I finished my Assymetrical Cardi! I am very happy with it. Here I am after a day at work on Monday:
On the weekend the kids amused themselves by drawing TV stations to put in an empty box. The Tiny Madam made me a knitting show! If you look closely, you can see that she has written nitik and that you need too needles! That’s me in the picture by the way!
I have started knitting Juliet, and it seems to be turning out okay. I am about to have to decide whether I am making the smallest size or not. I think it would be prudent to measure!
I had a very odd day at work today. I was the phantom teacher! Little Purl had an incredibly important interview in our State’s capital today, and I organised for Mother to take her. I had hinted at being allowed to go, but it was never discussed that I could miss a day of work, so I assumed I was to appear as per usual. When I got to work, lo and behold, there was my name on the board! I was supposed to be absent, but no one told me anything about it! A relief teacher had been organised. I had no classes for the day! It was too late to go to Hobart! I had no one to pick up the smaller offshoots! So instead I spent the day proofreading reports and suspending people. Lovely. Aaaanyway, Little Purl did very well in her interview and I dare not speak about what it was for until we know the outcome. Suffice to say IT IS A HUGE DEAL INVOLVING INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL. Eeek!
I did not knit one darn stitch yesterday, so I am about to go and rectify that. Not long until the Olympics and whilst I have joined Team Oz on Ravelry for the Ravelympics I have kind of changed my mind about what I want to knit! Of course I have. Mary Mary always contrary, that’s me!
By the way, I have just clicked over 900 comments on this blog. Should I offer a prize for number 1000? Would that encourage lurkers to delurk? Are you lurking? Let me know!!
For the third year in a row I have been banished from work! In 2006 there was a case of measles at school, and because I was under 40 and couldn’t prove I had been immunised I had to stay home until a blood test cleared me. Then, last year I had influenza A, which is a communicable disease and had a week off school. Now, I have CONJUNCTIVITIS which is gross but not as gross as I have had it in the past. I told someone at work that my eyes were a bit sore, and um yes, my kids have had it and before you could say “Get out you infected leper” I was on my way home. Thank goodness the pharmacists around here can write certificates now because seeing my GP is impossible, and communicable disease leave doesn’t come off my sick leave. So I am home with gritty blurry eyes. And I am here alone at the moment! For various reasons either one, two or three of the kids have been home this week. Tiny Madam just made it back to school after being ill last week and a door slammed on her finger so she had to come home again and had two days off while it healed enough for us to trust her not to damage it further. It was awful - she was stuck in the door because it was too heavy for her friends to open it to get her out! They had to wait for a teacher! The number one son has had a cold and CONJUNCTIVITIS and so couldn’t go to school. And Little Purl has had a sore throat and a severe case of lethargy, so she had two days off. In addition to all that, the Spunk has an upper respiratory thing going on. Do not approach any of us. We are contagious!!
You would think that this would mean knitting time, but it hasn’t. I have still been report writing like a woman possessed. And thanks to a wonderful collegial spirit I have also been proofreading for others, so it has been quite intense. Four hours yesterday alone. I hope those parents appreciate the time and effort that goes into giving them feedback about little Johnny and Jane! Even if they don’t like what they’re reading! At this point I start dreading parent/teacher conferences. Blerk.
I have made some progress with the Assymetrical Cardigan:
The colours are not quite right but are pretty close. There has been pooling and I am now knitting from two skeins as I should have from the start. But I don’t care. I really like it and my goal is to finish this tomorrow.
And here is Shalom from last post:
Again the colours are not quite right. The real shade is a bit deeper than this.
And I bought more Jet at Kmart because it was about $3.20 a ball. This is going to become Liesl:
And I have the Green Tweed from Bendigo which is going to become Juliet:
And that should do for now! Except that I have some Sesame Street to share, in honour of the pigeons that seem to have appeared at my school. I am not a bird fan AT ALL. I also found Bert’s obsession with pigeons (and Bernice in particular) to be a bit odd, even creepy. Perhaps it was a Jim Henson thing - Gonzo was very close to his female chicken friend. Just saying!
This is one of my all time favourite songs, although it is a bit depressing I guess! The song came to mind this morning whilst watching the morning news. Just thought I would share the song - the film clip is absolutely awesome!
