A Wonderful Weekend!

I didn't take many photo's too busy spinning and knitting but I did get a small number.

The venue is a good one, I've been there before, not last year but a couple of years prior before the ownership changed hands.   The new owners put on a really good meal, some very yummy food.  Lunches tended to be bread based (yummy bread) and dinner on Saturday was a chicken dish with roasted spuds, also yummy.
Their daughter played with the wee girl who normally comes with us which worked out well and all of us paid some attention to their dog "Flossie" who was extremely well trained.  No jumping, no entering the buildings either.

The loveliest dog ever, proof that with good training you can accomplish almost anything with a dog.

The Hall, first thing in the morning before everyone was up and spinning.

Part of my pile of stuff, it was actually much larger, mainly due to the next picture which insisted that I bring some home

Heavenly Wools (the name is very apt), I think about 5 bumps came home with me, maybe 6.  3 are in the Barrier Reef colourway which I've spun in the past (my favourite shawl is in that colourway), but they're on different bases (light grey, dark grey and charcoal).

The view South from the balcony

West view from deck

South view from deck

Partway through spinning Duck Egg Blue Merino/Silk

First bobbin of Duck Egg Blue complete.   I'm working on bobbin 2 and am over halfway at the moment.

Marled singles, I still have to spin up the second half of this and then ply it.   It's a Merino from older stash from Limegreenjelly on Etsy.com

The original fibre, pic taken from original listing.

I'm spinning it as a double marle from a tutorial on Knitty.com.  I probably won't get that finished this week as I'm concentrating on the Duck Egg fibre.  Want to have that finished by Thursday at the latest so I can take it into the guild on Saturday.   I might spin the marled singles on Saturday, or maybe do some more work on my Central Park Hoodie.  I finally got it past the armhole decreases while away which was a great feeling.  I'm concentrating on that for my home knitting with a bit of time also spent on Thomas' cowl; though the weather has been so warm the last week he hasn't needed it.

I've also ordered the yarn for my next jersey, I'll be making a Breakwater, the yarn I've ordered isn't the one I most wanted, but it was affordable and the 2 options I really wanted in one case is expensive, the other one may not be available as I have 2 skeins and have put out a call for a third but don't know if anyone has one.   That one is Vintage Purls Sock in the Gizern colourway.

One piece of good news, my cellphone has been fixed and as soon as it arrives in the store I'll be able to go and pick it up.  They had to change the ESN which I believe means that the innards of the phone are not the same as when it left.  Looking forward to getting it back, I've been missing it.

Off to Glentui!

I'll be back on Sunday.   Going to spend 2 days spinning and knitting with maybe a touch of reading as Kindle is going with me.

Forever Young Socks

I knuckled down today (despite having youngest home with a nasty cough) and finished the second sock that I was test-knitting for Val.   I whoopsied slightly on my kitchener stitch; still not sure how but aside from that the socks look great and fit perfectly.  I do want to try the pattern again sometime with them longer and maybe try to extend the pattern into the toe if I can work that one out.   
The yarn is Wandering Cat Yarns Top Cat in the colourway Peter Pan which is why I called them Forever Young.  

I need bigger sock blockers if knitting for Thomas

I need more light to get an in focus shot, but you get the idea.

This just leaves me with 3 knitting WIP's.   My Central Park Hoodie (longtime WIP, next to get worked on), my Frangipani Shawl in pink which I really want to get finished; should be beautiful.   Final item is my basic socks which are really just to fill in and be easy to knit when out and about.  They're in Zauberball plied sock yarn and should look great once done, just a little boring to knit unless in a waiting room or similar.


Tomorrow I'll have to do some work instead of knitting, hopefully Ian will be well enough to be at school.  He was pretty bouncy today despite the cough and I've told school he won't be at the school production on Wednesday and Thursday night as his cough gets worse at night and would be pretty disruptive.  That and it's pretty cold in the evening and often wet at the moment too.

