Happy Birthday to me!!
And you've all gone out of your way to make sure it's been wonderful, and it's not even 11am yet.
The family woke me up early, and Em insisted on a birthday portrait.

Sorry, I couldn't do that to myself, or to any of you!
There were gifts, but there was perhaps not quite enough wrapping paper.

(This is perhaps the sweetest wrapped gift I have ever received.)
Inside was the wall sconce from Dusk that I have been lusting after.

Emily bought the vanilla scented candles herself. It looks lovely with my new furniture.
They bought me beautiful jewellery.

And some yummies from Lush.

I hear that Em told the lady that the temple balm was for my birthday, so the lady gave her all the little samples to give me, too.
David has this weird idea that I have enough yarn, so he didn't buy me any knitting paraphernalia. So Em went to her stash and wrapped some yarn.

Then she went into hysterics when I opened the cheap novelty yarn, and is probably still giggling at her desk at school right now.
When I went to the post office, there was yarn!

The Misti Alpaca I ordered from The Knitting Zone for the Icarus Shawl, and Carol sent me yummy sock yarn!
Seriously, this may well be the best birthday I have ever had.

Thank you to every one of you who has left a comment, sent an email or ecard, or a gift full of good wishes and thoughts! You guys rock.
99% of the most wonderful people I know I have met via the internet. My mother still believes that the internet is full of weirdos and perverts, but I know better.
This day couldn't get any better, and it's all thanks to all of you, and to my wonderful family.

I have a FO!

Well, half a one, anyway.

Beaded sock on the new couch. I'm glad something has time to sit on the damned couch!! Here's a closeup of the bead work.

I love it! However, there is the small matter of the second sock. It'll happen!

Any Aussies interested in a free row counter? Go here. I'm pretty sure it's not what the Lynx people had in mind for their clickers, but hey, a free tool is a free tool!

I can't believe the weekend is nearly over already.
Yesterday Em and I headed down to Wollongong for Stitch n Bitch.
I actually remembered to use my camera this time.

Blogless Zena (Knitter of the gorgeous baby blanket) and Charmaine, and Sharon and Bronte. Sharon is obviously training the baby up early, reading up on knitting bus trips.

Tianne, Annie and Donni.

Em busy knitting a jacket for her AK doll.

Bronte and I having a cuddle. She's such a good baby. Barely heard a whimper out of her the whole time.

We had to leave a little early, as Em had a dance comp. Of course, it was running late, and the kids didn't hit the stage until 9pm, then we had to be back there at 8am this morning. The got a Highly Commended for one of their dances, and no placing for the other.

And finally, the knitting. I've blogged quite a lot this week, but there hasn't been a lot of knitting to report.
The Dusky Pink yarn finally arrived, and I'm much happier with this colour.

Nundle sweater reclining on the new couch.
While I was waiting for the new colour, I cast on for the front, and now I'm knitting the front and back together. It feels much slower, but at least when I'm done, I'll only have sleeves left. The endless stockinette is starting to drive me batty. At least I have the stripes to amuse me!

The truck finally showed up around 6.30pm last night.
Lucky for them, I was out chaufferring Em around, because I wasn't a happy camper, and there may have been Words. But it's here!!

New furniture! Cream seats! I think I'm insane!
It didn't look quite so big in the store, but of course it was in a larger space. It takes up much more space than the old furniture did, but it's way nicer. Of course, a barbie chair would look huge in our tiny house.
The old lounge suite was bought when Emily was a baby, and it looked like it. It was stained, written on, rabbit chewed and well past it's use by date.
I improvised on end tables.

Stash boxes!
Of course, now the television is too small ;)

It's my birthday next week. This year, I really do turn 35. Last year I told everyone I was turning 35, but then David pointed out that I was actually only turning 34. Jeez, you think I'd take a year off, wouldn't you?
I've already received some gorgeous gifts. I love it when birthdays go on for a week :)

Pretty packages from my freind Jill. I tried to save them for next Wednesday, but I was about to explode. Patience is not one of my virtues.
Look what she sent! Far too much, but every single thing is awesome.

Men in Knits. And he has even picked a couple that he would wear! Knitting Over The Edge.The yarn harlot's Knitting Rules. Beautiful Knitting Patterns. I'm having a love affair with stitch dictionaries lately.
No Crack Super Hand Cream. Lifesavers pastels. (Yum!), and this cute little tin.

