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You know when sometimes you have to go to a conference/seminar for work? Is it wrong to knit through the keynote address? Is it wrong to brazenly walk out before lunch-time? Personally, since I actually finished a whole sock (okay, it was an ankle sock...), then I don't see the problem.... hope my boss feels the same way....
I just wanted to come home and see my boy.....
xxxx
Last Saturday Connor went over to Jules' for his bath (he gets into it with Sam and Dexter, they bath together with Ron, the Dog Whisperer - he whispers to the mutts as he washes them, then they get a boney-o) - I had a doc appointment, so he was all grown-up and on his todd. Jules said that after their baths, they were all running like the wind, then she looked out the window and saw this:
He was very tired....being so handsome is very draining.....
I love him.
I think I want to marry my dog.
I need to get out more.....
xxxxx
Right, I'm going to do this quickly while I can:
- Panda Wool - bamboo/wool/nylon - I'm in a bi-monthly sock club, this is my first package!
- Daddy-o's birthday socks (cashmere 4-ply blend - from theknittery), don't you love the turned-up toes? What a poser....!!!!
- can you say "fixation"....? (just found some more, had rolled under the bed....) - anyone need cotton socks??!
- some lovely Lopi, destined to be something felted...
- who farted?
- my first attempt at entrelac - going to be a felted bag for Mummy - wondering whether I should block it lightly before I seam it and felt it....?
- pre-felted bag for Bag-a-holic swap partner Cynthia from New York (Jo Sharp in Pistachio, and one ball of my precious Silk Garden for interest) - will be lining it this week, and so will post pics when it's done!
- ooooooh.......
- delicious Noro Silk Garden, in the queue to be a Lady Eleanor (now that I'm a fancy-pants entrelac-er!)
Phew, I'm exhausted......
I need/want a new camera, these pics look a bit washed out....
I'm off for a lie-down...
xxxx
Yes, I have a camera cable + lappytop + photos to show.
No, I don't know why I couldn't post them this morning when I tried to update....
Will try later...
xxx
WOOHOO!!!! I have a brand-spanking new camera cable, and have loaded some artistically-shot knitting-related pics onto my laptop (ooooh, stash - recently acquired - and some recent knitting - oh, and a few extra-cute pics of the pooch and pusscats, of course!) ... but alas, my internet connection is wonky-la-la.... should be sorted by the time I get home today....
Can you wait that long, dear Reader...???
xxxxx
Hello to my dedicated Reader!! I have returned, and dare I say it, there will be knitting content in this post! I have taken a bazillion photos this weekend - of stash and WIP's, but alas, still no camera cable, so expect a pic-heavy post as soon as I buy a new one (Turned the house upside-down, no luck).
My bag for my Bag-a-holic exchange is nearly done - felted and embellished yesterday, now onto the drying and lining and filling with goodies (my partner is in New York, so I'm going to go Australian-goodies!)! I'm always amazed at how a big, baggy blob of knitting can magically become a fancy-pants handbag after a go in the washing machine...gets me every time! I think that maybe the nervous pacing in the laundry must help.....
Jules' socks are nearly done, too - halfway through the foot on the second one. She saw the finished one yesterday at lunch, and tried it on - much to my happiness, she loves it! Went out for lunch with the girls yesterday - Princess Fiona comes down every month and we go for a good laugh at one of our favourite places by the beach in Rockingham. Fee is a mad crafter, she makes the most brilliant hats and toys:
Hat for Melbourne Cup Day - of course she won the BEST HAT prize!!! (this year at Rottnest, we decided that we'd have a dress-up day, and Fee went as an aquarium - I've never laughed so much - or been dazzled by such cleverness with a needle and a sewing machine - her imagination is awesome, and I love that she's able to make it concrete!)
Sewn toys for the assorted nieces and nephews (Fiona is multi-skilled, she sews, knits, crochets, makes stickers, looms - you name it, she'll do it!!!)
