Ladies and gentlemen... We have a jersey!
*Okay - it means plait not knit, but the ancient Romans weren't big on jumpers!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Veni Vieo* Vici
Ladies and gentlemen... We have a jersey!*Okay - it means plait not knit, but the ancient Romans weren't big on jumpers!
Good News, Bad News
Good News
I'm not innumerate... just stupid (and forgetful).
So I'm looking at this jumper, trying to work out what to do on the yoke, and it dawns on me that the pattern I wanted to use - feather and fan - works over a multiple of 12 stitches as well as over a multiple of 18. And since I clearly don't have a multiple of 18, I wonder if I have a multiple of 12? And then I think, 'That's a familiar thought...', and I go back to my pages and pages of calculations, and realise that in fact, that was what I intended to do all along. (Some days I shouldn't even get out of bed). So I whizz up the yoke, working my decreases in, whizz round the neck (including Elizabeth Zimmerman's suggested short rows because I'm feeling invincible) and cast off. I sew in all my loose ends, sew up the underarms, and Voila...
Bad News
The neck is too small to go over Katie's head.
So I'm going to have to unravel the neck and a fair chunk of the yoke and work out what to do next. And I've never successfully picked up stitches after unravelling in my life. Generally if I bugger something up this badly, I wind up undoing a whole piece. But because this jumper is basically knitted in one piece, that just not an option. So I grit my teeth, gird my loins (without quite understanding what that entails) and start unravelling... And what do you know?
Good News
It worked! I managed to pick up every stitch (and with none backwards yay!) and I can now work back up the yoke and make a bigger neck! And I'm throwing a photo in now in case it all turns to custard again and gets thrown on the fire:
The girly pink jumper is not the only project on the go, of course. I actually finished off Jessie's cardigan. I went to a handful of shops (two seconds to type that - three days to do it!) and
Bad News
I couldn't find any buttons that would work anywhere. But we are not to be defeated by a mere dearth of buttons! Oh no! Katie and I got busy with the fimo and created our own:
And, Good News
They work!
You can't really see them in that picture, but Jessie's forced smile was too good not to share! Here's a better look at them in place:
The 'I' keeps coming undone because it's so skinny, but do I care? Not even a little bit.
I'm not innumerate... just stupid (and forgetful).
So I'm looking at this jumper, trying to work out what to do on the yoke, and it dawns on me that the pattern I wanted to use - feather and fan - works over a multiple of 12 stitches as well as over a multiple of 18. And since I clearly don't have a multiple of 18, I wonder if I have a multiple of 12? And then I think, 'That's a familiar thought...', and I go back to my pages and pages of calculations, and realise that in fact, that was what I intended to do all along. (Some days I shouldn't even get out of bed). So I whizz up the yoke, working my decreases in, whizz round the neck (including Elizabeth Zimmerman's suggested short rows because I'm feeling invincible) and cast off. I sew in all my loose ends, sew up the underarms, and Voila...
Bad News
The neck is too small to go over Katie's head.
So I'm going to have to unravel the neck and a fair chunk of the yoke and work out what to do next. And I've never successfully picked up stitches after unravelling in my life. Generally if I bugger something up this badly, I wind up undoing a whole piece. But because this jumper is basically knitted in one piece, that just not an option. So I grit my teeth, gird my loins (without quite understanding what that entails) and start unravelling... And what do you know?
Good News
It worked! I managed to pick up every stitch (and with none backwards yay!) and I can now work back up the yoke and make a bigger neck! And I'm throwing a photo in now in case it all turns to custard again and gets thrown on the fire:
The girly pink jumper is not the only project on the go, of course. I actually finished off Jessie's cardigan. I went to a handful of shops (two seconds to type that - three days to do it!) andBad News
I couldn't find any buttons that would work anywhere. But we are not to be defeated by a mere dearth of buttons! Oh no! Katie and I got busy with the fimo and created our own:
And, Good News
They work!
You can't really see them in that picture, but Jessie's forced smile was too good not to share! Here's a better look at them in place:
The 'I' keeps coming undone because it's so skinny, but do I care? Not even a little bit.
Monday, August 04, 2008
1 + 1 = oh bugger!
It's official - I'm innumerate.
When I was planning out the sweater I'm knitting for Katie I couldn't find the calculator, and I had to work out how to fit the pattern I wanted on the yoke in with the decreases. So I have five pages that look like this:
It took ages, but I finally did it - and was very smug about not relying on technology... So I knitted the body up to the underarm, and I knitted the sleeves, and I joined them all together. Then I did a few rounds plain, and confidently began the pattern. I got to twelve stitches from the end of the round and realised that it just wasn't going to work.
