Monday, December 19, 2005

Secret Santa Spoilt Me

As mentioned before, my knitting group did Secret Santa at our last get together and the lovely Cindy was my Secret Santa and boy did she spoil me rotten, just look at these lovelies:

A sock tote, handmade by
Cindy, just the thing for taking your latest sock project with you wherever you go. I think she should start selling these as they are so handy.

Some lovely little Christmas buttons and an ornament for my Christmas tree, hand stitched what's more!! But wait there is more

These beautiful socks that she knitted for me as well and there are some lovely little cat paw patterns knitted in which doesn't show up in the photo, she had made them with Tabby in mind but now these socks will be in memory of two little cats. Cindy said that she found the pattern on the internet that someone had designed to use in memory of their beloved cat who had died. So a huge big thankyou to my Secret Santa, who is no longer a secret, your lovely gifts are very much appreciated. There was one more thing in my parcel but they are long gone in a family of five who had visitors over the weekend, some divine chocolate fudge YUM!!

Now would you believe it, I was Secret Santa to Cindy so now I can reveal what I had been working on for her, if you know her then you will know that she only wears green in all its delightful shades so that was easy and then she mentioned once that she was really starting to like scarves so together with my favourite stitch pattern in the whole world here is the end result.


Last but definately not least a huge big hug from me to everyone who has left me kind messages about the little kitten, you have confirmed what I always knew that knitters are the most generous, caring people, it must be all that love that we put into our creations. God bless you all and thankyou from the bottom of my heart.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Little Tiger Didn't Make It

I was going to post about our final Stitch and Bitch meeting for the year and about the wonderful presents that my secret santa made for me but as the title suggests the little kitten didn't pull through despite my best efforts. He didn't suck the best and it was rather difficult feeding him, maybe that is why his mother abandoned him in the first place, it is amazing how animals have this sense of when their offspring are too weak too survive.
Rest in peace little Tiger.

Friday, December 09, 2005

Look What Found Us



You may remember a few weeks back our beloved cat Tabby disappeared and that I had promised my kids that after the Christmas/New Year period we would go and pick out a new kitten. Would you believe that a stray cat decided to dump a 2-3 week old kitten in our garage and do a runner, I am sure there is a sign out the front of our house in cat language saying stray cats wanted we would love to take you in, as every cat we have ever owned in this house has been a stray. Well anyway getting back to this little 'tiger' he is being fed with a bottle of special kitten formula, which is a slow process but as in the photo he has taken to the teddy that the kids put in his bed and sucks on that for comfort and the bottle for food only. He may or may not survive but we are certainly hoping that he will. So please excuse my lack of knitting posts as I have found my knitting has taken a back seat to this little fellow until I get him over the next couple of weeks.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Rowan Denim

I borrowed Fishermen's Sweaters by Alice Starmore from the library last year and went into raptures over Mystic, which became a 'must knit.'

It has a beautiful aran pattern complete with knitted anchors and is knitted in Rowan Denim and the pattern requires 25 balls which I thought at the time 'no problem I will find where I can get some from and knit it up.' Ha!! who was I kidding, to buy it here in Australia it was going to cost well over $300 plus postage, so that idea went straight out the window and the book went back to the library. Yes I could have knitted in other yarn but as the jumper was designed for that specific yarn and as Rowan Denim shrinks considerably I wasn't game enough to modify the pattern. So Mystic was going to be shelved indefinately, or so I thought, then I discovered THIS EBAY STORE in the UK. While still being a very expensive yarn, I could buy it for less than half the price of buying it within Australia, including postage from the UK. I showed DH and he said to go ahead and order it if I wanted it, which I did straight away before he changed his mind.

It has arrived and although I am very tempted to cast on, I must finish all UFO's first and besides as Mystic has such a seaside theme it will be a perfect holiday project and being 100% cotton should be quite okay to knit over summer. I have said to DH that it can be my Christmas present this year as nothing else could top Rowan Denim, now only a knitter would say that!!!!

