Blanket Week - Day Five

Day 5, row 5 of the border. *sigh*












I'd feel worse but I also darned two pairs of gloves for my friend Jonathan, made up a batch of really awesome vegie soup, put away three boxes of books and did two loads of washing.

Saturdays are not conducive to knitting.

Sundays, however...ahhhhh. Chantal and I are road tripping off to Bendigo for the Wool and Sheep Show, aka Hey Big Spender Festival. I'm well prepared. I have car knitting (blanket), walking around knitting (Sock for Da) and a shopping jeep for the purchases. Not mention permission from a very lovely husband who has handed over his credit card.

No greater love, my friends.

So sleepy...

Must...stay...awake... Only the side panel...to pick...up.

Must.....not.....give............

*zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz*

Blanket Week - Day Three

"And lo, joy rang out over the home of Andrea..."

In other words, I finished the body of the blanket. All 258 rows are now done. Which leads to the next fascinating dilemma: the border.

You see, I like knitting in the round. The less purl, the better. The pattern suggests knitting the top border, then the bottom, then each side. "Bah!" I cried. "I'll just knit them all in the round! Join 'em up all purty like and go for it!" As always, there is a slight flaw in the plan. The sides need to be picked up knitwise and then a plain purl row before the border starts. Hrm. Thinking caps on.

Here's the plan:

















Knit the first row of the border along the top, pick up the side, purl back, knit the first row of the border along the side. Then knit the first row of the border along the bottom, pick up the next side, purl back and knit the first row of the border along the second side. This plan was devised by Judith and I today.

Sometimes we're so clever it's almost sickening.

Then genius struck again! (I know, I can't believe it either.) Judith suggested Knit Pro/Knit Picks cables. That way, I put the Knit Pro cables on three sides with the stoppers on them, and knit the other side with the Knit Pro 3.25 tips. Judith also admitted that she plans to sell off all her bamboo needles to buy Knit Pro only. I think the phrase "the knitting needles God would use" may have been used to describe them.

Only one thing to do then, and that was head off to Morris and Sons in the city, thereby meeting Felix at the same time. I thought he'd be fine downstairs at Dymocks while I did a leetle shopping upstairs. Then I saw the wall of 2ply merino.

I called Judith to tell how evil she was for recommending the store. Then I called Felix and asked him to come upstairs and take the credit card away from me. I think he thought I was joking, but when he arrived and I started dragging him from wall to wall showing him each yarn I wanted, he took the card off me. The sod...

So I made it out alive with only some nice shiny new Knit Pro equipment. I love the way they work - common sense knitting.
















See? Some progress finally!

PS: Hey Bells!














They look even better when they're iced :)

Blanket Week - Day Two

14 rows! 14 lousy rows to go and do you think I can finish them?!?! Arrrrrrrrghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

Blanket Week - Day One

My stash partner-in-crime/future godmother of my boitjie Chantal asked me what Blanket Week is, so I'll do my best to explain.

I am sick to death of my Alphabet Blanket. Really intensely nauseous at the sight of it. Now, this leaves me with three options.

1. Cover it with kerosene and set it on fire.
2. Hide it in a bag among the rest of my U.F.O's and pray no-one ever asks where it went.
3. Suck it up and finish the remaining 56 rows of the body of it and then slug out the border as well, but as quickly as possible so I don't look at options 1 & 2 longingly.

Today I started on Row 203 of the main part of the blanket and I just finished Row 218. Normally I could knit a LOT more than 16 rows, but my mum came over this morning and helped me make a set of curtains for my kitchen, and that took up a huge chunk of time.














Completely worth it though.

So, in the end I didn't start until 3:00pm and I've also been cooking a bit - little ginger cakes anyone?











Felix will probably eat them in two bites.

Tomorrow I plan to finish the body of the blanket. That's another 40 rows. I will either:

A. Romp it in with hours to spare;
B. Get cramp in my hand and give up completely; or
C. Give up and re-read "The Winter Queen" by Boris Akunin.

It's hard to try and guess which way I'll go...

The coolest thing ever? Absolutely!

Head on over and visit Sonia's blog. She managed to find the most brilliant outdoor knitting display I've ever seen!

