Blogtoberfest!

It's starting on Monday, I hadn't seen it as it's being hosted at a different blog from last year, but it's been brought to my attention by Kat; thank-you!

I'm taking part again now that I know about it, school holidays started today so the first 2 weeks will be a bit interesting.

Whoops!

I might have just slightly derailed my list of things to finish; Ysolda Teague has re-released the Orchid Thief pattern, it's a pattern I've always loved the look of and although I have it in the book it was originally in I've bought the revised edition which has been re-written to be easier to knit.    I bought it, dove into the stash and have already cast on!   I'm using my Merino/Possum/Silk blend yarn (Supreme Possum Merino) in Airforce Blue.   It already has bloom, once blocked it should be amazing (and warm!).   I had been planning an Ishbel with it, but this will do nicely instead.

About 10 rows in.

Despite this derailment though I have finished the back of my Central Park Hoodie, though I've not yet cast on the fronts.

I've started cutting out George's quilt.  The fussy cut dragons are done, and today I got halfway through the 8.5" x 2.5" strips, hopefully the other half will be done tomorrow, I tried this evening, but it's too dark.

A couple of finished projects that I haven't shown photo's of before include Thomas' cowl being modelled

looks really good!    Been too warm for him to wear now though.

And finally the new cover for the Tablet.

Old blanket repurposed, the embroidery is circular T's and mean Thomas' Tablet.

One thing I forgot to mention earlier, on Saturday when I went to the area open day (spinners and weavers) I found out I'd won the guild raffle that month!    I got the most wonderful shawl which is in the perfect colour for me and a nice shape I've not got anything similar to.

The pattern is Epsom by Vintage Purls, I am so lucky!

I did pick up 3 lots of fibre.   1 from Anna in an apple green which will be for a hat for Ian (merino silk) and it will be replacing the one school lost for him.  It won't be going to school.   1 lot of buttercup yellow merino/nylon from Wabi Sabi Fibres which is gorgeous and finally one bump from Kate of Heavenly Wools in the Barrier Reef colourway.   I have already several lots of that colour on other bases (various shades of grey), once this arrives I'll spin it up fine for a graduated look.

100 Day Hustle

I found out about the 100 Day Hustle off Tartan Kiwi's Blog 
Considering I already have a list it seemed appropriate somehow so I decided to join in.   I'm going to ammend my list slightly, those items I'm intending to actually finish by the end of the year will be put in italics.

1. Knit Breakwater Jersey for me
2. George's quilt - dragon fabric arrived today
3. Make my dress for summer to go with the petticoats that are coming from the USA; first one will be following the Couture Dress course on Craftsy.  I have the pattern and the calico.
4. Polarfleece Vest for Thomas - this is here more to get the fabric out of the way and free up some space in the sewing room.
5. Finish knitted vest for Ian
6. Put all sewing (not quilting) fabric into spreadsheet so I know what I have
7.  Finish CPH
8. Our quilt
9. Make Thomas more socks
10. Make me more socks, including travel socks which are now up to the heel flap.

2 new things to add
1. swim bags for next term
2. shorts for George

I'm only a few rows off finishing the back of CPH so I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, I've also had a wee push to finish it as I discovered my favourite winter cardigan developed a hole.  I've fixed it, but I know that's the beginning of the end for it.   I've not got 100 days left till the end of the year, it's more like 97 now but it should be enough.   George's quilt has to be done by 10th December for his birthday.   No more Xbox during the day.

In other news I'm giving up sugar, I have some hot chocolate left, but once that's gone I'm not getting more.    I'll try and resist when I bake (wish me luck) and I'm increasing my water intake and my exercise.   Walked 5k's yesterday and biked another 5k's; hopefully be doing the same tomorrow as I should be able to pick the bike up then.   A wee bit of running today with Ian to and from school; 4 times.    We had child led conference today and I got to see the lovely poem he'd written about me.

Mum

My Mum runs quick like a cat

Fast, friendly and soft

She likes chasing me

When she catches me she hugs me

I love my cat Mum

MEOW!

I thought that was absolutely gorgeous!    Though I have to say I prefer not to have to chase him when he's on his bike. 

Spam

Sorry everyone, I've just had to re-enable the word verification after 15 spam comments today.    I really can't be bothered having to do that, they're escalating; used to be 1  a week, now it's at least 1 or 2 a day.

Progress on The List

1. Curtains - 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  This is now Knit Breakwater jersey for summer
5. Knit mohair cuffs
6. Finish Garnet Socks
7. George's Quilt - This is now in progress, final fabrics ordered and pattern decided on.  Cutting to start once fabric arrives.   It will be his Christmas or Birthday present, so now has a Finish Date
8. Polarfleece Vest for Thomas, take pattern from his old Telecom one - Fabric is all decided on, and out
9.  Our quilt
10. Finish Central Park Hoodie (long term WIP) - some progress made, past armhole now on back
11. Make Thomas another pair of socks
12. Finish my pink shawl, it's been on the first row for some time now. this has been frogged, the yarn wasn't working with the pattern and will now become a bolero.
13. Finish plain socks (this may end up being my travel project) - up to heel flap on first one

I've decided I need to start up a new list so it's easier to keep track/


1. Kit Breakwater Jersey for me - yarn has been dyed and I'll be alternating skeins as they're obviously different from eachother.


