Merry Christmas!

You wouldn't think it was Christmas Eve, the boys are not going to sleep, which means Santa isn't coming yet.  We can't wrap the presents yet either.   However, they are looking forward to tomorrow, despite already having some of their presents.  They already have the pool, and the kittens!

I'm still working on Thomas' socks; the first is finished, second is only 10 rows into the foot after increases finished, and I realised afterwards I did a different toe on this one.  Nevermind, this means Thomas can decide which he prefers, I'm not frogging.

Just a plain basic sock, but in this yarn that's what we want.  I'm not sure I like the colourway, but Thomas seems happy enough, so we'll keep on knitting.   I'm going to take a break tomorrow for some spinning on Christmas day though, between making a loaf of bread and another pavlova (Dad wants one too)
Last couple of days have been busy, today's been cleaning day.  Yesterday I made the first pavlova

did some gardening

and watched our kittens.  Ray desperately wants to get outside, she's worked out the front screen door so we have to lock it now; she's a shoulder cat given the chance.  Star's not quite so friendly, but still lovely.   Here for your entertainment are some gratuitous kitty photos

Look at us, aren't we lovely?   I am controlling your mind silly human, we are lovely!

Why thank-you for the lovely dangly toys; we are finding them fascinating, do you mind if we steal some to kill later?

Fratello Finished and Interweave Knits Review

This is going to be a fairly busy blog post.   1st of all a photo of the surprise blogtoberfest package I won

As you can see there was a red theme.  2 covered buttons, a small thimble, a trowel and fork pair of buttons, a print ribbon, 1 skein of embroidery floss and some gorgeous fat quarters.   It was well worth the wait!   The Crafty Librarian was the blog I won this from.

Next thing is Fratello is finally finished!  George likes it and so do I.  The cable doesn't show well in photo's  but it looks fine in real life.  I did make one adjustment to the pattern, I added some 2x2 rib to the bottom of the sleeve so it won't curl up

Excuse the funny look on his face, I couldn't get a good photo.

In other news the kittens are gorgeous and growing and wanting out!

as you can see, this is both of them attempting to get to the doorhandle to open it.   Luckily they haven't succeeded yet.  Oh, and Ray it turns out is a girl, so we have 2 wee girls

Interweave Knits Winter 2010


Yes, it's that time again.  It arrived earlier in the week and now I'm going to go through and say what I think of each pattern and what changes need to be made to make them nicer.

This isn't one of their best efforts, if I'd seen it in the shop I probably wouldn't have bought it, but having a sub, I do have it.

The Charvet Pullover:
This has potential, I'm not sure if it's a round neck or V, but it's not too wide.  I think the shoulders are a little too wide on the model they've chosen and I'd lengthen the sleeves and body.  I probably won't knit it even with those ammendments though, it just doesn't have enough 'wow' factor for me.

Zoe Scheffy's Latvian Braid Mitts:
These I like very much, enough texture to be interesting and with a touch of colour.   Might put these in the queue.

Barclay Sweater:
Not really my thing, can't see DH in it, though in black, charcoal and grey he might consider it, there are more suitable patterns out there for him though.  Neckline is a little wide.

Flowering Plum Pullover:
Don't like this much at all, doesn't fit very well under the arms.  I think it might work better in a more subtle colour selection.  The purple and white is a little too stark.

Kinetic Cowl:
Fairly basic looking, but with being bias I'd expect a little more drape, maybe the gauge is a little tight.  I think if it draped more it would be very pretty.

Lollipop Cap:
Looks more like a beret to me, but that's just semantics.  It is a nice hat once again in different colours, maybe navy instead of white.  I would knit it.

Spoked Hat:
I really like this wee hat, it's feminine, classic and sweet all at the same time, this I would knit.   Nicely fitted and should be easy to knit.  Would look good on a guy too I suspect.

Isobel Skirt:
There is potential here, but it needs to be longer, just too short  for me.

Prism Pullover:
Where's the full sized photo of the front?   Mind you the photo of the back puts me off completely.  Too low in the back, shapeless and from what you can see on the tiny front photo in the instructions it's just as bad from the front.

