We stitched, we bitched. Or something!

We had a great time :) Lovely venue, around 30 people in attendance, some lovely works in progress. Even Em churned out around 2 rows on each of two projects! Em was also official photographer for me, so the photo isn't awfully clear, but it was the best of the ones she took. (!)

Bloggers in attendance. Standing, Donni (in blue), Stripey Tiger (in stripes, no less!), Ailsa (in black). Sitting in front, Jussi(in pink), Annie(in orange) and me (in black). At least I look better in this pic than in the one on the Tigers site! Cameras hate me ;)
I had a great day, everyone was so nice, and I can't wait until I can go again. (which will be September unfortunately!)

Boring knitting updates! ;)

The Fair Isle Hat grows, and grows, and grows. But doesn't end!

I'm now up to Row 126, which means I only have 65 or so rows to go. Only. At least the rows are getting smaller!

The cropped cardi.

I've got all the bits on the needles now, and I can start the neck and raglan shaping. I've fudged the number, because I wanted a deeper v-neck. If you could see my maths, you'd laugh hysterically, so it will be an adventure to see how it comes out. Adventure. My life needs some excitement ;)

Branching Out.

I haven't shown it in a while, because I've been neglecting it. Oops. Here's a close up.

It needs to be finished and blocked. Must work more on the scarf!

I've been tagged for another meme. Annie at Ruby Girl tagged me for this one. I'm going to meet Annie and some of the other ANZKR webring girls tomorrow at Wollongong SnB. Hooray!
I didn't answer them all, because I couldn't think of some responses.

10 years ago:
Em was a toddler, I was a working mother, realising that there were some pretty serious problems in my marriage.

5 years ago:
I was a single mother, Em was in school, I was still working, hanging out for my long service leave so that I could quit my job. DH had just moved in with us.

1 year ago:
Hmm.. things were pretty much as they are now. DH was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease 2.5 years ago, a year ago he was a year out from his treatment and in remission, and things were starting to go back to "normal".

Yesterday:
Went down the street, made a vain attempt at catching up on housework, did some costume sewing, a little knitting, homework and dance practice with Em, dance lessons later in the evening, caught up on some email, tried to knit again.

Today:
Em was running late for school, did the grocery shopping, stopped at Mum's house, went to the Post Office and the chemist, did some washing, played with Twinky, tried to do more housework, just had some lunch, it's now 1.45pm. Still have to pick Em up from school, more dance lessons, organise a meal for dinner, more sewing waiting, hope to knit a bit.

Tomorrow:
Stitch n Bitch Wollongong. Yay!
Oh, and housework, more washing, Mass at 6pm, same old, same old.

5 snacks I enjoy: Chocolate, potato chips, chocolate, tim tams, chocolate.

5 bands/singers that I know the lyrics of MOST of their songs:
INXS, Duran Duran, Kasey Chambers, most music from the 80's. Hilary bloody Duff. Em has played it, and played it and played it.

5 Things I would do with $100,000,000
Buy a house. Buy my Mum a house. Buy a new car. Go on a holiday to the US and buy lots and lots of yarn. Stop sewing costumes for the dance school.

5 locations I'd like to run away to:
Manitoba. Cold, but they have Polar Bears! Hawaii? I've never been out of the country. Hell, I hadn't been out of the state until around 6 years ago.

5 things I like doing:
knitting, sewing (sometimes), eating, sleeping, singing. (Badly)

5 things I would never wear:
Mini skirts (those days are gone!), low, low rise pants (you know the ones - you need a bikini wax to wear your *jeans*!), hotpants, tights, midriff tops.

That's plenty of meme's for now, you people know too many of my quirks ;)

Renada from Nada J Knits tagged me for a meme about Idiosyncrasies. Yeah, I have a few.

id·i·o·syn·cra·sy
Pronunciation Key
n. pl. id·i·o·syn·cra·sies
A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.

Write down five of your own personal idiosyncrasies.

My idiosyncrasies are a bit of an ongoing joke around here. Whenever I do something stupid (which happens on a regular basis), I remind DH that he loves me because of my idiosyncrasies.

Mind you, coming up with 5 to put here hasn't been easy.

1. I have to have the blankets straight at night.
Yes, while I'm in the bed. I can't stand crumpled blankets. I smooth the quilt out when I get into bed. And it has to cover the whole bed, neatly. Lately, we've had an extra blanket thrown over the bed, and that has to lay neatly and straight too. DH takes great pleasure in folding a corner back or uncovering part of the bed to drive me insane.

