Friday Fill In #135

The tooth is all fixed and works well.
I have finished my first uni assignment for this semester ( there are 6 ) and will treat myself by starting a new project. High on the list is Mr Greenjeans, in BWM Luxury Koala and some scrummy Fortissima Mexico Country Clour sock yarn.

Finishing my assignment is a huge weight off of my shoulders, I have been forgetting things at work which has been worrying. I feel more able to handle the load of this semester at the moment but that could change as the semester progresses.

I have finished all of my custom-knit projects unfortunately I did not get to take a photo of the mobile phone bag that I finished, and the feathers scarf is now out of the house. Now it is time for something solely for me.

Friday Fill In:

1. It's time for tea.

2. Spotlight; it's not a bad place for yarn sometimes.

3. I must be an obsessive knitter.

4. Knitting is the best thing I have ever known.

5. My socks are simply handknitted.

6. The last time I laughed really loudly was when Miss A made me.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to surfin' the internet, tomorrow my plans include work and Sunday, I want to blow out the candles ;) !

Friday Fill In #134

Not much has happened this week, we had decided to go to the movies and out for dinner but that was not how it went. We got to the movies and before it even started I had busted a tooth on a Chocolate Eclair ( a chewy toffee ). Dinner was a soft Macdonalds hamburger because I did not want to break the tooth further - it is pretty bad, luckily it doesn't hurt yet. I was able to call the dentist before the movie started, unfortunately they don't open on Saturdays.

1. Breaking a tooth is not the end of the world.

2. Sitting here, listening to the sound of rain falling, I feel comforted I love hearing the rain falling on the roof at night it helps me sleep.

3. Chocolate tastes so good!

4. Sometimes, putting others first is necessary for the good of all.

5. Sock yarn is breathtaking, really.

6. Well, maybe there is a god.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to sulking over my broken tooth whilst surfing the internet, tomorrow my plans include work, having someone come over and fix my roof, visitors Saturday night and Sunday, I want to sulk some more spend time with Miss A playing Wii Sport.

Join in here: Friday Fill Ins

Late Friday Fill-In #133

1. Frozen Pizza and ready made garlic bread make a quick and easy dinner.

2. Interweave Knits is the book I'm reading right now.

3. July brings back memories of winter.

4. That I would beat Miss A at WII bowling was obvious.

5. They say if you tell your dreams to someone they will laugh at them.

6.You've got to think it over.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to staying up late, tomorrow my plans include work and Sunday, I want to go to the markets!

Friday Fill Ins

Lame I know but this is my first time.

Socks!

Two pairs of socks have been completed this month:

Yarn: Vinca - #549
Needles: 2mm
Cast On: 68sts
Comments: Interesting yarn to knit with, lovely colour changes. Firm fit.


Yarn: Opal 'Lupin'
Needles 2.5mm
Cast on: 68sts
Comments:
Accidentally snipped the working yarn at the ribbing and had to reattach :( fortunately it didn't muck up the matching striped too much. Had to add some more black yarn 2 rounds before the end of the toes otherwise one would have had yellow and red at the tips of the toes. Very easy to match this yarn.

I have decided that life is too short to be saving the 'good' sock yarn. I had been waiting until I was worthy of the good yarn - not saying I am now worthy just giving up on that idea as no matter how careful I am during knitting, a small error inadvertently creeps in, whether it is a missed decrease found after the toes are kitchenered or me not remembering if I crossed a box on my ticky sheet. Socks are rather forgiving and mistakes like these do not affect the end product.

So I am going to be knitting up my Noro and my long petted yarns and my excitement for sock knitting is now bordering on the crazy side :)

New Socks!!

Holidays have been spent writing up lesson plans, studying and some knitting in between.

Spotlight had new sock yarn out so I had to try it. It is Moda Vera Noir. A little scratchy in places but hopefully it will soften up with washing. It was also very thin in one or two places but for only $12.95 ($8.95 this week on special - typical!)



I also finished my first pair of monkey socks, these seemed to take the longest time as I could not decide on a pattern, much time was lost researching patterns on Ravelry. One is bigger than the other because it got tried on a lot.


