I feel a little bad about abandoning my blog last year but there's not a great deal I can do about it now except attempt to write more often this year. It was a pretty incredible year which saw my Dad getting remarried and three new family members as a result. Here's hoping they'll actually be able to join us in Oz on a more permanent basis soon!
Otherwise I spent a lot of time looking after myself as I'd gotten run down. This meant baking, lots of tea, some knitting and the rediscovery of sketching and jewellery making. So I have many reasons to look forward and now seems as good a time as any to start moving ahead with some projects.
2011 is being touted as the "year of legs". So in celebration of that I've decided to make it a year of sock knitting. So far so good!
I cast on the left sock of Twisted on Christmas day using a skein of my stashed Araucania Ranco Solid yarn in green which is looking gorgeous so far. The tiny 2mm needles have been proving a bit hard on my hands so it's been slow going. I've just gotten to the heel flap which I made a slight error on due to misreading the pattern but having solved that I seem to have discovered that I need to start over anyhow as the sock is a little too tight. ARGH!
Dad's Thuja socks, also cast on on Christmas day, are flying along. The 4mm needles are bliss to work with and Panda Magnum Soft is truly as it's named (soft that is, not a panda). Just turned the heel of the first sock and am a quarter of the way through the foot.
I also found the socks I had started to knit out of my pretty yarn from Norway. For the last two years they showed up around the house, I'd look at them, think how pretty they were and then lament the loss of the pattern and the broken needle. Finally the day after Boxing Day last year I decided that I could reverse engineer the pattern from what I had done already. After all I had one completed sock and 13 years of knitting experience. Armed with a stitch book and a new set of needles it took me a grand total of half an hour to work out the chevron pattern.
The final sock pattern that I currently have on the go is the Adirondack Socks which are my current crochet project. I'm making this out of a ball of Moda Vera Noir that's been in my stash as well.
Phew, that is a lot of socks! I do like working on several though as I find it easier on my hands and my interest levels. at this point I'm working on a different pair/pattern each day and it's entertaining me marvelously. I'm also really looking forward to making socks with Fi as we embark on some KALs this year.
Here's hoping I have a wonderful collection of socks by this time next year!
Showing posts with label yarns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yarns. Show all posts
Monday, January 03, 2011
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Today's post is brought to you by the numbers 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2
0.75 is the number of hours sleep I've had in the last 32 hours. I sense my nocturnal habits may be at an end.
1 is the number of days I've worked this week. It's good to be working again, even if it's just an orientation.
1.5 is the number of cards I ended up writing yesterday before being distracted by the arrival of the Schoeller & Stahl Zermatt yarn that Dad bought Mum & I for Christmas. I am now knitting a sweater despite the summery weather in the vague hope I'll finish it in time for Autumn/Winter 2008.
2 is the number of chapters I've read of The Ghost's Child. Since my last post I've discovered that The Pleasure of my Company doesn't actually have chapters. As a result I'm having a lot of trouble not finishing it in one deliciously indulgent reading. I'm trying to pace myself.
1 is the number of days I've worked this week. It's good to be working again, even if it's just an orientation.
1.5 is the number of cards I ended up writing yesterday before being distracted by the arrival of the Schoeller & Stahl Zermatt yarn that Dad bought Mum & I for Christmas. I am now knitting a sweater despite the summery weather in the vague hope I'll finish it in time for Autumn/Winter 2008.
2 is the number of chapters I've read of The Ghost's Child. Since my last post I've discovered that The Pleasure of my Company doesn't actually have chapters. As a result I'm having a lot of trouble not finishing it in one deliciously indulgent reading. I'm trying to pace myself.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Midnight Cakes
Not only am I nocturnal, I'm beginning to make a habit of baking cakes at midnight. This is of course totally in line with Dad's nocturnal habits but I'm sure it's not good for us!
Tonight's cake was a simple pound cake made with a recipe that I've altered a bit and am still tweaking. Perhaps a little less egg but otherwise a delicious cake that will be perfect with my morning (ha!) coffee.
