day 12 Blogtoberfest

No photo's yet, my cardigan isn't dry.   I've started work on my next project, my "A Whisper of Earthquakes", so named as it was cast on during the aftershock period here in Christchurch.  I've got the first sleeve finished and am a centimetre or so into the back but had to stop knitting as I was falling asleep over it.   Not enough sleep over the last few nights and it's showing.
Instead I spent some time in the garden, put the guinea pigs back outside and dug over the bed in front of the lounge.  We now have pea seeds in , carrots (hope they do something this time) and also my Flax seed for growing my own fibre to process into linen.   After some searching on the net it seems it needs to be planted at 70 plants per square foot to discourage branching out and get the best results fibre-wise.  I've probably got about 6 square feet planted out so it'll be interesting to see how that goes.  I'm intending on dew retting on the lawn over winter; might have to build some hackles, but I'll see if my English combs will do the job first.

I got confirmation I'm doing a good job as a Mummy tonight, George told me he hated me after I sent him to bed 15 minutes early for an earlier incidence of disobedience.  I decided that means he's learning from his mistake and also learning that I won't be a pushover for him.  Yay me!

Yesterday the local daily newspaper "The Press" issued a book in rememberance of our earthquake on the 4th September this year.  I've talked to Thomas and he's going to get a copy on Thursday when he's in town; we both think it's something that's important to get even if it's not in the budget.  Should be an interesting read I think, especially as we were all there and it's something to show the kids too and their children in 20 years time.

Stormy Catamount

It's finally finished and blocking!   Did the grafting of the underarms this morning and wove in all the ends as well.  It fits well and it's nice and warm as well.   I've given it a wash and a light block as it doesn't need a heavy one.
I've got a photo pre-blocking and one of me wearing it pre-blocking.  Will get DH to take one of it after blocking on me tomorrow hopefully.
Here she is!

Sorry about the photo with me wearing it, very hard to get a good one with the camera on timer.   I found the buttons in my stash, they're a deep rust with a gold centre and look really good with it.
Now onto the Whisper Cardigan, which I've called "A Whisper of Earthquakes" seeing as it was cast on during our aftershock period.   I need to get the Whisper done as it'll be a great light cardi for spring and summer.
I still have to work on my Central Park Hoodie and my One Sided vest, plus 2 pairs of socks, but I might cast something else on after I've finished Whisper.  I need to make something for my brother, maybe some fingerless gloves for when he's gaming, I also need to do some socks for Thomas and of course a shawl of some kind as well......
So many knits and so little time, plus of course there's sewing to do, gardening to do and housework.  Is it any wonder the housework is a little behind?   I did get some done today though, put a lot of paper into the recycling bin, caught up on the washing and reduced one of the paper piles.  Tomorrow will be some sewing (not nappies, need some more fabric for them) and some knitting and some gardening if the weather cooperates.  I definitely get more done when the boys are back at school though!
Hope you all had a good day and I'll be reporting back tomorrow.

No Photo's Today

Just a very quick post to let you know there will be photo's tomorrow.  After I've grafted the underarms and finished weaving in what seems like hundreds of ends, and found 3 suitable buttons; I will then be able to show you all my finished Catamount Cardigan.  The knitting is complete, yay!

Ian now has a necklace like George's but in green.  Ian strung about 2" of beads before getting bored so George finished it off for him and I attached the ends.   Ian isn't wearing his as much as George, but he likes it.  Personally I think they're both really cool, I love that they're randomly placed on the tiger tail.

My Wollemeisse is on its way, really looking forward to it.  They listed more today, it had gone in less than 30 minutes.  No, I didn't get more either, lol.

It's getting late

So just a quick post today.  The morning was spent gardening through some drizzly spots.  The main vege patch is now dug in and spuds planted.  Also got most of my seeds into trays

We've got zucchini, corn, mesclun mix, passionfruit (lets see if I can kill some more), beans and I think there was something else, but not sure.   Seeing as it's been pretty warm I'm hoping they'll sprout pretty quickly.
After that we came inside as it was getting a bit too wet and the boys got some Xbox time while I sewed up these:

If you don't know what they are, they're cloth pads and will be coming in handy next week I suspect.  Much more comfy than the shop ones and a lot cheaper too considering they're all from stash.  They're not flat, I don't know how people manage to sew flat ones as my overlocker refuses point blank, but they will be absorbant and comfy.  Top layer is cotton velour, then we have one layer of Burley Knit Terry (BKT) which is a stretch cotton towelling and one layer of bamboo terry with a backing of PUL.
Time for bed now, will post more tomorrow, hopefully including the cardigan which is one page of instructions off being finished!

Wigglies and Wollemeisse (TMI warning)

Unfortunately I got proof positive that Ian has picked up one of the 2 main banes of children in NZ; I've just had to worm him.  Poor wee chap, he's been itching all day so it's been constant handwashing.
That's the bad news for the day.

The good news.  George decided to make his necklace this morning while he was waiting to go to his friends house across the road; he strung it himself, I just put the fastenings on, that was it.

He is understandably very proud of it, he wore it all day and would still be wearing it if I hadn't told him he wasn't allowed to sleep in it.   He then had a lovely day over at his friends place and even had dinner there.  One very happy boy.
Ian spent part of the morning playing with his playdough and had some time on the trampoline and with his scooter too

That concentration!
In the afternoon I went on Twitter just at the right moment to see a tweet from The Loopy Ewe advising that they had just uploaded some Wollemeisse.   I've been wanting some of this for ages!   I immediately rang Thomas and asked if I could get some, he wanted to know if it could wait till he got home; um, no!   I explained that this stuff sold quickly, so he asked if I could wait an hour, also no cos by then it'd be gone too. Luckily he then said yes!   I popped it in my cart, and checked out really quickly, it's showing as a pending sale payment successful so I'm hopeful that I got it.  It was out of stock shortly afterwards in all colours, not just the tealy shade I got.

Now to not quite so interesting stuff.  I've found my fabric for night nappies and also for mama pads.  Now that my mooncup isn't working for me I need to go cloth overnight so I can avoid that aisle completely.   I have some lovely cotton velour so they'll be nice.  Once the pads and nappies are made then I can get onto making nice things instead of utilitarian things.

About to get back to the knitting, I'm on the yoke on my Catamount Cardigan and 4 rows off the last bug on my socks so I'm hopeful I'll get one of these finished this weekend.
Tomorrow is going to be gardening and working.  Thomas is off to a Judo thing for the weekend, back evenings, but won't see much of him at all.  I need to get my seeds planted, spuds in and remaining vege garden turned over.

