48 Hour Day

Birthday Present

2009-04-15T18:49:00.003+02:00

My friend Bev turned 60 on the 30th of March.

I offered to make her something nice and lacy.

She picked the Edwardian Lace Wrap from Heirloom Knitting : http://www.heirloom-knitting.co.uk/simply_stunning8.html

The easiest way to tell you if she liked it or not is in the following series of picures.

I think she was happy.

Let's see if this works

2009-04-13T16:58:00.003+02:00

OK

I have not blogged in ages.

I have not posted much on Ravelry in ages.

I have done plenty of knitting but very little posting of finished items.

My step father died (at home - his home, not my home, thankfully, but still much more awkward than dying in hospital).

My mother now lives with me.

My good friend Georgia lost her battle with breast cancer.

I have been retrenched.

I have found a new job.

I have adopted a 3 week old kitten (now almost 5 weeks) and we are hand rearing it (you cannot tell gender this early with kittens - at least I can't).

I have been self-medicating the associated stress with chocolate and am approaching the point when my clothes will not fit any more.

I need to get off my rapidly expanding rear end and DO SOMETHING.

I have changed the template for this blog. Maybe that will help.

I went in to get some flannel

2008-07-29T00:30:00.000+02:00

Arthur Bales is having a sale for the next two weeks. On my way home from work I popped in to get some flannel to make into a receiving blanket for my domestic worker who will be a mommy very soon.

I was also going to get some wool to make a Christmas present for Jackie's teacher. I planned on buying 4 balls of Jaeger Matchmaker. It was 50% off. I asked if they had more black as I could only find 2 balls. The nice lady said that they had no more, and that once the stock they had was sold they would not be getting any more as it was being discontinued.

I love this stuff. 3 balls will make a set of fingerless mitts and a scarf. 4 balls will make a set of fingerless mitts and a bigger scarf. I can think of lots of people I can make sets for with this lovely wool.

I set about getting as many balls in as many colourways as I liked (or could think of people who would like them). I took a basket full of wool to the till.

I bought 49 balls.

I did also get the flannel.

I am a HAPPY mommy

2008-06-21T17:55:00.002+02:00

My daugher finally "clicked" on knitting today. I was having coffee with a friend (and crocheting). Friend - Maureen - was knitting. Jackie insisted that I get her some wool so she could do some finger knitting. Well, Maureen nipped down to the shop to get a few things and came back with some pretty little "kids knitting needles". I showed Jackie how to put her finger knitting on the needles and she carried on in garter stitch. Then she ripped everything out, got me to cast on 10 stitches for her, and she's been knitting on her scarf to be on and off for the rest of the day.

While I was at spinning this afternoon she even kept on knitting while watching Cartoon Network on TV.

I have been showing her the basics on and off ever since she showed an interest. This is the first time she's done so much in such a short time. Next she wants to be shown how to knit on four needles so she can make socks.

I think I have done SOMETHING right.

I have not been doing much blogging

2008-05-26T01:46:00.000+02:00

But I have been doing quite a lot of knitting. I have also been doing a lot of work, studying, and being sick.

I am in the process of changing from a dial up to a high speed internet connection so soon I should be in the happy position where it takes me less than, well, forever, to upload photos and blog posts.

No guarantees of when, but I will get pics up soon, probably once I find where the camera cable has disappeared to AGAIN!

Just in time

2007-11-30T23:21:00.000+02:00

Here are the latest pair of socks for my son. He has size 11 feet and yes, that IS a gameboy in the pic for scale.

These are also my socks for the October Sockalong at Sock Knitters Anonymous on Ravelry. I can't get into it right now so this will hopefully be enough evidence to convince them that I have indeed finished in time.

Trekking XXL, will edit to add the colour tomorrow, 2.5mm needles, pattern pretty much made up as I went along. Stitch is "Gingerbread Rib" from a book I borrowed from Miriam.

I reversed the cables on the second sock. Looks nice, hey?

Will post more tomorrow. Now off to watch 4 episodes of "Smallville" with the wearer of the socks.

Is this fair?

2007-11-26T19:32:00.000+02:00

I went to the pulmonologist (sp?) today. I have had a bad run of sinus and bronchitus and can now no longer climb two flights of stairs of carry my daughter from her bedroom to the lounge without doing a good impersonation of Darth Vader.

I had a morning full of tests, more results to come, the good news is that I am not allergic to the most common allergens. Bad news is that I have "Late Onset Asthma".

I have probably smoked less than 10 cigarettes in my life (all when quite seriously drunk or feeling self destructive). It bugs the living daylights out of me that people who have spent YEARS voluntarily inhaling toxins have an easier time breathing than I do.

I now have drugs that I need to take morning and night and more drugs to take before exercise and if I feel my chest going all tight. I also have to run to the specialist if I get a chest infection as that could lead to the asthma getting out of control which could lead to my lungs being damaged.

Knitting content will return with the next post.

What a week

2007-11-11T11:54:00.000+02:00

Right – this week has been HECTIC. It is that time of year when everything happens at once (or at least it feels that way). I meant to post something on Monday but what with Michael’s therapy session and the PA meeting I just didn’t get round to it. Tuesday was another thing at the school, Wednesday I just faded, Thursday was something else at the school and Friday I had some deadline sewing to do.

SO – in order :

On Monday I went to the shops during lunch to post something. I didn’t get out as early as I would have liked and when I got there the queue was long, there were only two tellers, after waiting for 5 minutes and getting nowhere I decided to leave. HMM – now I think of it I STILL haven’t posted it, must try to get round to it this week.

As I had driven all the way to the shops I decided to pop into the second hand book shop for a quick browse. It is quite amazing what you can pick up at these places. I live in hope of finding a complete set of Alice Starmore books with the label “R500 for the set”. It’s right up there with the belief that I will find a complete kit for the Kaffe Fassett cardigan with the animal print inspired spots at a jumble sale. Just checked – it is called “Leopard Skin” and is on page 100 of “Kaffe’s Classics”. I have this idea that, once I have knit this cardigan and put it on, I will achieve the waif-like gorgeousness of the model and that my life will magically become perfect.

Yes, I do live in my own world, but it’s fine, everybody knows me here.

I didn’t quite find anything of the above but I found THESE:

Not quite in the league of my wish list, but incredibly special to me nonetheless. My mom had these, in their softcover incarnation, when I was a child. I might actually still have them somewhere, but if I remember correctly they are falling apart due to much loving attention from yours truly. These books were a mine of information when I was growing up. All the questions about knitting and crochet and sewing that my mom couldn’t answer – these books could! I attempted my first sock and my first mitten (neither of them were ever finished – AH – how little I have changed) from patterns in these books. I took my first steps in quilting from their instructions (hexagons in English Paper Piecing – thankfully lost in the mists of time as the fabric I used was HIDEOUS – that much I can remember) and I wrote quite a few Home Economics projects based on their pages. When I was down and lonely and hurting and nobody understood or cared I would open these books, turn the pages, and find comfort there. I started knitting an aran (also never finished) from their instructions, I lusted after the gansey on the next page but could never find the right wool (now, with the internet at my disposal, it will be child’s play). It’s like meeting an old friend. Things have been a bit CRAP of late and, right now, this makes me very very happy.

This is one of the little lights at the end of the tunnel (that isn’t an approaching train) that life sends you every now and again.

In other, also positive news, the new gardening protocol seems to be working well as growing sunflowers have been sighted.

The deadline sewing – a dress for Jackie.

We were invited to a Divali dinner at her friend’s house. I had to get it done in time. Thankfully all I needed to do was sew down the neck facing, put in the sleeves, hem everything, and sew on a fastener. All was done in time and a good time was had by all. I have now left the sewing machine on the desk in the computer room. If it is accessible I do more on it.

I have actually promised myself that, if I can clear off the “big shelf” in my room and keep it clear, I will get myself a proper sewing cabinet for my birthday in May. I want something with doors that close so I can leave everything out (but safely locked away) to avoid accidents to children and cats. I also want a big table so I can get a cutting mat and use a rotary cutter to cut out patterns rather than having to pin everything down and mess about with scissors.

Next project – bags for Jackie. She wants to learn how to use the sewing machine and as this is mainly straight seams she can help me with this project.

Of Ducks and mysteries and gardening

2007-11-04T22:59:00.000+02:00

This has been another busy weekend.

At knitting yesterday I gave Andrea the hat for her littlest. She seemed to really like it, which is always nice. I did have a shawl and a hat for Georgia but, sadly, she wasn’t there. I have her daughter’s details so I’ll leave things there for her to collect when things are a going a bit better.

Today Jackie and I went to Emmarentia to feed ducks. We initially went to the Botanical Gardens side of the lake, but the lack of hungry ducks led us to move to the other side of the lake. There were plenty of ducks here and Jackie soon had a following.

In Knitting I finished the first clue of the November Mystery sock on Ravelry’s Sockknitters Anonymous group. This went pretty quickly, but then it was just two cuffs. Clue 2 is only out next week so I’ll keep myself busy with SOMETHING in the meantime.

As far as gardening goes – earlier exercises resulted in the ground being kept too wet so pretty much everything went all gloopy and mouldy. I am trying something different this time.

Basic procedure is as follows :

Get your children to eat lots of yoghurt so you have lots of empty tubs. Poke drainage holes in the bottom of the tubs. I used a metal skewer.

Fill tubs with seedling mix, soak well, put into a suitable container and plant seeds. In the pic below the container is a cat litter box. I do have cats and suggest that you buy this new. Cat pee is toxic to most plants and it smells terrible too.

Then, to ensure that the seedlings stay moist, put them into a clear rubbish bag.

I think this is where I went wrong the last time. I put too much water in and closed them too tightly. This way there is a bit of space for water to evaporate. Now to leave them (I do check on them daily) until they start growing. The plastic bags have multiple purposes. They help keep in moisture, they help keep insects and other pests out, and they protect seeds from the most inappropriately named cat in the world.

This is Angel. The kids chose her name. I think she is more like the vampire of the same name in the Buffy spin off. She likes to dig up seedlings and to eat tender young leaves. She has yet to learn how to untie knots in plastic bags.

OK – that’s all for now. I will hopefully have more knitting pics and maybe some plant pics shortly.

Answers to Questions

2007-10-31T23:29:00.000+02:00

Just so everybody knows – I am not moonlighting as nrrdgrrl just to put extra comments on my blog. She is a totally different person and has her own blog and there are pictures with both of us in and everything.

In response to her questions, though, and no offence to the lady with the gardening question – this one is just quicker and easier to answer and doesn’t need photos or soil or suchlike – here goes :

Bra balls are pretty much what you thought they were. They are essentially two plastic balls inside one another. The outer one opens up, you insert your bra, put the smaller call inside the cups, shove the straps inside the holes on the inside ball, close it up and there you go. It helps stop the cups getting squished in the washing machine (I have a wool cycle) and helps stop the fabric snagging on anything that might be floating about in the wash. It also, as you have seen, works pretty well for blocking children’s hats. I was going to stuff the thing with plastic bags, but I think this method provides better overall ventilation for quick and even drying.

