Showing posts with label presents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label presents. Show all posts

Monday, December 15, 2008

Christmas is coming....

I receive two parcels yesterday.

Guess who this one was from? There is a clue - look at the card!



The lovely Rosered sent me some beautiful Malabrigo sock yarn - in the truly gorgeous Velvet grapes colour way, and the lovely card and the photo of their new house - they look so happy!



The second was from KateJ - my secret Santa person from the Tasmanian knitters group on Ravelry. Coffee, chocolate (Stuff the turkey, eat chocolate), gorgeous stitch markers, a mini sock (for my christmas tree) and the most gorgeous yellow button necklace! Thank you so much Kate!! It's is beautiful, very well stalked and much appreciated!

In other news, the Knightly Knitter and her family were a true joy, as always - bless the kniternet for my great bloggy friends!
Knitting continues, but not enough of it. The Accountant is OK but a bit tired and grumpy with the treatment and travelling, We had the gorgeousness of the prep class Christmas concert and Nativity Play last night - they looked beautiful, I forgot the camera (d'oh) and all these loud children were as quiet as mice. Lovely.

Will blog again soon - and just in case I still haven't thanked you enough for the hug - thank you! (it's still a bit on the cool side down here - and the hug is coming in very handy!)

Thursday, December 13, 2007

My Husband Doesn't Understand Me

My husband doesn’t understand me. It sounds like a cliché, but it’s true.

He does not understand my obsession with knitting – and the yarn, stash and patterns which go with it. He really cannot understand the whole blogging thing – he thinks it’s sad and tragic. This is a man who has no hobbies and thinks perhaps he ought to have one/some. (This is also a man who can’t understand why women need lots of clothes and more than 3 pairs of shoes – and perfume!)

So, today. Today, a parcel arrived for me (immediate excitement – in fact at first I thought it might be my tea cosy from the Ravelry Tea Cosy Swap). One of the great things about living in the country and buying things by mail order and over the internet is getting parcels.

Then I realised the parcel came from the lovely Donyale. – Could it possibly be the Harmonies? No – it was smooshy and soft. It was a gorgeous jumper worth of Cleckheaton Tencel Wool. A whole jumper’s worth!!!! 12 Balls!!!! In a soft washed-denim bluey grey – absolutely wonderful! The little note with it said she was de-stashing, and thought this would make a great Montparnasse! It surely will, Donyale! – and I’m working very hard not to cast it on THIS MINUTE!!

This yarn is luscious – I’m usually an all natural fibre sort of girl, but this is lovely – shimmery and soft and drapey and silky. MMMMMM!

My husband may not understand me – but my blogpals certainly do!

I thought I should also do my Ins and Outs (as I don’t think I have done them for a couple of weeks). I might also point out that a certain amount of yarn and yarn related paraphernalia has sort of stuck to me this week.

IN

The aforementioned 12 balls of Patons wool tencel – mmmm!
5 skeins of Aracunia Ranco – 3 multi and 2 solid colours (one spring green and one cherry red) because Tapestry Craft were having a sale and sale yarn doesn't count and sock yarn doesn't count either and this would actually take me into negative stash territory!
My first Bendigo order arrived (yes, there is another one – what are you implying?) This consisted of Mystique in Seaspray, 3 lots of Neon – 5 balls berry and 5 of pink for a pinwheel jacket for the Princess, and 12 balls of Lagoon for me. And 4 balls of Rustic in Damson, just because.
1 ball Fleece Artist Somoko in Pinata
1 ball Hand Maiden Casbah in Rainforest, both courtesy of Master Enabler (it’s a rank, now – I just decided) Irene at the Jolly Jumbuck
1 beautiful Norah Gaughn asymmetrical Cardi in alpaca!! (Mine – yum)
2 tops for me – local Opshop,
3 pairs ¾ pants – Target sale
2 pairs shoes – (see previous post) off layby
6 balls discontinued Patonyle and 4 balls discontinued Heirloom sock yarn whose name momentarily escapes me
1 box of Top Kids magazines and children’s sewing patterns – from Taph
Various assorted clothes, toys and other Christmas stuff for children
2 pairs pretend reindeer antlers, wrapping paper and stocking stuffers from local cheap crap shop.
A lovely poem from Amy – look at the comments from my last post.

Gosh, that looks like rather a lot, doesn’t it?

OUT
Several parcel containing yarn, bits and pieces and some other things which went out for Christmas presents and some people with NO SELF CONTROL AT ALL have opened already! (But they did arrive at exactly the right time to assuage awful days, raise the dead, celebrate birthdays and generally make people feel good, so that’s OK)
2 bags of clothes and baby stuff – Lifeline
1 large pile of B grade children’s assorted artwork – either binned or re-cycled (the A grade is either on the fridge or in scrapbooks
Several bottles of wine (drunk and gone – does this count, because if it does I’ll put it in every week to make myself feel better, especially about the drinking!)

