Of old fashioned goings on

Sunday was a day that could easily have shown up in someone's diary from 100 years ago for some parts.   Sure there was the usual computer time for me and Ian (George lost privileges; more on that later), lunch was out of a can and cooked on an electric stove and we went to boot camp, but aside from that...

The day started with a sleep in, which was lovely.  However when I got up George wasn't anywhere to be seen and Thomas had no idea where he was!    He went out to find him, and a wee bit later came back towing a small boy who had 4 plastic bags full of clothing and a sleeping bag.   He'd run away cos we are "bad parents", especially Mummy (me) as the previous night both boys had been trolls and I'd taken away all electronic entertainment privileges.   The only thing missing from the picture here was the stick over his shoulder to tie the bags to.   So, there went any chance of him earning back computer/xbox privileges for the day and instead he embarked on stage 2 of old-fashioned things.  He's been reading his dad's old cub book a lot recently and he decided he wanted a sling-shot.   Luckily we had a downed branch from the peach tree so some trimming and he had the right shaped piece of wood; he then whittled the bark off it and helped his dad attach some elastic and a leather offcut to it using the hot glue gun (this bit's not authentic, but hey, he's 8).
A wee while later and he had something to practice with and Thomas set up a target for him.

I think he's done a fantastic job and he's really proud of himself.   He knows the rules, no aiming at people (there's no ammo in the photo facing me) and no aiming at windows; check what's behind what you're aiming at too.

The afternoon was spent with him practicing and me working while Ian got some computer time after he earned it back.   Once I'd finished work I got the second half of Wisteria spun; now there's just the white to spin up and the plying to go.

It's so pretty, I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished object, well the skein anyway as it'll be a while before it gets knit up.

Today is wet and nasty, got to spend some of it out dropping off work and I'm going to get a new camera; I've decided on the Canon EOS550D.   I was looking at the 1100 in the range, but I can see me outgrowing that fairly quickly so the 550 it is.   Thomas has agreed to me getting it on HP and then I'll pay it off with my spending money.

WIP:  Thomas' sock is 16 rows off the gusset shaping.    Ian's jersey hasn't moved at all, so it's still about 1" into the back and Central Park Hoodie also hasn't moved.   I desperately want to cast on 2 new projects but I'm resisting.  

Spinning Saturday

I actually started this spinning last night; this is the roving I started with.  It's a Superwash BFL by Family Roots in the colourway Wisteria if I remember correctly.  I got this as part of the NZ spring fibre swap on Ravelry.

Isn't it lovely?  
I got half of it done at the guild this morning after the AGM.  Still got the other half to go and then I'm going to spin a third single of undyed BFL to make a tabby 3-ply.

I think it should look quite good.  I've decided to spin a bunch of singles and then do a whole lot of plying.

While I was at spinning this coming years committee was elected; I'd put my name forward and I'm now on the Christchurch Guild of Weavers and Spinners.   I don't know what I'll be doing yet, possibly the blog or else maybe the sales table.   In some ways I'd prefer the blog, I'm fairly comfortable with blogging by now and I'm happy to take my camera along to meetings and get a few shots.  Really will have to consider a better camera if I do end up doing that though; the current one really isn't up to the job of good photos.

One bit of bad news, my most worn socks now need repair.  They're my Noro Silk Garden socks, they tend to wear faster than others simply because they're a single and also because they go with everything, I do wear them more often.  I can repair them easily enough, but it won't be in the same colour simply because I don't have a lot of the yarn left over so there's only a couple of colours left in the ball.

Bloomers!

Yesterday I finished a wee bit of sewing.  I'd decided I needed something to wear under my full circle skirt that would poof it out a bit and also preserve modesty in Canterbury winds.
I followed a tutorial I found on YouTube which worked well

Now, the pattern you get from this isn't perfect; front and back rise are exactly the same as eachother; but it works well enough and is comfy enough to wear all day.

No, they're not flattering, but they don't need to be.  I'm wearing them today and they're doing a good job under the skirt; no chafing and a slight flare in the way the skirt sits.  This is a good thing.

