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.

Movies to watch

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 :)

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.

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.

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...

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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 :)