Shock

As previously mentioned, I spent a fortnight working on an entry for the Australian Country Spinners "Knit Your Way" competition. The opening line of "Do you know the cutest baby or child in Australia and New Zealand?" was a very attractive notion, but I knew that I wouldn't have enough time to enter. Dearest Divine J (aka Madam Tricot) convinced me that I could knit something up quickly and Felix promised he'd help do the housework (and he did too!).

The pattern chosen was a Bouton D'Or that I thought was adorable, but that I'd knit for Marcus when he was older. Time was of the essence (less than two weeks until the closing date) so it was off to Spotlight and many balls of Patons Jet were purchased.

I finished in time and dumped Marcus on a rug in the middle of an oval and snapped a few pics, ran to K-Mart and printed them up then ran back to my mum to get her help in deciding which one to send.





















This is Mum's chosen shot because it shows off the jumper so well, not to mention the rooster-y hat. I know she also loves the serious pouty look that Marcus gets, which is very very cute.

I pointed out to Mum that it was for the cutest baby, not the best knitting (but really a combination of both), so I vetoed her and picked my favourite shot.






















I seem to have picked the right one because I got the phone call this afternoon. I, Andrea, won the ACS's "Knit Your Way" competition. I won $15,000 through knitting.

I am in complete and utter shock and have been since half past two. I cannot express my thanks for Australian Country Spinners enough, and I need to call them back and apologise for crying throughout their phone call this afternoon.

Friday, we move into our house. Friday night, I'm opening a very nice bottle of Moet.

Best. Week. Ever.

So it begins again...

I'm well known for my inability to settle in one place. True, I lived in my amazing flat in St Kilda Road for four years straight, but I gave up it all up to run off to Scotland. I've now lived in 9 houses/flats/hovels since I first moved out of home at the age of 21, and we're about to move again.

The weird thing is that the number of addresses doesn't change. We're all moving back to a house I first rented in 2000, and it's available again, so I jumped straight in and grovelled until the real estate agent gave up and laughed. The house tour was great: "Oh the lounge is still blue! The kitchen's mint green! The bedroom is still purple!" "Oh, were they like that when you last lived here?" "Um... I painted them that way...".

Now the reason I'm blathering on about this on my blog rather than Facebook or general email is a simple one: to cause complete jealousy. You see, my new/old house has a two room bungalow in the back yard. It's pretty big. It's almost the size of the hobbit hole we're renting now. It has a kitchenette, bookcases and a LOT of room. It's all mine. Felix likes the idea of never having to move another knitting project off the couch, so the bungalow is all mine.

The front room (where the stove is) will be the knitting room, complete with cushy armchair and boxes of yarn (plus the bookcase full of patterns). The back room will be set up for my sewing machines, cutting table and knitting machine table. I'll be buying an overlocker once the tax money comes in. As soon as it's all set up I'll be posting many many pictures.

So...anyone jealous yet?

How many unfinished projects is too many? Or projects in potentia?

You see, I have a pair of socks for my sister's partner's mum (seriously), a cream cabled jumper for Marcus, a pair of skull socks for Felix and the ever-eternal christening shawl which needs to be finished to enter the Royal Melbourne Show. I suspect a repeat of last year's 2am blocking fiasco will occur.

Now, normally, this wouldn't phase me all that much. I just spent two weeks knitting up an entry for the Patons baby knitting competition (if I win I'll post about it. You'll be able to hear the screams of joy from where ever you are anyway) and now I need to get back on track, so I have to sort out my knitting priorities.

The bedsocks for Anna (or is it Ana?) are halfway done, and need to be finished asap, but I've only got the front of the cream cable jumper to go and then I can sew it up and Marcus has a finished cricket jersey with a shawl collar. Felix hasn't had a new pair of socks in over a year and I'm almost ready to shape the toe on his first sock.

I also frogged my old green jumper to make a cardigan for Marcus, but first I have to wash and weight the wool to get the kinks out. I think it might work, and it is a pretty good idea as the jumper was always too short and my mother's hints over the years about extending it were driving me a little batty.

