Our special day; Odds and sods

Marcus' christening went off without a hitch (unless you count our car running out of petrol before we even left the house. Thank heavens we tried to go somewhere three hours before we had to leave!). It was lovely weather with lots of friends and many more family, some of whom made it all the way from NSW, so they win.













He looked just beautiful in his christening gown (not dress, no matter how many times his Auntie Leah calls it that), and he is now the third generation to wear it, which I love. Felix and I scrubbed up okay for the event (how fake is that pose?!), and yes Gidgetknits, my husband deliberately bought a navy and red pinstripe suit to match the Doctor. This is why I'm married to him.
















It was a bit of a big day, so Marcus flaked out relatively swiftly, including during the first hour of the church service. Standing to sing hymns while holding an 8.5kg baby when you have a bad back is emphatically no fun.

So how did the christening shawl look?

















Here's the fairy cakes I made.

















Here's the christening cake I made.
















Here's Felix's 30th birthday cake I made (I heart my nerd).

So, how did the christening shawl turn out?

...

It was 27 degrees! Who wears a shawl in 27 degrees?!?! In other words, I'll get it finished relatively soon, no rush now!

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In the meantime I've currently got about four rows of ribbing to go on my Skewed Snow White socks, I started a fair isle jacket for the Squishie after the yarn fell out when I was tidying up and I've got about 45 minutes before I finish up another pair of booties using the fabulous Christine's Baby Booties pattern. I'll get it all done eventually.

















The jacket was knitted up during last weekend's "Wire in the Blood" marathon where I watched series 1-5, finishing up yesterday afternoon, while Squishie slept - he really doesn't need to watch dismembered bodies and Munchhausen by Proxy mothers now does he?

That's a bit better

A nice week so far.




I've cooked up a batch of blood plum jam;



A dozen blueberry muffins were made;



The border started on the christening shawl.

10 repeats done, 110 to go.



In other excellent news, the christening gown worn by Felix's mum fits Marcus.

Where's the fun?

Joining the Knitting Olympics was a baaaaaaaaaaad idea, and here's why. In the next two weeks I have the following:

1. My dad's birthday (today, in fact!) for which I am making a dinosaur cake;
2. My family reunion of which I am one of the organisers;
3. A sudden influx of relatives from interstate (all Felix's family, in fact);
4. The most important event: Marcus' christening, which I have yet to finish the shawl for.

The end result of this is that I've been putting unrealistic deadlines on my knitting. Skew socks in two weeks? Easy! It would have been too, had I not also been making my Da's birthday present, his birthday cake and making up 22 invitations to be sent out.

See? Too busy.

I've been spending very spare minute trying to catch up on the socks until Friday when I discovered that I couldn't carry my baby anymore. Felix stayed home from work and has taken complete care of Marcus over the weekend while I inhale Voltaren and Mersyndol for a back that has "soft tissue damage", also known as "Ow! Smeg it!". (This is an opportune moment to mention how wonderful Felix is. I haven't changed a nappy for almost three days now - thanks honey!).

Friday was an epiphany. Why do I do this to myself? Why do we all do it? Self-imposed goals, deadlines in fact, where we rush through the knitting, working almost as automatons, stitch after stitch, row after row, "I've got to finish this so I can get started on that thing for So-and-So's birthday!". It's taking all the fun out of my knitting, which is why I think I'm slowing down so much. I also don't think it helps that I knit automatically, which is a great help of plain knitting at the movies, but not very (I suppose) mindful.

I want my knitted gifts to be filled with the love and joy of the knitting itself, not the stress and pressure that I felt under to finish them on time. How often have I spent getting up extra early on the day of someone's birthday just to finish the present in time? How often have I tried to calculate just how long another 20 rows will take to knit? How long before I stop feeling guilty about the presents I didn't finish, and ran out and bought a meaningless present to replace, the kind you just grab off a shelf with no thought, because all of my thoughts went into the knitting, but there just wasn't enough time?

I'm quitting deadlines. If I knit something from now on, it'll be because I want to knit it. It will be because I like the juxtaposition of the yarn and stitch pattern. If it ends up as someone's present, great, but no more pressure. I have enough pressure from the rest of my life without my "relaxing hobby" adding more.