Started a Christmas present yesterday for my SIL - making a pair of house-sock-slippers, with some ghastly teal/sparkly yarn. I say ghastly, but it's actually knitting up quite nicely, it's very soft. I've lost the label, but I'm guessing it's acrylic, so it'll wear well. I'm knitting the soles with a double strand, after I saw a pattern in an Interweave Knits magazine, hopefully they'll be nice and springy.... Just basic sock-construction, top-down, bit of ribbing, then an eyelet pattern on the leg and on the top of the foot....we'll see! Was knitting on them at the doctor's yesterday, and a lovely little lady commented that it was nice to see someone knitting, especially with dpn's! Then a little old man wondered why I didn't just go and buy some socks, it'd be cheaper - so I told him it was because it's hard to find sparkly socks these days....
Speaking of Christmas presents, I have made an enormous decision. Every year, I go to great lengths to make/buy presents for my extended family that they will like (fingers crossed!). Last year, for example, I made the girlfriends/wives of my cousins all a summer-shawl, you know, handy to chuck on at a cool summer bbq. Before I made them, I asked them about the colours/styles that they would like. Presented them, and ........... nothing. They didn't even try their shawls on. One of them, we shall call her M, actually does love hers, and has worn it a lot since then (and she does always buy me a gift - it's always a tea-light holder or hand cream, but that's not the point - oh boy, I sound so very childish, I hope you know what I'm trying to say...) - do I sound churlish and petty?? I hope not, I was just so disappointed (money is a huge thing for them, they've got a lot, but in all the years that they have interacted with my family, they have never thought it necessary to return the favour and perhaps give a small gift...)....maybe I'm just needy.... Anyway, back to the point! This year, they're all getting a handknit cotton face washer, and a bar of soap from Nutrimetics, and then I haven't wasted my time and emotion, and I haven't turned up empty-handed (which is what I really want to do, but never could!). That does sound petty. Easter was the same - I knit and felted a tiny handbag for them all, and filled them with fancy little solid/cream eggs. Nothing. Oh, except for a completely melted chocolate in a cellophane bag from one of them (she had left them in the car, and they all melted. Dad and I joked all day that we'd gotten rabbit-poo in a bag for Easter). AND I WAS WORRIED THAT MY (token) GIFTS WOULD LOOK SKIMPY, SO I WENT AND SPENT $50 ON MORE CHOCOLATES THE DAY BEFORE!!!!!! Not again. Never again. Ever. I think I should maybe just worry about and focus on my immediate family, the ones I see more than on holidays and special occasions, the ones who obviously love me and value me.Fullstop.
Easter chicky - light relief....
(disclaimer: I love my family. I love my cousins - they're all boys, so are inherently selfish and oblivious - but I'm struggling to love their partners. I'm tired of trying.... I sometimes feel as though I'm incredibly immature for a 39-year old woman....!)
What else, what else.... OH!! I've learned myself how to do entrelac (now I just need to work on grammar)!! It's been one of those things that I just assumed would be too hard for me, but the other night, I found a pattern (men's scarf) and the explanation was so clear that I was able to adapt it (making a bag for Mum, using Jo Sharp and Silk Garden, and will felt it) and before I knew it I'd done 3 tiers!!! I'm SO proud of myself (photos on camera, waiting to be transferred to the lappy-top...), it's working out beautifully!! I'm so inspired, that I'm going to make Lady Eleanor next! Got some Silk Garden....
Spent about twenty-ten hours on Ravelry last night, browsing the forums, adding to my queue, getting side-tracked reading everyone's blogs....I fear I'm becoming an internet whore....
Okay then, I've had a rant, and I feel a bit better.
Kisses
Me
xxx
hahahaha - surely you didn't think I'd post WITHOUT a picture of my sweetyheart-good-boy??? This is what I see when I wake up, he sleeps in my room.... he's all lovely and clean now, he had a bath with Jules' dogs yesterday (Samantha Joanna Banana and Dexter) - he's recently discovered the joys of digging and laying in a hole in the black sand....
....yes, I know I said tht I'd post properly last night. I forgot. I also went to bed early... And yes, I said I'd take pics - so artfully arranged yarn and things on my dining table this morning, and - ta-daaaa - flat batteries....no camera cable....bad blogger...