I now know that 96 is not divisible by eighteen, so I guess I can count it as a learning exercise. And Katie is getting a sweater with a dead plain yoke. D'oh!
When I was planning out the sweater I'm knitting for Katie I couldn't find the calculator, and I had to work out how to fit the pattern I wanted on the yoke in with the decreases. So I have five pages that look like this:
It took ages, but I finally did it - and was very smug about not relying on technology... So I knitted the body up to the underarm, and I knitted the sleeves, and I joined them all together. Then I did a few rounds plain, and confidently began the pattern. I got to twelve stitches from the end of the round and realised that it just wasn't going to work.I now know that 96 is not divisible by eighteen, so I guess I can count it as a learning exercise. And Katie is getting a sweater with a dead plain yoke. D'oh!
Sunday, August 03, 2008
Look
I just found a photo that the lovely Tracey from Knit Rangers had posted on flickr - this is me knitting the orange thing at a Knit Rangers meeting:
Apart from showing the glorious orangeness of the orange thing, this photo also shows my lovely new spectacles. I first got glasses when I was eleven, and I wore them off and on through my teenage years, but I stopped wearing glasses over twenty years ago. Then at the beginning of July, I trundled off to the optometrist and had my eyes checked - and I now have to wear glasses all the time (which will make the roads of Auckland a damn sight safer for everyone else!).
So there I am, all excited about my new specs, and about how clear everything looks, and do you know? Not one person aside from my immediate family has even noticed??? The other day I commented on a customer's new hair cut and colour, and she was thrilled because no-one else had mentioned it, and I'm sitting there thinking, "I noticed your hair cut because of my new GLASSES. If I wasn't wearing GLASSES I wouldn't have noticed!" but nothing, not a sausage.
I said to my partner, "Maybe it's because people just expect middle-aged women to wear glasses." Which made him go white, and mutter 'middle-aged??????'. Then he had to race off and look at sports cars on trademe until he felt better.
Apart from showing the glorious orangeness of the orange thing, this photo also shows my lovely new spectacles. I first got glasses when I was eleven, and I wore them off and on through my teenage years, but I stopped wearing glasses over twenty years ago. Then at the beginning of July, I trundled off to the optometrist and had my eyes checked - and I now have to wear glasses all the time (which will make the roads of Auckland a damn sight safer for everyone else!).So there I am, all excited about my new specs, and about how clear everything looks, and do you know? Not one person aside from my immediate family has even noticed??? The other day I commented on a customer's new hair cut and colour, and she was thrilled because no-one else had mentioned it, and I'm sitting there thinking, "I noticed your hair cut because of my new GLASSES. If I wasn't wearing GLASSES I wouldn't have noticed!" but nothing, not a sausage.
I said to my partner, "Maybe it's because people just expect middle-aged women to wear glasses." Which made him go white, and mutter 'middle-aged??????'. Then he had to race off and look at sports cars on trademe until he felt better.
Saturday, August 02, 2008
This is getting silly...
Honestly - I should rename this blog 'the monthly excuse'.
I was all geared up to post on the 14th of July - because I finished a sleeveless pullover the day before (having started it on the 4th of July - ooooh - just occurred to me that it was knitted between American Independence Day and Bastille Day, and since it was done on circulars it should really be called the Revolutionary Pullover. He he he. Jeez that was bad - forgive me: I'm very tired!)
Where was I? Oh yes - so there was I all set to post, having wrested control of the computer from the children, when Jess announced she'd put a bead up her nose. She didn't, of course, announce this to me - she waited until I let her have five minutes on the phone to my sister, and then told her. So we dropped the phone, grabbed the keys and hot-footed it down to the local emergency clinic, where a very nice doctor removed a shiny pink bead from her left nostril. I gave her a good telling off - no so much about the bead per se, but about being so unoriginal - a three year old sticking a bead up her nose is such a cliche!
And since then I've either been too tired, too busy or too far down the queue to be able to get on the computer and post. Jess has discovered the joys of the computer, and if she's not fighting Katie for a turn, they're both fighting their father for a go. And I get to sit and knit, which is nice.
So the pullover...
First the good stuff: I adore adore adore the wool I used - Cleckheaton Vintage Hues (which I vaguely recall raving about the last time I used it [yes I did - here].) And the colours are fabulous - all 1970s oranges and yellows and greens. And I'm ever so proud of myself, because it's the first garment I've knitted entirely on circular needles, the first V-neck I've ever done, and I didn't have a pattern.
The bad news is that I got the tension wrong and it's wider than it was supposed to be - so it sort of sits out around the hips. And then of course the biggie - variegated wool knitted in the round makes stripes and when you divide at the armholes the stripes get wider. I knew that, really. But when I first put it on I was a little taken aback at quite how desperately unflattering it is. The combination of wide horizontal stripes, bulky wool, and one narrow stripe that somehow appeared right in the middle makes my bosom look huger and droopier than ever. So attractive.
