Welcome to 2011! (and a resolution!)

Well, it has been just a while since my last post and we are starting a new year. The resolution is to try and blog once a week, so we'll see how tht goes!

I have been knitting - although I didn't quite get 1 garments done in 2010, (the Lia still needs sleeves and I'm plugging away on the Hay Cardigan), I did manage 11. I also knited 3 pairs of socks, 6 shawls, some mitts and hats and presents and such. I went to Bendi and partied with some wonderful peeps, who also held my hand when I ended up in the emergency department at the local hospital with a fever brought on by a throat infection.

We went to Queensland with husby in September (actually, he had to go on busines, but we were so over the winter that we insisted on tagging along too). I finished the first year of my Masters course with quite satisfactory marks, thank you.

We had Christmas, the Knightly Knitter and her family came to visit and see int he New Year. it rained a lot. We had a flood in November. We had another flood last week. This onew as much worse - although not nearly as bad as The Mainland, where it is dire (donations for people who have lost everything can be sent here - up to 2.5 million people can't sleep in their own homes).

Friends were flooded, and I helped with the clean up which was beyond yucky. Mopping the same patch of floor 6 to 8 times will eventually get it clean and stop it smelling - just saying. The local boutique brewery got flooded (and their house next door - no beer lost, but the kegs had to be rounded up and there was more cleaning there - and lots of throwing things away.

Here is our paddock - underwater

here is out road - underwater

here is a platypus swimming in the paddock next door - which was underwater, too.

The best thing about the flood was the platypus. And the limbo day. The roads near us were all blocked, so the kids got tpo ride their bikes on the road for the very first (and probably last) time. Generally this is an unsafe thing to do, because we have no shoulder or pavement out here, and lots of hoons and trucks. The day after the floods was glorious - in contrast to the torrential rain for days before.

Shortly, we head off to New Zealand, and I will be going to the Antarctic for a day trip. I'll fill you in on all tht later - but I have a posmerino hat to finish, to go with the scarf I made to keep me warm down there!

Happy New Year - and all the best for 2011!

Bendi - the hangover.

Well, I'm home, the washing is done, the case is unpacked and most of the patting and fondling of yarn has ceased (mostly).

It's that awful feeling a week after you get home from a great holiday. That feeling that it almost never happened. You know you went. You had a great time. You finally got to meet some of your bestest-ever blogbuddies. You were child- and husby-free for 2 nights and most of 3 glorious days.
You were one of the Kewl Kids in the Hustler Street Posse.

And now you're home. And the washing-up didn't get done while you were away and neither did the washing. The floor crunches underfoot - in the patches were it doesn't stick to the soles of your shoes. Your family ate fish and chips from the local takeaway one night, and pikelets the other night.

My week has been normal. Went to the gym, did my monthly stint in the school canteen (it's only open one day a week, and the school only has 150 students, so it's not terribly onerous), sorted out a birthday party and present. Then the kids got sick. Both of them. Same symptoms. Sore stomach, headache, fever (Princess was 38.1 and Destructoboy was running at over 39). This meant Friday was all about high level mothering - which is something between pedeatric nursing and being a general dogsbody - one who prays under their breath ' please don't vomit - please don't vomit'.

Saturday was convalescence day and they are still not 100%. I know this because they have not fought, screamed at one another, hit, wrestled or had tantrums for 3 days. So today we made dried berry and orange brownies.

The goreousness in my suitcase -there have been one or two questions?

The butter yellow big balls?(How obscene does that sound?) That is 4 x 200gr balls of Bendigo Woollen Mills Cameo (angora/wool mix) 10 ply. From the fabled Back Room of the woollen mill is also some denim coloured Rustic in 12 ply, some marled Rustic in 8 ply, a ball of red luxury, and courtesy of the Divine Mandie at Ewe Give me the Knits, some Bendigo Woollen Mills fibre to practice spinning. There is also 700gr of red merino top for spinning and somehow I ended up with one of SpinningWoodie's drop spindles, made of maple and sassafras.