The ball ring (and for a moment when I read your comment I had to do a double take as I had a senile moment and couldn’t think of ANYTHING that you could be talking about, then I thought that maybe you and Nico were getting bored and looking for something to spice up your “private time”, but then, thankfully, the penny dropped and I realised what you were on about) was also concerning me as far as overall wool weight goes. So – I weighed the ring on my diet scale – just short of 5g. Then I weighed an untouched ball (with ring inside) – ball is labelled as 50g – just over 55g. Not exactly conclusive – I could always take both items to the post office and use their scale but as I normally get there at the busiest times I don’t think it would go down to well.

I did manage to make a complete child’s hat with one full ball – very little left over – actually hardly any as I knit the tail thing until I had just about enough to darn in an end – which isn’t bad, is it? It is still posing on the bra ball but now with a bow not a tail. I think it’s quite cute and not too OVERTLY “baby girl pink””.

I am knitting an adult size hat with the other two balls, with Jackie hoping that I will use very little of the stuff as she wants something made from the leftovers. If I do run out and she asks nicely maybe I’ll buy another ball just for her.

What a full, active life I lead.

2007-10-28T21:35:00.000+02:00

Following on from my previous post – no, I haven’t done any gardening at all this weekend. Some of my vegetables are sprouting, but the sunflower seeds are ignoring me. This confirms that flowers hate me (I have had terrible sinus so far this season) and vegetables love me (which explains why the strangest man in the room always feels the urge to come and talk to me about cabbages and their plans for world domination).

My life for the last few days has been something like this :

Friday :
I did some more knitting with the new Elle 50% wool 50% cotton DK. All in all not an unpleasant experience.

I liked – the wool was nice and soft and knits up pretty nicely. Even though it isn’t that tightly spun I had no problems with it splitting. The colour was gorgeous, I thought of raspberry sorbet all the time I was knitting, and the wool makes the cotton less obvious and gives it a nice bit of bounce. My stitches weren’t quite as even as I get with wool, but that is something I expect and allow for when using cotton.

I disliked – the colour and dye lot information on the INSIDE of the ball band. This is one of those ball bands that sort of impales the ball so you (OK - me – maybe I’m clumsier than most) pretty much have to dismantle the whole thing to see if you have balls from a matched set.

I seriously disliked – the KNOT! Just far enough into the ball to make you wonder if it is worth ripping but then again just far enough that you know you will make a plan. I have another 2 balls to knit into a chemo cap for Georgia (more on her later) and really hope not to have a repeat of this. It isn’t really the experience you want to have when you are trying something for the first time.

I was totally puzzled by – this thing

This would explain why I couldn’t find the inside end of the ball when I fiddled around in its insides. The ball was wound around it. I have obviously lived a sheltered life as I have never seen anything like this before. It seems like cheating to me. Kind of like stuffing tissues in your bra. Does this happen often? Am I the only one to find this vaguely creepy? I discovered this after I’d found the knot and decided to re-wind into the centre pull ball I’d been wanting all along with the added check for any additional knots.

Saturday :
This just got away from me. I did the monthly shop in the morning, took the kids to the library to exchange old books for new ones, did a bit of shopping and took the kids for lunch. Then I took Jackie to visit a friend who has just had a knee replacement. I was supposed to be there at 3. I was convinced that I left home at 2:30. The trip took no longer or shorter than it should have but we got there at 4. Either there is a time warp somewhere between our homes or I managed to lose an hour. Then, when I went to make myself a cup of tea I put salt in instead of sugar. For future reference – tea draws much faster when you ladle in a few spoons of salt rather than sugar. It also tastes AWFUL!

Things got better after that, though. We had a nice visit, she liked the books I got her at the Library’s second hand sale (was it terrible of me to ask her to give them back once she’s read them so I can read them too?), and I didn’t lose any more time that day I did also sit and watch “Haunted Mansion” with the kids and get a kiddy hat finished. More on that later.

Sunday :
I blocked the shawl for Georgia. 2 balls of “Splish Splash” cotton, 5.5mm needles (I think) and what I could remember of the Kiri shawl pattern as I was too lazy to check on it when I started.

Yes, I am blocking on the squishy floor things that you get for the kids. I was thinking of getting wood and nails and making a blocking frame so I stop having to borrow beds but I saw these when I was shopping, realised just how much cheaper and time efficient they were compared to making anything and just bought two sets. I think I might buy myself more.

Before

During

You will get an after picture once I hand it over, hopefully on Saturday at knitting.

Then I delivered some HONEY stuff to Maureen, bought milk for the week, dropped the boy child off at the shops so he could browse the bookshops and took Jackie to a birthday party. After the initial upset when she hurt her ankle on the trampoline it seems that a good time was had by all as she didn’t want to leave.

She was obviously a little tired, though, as this happened within moments of us getting home. You will see from the picture that yes, indeed, cats are the MOST opportunistic animals in the world.

While she was asleep I washed some underwear and the hat I’d finished on Saturday night. There is a great big i-cord on the top that will get tied into a bow. As I’d chucked everything into the washing machine at once I had bra-balls handy as I was deciding what to stuff the hat with while it dried. How’s this for inventive?

Does it count?????

2007-10-25T23:27:00.000+02:00

If you have decided that you are not going to buy anything to knit as you have TONS of stuff in your stash and really should be using it, and that you really need to stop buying sock needles as you have tons of them started but not many finished, does it count as breaking this “promise” when:

1. You were going to be good and use leftover sock yarn to knit a hat for a friend’s daughter but your own daughter saw it and LOVED it and it fit her and she looks SO CUTE in it (scroll down to earlier post to see happy Jackie in pink hat) and now you need to make something else before you see her again in November.
2. You need to use it to make a chemo cap for a different friend as you were going to make her one but used the cotton to make her a shawl instead and she is worried about losing her hair and you’d like to have this done by November too.
3. Buying the wool is REALLY a favour to yet another friend who was wondering how it would knit up but has no real project planned for it and can’t justify getting any just to “test”.
4. All your sock needles (well, at least the 2.5mm DPNs whose location you can think of right now) are full and you want to do the mystery sock on Sock Knitters Anonymous on Ravelry next month and you need to make your daughter “long socks” because she asked so nicely and the are cheap and bamboo and you’ve never used bamboo DPNs before (bamboo circulars yes, by the same maker, and they are NICE) so really this is just an experiment not an actual purchase.

Because – if all these mitigating circumstances don’t count then I have been a BAD GIRL!

BAD GIRL
Originally uploaded by href="http://www.flickr.com/people/14942160@N02/">jaynewagner

Wool is 3 balls of “Elle Elite DK” 50% cotton, 50% wool, colour 034, feels lovely in the ball, will hopefully be just as lovely knit up. Jackie, who grabbed it and yelled “Thank you Mommy” the moment it came out of the bag has been told that it is not for her but that I will make her something with any leftovers.

Just so you know – I do get some knitting done every now and again – see Michael’s next sock below. Trekking (XXL), colour 23, pattern made up as I go along (and, if I’m being a GOOD GIRL – see above – noted on an index card so I can recreate the second sock to match it), stitch pattern called “Gingerbread Rib” from a book I borrowed from Miriam – “Vogue Knitting – The Ultimate Sock Book”.

Gingerbread Sock
Originally uploaded by jaynewagner

Commenter who asked about gardening with yoghurt tubs – that post will come over the weekend if I have a moment to plant another one.

No Blocking, Please – there’s RUGBY

2007-10-21T21:42:00.000+02:00

Well, blocking has been delayed until next weekend as Jill’s house was taken over by her son’s friends who arrived to watch the World Cup Final. All her beds are occupied and hence unavailable as blocking surfaces. We WON so I am willing to postpone shawl blocking (and darning in of ends) until the next available opportunity.

By the way – isn’t it AMAZING how wonderful and understanding knitters can be? Most people, when asked if they have a double bed with clean sheets in a lockable room and if you can borrow it for the day, and if they mind if you get it wet and stick pins and suchlike into it, start giving you funny looks and ask why you can’t just go to a hotel.

In the meantime I have occupied my copious leisure hours with planting seeds in the hope of growing a few of my own vegetables this year. In the spirit of recycling they are all in empty yoghurt containers, sitting in (new) cat litter boxes and covered with cling film (I am thinking of getting some sheets of perspex instead) so they have their own little greenhouse type things to grow in. I planted some sunflower seeds last week which are supposed to take 7 to 14 days to germinate and I can see NO LEAVES yet. I hope they arrive soon as I’m not really into delayed gratification AT ALL.

I have also made a double batch of Low GI cheese muffins so I have a good grab and go breakfast in the freezer, and currently have Low GI banana bread baking. As far as the muffins go, it is a GOOD THING that I made a double batch as the family laid in to them and only half of them are left. They are a fairly quick and easy mix to make, though, so if they remain popular I’ll show the brother and son how to make them and they can keep everybody supplied. The daughter, who declared that she wouldn’t like them, allowed herself to be persuaded to try them and now won’t stop eating them.

In knitting news I’m trying to get all the bits of the knitted bear (present for daughter’s teacher) done and reading through the knitting books I borrowed from Miriam. So many patterns – so little time.

I have Photos!

2007-10-20T01:07:00.000+02:00

I have clever children – they both got Bronze medals for their Kumon – Michael for Maths, Jackie for English.

I have finished things:
Pink hat for Jackie – my standard patternless hat using the wool left over from her pink frilly socks.

Horcrux socks (from Six Sox Knitalong) for Michael – wool is one of the Opal hand dyes. It looked like the inside of a nappy on the skein but I think it knit up quite nicely. Michael has been told that, the next time he thinks I love his sister more than him, he must remember that I cast on 80 stitches for these socks. There are 40 rows in the heel flap, 98 rows in the foot, and 22 rows in the toe.

I started something – Margaret Tudor from Tudor Roses. This is the centre front panel.

I’m off to borrow a bed for blocking on Sunday (weather permitting) so there may be more pics then.

I have been BUSY

2007-10-14T12:26:00.000+02:00

I got my Ravelry invite (I’m on there as MsTarzan if anybody is interested), I made a shawl for a friend whose cancer has decided to come back to visit, I have finished a pair of socks for the 17YO (Horcrux socks from Six Sox knitalong), I have cast on for Margaret Tudor from Tudor Roses.

Now I just need to find the time to add all the new buttons to my blog, tidy the place up a bit, and see about POSTING more often.
It would also help if my PC decided that it didn't actually HATE blogger with a passion and would speed up transactions as opposed to taking as long as possible to do ANYTHING.

A funny sort of post

2007-09-02T13:03:00.000+02:00

Just a quick post before I get so far behind with stuff that I fall over

It has been a funny few weeks.

Friday Jackie had a “Spring day” thing at school so I made her a hat with an old sunhat, some flowers, some ivy, and a hot glue gun. She looks a bit demented in this picture but I think that’s just the angle I took it at.

I also finished a pair of socks for her on Friday night. They are shown here with her feet in “playful” mode. I’ve put the egg-flips in for scale again so you can see just how small her feet are compared to her brothers.

She likes them a lot, but wants “long socks” – all the way up to her knees for the next pair. I can’t really complain as this is the same child who has told her friend’s mothers that they are stupid because they can’t knit. She also told me the other day that she knows that I love her much more than her friend’s mothers love them as their mothers just buy them clothes while I knit them things.

In other news – I resurrected my membership of the Six-Sox knitalong and am well into the latest pattern. I’m doing the little cables in a twisted stitch as I didn’t like the way it looked before. It seems much nicer now.

