365 and Counting

Hello Kneeps*

Well, today is my last post for the Knitting and Crochet Blog Weeeeeeeeeek (seeing as it’s taken me a lot longer than a week to write, I thought that is was only fair that I made it a very long “week” 😛 ).  The final challenge is to blog about where I would like to be this time next year in terms of my crafting.  It’s taken me a long time to figure out how to write this.  Not because I don’t know where I want to be but because my own self doubt got in the way of writing something positive.  So I am taking the plunge (while I’m feeling good about it all) and baring my knitting hopes and dreams with you all and I hope that you will keep me accountable to this.

For a while know I’ve been keeping a sketch book close by to jot down/ sketch any original pattern ideas I have, these vary from kids through to adults; socks through to jumpers.  I’ve even gone so far as to chart out some of the different designs, and I’ve cast on 1 or 2, only to rip it out again a few rows later.  I’m kind of scared, firstly because I really don’t know what I’m doing and I struggle with the concept of making “mistakes” and not making something perfect the first time.  Secondly, I’m scared that I’ll knit something up and be really proud of it only to find out later that everyone else thinks is ugly.  Thirdly, I really really don’t know what I’m doing (beyond the knitting bit) and that freaks me out a fair bit.  Maths was never my strong point at school and despite the fact that I know how to use a calculator and have one handy, I still avoid anything to do with maths as a general rule (says the mum with school aged children who bring maths homework home 😕 )

My goal for the next year is that I actually get over myself and turn my sketches into tangible items with real patterns available for those that want them.  Realistically, I know that not everyone is going to like my particular style and you know what?  That’s fine.  But I also know that there must be people out there that will like what I design.  All I need to do is start – or more knittingly, cast on 😛

My 2nd goal for the next year is to start dying yarn.  I’m really keen to give it a go.  Once again, colour aesthetics differ from person to person, just like design.  There are some indie dyers out there whose work is good, but not my style.  I’m sure that there will be people that love my colourways and some that don’t but until I give it a go I’m never going to know what I can accomplish.  And if I bomb out, well, someone’s going to be getting a very ugly multi-coloured Beekeepers Quilt for Christmas 😛 .

So, that’s it.  Putting it out there is a good thing for me (despite the terror I feel at baring my knitterly soul to you all), it means that if I don’t do it, everyone will know.  Really, I don’t want to come to this time next year and find myself having to make excuses as to why I didn’t give it a good shot, it’s certainly not an example that I want to be setting for my kids.

I hope you have enjoyed the last 7 posts, some of them have certainly been very different to what I normally write.  I’ve enjoyed the challenge and having to think outside of my usual box and I’m certainly looking forward to doing it all over again next year.

*Kneeps = knitting people 😛 (“Creeps” – crafting people – just didn’t seem right 😉 )

A Bazillion Ends

Hellooooo lovely people!!!

I hope, wherever you are in the world you’re having a great day!  Me, well it’s Friday evening, Mr HK is home and the little people are on their way to sleep, what’s not to love about that?

On Wednesday – ooohhhhh I must be having an ok week, I can remember 2 days ago….  Anyway, I digress…..  On Wednesday I cast on My Superhero by Jennifer Lori.  This is my first intarsia project, ok that’s not entirely true, the first jumper (“sweater” for those playing in North America) I ever knitted had “colour work” on the sleeves.  Essentially it was a solid stripe of colour right up the centre of each sleeve, pretty basic intarsia if you could even call it that.  Anyway (I wonder if I can set a record for the number of times I can say “anyway” in a post….. yes I’m in a strange mood, but as I’ve said it’s Friday),  I knitted that particular garment over 10 years ago and I haven’t done colour work since then – unless I’ve blocked those memories because they are way too traumatic 😛 .  I’ve had the Superhero in my queue for a while and when I say a while I mean well over a year, if not 2.  I even messaged the designer way back then with questions about the difficulty of the colour work and printed out the pattern when I first added it, all with great intentions….. and then I baulked.  I chickened out, I got cold feet, I freaked out over my ability to be able to successfully knit this little project, I made excuses, and so it sat in my queue in the same spot, not moving and being blatantly ignored.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t trying to be mean, I could see those little masked eyes peering at me every time I looked at my queue (it was up near the top) but I would avoid eye contact, I would tell myself that I would get to it soon but I think those little Superheroes and I both knew that was a lie.  However, I paid for the pattern and that alone has kept it in my queue and held me to the need to knit a Superhero rather than banishing the pattern and the idea of intarsia knitting forever.

A little boy has his 1st birthday coming up and I need a gift for a him, so I thought to myself, what can I give a little boy that’s toddler friendly, isn’t going to cost a packet, but is still worth it’s weight in fun and play?  I thought about knitting a little jacket, or a hat, but neither of those cut it really, and then I remembered those Superheroes in my queue, the fact that I paid money for that pattern and my need to put that money to work, and I swallowed my fear and made the decision to cast on.

Those sneaky little Superheroes wormed their way onto my to do list.

So far so good, youtube is most certainly one of my first go to resources for demonstrating all things knitting.  The only problem, there are a million ends to weave in!

Before I started knitting socks I freaked out, I thought that socks would be too hard, they looked good, they looked so good that they must be incredibly difficult and there was no way I had the skill level to pull off something that cool.  Then I discovered hand dyed yarns and those beautiful colours with their subtle semi solids and cheeky variegations slowly but surely won me over.   I swallowed my fear and when Mr HK was out one Friday night I launched in with a practice sock done in an 8 ply (DK weight) yarn.   A few happy hours later I had a miniature sock in my hand – it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.  The same is true of this, it’s not that hard, there are just so many ends to weave in.  At least I can say I can do intarsia, even if I never try it again.

