Sunday, July 31, 2005

Join In the Chorus and Sing It One and All

JOIN IN THE CHORUS AND SING IT ONE AND ALL
JOIN IN THE CHORUS NORTH MELBOURNES ON THE BALL
GOOD OLD NORTH MELBOURNE, THEY'RE CHAMPIONS YOU'LL AGREE
NORTH MELBOURNE WILL BE PREMIERS JUST YOU WAIT AND SEE.

Yes my football team won, not by much, but they were 40 points down at one stage so yes I was a little worried they were going to lose but I should have known that the old shinboner spirit would come through in the end. So seeing as I was on the edge of my seat, glass of red in hand, there was not much knitting done today. If you have no idea what I am on about you can find all about my team here

Thursday, July 28, 2005

I,ve Been Tagged

Okay thanks to The Stripey Tiger I have been tagged and like her I am not a real big fan of these things but they are a fun way to get to know a little more about the person. Also like her I am only going to answer the same questions as her so if you want to find out the other questions you can find them on her blog. I'm doing this today as in the past everyone gets tagged before me and I end up with no one to tag so here goes:

TEN YEARS AGO
I had 2 of my 3 children and they were 2 and 6 months old so I was knee deep in nappy changes and sleepless nights and all things associated with babies. I was knitting though when I could get the time. Our house was being renovated, very slowly, as well.

FIVE YEARS AGO
I had 3 children and 2 were at school and playgroup so I only had Ashley at home full time, not much else exciting really, I was sewing heaps then, we all wore my creations except for DH. I was still knitting, a bit more seeing as I had a bit more time. House was now renovated, but we still hadn't touched downstairs.

ONE YEAR AGO
Kids are at school full time now, I have more me time, but I seem to be doing more parent help and getting involved in more things. Stopped selling Tupperware, I am too busy and I don't like going out at night and weekends doing parties, DH happy about that too, he hates party plan. Still knitting, lots now as I have more time to myself.

YESTERDAY
I am in a craft group and we went to the Casino for lunch, this made me laugh as it is a church craft group so you would think they wouldn't want to go there, but hey it was cheap so maybe that is why. Knitted some more.

TODAY
Visited the MIL for her birthday, did some shopping and thats about it really, will do some knitting. Oh and I love watching Collectables on TV tonight and if I can stay awake the Footy Show.

TOMORROW
Walk every Friday with a friend and then we go for a coffee afterwards, come home do housework YUK, would rather be knitting, DH usually knocks off early Friday afternoons so we sit down and have a couple of glasses of wine together, catch up with each other again. Might make it only one tomorrow though as we are going out to dinner so I don't want to fall asleep.

Well that is it so now I am going to tag:
Suzi because she usually tags me with these things.

Joan maybe her life is a bit more exciting than mine.

Shelby the same reason I was so I can get to know her.

Some Ramblings Today

The Launceston Stitch 'n' Bitch group had our interview with the ABC radio on Tuesday which was such a hoot, we had our little bit of 'fame'. Someone found our site and emailed it to the ABC and they wanted to talk to us and see what these crazy people were about. We are about to celebrate our first birthday so that should be a bit of fun, we are changing venues and will now meet in a cafe which has a bar, could be a worry red wine in one hand knitting in the other!!!!!

I was working away on the squirrel jacket yesterday when I discovered I had followed the wrong bloody graph. So the two options were to frog back to the beginning or simply keep going and remember to do the left front the same, a much better option in my book. The pattern is the same it is just that you had to start in a different place for the fronts and I followed the starting place for the back. So the fronts fair isle sections will be a little bit off centre, like you are going to be able to tell.

MILs birthday today so the socks will be wrapped up and given, hope she likes them. My bamboo DPs are looking lost with no knitting on them so I think I may have to start another sock. I have spent yesterday scribbling a design for a bag which has been in my head for quite a while, inspired by those trendy bags with famous people on them I have wanted to do a knit version for some time now. It is still in the very early stages but I hope to have something on paper that I am happy with soon. I am no artist so getting something that looks like the person I am wanting on the bag is not easy, I know there is software for turning photos into cross stitch patterns but I want it to be more of an abstract design. I will keep you posted on the process, it may turn out to be one of those designs that never see the light of day but I have been having a bit of fun with it.

