My 7 favourite pieces of clothing

Laura tagged me for the 7 weird things meme - as I did this the last time it went around (except it was 6 things then!), and since I've also just done 100 things about me, I thought you may be getting sick of weird things about me! Since Michele asked for a post about your favourite item of clothing (and she's offering a prize - woo hoo!) I thought I'd combine the two, and do my 7 favourite pieces of clothing.

1. My new overcoat

Yes, my search is over! It isn't exactly the coat I imagined (it doesn't have a v-neck, but rather a mandarin style collar, and it's black, not red) but it is shaped beautifully, has nice deep pockets and can be worn as a long jacket or as an overcoat. I'm not really a frill person (it has a frill around the edge) but on this coat, it just works. I've worn it every day this week and I love it, I feel fabulous in it!
Sorry the photo doesn't show the detail as well as it could, it's hard taking pictures at night!

2. My Missoni style cardi

I've always loved the way Missoni puts colours together, and the chevron pattern. This cardi stalked me from the first time I saw it in Karen Millen in London. I loved it then but it was just too expensive. Then a few months later I saw it again in Singapore (I sound like a jetsetter, but not really!!). It was on sale, but still fairly expensive, and I'd already spent a little bit of money on shoes...(funny that!). But when I saw it for the 3rd time, at Westfield Bondi Junction, reduced further, I could resist no longer. It was meant to be!

3. My black flippy skirt

You can't see it too well on the hanger, but this skirt has lovely shaping - hourglass shaping and a little flip at the bottom. It really suits my figure and I always feel good when wearing it (in fact, I'm wearing it today). I have this style of skirt in brown, and also as a dress, and used to have it as a long skirt too (before it shrank, it shrank I say!). I love this style.

4. My silky coat thingy

I'm not sure what to call this exactly, but I usually wear it with a longish black skirt and black top. I feel very late 1920s/early 1930s in this outfit. It is a lovely plummy-brown and I always get lots of compliments when I wear it (always helps to make something a favourite, doesn't it!). You may have noticed - I have a bit of a thing about bell sleeves. I do love them!

5. My Dad's tartan shirt

My dad had 5 or 6 of these sorts of shirts (including one which used to belong to his dad, who died in 1966. Dad stopped being able to fit into that shirt a while back!). When we were at home at Easter, Mum went through the wardrobe with us and we all got a few things. So this is my shirt. It hangs in the wardrobe, on one of Dad's coathangers, and I remember.

6. My favourite skirt

I loved this skirt the moment I saw it - the fabric, the pattern, the colours - all fabulous! And so had to buy it - of course, it went on sale about 3 weeks later but I didn't care. I've worn it to work, on the weekend, to formal events, shopping in London, shopping in Singapore and lastly in Hawaii, where I discovered the back seam had finally given out. So now it sits folded on the chair in my bedroom, waiting for me to take it to my mother-in-law's to see if she can revive it (hence the somewhat wrinkled appearance).

7. My wedding dress and shoes
Because it has to be on the list!
I know this isn't a great shot of the dress (apologies for the weird cropping!), but hey, it was really all about the shoes!

So what are your favourite pieces of clothing? I'd love to know!

Memory Lane

I promised Bells I would post some photos of long ago completed crochet projects, back before I got into knitting again in a big way. I've already told the Rose Red Crochet Story, so won't go into that again.

Just the pics - here is a doily (yes, a doily!!) I made I think in about 2000 or 2001. I have to say, I'm not a big fan of the doily generally speaking, but my mum has always used them. But this one, I love this one. It sits on a round side table we have in our front (or formal) lounge room, which also houses an 1920s chaise longue and grandfather/grandmother chair set, our reproduction federation style fireplace and, one day, the grandfather clock which husby's father made (we just have to get it here somehow!). This doily is about 45cm/18" in diameter and is the biggest one I've made. It is exactly the size of the table (quite coincidentally of course!!)