Another day lost

First you wake up really late.

Then you head out because you have to visit your nieces again as promised, but first your husband really needs a haircut.

Then you spend two hours helping the new knitters - Kirsten started a garter stitch scarf with 103 stitches and Ashlee a striped stocking stitch bag.

Then you get home and work the needles as much as you can until dinner.

Then you watch "Quantum of Solace" and keep knitting.

In the end you have to sleep and you still haven't finished the heel flap and tomorrow is the start of Blanket Week.



















Sometimes I really think there's a weekend conspiracy against me.

Made of win

Look at this toe, just look at it!















See? I made it for my da's right foot. He can't wear this on his left ever, so from now on he'll have to look extra carefully before he puts his socks on. I just love it.

The pattern for this anatomically correct toe comes from Under Dutch Skies, whose debt I shall forever be in. On the other hand, my mum has really pointy toes that fit the usual toe instructions perfectly.

Sometimes I think she's a mutant.












On the second sock, not as much progress as I'd like. I spent today working my fingers ragged, but tonight the boitjie ("little boy" in Afrikaans) decided a full-on kickboxing championship was called for so all of my energy was invested in not screaming.

Ah, mother-love... When he gets here, he's grounded til he's 23.

A knitting day, but not mine

Today was spent in the company of two very delightful knitters, my nieces Ashlee and Kirsten. Now, Ashlee first learned to knit when she was 7 but hadn't learned purl until today. Seeing as she's now 13 I decided it was about time to teach her. That way she can knit some really great stuff for the baby as well (is it child labour if they're family?).



















Being a very bright girl, she picked it up with no fear and actually enjoyed it! The best part is that Ashlee has a very tight tension on garter stitch, but as she added purl in she loosened up. Amazing to watch.




















Kirsten is 10 and the queen of finger knitting. QUEEN. She didn't think she could learn to knit but the phrase "like a duck to water" comes to mind. She worked it out in about two seconds and was soon zooming along with a garter stitch rectangle which she made into a bag for her doll.



















The trick to someone like Kirsten learning is to ensure that she can't can't talk while knitting, because when she does the next words are sure to be "Aunt Andrea, I think I made a mistake!".



















Ashlee's stocking stitch strip was a scarf for her doll, and the end of a two year "I'm not knitting 8 stitches for 60cm" drama. Personally I don't blame her - my idea of a scarf is cast on 450 sts and knit 6 rows!

I'm so proud of the two of them, and I'm glad that they'll have something to use when they hit the evil teen years. According to my mother the only time I was calm and nice was when I was knitting or doing some embroidery, and the same holds now. Why do you think I knit all the time?



















As for my sock, I was concentrating on my nieces so much I barely got a stitch done. I think I can finish the first sock off by tonight, which leaves the weekend for the second. That's if Ashlee and Kirsten don't drop by to learn some more...

*yawn*

The boy woke me up nice and early this morning stretching and kicking, so I was forced to give up on sleep and get up at 4am.

If you need me, I'll be unconscious.

Oh. Yeah. We're having a boy. Sorry if you wanted a surprise..

Told ya

My mum came over today to help me with some curtains and - more likely - to keep an eye on me. She also spent too much money on me again, and we were forced to go shopping. Darn.


















The curtains look pretty cute, though.

The end result of this parental interlude, however, is a a complete lack of knitting. Well, not complete.




















I've finished the gusset decreasing and then it's home free for the feet. Tomorrow is Ikea-ing with my niece (10), nephew (7) and my mum (eternally 24). I'm designated driver, so I can't knit in traffic, but I might try to squeeze in a few rows as we wander around. Here's hoping.

I'd call this "Sock it to me!" but I have a sense of humour

Well, I've managed to amaze myself with my sock knitting today. Take a look at the needle poked through the sock.



















That's where I started this morning. I've finished the sock leg, the heel flap, turned the heel and started the gusset decreasing. I'm in a state of awe at myself, and I'm my biggest critic. Tomorrow my mum is coming over and we're sewing all day so I doubt I'll get anything knitted, so the awe will end, thankfully.

My niece was just happy that I was knitting in St Kilda colours - try being non-AFL-affiliated in Melbourne. People just stare at you like a freak. Good thing I've been used to it for years!