The latest edition of Creative Knitting is out and it has an article on my LYS and the wonderful owner Kathy, but please don't take too much notice of the photo she is definately not that serious. Kathy is always there with a friendly smile and is a great help, she has been there through the lean times of knitting and now of course the good, which is why I will continue to support her and Knits Needles and Wool rather than buying yarn from the department stores who have jumped on the bandwagon and think that we will go back to them to buy our yarn. Sorry it doesn't work that way where were they when knitting wasn't 'popular', some of us have always been knitting and needed yarn then so I will not support them now. There had my little gripe for the day I am sounding like one of those women off the ABC show 'Grumpy Old Women'

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Squirrel Jacket Update

I have finished the back of the jacket and 3/4 of the way along the right front. I have decided to stick with the intarsia method for the squirrels as I think with a steam press and when the ends are sewn in they will be okay. It is a lovely pattern and rather quick knitting which is always good.




The Launceston Stitch 'n' Bitch group are having a special meet-up today with the ABC, they heard about us and want to meet with us and see what we are about. Pretty exciting don't you think? So I had better go get the knitting bag in order and take along WIP.

Friday, July 22, 2005

Socks are Finished


I have never had second sock syndrome until now, this sock was without a mate for a long time and I am happy to say that it is finished. It did help that my MILs birthday is next Thursday and at 68 years old has everything she wants or needs so I thought I would finish the socks for her.

I have nearly finished the back of the squirrel jacket, I had forgotten how quick kids knits are, the intarsia is not too bad but I think I might take DeAnns advice and use duplicate stitch for the fronts and sleeves. I am too much of a perfectionist for intarsia and as the squirrel is only a small motif it will be okay, I will post a pic of the back when it is finished and will ask for your advice. Till then happy knitting.

Secret Pal You Are the Best




Yesterday there was a knock on my door and not expecting anything in the mail was surprised to see the postman with a parcel. Went inside and opened it and there was the most amazing goodies in there for me from my secret pal and she even included some English lollies for Ashley, for his birthday, which he shared with his sister and brother because there was so much. There was even my favourite lollies, Bassetts jelly babies, you must have esp, which I have to buy from Gourleys sweet shop, and as they are imported they are not cheap so I only buy 100grams at a time for a special treat YUM. If you have never tried these spoil yourself one day they are so soft and covered with icing sugar, nothing like the jelly babies we have here. Some beautiful Aran wool which is gong to be made into something real soon, the colours are lovely, so I am looking through my pattern stash for some ideas. So many things, too many to list the photo speaks for itself, I have posted a pic of the wool and one of my favourites in the whole parcel, it is a donut pin cushion, isn't it so adorable it is nearly too nice to go sticking pins in. So to my secret pal a huge big thankyou from me and I love the things you have gone to the trouble of picking out to spoil me with, I am one happy girl and as the title says SP you are the best xxx.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Debbie Bliss Squirrel Jacket



Yes it is time to unveil the next project, I haven't knitted anything for my kids for a while and so I plan to knit them something each over the next few months. Firstly I have chosen a delightful pattern out of Great Knits for Kids by Debbie Bliss. The wool I have chosen is Bendigo Woollen Mills Aran as the pattern is knitted in a 10 ply and I happened to have some cream in my stash. However Bendigo Aran doesn't have a chocolate/brown in its colour range so I had to find some in another brand and came across Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran which was just the colour I was looking for. I would have loved to do the whole pattern in Jo Sharp but the whole thing would have ended up costing $130.00, way too much for a size 8 boys jacket. So as soon as I finish socks, only about 10cms to go, I will start it. I am being strict on finishing the socks as they are a present and need to be finished by the weekend and if I start on the jacket I will get too wrapped up in that and the socks wont get finished. The one thing that I love about the pattern the most is the squirrels but they are the one thing that will give me the most grief. As I am a self confessed perfectionist with my knitting I don't particularly like intarsia or picture knitting, it always seems messy where the colours join, especially with a picture that isn't a solid shape, like the squirrels. Does anyone else have this problem or is it just me?? So if anyone has a tip in this area I would love to hear it.

And finally a big thanks to everyones kind wishes about my nieces arrival, she is such a little dolly and I did have fun shopping for her and spoiling her, I even bought a big bag of my sisters favourite choccies so that she didn't feel left out. Thanks to my secret pal who sent a lovely e-card and yes Suzi I am going to create something for her, I have the pattern and wool picked out. I must admit that I am not real keen on baby knitting, and much prefer knitting for 2 years and up. I will post about the baby knitting project in my next post.

