Happy holidays!

Our first Christmas in our own home (and our first Christmas as an engaged couple!!)... how exciting is that!?

This is our little piece of the world... a perfect size for us now and I think it will continue to be fantastic as the years go by.

Mum, Dad and Caitlin have come down to spend our first Christmas in our home with us; they drove down and got here on Thursday with a trailer load of thing that never moved out with me when I left home. Boxes of books, toys, the step ladder I made in grade 10... a few extra things too (a beautiful chair made by a family friend for Tam and I - the Jack and Jill chair he calls it... it's still in pieces to assemble though... a warming tray for our upcoming engagement party... a little freezer for some extra storage...). It's so nice to have them here at the moment (extra awesome because I get to play with their Canon 50D. Waaaaant. [would like some extra lenses too please...]), even though we only saw them a few days ago. They are staying in our room, and Tam and I have relocated to the guest room.

Christmas was a great day - not hurrying through presents to get somewhere else... not hurrying through presents because people were coming over... a yummy breakfast of bacon, eggs and pancakes... ham sandwiches for lunch... lamb roast for dinner!

A lovely day, received a few knitting related things, and a little portable green house (hopefully this will help me not kill my herbs :( ). I might do a round up post of recently acquired knitting things sometime soon.

But we're going to enjoy the rest of today - heading out to visit Caitlin's old school principal, who now lives out at Wellington Point. Dinner there, and then the rest of the week will be planning for our second engagement party! There is too many people to have just the one, so we thought we'd split it up into two - friends and family.

It already feels strange if it is not here...

We've had a bit of exciting news since my last post.

On the 14th November, 2009, my darling boyfriend became my darling fiance. *1, 2, 3... awww*

This is us just after the proposal:



Pretty awesome, huh? There's a cute little story about how it happened to.

A lazy afternoon a few months back, I asked Tam to tell me something. Something I didn't know about this impending engagement that was "eventually" going to happen. He was almost asleep, and he said "It'll happen before the end of the year". I'd heard this before, so I confirmed, "before the end of this year? Before the end of 2009?" A lazy smile, and he said, "yes, it will happen before the end of this year".

We had a family reunion coming up in December, so I thought, "Well, of course it will happen before that. But when? How?!" The jewellery shop was in the city, and seeing we live about half an hour outside the CBD now, it was becoming a bit difficult for him to get in there on the sly.

Saturday morning came along - we'd been invited to a BBQ at Melissa's place, but Tam wanted to go into the city to pick up his comics. I said, "oh, can I come into the city with you?". "No." he said very bluntly. I raised my eyebrows, and went "okay then. Fine. We'll go to the BBQ first and then I'll drop you off at the train station". But by the time we got to the BBQ, Tam wouldn't have had time to get to the city via the train - the comic book store closed at 4pm, and it takes about an hour to get to the city via the train. He gave in, and I said, "Don't worry, I won't follow you around. You can do whatever you need, I'll just sit and knit in the food court!". As we left Melissa's, I gave her a very strange look as Tam said something about buying comics, which tried to convey "I think he's going to pick up the engagement ring today!!!!!!". Unfortunately the message didn't get across ;)

We made it into the city about 2:30pm, craving some lunch. The closest Commonwealth ATM I knew of was at Broadway on the Mall, which also housed Gillett's Jewellers. Tam mentioned needing to buy a external hard drive for his aunt at Harvey Norman's, which is just about the jeweller's. He asked, "do you want to come with me upstairs?". I said, "No, it's okay. I'll go and have lunch." Tam stared at me with a funny look on his face, saying "are you sure?" "No, you can go by yourself".

20 minutes later, I had almost finished lunch, when Tam comes back from Harvey Norman's, an external hard drive in tow. I felt... a little sad, and I assumed he had paid some money off the ring, or he really didn't need to go in there, he was just buying a hard drive. We had lunch, went to Comics Etc, and headed back to the car, which was parked down near the Belgium Beer Garden.