This is what it looked like earlier:

OK – that’s all for now. I need to finish my project proposal for my MSc this week and my task for the weekend, well, Sunday, as that is pretty much all that is left of the weekend now, is to get most of that done.

This is going to be complicated by the fact that I dug out some cross stitch projects while looking for a thin needle to do a Russian join with. I am torn. I think I will have to bribe myself – 15 minutes of cross stitch for every 30 minutes of REAL work on the project proposal – sitting and staring at the screen doesn’t count.

We apologise for the delay in blogging

2007-08-17T00:10:00.000+02:00

Yesterday’s scheduled blogging was delayed due to the screening of the first episode of “Survivor – Cook Islands”. I know it isn’t marvellous TV but I like it. Jackie and I sit around and watch it together and it is cute to see her pick a favourite team based on their colours. She gets so excited when “her” team wins.

Then it was delayed again as a friend was visiting from the UK and we went out for dinner.

Now, as promised, a summary of what I have been doing with myself all year. Honestly, I would have had so much more time for blogging and knitting for me and all that sort of thing if people around me would just stop getting pregnant and having babies. Strangely enough – all little girl babies – I wonder if the thought of having something handknit is attracting them.

This was for a colleague at work – kind of a rush job – I was darning in the ends on the morning of the baby shower.

This was for my next door neighbour. I don’t always knit for neighbours but Jackie heard that they were having a little girl (she is big on little girls – insists that the world needs more of them and keeps asking when her baby sister is going to arrive) and asked me to make them something.

This was for somebody who just lucked out. The mom is the daughter of the lady who owns / runs the shop where we have our S’nB meetings. I had been really wanting to knit this shawl and her being pregnant was all the excuse I needed. It’s the Rosebud Shawl from the Heirloom Knitting site – done in the KnitPicks dye your own laceweight. I found the pattern incredibly well written and easy to follow, and other than losing a bit of steam once I hit the border (144 repeats of the same pattern – excluding the times when I zoned out, messed up, and had to rip back the best part of one side – TWICE) it was a fairly easy knit. Mother was instructed to USE it and baby has already been spotted in public wrapped up in said shawl so I am a happy knitter.
Shawl is too big to put in one pic and the only ones I have are of it blocking. Here are photos of the centre :

The border:

The edging:

There is also a hat I don’t have a picture of. Maybe Miriam would be kind enough to let me have a pic of it when she has the chance as it was a present for her new arrival. It was another rush job. I finished the knitting in the car on the way to the baby shower. It was well received, though, so worth the effort.

Finally – here is an exception to my normal baby knitting rule. On the whole I knit only for the women that I know and work with. In the whole pregnancy phase I think of the bacon and eggs analogy. With bacon and eggs the chicken is involved, the pig is committed. With pregnancy the father is involved, the mother is committed. Well, this blanket (crochet not knitting) was made for one of the men I work with. The little girl that this was made for is especially special to her parents. They have been trying to have a baby for 10 years. About a year ago they lost a child at 8.5 months. I think the exception to the rule was warranted. The best part is – when I handed it over I got the BEST response I have EVER received for a baby gift. He was absolutely delighted – almost glowing with appreciation. It’s apparently the first hand made gift she has received and, as his wife wishes she knew how to knit and crochet but doesn’t, they really appreciate just how special it is.

In non-knitting news I graduated with distinction. My first ever post-graduate qualification is now under my belt and I can start working on my MSc. I got my Graduate Diploma in Engineering – Mineral Resource Evaluation.

I was planning on inserting a picture here but I have just had a look at the pictures off the camera and I look insane in them so you can all just imagine how I looked.

I have also been making socks for the kiddies. I have finished this pair for Michael. You will see Jackie’s “egg flips” have been inserted for scale. I had to chop out the top of the socks as otherwise you would have had a close up of Michael’s groin. I am not that cruel a mother.

OK – off to rest after all this blogging. Will try to post more regularly in future. You know – if you lot posted more comments I might be more inspired to blog. As it is I don’t know if anybody other than me ever reads this stuff.

FINALLY

2007-08-14T00:01:00.000+02:00

OK - I have been trying to post since the 4th of August when I met a charming lady at the knitting group (I've gone totally blank on her name, I'm afraid) who recognised me from my blog.

I was fired up with enthusiasm and all ready to post some scintillating comments on my life but then my pc refused to speak to blogger so I was stuck. Now I can finally get in but I have no pics to show anybody. This sucks.

I will get organised and should have something for you soon, technological co-operation permitting.

It has been quite a week

2007-06-29T00:00:00.000+02:00

It snowed in Johannesburg, I graduated with distinction, and both Jackie and I got our hair cut.
That's pretty much all I have time for now, photos are still on the camera, but I'll see about uploading some tomorrow.

I'm not dead

2007-03-19T19:39:00.000+02:00

But you could be forgiven for thinking that.

Life has been nuts, far too many people have been having babies, and this new blogger thing seems to take FOREVER to load on my machine.

I have photos. I have made 1 baby blanket, almost 1 baby shawl, almost finished a baby set (hat, socks and mittens) while continuing with my normal life, dressing up like an elf at Hobby-X, and tried not to be driven insane by the pc with a fan that keeps conking in.

Will try to have pc fixed this week and then maybe I can post pics.

Things I have learned from knitting socks

2006-12-19T23:36:00.000+02:00

In no particular order:

Handknit socks are one of the little luxuries you should not have to do without.
Kids socks look really cute while you are knitting them.
It is amazing how many people know that you are knitting socks.
It is amazing how many total strangers will ask you to knit them a pair.
They all seem to take it quite well when you tell them no.
They never seem to take up the offer of knitting lessons.
I like square (or almost square) heel flaps.
I like my heel flaps to be about 6cm long.
I have huge galoomphing feet.
I like knitting socks toe up and toe down.
I think I go faster when using double pointed needles.
Much as I like the way the top looks when I pretend to Kitchener the knit stitches to the purl stitches it takes too long.
When you start with a provisional cast on, knit a few rows, and pull out the crochet chain you get a picot-y edge and the stitches don’t seem inclined to run wildly (yet)
I should never have tried to make a perfectly matched pair of socks (photo was going to be below but I wore them to gym and they are not particularly photogenic).
Due to the above I have discovered that I am, in fact, secretly obsessive compulsive and anal retentive, as I am now DETERMINED to make the next pair match as closely as possible.
One of the best reasons for splitting your 100g ball into two balls is to find any KNOTS.
Once you find knots make sure that the bits either side of the knots have the same pattern repeat.
I didn’t do this and the bit on one side of the sock had slightly longer stretches of colour than the other one.
This is why my socks did not match and I am now obsessing about getting the next pair to match.
I really need to get a life.

In other news, Jackie is on a mission to bankrupt the tooth fairy. She has lost 3 teeth in the last 2 weeks (2 on successive days) and seems to spend every spare moment wiggling the loose ones to encourage them to fall out.

I have been invited to a bridge club from next year. Haven't played in over a decade. Must find out what system they use so I can brush up.

New Years resolutions – must post more to the blog, must work on breaking the 70kg barrier.

I am still alive, just!

2006-11-13T23:54:00.000+02:00

The total lack of blogging has been mainly due to an excess of life. I have been studying, things have been happening at work, and I have been trying to be good about going to gym. We've also been having a pile of electrical storms which make connecting to the internet dangerous.

I still haven't finished the thing Miriam tagged me for. Sorry about that. Will see about getting to it on the 20th once my assignment is in and life can get back to normal.

Feeling like a lump right now. Should have gone to gym but just didn't feel like it after an hour stuck in traffic in the pouring rain. It's also the brother's birthday today so we've had pizza and cake. GEE - all this and I STILL wonder why I weigh 75kg after a good few months of gym 4 to 5 times a week.

Talking about gym - what is it with people? I try my best to get to classes early so I can pick my spot. I am not short, I have long legs and arms, and I LIKE MY SPACE. Why is it that, when people arrive late, they seem to think that they can squeeze in right next to me? Last week somebody arrived late, set up about 20cm behind me, and proceeded to place her water bottle, towel, and cellphone about 10 cm away from my left foot. This is an AEROBICS class. We are going to MOVE AROUND. Can you say DUH! I told her that she'd better move her stuff as I WAS going to stand there.

Anyway - off to post this and try to get some work in on my assignment. I had a hectic social round this weekend - out on Friday and Saturday night and home early on Saturday and Sunday mornings. What can I say - that brother of mine might work on my nerves some (OK a LOT) of the time but it is nice to have a tame babysitter.

Before you all start staring in awe and amazement at my hectic social schedule, please remember that this is more times than I have been out in the last 6 months or so.

Here's our Page

2006-10-24T23:20:00.000+02:00

Miriam was kind enough to get a copy of "our" page.

This is what everybody will be looking at for 31 days in 2007.

I am MS January

2006-10-22T12:18:00.000+02:00

OK - you know all about the whole 15 minutes of fame that we are all entitled to? Well, mine is finally here. You may remember this post. If you go here and visit the page for January (sorry, couldn't figure out how to get a direct link) you can see our picture.

I'm the one wearing orange, Miriam is in jeans - please, if you are feeling kind, let her know that she looks GREAT, as she was hinting about photoshopping herself and silly stuff like that, and Dave (who, I think, is the only man in the calendar) is wearing the knitted hat.

Yes, I know I should update and post more and respond to the whole tagging thing from Miriam but right now I just had to share.

Good News, Bad News and GREAT NEWS

2006-10-12T23:54:00.000+02:00

In Order :

I finished my Sock Wars sock and they are now on their way to my victim. Sorry for the bad photo but it was late and I was tired. They look MUCH better in person.

This was at the Post Office when my brother posted the parcel.

I am now officially out of Sock Wars. I am a bit sad but the socks are WONDERFUL, they fit BEAUTIFULLY, and the sweets are liquorice – the salty Dutch kind – I LOVE that stuff.

Now – the GREAT NEWS – I won a runner-up prize in the KNITTY calendar contest. All confidential about the pic right now, but I had to share with you. Miriam (whose husband did the photography) has already blogged about it. Now I just need to get them a high-res version, send them my snail mail, and they’ll send me STUFF! This is SO AMAZING – I don’t usually win competitions, and considering that life has been quite stressful lately, this is a welcome break.

Updates and pics and all that

2006-09-27T00:03:00.000+02:00

Miriam tagged me in the hope that I’d blog more. I’ll answer all the questions on the weekend, right now I have other things to post about.

Here are my Pomatomus socks. 2.5mm needles, Trekking XXL - can’t remember the colour number but isn’t it GORGEOUS!

Here is another view with a selection of the other yarns I have that I’m thinking of making my next pair in.

Here, just for the sake of Gill, who is convinced that she is about to die, are my Sock War socks. I have been told by my assassin that my socks are in the mail, but that it should take 8 to 10 days for them to reach me. I think I should finish in time. However, as I HATE sewing in ends, I’m wondering if it would be VERY BAD sportsmanship of me to have EVERYTHING done but the sewing in of ends when I die and to send them off to my assassin with just that to do?

Also, for Gail, here’s the thingy I’m working on in the Natural Silk Aran – What can I SAY – it is INCREDIBLE! It feels wonderful (I wish I had more of it so I could pile it up in the middle of the floor, strip naked, and roll around in it – YES I should get out more, send Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg round to make me “interesting to men" and maybe I will) and is knitting up nicely too. Let me know what you think, OK?

