Well looky what we got here...

Well, I have a vague recollection of saying that I'd have time to blog over the Easter break.....My family all came to my place on the Sunday for a beautiful lunch (we don't seem to be able to all get together too often these days, so it was nice to have a few extra days) - we had it outside in the sun, it was a glorious day. The dogs played happily, we laughed a lot and ate too much. Lovely day...but not for the fluffy chickies:

And then a few weeks happened (WTF?), and I now find myself with laptop atop my lap, actually BLOGGING!!!!!

Today. Lunch with my girls (Jules, Princess Fiona, Sharon and Donna)! Restaurant by the ocean – it was pouring with rain when we got there, and by the time we left, we were in danger of getting sunburnt – nope, not ready to let go of summer yet!!! I had barramundi, crusted with dukkah (how does one pronounce ‘dukkah’?), and I nearly wet my pants with delight….I’ve never been able to cook fish properly…..It was served on potatoes, English spinach, and broccolini, with a hollandaise sauce that I wanted to roll in….. Fee and I submitted to the lure of the dessert selection, and a banana/chocolate fudge cheesecake was mine…. Then it was off to buy something to wear to the Senior School Ball on Thursday night – I’m the silly bugger that gets to organise a formal event for 300+ teenagers, and totally forgot that I HAVE TO GO as well, and so needed something to wear (do Crocs come in heels?)….groan…… Anyway, found some cheap shiny shoes, so at least my feet won’t be naked…..It’s a masquerade Ball, maybe I’ll just wear a big mo-fo mask, and my new shoes, it’s not like anyone at school has seen me all nudey, they won’t know it’s me…..would save the shopping nightmare for a dress-for-a-girl-who’s-fatter-than-she’d-like-to-be-and-so-is-delegated-to-matronly-section-that-costs-too-much-anyway….

Onto brighter things..

My Bag Swap bag(s) came yesterday!

I got TWO, and they are beautiful, and I love them! Thanks to Tia!!! I took the entrelac one out with me today to show her off, but she’s now packed with a couple of WIPs. Lots of pockets, awesome! The other bag was christened my “sex and the city” bag by Tia, I’m loving the beading! She’s a very clever lady!

I think that the bag that I made for my partner should be nearly at its destination by now, despite a traumatic event, discovered upon my arrival home on Monday (I’ve re-named Elly “Destructicon”, Connor insisted he played no part in it, he was sleeping at the time…):

All’s well that ends well, I washed and dried the bag (to get rid of the dog hairs….), and re-wrapped and re-packed the whole parcel – minus chocolates this time - two Turkish Delights, two pink Kitkats and a packet of raspberry bullets were consumed, so no pooches got dinner THAT night - didn’t want to tempt fate….)…

I’m always amazed at the transformation that takes place when felting, how this:
Ends up being this (I’m very pleased at how it turned out, wish I'd taken better photos though!):

I went on a shopping spree at Yarns on Collie. I'm never going back, and no, I'm not going to post pictures, because you'll organise an intervention and tell me that I'll have to sell my house to fund any more such expeditions.....

I bought some crack* from my local dealer a few weeks ago, and my lordy, it is magnificent!!! Two skeins of lace-weight, and one of worsted. I had ordered some bulky from an eBay seller just days before I found out I could get it locally (looks like the only Australian distributor, and she lives 2 minutes from my house!!!!), so I’ve got a nice little stash now! I made a tiny little shrug for my Principal with the worsted – now I’m trying to convince her to take a pic of herself in it to post here! It took about an hour to make, she’s a tiny little person – the pattern was “Shrug This” from One Skein Wonders. Needless to say, as soon as she felt the cracks’ soft, squishy goodness, she burst into tears (she’s been having a tough time, a crack-hug is exactly what she needed) and put it on right away!
(Velvet Grapes and Amoroso)

More spoiling – the very lovely Shaz made gifts for our knitting group – gorgeous sockbags! The perfect size for a pair of socks-in-progress, with a cool handle – just right for looping over your wrist so you can knit and wander around the classroom, barking orders at wayward teenagers who have yet to fully embrace the joys of Mathematics…. . They are exquisitely sewn, with co-ordinating zips and linings (mine’s red), made with fabric that has balls of wool printed on it – too cute!

What’s on the needles at the mo?
- Jules’ red socks (Destructicon got the finished one, so I ripped out the second one that I had started, and now am re-knitting both at the same time, with a slightly different pattern on the top (found a very cool heart lace-panel)
- Pair of cozy alpaca socks for Mum (to maintain my position as best child)
- Shawl for the Mum of the student that I told you about a post or two ago
- Scarf for Kristen (nail lady), using Fat Bunny in Garnet– Kristen has an angora bunny called Snooty (he licked me, I'm in love!!!), and I’m going to try and get some of his fluff spun for her. I saw this wool and thought she might just love it…!
- Multi-colour socks for Helen, she’s been doing it tough lately, and needs some sock-love
- Crack scarf for me
- A felted bag, for me (I never get nothing…..!)
- Peace Fleece shawl for Mum (she wears the shawls I make her out to lunch with her friends - one woman in particular is a major covet-er –if that’s a word – and is always checking everyone out, and trying to work out where they got it/what it cost, we all know the type, and it kills her when Mum tells her what the wool cost, or how long it took to knit, and that I’m so busy I couldn’t possibly knit her one….! I know where I get my nasty gene from!!!)
- The never-ending cushion-covers for my cousin. I hate these cushion covers.

I’ve joined SOCK WARS!!!! It sounds like great fun – (everyone gets sent the top-secret pattern on May 9th) you get assigned a target, and the idea is that you knit them their socks and get them to them before YOUR assassin gets their socks to you (as soon as you get a pair of socks, you’re dead). If you “kill” someone, then they send you their unfinished socks, and you finish them and send onto THEIR target and so-on, until only one warrior remains. Go have a look…

I think that’s all. For now.

OH, except for this picture for Katy, of her favourite part of a greyhound (Elly in this instance - oh I love her, she gets on my lap and snuggles and snuggles....) - we call this little bit of fluff under the nose "angel velvet":

Kisses
xxxxx