Now to justify the pressure I'm piling onto myself over the next two weeks for the christening shaw

Knitting Olympics - Day 1 Results

Whilst the Yarn Harlot may advocate the use of caffeine and chocolate, here at Let Me Knit! we highly encourage the use of other stimulants to get through the Knitting Olympics. Did you know that three apple juice icy poles crushed up with vodka tastes really good?

Anyway, I cast on the Skew sock thinking how this would be a major challenge. It is a complex pattern, but once you get down to brass tacks, it's just beautiful. The use of left and right leaning decreases makes me smile and I try and explain the brilliance of it to non-sock-knitters (my mum and my husband) but they don't understand why it's so much fun.














I'm using a fantastic yarn that Chantal gave me as a present, the occasion being that she thought I'd like it (understatement!), and with a name like "Snow White and the Seven Stitches" I really do love it. See? It's the same colours as Disney's Snow White. How cool is that? It's made by Biscotte and Cie and you might like to look at her beautiful sock yarn. Amazing stuff and I'm tempted by the Nemo yarn...

My brilliant plan to not let Felix tell me off for putting myself under this amount of pressure failed last night when he asked me what I was knitting and I told him. He doesn't "particularly mind". So much for the secrecy part of the plan. But if I hadn't told him, then I wouldn't have managed this picture:














Squishie is a bit unsure about how to knit a sock with a single circular, but we think he'll figure it out.

Good heavens, what have I done?!

I'm making my father's birthday present, due on February 28th. I'd tell you all what it is, but he reads my blog so I'm not falling for that again (suffer Da!). I'm also knitting a lace shawl for Squishie's christening on March 14th - just started row 171, only 10 to go before the border, so yay for me there. This is an awfully huge amount of work, and I have schedules and notes on how much I can fit into each day to get it all done in time.

Considering all of the above, would anyone care to tell me what on earth possessed me to sign up for KO2010?





I'm knitting these by February 28th. I'm using the beautiful Snow White and the Seven Stitches that Chantal gave me for a present (Enabler, I curse thee!) and the instructions look nice and hard.

How could I be so stupid? I saw the Knitty surprise pattern and swore to make them for the Knitting Olympics because Chantal and I had been discussing them today. I laughed and said no chance would I be knitting anything, I have enough on... oh, b****r.

My one consolation is that Felix won't know. I don't think he reads the blog unless I point it out to him as a particular posting...oooo, I hope he doesn't find out! Knitting at 5am it is then.

---

A brief announcement - we moved the actual christening to the 11th of April, so I have a slight respite! Phew! I'm still an idiot, though.

Sleep? Bah - for the weak only!

It's almost half past one in the morning and I'm posting. As someone with a newish baby, you're probably all thinking "Ah, the baby is awake so Andrea's awake. Poor thing."... No such luck. Marcus slumbers blissfully, as does his father. I am unable to deal with stereo snoring, hence the very early knitting.

Oh, yes, I'm still knitting. I'd post about it but daily updates of "Yay! Another row accomplished!" really didn't thrill me, and so I have left my blog in relative peace.

The christening shawl is now up to row 154, another section involving double yarn overs (I love the size of the hole because it's just so huge!) and then it's on to the very last chart - hu-bloody-zzah. It's getting hard to put goodwill into this knit sometimes, but I persevere. The best time for knitting is just after dinner during our evening episode of "Castle", but we're almost out so I suspect that we'll be forced to find another series to fill in the evening. I suspect a re-watch of "Firefly" beckons, if we could just remember who borrowed it last...

Oh, and for Sonia.














Marcus got chubbier.

Knitty knit knit

I've been living the most wonderful life the past few days, filled with purpose and meaning. Saturday I handed Marcus over to his daddy and nudged them both in the direction of the lounge and the X-Box: "Come and watch Daddy cook some fools, Squishie!". This left me free to tackle the black hole that was our bedroom. How can a baby have more clothes than I do?

True, I have more knitwear, but that's because I've been knitting for myself for almost 31 years, whereas Marcus has only been in the picture for a few months. It's still disappointing when things like this happen:














This is the grey jacket I knitted for Marcus last year (my last FO, in fact). I dragged it out for the cool change yesterday, only to discover that some edge stitches have come undone. Now, I could spend some time picking them back up and fixing the jacket properly, but I really can't be bothered. It was a stop-gap jacket at best and I'd much rather get started on his winter knitting. There is an awesome cabled jumper in his winter future, not to mention the need to make many many pairs of overalls.

