Will you be in the Games?

The Ravellenic Games that is!



 Yesterday I signed up as part of Team Australia in the Games over on Ravelry.


I know that I have at least three items that qualify for the Frogging Trampoline event and another three for the WIPs Wrestling event.

With less than four weeks to go, it's time to consider any other events I might want to participate in.

 Come on, knitting friends, please join me in this bit of fun!

too much fun!

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, you would know that the computer is my biggest “time-waster”.

Well it was until last Friday, when WM came home with this for me:

It’s an iPad 3, 16GB. I love it!

My poor desktop computer will probably wonder where I have gone. I use the iPad to read your blogs, write comments, search the ’Net, look around Ravelry, and as an e-reader for the books from the public library which I can’t read on my Kindle. I did, however, type this post on my PC (using Windows Live Writer which I can heartily recommend if you haven’t tried it).

I may not go missing from the blogisphere but my sewing machine and knitting needles might wonder what’s happened to me – at least till the novelty wears off!

missing in action?

I have been busy this past week. My mum arrived on Friday 22 June to stay with us for a few days.

On the Saturday we visited my brother and his family.

On the Sunday WM and I celebrated Younger Grandson’s first birthday with mum, MIL, DD, SIL, Older Grandson, Younger Grandson, DD’s bestie (the boys' godmother) and SIL’s two sisters.

Younger Grandson opening presents with his daddy and daddy's two sisters

On Monday I went to my sewing class (mum stayed at home and enjoyed the peace and quiet), then took mum shopping in the afternoon.

Tuesday was Younger Grandson’s birthday so we had DD and the Grandboys here all day. SIL joined us for dinner.

the grandsons have arrived!

Wednesday was mum’s last day with us so DD and the Grandboys visited again.

We stayed up late on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights watching the tennis. WM and I don’t have pay TV so we can only watch the tennis while it’s on from 8:30pm. I taped Lleyton Hewitt’s game on Tuesday night and we watched it on Wednesday morning before the family arrived. The Australian tennis players didn’t do very well this year; all but one was out in the first round, and Sam Stosur, who won the US Open, was defeated in the second round. Very disappointing.

Meanwhile, I have been knitting. I finished mum’s socks but she wouldn’t model them for me.
She only tried on one but she says it fitted perfectly!

I have also been knitting on the other one of these.

And this morning I cast on a cowl to knit while on the train, taking mum to Strathfield station to catch her Countrylink train. I plan to get it finished while watching the tennis tonight. It’s hard to concentrate on turning a heel while watching tennis so the socks will have to be a non-television activity, at least until the heel is done.

Happy First Birthday Younger Grandson

Riding in the toybox given to him for his birthday (with toys in it) by Grand-Nan, Grandmum and Grandad.

Older Grandson's description: "Oh Daniel, you're so smile!"

snippets from the craft show

Last Sunday,  DD and I went to the annual Stitches and Craft Show held at Darling Harbour, in Sydney. We were already tired from the sock workshop the day before (yes, it went well thanks). DD had missed the Show last year due to giving birth to Younger Grandson and I had missed most of it due to looking for a sewing machine on my first day’s visit and teaching knitting at the Guild stand on my second day’s visit.

DD and I went to quite a few “workshops”. I don’t know why they call them workshops – they are “talks” or, in some cases, product demonstrations. The first talk we attended was about embroidery hints and tips (and products). DD wanted to go home as soon as it was over – she was already raring to get at some handwork! Inevitably, one of us gets all excited and wants to go home within the first hour of being there!

Some “workshops” we attended together, some we went in two different directions. I attended a talk given by Reece Scannell and Kathy Doughty (Material Obsession) about the use of colour. It was only when Kathy took over for the second thirty minutes that I remembered the camera in my bag.

The final workshop we attended was Saffron Craig talking about her latest designs.
(Sorry about the hassle with the camera, Saffron, and thanks for allowing me to take and publish this photo.)

The hat in front was made from a Saffron Craig fabric by Nicole Mallalieu (You Sew Girl).

BTW, I don’t have permission to publish the photos of the quilts here, sorry. You can go to the two posts on Di’s blog (here and here) to see the photos which she has permission to publish. This is the link to the Quilt Guild of NSW website to see the prize winning quilts.

