I finished the second arm of my Linen Print top today, and I have to say, I am SO PROUD. This is the shortest time I have ever taken to knit an adult top, and this was one with a reasonably complex stitch pattern (for me, anyway - I know, I'm still learning!), plus I even made sure to be careful and thorough about the whole thing, undoing and redoing mistakes. I feel I am on my way to becoming A Knitter.
Back to me finishing the second arm. I was coming up to the end of the straight part of the arm, and absolutely motoring along, and making my increases on each end, every sixteen rows and marking it on the photocopy of my pattern faithfully. After awhile, I found myself thinking, "I could have sworn I finished the other arm faster than this", but my little markings told me I still had five out of the last sixteen rows to complete...
Now, the next ten minutes were a bit of a blur, I have to say. I just remember feeling like someone had slapped me on the forehead and next thing I know, there's a puddle of Rowan Linen Print noodles around my ankles. I had completed an extra fourteen rows thinking I still had a pair of increases to make, when in reality I had done enough rows to have completed all the necessary decreases for the set-in sleeves and cast off! I still maintain it's the meds I'm on to shake this head cold that made me do it... Hey, I think it's the meds I have to thank for making me knit like a maniac!
So, I am proud to say, I rethreaded the needles, completed the last fourteen or so rows, and got on with sewing in the edges. Hopefully in the next day or so I can get it all sewn up in time to wear to my Year 12 ten-year reunion; an event I'm nervous and excited about at the same time...
...I still can't believe I've finished a top for myself in two months - I'm so proud!
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Sunday, 14 October 2007
Urrghh...
Feeling... so... sick...
Taking such exemplary care of Pete this last week has taken its toll, and now I reign supreme in the 'Fortress of Germs' as I refer to our house. Pete, God bless him, has taken on care of me beautifully, and spent today running around for me as I lay in repose on the lounge. Unfortunately, this means I'm not doing much else, including knitting. And that makes me so sad.
Here's a stash picture to keep me going: I've got some baby knitting to do for a dear dear friend who's currently overseas and expecting her first little one. As it's a surprise, I won't detail the pattern here, but I will in my Ravelry pages.
And, speaking of little ones, here's my little one - he's been practicing smiling lately, with all his teeth. Even when we've been crook, it's still such a pleasure looking after Wonderboy!
Taking such exemplary care of Pete this last week has taken its toll, and now I reign supreme in the 'Fortress of Germs' as I refer to our house. Pete, God bless him, has taken on care of me beautifully, and spent today running around for me as I lay in repose on the lounge. Unfortunately, this means I'm not doing much else, including knitting. And that makes me so sad.
Here's a stash picture to keep me going: I've got some baby knitting to do for a dear dear friend who's currently overseas and expecting her first little one. As it's a surprise, I won't detail the pattern here, but I will in my Ravelry pages.
And, speaking of little ones, here's my little one - he's been practicing smiling lately, with all his teeth. Even when we've been crook, it's still such a pleasure looking after Wonderboy!
Thursday, 11 October 2007
I'm trying!
Funny, I've only done a few of the 'Five Senses Sunday' posts and I've had enough already! I might make it a once-in-a-while thing, to make sure that I only post when I have something of interest to add photos to.
In other news, my dear darling husband has been crook as a dog this last week, and Wonderboy developed a nasty cough that's been really stuffing his sleep around, after he had his Chickenpox (Varicella) immunisation last week. So, I've had sole responsibility for the household - never have I been so grateful for our new car!!! At least I've been able to get Wonderboy out of the house to go to Mum and Dad's, to the park, and the do grocery shopping. Pete's been able to have time to rest without Wonderboy poking him in the face, saying "Dadda ni-nor" (Daddy's sleeping, isn't he, Mum?)...
I'm really happy with this current knitting project - the linen print is knitting divinely, and I have to say, this is my first project in which I feel I can start calling myself a Knitter (with a capital K, as opposed to knitter with a lowercase k). The Yarn Harlot describes the difference in 'Knitting Rules!' - I'm pretty certain that's the book, but (and I apologise to the Harlot for my slack arse here) I am just so, so tired that I cannot be bothered looking up the direct quote. Sad, isn't it? I can't help it - knitting has won out these days...