Blanket? What blanket?

I need to sit down for a week and work on nothing but my baby Alphabet Blanket as I previously mentioned, but not this week. This week is mental.

Today involves a bit of driving around, Tuesday is babysitting my niece and nephew (who are perfect), Wednesday is a day with my mum finishing off curtains and make another one to hang in my workroom/entrance, Thursday is niece/nephew/Mum trip to the greatest place on earth a.k.a Ikea in Richmond and Friday is... actually, I don't know what Friday is, but mental it shall be.

You just can't work non-stop on a blanket with tea breaks on that kind of a schedule. Hence a new project: socks for Da.















He's been feeling a little hurt that my mum has been getting all the socks while he misses out, so I decided to start a pair for him to wear to golf. Da loves his St Kilda (AFL team) so when I saw this last lonely label-less ball of Opal Ladybird at Wondoflex I grabbed it.

I've started off in 2.75mm needles but it feels all wrong. I think I might have to change to 2.5mm and restart, which is annoying. I really do want to finish off my blanket next week, unrealistic as that sounds...

A semi-busy day

Getting up early followed by some house painting and housework, then a roast lamb lunch at the parents (mine, not Felix's) then home again to do nothing but slack off watching episodes of "West Wing" Series 7. Oh, and some knitting.















If you saw that pattern photo in the flesh, you'd run out and knit it straight away too. All it needs now is a perfect pom-pom and I'm all set. I know early on is the only time I'll get to dress the baby up in ridiculous clothes, so I'm stocking up!

Finished Objects 2009 - #3

Never thought I'd ever get to write a title like that again this year at my current rate!




















Behold, Lenny the Bunny.

I would have been even less subtle and named him "George", but my gorilla I've had since I was born that I'll be handing over to the boitjie is named George and he'd be terribly jealous.





















Look at those ears - angora lining! A bunny made from a bunny. I had to wear the flu mask the hospital gave me to keep the extra long hairs out of my mouth so I don't start choking again. (Interesting fact: you need to change masks every two hours. Mine was worn for six in an emergency room. Good hospital policy there.)















If the baby doesn't want the bunny, I think the kitty does!

See? YOU get it...

I love and adore my husband. He's sweet, funny, brilliant and if you were to meet him, you'd like him straight away, because everyone does. My mum likes him.

However, while he does appreciate the knitting that I do for him, there comes a time when he doesn't get it. When I start rhapsodising about a new cast on or a stitch pattern or anything the Yarn Harlot writes I get the feeling he's secretly thinking about something to do with Oblivion when he nods and says "Yeah, that's great babe..."

This is why I have a knitting blog. Because when I show you a tubular cast on I love:














Or a kitchener cast off that makes me want to lie down and whimper from overwhelming joy:















You understand. You just get it.

Bless the interwebs.

Can we knit it? Yes We Can!

The last week has been a slow grind of trying to sort out my current projects and various stash. Moving house is never fun at the best of times; moving house while pregnant and quite ill is obviously insane. First time I've never had to move my walnut dressing table which weighs a tonne, so I'm not really going to complain...

Current projects pile is pretty easy.




















I have the amazingly wonderful Endpaper Mitts to finish up. I've only got the rib at the top of the second glove to finish up, followed by the gloriously perfect Tubular casting off. True love of knitting comes from this cast off. Trust me.















I also have current "Stuck in traffic/stuck in a queue/stuck watching "Transformers 2" project, which is a knitted bunny toy for the Podling. The pattern is from "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" and it's really easy and really fast, so I think I need one. Plus the inner ears are angora, and that's just nice to play with. Not when you're hacking up some lung, as I was last fortnight, which is why the next project is on hiatus.















This will be an outfit for my mum's doll, Judith. I've had to put it aside due to the large fibres releasing themselves and causing me to choke so badly my husband reaches for the phone to call an ambulance. Hence the intarsia jacket being unfinished and the skirt being unembellished. I also plan on striped boots, a cloche and a sleeveless top. My mum's been incredibly brilliant the last two months and needs as much spoiling as she can get. Helping us to move house on her 70th birthday puts her way above the mark of "wonderful" and moves her into "god-like".