Finally, I had to buy some yarn last Monday (yes, had. It was for the competition!) and when I walked into Spotlight they had yarn at half price. The Entwine bulky was $1 a ball! I have no willpower in the face of that and now own another 32 balls of yarn. Oh, stop judging me. I was planning to make Felix a jumper from it, but when I got home with the stash I remembered that I just bought 16 balls of grey Zara last month to knit him a jumper as well.

So my problem is that I have four main projects on the go, and five waiting to be started.

Oh, did I mention that my dad and my nan both need new bedsocks? Sigh...

Poirot for Knitters

My lovely older sister Bronwyn very generously lent me her collection of Hercule Poirot series dvds last week, and already the first disc has thrown up an embarrassment of riches in Art Deco knitwear.

















I thought the fair isle vest worn by Hastings in the first episode was eminently copyable for either myself or Marcus. I seriously doubt Felix would wear a fair isle vest - boo!
















Then up popped two little boys in vests, so out came the camera and magnifying glass again.

Finally, the golf scenes.














First off, the disgruntled old codgers waiting on Poirot. Fair isle vests and argyle socks are go!














I think I'm in love with this jumper worn by Hastings - moss stitch with button down pockets? Too yummy.














Last up , what every female golfer needs: a cable vest with side buttons, matching fair isle jumper tied round the neck and a very fetching beret. Just spiffing, I say!

Finished Objects 2010 - #5

I finished off the raglan sweater last weekend but I haven't been able to find my camera to take a decent shot. If you check in the kitchen long enough, everything ends up in a drawer.














I was really happy with the colours in this piece. I used up the last of the leftover Jo Sharp Silkroad Ultra in my stash and I had to do a fair bit of frogging to make it all work!













I like the way the right sleeve ties in all the colours, my own design feature (see Microsoft? That's a design feature...).













Of course it's too big for Marcus right now, but give it about two months and he'll be fine, especially the way he keeps putting on so much weight!

Once you frog, you can't stop!

Another victim of the "Enh" knitting plague. I've been ignoring this cardigan for a while, for no reason other than it really isn't necessary nor on a deadline.














I took it out and looked at it and considered if I could make anything else out of it.













Oh look! It fall down go boom! Hehehehehe...

A sad side effect of pulling lots of yarn out is that the cat and the baby find it.














The cat I yell at. Squishie I take pictures of.

Finished Objects 2010 - #4

I set a zip. All by myself. Into a jacket. Can you feel that? It's smugness, that's what it is!
















The pattern is by Debbie Bliss and I once planned to make it for my littlest nephew, but never got around to it. I was looking through some old folders and found the pattern again, had a think, realised that I had a ball of navy and a ball of cream and cast on.














Three balls of navy were bought because you honestly can't knit a jacket with 50g of wool/bamboo! I recommend the Spotlight Bella Baby brand constantly and having knitted this jacket my opinion of the Layette range has not changed. It's fantastic to knit with: smooth, nice twist, pill-free, great (albeit limited) colour range.

Marcus made no complaints and my mum swooned when she saw him in it for the first time. Actually swooned. I think she's a bit biased, myself.

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Two weekends ago I spent the day with Chantal, watching her zoom through knitting projects while I massacred her projects list on Ravelry (Sorry, Chantal, but if you haven't started it it doesn't go on the list!). In return she made fun of my inability to get any work done on my Fair Isle vest.














I started this project on June 1st 2006 (you what?!?) and zoomed through the back then got bogged down on the front. I decided to finish it off because I really need a nice warm vest for winter and I love the colours I chose (which were originally for a completely different project, a Jo Sharp intarsia). I don't care what fashion claims, the 70's colourways rock the most.

I just couldn't get going on this piece again. The width was too narrow and I worried that the 30cm or red ribbing was a very bad idea. The more I thought about the more I realised it just wasn't fun anymore.

So I took a long hard look at it last night and decided to adapt the pattern.














Right, what's next?

Time for a re-think...

A new project was due using some of my newly re-found yarn.
















The back of Marcus' new raglan jumper is a lovely shade of purple.













The front is a beautiful pale blu- what? There's not enough there to finish the front?!

Ahem.














The front is a lovely combination of pale blue and blue-gray.

















The right sleeve is a pale olive with stripes of purple, pale blue and blue-gray to tie the whole piece together.

















The left sleeve is just the pale oliv- oh come on! Not enough yarn to finish that piece either? There's only 10 rows to go!

