Booga Bag a FO

Inspired by Tigers recent felted bag addiction I decided to raid the stash and play along.

Booga bag
5.5 mm needles
4 balls of Vintage Hues
I used Wendyknits mods for a bigger booga bag although I picked up more stitches along the sides of the base because somehow a different number popped into my head. OK it would be because I read the pattern the night before and thought I remembered the numbers and didn't bother to check. Lazy I know. It's holidays and I am allowed to be.
Anyway it worked out and I am happy with it.

Over The Fence

I have been meaning to chat in Over The Fence for so long and I awlays keep forgetting that it is Tuesday night. Usually I remember about Thursday but this week I actually remembered.

It was lovely to chat and get to know other knitters a little.

Rell, Red, Wombat, Brighidskiss, Kelebek , Z and Pips. Thankyou all for being so welcoming.

I fully intend dropping in again next week.

Now to go and knit with help from my assistant.....

Sneaky surprise mail

Last week I snaffled some yarn from Donna in a ravelry destash. Her stash is so much fun to raid.

Blue Zephyr.

One day I will be brave enough to play with this and not just pet it and drool over Victorian Lace Today.

Blue Grignasco Tango.
More blue, I have been working with pinks and purples and reds, which I love, but I needed something different to look at.

Also in the package was a present.
Who can argue with having a Birthday when surprises get added to your parcels?

Not me that's for sure. I think I need more Birthdays in a year.

Miss B has been needle felting and here is her latest creation.

Inspired by the Twilight series : Aro.

Knitting again

It's been a while since I really knitted much of anything or even picked up the needles for a while there.
Lately the mojo seems to be coming back thanks to a visit to Tigers where I sat and knit and remembered how much I like it.
I have been working a little on Rogue.
I finished a pair of socks and a beanie.

Trekking Socks.

Usual 72st stocking stitch socks.

Turn a square beanie by Jared Flood.
Must bribe Miss B to model for more than 5 seconds.
I used Bendigo Rustic in Midnight Tweed gifted by Kate and leftover Noro. I don't like the brown so much but it was fun to make.


Which means it's also time to play with some new yarn and give in to startitis. I can't have the mojo running away again ;p

Jasmine by Kim Hargreaves.

Cotton.
Cotton in 4 ply.
Not may favourite thing to work with. It feels nice but kills my hands.

And Eastlake by Norah Gaughan.

Love. Love. Loving this.

So is Temperance.

I have kitty assistance everytime I pull this out.
I have never had a cat that liked yarn this much and it's very slow going.
Knit 3 stitches, save yarn from teeth, knit 3 stitches, save yarn from claws. Repeat.

The yarn is incredibly soft and squishy so I can hardly blame her for liking it so much.

Temperance

I have been thinking about getting another cat for a while but wasn't quite ready. I even looked at bunnies for a while. Black Kit Kit bunnies. That was the whole problem, whatever animal I looked at I wanted it to be Kit. I wanted it to behave how Kit did, miow how Kit did and most of all love me how Kit did. Kit greeted me when I came home, slept with me and rarely sat with anyone else, not even Miss B. She had chosen me and that was it.

I adored her just as much and for a long time was lost without her. Nothing seemed to matter anymore.

Lucy spent her time between Miss B and me, gradually spending more time with me than Miss B.

I gradually stopped looking at black bunnies and looking for black kittens.

I played with kittens in the pet shop. Cute, affectionate, but somehow not quite right.

I looked at give away kittens in the next street. Cute under the dirt and fleas, but still not quite right.

Two days before Christmas we visited one of Miss B's school friends. Their cat had had kittens.
Christmas eve Temperance came to live with us.

Yarn overs aren't so bad.

I still don't love them and much prefer cables, but yarn overs sure do make a pretty baby cardy.

I still have the sleeves to sew up and some buttons to find, but the knitting is all done.

I also have to convince a friend to have a baby and that it would be a really good idea if that baby was a girl ;p

Babies and Yarn Overs

I really seem to have trouble with yarn overs. I either forget to do them or I drop them way to

often for my knitting to look anything like how it is supposed to.

I know it is just a matter of practice and it probably wouldn't hurt if I stoped trying to watch tv at the same time. It's just that while I am knitting it is usually when I am also watching tv.

Elizabeth Zimmermann's February Baby Sweater has been on my list of one day I would like to make this list for a few years now, but I have never had a reason to make it and I wasn't about to play with yarn overs just for the sake of it. Sneaky dissappearing little things that they are.

Then I found out that my niece was pregnant. Out came the pattern and yarn. Out came lots of muttered swearing and two attempts later I have a collar and one sleeve.

It is actually looking like it is supposed to.

I may have done a happy dance or two around my loungeroom.

Then sister came over and told me that my niece had a baby boy. Eeeeek.

Can anyone suggest cute boy jumpers?

