Back in Business

Finally I know that I'm not crazy. Went to the Physio today and after a lot of poking and prodding around, it seems I have a bit of strain on my neck muscles and, whatever they did, it's made my shoulder feel a whole lot better. Not completely healed, but much better than it has been in awhile. I'm sure it's going to involve a lot more trips back to the physio, but at $5 a visit for a undergrad student and tutor, I'm not complaining. Very well run - before poking and prodding me, the student conferred with the tutor, who also checked to make sure everything was okay.
If anyone else in Adelaide is interested in cheap physiotherapy through UniSA go to: http://www.unisa.edu.au/hls/clinics/physio.asp.
The upside of this is that hopefully I'll be firing on full thrusters when it comes to my knitting.
Which is good, as I'm slowly cleaning out my stash and preparing to buy more. [Denise groans].
Thankfully the beige blankie is growing nicely, devouring all beige yarn in the stash tower. 85cm of granny square is a lot of yarn, but despite the colour, it will be keeping someone in Mongolia warm next winter. And me warm as I make it.

We've both finished a few other projects recently. I've finally finished a baby beanie that I've had on the needles for a few months. It's made out of this horrible baby cotton nylon stuff, it has no stretch to it, feels too smooth to be natural and doesn't have much warmth to it. But it does look kinda cute now I've got it finished. The bear is Richie the handmade bear, one of Denise's creations. As well as knitting, Denise also handsews bears and other stuffed toys (we have a cat pattern somewhere waiting to be cut out).

Rodney Rooster is our next model. Denise got him for me, for the first birthday I had that Denise and I were together. He's an overstuffed, over bright rooster, and he was great to cuddle all those nights Denise was in Melbourne and not with me. He's modelling Denise's latest cast-offs - her maroon socks, which are wonderfully warm (but they have another owner already, and it's not the rooster) and a baby beanie she's made for her (still) pregnant friend. The baby is imminent.

I've been making beanies to get rid of those odd balls that honestly go with nothing else in my collection. The black and fluoro beanie was the first odd ball project. And Al Bear makes such a nice model.
I made this from my generic circular needle beanie pattern. I cast on 88 stitches on a 40cm 5mm circular needles, knitted til I had just enough yarn to finish it, started decreasing at regular intervals, got to the end and realised I had a bit to much left and made a pom-pom. It fits my head though.

I've got a big box full of clothes and such to go to the Angel Knitting program. It's helped me deplete my stash of all those odds and ends that together can end up making a pair of socks or a beanie, or a hideous big beige blankie. And it's surprisingly warm.
Thanks to Denise for fixing my 'typos'.

Too Much Time Knitting to Blog

Its been a while since we wrote. Been too busy knitting. Well that's my excuse.
Well Denise now has a toasting pair of toes and I have another item of clothing to add to my shoe box full of knitted items for the Guardian Angel Program. Slowly getting things finished.
My plan was to try and get some of my UFO's finished and off the needles. So wednesday I picked up my 40cm circulars and cast on again for another beanie to try and eat up a spare ball left over when I only had two rows to finish on a project. Will I ever learn?
That's how much I got done during my Graduate Development course. Yes, it is as neon as it looks. Why did I buy it?
I almost thought I had the beige blankey finished too. I was looking at doing a thick edging, and thought I better check through the stash, in case more beige yarn had bred. Yup, found a bag of 25g balls we got from Denise's gran. So the blanket is still growing.
Also started on another blanket. On thursday I went on a work trip to Kingston SE. Its a nice 4-5hour trip down there, very interesting and changing landscape. I also got a lot of time to sit and watch the traffic go past and crochet. And talk.
Anyway, things didn't go quite as planned, and what could have been quite simple, seemed to create problems as we went. But that's computers for you. So it meant that 6pm came and the Service Consultant that came with me made the call to stay the night. And we got put up in a hotel for the night. Went back the next day, solved one problem and created another. Eventually at 2pm everything was fixed and they thought I was a genius. So I've had a big head for the past few days too. It was good to get out of the office for a while and the best part was I got paid to knit while we travelled.
Went to see my mum on the weekend for her birthday. She'd kill me for revealing her age. Naturally, its older than me. But we all sat down knitting and crocheting; me, Denise, mum, Anita and Jenny. It was a great way to spend some time. Mum suggested that we all make my grandmother some hand knitted goodies. Anita is going to knit a scarf, Jenny is crocheting a beanie, and Denise and I are making the Fetching wrist warmers. I'm making the right one, Denise the left. So far our tension looks very close to the same. It saves us from second sock/glove syndrome.
Denise has discovered that her lecturer is a knitter too, and was showing off some of her wool she bought online from New Zealand. http://www.thewoolcompany.com Some of their colours are beautiful, and Denise is drooling so much her laptop is in danger. Apart from knitting she's been in serious study mode still. It will all be over soon. And when it is she promises to write a blog or two.
Denise only detected 4 spelling errors this time. I'm getting better, or using words I can spell. And to think, I use to get full marks in spelling tests in primary school.