No sewing today, in fact not much of anything.  Mum came around to show me the yarn she received, the colour is nothing like on the website, but I still think it's a nice colour; she's going to get back to them though as the colour should be at least a wee bit closer to real life.   A bit of Xbox time as well, not really productive.  I will get some more work done on Thomas' socks though at the boys gym session this afternoon, and maybe some spinning and knitting done tonight after I finish working.

If I ask God

My son just asked me what would happen if he asked God something.   The something was for his parents to stop making him do chores and let him do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted it.  I explained to him that God listens to all requests, but only grants those that he considers to be suitable and good for us; that request would not be good for his long term development so God would not be giving it to him.

Coastal Knits Review

I preordered this wee book based on the pictures I saw on Alana's website; that and the fact that I've knit designs by both ladies before and been quite happy with the end result.
I really do like it too, there are only a small selection of patterns that I don't like and even those it's more a case of they're not my style rather then me actively disliking them.   What I'm going to do is post photo's I've taken of the booklet; no instructions will appear; if you like them you need to buy the book and support the hard work of these very talented designers.   After having done a wee bit of designing myself I have an appreciation as to how much work is involved; and mine were only small accessories!

Bayside Pullover

This is a nice, fairly basic looking jersey which has the advantage that it will go with anything.   It's knit in fingering weight (4-ply for kiwi's) yarn; this version is a linen yarn.  I think this would look great with a skirt as well as the jeans they've styled it with here.  I love basic items if they fit well and this definitely does.

Gnarled Oak Cardigan

I really like this one, a nice shape but still basic enough to go with most things.  With such a lovely design on the yoke you want to use a yarn that doesn't compete so that the pattern does the talking.  One of the best things about this pattern is that it uses DK yarn which is easy to come by in New Zealand; so many are done in worsted or aran weight and it's so hard to find nice yarn that wears well in those weights here.   I have a thing for oak leaves, I have Alana's oak mitts to knit at some point too; I see a matching set here somehow.

Rocky Coast Cardigan

This was one of the patterns released early to those of us who preordered and I've seen some lovely examples.  Somehow it speaks to me of evenings by an open fire with hot toddies and a loving partner.  This despite it being an open front, it just has that easy look to it.  This is knit in worsted weight, so not quite to easy to find here; though there is some here but we call it 10-ply.

Rocky Coast Cardign Front

Wildflower Cardigan

This is one of the patterns that persuaded me I had to have this book.  I love the shape, though I'll have to order yarn to make it as sportweight (5-ply) is even harder to find here than worsted and aran.  It's knit in one of my favourite yarns; Madelinetosh Pashmina.   I've used this yarn before once for a shawl and it's divine!  I can see this pattern in a nice maroon or a violet.  Madelinetosh do wonderful semi-solid yarns which work brilliantly with this sort of pattern.   Just enough detail to be memorable, and I'm pretty sure you could button it all the way down if you wanted.   I do love my cardi's with the top buttons, but full buttons are so much warmer.

Water's Edge Cardigan

I think this is gorgeous, but I can't see it on me.  There's a part of me wants to knit it to see if I'm right, but in general I'm not the frilly sort.  I think I'll wait to see a few more completed to get some idea of how it looks on someone similar to me (the real me, not the one in my head).   It's done in Aran weight yarn so would be a fairly quick knit; problem is I don't have anything suitable in the stash and being on a yarn diet.....
I do think that 3/4 sleeves would work better as the current ones end at the waist detail which makes the proportions look slightly off to me.  I wonder if some of the reason I keep looking at it and wondering is the colour they've used, it's one of my favourites.

Rustling Leaves Beret

I really like this, but I do have a weakness for the beret shape.  This is the other pattern that was released to preorders.  Love the leaf shapes on it and being a fingering weight yarn there's no shortage of suitable yarn in my stash.  I think that beret's are flattering to many face shapes; it's one of the best shapes on my face, the width helps to balance the length of my face.

