Archive for the ‘cardigan’ Category
- In: cardigan | kids | knitting
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We have been back from our holidayette for a week now – we had a great time although the house we rented was rather grotty and the Spunk flipped out and went and bought a bucket and mop! We had some lovely weather. Here I am at the blowhole:
All the time we were there, the Spunk was doing the strangest thing. He and Tiny Madam have this thing going on with ‘The Wicked Fairy’ (TWF from now on!). I don’t know how it started or why she was deemed wicked, but she really is. Tiny Madam won’t have anything to do with her. She is about 2 inches tall (TWF not the Madam). Anyway, she appears all over the house at random moments and Madam loves to hide her from the Spunk so he can’t set up an ambush. Unbeknownst to us all TWF made the trip to Bicheno and made a grand entrance when we arrived! Then, she travelled far and wide around the town and had her photo taken in all sorts of locations. I had no idea it was happening for a while, and Tiny Madam still doesn’t know. I think the Spunk is planning on making a slide show for her! She will be furious!! Here is The Wicked Fairy at the beach:
And in the car:
He is seriously a fantastic Dad!
I did some knitting at the beach. I bought some Soft Haze on the morning we left and began a top down raglan cardigan on my Harmony Options needs that I still love very much.
When we got back, I had two parcels to pick up. Some Cascade 220 in grey for a Seamless Hybrid Sweater for the Spunk, and some Bendigo 12 ply in Agate for me. So, the Orange Fluffy has been sidelined whilst I knit for the Spunk. I was knitting too big and had to start again, but all seems good in the world of husband knitting at the moment. I am intrigued by the pattern and look forward to finding out if I can work the maths out since I had to cast on fewer stitches and so forth. Rest assured I will fill you in on my progress.
Cascade 220
Bendigo Rustic 12 ply
The last few days have been spent caught up in some kind of surreal bureaucratic nightmare. Let me tell you, it is not easy to get a kid out of this country. Passport nightmares no more however, Purl is cleared for travel. Not long now until she jets off for ANZAC Day. We are getting excited. Whilst waiting yet another hour for yet another piece of paper on Monday, we went shopping for jeans. I am still debating whether my sales assistant was a complete horror or a godsend. I tried on a pair of jeans that I had been eyeing off for a while and she informed me they were completely wrong on my body shape and thrust another style and size to try. I put them on and VOILA they looked great! And fit me! And I liked them. So much she convinced me to buy two pairs in different shades of denim!! The magic ingredient?
Great work if you can get it ;P
separation anxiety
Posted on: September 14, 2008
- In: books | cardigan | kids | knitting | sesame street
- 5 Comments
I finished the Spunk’s cardigan and dropped it off at Knits Needles and Wool to have a zip inserted. My first anxious thought was about the colour of the zip. I bought a black one, and now I think it should be grey. The second anxious thought was about leaving something that took me so long to make with someone I don’t know and trusting them not to bugger it up! My third anxious thought was about it being away for so long (up to two weeks!) and then the Spunk having no opportunity to wear it!
However, it fits. I don’t have a photo because the camera is still in Queensland. But it really does fit very well and he is thrilled.
I made the back and one front of Hey Teach! and then ripped it out because it just wasn’t doing it for me. Then I cast on for a cotton Wicked cardigan and that wasn’t cutting it either, so now I am making a baby blanket with Cotton-Ease. I love the colour and the yarn is very soft, but I think I need to learn I don’t like knitting cotton into garments! There are a couple of babies in the making around me at the moment, so I am sure one of them will appreciate a machine wash/dry blanket. Pattern is my own – I will share as soon as I can.
Next on the needles – Button Me Up! Pullover by Laura Chau. The numbers are fairly close to Wicked, so it should work out well. In fact, the pullover itself is quite similar to Wicked, but it is knit from the bottom up. I should be able to finish this before going back to school.