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Introducing Jayde


Yesterday was the Christmas get together for our Launceston Stitch and Bitch group and yesterday I witnessed something so kind and thoughtful it not only bought a tear to my eye but made me realise what a special knitting group I belong to. The lovely KATT made us all one of these beautiful little babies, each one different, she has posted a picture on her blog of them all HERE her daughter, sorry can't remember which one, named all the girls and mine was Jayde so I am keeping that name as she looks like a Jayde to me. I spell my girls Jayde with a 'y' as one of my friends has a son named Jade. So as you can probably tell I was pretty chuffed with her 'secret project' that she has been mentioning in her blog.

But wait there was more happening at this great party, yummy food, a bit of knitting, of course even if not as much as usual, CINDY made us all a lovely little Christmas coaster/tree ornament together with handmade cards. Speaking of CINDY she is not well at the moment so she only stayed for a short while, I hope you are feeling better soon especially for our final get together for the year in two weeks time. A lovely bag of goodies from Sandra and to top it all off we had a prize draw which I was lucky enough to win and look what was in the bag:

Isn't he so adorable, look at those eyes, I think I may have lost him though, Ashley took him to bed with him last night and has also named him 'Doggy' and has been carrying him around with him everywhere this morning.

So do I belong to a special knitting group or what?? It is 12 months now since I stumbled across this great bunch of people and I look so forward to our meet-ups and chats on line, you are a terrific bunch of gals!!!! Suzi, Sandra, Margaret, Katt, Cathy, Cindy & Eileen.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Ribby Progress

I have listed my WIPs or UFOs over at UFOs Anonymous hoping I will get my act into gear to get them finished, I will do the same here:

1.Falling Leaves socks
2.Zhivago Sleeveless Vest
3.Lacy Shrug
4.Ribby Cardi

I finished Zhivago Sleeveless vest and have sewn it up and I just need to sew in the ends and it is finished, hope to wear it tomorrow to SnB if the weather is warm. I am now working on Ribby because I feel in a plain stitch knitting mood and I really like the way it is turning out.



On weekends I try to check out my favourite blogs and knitting forums, this time I found a fellow Tasmanian blogger on a US knitting forum go check her out here. I wonder if she belongs to a knitting group? I noticed in todays Examiner that Strathcare will be holding a Knit-in on Wednesday from 1pm until 3.30 in the Bowen Room at the Derwent Entertainment Centre in Hobart. Does anyone know anything about this??

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Another Pair Of Socks


Another pair of opal socks completed, I have lost count how many of these I have made and given away as presents. My friend was very appreciative of hers especially as she used to knit, until cross stitch took over, and she at least understands that these little babies aren't whipped up in a few hours. Now I am going to finish some UFOs that are hanging around taking up room in my knitting basket.

Now onto a completely different subject, the kids have all left for school and I am in an extremely bad mood so I will let off steam here, I do so much running around for them, taking them here picking them up from there and I seem to be constantly tidying up after them and when I finally 'spit it' because of their behaviour of a morning, they all walk out the door as if I am the biggest bitch that ever lived, can you believe it?? Janelle is an early riser and therefore is ready way before her brothers and then she seems to delight in antagonising them while they are trying to get ready and they of course have to bite back and then there is this huge fight happening. I know this happens in households everywhere and it is the end of the year and we are all ready for a holiday but I am still pissed off just the same!!!

Now I am going to go and have a very strong cup of coffee and knit a few rows, there is nothing like knitting and coffee to calm the soul.

Friday, November 18, 2005

I've Finished!!!!




If anyone has been wondering where I have been check out the photos, I have been busy, baking lamingtons, making chocolates, chocolate fudge and of course knitting the hackey sacks for the school fair which is on tonight. It will be nice to get back to doing some catching up on reading my favourite blogs and forums and knitting something other than hackey sacks. I still have to finish my friends socks this weekend as her birthday is on Tuesday, I only have the foot to do so heres hoping I can tick those off my 'to finish' list which unfortunately seems to be growing (note to self: must stop starting things!!)

