Stashin'

Sock yarn, sock yarn, la la la la sock yarn!

Not that I'm knitting anywhere near the numbers of socks required to keep up with the amounts of yarn I'm stashing. *sigh*. But this stuff is different.These two are earmarked to be socks from Cookie A's 'Sock Innovation' book.They're Araucania Ranco Multi sock yarn, and I'm in love with the colourways. That's mostly the reason I bought them...

Dyeing to show you

Wow. That was a big weekend. Apart from the huge family celebration for our nephew's First Holy Communion and Confirmation, I had a really really big Saturday, dyeing several skeins of cotton yarn that my Mum found at the charity shop she volunteers at.

To refresh everyone's memories, here's what the yarn looked like pre-dyeing:It's something I've never seen or heard of before, called Cleckheaton 'Panama' (it's DK weight), and it's really very soft and has a lovely sheen to it.

I unwound and washed each ball of cotton, then painstakingly tied it all end-to-end and made possibly the world's longest skein of yarn. No kidding - I stretched it around the backs of two chairs placed about six metres away from each other at opposite ends of the room!

I then prepared and placed the dyes in a circle so that if colours bled into each other, they'd complement each other, and arranged roughly the same amount of cotton in each dye bucket:Sadly, I made the mistake of believing my washing machine when it said it had a 'delicate' cycle... I was up till 1:45am unwinding this mess!But, it was worth it. I love love love those beautiful bright sari-type colours! I have plans for a little summer dress/pinafore for Lola-Frog with this, and I hope that the stripes it knits into (the colours are in approximate chunks of just over a metre each) don't look too clowny...I also had four and a bit skeins of a four-ply knit and crochet cotton, called Patons 'Gem' - again, never seen or heard of it before!

I really couldn't be stuffed unwinding and skeining this stuff, so on a whim, I soaked each ball and squeezed the water out, then dropped them into dye buckets...

They looked quite dark when they came out,but once the excess dye was squeezed out and the cotton was rinsed and washed, the colours had a much more pastel quality to them, with a lovely toned difference as the balls were unwound. Darker on the outside, fading to paler yarn from the inside. I'm not sure if this faded look was a result of not washing the yarn before dyeing, or if it's just the way the yarn is, due to commercial processing, but I still like it. It's a nice contrast to the 8-ply bright rainbow colours...I love using my ball winder and swift! I got halfway through winding this one:(I love how dropping this ball into the red dye resulted in a kind of peachy-orange colour!) when I realised I'd have to pull from the outside if I wanted to use the darker cotton first.

So, a quick unwind and rewind later...
So (she said, feeling quite pleased with herself!) there are almost all the results of my dye escapades. I say almost, cause I also bunged in a few tied-up shirts and baby onesies into the dye buckets. I love to tie-dye. I love the unpredictability of it, and the unusual results you can get. There's something terribly exciting about undoing a tie-dyed article from the washing machine to discover how it went! I'll take some photos and add them tomorrow.

Thoughts on Stash

"A stash that grows out of control can have the opposite effect, eventually burdening the knitter with the weight of unrealised hopes and dreams. A stash full of opportunity and hope is one thing, it's another when a collection is so large that the beautiful things you once had fond hopes for are now hopelessly buried"

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
(Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting)

I was listening to my audiobook copy of the above knitting tome on Wednesday this week, as I was doing the ironing (some things just wait around for you, even though you've only recently evacuated a small human being from your body); and I found myself dwelling on these words. A phone call to my sister had me talking about it to her, even though she's not (and, dare I say it, has little to no intention of ever being) a knitter.

I told her about how I had last week, in a fit of post-natal-baby-blues, I had blown all my Christmas money on yarn and knitting accoutrement. I told her about all the lovely little baby things I had queued up on Ravelry. In my mind, I could already see Little One (and WonderBoy, incidentally... Oh, and me too) all dressed up in various beautifully knitted garments and accessories.

And then, I realised and told my sister: "Actually, you've really gotta be careful - It's so easy to see, plan for and buy the yarn and patterns for all these projects that you can already see in your mind's eye... but then you realise that you've actually got to knit all these things - before your children grow out of them!"