Close up of the centre (I especially love the spiral!):

And this is a cross-stitch sampler pattern which I converted into filet crochet. As is traditional with samplers, it has my initials and the year of completion (well, actually I think I completed this in 2001, but since I worked it from the bottom up, I had to guestimate how long it would take!

I haven't sewn the ends in yet (my least favourite task) but the plan for this is to frame it and hang it probably in our bedroom. One day.

I may have purchased some yarn...

No doubt you all know (well, all Sydneysiders and perhaps most other Australian knitters) that Tapestry Craft is on sale! (well, the yarny stuff, not the shop itself). Hurrah! Minimum 20% off everything! Woo hoo!

So my mum is staying with me for a couple of days and so on the pretext that she was sure to want to buy something, I took her in on Saturday. I have never seen so many people in the shop!

And it would just be plain rude of me to leave empty handed. So here is some of the yarny goodness (some excluded on the basis that is for gifts for people who read the blog!). Some orange Jo Sharp Alpaca Kid Lustre for a scarf for me which I've been lusting after - I just love this colour. And some new yarn called Sublime - it is an aran weight merino cashmere silk blend - just sooooo soft - for a cabled scarf for me (clearly I have two necks. Both of them cold). And some Cleckheaton faux Noro called Vintage Hues - I'll feel much better felting this cheaper version (for a booga style bag) than the real thing (as long as it works the same as the Noro...)

So the options for the orange scarf - Backyard Leaves from Scarf Style or Branching out from Knitty - what do you think? And for the cream, I thinking about Here and There cables one from Scarf Style and perhaps something like the Irish Hiking Scarf - votes on both please!

And don't mention Knit from your Stash - well, I did allow 2 falling off the wagon incidents, I guess this counts as one!!

Lacing along

I've finally made enough progress on mum's shawl (Alpine Lace, from Victorian Lace Today) to post a picture or two. I'm really pleased with how this is going so far, although I feel slightly crazy for choosing an all lace pattern for my first real lace, along with a mohair blend yarn. Fortunately, the fuzziness of the mohair blend yarn tends to hide the small mistakes I've made so far...cos I'm not ripping this sucker back for nothing! Thank goodness for stitch markers (and makers of said markers, Donni and Nora!)

Bells and I were talking (well, emailing) lace yesterday and in particular the Kiri shawl which the designer, Polly, suggests can be done in 24 hours. If you are lace knitting freak perhaps!!! I did 4 rows of the shawl last night and it took me about 50 minutes, with no tv or other distractions, for fear I'll stuff up big time on the pattern. There's 121 stitches per row, so that's 484 stitches in 50 minutes, so that's about 9-1/2 stitches per minute. Now, there's 424 rows in this pattern (well, clearly based on my calculating ability, there could be more, or less, but anyway), so 424 x 121 = 51,304 stitches. Oh, and you have to increase on the middle pattern so that's another, say 296 x 4 = 1,184 stitches, so all up, let's say 52,500 stitches. At 9-1/2 stitches per minute, that's 5,525 minutes, or 92 hours. (Oof, my brain hurts...) So, at the rate of about 2 hours per week (cos, you know, I can't go without telly for too long!!) I'll get this finished, hmmm, sometime NEVER perhaps!!

Perhaps it's a good idea not to worry too much about this kind of maths!!! I am loving knitting this though - I do a little mental happy dance when I reach each marker with the right number of stitches and the pattern correct!! And then on every 8th row, I do a huge mental happy dance because it's a purl row. A plain old purl row. Who would have thunk that I'd actually enjoy doing a purl row!

RR: Domestic Goddess

New cooking post here now!!

A snail mail tale

You might recall my post a couple of weeks ago lamenting the non-arrival of various letters I was waiting on as a result of the otherwise excellen Knitterly Letter Swap organised by Domesticat. I must have been doing something right because not only have I now received 3 letters but also a number of packages (which may have contained yarn - shhh don't mention knit from your stash - it was pretty much all exception yarn, honest!!).