Expensive news, plus a nice surprise

George had his orthodontist appointment this morning to assess his teeth.  He didn't stay as still as he should have for the x-ray, but despite that it was pretty obvious he has some impressive crowding going on there as well as an issue with his front teeth meeting rather than sliding over the bottom ones.  He also has at least 2 holes in his back teeth; how this happens with regular brushing I don't know.  So, I'll be ringing the dental nurse on Monday again to get him booked in.
As far as the long term thing, he's going to need braces as a teenager.  Estimate at this point is $5000!   All I can say is I'm glad the mortgage will be paid off by then cos we'll need the money for this instead; also there goes any chance of me getting laser surgery for my eyes.
After we'd finished there we went to Beadz Unlimited and he chose a tube of blue beads and we got one of green ones for Ian.   We then were very bad and went to Fudge Cottage; I got the boys one thing of chocolate fudge to share (pudding tonight) and some toffee for me.  I felt like a treat after the above news.

Picked up Ian from Grandmas and then went home.  The nice surprise was sitting outside the back door, my latest spinning fibre swap; it's not due for sending till 23rd of the month, but I'm not complaining.  The one I'm sending is mostly put together now, just got to sort the seeds out.
What I got though was beautiful.  3 lots of fibre; 100g grey Merino dyed in food colouring, 100g white superwash Merino dyed the same and then some purple added and some alpaca blended with silk from the senders own animal.  All of them came in organza bags with some amethyst chips and hand-made fimo ends on the ties.   I also got a butterfly made from feathers (commercial) and a crocheted flower and some seeds.  The crowning glory was the most wonderful gardening apron with 3 pockets and lots of loops for putting things in like sequateurs.  Going to be using that this weekend.

It's not the best photo, the colours are lighter than they appear here and the apron is brighter.  Tis all lovely though.

On the fibre front my washing from yesterday isn't dry yet.  I've got the Suri on the electric drying rack, and the rest is going on the line and getting tossed to get the air into it.   I'm not sure what I'll spin next, but I should really finish the current Merino and Gotland that I'm partway through, then I think I might go Suri for a bit seeing as it was so hard to find.

More washing and sewing

The morning started with a trip to Silverback Cafe to meet a friend for coffee, well, in my case hot chocolate.
We've planned playdates for our children a few times but they don't seem to happen, usually due to sickness.  We had a good chat and we're going to try again for a playdate when their front gate has been installed.  Her eldest son is ASD, same as Ian so we're hoping it'll work out well.  I think they have it a little harder with his behaviour than we do with Ian though.
When I got back I started washing fleeces again, got the remains of the chocolate fleece done and also the black one; they're not 100% clean, but good enough for storage and spinning.  This is them after rinsing on the trampoline

and this is the water after I'd finished these

You'd think it was a latte, but no, that's water after washing the above fleeces; I put it on the vege garden as it's full of sheepy goodness.  Later I washed my Suri Alpaca fleece, I don't have photo's of that, but the water off that was black!  After the 4th rinse it was still pretty mucky so I've spun it out and am drying it so I can tease it out a bit for further washing.

As well as washing I went to Oderings and picked up a bag of seed raising mix so I can plant some seeds this weekend, a little later than I'd planned, but considering the weather atm I don't think it'll take long for them to sprout.  If the weather is ok on the weekend I'll dig over the gardens and direct sow peas, potatoes, linen flax, carrots etc.  Into the mix will go beans, corn, zucchini and mesclun salad mix.

This afternoon I finally finished the pyjamas!   I now have 2 more tops and a pair of trousers for next winter and I'm really pleased with them.  Next on the agenda for sewing are business trousers for Thomas, nappies for George and a skirt for me

You can see the penguin pair on the left, floral sleeves and penguin body.  The paisley pink pair has solid pink sleeves and the trousers go with that pair.  Very pleased they're finished now though.

I have my knitting group tonight, so will be working on Catamount, hopefully the sleeves will be done and attatched to the body before the night is out.

Washing day

Doesn't sound very exciting does it?  However it wasn't just clothes washing.  I also washed 2/3 of a brown Perendale fleece; here it is soaking turning the water an icky tan colour

After this it got rinsed 2 times and looked a lot better.  It's currently drying on a rack inside as it got rather windy and I was worried it might disappear into someone elses backyard.  The best bit about washing it though was that the boys are at Grandmas so there was no "assistance" resulting in felting.  I'll wash the rest of this one tomorrow and part of another one too.
I've also been sewing, finally finishing off the pyjamas that have been sitting waiting for some months.  They've gone from flat pieces of fabric to almost finished clothing.  Just got to attach the sleeves, do sideseams, hems and buttonholes on the tops and hem and elastic casing on the bottoms.  The pj's are the result of a stash cleanout, not enough of any fabric for a full pair so they're bitzers.

Tomorrow they'll be all finished and I might get some spinning done, I want to do some more of this

Isn't it pretty?  I'm spinning it fractally, that is the first 100g is being spun as is, the second is being split lengthwise several times for shorter colour changes.  I'll then ply them and they'll end up being a shawl most likely.
Back tomorrow, have a good night everyone.

The weekend and other things1

First up, happy Blogtoberfest!  I'm going to try and post every day from now on this month, had to miss the first couple of days due to not being here.   Out at Raincliff there is no TV, internet or cellphone coverage so I had good reason not to be posting.  We had 20 plus people, I didn't actually count the numbers, but it was a congenial and inspiring group of ladies.   I came back with more stuff than I arrived with, which is normal for these types of things.  I got patterns, buttons and trims for a very good price.  Summer had arrived with a bunch of boxes of stuff from a shop that had closed down locally.  10c per button $1 per sewing pattern, 50c per metre of trim and 50c per knitting pattern.  Not a great deal left, but some stuff I'll definitely use.
I also created 4 fabric covered buttons courtesy of Leanne and her button press; I used some owl fabric I had and they're gorgeous!   Photos' not taken yet; I got some water on the camera so I'm giving it some time before I try turning it on.
I've taken a few photo's, but the first is a collage of the set-up and also my pile of projects which of course didn't all get done.

I taught Tanya and Louise to spin.  Tanya had tried a couple of times before, so she was spinning very even yarn very quickly.  Louise I don't think had, but she still did really well (I mean it Louise, that was darned good yarn!).  Louise has agreed to me posting a photo of her showing off her first skein of yarn.

How cool is that?  It's Romney that's been washed and carded, I have a jersey made from this fibre and it's lovely and warm.   I think I can safely say both ladies are hooked, they stopped in at Tallyho carding on the way home and rung them to open the shop so they could buy some wheels of fibre!  Louise has a fleece at home that she wants to wash and spin from scratch, so she also tried flick carding some Corriedale I'd taken along for that purpose.  She wants to do it from start to finish, that is from doing the shearing herself right through to knitting the jersey at the end, she's going to have great fun doing that.  Her wee son was very cooperative and let his Mummy have lots of time to practice too; neither of my boys were that accommodating at that age.
I also got some spinning done, my first ever silk hankies which I dyed a while ago and have had hanging around the craft room catching on my hands whenever I touched them.  This si what they look like now; very happy with them.