Following is a pictorial account of the most recent stash acquisition. Looking at it all now, makes me feel only slightly nauseous (but more excited than nauseous, truth be told) when I think of how much I need to get done before I'll 'need' to buy more yarn. And that's a bit sad, to think that I won't be able to do any serious shopping till I get a reasonable amount of work done on these projects.

Here's six hundred grams of Bendigo Woollen Mills "Rustic" 12ply (colourway 'Delta') that I have earmarked for a 'Weasley Sweater' for WonderBoy;
...Six hundred grams of Bendigo Woollen Mills "Aran", colourway 'Dusty Blue', ready to be knit into brooklyntweed's "Hemlock Ring Blanket". By the way, I LOVE two hundred gram balls of beautiful soft Australian wool - Bendigo Woollen Mills are such good value!
Noro Silk Garden, all ready to knit my own "Noro Striped Scarf", another brooklyntweed pattern;
More Silk Garden (!), and I thought I'd knit up a striped hat to complement the Noro Striped Scarf. The pattern is 'Vortex', by Lee Meredith and is featured in Winter 2009 Knitty...
... and more WOOLganics 8ply Organic Merino, to continue with blanket squares for my 2009 in a Blanket KAL (I'm loving it, by the way!).
Boo. No more shopping for awhile. Can you hear my darling husband cheering?

I've taken to storing stash creatively around the house, but not so intrusively that it bothers others. Some is stashed stealthily, in the guise of "interesting calico bags hug on doorknobs for the sake of aesthetics" (although I'm not entirely sure I'm fooling anyone here)...
... and other yarn is stashed in baskets, for the "Fibre as Creative and Unique Decoration" angle. I'm sure Better Homes and Gardens will be getting in touch any day now.
Note the big bag of Merino Cross I still haven't got through and my poor old spinning wheel hasn't seen the light of day in some time. *sigh* I need to have the wheel looked at and reconditioned, buy more bobbins, and find somewhere to have the fleece cleaned and prepared for me - I just don't have time to do the whole lot from go to whoa. But that's another story, and shall be told another time...

... right now, I need to pull my Clapotis out and keep moving along!

One's trash, another's stash...

I was most excited to have the opportunity to increase the ol' stash last week, when my mum dropped by with a couple of bulging shopping bags...

Mum volunteers at a local charity op-shop that happens to be situated next door to a yarn shop, and on the day in question (your Honour!), a lady had gone next door with these bags of leftover yarns - although I'm not entirely certain what she thought the yarn shop were going to do with them - and finding them shut, went to the op-shop and left the bags with mum...

And here are the contents!It's not fabulously clean and not much of it is in complete skeins, but a lot of the colours are quite complementary, and because there's a lot of fancy and interestingly textured yarn I'm seeing the potential for a couple of scarves knit with several yarns at the same time... Should be fun experimenting, at least!I'm not even sure what the smeg it is, or even if it IS able to be spun, but I'm sure I'll have fun trying to find out...

And another op-shop find by my talented mum:
I don't know if this Cleckheaton Panama yarn is even made and sold anymore, these look like pretty well-travelled balls... but it is 100% cotton, and I reckon that once unwound and washed, I could dye them some nice kiddie colours and knit up some comfy cotton tops, especially for Little One (who, for those wondering, is showing NO signs of heading south!) later on this year.

I'm getting a lot of fulfillment from knitting children's things right now, there's such a sense of achievement when several projects come off the needles in the space of one month! Although, that being said, I really must pull the drape cardigan out and have a proper crack at it - maybe a new year and a fresh eye on the pattern will help me figure out what I thought is a hideous mathematical error in the increases on the front of this cardie, but as there's no errata listed for this magazine (Simply Knitting?), I have to come to the conclusion that I mustn't be reading this correctly...

I digress. Finished projects?

Here's the finished and blocked Baby Wrap Top, by Erika Knight;... and the next two squares knit for January, ready for the 2009 'Year in a Blanket' KAL. The intarsia on the giraffe isn't completely setting me on fire, but I'm coping (hehe), and the mitred square is a little smaller than I'd intended, but that can be remedied with a crochet border.

Last bit of knitting news (hopefully the last before I have a baby to announce!) is that the Clapotis is underway, and looking loverly so far. With the colour being such gorgeous deep reds, I feel like titling it the 'Raspberry Clapotis'... all ready for hospital knitting!