My little sister is 23 today, I hope she has a great day as I know our birthdays are always tinged with a bit of sadness, as our mother is no longer here to celebrate with us, it must be hard for my sister as she was only 18 when mum died, but that being said she is a very strong person and copes very well probably a lot better than me sometimes.

Anyway I must go and deliver my goodies to the school and get ready for the fun of the fair.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Bendigo Woollen Mills Are Having A Sale


Bendigo Woollen Mills are having a sale and the big bargain buy would be the huge 25% off 8ply Classic a 100% machine washable pure wool,a 200 gram ball is now available for only $8.00. So yes as you can see my stash has been enhanced and as the sale doesn't end until 16th December there will be plenty of time to place another order I am sure. Janelle would like one of those trendy aviator hats so that is what I have in mind to do make with this wool.

On the knitting front I am still knitting the hackey sacks and I am up to the heel on the second sock for my friends birthday, I hope to have the socks finished this weekend but as usual around here our weekends are quite hectic and what I have planned and what actually happens are two entirely different matters.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Hackey Sacks

The kids school fair is coming up and Ashley is entering the peddlars parade, he is not quite sure what he wants to go as but he knows what he wants to sell, hackey sacks. Sure I said and went on a search for free patterns, there were a few for balls and bean bags so I knitted quite a few unsuccessful samples

So after scrapping all the samples I decided to sit down and together with the kids help who knew exactly the shape and size needed I started experimenting and finally ended up with these.

I used 8ply yarn from my leftover stash pile and knitted them on 3mm needles, and they are stuffed with bear pellets which I purchased from a craft store. The increase rows require a bit of patience but once they are done it is all garter stitch, oh and one more thing I wouldn't knit these on plastic needles that might easily break as there seems to be a fair bit of strain on the needles, I used my trusty old tortoise shells. The fair isn't until the 18th of this month so I still have a little bit of time left to make some more, I am also working on another pair of opal socks for a friends birthday on the 22nd, nothing like deadlines to push me to finish things. Anyway I have written the pattern out so if you need to make something quick and easy for fairs or for something to make as stocking fillers for Christmas you can find it here or there is a link in the side bar. Any questions, feel free to ask away.

Monday, November 07, 2005

Deloraine Craft Fair

Each long weekend in November, Deloraine hosts a craft fair which by Tasmanian standards is HUGE, this year there were 14 venues scattered throughout this small country town with hundreds of exhibitors displaying and selling their wares. As Cindy mentioned on her blog each year there is one craft that seems to dominate, this year it had to be beads, they were everywhere, in bracelets, necklaces, rings, just about every possible way there is to use beads. As a knitter who only dabbles in craftwork of any other kind my eyes are constantly searching for knitting or anything related to knitting, once again I was disappointed that this area is lacking. There was a stand selling beanies and scarves but they were your very predictable styles and colours and Flinders Island Fleece had their knitting yarn for sale. I did however stumle across this:

This was on a stall which had handmade handbags and silk scarves and in the corner in a basket was some hand dyed pure wool that this crafty lady had dyed herself, there is 150grams in this hank,I am not a pink person usually but this looked yummy enough to eat and I will wear pink when teamed with black but as Janelle is definately a pink girl she will probably get something made from it. If I had no other commitments I would definately have a stall there and display 'modern knitting' in bright colours not so much to sell my wares but to let the 30,000 people who pass through this fair over the four days that knitting has definately changed and that you are only limited by your imagination and that knitting is definately more than plain old beanies and scarves. A girl can dream can't she!!!!

UPDATE ON TABBY
Unfortunately she is still missing so I think we can assume she is not coming back, thanks to all the lovely comments that everyone left regarding her.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Missing Presumed ????

