had only the last 16 rows of the toe to knit on the Jaywalker sock, I decided it would be a good time to get Miss B to try on the sock.

I have made two pairs previously and they were fine, so I honestly wasn't expecting much to happen except perhaps to be told to hurry up and finish them. Nope Miss B turns around and says "I can't get it on my foot".

Blah! What the???

I have spent all that time knitting a sock that will fit neither of us.

I wanted to cry.

I knit some more of shedir and kept glancing at the sock.
Nearly an hour later I got up and got out the other Jaywalkers and compared.

They look right, they are the same size.
Admitedly the other ones made of Patonyle seem to stretch a little easier, yet they both stretch to the same point.

I tried the sock on.

It fits fine.

You have to totally scrunch up the foot to get it over the heel, typical Jaywalker quirk, but it's fine.

Miss B had wanted to go off and watch tv so she just kind of rushed so of course it wouldn't go on her foot.

Sheeeeeeeeesh I think I might keep these socks for myself after all that.

P socks started........

Blah, what is it with dpn's and pearl stitches? I get big holes.
The start of the repeat in the middle of the needle looks fine, but the one where I go from one needle to the other is crap. I just don't seem to be able to keep the tension even going between needles.

Perhaps I'll try this on a circular and just hope that going down from 2.75mm to 2.25 mm doesn't make the sock too small.

I really like the look of all those gorgeous P socks I have seen on other blogs and really want a pair for myself. So I will just have to mess about with needles and yarn for a bit.







Something that did work was adding candles and crystals to the shells we collected when we saw Great Grandma last month.

And the shells I brought back over the New Year.

Catching up

Finally a pic of Tubey. I still have to get a better one later, but it will do for now.

I still haven't decided on yarn for the P socks and I have been totally ignoring the jaywalkers. Bad I know.

But I have been knitting the hat. It's not just a hat really, it's Shedir.
I was too scared that I wouldn't be able to do cables so I just called it a hat to make it seem not so hard.

I am loving the cables, but my hands aren't which is making for really slow progress. Especially on the rows where you cross just about every stitch over.
I may have to learn how to cable without a cable needle one day. Perhaps that would speen things up.

The New Magknits is up. Go take a peek.
I'm not sure I'd actually wear it but the Nezumi is pretty cute. I could make it just for fun. Actually I could see Miss B running off with it.

Startitis has hit

It is 7am on Saturday morning and I have already knit a couple of rows on the brown scarf , picked up Jaywalkers 3 and got on line to drool over the Pomotomus socks on Knitty.

These socks have been sneakily calling me for a while, but now I may as well admit it, I am going to make them.
I was trying to keep my WIP list down, it's nice to only have a couple of things going and see them get finished. But I was right, after finishing Tubey, I just want to start everything I was ignoring before.

Now I just have to choose some yarn. What colour??? I'm thinking a solid colour would show the pattern better. Teal patonyle? Burgundy sock something or other? Guess i'll go and look, see what else is in the stash.