I read a book!

I read a book this month! Yes, that makes 2 whole books for 2011 (so far!). Heh!

(I am in the process of reading others though...)

It was this one:

Yes, a knitting book. But not just any knitting book, this one (a lovely christmas gift from Bells) is more like a ramble through Elizabeth Zimmerman's crazy amazing knitting mind, her fishing and other adventures with her "Old Man" and a bunch of pithy patterns for various knitterly goodness.

I already had the little green paperback edition of the Knitter's Almanac, but had never really read it, apart from bits of the February chapter, with the famed February Baby Sweater. But this edition, the commemorative edition, is a hardback with lovely colour photos of the patterns, along with the also-famous February Lady Sweater, and a lovely introduction from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, who found a knitting soul-mate in EZ and this book in particular.

I'm really glad I've now read it all, not least because it's really entertaining. I can only aspire to the level of creativity (or unventing) of EZ, but at least I can knit her patterns. I especially like the blanket in the April chapter - it looks great knitted up in Noro (I assume) - and has such a clever construction.

I think it's a book every knitter should own, and I'd recommend the fancy version, even if you've already got the paperback!

F-f-f-f-frankensocks!

Remember my Week of Wollmeise? Way way back in September 2009? Well, I've finally finished one of those projects! (and I have been knitting on a few of the others too). Yay for Binding Off 2011!

Meet husby's Frankensocks:

So called because they are a hodge-podge of patterns and because, well, they are a bit ugly. Not quite what I had in my head when I was planning them. But husby likes them, which is all that matters in the end. And I learnt a few new things too, which is always a good thing.

Pattern(s): I used the Latvian twist cast on for the top of the sock, from Nancy Bush's Canada sock from Knitting on the Road. Very easy! The downside - makes a bunch of extra ends to weave in!

Then a standard ribbed cuff. Next I used the chart from the Christmas in Tallinn stocking, from the same book. It worked over 72 stitches, and was a nice simple snowflake pattern. It wasn't very clear on the first sock, so I reversed the colours on the second one (top sock in photo below), and you can see the snowflakes much better.

The rest of the sock is regular stocking stitch, with a slip stitch heel flap and a wedge toe.

Yarn: Wollmeise of course! Wollmeise Twin, in Birkenrinde and Dunkle Kirsch for the contrast toe, twist cuff and fair isle section. I really really enjoyed knitting with this yarn and hope it wears well. Since husby is the first in our family to have Wollmeise socks!

Sticks: I used 2.75mm dpns for the cuff, 2.5mm dpns for the fair isle chart and the next few rows, and then 2.25mm dpns for the rest of the sock. You can see that the yarn flashes on the larger needles, but once I switched to the smallest sticks, the yarn started to behave quite nicely, and striped. I decided to use the needle changes to add shaping, rather than mess around with decreases as well as the fair isle band.

Time: 7 September 2009 - 31 January 2011. Although they were in hibernation from the end of 2009 until around December 2010. And with a bit of attention, the second sock took less than a month, weeeeeeee!

What I learnt: Latvian twist cast on! That highly variegated yarns don't really work in fair isle! How changing stick size affects tension and the way variegated yarns behave! (well, I did pretty much know that already, but this is a really good demonstration).

I'm so pleased to have these off the sticks!

I miss my Dad

Today is the fifth anniversary of my Dad's death. And Connor's 9 mo "birthday".

A couple of Christmases ago, my mum gave us a photo album filled with photos of my Dad, along with some of my (very embarrassing) childhood Father's Day art and other memorabilia. She did one for each of my brothers and herself as well, a big undertaking given none of the photos were in digital form. Some of these, like his baby and childhood photos, I'd never seen before.

I got the album out today and lit a candle and picked some rosemary for my Dad. And I showed Connor the pictures and told him how much his Pa would have loved him, does love him.

I'm going to make this an annual event. And will do it for Husby's father too, who died 12 years ago this January gone. I grew up without most of my grandparents and know little about them. I want to ensure that even though Connor won't ever have a Pa or a Poppy that he will feel like he knows them anyway.

I miss my Dad.

Anniversary Socks

Now that it has been received, I can finally post about a little something something I made for the winner of my 2009 (!!) blogthday competition! (I know, I know, but I explained all to the recipient Sarah in advance!)