While strolling back to the car, hand in hand, I looked down at one stage and saw something in his cargo pocket. Puzzled, I snuck another look a few minutes later - that looks like a box! A box that it little enough to put a ring in! Oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh... that sneaky boy! I began to giggle. "What's wrong?" he asked. "What are you giggling about?" "Nooooooooothing!!!" I replied. This continued for about two blocks... giggling... trying to get closer to his pocket. He finally worked out what I was trying to do, and he swapped sides, putting me as far away from the pocket as possible. "What!!" I cried. "So I'm allowed to be over here, touching this pocket" - I pat the empty one - "but not the pocket over here?" - I tried to pat the other pocket, but he ran away, laughing as well.

We got back to the car, and he unlocked it, put the bag from Harvey Norman's in the back seat, closed the door and said, "Do you want to go for a walk?" More very inappropriate giggling: "maybe!!" We toddled down to the Botanical Gardens, where we walked around for a little bit, until we found an empty park bench. Then we sat down, and watched the house boats for a little while, giggling at the people rowing from their house boat to the shore.

We sat there for a little while, until Tam said, "I'm not very good at speeches". I smiled, and replied, "It's okay, I still love you". I don't remember what else was said now. I'm a bit sad about it. But there was smiling... and feeling safe...

He fumbled in his pocket, and took out a little purple box. And then there was a box within a box. Heh. And then he got down on one knee, and asked, "will you?"

"Will I what?" I asked with a grin.

"Will you be my wife?"

"I'll have to think about it ;)"

"Oh."

"Of course I will be your wife!"



This ring has actually been picked out for over three years now. The details written down on a card, chilling out in his wallet for that long. Actually, I think we've had them written down two or three times. Every time we'd go into Gilletts, we'd look through the rings... none of them looked as nice as this one.





After, Tam called my dad, asking permission. Originally, he said no. And then he said I suppose so. And then asked something about our new house. That seemed to be a common theme in telling our male relatives about our upcoming nuptials.

Our families are very excited about this - as of we, of course! We had a little engagement party on the weekend for my family in Mackay - just a few friends were invited as well.

We are thinking of an April 2011 wedding. We don't have a theme or a plan or anything as of yet, but hopefully after our other engagement party in January, we will start jotting down some ideas.

So very exciting! :DDD

Just quickly...

Good thing I'm not participating in Blogtoberfest! otherwise I would be doing very poorly. I have enjoyed reading people's updates though!

Drove into work today for a change (haven't done that since we moved to Bray Park!) and stopped in at Funky Fabrix - something that I had been meaning to do since I was chatting with Kelly a few weeks ago about the lack of dresses that fit me in the bosom. I didn't purchase any fabric, but did come away with Amy Butler's Mini Dress/Tunic pattern. Looking forward to eventually having a sewing machine (how many days is it until Christmas!?) and being able to sink my teeth into sewing from a pattern, and having awesome handmade clothes! Not that I don't already have awesome handmade clothes... ;)

I have a new project that I'm working on too - the Honeybee Cardigan! I've been working on this for almost two weeks now, and it's looking great - although the yarn that I've chosen (Malabrigo Sock in Archangel) certainly has a bit of an identity crisis - magenta one minute, dark purple the next!



This is where I was up to yesterday - eight inches down, only seven more to go ! I bought some small circular needles tonight so I can start doing the sleeves - thank goodness Addis come in 30cm circulars! You knit the sleeves from the elbow up, and then attach them into the body (which is what I'm working on at the moment). I'm glad that I saw a student who was taking Technical Support classes with work doing a top similar in construction, otherwise I think I would have been a bit lost when it got to that section - I'm not sure if I'm glazing over that part of the pattern, but I still haven't found the part where it says to transfer them. Go figure! :D

Was also looking through Made It tonight, and found some super cute skirts at Lilli Pilli Lane. This only strengthens my urge/need/want/lust to sew! Although then I will be starting a fabric stash... this cannot be good.

although by the sounds of it, I may be getting downstairs as my playroom...

