New Year, New Me?

So I'm not completely with the idea of resolutions, and particularly new year resolutions, but sometimes you know that if you want to make a change its good to a metaphorical starter's pistol go off in your ear and hit the ground running. 

One of my big goals this year was inspired by a kooky dream I had -  

I was in an op shop, looking thru vintage knitting patterns when I decided to make a purchase. The sales assistant said she couldn't take my money as she had no change, but there was another way. She opened up a huge big book of appointments and told me I had to give blood. The appointment she gave me? 01 January. 

I know that the red cross blood bank is bleeding for donors (couldn't resist the pun) but I haven't quite been brave enough to bleed for the cause myself. I took this dream as my subconcious telling me to 'harden up, princess' and start donating this year. 

I happen to not be overly fond of needles (the non-knitting kind:). 

In order to face my fears I got a small tattoo in 2003 to 'beat the fear of needles'. However, lately I have been beginning to feel unworthy of such a tattoo if I am still giving into the fear when it comes to donating blood. 

I did get really close to donating once - I went in the door, filled out the questionaire and then got the finger prick test to check a few levels. It happened that my haeimoglobin was right at the bottom of the healthy range - and would have dropped into the unhealthy range if they had taken a couple of pints out of me. 

The plan to see this one thru comes with a little help from The Man - who is a regular donor. We are going to make appointments at the same time (as soon as he can donate again) and he will be there to hold my hand. He is also planning to feed me a heap of red meat the week before so I can get my iron and haemoglobin levels sky high so I don't work up all that nerve and then fail at the last minute.

If you would also like to join me in bleeding for a good cause check out the Red Cross Donate Blood webpage.

My second goal is to get moving - and start running a little more. This has been partly inspired by webgoddess and brave-and-slightly-crazy and partly inspired by a quote I read somewhere about "the black dog is lazy, if you exercise he won't bother to chase after you" (lucky Pierre hasn't a lazy bone in his body and enjoys runs with me in the park!)

I am aiming to do the couch-to-5km, but may do a couple of the sessions for more than the usual 1 week. The aim isn't to go fast, but just to get moving and build up a bit of endurance. If you're keen to see how I am going I have added my nike+ mini to the right sidebar. (the mini is also on my facebook profile.) So far the running is going well - although the forecast in Melbourne on Wednesday was for 39C, so I got up and went for a run at 6:30am when the temp was 31C (it only dropped down to 28C overnight) so I wouldn't have to worry about going to a run in the hottest part of the day when I got home from work. Ironically, the cool change came through at 9am and we dropped down to 21C. My desire to avoid the hottest part of the day had me running right in the middle of the heatwave :)

And the third wish for the new year? To get a haircut. Seriously. It has been more than 18 months since I last got a haircut so I am a little overdue. The plan was to go to the verrry cool gothic hair salon down the road and get the type of haircut that would dishonourably discharge me from the military (seeing as I no longer have to conform!). There were pipe dreams of dark, dark brown hair with blue/magenta and fire-engine red accents, but that will have to be put on hold for a while. Due to the office closing over the new year I ended up having to take over 45 hours of unpaid leave - so my paycheck was more than a week short this month. I may have to go somewhere for a bit of trim in the interim until I have some play money I can splash out on lavish haircuts. 

Drowned rat puppy...

The Man finally got the pictures off his fone from when the pup when for his impromptu swim...

CCCVIII - Want to own your own home during these tough economic times*?

Starting at just $80 (plus postage) I am certain some husbands would find this to be 5 star luxury...

This sturdy and weather durable wooden Dog Kennel with Balcony is double level for double the comfort!

Constructed from robust wood, this double story doggy home consists of two sections. There is the snug downstairs bedroom where your pet will be protected from all weather conditions. Then there is the upstairs open-air balcony with stair access!

Spoil your canine best-friend with this luxurious Dog Kennel with Balcony!

FEATURES:
Dog Kennel with Balcony.
Double story doggy home.
Enclosed downstairs bedroom.
Upstairs open-air balcony with stair access.
Constructed from robust wood.
Sturdy and weather durable.
Dimensions: 57 x 50 x 65cm.

I particularly like the use of the term "bedroom". I guess enough families are replacing traditional breeding with furkids that the cubby house needed to be updated too.

I think that if we got this for Pierre he'd need a little doggie suit of armour (or chain mail) so he could complete guard duty on the upper turret...