Details

Pattern: Anniversary Socks by Nancy Bush, from Interweave's 25 Favourite Socks book. I'm a big fan of socks with patterning on only the front or back (especially for magic looping) and of course being a prize for my blog anniversary, I thought this pattern especially fitting.

I really like how the small cable flows from the ribbing all the way down the leg and foot of the sock. I also like the combination of the cable and lace patterning. And the eye of partridge heel. Looks so good in this yarn (hmmm, better than in the picture!)

Yarn: Wollemeise Twin (80/20) in Dunkle Kirsch, about 85gm I think. I forgot to weigh the socks! These are the first socks I've knit (and finished) in the Wollemeise and gosh it is lovely stuff. Love knitting with it, love the stitch definition, love the finished product. It is a tad splitty, but I've found one of the benefits of being a slow knitter is that this isn't so much of an issue!

Sticks: 2.5mm KnitPicks Harmony fixed circulars.

Time: 31 August 2009 (yes, the day before my Week of Wollmeise!) - 11 December 2010 (um, it took me a while to block and post them to Sarah - my excuse was I wanted to avoid posting during the christmas rush!). I had a bit of a break in the middle there due to my pregnancy induced Wollmeise aversion - luckily for me, Sarah was very understanding of the delays!

StashDownUnder - January Total

So I signed up for StashDownUnder this year, with the aim of using 5 balls of yarn each month this year. And not buy any. Or at the very least, come out stash negative for the entire year. I'm not sure I can actually go a whole year without buying any yarn at all ... so I'm not going to make a promise I'm pretty sure I can't keep.

But I am pleased to report that I did not buy any yarn this month! So going well so far!

I'm going to run my StashDown totals in 3 ways - just because I kinda like details which are meaningless but interesting. Interesting to me, anyway! First off, I'll do it how I always have, just by number of actual balls used. Then I'll do it by converting to 8ply equivalent (4ply is double, laceweight is quadruple, worsted/aran is 0.75 etc) (but I'll only do that for the yarn knit, not the yarn given away/destashed). And finally, by metres used! (Got to keep my maths brain working somehow...)

January 2010

Actual balls used (including yarn given away): 10 x 50g (5 knit, 5 gifted)

8ply equivalent: 12 x 50g (7 balls knit, 5 gifted)

Metres used: 1399m (709m knit, 690m gifted)

Yay, on track!

************************************

In other news, I wanted to acknowledge a lovely gift I received last week. One of my blog buddies, Michele, has knit a fab-o cardigan for Connor. Not only knit it, but she indigo dyed the yarn herself as well.

It's a Norah Gaughan pattern, and it's so very cool. I can't wait until it fits Connor (I kind of wish I was a lot smaller and skinnier so I could wear it in the meantime! heh!)

Thanks so much Michele!

What could be more Australian?

What could be more Australian than this:

(hope you can tell what it is...!!)

I had a bunch of the best knitters over this afternoon, and as it also happens to be Australia Day today, I thought a pavlova was in order. And fairy bread. And lamingtons. And tim tams. Iced vo-vos. Passiona (almost everyone had some passiona!). Scones with jam and cream. And because Australia is a multicultural country, portuguese tarts. And PB&J sandwiches. Rice crispy treats. And snickerdoodles! Oh, and chocolate tart, just because we can.

I do often think about how glad I am to be Australian. I'm not going to bang on about it, as I'm not particularly overtly patriotic, but I'm so very glad I am a citizen of a country which has universal health care, generous (albeit unpaid) parental leave, paid parental leave as well (finally!), an actual legally enforced minimum wage which a person can (just) live on, a female Prime Minister and female Premiers in 3 of the 6 states as well as a female Governor-General, not to mention great weather, beautiful beaches and countryside and a general laid back attitude. I'm sure I've missed a lot of other worthy stuff, so feel free to add anything else you love about Australia in the comments, my Australian friends!

We're not perfect, as a people or a country, but I really am so very glad that I was born here. And not just because pavlova is one of our national dishes (never mind it's probably from New Zealand...)

I shall call him Mini-me

I promised to make a mini version of husby's cardi and I always keep my promises (well mostly...). When the opportunity arose to test knit a pattern for Celia which was a pretty close match, I thought well why not! And even better, it is top down and seamless!