Also from EGMTK there is some dyed fibre and 3 skeins of sock yarn, from Charlie at Ixchel some cashmere merino laceweight, some camel/bunny, some angora bunny fibre and a bunny bling batt (this is wrapped up as the bling kept escaping and attching itself to everything and everyone in sight.

A couple of skeins of Pear Tree red 4 ply snuck in there too, and some of the gorgeous silk/optim from Shiloh wool. There's also some silk/Polworth from Wendy Dennis and the gorgeous Tom, some Lara Downs pure cashmere and some of their luxury cashmere/angora bunny/merino. There's some of Donyale's utterly gorgeous baby alpaca in Sir Walter, 2 skeins of Jitterbug and I'm almost sure there are other yummies I've not named.

In addition, I had presents. Donyale gave me Norah Gaughan Volume 5, Knightly Knitter passed on a birthday present of Mason Dixon Knitting, Zephyrama gave me Feminie Knits and I have no idea how Knitting Ganseys ended up there. After a while it became a euphoric haze.....

And yes, I did manage to get clothes in there too. In fact, I bought 2 tops and a knitted cotton dress. i thought the tops were cotton rayon stuff until after I had put one through the washing machine (on cold luckily) and discovered that this shiny silkiness was in fact - wool.

So thank you to the amazing blogpals, the awesome organisers, the remarkable Ravellers and ecstatic enablers. I have already booked the husbeast for childminding for next year. I am so ready.

I don't even mind the post-Bendi hangover, as long as it means I can do it all again next year!

Ooops!

It followed me home, Mum. Can I keep it?

Two Sleeps To Go!

It's Wednesday. It's winter. We had floods at the weekend. This meant I was the meanest mother on record, because I had promised to take my children to a lantern festival and fireworks disply.

The past weekend was our town's annual Chocolate Winterfest. We have a Belgian chocolate maker and his factory and restaurant nearby, and their chocolate festival merged to become our Chocolate Winterfest. One of the highlights is a lantern walk and fireworks display. But it rained, and rained, and rained.

And the river rose and rose.

The river burst its banks on Saturday afternoon and kept rising. This is a fairly regular event; local paddocks flood, creeks run through every slight gully and everything gets a tiny bit worse when there's a high tide (we live near an estuary).

The fireworks were postponed till Sunday night, but by then, the entire park and surrounding area where all this was going to happen was under about a metre of water. Fireworks and associated fun stuff all cancelled.

Luckily, I had left myself a caveat. "We can go to the lanterns and fireworks if it's not raining," I had said. Smart mother. Didn't stop the kids saying I was mean.

It's only 2 sleeps until I fly over to the Bendigo Wool and Sheep show, sans husband and children. This will be the first night I have ever spent apart from both my children - and I am really excited. I am even more excited to be meeting up with some internet friends, blog buddies and fellow Ravellers! It will be the first time I've met most of them in real life.

Next time I blog I will be tired, broke and home again.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. I am certainly going to!

Is it May yet?

Oh dear.

Over a week since I blogged, and such a lot has happened.

First (and most importantly) a visit from the lovely Rosered! She escorted her mother to Tasmania, but slipped the leash for a couple of days and came to visit. So lovely to finally have a face to put with the shoes!

We knitted and drank coffee and champagne and ate some nice things - and she brought me a lovely darning mushroom! It was a lovely visit. I dragged her along to circus school, and pointed her towards the LYS and the nice shoe shop - and strangely, she came back with yarn and shoes, having found a hitherto unmined source of Grinasco Tango. And a pair of orange shoes. How unlike her!

This of course, meant I also had to do a quick dash to the LYS too, and grab some of the Tango, and somehow 5 balls of Superior (70 cashmere, 30 silk laceweight) slipped into the bag with the Tango. It probably wanted company.

It was a wonderful visit, and so lovely to meet her. I hope she comes back to visit again soon!

Friday was Agfest day. In keeping with tradition (well we did it last year and twice in a row must make it a tradition) a girlfriend and I consigned our respective children to the tender care of their fathers and did a dash to the delights of Agfest.

