New Recruit!

Welcome our new sister to the hood!
Shell had been mentioning that she'd like to learn to knit so we didn't waste any time and got her clicking!

It looks here as though she's not having such an awesome time - but I promise that's to do with the photo-taking, not the knitting. For an excellent learner she was strangely shy about having her first rows photographed! Don't worry, I did get her permission though before posting this shot - I love it! The combination of pink knitting and ofensive gestures!

I am happy to report she is THRILLED with the craft and has already embarked on her first project! Hurrah for new recruits and the love of knitting!! :D

Forget diamonds...

Sometimes super glue really is a girl's best friend ;)

This fabulous yarn was hand-dyed by my sweetie when we were doing some yarn dying over a year ago and I decided to knit him up another stubby holder. The project lay forgotten for a little while and Lo! it was re-discovered during the pack-up-and-move! I remembered when I saw it that it had been languishing as I found it too hard to sew the strip of knitting on to the wet-suit like material.


Aha!! Enter the super glue... Fabulous! ;D

I love how the colours melded and moved when the yarn was knit up - it makes me think of stained glass windows - the light striking through them in magical mystical ways.

Packed Stash - and more!!

My goodness! You don't really realise how much STUFF you have until you need to pack it all up and carry it outside, lift it on to the ute, shift it somewhere, lift it down off the ute and put it in the new place! Ack! And let alone UNpacking too!

This is a shot of our very last load of gear on day 6 of 7 - phewww... as you can see it was already past sunset and we were ready for bed... But not only was the ute tray and ROOF of the car loaded up - there's a trailer outside the shot to unload there too! Gah!

We had a huge cull of all our possessions, only keeping what we really felt we needed or were sentimental about - and yet there was still SO much to move! It's a real wake up call to how material we are as a society, and how much of a bowerbird-nest-feathering-pack-rat-hoarder I am!!

While we were packing up our gear over the break I came across my lovely green suitcase, and after emptying out the books (cull), assorted clothes (cull) and such I've stored in there, forgotten, for over a year, I decided it would be the perfect transport for my stash!

Ha!!
How deluded was I...



I had quite a struggle to zip this puppy up and it's a BIG suitcase!



So I've decided... If I can't fit it in the suitcase - I can't have it.
That is my new stash limiter and I think it'll work pretty fantastically - I mean.. there's always space-saver vaccuum bags.. ;D

~ exhaustion ~

It's one of those times the level of exhaustion renders one unable to communicate coherently or with any volume what-so-ever, and in the blogging world that equates to having no energy to log on, write a lovely post, upload pictures etc etc..

It might have been something I could manage - perhaps a short post with a nice shot, a mini update - but we've staggered back to work after a WRETCHED 7 day R&R all of which (yes, all, right up to the last hour before taxi to the airport) was consumed by moving house - hideous.. and now back at work being smashed with urgent tasks and a new boss and all sorts of such drama!

So.. no pretty picture and no lovely post just yet - but soon I hope :) One of my friends up here who brought wool and needles back with her from R&R so I can teach her to knit! So soon I will have stories to tell of those knitting adventures, fantastic!

Totally freaky...

Ohmigoodness - can you imagine SLEEPING with this above you?!



The giant mutant rabbit completely unnerved me in the Donnie Darko movie so there's no way I could have this in my house.. I mean even those rabbit-ear pepper grinders at the grocery store remind me of the freaky bunny... *shudder*

p.s. Love the leggo bedhead though!

Therapy

Seldom do I allow myself to indulge in retail therapy.
But... whoooops! Seems I needed to feather the nest with something a little special and unique - a wee treat to brighten my day :)

I've admired Vildan's wonderful bags for a little while and finally took the plunge


GORGEOUS!

Two inside pockets, a key clip and that FABRIC!

Awesome bags such as this and many other fabulsou styles over at BayanHippo - check them out of you love delightful, functional bags!

pooh

Am feeling a bit rubbish and having a sook.

Will knuckle down and smash out as much work as I can today to feel productive, proud of myself and on top of things. Well, at least on top of things work wise. Life stuff feels all too overwhelming and stressful at the moment, and while I know my stuff pales in comparison to the rest of the world's woes.. I'm still having a sook

Spring cleaning of sorts

I'm feeling a little as though I have spring cleaned my knitting conscious - or at least am in the process of doing so. I've been looking at the lower section of my ravelry projects page - you know, all those ones down the bottom there after allll the other projects have loaded. The items that are either frogged or ZZZZZZZ... hibernating! That's right, the UFOs (UnFinished Objects)...