Let’s see. Knitting news . . .
I finished the Shalom Cardigan, as did Mother. I like it, although it does feel a bit gapey at the front. I wore it to work last Monday and I have never had so many compliments. I was concerned about it being a bit gapey and was thinking of reknitting, but I won’t bother. Again I was asked to knit one for someone! Ha! Get real. This is my first experience of working with Bendigo yarn - and definitely not my last. In fact, there is more on the way. Mother bought the Damson for me for Shalom, and Green Tweed for herself. Since we both had some left over she bought some more and we are swapping, so I am going to knit Juliet for myself out of the the Green Tweed! I bought the pattern today! How exciting. And fancy only having to weave in minimal ends. Bliss and joy.
In more news, I have been working on an Asymmetrical Cardi, and came within 7cm of the armpit, but then realised I had made a cable arse-about (apologies for the technical term) and as I could not have lived with it (Malabrigo is a bit too expensive to be having arse-about cables) it is now rewound into yarny cakes. Bugger and bother. A whole week’s knitting down the gurgler. I haven’t managed much knitting due to having to write almost ninety reports this week, so to rip it out was very painful. (NINETY REPORT COMMENTS! MY GOODNESS! IT HAS ALMOST KILLED ME!) However, when I wrapped the cardi around myself it was too big anyway, so all is not lost. I will cast on again tonight.
I also finished the Woodland Shawlette and I am really pleased with it. I used just about an entire ball of Trekking yarn and it is long enough to wrap around my neck and keep me warm.
The Spunk is very unhappy this week. He has been told in no uncertain terms that he will be receiving no more knitted socks from me. His insistence on sliding around the house like some kind of Tom Cruise wannabe has meant the demise of three pairs of hand knitted socks. No knitter could tolerate this. I have caught him twice this week wearing my socks, and once tonight sliding into the lounge room again. Honestly! Lucky he does all the washing, drying, vaccuming, washing up, bed changing, some of the cooking and ironing, all of the lunch making, bill paying and most of the grocery shopping, parent and kid wrangling. Otherwise, it could be curtains!
I have reclaimed a whole cardigan worth of Country Silk and am planning on knitting Sassymetrical soon. I never wore the cardigan, so this seemed like a sensible thing to do.
I admitted to the theft of yarn to knit the little jumper. My colleague was very understanding and even complimented me on the end product. It fits the little guy really well, as does the green hat if rolled up properly!
I am sitting here in my chair, being so incredibly lazy today! So lazy that I am watching/listening to some kind of tribute to the ABC covering ANZAC marches. It is not ANZAC Day, and the program is a year old, so it is actually 51 years of coverage . . . I usually quite like the ABC on Sunday afternoons, starting with Landline and then on from there. I have learned about irrigation, planting green gages and scholarships for young indigenous boys! I have also sung along to some rousing wartime songs! Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye . . . Ooh, what’s this - a cultural exchange between indigenous Australians and Ugandans! Cool! I guess I can justify all of this television - it is research for school. IT SO IS!
I have been adding to my Woodland Shawlette at great speed. I have finally memorised the leaf pattern and can keep track of the yos and pssos without having to check the pattern. I am quite happy with the way it is progressing, although I always feel that my yos are a trifle messy. I think they will be fine once I block.
There have been five more repeats added since I took this photo.
I finished the second Wicked within a week, which isn’t bad considering I have been at work! I am very happy with it. What do you think?
This photo was taken after a day at work, and the bottom band is a little stretched out. It seems that Jet does not hold shape as well as Cascade. But Cascade seems to get a bit fuzzy.
Yesterday we had another Tassie Knitters meeting, which was a good deal of fun. It was fantastic to catch up with everyone and have a chat. I started some socks for my father in law who will turn 70 in August. I am contemplating knitting more socks for my mother in law who has a birthday at the end of July. In amongst this however I am planning on knitting Juno Regina for the Ravelymics (Ravelry link). I was going to make another Clapotis (and even bought the yarn for it - more on that later!) but the Spunk reminded me I should do something challenging and while that much stocking stitch is challenging on some levels, I think I have struck a nice balance with this pattern choice. I already have the yarn, so now I just have to wait for the opening ceremony!