Perfect for stitch markers. Full of these addictive little Grren Apple Mints. Seriously, you can't eat just one.
I've only had a quick flick through the new Interweave Knits, but the Icarus Shawl grabbed me right away.

It calls for Alpaca Yarn Co. Suri Elegance, but that's just a tad out of my current budget, so I think I'm going to use Misti Baby Alpaca instead.
Donni gave me an early birthday gift, too.

A gorgeous notebook which will be hidden well away from Emily, and the most divine smelling soap.
I feel spoiled :)

Today my living area looks like this.

Can you guess what we bought on Sunday? We're currently awaiting the delivery truck. Of course, the other end of the living area looks like this.

The truck is supposed to be here by 3pm. I just know they're going to show at 2.55pm. I can't even sit down in front of the TV and knit while I wait!

Edited:

It's 5.40pm. This is the current state of my living area.

Not Happy, Jan.

Quick post tonight.
A friend had twin girls over Easter, and while I was waiting for the Nundle yarn, I finally got around to knitting for them.

I love this hat pattern for baby girls. It's a Cleckheaton pattern, from the "Little Babies Volume 2" book. I used the recommended yarn, Merino Bambino 4ply. I had the mauve in the stash, but had to buy the pink.

Twinkie was unimpressed that I was pointing the camera at something other than her.

Wow, what a weekend! Many pictures ahead.

The Wollongong Stitch n Bitch group exhibition was held at The Old Courthouse in Wollongong, and was a great success! It was well attended, full of gorgeous knitted items and set out beautifully.

A general view of the room. Doesn't the clothesline look great? It was a fantastic way to display the scarves and socks.
Here's a closer view of it.

Just inside the door, sweaters, and Ailsa's gorgeous silk corset.

A closer look.

A blurry picture of my Feather and Fan shawl.

More shawls.

Some socks, a felted hat from Donni, Umbilical Hats and the lovely Rasberry Ripple Froth Cardigan from Sharon, Zena's Strawberry Hat, and on the edge is Ailsa's famed but neglected Shetland Sampler Stole.

Baby things, including Zena's incredible blanket, Jussi's lovely cardi's and dress and Sharon's One Skein Wonder.

More baby things, from Sharon and Kate.

A baby blanket, made by many, organised by Donni.

Another rather essential baby item, made by Sharon and JT.

A tiger cub!! Meet baby Bronte, 48 hours old in this picture, who didn't quite keep Mum from the exhibition! Isn't she gorgeous? I'm pretty sure she was the star of the show. And obviously, she's going to be a knitter, and just couldn't bear the idea of missing the exhibition.

Saturday night was spent in some wonderful company. (Husbands and lovely children included)
Ailsa's husband cooked an awesome tapas meal, alcohol was consumed (great margaritas!) , and all the respective partners learned that they are not alone in their feelings of abandonment when yarn is involved. Knitting was discussed, blogging was discussed, future plans noised about and there was some talk of webrings for blogs by Yarn Widow Husbands.
A great (and late) night was had by all, and Sunday morning after breakfast, we headed back to the exhibition to see the cub, and wish Sharon and JT well.

Then I dragged DH shopping. More later, when my lovely goodies are delivered on Wednesday.

And my Dusky Rose yarn arrived today, so the Nundle sweater can continue. Hooray!!

Nothing much to report, but I thought I'd pop up a post to remind everyone about the Wollongong Stitch n Bitch exhibition this weekend.
Saturday and Sunday from 10am - 4pm, at the Old Courthouse (Corner of Cliff Road and Harbour Streets Wollongong).
Come along, have a look, say hello!
I'll be there tomorrow afternoon, but various knitbloggers will be floating about all weekend.
Maybe not Sharon, though. She's been kinda busy today, having a baby! I believe she has plans to try to make it to the exhibition anyway - it's her other baby :)

No knitting on the Nundle sweater, because the Dusky Rose yarn I ordered has failed to show. In fact, the store has failed to even acknowledge my order. I should have just ordered it directly from the wool mill.

I have been working on two little baby hats, for a friend who had twin girls over Easter, while I wait for the new yarn. I had really hoped it would get here before the weekend.

Em is in fine form this week. Yesterday morning she missed her school bus, so I had to drive her to school. Then, last night she left her school uniform at the dance studio after class, necessitating an urgent trip back to the studio at 9pm last night.
I should have let her go to school out of uniform!
I hope this phase passes quickly.

I haven't got a lot of knitting done over the past few days, but I did get a little bit done on the Nundle sweater.
But I've been in denial.

