Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Flaming up

I'm still oh-so in love with poi :)

mosaica340fe686327290f2493849c3bebb7a0dd144f7b

And now that I've finally decided to work less overtime (regular 14 hour days are NOT a healthy option) I actually find myself with free time and energy to put in to it! Woot woot!!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Drat!

This little beastie has caused some serious knitting delays this past week!

warhol knitting bag

Yes, my little red drawstring knitting bag went AWOL and after two days wherein I thought I'd simply left it at home and forgotten to bring it in to work, I then realised I hadn't brought it in because it coudn't be FOUND!
Of course fretting ensued, combined with frantic vehicle and room searching - but who knows where it could have gotten to?! As far as I'm aware I'm the only knitter on the construction site, but you never know! Someone could have found the abandonned wee bag and decided to try their hand at it!

A particularly stressful loss as the bag contained two WIPs - one a half finished gift due in mere DAYS (sorry Bon!) and the other a weeny little iPod cosy for a friend's daughter (with no immediate timeline apart from that the parent failed to comprehend the effects of TELLING the 5-and-a-half year old that a hot pink hnd knit iPod cosy was on its way *sigh*).


So alas, I thought all was lost...

But today my scrumptious shweetie found my wee baggie!! :D

knitting  bag!

So now I can once again sleep at night! Well.. once the gifts are finished I can ;)

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Singed and Sooty

It seems I'm more likely to fling myself into poi when I'm working away than when I'm home - who knows why??
p o i 100321 (27)
I'm thrilled to be back in to it with gusto
p o i 100321 (28)
Even if I did cop one right in the kisser!
p o i 100321 (47)

Saturday, March 13, 2010

As good as a holiday

Well, maybe not QUITE that good, but I see where the saying comes from, for sure!

But even better to have a little change while ON holiday - a holiday from work anyway. These are some of the tasty treats I tried whilst on my last R&R;

other worldly treats

I popped in to a British Lolly Shop that also stocked other assorted goodies from around the globe - things seemingly from another world, since none of those tasties are found in our regular stores.

The Vanilla drink was delicious but after half a can was TOO syrupy sweet, which is something coming from me - I'd practically drink maple syrup! My favourite of the bunch was the Skor - nothing like some delicious toffee!

What new things have you tried, lately?

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Sneak Peek 'n' Updatin

I am EXHAUSTED!

Have just flown back up north and only now unloaded ALL of my stuff (2x giant kit bag, large back pack and a huuuuuuge hard packing chest) into this new camp - yes, I have moved camps! This room's looking great though, loads of space and... a kitchen! No more camp food!!

But suffice to say I'm rather knackered. So for now, here's a sneaky peeky at a hand knit gift given out to the lovely recipient yesterday and as yet to be posted about! You'll also notice my fantastic new shirt! Hurrah for wearing our knitterness and geekery with pride!

Bon & Sash (1)Justify Full

p.s. The mega great news is the internet at this camp actually WORKS! :D No more intermittent blog posting!

Monday, March 08, 2010

40 Watt

Not so very secret - I'm a bit of a geek, and am rather a comic book fan, and am particularly partial to Tank Girl, in all her rebellious, pack-rat collecting, tank whispering goodness.

tg3_40watt

So I thought a printed shirt was in order!
40wattclub (9)

My Shveetie skoota was (is?) a dinki-di, legitimate, system-bucking, mohawk-donning actual punk, so he thinks it's all a teensy bit giggle-worthy and refers to it as "candy punk" or "popcorn punk". But that's ok :) I don't reckon I'm quite tough enough to be a proper punk anyway ;)

40wattclub (1)

Sometimes I like to think that mah shweetie and I are a little like Boogah and TG...

sash n skoot

Except of course, I don't smoke.

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Snappy!

Ohmigoodness... I have discovered a wonderous website!!

SNAPPY WORDS!

Wordsmiths and geeks in general will adore this site, I certainly do!

You enter in the word of choice, eg. 'knit', and the visual dictionary goes nuts!

snapknit

All the definitions, synonyms and such are shown in this funky visual manner:

snaplegend

So pick your favourite word and have a GO :D


Saturday, March 06, 2010

Winning!

I have two 'wins' to report!

The first is a GOLD in the 2010 Ravelympics for completing the Raspberry Shimmer Socks! This was an entry in the WIP Dancing event, as they had been languishing on my needles a little and this helped them get on over that finish line!

gold ravelympics

I'll post photos of the finished socks soon, and post the actual SOCKS off to my lovely Mama even sooner!