So, I leave you with:
a massive wheel (from memory I think it may have weighed just over 1 kilogram...) of stinky blue cheese that we transported to Rottnest one year (we go every winter, for a week of guffawing and thunderstorms and wine).... "That's a lot of cheese!!" I hear you say - it had to last us for SEVEN days, and there WAS quite a few of us.... hey, why am I trying to justify cheese consumption?? We enjoyed it a LOT - in soup, on crackers, in wedges the size of small rodents (get it? cheese? rodents???), on fingers, with wine, with breakfast cereal....I think we even experimented with strange and exotic cheese sushi rolls towards the end of the week, in a "waste not want not" binge....
...this may have been taken just minutes after the first....
- and a nostalgic shot - My Dad and me, just days after I was born. Dad had come home from Vietnam just days before (he was drafted to go and fight, but was allowed home three months early on compassionate grounds, so that he could be there for my birth). This pic makes me teary every time I look at it, he was so young, and I wonder what must have been going through his mind at the time....
Alrighty then, enjoy your weekend, knit lots! Tomorrow I'm off to Jules' parents' 50th wedding anniversary - I'm going to be a serving wench - what a happy day!!!!
See you soon,
Me
xxxx
Good morning all....how did it get to be Friday???
Have had a busy, busy week, punctuated by blinding headache that has come and gone (mostly come) for over a week now - went to the docs, who suggested I get my eyes checked and go to the chiro....
On the knitting front - nearly finished the bag I'm making as part of a bag swap - Bag-a-holics yahoo group - I'll take pics this afternoon, when the light is nice. Jules' sock is still going, just a bit slower than I had planned! And.... I also got a yarn delivery, so will post pics of that also!!!
Took Connor out for dinner with my friend Helen last night for the first time, and he was such a good boy, perched on his new blanky, killing a pig's ear while we tried not to watch.....
And the BIG news - I GOT A MAN TO TIDY UP MY FRONT YARD!!!!! It looks dead, but I can now walk up my path without being whipped into oblivion by the plumbago (apparently plumbago is a noxious weed in some places - I think it's pretty), and the lawn/weeds are quite short.... more later, I gave him a wishlist...
Okay, must dash, but I'll post properly tonight,
Have a super-marvy one,
Lisa
xx
Just a quick one, before I go to bed (I'm pretending to myself that I'm tired so that I don't have to do any of the school work that I brought home with me) - I managed to get some pics of some finished things:
the first felted bag I ever made, and a matching wrap, both for my sister-in-law (100% wool from China - eBay rocks - beautiful jewel colours) -there are tiny jade beads sewn onto the bag, along the jade-coloured stripes... lined and everything.... wrap was just a yo, k2tog row, then a knit row, till I ran out of yarn....blocked out nicely!
woops, how'd a pic of my pusscats get there....??? They love each other, despite the forced togetherness in the photo....
Have a great Monday,
xxxxx
Goodness me, two posts in two days?? Excellent work, Lisa....
Connor and I went for a lovely walk early this morning, along the beachfront at Rockingham - we made some new doggy friends and then went for a stroll around the Sunday Rotary markets (nope, didn't buy anything!). From there we went to Mum and Dad's for a quick cuppee tea, and Nick (their remaining dog, they lost Buster the Jack Russell to age and cancer earlier this week, very sad) met Connor for the first time. Nick is a rescue dog - we think that he was treated badly, and so he doesn't cope too well with many situations - but I'm very pleased to say that I think that he liked my boy!! Much wagging of tails and licking of boy-bits, so we'll see.....! I'd love to be able to bring Connor with me to our Thursday night family dinners!
This is what I see when I wake up in the morning....awwwww!
On the knitting front, I cast on for the second of Jules' socks last night, and did the ribbing. I hope to finish it today, tomorrow at a push. They are basic Cascade Fixation ankle socks -white, with black/white heel/mid-foot section and toes. I think I've cast on and knit the ribbing too loosely though, they seem to be VERY stretchy (I tried one on, and while they fit nicely, the ankle ribbing seems to have stretched, and hasn't 'sprung' back in...) - or is that just how this yarn knits?? It's a bit difficult to knit with such stretch!!! I think they'll be fine after a wash. Like how I talk myself into "everything is fine"?
