... and then Trouble arrived!

I knew it, I knew it! I tempted the Knitting Goddess to wreak havoc, on Christmas Eve of all times, and she certainly delivered a blow to my knitting ego! I was motoring along on my mother-in-law's washcloth when around 10pm, I realised I wasn't coming back to twenty-one stitches at the end of each segment; I was coming back to seventeen. What had I done with the extra four stitches? Buggered if I know, even now - I chucked it all in my knitting bag and huffed off to bed. Haven't even looked at it since! Mostly, for this reason:

This is my Christmas present from Pete: A fair-dinkum, real, true Jordana Paige Knitter's Satchel! Featured here in the colour 'Cappucino', it is a gorgeous way to schlep my current projects around and the ill-fated washcloth just didn't make the Christmas morning cut. WHen I showed my mum, she remarked "Oh, it looks just like a normal handbag!" I replied "And thus the deception is complete". Pete bought it through the Aussie website YarnsOnline, and the lovely bags can also be seen in their natural habitat, at Jordana Paige.

Meanwhile, the Christmas treats continue. Pete took me to the movies today for a nice Wonderboy-free outing (we do so love the little bugger, but it is nice to go out and about, just the two of us every now and then. Can I hear it from the parents out there? Yeah. That's what I'm talking about) to the Greater Union 'GoldClass' cinemas to see 'The Golden Compass'.

First, the cinema - oh... my... goodness... What a way to relax and enjoy a movie! We were ushered into out own little area, like a V.I.P. spot, behind closed doors, where we reclined on sofas and ordered our lunch and drinks. Luvverly.

We were escorted to our pre-booked seats in the cinema, where we found they were plush armchairs with electric recliners and enjoyed the film. Occasionally, cinema staff would quietly let themselves in, creep over to your seat and deliver your ordered food and drink. Sure beats the hell out of cold popcorn!

A very civilised way to enjoy a film. You certainly pay for the privilege, but we figured that we don't go to see films anywhere near as much as we did before Wonderboy arrived, so it's nice to treat ourselves when we do.

Which lead me to wonder, as I watched the film; how many other knitters out there were watching and thinking about the fantastic knitted garments featured? I'd love to post some examples from the movie, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to, especially when everything is copyrighted so much. Grrr. I couldn't even get pictures from the official website.

But, for the curious, check out 'The Golden Compass' on IMDb, and Froggie Meanie added her own 'Lyra's Hat' patterns to her blog and on Ravelry. I can't wait to make a little wee one for my little wee Wonderboy!

We wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year

I would like to take a moment to wish everyone, a reader of this blog or not, a wonderful Christmas celebration in the love of family and friends.

All our prayers, thoughts and (most importantly) actions go towards making 2008 a better, happier and more peaceful year for us all, no matter who we are or where we come from. We're all in this together!

For those who may be wondering, this image is of New South Wales Christmas Bush, an Australian floral symbol of Christmas - it just felt more appropriate than snow and holly, which we don't experience here!

I got me all felted up

Just one Christmas gift left to knit - Just one! And do you think I'm actually knitting it? Hell, no... I'm sodding around on the Internet! Hey, Facebook doesn't update itself with all my social comings and goings! Hehe... yeah, right; I'm a real Paris Hilton...

As I type, I'm sitting next to my beloved, and Pete's there, too! My Beatles/Abbey Road knitting bag is looking at me grumpily, as there's two WIPs in there; one being as I mentioned, my mother-in-law's Christmas gift.



I'm really liking this pattern too, it's a round dishcloth (I call them and use them as face washers - I can't imagine using such lovely knitted things to scrub dirty pots and pans!) that I'm knitting with Peaches 'n' Creme Ombres in a colour called... um..."Raspberry Swirl". Here's a knit-in-progress shot; I think I should get it finished tomorrow without too much trouble (but, as we know, Trouble may yet find me!)

And now, without further ado - a drumroll, please!!

Here is... my very first... knitted socks! That's right, I got my First Sock Mojo* working!

I am so exceedingly proud of my work here. I have never undertaken the magical process that is turning a heel, but managed to figure it out (hey, it's really not so hard!) and sort-of figured out Kitchener Stitch... Well, I followed Knitty's step-by-step, very slowly, for both socks.