Do you have a knitting nemesis that you’re too scared to conquer?

While I was reading some of my favourite blogs earlier today I came across a banner advertising the 4th Annual Knitting and Crocheting Blog Week (which you can read more about here) and after reading through the info I thought it would be a bit of fun to join in.  So next week, hopefully, there will be a blog a day from me.  I’ll try and keep them brief, especially considering that it’s still school holidays and I have 5 kids home to keep happy and entertained, but I’m going to give it a go.  If you’re a fellow blogger, come and join in, it’s bound to be a fun and interesting experience.

Well that’s it from me.  I hope you all have a great weekend.

Christy

I ♥ Autumn

Hello lovely people!

We celebrated yet another family birthday last week.  This time my little G turned 3.  We have at least one birthday a month from November through to June between our family and Mr HKWT’s brother’s family – that’s a lot of birthday presents!  I’m thinking of doing a celebratory give away when all the birthdays are done!

Have I ever told you how much I love Autumn (or Fall as our North American friends call it)?  Aside from the milder temps I love the colours.  I mean, I really really love the colours!  I get excited seeing the trees turn all sorts of amazing shades of reds, oranges and yellows.  I love them so much that I want to paint my house in those colours.

On Saturday we took the kids up to Blackheath Memorial Park, it’s a great place for the kids to play with 3 separate playgrounds.  It’s also set on the side of a hill so it totally wears the kids out with all the running up and down the hill plus it’s great for rolling down 😛 .  It’s a great place for a picnic and so that’s what we did – fish and chips in the sunshine.  Perfect day!

Blackheath is a beautiful part of the mountains, it’s further up then Katoomba and well worth the visit, with lots of lovely shops to browse through (not that I get to do that with 5 kids in tow) and plenty of cafes.  In my opinion the place comes alive with colour in Autumn, I’m sure the same is true for Spring but as I’ve already said I love Autumn :p .  It’s also the home of a new and very cool yarn store, The House Of Wool (I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before) and of course we had to stop in and have a browse!  I was pleasantly surprised by lots and lots of new Australian indie brands, including Augustbird.  I stumbled across Augustbird sometime last week when I was trawling etsy looking for Australian yarns, so it was quite serendipitous that The House of Wool has started stocking this particular yarn and of course some of it came home with me 😀 .

I think my stash is growing faster than I can knit .

It’s funny, I’ve talked a lot about everything but what I’ve been knitting over the last couple of weeks and yet I don’t really have much to show you (I still don’t, I have taken no pics 😦 ). I have finished Millrace.  I haven’t blocked it yet and I have no photos of the finished project BUT it is finished and I am so happy that it’s done!  I do need to take myself to Bunnings to get some more rubber mats so I can block it and that is near the top of my to do list.  It would be great to have it done soon, just so I can wear it as the weather gets cooler.

I started my 2nd Jaywalker sock while we were away and I am well and truly into the foot.  I’m still decreasing the gusset as I’ve been busy with other things and it’s pretty much become my travelling project so only gets worked on here and there.  I’m kinda at that point where I’m wishing that it was done already, just so I could move on to the next thing which should be finishing off another pair, or at least working on Mr HKWT’s Gimli sock.  Why couldn’t God have given us 4 arms?  I could get so much more accomplished!  Anyway, it’s closer to being finished then to being started and that’s a good thing!

I also finished off the right front of J.J’s Artichaut.  I had a migraine last week (reason why I only blogged once last week, I can only do so much when my head is throbbing) so took the opportunity to sleep and knit whilst Mr HKWT did everything else.  It’s so nice that now I only have one side and the bottom edge to finish off but I’m going to have to find the motivation to do that.  I’ve come to the conclusion that the Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 4 ply is not a good yarn for anything beyond baby clothing.  (Correct me if I’m wrong, I’m not claiming to be the next Clara Parkes) I think the yarn is plied rather loosely, making the yarn very lofty, airy and soft, but also making it rather stretchy/ elastic.  It’s beautiful on the skin but the weight of larger garments and the elasticity of the yarn don’t mix.  M.I.A wore her Artichaut a few weekends ago and it’s already losing it’s shape and falling off her shoulders.  I guess it doesn’t help that she’s a bit rough with her clothes (she’s a very active 7yo who likes to pick up her baby sister) but still, I would have thought that it would survive better than that.  As a result M.I.A took of the Artichaut before we went out and I’m not sure if she’ll be very keen to wear it again any time soon.  I’ve already decided that I’ll knit Sunny’s Petit Artichaut out of something else, just not sure what yet.  (I just google translated Artichaut from French to English…… it means Artichoke…….. mmmmkay 😯 )

The first Hopsalots slipper out of that lovely hot pink Nundle yarn I bought while we were away has been started and finished – well at least the knitting part.  I still have to knit the ears, felt the slipper and then ears, let it dry and then attach the ears, then do the 2nd slipper.  But the knitting is done 😀 .  OH MY WORD!  The 8ply (DK weight) Nundle 100% Australian yarn is to die for!  It is so incredibly soft, smooth and a dream to work with!  I love it!  I tried the unfelted slipper on my foot and it was so lovely and soft and warm.  I can’t wait for these to be finished.  They’ll be my luxury slippers, for when I’m sitting around spending my afternoon knitting, or reading (yeah, like that happens very often.  Oh well I can dream).   I will definitely be buying yarn from Nundle again!

