I don't just break resolutions....

...I jump on them with both feet!

I posted on the 19th, said I was going to post once a week, and then immediately left it almost 2 weeks until I posted again! Hopeless.

I am blaming the holidays (and the fact that I barely know what day of the week it is), for the fact that I suddenly realised it was 1 February, and the beginning of school was just around the corner. So, in 2 sleeps the children are back to school and very shortly we are all off to NZ for a short time.

So, you ask, what have they been doing?

Well, there has been knitting and the nearly eternal Hay cardigan is finally finished. It is currently blocking and awaiting buttons. There have been 2 versions of the Hurricane Hat - one where I thought I knew much better than the designer (and it didn't look even vaguely like a hurricane) and one with the remaining posmerino which actually abided by the designers instructions and looks great - but meant that I had to frog the not-quite-a-hurricane in order to finish it off. The hat will go with the posmerino Boneyard shawl and will be worn in a cold place.

That's right - a very cold place. I am off to Antarctica for a day trip! On the 30th annuversary of the Mt Erebus Aircrash, Air New Zealand sent 12 relatives of the victims to Antarctica to the crash site to place a memorial marker. The passengers were drawn by ballot - and I had no idea at the time that this was happening. Because it was so successful, Air New Zealand decided to put on a larger second flight. This time I actually knew about the ballot and entered my name - and I have a seat. The plan is to fly from NZ, land at Scott Base, place another memorial, and after a short time on the ground, to fly back to NZ.

What this has meant from a practical point of view, is that we are all going to NZ (because there are several alternative flight dates, depending on the Antarctic weather) and I need to pack thermals, a scarf and hat and warm socks.

Gosh - I wonder where the scarf, hat and socks should come from? I know - I'll knit some!

So the kids go back to school for two days, and then vanish for a fortnight for some real world experience of vulcanology, zoology, studies of flora and fauna and some vicarious Antarctic experiences. I'll try to blog before we leave - but I must go - I have a hat to finish and block......

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!

Oh dear.....

Well, here I am, a little late and with almost too much news for a single post.
News of my demise has been greatly exaggerated - I have just been suffering from computer fatigue, due to assignments, required tutorial postings and general fighting and scrapping with administrators and bureaucrats. And then there were exams. Sigh.

I have however, been knitting ('I knit so I don't kill people' has become a mantra).
There has been knitting. Here is A Little Something (Sundara Silky Merino Aran - from a Ravelry de-stash):


A second Tempest (longer - in Somoko)


A Transverse Cardigan, in Classic Elite Renaissance (also from a Ravelry de-stash)

A Tea Leaves cardigan in Sanguine Gryphon Traveller. This may be my favourite cardigan yet. The pattern is lovely and the wool is gorgeous.


There is a bit of a selfish knitting theme going on here, partly because most of my cardigans and jumpers are too large on me this year (happy dance!) but also because it is comforting to be making oneself something pretty when wading through a pile of assignments. I have also been trying to shop heavily from my non-stash (as it is well known that I have NO STASH).

Partly this is motivated by the rather large quantity of - ahem - insulation which appears to live in our spare room (amongst other places), and partly because, while organising it, I discovered how much beautiful - ahem - insulation - I appear to possess. So I am using it, rather than merely patting it and admiring it.

I seem to have actually knitted more than I have acquired over the last few months. This is A Good Thing, especially with the Bendigo Wool and Sheep Show on the horizon, and the near certainty that I may acquire at least something knittable while I am there.

But it hasn't all been slaving over a hot computer and forcing the family to eat what ever I can throw together in 20 minutes.

No, no.


Just after Easter we escaped to Coles Bay for a wedding. The Accountant's God-daughter married her beau, in a most beautiful ceremony held practically on top of a mountain, overlooking Moulting Lagoon, the Swan River and across toward Swansea. Beautiful day, stunning bride and amazing location. Because of this, we had a lovely weekend away and the weather was perfect, as was the wedding. (I love a good wedding.)