DD and I made the mistake of going to look at the quilts at 3:30; we had been at the Show since 10am. It was too much. Next year we are going for two days!

snippets from home

Meet my new helper in the sewing room. She has a cute cover.

And somewhere sensible to put the iron.

Tomodachi (“Tom”) wants to be fed even though it’s not dinner time.

This little freezer has appeared in the corner of the laundry (room). It replaces the larger 50 year old model we had before! (Yes, that's right, 50 years old - they don't make 'em like they used to!)

Meanwhile, the laundry floor is looking a little messy (this is the shortest route from the garage/workshop to the backyard).

This used to be a fishpond.

These are the plants and the fish that used to be in the fishpond.

These are the rocks that Older Grandson had started throwing into the fishpond.

There used to be a clothesline here; and long before that there was a cubby house for DD.

What do you suppose it all means?

Happy Birthday, Wonderful Man!

This photo was taken on our trip to Taronga Western Plains Zoo in March. WM is feeding a carrot to the giraffe on one of our behind-the scenes tours.

I have not been well

Last Saturday, DD and the Grandsons visited. Both the boys had runny noses, Older Grandson was more obviously sick than Younger Grandson. But that didn’t stop him from getting into his usual mischief (he’s a two year old, very active boy). He was, however, more sooky than usual.

On Sunday night, I didn’t sleep well. My nose kept blocking and I couldn’t stop sneezing. On Monday I blew my nose all day long. By Monday night the cold had infected my sinuses and I thought I had partially inflated balloons inside my face!

As a consequence, not a great deal of anything has gone on here. A lot of time in front of the computer or the television. And a fair amount of time in bed – some of it sleeping, some of it tossing and turning!

During the week I missed two of my favourite monthly activities: a full-body massage and an embroidery class!

I have watched a lot of television, including the movie Finding Neverland, which I recorded when it was on during the day a couple of weeks ago. I have never seen the movie and really enjoyed it. I think Johnny Depp gave a sensitive, understated performance (unlike his characters in Pirates of the Caribbean, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Alice in Wonderland where he is completely over the top!). I don’t think I would watch the movie again for a very long time, if at all, because the magic of it would be lost in having seen it before.

I have done some reading – mostly of knitting reference books or quilting magazines. Last night I began Mao’s Last Dancer. I have not seen the movie and have only read the first two chapters so it’s a bit early to know what I think, although I have to say I really enjoyed the author’s description of his mother’s feelings on her wedding day.

I have snooped around Ravelry and added a couple of real life friends to my Ravelry friends! How extraordinary that they weren't already there – sorry R. and S. I discovered recently that I enjoy reading the notes my friends leave on their project pages – am I too weird?

I have done some knitting almost exclusively on a blanket which I will donate to a local animal shelter. I don't think the yarn is suitable (in colour or texture) for anything else. The yarn is Patons Cedar long discontinued, a pure wool boucle yarn that has no indication on the ball band as to needle size. I contacted a seller on Ebay who had a 1972 pattern for sale (thanks putney32); she says the patterns are knitted on 3.75mm (US 5)  needles which I find quite surprising as it is much thicker than DK yarn due to it's bouclé texture. I am knitting on 4.5mm (US 7) needles and it still gives a rather dense fabric, which is okay for blankets but a bit stiff for a jumper (sweater).
 
I estimate I have about four hours of knitting left to finish the blanket which will be about a metre (40”) square.

Tomorrow I am the tutor for an all-day workshop on knitting socks from the toe up. I was to have given this workshop last September but I was sick and it was postponed. I thought the tutorial notes was ready to go but on Wednesday I decided to completely re-write them for people who prefer stitch by stitch instructions – a most welcome suggestion from D. who reminded me that people would take the notes home but may not look at them for days, weeks or even months! So I have not written a pattern per se, I have written step-by-step notes, a tutorial in words.

I have also added notes for every row of the heel on how many stitches there should be on each needle so that participants will know immediately if they have gone wrong and ask for help then and there! When they are at home, they will only need to correct that row (assuming that they checked their stitch count at the end of the previous row).

The tutorial notes come to fourteen pages – I have written them for people working on 5 dpns, 4 dpns, two circulars or one circular. There are two appendices: one for the cast on and one for the bind off, both being used with permission from their original authors.