I decided it was time to deal with a few projects languishing there in a state of limbo. Either pick them up and finish them off, or frog them once and for all!
So I've made those decisions and feel so much better for it! A few projects had actually already been frogged, or never really got off the ground in the first place and the yarn has been repurposed, so I recategorised those and now am left with the following projects to finish off;

Tums the Hippo!
Anna Hrachovec

Knit for lovely little Bosko I'm SO close to finishing this one! All I need to do is seam him up and stuff him! I know Bosko will love little Tum Tum :) I'd be doing this right now but he's back at home, so will have to wait another 3 sleeps until R&R.

The beautiful Lace Ribbon Scarf
Veronik Avery

Knit with the most FANTASTIC handspun from Bekk, this one was put to the backburner because I hadn't gotten into the rhythm of the lace yet. The fine yarn and little needles made it more of a lace project than a social/travel knit. If I reframe my thinking to consider this lace, just like a lace shawl, I think I'll knit it in more appropriate places rather than in the semi dark in front of the tellie or at bbqs! I'm really looking forward to having getting back on to this one. The yarn is incredible and I'm so excited to see it progress! :)

Mosey
Susan Power

My lovely moseys! I've finished the first one - cast off and all, rather than the half finished state this phtoo shows. Need to do the i-cord and pompom for it then I'm half way! It's a thick yarn, so as long as I can find the rest of the yarn somewhere this one shouldn't be too hard to finish off either. If I'm quick about it, I'll have some great legwarmers in time for the cold weather!

This little knit doesn't have a pattern per se, it was a little swatch of sorts that I knit up to trial the Moda Vera bamboo when it first came out.

I decided to knit a little strip with a cable in the centre, and then sew it up into a wee coin purse. Now that I am equipt with Edwin at my side and some lovely fabrics, zips and thread, this should be a piece of cake to whip into shape!

And lastly, my Clapotis - by Kate Gilbert, an astounding 11,117 projects on ravelry!

This is the UFO I've taken from languishing on the pile and am working on right now, amongst my other current projects. Plugging along, it's really a very simple pattern and quite repetitive so shouldn't be too hard to memorise at all! I think because it's a project for me (hmm.. so are all of them actually..) I've always put this one off when a gift knit comes along, so haven't even knit it for long enough to get into the mindset and remember the pattern.

I would like to be UFO-less essentially. I think it's natural to have a few projects you've fallen out of love with, or need to put aside for a bit of breathing space. But I don't want to build up such a stash of forgotten knits like this again. It will feel great to work through them all and have lovely finished knits like I had always planned for these!! :D

Open letter to the Universe

Dear Universe,

RE: Craft Fair attendance

With all due and considerable respect Universe, why, Universe, oh WHY?!

I know the you are wonderful, perfectly balanced and true.

But WHY must the Craft & Quilt Fair come to WA when I'm moving house and will be far too crazy-go-nuts busy to attend!?

WHHHYYYY!!!

I don't mean to sound ungrateful, impetuous or like the troublemaker that I am.. but really, it's the cruellest joke in the world. In the entire world. And yes I'm aware of how melodramatic that statement sounds.

I pine for events like this. I YEARN for something like Maryland Sheep & Wool, or Stitches. And this, our closest comparison, comes to town and I can't make it!!

Perhaps you haven't considered the frustration of such timing as this?

If I wasn't on R&R and wouldn't be in Perth that's one thing.
If I was on R&R but holidaying or occupied somewhere else and wouldn't be there to attend.
But to be there, in Perth, on R&R but have far too much to do (none of it fun) in the 7 days of R&R and not enough time in the 7 days to do it all - I'm sure you can understand how taunting and outrageous it seems.

I mean, even if it was at the end of R&R so that if I work myself stupid and exhausted over the first few days to maybe reward myself with enough things done to spare a few hours at the fair. But since it's during the weekend there's no way enough will be done by then to justify. I mean, my MUM is even in town! My bestest buddy and most favourite companion for craft show attendance!

*dramatic sigh*

There must be a lesson to be learnt here, and in time I'll get it, I know. And really, I'm not so terribly distraught seeing as I don't have very much to spend at the show even if I were able to attend, and I wouldn't be able to spend much time in classes either. I'm sorry to have such a childish outburst, I just needed to have a quick vent about it and now I can move on.

Regards to Mother Nature, hope all is well with you both.

Sincerely ,

Sasha

p.s Wasn't the moon incredible this morning?! I mean.. the one on Earth - seeing as you're the universe and all you might have been distracted by other moons - but ours was especially fabulous this morning

Little Socks Largely Loved!

Remember these little socks?



Gifted to the lovely little boy, my long time childhood friend's first bubba, I have never seen them actually worn as he and his folks now live in another state, and we don't get to catch up very often. I heard they were well received though :)

They recently visited but I've been away in mid work-roster so wasn't able to come back to town to catch up. My other long time childhood friend Bink managed to catch up (the three of us were like the Three Musketeers, spent almost ALL our time together!) so I asked her for an update, this is what she said...