Evergreen Vest:
I like this, slightly rustic looking.  I think I'd ditch the pockets as they just spoil the line of the front, but aside from that it's practical and would be fantastic on the farm or doing outdoor work in winter.

Tuckernuck Cardigan:
This is gorgeous, if I had a little girl she'd be getting this in a heartbeat, in fact I'd drop what I was knitting now for it.  However I don't so if anyone asks me for a cute girl cardigan I'll point them to the magazine.

Crocus Cardigan:
I'd knit this for me, but longer n the body and sleeves.  Aside from that love the shape and the front panel pattern.

Slouchy Cable Pullover:
Once again shapeless, sleeves too short and neck too low.  Yuck.

Galvanised Cardigan:
I quite like this, it's a basic cardigan with a little embroidery to highlight the rib details on the collar, cuffs and hem.  Simple, but effective and with a raglan sleeve.

Ginevra's Pullover:
I like the idea of this, but something's not quite right with the real thing.  I think it's the level that the laceweight goes down to, it's not low enough to be an empire, but too low for a flattering standard neckline it's also too wide at the shoulder.  Would have worked better with just a couple of inches less width.

Oslo Walk Shawl:
This is more of a scarf than a shawl to me due to the width, however it's still very pretty and I think will be on the list for a later knit.

Winter Wren Cardigan:
Parts of this I like, others I hate.  Love the colours and fair-isle style, however it doesn't work with the ruffles. Make it longer in body and sleeves, deruffle it and change the fastening and I'd knit it.

Thandie Funnel Neck:
This I love as is, no changes required.  Love the combination of yarns, love the neck, length; everything.

Pinked Socks:
I like these well enough, but I'm confident enough in colourwork that it's a bit simplistic now.  Would look fantastic in black and white though

Art Deco Argyle Stockings:
I'd use different colours, probably more traditional ones, but I do like these.  I do think they made them a touch too long for the model though.

Stranded Boot Stockings:
Traditional Norweigan style knee socks, I hate the colour they've used, but love the pattern.  Unfortunately they're not exactly unique.

Alpha Stockings:
I like these a lot, I like twisted stitches and they look really good in a knee high.  Will definitely keep these in mind.

Pavo Slipper Socks:
I like that they have sizes for children and adults, but probably won't knit them as I prefer longer socks.

Houndstooth and a Half Jacket:
What on earth were they thinking?  It's the wrong colours, the yarn's too heavy, pattern too large and.....
I think this one needs redesigning from scratch.

Gloucester Coat:
I like the look of it, but would like a picture with the hood up.  From what I can see my interest is piqued and I'll be watching it on Ravelry for pictures of other people's creations.  I love the cables.

Ginza Sport Coat:
No man I know would be caught dead in this.  DH thinks it's hideous, and I have to agree.  Yuk, looks like something that Grandpa put in the shed for doing his gardening in cos Nana wouldn't let it in the house.

Burnham Wood Capelet:
This I like, nice shaping, a little tight on the model, but that's easily rectified.  I like the closures too.

Ok, that's it for this.  On a related note though, does anyone know where I put the scarf I finished a couple of weekends back?   I can't find it and I need to find it tonight!

Fratello Finished and Interweave Knits Review

This is going to be a fairly busy blog post.   1st of all a photo of the surprise blogtoberfest package I won

As you can see there was a red theme.  2 covered buttons, a small thimble, a trowel and fork pair of buttons, a print ribbon, 1 skein of embroidery floss and some gorgeous fat quarters.   It was well worth the wait!   The Crafty Librarian was the blog I won this from.

Next thing is Fratello is finally finished!  George likes it and so do I.  The cable doesn't show well in photo's  but it looks fine in real life.  I did make one adjustment to the pattern, I added some 2x2 rib to the bottom of the sleeve so it won't curl up

Excuse the funny look on his face, I couldn't get a good photo.

In other news the kittens are gorgeous and growing and wanting out!

as you can see, this is both of them attempting to get to the doorhandle to open it.   Luckily they haven't succeeded yet.  Oh, and Ray it turns out is a girl, so we have 2 wee girls

Interweave Knits Winter 2010


Yes, it's that time again.  It arrived earlier in the week and now I'm going to go through and say what I think of each pattern and what changes need to be made to make them nicer.  

