July Socks

So far this year, I have had a vague aim of finishing at least a pair of socks a month. It's not a firm goal or anything, but the realisation that even if I manage this, it will still take at least five years to work through my sock stash, has sort of kept me to it so far.

January's socks were the Shibui socks, February's project (just barely) were my Baudelaire's, and March's were Emily's Monkey socks, although they weren't finished until early April. April's socks were the Anastasia socks for my Mum for Mother's Day, and in May, I knit David some Opal 6 ply socks, and June's project was the gorgeous Kitri Socks.

It's 10.45pm on July 31. There's still time to finish my Patonyle socks this month!

(If I get off the computer, that is.)

Interview with the Webmaster

I got my computer back! And it appears to be fixed, hooray!

To celebrate, lets have some blogger fodder. I first saw this on Andrea's blog, then on Lara's, and it looked like fun, so I took the opportunity to throw some questions at David.

Me: What is your favourite thing about my knitting?

David: The output as it pertains to me.

Me: What is your least favourite thing about my knitting?

D: Having half of the couch off limits. (It's not really, but I tend to spread my stuff around and he's afraid he'll sit on a DPN)

Me: What is something I have knitted, that you recall as good?

D: Any of my socks, which I wear every day.

Me: Do you think knitters have an expensive hobby?

D: Well, it's not as expensive as some.

Me: You don't have any hobbies really, do you?

D: Not really.

Me: Do you have a stash of any kind?

D: Yes, I have a stash of downloads I'll never install and a stash of PDF's I'll never read.

Me: Have I ever embarrassed you, knitting in public?

D: No.

Me: Do you know my favourite kind of yarn?

D: Um, alpaca? You liked the Llama yarn you used.

Me: Can you name another blog?

D: Sandy's Knitting. I know the blogger's names, not the names of the blogs. Wendy Knits!

Me: Do you mind my wanting to stop at knit shops wherever we go?

D: No.

Me: Do you understand the importance of a swatch?

D: Yes, it's very important to have a fashionable watch!

Me: Do you read Random Knits?

D: Yes.

Me: Have you ever left a comment?

D: Yes, usually in my own defence!

Me: Do you think the house would be cleaner if I didn't knit?

D: [With a snort] No.

Me: Anything you'd like to add?

D: No.

It's nice to know that he's kind of paying attention! Maybe I should put the same questions to Em and see what she comes up with.

Bunnies

So I've been a little more absent than usual this week, because I've been without my computer since Tuesday. I'd hoped that all that extra time I was going to have because I wasn't on Ravelry or reading blogs meant that there was going to be hordes of knitting to blog about.

Instead I came don horrendously sick on Wednesday, and spent Wednesday and Thursday in bed, sleeping and clutching my poor aching head.

I have no idea why I keep coming down with these illnesses this year.

There has been knitting though.

On Tuesday, I started knitting Ysolda Teague's Sophie.

Tuesday night I got the head done and started on the body.

It's a great little pattern, and super quick! Picking up the stitches for the body wasn't too bad, either. But there she laid, until Friday when I finally picked up my knitting again. After that, it was zoom, zoom, zoom!

Saturday morning she looked like this.

Picking up stitches for the arms got a little fiddly, with the legs and head getting in the way, but once you get to the ears, the arms look like a piece of cake.

Yup. Then you have to knit those stitches in the round. They were laughing at me at Stitch n Bitch yesterday afternoon!
But it's all worth it in the end.

All she needs is her face. I've used Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk DK to knit her, and she's lovely and soft and cuddly.
I showed her to Twinkie, but she was unimpressed. That may be because she's in disgrace right now, for eating Emily's science experiment. Apparently the science teacher was not impressed by Emily's excuse of "My rabbit ate my homework!"

But having a pet rabbit is a wonderful thing. Especially when they save your life when your house is on fire. Go Rabbit!!

Melbourne

What a week. Where do I start?

We drove down to Melbourne last Tuesday, leaving the first time at 5.20am. About fifteen minutes after we left, I asked David if he was sure he'd turned off the grill.