I might sneak in a little knitting tomorrow if I can manage it though, CPH needs to be worked on in the day as it's navy blue and hard to see during the day.   I'd love to get the back finished as it's the most complex cable-wise.

My Stash and Crafting Space

I thought it would be nice to show you where I craft and some of my stash today; partly this is because of the Moda Bake Shop: Show Off Your Stash Link Party but it's partly because I do actually want to show the normal state of affairs here.

My quilting stash is kept separate from my yarn, garment fabric and fibre stashes, no photo's of them as they're all over the place and too hard to photograph.   This is my quilting fabric stash though:

Hutch dresser with most of my fat quarters in the bottom part behind the batting. Left drawer is current projects, right drawer is my pre-cuts.

Scotch chest with dress form and some of my magazine collection

My magazine collection , some fibre and my coverhem machine

Overlocker, steam press, more fibre and my sewing library (includes beading and quilting books)

The work table, covered in stuff as well as Bernie; my main machine and spinning gear.

Ironing board with steam station and all my sewing patterns.  Wardrobe to the right, full of more supplies.

 In a few days no doubt it'll look tidier as I need to clear some working space for my next projects.  

In knitting news I'm 12 rows off the heel flap on Thomas' sock

Second sock

And starting to put together my stuff for Glentui this coming weekend.   Thomas and the boys will be staying home, not much choice on that as I'm taking the car.  2.5 days of uninterrupted knitting and spinning, yay!

An LG P500 Brick

That's the best description of my cellphone at the moment; I'm resorting to Thomas' old HTC windows based phone and I hate it!   My LG got hooked up to the computer the day before yesterday to check for updates and the LG Software found one, downloaded it fine and then started installing it.  Lost the connection to the phone which went into "Emergency Mode" with a fetching green screen.   Couldn't re-establish connection, factory reset wouldn't work either and after a little checking on the net it seems this isn't an uncommon problem.   Now it won't even turn on, it had a full battery before this so I think it's a dodo.  Thomas will have to take it into the Telecom shop tomorrow, it's still in warranty and hopefully they'll be able to sort it out quickly so I can get rid of the horrible HTC.  One other bad thing, apparently my contacts list had been saved to the phone, not the SIM card, so I've lost all that.  Next time I'll change that setting.
Monday I also noticed the car had only one working headlight so that got fixed today; don't have to worry about being pulled over now which is good.

Yesterday I hosted a spinning day, I think it went well, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and I got 6 bobbins of Gotland plied off; photo's will come later when I get enough dry weather to wash them.   It's been raining here for what feels like forever.   George has come home with soaked socks for 2 days in a row.

Second sock is halfway through the ribbing, photos' later.  I won't be casting on anything new until the socks and at least one other item is finished.   I'd love to finish my Central Park Hoodie, it keeps being put off and I need it!

Halfway There

For two things actually.  I had planned on spinning some Gotland today, but couldn't face lugging it all to the guild, so instead I bought some Merino/Silk once I got there and spun the first bump while there.

The "seconds" fibre, because of the white bits; which I actually like.

The yummy results of the first bump spun up, took under 3 hours including dizzing it.

I also finished the first sock for Thomas

Sock before grafting the toe, love the river winding along the side.

A good fit, he'd prefer it longer, but his leg is quite well developed and we'd need a different ribbing to fit higher.

On the sock blocker, which is too small as it's size 8 and Thomas has size 10's

Now to cast on sock 2, spin more Merino/Silk and Gotland.   Today we also got some work done on the driveway and some gardening done; tomorrow the weather forecast is for horrible rain yet again.

Tomorrow if it's raining I might do some baking, need some for Tuesday as I'm hosting a spin-in.   I'll also be tidying again, it was all tidy on Wednesday but has deteriorated already, sigh.  