Details

Pattern: Alex Jacket by Celia Ng - this is a great kids pattern - not only top down and seamless but has a range of options for you to mix and match - I did the collared version with ribbing at the sides and on the cuffs and bands, but you can do no collar, or a hood, or cables (where the raglan "seams" are), or garter edging or moss stitch edging. And it comes in sizes from 12mo to 8yo. I will be sure to knit this one again, probably every year until it no longer fits Connor!

I really like the raglan increases - the pattern has you do a yo increase and then purl it through the back loop on the way back, to close the hole. I wasn't sure it would work, but it did! I'm really glad I trusted the pattern, because I learnt something! Yay for testing knitting and GAAK!

And, even better, if you buy this pattern before the end of January, Celia is donating half of the price to the Queensland Premier's Flood Appeal - nice! (you can buy the pattern separately or with the companion pattern Lee which is for a jumper with the same sorts of options). A good deal I think!

Yarn: The leftover Cascade220 from husby's cardi - 1.5 skeins of the Olive Heathers (9448) and just under 50g of the Cordovan (brown). I only just scraped it in with the green - I literally ran out of yarn just as I finished the last row of the second sleeve!

Sticks: 4mm KnitPicks Harmony options for the cuffs and bands, 4.5mm KP Harmony options for the body of the cardigan.

Time: 20 December 2010 - 7 January 2011 (my first FO for 2011, weeeeee!). Thanks to a couple of long drives and general sitting around time over Christmas, I managed to finish this quite quickly.

Modifications: I made the collar a bit shorter than the pattern suggests, and I ensured the ribbing down the sides flowed neatly into the ribbing along the bottom edge (which just meant starting my ribbing with a p1 instead of a k1). And I did the buttonbands all the way up along the collar, as I wasn't convinced it would look ok if I stopped at the bottom of the collar - although once I saw the other test knits I realised it would have been fine! But I'm happy with it the way it is (as long as it fits Connor when winter arrives - which I'm sure it will!)

What I learnt: The pattern suggests a stretchy bind off for the bottom band and sleeve cuffs. I decided I'd try Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. Yes, it is very stretchy! I'm not sure I love how it looks though, it's kind of lumpy-ish. I think it'd be fine on a sock, but if I was doing this again, I'd probably do a tubular bind off on this garment - I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me in the first place, since I used a 1x1 rib! Next time!

I also learnt that when changing colours between a ribbed band and the main part of the body, it's a good idea to do the first plain row after (or before, whichever is the case) of the ribbing in the same colour as the ribbing - I did this on the collar but forgot on the bottom band - and it means that the first row of the bottom band ribbing is actually in the green. It's not hugely noticeable, but I think it's much neater - a nice finishing touch.

Now, the big question is - what buttons?? As you will have noticed, there are none. These are the options:

I like the brown patterned ones, but as they are coconut shell, I think I'll go for the green ones - not a perfect match, but more practical and I think a nice pop on the brown button bands - the green has a yellowish undertone, as does the green C220. What do you think?

Today I read a book!

I have always loved reading. And been a voracious reader. It's funny though, I don't remember my parents reading to me, all I can remember is always reading. If I had nothing else, then I'd read the cereal box as I ate breakfast. Backwards (I mean, I'd read the words backwards - either each word or each paragraph - not eat breakfast backwards. Because that would be weird).

As a child, one of my favourite things to do was to go to the local library every other Saturday morning with my dad, where we'd return a stack of books each and then borrow another stack of books. And of course at school English was one of my favourite subjects and I continued the reading through university with a major in English Literature.

And then I started knitting. And since then, I've all but stopped reading (but haven't quite stopped buying books!). I do sometimes listen to audiobooks, and I use audible.com. But true to myself, I've managed to buy a lot more audiobooks than I've actually listened to. So I've got a lot of unread books on my physical and internetty shelves, just waiting for that "one day". I've decided it's time to make that "one day" be every day, or at least every other day.

One of my new favourite places to read is in the backyard, when the yard is in shade towards the end of the day. I lug out a quilt, a book, the baby, and some baby toys and if I'm really lucky, I get a few pages in while Connor plays and watches the trees and the birds fly overhead (only the birds fly, not the trees, they don't fly. Because that would be weird).

Today I finished reading a book. Not the one in the photo, I'm still going on that. No, today I finished reading a trashy novel - one of my (not so) secret indulgences is the occasional trashy novel. Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris, the 10th book in the Sookie Stackhouse (aka True Blood) series. Easy to read, relatively well-written (for trashy novels) and entertaining! I recommend the series if you like that sort of thing!

