A pinch and a punch for the first of the month!

April Fool's Day!

And that sneaky person who steals my time has been active again! I swear (frequently and loudly) that someone has stolen at least part of February and March, because we are a quarter of the way through the year, and I'm sure I haven't taken full advantage of it.

I have been spending lots of time in the kitchen. The tomatoes have kicked in and I forgot one or three zucchinis, which immediately expanded to fill the space available.

I have relished, chutneyfied, roasted, jammed and preserved - currently, if you stand too still in my kitchen you are immediately turned into relish. This has meant somewhat less time for knitting, but maybe I will have more time for leisurely pursuits after the 23rd.

I have continued with at least some of the de-cluttering - 7 shopping bags of clothes (mine and the children) trotted off to Lifeline last week, and 2 boxes and an outgrown activity table went to the child care centre. I think I have mentioned before that our local childcare centre is a not-for-profit organisation, and they do a great job, so good quality outgrown toys go off there to be played with.

I have so many WIPs around that in the evenings when I finally sit down and knit, I just reach down and snag a bag and knit on whatever is in it. This so-called system may explain my lack of finished objects for the past several weeks!

In the March stash honesty situation, I was doing very well, and I hasten to say that I didn't buy very much. I did, however, receive both presents and prizes, which rather put me behind the eight-ball, but I am not complaining!

So, In:
13 books (11 were for review)
2 cds (for review)
1 DVD (review)
8 balls of jo sharp silkroad aran (prize from Serendipity's blog)
1 jo sharp book (ditto)
2 knitting mags, 2 skeins of sock yarn (prize/gift from Zephyrama)
4 balls sock yarn and 600gr Plymouth Outback and 1 book (gift from Amy)
3 skeins of sock yarn (I weakened)
2 sock club parcels
5 skeins of undyed from the Knittery

Total yarn in: 2.5kgs of yarn (oh my! That is scary!)

Out:
as above

Knitted: 6oogr (raglan cardi and socks)

I really, really, really, really need to knit faster.

Or with heavier wool.

And I need to read faster too.

The Magpie Gene

Just for Rosered! I kept promising pictures of the red Dorothy shoes. (I keep wanting to click my heels together and chant `There's no place like home! There's no place like home!' whenever I wear them). And the others are lovely black dressing up to be a grown up shoes. See the heels? Highish, yet solid.

Now back to the scheduled programming.

I think I have a magpie - ooooh look! Something shiny!

Where was I?

Of course, yes, I have the ability to become easily distract.. (shiny! pretty! Ohh!)

Sorry.

Right. I have donned my blinkers and now I should be OK.

I tend to become distracted by pretty shiny stuff - which can be just shiny in the metaphorical sense. New! Exciting!

It happens every so often with yarn or knitting related products - ooh new patterns! NEW YARN!!!!! New projects!

And I currently have a very bad case of magpie-itis! I have been very good this year (look - nearly a whole quarter of the way through!)

I have bought very little yarn. Just the sale yarn in Gawler, South Australia, and the sock club yarn. There may be some yarn on order which has not yet appeared on my doorstep, so that does not count.

I have received some knitting magazines, and have finally got 2 books which were ordered from the Book Depository a while ago, but overall, I have been strong, I have not succumbed to my inner magpie (or my inner packrat).

All good.

But I have been... nervous, unsettled and not quite contented. I have been looking for my next project, given I am on the sleeves of this project and have finished a fish hat for Destructoboy. There are 3 pairs of socks on the needles and the interminable stocking stitch pullover, but I wanted more. I wanted the perfect project. A cardigan jacket. Longish, loosish, fashionable, warm, to be knitted with yarn from the not-stash.


I searched Ravelry. I scoured the queue and project lists. I looked and looked and looked. Back through magazines, through books and patterns. Then last night, I remembered where I had seen it. In the first Debbie Bliss Magazine. Apparently, the instructions are a bugger to follow, and it isn't charted. But I've found the pattern. And I own the yarn (thanks to a de-stash last year).

I feel better now. More settled, happier. All systems go. Oooh! look! something sparkly.......