Two

I'm still fairly struck down by this lergy - and at times like this a little Question and Answer time seems easier than original thought!!

Two names you go by:

1) Ferret

2) Knitnutt

Two things you are wearing right now:

1) Central Park Hoodie (handknit)

2) Rainbow shawlette around my neck

(Can you tell it's COLD!)

Two things you would want (or have) in a relationship:

1) Equality

2) Ridiculous and silly sense of humour

Two things you like to do:

1) Breathe in deeply

2) uhmm.. ohhh this is difficult.. uhhh.. KNIT!

Two things you want very badly at the moment:

1) To reach over and SHNORGLE my shweetie with cuddlings :D

2) To feel back to 100% (get rid of this lergy bug!)

Two things you did last night:

1) Watched a really bad ninja movie

2) Watched aforementioned movie WITHOUT knitting - very odd!

Two things you ate today:

1) Contraband cinnamon donut

2) Two nice flat mushies, cooked like a steak in butter and garlic

Two people you last talked to:

1) My shweetie

2) My Papa

Two things you're doing tomorrow:

1) Clearing/sorting /organising our storage room (nightmarish, but it'll feel good being able to find everything!)

2) Visiting my Gran :)

Two Favorite Holidays

(As in holidays/days off?)

1) Christimuss because it's such an awesome chunk of time off, plus there's decorations and fun food and all the family get together!

2) My Birthday - not an official holiday I know, but I have NEVER gone to work or school on my Birthday - ever. It's always a fun, relaxing day full of contentment and time with my loved ones :)

Two favourite beverages

1) Chocolate milk (in various forms - normal choc milk, thickshake, hot chocolate etc..)

2) Gin and Tonic

Two things about me! Things you may not have known.

1) I learnt to whistle very young - first heard whistling in the pram at age 1-and-a-half being pushed along by Mum! I imagine it was rather tuneless whistling at that point, so I've been working on that these last couple of decades

2) I have an anxiety disorder that I'm learning more about and becoming better (bit by bit!) at managing - but still sometimes get a nasty surprise from myself!

Two jobs I have had in my life:

1) Professional Fairy (tree fairy actually, if we're going to be precise, specialising in inter-species relations and PR through children's birthday parties!)

2) Coffee barrista

Two movies I would watch over and over:

1) Pride & Prejudice

2) Underworld

Two places I have lived:

1) The 'Top End' of Australia - Red dust, only two seasons of weather, and skies that go on forever

2) Switzerland - for a few months as a 12 year old, what an experience!

Two of my favourite foods:

1) Three Cheese Lasagne ( or any other ovenbaked Vegetarian dish made by my lovely Mum - they're ALL awesome!!)

2) Fresh mango

Two places I'd rather be right now:

1) Exploring our block in Tassie! (well maybe not RIGHT now, maybe snug in a tent on our block, since it's night time..)

2) Shnuggled up in bed with my shweetie (but I'm at a close second right now - shnuggled up next to him on the couch, so I can't complain!!)

Who I will tag for this!

1) Michelle of momo4ever.com!

2) Bon of threetomatoesshort

But of course, you both know that the tagging is by no means compulsory :) Consider it more of a polite invitation!

The theory is that you will learn a lot of little known facts about those whom you know.

Apologies for the poor attempt at a blog post, everyone! As soon as I'm feeling a little perkier and less head-congested I'll crack out some photos and updates :) Hope you're all well and enjoying the weather - it is gloriously rainy here which is SUCH a wonderful change from up north!!

Dreadey Date!

I had a Dreadey Date today - and am looking considerabley tidier!

~BEFORE ~ ~AFTER~

But still a little crook *screwed up red nose*

Ah well, a nice evening of knitting on the couch with my shweetie, a hot drink and a good bluray movie should be a giant step towards feeling better!!

Nice Thick Manly Woolly Socks

My shweetie is a big fan of socks. Socks may even be his favourite item of clothing - ever! He refuses to put used socks back on even for a moment, and likes a nice, thick, woolly sock. When I first knit socks for him, I knit them out of fingering weight yarn so, while he appreciated the design and knitting skill, they were just too thin for him. So for his birthday this year I had a Plan!