I'm going to keep a booklist in the sidebar, just out of interest. I'll be pretty happy if I can get a book, or maybe two, read each month. Not a lot, I know, but it will be more than I read last year!

Happy New Year, and all that

Happy New Year!

(Happy new jar of peanut butter face!)

Let's get the Stash Honesty out of the way first, shall we?

I was a good girl in December and didn't buy any yarn. Sort of. DrK gave me some lovely lovely red Berocco Ultra Alpaca Lite for Christmas (all the way from Americky!) and since she was buying some more of it, I decided I might just buy enough for a garment. It hasn't arrived yet, but I'm counting this as a 2010 purchase, since that's when I paid for it!

And I also received a birthday gift from Ingrid:

Brooklyn Tweed Shelter! Squeeee! Such a light lofty yarn! Am very excited about using this!

In: 6 x 50g (not counting the gift yarns, of course!)

Out: 3 x 50g

YTD - end of year total: +39.5 x 50g balls - or just over 3 balls per month added to the stash. That's not too bad, considering in 2009 I added over 200 balls to the stash. Go me! Heh!

But for 2011, I have decided it's time to make a dent in the stash, rather than add to it. So I've signed up for StashDownUnder on Ravelry, a group of (mostly) Australians dedicated to reducing stash in 2011. Ravelry makes these sorts of endeavours so much easier, when there's a good group support system going on! I've been trying to decide whether to make a list of projects I'd like to make this year from stash, but I think that's too organised (read: restrictive!) but I do plan on doing some more crochet projects - not just because they are quicker, but they also use a bit more yarn!

I've decided I'm going to try to aim to use 5 x 50g balls (or equivalent) each month - one of the participants uses an 8ply (DK) 50g ball as the base unit, and 50g of 4ply (fingering) yarn counts for double (ie 2 balls), 50g of laceweight I guess counts as quadruple (4 balls), while worsted/aran/10ply would count as less - I suppose .075 of a ball. I quite like this method, as it does take longer to knit up finer yarns. And I've also added the KnitMeter to the sidebar to help as well. That will be an interesting experiment!

I've also signed up for Binding Off 2011, an initiative started by blogger Cozy's Place. Because I really need to get my WIPS under control. My WIP-along is making a dent, but an external commitment never hurts! Feel free to join me by signing up! I would like to reduce my WIPS by at least 8-10 projects this year!

(new knitting diary! weeeeeeeeeeeeee! No idea why it's sideways though!)

No other "resolutions" for me. I know some things about myself I'd like to work on over 2011, but growing up is a constant evolutionary process, not confined to a year, so I think resolutions aren't the right way of looking at what I want to achieve in respect of personal growth.

I hope you achieve all you set out to for 2011, and that it is a good, kind year for all!

So accomplished

There's nothing like cooking a perfect turkey to make you feel like an accomplished cook! Even better when it's the first time you've done it!

(Although maybe it was just beginner's luck...) (also, please ignore the rack on which the turkey is sitting - I couldn't work out how to get the turkey off it and onto the plate - so we just moved the whole thing!)

We had friends over for christmas lunch today and we decided to try doing a turkey. I've never really been a huge fan of turkey, as pretty much every turkey I've had in the past has suffered from dry turkey syndrome. Not my turkey! So moist and juicy and tender. It really was the best turkey I've ever had, and I'm not just saying that because I cooked it! I did make sure I got a nice crispy bit of skin too.

I've got two christmas specific recipe books (Nigella and Donna Hay) so I read up on their turkey recommendations. Nigella soaks hers in "brine" for two days beforehand, which wasn't going to work for me for various logistical reasons. So I went with Donna Hay, but following Nigella's timings for my 6kg bird.

What's the secret? Well, I don't know why my turkey turned out so well, but I followed the recipe pretty much exactly, so I guess that's the secret. Lots of butter between the breast skin and meat (tell you what, carefully separating the skin from the meat with your fingers is a very odd business, only beaten really by then stuffing dobs of butter back in there!). Sit the turkey on a rack in the baking tray, and fill the bottom of the tray with chicken stock, and baste every hour or so with the stock/juices mixture (would have done half hour, but couldn't fit that in with the other prep jobs I had to do!).

