Do you remember?

Do you remember how I said I would blog more regularly and I promised there'd be photos and deathless prose?

Do you remember me saying that?

Damn. I was hoping you'd forgotten that incident.

Okay.

I have been a bad blogger, and haven't blogged as much as I should, and I'm not really sure why, except that life got slightly more complicated and I got distracted and, well, whoops, here it is, however long since I blogged.

And there's Bells, looking forward to blogging every day for a month. And me. Lucky to blog once a week - but truly - I am trying for more. I don't think I'm really a candidate for Blogtoberfest though - although you might be.

In truth, the return to yucky weather brought on a severe case of the blahs, so much so that I have hardly looked at Ravelry, and I've been reading and not always commenting on your blogs. I am sorry. I can't help bad weather blahs. To put it in context, since July 1 there have been 5 days without rain in Tasmania. Five.

No wonder I've been damp. Heavens - I can tell where North is because that is the side of me without moss on it.

But it all stops here. I solemnly promise that I..

look!

What's that?

Oh - it's some pretty knitting.


The Vine Yoke Cardigan, (anyone mention bandwagons?). As yet buttonless, but blocked. In the Naturally Sensation (10ply merino/angora 70/30, soft as a baby bunny) that I bought while in South Australia in a heat wave last summer. For some reason there were 12 skeins, at $2.50 a skein. This cardigan used - wait for it - 6 and a half skeins. Can you believe it? So, including the cost of the pattern and buttons it cost about $25 dollars! An angora cardi for 25 bucks? Happy dance for sure!

I have been trying to finish WIPs and wearing blinkers so I don't get distracted. Having finished the Vine Yoke I finally cast on some gifty socks (Blackrose, but in 8ply) and will be trying to almost monogamously work on them.

With maybe a teeny tiny side order of finishing the half a sock I have to go on a pair, a bit of garter stitch jacket and perhaps a little Radiate - just to take the edge off.

In honour of Rosered then, here are the incomings and outgoings for September.

800gr from Bendigo Woollen Mills (gifty socks and enough luxury 4 ply for a thermal)
1 skein of sock yarn

That's it.

and I have finished 2 garments but they used very little yarn
Tempest - 250gr
Vine Yoke - 325gr
Cottys - 100gr
and Fawkes may get finished tonight, so I'll throw them in too - 100gr

775gr out and 900 in

Doesn't seem fair really.

Next month may be a little worse (unless I knit MUCH faster) - I know there may be something coming in and there are some sock club parcels arriving. I am still striving for stash diminuition. Maybe I should just knit socks and stuff with sock yarn for all of 2010.

What do you think?

Spring is Sprung! The Grass is Riz!

It's Spring, it's Spring! Or at least, it is spring today. The weather forecast is suggesting rain for the next week and for most of the rest of the month, but today it is spring. The bees are delirious with the beauty of the day - and so am I.

For the first time in weeks the washing is flapping on the line, the breeze is soft, warm and gentle, the sun is shining, the sky is blue and the only clouds are the little fluffy sort. Life is good.

Life is so good, I couldn't resist sneaking on to the kids' trampoline for a bounce - which made me feel all dizzy when I got off!

In fact, life is made even better by the fact I have finally finished Tempest. The ends were a complete sod to sew in (and next time I will use Dr Bones suggestion and carry them up the sides as neatly as possible!), but she is finished and I love her. This is really the first time I have made such a form fitting knit - she is snug (and will become less so as I lose more weight - fingers crossed etc), and I'm not entirely sure about the buttons - I needed 16 - 15 plus one for luck or accidents) and they were probably larger than would be thought best because the buttonholes grew with blocking. The colours are vibrant, so I went with transparent buttons - because I couldn't find the mother of pearl ones I really wanted!




Children are on holidays and showing tendencies of becoming loud and excited, so they and the guinea pig will be outside for a fair proportion of this glorious day.

The Princess has expressed a wish to undertake some sewing, so we will be doing that shortly, and then packing will happen for our short trip. I finally have the wonderful Meet Me at Mike's book (a beautiful book and a must have for those who want to support Australian mde and especially Australian hand-made!), but todays small sewing will come from the 1970s books that have been hanging about since I was just a bit older than the Princess.

Yesterday was another rainy day, so we went to the Imaginarium, where the kids went wild, raced the (virtual) dinosaur and learned about bugs, space and puzzles. I knitted.

Have a lovely weekend. Enjoy the spring. At least until it starts raining again!

