The monkey has been named Darwin :)
Hooray for Ailsa, who suggested the name, a lovely skein of Artisan laceweight yarn and a scarf pattern will be on their way to her very soon.
Em would like to tell you all that she had a very hard time selecting a name from so many wonderful suggestions. She had no idea who had nominated each name, I just gave her the list of names, and she went through them until she finally decided on one.
The sickness appears to be spreading, regular blogging will resume shortly, we hope!

Well, the Mystery Shawl and I had a falling out yesterday. The Shimmer decided that it wanted to pool. I had two big yellow blobs, one either side of the shawl.
I was Not Happy.
So, after dithering about for a while, I decided that it had to be fixed. The only way to fix it would be to rip it back. I don't use lifelines.
Boy, do I wish I freakin' had used a lifeline. I'm just too lazy. Sooner or later, I will learn that it is less work to put in a lifeline than it is to try to pick up lace stitches without one.
So, I decided it had to be ripped back, and I yanked out the needle.
See the pooling bits? I've marked them out. They don't look so bad off the needles as they did on, but I couldn't live with it. There is another one a it further back, as you can see. I'm not ripping back that far, however.

Here's the lovely little pile of markers that I had to get back in, too!

Here's a close up of the yellow bits. I had started the next row, and the yellow was going to fall in the same spot again. I should have been working from two balls right from the start. Another thing I know, but am too lazy to put into action!

So then I ripped back. I had planned to go back maybe 4 rows. I ended up back 8 rows, and had to tink the last row to find all the stitches. I hate finding YO's!

However, this morning she is back on the needles!

And here are the yellow bits, fixed.

After I ripped it back, I started knitting with two skeins, which I should have done from the start. Now I'm worried that the new part will look odd, because the first part was knit from one skein. Here's how the shawl looks now.

I have a sinking feeling that the part knitted with two skeins is going to have the colours more mixed, and will look totally different from the start. The sinking feeling I have tells me that it's going to be ripped back to the start and started over. Please reassure me! Reassure me lots!!

Em has been sick since Thursday night :(
It's just a flu bug, which has been going around. A lot of kids from school and dancing have had it, and now it's Em's turn. High fevers, sore throat, headache and coughing. She's feeling better today though, and is back to picking out monkey names. Competition closes tonight, get your entries in!!

The prize yarn arrived, and I'd like to say that this is yum!
Here it is being modelled by the monkey-to-be-named.

That's the pattern, beside the monkey. There are three different lace scarves to choose from in the pattern, and the skein of yarn is enough to make any one of the scarves. Here's a close up of the colours, as shown by Emily (Gameshow model of the future? ;)

Em is taking this all very seriously. She is considering all the suggestions very carefully. She would also like me to tell you all that she wanted me to give away a skein of Artisan to everyone who enters. She didn't believe me when I told her I couldn't afford it. ("But it's just a tiny little ball of yarn!") So she's thinking very hard, but she's enjoying it immensely :)

Onto the knitting!
The mystery shawl grows daily. I'm partway into Clue 3 now, and enjoying it immensely.

As usual, it doesn't look like much unblocked. Here is a close up, sorta stretched out.

I'm not sure about the variegated yarn, although I'm happier with this than with the Morning Mist Shimmer. One minute I love it, the next I'm undecided.
I'm looking forward to blocking it. I love blocking lace :)
This is all I've worked on lately, so that's all the news.
Don't forget that the competition close Sunday night local time, check the previous entry for the competition details!

The monkey is a hit :)

This is how I found them last night when I went to turn out the light.

And this is how I found the monkey this morning after Em had left for school.

I had a few requests for specs and such.
Pattern: From the new UK magazine, "Simply Knitting", Issue 3, but it can also be found in Fiona McTague's "Knitted Toys".
Yarn: Rowan Kid Classic in "Bear" and "Wild".
A relatively easy knit, lots of little bits, but they're pretty easy to make.

And now, we're going to have the first ever Random Knits Blog Contest. Yay!! Em can't decide what to name the monkey. He is very definitely being referred to as "He", however.
So, it's up to you guys. All suggestions welcome, and Em will decide the winner. The winner will receive a lovely, lovely tiny skein of Margaret Stove's Artisan Lace yarn in "Paua", and a Lace Scarf Pattern, also by Artisan.
The skein is heavenly soft, hand dyed laceweight merino. It's the cutest tiny little skein, but it has 300 metres (328 yards), which is enough for a lace scarf, I'm told. The yarn is still on it's way to me, the colour was chosen by Em, and I'll show you the actual skein as soon as it arrives, but here's one picture of the colour.

