Yarnivorous

G'day all! Day two of Stitches West. Oh boy. I am starting to get over it somewhat!!! Here's the haul so far: I must point out the lovely Tactile twist of top in the bottom centre of the pic - it is yummy yummy yummy but I didn't get a good close shot of it. But I didn't take a pic of the thing that makes me happy happy happy! So what did I get? Two bags of Stella. This doesn't get a top rating on Ravelry but it is a blend I can wear next to my skin. I've already cast on a Hey Teach with the purple. ('Scuse the bodgy job with the colour correction) I think I'll overdye the hot pink (which is currently a match for my hot pink winter jacket - I seem to like some colours!). A bag of Shire (100% silk) in a pale green that is impossible to photograph, just like most of the coloured stuff I have bought. LOL It doesn't get a good rating on Ravelry either but eh, I can wear silk and I can dye it too! I queued for what felt like HOURS to buy this tuni...

G'day all! Spent a goodly time at Stitches today - what fun! I met up with Dianne , who has never been to a Stitches before. It really is overwhelming! You can see evidence of our meeting here . Silly me didn't take a camera so I don't have a reciprocal shot. You want pics? Umm, well see above - no camera1 Did I buy anything? Yep! How could I not buy with all this temptation around me? But again you have to wait! I will document all purchases faithfully (I've put some on ravelry and started knitting from one already!) and display them for you, and tell tales of derring do :-) Just not yet. anon!

G'day all! I am suffering a case of insaknity. (colour accurate under CFLs) This weekend is the huge knitty fun fest of Stitches West. If last year is anything to go by, it will be an amazing retail fest. Anyway, I decided that I wanted a new top to wear to Stitches. And I decided it had to be made out of yarn already in my stash. This yarn, to be precise. Four ply or fingering weight. In this pattern (rav link). I call it the coconut ice hoodie. I started a week ago. Ahem. So far, in between sewing madly (I also have this idea that if I take some fold up baggies with me, I will be able to avoid last year's fun of having a half numb arm after lugging all my purchases around for most of the day), I have managed to finish the fronts and am on the home straight on the back. (colour accurate in daylight) That's yesterday's pic. Yes it is done in one piece to the armpits. My current plan is to block it and wear it as a vest. I will add the arms and hood later. I figur...

G'day all! There's a reason why I haven't taken any photos of the current WIP. So far February has been a very satisfactory month for ducks. We've had just over 6" of rain, or in my terms 150mm. That is a lot of rain. We had a couple of bright days late last week - SUN! - but I had barely started my latest opus then and it was not worth photographing. Now it is. But instead you get to see (a "wet" brocauliflower leaf. The flower itself was very yummy - different flavour to those bought in the supermarket.) and (almost sunset two weeks ago - this is more light than we've had recently.) I would like to say there is light at the end of the tunnel but the best the forecast can do is "partly cloudy." It might be good enough though for some pics before or as I divide the fronts and back for the sleeves. Most mysterious! I've been doing lots of walking in spite/because of the rain. I hate riding my bike in rain - the roads are slippery a...

G'day all! Thanks to those who have commented on the baggies. I have plenty more to make up - the ones shown are just the tip of the iceberg of material I have been picking up ever since we got a sewing machine. Yep, I'm mad - it seems this is my current obsession - finding pretty, interesting and/or bizarre fabrics. My current favourite has cartoon fish of various types, all with open silly mouths and googly eyes along with happily grinning eels, loving cuttlefish/squid and dumb prawns. Y'see I have very little taste. I like the silly things in life. When Nathan goes to work, I can listen to all the Weird Al or Tom Lehrer (or Phantom of the Opera) that I like (note that DH likes Flanders and Swann). Given a choice of a nice sober black or brown bag that goes with everything and is noice or a lurid bag that offends the eye, possibly with shrimp or other bizarre critters dancing all over it, I'm so with the lurid bag. Colour makes my heart sing. I know some peop...

