Ack, thhhhhbt

Dear God,

Whyfore hast thou struck me down with the flu? I've been sick one way or another since June and to be honest, I'm pretty f'ing sick of it. I have not the energy to even knit, and I know that means you're cursing me for something.

It's the t-shirt, isn't it? I promise I'll stop wearing it to church. Honest.

Andrea xxoo

Too much stress

Here's what I currently have on my needles:

1. Da's Drunken Argyle
2. My second grey knee-high sock
3. My Kitri socks - knitting lace cuffs
4. A second half of a cushion for my mum
5. A pair of socks for Felix

All of these need to be finished soon for various reasons.

Here's what I want to start right now:

1. Cherie Amour from the current Knitty
2. Short row shaped hat by Veronik Avery
3. Stocking Slippers
4. Sidewinder socks
5. Dark Mark Illusion scarf

I barely stopped myself from buying 5 skeins of hand dyed bulky to make the Cherie Amour. I bought 8 balls of Studio Mohair for $2.50 a ball last Thursday morning. My mum thinks Felix should take over my pay packet.

Is there a therapy group for junkies in the matter of knitting, I wonder?

B*ggermeration

I'm exhausted. Work isn't that tiring - unless you count the untold stress of just sitting, waiting for a call. It's quite nerve wracking at times. Next week will be pretty horrible due to 4pm-12pm shifts which put me all out of whack, and make me somewhat crazy(er).

No, no, no. The reason I'm exhausted is because Felix still has his cold. It's driving him crazy, poor thing, and I feel terrible about yelling at him for it, but I do. I have to. He's snoring. On his side. I'm averaging about 2 hours uninterrupted sleep a night. I look bloody awful - puffy, blue circled eyes - and I feel dreadful - my bones ache from lack of sleep.

Luckily, I have distractions when I can't sleep. It's called "knitting". How did any of us survive without it, I ask you?










Work continues on the Drunken Argyle. It's long, slow and really little needles. The Divine J would no doubt say I need the discipline (she said that about knitting a F&F scarf in 4ply on 3.75mm needles), and she's probably right.











However, my Kitri lace cuffs on 2.75mm needles say I'm plenty disciplined. It takes about half an hour to follow one repeat and it's very fiddly. As in really fiddly. I love it, but performing a cast off around three beads is very hard! I'm planning to take it to work with me tonight to finish one sock off entirely. That way I don't feel so unmotivated. (Sorry about the pic - that's the camera strap hanging down!)









Behold - my Red Riding Hood. I love it, but I still haven't worn it. I crocheted the edges as the slip 1 on the purl rows looked mutant and I think it looks a whole lot better now. Might wear it to work tonight.









I found a fantastic hot water bottle cover pattern. It was pointed out to me by a previous co-worker, Lisa, that my not having a hand knitted cover was just "odd". This week, I decided she was right. But no fair isles or elaborate patterns for moi. Just plain, simple, easy.

Famous last words. It helps when measuring your gauge swatch to measure the swatch properly. For example: if you measure and count 9 stitches to the 10cm, make sure you have counted over 10cm, not 5cm.

I'll be re-starting this at a later date.










I'm struggling on with more socks for Felix. These are my usual toe-ups but with two strands of Patonyle as I thought it would knit up faster. No. No it doesn't. Nuff said.










This? This is nothing. It's not a new project with yarn that was on sale for $2.50 a ball. Really.

Nothing to see here.

*cough* *splutter* *wheeze*

That's right all - I'm sick. Again. Not to put too fine a point on it, it's entirely Felix's fault. Really. He's trying to kill me. (Oh yeah? Prove me wrong...)









Unsurprisingly, I can still knit while unwell. I'm now past the evil dreaded 2.5mm ribbing in the Drunken Da Argyle. I keep complaining about how much I loathe this project, but I then remember how happy my da will be with it, and I stop grumbling.












This? This will become the Caliorikerchief headscarf, once I finish the edging.

