maow?

Project 365

2011-01-20T01:58:00.000+10:00

So, I haven't been playing over here for a while...

I've been working on organising our wedding and fabulous things that are associated with that.

I've also been doing Project365. :)

So this probably won't get updated much. But follow my wordpress, hopefully that will stick some more... <3

More wedding things... photography and fabric swatches!

2010-05-21T22:37:00.000+10:00

Not much has been happening on the planning front - we really, really need to work out a photographer soon, but I think we're somewhere between being overwhelmed with choice and freaking out about how much wedding photography costs. It's not like we haven't been looking... but we're going to set aside Sunday night to go and narrow it down a bit more and work out who we actually want to go and see. We went and saw Emotive Images a couple of weeks ago - Louise was lovely, but... I don't know, I think there was still something missing? I'm not sure. I'm hoping that a Friday wedding will play in our favour and whoever we want to go with isn't booked already... Oh well, if it's meant to be, it'll all fall into place. Like when we bought our house, don't get to emotionally attached until it's booked in.

Meanwhile, the exciting part of today is I got fabric swatches from Honeypie Boutique!

I went with Ivory, White, 49, 56, 72 and 86. I was lucky enough to have a friend in the UK, so I got the samples shipped to her (yay for free shipping within the UK!) and then she posted them to me for 95p. Instead of £10.49. :\ I'm assuming they send it via courier, but I really wish they could do a better shipping price for just samples. I'm not sure how they were sent to my friend, but she could fit them into an envelope easily.

I really like the sweetheart neckline because that is more flattering for my bust. And I like the lace up back.

Anyway, the fabric is nice - good for the price that they are offering. They don't feel cheap! I think I might go and see if I can find fabric of the same quality or something... so at least I know what I'm getting in to.

I tried to get colours as correct as possible, but I am taking the photos in the evening in fake light..

I'm thinking of going the ivory with either the red or the purple as the contrast. I was so taken with green online, but it's a bleh, sagey colour. I wanted a great lime colour! Hrm, maybe I'd go red or purple with an ivory or white sash... The chocolate is a bit schmeh as well.

My dress in my head is a contrasting crinoline and matching shoes and sash.... I think it will be easier to find shoes to match purple or red than the pretty green I have it my head... and then Chrissy and Megan would wear the colour I'm not...

A call out - I would love to know anyone else who has used Honeypie Boutique! After exchange rates, shipping, crinoline and of course, dress work out to be about AU$350? which is awesome, seeing I don't want to spend heaps of money on my dress.

We have a date! And a venue! :O

2010-03-22T16:14:00.003+10:00

I have just gotten back from putting the deposit on our venue, Topiaries at Beaumont!

It's such a beautiful place - we saw it when we moved house (which was four months before we got engaged), and it looked gorgeous - we didn't even know what it was called! I don't remember who suggested looking into getting married there, but we were so sure that it would be out of our price range (and we didn't even have a price range :) We did the slow-drive-by one day to find out what it was called and kept it in the back of our minds.

The first wedding magazine I got was one I borrowed from the library, and it had a little write up in there about the place. The next one I bought actually had a feature on the place under their "Perfect Day" section, and I giggled that the couple that were married there found it the same way we did - driving past it a few times (coming home from work, opposed to moving house, but then again, Tam had seen it driving around for work as well...

They had an Open Day on the 28th of February - which of course, I was working. I sent Tam on a reconnaissance mission, and he had a good time, getting the feel of the venue. Took a couple of shots of the place, grabbed as many leaflets for the photographers, cake designers, djs, dresses, suits, celebrants as he could, and talked for a little bit about the day. Peter said he would call Tam during the week to organise a time to talk more if he liked.

Piccies from the Open Day:

Ceremony area, with picnic benches for seating

Pool, which is outside the guesthouse (six rooms available)

The venue overlooks Samford Valley

Inside one of the guest rooms

The Beaumont Room, which is where we'll have our reception. The tables were done up in a few different styles.

