That's done. What's next?

It's done! Marcus' fair isle vest was worn yesterday, photographed and immediately taken off so I can enter it into the fair isle category at this year's Royal Melbourne Show.

















A multitasking vest, as well. It's actually my entry for the ACS and Spotlight competition (mainly) and the design is mine all mine.

Getting Marcus to wear it and smile for the camera was the main problem.

Point a camera at him now and all he wants to do is take it off you and use it himself. My son is a bit addicted to gadgets. Gets it from his dad.













Dot was easier to capture on film. The inability to actually do anything more than likely helped me to take the photos, but I'm pretending otherwise. I designed her little Norwegian hat on Saturday, right after I went out and bought the wool. No pressure to finish by Thursday to catch the post, nooooo. Admittedly, I didn't need to make another item or put myself under so much stress, but I really wanted to make Dot a new hat, and I am the most overly competitive knitter possible.

Now that it's all over I have a list of what to do next. I love lists. I could do nothing but make lists for everything in my life, something I've done on occasion when I really needed the organising. Here's how my list looks at the moment:

1. Marcus' teal cardigan - WIP
2. Fit zip into Marcus' Tomten jacket - WIP
3. Finish Chantal's vest for Dot - WIP
4. Dot's cardigan - WIP
5. Crochet rug favour for Bronwyn - New Project
6. Marcus' mittens - new ones and old ones that need lengthening - New Project and WIP
7. Marcus' green cable jumper - New Project
8. Block Garden Path Shawl (now I can actually bend over!) - WIP
9. Felix's Christmas Present (No, I can't say what it is, he reads my blog) - New Project
10. Marcus' farm set - New Project

Not bad, right? That ought to keep me going for a while, but keep in mind that for every new project I need to work on an old one (not to mention my sewing list - it's twice as long as this list!). Now, I have five of each on this list, but I might throw in an old WIP between each item on the list, just to see how much I can knock off in the next few months. Stick around, it could be interesting.

The comfort of knitting

Too often I take my knitting abilities for granted. Not too many knitters out there can walk and knit, or watch tv at the same time, or memorise graphs easily. To me this is all second nature, a natural part of my knitting.

Somewhere over the years I think I lost the calmness that can come with knitting. It may have been one too many projects knitted to an impossible deadline, or working in a knitting store, or just because of familarity. I never understood the "knitting is the new yoga" because I'd been at it for years. Oh, and I'm not very good at yoga.

This all changed last week. Dot was admitted to hospital last week with a staph infection and abcesses. Felix and I sat in the emergency waiting room, and I knitted. I concentrated as hard as I could on the fair isle pattern, because otherwise all I would do is worry. Then I put my knitting away and watched as they put a drip in her and enough sucrose to make her sleep for a while and we went up to the paediatric ward.

















The very wonderful doctors and nurses told me to wait while they drained things. I sat in a chair in the room they'd given us and I knitted. I finished the fair isle and reached into my bag for some more knitting. A garter stitch baby cardigan for my girl was worked on while I blocked out the noises she was making from another room. That helped a lot.

That night, while Dot slept, instead of sleeping myself I knitted. I knitted row after row and gave up thinking completely. I counted every stitch in the row, sounding off numbers in my head as I went, watching the rhythym my fingers take. It's been so long since I've actually watched myself knit, and I calmed me down enough to eventually sleep. By then it was about 6:00am, but sleep is sleep.

Dot left the hospital two days later, full of strong antibiotics and wrapped up nice and warm in a knitted hat, a picture of health once more. I'd spent her last few hours there giddily happy that she was fine and pronounced ready to return home. While she slept this time I was working on some mittens for Marcus instead, fair isle again. I didn't concentrate as much, nor watch my hands, but I knew they were working out fine, just like his sister.

I don't know if I'll ever focus on my knitting that much again, but I liked the connection I felt. Over the years other women, other knitters have sat and knitted while they worried. About husbands, lives, money, war and children - the children most especially I suspect. I'd like to think that their knitting helped them cope as much as it helped me.

Soooooo close...

Sunday night I worked on the left side of Marcus' V-neck vest for the ACS competition, and finished it off on Monday, around lunchtime. Since then, I've done what exactly?

Nothing. Zip. Nada. Zilch.

Granted, last night I had next to no sleep (thanks for that Dot! I'll get you back when you're a teenager), but I have to have this entry in by next Friday.

Time to buckle down...

Humiliations Galore

To my darling daughter,

One day you will have a 21st birthday party. There will be balloons, cake and all of your friends. There will also be a lot of posters of pictures like this one.

