Seeing as I finished DH's Big Mexiko socks, and my Sick Sock Stash is reaching rather large proportions, I decided to knit myself some more socks. Mind you, SixSox next sock starts tomorrow, so I should probably wait for that, but common sense doesn't apply to knitting :)
I have been inspired by Sandy's sock knitting adventures, and have decided upon the Friday Harbor socks from Knitting On The Road, which was kindly gifted to me by Jill.

To make these socks, I'm using Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Crazy Woman.

The colours are darker than I thought they'd be when I ordered the yarn, but it is heavenly soft to touch and knit. It has 60% wool, 25% mohair and 15% nylon, and is fast becoming my favourite sock yarn :)
Mind you, I've only done 14 rows.
Satin is progressing s-l-o-w-l-y. I like the yarn, I like the pattern, but stockinette bores me to tears. I pick it up, knit a row (142 sts), get distracted, put it down and walk away. Must persevere! Must!

Like everyone who resides in this house, Twinkie likes chocolate. Well, I haven't tried the budgie yet, but the budgie eats everything we do. At least, he tries.
Saying Twinkie likes chocolate is possibly the biggest understatement of the century. We used to get her little bunny chocolate drops at the pet store, and giveher a treat sometimes, but they don't stock them anymore. I have been breaking off teensy teensy little pieces of Easter egg for her, and she then follows me around like a puppy.
We got home from dancing last night, and Em ate an Easter Egg. She then laid on the floor to play with Twinky.
Twinky obviously could smell the chocolate, and went insane, trying to eat Emily.

Emily was giggling hysterically and the rabbit was hysterically trying to find the chocolate.
I live in a madhouse.

I hope everyone had a nice weekend :)
I love long weekends. I'm a sleeper, so being able to sleep until 9am or so is the perfect way to start the day for me. Most days I have to be up to get Em on the 7.30am bus. Yuck.
However, I have eaten far too much chocolate. I can almost see all those kilos I lost lining up to jump back onto my butt.
Anyway, I knit :)

I finished DH's Big Mexiko socks. And I must say I did a pretty good job of matching up the pattern. (Mind you it wasn't a particularly complex pattern). I did a little of Satin too, not as much as I should, but some :)

And look what the postman brought!!

Lisa had a caption contest on her blog a while back, and being the generous soul that she is, she decided that everyone won! Thankyou Lisa!! I especially like the pup pic, and it is residing on my desk as I type :)
I went a bit mad with the end of Lent and as well as ordering sock yarn from Elann, I ordered a couple of knitting books. I ordered The Yarn Harlot's book, and I also ordered Simple Knits for Cherished Babies.
I love to knit baby clothes. Unfortunately, most of my family are babied out now. DH's cousin and his wife are expecting a baby in a few months though, so I plan to get knitting :)

Twinkie was not especially happy about playing Easter Bunny ;)
The bow lasted all of about 2 seconds, which is why there isn't a great picture. Maybe she would have preferred a pink gown and tiara. ;)
What did I get in addition to chocolate for Easter?
Look Up! Up there in the little URL window at the top of your screen!!
I now have my own domain! And you didn't even notice because my very clever DH set up an autodirect thingy that sends everyone here if they try to go to the old URL. If you'd like to change your bookmarks, the new URL is http://www.randomknits.net/, but apparently it doesn't matter much. :)
My own home! I'm told that I should no longer have trouble with you lovely people leaving comments, because I'm on a new server, and I don't have to worry about super slow server time at various times of the day. Hoo-bloody-ray!!
A lovely Easter Sunday was had by all. We had beautiful weather, and headed over to my big sisters house for lunch, where Em showed off on the trampoline.

I'm very glad that all those dance lessons I'm paying for are achieving something! ;)

PS I did this entry at what used to be the slowest time of day, and had nary a glitch, and no server waiting time! Yippee!!

Thank you to everyone for

Thank you to everyone for the lovely birthday wishes. Em had a wonderful day wth lots of nice gifts and yummy chocolate mud cake.