I am awaiting delivery of a couple of books – Knitting Without Tears and The Knitter’s Almanac from The Book Depository. I have fallen in love with Elizabeth Zimmermann like thousands of knitters before me. I can’t wait to get them. The Spunk has ordered another jumper – I am going to make him a Seamless Hybrid (Rav link) – we just have to agree on a yarn choice.
We have been spring cleaning with a vengeance this week and finally tackled the kids’ room. Tiny Madam and Number One Son share a room at the moment – our family outgrew our house with the suprise arrival of TM! Oh boy, it was a disgrace. Now, a place for everything and everything in its place. One tub of toys each in the open, everything else is shelved or tubbed and hidden away. It feels very good! However, I wish I could buy them a space saving bed each – we saw a fabulous example at Harvey Norman yesterday. We went to buy a printer and ended up bouncing on beds, fondling carpet and rocking in chairs. What good clean fun!
I have been bitten by the muffin bug. I have never before this week cooked muffins, but have made up for that since Thursday! Yum!
Now to brighten what is a very grey day here – a very bizarre pairing – REM and some Muppets.
never a dull moment!
Posted on: July 30, 2008
- In: cardigan | KALs | kids | knitting
- 9 Comments
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!!
quarantined again!
Posted on: July 25, 2008
- In: cardigan | knitting
- 9 Comments
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!
mad world
Posted on: July 20, 2008
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 think that’s it. No photos today. Sorry!
one week down
Posted on: February 17, 2008
- In: books | cardigan | knitting
- 7 Comments
Well, I made it through the first week of school relatively unscathed. The first three days were filled with meetings and some time to prepare to educate the yoof. We had a very interesting session about giftedness which made me think about how I can better cater for those kids in the classroom. This year I seem to have kids that range from very low to very high ability, so it should be interesting trying to make sure all of them are engaged and learning! Apart from a fight that I had to get in the middle of and having a go at the ‘jocks’ and the ‘emos’ for hating each other, it all went pretty smoothly. The classroom stuff was great! Not too many yawns!
I have done a tiny bit of knitting. I finished one button band on the black cardigan. I am thinking at this point that I will not put buttonholes in the band, but will make a loop and just have one button at the bottom of the ‘v’ and then it won’t look so blasted big. Either that or eat pizza every night for a month! I will try to get the cardigan finished this week (one button band should be achievable!) and take a picture as soon as it’s done, even if it looks bad!
I have been working on this too:
I really like it. Very fine and soft.
Apart from that, nothing. I have zonked off for a disco nap two nights this week – Friday between 6pm and 9pm. Then I fell asleep yesterday afternoon as well. I am out of form, that’s for sure. I have been watching quite a lot of television – lots to see! I really enjoyed Underbelly (sorry Victorians – it’s really good!), and the final of Beauty and the Geek (I have been addicted from the start – guilty secret!!), and got straight back into the swing of Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy and Brothers and Sisters. As well, I managed to see how well the horrible teens featured in last year’s Brat Camp turned out, ready for a new series. I wonder if they’re taking nominations? If I’m not careful, I’ll have square eyes!
I have been reading though! I got these books from the library after reading a thread about our fantastic library system in the Tasmanian Knitters group on Ravelry:
All three knitting books have some things that I like. Fitted Knits has some little chunky cardigans that I would benefit from owning. The Felted Knits book is okay – but I think the only thing I might knit would be the ballet slippers. And the Classic Knits book also has quite a few things that might just make it to the queue.
Also on Ravelry, Fi mentioned this book:
I am about a quarter of the way through, and it is certainly food for thought. A year only buying the bare necessities is quite appealing to me at the moment for a few reasons – interest rates, petrol prices, the increased cost of living . . . and our plan to go to Thailand next year to celebrate a decade of marriage! We were thinking of having a big party but decided it might be much more fun to have a second honeymoon! Yay! And in that spirit, we are going to start keeping track of what comes into the house, and what goes out. We have a small house, three children and far too much crap! The Spunk has a week before Uni goes back and his mission is to rid us of some of the crap. I will keep you posted.
seams to me . . .
