Yarnivorous

G'day all! Well what a stinker of a day it has been here! It started off with a bit of drizzle, very light, no problemo, we can do all the outdoor work we need to in this. Except someone (moi) had a very lazy start to the day after being up for two hours in the wee hours with an unknown ailment (I think I got cold, like physically cold, not caught a cold). So at 1pm I was finally ready to face the day and the rain started. Nathan checked the radar and found that we seemed to be under the one place in Melbourne where it rained all day. Grrr. I have 6 skeins of yarn that I have to get dry (three are still in the dyepot) and everything is damp. Truly dismal. It's been grey all day (and I am solar powered). The washing is waiting to get dry. Only one drying rack can fit in front of the heater. No we don't have a drier - I hate the things and won't have one. It *is* great for the garden. So instead of photos of what I've been dyeing and what I've been up to...

G'day all! This is yet another random post. It has been (mostly) a beautiful autumn week here. From Tuesday to yesterday it has been fine and sunny, though increasingly hazy and working on a tad of smog. Today has dawned a bit damp. In celebration of our weather here, well until today, I give you pictures of my commute into town. Yes, sounds boring but I hope I have some lovely shots for you ;-) Then we'll have some almost actual real sorta knitting content! Y'see I got a parcel! It is a luverly parcel too :-) Oh the glory of the morning mists! This is the major thoroughfare to the east of Melbourne. It crosses right under Richmond station,w here I swap trains to get a Flinders St direct train. At the top left of the picture is the Nylex clock, a Melbourne landmark for many many years. The mob who own it wanted to get rid of it cos it cost too much to maintain but a heritage order was put on it, so they continue to maintain it as it is.... The pinoaks have colour...

G'day all! A real quickie tonight, despite me having many lovely pics to show you. I got a lovely prezzie in the mail but you'll have to wait for the photos! First we need to see these: Socks! Socks at Southern Cross station (was Spencer St station) waiting to catch the train! (Brits - does that livery look at all familiar on that train? Connex runs our trains.) Yarn by Jessie at a Piece of Vermont . I got some odd looks for showing off my socks to the world and taking a picture... Fully completed socks! I have a confession. When you see my "finished objects" you usually see the almost done but without the ends woven in objects. But these socks are fully competed! Ends tucked away and ready to wear, after a wash (I know where these socks have been!). If I get a chance tomorrow, I will show off the lovely prezzie I got and some pics from this week. It will be picture heavy so be warned! anon!

G'day all! Whoops! No wonder noone commented - this was a draft not the published thing! Odd... So we go back to Tuesday. Today is a public holiday in Australia and New Zealand, the day when we commemorate a whole lotta Aussies, Kiwis, Poms and Turks getting slaughtered at Gallipoli in Turkey, plus all the other wars and spats we've been involved in along the way. It really is for the ANZACs though (and I don't mean the biscuits featuring oat and golden syrup). Long time readers might remember that my Pop, Mum's father, was an ANZAC. He fought at Gallipoli and on the Western Front in WWI, including at the Somme. He suffered some horrible wounds, being an early recipient of facial plastic surgery at one point, but always went back to the war - it was the best fun he ever had I think. He was a fruit loop I realise now but Granma loved him and he was my Pop. He's been dead 30 years in ?July? He scared me witless with his rough voice (the result of being mustar...

G'day all! I've got a few little pics for you to see today. I suggest for one or two of them you might need to put on your sunnies. The others, well it's been a bit dull here recently, like 30mm of rain type dull and cloudy and fairly rotten to be honest, and the second lot of pics reflect the more gentle type of weather, not our strident summers. The weather is forecast to get nicer, naturally when I'm at work, but like what is it with winter hitting a month earlier than normal? We will get three nice days then another weekend of miserable rain and we have too much stuff to do outside yet. Like plant some bok choy/other asian vegies and render the garage so we know if we really do want to do the house. (oops, this should go on the house blog, the much neglected house blog). BTW, this is a big post.... WARNING! Sunglasses alert Remember the rainbow yarn I dyed, the one with two different batches? Well here's a pic of an extra ball being made into a baby hat:...

G'day all! Something I like about spinning. This: becomes this: and then navajo plied becomes this: It amazes me how a pile of fluff can be tamed and turned into something I can knit with. It is green (fern) at one end and mauve (hibiscus) at the other, and blue in the middleish. This latest skein is one I thought I should give away but I just can't. I like it Too Much. It reminds me of pansies for some reason and violets. It has to be mine! Plus it is a bit wonky - you can see wonky spots. How could I give someone something so imperfect??? LOL I am still learning what ratios are best on the little Gem. Who still remains nameless - it is just the New Wheel. I am not good at naming things, in general, though cats are pretty easy. Then again we took about two weeks to name the Nut! She's a bit blurry in this shot cos she was going to snozzle the camera (I just made snozzle up - it isn't a real word), but it captures some of the essence of the Nut. anon!