The other 'win' is that I'm finally reclaiming my trim form (not that I've ever been all that trim, let's be honest!) of yesteryears and am feeling (and weighing) the best I have in over 6 years! WOOOOT!

in the 80s!

I still have a way to go, but you certainly notice the 10kg difference! It's been a lot of hard hard work and self deprivation so it's absolutely wonderful to see results that motivate me to keep on going!

I hope you've been winning this week too, consider me there with you in spirit, popping the bubbly and shouting HURRAH! ;D

Friday, March 05, 2010

Hat for Harri

A ha!!
Harris Hat! (1)

I have knit a hat for a far-off friend Harriet from some handspun and... it's in time for her birthday! What a rare accomplishment! :)

Harris Hat! (2)

This has been knit out of the yarn I spun a few months ago from the Treetops Colour Harmony merino in Madras colourway - truly delicious in texture and vibrancy! I almost gave the yarn away to a fellow knitter as a gift, but have knit what feels like so little from my own handspun that I couldn't go through with it! And now I am giving away the finished knit! Ah well, I'm slowly getting closer to keeping some of my handspun and handknits, step by step! And this one is heading out to a very fabulous recipient.

Harris Hat! (8)

Harriet is a friend I haven't seen for a very long time - years in fact! - so for her birthday a little bit of crazy fun happy happy love joy needs to be sent her way :) The colour scheme of Australian-Sunset-On-Acid is an added bonus ;D

I had envisaged something a bit larger, perhaps a Capucine, but realised I wouldn't have enough yarn. A quick change of plans and knitting from the top down allowed me to eke out juuuust enough yarn to add the ear warming flaps and bind off - phew!

Harris Hat! (4)

We've had some fabulous fun and silly times together and she's such a treasured friend, I hope this keeps her nogging nice and toasty in the London winters!

Thursday, March 04, 2010

Couchon Coserie

Not proper french, I know, but when I was gifted a snazzy flash new ipod touch by my workplace as part of a company incentive scheme, the lovely new shiny needed a name, and Couchon seems to spring out of nowhere!

Of course I had not had Couchon long before the following things began to happen;
  1. I started to realise how fun the touch is
  2. I started to fall madly into besottment with the Couchon
  3. I became incredibley protective of la Couchon (which of course led to)
  4. I cast on for a handknit Couchon Coserie!
Couchon Coserie (12)

Using some of the gloriuos delicious and fabulous Koigu (a miniscule amount from the two skeins I purchased some time ago and STILL have not decided what to do with!) I used Rose Red's fabulous iSock as a model and knit away!

Couchon Coserie (7)

I cast on 40 (too big) then 32 (still too big) and eventually settled on 28 as the perfect stitch circumference to keep the cosy nice and snug around the iTouch.

A three needle bind off at the end to give some structural seamage, and a wee garter stitch strap to fold over with a neat little button! Super handy to keep the earphone cables wrangled too to save the tangle-tastic terror of the knitting bag! Yay!

Couchon Coserie (2)

p.s. Did I mention just HOW in love with Koigu I am..?

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Namesake Socks

Some months ago, the generous Jolene of The One About Inori was expanding her hand-dyed yarns and not only created this fabulous lime and turquoise number.... but named it after me too!

sasha yarn

I was very touched and knew I had to turn this skein into a selfish knit, a knit for me :)

It didn't take very long to decide that, yes, I would like my very own pair of handknit socks to wear - and so the knitting began. I knit away on them as I started my new job on the new construction site up North, knit them in the bus on the way to and from work, in medical clinics waiting for employees and at every other chance.

But when I had the brainwave of knitting up some socks for my lovley Mama for Christmas, sadly the Tale of Only One Sock Circular ended with the predictable ending of the Sasha Socks being thieved of their needles!

Sasha Socks (4)

But they are back on the needles again now, or should I say, OFF the needles as they're complete!

I customised the toes such that there is a left foot and a right foot due to the bias of the pointed toe leaning either left or right, and they fit wonderfully!!

Sasha Socks (3)

Thank you SO very much Jojo, for your lovely gift and the honour of having a yarn named after me!! I highly recommend Jolene's online store - Yarn & Kisses - for both fibre and non-fibre enthusiasts. Plus I believe there will be some exciting new developments over there soon!

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

R & Ahhhhhh...

How's this for a lovely view while I'm enjoying my morning refreshment?

100302 Morning view

Certainly beats the view of my computer screen at work... ;D