Knitting Doldrums

I've been trying to find the right word to describe how I feel about my knitting at the moment. I haven't lost my knitting mojo but I seem unable to get enthused about any of my current projetcs. I keep starting things and then frogging them. I have knitted the back, a sleeve and half the left front of Pebbles and am seriously thinking of unravelling it all. Rosered suggested starting a new project every day for a week as a cure (it worked for her).


In the meantime - a finished Christmas present:

I'm quite pleased with this - it's for my daughter-in-law. My family in the UK are all getting hats this Christmas. I still have to knit two so I hope that the feeling of ennui soon passes!

Relocation, relocation!

We found out last week that the whoever owns our unit has defaulted on the mortgage and the lender wants vacant possession - understandably! There is some question as to who actually owns the unit as there are several names on the court document - none of whom are the landlord. Since it all sounds distinctly dodgy, we decided to start looking around.

Can I tell you how depressing this is? There is not much out there and what is available in our area is pretty grim. At one of the inspections another lady was muttering about the need for a good dose of Domestos and I have to agree with her. The one bright spot in an otherwise disheartening day was this jacaranda.

Sadly, not even the proximity of this lovely tree could compensate for the dire state of the inside of the unit! I was extraordinarily fed up and grumpy by the end of the day. The thought of relocating the stash - let alone anything else - is quite overwhelming!

On the knitting front there are a few items off the needles - hoorah!

The socks that were started in July in Knitabulous Ultimate sock yarn in Chrome:

And the Trinity Shawl made from the one of the Lush Yarns Pink Ribbon Day special yarns.

This was a very satisfying knit. It knitted up quickly and the yarn - a fifty / fifty blend of silk & merino was beautiful to work with.

Grumpy in WA

The flight over yesterday was not too bad. I watched (and cried over) Mao's Last Dancer and experimented with the dreaded crochet hook. Boteh still eludes me but I did manage to produce this:

Not sure what I'll do with it but it did pass the time.

I eventually left the office at 6.30 WA time. Since I had left home at 6.15 am (Sydmey time) it had been a long day and I was tired. The hotel I was staying at was a 3.5 km drive away and when I got there it was serviced apartments. No room service. My room was configured for disabled patrons so nothing was at my height. I was tired, grumpy and not happy with the room. There was nowhere else so I agreed to stay.

I thought I'd get out my knitting to calm me down. I wanted to just bring carry on bags to save time at the airport so had taken off my metal Knitpick tips and brought two new, security friendly wooden tips. The screw connection on one tip was faulty so it wouldn't tighten up and I COULDN'T KNIT!!!! This was the final straw!

Fortunately there was a Vintage Cellars right opposite the hotel and an IGA down the road. I got bubbles from one, superglue and some food from the other. I got back to my apartment and filled a glass with the bubbles, stuck the Knitpicks tip on with the superglue, and banged the food in the microwave. Calm descended......

Mid-week weekend update

We are now halfway through the week and I haven't had a chance to talk about the busy weekend just gone. A trip to the hairdresser - always a high point for me because my hair grows so quickly - meant that I had a couple of hours to work on the RoseRed for my daughter-in-law. Great progress was made but I fear I am running out of yarn (an all too familiar occurrence, I'm afraid) and also that it is too small! I've managed to find another skein of the yarn so once that has arrived I will re-knit it using 4.5 mm needles and compare the sizes.

On Sunday we did the cliff walk from Bondi to Tamarama and back. It was a beautiful day and the walk is currently enlivened by sculptures. This did mean that there were a lot of people around in addition to the usual joggers and walkers but we got a good workout and enjoyed the sculptures.

As RoseRed is stalled, I got out one of the purchases from Lush_Yarns and started the Trinity Shawlette (which I have re-christened the Trinity Small Shawl).

It's a great pattern and quite versatile and the yarn is lovely to work with.

October Tally

So, another month draws to a close and it's time to reconcile the yarn ledger.


Off the needles:
- 1 skein Needlefood Sock yarn Lollipop (Diagonal Lace Socks )
- 1 skein Knitabulous merino sock Hyacinth (Travellling Woman sort of off the needles)
- 1 skein Knitabulous Fifty - Fifty (Springtime Bandit)



Out (as a result of the inaugural stash reallocation) is a total of 45 skeins of yarn. I was going to itemise it all here but hey, that would be incredibly boring.



So that's all good news! Now the not-so-good news:






This is most of the inward yarn. There are one or two (OK, make that five) additional skeins that arrived courtesy of the Stash Reallocation, the first shipment of the Needlefood sock club and the Lush Yarns store update. Oh yes - and 10 balls of Morris and Sons Paddington - what can you do when there's a sale on?

However, I reckon I am still Yarn Neutral. Now I really must get on with knitting this wonderful haul!

Spring! Sprung!!

Over the last few days, I've felt that Spring is finally here. Daylight Savings has helped but the weather is also better and things just feel a bit more optimistic and full of possibilities. Of course, I was brought up with Spring happening at the other end of the year. I loved seeing the primroses and snowdrops appear but my favourite wild flowers were bluebells.

I bought a large bunch at the Orange Grove Markets the other day. When I was a child, you were still allowed to pick them and the woods near our home were carpeted in the most amazing blue blooms. I think that's why I like jacaranda trees so much - they remind me of my childhood.

I also finished and blocked Springtime Bandit - and didn't run out of yarn this time.

What a great pattern - I loved knitting it and the Knitabulous Fifty-fifty yarn was wonderful to knit with.

Of course, Spring means spring cleaning. So we had the inaugural Stash re-allocation last Saturday. It was a great afternoon with lots of lovely yarn to drool over, bubbles to drink, yummy food and knitting time with good friends. I have already been outed by Rosered as the owner of the suitcase (it was a small cabin bag, people) full of yarn. I did manage to come away Yarn Neutral from that exercise but can't guarantee that I will maintain that status for the rest of the month particularly as Morris_and_Sons have a big sale on.

Long Weekend

Last weekend we (in NSW) had a public holiday on the Monday. On Saturday afternoon, we (R & I) drove to Canberra as he has finally conceded that driving a bus is not the best use of his abilities and he is returning to his previous public service job whilst waiting for a transfer to Sydney.





On Sunday morning we had breakfast and then headed to the Old-Bus-Depot-Markets in Kingston. We had a lovely time browsing the stalls and bought some delicious cheese and bread, some fruit, handmade cards and vintage buttons:

Then we set off for Hall and lunch at the_Poacher's_Pantry. I had heard a lot about this place when I worked in Canberra but had never managed to get there so it was a real treat. Sadly, I forgot my camera so don't have any photos to remind me of the lovely lunch we enjoyed

On Monday we went to the Canberra Centre - a little retail therapy and a movie. Then a walk around the lake (to work off some of the indulgences of the day before) managing to get back before the rainstorm rolled in.

On the knitting front, I finished some Cranford fingerless mittens for a work colleague who had admired the pair I made for my daughter

and cast on Springtime_Bandit.

I'm using Knitabulous Fifty - Fifty and love how it's knitting up.