Alright – off to eat dinner and knit more on the I-SOD (International Sock Of Doom)

Half Way There

2006-09-24T20:38:00.000+02:00

First sock finished - toe all kitchenered together - just need to darn in the ends. Now to get busy with sock number two. No pic as I can't find the cable thingy for the camera.

Will hopefully have pics tomorrow.

Sock Wars has begun

2006-09-23T20:37:00.000+02:00

OK - got the info - got it late as I was away all last week and wanted to spend time with the kids today.

Will now knit myself stupid on socks.

To the commenter who asked about Pomatomus - I found them pretty easy. Other people I know have had more trouble. I reckon just go for it! If you have hasles and can't find somebody local to help drop me a line and I'll see what I can do.

Off to kill somebody with knitting!

Saved by a KNITTY episode

2006-09-13T20:04:00.000+02:00

OK – I was planning on giving you a long and involved reason for why I haven’t posted in ages. I was going to let you know that I’ve finished my Pomatomus socks (they look lovely, thanks for asking, photo to follow shortly) and fucked up Icarus (made one of the side thingies into the middle thingy and didn’t notice – lace surgery to follow shortly). I was also going to include a brief history of my life the last few weeks, with the postgrad course, and the exam, and the assignment, and all the travelling for work (including the progressively weirder 5 hour night time drive from Springbok to Cape Town with a man I will NEVER (I will make sure of it) see again who decided to tell me all about his sexually dysfunctional relationship with his wife).

Then, I found THIS article.

My life will never be the same. I am using this method to knit two socks for Jackie, who is growing like a weed, and will hopefully fit into the ones I am making regardless of them being a teeny bit loose. As suggested I’m using different colours of wool but I can’t see why I really need to. I’m doing them toe up, starting with short row toes, and everything has gone swimmingly so far. I’m taking pictures and will share them with you all (oh 2 or 3 readers) so you can see that I’m not lying. Once this bit is done, on to another pair of Pomatomus socks - I have the PERFECT ball of red wool or something with cables – YEAH I LIKE CABLES.

Lots of Pictures

2006-08-07T01:37:00.000+02:00

Hi Everybody
As Promised – more pictures and less bitching and moaning.

I did a bit of a tidy up in my room yesterday. I re-arranged the big plastic tubs of craft stuff so I’ll be able to find what I want WITHOUT basically dumping everything out on the floor and digging through the resulting pile. I did quite a good job as I now have 3 empty shelves in my cupboard that I can use for storing other stuff.

Here are the 3 big plastic tubs FULL of spinnable fibre. It would help if I had more than 5 minutes a week to spin, but it is so cold at the moment I could use it as insulation if I needed to.

Here are some cross stitch pictures that I just need to get cleaned up and framed.

This one, which is a birth announcement for my son, has been waiting for this since he turned 1, which is when I made it. You can do the maths and work out just HOW LONG this has been waiting. The alphabet is from a Burda book of Alphabets (I think) that I’ve had since I was a teenager.

The next two are from Teresa Wentzler. The first is a freebie called “Tempest in a Teacup”; the second is “The Castle”. They’ve been waiting about 2 years to get finished off.

The last one is from Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum. It’s called “The Quiltmaker”. This has also been sitting around for about 2 years too.

Now on to the quilts. I Have NO IDEA how long these have been sitting around, but seeing just how close I am to finishing so many of them inspires me to get working on them again.

This one I call “Big Sue”. I just need to finish quilting the border (yes, there IS only a little over half of it to go) and sew on the binding. The centre block is a super sized Sunbonnet Sue. The small squares in the border are all hand dyed (by me) and leftovers from the fabric I dyed for my Millennium Quilt swap (no, I never made THAT quilt either).

This was inspired by Ami Simms’ book “Invisible Appliqué”. In it she talks about using the method to piece curved blocks. I had some hand dyed fabric leftover from another quilt I never finished (Fair play it was supposed to be for a friend of the EX and he dumped me before I’d even sewn the thing together so I dumped the blocks) and I’d always wanted to do a tumbling blocks quilt so I designed a curvy version and, as they say in the classics, just went for it. This is also nearly finished. Once this is done I’ll probably make it into a bag or something as I need a nice knitting project bag (or 50).

This needs to be quilted. The blocks are hand pieced (also from leftover hand dyed fabric from the MQ swap), the assembly was done by machine, and I’m waiting for my Thimblelady book on “Hand Quilting Without Pain” to get started on this one.

These are blocks that I did on a sampler course. I only did the course because I wanted to do the “Advanced” course offered by the shop and they insisted you did the “Beginner” course first. Well, I was so unimpressed by the course and the rather Bolshy attitude of the teachers that I never went back. Now I look at them again I’m starting to like them all over so I’ll do something with them SOMEDAY. Hell, maybe I’ll put borders round them all, practice quilting, and make me a heap of throw pillows.

This is a top that I did from some other hand dyed leftovers from a hand dyeing course I did AGES ago. I started off doing asymmetrical log cabins but got bored so I cut them all into wonky squares and alternated them with squares of the hand dyes. I just need to slap a border on this puppy and quilt it.

This is a top that needs a new home as I’m never going to finish it. In 1998 my son’s aftercare teacher fell pregnant. I started this quilt for her. Then, I found out I was pregnant, so I changed plans, decided to buy her something, and allocated the quilt to my baby. Then I miscarried at 9 weeks. It wasn’t a good time for me as I hadn’t told lots of people so not many of them knew why I was the way I was and sometimes, you know, you just DON’T want to talk about things like that. Also, I had people say to me that I shouldn’t have found out so early as if I’d waited a month or two I’d never have known and things would have been fine. What can I say – I have Rh negative blood. I NEED to know these things as I need an injection of Anti-D or something like that to stop me building up antibodies which could jeopardise my health or the life of any future babies I might want to have.

Anyway – enough about the extreme insensitivity of people. I tried to make the quilt for the other baby but it just didn’t work. You can see from the CRAPPY border I put on that I was NOT doing well. I have offered it to a friend and if she wants it and will finish it, it will be hers to do with what she will.

OK – This was supposed to be posted this morning but Blogger wouldn't let me post pictures. Hope you like the pics. There will be knitting ones once I sort that bit of my stuff out.

WHY is it ?????

2006-08-04T23:16:00.000+02:00

Why is it that people, who you have TOLD that you DO NOT take requests for knitted items (other than from your children) as it then becomes a JOB which you ALREADY HAVE and if it’s a JOB you should be paid the same as WORK pays you, still get that “WHY EVER NOT?” look on their faces when they ask you to make them something and you say “NO”?

Yes, I DID make something for Alegra when she had the baby, but I OFFERED to make it, she didn’t ASK, and it was a GIFT for use by the BABY.

Why is it that people, who would not come up and grab your jacket off your chair and try it on (at least they haven’t yet, maybe they do it secretly while I’m off getting coffee or in the loo), feel free to pick up knitted things from the desk (socks, gloves) and TRY THEM ON?

This is usually followed by “Won’t you make me one” followed by me saying “Yes, I won’t” while smiling in a friendly fashion. It’s AMAZING how long some people take to work out what I’ve said.

Why is it that people, who (once again I’m assuming here) wouldn’t walk up to a painter or a sculptor or a glass blower or a potter and start groping THEIR project feel free to come over and PAW knitting / sewing / spinning / other fiber or fabric type craft thingy and get offended when you pull it away (resisting the urge to poke them with something sharp and metallic) and ask them if their hands are clean?

They don’t seem to realise that the “Are your hands clean?” and the accompanying glare of death are warning signs of a crafter on the edge who is resisting the URGE to THUMP THEM for their AUDACITY.

Why is it that people seem to think that saying nice things about your work will make you magically forget that you didn’t give birth to them?

Yes, I know I do good work. Yes, I know I knit quickly. Yes, I know I make beautiful things. Yes, I know it would take you a whole lot longer to knit it for yourself than it would take me to knit if for you, but I DON’T CARE. I am more than willing to help you find yarn and a pattern and to talk you through the tricky bits. However, my “free” time is MINE and I do what I want in it.

Yes, it’s been one of those weeks at work. I will be better over the weekend when I see about tidying up my stash so I can try to fit a table into my bedroom for my sewing machine and cutting board and good things like that.

There will be photos and less ranting tomorrow, PROMISE!

So much for "Sunny South Africa"

2006-08-02T23:21:00.000+02:00

It is FREEZING! We apparently had snow while I was at work. It was all gone by the time I got home. Apparently it settled on the dog's backs a bit and they looked like somebody had sprinkled them with salt.

I wish I had pictures but, as mentioned above, I was at work and my brother, who was at home, didn't think of taking pictures.

This weather is SO WRONG! Rain and snow down here and heatwaves in the Northern Hemisphere. This is not how things are supposed to happen.

Anyway - I finished my first Pomatomus sock and will start the second one tonight while watching Smallville. I NEED to hone those sock knitting skills for the SOCK WARS!

Knitters - sharpen your needles

2006-08-02T01:02:00.000+02:00

OK - I surrender - I am signing up for

You can find out more here .

In other news, I am almost finished my first Pomatomus sock, have still not finished the shawl for Miriam's baby, and have decided that whoever thought up "No Pain, No Gain" as an inspirational motto to get people to exercise needs their head read.

In an attempt to stay positive, let me just say, I am not sore, I am firming up.

I Finished Birch

2006-07-29T18:51:00.000+02:00

OK - Birch is finished, it is GORGEOUS, it is also HOOGE (which, as you all know, is the same as huge, just bigger) and I haven't even blocked it yet. I am totally stunned that I could cover so much area with less than 75g of KSH. I'll post a picture once I darn in the ends and block it.

I'm also onto the leg of the first of my Pomatomus socks. Turned the heel last night so I could knit on an easy bit while waiting at the gym for the spinning class to start. Well, the leg pattern is MUCH easier to do without the printout. The foot is a bit of a pain as you have that extra little "triangle bit" but the leg just GOES.

Fine - all of you out there who are waiting for the follow up post starting "I stuffed up my socks" go think of something else RIGHT NOW - there will be NO tempting fate here.

Have a good weekend everybody. Pics will follow.

Photos

2006-07-23T22:20:00.000+02:00

Hi All
As promised – here are some photos.

Me with my new haircut. Yes, I now have almost no hair and yes, I got it done at the barber shop when I took my son for a trim. I LOVE having my hair this short – seriously low maintenance. My PI shawl – just the edging needs to be done now. It’s for Miriam’s little girl. Hopefully I’ll get it done when she’s still of a size to use it.

Birch – not bad for a little over a week’s worth of knitting.

Birch close up – this bit is right at the bottom so if you see a mistake PLEASE just keep quiet.

My loot from the sale – all at 20% off. The pink and blue KSH will be used to knit up Christmas presents. The green is about 900m of 4 ply cotton. I know what I’m using the KSH for; just need a pattern (for ME) that I can use the cotton in. I’m thinking a nice summer tank top or something. Suggestions?
Jackie’s bag. Bag made from Knit Picks Wool of the Andes “Natural White”. Pattern made up as I went along. Felted / Fulled to make it a bit smaller and more durable. Buttons sewn on as directed by daughter to make a flower. OK – two posts in one day – I’m getting better. I’m off to visit one of the mines tomorrow and will only be in a fit state for blogging from Wednesday. Will try to post then.