Good job really that I don't much care! It's lovely and cosy and warm and I've been wearing it quite happily - I just avoid mirrors while I've got it on.
In other knitting news I started a cardigan for Jess on Monday and finished it today - six days! Yay for huge needles! I say finished, although it hasn't yet got buttons, but I don't have any buttons to sew on and I figure since I still haven't done the buttons on the Sunrise thing...
It's based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's seamless yoke sweater - and it fits beautifully. And I'm three quarters of the way through a jumper for Katie (again EZ's seamless sweater) but that's on 4mm needles so it'll take a little longer.
And now I'm off to bed... Back in September I guess! :)
I was all geared up to post on the 14th of July - because I finished a sleeveless pullover the day before (having started it on the 4th of July - ooooh - just occurred to me that it was knitted between American Independence Day and Bastille Day, and since it was done on circulars it should really be called the Revolutionary Pullover. He he he. Jeez that was bad - forgive me: I'm very tired!)
Where was I? Oh yes - so there was I all set to post, having wrested control of the computer from the children, when Jess announced she'd put a bead up her nose. She didn't, of course, announce this to me - she waited until I let her have five minutes on the phone to my sister, and then told her. So we dropped the phone, grabbed the keys and hot-footed it down to the local emergency clinic, where a very nice doctor removed a shiny pink bead from her left nostril. I gave her a good telling off - no so much about the bead per se, but about being so unoriginal - a three year old sticking a bead up her nose is such a cliche!
And since then I've either been too tired, too busy or too far down the queue to be able to get on the computer and post. Jess has discovered the joys of the computer, and if she's not fighting Katie for a turn, they're both fighting their father for a go. And I get to sit and knit, which is nice.
So the pullover...
First the good stuff: I adore adore adore the wool I used - Cleckheaton Vintage Hues (which I vaguely recall raving about the last time I used it [yes I did - here].) And the colours are fabulous - all 1970s oranges and yellows and greens. And I'm ever so proud of myself, because it's the first garment I've knitted entirely on circular needles, the first V-neck I've ever done, and I didn't have a pattern.
The bad news is that I got the tension wrong and it's wider than it was supposed to be - so it sort of sits out around the hips. And then of course the biggie - variegated wool knitted in the round makes stripes and when you divide at the armholes the stripes get wider. I knew that, really. But when I first put it on I was a little taken aback at quite how desperately unflattering it is. The combination of wide horizontal stripes, bulky wool, and one narrow stripe that somehow appeared right in the middle makes my bosom look huger and droopier than ever. So attractive.
Good job really that I don't much care! It's lovely and cosy and warm and I've been wearing it quite happily - I just avoid mirrors while I've got it on.
In other knitting news I started a cardigan for Jess on Monday and finished it today - six days! Yay for huge needles! I say finished, although it hasn't yet got buttons, but I don't have any buttons to sew on and I figure since I still haven't done the buttons on the Sunrise thing...
It's based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's seamless yoke sweater - and it fits beautifully. And I'm three quarters of the way through a jumper for Katie (again EZ's seamless sweater) but that's on 4mm needles so it'll take a little longer.And now I'm off to bed... Back in September I guess! :)
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Winter woes
Boy am I glad June is over! We had the most phenomenal summer here, the kind of summer that you remember from childhood, and that never seems to happen when you're an adult: endless warm, sunny days, month after month. But now winter has kicked in with a vengeance; it's freezing cold and we're having a series of incredible hail storms that are so heavy it looks like it's been snowing in the back garden.
And of course, with the onset of winter, came the onset of winter chills and ills. The very best week went something like this:
Date: Monday
From: rachelc@home
Subject: Katie, Room 17
Katie will be away from school today due to an ear infection.
Date: Tuesday
To: absences@katiesschool.co.nz
From: rachelc@home
Subject: Katie, Room 17
Katie will be away from school today due to an ear infection and an eye infection.
To: absences@katiesschool.co.nz
From: rachelc@home
Subject: Katie, Room 17
Katie will be away from school today due to an ear infection and an eye infection.
Date: Wednesday
To: absences@katiesschool.co.nz
From: rachelc@home
Subject: Katie, Room 17
Katie will be away from school today due to an ear infection, an eye infection and a chest infection.
To: absences@katiesschool.co.nz
From: rachelc@home
Subject: Katie, Room 17
Katie will be away from school today due to an ear infection, an eye infection and a chest infection.
Date: Thursday
To: absences@katiesschool.co.nz
From: rachelc@home
Subject: Katie, Room 17
Katie will be away from school today due to an ear infection, an eye infection, a chest infection and chicken pox.
