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!)

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.

Somedays...

Somedays, the Knitting Goddess maketh her glorious countenance to shine down upon us all, and bestow upon us unworthy mortals... stash bargains! I wheeled Wonderboy into my local needlework shop today (looking for something nice for Mum's Christmas present) and got chatting with one of the staff there.

I wore my Rowan Linen print top to show her, as she was one of two staff who helped me with that purchase a couple of months ago, and she was very impressed (or she was trying to butter me up to buy yarn, the cynics might say. I think she was being genuine), which was very lovely of her, and then she mentioned that the yarns on sale when I was there last were still on sale (Patons, Cleckheaton and Rowan all 50% off).

I was looking at and tempted by some Rowan Biggy Print (I was thinking Winter hats) as she was talking, but then she really got my attention. She added,

"And all the stuff on these shelves here, I think we're having a bit of an extra sale on these - we need to get rid of them so we can bring new stock in"

I sidled over for a little look - quite a few acrylics, some blends; mostly Italian. She went on as I moved over to a couple of shelves stacked with fat balls of Adriafil Nuance:

"With these ones, I was thinking - what do you reckon to, say twenty balls for $25?" I checked the price. Each ball was tagged at $15.50. Whoa - I'd be stupid not to! She brought over a couple of shopping bags and we proceeded to count balls as they went in. When we got to twenty, we looked at the shelves. She glanced at me briefly, before saying,

"Hmm... what do you say we chuck the rest in there, and call it $30 for the lot?"

I counted them when I got home; in the end I got twenty-five balls of the stuff for $30. I proudly did the calculations so I could tell Pete - at the marked price, the total came to $387.50... Good stuff!

Here's the pinky-greeny-bluey stuff: I have the most balls of that, so I'm thinking an afghan of some description. I've been looking at stitch patterns and going through Ravelry for ideas this evening, so I'll update that when I've decided. In the meantime, I have swatched it. It makes a nice dusty 'lolly-stripe' of colours, so the afghan will be dubbed "The Lolly Blanket". It feels a lot softer while knitting and when knit up than when it's in the ball, and I think it will make a really nice, warm, squashy blanket...




















I also got three balls each (or so - I can't remember exactly!) of these two: greyish-green and grey-white that I think will go towards hats and scarves... In the meantime, I'm still garter-stiching away on the cream, 12-ply 'Baby Surprise', and I think I might cast on the Heirloom mohair for the 'Gypsy' jumper - I got the pattern in the Creative Knitting 2004 Annual, and it's also available through the Nundle Woollen Mill as a kit. Unfortunately, I didn't know that when I bought yarn separately, but oh well - if I like it, I'll knit it again and I can knit it in Nundle yarn! Can't have too much stash!



Oh, yeah - and I also got something nice for Mum, too... eventually...

Dishcloths, Stash and Buttons

My serious case of startitis is sadly, not improved... since last night. Never fear, I have taken steps to alleviate this awful, awful situation.

Firstly - I have joined a lovely KAL on Ravelry: the Monthly Dishcloths KnitAlong. I love the idea of collecting the lines of the pattern over a week, twice a month, to create something really quite simply. I've been looking for some inexpensive 'handbag knitting', and since I haven't yet leaned how to knit socks yet (something I am intending to remedy very soon!), this will be a cool little knitting 'side dish' of sorts.

Secondly - I have gone on a stash binge! With husband-ly permission, of course... the vast majority of it is for Christmas gifts: 100% Peruvian Highland wool for knitting and felting a pair of 'Fuzzy Feet'; a heap of 8-ply Shepherd 'Colour 4 Me' for a beautiful wee baby blanket called "Hearts and Stars" by Zoe Mellor; a couple of skeins of Heirloom sock yarn in self striping colours (told you I was going to learn!); and six balls of 'Peaches n' Creme' 12-ply cotton for my monthly dishcloths!

I've had to buy it all over the internet, from a fabulous place called The Wool Shack, over in Perth (I've shopped with them once before, and they are lovely to shop with!), and a place in New South Wales called Ozeyarn. haven't shopped there before, but I'm looking forward to recieving my goodies! I'll take photos of everything as it arrives. I does suck tremendously that I don't have a 'local' (all Aussies will understand that word) - a place I can rock up to several times a week and not look like I'm addicted to the merchandise, where I can chat with the owners, salespeople and customers alike, a place that might run a Stitch and Bitch regularly... But I do like the convenience of the Internet for shopping...

And before I sign off for tonight, a request for techno-help... I've been wanting to put button links on the blog here to sites I visit frequently, but I just can't figure out how to do it! I've looked on online tutorials, but I don't think I'm looking up the correct thing, or following instructions incorrectly... I just can't figure it out... Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!