This isn't one of their best efforts, if I'd seen it in the shop I probably wouldn't have bought it, but having a sub, I do have it.

The Charvet Pullover:
This has potential, I'm not sure if it's a round neck or V, but it's not too wide.  I think the shoulders are a little too wide on the model they've chosen and I'd lengthen the sleeves and body.  I probably won't knit it even with those ammendments though, it just doesn't have enough 'wow' factor for me.

Zoe Scheffy's Latvian Braid Mitts:
These I like very much, enough texture to be interesting and with a touch of colour.   Might put these in the queue.

Barclay Sweater:
Not really my thing, can't see DH in it, though in black, charcoal and grey he might consider it, there are more suitable patterns out there for him though.  Neckline is a little wide.

Flowering Plum Pullover:
Don't like this much at all, doesn't fit very well under the arms.  I think it might work better in a more subtle colour selection.  The purple and white is a little too stark.

Kinetic Cowl:
Fairly basic looking, but with being bias I'd expect a little more drape, maybe the gauge is a little tight.  I think if it draped more it would be very pretty.

Lollipop Cap:
Looks more like a beret to me, but that's just semantics.  It is a nice hat once again in different colours, maybe navy instead of white.  I would knit it.

Spoked Hat:
I really like this wee hat, it's feminine, classic and sweet all at the same time, this I would knit.   Nicely fitted and should be easy to knit.  Would look good on a guy too I suspect.

Isobel Skirt:
There is potential here, but it needs to be longer, just too short  for me.

$100 Holiday Gift from Novica

$100 Holiday Gift from Novica

Yesterday and other things

 I think this is Star, she's usually moving fast, so's Ray and in this photo it's hard to see her markings.  Both kittens are doing well, they get their first shots on Wednesday, so another month or so and then they can go outside.   Star wants outside now!   Unfortunately for her we're not prepared to let her do that till she's fairly safe from cat flu etc.

This arrived probably a couple of weeks ago now, it's a fibre sampler from Ewe Beaute fibres.    There's a couple of yarns in there and a stitch marker, but I requested the fibre heavy version and that's what I got.  Now I can add the fibre in this to my scrappy yarn fibre bag.  There's some yummy stuff in here including a couple of part-batts.   Will be fun to use this.

Now, the reason for this post was what I did yesterday.   Joanne, Paula and I were invited to fill some spots on a mystery bus tour.  It cost $15 for the bus as we don't belong to Fran's guild (Wigram Spinners), but that was still a completely reasonable cost for a full day out.  
We got to park our cars in a secure carpark, we had to take money for lunch and possible purchases (I needed more).  We started doing a competition where we had to write down all the things we could see from the bus that started with the letter P.  I won the first prize, a peanut slab which I gave to Thomas when I got home as I dont' like peanuts.

1st stop was Helen Heddell's farm where we got to see some Moorit Merino's; they wouldn't let us get close, so I had to use zoom to get these photo's.

One of them had the cutest black and white lamb; you can see him in this photo.  Helen had a couple of very nice Merino fleeces available, but I already have lots of white Merino and a couple of half fleeces of grey/black Merino's too, so I didn't need any more of that.

Next stop was at an Angora goat farm, these guys weren't shy!  Lovely animals, really enjoyed the time with them, and I had to buy some fibre as I only have a little mohair atm.  I got a kilo of kid mohair, medium grade as high grade wasn't too affordable.  $30 got me a lovely bag of soft yumminess though.

 Fibre

 Angora female goat

Part of the herd

Next stop was at Cust where I spent nothing, but did see a couple of bags I really like.   I"m going to have to save up for one to replace my current shoulder bag.  It's looking rather the worse for wear and a lot of the stitching has gone.

After that we went to Oxford where we stopped off at Jo Seager's restaurant for lunch.  This is what I had

Waffles with banana's, bacon and maple syrup; I was a little overfull after that so didn't get a dessert, to be honest I thing a dessert on top of that would have killed me!  I also got a rather nice hot chocolate too.