2. Make cover for the Tablet - currently sewing some old blanket together for this, lots of hand-sewn blanket stitch


3. George's quilt - just waiting on fabric


4. Make my dress for summer to go with the petticoats that are coming from the USA; first one will be following the Couture Dress course on Craftsy.  I have the pattern and the calico.


5. Polarfleece Vest for Thomas - this is here more to get the fabric out of the way and free up some space in the sewing room.


6. Finish knitted vest for Ian,will be the Zipped Up Vest pattern by Sezza (Ravelry name), it's the same pattern as George's green vest, but being made in some denim blue that's a little hard on the hands despite being wool.


7.  Finish CPH


8. Our quilt


9. Make Thomas more socks


10. Make me more socks, including travel socks which are now up to the heel flap.


There are other things that need to be done too, but they're not the craft list even if some are craft related.  I need to finish putting my garment fabrics into an excel file, I've got gardening to do, cleaning the oven (ick) etc, but they're not really interesting enough to go into detail on.

Moda Bake Shop Competition

Go here for details, but Moda is holding a competition where you pin your favourite of their bakeshop recipes onto Pinterest and use the tags #modabakeshop #modafabrics #lovepinwin so they can find them later.   I've pinned quite a few of the ones I like to my pinterest board (I'm Sewsable on there).  My favourite though is called Dueling Personalities Quilts

Aren't they gorgeous?   I won't be making one for a while, too much else on my plate at the moment.

In knitting news the cowl is finished; no modelled shot yet as Thomas is off at Judo today, but I think it looks good and it's very squishy and soft.

 

An interesting week

This week has been one of highs and lows.   I've done some spinning and dyeing that I'm really happy with and Ian's been a complete troll, but that was yesterday and a bit of today.

I'll start with the bad.   Ian's behaviour has been going backwards a bit, now that usually happens towards the end of term, but it seems more extreme this time.   Yesterday when I refused to let him have the computer due to poor behaviour in the morning we had screaming, kicking and throwing of toys down the hall.   As a result he's not getting it today either.   I'm trying to spend more time with the boys to see if that helps with their behaviour.  So the last two nights I've been reading to them despite them being quite happy to read to themselves.   I also did baking with George yesterday and we'll be doing more board games and things too.   Less computer time and I want to find a way for them to do their homework off computer too as that is I think not helping the situation.    Part of the problem is that Ian doesn't seem to understand that being bad in the past leads to punishment now.   How much of that is genuine lack of understanding I don't know, but it makes it much harder.

Right, now onto the good.    George has been busy in his vege garden.  A couple of days ago he planted Salsify and Pea seeds into the garden while avoiding the garlic sprouts.   We still have to do the seed raising mix for the other seeds, but hopefully we'll do that tomorrow while their father is at Judo.    He harvested a broccoli head too

almost head sized!   It was yummy.

I also did dyeing of some sock yarn I got from the Milton Mill shop (which is closing at the end of this month)

Will be a Breakwater, as soon as I finish one of my current projects.  Will alternate skeins as they didn't come out the same; my pot isn't big enough.

I plied my double marled yarn, love the result

the roving

One bobbin of singles

The finished yarn, quite thick and brighter in real life

I've ordered the fabric for George's quilt, already had some of it but now I know which pattern I'm using

Tula Pink's Kiss Kiss

The centre fabric is going to be dragons as per George's request

Dragons from Fat Quarter Shop

The spokes are being cut from Kona Solids; I'm using a jelly roll for that.  I've got one in the dark range and the other ordered in the dusty range and with the light squares in between I'll be using Kona in Charcoal.   Stash for the border that's been hanging around for years and probably bind it in the charcoal as well.   I ordered a striped flannel for the back and will be putting a line of pieced squares in the Kona down the back of that too.   I'm making the pattern in the small size for width and medium for the length which should be perfect for a single bed.
It's going to be for either a birthday or Christmas present.    I already have the batting; it's wool.   I'm quite looking forward to it.

In knitting news I've done a few rows on the vest for Ian, but the yarn is still hurting my hands so I'm taking it slowly.    I'm about an inch off starting the ribbing on Thomas' cowl, but I'll have to find another set of 4mm tips as the ones I used originally are now in the vest.    The cowl will be 2.5 inches longer than the pattern calls for but that's what Thomas wants.

Testing!

Ok, that was unsuccessful, was trying to post using the new Android Tablet and it didn't really work, all that typing and no result.   Aside from that I'm liking the tablet, it was cheap and unbranded but seems to do what we need to so far.   It fails to look at the SD card, system program falls over each time I try.   Hope that doesn't mean the card is dodgy, I will check that though.
As well as setting up the Tablet I've also dyed 400g of sock yarn for my Breakwater, plied some yarn and done some weeding.   Photo's to come in daylight; might be a few days as tomorrow is supposed to be horrible weather.

Storm!