2. I sew barefoot.
I can't operate the sewing machine with shoes on. I can't stand not being able to feel the pedal. So at most, I wear a pair of socks.

3. I hang the washing out with matching pegs.
If I'm hanging out a shirt or something that needs two pegs, they have to match. eg. they have to be 2 red ones, or 2 blue ones. I can't have a blue peg and a red peg together.

4. I hate waiting.
More so than is normal. I hate queues. I hate traffic. I hate red lights. To the point that I say I have a Red Light Elf, who goes ahead of me in traffic, sending lights red, just to aggravate me. I hate sitting at school waiting for Em in the afternoon. I hate waiting for Em to get ready in the morning. I hate to be late. I hate waiting for something I've ordered to arrive. Waiting and time wasting infuriates me. Seriously. And Em is a slow, laid back person. no wonder we fight ;)

5. I cannot sit still and do nothing.
Can't just watch TV, Have to be knitting or sewing, or blogging or surfing. I can't lay in the bath for hours. This is probably connected to the time wasting above. I seriously never have enough hours in a day. I can't even just talk on the telephone. If I'm on the phone, I'm doodling, or folding washing or playing solitaire. My mother says I need to learn to relax.
Pfft. Who has the time??

This was seriously hard. There were a few that were bandied about that I decided the whole of blogland didn't need to know about ;)

Boring blogging ahead.
I'd better finish something and start something new - things are becoming boring around here, even for me!
The Fair Isle hat progresses.

I'm now up to Round 104 out of 192. I'm up to Chart B, hooray! And with no visible mistakes. I think. Usually I'll notice a mistake in row 3 when I'm up to Row 156. If that happens, the mistake is staying, trust me.
And the cropped cardi is moving along nicely, too.

I'm up to the underarms, which means that the body gets put aside now, and I start the sleeves.
This is my pay-no-attention knitting, used for dance practice, tv watching, homework, you all know the drill.
I did have to do some sewing today, which means bringing out the overlocker. For some weird reason, the animals go crazy when the overlocker comes out. It gets set up near the birdcage, and Fuzzy the Budgie starts squawking and flapping, and Twinkie starts some kind of mating dance with the bag. Please ignore all evidence of unswept floor, and washing not yet put away!

Not quite sure what brings it on, but it happens every time, and it's funny to watch. Once the overlocker comes out of the bag, she sometimes hops into the bag.
Silly bunny :)

What I love about lace..
I love that you knit a swatch, and it looks, quite frankly, like crap.

Then you give it a bath, pin it out to dry, and within a couple of hours, it looks like this.

I wasn't swatching for anything in particular, just playing.
I'll go back to working on the hat now, which is flying along. I'm now up to Row 81. Theres a double eviction on Big Brother tonight, which means knitting time. I hate to admit that I'm somewhat of a Big Brother addict. Not as bad as some, I don't watch the live feeds, or read the online diary religiously, but I watch all the TV shows. So far this season, I've picked the evictee every week. (It hasn't really been that hard, though). Tonight is definitely Rita, and probably Christie, although I voted for Rita and Melanie.
I need to get a life ;)

I got a parcel today. I love parcels :)
My friend Jill sent me my beloved magazines.

And other goodies, too :) Sockotta sock yarn, and a gorgeous beaded sock pattern from Heartstrings. How lucky am I?
A few people have asked about the inside of the Fair Isle hat. Isn't that like asking a lady her age or her weight? ;)
Oh, okay.

Isn't it lovely? All neat and tidy. Why yes, I'm quite proud, thank you! Oh, you wanted to see the ends. Hmph.

There's all the ends. I don't even know if that's how it is supposed to be done, but it's working for me :)
A few more rows have been done. I'm now on row 55.

I don't know about the rest of the world, but here in Australia (well, NSW at least), if you have a gambling problem you can be banned from the Casino.
I think I need an eBay ban.
Our latest eBay obsession is Trixie Belden books. Did anyone else read those when they were a kid? Em loves to read, and she reads quickly. She finished Harry Potter on Wednesday night. She is always asking for new books to read, so one day I was in the second hand bookstore and spotted a Trixie Belden book, so I grabbed it for her. She loved it. How much?