Aside from some swatching, I have cast on and knitted the first 4 rows of Sempervivum.  I will be totally honest with all of you and say that I’m totally disappointed with Brooklyn Tweed Loft.  But I think I’ll save the reason why for my next post.  I will soldier on with the project considering that I bought all the yarn for it and I’m dying to make Sempervivum but I doubt I’ll be buying Loft again.  I’ve been looking at the Rock Island (another gorgeous Jared Flood design – see I have nothing against the designer, just the yarn) and I have decided that I will be knitting that out of something from Skein in all likelihood.  On the upside, if I hadn’t have bought it I would have gone on wondering what it was like.  Well, now I know.  Fingers crossed the finished object looks great

Here in the Have Knitting household it’s school holidays and it’s raining today.  So, better tear myself away from all of you lovely people and get back to entertaining and feeding the troops (I’m sure they eat more when they’re all home).

What’s your favourite season?

Christy

PS.  There is now a facebook page.  If you’re on facebook please swing by and “Like” me 😀

I Was…. Then I Wasn’t

I bought some Kauni yarn in a very vibrant turquoise, online of course from Scandinavian Knitting Design.  I had originally earmarked it for Kate Davies (Get Off My) Cloud hoodie.  I guesstimated how much I would need and as the Kauni comes in big 600m balls I bought 2, thinking that 1200m of yarn would be more than enough for the project.  The yarn arrived yesterday, I purchased the pattern and printed it out……. there isn’t enough yarn 😦 . Well, that’s not entirely true, there is enough, but considering the length of the original project is 16 inches and I’m going to need at least another 5 inches in length I think I’d be pushing it to make it work.

Enter stressed, anxious and somewhat panicky Christy.  What was I going to do, what was I going to knit?  I considered leaving off the hood, even leaving the finished project at 16 inches.  But I know I wouldn’t be happy with the end product if I did either of those things.  So I went hunting around and found the Plain and Simple Pullover by Veera Valimaki (the same designer behind the very popular Color Affection Shawl).  It takes a minimum of 1094 yards to knit the small size and the length is only fractionally shorter than what I would want.  Considering that it’s meant to be layered, I don’t think it’s going to matter if I knit it to size as I can wear a longer t shirt underneath.  Plus it’s free, what’s there not to love about that?

I think I’m happy with that decision.  I think it will be a great knit and a great way to ease myself back into doing larger scale projects.  I haven’t knitted any adult sized jumpers/ cardigans for a very long time, simply because I have had too many failures.  I don’t want to fail at this type of project again!

Early last week I came down with a cold, which left me feeling tired and achy for a few days.  I didn’t want to knit but I did want to knit.  It was strange, but the best way to describe it is that even my fingers were sore, so the thought of making them work was off putting, but my heart wanted to keep at it.  I looked around for something easy to knit, something with a simple pattern and larger needles, something that I didn’t have to think too much about and something that wasn’t tiny 1×1 ribbing.  Millrace it was!  I’ve worked so diligently on that project for the last week that I’m almost up to the final chart (and when I say almost, it’s only a couple of rows away).  I’m so happy with that!  The project that felt like it was never going to end is almost complete!!!!

When I pulled it out of my knitting bag last week all of a sudden I loved the colour.  Nice and bold.  It’ll be a great pop of colour during the cold dark days of winter.

 By Friday last week I was itching to do some baking, it’s been a while since I’ve baked anything beyond a packet cake mix.  I remembered a blog post from Raspberri Cupcakes of cookies made from 3 ingredients – a tin of sweetened condensed milk, some flour, and some butter.  That seemed easy enough, so I whipped up a batch, adding a 200g bag of milk choc chips to half the dough, and rolling the other half in sprinkles (ok, it wasn’t quite half and half, there are definitely more choc chip cookies then sprinkly ones).  They’re not too bad, more importantly, they’re super simple and the kids loved them!  I used about 1/2 of the dough (there I go guesstimating again and I’m probably wrong) and I froze the rest to use later.  It will definitely be a recipe that I turn to again and again, just for the sheer simplicity and ease of it.  Although next time I might add some brown sugar and vanilla extract, they’re not as sweet as I would like them (says the lady that still eats fairy bread sandwiches for lunch on occasion 😉 ).

Well, that’s it from me until sometime next week.  I hope you all have a wonderful Easter, however you celebrate it.  I can’t wait to share with you what I get up too 😀

Take care

Christy

xo

Aestlight

So, I’ve finally had a chance to wear my Aestlight.

I love it!

When we went to the park on Saturday to take some pics it was pretty warm, too warm to be wrapped up in wool anyway.  So we just snapped a couple of pics before we left – not much of a photo shoot, but I hope it shows you just how pretty it turned out.

The only thing that I would change, if I could travel back in time and tell myself what mistakes not to make, is to make the larger version.  I could have gotten away with it, especially considering how much yarn I have left over.  But I didn’t think of that at the time, and I thought the large one would be too large.  I don’t know, it’s smaller than I thought it would be, but maybe I’m considerably taller than Gudrun Johnson so it looks bigger on her 😕 .  Hmmmmm….. maybe they should put the models measurements on patterns so you can gauge what it’s going to look like on you 😕  What do you think?

The kids had a blast at the park, as always.  It can be such an effort to get all 7 of us out of the house, but I think Mr HKWT and I forget how easy it is once we get to the park, no complaints of being bored, no demands to be entertained.  Just an hour or more of watching the kids enjoy themselves running off all that energy.

It’s Autumn now and I can feel the change of season.  The days are getting shorter and it won’t be long before daylight savings and those light filled evenings are over.  It makes me sad.  I don’t like winter, I don’t like short days, I don’t even like the cold (says the mad knitter).  It always seems that winter is far longer than summer, and I will miss summer, the hot days, the long evenings, the ice blocks and water guns, the long light filled evenings, the sunsets, the sun dresses and skirts, my thongs, the washing drying off in a few hours.  Everything.  I know it will come again, but it’s too far away 😦 (now I’m sounding like my kids waiting for their birthdays to come around again 😛 ).