I need to do about 75 thousand loads of washing, sweep, make a new dog out of the dog hair under my sofa, vacuum, wash dishes, strip my bed, write a test for my Year 9's, read the paper, make chocolate muffins for Homework Class, have a nanna-nap, sit on the lounge with Connor's head in my lap, surf the net just in case someone leaves a comment on my blog, browse Ravelry for a few hours, ring Jules and talk nonsense for an hour (not that that's a chore, we do it often!!), and THEN I'm going to cast on a pair of socks for ME!!! And they are going to be fancy-pants socks......with eyelets..... and frilly bits.... and they just might even be PINK!!!!
Oh, and I might have another look for my camera cable....
Kisses
Me
xxxx
Oh. My. Goodness.
I HAVE A BLOG!!!!!!!!
Ahem......Sorry about that, but I'm quite impressed with myself - I've been reading knitting blogs for ages, and often wondered whether I would ever deign to join the ranks of the wordy-on-the-web, and I finally took the plunge! Now I just have to regularly update....!
Okay then, what to expect on this baby-blog:
- (hopefully) lots of knitting content
- (hopefully) lots of photos of knitting/yarns
- (probably) lots of bragging and mushiness about my lovely lovely greyhound boy, Connor, and my exceptionally beautiful pusscats, Bella and Lucy
- (hopefully not) lots of whining, whingeing and complaining about work (and the fact that I have to go there....!)
- sad, un-funny jokes (in the style of - A parrot was sitting on a perch and said, "Can anyone else smell fish?" - get it??!!!!)
- the occasional rant, I I like to rant...
- lots of exclamation marks!!!! (I'm quite fond of them!!!!)
Here's the historical first photo posting:
Connor is my very special boy - I adopted him from www.greyhoundangels.com nearly a year ago now, after he had been left at the vets by his owner/trainer (? we're not sure who) to be euthanased (he had injured himself, healed over a few months and then decided that he'd rather sleep on a couch than chase a fluffy thing). Melita, the angel who runs this group was only given a few days to find him a family, and I was the lucky one who got to welcome Connor (he had no name that we know of) into my home. Please visit the site and have a look at the beautiful dogs that need someone to love....
Right, onto the knitting content....
My Grandma taught me how to knit when I was little - every now and then I would sleep-over when Grandad went to the masons (oooh, mysterious!). He would get us our 'comforts' (Scottish-speak for chocolate and lollies) before he went, and we would then spend the night knitting, sewing, playing gin rummy and staying up late to watch the late movie. Sometimes she'd let me have a lovely Blackberry Nip with lemonade, in one of her very special wine glasses, and I'd feel all grown-up and special. I would get to sleep in the big waterbed with Grandma, and Grandad was banished to the spare room when he came home! Grandma was a prolific and talented knitter - she used to knit Aran jumpers, all cabled and bobbled and plaited, whilst watching her daily 'stories' - we don't remember ever seeing her use a pattern.....
I didn't knit for a very long time, and took it up again last year when I had an extended time off work on sick leave (more on that another time maybe) and needed a reason to get up everyday. I started by knitting ridiculously silly and simple beanies and scarves for my friends to wear on our annual trip to Rottnest in the winter, and I haven't stopped!! Knitting has become my sanity-saver - to the extent that if I don't have my knitting with me, even at work, I get more than a little antsy!!!
I spend a LOT of time on the internet reading knitting blogs, downloading patterns, buying fancy-pants yarns on-line, and (sometimes) wishing that I lived in the UK or USA, simply because of the beautiful wools available, and because no-one seems to mind if you knit during a meeting (I tried to the other day in a staff meeting, but got the-look-of-the-smacked-bottom from many of my colleagues.... even though every bastard around me was Sudoko-ing..... flippin' double-standards....!) - and I recently got my Ravelry invite (I'm Lushorama there as well), so am slowly adding to my page every day...
Knitting photos:
heheehehee - I need to learn how to add pics better....this hedgehog was knitted for my Aunty Babsie (the one and only!) - I don't think anyone noticed that I knit his back on sideways, or that I may have over-stuffed him....!!!!
Okay then, I think that's it for me for today, I'm going to collect my thoughts, take some pics, and DO SOME KNITTING!!!!!
Thanks for joining me, speak to (at?) you soon!!
Kisses,
Lisa
xxxxx