My original letter buddy, Michele, first sent me a letter and package with chocolate (by the way, check out her blog - she's only been blogging for a little while, and has made a great Rowan denim zip up cardi). She left a comment on the blog to let me know it would be arriving in about 2 weeks (it was coming from Canada you see). Two weeks went by and I was waiting patiently. I thought maybe she would be worried that I wasn't going to respond (as there were a few drop outs in this swap - why does this happen? Anyway, I digress). So I got her details from Domesticat and emailed. Well, that package still hasn't arrived - we expect that a customs officer or mailperson somewhere might be enjoying the chocolate (lindt chocolate no less!). But Michele sent another letter, and some fab-o buttons, and this arrived yesterday!

Hurrah! My faith in the mail almost restored. Fully restored if the first letter with the chocolate arrives...Hope is a virtue right?!

Little Cables Hat - now in Adult size!

Claudine has posted the adult size pattern which I wrote for her little cables beanie (using her baby size as the base). If you come across any problems with the adult pattern, please let me or Claudine know!

Here is my adult size next to the baby one, and below is husby modelling it. This is a very easy knit with just a bit of interest in the cables, hope you enjoy it!

And since husby chipped me for not mentioning in my list of 100 things that I loved him (I did tell him it was supposed to be a list of things I hadn't already said on the blog), this one's for him - I love you husby!!

We have a winner!

Well, two actually, on two fronts:

First, my 200th post prize winner...Laura! Laura was the lucky last commenter whose name came out of the hat first! Laura, if you can email me your details to roseredshoes AT yahoo DOT com DOT au a little package will be winging its way to you soon.

Second, my sockapalooza sock. Looking for gauge of 18st x 28 rows to 2 inches/5 cm, I swatched on the teeny tiny 2mm toothpick sticks and got 20st x 28 rows, and a really tight fabric, which I didn't much care for. So I tried the 2.25mm sticks and got 19st x 26 rows. I thought I'd better wash them just to be sure. So the 2mm swatch ended up at 19st x 30 rows and 2.25 perfect at 18st x 28 rows - hurrah! The smallest sticks I've used previously were 2.5mm, so will be interesting to see how I go on the 2.25s!

Here's how they look (2mm swatch on the left) - unfortunately, I could not get a good picture to show the colours of the yarn, which really does knit up bee-yootifully - mainly blues but some purples and even dusty pink (which really is the only pink I can tolerate) and not as dark as this picture shows. I think it will go with the pattern really well (hope so anyway!).

More than you ever wanted to know...

It's my 200th post! Weeeeeeeeeee! To celebrate, here's my 100 things, pinched off Donni. You might like to grab a coffee or perhaps a little alcoholic beverage to take the edge off whilst reading!