But at least with Winter approaching I’ll have a chance to wrap myself in all that knitted goodness I’ve been working so hard on!  Speaking of which, the socks I’ve been “designing” have been ripped back about 3 times now.  It’s frustrating and demoralising (and a lesson to be learned in using that grid pad I bought) and I keep wondering why I’m putting myself through this and is it really worth it?  Do all designers have this same issue?  Or is it just me (because if it is I think I’ll give up now)?  I like to think that for as many great new working designs that each designer puts out, there are at least 2 that didn’t work out the way it was planned – or am I totally wrong and great designers are born, not made?  I know that it’s hard work, this designing caper, and maybe it’s something that I’m going to have to really push at in order to succeed.  It’s a shame that my automatic reaction to this is to give up and walk away before I’ve even really started.  Maybe 2013 should be the year of positive self talk.

The Gimli socks are a slow work in progress.  And I mean slow!  I was looking at them the other day thinking that I must have at least an inch of the cuff already, I measured it and was way of (as in there wasn’t enough).  The cuff is supposed to 1.5″ and I have thought about reducing it to just 1″ just because it’s so time consuming and a pain in the butt!  However, considering that they are for my husband I think a longer cuff is probably a bit more masculine, so I’ll tough it out!

Just over a week ago I discovered gradient yarn.  It started a little bit of a fascination and I spent a while trawling through etsy looking at all the different colours.  I came close to buying some, but I thought better of it and ended up doing a google search for Australian hand dyed gradient yarn.  I came across the House of Yarn in South Australia.  Not only is it a functioning yarn shop, both online and a physical store front, they also dye their own yarn and they have gradients.

So the above (I don’t know what I was thinking when I took that photo) is 4 ply/ fingering weight sock yarn in the Peony colourway.  It’s a 75/ 25% merino nylon blend and at 400m I’m pretty sure it’s going to make an awesome looking pair of socks.  In fact, I’m already planning on making the Om Shanti socks with them.  When it comes to Australian indie dyers, I don’t generally think twice about buying, I love supporting Aussie made 😀 .

Well, that’s it from me for today.  I have a little girl home with an ear ache.  It’s always nice to have an extra set of arms around that are willing to help.

Do you know of any good indie Aussie dyers?  Post them here and share the love 😀

See you soon

Christy

Inspirated

Have any of you watched MKR (My Kitchen Rules for non Australian readers)?  I’ve watched about 10 minutes all up.  I’m not a fan of watching people pour everything they have into succeeding at something while other people do their utmost to tear them down.  Anyway, leading up to the start of the latest season were some rather interesting promo ads, one of which featured a little blonde home-maker talking about feeling “inspirated”.  I’m not sure if she truly thinks it’s a word and uses it regularly, or if she made a faux pas that ‘the powers that be’ pounced on to make the show more appealing.  Regardless, I like it!  It sounds like a combination between inspiration and perspiration (and as I say this my husband rolls his eyes).

If you’re a regular reader of the blog then you know I’ve managed to score myself some Lollipop Yarn, 2 balls in fact and they’ve been singing to me, serenading me with a song about socks and the socks they want to be knit into.  I’m not a vanilla sock knitter, I need something with a bit of oomph, a bit of pizzazz, something to stop me from falling asleep.  In all honesty the only thing that got me through the Kai Mei ribbing was the pattern detail across the foot that I knew was coming!  So, I wanted to knit something pretty, but not something that would take away the lovely self striping goodness of the yarn.  I went trawling through ravelry for inspiration, I decided to try my hand at designing my own sock and wasn’t entirely happy with what I came up with, then I found these socks by Patons.  It’s just a simple feather and fan stitch and I thought, I can do that.  I wasn’t keen on the projects that were available on ravelry in the feather and fan pattern so I decided to make one up myself.  I’ve got Barbara Walker’s First Treasury, so I can play with the pattern undeterred until I’m happy with the result (for instance, I don’t like the purl bumps).  I’ve also picked up Ann Budd’s Sock Knitting Master Class and although there are some lovely patterns in there that I’m keen to try, none of them suit the yarn.  My plan is to combine different elements from the book and morph them into one glorious pair of socks (I can dream can’t I?).  I figure, if I ever want to try my hand at designing then I need to start somewhere, so why not with something fairly tame and ease myself into it?

I’ve begun with a Latvian Twisted cast on, as featured on the French Market Socks by Nancy Bush.  It’s something completely different and adds a nice amount of interest as well as incorporating all 3 colours of the yarn.  For the rib I’m just doing a simple 2 x 2 rib.  I had originally thought about a twisted rib but as it tends to make the stitches stand out more the rib was competing with the cuff so I decided to stick with an untwisted stitch.  So far, so good.  I’m not sure how long I’ll make the ribbed section, I think I’ll keep going until I feel like it’s long enough (isn’t that how designers operate, going by feel and aesthetic?).  It’s nice to be working on something of my own, even if it’s almost the most basic pattern, at least when I’m finished I can say that I designed it.

I’ve been making slow but steady progress on both the Gimli socks and J.J’s Artichaut.  I’m still working on the rib of the socks, although I think I might be just about done.  I’m not in too much of a rush to get through those as I really don’t want to make any more mistakes, not like the last time.  I’d rather the socks take me the next year to get through and have a perfect sock then make a stack of mistakes and have to rip it out because I can’t live with the mess.  I’m now through the armhole decreases on the Artichaut and I’m picking up the stitches down the side for the seamless version.  Ok, I’ve picked up one stitch.  I think I’m already regretting going for the seamless option, I have the feeling that it might be a bit fiddly if the first pick up is anything to go by…… too late now, there’s no way I’m ripping it out and starting it all over again.  Plus I don’t think J.J would ever forgive me if I ripped it out…… ok, she would, she’s 9, but it would take a very long time for her to get over it.  So I shall just have to plunge ahead and hope that it works out alright!

