The Reasons

Well, just to get you all in a good mood, here is some pretty knitting.

Meet Sprout - Growing Roots. She's made of the Gedifra merino/cotton I bought in the big WEBS sale way back at $2USD a ball. and took 2 weeks and 9 balls. She is currently blocking and just needs buttons added.

In other news, it's not all sunshine and roses. The Accountant has been diagnosed with cancer and will be starting radiation therapy in 2 weeks, He will have to travel 100km each way each weekday for 6 weeks - he will however get Christmas day off. All this has been a huge shock to us, but we feel very lucky that he was diagnosed early, the lump in his neck was removed, and as yet (fingers crossed, toes crossed, Om Mani Padme - positive thoughts) there don't seem to be any other lumps or bumps.

He has to have an MRI and PET scan (in Melbourne) and will be tired, sore, knackered and grumpy - but hopefully well and with us for a long time to come after the treatment.

The cancer is aggressive and he is very young for this type, but we are being very optimistic. Prayers, positive thoughts, good vibrations and all other good things gratefully accepted.

So life will be very topsy turvy for some time. We have cancelled the Christmas holiday, but are hoping for a family trip later in January.

Usually I don't discuss personal stuff in the blog, but I figure lots of positive thoughts can do no harm - and I will take all the help I can get at this point!

Take care - and look after the ones you love.

The French Probably have a Word For This

Why is it that I have my best ideas at 4am and then never remember them later? At 4 am this morning, I was lying in bed, having got up to comfort a sick child (now son – daughter better) and was thinking about knitting (as you do) and the blog (as you do), and came up with a wonderful, wise, witty yet highly amusing take on life, the universe, and everything. Unfortunately, I have no idea now what I was thinking about then.

So unless it suddenly comes back to me, you’ve missed out!

Spring is definitely here.

These are living proof of why laziness is a wonderful thing – as is the fine art of procrastination. The first year we moved back to Tasmania (2000), I planted tulips in what was then a flower bed. Seven years later, we’ve ditched the flower bed, but I never moved the tulips, despite fully intending to for at least 4 years. They have now naturalised, and come up happily every year, spreading over a wider and wider area (which then can’t be mowed because of the tulips). Ain’t they grand?!?

Additional proof of spring is supplied by this:

This is the weeping cherry with the Mt Fuji ornamental cherry in the background. Don’t they look fine? Normally I don’t approve of pointless trees – especially those which only look good for about 2 weeks a year – but when they look good, they certainly look great!

My favourites are fruit trees, because they look great, then you get fruit. This garden has been established for a loooooonnnngg time. We have evergreen magnolias well over 15 metres tall, we have camellia trees – not bushes, trees over 10 metres tall (just ask Kate), quinces and apples, enormous old mulberry trees held together with equally enormous bolts and every spring flower you can think of.

The poor garden is horribly neglected, but does its best to look good under the most trying of circumstances. I have tomatoes I must plant out, but I am a bit loath to do so, give the fact that we’ve had gales and hail, rain and wind, sunshine and there’s STILL snow on the mountains.

It’s hard to believe that NSW and the ACT are sweltering, when it’s so cold here.

On the knitting front, I’ve been working on a sock design for SSS and hope to have it written up and on the needles next week. Some of it baffled me when I tried to translate a lace stitch into not only knitting in the round, but knitting in the round inside out and upside down. We’ll see.

The Happy Clappy will be finished tonight (having said that so confidently, I am bound to be struck down by the knitting Goddess, so I’ll re-phrase it). I hope to have the Clappy finished tonight – It looks beautiful, even if I do say so myself, and I can definitely see another one sometime in the future.

The Princess has improved, healthwise at least – I’ve considered listing her on eBay several times in the past week, but I doubt anyone would bid. Now Destructoboy has been struck down. It’s an odd lurgy, this one. Mild fever, general lassitude and off the food-ness, some headache and sleepiness, and a high level of whinginess and clinginess. Just what a mother needs!

The sad fact is, that when they’re REALLY sick, they’re actually terribly nice. Small, snuggly and sweet. When they’re on the mend they’re whiny, whingy and annoying – prone to tantrums and unexplained storms. When they started fighting and yelling at each other last week, we knew the Princess was well enough for school.

So, she only attended half the circus class, but did manage her entire 45 minute first swimming class yesterday and actually swam – huge excitement all round.

That’s more than enough. We’re off tomorrow to the northern Capital for a surprise party (ssshhhh! Don’t tell!) and I will finally get some sock knitting in on the lovely Tulip feather and fans. Hurrah!!