This may be avoided if you're a nice teenager...

(Modern Baby Bonnet from "Vintage Knits for Modern Babies", 4ply sock yarn doubled by Stranded in Oz)

Hard at work

I'm working my poor little fingers to the bone, trying to finish my jumper for the ACS competition.

The back was completed last night, right before we watched the last episode of "Game of Thrones", which put me in a pretty good frame of mind.

Staying awake from midnight to 3am took that away again. I wouldn't mind if my hands were free to knit, but Dot doesn't yet enjoy the Baby Bjorn. Soon though she'll be fine being carried around (who wouldn't be?) and my knitting output will pick up big time!

It never rains but it pours

• Yesterday the heater in our bedroom decided to stop working. By stop working, I actually mean blow up. The plug snapped off in the socket and it's black all round. Our bedroom has slat windows on two sides, and walking in there now is like stepping into a meat locker. The electrician will be here at 3:30 today, thank goodness.

• The piece I'm knitting for the Patons competition was far too small for Marcus, so I've had to start over again. This means I have to re-knit the back and about 18cm of the front. Which is Fair Isle. I can't re-use the wool because it'll be short as I now have more stitches.

• Dot decided that sleep is for the weak last night and howled from 11pm until 2:45am. The last 45 minutes was in the care of her father because her mother went semi-crazy.

• I appear to have pulled one of my stitches which makes walking near impossible. I can't do anything other than sit on the couch and knit. While this sounds ideal, try being completely dependent on someone else to get you a cup of tea sometime. If they're not around, you don't get one. I'm not a big fan of passivity.

• The car had an incident on Monday night (wasn't me) and now needs some repairs. These will not be possible until next week. Guess who won't be going to Bendigo for the Show this weekend? If you need me this Saturday, I'll be home. On the couch. Sulking.

Five steps to bed

Apparently it's considered the done thing to give your current children a present when you have a new one suddenly turn up. I've never been a fan of following convention, so no present had been purchased.

Then this pattern turned up on Ravelry and I knew it was kismet. Marcus watches Giggle and Hoot and the chance to make him his own Hoot was too great to resist. One trip to Spotlight later and I was all set to start.

Finishing was a bit harder. This picture was taken in my hospital room as I didn't have a chance between sewing on the beak as the last thing and going off to have Dot! Marcus loves and neglects it in turn, which I think is the sign of a great toy.

New projects

It's almost here! Yes, I'm entering the Australian Country Spinners competition yet again, with an eye on actually finishing in time. I'm the most overly competitive person I know, which Judith told me last year was the reason I needed to enter. I think she knows me too well.

Last year was my little chicken boy. This year, Marcus is a big boy (with a head of magnificent curls that no hat will cover) so he'll be getting a big boy Fair Isle vest of my own design. Hey, the rules said I could design my own or use one of their patterns, but the Fair Isle patterns I like are a little bit more complex than what they can offer, and I'll need something to keep me awake at night for the other new project in my life.

Dorothy Joanna, born June 28th at 3:11pm. She's named for a wonderful lady I knew as a child, and will be known by that lady's delightful moniker of Dot. I love the name - it makes me think of cute little ladybirds for some reason. She's slotted in our lives with ease, and adoration isn't a strong enough word for how we feel about her.

I really am disgracefully lucky.

Competitive? Moi?

Chantal and I decided that what we needed was a little friendly wager to get some motivation going in our knitting lives. Chantal has been knitting the Henry scarf for her brother for a while now, and I've been ignoring my Garden Shawl for a few weeks, so we decided to ramp it up and race against each other.

8:30pm Friday night we picked up the needles and started. Within five minutes I was tinking back two rows to add a yarnover that I'd missed. Felix listened nicely to my swearing and then asked how much knitting I actually had to do to finish.

Two sides and one corner, each side made up of 27 repeats of 14 rows, each corner made up of 3 repeats of 14 rows. Since Friday night I've knitted up about 12 repeats.

I think I'm going to get slaughtered.

Niblets on the 'net

A lovely weekend was had by all here at Chez Knitamer. My mum came over to mind Marcus on Saturday so Felix and I could finally go out for our fourth wedding anniversary (it's only been a month now). One "Thor" viewing and tapas later we were home - no rest for the wicked!

Yesterday was my sister's birthday party where she overcatered once again, and we had a fabulous time, even if I did agree to knit my niece a pair of stirrup legwarmers to wear to school, our logic being that I can knit them faster than she can. This from a teenager who can run up three scarves in a week, and plans to knit 100 scarves as a fundraiser for her running!

