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???