All you have to do is suggest a name for the monkey, and Em will pick the one she likes best.
Entries close at 8.30pm local time on Sunday 21st August, which is early hours of Sunday morning in the US, and late morning/midday in the UK and Europe.
So what are you waiting for? There's gorgeous yarn to be won! :)
You can leave a comment, or email me. Email is over there in the sidebar, under the photo of me :) -->

And then there was a monkey.

Em hasn't seen him yet (she's at school), so he has no name until this afternoon. He is a little wonky, and I took off the tail because I didn't like it, but apart from that, he's done. I might knit him a scarf or something, I think he looks a little cold ;)

I started the Mystery Shawl again, this time with the Knit Picks Shimmer in Happy Dance that Cathy sent to me. This seems to be working much better than the Morning Mist. I've finished Clue 1 of the shawl.

The variegation is bothering me a little, but not so much as the other did. I think with blocking it will improve immensely - here it is all stretched out.

I will persist with it. No other knitting to report. The monkey is no longer blocking, he is all dry and awaiting surgery. All those ends are putting me off though.

Oh, anybody want to buy a fundraising chocolate? ;) Giant Freddo frogs and Caramello Koalas, only $1 each! Really, I'd like to sell them a little more quickly - I'm eating far too many of them :)

Horror Week is over, and I can have a few hours (I hope) to myself now :)
Not much in the way of knitting has happened this week, but there has been a little.
Who can guess what this is?

A+ to anyone who guessed that it is a monkey. Indeedly doodly, it is a monkey. Believe it or not :) Here is how he looks this very minute.

Laying on a beach towel on the dining table. Mind you, I don't envy him, it is freezing here right now. Today is a little warmer, but still far too cold for me. It's been cold for the past three days or so, and they tell me it has even been snowing in Melbourne and Hobart. It doesn't snow in Australian capital cities, only in the mountains. Well, it doesn't usually! I've never, ever seen snow in my life, and if it has to be this cold to get snow, I'll happily live without it.
The only other knitting I have managed this week is swatches. I recieved some Knit Picks Shimmer in "Morning Mist" as part of a swap, and I was going to use it for the Mystery Shawl Knitalong. But, as you can see, it ain't happening.

The striping is obscuring the lace pattern. So, does anyone know of a good pattern using variegated laceweight? I have around 1200 yards of this, and I'll need a pattern that won't be overrun by the colours.
That's it, for the whole week! Hopefully I shall get a little more done in the next few days :)

A quick post today, between school pick ups, dance practice and confirmation classes (phew!).
I week or two ago, Lynette had a competition on her blog, to guess how many balls of Cotton Ease she had managed to secure. (131!!) I won, by guessing 130.
Today my prize arrived in the mail. Look!

Cotton Ease in red, a lovely little bag for my bits and pieces, and cute little ladybug stitch markers and a gift card.
Here's a close up of the stitch markers and the gift card.

Aren't they lovely? Thank you, Lynette!

Em had her first pointe lesson last night, and I forgot the camera! I'm slack :( I had my newfangled phone, so I took a few pictures, but the connection between the phone and the computer isn't working.
She said it hurt "a bit", but hasn't complained too loudly. Yet. :)

I think I see some blocking in my future!

I finished the cropped cardi! Overall, I'm happy with it, and I'm pleased that I fudged the neck shaping to get a lower "V" and it worked :) I think i could've knit a smaller size, but I'm not redoing it.
I got buttons yesterday, and it was a hard colour to match, so I went with silver hearts.

Hopefully I'll get it all finished this week, but I've got a horror week coming up. Canteen duty, (I detest canteen!), Open Day at school, blah, blah, blah. I still haven't blocked the Fair Isle Hat either.
And I did these.

Monkey bits! That's a body, two legs, and an arm. I'm halfway through the next arm now.
We're off to the football this afternoon. Yes, the football. Em and I will look suitably puzzled everytime people cheer, and DH will be cheering :)
I won free tickets earlier in the week, and it's DH's favourite team. I'm taking knitting ;)
I have to decide on a shawl to start. I now have all this luscious laceweight and fingering weight yarn, intended for shawls, but I can't decide on any patterns. I have ordered "Lavish Lace" and "Folk Shawls" from Amazon, so hopefully they'll get here this week, and help me to decide. (More likely, with that much to choose from, I'll never be able to make a decision ;)
Emily has spent the whole weekend in her pointe shoes. I have to keep telling her to take them off. She has her first pointe lesson tomorrow, we'll see how much she likes them after that! She has even been going up on pointe (holding onto the furniture), but if her ballet teacher finds out, she'll be in big trouble. I may have to hide the shoes.
Twinkies bed got scrubbed out yesterday. She felt the need to inspect the premises after it was done.

