Wait....Tensionia is REAL?!?!?!?

Apparently praying to the knitting gods can pay off when it comes to the Royal Melbourne Show results.

A commended in "Article or garment using natural fibres or blend" was a pretty huge surprise, except that I don't know which pair of socks it is for!

The next category listed is "Traditional FairIsle" and when I saw my name next to the number "1" I screamed so loud Felix was worried the baby might arrive just to escape the noise. I won the Traditional FairIsle in The Show.












I am not coming off this high for a good few weeks, I swear.

A year already?

Today is the anniversary of Felix and I grabbing some heavily packed suitcases and running away to the UK. We didn't manage five years, let alone five months (thanks Immigration for changing the rules the week we arrived!), but we did meet some exceptionally awesome people and there was snow and a cold Christmas. We also discovered gammon. 'nuff said.

I've been scaring Felix and my mum by telling them that obviously a child conceived in Scotland would have to arrive on the anniversary, so my husband's last words to Boitjie this morning were "Stay in there, okay? Please?!?".

I've almost stopped knitting entirely, as I seem to spend more time sitting about doing nothing. My mum says that I'm "conserving my energy". I say I'm a lazy sod who gets her husband to do all the housework (when my mum isn't dropping over to help). The current warm weather means that I'm off to my mum's today to block the Alphabet Blanket (FINALLY!!!), so at least there's something nice and finished on my radar.

Time to play "Spot the Kitty":















Can you find Her Royal Laziness?

Necessity is the grandmother of invention

I needed to wind a skein, yet I have no skein holder. No problem. Just stick it in the lap, and s-l-o-o-o-w-l-y unwind the skein. It's a painstakingly boring task, and would have been helped along if I could have used Felix. However, we picked up his "Guitar Hero World Tour" pack on Saturday and I wasn't about to disturb his happiness.

I finally twigged that what I needed was another hand. One to turn the ball winder, one to follow the thread and a third to hold the working thread up high enough to be able to flow into the ball winder and speed things up.




















Good thing I had a ponytail. Felix thought it was so funny intuitive he had to stop his game and take a picture.

Oh mighty Tensionia, hear my prayer,,,,

Today was drop off day for knitting entries for the Royal Melbourne Show. I've entered four categories and all I can do is cross my fingers and make offerings to the gods of knitting.

Finished Objects 2009 - #16 and #17

I finished the Mintie Booties this afternoon and they look great.














I love that they're a cute mint colour, I love that they're an adorable pattern, but most of all I love that they're finished.














Now to avoid 2.25mm bamboo double points for a few days so I can heal.

Tonight I made Saartje's again, but using a different pattern. A seamless version.














What bliss! What joy! What speed! I love using the magic cast-on, and then to have no back seam as well...*happy sighs*














When you have only four threads per bootie to sew in, you know you're on a winner. Expect this to be repeated a few times over the coming days.

Finished Objects 2009 - #15 and 3/4 of #16

Last night was my brother-in-law's birthday party and the last chance for my family to see me looking like I'd swallowed a watermelon. My sisters kept telling me how small I was compared to them at the same point in their pregnancies. Very sweet of them, especially when you consider I'm about 4" taller than all of them...

Yet another pair of booties, and hopefully this time I shall spell Saartje's Booties correctly.















An easy pattern, fairly fast, the only downside being too many ends to sew in! Next time I shall knit them in the round and only sew in the straps after all that.

I've knitted them to match my Alpaca Hat, and the sweet little buttons on the side are some of my many nacre buttons reversed.

Today's booties are... unfinished. Dun-dun-duuuuuhhhhhhh! 2.25mm needles that feel like toothpicks repeatedly stabbing me in my right palm cause me to slow down somewhat.














The pattern is Christine's baby booties and the ribbing at the sides apparently helps the booties stay on. Having knitted almost the entire pair, all I can say is they'd better stay on - this much hand agony better have a payoff.














They are very very cute, though. I was knitting them at the party last night and it's rare that I get comments on my knitting, but everyone there - including the kids - wanted to touch them and play with them. I think it's like Gidgetknits said: " Why is it booties are just so adorable? "

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We spent a large chunk of today unpacking the last of our books (What? We've only been back for eight months) and sorting out some more things.




















Here we have our bookcase, cunningly arranged by the OCD member of the family, aka me. I love the colour effect to little teeny pieces, so much so that I decided to go crazy with the craft bookcase too.














I really need more magazine holders - I have two more boxes to empty, and I only have room for two more mag holders. Oops.

Finished Objects 2009 - #14

Ha! You thought I wouldn't manage it, did you? Nur!

















The pattern is Blue Steps Baby Booties and it was great fun. I started with a Magic Cast On, which really is magic, then moved on to a half-brioche stitch, and they just zoomed along. This in itself was pretty impressive considering they were knitted in the round, with 4 ply (the alpaca again), on 2.25mm needles.














They have an adorable garter stitch section at the front that pulls them all together.















So, on to another pair tomorrow!

Oh, so *that* explains it!

My doctor's suggestion of a week of bedrest to lower my blood pressure wasn't particularly well received. How could he not know just how much I need to do around the house?!? I need to finish setting up the nursery stuff, waaaaayyyyyy too much washing needs to be done (spring's arrived, time to wash and store heavy winter woolens) and there is yet another set of curtains to be made. The flat came with curtains, but they're all ugly and the fabric was $4 a metre.

End result is obvious: knitting. I'm having mild panic attacks about my knitting and I've worked out what to do. Each day I'll knit some booties. A pair, in fact. They take almost no time, and they're very very useful. The fact that I've almost finished a pair has nothing to do with it.

Let's see how long this idea lasts!

NB: If you look up Saartje's Bootees on Google you get the pdf. If you look up the very misspelled "Saatje's Booties" the first two links are to this blog...... oops.