An utterly wonderful day, so sunny and hot we were out and about in t-shirts (the last gasp of the Indian Summer). There was a lot more fleecy and fibre-y stuff than last year - mainly alpaca, but a wool shop from Moonah (who also sell Ashford gear and knitpicks needles) had a stall. Overall I was very good and only bought 1 ball of alpaca - hand dyed, 2 little bags of tops and one ball of silk garden sock. Some plants, bulbs, soap and lovely hand cream etc came home with me though.

Which brings me to stash honesty. These purchases, having been made in May, do not count in April's total (heaves sigh of relief).

April:
In: 800 grams

Knitted: (wait for it!) 100 gr - Black Rose socks
700gr - raglan cardi
100 gr - fish hat
100gr - Lighthouse gansey socks

Total - 1kg knitted - so I finally managed to knit more than came in! At last!

On a much sadder note, thank you so much for all your lovely thoughts on my poor little Hobson. And thank you for sharing your cat stories, too. It is awful to lose a fur friend, and I miss him dreadfully. Thank you.

And a big Happy Mother's Day, and to those who aren't yet, but will be - Happy Day to us all!

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......

To whom it may concern....

Dear Knitters,

I am currently in receipt of one (1) large knitted hug. It is my understanding that this article of sneakiness was actually coordinated by my friend, the Knightly Knitter. I would like to say, here and now, that I am completely blown away by your remarkable gift!

Not only am I just amazed at its beauty and the wonderful thoughts and cards I received - which I am going to actually be up front about, and admit that I had a jolly good cry (and a good thing we had new tissues - because we ran out 2 days ago and I only bought some more today).

But I am also just totally amazed at the sneakiness of Kate and at the remarkable kindness of a whole passel of knitters (or should that be a stitch of knitters, or a row of knitters, or a rib of knitters?)

Thank you all - thank you thank you. I will post pictures tomorrow when I have light to show the wonderfulness of this gift), and will thank all of you by email, but in the meantime thank you a thousand times

Thank you all for my hug!

The Alien Weirdness of Kniters (Yay!)

Almost from the very beginning of reading knitblogs I have been amazed at the number of knitters fascinated with science fiction and fantasy. During my childhood, adolescence and rather loooooong maturation, I found it almost impossible to find fellow SFF fans and readers.

I was indoctrinated by my mother into SF at a very early age – in fact, I spent 3 years absolutely terrified of the dark after reading Andre Norton’s Starman’s Son (also published as ‘Daybreak-2250AD) when I was 7. (Don’t judge me until you have read it yourself – the scene where the man is tortured with a rat – and then.. – Brrrr!)

Throughout my teenage years there were no real sci-fi people about. I was considered deeply weird at the rural schools I attended – not only did I read (strange!) but I READ SCIENCE FICTION (geek city!)

Mum and I watched ‘The Champions’, ‘Star Trek’ (the original series), ‘The Guardians (about a dystopian Britain with an exiled royal family, run by its security forces), ‘Out of the Unknown (a very scary British answer to the Twilight Zone – which we also watched), and any other sci fi, alternative history, slightly off beat television series we could find.

We went to any Sci Fi movies which came (briefly) to our local cinema. I still remember going to see ‘Star Wars’ with her when it first came out (not long before her death).

I have never given up my addiction to SFF. I was a regular mail order customer for Galaxy Books for many years, spending chunks of my salary (well, the bits not earmarked for wine and cigarettes) on feeding my vice. But rarely did I meet another person who revelled in my personal favourite genres. I had to make a massive effort to force my husband into reading my library – which he now happily does.

Fast forward to 2 years ago, when I discovered knitblogs. The weird paradox of people engaged in an ancient craft revelling in alternate futures, fantasy worlds, paranormal adventures and weird aliens confronted me. It also made me very, very happy.

Not only did you knit, but you knitted and read and watched the same things I did! (Many of you are also Jane Austen Fans – and that makes me even happier!! In fact, someone mentioned Georgette Heyer recently in their blog – and that REALLY made my day.)

I still primarily read SF – though more slowly now my reading time is curtailed by mothering and domestic duties. I love to watch SF – though I am disappointed the Sci-Fi channels seems to only screen Star Trek and Stargate and their spinoffs.