She doesn't usually cuddle Trixie close, but this was how we found her last night :) I've managed to get all but 7 books from the series off eBay so far. 2 more of them will be easy to find, but the last 5 that were printed must have been in short supply, becuase they are being sold for exorbitant amounts of money.

I nearly lost Twinkie yesterday. Couldn't find her anywhere, and was running around the house and yard calling her. Finally, she let me see where she was hiding.

New computers, fun for all the family :)

Where do the days go?
Under Em's bed.
We have a running joke in the family, concerning the state of Emily's bedroom. Anything that can't be found is probably located under Em's bed. That's now applied to places, people, anything at all. "Where is Timbuktu?" "Under Em's bed"
So I'm assuming that all the days I seem to have misplaced must be under there too.
Knitting content? Okay. :)

The STYK Lacy toddler cardi is done. I love it, love the yarn, love the pattern. The recipient is currently overseas on holiday, so I can't mail it off to her just yet, but I'm sure she'll look adorable in it :)
The pattern is from STYK, and the yarn is Filatura Di Crosa "Zara" which I also got from Janette. I'm sure I'll make this again, if there's another female toddler about.

The Fair Isle hat progresses slowly. I'm now up to row 43.

I've slowed down a bit, I'm not knitting so obsessively on it, but it's not been cast aside yet, either :)
I also restarted the cropped cardi.

I'm working it in one piece to the underarms. It's based on a raglan cardi from Ann Budd's "Knitters Handy Book of Sweater Patterns". Slow going, with 200 stitches on the needle, but it's nice mindless, in front of tv knitting.

It's been quite cold the past couple of days, but today has been warmer, and the sun has been out. Twinkie is making the most of it.

Hope your day is nice, too!

What we did on our weekend, a short photo essay.

Yes, that's the bolero. I had almost finished the back, then I took a good look at it. My row gauge was off, So it was longer than it should have been, and I tend to be short waisted anyway, so it wasn't going to be a cropped cardi. To shorten it, I would have had to rework the collar shaping in the front, and I'm just not that mathematically minded, I'm afraid. So I think I'll whip out my "Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns" and see what I can come up with.
The hat progresses slowly, currently up to Row 38. Branching out also progresses slowly, I've done 16 repeats.
I'm swapping a bit between projects. A few rows of Fair Isle, a few rows of lace, a bit of stocking stitch. Variety is the spice of life :)

Quick blog, not sure when I'll get my computer back.
It's 9.15am local time, and we're heading out to pick up Harry Potter 6 and some computer bits.
My computer, which regularly has new bits shoved into it, is overdue for another upgrade, as we got Sims 2 a while back, but my computer won't run it.
So, today I'm getting a new graphics card and more memory. This would normally make me giddy with happiness, however, now that Em has discovered the Sims, it really means that I won't be able to get near the computer. They have been fighting over who reads HP first (yes, I mean DH and Em), but the deal they have brokered is that DH can read it if he installs the bits into my computer so she can play Sims 2. Not quite sure where that leaves me! ;)
So this is probably the only chance I'll have to blog.
I thought I'd show you all Giraffe, which was finished a while back, and worn last weekend.

Sorry, bad head day. I don't know if I like it or not. I htink it makes me look larger. Dh and Em both like it, I'm not so sure.
Only a few rows done on the hat last night, I'm now up to Row 30. No doubt I'll get more done today, while I am computer deprived. :)

Okay, I've done very little apart from knit on the Fair Isle hat all day, and once again, I'm making progress.
Here is a silly looking self portrait, modelling the hat.

Em has a friend sleeping over, so they have been amusing themselves on The Sims all day, using cheats to get huge amounts of money and building gargantuan houses, leaving me to knit and knit. Janet mentioned yesterday how slooow Fair Isle is. I know the feeling - I knit for hours last night and today, and I'm only up to Row 25. It might be finished for Christmas - that would be a good thing, as I'm thinking about giving it to DH's sister, who likes unusual hats, and would probably wear it far more than I. :)