The christening shawl continues on unabated, with the count currently at row 119. I keep finding that I've missed YO's, so I occasionally need to tink back the 16 stitch repeat a few rows. Never phased me, even when it's patterning every row. Then I read Donna's post on her Cap Shawl and now I'm terrified. Poor Donna - go over and give her a nice posting-hug, will you?

---

Looking through my camera I've found a few FO's that I didn't post last year - yay! So, the sneaky news is that they're going to be the beginning of this years' FO's. Bwahahaha!

A weird knitting moment

I'm still on the multi-pattern repeat in the lace and I've just come to a part that feels a bit odd.

I have to slip 1, knit 1, pass slip stitch over. Easy. The oddness comes from the slip stitch. I'm constantly slipping a yarn over. It just feels weird. I keep freaking out that I'm doing it all wrong, even though I know I'm not.

Weird.

Faith in humanity somewhat restored

First we had the very nice pamphlet delivery lady on Saturday night. She heard my mobile ringing in a garden and picked it up and returned my parents phone call. After a chat they all agreed to meet out the front of my place, and she handed the mobile over to my parents. Thanks pamphlet delivery lady!

Last night we came home late after the vile vile heat and while I was downstairs (half asleep due to a headache-busting Mersyndol Forte) Felix went back up to empty out the car. While he was there a man asked him if he knew where Flat 3 was, as he needed to deliver a wallet he had spotted in a storm water drain. Thanks complete stranger!

Turns out we're only missing the two credit cards and we canceled them fast enough that no damage was done. Yay - no new license photo!

Stupid life

This weather is just intolerable. 43 degrees is ridiculous, and all I want to do is move back to Scotland. Luckily, Squishie and I are off to my sister's house with its lovely lovely air conditioning which means I may actually get some knitting done.

Not lace knitting, mind you. I have a pair of socks on the go for Felix (curse you Bells, you temptress you!) and a short-sleeved sock yarn cardigan for the Squishie, so I need not worry about lace knitting counting while the awesome Leah and I watch chick flicks and hand the baby over to his highly competent cousins to mind. Lots of drinks with ice in them, and we'll be set.

---

We had something pretty lousy happen this weekend. We bolted into the house on Friday afternoon (it was really warm) so we could get Squishie all comfy. Here's where the stupid comes into it: I forgot my purse and Felix forgot to lock the boot. Saturday night comes around and I realise I don't know where my wallet is. I check the car - nope, not there. We eventually drive off to the petrol station we used it at last, and on the way we get a phone call from my mum telling me that some very nice stranger has found my mobile two streets from my house and just how did I lose it?

So that's how we found out that someone had stolen my purse from my car. It looks like the eejit climbed through the boot and grabbed the purse and mobile from the section under the radio. They forgot to look in the centre console, so the iPod is safe (it's the old one anyway) but now I have to go off and get all of my cards again: licence, Medicare, library and we need to get all of the banking cards again, because they were all on my purse. Grrrrrrr. The very nice police officers apologised but there weren't any decent prints due to the cars post-holiday dust and the heat on Saturday.

I was feeling very sorry for myself for most of the weekend and then got on the webs and read Lynne's post over at Yarnivorous. I spent most of last night hugging Squishie instead.

A Lacy Summer

Having joined up with Bells' Long Lacy Summer yet again, I thought the christening shawl would be a breeze. I'm pretty good with lacework and it tends to speed along.














Not this time, I'm afraid. I don't know if it's the patterning in each row which causes me to slow down, or just the lack of knitting time available but I just don't seem to be getting far.

I'm currently on row 108 and I have plenty more to go. I'm trying to get a section down each week, and I still have 6 rows left in the section I have to finish before Sunday. Shouldn't be too hard, really but I also have to do all the household-y work, not to mention the Squishie (when he's awake - his morning nap is the perfect blogging time!) who is a real time stealer, especially when he's beaming at me.