6 Things About Me

I have been tagged by Kate to do the the 6 Things About Me meme.

I think there are some rules about tagging six others once you are done and letting your tagee know when you have posted your 6 things.

Anyway, here goes.........

1. I forget passwords incredibly quickly.

5 seconds after I have thought of that word or phrase that I can't possibly forget - I have forgotten it. Yet I can ask Miss B my password from some thing I signed up for 6 months ago and she can remember it off the top of her head.

2. I read my horroscopes every day.

3. While I could now be sleeping in the middle of the bed seeing as I have it all to myself, I somehow find that I still stay on my side. I'm not complaining, making the bed is much easier this way.

4. I don't like my foods touching on the plate, unless it is gravy on top of my food.
I happily eat combinations of food, but I have to have been the one to combine them on my fork.


5. I don't mind doing laundry and washing dishes, but really dislike vacuuming.

6. I'd rather mow the lawn than vacuum. It doesn't have to be done as often and it has no weird corners or things in odd places to manouver around.

I think most people have done this now but if you haven't, then consider yourself tagged and let me know when you have posted. I'd love to read your 6 things.

Casting off, ripping and casting on.

Casting off - Porom.

I saw this on Brooklyntweed's blog and had to have it. I raided the stash for the totem I had bought last year when spotlight had a clearance.
Like any other hat I make Miss B gave it a nick name. This one is affectionately known as the onion hat.


Pattern by Jared Flood.
Yarn - Patons Totem 2 balls.
Needles - 4mm and 5 mm.


I ripped the purple Koolhaas. The Moda Vera Mousse is just too fuzzy and was looking worn out while still on the needles. So it is back in the stash and I am wondering if it would felt........

I have also cast on a something pink with yarnovers in it. I may just be crazy.

What Cobblestone?

Um the one folded up and stashed in a zip loc before being abandoned in the corner. Not only does it have wonky decreasing it has one arm longer than the other. Is anyone else getting the idea that this yarn may not want to be a Cobblestone?


After some encouragement from Tigers I dragged Rogue from it's abandonment and have gotten it back up to the arm shaping. It's really not so much fun the 2nd time around.









I finished the stripey socks








Yarn:Four Seasons Hot Socks - purchased at Lincraft a few years ago
Needles: 2.25mm
Pattern: Usual - cast on 72 sts.








Intended as something to look forward to after finishing Rogue






Berroco Inca Gold, this is scrummy stuff.

Rogue may be competing for knitting time with this.

Cobblestone hates me

Otherwise known as

'Just because it looks simple doesn't mean I don't have to concentrate'.



Cobblestone is done. Sort of.

Remember the ripping back because the neck was too long?

Yeah um. I ripped back and back and back. Then started again.

Then realised that back where I had ripped back to I had managed to also rip out a decrease row. So all this knitting has been happening on too many stitches.
I tried to fudge it and threw an extra decrease row in.......

But it looks crap.

All puckered and wrinkly.

Guess who gets to rip .......... again.......

Or shove Cobblestone in a corner and knit socks.

Plain stocking stitch socks.

And watch Lucy roll around in the sun.

Knitting in the black hole.

Garter stitch scrunches up on itself and no matter how often you measure it, it just doesn't seem to grow.

Until you knit 3 inches past where you should be.

Let's rip and re do. Argh.

Pink anyone?

Apart from missing Kit incredibly and not feeling overly motivated to do much without her supervision, I somehow got it into my head that Cobblestone is almost finished and I shouldn't blog until it is done.

This sounded good in my head but really doesn't work when I actually want to blog but Cobblestone still isn't done. So I am blogging and somehow everything I have been knitting is pink.



I wasn't wearing my first pair of Fetchings at the original length, so I ripped back the cast off and extended them. Now I think I may wear them out.



I finished Elbac finally. Ribbing and cables take forever,but the end result is worth it. I love, love, love this scarf.



An example of knitterly logic.

Cobblestone is taking forever to knit, so lets throw in a quick project. Lets make a beanie when I still don't wear beanies I just like making them. Lets ignore the fact that Cobblestone isn't being knit in the time I am knitting a beanie.
I finished the beanie, looked over at Cobblestone and wonder why it is taking so long to be done...........

A daytime class option would have been nice.

Tafe offers their multimedia subject in two ways.

A) A 1 week block (think brain overload)in the shcool holidays or

B) One class a week for the term.(more realistic as far as having time to absorb the information)

The problem with spreading it out over a term is that then it is only offered as a night class. Leaving Miss B home alone every Tuesday night and coming home myself, by train, alone and in the dark was not an option.

So Miss B spent the week with her nanna and I left my brain in the classroom amonst all the electronic components.

The advantage being that I was so busy in class that I had no time to just stay home and sulk.
When I came home and did sulk and stomp about, Miss B wasn't there to see it.