Is anyone a member of a knitting guild? Particularly the Knitter's Guild of NSW? As i have mentioned before, I don't know any "real" knitters close by me. There is certainly no local Knitting group or anything like that. The Knitter's Guild does have a meeting 20 minutes or so away, though. However, I don't want to join up if it's going to be just a bunch of crotchety old ladies like my Grandma, who taught me how to knit. I have nothing against older people, I'm talking about the crotchety old ladies who insist that things be done a certain way, blah, blah, blah. My grandma insisted that I do things her way, when she taught me to knit. She would cast on and make me do garter stitch. I got sick of that, found a book and taught myself. She then told me I was doing things "wrong". I don't want to go to a group if that's what it would be like. I'm certainly not intending to offend anyone!
At the recent craft fair, I approached the Guild table, which was attended by 3 older ladies, who acted as if I couldn't possibly know my way around a knitting needle. I picked up the "Australian Afghan" book to look, and one lady said "That's got patterns in it to make a patterned blanket. It's quite difficult" and she indicated the afghan hanging behind her. I put the book down and walked away. Well, as the cover of the book had the afghan on it, I had figured that out! Yes, it was an intarsia afghan, but the way she said it was as if I was a child, touching the grown-ups things. Hello, lady, I can knit!
I'm often not very good around new people, so I'm a bit iffy about going to the Guild meeting. But it would be nice to talk to someone who knits something other than novelty scarves!

Well, the Fair isle Hat.
Now you see it.

Now you don't.

My gauge was off. Way off. Recommended gauge was 8sts/1". When i finally thought to check it, it was 6sts/1". So I bit the bullet and ripped it. This, by the way is my preferred method of frogging if possible.

I was knitting the body with a 3.25mm needle as recommended, so I used a 2.5mm needle to carefully pick up each stitch in the first stockinette row, then I ripped it out until I got back to the needle.
As I said, the recommended needle was a 3.25mm. I should have known better, I always have to go down a needle size, but I don't have a 3mm, and I was impatient. After checking my gauge, I thought a 3mm would probably still be too big, but I don't have a 2.75mm either. I measured my ribbing, and 2 plain stitches measured around a 1/4", so I'm going to try the 2.5mm needle for the body. Big scientific theory here. Gauge swatch, my butt. ;)
Cross your fingers for me!

Look what finally arrived in the mail!

Shade 135 Jamieson & Smith 2 ply Jumper weight wool for my Fair Isle Sampler hat. So I did some more of the hat as soon as I got back from the Post Office.

The ribbing is done :) I'm pretty pleased with it so far, and now I'm a bit nervous about starting the pattern.
I finished Em's tam. It isn't blocked yet, and it looks a bit puffy, so I won't show a close up, but Em decided to wear it immediately.

With a poncho and too-short tracksuit pants. And yes, she went to the shop looking like this. I guess I should be pleased that she's so eager to wear my knits, but please someone call the fashion police! ;)

Well, I've been busy, busy, busy. I'll be glad when school goes back and I have some time again. ;)
Em danced yesterday and did pretty well. She got 3 nominations for the scholarship (most kids only had one), she didn't place in the end, but she was dancing against a lot of kids, some up to 18 years old.
Still, she enjoyed herself, and that's the main thing.
Knitting? Why, yes I have been. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say I've been starting.
I started my bolero.

What a nice picture of some rolled stocking stitch! Here's a close up.

I love this yarn knitted up. It's Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed in Paper Rose. The pattern I'm using is for a mohair blend yarn, but with a similar gauge. The pattern is also done is double moss stitch, but I prefer stockinette. Nice, easy knit, but I felt like doing something different.
So I began my Fair Isle Sampler Hat.

This isn't as hard as I thought it might be. Of course, it's only the ribbing so far, but I just can't get the hang of holding two yarns at once yet. Here's a close up of what I've done.

I'm pretty happy with it. I've even kept the inside nice and tidy so far.

But now I'm up to the shade 135, which is back ordered with the Shetland Wool Brokers, so I can't do anymore. :(
So I started Em's tam.

She asked for this about a year ago, and I've had the yarn there, I just never got around to it until now. It's coming along nicely, helped along by sitting in a school hall at the dance comp for 5 hours yesterday :)
I'm using Ann Budd's "Knitters Handy Book of Patterns", but I think theres an error. I ran a safety line, just in case. If you are doing the "wheel" decreases, it says to decrease 12 stitches every other row. Emily chose the swirl decreases, and it says to decrease 6 stitches every other row. That seems like too many rows to me, so I'm decreasing 6 stitches in every row. If it's wrong, and it is supposed to be every other row, I'll just rip back to the safety line.
We went out this morning to get my new mobile phone, which is a Motorola RAZR V3. It's very funky looking.