Apart from re-writing the notes and emailing back and forth with my two test-knitters/assistants (thanks C. and D.), I have test-knitted a sock using each of the four methods. Top row (left to right): 5dpns, 4dpns; bottom row: 2 circulars, one circular.

Do you know it is really hard to test-knit a pattern? One has to forget what one knows or assumes to be right and actually read the instructions! Who’d a thunk it?

adding to the stash (again)

On Tuesday last week, I visited the local Big Box Store and came home with these two fabrics which I have shown you before.

The pink is being used for the bag that I started on Monday, the beige has been added to the stash – one can never have enough neutral fabric, right?

On Saturday, in wild, wet weather, WM drove me across the city to the Fabric Remnant Warehouse. Our mission was to choose a ‘border’ fabric for the Country Houses quilt which is to go on our bed (the sooner the better with temperatures dipping to 3°C - 37°F - last night). We came home with four metres of this beige and cream pin-striped fabric from the “A Day in the Country” range.

And this flannelette fabric somehow came home with us too!

It is destined to be a quilt for Older Grandson who, for some reason unknown to all the adults in his life, is mad about Formula 1 racing!

On Sunday, DD and I went to the final day of the “30% off all fabric” sale at the Big Box Store. These half-metre-pieces ($2.80 metre) will be added to our stash:

and this pile of fleece ($3.50 metre) will become ponchos and/or animal blankies.

On Wednesday I had an appointment in a suburb quite far from home so took advantage of the distance travelled to visit another branch of the Big Box Store. I needed some black flannelette to go with the racing car fabrics shown above but I also ended up with these three half metre pieces.

Perhaps there’s a navy and white quilt in my future?

Finally, yesterday was the monthly meeting of the Caring Hearts Community Quilters. A lady in my quilting class is de-stashing and made a generous donation of quite a large amount of fabric. These pretties followed me home. Now remember, these are not mine – they are to be used in quilts and returned to the group for donation to a local hospital.

Better get sewing on some of my WIPs so that I can get to these!

urgent post: I've been hacked

MY hotmail account was hacked overnight (Australian time) and everyone with whom I have corresponded over several years was sent spam emails.

PLEASE DO NOT OPEN ATTACHMENTS THAT PURPORT TO COME FROM ME  -- I DIDN'T SEND THEM!

Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

I’ve started another project

Yesterday, in class, some of the students, including myself, opted to learn some new skills by making a strip bag.

Some people used part of a jelly roll, some students shared a jelly roll; I cut my own strips from my ever-growing stash (and to think that just twelve months ago my stash consisted of ten fat quarters!)

In class we had to choose six strips for the front and the back of the bag, and another four strips for the sides. By the end of the class, I had this:

Now I just have to make another matching piece.

I’m looking forward to the next class when there will be pockets and interfacing and possibly even quilting!

UFOs are sometimes WIPs!

It seems a few of you, dear readers, were a bit concerned about the list of WIPs on my previous post. I see that many as a good thing, a sign of how far I have come. Just fifteen months ago I was a raw beginner as a quilter, some knowledge from reading but little real experience.

Now I have fourteen quilting related projects on the go. I know what each one is, where it is, why it has stalled and what I need to do next! I call that progress!

Since none of the quilting related projects has a deadline, I can relax -- as long as I am doing something to one of them most days I feel like I am moving forward.

But the knitting UFOs are a different story! How did I come to have four pairs of socks on my needles? I usually have more than one project on the go; but not usually more than one of the same type of thing!

But never fear, the sock issue will soon be under control. I have finished my “donation” knitting for the moment. I am quite pleased with what I have accomplished so far this year: 2 shawls, 2 pairs of socks (one a gift for my mother), 13 hats, 15 cowls and 15 pairs of fingerless mitts. Not bad, if I do say so myself!

Below are some photos of some of my latest items.

I don’t take photos of everything because one pair of mitts in a particular colour is the same as another pair of mitts in the same colour – same goes for hats and cowls. I knit the same basic patterns over and over – I can knit them quickly and mostly without thinking; that’s why they are called Elle Bee’s No Fuss patterns on my projects page on Ravelry.

I am the tutor for a “sock from the toe up” workshop on 16 June, so it’s timely that I need to concentrate my efforts on socks. First job is to re-knit the workshop pattern and edit as I go, then I can get back to the socks shown in my previous post.