And some Gotland lamb, still have a lot of this to go, but I wanted to get some plied to see how it looked and I'm really happy, it's lovely and squishy; probably won't wear that well, but it'll be warm!

I just love grey!  This will eventually end up as a jersey for me and will probably need regular shaving to keep it presentable.  It's been spun woollen.   Neither has been washed yet, I was going to do that today, but the boys had long showers this morning and there's no hot water left at all.

There was some wonderful stuff being done by other people there too while I was spinning and knitting; the most wonderful quilt top emerged really quickly from a jelly roll

I believe it was being bound in red to pick up the colour in one of the squares; not sure on the backing.  Definitely rather impressive with how fast and accurate it was though.  Reminded me I should get around to selling the quilt kit I've got for a barnyard; the boys have outgrown it now, however it cost me $30 per month for 12 months so not sure how easy it will be to sell it.

On the way home we dropped into the Geraldine and got Mum her seedless blackberry jam, me some more caramel icecream sauce from Barkers shop and some lovely looking Feta cheese from the cheese shop there.  I also got the most divine black doris plum icecream in a cone which I devoured very quickly.  After that we hit the Tin Shed which stocks  a lot of Merino and Merino/Possum knitwear as well as some yarn; I may have accidentally bought this:

It's laceweight Mohair/Merino so a lovely sheen and since I got 2 I can make a large shawl with it.   It's made by Touch Yarns, not my normal choice in colour, but so deep and moody I had to get it.

Another stop in Tinwald at Annies quilt shop nabbed me a pair of embroidery scissors in pink and cream, some inch printed embellishment tape which I'll probably put on the bottom of a skirt and 2 lots of very fine trim in pink and burgandy.  I need more skirts.
We then dropped into Ashfords where I got 200g of blue silk/merino to spin up and a pattern book for children's hoodies which covered sizes 8 to 14.  I love spinning silk and Merino so I'm looking forward to that.

Today we went into work where I showed off my yarn that I'd spun, picked up some work that I'll be doing tonight and then came home.  The boys have played in the garden a bit with their fruit iceblocks

and also inside with their playdough

apparently this is me, a pretty good likeness I think.   Everyone is tired now, so we've watched a movie and they're now playing Lego Batman while I work.
Back tomorrow, have a great day everyone!

A heavenly weekend!

I'll post properly tomorrow, really tired today.  However I had a wonderful time down at Raincliff.  There are now two more ladies who have learnt the basics of spinning after my wee lessons.   I got 3 skeins finished including my first silk hankies, got some more work done on my Bug socks, my Catamount jersey and I also got to use a button press so I now have some very cute fabric covered buttons.  
Picked up some cheap sewing and knitting patterns, buttons and trim while there.  On the way back I may have picked up some yarn, spinning fibre and more trim including some really cool tape measure print trim.  Have to take photo's of the bounty yet, and it's dark now so will wait till tomorrow after I've gone to work, done a quick grocery trip and hopefully got hold of a friend who George desperately wants to visit tomorrow.

Summer, already?

Well, it's not officially summer yet, but it sure felt like it was!  The wind wasn't as bad as the last week and we hit 22 degrees, it was really hot in the sun.
We spent part of the morning at boot camp working on our fitness, I don't think I will ever enjoy exercise, but I do need to do it.  Sleep better and other things work better too.

After we got home, had lunch then straight back out again.  We went to Willowbank as planned and while some of the animals we normally see weren't too bothered about being fed we got some great photos.  I wish I had a DSLR, the current point and shoot really doesn't do a good job on things like wallabies 20 metres away; I wanted a photo of that one as she had a pair of back legs poking out the top of her pouch.
We did get some photo's worth showing here, the first one is of turtles, normally in this pond you might spot one in the water, today we counted 7 of them, 2 in the water and 5 on the shore

Next up was the otters, when we're earlier in the day we often see them sporting in the water, this time we could only spot one, but he was a complete ham and really knew how to perform for the camera.   NZ's top model, here's your next contestant, selling pond scum!

Next up was the farm area, and we were greeted by these cuties; they're so ugly they're cute and they love being fed!

How about that nose?  And then there's the hungry version.

Those teeth look pretty formidable!  You kind of drop the food in from above, it's the safest way.   The sheep, llama and donkeys were really polite about their nibbles, these guys on the other hand....

On the way through to the native area we spotted this guy, he was hungry too, but a lot more delicate about the whole thing than the pigs.

He's a little harder to see on the other side of the mesh, but this wee guy is a Weka, a flightless NZ native bird.   Apparently there's some guy who wants to breed these guys for meat.  Not sure that's right, but if it boosts the numbers I guess it's not all bad.  At least if they escape into the environment they won't cause the damage that possums did.  Still seems wrong eating our native birds, after all that's how we lost the Moa.

Getting off subjects that are a little controversial and our final picture is of a beautiful white heron at rest, seems the right way to end this blog post seeing as my boys are about to head for bed.

What a Lovely Day!

Computer is mostly fixed now, just got to work out some sound issues so DH can watch his YouTube stuff.
Early wake up this morning to get ready for the bus trip.  Took 2 knitting projects with me and got quite a bit done on my Whisper, I had under an inch done, now this is what it looks like:

I'll have to check my gauge soon, it's probably long enough to get some idea.
I also got to the gusset increases on my second Spiral Bound sock, that was about 15 rows.

Still a way to go on both projects, but I've got next weekend to work on them along with spinning and another knitting project.  I did all the above knitting on the bus on the way to and from Cave, inland of Pleasant Point in Canterbury.  A lovely trip with a great bunch of ladies.  My only gripe would be that the seats on the bus were not designed for healthy weight New Zealanders.  Joanne and I were a little squished in our seat, but we still managed to knit anyway.

We arrived at White Rock farm just before lunch, got shown 3 lambs which hadn't managed to feed off their mum yet.  One set of twins that had problems with their mums teats as they didn't stick out the right direction and one that was a little weaker who's mum I believe had lost some teats so could only feed one of her babies.  This one would most likely be hand reared; very labour intensive.
After we'd looked at the lambs it was time for us to go and look at fleeces; I had not originally planned to buy any, but in the end I had to.  Luckily I didn't have a lot of money with me so I only got 3; 2 of which I got half shares in.
I got a black first, which I got all for myself; yummy!

2nd one I shared with Joanne, she spotted it first so it was really nice that she was happy to share.  It's a latte coloured fleece and is beautiful!

The 3rd one I shared with Jan who only wanted half and as I have a thing for grey it seemed meant to be.  It's a lighter, bouncier fleece and should be beautiful.