About three years ago a little kitten walked through our back door and adopted us, we have cared for her ever since and she has become one of the family, but as the title suggests Tabby disappeared on Tuesday and hasn't been seen since. She would always be at the front door waiting for me whenever I had been out and as Tuesday was our Stitch and Bitch gathering I thought it strange when I returned home and she was not waiting for me. She would also wait with the kids every morning at the bus stop till their bus came, which by the way is out the front of our house, and then would sit on our fence looking down the road once the bus had come along and taken its passengers with it. It seemed to take a few minutes to register that they had gone for the day and then she would come back inside the house with me. As she has never been in the habit of wandering off I can only assume that she is no longer alive. Tabby featured unwittingly in one of my early blogging posts here It is all a bit sad and I only hope that she is at peace wherever she is and that we will all miss her very much.

Monday, October 31, 2005

Shimmer Shrug


Here is
Shimmer Shrug fromKnitty without me in it, I wasn't in a photo mood over the weekend, it is knitted in Bendigo Wool 5ply which I used double to achieve a worsted weight or 10ply depending on which part of the world you live in. I also shortened the sleeve length considerably, which I always have to do as I have short arms (and legs and body) but to me they could have been made even shorter, make note on pattern for next time. The best thing about this pattern was the sewing up or lack of more to the point, the only finishing was under the arms the rest was all knitted as you went, now that is my kind of knitting pattern.


Now you might recall I had a wonderful Secret Pal who spoilt me rotten during SP5, well of course we still keep in touch and the lovely Becky who lives in the UK was after some Cleckheaton baby patterns and asked me if I could be so kind as to send these over to her. Now as you may or may not know I LOVE Rowan yarn, but unfortunately in Australia it is so jolly expensive, so we decided to do a swap and I put my order in for some Rowan Yorkshire Tweed DK in Rowdy which I intend to knit into some genuine tweed socks over summer when it is too hot to knit big things, but look she suprised me with some beautiful Hayfield Imperial Chenille in a lovely velvet brown colour. Thanks Becky for a lovely swap, I hope you enjoy your parcel too.



I have also finished something that is a BIG secret, my knitting group is doing a secret santa for Christmas so we all have a person within the group to knit something for and I finished my present over the weekend. SHHHHH don't tell anyone!!!

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Look What Turned Up



The postman delivered the Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed I ordered from Ozeyarn and it is so yummy, the colour is Willow, so now I can start my very own Ribby and look I also got a free tote bag which is so roomy so that I can keep all the yarn, knitting and pattern in there. Did I resist temptation to cast on? Are you kidding no way Ribby is on the needles and started.

Must go now I am looking after my 4 year old nephew this morning so I don't think there will be any knitting being done.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Have You Noticed That Most Knitters Cook

Yesterday we had our Stitch and Bitch meet-up and of course most of our conversation was knitting and knitting related topics but food, or cooking was another hot topic. Cindy and her Chocolate Dessert Cake, my kids are going to love her for that one and Cathy and her Old Fashioned Rhubarb Cake which I know that my Dad will adore. Thanks ladies for sharing your recipes, pop on over to their blogs if you would like to see why my mouth was watering yesterday.

Something else I discovered yesterday was that my stash definately needs enhancing, my pathetic little plastic crate is not a patch on the amounts of yarn my fellow members have. So today the postman bought some parcels so I can now add to my poor excuse for a stash some lovely yarn which I purchased from The Knitting Yarn Shop. Now this is listed as premium seconds yarn but it is pure wool and I can't fault its quality. I have purchased 1.35kgs of the 10ply airforce blue and 600gms of the variegated 8ply in olive green which is absolutely beautiful and the photo does not do this lovely yarn justice, all for a very reasonable $49.50 including postage, what a bargain.

I am still waiting for the Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed to arrive so that I can knit the very popular Ribby it is apparently on its way so hopefully it will arrive soon. I probably wont start it this year now as it is starting to warm up a little but hey I do live in Tassie!!