Hopefully life will return to what we fondly regard as normal by next week!

In sickness and in occasional health

My goodness. I had anticipated a relaxed and quiet day, drifting gently into writing a posting for my blog, perhaps undertaking one or two not too strenuous jobs on my 3 hours off, but alas, it was not to be!

Firstly – the men came to collect the fridge (5 hours EARLY – is this a record?) only to discover that it had spontane3ously recovered, and should no longer need major surgery. I am not entirely convinced of its wellness, so I have stuffed a thermometer in a glass of water and placed it in the middle shelf – just in case. I will see how cold it gets over the course of the day.

Then, during my perusal of knitty.com, I discovered some lovely, lovely jumpers and a very nice pair of socks I hadn’t noticed before. I was actually there for the Clapotis pattern, which I keep looking at and hadn’t yet down loaded – but inspired by the talented Rose Red, I decided to do something about.

Georgie tagged me for the recipe exchange, so I sent off my recipe (quick name drop) to Barbara Coddington - if not a Yarn goddess, then certainly a Yarn demi-goddess. Quick further skite here (now that’s a word you don’t hear too much these days) I sent her the recipe which got me into the ABCs ‘Home Cooked’ cookbook last year.

Then I had to race off and collect Destructoboy from child care and shortly after returning from that, I received the dreaded CALL FROM SCHOOL. This invariably means that disaster has struck, in some form. Either (like last time) you child has had a fall and requires an immediate trip to emergency because they have suspected concussion, or they’ve thrown up everywhere, or (this hasn’t yet happened but I dread the possibility) they’ve found nits in your child’s hair and they must be immediately removed from school. Princess only attends 2 days per week and I’ve already had 2 calls. This is number 3.

Today it’s suspected conjunctivitis. Great! I have a GP apppintment shortly, have arranged to drop off Destructoboy at the Accountant’s office and take her to the no doubt extended wait at the GPs rooms. Can’t really take knitting as I’ll no doubt need to read to daughter – or at least be publicly seen to display parenting skills – dammit!

Speaking of knitting, I finally finished the first Turtle Walk sock and it looks just lovely. The whole has done Spidey’s design justice and I would have cast on for sock 2 immediately, except for the fact that I had to start a rather belated birthday present – the Wrist Warmers in Silk Road ‘Eden’. I’ve done to the end of the thumb opening and will finish that one tonight and hopefully get most of the second one done tonight.

The recipient is a non-knitter who nonetheless appreciates knitting – she is a mad gardener – so wrist warmers are likely to come in handy!

Gotta go – photos tomorrow – providing the Accountant hasn’t noticed that I’m over my broadband allocation again (with 8 days of the month to go!)

The joys of parenting

Well, I'd rather hoped to compose my first post on the rareified joys of knitting, its history and the worldwide conspiracy..sorry..cabal..sorry again, community of knitters. A post about how I feel bonds between knitters and spinners which are without regard to coloour, religion, ethnicity or language as we revel together in the joy of creating through yarn........

But, you know what? I'm just too tired. The night before writing my very first ever blog entry I spent holding a bucket under my four year old daughter's chin as she spent nearly all night vomiting. Great! And just to add insult to injury, I've only just got over doing the same for my 2 year old son LAST Friday. I admit, up till now I've been spoiled. My children are rarely sick, even a sniffle. My daughter has very occasionally had a one off vomit, and my son hasn't since he was a greedy baby, and we nicknamed him 'the Happy Chucker'.

We generally breed 'em tough in Tasmania - of course they get colds, but we're used to the joys of living in a climate with 4 seasons, all of them gorgeous.

This seasonality is what makes knitting all the more rewarding - for example, I am almost finished (one sleeve to set in) my red alpaca (Bendigo) wrap cardigan (Lift and Separate from Big Girl Knits), I get to wear hand knitted socks from Autumn to the end of Spring, I'm currently wearing the Chevron jumper from Yarn issue mumble mumble, and my next project is Juno from Rowan 40 in Rowan aran - but slightly longer and with a higher neckline ala the Yarn Harlot version. I also have to finish the monkey socks from knitty.com which I started at the end of our holiday back at the beginning of June. - Oh, and my travelling mindless knitting is a feather and fan scarf adapted from the feather and fan socks in Socks Socks Socks.

But, in the depths of the night, when your 4 year old is sick, and you are standing around for the sixth time in your pajamas and a pair of explorer socks, you realise that it's cold, baby!