Lastly, my birthday slowly approaches, so I went out on a limb and bought some very lovely Live 2 Knit sock yarn in "Wine" to make myself the "Queen of Cups" socks. I thought it an appropriate choice.

Oh, and fear not my sisters - there will be a birthday list for you to pick and choose from closer to my actual birthday.

Knitting news - various

My grey sock is finished - one down, one to go.

I've nearly knitted my requisite 2.25 inches of rib for the Drunken Argyle.

I stared knitting the Beaudelaire socks last night at work (4pm - 12am plays merry heck with my sleep patterns), but I don;t like it. Not even a little. I think I'll have to try something else instead. Maybe the Queen of Cups socks?

Well, I'm off to start threading my Kitri sock cuffs with beads so I can knit them whilst watching "The Forsythe Saga". Looks like a lovely day.

Warning - stash envy may follow...

I love my new Bad Hair Hider. It's a bit too big, but it covers up my ears and hides my lack of hair. So I love it.









I used this to knit it - "Sean Sheep - Armytage", a brand created solely for Big W. And I ran out. I had four rows and cast off and I ran out (and it turned out too big. I know, I know.)

The 100% pure wool was on sale for $2. $2! I knew it wouldn't be a big problem getting more, except that this was the only ball of this colour at my local Big W. So Felix and I jumped in the car and drove to a Big W store (not telling you which one. You'll see why...).

It was off the shelves and in a biiiiiiig crate on the middle of the aisle with the sign "$1.00" above it. I started whimpering. The knitting gods loved me again.












This is the culmination of a lot of begging. I had $4 on me, and I didn't have any more money because I'd bought my car two days earlier (yay!). Felix told me I could have 15 balls, and when I had ten in my basket and another 14 on the table I turned to him and said that I couldn't decide anymore. I'd already thrown back 8 balls that I really didn't need (did I just say that?), and to chose between the blue/green and the white/grey was just too hard.

He let me buy 24 balls. I love him.











So here's what they're all for:

1. Thrummed mittens for Felix for the move to Canada.
2. Thrummed mittens for me for the move to Canada.
3. The remainder of the ball from my Caliometry - might make a smaller one.
4. No idea, but I have 5 in the same dyelot. Something for Felix for Canada, maybe.
5. The cabled gloves from the 25th Anniversary Vogue Knitting and maybe a beanie for me. (This row of yarns are actually all the same colouring - white to grey. Some are just wound inside out)
6. The headscarf from "Holiday Knits" (once someone buys it for me).
7. It's pretty. Nuff said.
8. See above. And it was the last ball.
9. No idea - probably fingerless gloves of some kind.

Felix rocks and I can collapse happy now.

*What* a week!

At last I can reveal myself to the Jedi my secret project.

This is "Amanda's Shawl" by Beth Cohen, from Yarn Magazine (Issue #5). I started it two days after my friend Michelle told me she was having a baby. I ran out of the über-exquisite Wendy Dennis yarn three-quarter's of the way through the edging, so I put it off for ages, but it's all done and handed over now to much appreciation (don't you just love it when the person who receives the gift knows just how much work you've put into it? Michelle's great like that).












I had no idea that the pinning out bit would be so cool. It went from that...












...to this. Then it dried, Felix and I had an unpinning race, and when I finally saw it I cried from sheer joy.

I think I have to finish my Mystery Stole just for the pinning out fun.

In the meantime, thanks to the slackest job in history (a call centre with no calls) the knitting continues.










I have finished one grey sock, minus the lace trim. I've had to re-write the pattern to suit me a bit better.











I have finished my bad hair hider aka Caliometry (thanks to Big W for the amazing wool - $2 a ball?!?!?!).

I've started making a heap of Catnip Mice to flog at St Andrew's Market in a few weeks. My workmates (aka fellow slackers) think I should make up some more Mittens to sell.













And behold! Two Kitri socks awaiting cuffs! Now if only I wasn't such a wuss I'd be finished them already, but I'm scared of stuffing up the beading. I'm hopeless, I know.

Oh, and I cast on the Drunken Argyle. Let us never speak of it again.