I've been browsing my way around Ravelry the last few days, just looking up all the things my friends have been noticing, and some of the baby outfits are unbelievable.
















The Small Things collection of a cardigan, bonnet and the world's cutest romper suit I have ever seen caught my eye, and now all I need to do is bribe Felix into letting me buy the ebook and ignore him while I knit for three days straight.











Jennifer Hoel's Garter Yoke Cardigan is absolutely perfect for this winter, but it's a 5-ply pattern (of which I own none!), so I thought maybe not. Having seen how many knitters have whipped up 4-ply versions all worries are dispelled! Helloooooo stashbusting!
















I have to make The Kumfy™ Schlüttli for both Podling and Marcus. It looks like such a fun knit, and will use up a bucket load of 8-ply I seem to be hoarding for some future occasion, such as a world wool shortage.















As for me, Felix promised me a new pattern and now all I need to do is pick my colours. I love the Union Flag (remember it's only called the Jack when it's on a boat - thanks Rose Tyler!) and the traditional colours are fabulous, but what if I used my favourite colour combination of chocolate brown, burnt orange and cream? It's so tempting and I just can't make up my mind!

PS: Happy Birthday Bronwyn!

Knitting,life and illness

I could have sworn my week was going well. Last Monday I finished my green swirl hat.
















See? Cute, adorable and neutral, and sitting perfectly on our Mini-Marcus doll. So I started a second hat.

















See? Cute, adorable and neutral, and sitting perfectly on our Mini-Marcus doll. Then I remembered that I'd sworn not to start another project until I'd finished something off from the WIP box in the bungalow. So I went out, reached in and pulled out a bag.













Can you believe it was the Baby Surprise Jacket I'd never sewn up in the same green? I was impressed by the Knitting Gods largesse, and promised to forthwith sacrifice many many more balls of yarn to their cause.

I must have been overly smug because on Tuesday night Marcus couldn't breathe properly and we spent three hours in the emergency rooms with a very sick little boy with - once again - croup.

The next few days were an unbridled nightmare. Marcus couldn't breathe through his nose, and he couldn't sleep properly and eventually Felix had to take a day off to help me because Sick Marcus = Feral Marcus.

To compensate I thought it might be an idea to once again throw myself upon the mercy of the Knitting Gods and pick up a WIP. This time in my foraging I pulled out the Garden Path Shawl. *whimper*

It's not hard anymore, I just have to knit the edging. My problem is that I have three repeats until I do the next corner, and then I have two more sides to do. It's going to take such a long time, and just to smack me around a bit the Knitting Gods thought I needed sinusitis to assist me in my endeavours. Then it turned into a full-blown head cold, verging on flu the symptoms were so bad.

You know you're not well when you end up strapped to a foetal monitor just in case the baby is overheating because you are. Last time this happened, I had Marcus, so yesterday wasn't all that much fun. Thankfully we still have 1.8 children and will until July, *phew*.

I've decided to stop tempting the Knitting Gods. I started a small cardigan for Marcus in bulky yarn instead.

Dream on (the "Glee" version with Neil Patrick Harris)

Like most knitters, I have dream projects. The ones that are going to take ages, be nice and complex and fulfill all of my knitting dreams.
















The Garden Path shawl is one of my dream projects: complex, huge and lace. I love lace, almost as much as fair isle, and my love for fair isle is eternal and sacred. I have two sides of the edging to go, and then I get the brilliant fun of wet blocking it. Well, fun for me.













I've got the perfect colours combination for the Renaissance cardigan: Jo Sharp DK Tweed in a dark forest green and a dull rosy pink. It's all packed away, waiting to become my big intarsia project. I'm a bit nervous that the pattern requires 10ply, but pfffft! Challenge!

I've spoken before about how I don't like deadlines, and I'm not about to start them again. Pressure over knitting is ridiculous, takes away all the fun and leads to excess caffeine consumption, which isn't an option while I'm this pregnant (10 weeks to go).













I want to make this for Marcus for Christmas. We've already got our eyes on his birthday present (too expensive but too cute, so we'll bribe the grandparents to come in with us), so I'll have many many months to work on this, and some of the animals are quite small and I already knitted up the cat in under two hours.

As you can tell I'm already making excuses, but when it comes down to a choice between this and a Fisher Price plastic farm set, the Steiner in me is screaming "Do it! Do it!".