I think she approves!

Today was very possibly the most exciting day of Emily's short life.

She got her first pointe shoes. :)

Oh, and it may also have been the most exciting day of Twinkies life.

She got up to the next level ;)

Some days you just feel like kissing the post office staff, don't you?
Don't you? Oh, maybe it's just me, then ;)
Jill sent me more magazines.

This is the other UK magazine, Knitting. Apparently people in the UK spend all summer with their tummies and shoulders hanging out of their clothes. (I'm joking!) Or at least, the staff at this magazine think so. And it doesn't even get that warm over there! There is one nice lace camisole top that I like. And theres a cute ballet set, but when I showed Em this morning, she gave me a Look. Apparently my little girl is hitting the "I'm not wearing *that*!" phase. Now I know she's growing up! ;)
InKnitters has this shawl pattern in it, which I quite like.

Coincidentally, it calls for fingering weight yarn. I got two more swap parcels from Summer of Lace. This is the box from Cathy.

Look! Knit Picks Shimmer in the colour "Happy Dance"

Funnily enough, I did a little happy dance when I opened this box :) Here is a close up of the colours.

And Frog Tree Alpaca.

Here's a close up of those colours.

And the coincidence? This is fingering weight, and there is exactly the right amount of the pink to do the shawl from InKnitters. Is it fate?
And one more swap package.

You can't see it very well in this pic, but it's a perfect little cake shape. Flat on the bottom, and gently rounded on the top. Jaggerspun Zephyr in Vanilla. Next year, I'd like one of these for my birthday cake. ;)
Phew. I really need to stop collecting yarn and start knitting it! All of my stash hidey holes are full!

I knit away on the cropped cardi yesterday, was only 10 rows from the end, and decided to count the stitches. One stitch short on the right front. R-i-i-i-i-p.
I made the mistake 20 rows back. I spent a great deal of time last night ripping and untangling rather than finishing. I was Not A Happy Camper. It's all back on track now, and I'm only 30 rows from the end. (whimper)
However, I am going to start Em's monkey today. You know what that means? I finished something! Guess what it was?

It's not blocked yet, so no proper pics, but I just had to show you all that
a) It's done, and
b) my hubby is a dork.

I had a wonderful weekend, then I followed it up this morning with a trip to the Post Office :)
I had a lovely pile of parcels waiting for me! I've been trying to get a hold of the newest Patons Patonyle book for some time, and finally, it arrived in stores last week. Anita from The Wool Inn came through for me! I rang her on Friday, and it was here today! (Keep in mind that we don't have Saturday mail here in Australia)

It's full of sock patterns, gloves, scarves and hats, and it also has shorty socks in it. You can see all the patterns here at the Patons website.
A blog reader, Carol (Hi Carol!), had a look through her bookshelves, and found a Trixie Belden book that Em didn't have and kindly offered to send it to us. She also put in some extras! Blinky Bill, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie and The Magic Pudding. All classic Australian childrens books. (And adults, too!)

Thank you, Carol!
And a couple of weeks back, I asked if anyone at the Summer of Lace knitalong wanted to do a swap with me. I got heaps of offers, and some Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud arrived today, courtesy of a lovely lady named Beth.

This stuff has come from Heaven, it's gorgeous! I must finish something so that I can get this on the needles!
Knit Picks won't deliver to Australia, which is why I wanted to get some swaps going. Boo, Hiss, Knit Picks!! Then again, maybe it's a good thing, or I'd be surrounded by Alpaca Cloud ;)

And finally, the last parcel contained Rowan Kid Classic. I got the most recent copy of the UK's "Simply Knitting". DH calls Em "The Wild Monkey" Then Emily saw this in "Simply Knitting"

What choice did I have? None! I've never knit with Rowan before, because in Australia, Kid Classic costs $AU18 a ball. I got both balls here, with postage for $AU21.50, from English Yarns.

I am in Yarn Heaven. Now I just need to make time to knit it all up! Em has her Ballet exam this afternoon, and her Tap and Jazz exams tomorrow. Send good vibes!!