Monday, July 31, 2006

Why Are Some People So Grumpy?

I have been know to have a short fuse at times, my temper has sometimes got the better of me but usually I have just cause for these outbursts. Such as the time I was backing out of my drive and some woman came flying around the corner at such a high speed that she nearly collected me and then yelled out the car window and called me all the swear words she could think of. Or the time that I caught some woman fossicking in my garage and then she had the nerve to ask me if I wanted to sell her the childs swing she found in there!! However on the weekend an incident happened at our knitting covens stall that would have pushed the most placid persons buttons. As I turned up late and missed the whole thing, I will direct you to Suzi's eye witness account of what happened. I kind of wish that I had been there earlier, but then again maybe not!!



The 60's Cabled Jumper is nearing completion, front, back and sleeves are done and dusted only the collar to go. There is 179 stitches and 50 rows of rib for the collar so that should keep me busy for a while. I did have a tension (guage) problem with the sleeves. After the increases the pattern said work straight until work measures 17 inches, well the sleeve already measured 17 1/2 inches. Yet the stitch tension of 8 1/2 stitches over 2 inches was spot on, weird!!



I am also taking part in a dishcloth swap, so if anyone is interested you can find all the details here. Should be a lot of fun, I just have to find some decent cotton to knit them in.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

The Quo

This is totally non knitting related but I have to share my other obsession with everyone, my love of music. Why you may be asking?? Well I have long been a huge Status Quo fan and have all their albums on vinyl, of course, I have seen them live and Rick Parfitt has even touched my hand. It was even Mr Brickies resemblance to Rick Parfitt that first attracted me to him some 23 years ago, I hope he doesn't read this as he will be mortified to know that it wasn't his charming personality that won me over!!

Well anyway, my two favourite albums of Status Quo are Quo (1974) and Blue For You (1976).




I was searching ebay the other day and found this cd which had both albums on it. It is now mine, all mine and I can now listen to my two favourite Quo albums without the annoying scratches that you get with vinyl and I don't have to keep changing the record over.



They may be old men now but in their day they knew how to play music, normal knitting blogging will resume later, I have some loud music to go listen to.

Monday, July 24, 2006

B4 Bag

After 2 1/2 hours of agitating in the washing machine, this is the end result.


Does 2 1/2 hours seem unusually long? As this was my first felting attempt I have no idea how long this process should take. I used a little over 200 grams of Bendigo Rustic 12ply wool which is a tweed like yarn, the beads are just ordinary plastic beads which I picked up from Spotlight quite a while back and were in my bead stash. The buttons were found in various shops, I was going to have the buttons either side of the centre button matching but believe it or not this was too perfect and looked a little odd.

Would I do anything different next time? Yes the beads, definately choose beads with bigger holes, I found it quite tedious pulling the yarn through such small holes on a crochet hook. I also think that I would add a contrast colour in there somewhere, after seeing some of the finished ones here I like the multicolour ones better, that is just my opinion though. As for the pattern, I loved every minute of it and will be making more of these bags in the future, they would make awesome presents.


These have just arrived in the mail, yes they are Pony sock knitting needles and no I haven't lost my marbles and ordered way too many, as they aren't all for me. After my search for Pony Sock Knitting needles, the knitters in my knitting group decided that they too wanted some and as they aren't available to buy here in Australia, we placed an order here. You do have to wonder why they aren't available here when this is the amount that just a small knitting group in Launceston, Tasmania ordered!!!

I am also going to finish off a few WIPs before I start anything else!! You are my witnesses to this so get on my case if you see a new project started. The three WIPs that spring to mind are, Betty Boop, 60's Cabled Jumper and of course the Cabled Shrug. I must finish these three before I start anything else, hmmmmmm!!

Friday, July 21, 2006

Wish Me Luck

The knitting of the bag is complete and now the scary part awaits, the felting of it. I have never felted anything in my life, well not intentionally that is. Yes there was the time when as a busy young Mum, I thought that I would take a shortcut with the wash and put one of Janelles handknitted jackets in the washing machine on the wool wash cycle. It came out clean but the lovely little pink cabled jacket was now reduced to a felted one, I learnt a lesson that day. I suppose if I were to take a positive out of that day it would be that the yarn in the jacket was also Bendigo, so at least I know that it felts well.