After lunch I had a wander around the art gallery, took a look at the old jail (2 rooms) and also looked through a little shop that had less stuff than the one in Cust, but also less atmosphere.  I didn't buy anything from there, or from Jo Seager's kitchen shop.   I'm afraid $59 for a cake form is a little too high for me.

Our next stop was Heavenly Wools where I'm afraid I blew the rest of my spending money.   I got 7 bags of dyed Merino top; 4 different colours.  I also received the mystery gift from the trip which in my case was some navy Merino top and some dyed mohair locks; yummy!

 a little peak at my fibre purchases here

my gift, you can't see the locks, but they're in lots of pastelly shades so should work well with the navy

Here's the place that they live, it's a converted church.  Not enough space for me, but very nice

You can see our bus on the left.  Some of the outside was covered in plastic siding by the previous owners, the current ones are not sure about this concept, a bit like they're not sure about the hot water cylinder that's currently on display in the kitchen end of the church.      I didn't get a photo of that, but I took one from that end of the house looking up towards the nave of the church

Isn't it pretty?   The bedroom is upstairs above my head when I took this photo, it's a mezzanine floor but quite private.

I did get quite a bit of knitting done on the trip, haven't a photo of it at the point I got to yesterday, but here's Fratello before it hit the bus

This wool doesn't photograph well, but it looks fantastic in person.  The jersey is for George and is being knit top-down with a centre-front cable.   I'm hoping to finish the body tonight.

That's it for a bit, got lots happening in the next couple of weeks, the NZ Creative Fibre group is putting on a gathering for Christchurch guild members next Saturday due to the earthquake, Sunday next week is our Christmas celebration with my family as some of them won't be in town on the day.  The following Saturday is another guild Christmas lunch.   This Monday is the Judo Christmas thing, not really looking forward to that, I have nothing in common with most of the parents there, or at least that's how it feels and Ian finds those things a little overwhelming too.

Warm fuzzies

One finished item today, very pleased with this, it's not fussy but still soft and warm.  I've called it Cinnamon Surprise.  It's not for me, but I did get to model it.

and then there's these guys

On the left we have Ray and on the right Star.  They're from the same litter and although they look black they're not solid black.  Ray has a jaguar pattern of darker and lighter black, while Star is more of a cheetah print.  They're gorgeous, but having some adapting to do to our house as they were in a small room at the Cats Protection League; there's a lot more space here.  They're staying in the laundry at night with their food and litterbox.  During the day they have the living area to roam in and in a day or so they'll get to meet the rest of the house.   No going outside for them for a bit, not vaccinated yet and CPL want us to keep them inside till they're fixed which won't be for another month or so.
There were 2 other cats we really wanted, but we could only have 2 and we though siblings would be a good idea for eachother and our children too.   There was a Mummy cat called Asher who was lovely and another kitten called Honey, but she might have FIV and there's no way of knowing till she's 6 months old.  I really loved Asher, Thomas really loved Honey but there's no way we could keep a kitten inside till she's 6 months old or even till she dies if she was infected.

Swimsuit for me

is finished.   The fabric was from my stash, I've lined it with a cotton lycra that was also from my stash.  I know the cotton won't last that well, but I swim infrequently so that shouldn't really be an issue.  I've used Lastin for the elastic and added a shelf bra to the top.  I graded up a boy-leg pattern I had and used a singlet pattern for the top.  I think I'll test it in the bath before I wear it for the first time in the pool, this is important as its first outing will be at George's end of year school trip, going down the hydroslide.  Not really looking forward to it, I don't overly like swimming, but it wouldn't be fair if he didn't get to go down the slide.

What do you think of it?

I had to make it, wasn't prepared to fork out over $80 for a shop-bought one and my current one is 2 sizes too small.   I do need to do something about that and will be once I'm feeling well enough again, still a wee bit chesty atm.

My next sewing thing is to hem the most hideous jacket in the world for a friend of Mikes' (BIL).  Someone had hacked the original hem off, not evenly either so that needs some work and I think I'll have to see if I've got any black bias binding to make the hem as shallow as I can.
Then Thomas's business trousers as one of his current pairs is really past its best.