Friday, October 14, 2005

V-Necks Grrrrrr


I finished the vest and I am very happy with it except for one thing:

I haven't made anything with a v-neck for quite a long time and I had forgotten that for a perfectionist (only with my knitting) like me they are a headache. This was the third attempt and I decided that I was never going to get it as neat as I wanted so here it is finished. So if anyone has a special tip for finishing v-necks please let me know, mind you it will probably be quite a while before I do another one. That being said I do like the pattern and style and it fits perfectly, sorry no one here to take a photo of me in it, it is the Devon vest from Jo Sharp Gathering and is knitted in Heirloom Heatherwood 8ply. I bought the pattern book and yarn using the gift voucher that my MIL gave me for my birthday. The book has some great patterns and I have another one picked out to make some time in the not too distant future, I can even use some yarn from my stash to knit it in so that is always a bonus. Anyway I am off for my Friday morning walk with Fiona which always gets rewarded with a coffee and muffin (light of course) afterwards.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

I Am Still Knitting

Thought it was time I let you know that I do live. What have I been doing? Well I am currently working on a vest with a fair isle pattern across the front and a shrug which I found over at Knitty and of course some Opal socks. I find socks so good for carrying with me wherever I go and can always do a couple of rounds while waiting to pick the kids up from 'somewhere' they have such busy lives I can't recall being involved in so many things when I was their age. I am up to the armhole and v-neck bands of the vest so as soon as it is finished I will post some pics. I promise I will!!

Friday, October 07, 2005

Katt Has A Problem

A really serious post this, my fellow SnBer and friend KATT has a problem go and give her some support over her serious addiction!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, October 03, 2005

Socks


I read somewhere on someones blog once about 'if this was a confession box I would be in deep....' well I can so relate to that because I have been a little quiet, not only blogging but reading my favourite blogs also. No excuses really just that some weeks I have more on than others or more specifically my children have more things on. I went to Salamanca market on Saturday with my GEMS girls group which was a lot of fun but also stressful at times keeping my group of 6 together and not losing any of them, they are 11 year olds so need I say more. We travelled by bus which was great because I actually got quite a bit of knitting done, I started another pair of opal socks especially to have some plain, transportable knitting to take. I finally have finished the other pair of opal socks for Fiona, which she absolutely loves and I have included a photo of them.

My fellow SnBer Cathy has this wonderful word 'STARTITIS' for whenever she has this urge to start lots of projects at the one time, and I do believe I am suffering from startitis big time. I have started 3 new projects and still have another 2 in my WIP basket, the trouble with Tasmanias weather at this time of the year is that you can get a cold winters day today and tomorrow it can be warm enough to wear t-shirts and then the next day can be back to thick woolly jumpers again. So I think that is what is creating this startitis problem, one day I want to knit spring inspired things and the next I am back into the nice warm things, anyway I have started a vest thinking that it may fit somewhere in between. On Tuesday we are having our SnB get together so the vest is what I will be taking along to that, we are meeting at the Muffin Kitchen which as the name suggests has the yummiest muffins, looking forward to it, anyway I must go now and put the silverside on in the slow cooker so the troops have something for dinner tonight.

Monday, September 26, 2005

My Labour Of Love Is Finished



Squirrel Jacket was finally finished last week I just have had a hard time getting the model and the jacket together when I have a few minutes to take some photos. He is not a very willing model might I add, hence the neck down shots, we compromised. I also wanted to take it along to SnB (knitting coven as Cindy calls it, I like the name, not saying that we are a bunch of witches??) to show it to everyone there first. It is knitted in Bendigo Woollen Mills Aran with Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran for the squirrels and other brown bits, everyone at SnB thought it funny that the squirrels cost more than the rest of the wool used in the jacket. I still can't say that I enjoy intarsia but a motif here or there is okay.