Milestone

Yesterday Denise and I reached another milestone in our relationship. We've been together for three years now. And we celebrated in big style. We had dinner at a cafe and rented two movies and sat at home watching them. Ahhh, there in no better way to enjoy time with a loved one than doing something you both really want to. And some days that's sitting down relaxing, wearing pyjamas and ugg boots, and enjoying each others company.
Ahh, all those memories from three years ago, student conference, few too many drinks, dribbling shit, talking about Harry Potter, and many things that we've both forgotten, or don't wish to remember.
Although it does remind us that we have now been engaged longer than we haven't. And we still haven't done much about it. Ok, we do have a celebrant, ceremony venue and reception venue. The other stuff would be nice too. Gotta get organised.

Poor Frankie had an accident yesterday. Seems she found out exactly how close she should get to the heater as she's managed to singe her some of those long hairs in her eyebrow. Poor little sook got a cuddle, and laughed at. Probably a good reason never to get an open fire, she won't just a black cat because of her fur.
But as our editor we can't say too many bad things about her. She may decide to start cutting things we say about her. Just one of her dirty looks and she can put us in our place.
Hmm, who does run this household?

Denise has finished her Magic Stripe Socks that everyone in her class has been watching her make. They are really cool. She's since started on a new pair as a surprise gift for someone out of the Bendigo wool she got from our last trip up there.
I've worked a bit on my toddler's hot socks, I turned the heel today, then realised I should stop again. May consider asking Omi (german for grandmother) to teach me continental knitting as Nancy commented. Seems like way too much yarn action and very little needle, but it obviously works.
But the beige blankie is growing bigger. Its surprisingly warm to have sit on my lap as I work on it, although I don't sit like that on the bus with it.

And a breakthrough with Frankie. She now sleeps in her bed again, not ours. I ran her blankets (two old jumpers) through the dryer before we went to bed, and she curled up in the middle of them and slept there all night. What a relief.