*or, it's monday and I'm feeling silly...

CCCV - A little less exhausted...

I think I may be getting back into the swing of this full time job thing. Today I actually had energy to go to the shops before coming home and collapsing on the couch :)

The new job is going well - the office is small and friendly, and very keen to help out an eager young upstart who wants to learn the ropes. I love the freedom of not being a uniform -but it does make for some hesitation in the morning while I am deciding what to wear (twice now I have driven into carpark just in time to see my train pullout of the station - luckily I have calculated a little leeway into the travel plans.)

Unfortunately my new life is having a bit of toll on the pupster - poor Pierre is at home for up to 12 hours without my company. He is rather hyperactive when I get home, and then switches to burr mode.

The Man and I knew that we needed to pay some extra attention to the furkid, so on lovely sunny Sunday we took him for a walk along the river. Wanting to give him a little extra freedom, we let him off the lead while we walked along the boardwalk. All fine and dandy until Pierre started bounding down the steps. At the rivers edge he stopped, sat, and stared into the perfectly still water, with algae and reeds sticking out... before leaping into the river...

Now might be a good time to tell you just how much papillons HATE water - the surest way to turn my adorable puppy into the mutt from hell is to turn close the door to the bathroom, turn on the tap and watch him panic!

...so we are fairly certain that Pierre didn't realise that he was jumping into water, and not onto solid ground.

For what felt like forever, the pupster completely disappeared. When he finally popped up (doggy paddling for his little life) The Man was emptying his pockets getting ready to jump in after the pup, while I was laying stomach down on the deck trying to fish out Pierre (that bronze medallion training from high school finally paying off). The Man picked up on what I was trying to do, lay down next to me and had the extra length in his arms to actually lift the dog out of the drink.

The Man took a few photos of our glorified drowned rat with his phone, but due to a software and/or cable problem I can't share them with you.

However, the river dip did solve the green paws problem:)

out of habit...

The Man, pupster and I ran away to the bush block last week, and I am now having difficulty getting the blog posting happening again...

There was lots of 'rain-on-the-tin-roof' of the shed when we were tucked up nice and warm in bed, lots of reading by candlelight, knitting by day and crosswords in front of the fire. 

I ventured down into Colac one afternoon and hit the jackpot at the lifeline shop - I went trawling through the knitting patterns and about 2kg of vintage knitting patterns followed me home for only 50cents! 

I happened to double up on a couple of them, so Taph aka Queen of the Vintage Patterns, if you would like some more for your collection get in touch.

The prototype Kimoncho is now complete(rav link - photo in progress sidebar) and will get the pattern written up pronto. I'll be offering this in different sizes so it will take a little while to up-size it a bit (It is supposed to be a loose fit so my size will be the smallest). Because of this extra effort it will be offered for a nominal price.

GingerKnits.com is also donating door prizes for the Bendigo/ ACS/ Ravelry Brekky meet-up in a few weeks time. There will be two prizes will each consist of a skein of handspun and a new product that will not be launched until after theWool and sheep show weekend - the Fibre Freak Stitch-marker Charm Bracelet . 

Well - it appears that I got into rhythm of writing again! 

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be back with a few photos...

Mowm says tocolat isn't good for dawgs..

Yesterday I stayed after class, got a late train home, and grabbed a quick snack at the train station because it was going to be at least another hour before I got home for dinner. Because time was scarce, I grabbed a Mars bar from a vending machine - the type of packet had two 40 gram bars, and I only ate one, wrapped the other one up and put it in my bag to save for (later)Ron.

Subsequently, I had completely forgotten about the chocolate bar left in my bag... 

which Pierre's keen sense of smell picked up on when I was out of the house... 

... and I came home to find an empty wrapper...

...and the little guy led me to a smidge of candy that was all that remained of the 40 gram Mars bar I brought home last night...

Call to Vet:

Me>"Hi, my dog just ate half a Mars Bar... is that going to be a problem??" 

Vet nurse>"Possibly not, how big is your dog?"

Me>"He weighs 2.5kg"

Vet nurse>"Ummmm.... can you hold while I check with the vet?"

hold music

Vet nurse>"Ummm... in a dog that small it could be a lethal dose. Can you bring him in???"

Of course - as chocolate doesn't present a threat to dogs until it passes through the digestive system and liver failure etc happens, Pierre was acting as if nothing was going on.... 