My third lot of Teaching Practicums starts on Tuesday, so I will be tired and grumpy for the next 8 weeks, I have 5 x one day per week sessions followed by a three week block.
I have prepared a unit of work containing 9 lessons on plant life cycle / germination etc.
I have decided not to do a teaching prac next semester as I feel it would be beneficial to have some more ideas for lessons by doing other fun units such as Maths and Science (oh boy) for both 2nd sememster AND Summer Semester. I need to do Summer Semester this year or my plan to finish in 2013 will not happen.
It is finally raining here and it is expected to continue for the next week, yay, lesson plans are almost done with one more to go, so that leaves the rest of the holidays for knitting. We all know how great it is to be sitting inside under a rug knitting, while outside is grey and dull and wet (or is that just me?)

So What's New?

A new look, however I now have to change and repair all my links!! Surprise, didn't know they'd disappear, and gone too are my finished items and In Progress bars.. will have to find them and stick them in.

This is not going to be done sometime soon, but I will eventually have this as I like it.


Okay, I think i like how it looks now.

Cannot get the old one back so this will have to do won't it?!

Can't see what is missing, will have to go through old template to find out...thought I could just pop old template bak in the html space if I didn't want to have to fiddle with this one but guess what? Yep updated Blogger does not work with old Blogger template :(

Off to find out what else to put in. At least I figured out the progress bars whoohoo!!

Not much knitting has been happening this week, why? Cos I'm addicted to this dam Vampire Wars game on Facebook.

It is sucking up every spare minute I have. I think it's because I have been so focussed on the real-life never-ending happenings - uni/study/work/parenting etc - that a bit of fantasy role play is very enticing.

You attack people for blood, hire minions and they give you blood, blood is the currency etc etc.

Anyway enough of that, I currently have 3 pairs of socks on the needles.

Not happy with how the Nutkins have turned out so it'll get frogged, only half of one done.

My Lorna's Laces in tickled pink are striping and I don't like it so they are awaiting a trial on larger needles to see how they'll turn out and if the striping will be more of a pooling type of effect.

My plain tiger socks are the ones I've turned to, plain, non-thinking knitting and they are the only ones I'm happy with at the moment.

No pictures, it's too late to get the camera out and find the sockies. And I need to go get some more blood mwahahahah!!

We have been messing around with the Ashford Dyes again. Now that the shed is set up it is so easy to head out there and throw some dye on some yarn.

I will never get ( well I don't think I will ) any Poison Nr 5 from Wollmeise. So I tried dying yarn with purple and black:




Wanna closer look? It's darker in person.



But wait.. were's the black? Well after it had dried I noticed some patches that I missed, and I checked during dyeing, really I did, so I threw it in a purple dyebath for a second go. Some black bits remained black and the purple went really bright. In person it looks more darkpink and dark purply black. This will be a Forest Canopy Cowl Fetching Set.

I am trying to dye the perfect *tiger* yarn. Oh wait let's look at my first go - which I used to knit my Tiger Feet socks ( yes, I did do one) emphasis on the one.



Just not happy with how they were knitting up. And I suck at duplicate stiching so I've found out. They are hibernating because I had to go and attempt tiger yarn #2:



But wait, where are the white bits? Duh forgot to leave room for white. Back to the dyepot:

This is tiger yarn #3. I'm much happier with this one but there is a bit too much grey. Alhough I like how the colours merge into each other- took care with this when dyeing it up, so that turned out as planned - which are a bit lost in the way it knits up but. Had to drop everything to see how this would knit up. Grrrr ;)

wish blogger would stop messing around with my photos looks much better the right way up.


Miss A had a go at dyeing up some balls for projects that she has requested. This we have named Rainbow Pony Spew, it has soo many colours. It is going to be her winter Fetchings.



This one she dyed up for socks, mainly has primary colours and is not as colourful as the above yarn.



This is my blue/green attempt. This one is also for a Forest Canopy Cowl/ Fetchings Set.



I have not been monogamous with my knitting lately which is not at all like me.I cast on the teal Moda Vera Socks to see how they'd knit up ( been doing that a lot lately) on 2.5mm needles. So far so good these will be put aside as an 'in between projects' project, something to grab when a small project is needed. They are more teal in person.



Still want to knit a Wisteria and a Tangled Yoke Cardi, and have the yarn ready to go for them but uni starts up March 2nd and I am having fun messing around with dyeing and socks at the moment.
I know when uni starts I won't have the time to mess about and will be back in the strict timetable cycle of work sleep study.

I knew it

Now where did I put that crown?

A few projects to update:
firstly another felted bag. This was completed at the same time as the others but I've only just found the camera charger and now feel comfortable using the camera again knowing the batteries can be charged.

