Thursday Night Shuffle

Tonight's first song on the list is The Beatles' "Hello, Goodbye" (the Anthology II version, as opposed to the official single).It's just such a catchy, upbeat, fun song - a great one to belt out in the car. It's been one of WonderBoy's favourites from a very early age. He used to wave back to The Beatles when they appeared on the screen waving at him.

I love all the different versions of the film clip, too - particularly the one with everyone dancing like lunatics at the end. It was recorded at the beginning of a time for the Beatles that was becoming very acrimonious, so I like to watch this clip and think "Well, it can't have been all that bad all the time".

Quickie 'finished' post - now with added photos!

Wow – a whole month without a blog post! Instead of trying to explain, as always, why I haven’t added any posts through September, I thought I’d look at it positively. I enjoyed a month-long blogging holiday!!

On the up side, I have a heap of knitting that I have actually completed. Blocked and photographed!

‘Fetchings’ are done, knit in Jo Sharp Silk Road Tweed in Aran weight. I liked knitting with this stuff, it’s got a lovely cushy, rustic feel to it - sort of like knitting with something a little bit felted already. The yarn was still able to highlight the cabling in the Fetchings quite well. I gave them to my dear friend Ali last weekend, as a very very late birthday gift - she's moving to Adelaide very soon for a year. Does is get cold down there in winter??

Okay, so at this point the ends weren't woven in, so they weren't 'finished' in the legal sense, but WonderBoy looked so cute modelling them that I couldn't resist using these photos to showcase them!

I feel like I'm on top of Lola-Frog's blanket squares, with all of August and one of September done and blocked here. I've also done the last two for September and the first for October, but they're either not blocked or not 'finished' (ie ends woven in) and blocked. I'll get there.

August Square The First;

August Square The Second (the Apple is to signify both Lola-Frog's first solid food as well as to have a Beatles reference within the blanket without resorting to anything gauche and obvious);

August Square The Third, and

September Square The First.

Another finished object still yet to be blocked (and I must do it this week, Dianne was asking to see it last Thursday at KnitNight) is a lovely chunky cabled scarf for a friend who is definitely going somewhere cold - New York - in November. Photos to come soon.

One of the reasons I've not blogged lately (and I've just now realised this) is because of all the spinning I was doing! That, and we got our hands on 'The Beatles: Rockband' game...

You go, Ringo!

...and both these pursuits have taken up considerable portions of spare time. I've spun up 200g of lovely naturally fawn-coloured merino roving that my mum brought back from Tasmania for me a long time ago now.

I have to say, now having spun with both raw fleece and prepared roving, that I find spinning with the pre-prepared fibres much more satisfying - in a totally instant gratification kind of way. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee once said that to learn how to spin well, you should start with good quality fibres. I think that since I'm certainly no professional at cleaning and preparing raw fleece, I certainly wasn't learning with anything approaching 'good quality' fibre, and this was affecting my ability to focus on the spinning itself. Plus, I'm an impatient person at the best of times. Who can wait for fleece to be cleaned and prepared properly when there's spinning to be getting on with?!

Photos to come, as well as a new idea I've been tinkering with to reintroduce some fresh 'randomness' into the blog...

Meret photo - of sorts

I finally managed to have a photo taken of me whilst wearing the Meret on the weekend... just the one. And it doesn't really show it terribly well! I should ask Pete to take a couple of photos from the back...WonderBoy seems keen, though.

And in other news, I shall hark back to the completion of Lola-Frog's June Squares. I'm not terribly happy with the 'R' square. The stranding was pulled waaaay too tight, resulting in this; top left of the heart:I contemplated snipping the strands and eaving the ends in, but... apathy reigned.

As much as I feel I want to get started on the first of the three July squares, I'm in the middle of knitting Mum's birthday present. Called 'Sea Wool Scarf', I got the pattern from 'Yarn Forward Magazine' after Mum admired Barb's at WWKIP.

Trouble is, though - because I've got a deadline (Mum's birthday is next Wednesday), I've found that I'm finding good excuses not to get on with it. Ugh! It's like having an itch that you can't get rid of even though you're scratching... as you continue on, it's getting progressively more irritating even though you're doing all you can to alleviate it. Must be all in my mind.