Now all I need is to get started, and that will require a very nice/bribe-able husband to size up the graph for the playmat. Yes Felix, that was a very unsubtle hint.

It works!

I suspect Felix was getting a bit tired of all of the unfinished knitting projects I seem to accumulate in pairs, so I promised that each time I finished something I would pick up a U.F.O. and work until it was done.

Oddly enough, this idea seems to work. I finished Marcus' hat and mittens and picked up my retro crocheted rug that I started in January and sort of forgot about. Easy to do when you have that many U.F.O.'s...


















I used Zara in colours to match Marcus' room, and just changed colour each row. As I was running out of yellow I decided to finish up and edge the rug in red using the Granny Blanket edging pattern from Attic 24. The edging pattern is great to follow and the tutorial layout is brilliant - take a look at all of the crochet tutorials, they'll have you hooking up in no time.

The ends were sewn in while watching "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1", so it was a good thing I'd sewn most of them in while I went, because it was a really fun film. Can't wait for Part 2, although we'll probably have to wait until the dvd comes out because the film comes out early July, and so does baby #2!

Chicken? Who, me?

I am not scared of setting a zip into the Tomten jacket.

I am not scared of setting a zip into the Tomten jacket.

I am not scared of setting a zip into the Tomten jacket.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

I am not scared of setting a zip into the Tomten jacket.

Oh look! I can work on that crocheted rug instead! See, I'm not avoiding anything!

...Well, for now, maybe.

Remember slacking off on weekends?

I don't. I finished working at my local service station at the end of last month, and I've been ridiculously busy every Saturday and Sunday since. Next month is May, also known as the party time in our family. Every Sunday is taken up with a birthday or Mother's Day, or - in my case - an interstate visit.

This weekend was no different. Yesterday morning started off with a dangerous shopping expedition at a Hallmark sale, so if you need any Christmas cards feel free to ask. Back home for some adoring of my family before deserting them for an Ikea run with Chantal, which is always a very bad idea. Five hours later I leave with the important things: a small coffee table for Marcus to eat from, a little blue chair from his Auntie Tal and eight clear plastic boxes for yarn.

This morning Felix and I headed out back to organise the bungalow (yes, again. It got cluttered again, alright?) and my job was to sort out my stash.














The eight boxes are on the bottom with my yarn grouped in colours. I need at least another box, because currently the yellow, orange and pink are sharing a box, or they would be if I owned any yellow yarn that I'm not currently using.

The two boxes above that are slightly more complicated. The one on the left is UFO's that I've either forgotten about or are neglected. The box on the right is projects that I've set aside the patterns and yarns for, sealed up in ziplock bags, ready to go.

The shelf above has a large box of variegated yarns, which I honestly didn't know I had that much of. Above it is a small box with pompom makers, my de-piller, chunky stuff. The bag at the end has 20 balls of 12ply for a jumper for my da, but it won't fit in any of the boxes, so it gets its own bag. The fabric and shower curtain are for blocking, the basket was my Nana's knitting basket and is full to the brim with more knitting bags. I seem to own a lot.

The piggy bank? It reads "Yarn Money". You can't say I'm not prepared for anything.

Beanie weather

I don't know about the rest of Melbourne, but I am loving this weather! Cold crisp mornings, followed by rain and semi-sunny skies. It's bliss for me, it really is. The fact that I'm currently my own incubator system has absolutely nothing to do with it, either.

Autumn weather is beanie weather in that I need to start knitting them before they become essential wear which is usually around the beginning of June when our area gets really cold. You can tell when the mountain that looks over us suddenly disappears every day into cloud. That's a sign of beanie need.















The ever-lovely Chantal gave me the pattern for Jared Flood's Koolhaas and when I saw how it looked on her needles I cast on. Owning your own online yarn store is rather fun, especially when your friends can rummage through your new Malabrigo stock before it's posted up (that's right folks, Stitch Culture has Malabrigo Worsted! Email Chantal and beg for some!).

(Funny story - a customer at the service station I used to work at recognised the pattern as a Jared Flood. His wife had made one, you see, and he remembered the name of the designer. I suggest he may be the best trained partner of a knitter so far.)

I've never seen the attraction in the Malabrigo myself, I like my plied yarn for knitting. I must admit I was won over by the time I'd finished the ribbing - soft, smooth and yummy. Call me a convert. The only problem was the pilling, and if you own an automatic de-piller it really isn't a problem.

