My lovely Step-mother came with us, and looked after these two monsters while we attended the wedding, and the reception later.


After the stress of the assignments, and my practicuum (which was wonderful and exciting and took place in a 'challenging' school, with a very experienced teacher, and a fun and very lively class), we took a holiday. In fact, I actually truanted from my course for the final week. I made sure all assignments and tutorial work was done, packed the lightest text book for exam study and we headed off for two weeks in Fiji. I studied and knitted in a hammock, snorkelled every day, taught the Princes to snorkel, saw sharks and rays and lots of lovely fish and coral, kayaked and found 2 lost Fijian Crested Iguanas while knitting in my hammock.

The finding of the escaped iguanas then gave me an excuse for spending as much time in the hammock as possible. When people asked what I was doing, I could reply that I was looking for iguanas, with a perfectly straight face. I basically finished some Vesper socks (still have to put in afterthought heels), started some Duckies socks, and almost finished a Citron shawlette (hate that word).
The Citron would actually have been finished - had the Knitpicks cable not broken - grrrrrrrr!

So that's it really. You are up to date. Now I am on holiday (as much as a mother ever is!), the kids are back at school. The Princess still has her 4 Fijian beaded braids in and is resisting all attempts to remove them. Destructoboy is missing his splashes in the pool and unlimited access to pineapple and paw paw. The Accountant is missing the warmth and relaxation, and I am missing my hammock.It is the shortest day today, and utterly freezing. We had a hard frost this morning. Fiji seems very far away.

Excuse me, I need to go and knit something.......

Having a bit of a WIP 'round...

It has been a month of WIP frenzy. Each night I put my hand into the Big Bucket o' WIPs (tm), and play Knittlotto (tm), knitting on whatever gets hauled out. A little concentrated effort on a couple of projects which may have been hanging around for a while has resulted in this:



Clapotis 2, started in May 2009 finished in November 2009 (Touch Yarn Merino and utterly gorgeous)


This:


Radiate from Knitty.com, in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Luscious Single Silk in Citrine

and some secret Christmas Knitting (which isn't all finished yet)

There are also a couple of single socks and a bit more done on several other projects which have been lurking in the undergrowth for a while.

So the whole stash honesty thing doesn't look nearly so bad at present:

Knitted: 1300 grams

Inward enhancements: 1700 grams

Slightly better stats this month!

The aniversary of Mum's death passed with a family trip to beaustiful (but slightly rainy) Strahan on the West Coast of Tasmania.

There was some of this:


And some of this:


And almost a whole day of this:
The trip on the West Coast Wilderness Railway was a wonderful day despite the rain. The original was contructed over a century ago, and has been revived as a tourist route, with a 50 year old diesel locomotive for the first section, from Strahan to the base of the mountain, and then a 111 year old stem engine - named Percy because he is green - takes over and the line becomes a rack and pinion (sort of like cogs) to go over a mountain and down the other side to Queenstown.

The train stops at all the old stations along the way, includes a lovely lunch of Tasmanian gourmet bits and pieces and the kids had a wonderful time. A long day, but really interesting.

Strahan itself is lovely - and I'm ashamed to say that I haven't been down there for 17 years. We had crayfish and the local hotel had a wonderful restaurant. The old railway link between the town wharf and Regatta Point is now a walk along the side of the harbour. Macquarie Harbour is, in fact, the second largest in Australia after Port Philip Bay (Sorry, Sydneysiders!)

I intend to visit again, long before another 17 year hiatus!

There have been lots of things happeneing - mainly at the school, with the year winding up - I have atteneded sports carnivals, inter-school sports, swimming lessons, the fete, the garden opening, and have the disco (lots of kids from 5 to 12 in 'crazy' dress hitting the town until the heady hour of 8pm) and the school picnic coming up.

The time thief has struck again, because I cannot believe we are currently in December - woe is me!