A huge big thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday, yes I had a great day on Saturday, well put it this way I spent a lot of time resting (recovering) on the couch yesterday. I was very spoilt with lots of lovely pressies, especially my new mobile phone from Geoff and the kids, which now has a knitted pig cover, of course and my MIL also gave me a gift voucher to spend at my LYS.

That is about it for now, I did receive some wool from Bendigo last week which I am itching to start but I must finish a couple of almost completed items first, I am going to be strict, till next time happy knitting.

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Saturday 24th of September, 1966

On this day in 1966 St Kilda played in and won the AFL (then VFL) Grand Final, against Collingwood and Jimi Hendrix arrived in England from Greenwich Village, soon to become a star, The Rolling Stones played at the Leeds Odeon and the great lady herself, Janis Joplin was playing at the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco. Oh and little ol' Shazza was born on this day, way back then. I am going to spend the day with my family watching the AFL Grand Final and sipping a glass or two of red, it would have been fantastic if my footy team were playing but that was not to be this year, there is always next year. As for today 'GO SWANS'

Thursday, September 22, 2005

This Little Piggy ..............

In our local newspaper each morning there are a number of catalogues selling all sorts of wonderful products, which of course DD grabs and finds many things to add to her 'I want' list. Well amongst this mornings offerings were of all things socks for mini ipods, now Janelle has been saving all her pocket money over the last 12 months to buy a mini ipod and so combined with the money she received for her birthday she could finally get one. You can see where this is heading can't you? Yes the socks were a 'I want them' and at $50 a packet for 5 socks, oh yes admittedly they were all in different colours, but hey that is still $10 each and who needs 5 anyway no matter how pretty. I could recall a cute little pig mobile phone cover in the Stitch 'N' Bitch Nation and thought that would do the job, showed DD, she loved it, so went and had a look in the stash and found a lovely bright pink Bendigo 8ply and voila, we now have a pig ipod cover. However no pig is complete without curly tail so I added a tail to him and now he is finished so if you would like to make him and add a tail this is what I did:
cast on loosely 10 sts
Row 1 (k1, k1 tbl, k1) in each stitch across
Row 2 Cast off purlwise.
Twist into shape, and there you have a little tail.

Monday, September 19, 2005

An Interesting Meme

The lovely Jacqueline has tagged me so here it is finally, weekends are always a bit hectic around here and I have to share the computer not only with the kids but DH as well.
THE RULES:
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five people to do the same.

'"Well as it turns out she had six different Harry Potter Lego sets, so we did a deal and I left there with the lot, for a good price might I add."'

Not as interesting as Jacquelines answer but I do remember being very happy indeed about picking up such a bargain, which the kids get a lot of fun out of.

Now the five people I have chosen to tag with this meme are:
KATT
2PAW
BECKY
RACHAEL
KITTENS MITTENS
If they want to that is.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Sock It To Me

Socks, I must knit socks, especially after seeing the fabulous new sock pattern over at KNITTY the socks are knitted toe up and I was going to make them to my own sock pattern and just adjust the stitches but the pattern is so easily written I figured it was a good way for me to learn. I am using Patons Patonyle knitted on 2.25mm needles, I always use my trusty old bamboo 2.5mm but as they are in use I had to use the smaller ones. The other sock is another opal, this time these are going to one of my dearest friends, remember the last pair I was working on for her I gave to MIL for her birthday, they are a suprise for her as she has always dropped little hints about having some of my handknitted socks so when finished I am going to post them to her so that she will get a nice little suprise in the mail.

Janelles opal socks in pink, what else, are done and dusted and I had to drag them off her feet to get this photo. I have knitted quite a few pairs of Opal socks and this is the second time that the printed pattern in the wool has turned back the other way, not happy when this happens as the wool is not cheap and you would expect better. I wound the wool so that at least the leg part of the socks matched as the feet will be hidden, but I am a perfectionist with my knitting so I am not 100% happy with them, but the main thing is that Janelle loves them so who cares?