One of those days, I think... Now I just need to go off and find my camera so I can take a decent non-iPhone pic of the finished piece!

Finished Objects 2010 - #2 and #3

That is not a typo; I really have finished two projects at once. It never rains but it pours, I guess.

First off, my Skewed Snow White Socks.

All these required was that I sew in the ends. I really can be that lazy, but this time it was because I forgot. I kept thinking I had hours of work left to go when I had five minutes, tops. It's strange how the mind plays tricks on you sometimes.















These are an amazing pattern to knit. Skew was instantly a hit on Ravelry and with good reason. The design defies logic to be worked diagonally which allows for defined toes and the greatest piece of origami for the heel. I love the swirl of the heel - just look at it! Brilliant!














The short row shaping at the top is equally clever. Suddenly your sock is done and you can knit up row after row of rib and voila! Done!














The colourway used here is "Snow White and the Seven Stitches" by Biscotte and Cie and was a gift from the ever wonderful Chantal, who spoils me greatly. I loveloveLOVE it to little tiny pieces and can't wait to wear them somewhere they can be seen and appreciated.

I spent yesterday with Chantal who is kicking my backside in finishing projects. Yesterday she wiped out two pair of socks and was picking up stitches for the neckline for an exquisite cabled vest for Marcus (how spoiled is my son?!?), so that should be done by now. Then there's only four rows garter on her cabled baby blanket and another Monkey sock to go and that will be five projects completed in a week. Stop showing the rest of us up, Chantal!

My other finished project is a bit odd. I was rummaging through a folder of old interwebs printouts and found it, handed it to Felix and asked if I should bother to keep it and he requested that I knit it straight away (I believe the phrase "Hell yeah!" may have been used. I therefore give you the Chicken Viking Hat.















As you can see Marcus is incredibly unimpressed. This is his usual face when a hat is put upon his head. Within a minute he'd pulled it off and started gnawing on the feet.

It was good while it lasted...

Is there such a thing as autumn cleaning?

No matter if there isn't, I can then claim sovereignty over the name. All royalties to me, please.

It started on Monday when I started vacuuming my gallery (the nickname my mum has for the concrete hallway in front of the concrete bathroom and concrete laundry - very 1930's). I realised there was a spider's web in the corner, so I vacuumed it up. It felt good so I kept cleaning. Wednesday was the lounge and I knew I was cleaning a bit harder than usual when I took books off the shelf, dusted them and put them back. This was a bit worrying.

To scare you further I started to tackle my yarn. I came up with the brilliant idea (according to me, anyway) of bagging it all up by colour, because I tend to make things based on what colour I'm in the mood for, rather than a pattern or and idea. This would be an insane idea if it wasn't for my very odd memory which means that no matter if the yarn has no label, I'll still know what it is. I can tell two different 4 ply yarns apart, it's not that hard to me. Like I said: odd.













This is the first layer of the yarns. Many bricks of colour, and I was amazed by how little black I own. Ex-goths need more black for credibility's sake. I was also confused by how much blue I own - I don't even like the colour!













This wasn't a big shock - I own a LOT of burgandy yarn. I expected that to be the highest amount, whereas Felix was all for purple (I think he forgot that I used up 10 balls knitting him his Cobblestone, but no matter). As you can see, both are pretty huge. A complete lack of yellow is not surprising, as it is a colour avoided by pretty much everyone, except my niece Ashlee.

The big surprise was was that I own a lot of cream yarn.













So much that it wouldn't fit into the stash box. Here it is nestled next to the multicolours/variegated pile. So much cream and I took three skeins out as well. Weird.

I've also pulled out a few hibernating/fully forgotten projects to investigate if they will be finished or frogged. This could take a while.

Finished Objects 2010 - #1

See that title? I honestly thought that it would NEVER happen, but there it is!















It's apt that the first item whipped up took two days and is worn by Marcus - yet another pair of Christine's Baby Booties, which I think are one of the best patterns out there. I used the last of my Patons Merino Deluxe DK, which is no longer available (but Feathers is? Morons...). I was forced to go up to 3.25mm - the horror!
















Marcus can't kick them off, although he gives it a pretty good try! Eventually my assistant was required to make sure I could even get a shot.

















Thanks Felix.

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.

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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?

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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!