Finished Objects...

I admit, I've been 'too busy' to blog lately, but I can say that I've been very busy knitting! So, that makes up for something, doesn't it?

I've just come back from two weeks of school holidays, or "Mummy and WonderBoy time" as we term it at home. I've made the most of his continuing to nap for around two hours every afternoon, using the time to rest my increasing girth stretched out on the lounge, knitting away like a madwoman. It's quite interesting, really; it doesn't matter how frenzied the knitting gets, it's still a calming exercise.

Here's the first finished object. It's Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's 'Baby Mine', something I am exceedingly proud of completing. I bought it from Blue Moon Fibre Arts, along with two skeins of 'Socks That Rock' mediumweight the day after Stephanie mentioned casually on her blog that the pattern was available for sale.Tell me that lace pattern isn't beautiful...

The pattern is just so well-written, easy to follow and understand. All this, plus the fact that there are no seams to sew, to complete it. None at all! *Sigh*. Stephanie, you're marvellous!

I loved the colourway, Pebbles, as soon as I saw it. I wasn't in love with the idea of knitting it in solid cream, green or yellow (all the 'safe' colours!), but when I saw Pebbles, I jumped. Looking at it now, I do have the odd concern that maybe it isn't quite as non-girly or neutral as maybe it should be. Pete thinks maybe he feels this one might be a girl, but we will have to find out the old fashioned way...

The next finished object is a facewasher for WonderBoy. Lately he's been into using the facewasher in the shower to pretend to be different things. When he scrunches the washer up and places it in a ball on his head, he says "Look Mummy, I'm a potato!"... Surreal. He then wraps it around his neck and tells me he's "a man". When I asked him how he's a man, he explained to me that the washer is his 'black tie'. I think he got this one from The Wiggles, bless them... The last pretending is with the washer around his neck again. This time, he tells me it's his stethoscope, which he then uses to listen to my stomach. He tells me "I can hear the baby knocking, Mummy!" and pretends to be my GP checking up on his new baby brother or sister...
I chose the design, 'Luv Bug' for WonderBoy's washer, and he watched the progress of the knitting with great interest as I completed it over a couple of days...

Next up, a baby blanket for Little One! Stay tuned...

Avast, mateys!

Yesterday be "International Talk Like A Pirate Day"!

And since I, Cap'n Bellyache, be too lazy to have updated this here blog yesterday, I be updatin' ye all now. It must still be International Talk Like A Pirate Day somewhere in the world!

Yer ol' Cap'n had to work yesterday, manning the mizzenmast and scrubbin' the poop deck (when ye be workin' with the little bilge rats as I be, ye all have ter muck in and help!), and so I brought me own brand o' pirattitude to the classroom, dressed in my approximation of piratical finery: three-quarter pants and dunlop volleys (for when I be scrubbin' the deck), a striped blue (maternity!) shirt and a red bandanna. The young lads and lasses aboard the ship didn't know what was goin' on!

Me own little buccaneer got in on the pirate act, too. Me First Mate dressed him him in his big boy 'Pirate Jammies':Now all I be sayin' is, roll on September 19, 2009 so we can be settin' sail for the next Talk Like A Pirate adventure! Weigh anchor, ye scurrrrvvy swabs!


Yaaaarrgh!

Roll up, roll up! Free gifts for... three!

Here it is again, ladies and gents! This is the part where I spruik for a "Pay It Forward" recipient... I mentioned this a couple of posts ago, and quoted from Andrea of Runcible Spoon, who is getting ready to send me a handmade gift that I feel I have done nothing to deserve... until NOW.

"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!"

Just leave your details in the comments, and as said above, I will make a handmade knitted gift for the first three people that do so. And to deserve your lovely gift? Just 'Pay It Forward' to more wonderful knitters.

It's just that easy!

Tell us something we don't know!

This little article was snuck into the social pages of yesterday's Sun-Herald newspaper, describing trends and buys that are becoming more popular or less popular right now... I don't really think any more need be said, except for 'duh'!Although, "it's cheap"? Clearly they're not taking the whole 'stashing' exercise into account, are they?
I've found a good use for wine glasses whilst pregnant... the first baby hat is complete!

Is it weird though, that I'm unusually proud of the first lot of I-cord I've ever attempted? Does it ever stop being entertaining, knitting and re-knitting the stitches where they feel like it's supposed to be flat, and yet... a little wee tube!I love it.

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.

Photos

Just a quickie tonight... some photos of a couple of completed projects...

This cardie has been finished for some time now, but I've added photos now because WonderBoy is finally big enough to fit it properly! I mean, it has been knit for a size three so the sleeves are slightly long yet, but because he's grown into such a tall young man, the body fits him well already. When I put it on him, and asked how it was, he rubbed the sleeves and front, saying, "Oh, it's so cosy... Thanks, Mummy!"

These photos were taken on Friday last, when I took him into work. One of the other teachers complimented him on his wee cardie, and he responded, "Is yarn. Yarn! Mummy knitted yarn!"That's my boy.

And these shots are of the completed Linen Print Scarf. I'm so pleased with the way the fringe worked out - it's kinda nice to frog some knitting and end up with something usable!Crikey... the belly's got started already! Or maybe that's the chocolate.