All of the fleeces are Perendale, I think the top one may have a wee bit of Romney in the breeding.   Luckily I like Romney as well.  So all of them are in the laundry until I can get a chance to wash them.  I wish I'd taken the camera with me, but I completely forgot it.  We got to see some lovely sheep with their lambs and the farm dogs were very well trained.
On the way back we stopped off at Geraldine and got to go shopping, I got some lanolin based handcream, some caramel icecream topping and some plum sauce.   I'm back there next Sunday so might get some cheese on the way back too.
This is a good way to start the school holidays in my opinion.  The boys had a good day with time on the Wii, though George has lost that privilege for tomorrow after doing something his father had just told him on no account was he to do. 
Tomorrow we've got our workout, then might go to Willowbank in the afternoon to get our family pass.
Monday I have to drop into work, then I think we'll start tidying the house and maybe do some baking.  Tuesday I'm not sure yet, Wednesday we have a picnic lunch at a friends place, Thursday not sure and Friday will be Gym for the boys and then I'm going to Raincliff for the weekend while DH looks after the boys at home.

It's going to be a long day

Had to redo XP on the PC yesterday, unfortunately some of my backups hadn't worked so I'm now going through 45,000 emails that were luckily still on the server, but it's rather a mission.   I also have to redo the budget from scratch as that wasn't saved either.  However, once all that's done the whole thing should work a whole lot faster.  Certainly my typing is going faster, I was having to type and then wait for it to catch up!
No longer having to do that which is good at least.

Ian's currently on the Xbox while I get this done, that and it's his last chance before the holidays to just have some fun on it without George constantly telling him what to do.   He's loving it!

Got a guild trip tomorrow, $25 for a bus ride to Cave where we'll be visiting a Perendale farm and I'll be knitting on the way, just got to decide if I'm taking Whisper, Catamount or Spiral Bound to knit.  Can only really fit in one, at the most two.  If I haven't finished the colour change part on Catamount that'll get left behind though.

Yet another applicance dies

You'd think we'd had enough bad luck with the appliances that have already died, plus more importantly our poor wee kitty cat (still missing her), but no.  Yesterday morning while getting the dishes ready to go the waste disposer went put put sigh.  It then refused to do anything and water took ages to drain out.   After a wee discussion with DH we decided we needed a replacement as we use it quite a bit despite it being not that eco-friendly. 
Went online and was a little surprised at how expensive they were.  Most of the ones in the Consumer tests didn't seem to exist anymore.  Insinkerator which was our dead one were over $300 for the cheapest one and that was only galvanised on the inside; I wanted one that would last which meant stainless steel.  I wasn't prepared to spend $500 to get it though.  Ended up on Kitchen Things website, since they did come to the party with the washing machine in the end I decided I'd still buy from them.  They had Smeg ones for $299 for 1/2 horsepower which did everything I needed.  When I got in there the price was actually $249, however they were out of them.  They offered the 3/4 horsepower version for $280, normally $369 on the website so I got it.

I found myself wondering this morning what people normally do with left-over milk and cornflakes when they don't have one.  I determined that it would be replaced tonight after DH got home.  After dinner I did replace it, with minimal help from DH and also cleaned out the overflow for the drain board which was disgusting!  It's now all clean.  Only downside is it fits in slightly differently from the old one so the pipes had to be skewed slightly which made it harder to get that overflow in place, and now the shelf in the middle doesn't fit so I'll have to trim that tomorrow.  Unfortunately the bit that has to be trimmed isn't the bit with water damage from the previously mentioned overflow pipe.

Anyway, here's the new installation.

Knock, knock, knock

At 10.30pm at night that's never a good sound, unfortunately this time ran true to form.  2 people were on our doorstep to ask if the cat they'd just hit on the road was ours.  It was a grey tortie and sadly it was our lovely Smokey cat.  The only good thing was that it was quick, they'd moved her off the road and now we knew.  Not their fault, not Smokey's fault either; possibly the fault of the aftershock shortly beforehand.
How on earth do we tell the boys though?  Ian adored her and we'll never find another cat as good with him as she was.  She's going in the vege patch tomorrow morning, she's in the grave already, we just need to let the boys see her before we cover her up and say goodbye.

Smokey, RIP, you will be missed.

Spring has definitely sprung!

The earth may still be dancing from time to time, but at the same time it's giving life to beautiful things like this

Isn't it gorgeous?  It's just outside our front door, so each time we go out there we get a lovely splash of fragrance as we go; much more pleasant than those ladies that stalk you at the malls with their bottles.
Last week also saw some work on the boys playhut by all of us (mostly Thomas).   It's now in position with 2 walls installed and a floor in progress; the boys love it and have now discovered they can use it to see next door.   I took several photo's but unfortunately there's not a single one with everyone's face showing.  This one George was hiding.

We need to get more timber to finish it, but I think it's going to be the boys Christmas present from us.  We need probably 2 or 3 more sheets of ply, some more decking timber (we used 25mm from memory) and something for the roof. 

On the knitting front, I've finished stage two of the Stormy Catamount and am now waiting for the next section to be posted on the blog so I can get on with it.  Here she is so far, bust increases done so just the yoke to go and then the sleeves.

I've almost finished my first Spiral Bound sock, but will post a picture once it's finished.  Still on the gusset for Bug Off socks (second one), but hopefully will get more done on that in the next day or so and will post pictures of that too.   I really need to get the cardigan and one pair of socks finished so I can cast on my Whisper cardigan for summer and of course my Bug Off mittens.

Boys are back at school, yay!  Work is also back and the aftershocks are much less now so all is going well.  Our guild is now without rooms though so I won't be going in each Saturday until we find new premises, hoping that'll be soon, although I do have things on for the next 3 Saturdays.  The boys will be home though. 
This Saturday is the sock classes with Morag from Vintage Purls, designing and pimping socks which will be brilliant.  The following Saturday is a bus trip to see some Perendale sheep and then the next weekend after that is the last organised thing.  A bunch of us crafty ladies are heading south for a retreat for the weekend.  Most will be sewing, Joanne and I will be spinning and knitting.  I'm also going to be teaching spinning, how cool is that?  Life is getting back to normal I think now for most of us, or at least a close approximation of it.  Unfortunately there are many buildings that have been damaged, some will never be fixed and indeed some have already come down.  Fingers crossed that the heritage ones can be saved and reinforced so this doesn't happen again.

Time for some good news

Nothing major, but we went into town this morning to check out some of our favourite shops and make sure they're ok.  Luckily they all were, so for those who are interested...
Comics Compulsion on Worcester St is open and fine, they had to pick up a couple of board games, but that was it.  It is a bit complicated getting to them though if you ended up parked by Gloucester St, took us 20 minutes to get there and they're only one block away!
Fabric Vision, Bernina and Kutwell fabrics are all fine.
Knitworld is also fine.  

I spent some money at Kutwell, got a couple of metres of a black waterproof nylon to go with the black polarfleece I already have.  DH will be getting a new vest out of that.  Also 4m of a nice grey wool blend for trousers for DH and possibly something for me.  Spent $23.00 all up which is pretty good.