Oh, and one last thing, on Thursday I popped out to Tai Tapu Woolcarders, the car coped well which is a good omen for taking her to Glentui and I got some fibre for teaching spinning at school; Leo gave me a good price on it which was nice of him seeing as it was coming out of my budget.   I just have to get the dowling and cuphooks to make the spindles now.   I did get sidetracked by one other thing, I love sheepskins but didn't want to spend a lot on one as Star is likely to destroy it; he had smaller ones especially for pets at a good price so I grabbed one for Star.   She loves it!   I will be going back, it's changed so much since the last time I was there, and it's all for the good.

Wardrobe Wednesday - Decade of Style

My chosen decade is the 1950's.  I'm rather fond of the 1910's through to the 1950's but I don't have a lot of the earlier styles in my wardrobe.

Today's look is a melding of today's and yesterday's styling.  I'm wearing a Merino mock-wrap top with a cotton voile full circle skirt with a petticoat under it.  Shoes are my Doc Martens and my hair is down after I cut it on Sunday.

Love the swirl on this, can you tell?

I revisited my "to do list", I'd felt like I was getting nowhere, but in fact I've finished several items now

1. Curtains - done - done on last list, only thing done
2. Quilted Ladder of Doom for each of the boys
3. Test-knit socks for Val - on the needles
4. KAL for Mary Mary vest
5. Knit mohair cuffs
6. Finish Garnet Socks
7. George's Quilt
8. Polarfleece Vest for Thomas, take pattern from his old Telecom one
9.  Our quilt
10. Finish Central Park Hoodie (long term WIP)
11. Make Thomas another pair of socks
12. Finish my pink shawl, it's been on the first row for some time now.
13. Finish plain socks (this may end up being my travel project) - another inch done

So, I've finished another 3 items and done some more on 2 more.   I'm fairly happy about that.  I'm concentrating on number 3 right now, getting closer to the toe on the first one.

Finished Ladder of Doom.  Ian is the dinosaur, George the dragon.  The rungs are velcro so we can move them up and down.

All Dressed Up

On Sunday we had a baptism to go to, Thomas is the Godfather so we absolutely had to go.   Another family were having their baby baptised at the same time and it was worked in with the normal service.   We're not religious so it all felt a bit odd to us, we both believe that there is a higher power, but we don't believe in the Christian version of that belief.
George and Ian were both well behaved aside from a wee moment where Ian asked very clearly in a lull "Can we go home yet Mummy?", could have been a lot worse though as he was getting restless for a while. 
Here's what we looked like, first family photo for a while (love the tripod!).

The boys borrowed ties from their Dad.

We've determined a distinct lack of any good clothes.  George's shirt is really too small, it's a size 6, Ian has no good pants, the cords were the best option.    We put an order through to Pumpkin Patch for new button-shirt for each boy and a nice pair of pants.   They're large enough that the boys should fit them for a while.
I was wearing my favourite me-made skirt (wool blend A-line) and a double-breasted jacket made by my work.   Thomas wore his work trousers, a jersey from my work and one of his more formal shirts.  I think I might have to get him another jersey at some point, possibly my next work freebie might be for him.

In other news I've got further on the test knit sock; onto the gusset decreases.

I've also got the "Ladder of Doom" ready to bind, hope to get that finished tomorrow.  Was going to do it this morning, but the IBS kicked in and I considered myself lucky to get the boys to school.

Another FO

I finished my Ring of Fire yesterday, was originally going to be a cowl, but the yarn wasn't suitable so I've made a pair of wristlets instead and they're gorgeous!

Doesn't like being blocked, but I do love this anyway.

I've also cast on my next socks which are for Thomas

Forever Young socks, test knit.

I'll show you the quilting item I'm working on at the moment, it's a "Ladder of Doom" from Nigel Latta's books on bringing up children sensibly.  The rungs are velcro.

Requires binding, but aside from that it's finished.

Got to look at the latest Interweave Knits today, I'm actually quite impressed with it this time.  Out of 23 patterns I really like 8 of them.    I want to make the Petit Four Pullover, the Travellers Socks and Jon's Sweater.    I love Emily's Coat too, but the likelihood is I won't make that as it's going to take a while, that and it doesn't really fit my lifestyle at the moment.