Righto. VERY much past my bedtime now. Up early for work in the morning, and I still haven't had a shower. :D

Hitting Gold!

From skein to shirt in 10 days! :D

Rusted Root by Zephyr Style.



Materials: Cotton Fleece in Gold Dust, 4.00mm Addi circulars for body, 3.50mm for ribbing
Used: 2.98 skeins - 298g! :D
Size: Large
Mods: Main mod obviously was dropping the neckline! To do this, I cast on for knitting flat:
1 (front), pm, 13 (sleeve) pm 20 (back) pdm when knitting in the round 20 (back pm 13 (sleeve) pm 1 (front). Then I did raglan increases Kf&B until front measures 4” from cast on. Then I cast on the required stitches for the front, minus two for the two I cast on at the start. It really wasn't too difficult! :D And I only did seven rounds of ribbing at the bottom, otherwise I would have run out of yarn.
Started: 22nd September, 2009
Finished: 2nd October 2009
Made For: Me



I think I will make another one for Caitlin for Christmas. I really need to start looking at Christmas presents and what I need to make and what I need to buy.

Rooting along...

So, my Rusted Root is coming along fantastically.

I snapped a pic of it this morning while Tam and I had breakfast at C Word at Nundah Village.



I've done four repeats of the lace - had to fudge it a few times, but then again, who doesn't fudge lace (don't answer that). I cracked into ball two a few rows outside of dividing the sleeves - I did that last night. Tried it on after I did that, and I am hoping it will fit. It won't be too small, I know that.

This is the first garment I have done side shaping in, so I'm a bit unsure on how you know if you'll need to do more shaping than is advised in the pattern. I have read of people adding some increases after the decreases along the rib cage, so I might do some more reading up about waist shaping. And don't get me started on bust shaping! I think I need to invest in some books about it. There used to be a great article on bust shaping, but it's been taking down, as it has been published in UK's The Knitter. *sigh* Oh well.

Back to bagels. C Word have the best bagels I have ever had. Then again, I haven't really eaten bagels anywhere else other than there. Can you buy them easily in Brisbane?



I even eat them with egg (not the biggest egg fan in the world). Bacon, an egglette (a little omlette), cheese and BBQ sauce - the Crispy Beggel.

Tam had the Canadia - Bacon and maple syrup.



And onto other project news, I have started increasing for the sleeves on my Pucker! Yay, pucker! :D Here is me trying to measure it.



As you can see, I had some difficulties. Zorro likes to help.

Air Conditioning Defence

So, Ms Featherweight.

Featherweight Cardigan by Hannah Fettig
Materials: Malabrigo Lace in Verde Adriana, 4.00mm Addi circulars
Used: 1.5 skeins - 75g? I haven't weighed it yet.
Size: Medium
Mods: Sleeves were only knit to just above the elbow - 4 rows of k2p2 ribbing. 17" in body length. I haven't picked up the stitches around the front and neck... mostly because I'm lazy, but I didn't really see it add anything to it? I have 25g approximately left over, so if I think differently later on, I can change it.
Started: 21st August, 2009
Finished: 19th September 2009
Made For: Me

I enjoyed knitting this, although it did get a bit boring at the end, and I just wanted it finished! I liked using the Addi needles, and I think I might invest in a few of my most commonly used needles - 4.00mm and 4.50mm! I like how it flutters down the bottom of the cardi.

Next time... or maybe next cardi? I don't know! I want something without purling.

Summer Knits

Well, I have finished my Featherweight Cardi, but I didn't get a photo of it today while I was out like I planned, so that will have to be for another day's post. Instead, some things I am working on, or planning to start in the near future!

Firstly is a current project - Pucker by Norah Gaughan. It has been put on the back burner for a while, because I was working on Featherweight - a much more suitable project at the moment for work - we share the air conditioning with next door, and it gets a wee bit cold in the store in the afternoon!



