Well, they're done...

I needed only enough yarn to knit a plain toe and once that was done I had no more excuses to not show them, so here are the Butteryarn Socks ("Nice pattern, butteryarn...?!").

The yarn is so impossibly chunky that a sock can almost stand up by itself. The pattern is "Log Cabin Socks" from "Handknit Holidays" and it was great fun. The fact that the first set of cables branch out and join up to make the next set was lots of fun but still kept me on my toes.

Felix actually likes his socks. Mind you, they're handknitted socks , so obviously he likes them. He seems to like the colour and yarn as well.

I think he's just being nice again...

PS: "They're really cool! They're like wearing armour!"

I give up.

The heater is on. In *January*.

When I woke up this morning it was 10°C. In January. This is quite odd, as today's finished object was finished on a 39°C day, just a few weeks ago.

My lounge room wreath isn't very fancy but it was fun to make. The pattern is from Good Knits, and while it wasn't easy crochting around a polystyrene wreath form, it was worth it in the end.

 

The roses are from the ever amazing Attic 24, and they eat a fair chunk of yarn, so if you're looking to kill off some stash, pick up a hook.

The most fun part for me was nuking some diced potatoes with water to make starch for the edging. I pinned out every loop on a blocking board, took it out onto the front verandah in the disgusting heat and sprayed until the edging was wet. Thirty minutes later it was dry and ready to decorate. Hot days have their uses sometimes!

Pretty girly things

Isn't it wonderful what nine hours sleep will do? It'll get you happy and bouncy and almost ready to clean up after a grarage sale.

Almost.

Last week I made two beanies for two little girls I'm not related to. My mum's best friend Marg knitted up a cardigan for her little grandaughter in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran and gave me the leftovers, which was one and a half balls, both in a soft dusty pink. I found a spare ball in the samples box at Morris one weekend, so I decided to make Marg's two little grandaughters matching beanies.

Now Sadie and Lucy will look adorable in these. They're lovely little girls, who come round to play with Marcus, and they live up in the Dandenongs, where it gets pretty cold over winter (I plan to move up there yet). The pattern is The Able Cable Hat, and it's fantastic. Simple increase/decrease that looks like a massive cable, with clear instructions. I started these beanies for the Ravellenic Games, but the games got the better of me, so they've been languishing in a bag ever since.

The flower on top is from Solgrim, and it's a pretty easy crochet. The mismatching buttons means the girls will be able to tell whose beanie it is, which is very important to sisters. Trust me on that one.

My brain is fried

I spent the first half hour in bed last night going over the plans for our garage sale today, which means that when the kids woke me up at 4:50am, I'd had less than five hours sleep.

This is my Da's new St Kilda beanie for winter. The pattern is Lina. If you want more than that it'll have to wait. I need sleep more than anything in the world right now. Unless Joss Whedon wants to bring back "Firefly".

That'd be nice too.

Takin' care of business

We've been cleaning out the bungalow in anticipation of a garage sale on the Australia Day holiday. I ventured into the back room and surveyed my stash and a pile of bags, filled with unfinished projects and very determinably ran away.

Thirty minutes later I had a list of all of my unfinished projects and my future projects in an easy to understand order of progression, so I set about throwing stuff into boxes to sell.

Working out which unfinished project to continue on and which to kill off was at times fairly easy, yet other times it was all tears and excuses. The amount of time invested, the cost of the yarn, how it had the potential to be beautiful, really it did. Hours later and my list stood at fifty-four projects, but about six of those were projects to kill off. It's pretty easy to kill off a jumper that you've spent about fifity hours knitting but now realise you're two dress sizes smaller...

End result? Things are getting finished! Really! I can understand your hesitation in believing me, so I shall show you instead. One project a day, working days only mind, because that way I have weekends to catch up!

First up: cabled shawl collar jumper. I started this for Marcus when he was six months old and even then it was massive. I thought it would fit him at twelve months but it was still too big, plus I hadn't sewn the collar on. So I put it aside and promptly forgot about it.

Fast forward to tidying up and now it's done. Buttons added and it's the perfect size for Dot this winter. She'll need a tartan wool skirt, obviously, and shiny boots. I love me some shiny boots.
The yarn is silky wool from Shiloh Wool Mills, and the pattern was a Patons one I found in an old edition of "Creative Knitting". I'm helpful, aren't I? I'd show you a photo of Dot wearing it, but in 31°C you can forget that!

---

If you do happen to be in the Ferntree Gully area on Monday, drop into Gerald Street. We want to get a lot of stuff out of our lives, so we're selling most of our books and most of my yarn (they seem to take up the most space). Kid's toys, clothes, the works. It's pretty much all $2 and under, so a jumper for $30 is possible!

Post-Christmas Joy

As I have previously mentioned, I have a pretty wonderful mother-in-law. Sue is a quilter, so I know she understands the need for stash and something to store it in. When I found out that she was my Kris Kringle giver last Christmas I was pretty happy knowing it'd be something good.

But it wasn't.

It was amazing.

My BagSmith Project bag was late coming over from the US, but worth the wait. It's just beautiful.

 

Look at the pockets! Six mesh pockets on this side...

Lots for needles and tools on this side.

Why do I love it so much? The frame.

It folds out to stand up. It's a freestanding knitting bag/basket.

Sue, you've excelled youself this time, truly you have. *mwah*

Happy New Year!

Welcome to another year past any Apocalypses! (A bigger load of rubbish I'd never heard of, and showing "Deep Impact" on tv was just insensitive...)

Another year gone past, another set of New Year's Resolution, which almost all seem to be "I must knit more". Funny that.

Instead, I hand over to you a year of very meagre pickings and present my finished projects of 2012:

• January Cal Square #1
• January Cal Square #2
• Felix's Cider Cozy
• Snuffles the Dragon
• Cameron's Van Halen Cozy
• Microbat
• Baby Blu Jeans
• Marcus' Green Cardigan
• Crocheted Cowboy Boots

That resolution is starting to look pretty necessary now. On the other hand I did knit full jumpers for my customers, so I'm not totally hopeless.

Have a great year this year, dear knitters, and positively RUN to Detail-Oriented Diva to download and print out this fantastic picture. How encouraging is it?!