In the meantime I'm still knitting the shawlette and will be working on my Fratello for George as soon as that's finished.  I'm over halfway through the shawlette.

ADHD?

Had an appointment for George to see a child psychiatrist this morning at Whakatata House after the various assessments that have been done so far.  School think he's Aspergers/ASD, the psychiatrist says he definitely has some indicators, but he's leaning in the ADHD direction.  Ritalin was mentioned, but will be relooked at next year by them to see if a different teacher makes a difference in George's concentration issues.   His current teacher, while a lovely lady is not a good mesh with George.  He needs someone who will put their foot down in the right way for him.
Thomas and I don't think Ritalin is the way to go, George isn't overactive, just a bit silly.  He also needs to learn how to concentrate on stuff he doesn't like without drugs, drugs just mask the problem, they don't teach how to deal with it.  The silly thing is if he's interested in something he's got fantastic concentration!
I'm going to have to do some research on all this, but at the end of the day we're not putting drugs into a developing body.  We are reducing junk food, there are no more oven fries in this house, no more coco puffs for breakfast.  Eventually I'd like to work towards a more natural way of life, but that will take some time and some work as Ian in particular is a fussy eater.
More baking though, problem with that is I tend to eat it.

Oh, and our swimming pool (plastic with metal frame) is dying, seams are splitting and the frame is not well either.  Keeping an eye open for something similar that's cheap.  Wish me luck!

A quick kitty post

We've been and looked at kittens.  2 wee lovelies will be coming home with us in 3 weeks once they're old enough to leave their mum.  1 black girl, she has a white star on her chest so Thomas has named her "Star".  The other is a wee ginger tabby girl; we're not sure on name yet but the options we've thought of so far are Honey, Spice or Toffee.   A little foody perhaps, but her colouring is a soft ginger.  She though Thomas was great!  Really hoping they fit in well with our family.
There were 5 litters at the foster house.  1 very young with a mum who obviously hadn't been looked after; she was very thin and they were being very careful with her.  2 others with litters about the same age and then in purpose built cages out back the slightly older litters.  1 lot was all spoken for, and we chose 2 from the second one.
We still have to get the cat food, I'll probably do that tomorrow; although we have some Science Diet kitten food left over they're used to Royal Canin so we'll get some of that and mix the Science Diet in slowly to get them used to it.  We already have some cat litter and a tray so that just leaves us with a bed to make for them in the laundry until they're old enough to sleep on our bed without accidents.  The cat door will remain locked until they're old enough to be outside sometimes.
We dropped off at The Warehouse afterwards and picked up a new cat carrier using a voucher I had, also a couple of other things for the boys and an Xbox game for Thomas and myself.
Thomas has now come down with George's cold, so while George is mostly better, Thomas and I are feeling less than our best.  

Canterbury A&P Show

For those of you who are not New Zealanders "A&P" stands for Agricultural and Pastoral; basically it's a huge farming show which has grown to include lots of other stuff.   It's held on show week in Christchurch and typically the public holiday on the Friday is fine and hot.
Today was no exception, it hit 26 degrees with no cloud cover at all.  We went to the show as early as we thought we could; we arrived at 8.05am and there were already about 5 double banks of cars parked up!  We joined in and headed into the show.   We already had our tickets ($52.00) so just trotted on in.

The first section was a home show sort of thing, I picked up a set of wrist bracelets that are one-use which you pop on your child's wrists with your cellphone number.  It cost $5 for the set and with Ian sometimes disappearing without warning we thought it was a good idea; they provided a complimentary set for both boys for the day.  We also entered a competition there for a jar of jelly beans.  Ian made a guess which Thomas then added a little to (Ian chose 22, Thomas added a 5 in front), they got the closest guess so Ian won the big jar of jellybeans!   I didn't get a photo of him receiving his prize when they dropped it off for him tonight, but I got one of it on the table at dinnertime (no he didn't eat them for dinner).

It's a really big jar, but I think I might hide it tonight and just get it out occasionally.