The yarn that I'm using is the recommended - Seduce - and it's quite nice to knit with. I washed my swatch, and it softed up nicely. I do need to get around to buying some Soak, because it just makes your knits so much softer after blocking.

This is my first adult garment that is done in pieces, so I'm a little bit wary - hoping it fits! I was on gauge when I swatched, and it's generally stayed on gauge during the project... oh well. Just breathe. Will need to learn some seaming techniques. I know that I will do a three needle bind off on the shoulders though - I learnt that on my clutch, which I thought was awesome!

The other project that is on the cards is Rusted Root by Zephyr Style. The big thing that I'll change is dropping the neck line, a la goodkarma. Much more flattering for the ample bosom. ;) Yarn and pattern all ready to go - I bought this while Alison was in Brisbane. I had to show her around Tangled Yarns, of course!



My love affair with mustard continues!

I am going to try and blog more, so each time I blog isn't a massive update that goes on and on forever. ;)

Oh dear...

I think I'm a little bit in love.

So, I'm working on the Featherweight Cardigan. I am loving this SO Much. It’s so soft, and it’s going to be great to wear at work. And $36 for a pure wool cardigan? Ha! :D I am loving the colour - I'm using Malabrigo Lace in Verde Adriana and it has just enough subtle colour change to keep it interesting without being too variegated.

I chose to trial the Addi fixed circulars with this, and I am surprisingly enjoying them! I thought that I would be a wood/bamboo girl forever, but I started the body on the Addis, and then I thought that I’d start the sleeves before too much of the body had been done. Picked the stitches up with my Harmonies, and it just felt gritty. I’m not sure if it’s the difference because I was used to the Addis… or what. But it’s very, very smooth, and no gritty metal noise. I'm not sure if it's going to be a permanent change, but for this project, am sticking with them for sure!

We might finally have a stable internet connection, so I'll be able to upload photos of our new home, and better photos than my phone camera of my recent projects!! ;D

Yes, I have been shocking...

Yeah... hello there, blog. How's it going? :) I know, I have neglected you. In the past two months, I have:

• gone to Mackay, and have had duties of Maid of Honour for my oldest friend's wedding
• finished a few projects, including an Ishbel shawl for Chrissy for Xmas in July!, a February Baby Sweater for little miss Kaylee who turned 1!, Porphyria for a stashbuster swap, and Springtime in Philadelphia for me!
• continued knitting my February Lady Sweater
  
• played with my drop spindle!
• signed a contract on our first house
  
• gone unconditional on our first house
  
• settlement for said house is this Friday :O
  
• started packing up our current house
• donated some yarn and needles to Lifeline
• donated a lot of clothes to Lifeline
• continued to love working
  

Mum, Pop and Caitlin arrive today, so it will be busy busy again. Some quick photos of what I have finished though, and then to continue cleaning/packing. :)

Spinister!

This will be my pretty new drop spindle... when it arrives from Kentucky in like... two weeks. It's from an etsy seller named Sarabee Designs. I am looking forward to it immensely. It has a 7cm whorl, a 22cm shaft with a brass cup hook and weighs 48g.

I also started some needle felting tonight.



Ain't he cute? :)

Time for more Stargate SG:1, season 9. It's a bit meh. I miss Richard Dean Anderson. Woe. Vala is saving it though. There is a lot of silly episodes... well, not silly, but... *shrug* Oh well. Almost to season 10, and then I can focus on all the tv that has just finished airing (NCIS in particular!)

Fibre Fantastic Weekend!

Wow, what a lovely weekend I have had!

Yesterday, Christine and I jumped on a bus, and went to the Textiles Festival at the Convention Centre. Soooo much better than the Stitches and Craft Festival. We got there about 10am, and got home about 5:15pm (that also involved a trip to Tangled Yarns...). I didn't get any photos of the festival, but I do have photos of what I bought! :D


Firstly, some Mulberry Silk from Prudence Mapstone - it's delicious, and I'm going to make a shiny little cowl/neck warmer with it. Not sure how warm it will be, but it'll be pretty!