Panoramic Stole

This is one of the few patterns that I just have no desire to knit.  To me a stole should be lacy, however I do know people who would probably feel happier with this type of knit than a lacy stole.   If I knit it it won't be for me, maybe one of my In-Laws though; the more architectural styling might suit them.  At least it's fingering weight so won't take as long as laceweight would.

Cambrian Cowl

While plain this cowl has the opportunity to show off some spectacular buttons and for that reason I think I'll be knitting it.  It requires a bulky yarn and I think I might just have something suitable for it; some stash diving might be required.  This would look amazing with a nice wool coat.

Branching Out Mitts

This is another one that doesn't speak to me, somehow the colourwork isn't delicate enough for me.  I can see it on a guy though.  It uses a sportweight yarn.  Mitts are incredibly useful though; I barely used my Merino Possum mittens last winter, but I did use my fingerless mitts a lot.

Sand and Sea Shawlette

What can I say, I'm a sucker for a lovely shawlette and this one fits the bill perfectly.  It uses both laceweight and fingering to complete and I think the fingering on the edge will add a nice weight to it.  As you know I'm going a wee bit on the vintage side and I can just see this with a Jane Austen inspired outfit.

In summary, I think this is well worth getting and it fits in nicely with my library.  I am definitely going to knit at least one of the cardigans as soon as I can fit it in the queue; something else might get bumped off.  I think there might be a hat too, I do need another winter hat after all.

All the opinions here are my own, I bought the book, it was not given to me and I have no affiliation with the authors or their publishing companies or associates.

The Seamless Pledge

I'm taking the Seamless Pledge; link is in my sidebar.  Basically what it is is that I will not buy any new clothing aside from underwear until a time that I choose.   I've chosen June 2012 as my timeline.   I'm also allowing myself to accept my annual free jersey from work.   I'm going to try this for the boys and Thomas as well, except for school uniform of course.

I'm already working on it with yesterdays belt; though when I made that I had no idea that this challenge existed.  I'm currently making myself 2 pairs of bloomers to go under my fuller skirts to stop the dreaded chafe I hope.   I love wearing skirts in summer, but I hate it when you sweat and then things get rather uncomfortable.   I can then make myself another skirt before diving into the stash for the next thing (some t-shirts for the boys and myself).  This works in well with my yarn diet and fabric diets; I'm allowing myself probably one yarn purchase soon as I have a credit at The Loopy Ewe (might have mentioned this before) and I'm allowed haberdashery if I have nothing suitable in that stash.   Not sure if this applies to quilting fabric yet; it should, but if I'm going to order a couple of things from a quilting shop (rulers), then surely it makes sense to add some fabric; maybe some basic Kona solids.

Fabric becomes....

This morning I got ready to go for my next C25K run having last night worked out the apps I needed to use on my cellphone, only to find there was nowhere to safely carry my cellphone in my workout gear!
No run as a result, but a few hours work with interruptions and this:

design sketch

Japanese print, plain quilting cotton, floral print and cotton batting

has now become this:

belt with pouch attachment

being worn.

It's not quite perfect; doesn't tend to be when you wing it, but it will do the job quite nicely and I can use it as a prototype.   In future I'd make the belt a little stiffer; so some interfacing and more quilting stitching.   The pouch needs a little wider binding so I can double fold it; this is single fold, but it works.   I can go running tomorrow with this installed (after Ian's dental appointment) with no worries about dropping my phone or getting it sweaty.

An at-home weekend

well, mostly at home.  Friday was a public holiday here and while most people were off to the agricultural show I went to Mum's place to do some knitting with her.  I also reminded her to spend her voucher for some yarn at Skeinz.co.nz.  Normally she knits for the boys, but I think I've persuaded her to knit for herself.  This is a good thing, I found a pattern that I have in my magazine stash that she likes for DK yarn and I'll give her a copy of it; luckily it's not one I have in my queue so I won't breach copyright seeing as I'll never knit it.  She's actually got 2 less jerseys now as a result of my visit.  I left with 2 of hers that she's not been wearing as the shape wasn't right.   I'm longer in the body than she is and also have a little more in the chest department so these particular jerseys suit me quite well.  The surprising thing is that they fit as she's also considerably smaller in the girth than I am (she's not fond of sweets like me).