I feel like I've got the confidence to rip back and redo now, rather than tilting my head to one side as I look at a little mistake and saying "Aw, no-one will notice", even though everytime I put on that item, I think "That's that spot where I stuffed up the ribbing". And, I've decided, now is the time to Knit like a Grown-Up. Heaven forbid this means I act like a grown up - that's never going to happen! All this means is that when I cock-up, I stop, I think and I go back and fix the problem, even if this means making an effort!
I've now cast off the front, and cast on a sleeve - I feel like I'm flying on this one! This would have to be the fastest I've knit a top for myself!
Check out my gorgeous, gorgeous rose as it has opened this week. This is the very first bloom from my own, brand-new rose garden I planted in the winter. This is from a variety called 'Fragrant Delight'...
In other news, my dear darling husband has been crook as a dog this last week, and Wonderboy developed a nasty cough that's been really stuffing his sleep around, after he had his Chickenpox (Varicella) immunisation last week. So, I've had sole responsibility for the household - never have I been so grateful for our new car!!! At least I've been able to get Wonderboy out of the house to go to Mum and Dad's, to the park, and the do grocery shopping. Pete's been able to have time to rest without Wonderboy poking him in the face, saying "Dadda ni-nor" (Daddy's sleeping, isn't he, Mum?)...
I'm really happy with this current knitting project - the linen print is knitting divinely, and I have to say, this is my first project in which I feel I can start calling myself a Knitter (with a capital K, as opposed to knitter with a lowercase k). The Yarn Harlot describes the difference in 'Knitting Rules!' - I'm pretty certain that's the book, but (and I apologise to the Harlot for my slack arse here) I am just so, so tired that I cannot be bothered looking up the direct quote. Sad, isn't it? I can't help it - knitting has won out these days...
I feel like I've got the confidence to rip back and redo now, rather than tilting my head to one side as I look at a little mistake and saying "Aw, no-one will notice", even though everytime I put on that item, I think "That's that spot where I stuffed up the ribbing". And, I've decided, now is the time to Knit like a Grown-Up. Heaven forbid this means I act like a grown up - that's never going to happen! All this means is that when I cock-up, I stop, I think and I go back and fix the problem, even if this means making an effort!
I've now cast off the front, and cast on a sleeve - I feel like I'm flying on this one! This would have to be the fastest I've knit a top for myself!
Check out my gorgeous, gorgeous rose as it has opened this week. This is the very first bloom from my own, brand-new rose garden I planted in the winter. This is from a variety called 'Fragrant Delight'...
Saturday, 6 October 2007
Quit Jivin' me, Turkey!
Some knitting quotes for today. The first one's mine, I just said it to Pete, as I explained how I would need to rip back three rows on the front of the linen print (I got too enthusiastic as my decreases were continually correct, and I totally forgot to change colours!):
"That's why I like doing the backs first; that way most of my cock-ups are behind me... literally"
I have spent this morning looking after my sick and miserable-looking husband, as he sits balled-up and shivering on the lounge in his Holden flannelette pyjamas (he has a temperature - I'm not freezing him in some wacked-out, 'old wives tale' cure!), and doing the grocery shopping with Wonderboy. This is a new thing for us so far, as we've only had the new car a few days. I'm sure the novelty of "I'll take Wonderboy shopping, you stay at home" will wear off pretty soon.
Once Wonderboy went down for his afternoon nap, I crashed out on the lounge, grabbed the computer, and started up the latest "Cast On" podcast. A new thing for me, "Cast On" is the brainchild of Brenda Dayne, a native Oregonian who has been living, writing and knitting in Wales for the past five years. She has such a lovely, soothing voice, and I find her podcasts so interesting to listen to, usually as I knit. I'm having a bit of trouble connecting with other knitters in my local area (though Ravelry in helping with this!), and so I rely on knitters blogs from all over the place, and "Cast On" to really help reinforce my sense of being a part of this community of these lovely and often strange individuals called Knitters.
Interestingly, Brenda's subject for this most recent podcast was "I speak Jive". This is a quote from the movie 'Flying High', where an old lady offered to translate the 'jive' a bloke was speaking to the air hostess.
What has all this to do with knitting, you ask?