So as my first Blogiversary approaches, leave a comment to tell me your favourite science fiction or fanatasy (all paranormal subjects included) book, film, and/or TV series (now or in the past). Please, Lurkers, come forward and drop me a line. All commenters between now and midnight on 3 July –Australian Eastern Standard Time (the day after my blogiversary) will get an entry into a random draw. There will be prizes. And I will finally get to meet yet more people who share my addictions!

What Did You Do On The Long Weekend?

Another quick one (by which I mean no photos!).

We’ve had a very full and happy house this weekend – an old friend of mine (the one who I’ve been friends with since kindy – or should that be ‘with whom I’ve been friends’? Not sure) stayed for Thursday and Friday night – he had come up to visit a great aunt for her 100th birthday. It’s always fun while he’s here – we drink wine, tell silly stories and he does jobs around the place – this visit he decided his job was to collect walnuts, so he’s filled the vast basket with his endeavours.

And we also had the Knightly Knitter and her wonderful family to stay! It was a bit squooshy, and the weather didn’t cooperate – Kate and I managed very pleasant early morning walks, but later in the days it got cold and rainy.

It was lots of fun – the children enjoyed each other’s company, the menfolk chatted and looked after kids and played about, Kate and I knitted and talked about knitting and blogging and her new job. She gave me a crash course in downloading podcasts (No, I hadn’t been able to work it out on my own – I could listen to the current one but couldn’t find the back issues, so now I can listen to Lime’n’Violet, Stash and Burn, Cast On and Sticks and String - in my copious and child free time – ROFLMAO!!!).

I did a tiny bit of enabling when I took her into our little town and showed her Picture Patchwork (yes – it has Amy Butler fabric and patterns), a new shop which sells nice clothes and yarn called Simply Us and we both succumbed to the lure of wool silk, and our local clothing/craft/haberdashery/hardware/camping/menswear/shoe shop and supermarket. Each of the bits has a separate shop inside a shop and they are all interlinked – the Hardware shop and supermarket bits actually have doors between them, and they sell great clothes. And Shoes. And have just expanded their range of yarn.

Kate liked it so much she bought stuff and I put some shiny red shoes on lay-by.

We had fun. We cooked and talked and played with kids and knitting books and yarn. We drank wine and played in the garden when the weather permitted. We picked mushrooms in the paddock and made pizzas. All in all it was a fun long weekend. I don’t know about Kate’s children – but mine were exhausted by last night! You and your family are welcome any time!

In knitting news, I have finished most of the knitting on the Slouch Rib Cardi – I should have the bands done tonight, leaving only the remaining sewing (most of it) and the buttons to do. Then it’s onto Tahoe and the other 16 things I want to knit in the next week! So much knitting, so little time!

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and funny stories about things up noses. The Lego Man’s hand was undamaged in the incident, and so far Destructoboy has managed to restrain impulses to shove extraneous objects up any orifices. I hope this restraint continues well into puberty!

You Put The Hand In, You Take The Hand Out...

Just a short update today:

Knitting:

The scarf is finished and I will post photos later (given the fact I am posting the parcel today!)
The Slouch rib cardi needs one and a half sleeves and the bands – other than that it is all done (LOL)

I have been matching yarn and patterns and coming up are: Montparnasse, Tahoe, Cherie Amour and Pearl Buck – in no particular order. There are also unfinished socks, the Gathered Pullover and some requested mittens in there. And some baby knitting.

I have been spending too much time on Ravelry and lusting after other people’s knitting. And stash. So I’m going to make a huge effort to get more of my own knitting done, from my existing yarn-that-is-not-stash.

Other stuff:

In other news, the Knightly Knitter and her family are coming for the weekend. This is exciting, but also means I must tidy up some of the general high level of clutter around the place. I also need to terrorise the dust antelopes (some people have dust bunnies, but not this chicken, no siree!), and make sure there are some surfaces for cooking. Due to enablement by Ms Cindy2paw I acquired the AWW Winter cookbook and think some things from that may appear – last night we had chicken with olives and preserved lemon. Tonight it’s home made sausage rolls (full of cunningly hidden veggies!). Delicious magazine also arrived.