I have been spending a bit of time thinking about the Olympics this year, for various reasons. First of all, we are learning about ancient Olympics compared to modern Olympics at school. We will also be looking at Chinese culture and how it is reflected in the staging of the Olympics. We will also need to cover some political issues. Like 2paw, the whole thing leaves me a bit uneasy this year. I generally love to watch the Olympics - I am not a huge sports fan but enjoy the pomp and ceremony of it all. However I can’t ignore the underlying issues . . . anyhoo, back to knitting content.
I finished a little jumper my friend’s son - a birthday boy. This was a fantastic little knit and I would make it again. This is the yarn I ‘acquired’ from school. I am going to confess to the donator of the yarn that I used it in this manner. In an interesting twist of fate, the donator taught my friend and me when we were in Grade 7! Oh what a small world I live in!
I also finished some socks which were supposed to be mine but they are kind of baggy and odd, so Mother can have them! Her feet are bigger than mine!
Speaking of Mother, she is awaiting our first ever purchase from Bendigo! She bought Green Tweed for herself and Damson for me. Aren’t I spoiled? We are going to make a Shalom cardigan each! I also bought something for myself this week. I needed the lift! I BOUGHT 4 SKEINS OF MALABRIGO!! WATCH THIS SPACE!!!
And now, I have to move from the chair. Tiny Madam has decided it is the perfect time to watch Mary Poppins. For the fifteen kabillionth time! I love Mary as much as the next person, but having lived through Little Purl’s obsession with the movie, and now moving into my second child who would watch it back to back all day if allowed, my patience is a little thin!
I want to share this with you! It is flipping brilliant . . .
I have been wicked in more ways than one lately! First of all, I bought enough dusty blue Jet today at Kmart to make myself another Wicked. While there are many other patterns out there I want to try, I am also very cold and in need of something to wear to work, so Wicked it is! I wore my black one to work the other day and was complimented on how I make knitting cool. My word, that was a nice compliment! Little do they know how many other people there are out there making knitting much more cool than I ever could! So, wicked for buying yarn and wicked for not challenging myself with a different pattern.
Another way in which I have been wicked this week is by kind of stealing yarn. Only kind of though. Last term I asked other staff if they had any yarn they didn’t need because we were having a finger knitting challenge on the last day (I know! Lucky teenagers they are! They loved it!). Some yarn was donated and I didn’t bother looking through it because it was needed and looked like just oddments and we used it all up. Then on Tuesday, someone left some yarn on my chair in my office - and there were seven 25g balls of some elderly Cleckheaton 8 ply yarn (85% wool, 25% viscose - about 45 m per ball) which I thought would be perfect to make a little vest for a certain tiny guy I know who is about to turn one. So I snaffled it! Should I confess??
I finished a pair of socks for the tiny guy, and a hat too! Purl helped me knit some of the hat. The tiny guy’s mother appreciates hand made gifts. No wonder she is one of my best friends!
Because his mum is such a lovely person and admired my Booga Bag immensely when we visited recently, I made her one! It is waiting to be felted. Also, I have just about finished my messenger bag - just a little bit to do on that and it will be ready for sharing and for the pattern to be available to anyone who would care to spend hours knitting something the size of a small pony, trying an i-cord bind off, knitting further i-cord forever and then shrinking it all in the washing machine! Here is the Booga - lovely Vintage Hues!
I have also cast on for a Woodland Shawl. This is wicked because I already have a bit going on with the knitting at the moment. I am using Trekking yarn that has had one brief incarnation as a pair of Hedera socks. I haven’t yet finished a repeat, so won’t bother with a photo. So far I have only had to restart it three times. I don’t know how I can manage to have one and five-eighths degrees and be unable to count for lace patterns!
Last Saturday I was wicked in a “Cool, wicked!” way, when Mother and I went to WWKIP Day at Inveresk, outside the QVMAG. It was a beautiful brisk Tasmanian day (read bloody freezing when we got there, and pretty cold the whole time, but the sun was out!). Lots of people went past, a very small number spoke to us, but about a dozen or so knitters came and went over the four hours we were there. There are some photos over at 2paws. Those are my denim clad knees in the top left, and Mother’s next to me! When I read about a Sydney get together with about 55 knitters, I realised that 12 knitters was quite a large group for a small city! There was also a gathering in Hobart. Well done Tassie Knitters (Ravelry link)!