And there wasn't much left, always a good sign! We should have enough pickings for turkey bubble and squeak for lunch tomorrow I think! Thanks to Fiona for doing the veg, Sue for the dessert and Jack for the champagne - truly a great joint effort christmas lunch.

Red red reddy red Rudy

I decided I wouldn't torture myself (or my friends/relations) this year by doing any Christmas knitting - with one small exception - I'm not sure why I made this exception, maybe subconsciously I'm trying to demonstrate to non-knitters that knitting is (a) cool and (b) useful. Although I suppose "cool" and "useful" are all relative!

Anyway, I made this for my parents group secret santa (we had a Christmas get-together on the weekend - nice - because we got to meet the dads - well, except of course for the couple of dads that come to group every week!)


Details
Pattern: Rudy by Elaine Fitzpatrick - an easy knit/purl bib with Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. The pattern is free but is written - so I spent a little bit of time charting it before I knit it - so much easier to follow. I particularly like the short row shaping at the bottom edge, to give it that nice curved edge.


Instead of doing i-cord ties for the bib, I knit a neck strap with buttonhole in garter stitch and sewed a button on the other side - I think buttons are (slightly) easier than trying to tie a bib on a wriggling baby.

Yarn: Peaches and Cream worsted cotton - in red (but of course!) - about 50g


Sticks: 4mm bamboo straights (old skool!). Bit tight knitted worsted cotton on 4mm sticks, but it does make a good thirsty fabric, which is what you want in a bib. And it won't really stretch either, also good for a gift for a non-knitter!


Time: 25 November - 4 December 2010


Little Sophie was the lucky (?) baby who received this gift (which I wrapped with a couple of books - can never have too many books for babies and kids, I think). Her mum seemed to really like it, and told me at group the week after that she was going to make it into a little Christmas lolly bag once it's use as a bib was done, by sewing a piece of fabric on the back. Which I thought was an excellent idea!

It's called procrastination...

So back in July (omg, was it really July??) I asked for opinions on a hat I'd made.

It took me until mid-November to put into action my decision - which was to keep it - I turned the brim up and stitched it in place with a few small stitches. I thought about adding a big button for trim, but decided I could use a brooch (and change it as my mood takes me).

I think it's ok...

Details

Pattern: A Better Bucket Hat by Amy Swenson, with modifications by raveller Solaris.

Yarn: Colinette Iona in Ginger Cinnabar - about 70g and because I didn't think I'd have enough of the Iona, Malabrigo Worsted in Sealing Wax - about 25g. I used the Malabrigo for the turned under part of the brim (which is knit first). I think, as it turns out, I would have had enough of the Iona, but I quite like the contrast of the orangey red Malabrigo with the ginger Iona.

Sticks: 4.5mm bamboo 40cm circular and bamboo dpns for the top of the hat decreases. I forgot to change needle sizes for the body of the hat, which would have made it a bit less slouchy. Oh well...

Time: 10 July 2010 - 16 July 2010 (for the knitting) - then another, oh, 10 minutes on 14 November to sew in ends and stitch up the brim! Yep, it's called procrastination, and I am an expert at it!

Modifications: the popular mods by Solaris are designed to make the brim stand out a bit more than the original pattern - I'm sure it would have worked for me if I'd only read them properly and changed needle sizes! I also did a provisional cast on to make the fixing down of the turn under brim easier (knit it as you go, rather than seaming it at the end).

And it only took me a month after finishing it to actually blog it! At least I can wear it next winter! And it's one WIP down in my WIP-athon, weeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Keeping Track - November 2010

A day late, sorry! I took advantage of a break in the rain we've been having since (it seems like) forever, to take some photos for this post, because there have been a few in's this month. Fortunately, most of them were gifts, and gift yarn doesn't count, right!

This lot was my birthday present to myself:
I accidentally (heh!) hit a wollmeise update a month or two ago, and managed to score a couple of colours I've been wanting for some time - Sabrina and Ruby Thursday. And a couple of Vamp (a newer red, which I couldn't leave behind) and to make up my order to 5 skeins (most economical for postage!) I got a skein of My Old Blue Jeans as well. Why not!


And this lovely group comprise gifts from some lovely friends:

The large ball on the left is Cashmere laceweight, a bloggy prize from Jen. Across the top is handdyed laceweight from The Granny Square in Newtown, a gift from JP. Underneath that is alpacky laceweight from MissFee, and the small blue skein and larger skein below it is Margarita's handspun! How clever is she!