Brenda says:
“In linguistics, a ‘language death’ is a process that occurs when there are no longer speakers of a given language. This can happen in a variety of ways… this process happens slowly, when the older generation cease to transmit the language to younger generations, with the result being fewer and fewer people who speak the language…”
"That's why I like doing the backs first; that way most of my cock-ups are behind me... literally"
I have spent this morning looking after my sick and miserable-looking husband, as he sits balled-up and shivering on the lounge in his Holden flannelette pyjamas (he has a temperature - I'm not freezing him in some wacked-out, 'old wives tale' cure!), and doing the grocery shopping with Wonderboy. This is a new thing for us so far, as we've only had the new car a few days. I'm sure the novelty of "I'll take Wonderboy shopping, you stay at home" will wear off pretty soon.
Once Wonderboy went down for his afternoon nap, I crashed out on the lounge, grabbed the computer, and started up the latest "Cast On" podcast. A new thing for me, "Cast On" is the brainchild of Brenda Dayne, a native Oregonian who has been living, writing and knitting in Wales for the past five years. She has such a lovely, soothing voice, and I find her podcasts so interesting to listen to, usually as I knit. I'm having a bit of trouble connecting with other knitters in my local area (though Ravelry in helping with this!), and so I rely on knitters blogs from all over the place, and "Cast On" to really help reinforce my sense of being a part of this community of these lovely and often strange individuals called Knitters.
Interestingly, Brenda's subject for this most recent podcast was "I speak Jive". This is a quote from the movie 'Flying High', where an old lady offered to translate the 'jive' a bloke was speaking to the air hostess.
What has all this to do with knitting, you ask?
Brenda says:
“In linguistics, a ‘language death’ is a process that occurs when there are no longer speakers of a given language. This can happen in a variety of ways… this process happens slowly, when the older generation cease to transmit the language to younger generations, with the result being fewer and fewer people who speak the language…”
She refers to a book called ‘Traditional Country Craftsmen’, about the tools and languages of mostly forgotten crafts. The end of the book discusses textile crafts, and she was amazed to find that the familiar tools and methods of spinners and weavers had ended up the same way as those of ‘thatchers’, ‘cloggers’ and ‘chair bodgers’ - crafts long ago faded into obscurity.
She continues:
“Several years ago, I knit a sweater called ‘the red edge’ from the book ‘Poems of Colour’. I haven’t worn it in a couple of winters, because the button band was knit - a bit funky... I stopped wearing the sweater that for all of the things I have knit over the years, this was the one thing of which I am most proud…
... On Sunday, I decided to fix the red edge… I had an extra skein in the main colour left over from this project, and so I didn’t bother reknitting the yarn, I just tossed it and started fresh… I also knit the bands a little wider, so they’d accommodate a zipper. the sweater looks great… I love it again, and I cannot wait for the zip to arrive so I can finish the project…
... I ordered an 18-inch, cream coloured open-ended zip, because I could not find one locally. This item cost 4.50, with shipping probably closer to 5. Convert that, to US and I have just paid 10 bucks for an 18 inch, cream coloured plastic zipper, because they are items of such rarity in this country that you must pay for them dearly... People used to sew in
…The birth of industrial process may not have killed craft, but it surely hastened its demise. People stopped ‘bodging’, and ‘clogging’, and ‘thatching’, and sewing, and the language of the crafts dies with them. I don’t think this will happen to knitting, at least not in my lifetime, still I feel it’s usually best to hedge one’s bets. And that is why I speak jive.”
I love the way she linked that all together. Debbie Stoller speaks the same way in 'Stitch and Bitch', referring to engaging in crafts like knitting and crochet as not being anti-feminism, but pro-feminism. Preserving these crafts, these traditions, and not letting them fall by the wayside as we become more and more dependent on technology as a society is such a strong thing to be a part of, and really feels to be, I don't know, humanity-affirming to me. It kind of reminds me how I'm a tiny, tiny part of something bigger, and I love that feeling.Friday, 5 October 2007
Wow, that was unexpected...
How funky.
Last post I told y'all how I was merely a gnat's wing (my husband would use the term 'a bee's d*ck' for that one) away from receiving my Ravelry invite, right?
The next day, I checked my placement again, thinking 'ooh, I'll update my progress along the list', and the message "You are 0 places away from receiving your Ravelry invite. We sent you an email invitation TODAY". How terribly exciting!