Lastly, the alphabet blanket I started about four months ago continues on. I'm pretty much sick of the sight of it, so I will soon have to have a week-long "Just sit down and do it already!" session. I dislike doing this because it feeds into the minute part of my mind that says "Why are you doing this? Are you insane? Go read something!". I generally ignore the voice up until the moment of blocking the work, where I retaliate with a "Nurny nurny nur nur!".

To think: I'll be a responsible parent soon. We're all doomed.

So, how are you?

I have internets again. Now, think carefully about that sentence. Imagine two months with no internet after constant use for over a decade. Mild insanity may be the end result. With me, it's a bit hard to tell.

All is pretty much well now. I've been in and out of hospital for the last two months, due to a few complications with the baby. Nothing serious (according to me) but I was forced to do a lot of lying flat on my back, which is an incredibly boring state to be in. Mild illness meant that I had very little inclination to knit until recently, so there's not a huge dent in my baby clothes knitting list.

In the meantime, we've moved into the dinkiest little flat in the world, up in Ferntree Gully, about 35km from the CBD (as opposed to my previous 3km from the St Kilda Rd flat - *sigh*). It's about 5km from my parents, 6km from Felix's brother and about 2km from the hospital, which is pretty darn helpful, especially around the end of September.

To make up for a lack of posting I'm going to try to post every day this month. I certainly have a lot to catch up on (593 emails, for example) and you can all suffer the consequences. Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Andrea...

Back on track, and a celebration

It turns out that all I needed for motivation was a big fat sook to everyone who reads this blog. I find that if I say something bad out loud or type it then it tends to fade in my estimation and I can move on.

I noticed that I seem to be a bit lazier at night, so I decided to make 9:00pm til 10:00pm a knitting hour for specifically my baby blanket. It has to be that late because Felix doesn't finish work til 7:00pm, then has the train to catch, then I have to feed him something to stave off grown-man starvation whining, so later it was.

The plan was flawless, perfect, genius! I know I can knit six rows in an hour, because that's how long the train ride takes. Brilliant, it'll be finished in no time. However...

I received some amazing yarn from a beautiful person (full explanation later) and I started winding on the skein as soon as I had shown it to Judith. I started winding on in the car, people. It's that lovely.














So, Sonia, your advice has been taken. Start something new. Does my knitting a Baby Surprise Jacket for a newborn really surprise anyone?

---

Yesterday was a long lazy day, starting with a sleep in til 11:30, followed by watching the latest "Doctor Who" special while eating leftover Ikea meatballs with gravy and jam for brunch.














Next up was mooching round Chadstone looking for a cotton doona cover we both didn't hate, munching choc tops and popcorn during "The Boat That Rocked" and heading out to the Tea House at South Yarra for yum cha with flowers in the food. Luckily Borders on Chapel Street was open til 11:00pm, or we would have had to cut our fun short.

Happy Anniversary Felix. I couldn't have imagined a better two years could have existed.

I'm sure I'm a knitter...aren't I?

A combination of lethargy and displacement have made me recently question everything in my life, especially my hobbies. My knitting and sewing have seemed utterly impossible as Felix and I are guests in a friend's house, taking up their spare room bed and wardrobe.

Virginia Woolf once spoke on the need for female writers to have a room of their own, but I think it applies to those of us who craft as well. I know she would agree, as she was a knitter and as crazy as we all seem to feel at time.

I have had neither the space nor the inclination to knit of late. Most of my knitting is in storage until we find somewhere to live, so my project choice is limited. I currently have only one project on the go, and it's a pretty big one. I started the Debbie Bliss Alphabet Blanket in the beginning of March and I've only knitted two alphabet rows out of six. Now this is not a small project and normally I'd be fine with that amount, but I'm not employed and really have nothing else to do but find us somewhere to live (almost impossible when you don't own a car anymore).

So I need to decide a few things.

1. Do I want to continue with the blanket?
2. If yes, how will I force myself to get it done?
3. If no, what do I intend to start instead?
4. What can I do to be a little more productive and less, well, blah?

This may take a while. In the meantime, I shall make a start by blocking two almost finished projects:














An argyle tank top and a wraparound jacket for the Podling.