I couldn't believe how big they needed to be for felting! I tried them on several times while knitting, and again when they were done to demonstrate just how baggy these buggers are:




The only thing I was a bit concerned about by the time I had finished the second sock was these seemingly quite huge gaping holes along the sides of the heel flap where I had picked up the stitches for the heel. I think I'd forgotten to knit these through the back of the stitch (and even now, I can only vaguely remember that being the trick to closing those holes), and so when I chucked them into the washing machine to felt, I had all available appendages crossed that these holes would close in the felting process...

...Well, that and that the washing machine wouldn't clog like buggery. I kept pulling them out of the machine every five minutes or so (but I'm pretty sure it was actually every forty seconds or thereabouts), since I wanted to be sure that they were felting, but not 'too much'. Eventually (probably after six or seven checks - my attention span isn't fabulous), I came to the decision that the lingerie bag that I'd popped them into was slowing up the process (why? I dunno!) and emptied it of socks which, left to their own devices and not being stopped and checked every three minutes, promptly felted like the good socks they are!

I even got them shaped, dried and wrapped in time to give them to our dear, dear friend Sam who has cold, cold feet. She loves them and I hope they're doing a lovely job of warming her feet!

And it's back to the washcloth again!

*First Sock Mojo, a wonderful phrase trademarked to the Yarn Harlot. All rights reserved to her for her incomparable wit and wisdom, in all perpetuity. Amen.

Muggles are spreading the word!

Whilst catching up on some discussion threads I haven't seen in awhile on Ravelry this afternoon, I came across a fabulous article posted in the Australian Knitter's Group by ozknitter. It is curtesy of yesterday's Wall Street Journal, and it's about what sounds like it would have been a fun competition, called Sock Wars. I would have loved to have been a part of this, and I hope that if another is arranged, maybe I'll be proficient enough in sock knitting to be able to have a real crack at it!

Here's the page; The Wall Street Journal's article on Sock Wars

Ask, and ye shall receive

I did spin that night, and so have asked for trouble. Trouble hasn't yet arrived, but I think the flight will come in later this week - I'm due to pick trouble up from the airport. Have I used that analogy up yet? Yeah.

I have to say, time flies when I'm spinning. I hadn't got anywhere near the wheel since my last lesson (too much Christmas knitting!) and so I was worried when I didn't just pick it up again straight away. This was one of the first times I'd had to set everything up from the get-go, and figure out the tension myself. As a result, I feel that quite a lot of it is overspun, but I think I might be getting better at maintaining a reasonably consistent thickness (apart from joins - I still have to practice at this) as I spin. I might do a bit more spinning tonight...

In the spirit of really rolling out the red carpet for Trouble, today I took Wonderboy to our local indoor play centre (Mummy went to a Christmas party last night and needed some time to knit while Wonderboy could play in a padded, fenced off area). Instead of continuing with the first of a pair of 'Fuzzy Feet' (a fuzzy foot?), where I am decreasing for the toe - I have never done Kitchener Stitch and did not want to try it in a crowded children's play centre; I chose to keep working on a new washcloth I started (for myself!) last weekend. I have so many other UFOs to be getting on with, but goodness knows I don't have the attention span to keep on with the same one in any extended period of time!

And here it is: I have to say, I am IN LOVE with the pattern this cotton has formed as I knit. Every few rows, I would hold it up to show Pete, saying "Look, look! Can you believe the way this is turning out? Aren't you amazed?". He was less than totally blown away, but here it is for your consideration. What do you think?








And this is the final washcloth for the time being; this is the first one I completed through the "Monthly Dishcloths KAL" I joined on Ravelry awhile ago.

It's a bit hard to see the the squirrel here; you'll have to trust me that's it's there. My camera tends to smush all the detail together when I try to take close ups with the flash on.






Often the themes to washcloths (I find I can't call them dishcloths; I wouldn't be able to bring myself to use one to scrub out a filthy saucepan!!) are seasonal to the United States, and so I found myself knitting a washcloth with a squirrel on it! Hehehe... I still giggle when I use it in the shower, and Pete still thinks I'm a raving lunatic.

It's good to see that nothing changes around here.

On second thought

Maybe I should have a break and spin tonight?

Am I asking for trouble?

Hmmmm...

Seeing stars...

You would think, wouldn't you, that after having read nearly three years' worth of Yarn Harlot, including three Christmases worth of witnessing a star knitter succumb to the stress and pressure of "planning too many knitted gifts", that I might have learned a lesson and been able to avoid this particular knitting pitfall myself.