P thought it was a grand adventure - the harness and lead went on him, so he was getting out of the house; he got a ride in the car; he met lovely vet nurses who 'oohed' and 'aahed' over him; he met other dogs; he got treats... 

Poor thing didn't know what hit him when he was made to swallow salts to induce vomiting (which didn't work), and then got an injection to induce vomiting (which did work)...

We got sent home with the advice that the pupster may be a little drowsy as the drugs he got injected with has a sedative effect...

 

For some reason, however, Pierre reacted like he was on speed when we got home. One and a half hours of psycho puppy running from one end of the house to the other. He'd jump up on my lap and wiggle and fidget - the guy couldn't sit still.... above is what happened when I tried to take a picture of him.

Except when he was having a drink. 

Well, you do loose a lot of fluid when you vomit. Of course he'd be dehydrated.

The little guy is doing fine now.. and he got a new squirrel toy (below) that has been named 'Mars-bar'...

(oh... and yes, I did finish all the squares on the green afghan - you like!)

A green afghan*...

This here is one of my current WIP - a wedding afghan for friends of mine. This is it exactly at the halfway mark - only 40.5 squares to go (no-one mention the border, okay!... or that the wedding that this was for was in March!) My friends selected the yarn, colours and pattern from a bunch of colour cards, stash samples, books and magazines I took over to their place, and understood there was a very big possibility it could be running a bit late....

It was originally supposed to be the cable blanket from Jo Sharp contemporary knitting, but I decided the pattern was written by a numpty, and ripped out the third of that pattern I had knitted (after starting it twice because I decided the pattern was badly written). The stitch pattern was making the finished product look a little card-boardy, so I decided to go with good ol' fashioned garter, and keep the diagonal colours as per the original pattern. To reduce the need for seeming, I decided to work a variation on your standard entrelac to get a nice looking blankie without the need of any starter triangles.

This is worked in Bendy 12ply Rustic - have to say that although it is supposedly the same yarn, with the same fibre content in different colours, the lighter colours (particularly the cream fleck) is so much softer than the darker colours. Anybody have any idea why this is???

Needless to say, this is a fantastic knit for rainy days in front of the heater! Now that the weather has turn crisp and chilly, a hellava lot more work is getting done on this project now :)

And because I had the camera out, I thought it was time for a couple of Pierre pics.

This is his favourite place to greet guests as they come in the front door (which is just behind the right of the couch)

It is rather kitten like the way he bounds up to the back of the couch and runs back and forth along the narrow cushion until a guest will pay attention to him.The next thing that happens when we have guests, is that the toy sitting on the couch there gets dumped in their lap, because, of course, the guest is there solely to play with P!

And I took these pics while I was running a few errands today - 

I absolutely love these kimmidolls, but this red-headed one is my favourite (her name is Seiko, meaning success - also the name of one of my Japanese exchange student pals) However, I just can't justify spending $20 on a doll, no matter how cute. 

So when I saw these little key-ring dolls for 7 bucks I got all excited... 7 bucks isn't much, and a key-ring you use for your keys and see it all the time and does more than sit on a shelf and looks cute....

....except there is only a limited number of characters in the key-ring line, and Seiko isn't one of them :( Guess it just wasn't meant to be...

And finally - I just got back from the Geelong S'n'B for May - it marks my knitsaversary as being a part of this group! I loved finding this group - they cannot replace my rubi'n'lana knitting buds in Sydney, but I feel lucky to have found such a great group of friends locally.

*if you don't know the relevance of THE green afghan, you need to get a hold of Yarn Harlot's book of short stories :)

Textile Tuesday

This week brought to us by the loverly Purls Palace in Daylesford... the LYS that, like the rest of Daylesford, is cosy and classy. While I wandered around fondling yarns and fabrics, and flicked through books, The Man and Pupster sat on the comfortable couch and read through the Age (because, like the rest of Daylesford, Purl's Palace is Dog Friendly* and caters for partners)The Man bought these goodies for me as an extra birthday present when we had our dirty romantic weekend away back in March. 
These are the shots where I pay a homage to Brooklyn Tweed and his amazing yarn portraits. Above - Noro Iro, and below, Noro Kocharon.
These beauties have been turned into an incredibly warm beret/tam that gets lots of comments at Markets. I really should take some piccies of it!

*Of course, when we turned up on the doorstep of Purl's Palace The Man, Pupster and I were all wearing hand-knit sweaters. You'd have to be an idiot to turn away that sort of clientelle!