Squirrel is 1/4 of the way sewn up, I love knitting, hate finishing but at least I have a bit of a deadline to get my act into gear, we are having a S'n'B on Tuesday and my fellow knitters want to see it FINISHED!!


Monday, September 12, 2005

Where Have I Been??

I do try and post every couple of days but the last week has just flown by and nothing has appeared here, but I did mention in the last entry that it is school holidays and that of course means that I have to fight three kids for the computer. I have however been busy knitting LOOK:


All the knitted pieces are finished now I have to block, which by the way I don't go to too much bother with blocking, I have always just used a damp tea towel and iron and voila my pieces are blocked. Purists are cringeing now but I find unless it is a very heavy lace pattern this is all that is needed and I always press on the wrong side of the piece. There are a lot of ends to sew in so that will take a while and then the final piecing together and sewing up, so hopefully by the end of the day I may just have a finished item. Must go now, I can feel eyes peering at me to see if I am off the computer yet!!

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

It's School Holidays Again

Yes it's that time again, but don't get the wrong idea here, I love school holidays. Yeah sure I have got the kids home but we have fun and as they are getting older they amuse themselves and if the weather is ok they spend a lot of time outside. The other thing I love is no routine, no clock watching YAY!! Which means that I can spend a bit more time doing what I love, knitting. I am currently working on some pink opal socks for Janelle and still the squirrel jacket for Ashley. I have started the sleeve which should knit up pretty quickly I can see that with each piece the intarsia squirrel is getting neater so perhaps I am improving here??? I still would never choose to do an all over intarsia knit 'a la Kaffee Fasset' I think they would have to come and take me away in a straight jacket!!

I have ordered some more yarn, yes I am a bad girl, the person I have been spoiling in SP5 is the lovely Jacqueline and she has made the ribby cardy from Chicknits and although I have seen many finished ribbys on blogs everywhere none has grabbed me like hers so I am going to make one in the exact same yarn and colour. As I said to her I am sure we will never be in the same room at the same time wearing the same cardi, would we??

Today is my local S'n'B get together, I look forward to these meetings so much, funny how we all understand the lure of needles and yarn and never grow tired of chatting about it as well as seeing what everyone has worked on over the last month or which great patterns have been 'discovered'

Friday, September 02, 2005

My SP Has Spoilt Me Again


This beautiful chunky hand dyed yarn is more green than the picture shows and it matches my lounge room beautifully. It is going to become a table runner on my coffee table so that I can constantly be reminded of my SP.

This is some lovely hand dyed yarn which is destined to become a pair of socks.

But wait there is more, look at all the goodies, I love all of them. I have had a wonderful person spoiling me, she has found such interesting and different gifts which has made the whole SP5 thing a wonderful experience for me, so I thank you so much. Now she also sent a seperate envelope with a note on the outside saying 'only to be opened when you need to know who I am! (no peeking!!)' Are you kidding I am dying to know who this special person is who knows all about me and I know nothing of her SO YES I PEEKED!!!!!!!! and I now know who my SP is and I am going over to her blog right now and start to find out a bit about her.

So a BIG THANKYOU BECKY for being a great secret pal and I know I have made a knitting friend for life.

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Birthday Photos

Here are some pictures from Janelles party on Friday, the girls had fun cooking with the gourmet sets, as you can see from the pictures you cook the meats and egg in your own individual pans and grill underneath. We toasted cheese, bacon, capsicum and spring onions on sliced french bread and cooked meatballs, chicken, bacon and egg in the pans. The sets I had are a bit different to the link that was on Fridays post but the same idea and they are now available in Australia, the ones I borrowed from MIL and her friend were bought in Holland years ago.




Here is the birthday girl with her cake, I ordered it from Wendys and I couldn't get a plain birthday one so I settled for this one, hoping it wasn't too young. She loved it and the icecream cake was delicious.