Unfortunately, we had mud cake because my effort at the Birthday cake stuck to the pan. I told you I can't cook, LOL!
I finished the Dulaan hat in the hand dyed wool. I had just enough for a nice brim, and what you can't see well in this picture is the funky spiral effect the colours made.

When I started it, I told myself to ignore the colours. It might matter to me if the colours pooled, but some kid in Mongolia might like it like that. Frankly I was amazed at the patterning. I'll bet if I tried to dye it to work that way on purpose, it wouldn't work!
And I started some socks for DH the other night. Satin is being neglected, because she's boring. :)
I had a copy of InKnitters that had an interesting article on working socks two ways. You do a provisional cast on, then work down to the toe, then pick up the stitches around the ankle and work up the leg. Sounded interesting, and I had some Big Mexiko that the pattern used, so I decided to give it a go.
I did the provisional cast on.

Then I did the heel flap.

After the heel flap, you turn the heel, pick up the gusset stitches, then pick up more stitches along the provisional cast on for the instep.

Then I started working my way down the foot. Then I screwed up the gusset decreases somehow. Then I got the shits with the whole thing, frogged it, and started a cuff down sock instead :)
Lent is over! Over!!
That pop you heard a little while ago was my credit card imploding. Thank you Elann. And Wendy. I have sock yarn! (Like I needed any ;)

Happy 12th Birthday, Emily!

Happy 12th Birthday, Emily!

And this is how she looked after being home from camp for half an hour.

I finally finished Em's pink

I finally finished Em's pink beads socks!

I was halfway down the foot on the second sock, so I decided to just get it done - it's been on the needles for ages. Nearing the end of the foot, I started to sweat. I shortened the foot by two rows. I thought I wouldn't make it. But I did get it done, and here are the leftovers.

Not by much, but I made it!
So then I did some more of Satin, got bored with it, and decided to make another hat for the Dulaan project. However, I wasn't sure that I had enough yarn. I'm using the yarn leftover from Clapotis. I also made Em a pair of Wendy's fingerless mitts, and I'm just not sure how much yarn is left. I think theres enough, but I'd like to do a nice warm turn up cuff. So I decided to knit the hat from the top down. I'm making it up as I go along, and I'm sure it's been done 10,000 times before, but I'm really flying by the seat of my pants here.

I'm just going to keep increasing evenly until I get to the right size, then knit until I run out of yarn. I hope it works the way I've planned ;)

P.S. Em gets home in 3 hours :)

Yesterday morning I battled this

Yesterday morning I battled this

To deliver my child, along with 179 others, to school to head off for their three day camp.

This is how she looked once we arrived. Totally distracted, couldn't muster up a smile for the camera or a kiss for her poor mother. She had friends to find and buses to board. Sigh.
I had to pester her for a goodbye kiss. She's been gone 26 hours, and I feel like a lost soul, LOL! I cleaned the house yesterday, and I knit a bit, and generally wandered around, waiting for DH to get home from work and keep me company. Even the bunny is feeling smothered. I'm so pathetic :)
She'll be home tomorrow afternoon, so it's not like she'll be gone long.
So to kill time, I went Internet window shopping. It's Easter Sunday this weekend, so that means Lent is over, and I can buy yarn!
Wendy's gift certificate is still burning a hole in my pocket, and I have been resisting temptation since I got it. Although, every morning I check Elann just to make sure theres still some Sock It To Me Esprit left ;)
If it looked as if it were selling out, I would have grabbed it! So this weekend, I will buy some, and I've been checking out everything else, too. I think I might grab some Peruvian Collection Baby Cashmere to make myself some nice, soft, pretty lacy gloves now that winter is coming to the Southern Hemisphere.
So here is the question. Does anyone know of a pretty lacy glove pattern for fingering weight yarn? I don't mind if it is a pattern in a book, as long as I can pick it up somewhere. Don't tell me of a gorgeous pattern that is out of print, okay? ;)
I'm looking forward to ordering my yarn and getting a package again, I miss my parcels! I haven't had one for ages, and I think the Post Office staff are getting lazy without my packages coming in. ;)

I have been knitting, here's

I have been knitting, here's the proof :)