Babies, babies everywhere!

August has truly been a fertile month. I know of at least four friends and family members who have popped in August or are well due to pop late August (ie. now!).

So at the moment, I've put aside my Noro lace scarf (which is probably the best option for me at the moment - I can't knit more than three rows without screwing up! I'd like to blame pregnancy hormones for my total lack of ability to count, but I know it's because I still try to watch DVD episodes of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' while knitting...

I have taken up one of two wee hats that I really should have got started, like, the day I found out these two little darlings joined the world, but I was more than a little waylaid with my scarf. And then there's a little face washer for each in the queue. Here's the first hat, nearly there. I hopefully should have it done by tomorrow afternoon, especially since we're off to Sydney. I do all my best (by my best I mean my most productive, of course!) knitting as a passenger on long car trips.The yarn is Shepherd 'Colour 4 Me' 8 ply. I don't think it has a colourway, per se, but it doesn't have a bunch of numbers that are probably irrelevant to most people. I bought it under consultation from WonderBoy, at Lincraft... he's pretty good with colours. Loves purple, for some reason.

Still, it'll be good to get going of some baby stuff for my Little One!

I do love knitting and using face washers. I find that they're the softest to use on delicate skin, even more so after each wash and trip through the dryer. I use the patterns that most people knit to use as dishcloths, but... I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I just can't bear to use these lovely handknits to scrub dishes and wipe the benches with!

Which is why I've recently spent a heap of expanding my face washer yarn stash (Peaches n' Creme) at The Wool Shack, in Perth. They are a great bunch of people to buy from; exceedingly helpful and friendly - they called me once after I'd ordered a heap of Peaches n' Creme, to apologise that they had run out of one of the colours I'd asked for and to ask which I'd like instead. Such lovely, personal service! Sadly, however, they are now unable to stock Peaches n' Creme because the freight costs are just too expensive. I sympathise with them - I tried to order from their American website and found that the cost of the yarn was fantastic, even with the exchange rate, but the cost of the shipping was about three times the cost of the yarn itself. Boo. :(

I just wish I knew of a similar worsted weight cotton yarn for face washers and dishcloths available in Australia. Any ideas?

Knitting queue overload!

I can't believe I'm contemplating saying this, but I have a feeling I may be adding too many new projects to a queue that I'm not going through at the same rate.

But that's normal, right? Right? Maybe that's what I just cheerfully refer to as 'my stash', and keep merrily knitting at the rate that I'm comfortable with. Yeah, that's what I'll do. Sorry to disturb y'all!

The most recent addition (and a worthy one I'm sure anyone would agree) is the recently made available "Baby Mine" cardigan designed by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. It's available through Blue Moon Fibre Arts, for the extremely decent price of $6.50. I ordered mine a couple of nights ago, along with two skeins of Socks That Rock Mediumweight (you only need one to make the newborn and six-month sizes, but I wanted to be absolutely certain I'd have enough, just in case) in the colourway, 'Pebbles'. I wanted colours that would suit either a boy or a girl, since (a) we're only going to find out the sex the traditional way - when it comes out! and (b) I'm just not fast enough to knit both a "Baby Mine" and a "Baby Yours" in both pink and blue, just in case.

I've been hoping to knit up a storm during this pregnancy so that Little One would arrive home to at least a couple of completed garments, but I'm at the twenty-week (halfway there) mark, and seem to be still knitting lace scarves for myself!

On the needles right now (she said, clearly avoiding any thought of the WIP Drape Cardigan in a bag in the stash cupboard) is a skein of Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn that I picked up at Tapestry Craft in Sydney, on Pete's and my Anniversary weekend away last month. I'm enjoying the pattern, too - enough to look pretty and a little complicated (to the untrained eye, at least), but simple enough so I can knit it in front of the telly of an evening without too much tinking and cursing.

The colours are so unusual. I love the big slash of hot pink in the middle of all the greens best of all, I think. Here we are so far:And, in other knitting-related news:

Several months ago, I was hopping around, looking at other people's knitting blogs, and came upon "Runcible Spoon", where Andrea's most current post talked about a 'Paying it Forward Exchange'. This is a copy of what she had linked in originally, describing the whole concept...