I did not spend anything else aside from $1 for parking so I'm quite pleased about that.

On the knitting front I've not got a huge amount done, but there is a bit more done on my Forest Floor socks, the second one is now halfway through the gusset, and I'm into the second part of the pattern for my Stormy Catamount cardigan.  Here's how it's looking so far

It's being knit in 100PureWool Merino 3-ply which is a worsted weight yarn.  The contrast is my scrappy handspun which is various colours.  As a result of using the scrappy yarn the sleeve cuff area will be different on each one, but that will just make it more interesting.
I've also been getting more work done, work is closed till Monday morning which I suspect may be a result of the biggest aftershock going off while everyone was at work which would have been rather an interesting experience.  So, back to work on Monday for DH and myself, school reopens (Yay!), then 2 weeks later it's school holidays. 
Monday will be busy, as well as work I've got to drop a heater off and I have an appointment in town to see a doctor for George's assessment; hope I can find the form I'm meant to take in.   Will take my knitting in I think, maybe my spiral bound socks.

Oh, and while I remember I did some dyeing last night for a fibre swap.  I was aiming for a chartreuse, but I think I tried to dye too much in one go and the colour split a bit, it's a spring green with yellow which is beautiful.  Unfortunately my recipient doesn't like yellow, so I might have to keep it and go stash diving instead.  Normally I'd find something at the guild shop, but that's shut atm so not an option.  I do have several options in the stash though so all is not lost.  I've also got to find something suitable for another scrappy yarn swap; might send a little more in this time so the resulting yarn is longer and I can do something more with it.

Aftershocks

Like everyone else in Christchurch and surrounds we are over the aftershocks.  There was a big one yesterday morning, over 5 on the Richter scale and only 6km down (this is from memory so my figures might be slightly off), it was also very close to us.  We now have a small amount of property damage, some new cracks in the garage.  Unfortunately it didn't see fit to get rid of the old cracks which have been there for ages, but it did make some of them bigger.  We now have a claim in with EQC, an assessor will be out in 2 weeks or more.  I guess we'll find out then if it needs repair or not and if so how to repair it, the thing is concrete block so might just need new mortar, or it might be more serious.

This morning we dropped into the Welfare centre at Addington and dropped some stuff off there.  I had lots of baby stuff in a suitcase that was clean and being saved for the next baby in my side of the family.  Almost all of that has gone now, we kept the heirlooms (my baby blanket and the cardigans that Gran knitted for me), everything that Mum or I knitted for the boys went though, as did all my old and some new jeans that I didn't really need, some towels that we could spare, sheets for single beds etc.  Everything clean, though some baby stuff had stains from dribbly boys.  We then went and left 2 cans of kitten food on top of the SPCA letterbox as they weren't open for another 30 minutes.  I know that they have a lot of extra residents atm and our kitten is now on dried food so we donated them too.

I'm about to head off to a guild get together of a few ladies, need some time off and this is just what does that best for me.  The guild rooms are not going to be available again, the Arts Centre suffered too much damage for our rooms to be safe; I think for a while at least we'll just be meeting at people's houses. 
School probably isn't back till Monday and Thomas won't be back till tomorrow at the earliest.
Hope everyone is doing ok, see you later.

Shimmy and Shake

As most of you probably know by now on Saturday morning at 4.30am Christchurch suffered a major earthquake.  7.1 on the Richter scale situated 30k away from Christchurch and only 10k down.  Those are the dry facts.
The reality was that we woke up suddenly, even Thomas didn't sleep through it.  Normally in quakes we leave the boys in bed, not this one!   We both reeled from bed to doorway, then reeled to the boys doorway; it's very hard to walk or run normally when the whole world is moving like that.  We could hear things hitting the floor and smashing.  I ran to the boys bed, they're now in bunks.  George was awake so I lifted him down by feel (no lights on, we didn't even think to try them at this point).   Handed George to his Dad and they went to our bedroom doorway while I got Ian out of bed.  He was still asleep; I don't know how he managed that one!
We sheltered in the boys doorway with me curled over him for just in case while Thomas did the same with George in the next doorway. 
Once the main pair of shocks was over, the boys went back to bed, both in the bottom bunk as we figured that was the safest place.  I don't think Thomas and I really had time to be scared, we were both pumped with adrenalin, but too busy thinking about the boys to really feel scared.  It was 5am at this point.  I grabbed the small torch from the bedside cabinet and used it to find the big torch which had fallen down.  Luckily it wasn't broken; we store it up high so the boys don't use the batteries up without us knowing.
I checked the house, almost everything that had fallen down was fine.  I think we lost 2 ornaments and a plate in the house, I picked them up along with all the medications that had fallen down so the boys wouldn't be in danger in the morning.  All this by torchlight as the power was out.
Thomas went out to check the neighbours, we have overhead powerlines here, but luckily none of them had gone down so more than likely it was a transformer station that got killed.  Neighbours all fine which was good.   We went back to bed, didn't get back to sleep though due to the aftershocks.
The one neighbour we didn't speak to we figured was ok as we could see a light in their front room (torch), he came around and checked on us later.

We got up when it got light and did a quick tidy up inside.  Determined that while we had water the flow was significantly reduced and still no power.  Found the battery radio and turned it on.  Informed that power was out for 70% of Christchurch, many places had no water and to conserve it if you had it.  We have an emergency kit including water, but I still filled saucepans for later boiling as the water was probably contaminated.  Sewerage systems are also down, so please don't flush toilets; that's easier said than done as it's habit for everyone except Ian.  However everyone except Ian managed it.  Ian usually rarely flushes, he wanted to each time he used it yesterday though; why is that?
Checked the house and no problems structurally thank goodness, a few broken things in the garage but also mostly fine.  The car picked up one new dent from a bed falling on it, but not worth claiming on insurance.

Listening to the updates on the radio we determined that most damage was in Kaiapoi, New Brighton where they were flooded and also in the CBD where lots of buildings had some pretty major damage.
Managed to get hold of all our family except my parents.  Everyone had breakages, but nothing major and all our houses are fine.  I went over to check Mum and Dad, I was pretty sure it was just that their phone is a portable and they were out of power, but had to check anyway.   I was right and they were fine, Mum was talking to the neighbour when I arrived and Dad was already at work helping with the cleanup before Mitre 10 opened for the day.

Our power finally came back on at 5.45pm, in the meantime I'd been doing my work as it requires good light to do and there was no guarantee on power anyway.  We'd gone for a walk to the dairy at about 2pm, some ground damage and fallen chimneys in the area; a lot of cleanup going on.  Just as well it was a fine day.  We got to see the news, which brought home to us just how lucky we'd been that it happened at the time it did.  Most people were at home, not many hurt and the only person who died was a heart attack victim.  It could have been so much worse.  Though some houses will get worse with the aftershocks which have ranged from 3.2 to 5.1 on the Richter scale, we had one just now which was fairly sharp.  We're also due some very nasty winds today and it's going to rain tomorrow, expecting I think it was 150mm.  I'm not really expecting school to be on tomorrow, but we'll wait and see.  I hope work is ok, but I'll leave checking on that up to the owners, I'm just a lowly outworker.