Bernie has kindly passed on her felting tips to me, she has also posted these on her blog, if like me you are a felting newbie you may find these really helpful. I possibly wont get time to felt the bag until tomorrow, so as the title of this post suggests please wish me luck.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Definately Not An Old Bag

I have an old handbag that is falling apart, although it has served me well it is time to get a new one. I was going to buy one but then I found the B4 Bag over at Crafty Bernies well my search for a new bag ended there. Not only will it be a one off, as each one is completely different but it gives me a chance to finally have a go at felting which has been on my to do list for quite some time now. There is a Knitalong where you can see some wonderful examples of this great pattern.

I am knitting mine in Bendigo Rustic 12ply, green opal, more blue than green really. This is one of my all time favourite wools and has been featuring in quite a few of my projects lately. I am up to the bead section which has sent me off on a search for a suitable sized crochet hook, amazingly enough I had enough beads, all 66 of them, in my bead collection. I will be scouring the op shops and craft shops looking for some buttons to add the finishing touch to this bag.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Finished With A Few Days To Spare


Finished in time for my niece Haleys' first birthday on Sunday. What a delightful pattern, this one is definately a 'do again'. I used Zara which is a lovely soft merino wool, and is also machine washable and the pattern came from STYK. The hardest part, after I took a dip in the *frogging pond that is, was finding a button to finish it off. Out of all the pink buttons at Spotlight there was only one that was the same pink as the cardigan, luckily it was the right size.

I am going to take part in my very first Knitalong, and I am extremely excited about it. I have wanted to be part of one for a long time now but everytime I find one I like it is either finished or pretty close to being so. I found The Central Park Hoodie Knitalong thanks to Cindy and she will also be taking part.

This is what we will be knitting and the pattern is in the Fall issue of Knitscene. If you want to join us head on over here and get the details. I have ordered the yarn already in anticipation for this KAL, which doesn't start until September, I could not get the yarn that the pattern suggested but have instead gone with some Rowan Tweed Aran, yum!!


*see previous post

Friday, July 07, 2006

A Frogging We Will Go

I have noticed a lot of this going on lately
well I have had to jump into the same frogging pond.


I started this for my nieces' birthday and I noticed that it just wasn't looking like the picture on the pattern. The loops weren't 'holey' enough and there was supposed to be a criss cross effect in there as well and it just wasn't happening. Obviously I was doing something wrong, I kept going but no I am too much of a perfectionist to go any further so I too went for a dip into the frogging pond. I started again, now this time the loops are 'holey' and there is a criss cross thing happening. What was I doing wrong? Knitting through the back of the yrn loops, that is all, something simple that changed the entire look of the pattern.

That is better, I bought the pattern from STYK quite some time back now and it was intended for my niece when she was born. Well er um she is turning one year old on the 16th of this month, better late than never I suppose. Luckily it comes in a size range of 0 - 4 years old, probably for people like me!!! Yes I did say the 16th and it is now the 7th, I had better get a move along or she wont be getting it this year either ;)

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Tiger Socks

Can you see a resemblance? The colours of Tigers are striking as is the color in the Opal Tiger sock yarn. These have been on the needles for a while and I finally got around to finishing them Monday night. Once again I used this pattern knitted on 2.5mm bamboo double pointed needles.



I am working on another sock pattern at the moment, spent way too many hours with pen, paper and calculator and of course needles and yarn. Maths was not my strong point at school, I was more of an English, Social Studies girl so my math brain is sorely put to the test when I am trying to figure out new patterns and their workings. I am trying to come up with a simple pattern that will work well with hand dyed yarns, so stay tuned and I will report on its progress.

Monday, July 03, 2006

Look Away Now If ......

the thought of ends that need sewing in make you feel ill because this is what I am left with at the back of the Betty Boop Jacket.


But here she is on the right side, finished except for a bit of black swiss darning here and there to outline a few features, but I thought that I will sew the ends in and block her first before I do that. It isn't quite as bad as it looks as a lot of the ends have been knitted in so I just have to cut the long tails off but that wasn't possible with all of it as black does not knit into pink or flesh colours without showing through. Now I have the fronts and sleeves to do in good old stocking stitch, my easy peasy TV watching knitting.

I have a friend, who shall remain nameless, who loves clothes shopping and gets a real buzz everytime she buys herself something new. Me, I hate clothes shopping in fact I hate shopping full stop. I am a race into town get what I need and back home again, I only go clothes shopping if I am desperate. Where am I going with this you may be wondering? Shopping involving my hobby obsession!!! now that is a completely different story, I can spend hours fondling yarn, drooling over patterns and pattern books or knitting magazines and of course on-line stores. Here is my latest purchase, some lovely 4ply sock yarn from The Knittery now this is the sort of shopping that I don't mind at all, in fact I love it!


Last but definately not least it was my babys' birthday yesterday, yes my little man Ashley, is now 9 years old.