Sick Sick Sick!

Ugh - I am home from school for today because I am the snot monster from planet mucus!

The absolutely worst thing about taking the happy pills, is that you can not take anti-histamines or pseudo-ephedrines* or any of those other lovely drugs that help you wake up and/or sleep when you have a cold or flu.  So now my head feels like it is trapped inside a high-pressure bubble, my body feels like a whole herd of heffalumps has trampled me, and my brains have been replaced by boogers. There is no way I would make it through 7 hours of classes today plus the 3 hours of train travel - which just makes me feel even lower :(

I am going to anoint myself in vicks and drown myself in ginger honey tea and completely indulge in Dr Phil and Oprah, and then, perhaps a little Simpsons DVDs - and perhaps I'll be able to make it to the Carlton Hotel tonight for the monthly Geelong S'n'B. I could do with a girls night out, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

If anyone has any other good home remedies that work and don't involve gall-bladders of cats or something similar, please, please share!

*Pseudo-ephidrines are actually no longer available in the state of Victoria because they are too easy to turn into speed. So even if I wanted to be norty and mix my drugs I wouldn't be able to. Perhaps I should hang out in some dodgy alley til I find a dealer for speed! 

More Pupsters!

Something to help with any mondayitis you may be suffering -

some cute dog pics that I have had on my computer for a few weeks...

This is Pierre sitting in the boot of the car while I was packing up after the Drysdale Market last week. His front paws are resting on the Garment rack I use to display stock.

Yes, my car is a mobile mess. 
Easter Saturday Market at Point Lonsdale - These fellow papillions were visiting from South Australia (Adelaide, I think).  I see that Pierre's camera hogging abilities are a trait of his breed.

This teddy-like pomeranian puppy belongs to another Meg - daughter of the stall holder next to us at the Easter Saturday market...
Pierre was happy to meet so many other dogs his own size!

And this is my first media campaign for the stock in my store- postcards! The colours on this are funky because the file needed to be in CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and key/black)for the printers, and computer screens show RGB(red, green and blue).

spoilt!

Me - well and truly! 

Thanks to everyone who sent comments, emails, messages or texts wishing me a Happy Birthday on Friday - I had a fantastic day weekend!

On Friday arvo the Man, Pierre and I departed for Daylesford. The Man had booked a pet-friendly B&B - hence P came along. We arrived just before sunset - so after finding our accommodation we took the pupster for a wander down the main drag.

When we strolled passed Frangos & Frangos it became apparent we were rather peckish -and they were rather dog-friendly, so we stopped for dinner. Well... The Man and I had dinner - poor Pierre didn't get any of our cuisine...

Due to the fact it was early in the evening, the staff weren't too busy, so I nabbed the waiter to take a pic of us when he brought out our mains - 
(The Man had lamb, black lentil jus and mash while I had canestroni with roast pumpkin, ricotta and mustard fruits - see, it wasn't mere food, but cuisine)

And there wasn't a birthday cake, but we shared this - 

Blood Plum and Rum Trifle topped with gold leaf - so good we had to taste it before we got the camera out...
Oh - and P loved being out to dinner with us!

After dinner we went back to the Double Nut Chalet (appropriate seeing as it was gingernut and Mr gingernut!) where there was champagne sparkly, choccies and a spa bath awaiting for us.

The view from the front door of our 'Chalet'
See those high ceilings? The only thing that went wrong during the whole weekend was that at about 2am the smoke alarm battery decided it was going flat... and was giving out persistent chirps every few minutes and the smoke alarm was riiiight up the top of the wall! The Man had to climb on the table to reach it to shut the thing up!
Funky cosy living (even port supplied for that nightcap)
And cosy heating (and aircon if you need), a good supply of movies, and electric blankets if its your thang (we prefer to snuggle under an extra woollen blanket thou)

MMM... Spa!

After our lingering breakfast on Saturday, we found Purls Palace (more on this in another post!), the Convent Gallery and had lunch (well, I had Devonshire tea coffee) at Rhubarb Cafe and stopped at the bookstore before heading back to Geelong to catch up with The Man's family for dinner. (All dog-friendly... except the 'Bad Habits cafe' at the Convent Gallery, as it doesn't have al fresco dining)

At the Queenscliff Market on Sunday I tracked down  the "Tea with Alice Cupcakes" stall and bought this goigious lime-iced vanilla as a birthday cake treat for myself.