Geonet gives the quake details, you can't see the original quake on the first page as there have been so many aftershocks.

Here are some pics, none of ours but they'll give you some idea

I hope everyone reading this is well, and maybe that you might get your emergency kits together.  Luckily we didn't need much of ours, but the water was handy.   Also the full gas bottle and single burner gas ring and bbq.  And having a fire for heating with the lack of electricity.  I'd done the grocery shopping the previous day so we had plenty of food, but if we hadn't we have supplies in the shed for that too.  Had the house been badly damaged we'd still have been ok, not great, but ok.

I do hope they get the sewerage on line soon though, I really want a shower!

Horses and RAK

Just a short post. 

On Friday's Ian doesn't go to school yet.  At the moment he and I do groceries every second Friday which he seems to enjoy and we often end up doing a drop off and pick up at work as well.  This is precisely what we did today.  Ian had bread and cheese for lunch while I had bread and smoked salmon; yum!

At 1pm we head off to horseriding with the RDA (Disabled Riders Association), Ian's been telling me he doesn't want to go for the last term.  Today I spoke to the organiser and we've decided he'll stop at the end of this term and maybe consider trying again in a year or so.  He has enjoyed it, especially at the beginning, but he has an allergy to horses which probably doesn't help.  He's still got his gymnastics after school gets out and that he really enjoys.  I think it's more important that he does stuff he enjoys at this age.

It was a hard decision, but I'm glad I've made it and I'll confirm next Friday so they know to let another child have the opportunity next term.

This evening I put my little pattern wishlist up on the Ravelry RAK group, about 30 minutes later someone has emailed me 2 of the patterns!   I wanted a few, but Manu and Myrtle Cardigan were among them.  Both are 4 ply (fingering) weight patterns and both are really pretty.  Manu already has some yarn chosen from my stash; it's going to be purple but I don't know the brand or anything as it was bought sans ball bands.  They're both now queued and I'm really looking forward to knitting them.  Manu will be a lovely Autumn cardigan and Myrtle will be wonderful in the summer months.  Whisper cardigan does come first though and of course current WIP's and DH's socks.

Autumn 2010 Interweave Crochet

I had plans this morning.  Dishes (by hand), washing, guinea pig clean up and then some Xbox time.  Unfortunately that all went south after a call from school saying George was sick.  Went and picked him up, apparently he'd been sneezing and coughing all morning, well at least for the hour they had him.  I dosed him on honey and garlic after which he said he'd been tricking and wasn't sick.  He is congested in the nose department, but not a single cough or sneeze all day.  He's lost the Xbox for the weekend, he's been clearly informed what the consequences will be if he tries this again and I might have to try and go and see his teacher tomorrow morning if I can; you would think that she'd have enough experience to spot a faker, but apparently not.
Funnily enough I didn't get any Xbox time as the game I was planning on playing is not suitable for children.

When I cleared the mailbox the Autumn Interweave Crochet was in the box, that made me feel a bit better until I actually had a closer look.   I think I can safely say my sub will be let lapse once it runs out.  I will do a quick review though, there are a few things that are ok, but nothing says "make me now!".

Blue Ridge Hoodie:  This one is actually really nice, however it's not in the magazine, it's a free download for a limited time.  It's a nicely fitted hoodie so not suitable for anything bulky underneath, but would be perfect for slightly cooler days and would look great with jeans.

Sage Jacket: I'm not sure on this one.  I love the stitches, but it's a bit shapeless and has the wide neckline which will let all those cold breezy bits through.  I think if I made it I'd pass on the collar thing on one side, it just doesn't work and maybe lengthen the sleeves.

Magnum Jacket: I like the shape of this jacket, but not in this weight of yarn.  Using a super bulky yarn in crochet makes this slim woman look like she's carrying extra weight.

Sangria Cardigan:  I would love to see this cardigan with the fronts actually in the same position as they are in the diagram.  The way she's wearing it you can't see the shape at all.  Based on the photo taken I wouldn't crochet it..

Pink Cosmos Coat:  Shapeless coat with big collar and pockets on the widest part of the body.  Unfortunately this is not flattering and the wide front band also widens things.

Birch Vest:  This is really nice, it's got the right shape, a more solid pattern on the top and it's pretty.  This is the only thing so far I actually want to make, but in a different colour.  Love the lacey bottom part.

Helping Hand Walker Bag:  It's a rectangle with straps; nuff said.

Five Spice Hat:  An online project, quite cute and should be warm.

Acorn Cap:  It almost looks knitted, nothing wonderful here

Pinata Bag:  Can we say too bright?   Might be nice in more muted colours, but the ones they've chosen are fighting eachother.

Sycamore Poncho:  I'm sorry, but I can't find anything nice to say about this, shapeless, colourless, boring.

Sugar Maple Shawl:  Unfortunately with the yarn they've used I can't tell if I actually like the shawl or not, they should have done it in a plainer yarn.

Honeycomb Socks:  Cute I guess, but not worth the price of the mag.

Autumn Rose Pullover:   I quite like this, the knitted body should be warm and the crocheted sleeves and yoke in the contrast yarn actually works quite well.  I might make this sometime.

Coco Holly Topsy-Turvy Doll:  I rather like this, would be great if I had a wee girl, but I don't think my boys would appreciate it somehow.

Pink Asters Scarf:  I rather like this too, it's a wonderful blend of knitting and crochet; very pretty.

Lacy Cables Scarf:  A bit more subdued than the Pink Asters Scarf but still very nice.

Oak Leaf Vest:  I like the square neck on this, the shape is nice, has potential but needs to be rather longer.

Snow Queen Hat:  I love this, very pretty, the knitting sets off the crochet very nicely.  Might actually queue this one.

Snowflake Sweater:  I think this would work better if the central crocheted section was in the same colour as the knitted section, the two colours just don't work.  The sleeves are the wrong length too, need to be either longer or shorter.