To: absences@katiesschool.co.nz
From: rachelc@home
Subject: Katie, Room 17
Katie will be away from school today due to an ear infection, an eye infection, a chest infection and chicken pox.
Now, touch wood, we all seem better.
It didn't help that I had more travel than usual in June - I called it my knit-around-the-North-Island month. I knitted in Northland (where people are apparently not used to seeing knitters in pubs - I think Eclair needs to do some work here!), I knitted in Matakana (where I have inspired a lapsed knitter to pick up the needles), I knitted in Gisborne and I knitted in Rotorua (and I stopped in Te Kauwhata on the way to Rotorua to cast on a sock for my aunt). And yet I don't seem to have terribly much to show for it...
I have finally finished (well, almost) the Sunrise Circle Jacket - I just have to sew the buttons on. Photos as soon as I do!
I made a pinwheel cardigan for Jess. That began as an exercise to see if I could do a pinwheel using the magic loop method (I can). Then it was going to be a blanket. Then I found a fabulous pattern for a cardigan so that's where it wound up. It has the niftiest edging - little loops of I-cord running right around...
And I knitted some little hats which are intended for charity but seem to have been appropriated for the dolls by my uncharitable children.
I'm not sure what I'm knitting now... I seem to still have seventeen things on the go but I'm not sure if any of them will actually evolve into finished objects. Time will tell...
Friday, June 06, 2008
Time keeps on slipping
So yet again it's a month between posts - but my blog is not the only thing that makes me feel like life is rushing by too fast.
My teeny tiny baby girl is three years old today and I have no idea where that time went.
One minute I've got this tiny newborn and the next I've got this super-assertive and independent grown-up girl (although she insists she's a boy; something that I originally thought was just a cute phase but it's been more than six months now and I'm thinking we may need to start saving for gender realignment surgery...)
So I'm not going to write a long post now - I have to go stare at my girl (or boy, whatever) and try to catch her being three, because it feels like tomorrow she'll be a teenager and then she'll be gone.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
And another month goes by...
Golly - I hadn't realised it was over a month since I blogged AGAIN. Where did April go? When I began this blog I was a stay at home full time mother, and despite the demands of playgroup, kindergarten, housework and children I had so much free time on my hands. Two of my friends who are stay at home mothers have recently started blogs and I think it's an interesting way of staying sane when your most of your daily conversations tend to only be with people under four foot high.
Now, of course, I'm working full time, and blogging slides down the list of things to do. Add to which, my darling Katie has discovered the fine art of emotional blackmail: she stands in front of me with her five year old fists on her hips and says "What's more important? Your girls or your [knitting, computer, book, bath, etc]?" She's good! It works every time.
Despite that I have been knitting (mostly in the car when I should be working). But I have no finished objects to show because I'm just playing - having finally conquered the evil dpns, I decided that I was brave enough to have a go at magic loop knitting.
Well, for heaven's sake. Why did no-one ever tell me how easy and fun this was? All those YEARS I wasted coming to terms with dpns (okay, maybe not years but it sure felt like it) and I needn't have bothered. So I've been starting socks with different cast-ons and whizzing through a few rounds and then frogging them and starting again with a different cast-on, and so on and so on. Just because it's such fun!
So far I have two odd socks finished (both toe-up) and half a mitten (cuff down) and I'm planning another sock. I realise I should be doing the second socks but what the hell... life's too short and I'm thinking of this as a learning exercise rather than a serious sock production line.
In between the magic looping, I'm very slowly working on a lace shawl in that bamboo that's been lurking around for a while now. It's slow because I daren't take it to work with me (my car is such a tip that my knitting tends to get tangled around the junk) and I can't do it when the girls are awake because I wind up going "Shut up shut up shut up shut up I'm counting" which is not great attentive parenting, and leads to the whole hands on hips thing.
I do have one finished object - belatedly. Turns out that the baby's name is James (glad I hadn't totally lost my mind - did I mention that I'd had a serious moment of panic and decided he might be called something else?) and it fits (more or less). I rushed the seaming and it's pretty dodgy but I figure it's not an heirloom - it's a jumper that'll be worn and sicked on and dribbled on and have playdough rubbed into (you all know) so what the hell.. (Also, and this probably doesn't need reiterating, I'm very lazy.)
Now I have to go and prepare for a day of being the willing slave to my two bossy britches - I'm hanging onto the thought that you don't get strong, assertive, confident young women by having quiet, obedient, docile children - and I do want stroppy young women!
Now, of course, I'm working full time, and blogging slides down the list of things to do. Add to which, my darling Katie has discovered the fine art of emotional blackmail: she stands in front of me with her five year old fists on her hips and says "What's more important? Your girls or your [knitting, computer, book, bath, etc]?" She's good! It works every time.