I have a huge stash of heirloom 5ply yarn and decided to use it held together and knit him Nice Thick Manly Woolly Socks - but in secret!

I used a magic cast on for the toe - my favourite - and basically knit the socks on the fly, making the design as I went. I had pinched one of my Shweetie's socks from the dirty clothes basket and used that to match the dimensions of his foot! So a 3x1 rib on instep, was just the ticket to give a nice snug fit, and normal stockinette sole. I increased for the heel with M1 at each end of the heel every second round and knit a short row heel in keeping with the 3x1 rib. I then continued up the leg in stockinette but keeping two of the rib bands going all the way up for a little interest. And finally at the very top of the leg section I added a 3x1 rib :)


(excuse the awful blurry shot!)

I knit these ones right up to the line - when I finished the first sock I only had a day and a half (work days at that) left!! But I did manage to have them finished in time and gifted to my shweetie on his birthday - phew! They were VERY well received , being declared the best I have knit so far!!



I'm super happy with how they turned out, plus there's the extra warm fuzzy of knitting for true love - and nothing says 'True Love' like Nice Thick Manly Woolly hand knit birthday socks!

Pie in the Sky 68-10

Enter a skein of yarn spun in my VERY early days as a knitter. I used fibre from Spunky Eclectic's Club - the Pie in the Sky colourway, and had plied it with a silver thread - my first out-of-the-ordinary yarn and I remember having such fun with it! It's a little uneven, but that's ok - it was all part of the spinning journey and it's nice to look back to where I first started!

I decided for my first 68-10 Drops headband (yes, I know I've already posted about the one knit in cotton, which I actually knit SECOND!) I would use this handspun held together with another yarn, to get the correct gauge. So I used some heirloom wool in a chocolatey brown, which offset the handspun nicely.

I knit this with my dreads in mind, and actually began knitting it in the dreadlocks hot seat!! it didn't take very long to knit up and I'm stoked with the result :D Now I just need the weather cool enough to wear it!!

Felting is AWESOME!

My sweetie's Fuzzy Feet are complete! I actually finished them a short while ago, but haven't made it to put all the photos and words together until now :) But not from lack of love! They are fabulous, very useful and comfortable - I’m so happy with how they turned out!


This was my very first felting adventure so we took photos all the way through and had a BALL!!


(Look how huge they were to start with!)

Here they are a few minutes in..

Still very ginormous.



But then a few MORE minutes in!


The 'Before' size comparison:


And 'After' size:


It's magical!!

I absolutely highly recommend felting for anyone, and especially for those with kids - what a super fun science experiment, with a soft cooshy warm outcome! My shweetie thinks his fuzzy feet are awesome and now he wants to felt EVERYTHING I knit!! Hehee! :D

Sharp Shootin' Hobby!

You may have noticed from some knitted goodies, like bolt cosies, that my shweetie and I practise sporting shooting as a hobby. But since we're working away and can't have our rifles with us, we're branching out and learning something new...



Pistol shooting!!



I truly was pointing at the target - this shot shows just after I fired - you can even see the wee case coming out of the gun! hee! The video gives an idea of how it works - you're timed on how long you take to load the gun and shoot each target twice. The guys we were shooting with who have done this for ages can do this in HALF the time you see here - mental! Other stages we move through walls and hallways, obstacles and shoot through portholes etc..

It is SO much crazy fun and we're having an absolute ball!! Not so good on my RSI though, which is causing some havoc at the moment and slowing up knitting somewhat :( Nevermind, I have TWO wrists, and shall learn continental to share the wrist strain!

p.s. Don't use the photo of me as an example - I'm holding the gun in a VERY bad way but luckily I learned the lesson without a very badass scar to prove it!

Undecided - Help Required!

I am once again conflicted!
So I'm soliciting your help, gentle reader, if you will be so kind.

I have this gorgeous yarn, three skeins of Dream in Colour, Smooshy - in the delectable colourway of Happy Forest. I originally bought this yarn specifically to knit up a certain project - not something I generally do with yarn, more often I buy the yarn then figure out what it will be.



