Ballatrina's knitting, and other bits and bobs

Musical Butterfly

2011-01-20T12:51:00.003+13:00

Just a reminder that my Wordpress blog is still going strong over at MusicalButterfly! Come over and say hi, and check out what i'm working on at the moment :)

FOs 2009

2010-06-29T07:48:00.001+12:00

FOs 2009, originally uploaded by Ballatrina2008.

I finally got around to doing a photo montage of all my projects of 2009, so I thought it best to finish off this blog with the photos. More details can be found throughout the blog.

New Year, new blog

2010-02-05T23:57:00.003+13:00

I am now blogging over at my new WordPress site, Musical Butterfly. I'd love it if you could stop in there and say hello, and maybe bookmark it or subscribe to follow along with what i'm up to from 2010 onwards!

I've started things off there with a list of my goals for 2010, and shortly there will be a photo post of what craft projects I completed in 2009 on the Knitting page.

See you over there!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-18T07:21:00.003+13:00

Today is my last day working in the office I have been in for the last four years - its going to be sad to leave.

But - I have tomorrow to look forward to - I leave for America! (Just for a holiday...)
I'm sorry I haven't been around to blog in the last couple of weeks, but its been crazy around here, training up my replacement - which was harder than I thought it would be, and trying to catch up with as many people as possible before heading off. Its a good kind of crazy though.

I may not be able to speak to you again until well into the new year, so I leave you with this message...

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Safe travels to those of you who are going away, and I hope that everyone has a nice relaxing break with family and friends.

Ballatrina xx

Crafty links!

2009-11-27T14:56:00.003+13:00

Image from here

I'm getting to the stage now of ticking off what needs to be done at work, and counting down the days until I hand over to my replacement in a week. I had a day of lasts yesterday - last day of board meetings, last day of full corporate-wear, last time i'll see most of the people i've been working for for the last two years... and I must say, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face! I was kinda excited about it all!

Work is not the only thing i'm organising and ticking off - i've got to think about my crafty side too! I've made the decision to leave alot of my crafts at home when I move away - WAIT, before you start scowling and throwing things, let me explain! - I will have very little space, and honestly probably very little time to work on things between classes, readings and assignments. So - i'm going to sort my knitting into project bags, with patterns and yarns and needles as much as I can, and just take a couple with me for term time, then swap them out when I head home for the holidays. I'm not sure what i'll do about my sewing stuff, i'll be taking my machine and my box of threads and other bits and pieces, but i'll probably leave my fabric stash at home and just repurpose old clothes rather than making new things.

My other crafty area to look into is the ol' blog. I've said before that i'm switching it over to Wordpress to have a fresh start for next year (want a sneek peek? Here it is! Feedback is gratefully accepted!), but that leaves the problem of all the blogs i've stored in my blogger reader, if i'm not checking in on blogger that often. The answer? Google Reader of course!

Since its so easy to add new blogs to Google Reader, i've managed to add quite a few to my reading list in the last couple of weeks - a mixture of knitting and sewing, with lots of tutorials and easy things to try at home. Here are a few of my favourites...

Crafterhours - I want to try their t-shirt 'side panel refashion' - what a great idea to extend the life of a t-shirt!
Knitting to stay sane - I love these Wizard of Oz-themed socks!
Lilley's handcrafted lovies - Check out these awesome little ninjas!
MADE - these are oh so sweet hair clips for little ones
Made By Rae
Make it and love it - she made a QUIET felt Mr Potato Head!
Oh So Crafty - complete with crafty cakestand from a plate and candle holder
Ruffles and Stuff - I want to add ruffles to everything after seeing these creations
SouleMama - have a look at the family halloween costumes!
this mama makes stuff
Totally Tutorials - alot of this list is made up of posts by these other authors - seriously, if you're looking for a tutorial on ANYTHING, this is where you'll find it!
Wardrobe Refashion - i've mentioned this before, but its very inspiring to see how others are recycling old clothes and accessories
French Press Knits - creator of the slippers that made the most popular pattern on Ravelry!

Just a few more quick ones for good luck - I could spend all day reading these!

Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Get Your Craft On
Look Ma No Patterns!
Samster Mommy - this is the blog that started my addiction, I think now i've read all her posts right back to the first one!
U Create - another kind of hub with profiles on different crafters

So go and check 'em out! Tell 'em I sent ya :)

Tell me - what are some of your favourite crafty blogs to read?

~Happy crafting!~

Refashioning fun!

2009-11-24T15:39:00.002+13:00

I've been reading the Wardrobe Refashion blog, and particularly Sew I thought's posts, about making clothes and accessories from what you have or what is second hand, rather than buying new all the time. This includes giving new life to vintage clothes, or making something from the fabric in your stash.

So, after a quick stop in at a Recycle Boutique and a browse through their vintage sections...
This...

...became this...

The original dress had a dropped waist, and the arm holes were crazy long. There is a button tab on the shoulders, so I just unpicked that, bought it up a few inches until the armholes were right and attached the buttons again, then took in about an inch on the sides. Some work is still needed on the hem, but I quite like the raw edge, so I may just straighten it up and snip those loose threads. Its a little tight over the bust so I may have to have another look at the arm holes, and i'd like to bring the waist in a bit so I don't have to wear it with a belt all the time, but that will mean putting in a zip at the back so I can get into it! I'm happy with it for now, but more adjustments will come.