Despite that I have been knitting (mostly in the car when I should be working). But I have no finished objects to show because I'm just playing - having finally conquered the evil dpns, I decided that I was brave enough to have a go at magic loop knitting.
Well, for heaven's sake. Why did no-one ever tell me how easy and fun this was? All those YEARS I wasted coming to terms with dpns (okay, maybe not years but it sure felt like it) and I needn't have bothered. So I've been starting socks with different cast-ons and whizzing through a few rounds and then frogging them and starting again with a different cast-on, and so on and so on. Just because it's such fun!
So far I have two odd socks finished (both toe-up) and half a mitten (cuff down) and I'm planning another sock. I realise I should be doing the second socks but what the hell... life's too short and I'm thinking of this as a learning exercise rather than a serious sock production line.
In between the magic looping, I'm very slowly working on a lace shawl in that bamboo that's been lurking around for a while now. It's slow because I daren't take it to work with me (my car is such a tip that my knitting tends to get tangled around the junk) and I can't do it when the girls are awake because I wind up going "Shut up shut up shut up shut up I'm counting" which is not great attentive parenting, and leads to the whole hands on hips thing.
I do have one finished object - belatedly. Turns out that the baby's name is James (glad I hadn't totally lost my mind - did I mention that I'd had a serious moment of panic and decided he might be called something else?) and it fits (more or less). I rushed the seaming and it's pretty dodgy but I figure it's not an heirloom - it's a jumper that'll be worn and sicked on and dribbled on and have playdough rubbed into (you all know) so what the hell.. (Also, and this probably doesn't need reiterating, I'm very lazy.)
Now I have to go and prepare for a day of being the willing slave to my two bossy britches - I'm hanging onto the thought that you don't get strong, assertive, confident young women by having quiet, obedient, docile children - and I do want stroppy young women!
Sunday, April 06, 2008
One plus one plus one...
I knitted a sleeve for the baby jumper yesterday. Then I got up this morning and started idly trawling through Ravelry for interesting patterns, until I gave myself a stern talking to: one sock, one fingerless glove, one sleeve - anyone see a pattern here? So I knuckled down and have nearly finished the second sleeve (we're not discussing the sock or the glove at the moment).
I have a problem with this jumper however... It's one thing to knit away casually without a pattern when I'm knitting for my girls - I can always reach out and grab them as they whizz past and hold the knitting up against them. But it dawned on me as I knitted the first sleeve, that I have no idea how big a six month old is. So I have no idea if this sweater will fit or not. Now the obvious answer to that is that it could be given to an appropriately sized child if it's wrong. But - and here's where I stun myself with my own idiocy - I have knitted the six month old's name into the front of the sweater.
If it is hopelessly wrong I'll be offering it free on Ravelry to anyone who knows a baby called James...
I have a problem with this jumper however... It's one thing to knit away casually without a pattern when I'm knitting for my girls - I can always reach out and grab them as they whizz past and hold the knitting up against them. But it dawned on me as I knitted the first sleeve, that I have no idea how big a six month old is. So I have no idea if this sweater will fit or not. Now the obvious answer to that is that it could be given to an appropriately sized child if it's wrong. But - and here's where I stun myself with my own idiocy - I have knitted the six month old's name into the front of the sweater.
If it is hopelessly wrong I'll be offering it free on Ravelry to anyone who knows a baby called James...
Friday, April 04, 2008
TLAs
OMG
It's been less than a week since I last posted!! Hope you're dead impressed. I have to say that when it comes to knitting blogs, Ravelry is the devil's work. No-one seems to be blogging regularly anymore - they're all hanging out on Ravelry nattering. And while this is a good thing and to be encouraged - it means I'm stuck reading the Yarn Harlot and The Panopticon over and over and over. (Of course, they're bothe worth reading over and over, but I used to be able to skitter around ten or twelve blogs every day...) And of course I'm as guilty as anyone...
WIPs
I am still working on the second sock but I have secondsockitis. I knit a round and think 'Oh God, I've done this already', and turn to something else. Luckily it's still pretty warm here so the socks won't be needed for a while.
The baby jumper came to a grinding halt when I left it on the sofa (you'd think I'd learn...) and Jess jumped on it. Normally knitting wouldn't be affected by a few kilos of small child jumping, but I was knitting with wooden needles wasn't I? Crack!
But I did manage to revive and finish Jess's jumper and what's more it fits (always a toss-up when you're a lazy mother who can't be bothered finding a measuring tape or a pattern).
DPNs
Despite being slack about the sock, I decided to perservere with the DPNs and what do you know, I think I've finally got them beaten into submission. Exhibit A - four DPNs PLUS cables PLUS a thumb gusset...
