Yarnivorous

G'day all! If only weekends came with extra weekend! Of course some might argue I have very very very long weekends, that I've had a never ending weekend for the last three years (can you believe it is three years since I last worked full time? I can!). This weekend has been relatively unproductive. I carded up a big bag of fleece to spin. I ironed and ironed and ironed and ironed squares for the quilts I am working on. Oh gods, the ironing! (Technically pressing and sometimes it is pressing!) Very over that part of things. I sewed maybe 20 squares together. I knitted a sleeve of the shop top. I have to tidy up the back and finish the duplicate stitching of the third flower on it. It is almost half done, just as well too cos this is the third week of knitting it and I'm over it. The first of Nathan's birthday socks is done, the toe is complete on the second, now just for the rest of the it 8-) I bought fantastic vegies and stuff at the farmers' market an...

G'day all! Well not so good actually. Two days ago we were cruisin' along. Yesterday an Issue arose at DH's work so he came home after lunch cos it was better to get away than erupt/stew there. Anyway, the Issue might be so bad that we might be going Home somewhat earlier than expected. It is the uncertainty that kills me. (and him.) Plus the knowledge that we have to leave the country within 10 days of the job ending. I am trying to find out if we can re-enter on the visa waiver program or if we have to get a B2 tourist visa (and we have to pre-register too). 10 days is not enough to pack up your life and move on (can't imagine what it is like to be forcibly ousted from your home by war/etc). Before It All Erupted, I was happily engaged in making things like these: A pouch type bag, with gusset! A foldy up bag, secured with velcro. Now with added gusset! A foldy bag of Bad Cats, now with added gusset. I really like this material and the colour (not that colour sh...

G'day all! So over last weekend, not the weekend just gone, I did some fibre-reactive dyeing (in this case tie-dyeing). What fun! I have some tie-dyed towels (!!!), two t-shirts, did one for DH but have to re-do it cos it turned out green not brown after the red washed out of it, etc. They say that I should use hot water and Synthrapol (or in this case Dharma Trading's non-Synthrapol) to wash out any excess/unfixed dye. That means that I have to use hot water in the washing machine. hot water and detergent = FULLING! So I grabbed my ball of Kureyon, looked at the instructions for the little felted bag, decided that they sucked cos I would have to seam the bag and designed my own little baggie instead, all done in the round from the bottom up. So it went in the first load of tie-dyeing (I did two lots - didn't have enough tshirts to dye so I had to buy some "underwear" tees at Tarzhay). (Still don't understand why people get fussed about me buying stuff a...

G'day all! Recently I said I have a new obsession. The obsession has died down a little bit now that I have finished the second item (the first one is awaiting more "yarn"). So what is the obsession? Is this an April Fool's joke or the real deal? OMG. CROCHET! What's the big deal about crochet? I am left handed. I knit right handed. I can't crochet right handed though and my left handed crochet did not work cos I wrapped the stitch the wrong way so it would never catch on the hook. Not long ago I grokked that I was doing it wrong and voila! Thank heavens it is not scrapbooking. I really don't need even more hobby stuff in this place. My new little bag is from the Happy Hooker, the SNB crochet book. It is made with Caron Simply Soft. I had to buy a whole huge skein of yucky acrylic to finish my Cash Iroha top (cos Noro does like to make singles yarns and they do not hold up well in the seaming process). I used about 5m of acrylic from a 280m skei...