Posted on: January 25, 2008
- In: cardigan | knitting
- 7 Comments
. . . that the three needle bind off method combined with short row shaping for shoulders is my new favourite thing! I sat down yesterday, a bit wary, to have a go at finishing my shoulders (after a very lazy steam blocking session). And WA LA:
So neat, so easy! I followed these instructions.
I have almost almost finished the sleeves and should do so this afternoon.
They are looking good! Then, onto the hood and button bands. Hopefully this will be finished early next week, then I can take the CPH to Coles Bay when we go next Friday. We are having four nights away, which will be a lovely way to finish off the holidays! Then, back to the grind.
I will, obviously, need to take some knitting with me to the coast and thank you for your suggestions regarding the next cardigan. I am leaning heavily towards Rogue with a zip at the moment, so I will need to purchase the yarn for that soon. However, I have been wanting a simple black cardigan for ages and have been hoping to find one in a shop. Yesterday morning I woke up and immediately had a BRAINWAVE! Long time friends might remember that I was knitting a jumper for the Spunk, and it did not work and it was put away. Well, it was (note past tense) a black and green jumper.
It is now this:
Reclaimed and ready to be made into a cardigan for me. Cleckheaton Country 8 ply, washed, dried and reskeined ready to go. I am going to make this cardigan. And save up to buy the yarn for Rogue. Oh, and the Spunk wants Avast, and Purl would like her own CPH in green! I don’t think I have time to go back to work!
super mega magic easy knitting
Posted on: January 22, 2008
- In: books | cardigan | kids | knitting
- 11 Comments
The title of my post today is a direct quote from my seven year old son, who learned how to knit today, along with his five year old sister. Tiny Madam has been wanting to learn to knit for about a year, but I thought she needed to be a bit older, so I told her I would teach her when she was five. She turned five in November, and has been asking me for knitting lessons ever since. Today was the day! With only vague plans to get Purl to the Basin with a friend in the middle of the day (don’t go there, first time unsupervised, not worried, she’s fine! Besides, if she plays up someone will tell me – I teach at her school. Mwahaha!) we sat down to learn to knit. The Number One Son did not want to learn . . . that is until he saw his little sister doing it. Then it was off to BSODL(tm) to buy some short needles made for kids, and some yacrylic (99cents for 100g) and home again to knit. The N.O.S. has taken to knitting like a duck to water, and had figured it all out in no time! His little boy brain was whirring and he could not believe how ‘cool’ and ‘amazing’ knitting is! The Tiny Madam got it too, surprising both of us. Her stitches are a bit wonky. His are perfect. He even asked how to knit backwards if you make a mistake and whether this was all there was to it. I will give him a couple more sessions and then teach him to purl. My goodness! A wonderful day in a knitting mother’s life! Even the Spunk knitted a couple of rows! Proof of knitting kids:
The knitting on my Central Park Hoodie is flying along. I have finished the back and both fronts, and will cast on for the two sleeves when I finish here. I have had some interesting revelations in the knitting of this garment so far (which began with the cardigan I just finished). I think most of these are ‘duh, no kidding’ for most of you, but I am a little slow on the uptake.
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Most of my failures in the past have been due to over confidence and rushing in. Swatches are my new best friend.
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I have been a process knitter most of the time, which is not a terrible thing, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the outcome of hours and hours of knitting will be satisfactory.
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Ravelry and knitting blogs allow us all to share mistakes and suggestions, and knitters are very generous with answers to even the most trivial questions. For this reason I have been able to do short row shoulder shaping in preparation for a three needle bind off – a week ago I didn’t even know you COULD do this!
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Keeping detailed notes is invaluable. I have kept track of every row and every time I have done something (increased, cast off, etc). That way, if anything happens, I can fix it easily! And should fix it too!
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Cables aren’t nearly as bad as I thought they were!