We saw lots of sheep, horses, chooks, vintage machines etc and happy boys, with occasional meltdowns when we wouldn't let them go on expensive rides, most of which had huge queues.
Here are some of what we saw

 George on a harvester

Corriedale fleece still on the ram

 Border Leicester

 Happy boys

 Perendale

 Ian on tractor

 Corriedale fleece

The Corriedale sheep

Vintage machinery

Now that the day is over we're exhausted.  I did a little work, just enough to get my 20 hours for the week.   Finished part 2 of the Fratello knit for George, can't post a photo atm as part of the conditions of the KAL.  It's being knit in a taupe shade and is looking really nice.
One knit I can show you is the shawl I've just cast on; Pimpelliese is a gift for someone, won't say who as they may read this

Doesn't look like much yet, but it's going to be very pretty; better get back to knitting it!.

Did finish some spinning earlier in the week, but can't post a photo of that yet as it's part of our fleece study at the guild; will try to post a photo tomorrow of that.

English Leicester

It's what I'm currently spinning, I need to have it finished by Saturday next week as it's our "focus on fleece" for this month.   I've done one single using the fleece we were sold and will be doing another in the other direction.   This may seem odd, but I'm planning a boucle yarn with the boucle part being a dyed English Leicester.
So I'll be plying the coloured single with the original one and then using the single spun the other way as a binder; I'll be overplying the first ones.

This is the fibre I'm using, I'm flick carding it before spinning fairly fine.   It could probably spin finer, but this is the first time I've spun English Leicester like this and I don't want rope.
I'll be working on this tomorrow hopefully as well as the Fratello mystery KAL for George.  Work as well of course.

I did get one thing finished today though, a WWII Watch Cap.  It's knitted in one of my earlier handspun yarns, a superwash Merino and it's rather nice.   It fits my big noggin, but is meant for a smaller one.   I only have a photo of it on me though, so here it is.  Not the best photo of me, so please just look at the hat.

I'm not really that colour, but late night flash is not flattering, especially when self photographing.

In other news....
George is at Judo camp with his Dad and it sounds like it's going well, he was dry last night which was great!  He's also not been overly silly which is also good; I'm looking forward to hearing all about it when they get home tomorrow.

Ian went to a birthday party today; Grandma dropped him off and I picked him up 2 hours later.  He behaved himself well, no meltdowns or anything and had a fantastic time; he was on a sugar high afterwards.   Wasn't as bad as I expected to get to bed though; he'll get some Xbox tomorrow as a reward, he's earned it!

1st November already!

Christmas has suddenly started galloping up, rather scary that.  Luckily thanks to Joanne I now know what we're getting the 2 younger nephews, Bradley is easy as DH already knows what he wants to get him.  I'll be ringing the SPCA on Wednesday to see if our boys presents have arrived yet, which just leaves getting something for eachother and also something for my Mum (she's given me her wishlist) and my brother (also have a wishlist).  Just got to get around to getting what we need to.  I'd rather do it sooner than later simply to avoid the Christmas rush.

Today, hmmm.  Felt grumpy for a fair part of it cos I had an appointment in the middle of the day which meant that there wasn't time to settle to anything before or after.  I went into town to visit Kutwell fabrics, but they don't open till 10am.  While I was waiting I visited Whitcoulls and spent some of my money on a maths book for George, Bernina to get an invisible zip and then Kutwells were open so I went in and got 2m of polycotton drill for $6 and 3m of 80% wool twill for $27.  The wool is already washed; I got it to make a skirt for me.  They're closing down and will be gone by Christmas so this is probably my last chance.  It's a lovely weight for a straight or A-line skirt and I can embellish too.
Had my appointment with a lady from "Socially Speaking" about Ian and his socialization issues.  I've emailed GSE (Ministry of Ed team that work with Ian) to ask for certain reports, which it looks like they haven't done yet.  Once those are done then we can decide what to do, Ian needs work on this, but Socially Speaking is expensive and I'm not sure if we can afford it; especially as his carer support isn't supposed to be used for most of it, just the group sessions.  I think we'll have to come up with some strategies of our own to work this out.
After the appointment I decided to drop into Mainland Uniforms to see how much school tops and shorts were, unfortunately our school doesn't let them make their logo, so I couldn't get anything.  I did however get a thing of socks as the ones they had are the same as a lot I had a couple of years ago that are still going strong on the boys.
Tonight I got one row done on the hat and nothing on anything else.  Planning on cleaning out the sewing room tomorrow, so probably not much knitting then either.  However once that's done then I can get some sewing done.

