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!

And in non-gnome related news

I'm thinking socks. Many, many socks.

I'm currently knitting the heel flap on the lolly-coloured Heirloom Jigsaw (I won't bore you with a photo - they are taking an agonisingly long time to knit as I'm trying to keep going with the 'hearts and stars' baby blanket, plus I really have to get a little teddybear vest cranking for Monday.

Let me explain. At Preschool, we have a little teddybear 'mascot' for each of the two classes, who goes home for a visit with each child and their family for a week. He comes with a journal where each child (with assistance from mum and dad) documents what Ted got up to at their place - who he met, where he went, et cetera. The children get right into it, and get very excited when it's their turn to take 'Travelling Ted' home with them. I am in the process of getting the journal and teddy ready for our youngest group, and he needs something to make him individual. The Ted for the older group has a wee handknit rainbow scarf, so I thought this Ted could do with a little vest. I'll post some pics when it's all done...

Back to socks.

Last week, I ordered some more sock yarn from Griffin Yarns - some Regia Galaxy, in three different colourways: Jupiter Blau, Jupiter India and Jupiter Wald, which knit up in the most fantastic swirls. The ad for the yarn in KnitSimple shows them like this:I can't wait to get stuck in! I'm thinking of knitting one pair for Pete to wear to work, but I can't decide which colourway to go with yet... I get this feeling they might not make it past my sock drawer...hmmmmmmmmm...

Aw, for the love of...

Holy crap!

Computers get me so damned cranky at times. Particularly now.

I did have a moderately entertaining (if not downright odd) rant all set to go (since about February 28 - hey, great art takes time) and when downloading and installing a RealPlayer update, it decided it needed to restart Firefox for me, taking my nearly completed post with it. Aaarrggh!

Now, I'm prepared to overlook several points here, one being that

a) maybe I should have got my arse into gear and just published the damn thing;

b) this may have been the Universe's way of telling me it wasn't really as entertaining as I thought it might be;

c) there is a distinct possibility that running seventeen-odd programs at the same time, editing family videos and burning backup DVDs all at once may have had something to do with it. Something about me having too high expectations for my faithful Toshiba;

d) maybe Pete's right, now is a good time to back the system up and run a full format.

Or maybe, now is the time for me to create my Army of Gnomes, set them up to take over the world and persuade everyone to convert to my ways of thinking. Here's an artist's impression of what it might look like:Don't underestimate them. They are wearing hand-knit hats, made from only the finest alpaca and merino (and some silk too, what the hell), spun with wee beads made from semi-precious stones and sequins (designed to blind those opposing them, of course). They will defend their hats, and possibly even their own lives. Just do what they say, and everything will be well and happy.

Trust the gnomes.

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...

Socks and stumpy fingers

More on my current sock. Here we are at our current position (as of last night - I took it to Sydney today for an appointment and knit the rest of the pink stripe in the waiting room), presented in all it's sockular glory by my stumpy, stumpy phalanges...
The yarn is Heirloom Jigsaw 4-ply, which I bought from the lovely people at Ozeyarn for $AUS18.50.

And, Melinda - thanks for your kind compliments on the Baby Sleeping Bag. It was well received at the baby shower, too. Lots of questions on that nature of knitting in general these days, asking how long I'd been knitting for, and observations on how difficult it must be.

I used the usual responses I developed from comments made be the wise and knowing Yarn Harlot, saying, "Nah; if you can read, you can knit" and "Well, it was just garter stitch, so it wasn't very difficult". The second is not one that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee advocates making; in actual fact she believes that we knitters are too quick to tone down praise for our hard work. Maybe I should make a habit of saying "Gee, thanks for the kind words. What you hold in our hands is nine hundred and seventy eight hours of my life".

Still, either way it's lovely to receive compliments for my knitting. Or incredulous disbelief, which is what I got today whilst waiting for my appointment.

The receptionist came over to me, saying "Oh, you're knitting?" and then, after a slight pause, "With FIVE needles?!". I explained briefly about the nature of sock knitting, and she was pretty well just amazed with the idea of knitting a tube without a break in it. She said, "Not many people knit these days, do they?" I responded by saying somewhat jokingly that knitters had gone underground, highly informed and organised over the internet.

The discussion we had about the cost of knitting was the one that amused me the most, though - she commented that it must be very expensive to knit as a hobby. I acknowledged that although some beautiful handpainted yarns spun from superfine merinos, cashmere and silks can cost a fair bit, but you don't always knit with that sort of stuff. I pointed out that you could spend $300 on exquisite yarns to knit a garment that might cost $500 in a shop when it's produced commercially. Her response? "Well, I suppose I'm more practical".

Hehe... It's always a fun ride talking to non-knitters.

Me Time...

Wonderboy and I seem to be getting back into our "Mummy's work week" routine, having spent this morning getting the supermarket shopping done. Usually a child happy to help out with the groceries, he spent the first half an hour of today's shop screaming at the top of his voice for me to give him the shopping list. Often a spare bit of paper from my bag will do it, but not today. Man, you know it's bad when little old ladies come over to the trolley to try to calm him down. Ugh.

It got better, though, when I started handing him items to hold. He gets very proud of himself when helping, and likes to announce this to other shoppers:

"Pasta. Hold it!"
"Hold it, bottle. Daddy bottle hold it!"
"Open? Nooo..."

That last one was Wonderboy reminding himself (and others) that he wasn't going to try opening the bottle of salad dressing. Didn't last long though, and he was soon busily flicking the lid open and shut (thank goodness for tamper-evident seals under the plastic lid)... until he pinched his finger in it.

Oh, and did I mention that this epic adventure through the supermarket took place *after* I went back to work to collect my keys, which I had conveniently left there on a windowsill yesterday afternoon.

Man, it's been an interesting first week back at work. Hence the desperate need for some "Me Time".

Today's "Me Time" has been brought to you by the lovely Brenda Dayne, her warm, genial sense of humour and her lovely soothing voice.

It's taken me a little longer than usual to get to her most recent podcast over at Cast On, but it's always worth it. I grab my latest project, settle in on the lounge, and wait for my favourite opening line:

"It's time to pick up your pointy sticks and Cast On"

And I breathe deeply and start knitting. It's lovely to knit along to her words and music, and she makes some beautifully described and presented points about life and knitting in ways I never would have thought of. In her last podcast, Brenda described in the most delicious way, 'Starting as you mean to go on'. She drew a beautiful parallel between the story behind a farmhouse near her property, life at New Years', and starting on new knitting projects.

"Dream awhile with me", she wrote in her podcast Blog, "...as we pause in the space just before the old year gives way to the new".

That, I find, is similar to what I end up doing when I listen to Cast On. I give myself some "Me Time", where I can pause, and be in the moment with my project, my mind and my chocolate...

...Before Wonderboy wakes from his nap and we start the whole thing over again!