1. I dislike fresh tomatoes (which is somewhat ironic given they are red)
2. I do, however, love tomato flavoured pasta, pizza, tomato paste, tomato relish etc
3. I have the Sydney Morning Herald delivered every day of the week
4. I rarely actually read the paper apart from the front and back page.
5. But I always do the SMH sudoku puzzle, even the Saturday samurai sudoku
6. It usually only takes me 10 minutes to fill out my tax return.
7. But I never send it in on time
8. For the last financial year, I only submitted it at the end of April this year.
9. Fortunately I got a small refund
10. I still have last year's refund cheque (also small) sitting on my desk. I think it might be out of date now.
11. I procrastinate over everything. Even 10 minute tasks. Even where there is a legal obligation involved.
12. Fortunately, this habit has not gotten me in serious trouble … yet.
13. I'm pretty snobby when it comes to books (and yarn. And shoes).
14. I dislike chick lit but I will occasionally read it.
15. The book I've most recommended to others or bought as a gift is Captain Corelli's Mandolin (go on buy it, you'll love it, especially after the first 100 pages!)
16. The 2 hours I spent watching the movie of Captain Corelli's Mandolin are 2 hours I could have been knitting. Or even cleaning the house.
17. I hate cleaning the house
18. I like knitting. Ok, I know you know that. I think that I like knitting so much because it is a form of procrastination that is actually productive, so I don't feel guilty doing it, instead of, say, cleaning the house.
19. I like the idea of a garden but I don't really like gardening.
20. Especially weeding.
21. I don't mind pruning but I don't really know what I'm doing. I just hack away and hope I won't kill whatever it is I'm hacking at. Mostly, I'm lucky.
22. I have, however, killed a number of cactus and similar plants. To this day, I don't know how. I'd say from overwatering, but then again, I usually leave watering until the plants are drooping to the ground with thirst (see point 11).
23. I am excellent at packing a suitcase.
24. I am, of course, absolutely hopeless at packing light, so it's lucky I can pack well. Look, you never know what the weather's going to be like!
25. I've got a fair amount of common sense and practicality. One day I will design the perfect handbag with the right amount of open and zip pockets and key fobs etc and I will be rich, rich beyond my wildest dreams I say!
26. I plan big but generally achieve small.
27. Luckily I'm pretty happy with what I've got.
28. I have an excellent husband. He is very patient and good at housework and washing up, and mowing the lawn and ironing.
29. I don't like to iron, so I only buy clothes I don't have to iron (well, mostly).
30. I do buy clothes that, mostly, suit my body shape (curvy, everywhere).
31. While I don't necessary like what they personally wear from time to time, I have learnt a lot from Trinny and Susannah.
32. I work in an office but don't dress corporate suit-ish.
33. I don't own a suit.
34. I've worked for the same employer all of my adult working life (since just before I finished university).
35. I used to be a lawyer. I'm not any more (see point 11 – not a great skill to have as a lawyer!). Now I work in human resources.
36. I have long service leave (woo hoo!)
37. The idea of taking a month of my long service leave to sit at home and knit is extremely tempting.
38. I like watching reality TV. Well, not all of it, but you know, the good stuff.
39. I don't really want to be on reality TV.
40. If I was on reality TV, it would most likely be on the Fat Show (aka The Biggest Loser).
41. I suspect I would not, in fact, be The Biggest Loser.
42. I don't mind being curvy. I don't have body image issues. Except sometimes when I go shopping and don't fit into the clothes I like. But I get over it pretty quick. Usually while I'm eating chocolate.
43. I always read the end of a book first (well, after I've read the first couple of chapters at least).
44. I also read ahead on the internet about my favourite US TV shows.
45. Notwithstanding this, I love surprises.
46. I was pulling an all-nighter, writing an essay, when it was announced that Syd-er-ney had won the right to host the Olympics.
47. I always wrote my uni essays the night before they were due (see point 11 – anyone noticing a pattern here…)
48. I still achieved reasonably good marks. I probably would have done a whole lot better if I actually spent a bit more time drafting and redrafting rather than bashing it out in 12 hours straight with no sleep.
49. I like sleep.
50. I like sleeping in.
51. Lately, I've been waking up quite early on the weekends (which is clearly very unusual for me).