You would think that, wouldn't you?

I thought I had it nailed. I would knit three of the lace Christmas stars that I'd already tried first, as gifts for my coworkers: the one I had already tried had a little stuff up, agreed, but I was certain that I could work that out easily and then knock over one a night for three nights, no problem. I must have spent an entire evening just trying to figure out what I was doing wrong - and even when I had worked it out (adding a 'yarn over' at the end of the round), I couldn't for the life of me work out how the hell to do it. Ugh.

So I bailed on the lace Christmas stars and searched Ravelry for free snowflake or star ornament patterns, of which there are not many. I did eventually find this one, bought appropriate cotton, and started work on the first of three stars to be embellished with little gold beads...

<= Christmas in Australia - we love our mangoes!

I have to say, I'm pleased with the way they've turned out, but... oh - my - goodness, my hands are aching after a solid week and a half of 2mm needles! I have these strange indentations on my fourth fingers, just under the top joint, where these needles have been resting for the last ten days or so. The Preschool Christmas party is tomorrow night, so I have just enough time to starch and iron them before I sling 'em over some little piccolo bottles of sparkling wine, ready for gifting.





...And now, back to the 'fuzzy feet' (on 7mm dpns, thank goodness!) that need to be finished, felted, blocked and dry by next Saturday. The fun never stops around here!!!

Jennifer is... continually impressed by the Yarn Harlot

For those of us on Facebook, don't you just love (LOVE!) the status line? I can just glance down the list of my friends and see right away where things are different for people. Right now, my friend Richard is "... cranky with Dymocks". My gorgeous friend Alison is "... one day away from getting on a big big plane to take me back to sunshine", my sister is "... going to climb an active volcano", and my darling husband is "... going to join Team Awesome". One can only hope they will all be wearing their pants on their heads, too.

At this point in time, my status line reads: Jennifer is "...continually impressed by the Yarn Harlot". And I am. For the last couple of years, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee has got behind the organisation 'Medecins Sans Frontieres' (or Doctors Without Borders) by forming 'Tricoteuses Sans Frontieres' (or Knitters Without Borders), and with the help of the beautiful community of knitters out there, has managed to raise over $400,000 for this wonderful humanitarian organisation. (If you're reading the MSF and TSF sites and are inspired, do go ahead and donate. There's plenty of good karma to go around, especially at Christmas!)

I wrote and posted a cheque yesterday to Medecins Sans Frontieres Australia, and emailed Stephanie to let her know so it could be added to the total for
Tricoteuses Sans Frontieres. I have to say, it was a daunting task. How do you just casually email someone you admire so much and not say something ridiculously sycophantic, or creepy-stalky, or just plain weird? I felt so 'not worthy' to email the great Yarn Harlot at least until I was able to say that I had donated some money to MSF. This is what I eventually managed to type:

Dear Stephanie,


I have wanted to email, or write comments on your blog for such a long time, but haven't quite felt 'worthy' (imagine Wayne and Garth here). Having read your blog, and two of your books ("Knitting Rules", and "Yarn Harlot" - I haven't been able to get the others yet, I'm hoping for Christmas!), I have admired you for the way you write; I can just sense the joy you feel and express so beautifully and with so much humour about your life: your family, your dedication to making the world a better place for us all, and of course your absolute passion for fibre and knitting. To humbly quote your good self - I want be you when I grow up!


I have been a knitter since I was about eight; my mum and her mum showed me, but it never got much further than garter stitch blanket squares until my wonderful mother bought me a pattern for a cowl-neck jumper, a big bag of yarn and said to me, "There. Now go and knit something useful". From there, and from reading your blog, I have tried to learn a little something new in each project I've undertaken, be it a new way of making or decreasing stitches, a lace pattern, or a little intarsia - I can't wait till the next Knitting Olympics! And so now I find myself an obsessed knitter, with a knitting blog and a new fibre obsession to be getting on with - I bought my first spinning wheel on eBay earlier this year and have recently started lessons, and I love it!


My point (when I get to it, eventually) is that I wanted to thank you, Stephanie, for your inspiration and humour that uplift me and make me want to do my best as a knitter, as a teacher, as a wife and mother, and as a human being. And I wanted to leave emailing you or commenting until I was 'worthy' enough to do so. I wanted to let you know that I posted a cheque for $50AUS ($44.25CAN, roughly) to Medecins Sans Frontieres today as my family's Christmas gift to an organisation who could really use it. It's not much, but I know it can help.