Lincraft Cosy Wool, 1.5 balls. 5.5mm needles. This bag carries my sock WIPs.

Also completed Patonyle Socks #4314 from a destash in Ravelry.

Just wanted to see how they would knit up. Lucky to have the stripes match up.
2.5mm needles and my sock recipe.


Lion Brand Magic Stripes 2.5mm needles and my sock recipe. This is a bit scratchy after the Patonyle so they are hibernating for a bit.

I saw these on Ravelry and had to have a try at making them. In a coincidental twist, last night I was surfing the stash for yarn to use for my next pair of socks and decided that I am competent enough at knitting socks to use my hand dyed tiger yarn that I made ages ago (think 2 yrs ago or so it's been waiting that long) so they were already ear-marked as the next socks.

I even want to name them the same but feel it would be 'wrong' to, so I've called mine Tiger Feet Socks.
The details are duplicate stitched on which would be easier than changing yarn for such short runs of colour.




Nearly forgot....
Finished my Raspberry Cowl and had enough yarn leftover to make a pair of fetchings.







Handyed cleckheaton country 8ply beige. 4mm needles for Fetching, 4.5mm for Cowl.
Cowl pattern is Forest Canopy Cowl. Had a blast knitting these.

Pfffftttt.

That's a raspberry.
And here is some raspberry yarn which used to be beige:
Yarn: Cleckheaton Country 8ply.




Again blogger thinks this is the right way up.


This is going to be a Forest Canopy Cowl.

Time Wasters

My current time wasters:
You move your cursor around on the black area below and to change colours just click the mouse button.







First seen here: not sure what the done thing is when you stumble across little gems like this but am acknowledging where I found it.


Also this little addictive game: Boomshine

Bag Adventures...

I have my knitting mojo back in felted bags at the moment. There have been lots of discoveries during this Research and Development phase. I am trying to find a 'goto' bag pattern. So far my experiments have ended up too big, too thin, and almost perfect.

Some tips for felting:

• Don't use towels, the lint will mute the colour of your bag, when I used jeans, the colours were much brighter and obviously no lint was on the bag when it came out of the machine.
  

• For a first attempt, stick to the pattern, I wanted a big bag - not a huge bag that is not good for anything. (see previous post)

• Maybe putting the item in a zippered pillow case is not a good idea, I never ran into any problems when I just threw it in the machine. (see below)
  

• Check the handles, when I used the pillow case the handles must have rolled in on themselves and felted that way therefore they ended up waaaay narrow.

• Check the bag, when I used the pillow case the bag felted in on itself where it was folded in half and put into said pillow case. Was difficult to pull apart and still has creases where it melded to itself.

To summarise: pictures later as blogger is not playing nice today, oh here we are...

First Bag: French Market Bag 256 sts around is waay too biig.
See last post for pics.

Second Bag: French Market Bag with 164 sts is still a little on the big side but not too bad, handles are a bit too short.






Third bag: Ann's Petite Felted Bag, this is the one where I mucked it up by putting it in the pillow case for felting, apart from that it is a good size and I am making a second one that will be perfect :)





See the difference in handle with? I assure you they are both 9 sts wide.


Fourth Bag: Petite Felted Carrier, decreasing the handles at a rate of 9 rows to make up for the mod to change to two handles. No pics - but a WIP none the less.

All of these are knitted with Vintage Hues and 5.5mm needles.

Cat Content:



They line up for food in our house. Always in this order though.

Bag? What Bag?

I should have listened to that inner voice. I sort of did when I ripped back 10 rows but I should have gone further. I thought it was huge but was kinda sure that it would lose inches in the felting process. It shrank heaps length wise and not much widthwise.
Dimensions before were:
14inches across bottom square base
14 inches tall
(Blogger insists this is the right way up for this picture)


After felting it was:
12 inches square across bottom base and
8 inches tall

It felted really nicely, lost lots of colour variation though as it all melded together.
Miss A saw it and instantly said "I'll have it", after a fit of laughter at it's size, so it has gone to her as planned. I still think it would make a better cat bed. Gee, looking at those pictures though I can see that it did shrink a fair bit. It is still huuuge.

I am now going to raid all the pure wool from my stash, I know I have cat bed yarn in there somewhere. And I want to make another smaller bag for myself in the same colour. At least I know it will take a shorter amount of time as it will be way smaller than this one. I am planning 10 inches square base and 14-16 inches for the sides - I still want it taller.