Knitting in Moderation

I'm hoping to get some project percentage markers up and running tonight. I found them on Jess's blog and I loved them. Plus it might help me to keep track of how many projects I'm working on. If anyone else wants to find them they are at Yarn Tomato. It does help that I have a background in html coding, so I can figure out how to play around with all these things. My next task is to teach myself CSS, or Cascade Style Sheets. Don't be surprised if the side bars disappear or run into the text.
This weekend has been an unadventure in housework, more housework, and a bit of knitting. The more I do the more there is. Currently the shirts are flying around in the dryer in hopes to dry then, iron them and get the tissue off. Somedays the tissues stay intact in the pockets and come out the other end a soggy mess in the pocket, and other days they cling to every surface of each item. Today its the latter, and I have only one work shirt for the week.
Well it is meant to be raining the next few days, so I want to empty the rainwater tank by washing all our clothes using that water. Oooh, makes the nicest softest sheets. Its so worth lugging the 7 buckets for each cycle.
One of these days soon I hope to get our backyard fixed up. We may only be renting, be we recently got permission to rip out the pine tree that was planted almost under the washing line. It took me 30 minutes to cut down all but the stump. Once we get that out I want to plant a lemon tree (quite a bit futher away from the washingline) and some herbs. If it was our garden I'd pull out all the flowers and plant vegetables, but in the mean time the vegetables grow in polystyrene boxes. This winter I have brussle sprouts, garlic and broadbeans growing. I also have a bit of rocket that has clung on since summer and is just going to seed. I also have a 4 year old birds eye chilli plant. Still get about 20 chillis off it a season.
I've had a gardening bug since I was little, my grandfather had the most beautiful vegetable garden and I remember enjoying strawberries from his garden. When I was old enough I took over mum and dad's vegetable patch, fighting to keep it growing despite attacks from my chickens. Each Christmas I use to take pride in being about to bring Pa some beans and tomatoes fresh from my garden while his garden was only just sprouting because of the cold Mt Gambier spring. Now Denise reaps the rewards of my garden, with our pathetic pea plants struggling the produce 7 pods of peas. And I got a handful of beans. None of them made it to dinner.
I know there is very little in the way of knitting this time, simply because I haven't been able to knit as much as I'd like. My shoulder is playing up again. No one has been able to tell me what is wrong with it, the doctor said it could be a bursa, or inflamed tendon, scans showed that it wasn't but the specialist gave me a shot of steroids in the tendon because 'it couldn't hurt it'. The woman holding the ultrasound wand said it was probably my knitting (but she also said I would faint because of the needle. Ha!). I've been cautious and tried to slow down with my knitting, then tried crochet (I figured that its a different action), and that worked for a bit, but now crochet is giving me problems. I'm too stubborn to give up, especially since I can't get any conclusive answer. So I'm giving physiotherapy a try in a few weeks.
If all else fails, I get myself a knitting machine and become a Borg knitter (half knitter, half machine).

Frankie the Heater Hog

Denise is off at work tonight for stocktake, so I'm left here on my own with only the cat in keep me company.
And this is where we often find the cat. Don't worry, she's not dead, just resting, UNDER the heater.
Its one of those bar heaters with fan and an element at the base. And she's figured that the warmest place she can be is under it.
Its quite cute to see these little white paws sticking out from underneath it.
I think Frankie is the luckiest cat around and I'm sure she's greatful that she adopted us from the Animal Welfare League. I was worried that a 2yo cat would be too set in her ways for new owners/slaves, but she's grown to love us as much as we love her. She was the only cat at the shelter that actually came up and said hello to us, and meowed against the cage until we came in to talk to her. Came back the next day with a carry cage and a woollen blanket for her.
Maybe she could smell the wool on us, because she definitely is a wool snob too. She's taken to sleeping on our bed during these freezing nights, and I'll wake up with a cat pushing me out the bed. So we bought her some fluffy material from Spotlight, but she won't have a bar of it. Prefers to sit on my crochet blanket while I'm crochetting, on her first blanket, or her Kitty Pi Bed.
But she definitely is loved.
Anyway, to my knitting, I spent time today helped one of my colleagues to remember how to knit. Its so much easier teaching someone to knit when they have done it before and just need a refresher. It really made me concentrate on how I knit though. I've got to a point where I don't think anymore, I just do it.
Gives me a chance to scare people when I don't watch what I'm doing, and I watch them watching me on the bus.
Yes, I am an unashamed public knitter. I guess I'm use to the stares we get holding hands, so when I whip out the needles on the bus, I cheerfully smile back.
Well my nasty feathers/flutter edging on my last crochet blanket has made me rethink that blanket. Its sitting on the couch with half a side done. Its so bad it made me want to crochet a beige blanket. Okay, for some reason I have a lot of beige yarn, I don't know how, I never remember buying it. In fact I have found 5 balls of the stuff, so I will just keep crochetting until I run out of yarn.
But here's one I finished earlier. Actually its my first blanket. Its only 54cm across, but I figure it will be a nice over cot blanket.
Sad news today for sock knitters in Adelaide. There will be no more Hot Socks yarn at Lincraft. Its discontinued. NOOOO!!!!! Denise's sock will be unique in this house (although if I only knit the one it will be very unique).
However I did find myself 5 more balls of rainbow Marino Bambino. I just love the colours, and I know that if I don't stock up now we won't be able to get it when we decide to have children. I can just imagine it now, rainbow booties, hat and mittens, plus a little jacket and that cute baby top from the last knitty. Our kids are going to hate all the knitted goods we'll make them.
The Beige Blankie awaits me.