Jo Sharp "Satin".
The first 70 rows were straight stocking stitch, and although I always think that stocking stitch should be quick because it's so easy, it always takes me forever because it's so boring. But I'm finally up to row 70 and can start doing a few different rows. Hopefully that will help it move along a little quicker.
I'm enjoying working with the Jo Sharp DK, and I'm actually getting gauge for the first time ever! I had to drop to a 3.5mm needle, but I'm getting both row gauge and stitch gauge. :)
3.5mm is not a standard needle size in Australia. Usually our needles go from a 3.25mm to a 3.75mm needle. I'm wondering if that hasn'e stuffed up my gauge in the past - perhaps I should always have been using a 3.5mm.
The colour in the first photo isn't accurate, so heres a better one.

That's till not accurate. It's not really an apricot - it's got more caramel in it than this pic.
We're packing Em's bag for camp today - this is the first time she's been away from us for more than a day, and it's a little bit scary. (More for me than her, I think!)
Twinkie wants everybody to frolic in the grass this weekend :)

Today we were out and

Today we were out and about all over the place, and at least three times, I said "I should have brought the camera".
Why do I own a digital camera? I forget to take it every time I go anywhere!
First off, we had a local election today, so we had to go out and vote. Elections are always held on a Saturday in Australia, and it is mandatory for everyone over the age of 18 to vote, or you get fined. In addition, every year our neighbourhood holds a big street festival around this time, and today was the day. The school we vote at is in the main street, right in the midst of the festival so we killed two birds with one stone, and had a look about. Not alot to talk about, it's mainly geared towards the kids and the teens, lots of toys and showbags and silly hats, performers and the like. Then we headed out to the lolly factory to buy our Easter eggs. :)
I'm rather fond of the lolly factory. ;) Bought too much chocolate, then came home for the afternoon.
Em's birthday is on Thursday, and we always go out for dinner on birthdays. She's at camp for school from Monday morning until Wednesday afternoon, and she has dance lessons on Wednesday and Thursday nights, and it's Easter next weekend, so we went out to dinner tonight. She chose Lonestar Steakhouse, so off we went, and had a delicious dinner, and they brought her out a chocolate brownie with icecream and sparklers, and sang Happy Birthday to her, so she was pretty chuffed. Came home just in time for Fireworks at the street festival, of which we had a wonderful view from our front yard. I took some photos, but they ain't great.

We told Em that the festival is held in honour of her Birthday. At the end of the fireworks she said "See how special I am?"
Gotta love that kid :)
So you'll all understand why there's been little or no knitting going on, I'm sure. Knitting updates tomorrow, I swear :)

I haven't been updating alot

I haven't been updating alot because I've been boring knitting. It's all for a good cause, but that doesn't make it any more exciting! I'm up to 5 pairs of mittens and 4 hats for the Dulaan Project so far, with another pair of mittens on the needles.
But I must admit it's starting to get a little boring now.
To try and beat the boredom I decided to knit something quick for myself.

Late last year I bought a single, lonely skien of Noro Silk Garden, but I had no idea what to make with it, so it's been sitting around doing nothing for a few months. Then I saw Wendy's Fingerless Mitts pattern.
Voila! I love them! I love Silk Garden! Now Em wants a pair. Of course.

It's wet and rainy here today.

It's actually a nice change from the heat, and we need the rain. Twinkie, however is unimpressed.

No going outside to play today!

Finished Project Alert! Woohoo! Em

Finished Project Alert!
Woohoo! Em has a new poncho :)

Specifications
Pattern: Bonne Marie's Lacy Poncho (Downsized a little, though)
Yarn: Some unbanded anonymous Jade Green 5ply (Sportweight) wool, bought from eBay
Needles: 4mm Addi Turbos

Didn't it come out well? Who knew that fringing a little poncho would take over three hours?? Anyway, it's done.
I love Em in this colour, I should make her more green things. :)
Speaking of Em, she's in my bed right now, sick, snivelling and coughing, and watching DVD's. Poor kid. She better keep her germs to herself ;)

Okay, I think we're over

Okay, I think we're over The Sandwich Incident.
However, I'm thinking of taking bets on how long it takes for Em to turn her room into a cesspool again. ;)
I've been busy, busy, busy knitting!
Dulaan goodies :)

More hats, more mittens. I have another pair of mittens on the needles right now.
And I have another FO to show, but it took longer to finish than I expected - pics tomorrow!