G'day all! Well that scared you all off! Hardly a comment today. After the excitement the other day... well well well. Tonight is stitch marker night. And I have to go over the training for tomorrow which I am vastly underprepared for. Tomorrow is big training day and if I get a chance a day to mail off some overdue parcels. I might get a chance to knit up another square or two for Warming Grace, but they really have to go ASAP. They are supposed to be in Canada by the end of the month and mail from here to Ca seems to take two weeks - dunno why. The Project Spectrum socks for April are closer to being finished - half a repeat of colour to go, including the ribbing, then only the heels to add in. I seem to have misplaced the sleeves for my blue top in progress. Haven't seen them for days. OK dokey. Time to go do stuff that isn't blogging, like put the dyed yarn away. I am sure I can find a use for it. Plenty of babies around, or something for me. I am still happy...

G'day all! Seems like my little dyeing adventures are causing a wee stir on my blog. Quite frankly I am scared halfway witless - I didn't expect half a dozen people to start jumping up and down and squealing ME ME ME! Here's the deal. Whoever is first to ask for the yarn wins it. You can email me or leave a comment and whatever lands in my email box gets it. Tell me what you want. First in best dressed. Up for grabs, I have four skeins of the yarn on the left of the picture: measuring about 90m each (some have more, some have less) for 50g of wool. It is 100% pure new Australian wool, spun in China, dyed by me with food dyes set with vinegar. From what I can read on the web unless stored in sunlight, the colours should last pretty much as long as whatever you make out of the yarn. The yarn is soft and knits up at a little less than 8 ply/DK/worsted weight. The rainbow colours include pink and mauve - a warning if you are thinking great for a little boy - as can be ...

G'day all! Well we learned something this year. Go away for Easter unless you *like* the smell of burning rubber. Yep, it was Easternats at the racecourse near us. We are used to the big V8s of the supercars roaring around - the local (and I do mean local -it is only a km away) race track is home to the Holden (GM) V8 supercars, so they test them on Sunday mornings during racing season. Easternats means that every man and his dog (plus quite a few chics) with a halfway decent tricked up car descends upon Sandown Park. If you are a hoon, you go there. And you burn LOTS of rubber. The wind was from the north today and egads, was it awful! The morning involved lots of big V8s roaring and revving and apparently doing burnouts all the way around the track. Then at about 3 this arvo they started on the burnout championships. I kid you not, it was like we were in a fog, only it stunk of burning rubber. And of course today was the first halfway decent day to get the washing dry. So...

G'day all! I feel like I must've done something socially unacceptable (dropping a whoopsy in the middle of a crowded room?). Where did everybody go? Everyone must be busy for Easter. I've been busy too - busy planting and dyeing today and helping a friend move house on Friday. The moving was pretty good - we had borrowed the big station wagon from the PiLs and got to see the new, owned house, along with the old rental place. Purplexity is rather keen on Cookie Monster so we had p0rn star Cookie Monster, about two feet tall, arrayed on hot pink and purple shag cushions reclining in the rear window of the car.... I don't think Purplexity was that amused, but Cookie Monster was pretty happy looking. Of course he always is happy if there are cookies. We also got to see a lot of wonderful autumn colours - this is the best year for colourful trees that I can remember. The long summer with the sudden cold snap must've sent the trees over the edge. Driving through...

G'day all! Well the eleventy-first (plus a thousand) commenter is: JESSIE! Yes, Jessie of Vermont, USA, come on down! Well maybe not that way, or that way, or, umm... crikey, I am digging myself into a hole here. Oops, that might be considered a bit rude too. Anyway, Jessie, let me know what you would like - colours, lack of colours (ie yarn to dye), type of yarn, spinning stuff (somehow I have a LOT of merino! That may be due to us Aussies growing billions of them), whatever! Possible knitting content tomorrow, but don't hold your breath! It was an excellent day for knitting in front of the heater today yet for some reason I hardly knitted a stitch. I did get another square done for Warming Grace and spun up some yarn (possibly hohum yarn, have to wash it to see if it is a goer or if I should've left it as a single...). We went out and spent lots of money cos we are very very bad people who can't stick to a budget anymore, got some good books (not a knitty book...

G'day all! I'm blogging on a Thursday night! This is because DH doesn't come home until late. I've already done a rack full of dishes (apparently it was my turn, again... and again...) and put dinner on. Now I have time to blog! Today our interpid explorer ventures out of the confines of the office and into the wilds of the city. Yes there will be some knitting content, and you'll see in what way I am fickle. A park 5 minutes from work (if the traffic lights are kind). The ash trees are changing colour. No good camouflage here for the knitting. The best trees are about 10 minutes away (if the traffic lights are kind) outside Jeff's Shed (the Melbourne Exhibition centre, not to be confused with the Melbourne Exhibition Buidlings which are at exactly the other side of the CBD). They are right next to the Polly Woodside, the clipper at rest in this shot. Pretty colours, but do they provide camouflage? I think so! Yep the mate to the sock I knitted last month,...