Speaking of Mother, she was wicked and bought me some yarn at Spotlight. I can’t remember what it is called, but it’s very soft and completely synthetic. I made a scarf with it using the pattern that was printed on the back. It was the most confusing pattern for what is basically a 8 stitch 8 row cable with a garter stitch border! Anyway, it’s warm and doesn’t irritate my skin which is a bonus!
Now I had better go and redeem my wicked self by cooking a yummy risotto for tea to warm up the family. It is shockingly freezing here today (9.4 degrees)! I am typing with a scarf around my neck, my calorimetry shoved on my head and knitted socks on my feet. We have electric heating here and it is quite inadequate on dull days. Brrrrrr.
Oh, and just to support Katt here is a list of what I am knitting at the moment:
Pattern - Wicked
Size - Small
Yarn - Cascade 220 (less than 3 skeins!)
Needles - 4.5mm
Modifications - No pocket, no twisted stitches on the neck and sleeves. Made much longer than stated in the pattern - I would suggest this as it is not looong on me, and I am quite short!
Verdict - LOVE IT!
This is such an easy and quick pattern to knit. I made it in about four days and I wasn’t really knitting the whole time. It would have been done quicker, but I put a pocket on and then didn’t like it, so carefully tried to remove the pocket and SNIP I cut a stitch. Which in the end was okay because I ripped back and ended up adding some increases for my hips. I will make this again - maybe as a short sleeved cardigan?
I am half way through designing a messenger bag. It’s all in my head, and half way knitted, so I will share that with you before the end of the week! As well, I have made a baby sock. I am going to make another one of course - I might save this for WWKIP Day on Saturday! Yay!
I have read this on a few blogs lately (thanks Briony!), and thought I would respond! If nothing else it will be interesting for me to look back on in the future. Whoah, my head just hurt - time travel baffles me!
1) What was I doing ten years ago?
I was in my third year of an education degree and planning our wedding while juggling a five year old child in Kindergarten and a part time job. Even so, I am sure life was simpler then! I had a completely different set of friends, apart from one person. My parents were still married, and lots of people who I loved very much were still alive. I was knitting I think, but nothing like I do now.
2) What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:
Catch up on reading some blogs and listening to some podcasts
Finish at least the body of Wicked
Cook curry for tea (yum!)
Call Mum
Watch The Kingdom
3) Snacks I enjoy:
Nuts of all shapes and sizes except walnuts (they are revolting!)
Milk Arrowroot biscuits dipped in coffee
Corn chips with salsa dip
Maltesers even though I shouldn’t eat them.
4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Buy my parents something enormous
Buy a new house in the country and hire someone to clear out all my old stuff and decorate a la an Oprah makeover!
Give money to a proven charity
Quit work and start a yarn store/cafe/bookshop
5) Places I have lived:
About a billion farms in the Northern Midlands like this one (please be aware that we did not live in ‘the big house’. My dad was a farm hand and mum cleaned for the landed gentry!!)
McDonalds - original crew member when it came to Launceston. Now poor little Purl works in the same ‘restaurant’ with some of the same people I worked with! Can you believe that!!
Milk Bar - hated this job with a passion, but beggars can not be choosers!
Lovely shop that no longer exists with candles and smelly things and lovely trinkets - where I spent a whole lot of my pay on the candles and smelly things and lovely trinkets!
Putting magnets on the back of calendars - two days of absolute hell
Ansett call centre - there are suspicions that it could have been me that brought them down. I managed an Honours degree in Education and have just about finished my Masters, but took 6 months to pass a three month probation at the call centre. I still shudder at the thought of working there. I fair dinkum absolutely hated it. I am not of the right temperament and should not have cheated on the personality test.
Teacher Aide with an autistic boy
Relief teacher
Teacher - and various roles within this role. For example, at the moment I manage 200 odd students as Grade Advisor as well as teaching English and Society and History. Yes, 200 odd 14 year olds. Sigh.