Speaking of coffee I don't think I've mentioned how in love I am with our new espresso machine, which in all honesty isn't that new any more as we've had it for almost a month... Purchased the day after the dishwasher caught fire which I also seem to have failed to mention. I guess that's what happens when I write while I should be asleep.
I have had a fairly productive day today despite only making it out of bed at 13:00. I've achieved 80% of what I wanted to do.
Tomorrow I'm aiming to:
- do at least one load of washing
- clean the bathroom
- head to the post office and post my international mail
- head to the supermarket to pick up some supplies for further baking adventures
- have a cup of coffee with a slice of tonight's cake
- read another chapter of The Pleasure of my Company and one of The Ghost's Child (apparently children's fiction and literature have captured my attention from the stack of sci-fi/fantasy that's sitting by my bed
- write a few more cards
- finish the entrelac scarf that I've been making out of Noro's Silk Garden yarn.
We'll see how I go... first I need to get out of bed before noon! Excellent practice for Tuesday when I have to be at work at 09:00. Wish me luck!
Tonight's cake was a simple pound cake made with a recipe that I've altered a bit and am still tweaking. Perhaps a little less egg but otherwise a delicious cake that will be perfect with my morning (ha!) coffee.
Speaking of coffee I don't think I've mentioned how in love I am with our new espresso machine, which in all honesty isn't that new any more as we've had it for almost a month... Purchased the day after the dishwasher caught fire which I also seem to have failed to mention. I guess that's what happens when I write while I should be asleep.
I have had a fairly productive day today despite only making it out of bed at 13:00. I've achieved 80% of what I wanted to do.
Tomorrow I'm aiming to:
- do at least one load of washing
- clean the bathroom
- head to the post office and post my international mail
- head to the supermarket to pick up some supplies for further baking adventures
- have a cup of coffee with a slice of tonight's cake
- read another chapter of The Pleasure of my Company and one of The Ghost's Child (apparently children's fiction and literature have captured my attention from the stack of sci-fi/fantasy that's sitting by my bed
- write a few more cards
- finish the entrelac scarf that I've been making out of Noro's Silk Garden yarn.
We'll see how I go... first I need to get out of bed before noon! Excellent practice for Tuesday when I have to be at work at 09:00. Wish me luck!
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Staples & Yarns
Today started as many do with Mum & I on the couch knitting & crocheting. Admittedly mine started much later than hers did as I was attempting to catch up on the sleep I didn't get over the weekend.
After a quick lunch we headed back to the hospital to catch up with the surgeon for the latest round of results. Oh and to get the staples/stitches removed. Having never seen staples being removed from a wound (or surgical staples in general) it was interesting and odd all at the same time. I think the removal of stitches was more painful to watch and I'm not sure why...
So the important news is that the results are looking pretty good. Fairly normal in fact. There are still a few cells that they're concerned about but it's looking relatively good. They'll do another biopsy and try to get a few more cells but if the results are still inconclusive I think they'll just monitor the tumour. So far there's no treatment required. Mum's pretty happy about that part!
Staples removed we hit the shopping centre to pick up some wool (because clearly we needed more). I'd accidentally bought the one ball of the wrong wool for a blanket that I'm crocheting and as I'm halfway through... I've also started working on the Sudoku throw rug that Mum and I are making for the couch. Photos soon I promise!
After a quick lunch we headed back to the hospital to catch up with the surgeon for the latest round of results. Oh and to get the staples/stitches removed. Having never seen staples being removed from a wound (or surgical staples in general) it was interesting and odd all at the same time. I think the removal of stitches was more painful to watch and I'm not sure why...
So the important news is that the results are looking pretty good. Fairly normal in fact. There are still a few cells that they're concerned about but it's looking relatively good. They'll do another biopsy and try to get a few more cells but if the results are still inconclusive I think they'll just monitor the tumour. So far there's no treatment required. Mum's pretty happy about that part!
Staples removed we hit the shopping centre to pick up some wool (because clearly we needed more). I'd accidentally bought the one ball of the wrong wool for a blanket that I'm crocheting and as I'm halfway through... I've also started working on the Sudoku throw rug that Mum and I are making for the couch. Photos soon I promise!