Lucy our other cat was pretty thrown by the sudden changes. Kit gone. Miss B gone. Me being gone all day and getting home later than usual. She made herself very comfy on my lap when I got home each night.

I loved the class, my brain exploded several times, and I managed to get all the tasks done. I also passed the prac test that we were all scared of . YAY!!!

Our lecturer John was fantastic!

Patient, understanding, non critical, approachable.

While he obvioulsy knows his stuff, he never once made anyone feel silly for not being familiar with the equipement.
He didn't expect us to understand it all instantly and explained things as many times as we needed.He explained things simply, yet never came accross as condescending.
He would tell us what wasn't working and leave us to think about what line was wrong, letting us figure it out for ourselves, but was always there when we got totally confuzzled and needed more explanation.
We must have driven him nuts, yet he never got flusterred or irritated. Even when we had wired up something totally back to front and inside out.

Now to clone him and have him lecture the other subjects..........

Kit was my favourite.

I know parents aren't supposed to have favourites amongst thier children, but does that rule apply when it comes to cats?

My scaredy cat Kit, who runs and hides from people let alone cars, somehow managed to get hit by a car last weekend.

We burried her in her sunny spot, but it doesn't feel real yet.

Coming home to her not being here is strange.
I keep expecting her to walk in and have her miow at me for being out all day.
Or to come sit on the keyboard so I stop studying and pay her some attention.
Or something.

I can't believe how much I miss her.

Rogue? What Rogue?

Do you remember Rogue?


That happy red blob that was knitting up so fast and squishily.

It went to the beach to have it's picture taken and then just vanished.

It is too small. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!.

Today is the day I face it.


I will be the one in the corner surrounded by the pile of frogged red yarn.

Family History and the Cemetery

One of the other things that has been recently distracting me has been family history.
Part of puttting the pieces together is either going to the cemetery or looking at the records.

Wandering around the graveyard and praying that your relative is not the one burried under the unreadable headstone, wondering if you will be able to find it at all and secretly hoping the headstone says a litttle more than just the date of death is all part of the process.

Time consuming, fascinating and frustratitng as the procedure can be, I accept all of this as part of the search.

What I didn't like was when I went to search for a relative in the Cheltenham Cemetary here in Adelaide, was that there are no searchable records accessable to the public.

No link via the council pages.

No nothing.

The way to access information for this particular cemetery is to contact their admin office, put your request in writing along with a fee and wait four weeks for a reply.

I have to say this disgusts me.

I have been able to search every other cemetery for free. I haven't come accross this before and it has totally thrown me.

What happens to those who have travelled to search for relatives? They don't have four weeks to wait for a reply.

What if the relative isn't burried in that particular cemetery? Is it fair to be charged for this?

What if? What if?

The records are obviously there. Why are they not available to the public?

I really feel that this information should be freely given.

What say you?

And another project begins

I met up with Kate, Em, Helen, Denise and others for WWKIP Day.

Of course everything I have on the needles requires concentration throughout the whole project, or it is at the point where concentration is required.

So what did I do?

Cast on a new pair of socks.......

A busy week

Last weekend Miss B and I went to the Spinners and Weavers open day at Little Hampton with Miss A and Tigers.

Dispite the yarn and ready made knitwear on offer, I found most of it just wasn't me. I did find myself fascinated with the bits and pieces in the stall offering shawlpins, tapemeasures and earing holders though.

What did others think of the offerings???

I finally got Miss B to stand still for 5 seconds and model Black Black Black.




She loves it.



The Bendigo Classic seems to pick up and hold every bit of fluff and fur possible. It probably would have looked better knitted at a tighter gauge and I really don't like the neck. It's what Miss B wants though so I guess for now it stays.




I finished my fetchings.

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in Black - 1 and a bit balls leftover from making Tubey.

Needles: 4mm dpns.

I had a discussion on Stash with a class mate.

Hi Marcus :)

His mother is a quilter and therefore he totally understands the concept of stash.

There is no such thing as too much stash, there is only the question of having enough for a particular project.

Usually you don't have enough of a particular item and therefore purchasing more stash is entirely appropriate.

Marcus's Mum has taught him well!!!!

I started Elbac

and I received an Options Folder with I managed to snaffle in the Destash Thread on Ravelry.

Thanks Barb!!!

Snug feet

I finished the Thuja's just in time for the cold nights. I think I have made 3 or 4 pairs of these now, and each pair I love more than the last. Probably something to do with knowing in advance how snuggly they are going to when they are done.

Pattern: Thuja

Yarn: 2.5 balls Cleckheaton Country 8ply -Burgundy

Needles: 4mm dpn's

Also finally cast off, seamed, washed and drying is Black Black Black. Miss B's never ending black jumper.

Hopefully I can talk Miss B into modelling over the weekend.

All this finishing, I think it's time to cast on some fetchings