My wake up at 5am plan is actually working quite well, except for the part where I use it for knitting. At the moment I use it entirely for housework, because the post-Christmas disaster I call my home really was a disaster. Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll be back in to knitting time, but I can't do my usual knitting routine of watching a dvd while I'm knitting this shawl; it's hard to concentrate on a film when you need to concentrate twice as much as normal on your knitting.














The worst part of this pattern is that it has two parts: the lines of lace flowers down the corners and the main panels. The flowers are a 18 row repeat, which means that I'm keeping track of two patterns as I go. It gets easier if I'm working on it continuously, but this stopping and starting means that I'm getting a bit lost.

I'm thinking that a big push might be in order tomorrow, especially as I have no plans to leave the house in this weather: 34 degrees all weekend!

I don't know everything

It was a bit of a shock to be pulled up short by the christening shawl I'm currently working on. The knitted lace (not lace knitting) section required me to knit two together. Easy! Anyone can do that. The problem was that the two stitches to be knit together were a knit and a yarn over.

Looking at the potential stitch, it seemed that the only way to knit it was to knit through the back of the two stitches, lest the YO become a tightly stretched thread and the hole it created disappear. So I tried that. It worked, but the twisted stitch looked completely out of place.

I decided to look it up on Ravelry - where would we be without it? According to the pattern listing, no-one else had any problems with row 105. I seriously contemplated messaging the creator, Dorothy Siemens, to ask what to do.

After about 20 minutes of hesitation I gave up and went to bed. Yesterday morning, in a brief moment of "Quick! He's asleep!" I decided to try again.

I looked at the two stitches again, looked at the pattern - still K2tog - and did just that. The YO didn't pull tight, the hole was relaxed and lovely and I learned a very valuable lesson: designers do actually know what they're doing, especially with lace. I think I know so much about knitting just because I've been knitting for years (31 years this March) yet something like this has pulled me up.

Knitting resolutions for the year? Find out more. Read up on the history of what I love, find new techniques (I used cable cast on until I was 28. Pffffffft!) which are always brought up on Ravelry, challenge myself more. This could be a little hard with Marcus around, but if I have to get up at 5am every morning to do it, then I will.

Forget lemonade, we're moving onto clear spirits...

Port Macquarie is lovely (apart from the vile humidity). How can you not love a place where you can see this many wonderful birds at once? (My in-laws backyard.)




















Marcus enjoyed himself immensely, especially at Lake Cathie (it's apparently pronounced Cat-eye, not Cath-ee. Freaks, I tells ya).




















This picture was taken just before his butt hit the water and he lost it completely.

However, Port Macquarie has one small problem: it is 1200 kms away, and now my darling Felix has promised we need never visit there again. Why? Because the drive home was just as bad.

First stop was at Taree at 10:30am on Saturday to feed the Squishie (Did I mention that's what Marcus has been called since he was a week old?). All was going well until we returned to the car to discover that the battery was completely dead. Somebody* had left the lights on and drained the battery, so we called the NRMA, who decided that telling us sixty minutes and taking two hours with no reason was perfectly fine.















Were it not for my knitting I would obviously have gone insane. I got some pretty odd looks while we waited, but K.I.P. will do that. Eventually we hit the road again, with me driving through torrential downpours only to stop 10kms before Buladelah.




















Yep, another tailback, another batch of knitting - luckily only one hour before the tailback ended. We stopped just before the town at a Revive centre to grab a coffee which was when I declared: no more holidays ever ever EVER again. The rest of the day consisted of driving as hard and as fast as I legally could, making Goulburn by nightfall. 600km in just 12 hours...bah.




















First stop this morning? Look Squishie - it's a really BIG sheep!




















He loved his little take-home version too.

Felix drove today and I managed another 10 rows of my Garden shawl, bringing me up to a total of 100 rows - only 79 to go, not counting the border, obviously. The only reason I managed so much knitting today was the brilliance of my boys. Felix drove and Marcus, well...















Nothing like the world's best traveler to help his mother keep her sanity. Now for a medicinal fortified!

* It wasn't me, and Marcus can't drive...

Finished Objects 2009

Well, the post is a day late but humidity plays nasty tricks on the mind (only 68% today).


