(Well - to keep with the theme, Sunday was actually an UNbirthday for me, but I am sure the Dormouse and Mad Hatter would have approved!)

Pierre news

On Saturday I was supposed to attend the Stitches and Craft show with some of the Geelong Knitters, but had to pike due to a lack of spare change, and a promise to the Man of a stash diet...

Instead, the Man and I gathered up Pierre and took him to the Dogs Day Out run by the Geelong Animal Welfare Centre and the local Council. The main reason we went (apart from giving P some doggie social hours) was to sort out his registration for the next year, but we decided to have a go at the agility course that was set up.

Apart from trying to duck under the jump (set only about 20cm above the ground), the pupster did really well. He ran over the 4m high beam (he's had practice on the backs of our armchairs and couch) and had no problem running through the tunnel. 

I got some information about training sessions, and unfortunately the club meets on Sunday mornings - so P and I won't be able to go until markets wind down a bit....

When discussing this idea with the housemates, they were certain the Pupster did not need any more agility...

In fact - they fear that with any more agility Pierre may turn into NINJA PUPPY :

Ninja Puppy would cling to the ceiling near the fridge to stalk any housemates wanting a midnight snack. Once the Ninja Puppy lands on your heads, he owns your food....

(yes.. I have been playing with photoshop... why do you ask???)

seven simple joys

Caffeine Faery tagged me for 'seven things' and I thought I would take Taph's idea for a ride - so without further ado, seven simple joys:-

1. Surviving a long weekend without having to put fuel in your tank until the Tuesday... 

2. Hearing Alex Lloyd's Amazing on the radio - I find that song so uplifting... I remember when it first came out in 2001 I would drive the hour home from work at 1-2am flicking through radio stations hoping to hear it play.

3. Having discussions with The Man about 'our' future.

4. The pupster jumping all over me the minute I walk through the front door. When I sit down he gives me a thorough face-washing with his tongue. 

5. When people (okay, older women) at the market comment that they wish they had grandkids to buy my products for. 

6. Having a housemate who wants to watch all your Buffy and Angel DVDs... in order... and doesn't think that doing so is overkill.

7. The Man waking me up in the morning with a coffee... and grabbing his laptop so he can work checking his emails in bed and spend more time with me before he dashes off in the morning :)

Where's my cow??? Bugrit!

'That's not my cow - that's foul ol' Ron!'

If you are a discworld fan, and have read THUD! you would be rather familiar with these lines... one of the better habits I have adopted from the Man is a rather keen ambition to consume discworld novels at a crazy pace. When I discovered that Pratchett had written a discworld picture book, I went a-hunting it down.



Unfortunately - the local bookshop didn't have it,but could order it in... and it would take about a month...and would be rather expensive.... so I went a-hunting on the internet, and managed to surprise the Man with a random gift (he didn't know about the book at all!)



The Man is rather delighted with the book - particularly with the illustrations of Commander Vimes (One of the man's fav discowrld characters - the other is Lord Vetinari)

This is a delightful picture book, great for kids and a must have for any discworld fan. I recommend you chase it up!

And on other note - just to prove Pierre did survive the three weeks without me, a cute dog photo:

on the road to Chiang Mai...

After our relaxing week at Koh Chang, the man and I are running like crazy around the country trying to get to a few different places we are keen to visit.

We spend a couple of night in Khorat, where the man organised a visit to a silk weaving house. It was an amazing experience - the only mechanised part of the process was the skeins being put onto bobbins and the the bobbins being wound onto the shuttles. The warping and loom work was all done by hand. By request the man took lots of photos and some short movies, which I'll figure out how to put up when I get back to Oz.

Of course, we couldn't walk away without some of the gorgeous silk - I definitely have to start working on my sewing skills so I can make garments worthy of all that hard work.

Today we are going to catch a train to Chiang Mai - there are supposedly lots of little handcraft cottage factories there so we are hoping to see some more of the local crafts in action.