Back to the scheduled Christmas Knitting!

What I did on my holidays.....

We're back. The washing is done, the sheets are flapping in the breeze out on the clothesline and spring has finally happened properly. In fact, although it rained all day yesterday, it is beautiful today and was every day we were away too. Well done to the weather gods.

We started out by having 2 days in Hobart, where I managed to catch up with the amazingly talented Ms Frog Ponds Rock. Pop over and visit her blog - she is a great potter and an amazing photographer. It was just lovely to finally meet her (and swap recipes and hit the spice shop!)

We also caught up with the Knightly Knitter and her family, where she prepared an incredible meal while also demonstrating superwoman capabilities by simultaneously cooking, wrangling children, talking about knitting, knitting and refereeing several disagreements amongst the junior set - and keeping the dogs outside.

Off to Port Arthur for 2 days and, truth to tell, I was a little worried, having not been back there since the events of 1996, but it retains the same sense of peace and tranquility I always remember. I was afraid it may have become something else.

Despite its dark history, I have always loved Port Arthur. I think it is beautiful. It is hard to believe it was a brutal prison for so long, housing convicts who had committed crimes after their transportation to Van Dieman's Land.

Probably the nicest thing about our stay down there was the fact that the place where we stayed was right across the road from the back gate to the site. Once we had paid the entry fee, we were given a key and could come and go as we pleased.


It was our domain. This meant that I could sorta run in the world heritage nominated area in the morning and be the only person in there, with all this beauty all to myself.

Then we headed up the East Coast and stayed at Coles Bay. We did some of the short walks and generally hung about.


The kids did some kids stuff (including mugging for the camera) and we all generally recharged our batteries.

We built sandcastles here.
And despite the Accountant suffering a major gout attack on the first day (which meant I had no time to knit in the car because I had to drive, and this threw my plans out dreadfully!), I finally finished the Cotty socks I started at Bendigo. Here they are, in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock, mediumweight in Koi Koi. Love them.
Now, I have to start looking forward to the next road trip!

Random Friday

Thanks everyone for your good wishes - currently the lurgies are in retreat (fingers crossed, knocks on wood, does lucky dance etc). We have had a single day of sunshine in the past many, many days. Maybe that helped.

Random stuff:

1. Apparently, if it rains on St Swithin's Day (July 15), it will rain for 40 days. It rained on St Swithin's Day and we are now approaching a lot more than 40 days. I'm hoping I have time to go to a woodwork class, because I don't think my skills are up to building an ark, but it certainly looks as if I need to be able to. We may have had enough rain - just for a little while. In ultra-random stuff, St Swithin is also the patron saint of apples and apple trees. Who knew?

2. There is very little sign of it being spring. The bulbs are out and so are the early fruit trees, blossoming their hearts out. But it doesn't feel like spring. It's still cold. And wet (please see point 1).

3. Tempest knitting has finished, but there is still the matter of umpty zillion ends. I hate sewing in ends. I am sure there are people who can make their sewn in ends look great. Mine look crappy and I find that sewing in more than 7 in a session fills me with a level of unholy rage. I loved the knitting. If I make it again I will either make it in one colour, or I will work out a way to carry the yarn up the sides for 14 rows. I won't sew the sleeves in until the ends are dealt with. This may take some more time.

4. The Vine Yoke Cardigan is growing apace. Not only is Ysolda a genius, but I shopped from stash (or possibly from insulation, given that I have no stash, as laid out in the rules of stash), and am knitting it in the Naturally Sensation I picked up in Gawler, SA for $2.50 a skein. The yarn is gorgeous, the pattern fun, and I have a warm inner glow which only comes from feeling that you have a bargain. I even managed to get the perfect buttons for about 80 cents each.

5. The concentration on knitting large garments have meant that the enormous pile of WIPs is still sitting there, staring at me sullenly. I will get to them.

