Pictures! At last! And haven't I been busy...

You can tell I'm putting off an essay, can't you?

My socks *singing*
I love them, I love them, I need more!
(damn my thirsty soul)

The Jo Sharp cotton bag.

It's supposed to have a wash-cloth and hand towel to match, but I was reluctant to spend all at once (ha ha), so they might come later. I think this would make a nice present-set, especially if you bought some matching soap-holders, etc. A little pricey, but.

This is the Jo Sharp cardi that I started. I am making good progress, no? Not that it's much more exciting than knitting a cushion right now, but the end product is much more worth it. Can you see the shiny-ness?

Yum. I love this wool. I love Bendigo Woolen Mills! Am planning another wool-haul, some for chrissie stuff (I know, I'm a trifle tardy) but mostly for my Arwen knit along. Very exciting. Anyway, to break up the monotony of cardigan-ness, I've been working on My sister's scarf - Voila!











And whenever the incessent un-tangling gets too much for me, I switch back to the cardi. Actually, the scarf is going quite well, I rolled it up and pinned it, because the length was tangling with the threads dangling from my needles. So now progress is much faster. It's not almost finished, but it is almost almost finished. And i also remembered I had those fingerless gloves for her, too. Christmas, here I come!

Weekend summary

Well, how was your weekend? Mine was pretty good. Went down and spent the day in town with my cousins on Saturday. Went to the library and overloaded.. some good fiction, but I hit their knitting section pretty hard. There were a couple of books I was thinking about buying, and I've since decided against one and for another, on the strength of what use I might get out of them. Saw Private Lives with two of them and my grandma (it was hilarious), and then hung around at their place until late. There was a fantastic thunderstorm, and it rained big, fat heavy rain all night. Lovely. Just lovely. Check this out for a pic or two. It put paid to my one rose, but there's another just come out.


I'd thought about taking some knitting with me, but my sock didn't seem very mobile, given the trouble I'd been ahving, and I didn't think I'd get time to do it. however, there was an hour or so that evening when I was just hanging around, and my fingers positively itched. I didn't get home till late, but even so, I had to knit a few rows before I went to bed. And then the next morning, we got this:


Sorry about the shine, but it's my sock. Or almost. I have to detatch it from it's umbilical cord, and then I can wear it. Just the one, I don't care. I'm so excited. I think I might be hooked on socks. The best thing is, I worked it out all by myself. I just feel so clever, I'm almost glad I made all those mistakes!

I thought about starting the next one, but by that time my cupcake hat was on the needles I would have needed. I knitted that in one day: yesterday, Sunday, in between doing other things. And I knitted furiously in the evening, once it got close to finishing I couldn't stop till it was done. My fingers hurt.


Here it is, doesn't it look scrumptious? Raspberry chocolate, good enough to eat. I bought the wool on Saturday, it was $1 a ball. I'm thinking a chocolate pompom and some choc sprinkles in the form of tube beads. I think this one will be a chrissie present for one of my younger cousins, but it does fit me, and I love it so much I'm going to have to make one for myself. I'm also wondering how hard it would be to make it into a tea cosy...

I sort of wish I'd made the ribbing longer. Nevermind, there's always next time.




Today it was lovely and drippy and misty when I got up. Here's a photo, although by the time I took it I'd missed the mist. (How poetic of me)


It's all cleared up now, and it's quite sunny.

The lawn has almost dried off. I know, because I just went and sat on it to cast on my next project. 101 stitches, and now my bottom's damp.




Had some nice native birds singing. Our garden's been infested with Starlings, which start out sounding pretty, but they've begun to drive me crazy. But, yesterday the magpies were out in force. That's got to be one of my most favourite sounds ever. They're absolutely beautiful, especially in the early morning or just when the sun's going down. Althought there'e one around here that seems to think that the hour between midnight and one in the morning is the perfect time to be singing.


Then we had a couple of kookaburras. One even landed on the electric pole. Can you see it? Not really, huh. I didn't want to get too close and scare it off, but I needen't have worried, he was quite unconcerned with me.


Had two Jehova's witnesses today, they scared the bejeezus out of me when they knocked on the door. Two middle aged women. Very enthusiastic. last time it was two very cute young men (well, they were. Don't look at em like that!) and the time before that, two angry looking women. I hate having a Kingdom hall nearby, I just don't want to know, but I feel bad for them, which I'm sure they'd be very surprised to know. They have to go around doing this, I'm sure some of them feel as awkward about it as I do. So I just nod my head and be polite when I really would like to disagree... only then they'd never go away. And if you knew me you'd know how hard it is for me not to argue ;P It's all very character building, I expect.

I hit podcast alley this morning to see if there were any knitting podcasts. I am now subscribed to about a million of them... I'll let you know if they're any good! I love my podcasts, and I aspecially love to sit down with my knitting and my headphones and listen to something interesting or educational or diverting while I make something beautiful. So I'm looking forward to discovering some interesting new people to like.

Well, that's the miscellania. I'm going to go get some more material for my nascent quilt tommorrow, which is exciting. I'm hoping I will be able to restrain myself money wise. Also, I'm hoping my order from Bedigo woolen mills will be here today. Can't wait!

Sock of DOOOOOOM!

Nnnnngh! So close! See how far I got? I even started shaping the toe, but it still wasn't right. Guess what I did? No, go on, guess? I mixed up the needles, I thought that needle one was needle three, so the decreasing was all in the wrong places, and the sock was all twisted...

can you see?































But, the good news is, once I frogged right back to the gorram heel, it seems to be going fine. Voila:



A pretty, pretty, nicely shaping heel. Now all I need to do is knit 15 centimetres or so of so-exciting stocking stitch, and then I can start shaping the toe... can you feel my excitement emanating from your computer screen?

Every time I've had to rip out all the stitches, I think of a conversation I had with my sister about 5 months ago now. We were watching TV together, and I was trying to turn the heel for the first time - as far as I knew it was going surprisingly well, but the needles were clinking all over the place, and I was narrowly avoiding taking an eye out - mostly because I wear glasses.

Sister: that looks soooo stupid.
Me: Oh yeah?
Sister: (laughing) yeah.
Me: Yeah, well, you'll look stupid when I have a sock!
Sister: (uncontrollable snorting)



*sigh* never mind, look at my lovely neat decrease I have now. I guess practice does make perfect...

Warning! Sock alert!

This is a sock I am knitting. Again. It's a Jo Sharpe, from Knit, Issue One, and it's driving me nuts!!! The first time I knit it, a couple of months back, I turned the heel perfectly, got to the toes, and ended up with what looked like a tumour growing out the end. So I unpicked all the way back to before the heel before I could find a spot to restart where I knew where I was. Now I can't do the heel right. I don't know if the instructions are just plain wrong (they are a little vague) or I have simply slipped into the parallel universe known as SOCK HELL.

I will make another running jump at them, and let you know if my sanity's gone walkabout or not. In the meantime, here's what the damned thigns are supposed to look like.