The Votes are IN!

Today is like glass.

It is like crystal - ready to shatter if you shout. The air is so clear and crisp it acts like a telescope - you can look at distant hills and feel almost that you could put your hand out and touch the trees and rocks. The sky is a pale winter blue, without a cloud. The grass is so green it almost makes your eyes hurt, and breathing the air makes you feel alive and full of energy.

This of course means that last night was so cold and the frost so hard, the pipes froze and it took ages to get water to run at all, let alone heat up for a shower. I really don't mind the frost, because it means that the days are so beautiful.

Thank you for all the lovely comments on the new look. I'm not sure that it makes me look 23 (but thank you anyway, Madmad), but it is cleaner and fresher. After blogging for however long (I really can't remember - although I have a feeling it may be two years), the place needed a spruce up.

In addition, knitting is going well. Kim (the jumper) is finished in the divine Fleece Artist River (an alpaca/silk/wool mix). I swear, I was tempted to knit myself sheets from this, as it felt so soft and gorgeous. Instead, I chose to knit Kim, a knitted-in-one-piece-but-folded-like-origami number. It is not quite a cardigan and not quite a jumper, joined at the crossover, but nowhere else. It is warm and gorgeous and I like it very much.

I am hoping to have the red Flair finished before Bendigo (which is only next week! Squee!) as I suddenly feel that I have no warm clothes at all. Stop sniggering, you down the back.

The wonderful Taphophile sent me a parcel of fleecy comfort, because I was practicing my spinning and ran out of prepared fleece to keep practicing. There were also other goodies in the box - some lovely fibre for when I get better, some books for the children and some cards - but they seem to have scattered quickly to the four winds before I could take a photo. Thank you, Taph.

In other happy postal news, on Monday I received these fun things. Finally, two pattern books I have been craving for ages - Heartfelt and Thrown Together, and some Fleece Artist Somoko from the lovely Ladies at Knitting inspirations. This colour is called Forest Fairy, and is utterly delectable.




There was also a case of Sangiovese. I am very happy. I am off to enjoy some more of the day, before we return to our regularly scheduled winter weather programming, which involves grey skies, wind, fog and drizzle.

Ciao!

It's all about the knitting, folks!

Despite my best resolution, life (and knitting) intervened.

I did think about popping in a post last week which said `Can't blog - knitting.', but decided I needed to knit more than I needed to blog. Here is the result of my labour:


Taadaa!

The Placed Cable Aran, from Interweave knits, in 10 ply Luxury from Bendigo Woollen Mills, in the Leaf colourway. This should also qualify me for Lynne's Textured KAL.

This absolutely flew off the needles, and set a new record by being finished in 11 days. I can't believe I actually knitted a jumper in 11 days, but here's the proof. Cast on May 13, cast off May 24. The only mods I made were too make it slightly longer (could have been even longer) and to convert the sleeves, so I picked up stitches and knitted them from the top down to eliminate seaming - Oh and I knitted the body in the round to the armholes, so the only seams are at the shoulders. Took 3.25 balls of Bendi, so a bit over 1000m.

I am thrilled with it, love the pattern, the yarn, the colour and the finished product.

I also thought, although it isn't the end of the month, I'd get stash honesty out of the way. We're off on holiday on Wednesday and I don't anticipate any arrivals of squooshy parcels between now and then, so we might as well do it now.

In:
8 balls of Tango and 5 balls of Superior (both of which I blame Rosered for): 525gr
5 balls of Bendi Luxury (see above FO): 1 kg
6 skeins of River: 600gr
2 skeins of BFL 2/8: 500gr

Total In: 2.625kg

Knitted:
650gr Luxury (placed cable)
600gr Allegro (gathered sweater)
100gr socks
150gr Jet (Princess's jacket from Zeph)

Total knitted:
1.5 kg

In other words, almost twice as much has come in as was knitted - despite a knitting frenzy. Sigh.

June should be better, mainly because I won't be in a position to buy any yarn, so although some sock club yarn (ahem) may arrive in my post office box, I should also be able to be about square, knitting wise.

In other news, the birdie appears to have settled in with the resident population of Little Wattle Birds, the schools holidays are much too long (this is the first day - they are tooooooo long!) and life rolls along.

We are still warm and although somewhat damp here, have been spared the utter downpours of Queensland and Northern NSW. However, with our usual perfect timing, we are about to holiday in the epicentre of this weeks floods. What fun!