Then we had a new problem. I made the beanie for Felix but my Da saw it and thinks he needs a new beanie. The last time I made Da a beanie was about 2004, so I might actually owe him a new one. Mind you, he did trash it somewhat and now the beautiful burgandy Jo Sharp Aran Tweed is covered in white paint flecks, so I'm wary of wasting Malabrigo on him. Not to mention I'd need a new skein, unless I can pinch some leftovers.

Hey Chantal! Swap you your leftover Malabrigo for some Koko Black?

You've been doing *what*?

Unsurprisingly, I have been a bit productive of late. The wonderful season of winter is soon to be upon us, the one time of the year we knitters are actually appreciated, so I need to start early.

A few weeks ago I started a Tomten jacket for Marcus, but I still need to finish knitting the hood lining, so no pictures have been taken so far. It's plain stocking stitch in three colour stripes and it's taking a lot longer than I expected. He'll be toasty warm, but he always is, except when he's playing about in puddles.

(Gratuitous Marcus shot for Sonia)

So I decided to start some smaller projects that would provide quick satisfaction and a feeling of accomplishment. Four days after starting, they were done.

Project one was the Inca Hat by Debbie Bliss. The pattern is knitted straight with a back seam, but I just assumed it was in the round and knitted it accordingly. The pattern matches a little zip up jacket Marcus wears, and I'm still hoping I might actually get it on his head. I'll either have to wait until he's asleep or superglue it onto his skull.

Project two was a set of matching mittens for teeny frozen fingers, to match the hat. A ridiculously easy pattern from "Vintage Knits for Modern Babies" by Hadley Fierlinger, and all I have to say about this book is run and buy it. The patterns are simple, elegant and adorable.

No problems getting Marcus to wear the mittens either. He loves the sound they make when he claps. Now to find the superglue...

The Finishing Touch

I've been a very busy little knitting person since I was last on here. My business is all registered, leaflets have been printed and the website is live.

I give you all The Finishing Touch.

To clarify, the idea behind the business was that I like finishing. I enjoy the challenge of setting in sleeves and having them look perfect. I like mattress stitch, and watching seams slowly join together. Shockingly, I even like sewing in ends so they don't show. Why do you think I do so much Fair Isle?

The plan is to pick up the knitting on a Monday and drop it off the next Monday (while picking up the next rounds). Yes, I can come and harass you at work. Nothing like being outed as a knitter to your co-workers, right? (Besides which, if you're not knitting during work hours you're not maximising your best knitting times!)

All of the work is done in my cozy little bungalow, far far away from a small sleeping child and a highly annoying kitteh. I've got the back room of my bungalow set up and ready to go and I'm now scarily excited.

When Mark at Geekzone set up the website, I was scared (and highly impressed. Thanks Mark, it looks amazing!). When I ordered the leaflets, I was scared. Now that I've announced it here, I'm terrified.

Posting it here makes it real, which means there's no turning back. Wish me luck.

Old school

A few days ago I came up with a brilliant idea. I realised that I needed to crochet hexagons to make a winter blanket for Marcus (Yes, I know it was 41 degrees today, I nearly keeled over a few times, but crochet was calling).

I tried to create a basic hexagon with the spare balls from Marcus Log Cabin rug, but I seemed to be terribly bad at it, so I headed over to Attic 24 for some expert help. A gorgeous hexagon blanket, but I still seemed bad at it.

Then I saw her link to her Granny Squares. Oooooo, shiny Cap'n! I've been crocheting granny squares for years, but the idea of changing colours each row was a new one for me.






















The colour scheme is a tad retro, but I like the combination of the four for a baby's nursery, and Marcus is still in his cot (for now!), so it'll keep him warm all winter long. Now to finish it!

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I'll be away for a week working on my business launch, which is planned for Monday February 7th, so you have a week free from my knitting/crochet madness, and I'll see you all on the flipside!

It's knitting. I'm a knitter now. Knitters are cool.

I was reading the comments for my last post and called out to Felix. "Hey babe, Gidge suggested I knit a Dalek washcloth!" Big mistake. HUGE.

"Awesome! You should totally make that!"




















Morris and Sons Paddington 6-ply, which is 80% bamboo and 20% merino, of which I simply cannot speak highly enough of. It's an absolute dream to knit with - get all of your yarn stash monies and go and buy it.*

It took 2 hours to knit and Felix wants to take it in to work to hang up on his wall. Being a nice knitter, I shall let him, but only because I'm about to cast on my next project: a washcloth with the new Doctor Who logo.

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*Disclaimer: The manager of Morris and Sons here in Melbourne is one of my best friends, witness at my wedding and is also godmother to my son. It's still really good yarn, though.