While there I finished Thomas' first sock and started on the second one; got to get him to try it on but it should be fine.  Once it's tried on I'll get a photo and also cut the yarn.  I also got one pattern repeat done on my Central Park Hoodie's back ribbing.

Today we got mail again so a pair of shoes arrived from the NZ Sale website; these are Stegmann sandals with leather upper and lining and although they're a trifle snug in these socks I'm pretty sure in my usual 4-ply (fingering) socks they'll be fine.  I much prefer leather for my shoes.

I really like them and the heel isn't too high either which is good.  The styling is classic too so will fit in with my vintage aesthetic.   Sure I still have a lot of clothes that are most definitely not vintage (workout gear springs to mind here), but I am working on it.

In other news today I've been spinning more of the alpaca/mohair/merino and it's yummy.  Thomas expressed a desire for it to be his, until he found out it's unsuitable for socks.   Might make it into a cowl I think; then if he wants it he can wear it on the motorbike to keep his neck warm; no lace though; that wouldn't go down well at all.

Of course it's only 1/3 done; the other half of the roving needs to be spun yet and then the plying which will then give us a 2-ply yarn.   It won't be suitable for cables, but maybe something with geometric lace might be sufficiently ok for a man.

Vintage is coming back

Have you noticed that a lot of people are going back to the old ways?  Saving things and repairing them rather than throwing them out; growing food in the back yard or allotments; wearing clothing that is modelled after vintage eras? 
Personally I love the styles of the 40's or 50's; not all of them, but I love the fit and feminine look.   Unfortunately my figure is not currently suited to many of them which is part of the reason why I'm trying to do more exercise so I can wear them.   I'm bored with jeans and sweats; I want a little glamour in my wardrobe.
I'm also enjoying watching movies based in the past.   I really want to see The Artist

and also W.E.

in both cases partly to see the costumes; and also partly for the stories in the movies.  I've been watching some of my own recently too; BBC's Pride and Prejudice and Gosford Park.   Set in very different time periods, but still both very enjoyable to watch for the story and for the costumes.   There's a part of me would love to dress like Elizabeth Bennett; but I'm not really sure that I'm up for the stares such an outfit would attract.  Not to mention finding fabric that would be just right; the summer dresses have to be a very light cotton voile or muslin; and the winter ones silk probably.   I think I might have to make something, they do after all have the advantage that if your waistline goes up and down a bit the dress should still fit!  That's important after the amount of work you'd put into such a creation.  I think a summer dress for a start; now where's my cotton fabric?

Like many other people we're trying to be a bit more clever in our use of stuff; not throwing out veges cos they've gone bad; instead trying to use them before they reach that point.   We have a vege patch, though keeping it watered this summer will be interesting with the restrictions in Christchurch.   I'm sewing and knitting of course; trying to do a bit more baking instead of buying biscuits; didn't do so well on that today though.  Spinning my own yarn fits in with this aesthetic as does making my own tooth powder instead of toothpaste (persuading the family to use it as well isn't working though).     We're keeping the carpet till it rips; we're already down to the backing in several areas.  Passing things on instead of throwing them out; our neighbours have recently received DVD's, books, clothes and a lawnmower catcher from us rather than throwing them out.  The catcher had been offered to my brother but he turned it down.  There are still some things you have to get new; the computer is one, when I get a camera it will be too; shoes are another.  I really don't believe in second-hand shoes.   Funny though, once upon a time I was all about the new, now I'm looking at old stuff and seeing potential.

WIP knitting:  T's first sock is about 10 rows off completion.  My Central Park Hoodie has a long way to go and my next cast-on will be a baby jacket for a friend using some of my handspun.

WIP Sewing:  Nothing cut out at the moment, though fabric is prepped for a tiered skirt for me, some new t-shirts for me and a couple of t-shirts for the boys.