See? The In side of the ledger is ready to topple over and the Out side is getting leaner.

My New Year’s resolution is going to have to be:

I resolve I will not buy more yarn until I have made 5 pairs of socks and 10 jumpers – no more than 4 of which may be children’s jumpers. This does not apply to Sock club kits, massive specials on sock yarn, gifts of yarn and yarn bought for the production of gifts, providing said yarn is cast on for the project within one month of purchase.

Despite the No Guilt Stash Manifesto to which I subscribe, I must say the amount of yarn is rather overwhelming. Rather a lot of credit cardness has helped this along, so pulling back may be a good idea.

Zephyrama, the High Priestess of Stash, suggests that sock yarn doesn’t count as stash, sale yarn doesn’t count as stash, overseas yarn doesn’t count as stash, gift yarn doesn’t count as stash and single skeins don’t count either. This reduces my stash to a couple of kilos of Bendi and 12 large balls of gorgeous Jade bulky from TasKnits.

While the rules of stash may suggest I have very little stash – I still need somewhere to store the yarn which is not stash. I suggested the Accountant could move his suits out of the spare room wardrobe and he told me to get knotted.

My husband doesn’t understand me.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Avoiding your Fete

Well, the In, Out, Shake it all about challenge is still going (I’m looking forward to Christmas, because there are likely to be far more ‘Outs’ than ‘Ins’ and I refuse to count anything that comes in as presents for the children, but in the interests of fairness I will count everything that comes in for me – I have a slightly unfair advantage here, being married to a man who is crap at presents. The Accountant is very busy and hates shopping – I received NO PRESENTS AT ALL FROM HIM FOR MY 45TH BIRTHDAY – nothing, nada, zip – This has remained on the score sheet since my birthday back in January and will remain an unspoken threat until and unless he redeems himself at both Christmas and my next birthday – and possibly for a decade or so afterwards).

IN

Knitting patterns – a pile from my step mother – some may be passed on to a certain collector, but I’m not sure many are in good enough condition!
2 pairs trousers for me (op shop)
2 tops for me (op shop)
2 Knitting books (Vogue ultimate knitters book and Knitting on the edge – Yarns Online sale)
Package from Yarnbow (shhhh – it’s a secret)
Another package from the USA (Sssh)
1 Filati knitting mag (because it was there!)
1 pair shoes each for Destructo Boy and the Princess
2 DVDs (Desperate Housewives –ohh alright it’s a boxed set –picky, picky – and Bridge to Terebithia)
10 balls Anchor Magicline, 2 balls Jet, 1 10mm circ – Doomlight of Spot
3 presents – lovely 2paw
Present for sponsored child in Philippines
Some other Christmas related items which we will speak of later
DVD Veronica Mars series 1


OUT

3 boxes books
1 bag stuff for Lifeline
1 bag of WeeNees nappies – Lifeline
2 bags childrens clothes - sold on ebay
1 pair favourite shoes – binned (sniff, sob)
2 elderly pairs of bathers – mine – now binned (stretched, no longet even resembling my shape – not that there’s a lot to resemble!)
3 large bags of plastic bags – School Fete for packing


SHAKE IT ALL ABOUT
Not much here except for some cotton socks with holes which have become dusters. You put your hand inside and they’re great for corners and skirting boards – even better when damp!

We had the last Fete meeting last night and will spend Saturday setting up, Sunday at the Fete (starting at 7.30am – My Lordie!!) and today was Princess’s swimming lesson. Apart from one or two mad panics and related thrashing and screaming, she went very well.

I have pointed out to my co-workers on the Fete that I am not good at mornings. I think I have mentioned before that I am a bad sleeper. I have had very little sleep for the last 4 nights and I always seem to get my best sleep between about 6 and 7am. This hour is precious to me, and the thought of having to give up most of it for the shower – dress – make-up – breakfast ordeal that will be Sunday morning is a less than delightful prospect!

Once the Fete is over I will also have lost my main method of disposing of crap – sorry, of my de-cluttering operation. I’m rather concerned that I will also have lost the impetus – that I had to get boxes of stuff out of the house by a certain date. I hope not.

In knitting news, I have finished the fourth buttonhole bag and tonight will cast on for a tea cosy. If I get this finished in 2 evenings – which I hope I will, although I realise that this is tempting the Knitting Goddess, I will cast on my second secret sock (or possibly the Silk Garden Jumper depending on my mood!).

So much knitting, so little time!

Friday, November 2, 2007

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.