So we organised a meeting on Sunday the 7th of March, after breakfast

Pancakes with berries and maple syrup

French Toast with Bacon (mmmbacon)

and it was so pretty!

I knew, walking back to the car that it was the place.

We did, however, want to be fully well rounded, so we wanted to look at a few other places. We checked out Tom Petrie's Restaurant and Function Centre at Old Petrie Town. It was nice... but (of course, there was a but!) it just didn't have the same vibe as Topiaries. Even between the people... the gentleman we spoke to was very nice, but ... you know when you know, you know? ;)

Old Petrie Town - Fig trees

The back of their chapel

Then again, Old Petrie Town did have a pig. Random, I know - the gentleman was showing us around the property and showing us the beautiful fig trees, where we found a pig having the time of its life, digging up around the bottom of the tree. Wasn't wild, just having a good time.

Pig.

But it was odd. OPT was asking us why we wanted a lunch time wedding, why we wanted a Friday... I felt very put off on justifying our decision. Whereas Topiaries went "Friday lunchtime? Awesome!". I dislike having to justify my decisions, having done that last week when trying on dresses (more on that another time...). And they didn't make any concessions that we were having this on a Friday lunchtime - they were charging us Saturday night rates, which I thought was a bit crap, honestly.

And then we went to a wedding at Boulevard Gardens at Indooroopilly on the weekend! Again, gorgeous area, very nice - they certainly knew what they were doing - but I didn't like that there was another wedding going on at the same time. It loses something when have other people there that aren't part of your wedding, I think.

So, we were sold on Topiaries. So I went there this afternoon and paid our deposit. We are getting married 8th April, 2011. :O Which is starting to get not that far away (I know, terrible grammar). We don't have to do anything venue wise now until about two months out.

The other reason I love this place is that we can get ready there, spend our wedding night there ... and in my imagination, I can see us going out for dinner that night, in our dolled up gear, and spending that first night just on us - which is why I like the idea of a lunchtime thing even more. And that means savings on hire cars (or putting our friends out by using their cars) and the night's accommodation is included in the $500 booking fee (which is pretty awesome).

That's us! :D

Buzzing away...

2010-02-03T20:24:00.001+10:00

She's done! She's finished!

Honeybee Cardigan by Cosmicpluto (Ravelry link)
Materials: Malabrigo Sock in Archangel, 3.75mm circulars - one long one for the body and 30cm circulars for the arms.
Used: 261g

Size: 42.5"
Mods: No mods, really. A fantastic pattern, and my first bottom up construction cardigan, so I didn't really want to mess with it ;)

Started: 17 October, 2009
Finished: 2 February, 2010 (there was a lot of other knitting in between that!)
Made For: myself!

What a fabulous knit. I really enjoyed this.

The pattern was easily memorised (I had been stopped by a few people on the train asking about the garment, and they were amazed that I was doing it from memory :). I had the pattern memorised after two repeats in the swatch - it was so intuitive. The first four rows of the lace pattern were the easiest - rows five and six? a little bit more painful. They took almost as long as the first four.

When I was doing the cap shaping, I put markers where the stitches I needed to decrease were (as in, decrease until there are x stitches remaining, I put two markers where x were, so I didn’t need to keep track of them - I always forget to mark my on my patterns where I'm up to - visual markers are better!)

I did have a little messy hurdle to overcome - my three skeins were all slightly different. To the point where you could see a difference from the outside of the wound ball to the inside of the wound ball. So instead of just rotating the three, I divided them into six balls and rotated the six of them. That was interesting. And then the colours looked different depending on the light. Not just photographing them and them looking different - this photo was taken in the bathroom...

And this one was taken in the computer room:

I'm still not sure what I will do for colour - I much prefer (and am much more suited!) to the darker, purple toned version! We'll see how it goes. I may still overdye it with a little bit of purple or something. Although I'll be sad to lose the yellow!