I'm not happy with it. I prefer the striping the way I've done it, but that pale blue stripe is throwing me off, I think. The colours are still not photographing well, (and I took the damn thing all over the house trying to get a good colour picture!), but the pale blue just doesn't seem to fit in with all the other colours.
The others are all muted sort of shades, and the blue is standing out.
If I just keep knitting, I'm never going to wear the finished item. And the more I look at it, the more I hate it.
So I'm going to rip back to that stripe.
I took a look at the Nundle colour card.

That pic is actually closer to the colours than my pic. Those are all the colours in the kit, except there is the pale blue instead of the Dusky Rose. Why?
So I've ordered some Dusky Rose, and I'll just replace the blue with that. I think it works with the other colours better.

Twinkie has gotten into the habit of inviting her friends around for lunch.
Usually the back door is left open for her to come in and out as she pleases, but this is getting out of hand.

That is a freakin' pigeon in my kitchen. The rabbit has got the shits now, as the back door is shut. As soon as I open the door, they all want to come inside. I kid you not, there is a queue of pigeons at my back door, waiting to come in and share Twinkies lunch.
And she doesn't even mind, she just sits there and watches them eat it.
Maybe I need to trade her in for a cat.

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!
Mine was pretty good, although it probably would have been just a bit better if I hadn't spent the whole weekend in bed, sick.
However, my lovely family took wonderful care of me, and I'm feeling a bit better today :)
And I got some gorgeous presents.
Em saved up her own money to buy me this.

A Lush chocolate lip balm. And she made me a card.

Thats my favourite baby pic of Em. Lets have a closer look.

I can't even tell you why it's my favourite, it just is. I love the way the picture captured that moment just before the wail. When I went to select the pictures from the photographer, she wanted to throw this one out. No chance, baby!

And my lovely family got me another present.

A polar bear watch! Isn't it great? I love it!

Next weekend is the Wollongong Stitch n Bitch group's annual exhibition, "Warm Hearts: Busy Hands".

It's being held in The Old Courthouse: Cnr Cliff Road and Harbour Street Wollongong, from 10am - 4pm on Saturday and Sunday of next week, the 20th and 21st of May. You can find a map and directions on how to get there at this site.
If you live in Sydney and have a few hours free next weekend, please come along and have a look.
I'll be there on Saturday afternoon, and Sharon, Ailsa, Donni, Annie, Tianne, Jussi and Becky will all be there at various times over the weekend, so pop in and say hello. There'll also be a lot of wonderful knitters who are blogless there, too. We're generally a pretty friendly bunch.
You can also come just to see if Sharon still has a baby on board or not.
Maybe we should taking bets to pick the date ;)

Em was sick last week, with a throat infection.
Being such a giving child, she gave me her germs, and I've spent the last couple of days with a sore throat, coughing, achy and unable to talk.
Needless to say, the housework is suffering, but it's made for good knitting time!
I started the Savanna jumper, with a few minor changes.

I've done ribbing at the bottom, as I'm not overly fond of stocking stitch rolled edges.
And I've swapped all the stripe colours around. Yellow is my least favourite colour, so I figured out the dominant colours, then changed the stripes around. Let's hope it all comes out alright!
This pic is closer to the actual colours, but it still ain't right.

I really like working with the Nundle wool. The ballband recommends that it be knitted as an 8ply (DK weight), but this pattern calls for 20sts/4". I think this tension is more suitable to the yarn.

Knitted at this tension, the fabric is nice and firm, not at all airy, and personally, I feel that if it were knitted any tighter it would be a bit too dense.
The yarn itself is yummy. Pure wool, nice and lofty, and minimally processed. You find a lot of vegetable matter in the yarn.

It's also full of lanolin. Knitting it up, it already feels cosy.

And I guess everyone has heard the wonderful news about the miners. They reached the surface at 6am on Tuesday, their 14th day underground. They were out of hospital by midday, and one of them was even at the pub by 6pm Tuesday night!

Right now, I'm heading back to the lounge with my tissues, my headache tablets and my pillow. And my knitting.

The miners are still underground. Today is the 13th day, I think. However, the horizontal drilling is done, and now they have to drill up for a metre (3 feet) and hopefully they'll be free.
This morning I went into the city. It's an hour train ride, and it's a boring train ride.
But it's good for sock knitting!

The first beaded sock is well on it's way down the foot. I was tempted to try it on, but I was getting enough odd looks just for knitting a sock. Imagine the looks I would've gotten if I'd taken off my shoes and socks and tried it on.
Maybe I should've.