"I like listening to the Changeling's Knit and Stitch podcast, and when I heard she was looking for someone to participate in an exchange, I checked it out. When I saw the terms of the exchange, I put my hand up straight away to participate.

You can participate, too! The conditions are as follows:

The Pay It Forward Exchange is based of the concept of the movie Pay it Forward where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on.

So here's how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won't be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that's a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. I will now Pay It Forward to you THREE, I wonder who you will be?! Please, be a PIF. You will enjoy it just as much as we do! And, remember— you have 6 months to get your gifts done!

So let me know if you would like to participate, and I will create something just for you within six months from the time of your comment. In turn, you will need to make the offer to three other people. Pretty simple, eh? I look forward to making whatever it is for whoever you are."

So, on the off chance that I may not have left it too late, I was the first to respond on Andrea's comments page... and wondered what might happen next.

Well, I was very pleasantly surprised to receive an email from Andrea earlier this week, saying that her Pay it Forward gift to me is almost ready! It's terribly exciting, and means that I need to be getting ready to make a similar announcement... in the vague hopes that I do get a response, of course...

Watch this space.

Fortuitous weather

WonderBoy put up with a trip to the RTA today so I could renew my license, as well as our grocery shopping (which he has come to view with distaste, usually saying "No shopping, Mummy?") and a walk up to the butcher's, so we went to the park on the way home.

Did I say the park trip was for his benefit? Silly me.

While he enjoyed the slippery dip, over and over, I enjoyed close to an hour sitting in the sunshine, working on a little summer scarf.

I'm knitting it from leftover Rowan 'Linen Print' that I used to make a lace top last spring. I think it's been discontinued now, which is a shame 'cause it knits with a lovely drape, and it gets softer with every wash. Once it's done, I'm planning on adding a loopy sort of fringe, and I'm looking forward to teaming it this spring and summer with a crisp white shirt and jeans that have been mucked around with to accommodate my belly as Little One grows bigger!! Speaking of whom, since she or he is due in January (a bit hot for wool!) I ended up buying more Linen Print that I'm going to use in an attempt on an Elizabeth Zimmermann 'Baby Surprise Jacket' for him or her...

Here we are. I'm around or just over the halfway mark.I enjoyed a fabulous two nights away with Pete last week to see 'Phantom of the Opera' for our anniversary (it's been ten years since we met!), and took the opportunity to get over to Tapestry Craft on York Street, where I picked up thisskein of Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn. I've earmarked it for yet another lace scarf (I'm into those at the moment!), the pattern being the 'Fern Lace Scarf' by KnittingPixie (Ravelry link). I'm totally in love with the colours - I first caught sight of the lime, then the yellow-orange, and then had to look a little closer, where I saw *gasp! Oh, joy!* hot lolly-pink! I can't wait to get stuck into it and see how the colours work out.

On another topic, I am desperately waiting/trying to figure out if and when I might be able to get a hold of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's heart-meltingly gorgeous 'Baby Mine' pattern. I've just found the her blog entries for the 'Baby Yours' and 'Baby Mine' jumpers in July 2008, but for the life of me, I cannot link just the one entry! It's worth it. Go and have a look, trust me. I have a little bit of a feeling that Little One might be a wee girlie, and this is just the sort of thing I'd love to have knitted up and ready to wear.

Oh, this is pathetic!

Crikey, Moses. I can't believe it's been nearly a month since my last post - this is very, very slack behaviour on my part, and there really is no excuse for it!

There is so much going on right now. I've been stashing like mad, having procured a couple of lovely skeins of merino-cashmere that I've got earmarked for my very own 'Clapotis'; a couple of basic balls of a blue/brown 8ply 100% wool I picked up at my local chain craft store for a hat for WonderBoy, and three balls of a really nice cream-pink-green soy/wool spun into sorta chunky singles, bought at the same time as the WonderBoy yarn. And then there's the enormous ball of handspun I managed to get washed and dried nicely. The soy/wool has been cast on for another hat for myself, an I'm thinking of a cabled scarf (maybe a matching hat?) for the handspun.

It's amazing with the handspun, actually - even after several washes and dries (drys?), I found that the spun and plied yarn was dropping a fair bit of dust as I wound it into a ball! Grrr. Maybe several more washes and dries?