I have just under 30g left of yarn. I was beginning to worry that I’d run out (which would leave me in quite a pickle, seeing we don’t have any of this yarn left at the shop - and Archangel has varied so much between dyelots!) but I have plenty to spare.

I enjoyed using the 30cm circulars for knitting the sleeves - it worked much better than magic looping or double pointed needles due to the difference between the thin yarn and larger than usual needles. I did find when I made my Featherweight, I had ladders on the sleeves due to magic looping laceweight on 4.00mm needles. I've learnt my lesson, and now I am building up a small stock of 30cm Addi circulars.

Blocking - wow, it grew immensely. It measured just on 12” from bottom of garment to under the arm before I blocked it, and now it measures 16”. Same with the arms - they were just below my elbow before blocking, afterwards they are just hitting my wrists. So I’m glad I didn’t knit any further! And before you ask, yes I did wash and block my swatch. The weight of the garment kinda drags it down in a way ;)

The buttons are picked from Grans’s button stash. There are a lot of buttons in there that I love, but there were only one or two of them. So I was impressed that I found six of them that suited the garment. They were measured 2” apart… but when I blocked it, they measure more like 3” apart. I don’t think I’ll wear it fully buttoned though.

This is going to be amazingly warm at the shop! I think I see more garments done in Malabrigo sock in my future! (and really, it’s not that expensive. I needed 3 skeins, and that was plenty. And it blocks amazingly, so I didn’t need to knit much ;) (I would have been happy where I’d knitted to, but I’m even happier that the garment is longer!)

She got to have a little glamour shoot at the shop today, so I'll include the beautiful photos taken by Kelly.

So, the question is... what next!?

Rippling down the river...

2010-01-13T12:46:00.002+10:00

So, I've started my first proper, in depth crochet project - Lucy's Ripple Blanket

I'm using Cascade 220 with a 5.00mm hook. It's so lovely to do when watching tv. It did take a while to do the very first row, as I went into the back of the chain instead of going under the top two chains - therefore the two chains are at the bottom of the blanket, which will match the top of the blanket when I finish. Anyhoo... it makes for a very fiddly first row - as in, it took almost all of the movie UP! to do.

I didn't really think through how big it was going to be - I thought "yeah, 15 repeats sounds good... which is chaining 210 + 3 to turn." Meanwhile, 15 repeats is 135cm. Which means I'm going to have to purchase another 9 skeins to get somewhat of a rectangle - each colour stripe is around 2.5cm tall, meaning each repeat of colours is 22.5cm long... each colour takes 25g (or just under) which means I'll get 4 repeats out of one skein... 4 x 22.5cm is 90cm which isn't long enough for something that is 135 wide. So I'll double it, to use up as much as possible, making it 180cm long

Each colour is made up of two rows - one row takes about 30-40 minutes to complete. Great for watching Chuck... Dollhouse (omg, until certain things happen and you have to stop crocheting because it's O_O worthy...), Gilmore Girls... I started this on Saturday night, and was weaving the ends for finishing the first repeat of colours this morning (I am NOT leaving it until the end to weave all the ends in. That's just crazy)

It looks quite homey in this basket, which used to belong to Grans. It would have... it is? her birthday on Friday. She'd be 75. *sigh* The family is going out for lunch, to somewhere Pop hasn't been before, which will be good. We bought him a digital camera for Christmas, which will go great with the computer Mum & Dad got for him for his birthday. He loves to email us, and it does put a smile on my dial.

Miss you, Grans. <3

Finished for another year...

2010-01-05T13:00:00.000+10:00

I ended up with 30 finished projects for 2009 - lots of hats and a few gloves, a few swap projects, three adult garments! A few things frogged, a few things sitting still on the needles... but a very exciting year!

Hoping to break that this year, or at least come out with some more quality pieces! :)

Rusted Root - take 2!