And a pic of me wearing the lacy cardi (Hi Evelyn!). I forgot to get someone to take one over the weekend, so it's a mirror shot.
First I tried to take it in the bedroom, but I realised having the window behind me made for bad lighting. But see Twinkie down the bottom? (Ignore the dirty mirror!)

Just call her the Artistic Director.
The bathroom mirror shot.

I'm pretty happy with it. It's knit in 5ply (sportweight) so it's quite light, just right for inbetween days, when it's not quite warm enough for a t-shirt.
Did you take time to smell the flowers over the weekend? Twinkie did.

Ssh. Don't tell her it's a weed.

Despite the fact that I have the beaded socks on the needles, I've been looking through the stash deciding on what to knit next. I'm thinking I might start the "Savannah Jumper" kit I bought from Nundle Wool Mill way back in December 2004.
Here's a pic of the sweater.

I've also been thinking about buying the "Sweater Wizard" software. Has anyone used it? Opinions? It's quite expensive, and I'd like a few opinions befor I hand over that much money. I did a google search, but I didn't get a whole lot.
You know sometimes you just have an idea in your head of what you want to knit, and you can't find a pattern, or your yarn is the wrong weight? I'm far too lazy to work out the math for myself! Thus, I'm considering the software.

The socks are progressing, although I've been sewing, and today we were out and about.
We went to the Pet Store again. It's a rare day that we go to the shopping centre and *don't* visit the Pet Store, but today Em made a friend.

Emily was far happier than she looked in the picture! The bird is trying to eat her earring. I thought we'd get another budgerigar, but now Em has decided she wants a cockatiel. We didn't bring this one home, although Em wanted to. Poor Fuzzy has only been gone for 2 months.
And in other news, Cyclone Larry's presence continues to be felt.
I love bananas, but haven't had any in a while. While we were in the frut shop, I tried to take a surreptitious picture of the price, but it didn't work. They were $9.95 a kilo. Ten bucks!! That's half a ball of sock yarn ;)
And they were tiny little things.

There won't be any bananas around here for a while!
Luckily for Twinkie, there's still dried banana chips in her bunny mix.

The Tasmanian miners are still underground, although it's now hoped that they'll be out sometime tomorrow morning - tonight will be their 12th night down there.

My mojo appears to be back, and I was right. It was all the fault of this.

It's a finished pink cardi!
Crochet and all, it's done. I'm kind of relieved, because I'm over it now. My "shiny, shiny" syndrome has hit bigtime. When this kicks into gear anything I was holding gets dropped in favour of whatever new thing has caught my attention.
I also managed to finish the green scarf.

The colour just isn't right. This is a gift for someone, although I must admit to a second thought or two. It's so soft and warm. I will be strong! I'm sure it will be appreciated and loved where it is going.

I did knit up another quick item as a gift this week, but I can't show it to you for two reasons.
First, the recipient hasn't received it yet.
And second, I forgot to take a picture. See? Shiny, shiny.

I did start the beaded socks last night.

The yarn is Lornas Laces Shepherd sock in "River", the pattern is HeartStrings "Beaded Faux Cable Anklets". Here's a close up of the bead work.

Pretty! I'm thinking that I maybe should've chosen beads with more contrast, but I'm liking it so far.

Anyone getting the idea that I haven't got much housework and stuff done this week?

The miners are still underground. The rescuers are working very carefully to free them, because they don't want to start another rockfall. It could be Saturday before they're finally out and in the clear. Please keep them in your prayers if you're so inclined.

Super quick post.
The two missing Tasmanian miners have been found alive. They haven't been brought out yet, I'm hearing reports that it could take up to two days, but they are alive. I feel so sorry for the family of the miner who was killed in the accident, but I'm so happy that the others have been found.

I think the reason my mojo is missing is because the pink cardi has cursed me.
So I pulled it out on Saturday night, and started the crochet edgings.

Look! Crochet!
Okay, it's only two rows of double crochet (single crochet to you Americans), but it's as much crochet as I'll ever do.
Stitch n Bitch was on Saturday, and all my mojo could cover was a scarf. I'm sure the cardi isn't going to let me do anything else unil it is done, anyway.
So I pulled out some Noro Cash iroha from the Stash, and started a scarf, because you can't go to Stitch n Bitch, and not stitch. Well, you need to at least look like you're stitching.

Next I'm planning beaded socks. Stay tuned.