We had a very non-eventful NYE here: watched "The Glenn Miller Story" with my in-laws and Felix while we waited to see if Marcus would wake up in time for us to see the local fireworks at 10:00pm; he slept until 10:30pm and grizzled so much that our midnight saw Felix, Marcus and I all lying down trying to go to sleep.



















Despite the shortness of my 2009 list I think I still went pretty well. I think we can all agree that number 19 was my greatest work for the year, if not my life.

Happy New Year all.

• Grey Jacket
• Marcus
• Alphabet Blanket
• Aqua Grey Seamless Booties
• Mintie Booties
• Alpaca Booties
• Brioche Baby Booties
• Alpaca Hat
• Wee Willie Winkie
• Dodecaheeeeeeeedron!
• Green Baby Booties
• Baby Argyle Vest
• Baby Wraparound
• St Kilda Socks
• Endpaper Mitts
• Ruby Red Hot Water Bottle Cover
• Kingsford Smith Hat
• Lenny the Bunny
• Lace Beret
• Celtic Hearts Shawl
  

How do I make lemonade from this?

I'm a Christmas junkie. The redder and more glittery covered the celebration, the better (Glitter: the herpes of the craft world). This year was no exception to my usual OTT-ness.





















This is what happens when I go nuts in the kitchen. I forgot to take photos of the 120 gingerbread stars or the few chocolate-coated coffee spoons I produced, but the gingerbread house was a given. It disappeared rapidly on the day, evenly divided between us all (Felix and I got half a roof which is apparently a fair share...).

The day itself was pretty good. Marcus was suitably spoiled with presents, including a small bike and lots of soft squishie toys. He deserved spoiling.




















How can you not spoil someone who looks this cute? (As promised, Sonia!)

The next morning saw us up and out early to drive to Yass. I shall skip over the bad bits: scraping the skin off one of my knees, the car dying on the side of the Hume Highway, the RACV taking TWO HOURS, Felix's sunburn from walking up and down the roadside with Marcus while we waited for the RACV etc etc. Needless to say we got to Yass late.

We left Yass on the Sunday nice and early so we could make it to Port Macquarie nice and early. I was happy, working on my Garden Shawl for the Long Lacy Summer, with Felix clocking up the hours for his L's. We didn't count on the Buladelah nightmare.



















17 kms. Two hours. You can drive faster through a shopping centre. Kudos to the guys in the van behind for offering their beer bong to share. By the end of the nightmare I was driving again, desperately trying to get to Port before dark. Not a chance.

You see, it's been raining in NSW. Since Saturday. Port Macquarie is lovely, except right now it's 23 degrees and 85% humidity. Everything feels damp, including me. My knitting charts are wrinkling up with moisture, and they feel damp to touch. I have never felt so grossed out in my life. Ew. Big time ew.

I suppose the good side is that I'm getting some knitting done, but to be honest if it wasn't for the great company here I would have turned the car around on the Hume Hwy, just past Wallan...

Stitch Culture

In March next year, my husband will be celebrating his 30th birthday. That same day the two of us will take Marcus to our local church to be christened. He will have three godparents: Judith, the ubergoddess of knitting; Jonathan, a reprobate Terry Pratchett fan I've known since high school and despaired of ever since; and Chantal.

I've known Chantal for a while now. My ex-boyfriend and she were at uni together, and he recommended that she visit the wool store I used to work at. I remember a very enthusiastic yarn-ho who freely admitted that she had spent an entire summer indoors playing World of Warcraft. We agreed that knitting was a slightly healthier pursuit (My comment that the brilliance of knitting was it could be performed outdoors was met with "So can Warcraft - that's what wireless is for!").

Chantal once told my ex-boyfriend that if we ever broke up, she was keeping me instead of him. I loved her displaced loyalty at the time; then it of course became true. She embraced Felix as the other half of me, and a man who understands the importance of letting me knit at all times, including at the movies. Her own partner, Paul, gained the reputation as a wonderful man the day he went to a closing down sale in Hawthorn and bought up most of the remaining Rowan yarn stock. He doles it out whenever Chantal deems him to have done something wrong or annoying - a really good idea, I think.