And this lot I bought - so it does count - but you know, it's a discontinued red 8ply cotton from Bendigo - I just missed buying some before they discontinued the colour (darn them!!) and I happened to mention this to JP and she came through with the goods!! She had a spare few balls and was happy to destash them to me, weeeeeeeeeeeee!

And since they are big balls (heh! Why yes I am a juvenile at heart) - 200g each - that makes a lot of 50g equivalents in the "in" column. Not that I regret it at all!


In: 12 x 50g
Out: 5 x 50g
YTD: +36.5 x 50g balls (or 3.5 balls per month!)

Even though we don't do Thanksgiving here...

So within five minutes of getting up from our nap this morning, I had changed a poo nappy and had baby vomit all down my top (and when I say "all down my top", I don't mean the front of my top, I mean INSIDE my top ...)

Despite the poo-and-spew start to the morning, I am thankful for the following:

1. Connor managed to miss his clean clothes entirely (of course he did!)

2. I had not yet had a shower

3. My mum is staying this week so after I fed the little horrorhead I could have a nice long shower and even wash my hair

4. Shoes, and yarn. When all else fails, I can always be thankful for shoes and yarn!

Speaking of shoes, since so many asked, this is the source of my recent acquisition (which are Liz Claiborne, by the way). The shoes on the site are probably last seasons (or even the season before - I have no idea!), but since "the season" is no longer an issue for me (and never really was, heh) I don't mind!

SHOESday: Parity Party!

So for the last month or so, Australians who like to buy stuff on the internet from the US have been having a bit of a parity party, because our dollar has been close to, at or even over the US dollar! I don't know if this has ever happened since our dollar was floated! (It definitely wasn't when husby and I were in the US a few years ago - I think our dollar bought about US0.75 - bummer!)

I thought about buying lots of yarn but I refrained. I am so strong! (heh!!)

But I did buy a pair of shoes - they really were a bargain! And have a return shipping address in Australia in the event they don't fit. Lucky I don't need it!

I normally don't go for shoes with a lot of white on them - except for sneakers.

But I reckon these qualify as sneakers - wedge heeled sneakers! Ha! I love them! So comfortable! Just like sneakers but a teeny bit more dressy - and can be worn with a skirt, weeeeee!

Happy half-birthday to the little dude

Today is Connor's half-birthday. Unbelieveable! Six months has gone by in a flash with so many changes in such a short time:

-he's in his third set of clothes (0000 lasted for 4 weeks, 000 for 2 months, and the 00 have now lasted 4 months and still seem to be ok). Thanks to the friends who gave us hand-me-down clothes, I've only had to buy him about 4 things (plus bibs and singlets). Hand-me-downs are the best!

-he's got 2 teeth - both bottom teeth, which came through 6 weeks ago, with a minimum of fuss - I didn't even know they were coming until he chomped down on my finger one day (and I just need to say - owwww! those things are SHARP!)

-he's grabbing things (like my fingers!) and stuffing them straight into his mouth. Especially his clothes.

-and for the last few weeks, his feet! He was pretty happy when he discovered his feet. And that he could put them in his mouth. Oh to be that flexible...

-In fact, I could probably do away with all his toys and just give him little socks and facecloths to play with.

-he's lost and regrown the hair off the top of his head

-he's started eating food! apple, pear, banana, avocado (he didn't like that much!), blueberries, yoghurt, potato, pumpkin, sweet potato, corn, peas, zucchini and broccoli. I'm having fun cooking things up and pureeing them, even though the sound of the blender thingy makes him cry!

-the vacuum also makes him cry. That's my excuse anyway!

-he's rolled over twice from his front to his back (I think the weight of his HUGE head pulled him over) and once from his back to his front (which of course I missed, as I was in the shower!)

-he giggles and laughs at the strangest things, and babbles away to us quite seriously (often when he is supposed to be sleeping - like tonight!)

I converted the pram from the basinette to the seat a week or so ago, and put him in it to adjust the seat straps - he LOVED it! I couldn't get a non-blurry picture, he was so excited to sit up and look around, he really is quite a social little fella. (Especially when he's meant to be sleeping ... hmmm, I think there's a pattern there)

Happy half-birthday my lovely little dude.