So I was obsessed with knitting Gigi, I loved the style, the shape and bought the perfect amount of yarn. But now I've lost the edge off that love! I think partly because my shweetie doesn't love that pattern, so that makes me question it too - will it suit me? Will it be flattering? I'm just not as madly infatuated by it anymore! Should I still knit it? Will the love reignite?



I've been looking at other patterns to see if something else leaps out and demands to be knit from the Smooshy. So far I don't have that many contenders. Perhaps a Featherweight cardigan?



I just don't know!

I'd like to knit an actual garment rather than a shawl. Particularly a cardigan would be good but perhaps one with short sleeves is another option as I won't have loads of yarn to knit it up from...



I welcome your comments and suggestions! I feel adrift and tetherless without a project to knit on!

Beginnings of a Rainbow

Thank you all for such wonderful comments on my rainbow handspun skeins! Always so lovely to have feedback and share the joy! :)

I cast on with the intense rainbow, planning on a pointy topped beanie with ear flaps and wonderously fluffy tassles from each ear flap - sounds fabulous, doesn't it?



But then I realised there is NOT enough yarn to finish this one from the single skein! Not to be deterred I thought through my stash and have a perfectly fluffy and thick singles of black wool I bought in Canberra (Holiday yarn!!) that will contrast nicely. So I'll wait ‘til am back home on break and will use the lovely black bulky yarn to stripe in with the rainbow. I think a nice row by row striping of black and rainbow will give a good effect and give enough yarn to actually get the whole beanie knit up! :D

Cotton Drops

I cast on for another 86-10 Drops Headband straight after I finished the woolen handspun version. I loved the handspun but working up north in Australia it is TOO HOT for wool so a cotton version was required!

Using 4.5mm needles, I used some Jo Sharp Desert Garden Aran Cotton yarn I purchased years ago from the lovely ladies at Knitting Inspirations. The headband took just over one ball and I found the yarn lovely to work with and entertained thoughts of maybe even a summer top from it someday?

It was a very quick knit - I followed the guidelines of the pattern but made the length a little custom by adjusting the number of rows knit before increasing. I'm finding the headband SO super comfy, and it doubles as an excellent eye-mask to keep the light out when I'm trying to sleep in on our one day off!



p.s. I have a bit of a back log of projects to post about - such as this one. I'll catch up soon hopefully!!

Full Spectrum Handspun

Over the last few months I've been spinning up some rainbow fibre - which I actually started years ago! This past R&R I managed to pull it all together and finish off two skeins - one plied with some fluffy white merino and one navajo plied on to itself.

When I spun the rainbow I broke up the fibre in to colour sections and spun them in long colour blocks. So each skein runs through the rainbow gradually with no repeats. I'm very interested to see how they knit up and what they become!

Dreadful photos

These two were taken just before we flew back up to work - and I am even more and more in love with my dreads as each day and week goes by!



Although... I desperately need to do some crochet hook maintenance as you can see in the picture below! All those flyaways! Fuzzy wuzzy wassa knitter!

Fuzzy And Functional

I recently had a spate of knitting... well frustration is the only word I can think of!

I had nothing much on the needles and was ready to cast on for something new, but being such a momentous occasion the pressure seemed too much!!

You see, generally I finish something up just in time to quickly cast on for the next project - a project which is probably due in two weeks just in time for the recipient's birthday/childbirth/wedding etc.. So it was so very refreshing to have no such gift knitting waiting in the wings and full freedom to cast on something wild and wonderous of my choice!!

And yet... I wasn't able to decide on what to knit!!

I hemmed and hawed and spent some very pitiful and fruitless times with NOTHING to knit during drives around town and such - so decided I would leap in with a project for the meantime!

Enter... Fuzzy Feet!



These lovely felted slippery puppies have been on the cards for AGES way back when I purchased a whole bunch of Vintage Hues to make up some Fuzzy Feet for my shweetie and I.

They're coming along very nicely indeed and I am very excited about the felting stage since I've never felted before!