I started my last post with a promise to blog twice a week and then I didn’t.  I got to the weekend and everything went a little pear shaped and by the end of the weekend I never wanted to knit again let alone blog (a long story I won’t bore you with), so the desire to put myself out there just wasn’t forthcoming.  It still surprises me how emotionally tied to my knitting I am.  I knit more when I’m stressed or feeling anxious; when I’m sad or upset it’s the last thing I want to do.  Do your emotions affect how or what you knit?

On Monday, as a result of my rather emotionally draining weekend, I took time to appreciate the little things that bring me joy and I thought I would share some of them with you.

Beautiful flowers that my wonderful, kind and thoughtful husband bought me for our wedding anniversary.

The way my M.I.A rolls down her socks, not because it’s cool, just ’cause she wants to – marching to the beat of her own drum ♥

One big sister taking the time to play dolls with her baby sister

Forever exploring the world around her, even if it includes taste testing a plastic Princess

The colours of Autumn.  I may not be a big fan of winter, but red leaves set my heart aflutter

My kids and how much they love each other and love spending time together.  And of course all the joy they bring me every single day with all their hugs, their kisses, their giggles, their smiles, their everything ♥

What has brought you joy this week?

See you soon

Christy

 

Unfinished

I’ve come to the conclusion today that I do enough “craft” during the week to justify 2 blogs a week.  It makes more sense to break down my posts into smaller chunks, then try to bombard my readers with a plethora of information (and miss telling you stuff because there’s too much to say).  So, lucky you, you get to hear from me twice a week 😛 .  Now to organise my life around that!

Yesterday Mr HKWT and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary and #1 Son celebrated his 5th birthday.  When we found out our 3rd child was due on the 4th of March (the day before our anniversary), Mr HKWT stated that we’d never get to celebrate our wedding anniversary again.  I blame him for our son being born on our wedding anniversary, he jinxed it 😛 .  But he was right, every year our anniversary becomes less and less and #1 Son’s birthday takes over a little bit more.  I think it’s par for the course, #1 Son is only a little boy, he doesn’t understand the importance of Mummy and Daddy’s wedding anniversary and that’s ok.  It won’t always be that way, in fact, one day he’ll be all grown up and will be happy to not be the centre of our attention for the entire day, at least that’s what I’m hoping.  At least Mr HKWT will never have an excuse to forget the date we were married 😀 .

Saturday night I went to another card making evening.  Well, it’s a craft night with the option to make cards or take your own craft.  I took my knitting but I also took some stamps with the view to make at least one card.  As you know (if you’re a regular reader) I’ve been participating in the Postcard Swap on ravelry and the next theme is Bobmas (which I’m assuming is the birth of ravelry).  So I made a knitting themed card.  Not sure if my swap partner is into knitting or crochet (she may hate this card 😕 ) but I wanted to use my very cute knitting stamps from Stampin’ Up.  I’m pretty proud of myself to be honest, it took ages to get the creative juices flowing.  I also made another little Tea themed card for a friend to go with a tea cup I’ve bought her.  I would have kept going but just those 2 card took about 3 hours to make, like I said it took a while to get the creative juices flowing.  Since then I’ve signed up for a stamp club which operates every 2 months (it’s kind of like a yarn club but I get to choose my products) so there will be lots more stamping and card making in my future.

Sunday afternoon found me knitting away like some crazy knitting woman as I tried to finish off the V Junkie sock.  I got there, eventually.  As it was I didn’t need to add extra rows at the end of the foot before the toe decreases.  I didn’t follow the pattern to the letter with the toe, Alice Yu has the toe decreased to the last 6 stitches (or some other tiny number) before grafting, I think I left it at 9 stitches on each needle (18 all up using the magic loop method).  I have thin feet so I don’t think it would matter all that much, going down to the smaller stitch count, but I don’t like the idea of having an almost complete triangle at the end of my foot.  I don’t know why.  I doubt it would change the fit, I just prefer a more rounded toe.

I’ve been trawling my way through the Socktopus book and I’ve settled on Om Shanti as one of my next sock projects.  Aside from the lovely pattern I’m intrigued by the short row toe, the toe up short row heel, and the cuff which I think might be grafted on somehow.  It will have to wait awhile though as I have a few other things to get through first……. I will resist the temptation to work on it!  According to the pattern though, it’s a provisional crochet cast on……. I don’t like crochet 😐 oh well, it will be worth it to learn a new technique.  Why is that everywhere I turn crochet in knitting comes up.  Maybe it’s just my taste 😮 .  Anyway, I’m going to alter it a little bit and make them longer in the leg, I have no call for ankle socks and those particular socks are too pretty to be relegated to luxury bed socks – they need showing off!!!!!

Since finishing off the V Junkie sock I’ve made the decision to finish off some of the other WIP’s I have sitting around.  I’ve picked up J.J’s Artichaut and made some progress down the right front.  I’ve made so many mistakes though that I’ve had to rip it back more than a few times.  I think I need to slow down.  I’m in such a rush to get everything finished that I’m making careless mistakes, aside from the fact that I’m really really tired and that’s not helping my ability to follow simple instructions, especially at night.

For a while now I’ve had the Gimli socks on my mind.  I started these last year for Mr HKWT but made so many mistakes in my sleep deprived newborn baby haze that I ripped them out (I’m not sure why I think I’m going to have more success now).  Yesterday I started them up again, and yes it is no coincidence that I started them again on our anniversary.  So far so good, mind you I’ve only worked on the cuff.  I’m knitting them in Top Draw Sock yarn from Skein.  I love Skein yarn, it is so soft and so smooth, and best of all it’s Australian 😀 .  It’s absolutely beyond beautiful!  Since purchasing the yarn last year there have been quite a few new colourways added to their range, I am so keen to add some of that to my stash, but first things first, use up what I have!  I’m really looking forward to getting to the Legolas socks that I’m planning on making for me.  I have a thing for those Middle Earth Elves 😛 !