We have done some amazing things since we have been here - we swam with an elephant (again, there is a movie), played with a pet monkey (that tried to steal my new carved elephant necklace), and saw a baby porcupine for sale at a pet stall (the same stall also had some bunnies dressed as dolls with bows in their ears and everything - it was a very scary sight). We plan to visit the Monks with the tame-ish Tigers in Kanchanaburi before we head back to Bangkok,

Pierre is apparently coping okay without me, however the housemate has mentioned that the pupster has tried to snuggle into his bed in the middle of the night. I guess Pierre is missing all the cuddles he gets from me :) I'm missing my pupster lots too - The man has mentioned that a couple of times I have been searching for the dog in my sleep, and we can't walk past cute fluffy things without me stopping to say hello...

Oh, and Kate, you would love all the sewing machines here - it is quite common to see someone working on a treadle machine at the bus stations to make a quid. And we saw a shop that had brand new cast iron treadle machines for 3000Baht (about $100)...

That's all I have time for now - pictures and etc will be forthcoming when I get back to geelong :)

sawadee-ka

hi all -

the man and i have arrived in Thailand, and have been spending the past few days living in a grass hut in a tropical paradise! For those who want the details of our paradise, we are in BangBao on Koh Chang island, in Trat Province (near the Cambodian border) - tomorrow we go elephant trekking and give them a bath before we start the next leg of our trip up to Khorat where we will enjoy all the Thai Silk cottage industry has to offer, as well as some old ruins of temples.

I haven't heard from the dog-sitter (aka my housemate), but I am assuming Pierre is well, albeit pining for me a tad bit ;) I admit - I am missing the pupster terribly :(

Happy New Year!

Not sure when I will next be able to post - but til then, anon!

Sweater Curse be Damned!

I have to say that I have the bestest boyfriend in the world... he has been keeping me entertained and looking after me (and pierre) quite well over the past couple of weeks... hence the main reason for not keeping up with the blog so well...

Not only does my man find my yarn and fibre stash amusing, he also has no quarms about me pulling out a WIP in public - even if we are having a casual drink in a pub. My Man also is happy to spend a saturday in the workshop to make me an andean plying tool so I stop cutting off the circulation to my fingers when I spin.

He is also a bit of knight in shining armour for me.... I was beginning to have some financial troubles (the job at the LYS fell through and my savings were running out) and he took sword and shield and went to do battle with centrelink for me (I had a claim rejected because of some paperwork/filing error) .

He cooks wonderful, simple food - like the most mouthwatering rissottos made from good fresh ingredients - and is beginning to fatten me up somewhat :) When you are having a bad day, this is the best sort of comfort food!

He also is encouraging me to stretch my comfort zone - the Man has taken Pierre and I to a 'bush block' out in the sticks past Colac, to play at dog beaches and to enjoy walking through the greenery at Daylesford. If he keeps this up, I'll become one of those 'outdoor' people with a camelback and a 4WD and *shudder* a TAN! Oh, and he is taking me to Thailand to spend a couple of weeks on a tropical island for the New Year. (P will have to stay home for that one :(

So... how do you thank a guy that great???

Given that I was having financial troubles, I couldn't go out and buy him a present...

if only I had some talent to show him how much I appreciate all he has done for me...

oh.. hang on... I can knit.. and he had been hinting about a nice woollen jumper...

....but what about the sweater curse....

damnit... !!!!!

I made it for him anyway, and worked on it in secret (rather difficult seeing as we spend near on every single second together) and he tells me he loves it :)

Anyway... I am trying to get back to more regular blogging. In the meantime, enjoy some piccies!

Rockin’ socks..

Beware – there is a spoiler below for the most recent delivery of the rockin’ sock club – if you haven’t got yours yet, and you don’t want details yet... don’t scroll down too far!

Yarngasm!

I got my latest fix from blue moon today, and thought it was about time I reviewed what I had managed so far with this club…

#1 First and foremost – the Monsoon Inside-out sock, AKA the penis sock...

As you can see, I haven’t gotten far. This is because the cable has made the ankle too tight, and I can’t get it over my heel :( I think I may have to frog this sock and consider a different pattern (truth be told, I wasn’t incredibly keen on the ribbed sole anyway…)

#2 – the silkie walkin’ on the wild tide grasshoppers.

Well, these got put off while I wanted for the extra skein to be delivered so I could make the knee-highs.

#3 – the firebird solstice slip.

I made quite a bit of progress with these. And as they are toe-up and I have past the heel, these technically pass as a pair of socks. Very short anklet socks, but socks nonetheless. Hmmm... I really should finish these!

#4 – the newbies :)

This is my favourite out of the lot, so far. Purdy colours, and purdy lace :) Hopefully I’ll finish these before summer… And how cool are the temporary tattoos!