I actually finished the hat I planned for Wonderboy and was a bit annoyed with a) the pattern, and b) myself for just continuing with said pattern. I measured WonderBoy's (somewhat enormous) melon, and worked to the measurements stated in the pattern, and although the hat fits him around his head, it's just a wee bit shallow. Damn! Ah, well. It was less than one ball, and I can always knit another when this one is way too small. It'll fit Wonderboy for a little while at least. Can't win 'em all! I can always send it to the next friend who has a little boy...

The drape cardigan and I are having a trial separation at the moment. I've completed the back without any issues, and I've got halfway through the left front now twice and had to frog it twice when I've come to an numbers issue with the pattern - I'm always ending up with way too many stitches! I even took it to Mum, and she's got no idea, either. So I've put it, in all it's half-completed glory, into the bag with the yarn and it's going to spend some time in the stash cupboard while I busy myself with hats and scarves for awhile - a few easy, instant gratification pieces. I'll get back to the cardie... at some point!

In other news, I have my spinning group meeting (or 'Mummy's Playgroup', as we term it) on Friday, which I'm looking forward to, and then I'm taking myself up to Darling Harbour, Sydney on Saturday for World Wide Knit in Public Day. I have some fabulous Ravelry buttons I ordered a couple of weeks ago, ready to wear on the day, and I'm hoping to feature my new hat, as well. Should be a good day; I'm looking forward to knitblogging the whole thing!

Another pathetic thing about this post is that I am not going to be bothered with adding photos today. I know, what a stellar lack of effort... Hopefully, I'll get myself organised once Wonderboy's hat is washed tomorrow and whack some photos up before Saturday's festivities.

I blame the long weekend for my laziness!

It sure ain't Sock Camp...

... but it sure was fun!

Leaving my husband and son with my parents-in-law, I headed out to Robertson today to check out the Woolcraft Festival.

I can't say I saw expecting a huge huge blowout... After all, this is a country town, and knitting, spinning and the like is only enjoyed by a very small (and quite probably elderly) portion of the population, right?Well, the sheep were there...

Not quite. I am very pleased to be able to say I had such a great time there, and I wish I could have hung around longer. I met up with Dianne, a fellow Raveler whom I have only spoken to online so far, and her husband. Dianne and I were able to talk properly about the possibilities for meeting up regularly for knitting sessions, and she was able to introduce me to some of the women who get together for a spinning group once a month. I was so excited to think I'm going to be able to hang out with 'my peeps' on a regular basis to learn and exchange more. Dianne's husband is a very lovely and supportive bloke who was determined to leave the Festival that day with a spinning wheel for Dianne, whether she thought she needed one or not!

I managed to talk spinning with the ladies Dianne introduced me to, and Joan in particular, who helped me select my first fleece that would be best for a beginner like myself. It was like a Mission: Impossible, with Joan ferreting through bags and asking me about colours and textures while trying not to make it look like she was 'telling' me what to buy. I'm proud to say that this gorgeous four-and-a-half kilo bag of Merino X was suggested by me with a little bit of guesswork (hell, I didn't know what I was doing!), and it turned out to be an excellent choice, apparently!Here's my score, arranged quite artfully I think, with our fish helping out with decoration. Thanks, Jack White.

I was able to ask questions (I learned heaps, just by asking people questions!), and I networked quite a bit. I met up with Melanie of Rainbow Wools, who was very interested in Ravelry and in the possibility of a local Stitch and Bitch being started. From her I bought this delicious hand dyed number, which came with some free patterns for hats, scarves and the like. Good one-skein stuff. I was thinking scarves, but when Melanie's mum put the hat on to model for the fashion parade, I was sold. A hat it shall be!And then I'll buy more for a scarf, of course.

It's knitting up so soft and the colours are just yummy. I'm supposed to be working on the mate for my current pair of socks (hello, second sock syndrome!), but I just couldn't help but cast this on tonight. Nice stuff.

These slivers, from Freelance Fibres, caught my eye (ok, more like grabbed and held it hostage) just for their beautiful colours (baby alpaca and silk). But they are to be put away for now, until I feel I'm practiced enough to use them. I'm considering them something for me to be aiming for.
Ah, we all must have goals and dreams to aspire to!

The Joy of Stash

Hey, check it out - that last post was my big 5-0! Yay to me.