WIP Quilting:  Just the one, and it will probably be a bit before progress on it; it's the king sized quilt for our bed using Arnold's Attic Jelly rolls; about 1/3 of the way through the blocks for it.  If I can get T's socks done, the baby stuff knit and some of the summer sewing done then I'll get back to this; would be nice to have it for next winter on our bed.

Delivery Days

Yesterday and today both had things arriving.

Yesterday was some Samoyd fur to spin; known as Cheingora in spinning circles I believe.  This is the dog's clippings for all of his life and was offered free to Anne Field who didn't need it and asked at the guild; funnily enough I put my hand up and she gave me the owner's email address.  He'd put it on Trademe, but said if it didn't sell I could have it; yesterday it arrived due to not selling.  The fur at the top feels a little coarser than I expected, but then again that would be his latest trim; so might well be stronger than the rest.  This weekend I'll go through it to check what the younger fur is like and also to check to make sure there's no moths in there.  If there are then it'll go through the freeze and thaw cycle a few times before I decide what to do with it.  Here's a glimpse of it:

This is a full rubbish bag of fibre so it'll take a wee bit to get through.

Today I found a box outside from Little Bird.  I entered a competition through Good Magazine and won a box full of organic raw food goodies.  There's grawnola, breakfast cereals and macaroons.   Some I probably won't like with nuts in, but the rest of the family will be happy enough with those. 

I had one of the cereals for breakfast this morning; picked out most of the almonds (not all) and then added my yoghurt to it; very nice indeed!   It was a buckwheat based cereal with goji berries, seeds and nuts; might have to investigate costings on this one.

Also today George's birthday present arrived; it was left outside the front door and he was in such a snit this morning when he left that he never even noticed it!   This is a good thing, because it was pretty obvious what it was the way it was wrapped; he's getting a skateboard.

In knitting news, I've almost finished Thomas' first sock of the pair; it's looking really good and I've got about 14 rows to go I think

He tried it on last night and really liked it, but wanted it longer (that was about 10 rows back); he'd like knee-high; but there's not enough yarn; so he's getting longer than the last pair, but not that long.

New PC

Finally think I've got it set up; still have to transfer the old one to where the kids one is atm, hook this up to the printer, the USB hub (3ports are not enough), screen, mouse and keyboard.    The laptop keyboard is not user friendly and on top of the desk is too high for me to use comfortably.
No crafting today as I spent most of the day copying files to the portable hard drive, then copying them to this pc; plus trying to get Thunderbird working properly.  In the end I found a wonderful suggestion on the Thunderbird forum that I should install Tb, but not launch it.  Copy and paste the whole Thunderbird profile from the Users Folder and then paste the whole thing into the Roaming section in users on Windows 7 before launching Tb; worked a treat!

We did take a small break this afternoon for a family walk; Thomas treated everyone with an icecream or iceblock; I tried to say no; but in the end I caved as the dairy had caramel icecream.  Don't think I'll lose any weight this week somehow; got to get back to the running tomorrow.  Have to take steps; things are getting tighter, this is not a good thing.  While we were out I got the opportunity to try a couple of photo's with my new phone as the boys are totally immersed in watching the local carwash at work

Got another appointment with my herbalist tomorrow; Ian's got one with the dentist; so glad dentistry for wee ones is free.

Full on!

Very busy today.  Started by going to the guild for a lovely mornings spinning.  I took Sheepie who was much admired; apparently I'm the first to finish using my challenge fibre.
Today I should have been spinning my cotton but instead I decided to leave the swearing at home and took in some of Pat Bradshaw's batts to spin.  This particular lot is not really a batt; it's more of a roving and is a blend of Alpaca/Kid Mohair and Merino.   Not quite as fine as what I normally get from her, but lovely in its own way.
Roving:

The blue bits are the mohair and they're working out really nicely.  Here's the first lot of singles, not finished as I still have some fibre in this bag; and another bag yet to go.

You can see my full circle skirt there; I've got some photo's of that, not very good ones unfortunately as my camera doesn't do action shots very well and there was a lot of wind that day!

I was twirling too, as you do with a full circle skirt; lol.  Another shot gives you an idea of what it really looks like, but in this one the light was bad, sigh.