Oh, Dick!

This is really my keeping track post for October, but I couldn't resist the alternate title for this post, because looky what I received for my birthday (it's an early present) from DrK:

Lovely lovely dpn holder and interchangeable needle bag made by the talented seamstress (and knitter!) RandomKnits.

I had a lot of fun stuffing them too:

And well stuffed they are! Of course, many of my interchangeable needles are in use (heh heh) so it would otherwise be even fuller of needles. And you can't see it in the photos, but there is a handy dandy zipper section behind the needle slots, for the cables, keys, needle sizer etc. So very clever and neat and much nicer than the placky cases you get with the needle sets!

All this is a way of making up for there being no photos of new yarn this month. Why? Because there was no new yarn this month! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

So my totals are a little more healthy:

In: No new yarn! (for a change!)

Out: 6 x 50g balls of yarn (half of those were given to my mum for her charity knitting,lest you think I've somehow becoming a knitting speedster this month)

YTD: +29.5 x 50g balls (or almost 3 balls in per month, on average)

WIP-athon 2010-2011

I'm not sure if many of you look at my WIP list there is the sidebar (I kinda hope not many!) but it is embarrassingly long. So a little while ago I decided to do something about it. Nothing radical, mind, like only knitting on WIPs until they are all done. Because that's clearly doomed to failure - if I had that kind of focus and stick-to-it-ness, I wouldn't have so many WIPs in the first place!

So what I'm going to do is formalise my commitment to a WIP-athon for 2010-2011 (and possibly 2012, if it takes that long!) by openly promising on this here blog to "WIP one, start one". In other words, finish a WIP, start a new project. Finish the new project, then finish a WIP. Repeat until WIPs are done. And don't allow any of the new projects to become a WIP! Of course if I'm feeling particularly virtuous, I may even finish two WIPs in a row!

Is anyone with me?

I started my WIP-athon with the Shaped Lace Tee. Once I got that out of the way, I was allowed to cast on for my Olive (you'll recall I swatched for her back in August). I needed to modify the pattern and do some maths, so I spent a couple of days researching other projects on Ravelry and crunching the numbers, and then I started. Using the Noro Silk Garden sock for the contrast in the yoke.

And this project is perfect for my knitting life right now - miles and miles of stocking stitch in the round that I can pick up and put down so easily. And I do love this pattern and yarn.

I just hope it fits me ... and doesn't take forever to knit! Have you seen the size of my queue in Ravelry lately??!!

It's been a long time coming

Remember RoseRedia Jones' excavation about a month ago? The main reason (apart from the pressing need to actually tidy it up) for that expedition was to find one of my most long-standing WIPS - the Shaped Lace Tee, which I started in January 2008 (!!). With summer looming, I decided it was time to get it off the sticks and off my WIP list.

Especially since all I needed to do was knit the pathetically small cap sleeves and then block and seam it!

Which I have now done, weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Details

Pattern: Shaped Lace Tee by Joan McGowan Michael, from Knitting Lingerie Style. I believe this is the same pattern as her Krista Tee, which is sold separately on her website. A really nice pattern in a wide range of sizes.

Yarn: Rowan Calmer in Khaki (sh 474), just a smidge over 4 balls (!!). I had 5 balls of this lovely yarn, and I really thought I'd be pushing it to make this pattern. I swatched (twice!), couldn't get gauge and so did the maths to work out I needed to make the next size up to get the right size for me. With hindsight, I wish I'd gone two sizes up, as I would have had enough yarn and it would have given me a bit more wiggle room.

This yarn really stretches! Great for anything fitted like this pattern, because you don't really need any shaping, the yarn does that work for you.

Sticks: 5mm KnitPicks Harmony Options

Time: January 2008 - 1 October 2010. And it even fits me!

Modifications: Vey little - I did a 3-needle bind-off for the shoulder seams and that's it. Although if I were to make this again, I would make the sleeve caps wider - they are riculously narrow. They do work, but I'd just give myself a bit more room up there. I'd also possibly do a ridge of garter stitch (or three) around the bottom, as I think it will curl (even more) with wear.

I really like the square neckline finished with a round of crochet, very flattering for my body shape. If only my bust was as perky and my hips as narrow as Dolores the Dummy, my stunt double ... lucky this yarn s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s (did I mention that already?)!