I thought I had seen

I thought I had seen everything. Really.
Although Emily is nearly 12 (13 days to go, I was reminded this morning!), I thought there wasn't much she could surprise me with anymore. Anyone who believes that the angelic child pictured here previously could not possibly keep her room a pigsty, read on.
I am still cleaning her bedroom. I spent 2 hours in there yesterday, and cleaned up the floor and the wardrobe and drawers. No wonder she has no clean underwear. They're all shoved into any old drawer that has room, never in her underwear drawer.
Fine, I dealt with that. I may be a neat freak, but I can understand that not everyone else is, no matter how frustrated I get in the morning when we are running late because Em can't find anything.
So I did the wardrobe and the floor yesterday, and headed back in this morning to do under the bed and the toybox.
Under the bed was not so bad. Odd dirty clothes under there, a gazillion odd dirty socks and the like. One biscuit, which infuriates me, however, I just tossed it out, and finished with Under The Bed.
Then I opened the toybox. The first thing that hit me was the smell. I checked that Twinkie was reclining in the hallway watching me, because I thought she may have crawled into the toybox and died, the smell was that bad.

I think that this may have once been a sandwich. I think it was from the end of year school picnic. In mid December. I can only reason that out due to the other crap that was also in the bag.
I'm afraid to delve deeper, but I must. In rubber gloves, I think ;)

It has occured to me

It has occured to me that the items I'm knitting for the Dulaan project will not be warm enough for a Mongolian winter. Here in Sydney, the winter mornings we complain bitterly about rarely get colder than 4C. (35F) I cannot even comprehend cold weather of -40F.
However, I hope my hats and mittens will be useful anyway. Maybe Autumn wear.
I finished the first stripey hat and hope I have enough yarn for another. A great deal of this leftovers knitting is done with great hope that there is enough yarn to finish the items I start!
I don't think there will be much knitting today. I'm heading into Em's room to try to establish a clear path fromt he door to the bed. I've given up on the room looking like anything less than a bomb site.

Good Lord, where did the

Good Lord, where did the last few days go??
I did Canteen Duty at school for the first time ever on Monday :)
These kids musn't get fed at home - as soon as the ball goes, they're there, at the canteen, in line to get food. (Including my own kid, I might add!) Feeding time at the zoo is calmer ;)
So that was Monday, gone and over!
But I've been knitting - but not on Satin. I started Satin on the weekend, did the ribbing on the back, then put it aside and haven't touched it since.
I've been Dulaan-ing :)

Little mittens!

Pink superwash with some pink fluff on the edges. Half a ball from the leftovers box. I guesstimated the size, knit them up with the assistance of Ann Budd's Handy Book of Patterns, and had about a foot of yarn left. I spent the last few rows of the second mitten sweating on whether I would have enough yarn to finish them.

Pink Hat!

Leftover Lambs Pride Bulky. Jill sent me some to make some felted slippers for Em ages ago. The slippers didn't work out, but Em likes the hat. Tough luck, kidlet, a poor, cold small child will be wearing it :)
I really liked knitting with the LP though.
And I did a hat from the leftover Woolease from DH's hat last week.
I found three half balls left from a hat I knit DH last year. I'm going to knit a stripey hat, using the jogless stripes techniaue from the six sox stashbuster socks. Using up some leftovers feels good.
Em's poncho remains unseamed and unfringed. I'm enjoying little things right now. Instant gratification :)

Twinkie is fine, I am

Twinkie is fine, I am a worrywart :)
Apparently it is normal, it has something to do with a combination of things. Her rubbing her chin on things (claiming them as hers!), moulting, and her licking herself on the chin - quite a sight to see :)
In knitting news, Lacy Poncho is blocking as we speak. It should have been finished on Friday, but when I sat down to do the last 2 pattern repeats, I discovered that 5 pattern repeats back, I had missed a plain knit row, which turned the pattern around. Rip, rip, rip, rip. But it is now done.
And Satin is already cast on. I have also been going through my leftovers box, decided what I can make for the Dulann project.
Who ever knew I had so many leftovers? Complete balls! And bundles of little balls too small to do anything with. Why do I keep them?
The mysteries of the universe, indeed :)