52. I quite like getting up early, having a coffee and knitting in the quiet of the morning, while husby is still sleeping.
53. I also find this a good time to watch my Buffy's.
54. I've watched my Buffy's (seasons 1 -7) several times each. I'm about to start again (I recently found a Buffy KAL!)
55. We have Foxtel. Since we got Foxtel, we have not hired a DVD. We have, however, watched almost every episode of Will and Grace at least once, as well as almost every episode of M*A*S*H. Time well spent?
56. I've been married for 7 years.
57. Before we got married, we'd been together for 7 years.
58. I wore red shoes (well, sandals actually) to my wedding.
59. I wanted to wear a red dress but husby said he wouldn't marry me if I walked up the aisle in a red dress. He's quite the traditionalist about some things.
60. It's probably lucky, because I think I would have looked a bit like a strawberry.
61. I don't like strawberries very much (again with the irony).
62. I will eat them though with pavlova, or chocolate cake.
63. I make an excellent pavlova.
64. I also make an excellent roast dinner. So does my mum. And so did my dad.
65. I miss my dad.
66. A lot.
67. Sometimes I can feel myself starting to cry about my dad at most inopportune times.
68. I cry more now than I used to in general. I always cry if I watch the Anzac Day march on TV.
69. I don't usually watch it because I get too sad.
70. I remember watching the movie Gallipoli for the first time with a friend who'd seen it already. She started crying before the really bad, sad, bit at the end. Of course, I cried too.
71. I also cry when watching RPA. I don't watch it much anymore either.
72. Sitting in the hospital with my dad was what really got me back into knitting.
73. I think hospitals should have yarn and sticks and how to knit books in the emergency department. It's good therapy.
74. I know you all know that.
75. I always wish I was funnier. Or even funny, that'd be good.
76. I feel my list of 100 things meme is not as funny as others I've read. Oh well. Better to admire the talents of others than feel jealous.
77. I find it annoying of myself when I use those kinds of platitudes.
78. I can't help doing it though.
79. I asked for a Macquarie Dictionary for Christmas one year, when I was still at High School.
80. I just used it to look up "platitude" to make sure I was using it correctly.
81. I am a bit paranoid about using "fancy" words incorrectly. Perhaps I didn't use the right word in #77.
82. One of my best friends at school and I both did the same subjects for the HSC.
83. We both ended up with the same mark (back in the dark ages when the HSC was still marked out of 500). We didn't get the same marks in our subjects though.
84. We were Dux of our High School. It was a small school.
85. I used to get teased, a little, about being "smart" (it's all relative!!) and reading the dictionary.
86. I don't care and I didn't back then either.
87. Sometimes I can be self-righteous, and too quick to judge.
88. I am details oriented and don't always see the "big picture"
89. I believe pretty strongly in fate (in the grand scheme of things) and karma, but I also believe that you can change things if you try.
90. I crack my knuckles all the time. I hope this does not give me arthritis. I would hate to have arthritis if it meant I couldn't knit.
91. I used to be able to poke my shoulder blades out at a ridiculous angle. The somewhat thicker layer of fat covering them now means it is far less spectacular.
92. I used to have an outie. Now it's an innie. I miss my outie. (and no, I don't know how that happened!)
93. I had the hugest crush on a boy who I went to school with, all through high school. Then I ended up sort of seeing his older brother. I'm still just a little in love with him (the one in my class, not his older brother).
94. I learnt how to fold a fitted sheet from Home Beautiful magazine. I am immensely proud of this every time I fold one.
95. Of course, I mostly wash the sheets and put them back on the bed the same day (once they've dried, clearly) to avoid the whole folding thing in the first place.
96. I'd like my house to be as clean and tidy as my mother-in-law's all the time. Of course, I am too lazy (and addicted to knitting) for this to ever be the case.
97. I'm really struggling to get to 100, so I've referred to a couple of others for inspiration.
98. I tend to do that a lot. I rarely have an original thought, but am quite good at running with ideas and coming up with variations once I've got a suggestion or a seed of an idea.
99. I like to laugh. A lot.
100. I consider myself a feminist. Even though, these days, it seems like feminism is the new "F" word. I'm not sure why this is so.