Have a good week everybody.

A new Spin on Knitting in Public

2006-07-23T12:51:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I went to my first ever spinning class - the exercise bike kind of spinning, not the wheel and wool kind. I've been to the beginner classes once or twice and decided that I needed to take a leap.

Being ME I got to the gym early and took some knitting with me just in case I had to wait for the studio to open. As luck would have it, the room was already open and once I'd got the bike all set up I realised that I could, indeed, fit in some knitting. I HATE to sit around doing nothing and as all I was doing was sitting on a bike and pedalling I needed something to fill in the time. The lady sitting next to me expressed some interest in what I was doing; I commented that maybe next time EVERYBODY would bring knitting to kill time before the class

My conclusions are:
1. Lace is not a good choice for knitting on a bike, even an exercise bike. Next time I'll take a sock. Even though I didn't knit during the actual class I think socks are much more portable.
2. I need to cut my hair and I need a bigger sweat towel. At least I'm not as bad as the woman two rows in front who left a little puddle of sweat on the floor under her bike Which, BTW, she didn't clean up! All together now YUK!!!!
3. I need to get out of my winter hibernation mode. Basically, I need legs that are shorts friendly as I nearly DIED of overheating even though I was in tracksuit pants and a T-shirt.
4. While not as fit as the maniacs in the front row I'm not as out of shape as I thought.

Other than that I got my hair cut, went to the pre-sale week at Arthur Bales (20% off all purchases over R150 - like THAT is a hard target to reach) and got some KSH and some cotton for SOMETHING.

Jackie, naturally, wanted SOMETHING too so we got her 10 pink buttons. I then knit her up a little bag which I felted last night. We'll sew the buttons on today and I'll post some pictures tonight. I made the pattern up as I went along and will probably do something similar for myself for a “carry along project” bag instead of the old shopping bag I currently use.

All in all, other than the flash thunderstorm that lasted JUST long enough to get us all a bit wet - it happened at exactly the same time as I was fetching Michael and Leslie from Magic - Saturday was a good day.

I am a HORRIBLE Person

2006-07-19T19:48:00.000+02:00

OK - I am a horrible person. I have still not sent Gina her birthday present, I have still not finished the baby shawl for Miriam, and I am currently neglecting just about everything I possibly can just so that I can knit on Birch. I think this is the most wonderful pattern I have ever knitted. The KSH knits up all soft and fluffy and it really feels like you are knitting with thin air, it's just so light. The whole casting on 299 stitches went just fine, I haven't made any mistakes that I couldn't fix on the next row, and as the number of stitches decreases it just seems to be going faster and faster. I am almost finished with my second ball of KSH, and feel very much that I am just about on the home stretch.

Another indication of what a monster I am - Gina was the one who helped me get hold of the pattern and we were going to have a knitalong. I was going to "just cast on" and wait for her to be ready.

No hate mail, PLEASE.

On the plus side I've been to gym twice this week.

Photos of knitted stuff will follow when I have the time. That is, when I've finished Birch.

I am still here

2006-07-11T21:33:00.000+02:00

Yes - the title says it all. I am still here, busily knitting on the PI shawl for Miriam's baby girl who arrived earlier than expected. I'm doing the border now as I'm sick of the bloody thing. I've also got 2 more lace shawls in the works, my eye on "Three cornered and long shawls", a pile of socks to knit for the 6YO, and must REALLY get Gina's birthday present off in the post.

My tax form is also due on Friday.

I want a 48 hour day!

I Blame the Drugs

2006-06-23T23:37:00.000+02:00

Yes, I was all morbid and depressed yesterday and I couldn't work out why. Then I went looking for a package insert for the heavy duty antibiotics I've been on for the last two weeks. The list of side effects are as long as my arm and feeling crap and down is in there SOMEWHERE.

I'm sure I'll start feeling better once the pneumonia and the medication to get rid of the pneumonia are BOTH out of my system.

The post that changed

2006-06-23T00:09:00.000+02:00

Hi there. This was supposed to be a post about meeting Miriam for knitting and coffee and pancakes and the nice book I found in a second hand shop and Gerhard and his wool and the self help group and the socks and scarf I finished and how the socks went from "WOW thanks MOM" to "MOM I can't find one" in the space of a few moments. Thankfully the sock did not vanish into the black hole that is my lounge, it was under Michael's Magic file.

Then I went blog cruising and found THIS post at Crazy Aunt Purl's blog.

Boy that sent me off over the edge of the self-pity wagon. Doesn't help that the 29th of June, in addition to being Gina's birthday, is the 6th anniversary of my divorce. Doesn't help that I, maths geek that I am, does the sums and works out that I have now been divorced for 2/3 as long as I was married. Doesn't help that I KNOW that I am better off without him, happier without him, and much better than he deserved in the first place. I still remember getting dumped the day Jackie was due, because in all the years we'd been together I hadn't changed into the person HE wanted me to change into, going to pieces while he carried on with his life as if nothing had happened, finding out after he killed himself (November 2004 - just in time for Christmas - his timing was ALWAYS impeccable) just how little time it took him to replace me, and finding out that he'd probably been cheating on me all the time we were married, I was just too trusting and STUPID to notice.

Most of me is moving on. Hell, all of me was ready to go out and hit the dating game pretty much around the time he offed himself, which put paid to all that, at least till the kids move out of the house or the little one grows up enough to realise that not EVERY unattached male who walks through the door is her "New Daddy".

There's just a little bit of me that feels expendable and discarded and unwanted and that nobody ever wanted to be with me.

The rest of me will go buy it some wool and maybe a book or three and chocolate - LOTS OF CHOCOLATE.

I took my knitting to great heights today

2006-06-18T00:38:00.000+02:00

After a suggestion by Miriam that we organise a suitable entry for the Knitty Calendar Contest I enlisted the services of Dave, assorted equipment and accessories, and took my (and Miriams) knitting to great heights. Assuming we get anywhere in the contest we'll point you to our picture. Otherwise we'll just wait until the closing date and post the pics.

Are you intrigued yet?

The Magic of Blocking

2006-06-16T23:23:00.000+02:00

Today I blocked the shawl (Kiri) that I finished knitting yesterday. Here it is before blocking:

During blocking (the 6 year old has been added for scale):

And finally, after blocking:

Here's a close up of the shawl itself. I have to resist the urge to run into the street yelling "DAMN, I'm GOOD".
Blocking is quite stressful for me. This is only the second time I have done this and I live in fear of a stitch popping as I pull the lace to shape. Alternatively I worry about the whole thing crumpling back to its original size when I remove the pins. Also, I have to make sure that the blocking venue is secure as the blocking assistant

or cat thinks that my bed is actually her bed. You will notice that, in a sheer fit of knitterly brilliance, I acquired a cat who can shed on ANY colour and STILL have it show up. If anyone were to ask which fiber I include in ALL my projects I can honestly reply "Angel hair" as Angel is the cat's name.

Michael, 16YO son, learned to knit today. I tried to show him a few years ago without success. I think the planets were in the correct alignment tonight or something because I showed him how to knit and he just took to it. He knitted 3 whole rows by himself while I was in the bath. Even better - he noticed when he made mistakes and went back and fixed them. I am a VERY proud mom tonight. See - all this AND he knits too.

I have finished some things

2006-06-15T19:18:00.000+02:00

OK - I'm following up on some of the comments and posting some FO pictures. Gina wanted to see my progress on the Spiral Petal Shawl. Well, I finished it and here it is. I just needs ends darned in and it might actually go to Jackie. It is pretty small (just covers my shoulders) and as it is done in acrylic (what can I say - I wanted a quick finish so I grabbed what I had) blocking won't do much good. I'm thinking of doing it again in SUPER Bulky but we will see.

I finished one of the Kiri shawls that I have on the needles. This will be blocked tomorrow (it's a public holiday) and posted off to the birthday girl on Saturday, assuming I can find a padded envelope that it will fit into.

I was also asked how such a little snake could eat a WHOLE mouse. Well, you feed it a really small mouse, called a pinky because they are so little they haven't got fur yet. Once Crystal gets a bit bigger she will be fed fuzzies, so called because they are a little bigger and have baby fuzz, not fur. When she gets bigger she will be fed larger mice and, depending on how big she gets (corn snakes grow to about 1.5 m in length) she might graduate to small rats.

My daughter, despite her current love affair with all things pink, is not the typical little girl. She takes after her mother that way.

I have Pneumonia

2006-06-15T00:49:00.000+02:00

Meant to post pictures yesterday, didn't get round to it. Didn't post pictures today either, mainly because I didn't take any. I have an excuse. I have pneumonia. Went to see the doctor yesterday morning. My back has been hurting for a week or so. The pain is in that particular spot in the vicinity of the bra strap that makes it well nigh impossible for you to poke your thumb in to see what the problem is. I KNEW it wasn't due to the weight of my breasts but was a little worried that it might be due to excessive knitting. I'd been applying the traditional remedy of taking pain pills and ignoring it under the assumption that if it was a strain it would be better by then.

Doctor made me pee in a bottle. Turns out your kidneys are up there. WOW - that was a learning curve for me. I always thought they were a lot lower down, closer to the bladder. Anyway - kidneys were fine so I got sent for chest X-rays. I had a cold about 2 weeks ago and most of the congestion was in my left lung. This, surprise, surprise, is about where the pain was. Radiologist, doctor, and another doctor looked at the pics and agree that I have pneumonia. I am, apparently, not the first person to have pneumonia with no cough. I have different antibiotics, 3 days off work, and pain pills. I don't know if this would have happened anyway but I have felt progressively worse since seeing the doctor.

It has not hampered my knitting. I am almost finished a shawl, have convinced the 16YO son that he should learn to knit, and have completed "At Knit's End". However, after reading page 86 and sniggering a bit I went home and did EXACTLY that. I didn't notice that I'd done a Russian join to the end of the cast on NOT the start of the new ball until I started to make the next stitch and realised how little wool there was to work with. I blame the drugs.

I think I'm in love

2006-06-12T23:43:00.000+02:00

I bought myself an omelette maker. A friend was raving about hers a while ago and I've been looking for one ever since. Yesterday I saw one and bought it. Jackie wanted a penguin waffle maker. Goodness knows WHY as she doesn't eat waffles. I insisted and took my new toy home.

This is the MOST AMAZING appliance I have ever owned. You just put it on to heat up, toss in some filling, cover it up with beaten eggs (I put them in a shaker and, well, shake), close the lid and wait. In a few minutes the lid starts to rise up (it reminds me of the Citroen a schoolmate's mom had - it had air suspension and did this whole WHOOSH thing as the system engaged) and before long you have an omelette a child.

I think I need more action in my life if I can get this excited over an appliance.

Yesterday was International KIP day

2006-06-11T22:42:00.000+02:00

AND - we got together and knitted in public. As suggested by Gail we arrived at Gloria Jeans in Nelson Mandela Square (formerly Sandton Square) for knitting and goodies. Here's the picture I got the manager to take of us :

From left to right we are: Miriam, Carol, a waitress who wanted to be in the picture and was told to hold a sock and act like she was knitting, Gail, Ingrid and ME. Miriam and I (OK - just me) pointed out that, unless the other ladies were sporting hand knitted underwear or socks WE were the only participants wearing hand knitted items.