Final post for Blogtoberfest

Just a wee post today.  Ian rode his bike all the way to the park, a little slowly but did well.  We did our workout as per usual on a Sunday.  George is still coughing, but it doesn't sound as wet as it did so I think he's on the road to recovery finally.

It was our 12th wedding anniversary today and although Thomas and I did nothing to celebrate it, that's ok we're going to play Borderlands tonight on the Xbox together and we'll have fun which is what counts.  In total we've now been together 18 years, which is really kind of impressive considering how many relationships don't last these days.  The best part is we're still very much in love with eachother.
We had pork chops for dinner, one of Thomas's favourite meals; we don't have pork very often as it tends to be dry, but this was just right.

A little knitting done today, probably an inch on the hat; another four inches to go.

From here I'm going to try and post more often, but probably not every day like I have been this month.  Every couple of days will be fine.  I'm quite enjoying the online diary though.

Biker boy!

While I was at the guild this morning Ian learned to ride his bike without training wheels!  He just needs a little confidence in starting off, but he's doing really well and can turn and everything; my little boy is growing up.  No photo's I'm afraid, but definitely a milestone.
I did get to go to the guild this morning, spun up the rest of my Barrier Reef Merino, and then this evening I plied it.  I'm very pleased with it; 801m of laceweight (before washing).  I'm thinking I'll make up the 10-in-2010-shawl which is fairly geometric so shouldn't fight with the almost Zauberball colouring of this yarn.
Here's the yarn:

I really want to cast this on now, but must restrain myself as I have several other projects on the needles as well as others that are higher in priority.

Strawberries and scars

This morning George had to go to school for a Freaky Friday.  He decided he had to do everything on the suggested list.  So last night I painted his nails red (blood drops), this morning he got dressed with everything on back to front, spiked his hair up and drew a scar on his cheek using a lip pencil and an eye pencil; it looked really cool!

A closer look of the scar

George happily headed off to school after I made him put a vest on (was cold this morning) and I then got Ian into the car to get some strawberry plants.
Ian really enjoyed the visit to Oderings, we got met by a golden retriever who really enjoyed Ian's attention and rolled over to get a tummy rub.  When we got to the strawberry plants there was another wee dog; Ian thought he was a puppy, but was a fully grown small dog.  Ian also enjoyed patting this dog.   We definitely need to get another pet for him, we can't afford a dog at the moment while the mortgage repayments are so high, but in 3 years we will.  In the meantime we'll get one or two kittens; I'm hoping that there will be some available next week.  I'll definitely give it a try anyway.
After we got home Ian had some quality time with Sonic our guinea pig while I cleaned out his cage, he'd finished off his water overnight so redid that too.  I think Sonic is feeling a little better now, he's been more active so he may be recovering from the loss of his cage mate.

In the afternoon I decided to cancel the gym for the second Friday in a row as George still has a nasty cough; if it's still bad on Monday I'll be taking him to the doctor.  Hoping it will be ok as it's finally starting to sound a little better.  Normally we would have gone to the gym seeing as it was improving, however it was cold and wet so I decided not to.  Just not worth the risk of making it worse, especially as it's been considering turning into an ear infection on a few occasions.

I've spent some time this evening doing some knitting for a change!   About 15 rows on my Whisper cardigan and I've also cast on for my Stormy Hat which is using a WWII pattern.  I'm using some of my earlier handspun, which is a superwash Merino in navy blue.  Should be nice and comfy to wear once it's done.  I'll test it on Ian as his head is about the same size as the adult I'm knitting it for.

Tomorrow I'm going to the guild, yay!  I will be spinning, especially as I might not get to go next weekend.  George is going to a camp and it looks like Thomas may have to go too to help manage his night wetting with the minimum of embarrassment.  Thomas thought his Mum was going, but she has other commitments and can't go.