G'day all! I've been a busy bee recently. I've been making things. Things like these: This one is my favourite so far. It isn't quite finished - I need some green thread to sew around the contrast unless I decide the brown will do instead. Mebbe brown with a pattern. Yeah! Scuse the wrinkles - guess I am going to have to get handy with the iron! This one is larger than the rest. Here's my question. Would you buy such baggies? Why or why not? What do you think is a reasonable price for a roughly 8" x 8" baggie (20cm X 20cm)? They are soft bags without interfacing. I've put my four from the other day into use and am happy with them even though they don't have cords to close them. Having my WIPs in bags is amazing for me - they usually get dragged around, dropped on the floor, tangled with each other.... I have a knitting FO to show off too, but that can wait for another day! anon!

G'day all! I'm running a bit late on posting these: The undeserving husband socks! (As modelled by yours truly because DH was not around to show them off. Hence the toes and heels are too big. And the legs are bumpy cos I put them on over my socks.) Off. Heels. Cuff pattern. A fancy pants shot of the gusset curving away into the distance. I was very excited today - I had my first Etsy sale! Yay! And then a second one is pending. Thanks to those who have bought and to those who are spreading the good oil. I appreciate it! Heh. Boring tale but a milestone for me after that rotten cold I caught for New Year. Yesterday I walked more than 5km, all dragging my little red trolley-lolly-lo. I had to send a parcel off so I thought I would give the drugstore's post service a try. Well after dragging the trolley the km there, it turns out that they don't offer insurance on the parcel and this was a parcel I really thought should be insured. I found this out at 3:30pm. ...

G'day all! Recently I've been doing something a little different. Ta-dum! Do you love how wrinkly they are? At least you can tell they are 100% cotton. Why iron them if you are about to crumple them up in a bag? (The first one that I made plenty of mistakes on though it is one of my favourites and first in use!) If I make some to sell then I'll iron them. But not before. I've had fun with the fancy stitches on the sewing machine - some fish skeletons for the blue cat bag: and some pretties for the pretty bag. I *really* like the print on that bag - I want to get more of the fabric to make a summer top for me! They are a bit wonky yet but I am not fussed. They are for me! Oh and they are not all finished - I need to do a little hand finishing and couldn't find any of the needles I have, not a single one! Hasn't stopped me from using them. I've also made a few flannelette pillowcases cos I had some material and I do love soft warm fuzzy pillowcases. I do...

G'day all! I've been in a flurry of finishing again. Socks were knitted for DH. They are done and dusted and given to him for Valentine's Day. Do not ask what I was given - DH does not have a romantic bone, ahem, in his body. Instead he said he felt unwell. I had asked that I not have to cook, so what happened? * Made myself pancakes for breakfast * Cooked risotto for lunch, and * Cooked lamb stew for dinner! Can I just say I did an excellent job too! Alas, the kitchen is still feral cos Nathan has the job of emptying the dishwasher, which he tends to forget to do. If the dishwasher is full of clean dishes then I can't stick the dirty ones in and things snowball. I could put the dishes away but I hurt my right shoulder and anything at or above shoulder height = hurties and wobbliness, and guess what height the crockery lives at and in which corner of the kitchen? So Valentine's Day was a write-off. Not unusual. Just as well that I have friends like the love...

Darwin, you rock! Still annoying fundamentalists 200 years after you were born. Way to go man! Keep up the good work :-)

G'day all! This is a dull post. Sorry! Progress is being made against the second sock. I say against because as always, I would prefer to be knitting something else than a second sock. I have to have the second sock done by Friday night. It is very possible, I just have to pull my finger out and *do* it! The hat has not been touched for a day. I've been busy working on Other Stuff (to be shown in a later post). As I said last time, I've been spinning up a storm. This is a sneak peek at my favourite skein. Normally I would not part with such a happy lurid skein of yarn, but I can get more of the top at Stitches West in a couple of weeks :-) I have to put it and others up on my Etsy store. First comes the editing of the pics, then the measuring of the length of each skein and the weighing. I could work out WPI but I usually eyeball the yarn and say what the yarn thickness is. It all takes time, I do so love all the colours that digital cameras have difficulty capt...