Please knitting goddess, don't let me accidentally make something out of non-feltable yarn. Cos we all know that's where I am headed next.

The best superglue ever...a cautionary tale

Standing in Bunnings debating the merits of cheap superglue with one that cost a few dollars more.I really neded this to hold well so I bought the more expensive superglue, the 'Loctite' brand, sounds good doesn't it? Mr Ex used Loctite lots so I knew it was going to be good. You put that on bolts and stuff that you want to stay put.

So when I got home I knew that I needed a strong bond between glue, plastic and metal. So I slathered the glue all over the end of the plastic cable and then put a dob in the metal hole just to be sure. This is where I became unstuck hahaha.

I tried to take a photo, but the camera will not focus on something so small.

I think the glue dried too fast - it set in about 2 seconds!!! - making the plastic now slightly larger than it should be for correct insertion. I pushed and pushed but I could not push the plastic cable all the way into the metal :( (operative word here, all )

Now the join is super bonded albeit about 4 mm is left sticking out that shouldn't be ( I have pulled and tugged and cannot yank the cable out ) At first I chucked it in the bin, but on second thoughts it is thicker yarn and with such superior bonding there is no way that it'll come unstuck now so I tried it out and yes, it'll pass. The yarn doesn't get caught much at all, really, I hardly notice it.

A new cable has been ordered, however. And if you need to stick something I highly reccommend the 'Loctite' brand superglue it's fantastic!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone!

Miss A arrived home last night, she is pale, pastey, grumpy (as predicted...she wasn't home 5 minutes before yelling at me?!) and looks just terrible, needless to say we stayed in last night.
This had something to do with the cat throwing up though. It is not right to just watch the cat throw up, you have to move her so she will not puke on anything not easily cleanable. Watching her hawk up while she is under a table, is not ok with me, if you are near the cat then dammit! Grab Her! Don't sit there, in the way, 2 feet from the cat and watch and yell at me. I just said to grab the cat and was met with a verbal attack.

Sometimes I think these visits do more harm, it takes days to get her back to her happy self. Don't get me wrong, she loves and wants to go I am just not sure about the care she gets while there, the other children are older and have a later bedtime, I think they let her stay up until she is ready for bed (10-11pm) and then the excitement of 3 other kids gets her up at 6am.

Got some photos to share.....
This is how far along the bag is:


I am enjoying this knit and did actually rip back 10 rows to bring the stitch count from 296 which looked huge even before felting to a still big 256 stitches. Even if it felts to half the size it will be big enough. Slight problem Miss A saw it and asked why I used that horrible colour. Doh. I quite liked it and was thinking about how I could snatch it for myself.

I thought I was going to run out of yarn as the base sucked up nearly 3 balls before the frogging and I wanted 2-4 in the sides (estimated) plus 2 for the handles (I know that is an overestimation there but I want to be on the safe side). So off I went back to Spotlight and got some more blue/orange Vintage Hues. While I was there the orange colourway looked very yellowy, yellow is Miss A's fave colour, I kicked myself - Why didn't I choose her favourite colour? Needless to say I got some of that to make another bag for her, I quite like that colour, looks a bit like tiger stripes and I just love tigers.


See anything wrong with this picture:



A Knit Picks needle is not meant to come apart there is it?

Right up until 11:48 was happily knitting along on the bag when this disaster struck. No stitches were lost, I hunted for the superglue and couldn't find it, ( I am sure I put it in an easily findable place last time I used it) luckily Bunnings opens at 9 today.

Settled

I trust everyone had a good Christmas, mine was very quiet, as usual, quiet but nice.

Miss A has gone to her dad's from Christmas day to NYE. One more sleep to go, it is getting easier to let her go and count the days till she returns, well she doesn't return, some grumpy, harpy returns and 2 days later she appears, but that's a whole 'nother post.

Do you think I could settle into some serious uninterrupted knitting time for the 6 days she was gone? 6 days, no plans, no 'have to' do anything, nope, but that was they plan. oh well.
But now that she is due back tomorrow and after speaking with Jess last night, I am raring to go and have found the magical project that will renew my soul and reinvigorate my love for knitting and help me stop verbally harassing the cats. I have, or will have - as soon as I stop looking things up on Ravelry, petting my yarn and blogging about it - decided on my next project : TaDa... a French Market Bag for Miss A.

Project Specs:
Needles: still agonising over the size here (what ones, what ones I think blogging is my way of procrastinating on this decision) I *think* I will use 5.5mm *think*
Yarn: Cleckheaton Vintage Hues colour 1279 blues and reddish in colour.