Now for the second part of this celebration - if you made it this far, you clearly deserve a prize. All commenters will go into a draw for a little something something which may or may not (ok, it clearly will) be knitting related. Quite possibly sock yarn. A most delicious sock yarn.

Sockapalooza!

It's sockapalooza4 time!

I've been in touch anonymously with my sock pal, who lives overseas, I've selected the pattern - Traveler's Stockings, from Knitting on the Road - and the yarn - some nice Australian merino cashmere sock yarn from Daphne at The Knittery, in Water Lilies (gotta put our yarn out there!). Now I just have to get knitting...after I finish the two pairs of socks already on the sticks! I'll even do a swatch and all for these socks! Fingers crossed I will be able to go up at least one size from the US 0's (or 2mm in our knittalk). Hate knitting with the toothpicks!

I tried to pick a colourway my pal would like, but which wouldn't obscure the pattern too much - hope this yarn does the trick!

Oh, and if my sockpal is lurking out there, I'd love to hear from you!

The power of the web

Some random items which all have a link to the power (or not) of the web (not in a spiderman kinda way, but a connection kinda way).

Last week, I posted about the mail (or lack thereof) and immediately I got a letter! Then I posted about the lack of suitable coats and immediately...I still could not find a perfect coat - but I'm a bit closer in my quest! (as Amy suggested in the comments, this is clearly a power to be used judiciously, not wantonly!). But I did get another letter (thanks Melissa!)

Then I met up with Bells - to answer some questions in the comments from yesterday - Yes, JT is still HOT (Bells can verify, as I actually haven't seen him for years) and we discovered this mutual crush when we were talking about where I lived before I moved to Sydney (not sure what you were thinking r'nee!!):

Me: "I'm from X"

Bells: "OMG did you know JT"

Me: "YES!! I went to school with him"

Bells: "Oh I met him at Easter Camp and I had the biggest crush on him"

Me: "I had just a little crush on him too"

Both: HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (not in a maniacal way!)

Finally, some knitting - these socks - without the web, I would not have the fab-o Jaywalker pattern (in Lorna's Laces Black Purl), or know about the wonders of Trekking XXL - love how these simple ribbed socks are looking - the colour repeats are not repeats at all. And my first eye of partridge heel there on the Trekking sock - looks better in the picture than in person!

(sorry about the shadows, had to take this picture in full sun to get the colours to show true - I need to fiddle around with my camera settings as Jeanne has recommended!) Now if only they were a matching pair - I'd have another FO!

It really is a small world...

I met Bells on Saturday for the first time. Over the email, and our blogs, we've already discovered many similarities or common interests between us. We discovered one more on Saturday, which I'm still giggling about.

We both had just a little (well, maybe a big) crush on the same guy, JT, when we were teenagers. And we don't mean some unobtainable rock/movie star guy (JT is not Justin Timberlake!!), but an actual real guy that we both knew! I went to school with him all through high school, while Bells met him at an Easter camp (and still sees him around Canberra from time to time!) Heh!

Maybe it will work a second time...

Something weird is going on...after my post yesterday noting the absence of any expected letters for some time I arrived home last night to find - a letter! Yay! A letter! Thanks Diana!

So, with the whole, "if I post about the absence of something, it will turn up very soon after" theory, I'm going to note the absence of good winter coats in the shops this year. I know Sydney has a fairly mild winter climate but we still need a coat now and then, we still travel. We go to the Blue Mountains - it's cold there! Some of us (clearly not me) go to the snow - it's cold there too! So why can't I find a decent winter coat?

Perhaps I'm setting my expectations too high - I'd like a classic coat, shaped at the waist, single breasted, v-collar, smallish lapels, buttons down the front, and nice deep pockets. Preferably in a colour, not black, ideally red but I'd go for green or purple or even a muted pattern, and in normal coat fabric, like a nice soft wool or even a wool blend.

Instead, I find shapeless coats which I assume are meant to be belted (if you don't want to look like a blueberry and/or pregnant), with huge buttons, no pockets, made of shiny fabric and with round high necks or double breasted. I'm already double breasted, I don't need any extra bulk in that area, thanks very much!

Or, I find the perfect coat, in houndstooth (can't get more classic than that, although I have to say, it wouldn't have been my first choice in pattern) but of course, they only make it up to a size 12. A SIZE 12!! At times like that, I am reminded of a post I read a while back, I think on A Dress A Day (but not sure - but it's a cool blog, check it out!) where she suggested that in situations like these, the best response is to hand a little printed card to the shop assistant saying something along the lines of "You would be looking at my credit card instead of this card if you made clothes in my size!"

If my theory is correct, I will find the perfect coat this afternoon, or possibly tomorrow...fingers crossed (oh, and if anyone has found my perfect coat out there, feel free to pass on the details!)

Am I in an alternate universe?

When I checked my mailbox last night, I wondered if I was in an alternate universe, one where the latest edition of Interweave Knits arrives perfectly on time from the US (but has, for me at least, less than inspiring patterns), and where a letter posted from Canada almost 3 weeks ago still hasn't arrived...nor have 2 letters from the US, posted about a week ago.