This evening, instead of putting together another family DVD or doing school work, I have been devouring the most recent Knitty. It's KnittySpring, for those in the Northern Hemisphere. For me, it's "stuff to plan and knit in time to wear next Spring". I like this way of doing things. It works well for us Down Under! The first article to really grab my attention was that on Stash, called "Mindful Knitting" by Tara Jon Manning.

I liked how she has stood up for those of us who stash for the sake of beautiful fibre. She writes, "As Yarnies, we naturally love our yarn. We share it, make other people touch it, look at it longingly. It can soothe us. It can inspire us". I do love that description. Admiring the parts that make up the knitted product, admiring the materials and tools, as well as the process itself as a thing of beauty - it proves that in knitting and fibrecraft, that the sum of its parts ends up being greater than the whole finished product... it gives some real artistic merit (for want of a better word) to our craft. Why shouldn't we apply greater value (not monetary so much, more artistic value) to the beautiful materials we create and source from those who have such wonderful talent to be creating for our benefit?

She goes on to say, "Why then do so many of us become timid, almost embarrassed about something that otherwise can make us really happy?". Why, indeed. These are the tools, the materials of our craft. When a person has trained, studied and practiced to become a talented cabinetmaker or woodturner, their knowledge and skill seems quite universally praised, and their need to procure tools and beautiful timbers to apply their craft is logical and normal. But knitters? We may be seen as merely faffing about in spare time, as tinkering with 'arts and crafts'; a term often lent to defining paper-crayons-and-glue activities that children engage in. And then we have to defend our procurement of good quality, beautiful materials that make us happy to create with them, and which make stunning, useful garments. I suppose it goes back to knitters defending their craft by saying 'it's not just for Nannas anymore'. I do feel sorry for non-knitting grandmothers. It's an unfair stereotype, for all concerned...

As I read, I thought about my stashing tendencies. I believe I fall under these definitions, as set out by Tara Jon Manning in her article:

"Our Stashes are often measured by the amount of storage required to house them. For some folks it is a big plastic bin, other it may be a closet". That's me, the closet stasher. WonderBoy knows where Mummy's stash cupboard is and often points to it, saying "Mummy Knitting", or "Mummy Stash". Clever child. I'll have needles in his little hands before long. I'm a bit of a logical stasher, since I'm not in the happy position of having several Local Yarn Stores (LYS) available to me in person (I shop online a lot), or being able to be holidaying in places with LYSs readily available, to be buying 'souvenir stash'...

"If you are the type to have a closet full of Stash, you may be a little more ambitious than the one-bin yarnie, perhaps with two projects running at once. This appeals to me – one big project that stays home and perhaps another more portable project to throw in the knitting bag". Me again. My limit is two projects at any one time. I don't feel that I have the multiskilling talent of the Yarn Harlot to be able to keep more balls than that in the air (if you'll pardon the yarn pun).

I do wish sometimes that I could loosen up a bit, stash-wise. I wish that my creativity and confidence would surface enough for me to be able to fall in love with a particular yarn and be able to say, "Wow. That's going to be a ---- (insert amazingly creative garment pattern here)". I really admire knitters who can do that; I'm just not confident enough to be able to do that without worrying that maybe I hadn't bought enough. What if I hadn't bought enough and I'll get halfway through the project and I'll be stuck? I can't risk that!

Or, I learn to take some knitting risks. I might be able to start with a book recommended by the Yarn Harlot, called "One Skein Wonders", by Judith Durant; buy some delicious yarn, and truly explore my capabilities as a 'Fearless Knitter' (see link to left) this year.

Hmmmm.... I would like to visit Nundle...!

More sock yarn, hurrah!

It's a happy day in our house.

WonderBoy, who has been really embracing toddlerhood and all it has to offer, tantrums-wise, turned two yesterday. Pete and I gave him quite Wiggly gifts this year, which makes the teacher in me sort of go 'eeerk!', but just looking at his face when he dances and jiggles around to their music... it just makes him so happy. And I think the Wiggles are cool too, so that helps a lot. Here he is with his 'Greg' doll and his tent...
Havin' a laugh with Daddy;


And blowing out the candle on his cake...

We're planning his party for the weekend with our families, so he'll have a ball there - he loves hanging out with everyone, and they all think he's great (as we all do).