I really want one for myself so why would I be starting one for her first?

Aha! there is method in my madness.....( I have clearly been left on my own too long with only the cats to talk to, like they are actually people and care about /understand what I am saying)

• The size will be an 'unknown' and I have pretty clear expectations on what sized bag will be right for me, I need to practice first, see how the yarn/needle size gels with the finished product.
• Don't know how firm the fabric will be in relation to the needles used. Ravelry can be a curse, when you are trying to work out what needles to use and 4 people on there have each used different sized needles. Will be experimenting with 5.5mm, or maybe 6mm, hmm maybe 4.5mm ( see what I mean )
• Don't know how the colour will turn out in the end, have chosen my least liked colour to experiment with.
• Am making this first one slightly larger that the pattern specifies due to not knowing which sized needle to use and the fact that the yarn specified has a different gauge to what I am intending to use.
• And finally OMG Miss A's birthday is in 9 days and what have I bought for her?!? Surely I kept something back from Xmas like I usually do....nope.....Have I bought something during the year and put it away, forgotten in the back of my wardrobe?....nope...can't I just say that the bike I got for her in August was her present? .....nope....How about the new glasses that she needs, can't they be her birthday present?........c'mon now your just bein' mean, no glasses means she can't see......This doesn't make me a bad mummy does it?? She will get a gift. (if I get off this damn computer and start it)
  

So you see how I really must stop researching and blogging and petting the yarn for this project and GET CRACKIN' - she's home tomorrow!!

Update

So what have I been up to?
Not much at all really.
I have been reading the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer.
I am such a sucker for vampire romance stories. So why would the quiz result surprise me??

You Are Midnight

You are more than a little eccentric, and you're apt to keep very unusual habits. Whether you're a night owl, living in a commune, or taking a vow of silence - you like to experiment with your lifestyle. Expressing your individuality is important to you, and you often lie awake in bed thinking about the world and your place in it. You enjoy staying home, but that doesn't mean you're a hermit. You also appreciate quality time with family and close friends.

What Time Of Day Are You?

Socktober

Here are the most recent socks that I have completed.

Specs:

Thuja pattern

Spunky Eclectic 'Signature' yarn

3.25mm needles

Nice thick, warm socks for winter.

Specs:

Thuja pattern

3.25mm needles

Dream in Color Classy 'Ruby River'

Specs:

Thuja pattern

3.25mm needles

Shepherd Colour 4 Me 'pink/white'

Specs:

Hobby Print

2mm needles

My sock recipe

Not very happy with the way the colours pooled. Might have even posted these finished before - can't remember.

Current WIP: Sea Socks

Thuja again (love this pattern!)

3.25mm needles

Shepherd Colour 4 Me 'blue/green'

Other News

Uni

has just one more test to go in a week and a bit and then I am done for the year. Not doing Summer Semester this year, I really need the rest.

Car

found out who damaged my car, disappointed to find out that it was one of my students and even more disappointed when I found that I had to fork out for the repairs myself as the Dept will not cover staff cars! My car was not the only one vandalised either. Anyway, the damage has been repaired and I have been relieved of over $300. The crash repairers did a fantastic job, I am very happy and I will not dwell on this any longer, the damage is gone now.

Holidays

it is the holidays and we are both sick again. At least something in my life is predictable hey? I managed to avoid coming down with the flu during school-time but now that the holidays have started, I succumbed.

Weight Loss

Had official weigh in last week and my loss so far is 6kgs. I had engaged the services of a Personal Trainer 6 weeks ago and it is going well. Up until we both got sick that is and now I have no energy to do anything except reach for chocolate and pepsi max. I will worry about exercising when I am better.

Bikes

Miss A and I have new bikes and intend to go riding a) when we are better and b) when it is not raining. Kmart had 25% off bikes, Miss A had grown out of hers, great timing. I was ust going to get mine serviced but when we went to the bike store there was a bike in my fave colour for only 50 bucks more than a service would cost me. My old bike was bought when I was in my late teens and bike technology has changed a lot since then so.... a new bike was bought for me. The car has also had a towbar installed complete with bike carrier so we can ride further away. That was one of the main activities that we were going to do these holidays, best laid plans of ours always go astray.

So that's about it, being sick makes it the perfect time to sit and knit, so that's what is planned for the duration of this fluey/coldy thing.