Knitting Unadventures

Had a rather disappointing knitting day. I subscribe to every bit of knitting junkmail I can (yes, I am the sad type of person who doesn't have a No Junkmail sticker on the snail mail letter box simply so I actually get something in there) and heard that Spotlight were having a Knitting Party at all their stores nationwide. To put it simply, it couldn't have been lamer if I'd organised it. No one turned up, those that did seemed to be the people with nothing else to do so they thought why not, and some that did turn up didn't realise it was meant to be a party.
I went with my sister Anita to the store at Clovercrest. Having just renovating the shop, and that they run craft classes, you would think that there would be a nice open space, tables, chairs, etc. Nope, three tables in the middle of the main aisles. They had a table of women knitting squares out of bright balls of acrylic yarn to make blankets for the local charity. They used one of their counters for kids craft making pom poms, and the counter was taller than some of the kids. Then the third table with some staff members (well they were wearing the t-shirts) with some crocheted blankets, those circular weaving looms and panels of those weaving things you can use to pretend you knitting a scarf when all you're doing is weaving fun fluff. I commented to one of the ladies at the table how nice the blanket was. She responded with a very condesending "Yes, that's crocheted." Wasn't in the mood for a sarcastic response back, but I did let her know that I knit and crochet, and that I was looking for more yarn for my current blanket.
In all a BIG waste of time.
In regards to that crocheted blanket, it's dark maroon and blue, and I'm still getting used to how much yarn these granny squares can use. So what starts off as more than enough 70% 30% acrylic wool mix, has turned into me hoping that Lincraft will magically find a spare ball somewhere for me. So I added the complementing dark blue for three rounds, then back to maroon. And now I'm out with no more yarn :-( Poop! So what does idiot do, "Hmm, think I might add some fun fluff to the edge of it. Spotlight has specials this weekend." Idiot here has bought 4 balls of flurry/feathers yarn in the nicest shade of dark green.
FEATHERS YARN IS EVIL AND DEMONIC AND SHOULD BE DESTROYED! AND NEVER BE USED TO CROCHET WITH. Idiot idiot idiot.
I shall persevere though. Problem with it, if you miss the loop or forget if you did that last loop you can't see it, so I find I treble 3, chain 1, undo one, chain again, treble 2, undo one, etc.
Other news, I'm trying to learn AusLan (Australian Sign Language). Having worked for many years with young children with disabilities and picking up the essentials (look, listen, sit down, stand up, toilet) I thought I might learn a bit more. So I've been visiting Auslan Signbank where you can sign up for free and access their database of signs.
So I'm progressing from the essentials listed above, finger spelling, and the few words I've picked up at student conferences (yes, I know the bad words too).
And my first word, knitting. The second was crochet. For Denise I've learnt marry, and mum wanted to know fart (it was kinda obvious, wave your hand in front of your nose twice). To make decent sentences I've learnt me, you and I.
Now I'm finding words I can use with me, you or I. Today's word, shit (and there are other good signs associated with it). Trust me, this database does not limit itself to polite converstaion.
Denise is sitting next to me as I'm showing her all these signed and shaking her head.
Oh, and after reading through this, she's made multiple spelling and grammatical corrections for me. Thanks honey.