2010-01-05T12:18:00.004+10:00

Kelly has been running Knit-A-Longs over at the tangled YARNS blog and the Ravelry group for October and November. This time, it's a summer Knit-A-Long, seeing the time of year is a wee bit hectic to fit a project into one month. A bit of a twist, it's a choice two projects from Zephyr Style!

I had said that I'd like to do another Rusted Root for my sister back when I finished mine. This took a little bit longer... I don't know why, I just didn't have the same "omgosh, need to finish it!"like I did with mine. It still could have been a few more pattern repeats longer, although I don't think there would be that problem if she wore a singlet underneath it.

Anyhoo, finished just after Christmas - she wore it to the Outback Spectacular on Wednesday night (I was casting off as we were driving down to the Gold Coast...)

as well as to our engagement part on Saturday night.

Rusted Root by Zephyr Style (Ravelry link)
Materials: Cotton Fleece in Dusty Eggplant, 4.00mm Addi circulars for body, 3.50mm for ribbing
Used: 2.1 skeins - I had to break into the third skein for the last two rows of ribbing and the bind off.
Size: XS
Mods: I did twisted rib for all the ribbing. I forgot to go down a needle size for the bottom ribbing... but I think I forgot to do that for mine as well ;) No other mods. Ended up with 12 pattern repeats.
Started: 26th November, 2009
Finished: 30th December, 2009
Made For: Caitlin

Hello there, my friend

2010-01-05T10:18:00.004+10:00

Finally, after many months of waiting, I have a sewing machine! No more borrowing off others. No more "oooh if only I had that sewing machine, I could make this!". And most importantly, I have other things to start stashing! muwahhah! ;)

My aunt upgraded her sewing machine, so this one was hers... it's been around a while ;) At least 10, if now 12 years? It's a Janome MyExcel 18W. White. I don't know if it has an instruction manual. Hrm. Should check in box.

Went into Spotlight and picked up two patterns: this cute little puffed sleeved top by McCalls, and this sleeveless number by Butterick. It was interesting picking out patterns, and trying to imagine it in different fabrics. Decided to make the Butterick pattern first, and went and found some fabric. Came home, washed... and then it sat there until the last night Mum was here.

I think I subscribe to the "fly by the seat of my pants" type of sewing. I started doing everything okay, asking Mum questions. But when you measure yourself to see what size you should be making... and then realise you need to make cut out one size in the front, and another size in the back - something your instructor hasn't done before... then it becomes interesting.

We ended up firstly cutting out the 24 in the front, and the 18 in the back... because you can always take it in! I'm 19.5 inches across my back but at the fullest part of my bust, I'm 25 inches, which made the arm holes a bit weird - I still don't think they're right. And I bought the 16-24 pattern, so I had to take the back in to what I think worked out was the 12?

But anyway, I ended up with a wearable garment, which is the important thing! I still need to perfect the attaching of the straps to each other a bit more.

Halfway through sewing this garment, I realised I needed a pin cushion (I also realised I need more pins... the 100 pack I bought really didn't go far enough. Or maybe it was only a 50 pack?). I had a pin cushion pattern saved from almost twelve months ago - On Pins and Needle s by Heather Bailey. I didn't actually print this out and follow it... again, flying by the seat of my pants sewing (FBTSOMPS).

I used some fabric I bought ages ago (I have an obsession with buying fat quarters... ), the left over green from my top, some ribbon that I got in the Green Swap from jaffajane88 on the Australian Swappers Ravelry group. The button is very special; it came from my grandmother's button stash. It's such a perfect button, about an inch wide, and so smooth. I couldn't imagine it on a garment, and I think this pin cushion will be sticking around a bit longer than any garment would :)

So, I have another top to sew, and then the Amy Butler Tunic! But first, I need more fabric. And I think this means a trip to Ikea... ;)

Happy holidays!

2009-12-27T10:00:00.005+10:00

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...