Fun in the Afternoon:

Now, I have discovered that having a good relationship with the reception staff of your local medical centre is crucial. Ask me how I know!!

For some reason, known only to himself, Destructoboy decided to put the teeny tiny little hand of a Lego man up his right nostril! Now, when a teeny tiny Lego hand gets put up the nose of a 3 ½ year old, it stays put – especially because his attempts to fish it out before letting Mum know drive it further up. Remaining calm (he wasn’t – he was deeply upset that he wouldn’t get the *&^*&*%%% hand back!) I whisked him into the car and off to the local doctors’ surgery.

Knowing all the staff really helps – when I explained the situation we were raced into an examination room, the first passing GP was frogmarched in, an examination assisted by magnifying glasses took place and anaesthetic was sprayed up Destructoboy’s nostril. It was really lucky the doctor could actually see the hand, because otherwise it meant a trip to hospital and a visit with the ENT specialist– but there is no ENT outside the northern capital – 100km away, and I don’t think they are there all the time – only some days! And an operation under general anaethetic – and wouldn’t THAT be fun!

A quick prod and grab with the tweezers and Destructoboy’s Lego man got his hand back. He perked up immediately (he had been very quiet and worried until then – said his nose hurt and was crying about the loss of the hand!), and promised never to put anything anywhere it wasn’t supposed to go. He got a lollipop to take away the taste of the anaesthetic. I really hope I don’t have to go through that again any time soon.

Just a quick update on the de-cluttering:

In

1 knitting magazine
1 Delicious Magazine
1 cookbook (enabled by Cindy2paw)
2 balls Moda Vera Sock yarn, 2 balls green variegated Jet, 3 balls of blue Jet to finish cardi, 8 buttons (Doomlight of Spot visit)
7 Buttons for Slouch cardi (thus converting a 20 dollar cardi into a 44 dollar cardi via 14 bucks for buttons and 2 extra balls of wool!)
7 Balls Bendigo - 3 wisteria and 4 sprite because it is discontinued and I love it!

Out

3 wooden jigsaws – to child care centre
6 shopping bags of stuff (clothes, boots, shoes etc) Lifeline
1 large bag boys shoes – gift
1 bag girls stuff – gift

Shake it all about

Vintage hues scarf – gift

Hope to have some pictures later in the week. There are some items on the way which have fallen out of other people’s stashes and into mine! Off to have lunch and recover from the flat out fun of being a mother!

What I Did On My Holiday (Part 2)

Just before we get in to Canberra, I realised there was a bit of a gap in the blog! I hadn’t put up the lovely parcel I received from MadmadHousewife (finally – after customs and Quarantine had finished with it – and just slightly before we decided it had obviously been lost in the mail). This wonderful book:

and some maple syrup candy and lollypops (which seem to have disappeared – no idea where!). This arrived literally just before we boarded the boat and after the car was stuffed to the gunwales, so I didn’t get a chance for a proper look inside until we got home – so many things to make and what a great way to bust stash! I’m going to practice next week when some projects get under control.

These also got finished – either just before we left – the Nutkins in the Knittery merino/Cashmere in the Sea Life colourway

The Noropups were finished on the road.

Back to the trip. We arrived safely (didn’t throttle over excited children on long car trip – 6 or so hours in the car can be eased by the judicious application of lollypops). The wonderful Bells had organised a little lunch meeting with some of the Canberra Bloggers, so having packed husband off to work in Queensland and consigned children to the SILs care I sallied forth into central Canberra.

We had a lovely lunch and I got to meet Bells (who delivered a small package I had asked her to purchase for me when a certain Canberra shop had Zara for 2 dollars a ball! And she is even lovelier in person), Georgie (glowingly pregnant and even younger and slimmer than her blog indicates), Jejune (bouncy and generous and not yet purple) and the wonderful QuiltingMick (a fabulous crocheter and blogger and a joy to chat with).