Is the universe conspiring against me? Have I somehow offended the gods of karma?

In an effort to try and regain whatever karma points I seem to have lost, I present you with a little hint of good things to come...

Yes, an adult sized little cables hat (sorry about the colour..."vintage" stash yarn in "electric blue" for this one...maybe that's why my letters haven't arrived - I'm being punished for the electric blue!!). I just have to fiddle a little more with the pattern (you can't tell from the picture but it is a little big) - you won't have to wait much longer!

CWS

Had our regular chicks with sticks meeting at Miss E's house on the weekend - she has a great place very close to the city but so little traffic or other noise - and water glimpses! She is v. lucky!

Here she is knitting away on her second little slipper, which is almost finished, and in the most gorgeous shade of red you can find! Doesn't she look like an expert knitter! She's only been knitting for a couple of months!

KT, still slogging along on the red cushion cover - she's in the moss (seed) stitch bit - urk! But so close KT, so close - you can do it! (oh, action shot blurriness going on there!)

Miss D, rib rib ribbing along on her second ribbed beanie - first one for her husband, and had to have one for herself, in the most divinely soft green Jo Sharp DK tweed which will look fabulous on her. Doesn't she have a nice profile!

And KO, not knitting this week, but reading cv's. We all work in HR, so it's a lot of fun to get together and compare notes - not only about our knitting, but work and life and all.

Finally, Rexyroodles - keeping a close watch on any bird or insect life that might be a good catch. Also partial to yarn and shoe straps, which, Miss E has discovered, can be eaten whole!

I made these to take along - and they were gooooood! After all the food we ate on Saturday, I don't think any of us had anything for dinner! Thanks Miss E for hosting!

Personalised labels

By popular demand...details for the personalised labels.

These are from Cash's, the great Australian company - where my mum got labels from for my brothers and I when we were kids (so they've been around a loooong time!) (click on the nametapes link on the left hand side of their page). You can even get AFL branded labels and shoe labels! I think the label is a nice touch for gifted knitting or other handmade items. I'm just crap at sewing them on!!

Cosmo's cardi

Don't you love how quick baby cardi's knit up? Especially garter stitch all in one piece baby cardi's like this one, for my friend Leaha. She is due to have her 3rd baby in a couple of weeks and so I thought I'd better get cracking and make something quick. This fit the bill perfectly! She said it would be baby's coming home from hospital cardi! Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Details:
Pattern: Garter stitch cardigan from Erika Knight's Simple Knits for Cherished Babies (a recurring favourite of mine!). Very easy construction - knit up the back, cast on for the arms, knit to the neck then knit the rest of each arm and front separately (eg left first, then right). Pick up stitches along the sleeve edge for decoration (although I made mine a little longer than specified, as the sleeves are only 3/4 length, and I wanted to make them a bit longer) and then sew up and pick up buttonband all the way around the front and neck edges. On reflection, the top button is probably a little high.
Yarn: I used the recommended yarn, as I had some in stash (woohoo stash reduction!). Rowan wool cotton, 3 x50g balls (probably about 2-3/4 for the middle size), shade 948 poster blue.
Sticks: I actually used the recommended size on this one! I even swatched! 3.75mm for the cast on edges and sleeve/buttonband, 4mm for the body.
Time: 24 April 2007 - 2 May 2007 (with the knitting actually finished on 30 April - as usual I did a full wash/wet block and it took forever to dry!)

*my label - why - because I can!

What I learnt: That flashing your new baby cardi to a work colleague who is also a new grandma is the perfect way to get rid of more stash yarn (she loved the colour and since I had a few more balls of the yarn I offered them to her - hurrah, more stash reduction!)

The story of our (yarny) lives

Heh! (although really, is there ever true sickness and guilt after a yarn purchase...!!)
(by Edward Monkton)
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Shazmina Bendi asked how easy it would be to convert the little cables hats to adult size - with Claudine's permission, I am giving it a go right now - we'll post the pattern (provided it works!) on Claudine's blog.