2009-12-22T12:27:00.009+10:00

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...

2009-10-27T23:15:00.005+10:00

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!

2009-10-08T12:26:00.004+10:00

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...

2009-09-26T23:24:00.004+10:00

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

2009-09-22T13:57:00.006+10:00

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

2009-09-20T23:19:00.002+10:00

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...

2009-09-06T17:54:00.007+10:00

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...

2009-08-04T12:19:00.004+10:00

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!

2009-06-01T22:08:00.005+10:00

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!

2009-05-31T17:07:00.005+10:00

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!

2009-05-30T22:28:00.008+10:00

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!

2009-04-18T11:42:00.012+10:00

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 :)

2009-04-17T20:09:00.004+10:00

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.

Movies to watch

2009-04-10T22:49:00.001+10:00

things i want to see:
500 days of summer
amelia
public enemy
Rachel Getting Married
The Reader
Milk
the duchess

Voting is good for the crafty side in you :)

2009-03-24T11:16:00.002+10:00

We went to vote on Saturday in the state election. After we had done our civic duty, I checked out the craft stall and found these two AWESOME WIP bags! I paid $15 for the purple one and $10 for the yellow one. I was so happy, I love when I find knitting goodness in unexpected places.

It was like when I found some sari silk yarn in Bangalow. It made me happy.

Anywhoo, I should get back to transcribing and the earning money thing. Back to reality, yo.

So.

2009-03-08T19:09:00.002+10:00

Grans had a heart attack this morning and passed away. Tam and I will be going to Mackay either tomorrow or Tuesday (depends on whether we drive or fly). At least she didn't have to go through the pains of chemo and radiation therapy. The memory of me last meeting her was inviting her down for Mother's Day, and she looked so happy and excited. I really did not expect this. I don't know how to handle this - I've never had a close relation die, I've never been to a funeral. All I can do is keep Tam close, keep my mind off everything, and just keep going. We had even bought her a Mother's Day present - we'd found this awesome set of tea cups and saucers with Elvis on them - the cups had his face on it, and the saucer had a print of a record on it.

So all I can do now is keep on knitting., and try and keep my mind occupied. My mother continues to be a rock. I cried with Dad on the phone when he called to tell me. And then we sat there and talked, about anything and everything. GPSes for clocks, Pop and Grandad living in a bachelor pad behind Mum and Dad's place, being able to play WoW and talk on the phone (as opposed to me doing a transcription and talk on the phone - does not work). The funeral will either be on Wednesday or Friday... thankfully, not on Thursday. Don't think it would have been great to have to go to Grans's funeral on my birthday.

Anyway, should probably have a shower. Sitting around all day in jammies... knitting and watching How I Met Your Mother. Good times :)

Love you, Grans. Hope you're having an awesome time with Elvis :)

hrm. Feeling better lately.

2009-03-01T23:04:00.003+10:00

Friday has now turned into Tuesday. The dilly-o with that is that Grans has cancer. It is in her shoulder, and bit are in her lungs now. You see those ads on tv, about how melanomas can dislodge, and go whoopie into your body? Fairly sure that's what's happened. We were supposed to find out what was happening with test results on Friday, but something happened, and now it's Tuesday, 10am. She's also recently fallen over (like, two months ago) and has slipped a disc in her back. So she's having trouble moving around, and her shoulder hurts (understandably) Trying to be strong, and not wibble (aww, wibbling. I miss wibbling :) but you know, being a sook... They sent her home on Friday and told her to come back on Tuesday, and 'be prepared to stay'.

Anyway. I got my hair cut.

Good times :)

Went to the BDSnB (Brisbane Daytime SnB) last Monday (and will be going again tomorrow) with Chrissy and Kaylee. Twas good, met some new knitters, and had yummy foods. Did a marathon getting ready that morning, seeing Peppa was a horrible kitty that morning, and woke us up disgustingly early. Shall take the camera...