Friday, August 26, 2005

Happy Birthday Janelle XXX

Janelle turns 13 today, a teenager, where did that time go? The kids have a student free day today so she is inviting her friends around for lunch. She is having a gourmet which is very similar to a fondue only the food is grilled in its own little pans there is one here I have borrowed the gourmets, thanks to my MIL and her friend, as they are a tad expensive for the amount of times you would use them, but they are a lot of fun. Must go now to get ready for the lunch, if she lets me I will post some pics tomorrow, she is at that age where some things are cool and some are just not, photos of her on mums knitting blog mmmmmm not real cool!!! but then again you never know at this age they are all grown up one minute and then they are a little girl again the next.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Cup Cake Hat


After seeing this delightful little hat over at Emmas Blog I just had to make my own Cup Cake Hat for my new little niece, Haley. I embroidered some sprinkles on but it didn't seem to have the same effect as Emmas so I unpicked the embroidery and left it plain. The pattern also called for worsted weight (10ply) and as I didn't have any on hand I used 8ply and as it is for a 1 month old baby it didn't matter that it was slightly smaller. It is being modelled by my much loved teddy bear. My mum won him in a raffle a few years before I was born and as I am turning 39 next month that makes him pretty old in teddy bear years and if you look closely he is showing his age.


Saturday, August 20, 2005

I'm A Proud Mum


Today was the last day of soccer for my boys and although neither of their teams made the finals they both gave their all for their respective teams. Hayden received an extra bonus for the day in winning the best player award and the highest goal kicker in the under 10 age division.

Idiosyncrasy Tag

I have been tagged by Katt so here are my answers:

id•i•o•syn•cra•sy - a structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group. Write down 5 of your own idiosyncrasies, then if you wish, tag 5 people.

1. As this is a knitting blog my first one will be exactly about that, I must finish a row when knitting, ask my family they will tell you, even when knitting in the round I must get to the stitch marker. Sad aren't I.

2. My clothes have to be meticulously hung on the washing line, all singlets together, shirts etc. and all socks matching and so on.

3. I will never under any circumstance wear odd socks, NEVER.

4. I cannot leave the house unless all the beds are made and dishes done no matter how early in the morning. (I sound such a neat freak but believe me I am so far from being one this doesn't make sense at all)

5. I have spent ages trying to come up with #5 and I am afraid to say #4 is it, I am a very casual person and I think that is evident in my answers, no strange idiosyncrasies here. I am supposed to tag 5 more people, but hey if you want to run with this that is fine go for it but I am not going to tag anyone individually.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

No More Anonymous (sorry)

Due to the amount of spammers I am getting I have changed my comments so that only registered users can comment, as most of the culprits sign anonymously hopefully this will put a stop to it. Sorry to genuine anonymous commenters (especially my SP) but I have had enough and I figure if you genuinely want to leave a comment you can say who you are.

Monday, August 15, 2005

Aran Tweed Wrap is Finished

Our weather is pretty ordinary at the moment but that doesn't worry me at all, at least I can stay indoors and knit which is exactly what I did on Sunday and finished the wrap. I have it draped over my shoulders as I am writing this, it is so warm and snuggly. A big thanks to my SP for the wool and if anyone is interested I have written out the pattern and you can find it here. It is my own pattern so feel free to use it, if anyone makes their own version I would love to see a photo of it.

So now it is back to the squirrel jacket, oh and another pair of opal socks (can't help myself). I have the workings on paper for the Janis Joplin bag so when I find the right yarn I will be starting that. I was going to do my own pattern for that but then I found this thanks to Suzi so now I am going to use that idea which is the Poster Boy bag out of the Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation. I have also copied the Marilyn Monroe version as my sister adores anything Marilyn so that will be her birthday present this year, plus she is a very hard person to buy for so I figure that is something very different. That is about all for now I am off to do bookwork, (boring), I would much rather be knitting.
This is how much wool was left over

Ta Da