Saturday? Again?
Sky. Not gorgeous today.

It changed all day, sunny one minute, cloudy the next. But I thought I'd show you the clouds, just to prove that we do have cloudy Saturdays here in Sydney.
Busy, but very little knitting.
I finished Ene!

She is still waiting to be blocked, though.
I also finished my first ever dishcloth.

Well, I finished the knitting. As you can see, haven't even woven the ends in yet.
And that's the grand total of the knitting I managed all week.

I've started to panic about the dance costumes I'm supposed to be sewing. I don't enjoy doing it anymore, but the money helps pay for Em's dancing. However, I've been shirking my responsibilities, and I'd hoped I'd be done by the end of September, yet I have 13 only half done, and 21 not even started yet. In fact, for 6 of those, I need to create a freakin' pattern. Yay, me.
Procrastination ought to be my middle name.
This of course, means that the knitting must be shoved aside, or at least lessened until the damned costumes are done.

None of this was helped by the fact that I got whumped by a virus through the week and spent Wednesday night and most of Thursday in bed with Sawyer.
Well, Lost Season One on DVD anyway.
Horrendous sinus headaches, dizzy heads, the works, but I was mostly better yesterday, which was a good thing, because we went to see Cirque du Soleil perform Varekai.
In a word, Amazing.

This afternoon, I missed Stitch n Bitch, because Em had a group dance comp, (They came third) and we're home briefly before I head off for my nephew's 17th birthday party. (When did that happen??) Emily is far too excited about this party for my liking!
Then tomorrow morning we're off to the dance comp again.

Does that all sound jumbled, haphazard, random and totally confusing?
Good, I'm glad its not just me.

Saturday sky on Sunday.

We drove all over Ingleburn, trying to get a good shot of the silly blimp, then it flew right over us. Of course.
We should have started Saturday sky months ago. It seems like we've had gorgeous weather nearly every Saturday since we started!

Twinkie was unimpressed by the weather. In fact, she was unhappy about everything yesterday, as she went to the vet for a shot and nail and fur clipping.
Portrait of an unhappy bunny in her carrier.

Her mood is a bit better today, but she's still cranky. The vet told us she was a big girl, and could stand to lose a little weight, but we were expecting that. Otherwise, she is in excellent health.

Knitting updates, Ene is growing.

Or shrinking, depending on how you look at it. Down to 129 stitches, and only two and a half charts to go. I'm really enjoying knitting Ene. I'm finding the pattern is interesting enough to keep my attention, but also easy enough for me to watch television while I'm knitting.

And the Zephyr? It wanted to be green. Pacific Green from landscapes to be precise.

It's a little greener than it appears here. Not quite sure what it wants to be knitted up as, but I'm thinking it might be Ethereal Fichu.

It's all about the Zephyr around here lately!
Ailsa and I are sharing a rather large shipment, and I'm starting to contemplate exactly what I want to do with all that laceweight. Peacock Feathers is on High Priority, and it's not like I have a shortage of laceweight patterns that I want to knit. It's figuring out which ones to knit when that's the hard part!

Now I've found out that Zephyr will soon be available in Australia. Can I get a Hallelujah? I think David just got a shudder down his spine.

Meaghan at Yarns Online is going to stock it. She's only starting off with a couple of colours, to see how it goes. Buy up big everyone, and then there'll be even more to choose from! I think I'll just have all my money sent over to her bank account, and she can ship me yarn at regular intervals ;)
She'll have it in a couple of weeks. I'm thinking that even though I already have something like 15,000 yds of Zephyr, David won't notice any more slipping in. Sshhh.

To celebrate, I got out some Zephyr I already have, in Vanilla.

It's going to hit the dyepot. I can't tell you what colour it will be, because I haven't decided. Stay tuned!

Em's school had a pupil free day today, so she has been trying to teach herself a new trick all day.

Really, I think she's just trying to make me wince.
And Twinkie has a vet appt tomorrow, for her annual vaccination and check up. Hands up who thinks he'll mention that she maybe has a little bit of a weight problem?