Anyway, this long rambling post has a reason. Chantal has opened her own online store: Stitch Culture. I hereby state that I am incredibly biased and want everyone to shop there. New items will be added every week (Chantal is currently working a full time job and studying for her MBA while she opened the store - mad, I tells ya), and there's a wish list for the unsubtle out there (Hey family! My birthday is next week! Go and look at my list, will ya?). The success of this store couldn't happen to a sweeter, nicer, more thoughtful person than our dear Chantal.

Stitch Culture.

Go forth and purchase. Except for the Madelinetosh sock yarn. That's all mine.

No, I really do knit stuff. Honestly...

This is a blog for knitting. I created this blog solely to talk about my knitting, and how it affects both myself personally and also my life. However...














Seriously, how cute is my son?

(We'll return to knitting next time, I swear)

Finished Objects 2009 - #20

The return of the finished object, hurrah!

Turns out that the vomited on baby jacket could in fact be saved for one reason only - centre-pull balls. That's right. The vomit was on the outside, the nice clean unbiled yarn on the centre. Trust me, the jacket was soaked in eucalyptus wool wash for about half an hour as well!

This is the 5 Hour Baby Sweater, Boy Version and it's a super fast knit (obviously). Not five hours, of course, but what do you expect with a newborn floating around? I omitted buttonholes because I just wanted something I could quickly wrap around him if the wind picks up or something like that.


















I would have dressed Marcus in the jacket but considering it's currently 32C and it seemed a tad cruel.

A sad swag

My mum has had the unhappy job of cleaning out my nana's unit, and sorting out all of her things. My nana, bless her, was a packrat, a trait my mother swears she didn't inherit, but trust me - she did. Ask my sisters!

Nana kept everything. EVERYTHING. My Uncle Greg's First Form report card turned up. The newspaper clipping detailing my calisthenics group success at Ballarat in 1983 turned up (no, you're not seeing that picture anytime soon). Cards from my grandparents 50th anniversary were found, along with close to 100 un-used Christmas cards.

My mum dropped by with a pile of things for me, including my Celtic Hearts Shawl that I gave Nana for her birthday this year. My pile included many many photos of me over the years, including one from my birth, Nana's bible and baptism order of service, doilies, tablecloths and tea towels (the really nice Irish linen ones she never used). Oh, and all this.















So many sock needles! I also love the old Aero 8's (4mm), made back when they used actual steel so a stiff knitter like myself couldn't bend them (I can snap bamboo sock needles. It's a tragedy). The sock pattern book is adorable, but the thing I love most is my nana's First Prize certificate from the Mirboo North Annual Show. She was so proud of her red socks winning, and I plan to keep it safe along with my two from the Royal Melbourne Show.

Time, ever shifting

I seem to be accumulating unfinished projects again, most of which I don't have listed on my sidebar here.

I have my star afghan, a new baby hat, a 5 hour baby sweater, a pair of socks for a Christmas present and yet another lace shawl.

On Ravelry I appear to have even more unfinished projects, but that's only because I never listed them as finished, nor took a action photo. Oops.

With Marcus taking up more and more time it appears that knitting time - which used to be 24 hours a day if I felt like it - is becoming increasingly endangered, something I'm quite worried about. Maybe once I catch up on a bit of sleep (HA!) I can stay up late and knit.

All I need are some more episodes of "Midsomer Murder" to watch as I go!

.....ewwww

First, I'd like to say thank you to everyone for your kind thoughts and lovely comments* about my last post. You're right - I will have some lovely memories of my Nana to pass along to Marcus, and I can look back and smile as well.

As for Marcus... a valuable lesson has been learned.

Never, EVER keep your knitting nearby if you're burping your baby. Seriously.

I decided that a small light jacket was needed, so I started on the 5 Hour Baby Sweater (Boy version) using my varigated Patonyle that I have so much of. I worked through the yoke and the sleeves and had just started the main part when Marcus needed a feed. So I fed him and sat him up to burp him, my knitting next to me on the floor.

Projectile vomit. Over my right arm, over the floor and landing right in the middle of one of my balls of Patonyle. A huge amount.

I'm knitting a hat now.

---

* Except you, Sam. I know just what you were thinking when you mentioned Trixie Belden...

My Nana

The last time I posted I spent part of the morning on the phone to my Nana, Lena (Selena). The day after I had Marcus, Nana was admitted to hospital with pneumonia. Not content with such a serious illness at age 91, she decided to move in on more of my son's limelight by having four angina attacks and a heart attack while I was still in hospital myself. I decided a phone call regarding this outright Jonesing of my son's attention was required...