Prudence also gave us our very own Rav badges! YAY!! Thank you very much, Prudence.


Next, some Dream in Color Classy in a colour called In Vino Veritas, from Peppermint Stitches. I didn't even know they had DiC. It's going to become a February Baby Sweater for Miss Kaylee for her first birthday in two weeks time. That's plenty of time to knit that, right? :)


Some YUMMY ladybug buttons. Aren't they cute?!


YARN Magazine back issues. Particulary the ones with dyeing tutorial things. Sharing these with Chrissy.


And an Ashford Needle Felting kit. Chrissy got one too. We were sold, after we saw the camel in it and the teddy bear. I'm looking forward to creating some things out of this!

And then today, we went to the QSWFA Open Day, where I almost (kinda) bought a wheel, but whe I got back there, it had been sold. Christine was luckier than I (hehe), and bought the other second hand one that was for sale! It looks lovely, and she is eager beaver to start learning how to use it. I did buy some fluff to start spinning though...


Treetops in Rhubarb




And some Merino Sliver.


And some yarn, of course! Couldn't go past this beautiful red...

It was great seeing all my SnB friends who I have missed terribly the past six weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to head back and socialise soon on Tuesday nights.

Err... I also bought a drop spindle today off etsy. Hoping it will turn out awesome, it is from the states though, so I'm also hoping it gets here in once piece.
Okay, just about to gout for dinner with Mel and her boyfriend Mark. Some yummy Vietnamese food will be in my belly soon!! :D

Busy, busy!

Wow, it's been a while since I updated this. Lazy ass I am!

Thought I'd do a quick drive by update on what I've been doing lately. We'll start with my most recently finished knit:



Autumn Leaves by What To Knit When You're Expecting (Rav Link)
Materials: Biggan Design DK in Vintage Rose, 3.75mm needles
Used: 125g (I think? I haven't weighed it yet but it wouldn't be much more than this... maybe 150g)
Size: 6-9 months - 18cm armpit to armpit, 29cm top of sleeve to top of sleeve, 24cm top of neck to bottom of garment.
Mods: Only three buttons instead of the six. Knitted sleeves in the round, instead of flat+seaming. I stopped the 'skirt' increases about 5cm before I started the moss stitch edging.
Started: 26 May, 2009
Finished: 29 May, 2009
Made for: Baby Laura, born 24 May, 2009!

Very lovely knit, very easy, my first top down actually (that has been completed! I still haven't done the waste yarn for the sleeves yet on my FLS), and it went like a dream. I started it on Tuesday morning, was dividing the sleeves Wednesday afternoon, finished the moss stitch Thursday night, finished the sleeves Friday morning and blocked it Friday afternoon. Yummy! I think I want to start a stash of baby knits in different colours/styles so I have stuff ready when our friends pop. Just gotta make sure they'll appriciate it (and it's machine washable... ;).

Omg, I finally finished the Boyfriend Beanie.



A Hat Fit for a Boyfriend by Stephanie Likes to Knit. (Rav link)
Materials: Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed Aran in Ivy, 4.5mm needles
Used: 0.88g, or 84m
Size: Tam sized!
Mods: *shrug* I dunno! Not much
Started: 28 February, 2009
Finished: 20 May, 2009
Made for: Tam!

That took way too long. I don't know if it's because it was on dpns, or whatever. It just was painful. I still think it needs a bit more length, and I might make another one top down. Am loving top down construction for fits. And seeing I know how to do a nice, stretchy cast off, it will fit!

And my bolero! I mentioned in my last post that I was going to make a ribbed lace bolero to wear to Megan's bridal shower thing in Malabrigo Worsted. Well, work didn't have the colour I wanted to make in the Worsted, so I went with some Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece instead!



Ribbed Lace Bolero by Kelly (10 Feet High) (Rav Link)
Materials: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Salmon Berry Red, 4mm and 5.5mm needles
Used: 115g
Size: Shoulder Width: 19 inches
Arm Circ: 14 inches
Mods: I did a k2tog, yo, yo, k2togtbl because I was lazy. Sewn bind off ♥
Started: 21 April, 2009
Finished: 17 May, 2009
Made for: Me!