There is, however, a much better picture of us all (once we'd moved from the table to some couches) taken by Miriam's husband, Nico, at the Fiber Fever group home page. I look a lot less FAT in this one, so maybe that's why I like it more. HMMM - it would seem that husbands DO actually have some uses, after all. Maybe it's just that she hit the jackpot and got one of the good ones?

Gail suggested that we bring along any WIPs or UFO's of interest. I seem to have the biggest collection - 2 big shopping bags and a rucksack. I think I need to do a recon of what I have on the needles and see about finishing some things up.

I did, however, get Ingrid started on knitting socks. I think the poor woman is still in shock. In the space of an hour she learned how to knit a tension swatch in the round, do a provisional cast on, and how to do short rows. Eventually she claimed she had to rush off to feed her kittens but she DID promise to come visit me during lunch next week to get some more tips. At least this way she'll have some knitting skills to teach her mom the next time she visits.

Hope you all did some public knitting and had as much fun as we all did!

The Snake has eaten

2006-06-09T23:30:00.000+02:00

Crystal version 2 is NOT overstressed. She ate her mouse quite happily, Jackie is delighted, and all is currently good with the Wagner reptile.

I have an international KIP day meeting with friends tomorrow at 10:30. I meet the creche teacher on Sunday for feedback on the girl child. Other than that my weekend is MINE (and the kids, of course). I plan on knitting.

Pictures for you

2006-06-05T23:19:00.000+02:00

Hi Everybody
Just to keep everybody quiet, here's a picture of the wool I got on Saturday. The Opal was a gift from Miriam - Thanks Miriam - I'll get that on the needles ASAP.

Also, just so you know I do love my kitty, here's a pic of her snuggling up on my pillows, on my bed, under my covers. Doesn't she look adorable?

I was planning on posting these yesterday, but Blogger didn't agree. It's working again now so ENJOY!

What I did on my weekend

2006-06-04T22:42:00.000+02:00

WOW - I have had one BUSY weekend. Time to shop but not to sort out pics. They will follow tomorrow.

Saturday morning was a mad run around of the monthly shop.

Then I met Ingrid at Arthur Bales (she doesn't have a blog or I'd link to her) where we did some shopping. I already have FAR too much yarn but bought enough nice chunky stuff to make 2 quick knit sweaters. I've been knitting mostly socks lately so this seems to go so quickly. Ingrid also got yarn for two scarves, yarn for a nice chunky sweater (I need to help her out a bit as she, poor thing, has left all her knitting needles with her mom and needs a push to knit without a commercial pattern for the sweater). Then to Mama Tembo's for a snack. Daughter liked the kids play centre and trampoline. We bribed her with a visit to Ingrid's kittens to get her away.

Then home to meet Miriam who said such nice things about me on her blog. It was fun to play with her wheel for a bit and even more fun to see what a good time she was having with the spinning. The cat really appreciated being kept all snuggly warm by her rear end. I usually just pull the "It's MY house" card, and sit on her until she moves and I get a nice warm seat.

Sunday was more shopping, visited Jane for tea and scones, saw how happy she was to get one of her basset hounds back from the vet, a bit of a nap with the daughter (we were both a bit tired after all the running round on Saturday), started on the first chunky sweater - I need to track down 15mm circular needles for the other one - and did some mom stuff.

All in all a pretty good weekend. Just wish it was a bit longer.

Will post pics tomorrow.

What I have been up to

2006-06-03T00:15:00.000+02:00

First and foremost, a welcome to the newest member of the family. This is the first version of Jackie's pet snake. She got it a few weeks ago but I've just downloaded the pics from the camera. She now has a new version of Crystal. The first one visited the pet shop to see why it wasn't eating. Turns out Jackie had been playing with it too much and it was too stressed to eat. She now has a replacement and I assume that the original snake is now in a nice quiet cage taking lots of snakey Prozac.

Now on to the knitting. Here are the two pairs of socks that will have the ends darned in once I find my needle or purchase a replacement. The white one is from the Six Sox knitalong, the striped one I did as a practice run of a toe-up pattern I got from the sock pattern generator here. I wanted to use the same pattern for Pomatomus but was less concerned about ripping a plain stocking stitch sock if things didn't work out. This sock kept me sane on a particularly tedious course. I knitted the straight bits in the class, turned the heels while watching TV, and even did some knitting while at the movies. This is the fastest I have ever finished a pair of socks. All in all it must have taken me a little over a week.

Here's Pomatomus. I'm doing this one sock at a time as the pattern mentions the need to move stitches around and that's much easier to do on DPNs than one circular needle with two socks on it. This was the bluest yarn I could find in my stash, and I'm wondering if the striping doesn't detract too much from the pattern. Then again, it isn't THAT obvious and in a way I think it adds to the overall effect.

This is a little pink number that I'm making for Jackie (who had her first knitting lesson this evening) with the same basic principle as Glampyre's minisweater or boobholder. You might want to turn your sound down as this thing just SCREAMS "I'm 6, I love Barbie, I love pink, I love fluffy!" at the top of it's voice.

Finally, these are my Fisherman's socks from one of the MANY sock knitting groups I'm signed up for. Can't really remember which one right now but will post when I remember. This is my first use of cabling without a cable needle which I learned by looking here and here. It was a bit fiddly at first but it's getting easier all the time.

Hopefully that will satisfy Gina who moaned about the lack of photos in the comments.

I was going to post some pictures .....

2006-06-02T02:30:00.000+02:00

BUT - it's almost 10:30 pm here and I really need to get some sleep before work tomorrow.

I was at my knitty group meeting and we kind of lost track of time. The place started switching the lights on and off and ostentatiously closing the doors so we got the hint.

We had 3 people there tonight - Miriam, Ingrid and me. Miriam and I knitted socks, I showed off my new skill - I've just learned to cable without a cable needle, and Ingrid sat there looking miserable and complaining about how much better our knitting looked than hers. As she didn't BRING any knitting with her we had no chance to do a real comparison so she might just have been moaning for no reason at all.

I MUST take photos as I have 2 almost completed pairs of socks to show off and two partial pairs. Will try to do that tomorrow. The almost completed socks just need ends darned in but my darning needles have gone AWOL. I have also managed to misplace a BRAND NEW 2.5mm circular needle. I'll go past the shops on the weekend and buy replacements. That is the best way to ensure that I'll find the first lot. I've also misplaced a tape measure, the only one I have that shows measurements in inches and centimetres. I'm hoping that it's hanging out with the assorted missing needles and will reappear along with them when they hear the siren call of their replacements. Am I the only person this happens to?

Miriam has just bought a wheel and will be visiting me on Saturday for a spinning session. Ingrid might come past for a sock knitting lesson, and maybe Jackie, who told me today that her friend's mom is STUPID as she doesn't know how to knit, will get back into the spinning thing and actually TRY her Pinkie wheel instead of using it as a little clothes horse.

Jackie does actually want me to teach her to knit so I'm going to try that tomorrow evening. She wanted to try tomorrow morning but I explained that I need to go to work.

I will post pictures tomorow, PROMISE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

2006-05-03T23:27:00.000+02:00

Hi there everybody. Today is my birthday. As my brother KINDLY pointed out to me this morning I am now 6 times older than my daughter.

I have also been reminded that I forgot to tell the world that my son turned 16 on 13 March. If I did remember then it's obviously senility setting in.

On the plus side I finished this :

Which looks like this close up :

This is a patternless baby blanket inspired by the Yarn Harlot's blankies for the Tinks. Unlike our beloved Stephanie, I do not labour under the belief that a baby will wait for it's knitting so this is finished well in advance of the due date. Not as well in advance as I first thought as I had to rip out the entire border as I didn't pick up enough stitches, but well in advance enough.

It was a nice, brainless, knit. I did the garter stitch middle until it was getting on my nerves and knitted the border until I was close to running out of yarn and SERIOUSLY starting to hate the whole thing. I'm just waiting to hear if either of the parents are allergis to cats. If they are I need to give this a GOOD wash before it goes to it's new home.

I'm going to ask for a pic of the baby in the blanket. If I do get one I'll post it here for your viewing pleasure.

Have a good day people. I'm off to eat black forest dessert. Everything has zero calories when it's your birthday - right?

OK I'm back Again

2006-05-01T00:20:00.000+02:00

OK – I’m back (Again). Just as I decided that the time was right to share some more of my life with you, TELKOM decided to get in the way and – you guessed it – my phone stopped working. This was Wednesday morning and they finally got round to it yesterday. The cable was wet.

So – on to the things I wanted to tell you about sooner.

I got this in the mail :

The patterns are GORGEOUS, I’m still busy with the first Yarn Harlot book, and I’m trying to work out how to morph the space-time continuum to get to knit EVERYTHING I want and still read these books cover to cover.

I made some progress on my sixth sense socks :

And a little bit of progress on my jaywalkers :

I also got round to taking a picture of one of the Kiri shawls I have on the needles. It’s as big as the seat on a dining room chair but should be pretty enormous once it’s blocked.

I also finished a baby blanket but I'll darn all the ends in first before I take a picture. If only my house had tidied itself up while I was doing all this knitting things would be marvellous. AH WELL - If knitters ruled the universe this sort of thing would happen all the time.

OK – all for today. Will post more tomorrow.

I am so FRUSTRATED!

2006-04-23T17:56:00.000+02:00

Bugger this! I signed up for gym in the vain hope that I'd have a chance to get out of the house and actually get into a shape other than "out of". Well, despite putting up timetables and getting promises of assistance from the family, unless I actually tie them down I don't get to go.

Today I was planning on going to Yoga at 5:30. I TOLD my brother this. He SAID he'd come in to keep an eye on the kids (after stern reminders from me) so I could go. Well, I got busy making cupcakes and sort of assumed he'd pop in at about 5, say something like "Here I am, shouldn't you go get ready?". HELL NO! He wanders in, I ask him what time it is, he says 5:25. I resist the urge to kill him in front of my 6YO, indulge in some theraputic yelling, and instead of getting in some stretching and relaxing get in 4 chocolate cupcakes instead. GEE - isn't that going to do WONDERS for my waistline?

I've also been trying to find route maps for the municiapl bus sytem. No such chance. All you can get is a pdf file of the timetables. Now that is SO USEFUL.

AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH

On a lighter note I'm almost finished my Sixth sense socks, my Jaywalkers are coming along nicely, and they've finished chopping down the trees so my next week of leave should be chainsaw free.

I want to run away.

I have been a BUSY Girl

2006-04-18T19:15:00.000+02:00

I have been a busy girl.

I changed this

Into this

With assistance from my brother, son, a drill borrowed from a friend, LOTS of bad language and 2 hours of all our lives. I am WOMAN. Watch me hang blinds.

I also tried the prescription bottle nostepinde as suggested on the Townsend Knit Along. It worked an absolute charm, but I think a slightly bigger bottle would come in handy. You can see the procedure below.

The bottle used to contain Slow Mag, I borrowed the swift, the yarn is Opal hand dyed colour number 20 and the instructions are from Hatchtown farm.

The ball begins.

It grows.

And grows.

And GROWS

And finally leaves the bottle.

Then, having converted a skein into a centre pull ball I used my barrel warping mill (for the first time ever – I also have a loom that currently functions as a clothes horse) like so:

To convert the ball into two skeins of equal length. I wound one into a ball from the inside of the skein out and the other into a ball from the outside of the skein in. This gave me two balls with the colours running in the same direction. See – aren’t they pretty.