My Nana is my mum's mum, and I spent a fortnight with her and my Pa during the summer holidays when I was a child. I suspect my parents decided a small child was too much on top of three teenage girls for a whole holiday season. It may come as a surprise to anyone who knows me now, but I was a very quiet child. Hand me a book and leave me alone, and that's exactly what my Nana did. I built up a collection of Trixie Belden books that were the envy of all my friends over those summers, and when I wasn't re-reading them all (what are dungerees, anyway?) I was knitting.

My Nana loved knitting and she once won first prize for her handknitted socks at the Mirboo North Show, something she was very proud of. She had the patience of a saint with me, because when I was younger I didn't like to knit the last stitch of the row. Each time she'd knit the stitch and hand my work back to me to start the next row, all the while knowing I'd need her help in a few minutes. Like I said, a saint.

Sadly, we lost my Nana last weekend. We'd hoped she would last until my parents got back from their trip to Sydney on Wednesday, but it was not to be. She was sweet, kind, honest, funny and loyal. My biggest regret is that Marcus will never get to know the truly beautiful great-grandmother he very briefly had.

What the heck?!?

Who turned off spring? Seriously? Melbourne is firmly clutched in winter's icy grip yet again, and here we have two heaters switched on, one of them around the clock for Marcus. Drying cloth nappies isn't much fun around here either.

The first person to mention rainfall and farmers will be shot. I mean it.

In the meantime, the sudden cold snap has brought forth some knitting. Nothing exciting, sorry to say. Merely a 5 hour baby jacket, knitted in Patonyle (3 balls! A sock knitter is out there planning to kill me for them) for Marcus, just until the cold snap is over, and then to wear over the short sleeved outfits that everyone decided to buy him in anticipation of actual warm weather.

My legend

Another non-knitting entry, but my da reads my blog when he can, so this entry is a shout out to him.

Congratulations to Barry Murley, winner of the 70-79 age group 2000m steeplechase at the World Masters 2009.

That's right. My da is the world champion in his age group.

Marcus, Felix and I couldn't be prouder.

For Sonia

As requested, a knit-free, only Marcus post.

Slogging on

First off, thank you all for your lovely comments and well-wishes, they really did make my day - Marcus has wriggled his way into our lives quite cunningly. Unsurprisingly, a new baby can put a cramp on your knitting time. So I'm crocheting instead.















I have 10 balls of Cleckheaton Vintage Hues that I'm crocheting into a floor rug for Marcus (I can say his name now without worrying about my dad finding out! Brilliant!) so he can just lie around and listen in while his dad plays "Guitar Hero World Tour". The drums appear to soothe him.

The pattern is the Baby Starghan and it's really easy once you get the hang of it. I'm planning to use up all 10 balls of my Vintage Hues so hopefully it'll be pretty huge at the end.

Finished Objects 2009 - #19

This has been a pretty big project. It was started in Scotland, safely carried home to Australia, and promptly ignored.

Occasionally I'd pay some attention to it, work on some details, enjoy it, then push it to the back of the queue.

The last month, however, it has had my complete attention.

It was interrupting every thought, every project, every stash hoard, even my Royal Melbourne Show win! Thankfully, at 7:46pm last Wednesday, September 30th, it was finally, completely and utterly finished.

Meet Marcus William.



I can say without fear or favour of contradiction that this is the best work I have ever done. Thanks for listening to me while I worked on him.

Finished Objects 2009 - #18

You all thought I'd never finish this blanket, didn't you? Well the joke's on you peoples!



It was started in March and technically finished in July. The blocking was my big problem. How do you kneel on a floor and pin for an hour when you're eight months pregnant? Re-pinning my Amelia Shawl for the Royal Melbourne Show taught me how - very very slowly and very very carefully. I rushed to pin that one out and got a blood nose for my trouble.



This time I used my parents lounge room, a few blankets and a lot of pins. My mum was amazed by just how many pins were required, but once she counted the points on the blanket, it all made sense.

Now to decide: do I use it for the Boitjie, or do I put it away and jealously guard it for the Show next year?

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.