I had to sew under the arms a bit more after I wore it the first day, as the cotton had stretched out a little bit. But it's okay now. I think I might do a bit more sewing, just to get it to stay in place a bit more, as it falls off my shoulders sometimes. It's nice to keep my shoulders covered, but I think I would have liked something a bit heavier in weight. Nevermind :)

I've started my February Lady Sweater in the BWM 10ply Luxury in Autumn Glow, and have another February type knit for a special little girl who will be turning 1 soon! I bought yarn for that today at the Textiles Fair - Dream in Color Classy in "In Vino Veritas", a beautiful semi solid red colour. Nom. I may be knitting this more for a special mother, but at least the little one will get use out of it too.

I think I will do another post about our fibery weekend tomorrow. Maybe I'll snap a couple of pictures tomorrow too, seeing I was too lazy to do that today.

Now, time for shower, time for bed. So glad we have electric blankets this winter.

Back to work!

So, I finished my first adult garment last week - I was so very excited!! :D



Back to School U-Neck Vest from Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel (Rav Link)
Materials: Cascade 220 Heathers in colour 2452
Used: 2.56 skeins (515m)
Size: 41

I really enjoyed this, although I was very apprehensive about making it to begin with, as I didn't think the neckline would suit me - I'm one for the plunging neckline :) And I was worried about all the mindless ribbing, but that actually didn't turn out too bad. I did the ribbing for a little bit longer than written, and I continued the waffle stitch a bit more after doing the bust increases, and after dividing for the front and back and doing the decreases for the under arms, I only did one row of working even instead of seven, as suggested by Cripsynoodle's blog post. I also did a 3 needle bind of on the shoulders, and only one three row purl ridge on the arm holes and the neck line as it would have been too much otherwise.

I learned how to do a pretty invisible increase on the bust as well, which I'm proud of - the M1R and M1L from knitting help. And EZ's Sewn bind off!! I will be using this bind off for everything now, because it is really easy to do, and it's so stretchy. Hooray for learning new tricks! So yay.

I wore it to work last week, and I received lots of complements about it, which made me happy. And it's always nice to wear knitted object to work - especially when you work in a yarn shop :)

Looking back through my other projects in my notebook, I finished my Downtown Clutch(Rav Link) back in March, just in time to take it to my job interview (I didn't plan that at all ;).



This project is where I learned how to do a 3 needle bind off (awesome!) and I converted the pattern into a circular knit, instead of two separate pieces to be joined up. I also lined it (dodgily)



My next plans are to make a February Lady Sweater in Bendigo's new Luxury 10 ply - they've brought out a really nice dark orange/red colour that I think would look fantastic. I also bought Ysolda's Ishbel last night, and I am a bit unsure what to make it with. I'd like to make it fairly big, so I think dyeing some knittery slim sock will be in order. I also want to make a Ribbled Lace Bolero in some sort of red Malabrigo worsted weight.

The boyfriend beanie is still in time out, as I am not loving it, but it needs to be finished. And I am currently working on a Clapotis, which is going VERY well - it's in this beautiful rainbow coloured fingering weight yarn I got in a swap, 200g worth of it, so it should turn out something nice and light, but very colourful.



Okay, that's enough for one post. :)

Jahncke's Patent DNP holder :)

On Saturday, my darling boyfriend gave me the other half of my birthday present (my first part was this)









It's an antique double pointed needle holder that we saw down at an antique shop in Coolangatta back in February. Isn't it pretty? We were researching on Monday night when it might have been made, and I think it might be around the 1880's? We googled the "Jahncke's Patent" that is on the end of the needle holder, and found this on a NZ auction website, this ebay listing, and this shop over in the UK that have items with the same colouring and the "Jahncke's Patent" engraving.

It's very exciting, and I'd love to know more about it.