It's been less than a week since I last posted!! Hope you're dead impressed. I have to say that when it comes to knitting blogs, Ravelry is the devil's work. No-one seems to be blogging regularly anymore - they're all hanging out on Ravelry nattering. And while this is a good thing and to be encouraged - it means I'm stuck reading the Yarn Harlot and The Panopticon over and over and over. (Of course, they're bothe worth reading over and over, but I used to be able to skitter around ten or twelve blogs every day...) And of course I'm as guilty as anyone...
WIPs
I am still working on the second sock but I have secondsockitis. I knit a round and think 'Oh God, I've done this already', and turn to something else. Luckily it's still pretty warm here so the socks won't be needed for a while.
The baby jumper came to a grinding halt when I left it on the sofa (you'd think I'd learn...) and Jess jumped on it. Normally knitting wouldn't be affected by a few kilos of small child jumping, but I was knitting with wooden needles wasn't I? Crack!
But I did manage to revive and finish Jess's jumper and what's more it fits (always a toss-up when you're a lazy mother who can't be bothered finding a measuring tape or a pattern).
DPNs
Despite being slack about the sock, I decided to perservere with the DPNs and what do you know, I think I've finally got them beaten into submission. Exhibit A - four DPNs PLUS cables PLUS a thumb gusset...
And oh boy am I proud of myself! :) I started this yesterday and it was SO quick - finished it at about 6pm - and 90% was knitted in five minute bursts in the car. Now I have to do it again... this could be a repeat of the sock...
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Well, that was March
I truly did plan to start blogging regularly again, but March got away on me. We had a fairly horrific month with hideous, harrowing, family dramas - and because they involved other family members and their children I can't blog about any of it. The permanency of the internet scares me now and then - and while I'm okay with my own drivel remaining for eternity, and I'm a mean enough mother to not really care that my kids may be embarrassed in their teen years, there has to be a line hey?
On the up side, we have a new computer (cue cartwheels, popping of champagne corks and general merriment). It's not really new - it's second hand from some corporate who are upgrading - but it's new to us and, most importantly, it has a functioning internal fan.
Other uppish things this month included my first (and second) ever visit to knit rangers who are just a fabulous bunch of people. And there's photographic proof here! (Proof I was there - not proof they're fabulous - you'll just have to trust me on the fabulous part.)
And I have been knitting...
I finished the acrylic lace thing. Katie keeps calling it her shrag (shrug not having been part of her vocabulary up till now), and you know, it's strangely right:
Then I took the girls to Wellington for Easter and decided that the three (!) sweaters I'm working on were too bulky so I bought some Magic Garden wool and splashed out on a set of Ashford bamboo dpns and voila - my third ever sock!
And now the second sock is calling...
On the up side, we have a new computer (cue cartwheels, popping of champagne corks and general merriment). It's not really new - it's second hand from some corporate who are upgrading - but it's new to us and, most importantly, it has a functioning internal fan.
Other uppish things this month included my first (and second) ever visit to knit rangers who are just a fabulous bunch of people. And there's photographic proof here! (Proof I was there - not proof they're fabulous - you'll just have to trust me on the fabulous part.)
And I have been knitting...
I finished the acrylic lace thing. Katie keeps calling it her shrag (shrug not having been part of her vocabulary up till now), and you know, it's strangely right:
Then I took the girls to Wellington for Easter and decided that the three (!) sweaters I'm working on were too bulky so I bought some Magic Garden wool and splashed out on a set of Ashford bamboo dpns and voila - my third ever sock!
The foot inside the sock also belongs to Katie, which is why I was able to knock a whole sock off in three days - she has big feet for a five year old, but they're damn small compared to mine! Don't look too closely at the sock - I got so excited that I'd reached the end that I did a bad thing - I had no wool needle with me to do the grafting so I did a three needle cast off. Hmmm...
The three sweaters are the Sunrise Circle (which hasn't actually been touched apart from when I dumped it on the floor to photograph it); a little woolly jumper for a six-month old boy I know; and a sweater for Jess in Paton's Jet (wool/alpaca) which was coming along fine until the girls removed the needles to play Robin Hood - and I have to say, I was so happy that they weren't being fairies or princesses or mermaids that I didn't even growl - in fact I helped to make the bow (the needles were the arrows).And now the second sock is calling...
Friday, February 29, 2008
National Frog Day
Today, in case you hadn't heard, is National Frog Day here in New Zealand. Because, of course, it's Leap Day, and we're not afraid of using a ban pun as a reason to celebrate our endangered frogs.
Did you know we also have a National Frog Week every October?
God I love this country!