I have a busy couple of weeks ahead but I will try to work on some of sewing projects. I am starting a new project tomorrow in class; we are making a lined bag. I’m very excited!

the eleventh question

warning: long, photo-heavy post (hurrah for the new internet connection and Windows Live Writer!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday I answered ten of the eleven questions posted by Freda (a.k.a. Impera Magna) on her blog The Adventures of the Empress of the Universe.

I had to leave the last question because it needed a post of its own (as you will soon see).

Q. How many UFOs/WIPs do you have right now?

A. Let’s begin with the sewing based ones …

1) The quilt that has been occupying my attention this week is my Country Houses quilt which started life as a single (twin) bed quilt in May last year; it’s too big for a single bed so I decided to finish it to queen size to go on our bed to keep me warm on these chilly winter nights. As you can see, it’s way too big for our bed! I am considering taking one or two rows off but, as yet, have not made up my mind!

 

2) Scrappy Log Cabin: I don’t have enough scraps to make the border I intended and am still thinking about what to do with it. Here it is with the inner border which has been added since I last showed the top-in-progress. It looks black but it is actually a dark brown because, despite all those blues, the quilt has an overall brownish look.

3) A cloth book I started for the Grandboys for Christmas (they got two of four before I became really ill a couple of weeks before the big day) – I need to unpick the last page I sewed; so it has been having time out in the “naughty corner” since November. This is the page I haven't got to yet!

4) curtains for Older Grandson’s bedroom – his mummy needs to find the hooks WM accidentally left there and I’m not finishing them till she does! (no photos here)

5) Dotty Bright needs basting and quilting

6) Scrappy Strings II: the top and backing have been made but are too long (Is this a theme emerging in my quilting? I hope not!) so I need to unpick the bottom row of blocks and cut down the backing then baste and quilt (it’s been spending time in the “naughty corner” too)

7) and 8) two scrappy quilts made from one donated partly-made flimsy; I don’t have anywhere near enough scraps to finish either of them (the flimsy was separated between the long floral strip and the yellow strings)

9-13) five rainbow quilts which are being made as part of the Scrappy Rainbow Challenge over at SoScrappy; I have blocks in various colours for a four patch quilt (17 blocks made), a nine patch quilt (11 blocks made), a string quilt (15 blocks made), an improv quilt (44 blocks made) and a Wonky Windows quilt (9 blocks made). Obviously, these are long term projects!

14) Hearts quilt: this a shared project with DD; we are hand-stitching applique hearts onto white squares – eventually we will have enough for a quilt! This began as a project to take to Guild meetings and for me to take to meetings of the “Caring Hearts Community Quilt Group” when I don’t have any quilts that need binding.

15) a cover for my fold-up cutting mat (originally used for dressmaking, now mostly used under a white plastic tablecloth to block my knitting)

– I am going to use the embroidery I started in class in April; I just have to finish the satin stitching of the butterfly  then I will decide which fabrics I want to use to piece what will be a large drawstring bag (probably lined)

16) Sampler Quilt: I cut out the pieces for the first block in class on Monday so I guess it’s now a WIP!

17) a long-untouched cross stitch which I really ought to get finish, it’s so close to being done! I just have to finish that sheet music (dozens of cream stitches on a white background), the scroll-work music stand and a little more of the piano keyboard to the left then I think it’s finished.

… and then there’s the knitting WIPs …

right now I'm knitting a pair of  men's mitts which I will finish today, then I need to revisit the following projects:

18) a pair of gift socks (I can’t say any more, just in case; deadline 22 June)

19) and 20) socks for me

       

22) Merlot toe-up socks for someone with big feet (I knitted the first sock on 72 stitches instead of 64)!

23) baby blanket (which I am considering frogging – it’s just not working for me!)

22) intarsia blanket (I haven’t seen this for a couple of months and was considering ripping it out but now I’ve seen the photo I’m loving it!)

24) sideways striped jumper – need to pick up stitches and do the collar

25) Ambassador of Love mittens (second mitten syndrome) – I finally located the yarn for the second mitten yesterday! Now I just have to find or download the pattern again!

26) Lace Infinity Scarf which I am also thinking about frogging;  the yarn does nothing for the lace pattern – perhaps a dark colour was a poor choice?

I guess it’s time to crack on with the stitching!