From me and my little Easter Bunny to you, hope you’re having a great week!

See you soon

Christy

Restore thy Soul

It has occurred to me recently that in order to be a good mother and wife sometimes I need to put myself first and take care of me.  I will be the first to acknowledge that putting myself first grates against everything that I am.  For the last decade I’ve become well practised at putting my needs aside (although as I write this I’m also aware of how selfish I can be) but because I love my kids and my husband, I need to show myself some love too.  And it’s not always healthy to show that love by buying more yarn or even casting on another project 😛 .  Last weekend I endeavoured to show myself a little love and ventured across the road to my neighbours Stampin’ Up party.  I spent 3 hours without children, 3 hours of talking to other adults without the interruption of my little ones, 3 hours of being creative, and 3 hours of concentrating on a craft other than knitting.

I had a great deal of fun.  A short while after Mr HKWT and I got married I started making cards, I had a decent assortment of stamps and inks and it wasn’t long after the birth of J.J that I was hooked on scrapbooking.  There’s something really wonderful about choosing pretty coloured papers and embellishments and marrying them together.  It’s a whole different tactile crafting experience that I love and hope to do more of.  I gave up scrapbooking because there were too many little hands leaving little gifts of fingerprints all over my pages, and to be honest I don’t think I could go back to that particular craft.  I’m very particular about how I do my pages and I tend to steer away from bombarding each page with as many photos as possible, so I think if I were to take that up again I’d be 200 years old and still not anywhere close to finishing off an album for my 3rd child 😛 .  But making cards and playing with stamps, now that is something that is a lot like knitting – what insanity is that woman going on about? I hear you say – well, it’s pretty and it’s practical.  I can make a card and give it to someone who needs a little cheering up, far quicker than I can knit them up a shawl (although that is something that I will continue to do).  I can make several cards in a few hours in many different styles and colours, I can’t do that with knitting.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to stray from my first love, I’m just going to have a little hanky panky on the side with card stock and stamps 😉 .

This last week saw Aestlight finished.  WOOHOO 😀 !!!!!!  Unfortunately the weather has not been kind and it still remains unblocked.  But it is finished!  I think my stitch count was off at some stage, either on the lace section or in the border, I’m not sure which.  However, I resisted the temptation to rip it back, recount and then start the edging again.  You can’t tell, at least I don’t think you can tell.  I’m happy with it and that’s the main thing considering I’ll be the one wearing it.  I bound off the centre garter stitch triangle with the Banana (light), Elizabeth Bennet yarn I was using from Yarn Love, 2 friends of mine made that suggestion and I’m glad they did (and I’m glad that I listened to them), it looks really good.  I used a traditional Shetland bind off that Chrissy Graham of Snappy Stitches talked about in one of her podcasts.  It’s a really pretty bind off, which I know probably sounds a bit strange, but because the bind off has been done in the contrast yarn you can see it.  Seriously, if you plan on making the Aestlight – or any other shawl that needs a stretchier edge – use this bind off, it’s worth it, and it’s so easy.  I’m finding myself hoping to cast on a pair of toe up socks soon so I can see if the same bind off will work well with the cuff.

In a fit of anxiety and stress I wound up a skein of Loft from Brooklyn Tweed in the Blanket Fort colourway.  As with so many of my online purchases I’m still unsure of the colour.  I’m hoping that once the Sempervivum has been knit up it will look far less like the colour of dryer fluff.  I love the colour believe it or not (there is something about cleaning off the lint filter on my parents tumble dryer that I’ve always enjoyed – yeah I know, I’m weird) but I’m just not sold on it for this particular project.  I’m not so sure what it’s going to look like once it’s finished, it’s such a pretty pattern that I want the finished project to look striking, not a confused mix of purple and grey which is what I think it looks a bit like at the moment.  I love the pictures of Sempervivum on the Brooklyn Tweed website so much that I don’t want to be disappointed with my end project, I feel like that would not only be letting me down but a designer that I admire – not to mention all the hours spent working on the shawl.  I also bought the pattern and OH MY GOODNESS!  This is going to keep me on my toes!  All I can do is give it a go and cross my fingers, arms, legs, and toes that I’m able to grapple my way through it without making too many mistakes.  Wish me luck!

The V Junkie socks have had a whole lot of love this past week and I’m happy to report that the short row heel fits my foot wonderfully.  I’m really really happy with that heel construction and plan on using it again and again and again.  Does anyone out there know what the wear on that is like compared to a traditional heel flap?  Hmmmm…….. Anyway, I am through the foot and onto the forefoot part, the pattern stated to end the foot section on row 15 once a certain measurement was reached.  I didn’t do that.  I was a centimetre off the measurement and the pattern repeat is 2cm long (yes, I sat there and measured it like the knitting dork that I am), so I decided that instead of adding an extra centimetre to my sock I was going to start on the forefoot section and add extra rows before the toe decreases if necessary.  I think that’s a good decision.  I just have to remember to make sure I take good notes so I can make the next sock exactly the same, otherwise there could be trouble.

I realised the other day that I have 2 pairs of finished socks and 3 single socks currently, plus 1 on the needles (well 2 if you consider the Pomotamus socks I started a while back but I’m planning on frogging them).  I think it’s time to start on the other socks…… why can’t I grow an extra set of arms just for sock knitting?