Not unlike Rob & Mick of Shitscared fame:

"With his miiiind!"

Tell me this ain't funny

What you are seeing here is our cat, Luna, looking thrilled with her new headgear. Usually Mr Potato Head wears this hat, till WonderBoy liberated it, trying it on every member of the family. Luna won hands down as looking best in it.

3x Thursday... AND photos!

Wow, I am SO following everyone else on the Internet. Innovator? Me? Hell, no.

Firstly, a meme from this site: Three questions posed every Thursday. I thought I'd give it a try, see what emerges from this. Doesn't work? I'll ditch it!

1. What's the weather like today? Describe it.

Really strange weather today. Quite misty, then nice and sunshiny, followed by heavy cloud and rain. Repeat.

2. Did you/are you going to do anything productive (sure, it's relative) today? What did you/are you up to?

Since it's five minutes to eleven o'clock Thursday night, I'm going to answer this in the past tense. I think I did well today: a couple of loads of washing, dinner in the slow cooker by 10.30am (beef and red wine casserole) and WonderBoy and I spent 'quality time' together making a banana cake. Oh, and I finished Lola-Frog's third June square. Haven't woven the ends in, but it's off the needles. Success!

3. Do you need to make some phone calls or send some emails to people that you haven't heard from lately? If so, who? Here's your reminder to do it!

No, strangely! I usually take three days to remember to call or email someone, but today I'm up to date. Hurrah! No, wait... I'm still trying to get through to someone at Sunbeam; our slushie maker seems to have carked it during its second outing, and I'd like an explanation-shash-replacement. Not my fault I haven't spoken to them yet though, I keep getting the recorded message that all their operators are too busy to deal with my call. Cheers, guys.

And now, as promised: photos, taken last weekend on WonderBoy's very special outing to the Galston Valley Miniature Railway. He had such a fantastic time, but I'm not sure who was more excited, WonderBoy or his Poppy (my dad)...

...here they are together on WonderBoy's first train ride!

My sister, Lucy, Pete and my darling Lola-Frog.WonderBoy enjoying a ride with my sister, Sarah, and her boyfriend, Shane.The whistles on the steam trains are pretty loud!

World Wide Knit In Public Day 2009

Ah, this day comes again, and again, we knit.

I'm pleased to say that I was joined by three other intrepid knitters to brave the cold outdoors at a local cafe today. Sadly, no other people from our group were able to make it - maybe more next year!

Somewhat annoyingly, anyone we tried to offer a coffee-cup-cozy to looked at us like we were trying to offer them illicit drugs, and everyone else just looked frightened. *Sigh* We really must have a long way to go to convert the muggles. We raised like, thirty dollars for Youth Off The Streets, so well - I suppose it's thirty dollars that they didn't have this morning!

In other news, WonderBoy and I looked out the window this evening and noticed that it was really, really orange. WonderBoy was quite excited about the whole thing, so we went out onto the driveway to take some video and photos:

I want yarn these colours. I don't know what I'd knit with it, but I want it:
WonderBoy got right into it. It was all well cool.
You should see what we're getting up to tomorrow - it's going to be so exciting!

Stuff I like this week...

A big mug of hot chocolate: Always good before going to the gym.
Opening my first birthday present at 12.20am - hey, it was technically my birthday then! I can't wait to try making some of these little dresses for Lola-Frog!'Yes, Minister' and 'Yes, Prime Minister': I'm getting right back into these series; Pete bought me the complete collection for Christmas last year since I like to have half-hour TV shows ready to watch while breastfeeding. Best quotes?

"Politician's logic: We must do something. This is something. Therefore we must do it."

"A somewhat unorthodox procedure means The act of a gibbering idiot."

Hacker: "Do we ever get our own way with the French?"

Humphrey: "Sometimes."

Hacker: "When was the last time?"

Humphrey: "Battle of Waterloo, 1853."