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Wooly Days
The last two days could best be described as wooly. I've felt a little wool in the head but it's what happens when I slow down again.
There's also been much wool shopping (oh the retail therapy) lately after speeding through my current partial stash of yarns to try and make a scarf that Naomi could take to Europe. The speeding through my partial stash comment is a little inaccurate as I still have quite a few random balls of yarn...
It's just that I can't walk past a well priced ball of lovely yarn and K-Marché and Spotlight were having sales...
So Mum and I have spent a couple of days of QT trawling through bargain yarn bins together. Mum scoring record deals like 40c for twenty balls of baby yarn while I lashed out on $24 dollars worth of mohair/wool for a long cross-over wrap. I still have a bit to learn about saving...
We've since been inspired (or possibly it's the guilt of having so much yarn) into holding a stall at the end of the month. That way we can continue to knit and crochet to our hearts content while not filling the house with millions of scarves, socks and other items.
Having finished our knitted socks for our boys (Gene & Dad) we've moved on to making scarves. I started two today... one with a pretty shell pattern (it's a peachy pink) and the other with an open-work pattern that I'm in the process of designing (making it up as I go) that's based on a crocheted block.
Knitting socks is fun but incredibly addictive. Even though it can be exasperating at times once you've made a pair of socks you just want to dive into another sock pattern. There are quite a few I want to try at the moment. One's a lacy stocking-sock from a leaflet Mum got the other day, then there's a crocheted sock... not to mention the space invaders socks that I want to make for Gene... On top of all of this we got some great self-patterning sock yarns that we can make basic socks with pretty patterns!
So many socks, so little time!
There's also been much wool shopping (oh the retail therapy) lately after speeding through my current partial stash of yarns to try and make a scarf that Naomi could take to Europe. The speeding through my partial stash comment is a little inaccurate as I still have quite a few random balls of yarn...
It's just that I can't walk past a well priced ball of lovely yarn and K-Marché and Spotlight were having sales...
So Mum and I have spent a couple of days of QT trawling through bargain yarn bins together. Mum scoring record deals like 40c for twenty balls of baby yarn while I lashed out on $24 dollars worth of mohair/wool for a long cross-over wrap. I still have a bit to learn about saving...
We've since been inspired (or possibly it's the guilt of having so much yarn) into holding a stall at the end of the month. That way we can continue to knit and crochet to our hearts content while not filling the house with millions of scarves, socks and other items.
Having finished our knitted socks for our boys (Gene & Dad) we've moved on to making scarves. I started two today... one with a pretty shell pattern (it's a peachy pink) and the other with an open-work pattern that I'm in the process of designing (making it up as I go) that's based on a crocheted block.
Knitting socks is fun but incredibly addictive. Even though it can be exasperating at times once you've made a pair of socks you just want to dive into another sock pattern. There are quite a few I want to try at the moment. One's a lacy stocking-sock from a leaflet Mum got the other day, then there's a crocheted sock... not to mention the space invaders socks that I want to make for Gene... On top of all of this we got some great self-patterning sock yarns that we can make basic socks with pretty patterns!
So many socks, so little time!
Monday, June 26, 2006
My name is Sarah and...
... I'm a yarnaholic. That's not to say that I love to talk a lot, which I do, but I have well and truly developed a serious yarn buying addiction having moved back in with my folks. It's the lack of having rent to meet... not to mention the stocktake sales - damn you Spotlight and your 20% off everything for one day only...
So my day started off in the usual sleepy way. I slept in on my nice new comfy Memory Foam pillow. I bought a pair of these pillows on the high recommendation from my Mum & my osteo that this would provide me with better quality sleep and less neck & back problems. One of the best purchases of the year so far to be honest! Much too easy to sleep in on though. Also entertaining for the easily amused as you can watch the foam spring back up after you mush it into funny shapes. :)
I woke up and found Mum doing some pattern editing on the computer and showed her how to instert a table in Word without any gridlines which made her happy and then trotted downstairs with full intentions of starting a velvet beret for Lisa (it's in a red wine kind of colour) as soon as I checked my email. Not a good move it seems.