With admiration and gratitude,


etc, etc.

That's not too weird, is it?

Crap. Now Jennifer "... is feeling nervous".

You spin me right round baby, right round...

I enjoyed my very very first second spinning lesson today, and I have to say - I love it! I am really quite proud of myself.

This is partially the reason for not very many... I mean no posts at all for the last week. I've been practicing for my lesson today. The other reason is that we've just finished our second last week of Term Four, and so are nearing Zero Hour, (or break out the booze - the school year's over!) at which time we need to have every child organised so they are taking home all (not most, parents please - ALL) of their paintings, craft, lost property (we can't stress that one enough) and rest time sheets.

This also means that I have to have completed for each child a Portfolio, which entails creating a documented 'story' of the child's year at Preschool - including photos, paintings, drawings, descriptive text for each story the photos were taken of (from big group things, like 'Easter' down to small-group things like 'These three children built a block house'), as well as really individualised photos for each child with descriptions added. Plus I have to make sure each child has a similar amount in their book and did I mention the excruciating, mind-numbingness of painstakingly gluing it all into an art book? For twenty-six children? Kill me, kill me now. And this is all undertaken at the same time as we are trying to get them all organised for their Christmas concert, held next week.

Oh yeah - and then we as teachers have to clean all the toys, furniture and sleep mats, and we have to go through every cupboard and the storeroom to clean it all out. Roll on next week!

And back to the more interesting topic of my spinning lessons - for the people who held on through that strange and scary rant...

My first lesson (waaay back two Thursdays ago) was a big success. The only experience I've had with spinning was really only involves treadling. Why? Dunno - it was most likely a Girl Guides thing. As a start, Corrie went over my wheel with me to help me get acquainted with all the parts and understand how they all work together. Thankfully, she was also able to identify some of the trickier parts unique to my wheel (I'm sure all wheels have this issue, too) such as the very loose maiden (hehe... what a crack up... a 'loose maiden'?!) that kept opening too wide (this isn't getting any less funny here!) and causing the bobbin to fall off the flyer. Corrie's amazing. I was quietly wringing my hands, thinking "Oh, my goodness, I've been ripped of here" and she says "Oh, this is fine - we'll just plug a bit of fleece around the base here and make it tighter"... And it works! No questions asked! I love the adaptability of it all.

I got to have my first go at treadling, which impressed Corrie ('cause I was able to treadle, for starters - yay me!), and after she helped me prepare some cross-breed fleece for spinning worsted, while teaching me about identifying different parts of the fleece, I was able to have a crack at spinning.

It took me some time to get any sort of drawing motions going properly, but for the time being, I was actually making a thread - something Corrie reckoned didn't happen very often on someone's first go. I left feeling pretty chuffed with myself, actually... but didn't get around to practicing much straight away. I sort of put the wheel back in the sunroom after a halfhearted practice and started something like three new knitting projects. I did, however, fetch the book on spinning I'd bought from Dymocks as soon as I'd bought the wheel ("The Whole Craft of Spinning" by Carol Kroll) and leave it on the shelf in the bathroom where the Empire magazines seem to congregate. As I read it more thoroughly, I realised there was something missing from my drawing and thought I should have another crack at it...
...and then I had my Eureka! moment. It felt right this time, and I even had a go at woollen spinning from Alpaca rolags I had prepared when I was too much of a wuss to try spinning on my own. When I showed Corrie, she was very impressed and happy for me. Me? I felt like taking out ad space in the Sydney Morning Herald to tell everyone about it - but settled for putting it in my Facebook status line. For my second lesson, Corrie started me on plying. Again, I need to practice finding that balance between overspin and underspin, but I think I did okay. I only had one break in the thread, which is good (I think!), and have prepared...





Dum-da-dum-duuumm! My First Skein.
















After it's washed (next lesson), I even have plans for this scary and irregular creation... It will be a wee vest for my other scary and irregular creation... Wonderboy! Pictured here with his wonderful father, modelling their 'Pants Hats'...



















...Any thoughts on what THIS might be???



(Goodness knows, it's not Christmas or New Baby knitting... or anything I'm 'supposed' to be getting on with!)