It is so great to meet blogpals in real life (and a little nerve-wracking, too! – I knew I would like them – after all, we’ve been chatting and emailing and such – but what if I disappointed them? What if they were expecting someone wittier and funnier and more glamorous? If they were, they were nice enough not to let me know!). Much knitting and crocheting and petting of yarn took place – along with a bit of eating and drinking. The waiter even asked for some socks!

After lunch, when everyone except Jejune and I had to make their way back to offices, she offered to guide me to the two shops I wanted to visit. I’m afraid I rather enabled her at the TS14+ shop while I picked up one or two items. I was also lucky to get out of Borders without making any purchases. We gave Jejune a lift home after shopping and she met the poppets and SIL – Thank you Jejune – for your navigational and guiding expertise!

Easter passed in its usual haze of chocolate and excitement. We visited the National Gallery, Questacon and Dinosaur Museum. The Easter Bunny visited us and the children turned into feral chocaholics with the frenzy of an Easter Egg Hunt. On Easter Monday the girls had organised another little get together.

For an isolated knitter, the internet and her blogpals are a lifeline. Yarn people (knitters, hookers and spinners) are generally fun, generous and slightly obsessive. Meeting them in the flesh is a wonderful treat, and I hope to do it again soon! And if any of you are coming to NW Tasmania, let me know!

So Monday was spent with Bells, Georgie, Taph and the Happy Spider. Just lovely to see Taph and Spidey again (I met them last year) and so lovely to let yarn fumes wash over us and chat and knit and pet yarn and exchange tips and patterns and stories. I even received a present from the Happy Spider – some of her glorious sock yarn in Blackberry!

Thank you all again for your time and generosity! I looks forward to lots more meetings – both virtual and real – and a special thanks to Georgie and Bells for being such great organisers!!

Next post will cover Rutherglen and deal with WHAT HAPPENED AT WANG! (A tale to chill your hearts and credit cards, dear reader!)

What I did on my holiday (Part 1)

Goodness me! We got back yesterday and I’ve barely had a moment to breathe – what with the post holiday stuff! (Washing, tidying, shopping for food, organising stuff for school – you know!)

So this is only a half post – I’ll sprint from Tassie to Echuca and spend a little more leisurely time tomorrow in and around Canberra!

We went to Melbourne on the ferry and barely drew breath before speeding into Bendigo, and finding the rather well camouflaged woollen mill, where I sprinted for the Bargain room. I basically ignored all the stuff I can get at Bendi anytime a bad move as I later discovered – more anon – or at least in a day or so) and went into the back cave of treasures! Found that Bendi used to have sock yarn – called Miami – a wool/cotton/nylon mixture which seems to bear a bit of a resemblance to Socketta. Stocked up. A lot.

Then added some dark Purply- Blue aran (18 x 50gr balls at 2 dollars a ball) and 3 200gram skeins of colonial in a colour called Foxglove (think Jacaranda trees) for 7 dollars a skein! Caressed some sunflower yellow baby wool and some other bits and pieces, and managed to tear myself away.

Off to Echuca. My lord it was hot! 40 degrees –ish while we were there – lucky we had a pool, but hard to convince children to stay inside when they’re on holiday! (At least till the worst of the sun was off the pool – luckily we had packed DVDs!) Echuca meant Mandie from Ewe Give Me the Knits (one of the Greatest names in creation).

We had morning coffee and talked. And talked. And Talked – and since we could both talk for Australia, it was great fun! Mandie gave me some lovely gifts – Two beautiful rovings – one merino in colours called Turbulent 1

The other a merino/bamboo in the Blue Gum 1 colourway.

There were also some gorgeous skull stitch markers – but they are currently in service!

It was wonderful to meet yet another generous and funny blogger – and now I have to learn to spin – just to make something wonderful from such gorgeous rovings!

How Many Shopping Days Till Christmas?

Well, those Saturdays just keep on rolling around, don’t they – how many Saturdays are left till Christmas (not counting today)? Six, that’s how many – six!

Now I mentioned my problem with times stealers before – so whoever has around 3 months of my year, confess now, and I’ll be lenient!

Yup, six Saturdays till Christmas – and only 1 till the school fair. On the other hand, that’s only 10 Saturdays until I get my first Blue Moon Fibre (sorry, Fiber) Arts Rockin’ Sock Club kit!!