Monday, July 18, 2005

I'm An Auntie

I was going to do a post today about my new project but that will have to wait as my head is up in the clouds and not likely to come down for a while. Yes as the title suggests my little sis. had her baby, this is the first niece or nephew on my side of the family, I have 9 on DHs side. My sister is 16 years younger than me and has had a lot of problems with her female 'bits' she was told a couple of years ago that she was heading for a hysterectomy and the chances of having children were pretty slim. So as my mother had similar problems and as such only had 2 children, 16 years apart, I had resigned myself to the fact that it was probably not going to happen and that I would have to make do with my in-law nieces and nephews, whom I love to bits and that would be ok for me but very sad for my sister. Anyway a miracle happened, she conceived, and so in the early hours of Saturday morning gave birth to a healthy little girl, Haley Marlene, 8lb 10oz. don't quite know what that is in kgs. My sister is 22yo and unfortunaltely 4 1/2 years ago we lost our beautiful mother to cancer at 59, her name was Marlene, so I hope to be some sort of surrogate mother/grandmother to these two girls but I know that I will never come close to replacing Mum but I will give it my best and give them all the love and care only a mother can give. Phoebe had wanted me to go to the birth but unfortunately I was in Hobart for the weekend, Haley arrived 10 days early, but I think that was probably a blessing for I don't know if I could have coped with it as it was a long, painful labour and I am an emotional person and probably would have blubbered all through it and been no help at all to my sister. So that is all for now I am off to go shopping for my new niece and I will post about my new project later.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Angelina is Finished




Yippee Angelina is finished, she has been a lot of fun to knit even if there was a lot of ribbing. I was going to take a pic just of the jacket because I hate having my photo taken but realise that the detail shows up better when there is someone wearing it so here it is. I also included a pic of 'the blanket' before it was sewn up, I call it the blanket because that is what it felt like on my lap when I was making it.

I am so relieved to know that my SP and her family are safe and the day that I was wondering was she OK, the cutest card turned up in the mail from her. She had posted it while on holiday, YOU ARE THE BEST SP A GIRL COULD HAVE, very thoughtful to think of me while on your holiday.

I am going to Hobart tomorrow with one of my SILs, the one who has just taken up knitting, yay we are going to have so much fun hitting the wool shops. The postman dropped off the wool I ordered from Ozyarn today so I can start on my new project. More about that in my next post.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Bad Cat




I left a comment on Joans blog the other day about my cat clawing my knitting if she gets a chance and how I think she is even jealous of it, well here is the proof I am sure there is an evil glint in her eyes!!!

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

S'n'B Today

Today is our 'meet up' day at Launceston S'n'B, we get together once a month to see what we are all doing and have yarn swaps, check out interesting patterns and talk knitting, not to mention have a nice afternoon tea and of course do some knitting. Suzi is the person who organised Launceston S'n'B so a big thanks to her for doing that. I was looking through various knitting sites one day on the internet and found an ad. for S'n'B on the Creative Knitting site and would you believe it was in Launceston, yay. Today I will be taking Angelina Vintage Jacket to work on, it is like having a blanket on your lap as it is all knitted in one piece, I am down to the lace trim on the sleeves so hope to finish soon. I was a bit worried about the lace trim as the pattern called for 97 stitches to be picked up at the sleeve edge and I was struggling to pick up 77, so I decided to go and see if anyone over at Knitters Review Forum had this problem and those who had made it had so I have stuck with 77 stitches and it seems ok, so I hope to be able to post some pics. soon.

On a more serious note, I think we are all saddened by the recent happenings in London, I feel so sorry for all those innocent people affected by this. I have made a wonderful new friend through SP5 and all I know about her is that she is from the UK, she has kept her identity a secret which of course is the whole idea of SP, so I just hope and pray sweetheart that you and your family are safe and OK, Sharon XXX

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Knitting Update

Thanks for the birthday wishes to Ashley, he had a great day. I thought it was about time I did an update report on my knitting projects. Still working on the jacket and the socks. My SILs jumper has been put on hold, she got caught drink driving (silly girl)and of course lost her licence and copped a pretty hefty fine, so she cannot afford the wool for her jumper. She isn't very reliable so even if she didn't have the fine to pay she probably would have blown her money on something else anyway. I have learnt a lesson here no more love jobs for my in-laws. I have finished the back of striped cardy for my sisters baby due in a couple of weeks but I really don't like the finished colours together,it looked like a jacket made up using scrap wool so that one is not going to make it as a FO. So that is it 2 WIPs and these are counted as my UFOs also, so I think I should be allowed to start something else what do you reckon?

Saturday, July 02, 2005

My baby is turning 8 today


Yes my little Ashley is 8 years old today. Time goes so quickly and it seems like only yesterday that he was born. So happy birthday my little man, hope you have a great day.

On the knitting front I had to frog the two fronts of jacket as one was slightly bigger than the other (miscounted, silly me) so I hope to finish them today and then I can start the lace. Have a busy day today with the boys playing soccer, some of the relies calling around later today for Ashleys birthday, and I am filling in for a friends basketball team tonight. Probably won't be able to move tomorrow but it should be fun, I haven't played basketball for over a year but I still play netball so it should be ok, I hope.