So here is a picture of an Archey's Frog (our most endangered frog), and Happy Frog Day everyone!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Will knit for books
This morning I called on one of my favourite bookshops, Time Out, and found their whole front window was devoted to books on quilting, sewing and knitting. After I dribbled down the glass for a while, I suggested to the owner that she needed quilts and knitting alongside the books, and I offered to lend her a quilt (made by my brilliant and creative friend Raewyn) and said I'd knit a few rows of nothing much to throw in there (like ten rows of garter stitch, you know). And because she is a truly lovely person she said she'd give me this:
Which is why I spent my lunch hour and any gaps during the afternoon (hey, what are red lights for?) doing this:
Very silly, but I got a little carried away.
Now the big question: Is it more worrying that
a) I got so involved and excited about a project that is destined to sit in a window for a week and then get thrown out; or
b) I was prepared to use my brand new merino/possum mix in a project that is designed to sit in a window etc; or
c) I had everything I needed for this (including a wide selection of needle sizes) in my car?
Answers on the back of a ball band please.
Eclair asked about the Sunrise Circle Jacket (which I still haven't got back to). It's Country Silk from (I think) Cleckheaton - 85% wool, 15% silk and very yummy. And it's not nearly as pink as it looks in the picture - more a winey red.
In the meantime the lilac acrylic lace proceeds apace... (I'm so not doing photos!)
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Lazarus
I have no idea what is going on with this machine. Once upon a time I sort of understood computers (boy, this'll date me): I could write programmes in basic on my TRS-80 (in fact, I probably still could if it weren't for the fact that it went for landfill about 25 years ago); I could store those programmes on cassettes; and I could modify them - often using a pencil and paper. It was cool, and I felt quite technologically adept and competent.
Now I have this evil lurking presence in my house that I can't help but believe possesses some kind of demonic intelligence and any pretence of being even slightly au fait with its workings is long gone.
Anyway, our chants, rituals and sacrifices have obviously worked again, and it's prepared to co-operate for another day. So I've printed out reams of patterns and other stuff, and I figured I'd better blog while I could!
I've been doing a fair bit of knitting this weekend: my lovely partner has just become unemployed as of yesterday (the company he was working for went under) and while he is anxious and feeling very down, I have been rubbing my hands together gleefully behind his back, going 'Yippee! I can go to knit rangers!' I never claimed to be an especially nice person ok? But you can't turn up to a knitting group without knitting, and my getting-back-into-the-swing-of-knitting project is not fit to take out: I let Katie choose the pattern and the wool, and I am currently halfway through a lilac, lace, acrylic shrug, which is quite possibly the ugliest thing I have made. Call me shallow, but I don't want to meet people for the first time and have them remember me at the woman with the ugly purple acrylic! And the sunrise circle jacket is just way to complicated to knit in public - I'm having problems breathing while knitting this, let alone talking. So I hauled out some absolutely gorgeous bamboo in orange and pink that I bought in Whangarei last week (before I knew we were going to be a one income family - also bought a luscious merino and possum mix and a few other bits and pieces, which I may have to cook up and feed to my children - d'oh!) and began a scarf. So pretty. And then, of course, I thought to check whether Knit Rangers was on - and of course, this is an off week. You ever feel like the universe is conspiring against you?
Anyway, the lovely Eclair wanted to see the Sunrise Circle Jacket (I have explained that this has been sitting a while haven't I?)
How it's supposed to look is this:
Nice hey? But how it currently looks is:
Hmmmm.....
Back to the acrylic for now... (I'm saving the bamboo for next Sunday!)
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Well Call Me Cassandra
Ha!
Did I not say that posting on my blog would be tempting fate?
The computer is dead again - I have snuck on here via my work laptop which I'm pretty sure is against our seventy-three page IT policy.
So it may be a while before I blog again (of course the damn thing may wake up tomorrow morning and be fine - does tempting fate work in reverse?)
Did I not say that posting on my blog would be tempting fate?
The computer is dead again - I have snuck on here via my work laptop which I'm pretty sure is against our seventy-three page IT policy.
So it may be a while before I blog again (of course the damn thing may wake up tomorrow morning and be fine - does tempting fate work in reverse?)
Monday, January 14, 2008
It hasn't just been slackness...
Golly it's been a while...
Way back when, I posted a photo of our computer and said that it was a case of when it crashed rather than if. Turns out that when was mid-August 2007. And the computer was not alone... The electrical fairies had a wee party at our place and within the space of a couple of weeks we lost the computer, the toaster, the vacuum cleaner, the dishwasher and the stereo. The washing machine also started making ugly noises but we gave it a stern talking to and so far it's still running. The vacuum cleaner and toaster were quickly replaced but the budget wouldn't stretch any further.