That’s right – the RSC for 2008 will have me attempting to keep up with kit knitting! Given that my Sock club kit knitting performance has been fairly dismal to date (Red Bird kits: 3; Tinkingbell knitting said kits - 0 ), this may be a little bit of a challenge!

But I am very excited about this – given that I begged and pleaded with them for 6 months or so, sending ever more plaintive emails – think of me as a pity membership!

The other even more exciting news was my meeting with Ms 2Paw in the flesh (for some reason my keyboard had 3 tries at making that ‘in the fleas’!) She is, of course, absolutely lovely and remarkably kind and composed in the face of a full scale onslaught by the monsters – sorry, delightful small children. We chatted, chatted and chatted (see? A Yarn of knitters?), discussed books and dogs and slipped in the odd knitting related comment.



It was a lovely time and I hope to repeat the experience very soon. (She, of course, may not be so keen, given the general rambunctiousness of said children!). As an example of her graciousness, she had made presents for us – The Princess received a beautiful bag (she is still trying to find the perfect contents for it and had to be restrained from shoplifting to fill it), gorgeous chickens for Destructoboy, which he has decided to share with the Accountant, and a lovely (and sparkly) Christmassy sock project bag – who couldn’t love so talented a blogpal?

I also slipped into the Doomlight of Spot and overdosed ever-so-slightly on Anchor Magicline, which was $1.00 a ball (note to self – everyone gets dishcloths – again!)

Before bed last night (and especially due to a couple of hours of driving), I actually have 2 finished objects – one finished (but as yet unfelted) Buttonhole Bag (gift) and what I believed whiule I was knitting it, to be a dishcloth, but is actually, I am informed, a face washer for the Princess.



You really can’t pick it, can you? Sometimes objects just have their own destiny.

Is knitting better than sex?

Which is better?

Talking about knitting, knitting, or talking about knitting while actually knitting? (Or is it talking about knitting while knitting and eating brownies stuffed with dried cherries?) As I have no stitch and bitch group in my immediate vicinity, and very few people who either understand or share my knitting obsession I rely on my blog pals to fuel this particular interest.

Have had a great few knitting days. Friday was the visit from Jill the Super-cabler! And then yesterday I had a visit from the Knitting Knight’s road trip. A lovely day spent playing with yarn, talking about knitting and food and socks and yarn and knitting and children and gardens and knitting and stash and knitting and so on.

The Knitting Knight’s family is just lovely and supportive of their mother’s knitting prowess. I also received a gorgeous handcrafted sock knitting bag from the young male Knitting Knight (his first outing on the sewing machine – and mightily impressive – photos later). Kate made me highly envious with her Dish Rag Tag - so I think I will be forced to sign up next year.

It was a lovely weekend and great to meet co-bloggers (bloggista?) in person. She has, of course opened the floodgates and now can expect a return visit from Chez Tinkingbell at a future date!

OK

Here’s the ‘In, Out, Shake it all about’ list.

For sheer quantity, this one will be hard to beat!

Out:
4 tonnes (cubic metres) of firewood
2 trailer loads to the tip – this includes dead furniture, old guttering tiles sacks and stuuf including treated wood and wood with paint
7 bags of childrens clothes – sold on ebay
10 skeins of Rowan 4 ply – sold
2 balls sock yarn – sold
2 more bags of sheets and toys to the child care centre
4 (?)forgotten – patterns to Taph – evil laughter
3 toys – gifts
1 bag bibs and smocks – childcare centre
1 bag childrens shoes – gift
2 pairs boys shoes – gift
1 bag – lifeline

In
1 knitting pattern book
4 balls Jo Sharp Kid mohair
20 skeins of Rowan 4 ply
1 handcrafted sock knitting bag from a young friend of mine
1 apricot shirt from the op-shop

Shake it all about

8 cloth nappies turned into dusters/ wiper uppers

I’m very taken with the de-cluttering – but seem to have spent such a long time (and so much effort) cluttering, feel that a high level of de-clutter may take a while.

Off to survey the possibilities for round 4 of de-clutter. More later!