My new Noro Striped Scarf: Yes, I was that crazy lady draping a scarf on a lilac tree outside this morning wearing Cookie Monster pyjamas. Wanna make something of it?White dudes dancing: I love this filmclip so much, I showed it to WonderBoy yesterday and he laughed himself silly. I always found Christopher Walken to be somewhat scary, but not after seeing 'Weapon of Choice'. Or 'Hairspray', for that matter...Being lucky enough to be spoilt for choice: Will I cast on Woolly Wormhead's 'Meret' for myself? Will I cast on another baby-sized 'Unoriginal Hat' by Yarn Harlot for a friend's bub? Will I cast on Lola-Frog's third June square?

James May's Plasticine garden in this year's Chelsea Garden Show in London. I think what i like best about it was the outcry it caused in the Establishment. But Stephen Fry liked it, and that's good enough for me. Top Gear UK, and by extension, James May totally rock.My lovely new Fetchings: Thank you so much, Barb! They're lovely and soft and beautifully warm to wear - I'll be sporting them tomorrow for the World Wide Knit In Public!

The Weasley Sweater, and other completed works

WonderBoy's Weasley Sweater (say that ten times fast!) has been complete for a couple of weeks now, but I have had so little time online except to check my Facebook, I just haven't got round to blogging properly! I don't like blogging if I can't put a little time into each post.

We've been really busy at KnitNight these last few weeks, preparing for World Wide Knit in Public Day, which is the day after tomorrow. We decided to set ourselves up in a cafe, outdoors in a local plaza for as much 'publicity' as possible. It's going to be cold, but we figure it'll mean we can wear as many of our lovely warm handknits as possible! As part of our knitting in public, we're going to use the opportunity to collect some money for a very worthwhile charity, Father Chris Riley's Youth Off The Streets. We have knit dozens of wee coffee-cup-cozies to give out in exchange for each donation we receive, so we've been knitting away madly on these as well.

But I digress. Here we go - photos!
He really does like it, despite the face! He's very much a three year old, and loves hamming it up for photos...He wore it to Preschool the day this was taken, and when he strolled in to greet his teachers, he pulled the hem right out in front of himself, announcing, "Look! I've got X for Xander! Mummy knitted it for me!"

Bless his little heart.

And here's Miss Lola-Frog, sporting her very own 'Not So Original Hat', just like Mummy's. Bless her giant head, she grew out of that beret-slash-bakers' hat in about a week (if I'm honest to myself, I do know that it never really did fit her!).

I used the Yarn Harlot's 'Not So Original Hat' pattern, altering the cables very slightly (I think I decreased it by about eight stitches and four rows) to make it small enough to fit her. It's knit in Patons Inca, on two 7mm circular needles - very handy for hats for little ones, as you can try the hat on more effectively as you're knitting it...
Doesn't she just look thrilled with it!?

New hat - now what?

Firstly, a big Happy Birthday to my darling husband. A prince among men, and a lunatic among sane people. Hope you've had a lovely day, honey; despite getting over illness and helping to deal with sick kidlets these last few days. Big kisses!
Pictured next to Pete, on the left, is our good friend and one big bag o'crazy, Stevie G. Happy Birthday also to him, for May 1st.

And secondly, to quote Professor Farnsworth of Futurama fame, "Good news, everyone!"
I've finished my version of Yarn Harlot's "Not Original Hat"!I'm assisted in the modelling by young WonderBoy, who announced to his auntie on the phone, "Mummy's wearing a crazy hat!"

It's a good, quick knit with a well-written pattern that's easy to read and follow. I did get a bit unco handling 8mm dpns, though - plus a cable needle. I have to say, I'm more dexterous when handling smaller dpns. But, this won't stop me knitting this again. I'm going to try knitting it in a (slightly) finer gauge yarn with smaller needles, and see if I can come up with a version that'll fit Lola-Frog. She's a hearty lass; as of today, she's thirteen weeks and six days old, and I put her to bed tonight in a size zero WonderSuit! So I figure that a hat only a little smaller than mine should fit her before long. I'd much prefer something a bit too big than too little.