If I don't get back here before we leave, have a love fortnight or so, and I'll see you in mid June!

Birds, Beasts and Relatives (with apologies to Gerald Durrell)

The strangest thing happened yesterday.

I was in the garden, picking off the last of the apples on the tree, and a bird came up and sat on the branches quite close to me. I chatted to it, as you do, told him he was brave and so on, when he flew on to my shoulder.

Now this didn't quite freak me out - I am an animal person, I can deal with most things, but a wild bird? Landing on my shoulder? Last I knew, I was not Snow White or Cinderella or one of the Disney cartoon princesses who regularly go into forests and have assorted livestock land on their heads.

This guy was a juvenile Little Wattle Bird (about 12 inches or 30cm long), and has a long beak. I would say he was a teenager - a young adult with some of his juvenile plumage still. He landed on my window sill a few days ago and just sat there when I tapped on the window. Now he is landing on my head or shoulder and is more than happy to perch on my finger.


My children are rather amazed. Obviously Mummy has supernatural powers over animals. Here he is, letting me get very close to take his picture. When I rang a friend in the local animal rescue service, her theory was that these birds are quite easy to hand rear, but in the very high winds we have had recently, he may have been blown away from home. He's probably a bit dependant on humans, and wants to be fed.

I wouldn't mind, but now he has taken to stalking me - following me from window to window and trying to sit on me when we are outside. Weird.



If you have lost a Little Wattle Bird, please feel free to contact me.

There has been knitting happening.

Here it the finished Gathered Pullover 2, in Bendi Allegro in Scarlet. I really like the feel of the fabric this makes. It was just a bit splitty to knit with, which I had expected, but is lovely. Great stitch definition. I made the neck higher and the shoulders wider. It took a while because it was the carry along mindless stoicking stitch for ages. Strangely, when I fnally paid some attention to it, it was finished very quickly.


I also finished the 2 parts Zephyrama, 1 part Tink jacket for the Princess. Zeph had sent me the mostly finished child's One Piece Ribby Jacket, in Jet, along with the extra to finish it off, due to the fact she had started it for her daughter and said daughter had grown out of it before it was finished. I think it will fit the Princess for a while. She likes it. The buttons are clear, with pink and black butterflies. She chose them.



Just because you need some proof of knitting, here is Ms Rosered, ensconced in our very messy family room, helping the Princess with her knitting. You might recognise the Pearl Buck Jacket.

Of course, much of this weekend has been taken up with the festival of bad taste and excreable music which is Eurovision. While Norway was both cute and a reasonable song, my favourites were Moldova (great boots and costume, funked up folk song and folk dancing), Portugal (once again, the folk song and costume), the Ukraine (those boots, those Trojans!), Turkey (yay, Dum Tek Tek), Estonia (gorgeous singer and song, Arwen with a fringe), Bosnia Herzegovina (who doesn't love some nice performance art?) and Armenia (great costumes).

Greece was rather up himself, the Azerbaijan entry was tediously ordinary, Iceland sounded like Celine Dion and most of the others were forgettable. The hosts were hysterical. While Barbie was cute, her co-host was a sleaze who kept peering down her dress and squeezing her. I kept thinking of the Fast Forward comedy duo, doing the Russian TV presenters "Viktor, you are very unattractive man''. If you missed out, you can watch it here.

I will try to be a better blogger, at least until we go on holiday. The stretch of glorious late autumn weather continues, with cold nights and lovely days - but winter is breathing down our necks, rather like the Russian Eurovision host.

Indian Summer

The lovely Kate at Kiss My Frog gave me this award a little while ago (and it's not that I forgot, I just kept getting distrac....look - a bunny!) Sorry - and I was very happy to get such a nice award. Now I have to pass it on. Kate has already mentioned some of the people I would have named, so in order to spread the love a bit I thought I'd try and link you up with some new names.

Miss Cindy2paw and her gorgeous labby friends is an obvious one - crafty, friendly and always something wonderful in her blog
QuiltingMick - Crochet liberationist, crafter and enabler - always one to watch
Zephyrama - not posting as much these days, but always interesting when she does
Yarning to Write - with Amy you always get something unexpected - bits of a new book, children, cuteness and cussing - all in one great package
A Little Bit Crafty - can you believe someone can knit THAT small!
MadmadHousewife - the glories of yarn, wine and children (not necessarily in that order)
Last but definitely not least, Julie the Samurai Knitter - I never come away from reading her blog without having learned something surprising!