Which I am using to knit Jaywalkers. I should, of course, be finishing my socks for the SixSox knitalong but these are calling my name.

Also, when I was downloading these pictures I found some photos I don’t remember taking. This is me taking a nap. I CERTAINLY didn’t take this picture. I remember the cat being there but not the teddy.

See – more teddy pictures.

FINALLY – the culprit revealed in a sneaky self portrait.

Moral of the story – don’t let your 6YO learn how to use the digital camera!

BOY - it's been a WHILE!

2006-04-14T19:31:00.000+02:00

OK – I am back. I have decided that I need to get a bit of discipline and start posting something at least once a week.

Things have been a bit hectic here at the Wagner residence. I have, despite a LOT of provocation, managed not to kill my son or brother. They both need lessons in common sense and "not doing things that will make mom / Jayne want to kill them". My daughter lost her first tooth, and I found out how to knit two socks on one circular needle.

In other news, I’ve joined the wonderful world of network marketing (a link to my retail site will follow once I get it organised) and if you’d like to know more in the meantime just drop me a line at dwagner at mweb dot co dot za. This will have to do until I figure out how to put in one of those nifty little links that says “e-mail me”.

I've also joined a gym and have been having some serious fun trying all the classes - Plates, Aquarobics and Spinning so far. More to follow as they fit into my schedule.

SO – here are some pics for your visual amusement:

Jackie with her gap :

My socks :
Pattern – Six Sox knitalong – April 2006 pattern
Yarn – Trekking XXL Colour 43
Needle size – 2mm
Model – my feet

Also, on the sock front, my sock yarn was featured in a “Flash your stash” pic. Fame at last!

Must be off now to eat dinner and do mom stuff. Will do my best to post something tomorrow too.

No - I haven't fallen off the planet

2006-03-22T19:23:00.000+02:00

It just feels like a good idea right now.

Things have been SO NUTS around here and feeling EXHAUSTED all the time hasn't helped. I told the doctor that the problem must be that he's trying to adjust my thyroid hormone levels to what is "normal" for the "average" person. I didn't have my levels checked when I was feeling fine. "Maybe I'm abnormal" I said. Credit to the doc - he didn't disintegrate into laughter at that comment, but he did go a bit red in the face.

Anyhow - must get my rear in gear to take some progress pics. To my credit, I have been knitting and I will have my first (almost) pair of socks finished soon. They're (almost) a pair as I did the first one according to the pattern but didn't like the way the toe or heel felt so I'm doing the second one differently. If I like the way the revised version feels I'll rip out the first one and re-knit it.

OK - must go do mom things and try to stay awake.

Oh yeah, I'm trying to quit coffee - 8 or more cups a day CANNOT be good for me. 2 days now with only 2 cups. Of course, I'm now drinking tea but I don't like that as much so I drink a lot less. I suppose it's the lesser of two evils.

The joys of Motherhood!

2006-02-26T11:17:00.000+02:00

This Sunday I was dragged out of bed at 5:30 by my 6YO daughter (notice the absence of "dear") who was REALLY awake and who woke me up by turning the room light on. Now sometimes I can get back to sleep after something like that but not today.

Fine so far - daughter watching DVD, mom catching up on internet time, solicitously brings daughter a glass of juice, things seem OK. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER!

As I was writing a supportive post for somebody on Knitters Review who is having a hard time with weaning off anit-depressants I hear the words EVERY mother dreads - "I'm sorry mommy - I messed - I'll help you clean it up". Daughter, against ALL instructions to the contrary, has placed her glass on the arm of her chair not on a table. Glass was almost full of Orange Tang. Chair was right next to the cupboard that is FULL of the kids video collection.

I rush out to get paper, yell at daughter who has stepped in the mess to take her shoes off so she doesn't track it EVERYWHERE (I have wooden floors). Does she say "yes mom" as suits a child who has just spread juice all over the floor. HELL NO! She says "They're not shoes, they're slippers". I refrained from killing her but it DID NOT improve my mood. I sent her to the kitchen to put the glass in the sink and to bring me kitchen roll. I wait. I wait some more. I go to the kitchen to check that she hasn't been eaten by the cat or encountered some killer creepy crawley. She is getting herself some frozen youghurt.

My mood DOES NOT improve some more. I take kitchen roll and realise that juice has permeated right under the cupboard mentioned above. It is too heavy to move. I begin to remove all videos. I empty cupboard, remove door, and try to tip it over while sidestepping my son's dirty laundry and artwork that he has left lying all over my lounge. The shelf, which I had forgotten about, falls out and lands on my foot. I use inappropriate language, remove the shelf, and drag my son from his bed to clean up the crap I was hoping he would have cleaned up before bed last night.

I popped here to write this in an attempt to let off steam while the paper soaks up the juice. THANK GOODNESS my cleaning lady comes in on Monday. My lounge is currently citrus scented. I hope the ants don't smell it.

Tell me - do any parenting books warn you about this?

I think I need to leave them both with my brother and go out for a Grande Wild Mocha and a Chocolate Brownie. So much for watching my waistline and cutting down on caffeine. I suppose in the greater scale of things it's better than killing the kids. OH YEAH - it's just gone 7 and nowhere will be open for an hour or two. I think a cup of instant and a biscuit will have to do me.

Don't get me wrong - I love them lots - I just don't LIKE them right now.

Too Tired for a REAL post

2006-02-25T00:52:00.000+02:00

Ok - had a busy week, had a busy day, too tired for a real post. Today was payday, got my hair cut, took family shopping, bought daughter 4 pairs of shoes, bought me 5 pairs of shoes. Had to slip the tan boots past the daughter as she didn't approve. Took family out to dinner.

Did some surfing. Found this. I'm particularly fond of number 4. I have an underactive thyroid and low blood pressure and a BUSY life so I'm always tired and snoozing for that length of time sounds GOOD.

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Jayne!

You should always store Jayne in an airtight container in the fridge.
Jayne cannot jump.
Louisa May Alcott, author of 'Little Jayne', hated Jayne and only wrote the book at her publisher's request.
Jayne can sleep for three and a half years.
The difference between Jayne and a village is that Jayne does not have a church!
If you lie on your back with your legs stretched it is impossible to sink in Jayne!
An average beaver can cut down Jayne every year.
Jayneocracy is government by Jayne!
Jayne can drink over 25 gallons of water at a time.
Jayne can not regurgitate!

Lots of Pictures today

2006-02-21T19:05:00.000+02:00

Hi Everybody. I haven’t posted much for a while so I’m making up today.

First the bad news. I have decided to withdraw from the Knitting Olympics. I don’t know if it’s the sheer volume of knitting or the fact that I’m doing Fair Isle SERIOUSLY for the first time in my life or if it’s just that I’m not really used to holding yarn in both hands, but my hands and shoulders are SORE. I know that some of this is stress, but I do a lot of PC work and have had RSI issues in the past so I’d rather play it safe and retire hurt now rather than waiting for the doctor to tell me to stop. I will indeed finish the jacket. It is looking WONDERFUL and everybody who sees it loves it. I’m well into my second repeat of the pattern but not even half way to the Olympic finish line. I feel like such a failure.

Now the good news. I went shopping for sock yarn online here and it arrived yesterday. I had actually forgotten just how much I had ordered and was surprised by the size of the parcel. I got a lot of bulk boxes and told them to surprise me with the colours. There were 40 balls and 7 skeins in total.

Here’s EVERYTHING laid out on my bed.

Here’s the Opal yarn.

Here’s the Trekking.

Here’s the Regia.

Here’s the On Line and Sokka.

AND – here’s the Opal hand dyed stuff. Now I just need more needles so I can knit lots of socks at the same time.

I also decided to get out and meet people so I went to a Honey Fashion Accessories launch and signed up to sell the stuff. I don’t really need the cash but their stuff is GORGEOUS and it’s a way to get out of the house every now and again and meet people I don’t work with every day.

February 14th 2006 was .....

2006-02-15T19:10:00.000+02:00

Jackie's 6th birthday. She had her party on Saturday, her presents yesterday, and her party at school today. I baked and iced 2 cakes, made 30 party bags, entertained a pile of kids (in my house rather than my garden due to rain) and tried to stick to my KO schedule despite a total lack of time to knit. Girl - child birthday stuff is now over for a year, Boy - child birthday stuff will start in March when he turns 16. The pictures you see somewhere around this text are the cake (Cassie from "Dragon Tales" in case you are wondering what the picture is supposed to be) and the birthday girl in her Ballet clothes and Birthday crown.

I have also uploaded some pictures of my Olympic Knitting progress. I am almost through one whole pattern repeat. I need to finish another 3 (OK, one row short of another 3) to reach the armholes and my Olympic Goal. I'm hoping to pick up speed now there is no more Birthday stuff to distract me.

This is a close up

And this is a picture of the whole thing.

I'm really quite impressed at how well it is turning out. The colours are pretty true to life, and much more subdued than the picture at Virtual Yarns and the picture on the pattern leaflet. I think I like this A LOT!

Good News and Bad News

2006-02-12T23:00:00.000+02:00

It is Day 3 of the Knitting Olympics. I have good news and I have BAD NEWS.

The good news is that, despite it pouring with rain yesterday afternoon, my daughter's Birthday Party went VERY WELL. I got the cake finished, she was delighted, and my house is still standing. Photos and more info will follow when I have time to do something other than knit on my Olympic project.

The bad news is that, this morning, while admiring the progress that I had made, I realised that my jacket (knitted in the round) had a TWIST in it. It was only while I was ripping it out that I realised that I could probably just have cut the steek early, untwisted, and carried on, but it's too late for that now. I have just reached the point I was at this morning. At least I'm past the garter stitch edging - For the record it is a PAIN doing colour work in garter stitch in the round as you have to do every second row in purl and it is a BUGGER to keep moving the wool back and forth to keep the little draggy bits at the back.

HOWEVER, now I am on to knitting EVERY row things should speed up. It is looking GORGEOUS and feeling lovely too. Photos will follow when I get a bit ahead on the knitting.

Off to knit some more.

GO TEAM WALES, GO TEAM SOUTH AFRICA!

Knitting Olympics - Day 1

2006-02-10T23:34:00.000+02:00

OK - it is the first day of the Knitting Olympics and I have done - NOTHING!

I spent the day at one of the mines, got home late, need to make a cake and party packs for my daughter's birthday tomorrow, and will perhaps get to cast something on. Doesn't help that my oven appears to be acting up and I have a cake with burned edges and a raw centre. My daughter also wants a picture of Cassie from Dragon Tales on the thing. I have talked her out of having the whole picture and she has agreed to settle for just the face which will hopefully be easier for me to do.

Considering the burned edges I just might do a "shaped" cake, assuming the middle cooks. Otherwise I'll be off to the home industry shop tomorrow looking for a rectangular shaped cake to ice. Of course, if the little Miss Madam had made her mind up earlier I could have had one MADE.

AH WELL - the joys of motherhood never cease. This too shall pass. Before I notice it she will be a teenager and TOO COOL or ON DIET to want a cake made by me.

Today, incidentally, is not just the first day of the KO, it is the 6th anniversary of my EX dumping me. The mathematically minded will realise that, consdering my daughter has her birthday on Valentine's Day, this means that I got dumped the day my daughter was due. What can I say, his timing was ALWAYS impeccable.

