So package one, from my friend Miss J, arrived last week (love an extended birthday week!). Some squishy soft Patonyle yarn in a really interesting grey colour - sometimes shades or tones of brown, sometimes almost lilac, it's just a really pretty grey. (And isn't the wrapping paper pretty).
And wrapped separately, a wooden shawl pin and unusual clip thing (the black sort of 3 leaf clover shaped thing in top right of picture). I figured it was a sort of shawl clasp thing, to go with the pin. But try all I might, I couldn't work out how to get the pin through two of the holes, so that it would all stay together. So I asked Miss J who laughingly told me the clip thing is a button! I'm such an idiot sometimes!! And I love the card: Make cakes not war!Package two, from the lovely Bells. Yummy sounding tea (Stockholm Blend), a tea scoop (cool!), More Sensational Knitted Socks (check out those stranded ones on the cover. And the faux entrelac ones!), and last of all and most fabulously, a skein of Lisa Souza Sock! in Garnet.
I just couldn't get a good picture of the colour - it's redder than this but also deep and dark. And squooshy and yummy! I had it near my desk all day at work and gave it a little squeeze each time I walked past!
Package three, a big surprise when I got home from work yesterday, from lovely Donni! Red shawl and shoes calendar (am I easy to buy for or what!!) (although, not according to my husband, hmmm, why's that?!)
Yes, I am very lucky.
I first bought the black version from Zara, in London - husby had to go to Belgium for work in late 2001 and one of my good friends was living in London at the time...so off we flew, I stayed in London while husby went to Belgium. Glorious glorious time by myself in London - fab! The shoes weren't particularly expensive but looked great, were very comfortable and I was the recipient of lots of admiring comments about them when I wore them.
About 6 months later, husby had to go to Singapore for work...so another flight and more unimpeded shopping time (after all, that is what Singapore is renowned for!). And yay, I found a Zara in Singapore, with the same shoes, but this time in a yellowy-beige suede (and black again too) - and on sale - so I bought them again - both the suede and the black!
The pair in these pics is the second black pair - the first pair having been worn out last year after 4 years of faithful service.
(sorry for the blurriness - hard to take a picture of the back of your own feet, when wearing heels!) I do love the heels on these and the heel cup with the little open part at the top. Very nice!
First stop, Victoria House Needlecraft at Mittagong. Victoria House used to stock a reasonable amount of Rowan yarn (well, reasonable for a regional craft store, in my opinion!) but seems to have stopped stocking it. I grabbed the last 3 balls of All Seasons Cotton (half price) as well as the latest Jo Sharp Knit (vol 5). A pretty good selection of patterns, but not as good as vols 1, 2 or 3 (but better than 4!).
Next, Wool Addiction in Bowral - this is a fantastic yarn store. I'd almost move to Bowral just so it could be my LYS. It's a house, with 4 rooms of yarn and books and the front room has couches and tea/coffee making supplies - fantastic!! And a fabulous range of yarn. So so tempting. But I was good and only bought some Patonyle (which I heard on Ravelry is being discontinued!!! So there's been a bit of panic buying (including by me...) - I'm going to make mosaic socks from the blue and one ball of the grey, and the other two greys are to go with some I got for my birthday, to make Cookie A's 
Had lunch in Bowral and checked out the other shops, had a quick photo shoot for an FO which will be revealed later this week, then headed back onto the road to Robertson. Stopped at the Old Potato Shed gallery. Has a lot of handcrafted items, including Mollydale handdyed thick and thin spun yarn (no idea what you'd call it) - anyhoo, thought it might make a nice rustic clapotis or other shawly item, so of course bought a couple of those - the colours look a bit muddy in the photo, but are lovely blues, greens and chocolate browns.
Then went to Berry on Sunday - and of course to the yarn store! Sew and Tell has a fabulous range of yarn as well - a lot more than last time I was there. And has fabulous display garments (lots of baby ones especially) which give you the yarn and pattern info - a great selling point. But again, even though I could have bought stacks of yarn, I stuck to their last 2 balls of Patonyle in this colourway, and some reduced price cotton (dishcloths anyone!). And since I am now such an *excellent* sewing person (not!) I bought some fabric as well.