Last year I got a bee in my bonnet about sewing up a drawstring bag with a boxed out bottom for my sock projects.  Well, after far too long I finally got around to sewing one up.  It’s not perfect but boy am I happy with it!  Not only is it pink, it has those cute little houses on it (reminds me of the Smurfs or some other cute cartoon character), it makes me happy and it’s the perfect size for my current sock project.  It holds my yarn, my extra long circular, the project, the pattern and a small notions tin, with a little bit of room left over (I managed to stuff the Aestlight in there as well on Thursday to take to my craft group).  I am very very happy with it and I’m looking forward to sewing up more in the not too distant future.

The next week is a going to be a fun one.  On Tuesday we celebrate not only #1 Son’s 5th birthday but our 13th wedding anniversary.  I’m hoping this year everyone is well  as last year everyone was throwing up 😕 .  What a way to celebrate a wedding anniversary by delivering a baby!  At least that is one anniversary that I’ll never ever forget!!!!!  Or even be able to celebrate without thinking of my son.  J.J is generally so sweet on our anniversary, making sure that we don’t get forgotten in all the birthday festivities.  I really do have the sweetest kids.

What do you think of the new blog theme?

Have a great week 😀

Christy

Rainy Days

This blog, written, was not supposed to happen.  My plan was to produce a video blog and get that up instead of a written one.  But, it’s not as easy as it seems.  In fact, I realised just how much I don’t know about podcasting, the internet, RSS feeds, uploading massively large files, etc etc.  So, that’s not happening this week, however I am much more educated now and there will be a podcast released by me in the not too distant future :-D.

On Saturday we celebrated Australia Day, and being the country of the long weekend, today, Monday, the celebration continues.  I love a long weekend, not that I have work to skip, but I do love having everyone home and for a change Mr HKWT is home too.  This week is a big week for us, the 2 older kids are back to school on Wednesday and we start the gear up for #1 son to start school next week.  Essentially I go from having everyone home to having hardly anyone home in a day and that makes me a little sad.  I’m going to miss the noise and the company, the sleep ins and late breakfasts, the time to drink my morning coffee and all the cuddles, kisses and conversations throughout the day.  Today we’re having a quiet day at home, well as quiet as you can get when everyone is crammed into a small space, it’s raining outside and arguments are starting here there and everywhere (yes, the smell of school and peace is in the air and yes it is inviting, even if I will miss them).  I love these quiet and cool home days, it gives me a chance to do what I truly love, bake and knit (oh and spend time with my adorable family).  Generally speaking I don’t bake during summer (or at least I try and avoid it but the call of cake sometimes gets the better of me), my oven has a tendency to turn the entire house into an oven so I try to keep it off as much as possible during the hotter months.  But the rain today has brought cooler temperatures that require warm pants and a desire for warm cake in my belly.  It was just a packet mix but I loved my slice of Date Loaf with a cup of tea.  It reminded me of my childhood, my mum used to make Date Loaf when I was kid and serve it to us fresh out of the oven smothered in margarine (I’m sure butter would taste better but hey I’m not complaining) and I did the same for my kids today, minus the margarine.  When my kids have flown the coop I really hope they have fond memories of me baking them yummy things and of quiet days at home filled with warmth and love.

I’ve been wanting a Nostepinne for a while, after looking into getting a ball winder and then feeling very convicted about buying more plastic someone suggested the Nostepinne.  I went looking for one but they are hard to find in Australia and so I turned to etsy and found a few nice ones from overseas.  After inquiring after the cost of postage to Australia and finding out it was going to cost almost as much as the Nostepinne itself I put the idea on the back burner.  Until I got an email all about the joy of winding with a Nostepinne.  I went searching again and this time my search was fruitful.  Ecoyarns have Nostepinnes on their website, there were none available but I sent them a quick email and within a few hours I heard back from them saying that there were 2 in stock that hadn’t been put up on the internet, made by a local wood turner from Australian Blue Gum.  I didn’t think twice about buying one and quickly shot back a reply saying that I was more than interested in purchasing one.

I’m certainly not adept at winding with one yet (and yes I came close to giving up), but I love it.  I love that it’s made by an Aussie, I love that it’s made from a native Australian wood.  I love it.

I’ve been working on the Aestlight Shawl pretty much monogamously.  Very little sleep = a desire for very simple knitting and the Aestlight fits that bill, at least the garter stitch triangle does.  It felt for a little while like I was never going to reach the stitch count for the triangle, then all of a sudden I had too many stitches and I had to rip back, but at least it’s all done.  I picked up all the stitches along the loopy border and ended up with an extra stitch.  I thought that maybe I had miscounted my end stitches on the triangle and just proceeded with the border (who wants to rip back all that work?) but after a false start with the border, I ripped it all back and started again.

The border is a little mischievous, at least to a sleep deprived and addled brain.  I found out where I was picking up the extra stitch – I was mistaking one of the stitches on hold as an edge loop.  Then I got to the end of the border, just before I started on the Birds Eye lace section, and I don’t know if it’s me and my “no sleep” addled brain getting in the way or if it’s the pattern.  But, when I follow the pattern I end up with 2 extra stitches and the right side facing.  I really don’t understand how that happens.  Anyway, after much deliberation and pondering, I finally just tinked back a row and, thankfully, had the correct number of stitches and the wrong side facing.  The Bird’s Eye Lace pattern is simple enough, but if you’re going to knit this, I strongly recommend going off the chart rather than the written instructions – there seems to be some inconsistencies between the 2 and my WIP works with the chart but not the written instructions (does that make sense?).

I think the yellow works with the After the Storm colourway.  The colours are very Australian though and that kind of makes me feel a bit funny about them.  I love my country, but I’m not into wearing the flag or national colours.  I’m hoping by the time I’m finished I love it so much that I’m not bothered by that.  At least I’ll have something patriotic to wear on Australia Day :-p

Have you got little people starting back at school this week and are you looking forward to it or dreading it?