He wasn't sure, so we turned around and came home. Of course, he'd turned it off. So at 5.45am, we headed off again. Had a great run down, and the fibre-y goodness started later that afternoon after we crossed into Victoria. We stopped in at the Australian Country Spinners Mill Store.

Lots of good stuff inside. I was very well behaved, though!

Those were the best bargains. Boxes of end runs and stuff, bagged up, unlabeled and tossed in a box for sale at $27.50 a kilogram. That's less than $1.40 per 50g ball. If you know what you're looking at, and you know what you want, it's awesome.

Alas, I had no specific plans in mind, so all I grabbed were two bags of the sadly discontinued Cleckheaton Merino Supreme, a total of 1.1kg, costing me $31.75. Yay me!

We spent the next couple of days in Melbourne staying with some very good friends, and visiting the Melbourne Zoo and the Melbourne Museum, both of which were great fun.

Then, last Friday, Meaghan from Yarns Online picked me up and we headed off to Bendigo to the Australian Sheep and Wool Show.

Heaven is in Bendigo, but it's colder than I imagined.

Friday night we had a get together with some of the ravellers in attendance that was just awesome fun! I didn't take the camera out unfortunately, but it was a great night - great company, great wine and knitting. The food service was horrendously slow, but they do a fantastic cheese platter at The Wine Bank.

Saturday morning bright and early, (and super cold!) we headed off to the ACS sponsored BBQ Brekky. I am not a morning person by any means, but it was well worth getting out of bed for. I got to meet so many of the Ravellers I've spoken to, and put names to faces. Lots of old friends, and new.

Unfortunately, my hands were too cold to take many pictures. There was bacon and eggs for breakfast, some cool prizes to be won and great company.

We then headed over to the show itself. There were cute sheep and alpacas.

And there was yarn. Lots of gorgeous yarn. Again, no pictures. I blame the yarn fumes.

I did bring home a pretty haul.

Lace weight and fingering weight from Waratah Fibres, Dyes and some Artisan Gossamer from Virginia Farm Woolworks, yarn with silk from Shiloh Wool, lace weight from Pear Tree Yarns, and some other bits and pieces. The Pear Tree Yarn stall was just gorgeous! I went back several times, but didn't end up buying anything, purely because I couldn't make up my mind, and I couldn't buy everything. The yarn was just heavenly soft, and dyed in the most beautiful muted shades you could possibly imagine.

I can't wait for next year!

There was some knitting happening, but not an awful lot. I was working on a sock on Friday night, and I ended up having to rip out everything I did, due to too much wine and too much talking.

I will be off line for at least a few days, because my laptop is having some problems, so it's going in for a service. Yes, the one I bought just seven months ago. They tell me it'll be gone for five days, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm trying to look on the bright side - limited internet tine should mean more knitting time, right? I'll be able to use Em's crappy laptop sometimes, so I'll be about at least a little bit.

Next time, I'll flash my beautiful new lace, which should be coming along very well, seeing as I'll have plenty of time to work on it!

Unholy O'Clock

It's Unholy O'Clock, and we're about to leave for Victoria, spending a few days in Melbourne before I go to Bendigo. But I'll still have email access and what not, there may even be some blogging.

But I had to make an announcement.

The stupid sweater is Done.

Damp, but finally bloody done. (And I can still see dyelot issues, but they're better!)

Wicked Funk

I'm in a Wicked Funk.

For the past week, I've rarely managed any knitting. I blame Wicked. Every time I think about sitting down to knit, I start to work on Wicked again, and I get distracted. It really should have been long done by now.

And yet it's not. It's so close it's mocking me.

Wicked indeed.

Just half a sleeve to go. As you can see, I've abandoned any plan to do the two sleeves at once on two circs. The tangle was making it slower, not faster. And if I sat my butt on the lounge right now and knit, I'd have it done tonight.

It might happen.