Little cables beanies

When I saw this pattern on Claudine's blog, I just had to give it a go.

And they are so quick and easy to make that I couldn't stop at one.

With a bunch of family and friends having babies this year, I think these are the perfect little gift. I'm planning on making a few more to put in my gifts cupboard. The green one has been gifted, along with the felted box and bib o'love, to a very appreciative friend who also knits, but with baby #2 almost due and baby #1 still quite young, plus with work and you know, life, doesn't find much time to knit at the moment.

Details:

Pattern: Little Cables Hat by Claudine from Knitting Box - the little cables add a bit of interest to the hat but are still very easy to do. It's her first written up pattern and it is great - very easy to follow, nice crown shaping - thanks Claudine for sharing!
Yarn: cream hat is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino col 34005 - about 30-40g; green one is Rowan Cotton Glace col 812 Ivy. Both from stash (yay!) but not really stashbusters because they use so little yarn - unless I make about 20 of them!

Sticks: I knit a little tight, so used 3.5mm Addi dpns

Time: 2 days each - although if you had a whole day to yourself you could easily do one in a day.
What I learnt: You can never have too many little baby hats to give as gifts, or to charity - quick and easy!

Where I live

A week or so ago, Bells invited us to share pictures of where we live - not our house as such (although no reason not to) but more of your suburb or neighbourhood.

I finally got some great weather on Sunday morning, so went for a bit of a walk.

First up though, my tibouchina tree in my front yard - it is a little past it's flowering prime, the purple flowers are fading a little, but it is a lovely colourful tree to have in the garden. Each year we get a little handwritten note in our mailbox from one of our neighbours (we don't know who) advising us it is time to prune the tibouchina so that it flowers well next year!

I realised when I was thinking about where I would walk to take pictures that we are surrounded by parks (big and small) in my suburb. This one is almost diagonally opposite my house - apparently it used to be a brick pit and lots of the houses in the suburb were built with bricks from the pit (in the 1930s).

This one is around the corner - I suspect it might once have been a brick pit too, as it is sort of stuck in the middle of the road.

Further up the same road as park #2 is this one, which is really a soccer field, where little kids play on Saturdays, and sometimes adults on Sundays - we can hear the crowd noise from our house! Once I saw a couple of guys flying huge kites here - they had a dog which had great fun chasing the kite shadows (and sometimes the kites themselves, when they dipped a bit low).
Opposite park #3 is this - the view from the rather imaginatively named Bay Walk - an 8km round trip which I have to admit, I rarely do.
Park #4 - a little one that juts into the bay. Can get a little windy but on a calm day is a lovely day for a picnic. And you can watch the kids in their little boat thingys (have no idea about boats) scudding around the bay (you can just see the red and green sails in the bay photo above) and if you are early, or late enough, the rowers.
More bay shots - I'm often surprised by the number of boats moored here.

Park #5 - this is a biggie - lots of open space, room for soccer or touch footy, as you can see, plus a kid's play area, softball cages and, during the week, a popular spot for personal training sessions (clearly, not mine!!). We watched the new year's eve fireworks from here one year - it was very nice - not packed with people, and a pretty good view, and best of all, a 5 minute walk from home!
One thing I particularly love about Sydney is how you can be driving or walking along, almost anywhere, and seemingly out of nowhere, up pops the Harbour Bridge. This one is on the street where parks 2 and 3 are:
This one is up the road from park #5 (and #6, which I didn't take a picture of, but which has a rotunda and a skateboard ramp!). Added bonus in this photo is a learner driver - we get a lot of these in the suburb as it has lots of quiet streets perfect for driving s-l-o-w-l-y along, indicating to turn way too early and practising reverse parking!
And again, popping up behind the trees on the bay walk (it's there, honest, to the right of the red sailboat on the right!).
And photos of where I live in Sydney would be incompleted without one of these:
Yes, we live below the flight path...not directly, we are fairly lucky actually in that we don't get too much plane noise, just now and then.

So where do YOU live?