Look, even she thinks so. Two hands and two ears up!

"Here's the mail, it never fails, makes me wanna wag my tail!" Am I the only one who watched Blues Clues just to admire Steve?
Anyway, I got a parcel from the fabulous Rox, who started a new job on Monday.

Yes, I'm excited over Sugar n Cream. We can't get it here. For the Aussies, it's a little thicker than an 8ply, and it feels a bit sturdier than the cottons we can get. Recommended gauge is 20sts on 4.5mm needles.
The package also contained that cute little tin you see, and the card. Thanks Rox!
Ene is progressing nicely.

It's actually grown a bit since this pic was taken. I've done two repeats of chart 3, and I'm down to 217 sts. The rows keep getting quicker and quicker.
It's such a nice change :)

Stop the world, I want to get off.
Or at least slow down. What happened to my weekend? For that matter, it's August 14th. How? What happened to my year?
Busy, busy, but with beautiful weather. Saturday sky.

Saturday afternoon, we were out and about, and saw a blimp which would have been great Saturday Sky fodder, but I didn't have the silly camera with me. What is with that? I have these cameras, but I always leave them at home.

I've been doing a little bit on Em's hat. Ene's scarf is no good for homework time or dance practice time, so that time has been allocated to the hat.
On Saturday morning, it looked like this.

I had done the main part of the hat, and was up to the crown shaping.
On Saturday afternoon, it looked like this.

Remember my beef about Creative Knitting and their lack of proper gauge information? Well, I have no idea if my gauge was off, but the hat was definitely too small for Em's head, so I ripped it out and started over with bigger needles. Yay, Aussie Creative Knitting.

What else? I finally got around to ironing the wax off the carpet.
I owe you all a kiss. It worked like a dream.
Before:

After:

It took ages, and a great deal of brown paper, but it's all gone.
As you may have gathered, I have a bit of a thing for nice candles.
Here is my current favourite.

"Harmony" from Dusk. It's a blend of Geranium and Lavender essential oils, and I love it.

Here is Twinkie, enjoying the warmer weather with her tail in the air.

I think she got a bit embarrassed. As soon as I took the picture, she put her butt down and turned her back on me!

What happens if you can get a bunny to lay on her back?

She blisses out, and you can clean her up, or brush her tummy or clip her nails.
Seriously, Twinkie hates to be picked up, but if you can get her into the right position, she just lays there. The vet loves it!

I've been doing a little knitting.

Ene's scarf! I'm up to Chart 3, and into the main body of the scarf. And down to 301 stitches. Seriously, the shrinking number of stitches offers no end of delight to me.
I seem to have startitis. Nat mentioned my sock stash to me the other day, and it gave me a yearning to be knitting socks.
Rox started a dishcloth swap. I've never knit a dishcloth, in fact as far as I know, Sugar n Cream and the like aren't even available in Australia. So Rox kindly offered to send me some. Now I'm looking at dishcloths and looking forward to the yarn arriving so I can jump in and get started.
Meaghan at Yarns Online is now stocking Heartstrings patterns. I want to knit them. All. Now.
She also has Cascade Sierra. I want some of that so I can start Chic Knits CeCe. When do I want to knit it? Now! I bought a cute new dress, and it would be perfect with it.
I feel like a four year old having a temper tantrum. Now, Now, NOW, dammit!!
But I'll be good and finish Ene first. Or Icarus. Or Em's hat.
Or I'll finish something, anyway.
With this in mind, I finally started to finish something that should have been done weeks ago.

Yes, believe it or not, the Nundle sweater is blocking as we speak. Now I just have to get up the nerve to face all the ends.

Em thanks you all for the good thoughts sent her way for the exams. We have to wait for weeks now until the results come back, but she's feeling confident, which is the main thing!

Ene's scarf is growing. Or shrinking, depending on how you look at it.

Chart one is done. (Take that Icarus!) And I'm already done to 339 stitches. The possum merino is really nice to knit with. It's soft to the touch, but feels strong. I'm really enjoying it.
I will get back to Icarus, I swear. I love it, but chart one is driving me up the wall.
My artistic director approved all shots, btw.