This is a skein of the Wollmeise sock yarn in Rose Red (Rosenrot) 
But a close up on the fabulous colours - probably a little redder and more variations on the red but this isn't bad!
Received from a friend of my mum's, who thought I might like them! 
And since they also came in black, and were less than half price, there was no need to chose between them:
So now I can mix and match - if I chose - which I guess I won't...because that's like, the first step to crazy cat-lady-dom or something.
Now if only this sudden cold snap would clear up, I could wear them..although which colour? Red or black, red or black, red or black?
A $20 voucher from my swap pal - thanks mystery pal!! How wonderful, and such good timing - I'd had a bad week at work last week and so it arrived at just the right time! Ooooh, now what will I get...more sock yarn? Maybe some 8ply merino/silk for another clapotis? Or some merino/silk laceweight? Decisions decisions....
(Yippee!!) I do think 2 repeats is probably enough. I like my socks a little longer (not a fan of knitted ankle socks for myself) so if I'd had enough yarn I probably would have done all the repeats, but I'm happy with this length (I wouldn't go any shorter!)
I was really happy with my picking up of stitches for the gussets - such a neat chain edge on the inside (if I do say so myself!)
And the heel flap and gussets look so good from the outside too.
I've got about half a repeat to go on the foot and then it's the toe! Squeeeeeeeee! Now I just have to decide whether I will do the second sock in the Pom pattern...or if I'll do a complementary sock (am thinking 
But still, an end product which is freestanding:
Fits yarn and sock in progress quite neatly:
And best of all, has a buttonhole:
A buttonhole - an automatic buttonhole! The only thing the buttonhole foot doesn't do is cut the actual hole for the button. OMG I love my sewing machine!!
I know mirror finish silver shoes are going to be "out" in about 5 minutes (if they aren't already) but these were so pretty and shiny and fun and they are just what I needed.
And their upper shape is reminiscent of my lovely 
(attention to detail - very good!)
Best of all, they make me smile when I wear them - I'm wearing them today!
Yep, still in the box. Not even opened. I am a bad bad RoseRed. (And no, I didn't buy it because the box was red. Husby's mother picked it, as she knows her way around a sewing machine). Here's what it's like out of the box:
And more:
Check out the warning on the foot pedal - well duh!
And apolgies now, for those who have seen a sewing machine in the last few years - mum's machine is almost as old as me, so opening this box was pretty much a squeeee moment after squeeeee moment. I mean, look at this:
A little drawer for the accessories - spare bobbins, needles, spool holder, unpicker, screwdriver (!!), cute little cleaning brush and so on.
And this - a flappy lid thing with instructions for filling the bobbin, threading, and the settings for all the fancy stitches.
And this - built in holder for all the different feet - including an automatic buttonholer! OMG, it was all I could do to stop hyperventilating the whole time!!
On the weekend, I found myself with 45 minutes to spare, waiting for my mum to arrive at Central Station, with none of my usual knitting with me. So I jumped in the car and away I went on the emergency project.
I just have to sew it up (using all those ends - is that bad??) and I plan to knit a garter stitch border around it with mitred corners. So who knows how long it will be until I actually finish this (which I started, by the way, in January 2006!!!)
(note: aeroplane not actual size...because otherwise, I'd be the proud owner of the world's largest teapot. Not to mention the world's largest loungeroom...)
Just a bit bigger than the Magic Ball of Luurve!
Such a cute little heel (a bit worse for wear... I really should have the heel thingy replaced) and an almost turned up, slightly elvish toe.
And since of course I always refer to these, in my head anyway, as ballet shoes, my best ballet pose!
Borders just needs to get some new books in...I've run out of things there that I need. At least in the city store. Perhaps I need to find one in the 'burbs.
Now my books and magazines cover a whole shelf of the bookshelf (last year it was about half).
I also have two folders (yes, one is a Buffy folder!) for loose/free patterns - these folders even have tabs and plastic sheets and everything! Now I just have to find the time to sort the loose patterns and folder-ise them...Oh yeah, and knit stuff from all the books!! Hmmm, maybe a new challenge is in order - once 
I had to change from my bamboo dpns to KnitPicks - I needed some pointy grunt to help me with the k2tog tbl parts! Still loving the yarn and loving the pattern - it's just not going to be a quick knit for me - but worth it!