6. Stash honesty forces me to admit that some yarn may have entered the house during August, but I can't remember all of it. I know there was a little sock yarn. There was some Fleece Artist (around 3 garments worth) but I have absolutely no idea what else. I may have repressed the memory.

7. The children have been tending to act up. Part of this is from cabin fever because the weather has been so awful that they have been cooped up - although I drove them outside last weekend with a pitchfork - well, not really a pitchfork, but certainly with a high level of coercion. Partly it is tiredness. The circus school's major show is on now and over the weekend, and there have been long (and sometimes, late,) rehearsals. The concentration on one child, has meant the other child asserting rights to attention by being a right little snot. On various occasions I have comforted myself with thoughts of infanticide, child slavery or sale or return. Then they are nice, and totally disarm me!

8. On one of the nice occasions, the Princess (who spent some of her birthday money on a cookbook) decided to make breakfast, lunch and dinner. She did a wonderful job. She made pancakes, turkish bread pizzas and Tagliatelle Carbonara. Grownups did the stirring things on the gas stove, and the putting into and getting out of the oven, she did the rest. She also made little pink biscuits. I did the washing up. This behaviour is being highly encouraged. I have fantasies of never have to cook through her teenage years.

10. School holidays start today. Next week we will have a few days away, visiting Hobart (and seeing the Knightly Knitter), Port Arthur and Coles Bay. This may help with the cabin fever.

Will try a more organised post (possibly with illustrations!) soon.

Post-Holiday Blahs

We're back, and I have a severe case of the post holiday blahs.

We arrived back late on Wednesday night, and the house-sitter had done her usual wonderful job. The first day back was a beautiful sunny winter day, just right for all the post holiday washing.

But since then it has been cold and grey and drizzly. The kids are in quarantine because we passed through the swine flu capital of the universe (Melbourne Airport) and after running around on a sub-tropical island, have a severe case of cabin fever.

The holiday itself was grand. We spent a week on the Gold Coast, where the children sampled the delights of the theme parks and the Princess adored Rollercoasters and the Giant drop. She made the 120cm height restriction by 2cms - and then insisted on repeating the experience. Destructoboy preferred merry-go-rounds, although he did like river rides and flume rides and the associated wetness.

Club Med Lindemen Island was lovely - although the swimming pools were freezing, even for a Tasmanian! The kids club was next to the circus school, so they had high trapeze (yes, both the 4 and 6 year old loved this), bungy bounce, their own swimming pools, and enormous climbing fort, tennis, archery, putt-putt golf, beach stuff and lots of other activities, including starring spots in the nightly shows.

I put the cocktail list to the test, was hugely active in order to be able to eat a reasonable sampling of the food which someone else had cooked - and which other people were going to wash up after. Other people cooking, washing up, cleaning and tidying up is a mothers' dream holiday!

But since we've been home I've had a severe case of blahness. There is no real reason for this, except perhaps the winter weather and its greyness. So I have been catching up on blog reading (but not commenting much, my apologies). I have cast on another jumper (of course) and pecked at the holiday socks (one done and most of one to go). I haven't done much more on the half done holiday Clapotis.

But currently it's all about the colours of a tropical sea. All my current knitting is blues, greens and turquoise. The socks are in Fleece Artist Trail Socks in Angel Fish, the Clapotis in Touch Yarn in gorgeous turquoise washed with greens and blues and the Jumper is Fleece Artist River in Nova Scotia. So maybe it's about the Fleece Artist, too.

I had all four sock club packages get into my hands either the day we left or the day we arrived back, and they are all lovely, but now I have to wait at least 2 more months for the next packages. Sigh.

It's a good thing that I have the thought of Bendi to sustain me - and the thought of my lovely kids being able to see their friends at school on Tuesday when their quarantine ends. No Hamthrax so far!

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!

Honeeeeey!!! We're Home!

We're back.