7) Peeps I want to know more about:
Everyone! I always find myself feeling quite self conscious writing about me, but love to read others’ responses!!
Well, actually I have never felted better. Okay, quite honestly I have never felted before this! But look! A Booga Bag! Isn’t it cute?
Booga Bag, knitted with exactly three balls of Vintage Hues, colourway 1269. Bought from Spotlight by the Spunk who took pity on me when I missed the Northern Tassie Knitters Ravelry group because I had the makings of a migraine. He was sent with instructions to buy the purple-green colour, and he did well because there is no such thing, but he got what I was thinking of! Bag knitted with 6mm needles, handles with 4mm dpns because they were the biggest I had. Handles made much longer than specified in the pattern. This went through a hot and heavy wash twice.
I am so pleased with it. It is quite small and I am astounded by how much it squished down in the wash! I am going to be working on my own design for a bag I think. Mother bought me four more balls of the Vintage Hues in a different colourway, so I will do something with that soon. The bag was very quick and easy and so much fun.
I am not one of those knitters who is bored by the round and round of stocking stitch on a circular needle. In fact, I quite enjoy it! Which is just as well, because the yarn for Wicked arrived yesterday. So far, I have cast on and ripped it three times. The first time because I looked on Ravelry and thought I had probably over-estimated my size and should trust my instincts for once. The second time because I cast on in what I thought was a smaller size only to find when I was dividing for the front back arms etc that I had four extra stitches and had in fact cast on EXACTLY THE SAME AMOUNT AS BEFORE. Honestly! Desperate Housewives has a bit to answer for in that one! Then, I didn’t leave enough yarn for the long tail cast on! Never mind. I have cast on again, left the crossed over stitches because I didn’t want them to be wonky and an 8 stitch pattern does not go into 124 and have begun the raglan increases this afternoon. Going well!
Purl decided that she didn’t want the pinwheel blanket hat, so it is again a pinwheel blanket. It is a purple and leftover 8 ply striped affair and another example of pretty mindless knitting. Pretty, no?
I love holidays! I must make sure that I don’t just blah them away! Today the kids and the Spunk went to the park to kick a football and then this afternoon a friend came over to watch The Sound of Music and eat popcorn. I will also set up a computer for Purl that I got for FREE from school! It has no disc drive so I am problem solving how to install drivers for a wireless adaptor - there could be much swearing today depending on how this little project goes! Also, Purl just bought Travolta which is a three disc set with Grease, Saturday Night Fever and Staying Alive! Surely that much cheese could kill someone!! And most exciting of all, tonight I find out who has made the miraculous transformation from Ladette to Lady. I LOVE THIS SHOW!
There has been much knitting! This week I have been working on socks, washcloths, a gnome and two hats. I have also been finishing off a term at school thank goodness! Here are some photos:
Gnick Gnome on the mantlepiece surrounded by photos. Note my nan and pop in earlier times!
Washcloths for Mum - happy birthday to her for last Friday. I can only show you one because I stole a pattern for the other one from Ravelry (copied! eeek!). I used this pattern legitimately. Mum liked them very much.
Little hat made using this pattern. This is a gift for a new friend’s nephew. What can I say? I knit on a whim at times. I also made a hat for Purl, but I don’t have a photo of that yet. It started off as a pinwheel blanket and ended up as a large beret! I might just have to start another pinwheel blanket this evening for some mindless round and round action.
We are having another Ravelry Tassie Knitters (Northern Chapter) meet up tomorrow! I am very excited and even though I have not been feeling very well, I will be there! It sounds like there will be even more members there than last time! Our little group keeps growing, which is fantastic. We will be discussing our plans for WWKIP day, which is only a fortnight hence.
I am feeling rather chipper this evening. We have two weeks off school and let me tell you it came just in time. I have been old Mrs Grumpy Pants at school this week, and some of the kids have been quite revolting! A very simple equation: grumpy teachers + tired kids = blech. The major project for the next two weeks is Wicked. I just need to wait for some yarn to arrive and off I go! I have also got my eye on this and have been umming and ahhing over buying some yarn from Bendigo Woollen Mills. Perhaps in Damson? What do you think?