In my mail box was an email from Spotlight that advised me they were having the aforementioned one day sale. Hmmm... interesting... I thought. I don't have any cotton to make that top that I like in the Happy Hooker book that I bought... or that bolero that I like either... I'd also really like to make Dad & Gene some socks... HEY MUM! We need to go out!. Thus began the trip to the shops where I got some gorgeous cotton/alpaca yarn to make my top & bolero, wool to felt into slippers, machine washable wool to make socks for the boys and some to make socks for the girls (Mum & I).
Luckily I'm making my way at great speed through my yarn stash. Last night I finished a hat for Jo, think 1920's cloche decorated with a treble clef that I designed because according to Gene she's a muso. I'm halfway through a moebius wrap for me in blue-purple varigated yarn. I've got a cabled scarf on the go and this new top from the book. Large variety of projects would usually reflect nothing but my fear of commiting to things, but it's actually got more to do with my RSI and carpal tunnel issues. Too much knitting makes my left arm hurt (it was rather swollen two days ago) and too much crochet makes my right arm hurt. So on advice from the experts plenty of projects to keep you moving.
So having spent up I declared two things. Firstly, I'm not going to a yarn shop in the near future. Secondly I needed to start applying for work. Happily the guilt from the yarn shopping prompted me to cautiously check my email again where I got the job list from Arts Hub and started to apply for work. Does anyone else hate writing application letters as much as I do? Anyway it's all done now and I'm still keeping my eye out.
Nothing else is new really so I'm going to crawl back to the couch with my Baileys and watch Gene play Final Fantasy X while crocheting happily into the wee hours of the morning.
So my day started off in the usual sleepy way. I slept in on my nice new comfy Memory Foam pillow. I bought a pair of these pillows on the high recommendation from my Mum & my osteo that this would provide me with better quality sleep and less neck & back problems. One of the best purchases of the year so far to be honest! Much too easy to sleep in on though. Also entertaining for the easily amused as you can watch the foam spring back up after you mush it into funny shapes. :)
I woke up and found Mum doing some pattern editing on the computer and showed her how to instert a table in Word without any gridlines which made her happy and then trotted downstairs with full intentions of starting a velvet beret for Lisa (it's in a red wine kind of colour) as soon as I checked my email. Not a good move it seems.
In my mail box was an email from Spotlight that advised me they were having the aforementioned one day sale. Hmmm... interesting... I thought. I don't have any cotton to make that top that I like in the Happy Hooker book that I bought... or that bolero that I like either... I'd also really like to make Dad & Gene some socks... HEY MUM! We need to go out!. Thus began the trip to the shops where I got some gorgeous cotton/alpaca yarn to make my top & bolero, wool to felt into slippers, machine washable wool to make socks for the boys and some to make socks for the girls (Mum & I).
Luckily I'm making my way at great speed through my yarn stash. Last night I finished a hat for Jo, think 1920's cloche decorated with a treble clef that I designed because according to Gene she's a muso. I'm halfway through a moebius wrap for me in blue-purple varigated yarn. I've got a cabled scarf on the go and this new top from the book. Large variety of projects would usually reflect nothing but my fear of commiting to things, but it's actually got more to do with my RSI and carpal tunnel issues. Too much knitting makes my left arm hurt (it was rather swollen two days ago) and too much crochet makes my right arm hurt. So on advice from the experts plenty of projects to keep you moving.
So having spent up I declared two things. Firstly, I'm not going to a yarn shop in the near future. Secondly I needed to start applying for work. Happily the guilt from the yarn shopping prompted me to cautiously check my email again where I got the job list from Arts Hub and started to apply for work. Does anyone else hate writing application letters as much as I do? Anyway it's all done now and I'm still keeping my eye out.
Nothing else is new really so I'm going to crawl back to the couch with my Baileys and watch Gene play Final Fantasy X while crocheting happily into the wee hours of the morning.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Festively Fatigued
The holiday season has treated me well this year. So yay for that!