"He is absolutely adorable... he had the most ADORABLE cheeky monkey grin I've ever seen.
His favourite games seem to be throwing his lego around, and getting mum to put his socks on (the ones you made!! he LOVES them!!!) so that he can pull them off.. and then he hands them straight to mum to put them on again.. it goes for hours"

EEEE!!! He loves the socks I knit for him!



It's a magical wonderous thing when a fully grown person loves your handknits and completely appreciates them, but when a wee little person who doesn't even know that you created these things with one long piece of string and 5 little sticks over countless hours, if they still love and adore them, well that's just awesome isn't it!! :D

A Blissful Whispering Cast On

In the last few days I have cast on, and am making gentle progress on, a new projec - a project for ME, a project I've been stalking for some time... the Whisper Cardigan *contented sigh*

I liked the aesthetic of the Interweave Knits photoshoot and colours displaying this light breezey cardi straight away. I think that was the first to draw my attention. Then with a little hunting on Ravelry I saw the cardi working well for many figures, colours and a variety of uses too - dressed up, dressed down.

It's just the type of light yet warming shrug-style cardi that would work well for Australian Spring/Autumn evenings, where you need a little something to ward off cool breezes, but don't want anything too heavy or warm.

I decided my lovely skein of 100% Baby Alpaca newly received from A Verb For Keeping Warm would be perfect. Can you imagine? An entire cardi knit from laceweight!



I think the alpaca will lend a lovely light halo to the fabric, and the garment will be warm enough in this fibre despite the open gauge given by the 4.5mm needles.

I'm only a few rows in but even before I cast on I have been completely smitten with project! Bliss!

52 in 52 - April Recap

I seemed to have read quite voraciously through April and have four completed titles to add to my 52 Book Challenge list, and several more that I'm a goodly way through.

Carbonel - Barbara Sleigh
The Hundredth Monkey - Ken keyes, Jr
84 Charing Cross Rd - Helene Hanff
The Duchess of Bloomsbury St - Helene Hanff



All of these books are reasonabley slim on the volume, but rich and dense in the way they make me feel. Carbonel, and Barabra Sleigh's books are all set in times gone by and remind me of the seemingly "simple" ways of life back then. The importance of good manners, how tasty a home made sandwich can be, and the significance of appreciating the small pleasures in life.
Very sweet stories indeed.



The Hundredth Monkey gives an interesting concept based on the collective consciousness phenomenon noticed amongst Japanese monkeys (but perhaps erroneously extrapolated in this book). The Nuclear Threat theme is certianly not the buzz-word or major concern of the moment, but the cencepts and passion in the little book can be applied to most societal evils, perhaps we should distribute an Anti-GMO Hundredth Monkey edition...?

So my April cumulative tally of 12 books in 16 weeks (75%) is an improvement on March's 8 books across 12 weeks (66%) so we're on the Up-and-Up!

Joshua in his beanie!

If you follow this link to Jolene's blog, you'll see a shot of wee little Joshie in the beanie I knit for him!

Still a little large, but better to grow in to it than never fit it at all! Hurrah! :D

It is such apleasure to knit for loved ones who appreciate the hand-knits, and also have the item fit!! Woot woot!

Shawlette Shot

Another shot of the simple shawlette, in the method I favour wearing it.

It is absolutely the right size - I'm so relieved! I love it :)

Winding swiftly!

Ooooh!! There's action afoot!

Just look at that swift!

Whizzing and whirling around in its swiftly swirling fashion, transforming a long fabulously bending skein from curves of yarn into round woven CAKES!

Yum yum yum...

One Biege Step..

Knitting away at the Biege Step booties and so far have one finished.



I'm knitting in DK weight yarn, and pure cotton at that, so the booties are turning out... well rather large actually! I think wool would hold better and fingering would definitely give a more baby-like size. But nevermind! These can be grown into ;)



I'm loving this pattern and the resultant wee shoes - so sweet! So cute! Loving the half brioche stitch too.

Simple Shawlette - Blocked!

My simple shawlette (fashioned after Mary Heather's Simple Things) is finally cast off...

And now has even been blocked too!

I initially didn't want the edges scalloped, I had in mind a straight edge. But found I couldn't open up the eyelets without putting a little pressure there, so pointiness it is! And now I find I like them very much :)

I love blocking out shawls and am always surprised by the outcome...

With this little number I didn't expect much movement at all and was in fact a little concerned it wouldn't be very wearable - too short to tie around my neck.

However, as you can see it has stretched out and blocked very nicely indeed!!

I love the eyelet ridges and think I will use them in more projects in the future. Such a simple addition but I love the effect :)

Actions shots to follow of wearing the shawlette - I think it's a little item that will get a lot of use now the weather is cooling down!!

oh! P.S I am in LUFF with KOIGU! Can hardly wait to use it again - must hunt some out somewhere and hoard it like some sort of yarn obsessed squirrelly beaver!