Then one day, as my partner leant across the defunct and dusty computer to grab the dictionary, it made what he describes as 'an electric noise' (we are neither of us very technical). So he tried switching it on, and lo and behold, it whirred into life. Go figure. He called me immediately with the good news. "Quick! Try the dishwasher!" said I. Turned out there hadn't been a general self-healing of appliances and I had to mop the floor when I got home. But at least we had the computer back.
Except that within 24 hours, and before I could blog, or reply to emails, or check up on The Yarn Harlot, or Eclair, or Justine, or Andi, it made another very ugly electric noise and shut down again.
We kept trying it every few days but there was nothing so we gave up. Katie, however, with the sheer tenacity of a four year old deprived of the Wiggles' website, kept it up - day after day, week after week. And in December, what do you know? On she went. Since then we've had a couple of weeks where the on switch fails to respond, but mostly, we're up and running
Which is where the slackness comes in....
Partly it was that at about the same time the computer went bung, so did my knitting. In July I had agreed to go back to my old job for three months, and by August I was getting increasingly reluctant to give it up. So I didn't. Which meant less time for knitting.
Then all my patterns and pictures and inspirations were on the %^$%^&* computer, which made it tricky. I was (and, indeed, still am) three quarters of the way through my first ever adult garment (neck warmers and socks don't count) - the Sunrise Circle Jacket. But without the pattern...
So I wasn't knitting, which made a knitting blog a bit redundant. And I was also worried about tempting fate - if I started blogging surely the computer would collapse through sheer spite.
And then there was the whole issue of how to start again...
I remember (god I'm old!) back before email, when we would write letters. And if you left if too long to reply to a letter it got unbelievably awkward. First you had to apologise, which only served to remind people how slack you were. Then there was all the news you had to squeeze in, and the longer you left it, the harder it got, because there was more and more to say, which made the whole thing seem so totally daunting, and (if you were me) eventually you just gave up. This is what I've been going through...
But now I figure enough time has passed that probably no-one is even still there! And I've started knitting again, which gives me a reason to blog (although I haven't dared approach the jacket until I'm sure I haven't forgotten how to knit). So here I am. And here I hope to stay...
Way back when, I posted a photo of our computer and said that it was a case of when it crashed rather than if. Turns out that when was mid-August 2007. And the computer was not alone... The electrical fairies had a wee party at our place and within the space of a couple of weeks we lost the computer, the toaster, the vacuum cleaner, the dishwasher and the stereo. The washing machine also started making ugly noises but we gave it a stern talking to and so far it's still running. The vacuum cleaner and toaster were quickly replaced but the budget wouldn't stretch any further.
Then one day, as my partner leant across the defunct and dusty computer to grab the dictionary, it made what he describes as 'an electric noise' (we are neither of us very technical). So he tried switching it on, and lo and behold, it whirred into life. Go figure. He called me immediately with the good news. "Quick! Try the dishwasher!" said I. Turned out there hadn't been a general self-healing of appliances and I had to mop the floor when I got home. But at least we had the computer back.
Except that within 24 hours, and before I could blog, or reply to emails, or check up on The Yarn Harlot, or Eclair, or Justine, or Andi, it made another very ugly electric noise and shut down again.
We kept trying it every few days but there was nothing so we gave up. Katie, however, with the sheer tenacity of a four year old deprived of the Wiggles' website, kept it up - day after day, week after week. And in December, what do you know? On she went. Since then we've had a couple of weeks where the on switch fails to respond, but mostly, we're up and running
Which is where the slackness comes in....
Partly it was that at about the same time the computer went bung, so did my knitting. In July I had agreed to go back to my old job for three months, and by August I was getting increasingly reluctant to give it up. So I didn't. Which meant less time for knitting.
Then all my patterns and pictures and inspirations were on the %^$%^&* computer, which made it tricky. I was (and, indeed, still am) three quarters of the way through my first ever adult garment (neck warmers and socks don't count) - the Sunrise Circle Jacket. But without the pattern...
So I wasn't knitting, which made a knitting blog a bit redundant. And I was also worried about tempting fate - if I started blogging surely the computer would collapse through sheer spite.
And then there was the whole issue of how to start again...
I remember (god I'm old!) back before email, when we would write letters. And if you left if too long to reply to a letter it got unbelievably awkward. First you had to apologise, which only served to remind people how slack you were. Then there was all the news you had to squeeze in, and the longer you left it, the harder it got, because there was more and more to say, which made the whole thing seem so totally daunting, and (if you were me) eventually you just gave up. This is what I've been going through...
But now I figure enough time has passed that probably no-one is even still there! And I've started knitting again, which gives me a reason to blog (although I haven't dared approach the jacket until I'm sure I haven't forgotten how to knit). So here I am. And here I hope to stay...
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