I even have an FO to blog

Here is the Raglan Jacket
Adapted from the topdown raglan cardigan recipe (but turned into a swing jacket)
7 skeins of Manos del Uruguay wool I scored in a Ravelry de-stash
The 5 buttons were 5 cents each in one of those button bargain tins in haberdashery shops where you trawl through to try and find some that match

Love it - lovely and warm and gorgeous selection og colours.

Obviously, monogamous knitting on Wips, instead of Knitlottotm means you actually get things finished.
Next stop - Cherie Amour and the last sleeve and a half

In other news, by the end of tomorrow I will be unemployed and I'm quite looking forward to it. I'm excited and already thinking of all the things I will be able to do.

This weekend quinces will be becoming both jelly and paste (a great recipe which boils the quinces and then turns the liquid into jelly and the pulp into paste - and the paste takes ages and needs welders gloves because it spits sugar and quince which sticks to your skin and burns the way toffee does.) Paste takes around 3 hours.

I will also pick walnuts - we usually end up with between 35 and 50kgs of walnuts - we have 21 mature trees - and pick over the apples and think about making another batch of roasted tomato sauce. I'm not sure if I have squirrel (hoard hoard hoard for winter) or bear (eat store eat) tendencies at this time of the year. Probably squirrel - I'm too much of an insomniac to be a bear. I use the harvest to feed us and try and capture autumn and summer in the depths of winter.

So far, we are having an indian summer. It is balmy and gently breezy and the breeze is warm. I know that there is only 1 month till winter officially begins. I must think about knitting......

Hoppy Easter!

Another FO! There has been knitting happening - instead of the lucky dip system, I actually became monogamous, and these gorgeous socks were finished.


Specs:
Pattern: Lighthouse Gansey Socks by Anne Hanson (on Knitty.com)
Yarn: Yoyo String and Fluff in Crankyberry
Sticks - 2.75mm dpns
Time - from March 3 until April 6 - in a non-monogamous fashion.



Lots of fun and an easy and satisfying knit. I may make these for the Accountant's somewhat larger feet!

In other news, as soon as daylight saving ended it got cold - I understand there was snow in the mountains, and it was necessary to wear a cardigan. Winter is not far away, and for knitters and spinners and fibre fiends in general that can mean only one thing - Bendigo wool and sheep show.

And this year, I will be going.

I have bitten the bullet and booked accommodation and one or two blogpals may be there as well.

I have put the Accountant on notice that he will be the responsible adult in the house on July 17, 18 and most of 19.

I cannot describe how much I am looking forward to this. Wool, fibre, blogpals, Ravellers and knitting - all in one place. Squeeeeeeee!

Other stuff.

I have been trying very hard to be good. And apart from a small slip off the wagon involving the very tail end of a Wollmeise update, I have been pretty good.

I have decluttered another 3 bags for Lifeline and got rid of some more - stuff - like boxes and bags and so on that have been sitting around forever. I have been doing lots of work, because my inner quality controller and work ethic will let me do no less than my best, job or no job after April 23.

I am still knitting on the ongoing projects, but when I finished the gansey socks, I cast on Blackrose (another knitty.com pattern in BMFA Raven clan, Thraven) I did the ribbing and first pattern repeat last night and it looks gorgeous. Can't wait to do some more on it.

Easter is coming, and I am fairly sure the Easter Bunny will be visiting us. I hope he visits you all too! Happy Easter! (and for pun-lovers - Hoppy Easter!)

Transmission will be interrupted in 5,4,3,2,......

Here is my first Summer of Lace FO. It's a Liesl in Lamb's Pride Cotton Fleece in and unreleased peacock colour. It took 2.5 skeins (around 500 metres!) and 10 days. I love it

On another front, I apologise for not being a good blogger. There's been some very bad stuff happening at present in our lives. All my energy is going into trying to appear normal on a day to day basis, and not screaming, crying or being sick.

We are waiting for news, but in the interim, blogging will be spasmodic. Knitting is happening. I have also been reading blogs, but lurking, rather than commenting. Things are just a bit overwhelming and I can't seem to get it together to write more that the occasional comment.

In the meantime, I'm still here, I can still be emailed (I love to be emailed!), I am still reading all your doings and general excitement (it's all that is keeping me sane), but I may not be commenting and/or blogging much. Forgive me.

Normal transmission will resume as soon as possible.