Tasmania is back to it's normal sort of summer weather. South Australia was sweltering with 6 days in a row of over 40 and one of those days registered 49 where we were staying. That sort of weather would kill a brown dog.

I did however get time to both knit and drink wine - two of my favourite hobbies! Bleow we have (top to bottom) Waving Lace in Socks That Rock Seastone, Mojos in Yarn Pirate BFL and Circle Socks in Cerry Tree Hill Supersock Champlain Sunset. This was a chance to bring out my inner colour tart - not a difficult proposition.

I have 2 other socks also, but will post them when they have friends!


I have fallen behind on blogpost reading and am frantically trying to catch up. I'm also waaaay behind on Ravelry but am trying to catch up there too.

The Princess starts grade 1 tomorrow, a week behind the rest of the class, and Destructoboy starts kindergarten on Tuesday. My big grown up children.

The SILs pool was a very popular place while we were staying there - she and her partner are both incredibly patient and prepared to be assaulted by small people on a regular basis.

I go back to work on Tuesday, with new clothes from a certain incident involving a sale and will post more later. The cake is cooked and I am just about to do the next layer of a cassata!

Ciao!

Bon Voyage, Bon Vivant!

We're off!

Or rather, we're about to be off. I can never keep track of imperfect tenses. Tonight we catch the big red ship known as the Spirit of Tasmanian (either SoT I or II - not sure which) and head off to the wide open spaces of mainland Australia.

The kidlets are in a frenzy of excitement - the prospect of sleeping in bunks on board ship, seeing dolphins again (maybe) and the fun of packing. I'm more trying to make sure we remember all the bits we have to remember, leave nothing vital behind, and remember to tell the housesitter that there are mice in the pantry.

I spent yesterday (for about 15 hours) trying to cram 2 work days into one so I'd be relatively free today to clean and tidy and pack and put away and wash and so on.

I'm looking forward to a holiday too. Although I had time off over Christmas, it didn't really feel like a holiday - what with the cooking for family and Kim's treatment (now finished and all looking fine - Yay!). So this will feel like a real holiday.

Of course, I have had my holiday knitting picked out and packed for weeks. I cast on a pair of socks last night (so I don't have to do any casting on in the car when I finish the Mojo socks which I am almost at the heel of). That sentence didn't make sense at all. I am almost at the heel of the second Mojo sock, and feel I will fly through it, so I have a second pair of socks all ready to go. That's better.

Because I have promised to be honest about certain yarny stuff entering the house, I feel I should let you know about January purchases. I mentioned a de-stash I had re-homed - 4 skeins of 100percentwool worsted in a purply colour and 4 skeins in an orangey brown have been tucked into the non-stash. The Princess immediately claimed the purple.

On a very sad note, the lovely local LYS is closing. This is the one run by Brethren ladies which just had its 30th birthday. The closure means there are no yarn sellers, between Burnie Doomlight of Spot and Launceston (with the exception of a tiny one at Ulverstone and a haberdashers which sells some Patons). The ladies were a wonderful resource, helpful and kind and will be sadly missed.

On a brighter note, everything in the shop is currently 50% off. I managed to get in there and headed straight for the good stuff at the back. The place was packed and many of the cutomers (which were more than 10 deep around the counters) were buying up big on needlecraft and embroidery silk. Some were hitting the dead muppet and baby wool and others seeemed to have no real idea why they were there.

I grabbed Sublime (10 balls of Pistachio, 14 of Denim blue), 10 balls of Jo sharp silk road aran in a green, 8 balls of apple green Jo Sharp Alpaca Silk Georgette and 4 balls of the Sublime kid mohair in Teal. It was obviously a mainly grreen day. Then I queued for 20 minutes in the really hot shop.

So, Rosered, I have increased my ummmm yarn storage by 54 balls/skeins.

I have finished the shetland triangle (big). I did 13 repeats and had 32gr left for the edging. I ran out halfway through casting off and pinched a bit from the Christmas sock club parcel - same yarn, similar colours - you really can't tell. It's beautiful.