And now, back to WonderBoy's Weasley Sweater. I'd like to complete the front side before I crack on with the May squares for the 2009 Blanket.

A quickie

I'm not at KnitNight tonight, sadly. Pete's been crook as a dog this week (we're talking 'I need a young priest and an old priest' sick here), and so I've stayed home tonight so he hasn't been left at home to deal with both kids whilst sick.

I am, however, knitting a hat. Why, when I've got both a scarf and a sweater on the needles, I don't know - I'd just been looking at the Yarn Harlot's pattern for her 'Unoriginal Hat' for quite some time and wondered if the chunky yarn I had stashed would work. So, on pulling the yarn out last weekend and swatching, I decided I might as well start it and hopefully finish it within a week.

I'm pretty sure my gauge is okay. I kept thinking I was well off and knitting a tiny hat, but I 'think' (read: hope) that it'll fit me:
Whew, time to get the ol' eyebrows done, eh?I'm not so great at taking photos of myself. I'm pretty happy with the the cables, too! Actually, after finding reasonable success with the cables I've attempted on squares of Lola-Frog's blanket, I've been quite keen on continuing to practice cables. That's probably why I'd been watching this hat pattern, almost willing myself to have a crack at it... I should be finished in a day or two, hopefully, and if it's successful, I'm going to try swatching the same pattern with a smaller gauge yarn and needles in an attempt to make the same hat but smaller, for Lola-Frog. She doesn't have a knitted hat of her own yet.

I'm still cracking on with WonderBoy's Weasley Sweater, up to the intarsia now. I decided not to put the 'H' on the front, I've charted an 'X' instead. I gave WonderBoy the choice between 'A' for his proper first name, Alexander, or 'X' for his shortened name, Xander. I like getting his input for his garments - he even chose the blue yarn on the Bendigo Woollen Mills website!

Well, back into it. Maybe I'll get the rest of the second set of repeats done on this hat tonight!

Always with the questions

I have been a parent now for three years, one month and fourteen days.

I had talked myself into believing whilst I was pregnant with WonderBoy that, being an Early Childhood teacher would put me in reasonable stead, parenting-wise. I had fairly confident ideas about guiding and modelling positive behaviour, about feeding them good food, making the most of teachable moments (ie. counting how many duckies he's lined up together, rather than just saying, 'ooh that's nice. Quack, quack'), reading at least three books a day (thank you Mem Fox - a literary genius.), and things like making sure they're always kept warm etc.

Until recently, I felt I was able to keep to these ideas (ideals?) fairly faithfully. They were serving me, Pete and our family quite well. People both in our extended family and in the wider community would comment on WonderBoy's delightful manners and happy, engaging nature. Don't get me wrong, they still do. He's brilliant at behaving in public, which is as my Mum says, the place where you want the best behaviour.

Things are changing. Not in a bad way, of course - the arrival of Lola-Frog was a huge but positive change, as was starting Preschool. But along with this change has come a shift in understanding, relationships, behaviour and power. All my training and experience tells me to go slowly and tread carefully to ensure that precious little self-esteems don't get squashed, that everyone feels empowered in each situation and that we all learn something out of each confrontation.... no, not confrontation... discussion?

Yeah, well. It turns out this isn't The Brady Bunch here. We're flying by the seat of our brown trousers, and it doesn't seems to matter what we do, I usually end up feeling guilty for yelling or being sarcastic when I know I shouldn't. Honestly, I can see and hear myself saying these things and screaming in my head, 'What ARE you doing??'. Feeling guilty for not playing one-on-one enough. Guilty for spending too much time playing and the house is filthy. Guilty for spending too much time playing and not encouraging him to learn to play on his own. Guilty for bailing out and putting the TV on all morning... not to iron, to knit, or read.

And now that Lola-Frog is here, there's guilt about not spending the same kind of time going for walks and playing with or talking to her. She seems to placed quite conveniently in a safe place to kick and wiggle while I deal with the latest WonderBoy thing, or while I get washing sorted or something and next thing I know she's back to bed again. *sigh*

What freaks me out is that all parents are in these positions as well! No one knows the answer, and we've all been having babies since time immemorial. Is it a time thing, where the answers are always changing and so don't apply to me, just as how my answers won't apply to my children when it's their turn? Or is it an individual thing, where all our answers are totally different?