But onto the great day I've been having. First of all, WonderBoy put up with an astonishing amount of being taken everywhere this morning as we bought groceries and other supplies ready for Sunday's shindig. Barely a complaint, in fact, which is pretty amazing.

Then, we get home late for lunch, and he's still in a fine mood. He goes down for a sleep, no worries at all, and I had the cat on my lap, purring for a couple of quiet hours where I listened to the most recent "Cast On" and turned the heel of my sock. Oh, and I had a message from a fellow Raveler, responding to my attempts to get a knitting group or Stitch N Bitch going in my local area. WonderBoy then wakes happily and is also happy to get in the car to pick Pete up from work, and I go out for drinks with colleagues for two hours.

Lovely stuff. Life is good!

And then, just to top it all off, my Regia 'Galaxy' arrives from Austin, Texas:
I couldn't believe Griffin Yarns. It's amazing, Kate sends you anything you order, and I quote:

"First-class shipping is free. You don't have to do anything special to get it, there's no minimum purchase. Just free shipping.

We ship all around the world. Whether you're in Austin or Australia, you qualify for our free shipping."

I sent Kate an email today to thank her. I still can't believe it that today there are still people out there like that, willing to put themselves out there just a bit to make things easier (and let's face it - very, very appealing) to customers. I'll be shopping with her again for sure.

Thanks again, Kate. You rock!

Ah, I'm in love

... with the skein of "Paris", which found it's way into my possession on Monday. *sigh*. I just want to walk around the house, patting it and holding it and singing little wee songs in it's honour. It's. Just. That. Perfect.This picture was in 'Ravelry' where the Aussie Sock Knitters gather to chat - Irene from Jolly Jumbuck put this up in December to illustrate the beautiful shipment of Hand Maiden she'd just got in. And I think I can see my (MY!) precious skein, right there! Okay, now I sound really weird.

It's like someone took a Monet 'waterlilies' painting and wrung it till the colours poured down into this yarn, which is just so amazingly soft and yet has the most beautiful sheen to it. Even after a little snafu with the post returning it back to Jolly Jumbuck (damn you, Australia Post!) I received it most happily and gratefully, with the added little surprise of two little beaded stitch markers, marked 'Jolly' and 'Jumbuck'.

The wonderful Irene at Jolly Jumbuck added a lovely note to my receipt, saying "Thanks Jenny, I hope you enjoy this heavenly yarn. Irene"

I love Irene. I really do.

Days of Love and Pikelets

Ah, Valentine's Day. The day that florists and card companies look forward to more than any other in the year.

Pete and I don't 'do' Valentine's Day, apart from cards, and we like it that way. I prefer cards actually cause I can keep them. Flowers die and chocolate gets eaten, but I keep cards.

I have chosen to mark today in all it's pink and perfume-scented glory by making pikelets. Half are plain, for raspberry jam, and the other half have blueberries stirred through. Why? Just felt like it. That's why I cook most things.
I do have something of a heart-motif to show y'all today though - I have finished the first row of stars and hearts in the aptly named "Hearts and Stars Blanket". So far, so good, I have to say. The pattern is engaging and not boring, while also not being challenging enough to drop the whole thing off a tall building. I seem to be motoring along on it quite well and I'm also pretty pleased to see that this row has taken two balls of yarn (Shepherd 'Colour 4 Me' 50g balls) to complete, so I feel I'm pretty well on track for gauge and yarn usage. Niiiiice.I'm *hoping* to have this completed and ready to give by the end of March, but I'm also trying to be realistic. my problem, as with all blankets knit on circular needles, is the time it takes me to complete each row. So, if there's something even remotely interesting on TV at night, sometimes I'm lucky to get just one row done. Ouch. Must try harder.

Ooh - good news - I just checked my account at "Jolly Jumbuck", to find that the lovely people there have shipped my 4ply! Hooray! So I am expecting this gorgeous bundle:...to be arriving in my letterbox early next week. That'll make the ol' Monday/Tuesday combination a little more tolerable! It's a Hand Maiden 'Casbah' sock yarn, 80% Superwash Merino, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon and has THE most beautiful name for the colourway. It's called "Paris", and they just got it so right. I think that's why I liked it so much straight away. I actually found the yarn first , and then went searching on Ravelry for a pattern I could use it in. I don't really want to use it for socks, mostly cause of the cashmere (I don't want to wear holes in it!!) but also because I love love love the colours so very much, I want it to be a garment that will really show them off.