Little Purl turned 15 this week. She had a lovely birthday and received an iPod Touch as her major present from us and a few of the grands. I WANT ONE! THEY ARE COOL! I think I will have to wait a while for one of my own. I will just use hers on the sneak when she is at work! Mwahaha!
We have had a change in leadership here on the Apple Isle. Apparently from now on we will be a more clever, kind and connected state. That should make life more pleasant! Also, it seems that Gunns will need to look elsewhere for a great big ginormous loan, as the ANZ is not funding the Pulp Mill. Interesting times indeed.
Finally, someone googled girls socks covered in spunk and landed at my blog. Each to their own I guess, but I feel a little violated anyway!!
Oh my goodness, I have no idea how Bert puts up with Ernie! He wears away at him like a wave on a rock! I notice that there are others out there posting their favourite Jim Henson clips here and here. I am happy that we are spreading the joy!
I have no idea where the week went. I have been so busy at work, it seems all I do is walk around and around the school chasing up ‘issues’. Not to mention the administration of NAPLAN testing! All this walking is how I managed to lose about 15 kilos last year when I started in this role I have now! The next two weeks can’t go quickly enough as far as I am concerned. We all need a holiday!
I have been knitting like a demon, which tends to happen when I am swamped at work. This week I finished the Spunk socks and a Calorimetry:
I made this out of the leftover yarn from the Fetchings that I made for a workmate, at her request, which she promptly accepted with a thank you and no offer of even paying for the yarn. Now, I know I said I wouldn’t accept money for them - this is after all a copyrighted pattern and there is no way I would do that. But, she could have offered to pay for the yarn. It wasn’t from the stash! I had to go and buy it!! Grouch!!! It’s one thing when I knit for someone out of the goodness of my heart, but she ASKED FOR THEM!!!!
Ahem. I also designed the sock I was thinking of, but have to get some suitable yarn to test knit it with. I started with some yarn that I had but it was too busy to show off the pattern, so I will try to find something more amenable. I am really pleased with it though. I will post it as a PDF as soon as it is done. I just downloaded a PDF maker and will make my patterns into PDFs soon. I notice that quite a few people look at the pattern I made for the preemie beanie, which is cool.
Speaking of PDFs, I bought a copy of Wickedthis week, and am in the process of umming and aahing over what to knit it with. I did ‘borrow’ this pattern some time ago, but couldn’t find where I saved it and as I am all about supporting independent artists, I thought $7.19AUD was not too bad for such a versatile pattern. Also, I saw ratherbeknitting (Ravelry link) with the pattern at our inaugural Tassie Knitters meeting last week, and covetous thing that I am, I had to have it!
I cast on another pair of socks last night, this time for me. I am about to turn the heel this evening. Again, a simple stocking stitch sock with some of the yarn I bought from BSODL(tm).
Mother requested a miniature sock this afternoon, and I finished it earlier this evening. While she was visiting today I signed her up for Ravelry! Mwhahaha! She won’t know what’s hit her! Also, it means she can join us next time for the Tassie Knitter meetup, which will be fun! Mother has also been knitting like a demon and has made three headbands and two pairs of mitts this week! Go Mum!
And now, a quick review of Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Sock Book.
Well, I love it! The book begins with a short history of sock knitting, including quite a bit of information about the war effort and socks for soldiers. It then goes into the anatomy of socks and breaks down the sock into manageable parts. There is a universal toe up and top down pattern, a sock calculator that allows you to plug numbers into the pattern for three different yarn weights and for sizes from baby to XL adult. There is then a large section on stitch patterns - textures and colours. And finally, there are some fantastic patterns, both modern and from ago. It is an excellent resource for all sock knitters, from novice to expert and I love it! Highly recommended! My only gripe is that it has a dust cover and I am worried about getting it a bit tatty. I have considered having our lovely library lady at work cover it for me with plastic to protect it, but what should I offer in return? Perhaps a pair of hand knit socks?!
To finish, I am going to share a couple of photos of my girls. They are nine and a half years apart in age (I know, think about it - one will be heading into adulthood just as I am starting the whole teenage girl thing all over again!!), but they are really good mates. One of their favourite things to do is to put makeup on and take photos of themselves and each other. Here are two of about four hundred million that exist!
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