Hence my not posting for a few days - I've been crawling around Ravelry, exploring all the wee nooks and crannies and setting up my profile. It's taking some time, cause I want everything to look bee-yew-ti-ful. Of course I don't have enough to do on the internet yet, do I, between Facebook, Shoeboxes, Lifestory and now Ravelry. I love it!
Some pictures of a newly-finished throw rug, I think, to top this post off. I put pictures (ages ago) under "The not-quite-started and the not-quite-finished" of this throw being completed. I'm really happy with the way it blocked, cause it just wasn't lying flat. It's actually the first major lot of blocking I've done, and since I'm so happy with the result, I may make it a regular occurrence...And, in other knitting news, my linen print top has a back part, completed last night! I am just so enjoying knitting this one. The linen blend is so lovely and soft, and I can't wait to wear it this summer, it looks like it's going to drape so nicely... Or maybe I've got a bit of wishful thinking going on here that somehow this top will hide any unsightly muffin-top. How is this going to work? The top is composed primarily of HOLES. Hmmm. Something for me to think about here. Ah, who cares. I still love this project.
To finish: a vase of lilacs that have started flowering in my backyard. We moved here at the end of last summer, and it's wonderful to watch how all the plants are waking up, and I can see all the different colours they've turned out to be...
Lovely stuff.Monday, 1 October 2007
Five Senses Sunday (or 'Oh, the Humanity!')
I know this post is a couple of days late; I'm not going to make a habit of it. I've been up till 1am every night for the past three nights, and since Wonderboy hasn't yet reached that point in his little life where sleeping is a good choice, we've also been up each of those mornings at around 7am... But here's Five Senses Sunday, in all it's painful, post Grand Final glory...
The sight of people (most dressed ready to support the Manly Sea Eagles) pouring into the Olympic Stadium, geared up for a big Grand Final!
The sound of the wall of noise that 81,000 crazed football fans can make on kickoff (also the sound of over half those fans booing Michael Crocker after he pulled a late tackle on Brett Stewart and knocked him rotten, and chanting "Off! Off! Off! Off!")
I'd like to tell you all about the taste of a hot footy meat pie, but I never did end up having one! Maybe I can say the taste of bitter defeat...
The smell of new car interior... We managed to trade our good ol' Corolla in on the weekend, buying our first real 'Mum & Dad' car, a white 2006 Subaru Forester. Pete's picking it up tomorrow, and I'll post a photo then.
And now, just to make me feel better - the feel of my knitting. I haven't picked up the sticks much over the long weekend, but here's what I'm up to in my 'Ines' Rowan Linen print top:
And, in other news: I just checked on my wait list status on Ravelry, and I'm only 215 people away from being invited! I can't wait! Just goes to prove after this weekend's disappointments, there's always something good going on in life...
The sight of people (most dressed ready to support the Manly Sea Eagles) pouring into the Olympic Stadium, geared up for a big Grand Final!
The sound of the wall of noise that 81,000 crazed football fans can make on kickoff (also the sound of over half those fans booing Michael Crocker after he pulled a late tackle on Brett Stewart and knocked him rotten, and chanting "Off! Off! Off! Off!")I'd like to tell you all about the taste of a hot footy meat pie, but I never did end up having one! Maybe I can say the taste of bitter defeat...
The smell of new car interior... We managed to trade our good ol' Corolla in on the weekend, buying our first real 'Mum & Dad' car, a white 2006 Subaru Forester. Pete's picking it up tomorrow, and I'll post a photo then.
And now, just to make me feel better - the feel of my knitting. I haven't picked up the sticks much over the long weekend, but here's what I'm up to in my 'Ines' Rowan Linen print top:And, in other news: I just checked on my wait list status on Ravelry, and I'm only 215 people away from being invited! I can't wait! Just goes to prove after this weekend's disappointments, there's always something good going on in life...
Tuesday, 25 September 2007
The Anticipation...
I am SO geared up - my Rugby League team, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles have made the Grand Final this year, and we've bought tickets!! We're so excited; I've been to a preliminary final before, for Pete's team, but this'll be my first Grand Final.
Go you good thing - Come on Manly!
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