I had hoped to have it finished to wear when we go away on Tuesday. We're off to Melbourne for a few days, then next weekend, I'm abandoning David and Emily in Melbourne, and heading to Bendigo for the Australian Sheep and Wool Show with Meaghan from Yarns Online for another knitty fibrefest weekend.

Even if I finish Wicked tonight, the weather is cold and cloudy, and I'm fairly sure it wouldn't be dry in time. Although, I'm over it, and not at all sure I'd want to wear it anyway!

The only other thing I've been working on is the Patonyle socks, but that news isn't good either.

After nearly three weeks, that's as far as I'd gotten. I just wasn't feeling the love, so they are no more. But they are being restarted into something I love more.

I am happy to report that the Patonyle stands up to a ripping very well!

And there was lace started at Knitting Camp two weeks ago, but I haven't touched it. I just know that if I do, WIcked will never, ever be finished!

Under control

Despite the way this picture looks, the situation is completely under control.

But I remember why I don't knit two socks on two circs!

Monday, Monday

Monday, Monday.

Feeling a bit better this week. Must be all those antibiotics I'm taking. Between the antibiotics and the painkillers, I'm rattling when I jump. On the plus side, not being able to eat anything means I've lost 2kg this week!

However, I've been knitting. At this rate, I may even finish Wicked this year.

So far, so good on the alternating balls. And that's it on the knitting front. So to keep things from being totally boring, lets talk about a very important topic.

What do you carry in your Knitting Bag? (Apart from your knitting, of course!)

I have a great little notions bag that I got from The Loopy Ewe, and all of my essentials are in there and come with me wherever I go.

In there you'll find stitch holders, Post it tape to mark charts, a tape measure, crochet hooks (for picking up stitches and provisional cast ons, not crochet!), a cable needle, scissors, my handy dandy needle holder, a pencil, small post it notes, stitch markers and my fab USB key. All of my patterns are backed up on there, and it comes with me everywhere I go. As long as I can get to a computer, I'll never have to worry about forgetting my pattern.

When not in use, you'll also find my row counter and DPNS stitchkeepers in there too.

What do you carry in your knitting bag? And is there anything I'm missing that I should be carrying in mine?

To close, just because it's been a while, here are my two favourite girls.

Yes, my daughter is a fashion victim.

No Knitting

Well, after a full weekend of nothing but knitting, (and frogging, but lets not speak of that!), there has been no knitting on the Casa del Random front.

Monday was kinda busy, with canteen duty at school and general catch up after being away all weekend.

Tuesday morning, first thing, I had am impacted wisdom tooth removed. I knew it was going to be bad, but I had no idea it was going to be that bad. No general, the dentist just took it out in the chair. I think I should have gone for the general.

I felt like crap afterwards, so I came home and went straight to bed. And there I stayed for two days. I had to go out and about for a few things yesterday afternoon, but I regretted that excursion almost as soon as it started.

So I have nothing new to show you. Lets talk about the disaster that is Wicked. I was travelling along pretty well with it. Friday morning, when I packed for Camp, it looked like this.

And I was feeling pretty proud of myself. It's a tiny bit small, but my swatch of the Classy grew when I soaked it, so I'd planned it that way. If I look closely, (through the dirty mirror!), I can see the line where the dye lot changed, but I have to look pretty close. I did not notice it at any time, until Friday, before Camp. Ailsa's house obviously has much better light than mine, because as soon as I held it up, the line was unmistakeable.

So I cursed, and stuffed it back into the knitting bag. Saturday night at camp I pulled it out and after much discussion with knitters in attendance, I knew I could never live with it, so I ripped it out to a few inches above the line, and started reknitting, alternating balls.

Sunday morning, I looked at it, and even alternating balls, I could still see the line. I debated, I tried to tell myself it didn't matter, but I knew it did. So I ripped.

It was painful. And after all that, I'm not even back up to the sleeves yet.

There was a bit of a drama when I looked at all the balls I'd unravelled and wasn't sure which one was the light one, but I think we worked it out. At least I hope so. If I end up with another obvious line, it's all being binned.

Now I'm off to attempt to eat something other than a cup-a-soup or a slice of bread.