Hrm. Just woke up. It appears I forgot to post this last night. :)

Quickly.... projects I am working on at the moment include the Downtown Clutch out of some of my hand dyed, and the Boyfriend Beanie for Tam out of Jo Sharp Tweed Aran. Or something like that :)

Everything now is "after Friday"

2009-02-24T12:04:00.005+10:00

Still alive. That's pretty much all. Would love to write a big long post about what's going on in my life, but not ready for it. Nothing relationship wise, more family wise. But need to know more before anything. Either way, something I have never dealt with before. I wish I was more like my mum, who has awesome control over her emotions. Also, not pregnant.

Won't be heading to SnB tonight, as much too tired. Peppa has woken us up much too early two mornings in a row, to the point where I was chasing her around the house at 5:00am, and ended up shutting her in the bathroom so she would stop annoying us. And then promptly burst into tears of exhaustion + blahness in general. Am continuing to put together AusKnitters Swap parcel. I have handstitched a project bag together of some nice floral material, and I need to find a ribbon to tie it up with. I am pretty proud of that. Will take photos once I have found ribbon :)

So here we are again...

2009-01-27T15:41:00.005+10:00

I've taken the past week off knitting - I've been working on mum's birthday present (She Wears Seashells) and last Tuesday, my hand went on strike. It was nice enough to go on strike when I got to the SnB. So there has not been much knitting happening around here.

And I'm feeling a bit ill - I ate probably two and a half muffins worth of muffin batter while making chocolate chip muffins this afternoon. Whoops.

The SnB was great last week - nice and relaxing, just listening to new people talk. And smooshing yarmmy. Err... yummy yarn! :D So I'm heading back tonight! I've also scored a great project basket from the Ferny Grove markets on Sunday - only $8, and it's huge (and lined). I've started work on my Meret again too, after finishing it last time and it being ridiculously too small. I finished off my Monkey Socks as well, last week. Or the week before. Here's a pretty picture:

I am very proud of them! And one of the first projects for a while that I've made for me. I actually don't remember the last project I made for me. Whoops. My meret is the next project just for me too. Other than that, it's everyone else :) Nevermind, not to worry.

Swappy goodness!

2009-01-20T12:48:00.002+10:00

Ok, so the Australian Swappers group on Rav have had a Orange swap going on for a while, and I got my parcel today!!! :D The lovely Mooska, also known as Deb, spoiled me good!

Firstly, a before shot:

accompanying this wonderful parcel is a card, which made me feel loved (and squealed a little during reading):

Some Vintage Hues:

A lovely star cloth:

*wiggles excitedly* my very first owning handspun. O_O

And the particulars:

A lovely, bright tea towel, foldable scissors (which rock), 8mm orange knitting needles, and some orange beads:

Foodstuffs! Orange dark chocolate (which is in the freezer atm :), orange tic tacs, orange mints and Ceylon Orange Pekoe tea.

And the little things :) Orange sequins, two beautiful beads, some cute buttons, a little kitty figurine playing with yarn (eeeek! :D ) and some lovely kitty stitchmarkers!

And finally, group shot!

I had been a bit worried about this, seeing... well, you can't help it. But I am sooo happy and pleased with my parcel, especially after the love and orangeyness I put into my parcel for Shan :) I looooved putting that together too! Oooh it's just full of swappyness! :D

I'm off to my first SnB tonight at the Three Monkeys in West End. I'm quite excited about that as well, but a little nervous, with the whole meeting new people and all that jazz. I'm sure it will be fantastic though.

Before heading off to that though, I shall be going for a walk with Christine - we're making the decision and going walking in the afternoons. We'll see how we go for how often we'll do it, or how far we'll go, but I need to get out and do some exercise. We're also going to bellydancing classes
that start next week over at Wooloongabba. Hooray for being active ;)

Some dyeing...