This afternoon was very busy indeed.  Ian had his two birthday parties and Thomas had to go to his nephew's 21st.   I got Ian to his first party which was a Harry Potter themed party; he came back with a dragon egg which he gets to hatch in a few days; and he has a potion too; no idea what that does.   His second party he was late to, but he and they didn't mind.   He had a BBQ tea there and got to watch fireworks; boy was he bouncing when I arrived to pick him up!    Right now both boys are watching next door's fireworks through their window; only downside is we don't know where the cats are.   Really hoping they're ok!
Thomas went to the 21st after dinner and got back before I picked Ian up, so that worked out well.

In other news I'm attempting to set up the new computer; Firefox is up and running, Thunderbird is being a stubborn so and so and refusing to accept the original profile from this computer.   Might have to delete the whole thing and start again I think.

And last, but not least, I'm no longer using toothpaste.   Now, before you go "ick" let me explain.   I've made some tooth powder and I think it's working just as well and it's cheaper.   It's not mint flavoured, this is cinnamon and once you get used to the flavour it's rather nice.    I got the recipe from Wendyl Nissen's "A Year of Living Like my Grandmother".

Of fabric, noses and baking

I got home from the school run just in time, my phone was delivered!   It's all charged now and waiting on Telecom to switch it over so I can download some apps and get the rest of it set up; so far it seems fairly intuitive which is good as the manual isn't the best I've ever seen.

1st thing I did today aside from the usual getting kids to school and going to work was to pay a visit to Stitch in Colombo St to see their sale.   I didn't spend much, but I did get 2.5m of fabric plus a free fat quarter.
My favourite is the colourful owls on their navy background.  The tan will be going with the owls even though I'm not sure what I'll be making; the salmon will join the stash and the more subtle owls will go with the main owls somehow.   I think I might be envisioning a cushion cover even though we don't normally use cushions.

I might have spent a bit more today too; a grab bag of Timberland clothes for the boys off the NZ sale website and some probiotic products for the boys and me.   Going to try them on Ian as there's been some research on ASD children and probiotics with positive results.   Hadn't been planning either purchase, but it's worth it I think.   The fabric came out of my remaining cash reserves.
I've finished my circle skirt too, no photos till Thomas gets home I'm afraid.

I picked up Ian from school as normal and the plan was to go to the gym from there; unfortunately the gym was not to be.   Apparently he tripped earlier in the day and went nose-first into a metal bar; ow!   There's swelling and apparently a little blood at the time, I don't know if he's broken it or not, but I figure gym is not a good idea less than 2 hours after that sort of thing.   Instead we just came home and he's getting some computer time while I make pikelets.  I don't make standard pikelets, these are golden syrup pikelets from a recipe my family has used for years.   At the request of Nicole (Casper on Twitter); I'm posting the recipe for you.

Golden Syrup Pikelets:

1 cup plain flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup of milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 dessertspoon butter
1 tab golden syrup (I often use more than this)

Sift flour and cream of tartar, add sugar.  Add beaten egg and milk in which soda has been dissolving and mix.  Melt butter and syrup together and add.  Mix well, but do not stir after commencing to cook pikelets.

My lovely kitcheaide is doing the hard work as you can see.  Your batter should be smooth; no lumps.

Start to put tablespoons of batter in your preheated frypan.   I'm using my stainless steel electric frypan for this as it has plenty of room.   I used to butter it up first, but find that's not necessary and can cause burning.

after they've been in a wee bit they'll start to bubble a bit; once a fair number of the bubbles have burst through the top it's time to turn them; this one's almost there:

A few minutes later and they're half done; at this point you can't rely on bubbles to see if they're ready.   I have a feel for it now, but you could put the fish slice under them and check.

And finally, all done!

This is halfway through the baking, at the end of it there's actually less as the boys keep taking them to eat, lol.  I might have had a few too.