I have almost finished the Mojos. So I have knitted 250gr of yarn and bought in about 3kg. Drat.

I also managed to drop off 3 bags of clothes etc at St Vinnies, and have 4 bags and 2 boxes ready to go. On the in, out, shake it all about scales for the year so far, I am ahead - more has gone out than came in.

Enjoy the rest of the school holidays, I may get to blog from South Australia over the next couple of weeks. Otherwise, enjoy the summer. See you when school goes back!

Honey, I'm Ho-ome!

Well, the washing is done, the kidlets are back at school and childcare, some of the catching up with your blogs is done, and life is returning to normal after the holiday.

It was a lovely holiday. I nearly finished the Dublin Bay Socks while we were away (did the toe decreases on sock 2 last night) and did half of 1 Francie.

I have discovered some important truths about holiday knitting.

You CAN knit when:
1. You are in a hammock;
2. Drinking cocktails (but don’t attempt lace after the second one);
3. Riding in a high speed ferry in rough weather;
4. Sitting by the pool;
5. Sitting on the verandah;
6. Waiting on the beach for the family to wake up in the morning.

You CANNOT knit when:
1. You are snorkelling;
2. You are eating dinner with your husband by candlelight under the stars (well, maybe I could have, but it just didn’t seem the right time somehow);
3. You are waiting at the bottom of the waterslide to catch children;
4. You are in the pool with children;
5. You are learning to dive;
6. You are clutching the sides of a speed boat;
7. You are cleaning up vomit;
8. You are vomiting;
9. You are making sand castles;
10. You are kayaking in choppy seas;
11. You are trying to climb onto a slippery pontoon because you have just discovered you are snorkelling alone with a largish shark and your powers of levitation have failed;
12. You are sitting on a pontoon a LOOOOONG way from shore trying to work out how to get into a kayak without falling into the water you have just got out of because you discovered you were sharing it with a 2 metre shark. (Granted, the shark didn’t seem that interested, but we’d like to keep it that way, wouldn’t we?)

We had fun. No-one got sunburnt, the children are totally waterlogged – every day meant time in the water until wrinkled and prune-like. Fiji is a great place to go with children – it’s pretty close so the flight is short, kids love it, the locals love kids, it’s really relaxed and the food is good.

Additionally, when we arrived home there were some parcels waiting for me.

The incomparable Donyale had returned some yarn which I had sent her for dyeing, but included a Berocco pattern booklet I was lusting after and some Knitpicks cables. You are a wonderful woman - and will be rewarded! She dyed the yak and wool sock yarn with her 'Wicked Witch' colourway.

My second order from The Loopy Ewe had arrived

My rash order from WEBS sale arrived in a big box (2 jumpers worth of Cascade 220 – a dark grey and an aqua and a jumpers worth of Gedifra cotton merino in bright red) .

And Yarn 10 – with my article in it.

A lovely holiday – but it’s very nice to be home!

We're all goin' on a Winter Holiday, No more working for a week or two!

Well, we are off on holiday tomorrow. This means I am
A) wearing my most disreputable bra
B) the dreadful pants
C) the top I don’t like
D) jeans which are almost (but not quite) ready for the recycling bag

This is standard pre-holiday clothing in my house. What about yours?

For the next or so weeks I will be reclining on a tropical island, sipping banana daiquiris and …What? Oh yes, the children will be there too…

OK – I will be on a tropical island, hot and flustered, hoping the children are moderately good and don’t drown themselves. Happy now?

Of course it’s a holiday. This means I won’t be cooking or washing up for 2 whole weeks – that’s my kind of holiday.

Just to hold you, here are some pretty piccies. First up, the Tidal Wave Sock in Vesper. Aren’t they purty? They look like Raspberry, Mango and Pistachio Gelato – good enough to eat.