2009-01-15T19:05:00.003+10:00

I did some dyeing the other day - I put four balls of Cleckheaton Country Silk 8ply together to make a 200g ball and dyed it similar to what I had already done with it last time - blues, reds and purples. And then I'd bought a ball of while Sullivans Sock yarn a couple of weeks? ago, and dyed it blues, purples and greens. They both turned out quite nicely, especially seeing I upped the amount of vinegar I soaked it in. Need to buy more red food colouring, as that's what I tend to use up first. That, or pink. Anyway, my next lot, I want to do reds, purples with yellow, so I think it will be best to dye (or buy) yellow wool first, and then go from there with the reds and purples. Not sure how the purples will turn out though with the yellow base. Maybe I'll dye yellow and leave white patches, so the purple turns out purple and not brown.

Been a bit down yesterday and today, seeing yesterday is normally pay day. And freaking out slightly on the money front. I never really know how I survive when I have no job, but I do somehow... except the other times I've had no job, I've had ParentLink helping out. This time, it's just me and the boy. But I guess it'll work out somehow. Have been cooking and (attempting) to clean (although a lot of it has been sitting in front of the tv, watching NCIS and knitting) and trying to brainstorm what I do want to do with my life. I am going to a career councellor (when I get around to finding one) but I thought I should probably do some reasearch about where I want to take my life on my own, before I start paying someone insane amounts of money to tell me. I wonder if Griffith offers alumni councelling. Something to look at.

When I was up in Mackay while Dad was sick, I went with Mum to MADEC. I am thinking that I could see myself in that sort of enviroment. Not working with the disabled though. I have enough of that in my personal life - not so much now, of course, but that could change. But I have an understanding of what can happen at home, so I can empathise with others. So an admin side of it? Who knows. But at least that's something to think about.

To do list

2009-01-10T11:20:00.001+10:00

finish cleaning lounge room that I started doing on Wednesday
go and buy cat food - done
do not turn on tv
clean up kitchen
fold washing
figure out how to connect ipod to tuner and listen to something boppy and energising.
DO NOT SIT IN FRONT OF LAPTOP ALL DAY - wip

Stuff that shouldn’t have been on the list but did anywya
go to sortoflys and buy some Silk Garden to see what all this fuss is about, and some 4.5mm dpns and some pretty green beads (that were cheap! $2 for a string of about 45) - done
go to cute scrapbooking place near there and buy some pretty paper and some stickers - done

You sell every kinda meat here except human!

2009-01-09T18:34:00.000+10:00

So, a blog. And stuff.

I've been to the library three times in the past two days - yesterday Chrissy, Kaylee and I went to Mitchelton, to pick up Geisha of Gion - the Memoir of Mineko Iwasaki, who is the basis of "Memoirs of a Geisha". It was a book offered on the Rav Book Karma swap a week or two ago, and I was very interested - of course, I came too late. There was an extreme lack of knitting books there, so we toddled off to Ashgrove, where I found "The ABC For Kids Book of Knitted Toys" (Rav link) which has Raggy Dolls and Postman Pat, and Inspector Gadget! I am looking forward to making things from that. And then today, I visited the Brisbane City library, and got a bookc on Vietnamese cooking, a Jamie Oliver cookbook, One Ball Knits (rav link), a book on needlecraft, one on weekends away, and one on organisation in the home :) So I've got some nice reading material happening.

Other than that, today involved putting the car in for her 5000km service. It only hit 3000km on the way to the dealer. Whoops. Anyway, everything is wonderful. I went in and fixed up Targetness. Seeing Head Office overpaid me - for some reason they decided to pay me overtime for six and a half hours in my termination pay *sigh* so, I fixed that, and caught up with Jan. Ended up spending almost three hours there... and then went to the library, and continued my second Monkey sock (rav link) I've finished my heel decreases, and now just a few more repeats and I'll be finished my first grown up socks.

And now... I realy should finish clean up the lounge room. Seeing I've been doing that for the past three days... but I'd like to not do that too :)