Last night on the two year anniversary of the first Christchurch earthquake we had a once in 10 year lightning storm.    On our side of town the hail was relatively small at 1.5cm (5/8"), but it was enough to put a hole in the polycarbonate roof of our conservatory.   I think the car is ok, hard to tell under all the pollen currently coating it.  Over Ilam way the hail was 3cm in diameter (over an inch) and damaged roofs and cars as well as lots more conservatories.   We have an insurance claim in, don't know if it's worth claiming yet, we'll see how much it'll be in total when the guy comes out to measure up.  I know for those of you overseas this probably seems like a teeny wee storm to you, but here it's much bigger than we're used to.
I took a couple of photo's, the light is wrong in it as it was quite a bit darker than it looks.   Obviously the sensor pulled in a lot of ambient light that I couldn't see.

Just as the storm was coming in, about 1 minute before the real hail started

Hailstones, about 1.5cm in diameter

After the hail, love the formation on the left; very cool.

I guess we'll find out later in the season if it's affected our fruit trees which are all in bloom at the moment, fingers crossed it hasn't as last summer wasn't a good one and we got no plums and only one nectarine.

In knitting news I'm working on the cowl for Thomas

Windschief pattern off Ravelry, yarn is handspun Navajo plied Merino.

I'm also going to cast on a vest for Ian (I know, I'm supposed to work on CPH, but there's a KAL.....).  The pattern is the Zipped Up Vest from Ravelry which I originally test knit for George to wear and I loved the finished result.  Ian has no vests so I'm doing this one for him.   I am changing the cable pattern, at the moment I have a short list so can't start until I've decided on the final cable.  I'm using Skeinz yarn which should look great in this

Skeinz DK yarn, stash busting!

Finally we've got a new piece of tech on the way; no, it's not an I-pad despite George saying he wants one for his birthday (that's not happening, even if we won lotto which is highly unlikely).   We are getting a tablet, but it's a cheap Android one off a one-day sale website I've had good deals from before now.  It'll be handy for my knitting and for Thomas to take to gaming, but not so expensive that we'll be too worried to leave the house with it.    I have to say though, if we'd known the hailstorm was coming we'd have passed on the tablet but it's too late now.

New Shoes and other stuff

I needed to get some new black shoes (and workout gear, but that's not exciting).  On Wednesday after dropping Ian at school I headed out to Dressmart and went shopping.   I had T's ok with it so went first to New Balance's store where I found 2 pairs of workout pants and a new pair of running shoes for a good price; got a free bag as well for Father's Day.    After that I just had shoes on my list, went to several places, none of which had what I wanted; had to be black leather as I refuse to wear PU shoes.   The first place had something I liked, but it wasn't leather so didn't get them.   The second to last wasn't interested in serving anyone cos they were too busy chatting.    The last place was Overland shoes and they had exactly what I wanted, not what I was looking for but they were exactly what I had to have!

Retro shoes, I'm in love.  Best part, they're comfortable too!

I wore these all day today and they were still comfortable even after a lot of mall walking this afternoon with the family.    So happy!

Same day I got a call from Telecom, my LG phone was back and I could pick it up, yay!   Love having it back, T's phone was good to have as a backup, but nowhere near as nice to use.   LG is intuitive, the HTC was not.

I've been busy with spinning too, finished my duck egg Merino/Silk in approx fingering weight.

1014m or more of lovely yarn; will probably be a top for me.

Made fudge for Thomas's Father's Day present; he loves my Russian Fudge so was the perfect choice.

double batch, delicious!

More done on Central Park Hoodie; got another inch done today, but before I started today's this is how the back looks

Past the armholes; loving this.

Today I was working on this at the guild, as well as showing off T's socks and the above yarn.   The socks in particular were well admired, you can see them a couple of posts back.

After I got back from the guild we went out to Riccarton Mall to get Ian new shoes, his old ones are only a month old, but his feet are pronating in them and they're already falling apart; never buying shoes from Number 1 Shoe Warehouse again.   Went with leather New Balance velcro sneakers this time, they always last well and his feet are in the right place in them; size 3 though which was a surprise.  He's sneaking into bigger shoes than his big brother!    We were also looking for barefoot running shoes for T, but couldn't find anywhere that stocked the Vibram shoes for him to try, he's going to have to go to Bush Inn instead, only stockist is there.
Before we left I'd been looking at the deal on 1-day today which was for Android tablets; when we got back I looked again and after discussion we decided to buy it.  $299 plus post got a 10" tablet with Android 4.0, a capacitive screen and the ability to expand the memory up to 32gig with a micro SD card.  Still have to get the card, but considering we were expecting to pay considerably more than that I'm not unhappy about it.   We decided on Android for a couple of reasons, one being the huge cost of I-Pads, the fact that both our cellphones are Android and that means if I buy apps then we can share them between devices.  We'll be sharing it, I suspect it'll go to his gaming sessions and may well go to my knitting/spinning sessions too.  I can use it for pattern PDF's which will be very handy.   It will be password protected and most likely to the children's disappointment there will be no games.

No more spending for a bit, I wanted to do some fabric shopping, but that won't happen now, the tablet used up all spare monies, which is fine.   We also paid off the camera and put some extra on the mortgage.