Gene and I started early with the whole gift giving thing on Christmas Eve (at about one in the morning when he knocked off work) because we were heading our own seperate ways this year for Christmas. He seems to like his crazily bright LED torch, but he would, and we're looking forward to playing the "cheap-ass board game" that I got him from Of Science & Swords. Gene got me the Sims 2 on XBox after having to listen to me sulk about not having a fast enough graphics card or processor in my laptop to play the game so you can imagine how I passed Christmas Eve night...
I actually got to spend Christmas Day with my parents this year, although I was a little antisocial during Christmas evening playing the Sims 2 on their lovely rocket-ship of a computer. In my defense, they'd gone out to visit a friend of theirs who's fairly sick with cancer to try and cheer her up so it was just the dogs who got received little attention. I swear my parents read my mind this year. I got given a manicure/hand cream set which I was actually thinking of getting at some point soon so that was great. Mum also gave me some gorgeous Noro yarn which is a blend of silk, mohair and lambswool. Mmmmmm it's so pretty!
Gene came back from Geelong to my folks place on Boxing Day with a swag of assorted goodies which were most appreciated. Unfortunately he had to work that night so we lost him for a little while. Nick C came to join us for Boxing Day which was lovely. Just our luck that his parents had also gotten him a Leatherman for Christmas! He still made excellent use of it opening our beer for us though. He brought a book called Vellum which I'm looking forward to starting tonight and two of those wooden puzzles to entertain us all. Gene's combined them both (one was a star and the other a sphere) and they look pretty cool now.
Today was the last day we spent out with my folks just trying to eat the last of the Christmas food and making the most of the cool toys they have. Dad gave us some movies to watch and very kindly swapped iPods with me so I'm currently importing music to iTunes from our CD collection so that I can listen to it all at work tomorrow. Well maybe not quite all of it as I've passed the 24 hours of music mark... but I'll give most of it a good shot!
I'm happy to note that I should be able to attend the NYE pool party so I'm looking forward to seeing all the crazy Monash kids again.
Until then I don't think there's much else to report!
Gene and I started early with the whole gift giving thing on Christmas Eve (at about one in the morning when he knocked off work) because we were heading our own seperate ways this year for Christmas. He seems to like his crazily bright LED torch, but he would, and we're looking forward to playing the "cheap-ass board game" that I got him from Of Science & Swords. Gene got me the Sims 2 on XBox after having to listen to me sulk about not having a fast enough graphics card or processor in my laptop to play the game so you can imagine how I passed Christmas Eve night...
I actually got to spend Christmas Day with my parents this year, although I was a little antisocial during Christmas evening playing the Sims 2 on their lovely rocket-ship of a computer. In my defense, they'd gone out to visit a friend of theirs who's fairly sick with cancer to try and cheer her up so it was just the dogs who got received little attention. I swear my parents read my mind this year. I got given a manicure/hand cream set which I was actually thinking of getting at some point soon so that was great. Mum also gave me some gorgeous Noro yarn which is a blend of silk, mohair and lambswool. Mmmmmm it's so pretty!
Gene came back from Geelong to my folks place on Boxing Day with a swag of assorted goodies which were most appreciated. Unfortunately he had to work that night so we lost him for a little while. Nick C came to join us for Boxing Day which was lovely. Just our luck that his parents had also gotten him a Leatherman for Christmas! He still made excellent use of it opening our beer for us though. He brought a book called Vellum which I'm looking forward to starting tonight and two of those wooden puzzles to entertain us all. Gene's combined them both (one was a star and the other a sphere) and they look pretty cool now.
Today was the last day we spent out with my folks just trying to eat the last of the Christmas food and making the most of the cool toys they have. Dad gave us some movies to watch and very kindly swapped iPods with me so I'm currently importing music to iTunes from our CD collection so that I can listen to it all at work tomorrow. Well maybe not quite all of it as I've passed the 24 hours of music mark... but I'll give most of it a good shot!
I'm happy to note that I should be able to attend the NYE pool party so I'm looking forward to seeing all the crazy Monash kids again.
Until then I don't think there's much else to report!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
