The unkindest cut

G'day all!

Well I would love to say it has been very eventful here at Weedhaven, but it ain't. Be warned, this post might make you a bit queasy, for one reason or another.

Here are some of the goodies I picked up on the weekend:

I showed off my spinning, yes that bright yarn that I am still carrying around with me a week later, to the girl at AK traditions. She was so delighted with my spinning that she gave me a knitting bag:



to put the roving into:

---

And here is the fleece and tops I dyed:



These are in very bright, springlike colours cos they are going to someone who has the grey winter blahs. I would say obviously she is not in Melbourne cos it is summer here, but after the weather from the last two weeks.... The puffs are alpaca, the tops are merino and 15% silk.

---

Then I have finally finished these:



HOORAY! I don't think the alpaca fleece is as good as sheep fleece for thrumming cos it is a bit short and fuzzy and has no memory, so it rebounds out of the tight twist I put into it. These also are going to find a new home.

---

I have started on a wrap made out of these. I can see that I am going to need another ball or two of the eyelash yarns - with 150 stitches on 10mm needles, I am going through the yarn rather quickly! BTW, the double flutter is a mongrel to knit - very wide ribbon band in the centre.

---

I have been having one of those weird runs of unluck. These are things that make me think a bit more carefully about what I am doing and mostly I can only laugh about them. Mostly. Like when I was shaving my armpits the other day in the shower and made a truly unco move. Shall we just say that nipples bleed like heck and it really really stings like the worst papercut in the world, particularly when they get cold??? As for putting the bandaid on... umm yeah. We'll leave this subject now.

Today started off as a pretty good day. The sun is now rising after I get up at 6:45am, but the sky was clear and the forecast was good at 34 degrees. Hooray! Only now we are acclimatising to 20 degrees and it feels overly warm today. You can never please a Melburnian when it comes to weather. Unless it is a day like yesterday - sunny and 25.

So I am standing on the train, having decided not to fight for a seat. I am knitting this:

from this book (select book at bottom right 205 PB1111 with the funkiest baby patterns - lots of wide legs. I so jealous! I want some for me!)

and the yarn becomes tight. Very odd. Somehow I had managed to get the yarn right around my foot under the instep. Here's me, standing on one leg clutching my DPNs and the knitting and trying to unwind the yarn whilst hanging on to a hand hold as the train goes jiggertee jiggertee jig-bounce-jig over some points. I unwound the yarn.

In celebration, I dropped one of the DPNs.

Now these are my good sock making DPNs. The good Clover bamboo ones. The set of five. There was no way I was going to lose one for good.

By now I had managed to clear a good space around me cos everyone clearly thought I was mad and about to fall on them. The nice young man sitting next to where I was standing was starting to help out a bit. He could not reach the DPN. I had to get down on my hands and knees on the floor of a crowded train in my brand new, never before worn skirt, and go fishing under the seats.

I was hoping and praying that noone had chucked under the seat or even urinated there cos I had to paw around in the dark with my arm outstretched almost as far as it would go. (Does anyone know why it is considered acceptable to puke or pee on trains - nearly always by drunken men, I do admit.) Thank heavens that the floors in the trains are now sensible recycled rubber stuff, like pool surround stuff, rather than the carpet that umm well told all of its history....

I gave up on the knitting - I had already made enough of a goat of myself by this stage and I really wanted to wash my hand (I forgot to wash them properly at work. D'oh!).

Then there was a little incident in the tram at lunchtime when I went in search of a pair of these at Target (that's Tarzhay to most of us here):



(I never said I have good taste and these would be really good in winter on our now wooden floors and the rainbow colours are so me.) A derro (drunken fellow who is also homeless) started chatting to me, which was fine cos he needs a little to brighten up his day and he didn't smell bad. I pulled my wallet out to validate my ticket. A DPN came out with the wallet.

Of the five DPNs in my bag, which one would you expect to make a bold dash for freedom? The loose train DPN making a second bid for freedom? The one with a handful of stitches on it? Or the one with the most stitches on it?

Murphy was an optimist.

For those who celebrate it, Happy Valentine's Day. You may ask what did I get? And I can tell you NOTHING! I didn't get dinner, I didn't get a present or flowers or a kiss or a hug or anything. My boy has a serious lack of romance. Then he went out halfway through dinner to the weekly concert band rehearsal.

That is why I bought DH "The Full Monty" "Ladyhawke" and "Ever After" on DVD for $10 a pop. I figured even if he does not like them I certainly will enjoy them!

anon!