Rather ironically, the only pair of socks that rock that I have finished were made from an extra skein I ordered with my silkie. The little monkey foo foo socks…

So if I haven’t been knitting my rockin’ sock club socks … what have I been doing?

Making up some noodle knit kits for the markets! This is the prototype, but the plan is to have complete kits with needles, yarn and pattern for sale. Yeah, a tad bit gimmicky, but I am hoping to sucker in some beginners :)

And because it has been a while, a puppy pic… poor abandoned Pierre!

THIS is it!

Exactly one year ago today, I was so bored at work that I decided to start a knitting blog…

(A few short weeks later, and blogger was no longer accessible on the work network… hmmm, a tool for procrastinators, perhaps?)

Hoodathunk that single action would have had such an effect on my life… I made so many friends, some I have even managed to catch up with in the real world!

oh, and… Pierre has enjoyed the last year too – and yes, he is still a snob. He is currently interested in my newest pet skein (and a treat for myself for my blogiversary), some gorgeous buffalo gold from Mandie at Ewe give me the knits. Don’t know who is going to get socks from it, but I’m just going to enjoy carrying around and stroking it for a while J

Don’t forget to leave your comments to win prizes! (And I will not be parting with the buffalo, so don’t get any ideas too ethotic!)

PS – did you know stashes can hide passports?

BLURT!

I have a lot of things that I have been meaning to blog about in the past week or so, and just haven’t got around to it… so I have decided to blurt it all out here…

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This great little satchel is handmade by The Shopping Sherpa (www.theshoppingsherpa.blogspot.com) and I won it from her earlier this year in a blog contest. It is a very convenient bag, however, due to TSS’s monochromatic colour scheme it creates a great canvas for groovy badges and pins. Did you notice that one right in the middle? Let me zoom it in a bit for you…

This little jelly-baby pin was an impulse purchase when I was in line at the checkout – so cute that I had to grab one. It is to raise funds for research into Juvenile Diabetes and to attempt to find a cure. I am really glad that I did now, because it turns out that Dotter (aka Othlon) has been dealt the rather harsh hand of being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in the past couple of weeks. Jelly-baby month is officially May – but there are still some lingering around. If you see them around, spare your 2 bucks for a worthy cause – I plan to have an army of different coloured Jellybabies on that bag eventually. To read more about how annoying Diabetes can be, check out Dotter’s blog over at Othlon’s Demon Knits, or her Mum’s blog, Jejune’s Place

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Centrelink. GRRRRR! Need I say more!

However, I did get a good deal of knitting time down on the “got any blacker” commissioned scarf. Too bad that I decided it should be narrower to add extra length and frogged it all when I got home!

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The yarn I used for my clapotis is Fleece Artist Sea Wool – it is a 70/30 wool/seacell blend and a gorgeous silk mimic. I bought it through www.littleknits.com – I think that Kate at Blue Mountains Knits, and either Paisley Womble (or maybe Ozknitter? One of the sock queens) also has had a play around with it.

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Those of you who are awake will have noticed the past tense in the previous topic ‘yarn used for clapotis’ – Yes, c’est fini! After wearing it last night and today, I finally bought some foam tiles to block it on. It’s HUGE!

And the best part – this is all the yarn I have left!

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Having finished my Tour de France knitting commitments, I went looking for another French inspired knit before I went to s’n’b last night. I found a couple of balls of Jo Sharp Desert Garden Aran Cotton in the stash and a cute beret pattern in Knit2.

Well… c’est fini! Guess I will just have to make the “got any blacker’ commission scarf my new tour project. And really, cashmere in a man’s scarf – that’s very European, dare I say it, Parisienne!

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My new spindle I flaunted last week is a ringspindle from Golding Fibre Tools – these are like the Lantern Moon for Spinners. The make gorgeous objects that can be displayed as works of art by themselves, yet are also beautiful, well-functioning tools. Go check them out at www.dropspindle.info

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And Pierre is still alive and well – to cope with the wet and cold weather down here I made him a doggie-sweater. I actually finished this a couple of weeks ago, but completely forgot to post it.

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Also, someone asked me what EZ book I would recommend reading first – I think that you can’t go wrong with “Knitting Without Tears” – it covers all the basic EZ concepts and has patterns to keep you warm from head to toe.

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I think that’s the lot – I’ll try to avoid the monster posts in the future!