A wonderful weekend gets a slight custardy ending

On Friday evening Joanne picked me up for our weekend at GlenTui.  It's an annual spinners and knitters getaway that I went to for the first time last year and Joanne went for the first time this year.  It's a wonderful experience aside from the showers which take ages to warm up.  However the company more than makes up for that.  
Over the weekend I got 7 bobbins filled, 2 and a bit plied off as well as 2" on my second bug sock.   I also did my first ever felting, now I just have to turn it into moccasins; I have the sheepskin bottoms so it's just a matter of designing a pattern and then sewing the felt shape onto the base.   Felting is hard work!  The food was really nice and this year I remembered to take my own hot chocolate.
As with last year I took way too much fibre, and I came back with more than I arrived with as Shona Schofield was there with a large amount of deliciousness.  I'll take photo's of that later, but there's 2 100g bags of dyed fibre in rich shades, 1 of a light periwinkle, that's rather more than 100g and 1kg of the most divine combed Merino top in grey!!!  One of the ladies in my room (Heather) had some she was spinning up and it was just to die for.
Here's some of the yarn I made

On the left is some Vintage Purls fibre called Merry-go-round, which I've renamed Dutch Iris (415.5m of worsted weight).  The right top is my scrappy yarn from the NZ scrap fibre swap (205.5m of worsted), and the bottom is the remainder of the scraps plus what was left on my bobbins from other projects (166.5m of various weights).   The top scrappy is going to be the contrast on my Catamount cardigan which should be started on Thursday; all other knitting will go on hold.
This time next year I'll have more to show as I'm booked in again; if I'm really lucky I'll be there for one extra day though as it's starting on Thursday.  Hopefully DH can take a day off.

The custard - turns out George turned into a troll the moment I left and had to be taught a lesson about who's in charge.   George has now realised it's his father, not George!   Further custard was added when the dishwasher stopped working and started making strange noises.  The repair man came out today and took it away; the water heater has died so we are without it for 2 weeks minimum and will be out of pocked by $654.50.   Thomas asked how much a new one would be, at $1700 for a decent one we decided that repairing was the best way to go.  Would have cost us $217.00 to have not repaired it anyway to pay for the work they'd already done in finding the fault.  All I can say is this had better be the last appliance to die!
In the last couple of months we've had the washing machine, DVD player (luckily covered under extended warranty, but still took a month for the part to arrive), the TV and DVD player in the bedroom got totalled by Ian and now the dishwasher.  Oh, and Ian's scooter broke; not his fault.   I got him a new one yesterday using my spending money and also a new popcorn maker.  I'm feeling a little less financial atm.

On the plus side, we've just arranged to increase our mortgage repayments so we'll be able to start saving for our retirement properly in 3 years.   It's going to be a tough 3 years though.  No spending for me except for my normal spending money, have to save as much of that as I can for the various crafty things I have coming up.

Upcoming crafty things.  I have a traders day to go to on 17th September, luckily I have 2 pays before then.  Then 1st weekend of October I'm heading to Raincliff for a crafty weekend with some online and real life friends; oh and between them is a bus trip with the spinning guild to a farm.  Should be a good month or so if I save hard!

School Wearable Arts

Our boys school did a wearable arts presentation, the first one was at 1.30pm today, unfortunately I wasn't well placed for photo's, but here are two of the boys in their costumes.   I'm thinking I need a better camera, but that's not an option for 3 years; more on that later.
Photo's - George, he's the one in the stripy top.  They were doing "Where the Wild Things Are", hence the growly look

Here's Ian, they were doing Deepsea Divers.  Ian's really good at avoiding photographs in this sort of situation; it's not intentional it just works that way.

Both boys did a really good job and I was really proud of them.  Unfortunately that pride didn't last.  Once they got home things went for a real nosedive.  Ian was watching Bob the Builder in the bedroom and there was an almighty crash!  He's fine, but we now have a broken TV, a broken DVD player and a rather annoyed Mummy.   George turned into a whinging, whining, grating wee so and so.  So, no icecream tonight, going to leave console removal up to DH as I won't be here this weekend.  George is back at school now for the second performance of the day and DH will go and pick him up at 8.30pm.  One more performance tomorrow night and then that's over for the show.

On other news, the bunks we had delivered on Tuesday had to be packed up again when one of the side rails split when the dowels were inserted; new ones hopefully arrive tomorrow morning and the old ones (which didn't fit back in the box properly) get picked up.  I really hope the new ones are ok, will put the dowels in first thing so I know if that's ok.  Also tomorrow Ian's carseat is being picked up and he's now using a booster seat; yay!

Further up I mentioned about 3 years before we could get a new camera; there's a reason for that.   We're increasing our mortgage repayments and fixing for 3 years.  At the end of that period our mortgage will be paid in full (the fixed part), we expect the revolving bit will be cleared by then too which will be good.  The revolving part will be kept active though for house improvements like new carpet etc.  We're also going to start Kiwisaver and once we're mortgage free we'll increase our contributions to that.

On the knitting front not much has happened, I've not been feeling well and nor was Ian so the knitting just didn't happen.  Knitting night tonight though so will be right back into it and this weekend is the knitting/spinning weekend.

One last thing, our kitten caught her 4th mouse today, brought it inside while it was still very much alive and running so I had to expose it so she could catch it and then turf them both outside.  She's very much a huntress, pity she doesn't kill them quickly but I guess that wouldn't be so much fun for her.  Hope she doesn't end up doing the rat thing; I don't want to have to try and catch one of them to put it outside.

Knitscene Review

I just received the Fall 2010 Knitscene in the mail today so I thought I'd do my usual quick review, I don't post photo's but Interweave's website should have them up for you to look at http://www.knitscene.com/.

Lettuce Raglan:  I'm really not sure about this one, the basic shape is fine and I love that it's laceweight, but the collar/neckline is rather low and doesn't sit right.   If I do knit this one up I'll be raising the neckline and doing a mitred V rather than whatever the heck that is!

Lapis Yoke: This I quite like, it has some shape, the neck while a little wider than I like is still not too wide and there's some interest at the top which should take away some attention from my fluffy bits further down

Carrot Cardigan:  Shapeless is about all that springs to mind for this one, I won't be even considering knitting it.  It doesn't even meet in the front, brrr!

Aryn Tunic Cardigan: I rather like teh pattern on this, reminds me a bit of the owl cable pattern, would be a good layering piece, though I'd probably lose the belt they've put on their picture.  Pockets are a nice practical touch.

Thalweg Socks:  Cute socks, but nothing really special.  Might knit them, but there are so many others I like even better elsewhere.

Xylem Pullover:  I quite like the body on this if a little longer, but the neckline doesn't sit right and would demand constant rearrangements if I was wearing it.

Bryophyta Cowl and Mitts:  I quite like these, there's a little colourwork, but nothing too fancy.  I think I'd reduce the number of colours used though as the mitts are a bit busy.


Strata Vest:  A fairly basic vest, but that means that the yarn used gets to shine and the pattern doesn't detract from the striping.  Doesn't look like there's any body shaping which is a pity, but aside from that it's quite knittable.

Typha Scarf: Very basic triangular scarf/shawl thing with a little crochet around the edges, not sure why a pattern was needed to create this one.

Blume Hat and Gloves:  Quite like this, simple but pretty.

Xenocryst Hat:  A beanie shape but with a braided look to it, this is a must knit.