So, in the spirit of the upcoming Aussie autumn and winter, I plan on knitting it into a lace scarf called "Branching Out", by Susan Lawrence. It's free pattern featured in Knitty Spring 05. I can't wait to see it teamed against my black coat, or with several three-quarter sleeve tops I have, in either blue, black, pink, teal or even brown. I am so looking forward to this glorious really, truly Hand Maiden deliciousness being in my hot little hands that I'm just a little worried for the current projects...

Hurray for stash! And other good news...

It's been an eventful week in our house. Firstly, I'm on the countdown to the End Of Term, and therefore (and most excitingly) the End Of The Year. I know I'm only working part time, but I have to say that now I've got access to the car, I'm just looking forward to hangin' out with Wonderboy. And here he is, in all his glory:


I took him to a local indoor play centre last week when it was too hot for the park, and he (pardon the pun) had a ball... it took him a little while to warm to the whole concept of the ball pit, but then he got stuck in.

And then yesterday, it all just got tremendously exciting. The yarn I'd ordered from Ozeyarn and the Wool Shack, two very wonderful Australian yarn shops all arrived in the afternoon, and apart from the fact that it reminds me just how much I've committed to knitting for gifts (Christmas and other) - making me wig out just a little bit - but more than anything else, it just makes me happy. I just like looking at it all. I haven't even put it in the stash cupboard. I have it artfully arranged on the dining table so I can look at it and just have a little smile whenever I go past.



There's Cascade 220 to knit a pair of 'Fuzzy Feet' from Knitty for a friend for Christmas, several balls of 'Peaches 'n' Creme' cotton for the Monthly Dishcloth KAL, two balls of Heirloom Jigsaw Sock Yarn (I'm determined to buy - or receive for Christmas - Cat Bordhi's "Socks Soar On Two Circular Needles"), and fourteen balls of a nice yellow Shepherd 8-ply to knit a lovely wee baby blanket. I'm not overstretching myself at all, am I?

My other good news is that I shall be having my very first spinning lesson tomorrow! I got in touch with the New South Wales Hand Spinners and Weaver's Guild, and they gave me several local and nearby numbers to try, and I was so happy to be able to organise my lessons so near to home. And excited? I am SO stoked!

Watch this space for spinning news!

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

My itchy fingers have led to other projects being cast on (for novelty purposes, I stress - the lovely 12-ply 'Baby Surprise' has jumped up to the circular needles sleeves section and so each row is a lot longer, and progress... is... slooooww).

I'm giggling a little bit as I post this. I knit THIS last night, with THESE needles... my first attempt at knitting in the round on double pointed needles (of course, I could have chosen socks to start this on, but me? I like a challenge. I do lace) and so, yes I know I've buggered the pattern up there - I need to practice this one some more before I start gifting them on hapless friends and relatives this Christmas. I am pleased though, with the time taken to knit them up. Even for my first attempt, I managed to knit it up in one evening, and this boosts my confidence that I may even be able to give knitted love to several people this year for Christmas.









And then today, I cast on THIS swatch, with THESE needles... this is destined to become my mohair 'Gypsy' jumper that has been on my list to start all year. Christmas knitting? Knitting for babies who are due to arrive at fairly certain times (I know due dates aren't absolute, but hey, knitting for me has no time limit at all!!)? Naahh. I start a jumper for me. I love how when I pulled the bag of yarn out of my stash cupboard and looked carefully at it, I realised I've falled in love with this yarn, all over again! I love the colours and the way they just work, y'know? And, I realised as I was knitting my swatch and admiring the way the colours are striping so beautifully, because the jumper will be knit in one piece on the side, the stripes will be vertical - and I LOVE it! Never let it be said that knitting does not surprise on a regular basis.




And now, before we end this little tete-a-tete (I have an appointment with a Gypsy mohair jumper), here are pictures from my ramblings in my garden yesterday afternoon... It's so cool that this parrot decided to fly up and just sit on the branch, within arm's reach of me and my camera. It must have been pretty confident that its colours kept it pretty well camouflaged...



















... I'm going to make some muffins.