I got mail! Nat sent me this cute sheep tile for my teacup.

Isn't it cute? There may also have been chocolate in the package, but you're all used to the chocolate not making it to the pic, aren't you?

More playing with the new camera. (It's a Kodak Z7590 for those who asked)
Here's my white rose carpet.

And a Grevillea flower.

And a grevillea bud.

And here is why you should wear gloves when spray painting your kid's tap shoes.

Em has dance exams this week, and after all these years, you think I'd know to wear gloves while painting the shoes.
Actually, Em is doing her Grade 6 ballet exam right this minute while I'm sitting here. She knows the work, she's pretty good at it when she wants to be.
So why am I nervous?

Saturday sky!
It was a bit iffy today - nice, then cloudy, nice then cloudy, but the clouds were pretty. (Before they turned grey!)

It made a nice change from yesterday's constant rain, and I even got some laundry done.
A great deal of time has been spent playing with the new camera. It's going to take me a long time to learn how to use all these buttons and dials.
Twinkie has been the subject of a great deal of this experimentation.

David is of the opinion that this pic proves the sun shines out of Twinkie's butt.
This is my favourite.

Em showed off for the camera. (Fancy that! ;)

I did get some knitting done, though.
I've temporarily tossed Icarus aside. The constant repeats of chart 1 are driving me a little batty. I'm too impatient to knit for hours and see little or no change in what I'm knitting.
So I cast on for Ene's Scarf from Scarf Style.
Impatient? You have to cast on 375 stitches! I'm consoling myself with the fact that the rows will get shorter with this one though.
You need to use a double strand to cast on. Be warned that you should be careful when using two ends from a centre pull ball for your two strands.

I think it took me longer to unravel the tangles than it did to cast on the 375 stitches.
I'm using some Fibreworks Possum/Merino laceweight that my friend Meaghan gave me, and it's just lovely. I don't usually like variegated yarns for lace, but this one is nice and subtle.
I'm up to row three, and down to 371 stitches already!

Where does the time go? I've not got much knitting done lately. This week I've been spending a substantial amount of time on the swap, but hopefully now that the matches are being organised, that will calm down a bit.

In any case, posting pics of Icarus is a bit of a waste of time, it looks the same as the last pic, with maybe 5 or 6 extra rows done.
Icarus was the only thing I had on the needles, and it wasn't the most convenient knitting, so I started Em's hat.

Crappy picture again.
It looks very small. It's the "Winter Cap" from the current issue of the Aussie Creative Knitting. I don't often knit anything from the magazine, and 10 rows in on this project, and I'm remembering why.
As I mentioned, the hat looks a little small. However, I can't check my gauge.
I tried, but the gauge listed is "22sts to 10cm on 4mm needles over stocking stitch", which is standard 8ply (DK) tension, but the hat is knit on 6mm needles with the DK yarn doubled, so the gauge they've given is useless.
So I guess I'll soldier on for a bit, then check it against Em's head.

In very, very good news, David has a new job! He starts in just over 2 weeks, and he's getting a nice little pay rise. So I'm treating us to a new digital camera.
Decent pictures will be here soon!

Now it's time for handy hints.
Does anyone know how to get candle wax off carpet? My wall sconce overflowed, and there is now wax all over my hall carpet and I don't know how to get it off!

And a handy hint for everyone else - If you have the hiccups, have half a teaspoon of peanut butter.
It works. Seriously!

My friend Jade is on vacation right now, and she sent me a postcard which I recieved today.

Jade always sends the most lovely cards, and they never fail to bring a smile to my face. Isn't it funny how such a small thing can make such a huge difference in someone's day?
I love receiving cards, postcards, notes. So much, that I keep it all.
Yes, all of it.
If you've ever sent me a christmas card, birthday card, letter or even a handwritten note scrawled on a scrap of paper, I appreciate every piece, and I still have it. From family, friends, bloggers, strangers, it doesn't matter.

I think I'm going to have to face the fact that I'm a hoarder. Or a sentimentalist.