Happy Australia Day one and all.

Christy

Exciting Times

Well………. I’ve been missing for a couple of weeks (if you haven’t noticed), no dramas other than switching internet providers.  Our last provider decided to dig their heels in and made the transition rather drawn out, so I have been without internet access for a little while.  It’s good to be back online and it’s wonderful to be able to blog again :D.

In the last 2 weeks lots has happened but not a lot of knitting.  It’s been so hot that the physical action of knitting has taken a back seat, but I’ve done lots of thinking and talking about knitting, lots of looking at patterns and adding things to my queue, lots of drooling over yarn and choosing colours for different projects (lots can be done from a small phone with internet access) and of course my friend has enabled my knitting addiction by gifting me the Blomster sock pattern.  I bought yarn for it ages ago but it’s just been sitting in my queue not moving (while I’ve bought more yarn and started other projects, including socks).  You can read about the yarn I bought here.  Now I have no excuse but to get started on it, although I think I might finish at least the first V Junkie sock first.

I’ve been steadily working on the Aestlight Shawl, at least as steadily as I can in extreme heat (I have no air con) but as a result of not spending much time actually knitting it’s not grown much.  But it’s still very pretty and I can’t wait to see the finished object.

I’ve finished the back of J.J’s Artichaut, once I started on the sleeve caps it seemed to go really quickly, even though I was increasing every other row, maybe it’s because I wasn’t having to keep track of 50 odd rows – things always seem to go quicker when you’re only dealing with a few rows at time.  Breaks it all up a little bit.  Since finishing off the back I haven’t done any work on it (and that was over a week ago) which I feel a little bad about….. but I will finish it, no doubt about that, I have a 9 year old that will never let me live it down if I don’t.

In between row sections on Artichaut I’ve worked on pattern repeats on my V Junkie sock.  It’s a lovely little honeycomb stitch and I do love its ease and simplicity.  Just enough to keep me interested.  However, the cuff is comprised of 3 rows.  Yes, you read right, just 3 little rows.  On the needles that cuff rolls over the top of the sock and it looks wrong.  I’ve been a little paranoid about it, as it seems loose and there’s no ribbing.  But when I try it on and pull it far enough up my calf it seems to sit up properly all by itself.  I’ll definitely be trying this sock on before I work on the heel, just to make sure that I have the length right so that tiny little cuff sits properly.  Despite my doubts on the cuff of this sock, the colour I’m using is amazing.  It’s such a lovely red (and it kind of looks like something under a microscope in that pattern :p), a beautiful deep red with hits of purple here and there, I’m definitely looking forward to being able to wear them.  Actually, looking at the sock now reminds me of the Sound of Music (stay with me), when the Von Trapp family are hiding in the cemetery in the convent?  You know when they’re hiding from the Nazis in that little fenced in corridor that has gates all the way along?  Yeah, I know, it’s a bit of a weird association but I’d rather think of catacombs when I look at my sock then blood cells.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog, I use an app on my iPod as a row counter.  The week our internet went down my iPod crashed.  I’m still working on Millrace (ok, I haven’t done any work on Millrace for a while but it’s there waiting patiently for my return) and I was pretty upset when the iPod crashed.  I was seriously concerned that I had just lost all the info of where I’m up to with Millrace.  I spent over a week reassuring myself that I could figure it all out, that it couldn’t be that hard to count back rows and decipher where I was up to in the pattern repeat, but still, I was concerned.  Thankfully when we were finally up and on the internet again I was able to update the iPod, the update backed up all of the data stored on my iPod and my row counters were saved (and yes I said counters because the project alone has 4)!  Honestly I don’t know what’s worse, relying on temperamental technology to take note of my rows, or an actual row counter that will inevitably be played with by my children (nothing is safe in this house unless it’s put up and out of reach).  Note to self: finish Millrace before there are any more issues!

Sunny’s favourite little toy is this tiny bunny softie that came with romper I bought her a few months ago.  She absolutely loves chewing on it’s ears (seriously with all the pulling on it that she does with her little gums one ear is longer than the other).  This little bunny is white, Sunny is now on solids, guess what hasn’t stayed very white despite frequent washing?  At least I can say that it’s well loved.  Anyway, considering that she loves this little bunny so much I thought I would make her one and started looking on etsy for a pattern.  I came across RetroMama and my goodness! I love her designs.  I was pleasantly surprised by all of her little patterns as they are just as cute and I would happily sew them all – next will be the Greta doll and the little bear!  I love this little bunny, the instructions are nice and clear and the project itself seems to be relatively simple.  I haven’t started sewing yet but I have cut all the pieces.  I’m using corduroy from some pants that I picked up at a second hand store and quilting fabric from my stash for the rest of it.  My only complaint about this pattern (and it’s probably more my fault for not reading it through properly first) is that the pattern pieces tell you to cut pieces from fusible interfacing and WonderUnder (I’m using Vlisoflex) as well as from the material.  When I’ve sewn on previous occasions I’ve always ironed on the interfacing and Vlisoflex before I’ve started cutting – isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?  Anyway that’s my only beef so far.  I caught that before I cut the pieces that require the Vlisoflex but not the fusible interfacing, not quite sure how I’m going to tackle that bit.  But once again it’s been too hot for sewing so all I’ve done so far is cut.

I’m looking forward to cooler weather, the last few days have been nice, it’s been rainy and misty but I know the heat is on it’s way back.  My thoughts and prayers go out to those people around the country that have lost homes due to the spate of bush fires we’ve seen and my very deep thanks and appreciation to all the Rural Bush Fire Fighters fighting those fires across our nation.

I have so much more to tell you but I’m going to leave it at that because…… with any luck……. the next blog might be a little bit different……

Can you guess what I’m planning on doing?

Have a great week

Christy