Another quick entry today. I

Another quick entry today.
I have been trying to teach Emily to knit since she was about 6 or so. As I said yesterday, she'll be 12 in a few weeks, and the going hasn't always been good. She wants to knit, she just can't seem to get the hang of it, and wasn't enjoying it.
Whilst surfing the web the other day, I was reading bits about continental knitting. I knit English, always have, and doubt that I could knit any other way. When I started thinking about it, Emily can't hold the yarn in her right hand, twisted around her little finger the way I do. She kept saying "It doesn't feel right, I can't do it" BTW, she is righthanded.
It suddenly occurred to me that maybe I should show her how to knit continental.
Talk about a Eureka moment. Her face lit up and she said "That's so much better!"
Then she knit five rows on her cozy for her most precious possession, her mobile phone ;)
We're taking Twink to the vet this morning. When I was taking photos yesterday, I was laying on the floor in front of her, which is a different perspective than usual. When I was taking the photos, I noticed a "lump" under her chin. This is new, and I'm a little concerned, so we're off to the vet.

It doesn't seem to bother her, but I'm a worrywart. :)

Lots of wandering thoughts in

Lots of wandering thoughts in my head today :)
The Lacy poncho is flying off the needles. I've finished the first rectangle and am halfway through the second. This is a great pattern. Keep in mind that I downsized it a bit, too.

Doesn't look like much, does it? I did knit a swatch and blocked it, and it should block out just fine.
So now of course my thoughts are turning to - what next?
I *think* I might do "Satin" from Jo Sharp Create A Knit 1.

It's very easy, a lot of plain stockinette, but I've had the yarn stashed for a while, so I think it'll be that, unless something else jumps up and bites me in the next few days.
Emily's birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks, so I asked her what she'd like for her birthday. All she asked for was a pink dance bag.
What happened to my acquisitive toy-hungry baby?? I asked her if there was anything else she wanted. It took her a while to come up with anything, but she's asked for some jewellery. She's frangipani mad, so I got her some frangipani earrings, and will look about for something else, but I'm in a bit of shock I think. Where is my baby?? She's turning 12, so it was bound to happen sooner or later, but I don't think I'm ready for this!
Twinks is ready for anything :)

Hat City! :) Well, not

Hat City! :)
Well, not really, I finished the Woolease hat for DH, and I am finally posting a pic of Em's earflap hat.

It came out a little big after blocking. It is an adult hat pattern after all, and Em is a little on the small side.
But she gives it the thumbs up anyway. :)

And as I said, I finished DH's woolease hat. He likes it :)

There's enough yarn left in the ball to make one more adult hat, and maybe a kids one, so I might knit a couple up for the Dulaan Project.

This morning whilst I was deleting some crap to clean up my hard drive, I came across one of Em's school projects. She has to make a brochure about herself. It's not finished yet, and the punctuation and wording are atrocious, but this part made me smile. :)

Emily’s family
Emily lives with her mum and her dad. Her mum doesn’t work but instead stays home to do the housework whilst her dad works doing things with websites. Emily’s mum is her rolemodel and to Emily it seems as if she can do anything.

Sometimes it's clear why it's all worthwhile. :)

I'm extremely tired today. We

I'm extremely tired today. We live in South Western Sydney. Nearby us there has been some disquiet (to put it mildly) in a nearby neighbourhood. In any case, there have been police helicopters hovering day and night since Friday night, and the noise is becoming rather bothersome. From where we live, this is the only impact on us, but I want to sleep quietly!!
I also had a freckle removed at the doctors this morning. 60 Minutes had a story last week about melanomas that had me scurrying off to the doctors, and he found a freckle on my hip that was a little discoloured, and he cut it out this morning. He's pretty sure it's just a freckle, but better safe than sorry.
So, considering all the circumstances, I think I deserve a nothing-but-knit day ;)