There have been other things along the way, but five is a nice rounded number to finish a list on. I may add to it as I go along. Here is the CPH so far, nestled in a very cool bag that Purl gave me. We are both bag hags, but she wins hands down. She can just cast off green bags with big buttons and polka dots with nary a backwards glance. Sigh, to be young again!
Knit me dammit!
Interestingly (or not) it takes me 20 minutes to wind a skein of Cascade 220 by hand. If time is money, I would not have to wind many skeins on a swift and ball winder to pay it off. Do you follow my logic? It’s the same logic that says if I don’t buy something I might have bought, I have saved money. The Spunk doesn’t get it. I think it makes perfect sense!
Now, as I am a person who likes to plan ahead, I am already thinking about my next project. Have I left socks behind for a little while? Just when Mother dropped her yarn off for me to knit with? Perhaps. At the moment, I am considering Cardigan for Arwen (but longer), Rogue, Ribby Cardi, Wicked or something else altogether. I wanted to put a poll on the blog but I’ll be blowed if I could get it to work. Never mind. Tell me what you think!
We had the best ever meal ever tonight. First of all, we had a beer each while cooking - Carlton Dry Fusion (nice, but no Corona with real lime!). We had calamari in sweet chilli sauce with Spaghettini, basil and Italian parsley, with garlic bread. Holy shmoly, it was delicious. Just my type of food! I didn’t take a picture, because it didn’t last long enough.
Finally, I posted a while ago about Pay It Forward, whereby you leave a comment on my blog saying you would like to participate, I make something for you within a year and you promise to do the same for three more people. I had a nibble from Cathy, but that’s it! Anyone else wanna play??
very quickly . . .
Posted on: January 19, 2008
- In: cardigan
- 10 Comments
. . . here I am in my new cardigan that I finished this afternoon! It is not too bad – I think I will actually wear this one.
Sorry the photo is a bit blurry – Purl took it quickly as she was getting ready for work and now she is gone and I don’t have anyone to take another photo!
Now, I knitted this out of Zhivago which is a lovely soft tencel something blend. It is the same yarn I used for my Clapotis. However, the Clapotis yarn was a different colour and a completely different texture. This batch was kind of squished flat and a bit fluffy and splitty.
I am not sure which one was the ‘real’ Zhivago. Anyway, I am glad to have that finished so I can concentrate on the Central Park Hoodie, which is about 9 inches high at the moment.
Thank you all for wishing me a happy me day. I had a great time knitting and catching up on computery things. The Spunk cleaned out the smallest kids’ room which was not an easy feat, let me tell you. They are back now and the house looks like a bomb has hit it. Two bombs perhaps, who are now arguing over PS2. Better go intervene!
Mmm
Posted on: January 17, 2008
- In: cardigan
- 12 Comments
I have made a purchase! Yay! On Saturday last I downloaded the Central Park Hoodie (darn Ravelry had me oogling Central Park Hoodies late into Friday night!) pattern from Interweave (by the way, how easy is that?! Instant gratification) and then tried my darndest to get into the city to buy yarn, but of course the LYS was shut (grr, don’t start me on that! One day that shop will be mine dammit, and I will stock sock yarn and I will open on Saturdays!!) so I had to order some Cascade 220 from Yarns Online Oz, and it arrived this morning! The service was fantastic – my postage costs were reduced which was an added bonus. I will definitely be a return customer.
Oh, my kingdom for a swift and ball winder!
Oooh, I am in love. The colour at the top is closest to real. Of course I will finish off the other cardigan I am knitting first before I cast this on . . . but then again it is quite cool today and it would be a shame to waste a cool day when I could get quite a bit of wool knitting done! Wouldn’t it?
We have of course been relaxing at Chez J. We entertained friends last night after postponing lunch Monday. My blerk turned into terrible sinus, a sore throat and a day in bed. I am quite all right now. Tomorrow all three children are off on sleepovers and the like, so I will be alone for a while tomorrow night while the Spunk is at work. What the heck will I do with myself? How sad is this – my response to the realisation that I would be by myself was “Oh cool, I will be able to knit in peace!” Mwahaha!
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