Oh, and Ray wanted to help; it seems the best way to help if you're a cat is to ask for pats

It is so hard to get a decent photograph of a black cat!   I didn't give her pats though as then I would have had to wash my hands again.   Now I'll reuse the frypan for dinner; we're having homemade burgers.   Using multigrain buns from Bakers Delight, mince from the butcher mixed with egg and honey and maybe a little salt; homegrown lettuce, bought tomato, cheese and ham.   Thomas can cook his when he gets home since he'll be late.

Taking the good with the bad

I've got good news and bad. Good is I got an email this morning from EQC and they're paying out our contents! It's not in the account yet, but I'm hoping it'll be there tomorrow.  Still have some bills to send them for emergency repairs too; really should get that done.  In fact I'll do it today and post it tomorrow morning.

Also good is George is now discharged from the eneurisis clinic as he now wets once a month or less often at night!  Bad is Ian has gone backwards and now wets 2-4 nights a week, so have now asked them to put him on their wait list; going to take him to Dr Sharon our chiropractor next week to see if that helps as nothing has changed at home or at school as far as I know.  Other bad, Ian has a really nasty cavity in a back tooth that I'd not spotted; half the tooth is gone so I suspect it'll have to get pulled on Monday when he goes into the dental service. I'm feeling like a bad mummy for not having spotted it and also for letting him brush his own teeth . Also his front teeth are starting to move forward due to the thumbsucking. I've just ordered a thumbguard to stop him from sucking his thumb as he has no great desire to stop; hope it works and doesn't cause behavioural problems

Last night I cast on Ian's next jersey; this is something I'll do a bit on from time to time as I'm finding the yarn quite hard to work with; hopefully it'll get better when I go to the 4.5mm needles which are a little smoother than the only pair of 4mm needles I have.  The yarn is basically a softly spun wool with 2 binding threads holding it in place; looks a bit like a boucle; but isn't a true one.   Ian loves the colours though so I will keep at it.

I'm thinking I might change the pocket to a kangaroo style pouch; just have to work out the maths for that one.

Oh, and while I was writing this there was a call from the front door; my friendly local courier was there with this:

I wasn't expecting this till tomorrow, but it means I can get it set up tonight all going well and hopefully then remove a lot of stuff from this pc for the boys.   Don't tell them yet though; till it's all done they won't know

A Finished Object!

First up is one that my Father-in-law made for me; this is to help me when I'm darning socks; it's a sock egg made from a random bit of wood he had in his stash.   It is cracking slightly on one side so I hope that doesn't get any worse, if it does he's promised me a new one, I hope this one stays ok though as I love the grain on it.

I can't test it yet as all my socks are currently in one piece; but I'm sure it won't be long before I need to use it.

My finished object is Sheepie.   I'm not going to do a lamb just yet cos for some reason Sheepie has always felt like a boy.

Isn't he lovely?   I really like his eyes; real sheep eyes.    I think he'll go in the sewing room to keep an eye on my fibre.  One nice handspun and handknit sheep with a little commercial yarn and some embroidery floss.

A new phone

I'd put off ordering my new phone in the hopes that the price might have dropped in November; went onto the Telecom site this morning and it had!   The phone I wanted was originally $349 before taking any discounts for 24 month contracts; $249 after that.    When I went in this morning it had dropped down to $199; so I was expecting to pay $99 to get the phone.   I went to set it up with the 24 month term and it was free!
This is what I'm getting:

It's the LG Optimus One P500.  It has everything I need including a semi-decent battery life; a good camera for a phone (better than an Iphone) and I know people on The Nappy Network forum who have it and like it.  Not having to pay for it (aside from the monthly fees) also means I can start saving up for a new camera as I really want a DSLR as the point and shoot we currently have doesn't really cut the mustard for good project shots for my knitting and spinning. 
I've got some knitting done today too, Sheep has his legs attached now, still needs head, ears and fluff on his head.

He won't stand up, but that's ok; he's having a rest.  Maybe I should decide he's a she and do a wee lamb; what do you think?

Oh, and this is my 100th post this year!  I think that's pretty good.   Tomorrow I might do a book review of my latest arrival; keep you all on tenterhooks.