Here is a package from the Loopy Ewe. My first ever. Service great – crack er, umm, YARN wonderful. This package has Hand Maiden Seasilk in Renaissance, Numma Numma Baby Boo in Spinach and Brown Rice, Spritely Goods in Mallow and Shibui in Autumn. The bright amongst you (all of you) will have noticed there is only one skein of the Shibui. This is because I become so overcome that I forgot you needed two for a pair of socks. Duh!

This has meant I had to do another order. Bad Knitter! Bad Bad Knitter!!

And finally, a present from the wonderful Madmad – a SIGNED COPY OF THE YARN HARLOT’S NEW BOOK – for me! Thank you!

Oh – and my Rockin’ Sock Club parcel arrived too – Shrinking Violet, for Cleopatra’s Stockings. Mmmm!

So for the next 2 weeks, I’m not dead, just on holiday. I’ll spend 3 weeks after I get back catching up with you all!

Hugs.
xo

The Return Home

To finish off the holiday posts, I really need to catch you up on the parcels waiting for me on my return home. Waiting for me at the post office were my copy of Yarn Magazine and some other bits and pieces.

There were 3 cones of cashmere DK in Amber (from a weak internet induced moment because the exchange rate was so good)

The March sock kit from Red Bird – with 1.5 skeins of Jitterbug in Mardi Gras

The March sock club kit from Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin’ Sock Club (2paw – turn away now) in gorgeous greens

My bagswap bag from my wonderful partner Bex – a mitred felted bag, a skein of beautiful 2 ply from the Knittery, and some realio-trulio amethyst stitch-markers:


This week has been just as bad because I exchanged the Jitterbug (because I already had that colour) and ended up buying 2 more skeins – so one skein of Mardi Gras has changed into a skein of Blue Parrot, a skein of Vatican Pie (Look away Rose Red) and a skein of Velvet Plum (look away Bells)

A Ravelry person was destashing some sock yarn and I ended up with some Madeline Tosh sock yarn in Dusk and some Yarn Pirate Killer Bees!

And finally, we did an enormous grouip order from Blue moon Fiber Arts – I seem to have ended up with some Fire on the Mountain mediumweight sock yarn and

Some Raven series silkie socks in Ravenscroft (How did that happen?)

I really need to stop this and pull back until at least a little of the stash is knitted. To that end I have finished a cardigan in Jet (from the Jet I acquired when it was 2 bucks a ball at the Doomlight of Spot sale) and am about to cast on the Slouch Rib Cardi, also in Jet. (Then there’s Montparnasse and Tahoe to come)

I’m on a bit of a cardi jag at present – for some reason I’m finding them more interesting than jumpers. Who knew?

In, Out, Shake it all about!

In
Oh Lordie! More than I can say!

Can we say lots and lots and lots of yarn-that-is-not-stash? Please see previous posts!
1 gorgeous bag (Bagswap from Bex)
Amethyst stitchmarkers and matching 2 ply yarn (ditto)
Happy Spider Sock Yarn (Gift from Happy Spider) in Blackberry!
1 Gilet and 2prs trousers, 1 pair leggings (TS14 – see shopping with Jejune)
6 books
1 pair trousers and top, 1 pair jeans
1 pair shoes (settle, Rosered, you’ll see them soon) paid off lay-by
Yarn magazine, Simply Knitting (2 mags), Jo Sharp knit 6
Creative knitting (gift fromTaph)
3 ACS pattern books

Out
2 wooden jigsaws (gift to child care)
4 pairs trousers, 3 jumpers, 11 tops and T-shirts (Lifeline)
5 Books (ditto)
3 pairs sandals, 1 pair Blundstones (Lifeline)

Shake it all about
Finished Cardi from Spotlight Jet ($2 a ball sale)

Not enough out, but I’m pleading that I was on holiday and I’d ask the jury to take ACS at Wangaratta and Bendigo Woollen Mills in mitigation when considering sentencing!