I'm feeling old. I don't think I'll be able to get the hang of all the fancy things it does. Em is already saying "You can take pictures and video with it! You just push this, scroll to that, press that and do this" I know now how my mother felt when we tried to teach her to program the video. ;)
So that's how the past few days have gone. Here's Twinkie. When she decides that it's dinner time, she hops into her hutch and peers at us beseechingly.

How do you resist that face?

I've been AWOL, I know. Sorry, but I had excuses, really I did! :)
Emily has been at a dance comp for the past two days, and apart from the fact that they take up hours and hours of time, they also tend to suck the life out of you, so that by the time you get home, you just want to sleep.
Tuesday morning we headed out, the comp was around 45 minutes drive from home. This is the fog we were driving through at 8.30am.

Like pea soup. And it was freezing out. Well, freezing by Sydney standards, anyway. Tuesday we were there from 8.30am until 4pm. Wednesday we were there from 2pm until around 8.30pm. Those plastic school chairs are not comfortable when you're in them for hours! However, I got plenty of knitting done!

I started the sleeves, because you sometimes just need something small, because we're up and down a lot, changing costumes and such. But I finished those, and got the cardi body up to the armholes.
And Emily did amazingly well.

She competed in 12 sections, and received 4 first places, 4 second places, 2 thirds, one Highly Commended and one merit. The adjudicator wrote many nice things on her reports, including "You are an extraordinary performer with great potential", "You have great showmanship", "You provided the audience with an entertaining piece" and with one dance, she won by 3.5 clear points and he said "Breathtaking".
pretty good huh? I'm glad all that time and money hasn't gone down the drain. ;)
In addition, the eisteddfod has a scholarship section on the final day, which can only be entered by selection by an adjudicator. There were two adjudicators, at different tmes, and both selected her to enter the scholarship. Way to go, Em!!

Yesterday we went to The Wool Inn at Penrith (Hi Anita!), where I got the Cleckheaton book I was after. Oh, and a few stray balls of yarn jumped in the bag, too ;)

Sorry for the crappy picture. Theres 2 extra balls of Jo Sharp DK tweed for the bolero (just in case), and a ball of Zara for a hat for Em, and a ball of Zarina, to play with.
And guess what else was there?

This is the first time I've seen it in person. I've seen it on blogs, and on Amazon and the like, and I wanted it, but I also wanted to see it. I loved it. I bought it. Now I'm having issues. i was going to do the bolero next, but now I'm torn. I want to knit the gloves in this book. Em wants me to knit her a tam. I haven't cast on any socks for a while. Aaargh! Decisions, decisions. What a life ;)

Ta-da!

Baby lacy cardi set is done. couldn't find any matching buttons for it, so I went with the pearl ones. I'm happy with it overall. The pattern is from Cleckheaton Little Babies Volume 2. The yarn is Cleckheaton Merino Bambino. Alas, the shade is discontinued.
So now I can wrap it up and mail it off to it's intended recipient.
I've been steadily working on the STYK Pink toddler cardi.

Lovely pattern, lovely yarn.
However, my attention is beginning to stray. How unusual! ;)
Emma posted the other day about receiving a kit from the Kim Hargreaves collection. I should never have clicked the link. I love Glint.

Love it. However, my stash is full to bursting, and I don't have a spare $100 laying around. So I got to thinking. I do have some lovely pink Jo Sharp Silkroad tweed DK. And I discovered this pattern from Cleckheaton.

Now, the silkroad isn't Rowan Summer Tweed, but I think I'll be happy with the end product. If I can get the pattern. I rang the local craft store today, and they don't have it. :(
I'll be out and about tomorrow, so I'll look for it, I think. And then I'll try to resist casting on until I finish the toddler cardi.
Twinkie says "What are you lookin' at?"

Wanna see something scary?

That's my lovely 12 year old daughter, fresh out of bed.

Same kid, 40 minutes later, full stage make up, minus red lippy. Scary, huh?
Well, she competed at the big comp today. No place, but she did an excellent job, and says she enjoyed herself immensely, which is the most important thing. Here she is, ready to go on.

No knitting updates today, this has sort of taken over our lives for the past day or so, so next time, I promise.
Here's a hint - the lacy baby cardi is done :)