G'day all! Well that was one helluva weekend and I hope it isn't repeated EVER! I'm still fussing about the bushfires and we heard some bad news for a friend here. The weekend's events have really knocked us around. No knitting news to speak of - I am halfway up the foot of the second sock, the beret is in the penultimate repeat I think, though maybe I should do more. I've been spinning like a demon - you should see one of the skeins! It is fan-*tastic*. Pity I didn't get any pics whilst it was light (and sunny! Cold but sunny today, showers/rain/showers expected for the rest of the week - oh please! More!). Here's something I thought a bit odd. Last year the cherry-plums along the creek were in flower in late Feb/early March. Here's one enthusiastic early starter just down the road from us and the wild almonds along the creek are really revving their engines. Early spring for us or just extra enthusiasm after a mild, strike that, warm January? a...

Still not a g'day sorta day... Bushfires Back 'Ome are very very very bad. I think there is going to be massive loss of human life, let alone critters both native and not. The bush, well the bush burns and usually regenerates, it's fire adapted (cept the rainforesty bits), but it isn't meant to burn as badly as this. The fires hit so quickly noone had much chance to put their fire plans in place and even those who were well prepared had little chance due to the ferocity. Whole towns just don't exist any more. I feel overwhelmed by the immensity of it all. If you want to see some pics, go here or here . And then if you are in Oz and have any spare cash, please donate to the Salvos or the Red Cross or online to the NAB's bushfire fund, like I did. I haven't linked cos the links are all over the local media. There has been knitting in between fussing over the fires. One sock is finished, the next is started. The sock is a bit big for me even over my ...

and not just in Tallarook. Looks like the bushfire situation is pretty bad around Melbourne. At least 35 dead and a number of small settlements razed, along with a couple of larger ones. Many of the places were ones we liked to visit, like Kinglake and Marysville . We hope the family we know in Kinglake got out in time. Their house and business would have not stood a chance in these fires - they had a forested block and the trees were all eucalypts, which are adapted for burning. They need fire to reproduce, though this is a true wild fire and horribly destructive to tree, man and beast. It is a terrible thing. Thousands are homeless, with not much more than the clothes on their backs. It sounds like quite a number of people got caught short, with the fires hitting quicker and harder than expected. Plus a cool change blew through, which means long narrow NW to SE fires turned and became wide fires pushing SW to NE. There is very little I can do from here and there'd be ve...

Not such a g'day all! It is 46.4C in my home city at present. It feels like 49.8C. That's 115F and feels like 121F in the old scale. Whatever system you use, it is extremely hot for a place with a Feb average of about 25C. Alas our garden of interesting native plants, roses and fruit trees. I am not sure how any of it can survive this heat. Tank water and grey water can't be enough. Hopefully some plants will tough it out. At the same time, it has rained all day here. Not really heavy rain, only about a centimetre since midday, but it is rain which is desperately needed both here and Back 'Ome. We've only had a couple of inches of the 12 or so expected this rain season/winter. So when the going gets tough, the tough get into their sock yarn collection and pick out some yarn and some patterns for the mystery grab bag! Alas I don't have enough smallish bags to stick the yarn and patterns into. Also I don't have every month covered but given I probab...

G'day all! So I was up at Purlescence the other day for their Superbowl sale (25% off most yarns). I came home with the skein of yarn I wanted, Shepherds Wool in umm Misty Blue (the colour he Meret is made from). I had been hoping to get enough to make a sweater out of, even if I had to use multiple colours but their range of colours was smaller than it was three months ago and picking out ones that blended was not as easy as when I first looked. What a shame. It is really nice yarn. Somehow two skeins of Manos and silk in a startlingly rich magenta-ish purple came home too. Bad bad Purlescence not only had 25% off most yarns, they also had boxes full of 40% off yarns! Bad bad bad me could not resist pawing through the boxes. They had some really nice stuff. RYC wool silk - like buttah! I drooled over it. Zitron Nimbus. Mmmmmm. Organic cottons. Other stuff. But I couldn't go past the Rowan pure wool four ply. In baby pink. (Pic is a tad bluer than reality.) Baby pink...