Brise-soleil Cardigan:  Very pretty and would be good for slightly cooler days.  Not cold days though as it only has one button.  Love the asymmetrical closure.  I think this one might get queued.

Northumbria Cowl:  Almost looks woven, this is another that might well be queued.  Simple, but effective.

Osciloscope Shawl:  Side to side shawl can be worn as a scarf or shawl, could do with some shaping to make it sit better, but pretty enough.  Probably not going to knit it as I have other patterns that are similar but nicer.

Dorflinger Tee:   I really like this, good for taking the chill off and pretty at the same time.  I think I'd make it slightly longer, but aside from that it's gorgeous as it is; love the cap sleeves.

Gwynedd Hat:  Love the looks of this, but unfortunately I'm wanting to move the bottoms of the bow off my face and I haven't even knit it up yet!  I think if I did knit this I'd have to sew those bits to the brim of the hat to avoid the tickle factor.

Axiomatic Mitts:  Hmm, what's the point?  You wear mitts to keep your hands warm, this only covers the smallest bit of the back of your hand.

Who Me? Cardigan: The photo's on this are terrible, got no idea how it fits and I had to go to the pattern to get some idea of whether it was a hood or a collar at the back (it's a collar).  I think I'll wait till I see it on a real person before I commit to a point of view on this.  It has possibilities though.

Brit Lit Vest: I like this one, a little longer to cover those cold bits would be good, but it's pretty, it seems to fit reasonably well and I love the back!

Quantoid Hat:  Another nice looking hat, I could see any of the men in my life wearing this one without feeling like there was any girly input.  Black and charcoal for DH I think, navy and grey for eldest and something bright for youngest.   This may even become a good standby for Christmas presents.

Pop Quiz Mitts:  Nice basic mitts with a touch of colour, I like these as well.

The Essayist Pullover:  I want this, it looks so nice and snuggly while still being pretty.  I can just see me wearing this in front of the Xbox on a cold winters night.

Balsam Jacket:  Another quite nice cardigan, but I don't know if I could cope with the inside-out look of the seaming.  It'll go in the favourites, but not the queue yet.

Alexandra Hoodie:  A fairly simple looking pattern, but there's something about the shape of the hood on this one that makes me think of ladies from Avalon riding horses in hooded capes.  I rather like it.

Whisk Cardigan:  A nice warm fuzzy looking cardi, I think they're right about it being one you'd reach for all the time.

Birthstone Cardigan:  Quite like the shape of this, but hate the fastening, it looks like it was an afterthought.

Ok, that's the lot, not one of the best Knitscenes, but still worth getting IMO; let me know what you think.

gotta go now, have the rest of my lunch, painkillers for afters and some cough medicine for youngest.

Good bugs and bad bugs

The first bug sock is finished, and I've found my sock blockers!   That's the good bug and here's a couple of photo's

As you can probably tell, they're not blocked yet.  I don't want to block until both socks are finished, the second one is cast on and I'm doing the toe increases atm.   The finished one is a tad tightish across the top of the ankle area, but it's my first colourwork so I'm happy overall.  If my second one is right then at least it taught me something.  Once these are finished I'll be adapting the pattern to mittens, I should have enough of the yarn left over with luck and if not for the background yarn I do have some other brown yarn that will work just fine.

Bad bugs:  Ian has yet another bug, he's been off school today, let him play on the computer as he's just not feeling well.  He's got a bit of a temperature, coughing and has been suffering from a gassy tummy with some pain as well.  Doctor has checked him out and reckons it's viral, I have a antibiotic prescription for just in case, if he's not improving by Thursday then it's likely gone bacterial so I fill it then.  I'm not expecting to have to do that though.  In the meantime I'm busy working to try and get the stuff my boss gave me on Friday finished.  
One good thing happened today though, I had won a hank of Madelinetosh sock yarn in Scarlet last week on a NY blog PhotoKnitDog.  It arrived really quickly, was in the mailbox today which made me feel a little better.   I also won a download of the latest Knitcircus; as I'd already bought it I gave it to Joanne.   Some lovely stuff in this one, which is why of course I bought it!   I can't give you a photo of the second win, but here's the first, it's beautiful!

My latest purchase was from Vintage Purls, some laceweight in the limited edition colourway Mother of Pearl

This is going to be a Whisper Cardigan, will have to cast that on soon if it's to be ready for summer, it struck me as a wonderful colour for a summer cardi.  Will wind it into a cake the first day Ian's back at school.  In the meantime I'll keep working on work as well as my bug socks, my Spiral Bound socks, my Central Park Hoodie and my One Sided.  Long way to go on the last 2, but the Spiral Bound has turned its first heel so is back to being my carry along project.

Won't be able to do a lot of knitting on Saturday, going to Ashburton for our nephews birthday party.  Assuming that Ian's well enough of course.  Not much on Thursday either, Ian had better be back at school then as George has his appointment at Mental Health to be assessed for Aspergers.  If Ian's still sick then Thomas will have to take the afternoon off work to look after him.

No photo's till later

I'm at the point where if I was following the pattern on my Bug socks that I'd be getting ready to do the top ribbing, however I've decided to add another bug as they're not quite long enough.  I've ordered another 50g of the green from Morag as well as some laceweight and some fibre to make the postage worthwhile.  Hopefully it'll all be arriving tomorrow.   Once the current last bug is finished then I have another sock to do.  Hoping to have enough yarn left over to do some bug mittens as well, or failing that mitts using Morag's charts.
Also did some more work on my Spiral Bound sock, it's now up to the heel turn and I've noticed that I'm turning my active needle into a banana!   Never mind, it's still working just fine, looks a bit funny though.    I want to get the heel turned tomorrow if I can so it's back to easy knitting and is my take-out sock again.
Finally did some more work on my Central Park Hoodie again too, it's now talking to me again, was in time out for a couple of months.  Unfortunately there are other things that need doing as well; things like tidying the house, getting stuff ready to list on TradeMe  and of course looking after the family.
I'll post photo's of all the knitting next time.
There has been some good news though, our washing machine saga is almost over now, the retailer has agreed to pay $150 as well as the manufacturer paying $300 so now I don't have to take them to the Disputes Tribunal.  He agreed to that yesterday, just waiting to hear how we get the money now.   And I won a skein of Madeline Tosh sock yarn!   Had to buy a lotto ticket today on the strength of that.
Will have to do a Lotto wishlist on here at some point, but there are a few of things that would definitely happen if we won Powerball.
Donate $100,000 to school and kindy
Give some to family
Pay off mortgage and set up family trust
Fix driveway
If there was enough I'd love to move out to the country, but I can't see Thomas going for that idea unfortunately.
Upgrade to a younger car.
Add on the craft room to our garage and make a book/fibre/yarn order
Engage a cleaner once a week

Wishes are free, which is good as I have expensive taste!