Probably both, and it's exceedingly frustrating.

Pete keeps saying to me, "We're doing our best, and it's no more than anyone can ask of us". I know this is true, and still can't help but feel lacking... inadequate. Maybe this is an evolutionary trick to keep us trying our best so we won't eat our offspring. If so, it's working. WonderBoy will wake up soon, and come to me in the family room, arms outspread and say, "Hi, Mummy!" like I haven't seen him in days, even though he was taken forcibly to bed in a monster tantrum only a couple of hours ago.

I could learn a lot from his truly unconditional love and his ability to forgive and just get on with it.Love you, WonderBoy and Lola-Frog.

Publicity Knit

Another great evening out with the KnitNight crew. Here's a shot of at least half of us, knitting away for a photo to be sent in to a local glossy magazine. They're going to write a piece on us (cheers to Barb, who set this all up, consistently proving to us, 'It's not what you know, it's who Barb knows'!) to give us some publicity heading up to the World Wide Knit In Public Day for 2009.The rest of us were in photos on Barb's camera... We missed you, Dianne, Becca, Clare and Prue!

I managed to cast on for WonderBoy's Weasley Sweater, employing some maths inspired by Elizabeth Zimmermann's techniques to ensure a good fit...

After knitting the gauge swatch, I liked the tension that the needles gave the fabric (I'm using Bendigo Woollen Mills 'Rustic' 12ply in "Delta"), but the gauge was out by a couple of stitches per inch. So instead of fiddling with needle sizes, I worked out how many stitches I needed to cast on to get the same width, and off I went... feeling pretty proud of myself, but not proud enough to taunt the Knitting Fates. I'll keep measuring on WonderBoy as I go, with my fingers crossed!

Speaking of WonderBoy, he helped me to set out the sweater for photos of where I'm at right now... I think Captain Feathersword and the squeaking crocodile really set it off, don't you?
Ta daaaaa!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter, and was able to spend time with friends and family.

Blanket squares a go-go

The squares for April are finally completed, happily giving me enough time to have a crack at starting the Weasley sweater for WonderBoy before I need to even think about squares for May. I'm still going on with the Noro Striped scarf, it's great for KnitNight, as I can knit and chat without risking too many mistakes.

And here they are, for one month only!This one is called Cables and Bobbles, and I'm quite pleased with it. I knit it in the dark green as the design made me think of Lilies of the Valley. My aim, when I get to the end of this blanket, is to have at least one solid-colour square in each of the colours in the blanket. Mostly, this will be in a textured stitch pattern or cables - if I can stomach them again...

As mentioned earlier, I tried to do another cabled square this month (I had some idea about getting to the end of the year and having a cabled square, a striped square and an intarsia square for each month, but I think I'll be out of ideas re: cables by then. 'Go with the flow' is working for me right now.

So after I frogged both attempts at cables, I knit a nice, basic rainbow striped square:Ahhhh. Calm thoughts, calm thoughts. It just makes me breathe deeply when I see this square and remember how much cable stress it alleviated!

And the third for this month: Australia. Lola-Frog joined us on quite an auspicious day this year; Australia Day. Great for her party - everyone will know it's on the public holiday every year!I feel quite pleased with myself regarding this one. I couldn't find a pattern for a square with a map of Australia on it that I liked - either the square was the wrong size, or the map itself was the wrong shape or size. So I printed out some knitters' graph paper, courtesy of this website, printed a map of Australia from Google Images, and charted my own. I suppose I could say this is my first crack at designing! Yay me. Only thing I would have changed is the direction with which I was knitting when I changed colours from the orange back to the purple, but eh, who cares? Not me, especially when I was finishing it off at 1am last Wednesday (Thursday, I suppose it was!)

And now, back into it. I could cast on a gauge swatch for WonderBoy's Weasley Sweater, but I actually do feel that there is housework I should be getting on with (weird, isn't it?)