Alright - must go and see if turning off the oven will lower the temperature enough for the middle of the cake to cook. I'll hopefully have some progress to post about tomorrow or I'll be one of the Olympic "also rans".

Knitting in Public

2006-02-08T23:42:00.000+02:00

OK - I have been stuck in a worshop since Monday. Full attention has been required but the use of hands has been sporadic at best. I have been eating TOO MANY of those little peppermints they put on the tables and drinking far too much coffee.

Today I took my knitting in with me. I got some work done on my sock and on a baby blanket. It's all part of my training for the Knitting Olympics which will start on Friday. I'm just amazed at how well everybody took it. I got a few annoying requests to be "added to the list for socks" but I explained to them that I have a job and THIS is a hobby. If I offer to make something (like the baby blanket) it is a hobby. If they ask me to make something (like socks) it becomes a job and they have to pay me the same hourly rate as my employer. They can't AFFORD me.

My daughter is having her birthday party on Saturday. Her birthday is on Valentine's Day but this is easier for a mom who works full day Monday to Friday. She handed out invitations over a week ago, I specifically asked that they reply, I invited the whole class - 20 kids. Number of calls to confirm - 2! Am I the only one who thinks that this is RUDE?

Anyway - must go to knit (what I want to be doing) or make party bags (what I should be doing). Still have to figure out how I'm going to make a Barbie cake in time for the party. At least my brother is off to house sit for a friend tomorrow so I'll get a break from him. He is getting on my nerves so much lately. I know I should just chill but sometimes it's not possible for me. I think the combination of him and my 15YO son who seems to think that schoolwork will do itself if he ignores it long enough is just getting to me. It doesn't help that the weather has been gloomy for AGES and doesn't seem to be clearing up.

Maybe the thrill of competing in the Olympics will jolt me out of this funk.

No longer a Sock Virgin!

2006-02-06T23:58:00.000+02:00

Woo Hoo - I turned my first heel today! I joined the Six Sox knitalong and am busy with the Feb / March sock. I'm trying to get as much done now as possible so I don't feel so bad about abandoning them when it becomes "all Olympic Knitting all the time". This will happen on Friday - think I might finish the sock by then?

This is what the leg looks like - no you can't see the heel on this one as I hadn't done it when I took the photo and haven't had time to take a photo of my progress. This is my first sock and my first beaded knitting.

I did try a sock years ago but lost interest while knitting the heel flap. I have matured. I am really quite impressed with myself. I did GOOD!

FINALLY doing the tagging thing

2006-02-05T12:00:00.000+02:00

OK - in one of my first comments I was tagged. I have finally finished the thing and, here it is. It didn't take that long to do, just took me forever to get round to it.

Four jobs you have had in your life
Well – now that I think about it I’ve only worked in 4 places SO:
1. Cahier in a bottle store
2. Actuarial clerk type stuff at Southern Life
3. Actuarial clerk type stuff at Alexander Forbes
4. Various jobs at AAC / DBCM , different titles but basically the same general stuff

Four movies you could watch over and over
1. The Incredibles
2. Anything with Wallace and Gromit
3. Love Actually, just without somebody sitting next to me constantly asking “Who is THAT” or “Why’s he changed his hair” or “What’s happening NOW” like I had at the (too full to move to a different seat) cinema
4. Bend it Like Beckham

Four places you have lived
1. Port Talbot, Wales
2. Newcastle, South Africa
3. Witbank, South Africa
4. Benoni, South Africa
My dad is a metallurgist so I got to grow up in some of the most boring mining towns know to humanity. Now live in Randburg, South Africa and work for a mining company – go figure

Four TV shows you love to watch
1. The Amazing Race – just wish the contestants could hear my comments when for the nth series in a row they put unleaded petrol into a tank clearly marked as “Diesel”
2. Strong Medicine
3. Charmed
4. Firefly

Four places you have been on vacation
1. Butlins
2. Durban
3. Kruger Park
4. Drakensberg

Four websites you visit daily
1. Knitting Solo
2. Yarn Harlot
3. Yahoo Groups
4. Knitter's Review

Four places you'd rather be right now
1. Right here but with all my laundry out of the way and the meals cooked for the rest of my life
2. At the airport, about to take my kids and my mom to see my Grandad who the kids have never seen (he’s my only surviving grandparent) and who neither I nor my mom have seen for over 20 years
3. One of the Disney theme parks, with the kids and free passes to the front of the line for all the rides we want to go on
4. Somewhere I get to sleep late, get pampered, do whatever I want whenever I want, with bottomless credit cards and all the time I’ve ever wanted to do all the things I’ve ever wanted to

Four bloggers you are tagging
In the spirit of Team Wales – Jamaican Bobsledders of the Knitting World...
1. Aunt Gerry
2. fyberduck
3. Anisa
And, in the interest of helping a friend get her blog and her life back to normal
4. Gina

I hope nobody minds being tagged. If you do, just ignore me and act like I don't exist.

We apologise for the break in transmission

2006-02-02T20:37:00.000+02:00

Hi there everybody
Sorry for the big gap since the last post but things got a bit hectic round here. Work, the weekend, and a business trip kind of put a crimp in all my plans to immortalise myself in prose on my blog.
I'm just happy that I had some time to knit, on Eris, not Rogue - I see that nobody pointed out my mistake. HMM - note to self - that was probably because NOBODY read that post. Anyway - Rogue WILL be knit in the round when I've finished fiddling with the pattern. I HATE HATE HATE sewing up seams.
In the meantime I have been knitting on Eris, a Kiri shawl that has a deadline and, just in case I was thinking that I was cutting down on the old WIP list I started up a baby blanket for a colleague due in May.
Need to shut up now and go do mom stuff.
Still busy with the countdown to the Knitting Olympics.
More things to come.

Team Buttons

2006-01-26T12:57:00.000+02:00

Today, I knitted on Rogue as training for the Knitting Olympics.

I was also tagged but I will sort that out on the weekend when I have some time to collate my responses.

I also created a buton for "Team South Africa" as I got a bit tired of all the other countries having buttons.

I also signed up for "Team Wales" as I was born there. As I have dual nationality I see no reason not to belong to both teams.
Other than that there's not much to say today. I wound up (HA HA) spinning a bit of both fibers I paraded before you on Tuesday. Now it is RAINING and miserable so I'm off to knit some more. I'm only 2 rows away from the sleeve / body split so I'm feeling GOOD!

Knitting Olympics (and some Spinning)

2006-01-24T23:07:00.000+02:00

Firstly - thanks for the comments! It is nice to know that SOMEBODY likes my blog, other than me.

OK – I promised to write something about my Knitting Olympics entry today. Actually. I meant to write something yesterday but I got carried away with my daughter and the mittens. BTW – they were a GREAT hit, and, much to her delight and my disgust (I have laundry that needs to dry) it was rainy and cold this morning so she got to wear them to crèche. So much for Sunny South Africa.

I am planning to knit Zauberflote – I was initially planning on doing the whole thing in 16 days, but after I set up my tracking spreadsheet I realised that I’d need to knit for about 6 hours a day to manage that. As I currently get about 2 hours a day if I’m lucky – thanks to work and kids – we all know the drill, I decided to revise my target and will aim to have the body completed up to the point where I need to start knitting the armhole steeks.

The picture on the left is the current view of the project. The swatch is below it. It would also appear to be upside down but that will distract you from the mistake I made when swatching because I forgot there was an edge stitch to be knitted at the EDGE and included it in the PATTERN. I can’t tell you how long it took me before I realised what a twit I’d been. AH well, better it happens when I’m swatching than when I’m knitting.

I will, however, be less likely to make mistakes when I do the REAL THING as I will be using LOTS of the thingies in the picture on the right. Aren’t they pretty? I got a pile of beads and made myself 100+ stitch markers. I know little loops of yarn would be cheaper but I can knit without looking at my hands. This comes in handy when knitting Fair Isle as I can look at the chart and let my hands follow what I see instead of constantly looking from the one to the other. If I use loops of yarn I can’t always tell the difference between a marker and a stitch and have a tendency to either drop them or knit into them. This leads to much unladylike language.

Now, as today is Tuesday and I have my weekly ONE mostly uninterrupted hour of TV tonight I am going to follow the example of the Yarn Harlot and spin. Tuesday night is “Reality TV” night and I’ll spin while watching “The Amazing Race”. The question now, naturally, is what to spin? It’s been such a LONG time since I’ve done any spinning so I am spoiled for choice. I could spin this fiber :

Please note the snazzy "before" and "after" pics. Very yummy stuff this – from Grafton Fibers if you are interested. HMM - wonder if there will be a rush based on this?

Or else I could spin some of this which is a 12-step rainbow I dyed from the top row of colours. This is getting spun on a drop spindle.

Decisions decisions decisions. I’ll tell you what I choose tomorrow. SEE – not just random stuff – you get suspense and mystery too.

Before I go, here’s the other cat, Princess, hiding in her cat cave. YES, it IS a crap picture, she was HIDING. Just after this photo was taken she ran away to hide in a convenient cupboard. Princess, despite her tender age (she is barely two), is the veteran of two cautionary tales, “Why you should NEVER take your 4YO to the vet” and “Why cats and plastic bags DO NOT MIX”. These will be shared with you once I run out of other things to say.
Ta Ta for now.

First Finish of 2006

2006-01-23T23:38:00.000+02:00

In order to make up for my REALLY SHORT first entry and TOTAL LACK of subsequent posts I thought I’d make up for it and do a HUGE post today.

First off – here is my first finish for 2006 modelled by the happy recipient, my 5YO (6 on Valentine’s Day) daughter Jacqueline.

It isn’t that obvious in this picture, but she is REALLY NUTS about the fingerless mittens as you can see here.

They’re adapted from this Knit Picks pattern. The pattern called for them to be knit flat and then seamed up the back. Personally I’d rather do housework than sew up knitting (YES – I hate it that much) so I knit them in the round. These were made mainly so that I could keep MY pair which, being a good mommy, I have not yet finished so that my daughter could get hers first.

I’d also like to introduce one of my cats. This is Angel. The kids chose her name as they declared she would be an angel. Well, the adults in the family have renamed her Angel – preceded by a silent “Fallen” or “Dark” as that is more appropriate. She is also known as the “Kamikaze Monster Mog” or, according to the other cat, Princess (photo to follow) “OH NO – YOU AGAIN”. My cats do not co-habit peacefully. They will, after over a year in the same house, sit at opposite ends of the lounge and hiss and spit at each other. If they are closer than, say 50cm apart they will fight and hiss and swear at each other in cat.

We also have 4 dogs, I have a 15YO son, Michael and my brother, Leslie, lives with us too. Photos that are not shown today will follow once I get my rear in gear to crop some photos and post them.

That will have to do for today. I’ll post something about my plans for the Knitting Olympics tomorrow.

Welcome to my Blog

2006-01-19T05:56:00.000+02:00

Hi Everybody
Working on the (probably wrong) assumption that somebody out there might find my life interesting I decided to start a blog. Also, I decided to sign up for the Knitting Olympics here.

This is a work in progress, if anything seems strange, LIVE WITH IT.

It will get better with time - BTW - that's what the 48 hour day thing is about - that's what I need to get everything DONE.