Poor neglected blog!

Oh, poor neglected blog! I don't quite know where the days are going.

Em has officially finished school for the year, and is home with me now. Until January 29th. We'll see how that goes. One of us may kick the other out long before the end of January!

There has been knitting happening, amongst lots of other busy things. And I've been tagged for memes and things that I really haven't had time to think about yet, but I promise I'll try.

Today, lets get Evie done.

The weather here has turned unseasonably cool, but I'm not complaining. It's given me plenty of opportunities to wear Evie!

We went to my niece's 13th birthday party on Saturday night, and it was Evie's first outing, but unfortunately, photo's weren't great.

You lose a lot of the detail in that picture.

Here's a better one of the cardi itself.

Specs:
Pattern: Evie by Kim Hargreaves. I bought it as a kit, but now it's only available in her book, Thrown Together.
Yarn: Rowan Classic Cashsoft 4ply in Black
Needles: Knitpicks fixed circs in 3.5mm.
Modifications: None.

Yup, none. I knit it exactly as the pattern said and was 100% happy with it. Well, almost. Actually, the sleeves are a little long, so that's something I may change if I were to knit it again. It did seem to drag on forever, but that had more to do with the fact that it was 4ply (fingering) weight on 3.5mm needles. And I wish I'd known the sleeves were coming out long, because they really seemed to go on and on.

Love the yarn though, it's beautifully soft both to knit with and wear. I haven't done a full wet block yet, I just steam blocked it, so I'm hoping it doesn't grow, because I'm happy with the fit.

Twinkie is not at all concerned by the cooler days we've been having. In fact, she's about as relaxed as she gets.

I have no idea how she gets so flat. She must have rubber bones, I think!

Last Week

Thankfully, last week is over. Let me tell you about Friday, because it just summed up the whole week perfectly.

Emily had a pupil free day on Friday. (The teachers have a day at school without the kids, for meetings and stuff. Happens 3 or 4 times a year) So I'd booked doctor's appointments for us both.

Got up early (for me), showered, breakfasted, then went to get the car keys. Looked in all the usual places, no keys. Looked in a few creative places, no keys. Enlisted Emily's help, started to rip the house apart.

No keys.

I rang David at work to ask if he'd seen them. Nope. But he assured me that they had to be here, after all, I drove myself home and let myself in on Thursday afternoon, right? Then I saw the look on Emily's face as she recalled going out to the garage to take the bin out. She'd unlocked the garage with my keys, whined and moaned until David went out to assist her, then came inside while David locked the garage again. With his keys.

My keys were locked in the garage. No garage key, no car key, no house keys. No doctor's appointment! While on any other day we would have coped, Friday afternoon was my Aunty's funeral. I needed those keys.

So David had to turn around and make the hour long trip home again to open the garage.

If I'd been in a better mood, I would have laughed, I'm sure.

However, last week is now over. And we had a hectic weekend, with interstate visitors, and meals out with relatives, and early morning wake ups. So now, I can knit again!

Now that Evie is done, I didn't waste any time casting on the next project.

The Tangled Yoke Cardigan in Grignasco Tango. I scored six balls in a Ravelry destash, and by an awesome co-incidence, rang The Wool Inn in Penrith to try to obtain the one more ball I needed, and not only did they have the yarn in the shade I wanted, they even had the exact same dyelot. Even though the first six balls came from the other side of the country. Some things are just meant to be!

So I've been avoiding alterations by knitting and visiting. I'll probably regret that before the end of the week!

The new Twist Collective is up, and I am in love.

There's lots of nice things in there, but Sylvi has really caught my eye. It's gorgeous.

I'm undecided as to whether I can take on such a big project though. It may require more dedication than I have. Especially if I want it finished in time for winter. I'd have that great big thing draped across my legs all summer long. And we don't have air conditioning.

I'll think on it.

Twinkie has already begun moving into her summer residence.

Snowed under

It's the week I dread all year, Dress Rehearsals for the dance concert, the week when I get all those costumes back for alterations. So far, it's only been moderately bad, not horrendous.

The dresses I dreaded the most, the Princesses, went though yesterday and I got every single one back for some kind of alteration. Apart from that, I only have three others so far.

Then my Aunty unexpected passed away on Tuesday morning, adding a little more stress to my week. So, for all of you to whom I owe an email or a rav message, I apologise, and I will get back to you.

Here are some quick knitting updates. Evie is finished, but not yet photographed - here she is, reclining, half seamed. (Aren't you all glad I didn't blog that whine?)

I love it! Specs later, I promise.

The November Yarntini socks are growing nicely, considering how little time I've spent knitting this week.

And here's Emily in one of her wigs for the concert this year.

She looks much cuter as a blonde than I had expected!

Twinkie has been a little neglected with the camera of late, I'm sorry!

And finally, here's a little something I came across in my internet travels.

See this hand knit cardi?

It's a designer label, apparently, by Rodarte. It retails for $US2,760. I know, it's a designer label. But really?!? I could be wrong, but it doesn't even look like it's knit very well. Tension too loose, and uneven for a start.

That's the price I'm going to quote next time some one asks me to knit them something!

Happy Days!

Oh, Happy Day!

It's David's birthday today. We've been out for a most delicious dinner, after the most beautiful sunset.

It's been a long time since we've seen a Saturday Sky, huh?

And what else made it a happy day?

Sleeves! Done! Off the needles!

Let's celebrate!

(Crappy on board camera!)

I do apologise, no Twinkie photo today - I was too busy finishing the sleeves and celebrating!

Avoidance

So what do you do when you're working on stockinette sleeves that just never end?

You cast on a pair of socks, that's what.

Plain socks using Wendy's Sportweight Toe-Up Gusset Heel Sock, Yarntini Sportweight in "Woolgirl". These are the only hand knitted Christmas gift I'm doing this year. And they'll qualify for November socks, too.

And no, the sleeves are not done. I'm avoiding them by continually finding something else (anything else!) to do. I really need to just sit down and do the stupid things.

Twinkie would like you all to know that she likes cheek rubs just as much as nose rubs.

Still sleevin'

Still sleeving. In fact, a little while ago, I threw it all at David and told him to knit it for a while.

Does he look like he knows what he's doing?

(If wrapping the yarn around the needle a zillion times counts, then yes, he knows what he's doing!)

Alas, the sleeves are still going.

Twinkie loves flowers.

To eat!

Crap, I can't stop

I think this daily blogging phenomena has taken over, I can't stop.

Then again, maybe I'm just avoiding the obvious. Stocking Stitch sleeves are #&$!ing boring.

I've been working on them all weekend, and they just don't grow very fast. I'm thinking that maybe I'll just have 3/4 sleeves. Okay, I'm joking. More or less.

In Daily Twinkie, it's not Twinkie.

Next door's bunny heard how good the bunny living was over here and made an escape attempt. But his breakout was short-lived before they caught him again!

Happy Halloween!

Okay, never say never. And it's actually November 1 here, but especially for Janet, here's a special Daily Twinkie.

We don't actually celebrate Halloween, but Janet asked if Twinkie dressed up. Here's an oldie but a goodie, the only suitable costume for Her Highness.

Princess Twinkie.