Dayt XXVIII in Blogtoberfest

So Blogtoberfest is almost over and I've actually now done 28 posts this month!  Admittedly I missed the first couple of days through being away from internet access, so I've posted twice on a couple of days; but I think I've done pretty well.  Will try to keep it up.

Today.  Hmm, well there was the drop off and pick up at work, took a little longer than expected as my boss had other things come up so wasn't ready for me when I arrived.  All sorted pretty quickly though.  Then off to get 2 new cupboard handles to replace a couple that were leaving our kitchen cupboards.  Then off to the supermarket to replace the stuff that didn't arrive in my order yesterday; so that was the morning gone.

Unfortunately no inside cleaning aside from the usual dishes, washing and picking up after boys.  Mum came over later in the day and we got another section of the garden sorted which was nice.  My tomatoes are now in, Beefsteak variety.  Need to get some strawberry plants now, might take Ian out tomorrow and grab some of them.

The boys spent a fair bit of tonight playing with something Thomas picked up for them today.  Water guns, perfect for today as it was hot; they'd already been in the pool quite a lot so they finished off by squirting eachother; there were a couple of altercations over the gun they preferred.  I've just given Thomas another $10 to get a second one of that variety so they won't fight over it.  George doesn't cope well with Ian's method of fighting, however George is quite happy to start it, just doesn't like it being finished.

I had a book arrive today as well, have had a cursory look at it, once I've had a proper look I'll give a quick review.   It's Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders and definitely has some patterns in there I'll use; some I won't as well.  

Blogtoberfest XXVII

Not much to report today.  A bit of tidying in the sewing room, my ball winder got used and then put away so we can now see some table surface for the first time in a while.   The yarn I wound is some of my handspun, I've decided to use that instead of the Purewool for my swap project for Christmas.  It's a similar colour to the Purewool, but is superwash so easy care.
Got one row done on A Whisper of Earthquakes, no spinning.  Groceries arrived and packed away, though I had to ring them about one item that didn't arrive, but I did get charged for, a refund is now coming.  I'll have to do a bit of shopping tomorrow though to make up for the other things they didn't have; whole point of online grocery shopping is so I don't have to go out!
Did get the chocolate cake iced, and tasted.   I think the boys liked it cos there were only crumbs left.
As well as groceries tomorrow I will do some more work on the sewing room and Mum may come over and help with some weeding too if the weather is suitable.  There's a part of me that wants it to be pouring down so I can concentrate on the sewing room, is that bad?  Oh, and a little fabric cutting for some TNN friends.
Friday I'll have Ian home, hopefully George will be up to his gym session as he's still coughing and hacking away; seems well enough aside from that though, so no doctors visit yet.

Baking day

Didn't get much more tidying done today.  A couple of drawers in our room and my summer clothes are in our room now, winter back in the sewing room (put away).  Also went through my quilting stash and that's now away and tidy.
Got some spinning done though, I'm now 2/7ths of the way through my second single in "Barrier Reef", it's very bright, I'm thinking a shawl when it's done.  A large one as there will be 200 gm of probably light fingering to laceweight

After the boys got home we got some baking done.  TV privileges had been lost, so baking was my alternative.  We now have a chocolate cake waiting for icing, and this lovely item

This is tan square, I grew up with this and it brings back memories.  Ian's not sure about it, George ate his piece though.  Ian I think was disappointed because it isn't Russian fudge.   Might make that tomorrow.

Just one room to go

And it's the worst one in many ways.  Technically it's my crafting room, in reality it's that plus my work storage area and our dumping ground.  Here's what it looks like now.

Kind of a mess atm, there's sewing stuff, spinning stuff, knitting stuff and stuff stuff.   I'm not working on it today, the rest of the house has been worked on today so now both bedrooms are clean and tidy, so's the hall and the laundry.  The other service areas weren't too bad so I've just got a wee bit to do in the cupboards.  Still the hall cupboard and a couple of bedroom drawers as well; but in general it's looking much better now.

Unfortunately I didn't get any crafting done at all today, will have to do some tomorrow and maybe work on the sewing room every second day while I'm not doing paid work.  We did take a short break though, headed out to the dairy for an iceblock each and a walk.  It was a nice break.  Unfortunately the long weekend is pretty much over now.