I also got this....

...and i'm thinking about this...

- but any suggestions are welcome! I was thinking of just shortening it to a knee length skirt, but I had the belt out so I thought i'd try this, and its growing on me! It wouldn't be hard to attached a length of elastic under the bust to get it to fit right.

What do you think? And have you done any refashioning projects yourself? Are you game enough to take the Wardrobe Refashioning Pledge and not buy anything new for two or more months? (I'm not at that stage yet, but this is a good start!)

~Happy sewing!~

Feels like winter

2009-11-18T08:40:00.007+13:00

So, here in the southern hemisphere, its supposed to be spring. Its pouring with rain and freezing cold outside, so I don't think so! Therefore I don't feel weird at all about looking at the preview of the winter Interweave Knits magazine.

Not that I really need to add anything to my queue, but I think my favourite pattern from the preview is the Aquitaine Pullover...

Photo: Interweave Knits. Bonus photos here.

[Rav link for pattern]

It would probably look best in a plain yarn, but i've got ten balls of this marbled-blue Patons Zhivago just sitting there that i'd like to use for it. Too crowded/busy do you think?

Also, the pattern calls for worsted weight yarn. Zhivago is only DK, but as the smallest size in the pattern is 34 1/2" and i'm smaller than that, I think working with the lighter yarn might make it the right size. What do you think?

Tell me - what's your favourite pattern from the winter issue?

~Happy knitting!~

FO: Poppy hat

2009-11-13T14:03:00.003+13:00

Have I mentioned recently how much I love Ravelry? No? I love Ravelry! I don't think I would be where I am with my knitting today without it. I love that you can do research before you start on a big project, have a nosey around a whole bunch of designers that you wouldn't otherwise know about, and save patterns as favourites in one place so you can find them again.

That is how I came across the Poppy hat. I'd seen someone's finished Riverstone sweater that i'd saved, and I was looking at the pattern's main page at some of the awesome FO pictures. I noticed that some of Just Jussi's other patterns were showing there too, and Poppy caught my eye. The next step in my Ravelry browsing is to have a look through the projects page to see how other people have made it. For this one I was just browsing for the sake of it, since it was a baby's hat. Then I saw this one. I thought, I must be able to make a me-sized one too then!

I made the 12yo size, CO 30st with 7.5mm needles, and did 7 repeats rather than the 5 from the pattern. In hindsight I probably could have done with 6 repeats or a few less rows of ribbing, as its a little longer than I would like in the back, but other than that its PERFECT! I used Shepherd 100% Lambswool Felted yarn from my stash, which is great to work with. A fast and easy stash busting project - it used slightly less than one ball, and I started at 5.30pm and (with a dinner break in between) finished at 11pm! The construction is really clever - you start with the top section on straight needles, then pick up stitches and knit the ribbing down on circular needles, although back and forth because of the button flap.

Of course, with my Twilight obsession, I had to use a Twilight button to finish it off :) I will be keeping my eye out for a nice flower to attach to the side though, to give it a bit more of a 'flapper' feel.

If you have a baby shower coming up, why not knit a matching pair for mum and bub!

Techniques I learned:
* provisional cast on
* short rows

I promise a modelled shot soon - i'm getting my hair done tomorrow so it will look much nicer after that.

For the comments - what feature do you love most about Ravelry?

~Happy knitting!~

In a holding pattern

2009-11-11T09:14:00.005+13:00

I applied for my student loan yesterday - it only took 15 minutes online - so now we wait... It doesn't seem like there is alot to do between now and February - other than packing of course, for both my christmas holiday and moving cities, but right now I feel like i'm in a bit of a holding pattern until things can really start moving again. I suppose I should be grateful and just appreciate the calm before the storm!

Store update
I've made a little soap sack to go up in my Etsy store!

I still have some cute cotton colours left over, so I'll be whipping more of these out over the next couple of weeks. Great stocking stuffers! Any ideas of other easy embroidery designs I could do?

Knitting update
I have finally started on the Central Park Hoodie! [Rav link] I chose to start with the sleeve, just to get the cable pattern sorted, and i'm not far off the sleeve cap now. I'm using Needful Yarns London Tweed (again, I hope I have enough, its another discontinued yarn!). Here's what it looked like on the weekend:

Of course, I was aided by my ever-faithful (and ever-hungry!) puppy dog, who against all odds is still with us...

I had a brief thought that I could get this done in time to wear in the -15 degree weather in New York in January, but I am now resigned to the fact that that isn't going to happen! I don't want to push myself during what will be my busiest time of the year. Oh well, there's always next winter :)

How to...
I tried my hand at something else a little crafty this weekend. With all my stitch markers in use on my clapotis scarf, I had nothing to use for the cable pattern, so I grabbed some old paper clips and beads and got to work with some SUPER basic DIY stitch markers.

They aren't the greatest things ever made, and they are a little big, but they are good enough for me - real stitch markers are REALLY hard to come by in New Zealand! You can see them in use in the sleeve picture above. If you're interested in making some basic ones for yourself, i've done a little 'How to' photo series on Flickr. You can find it here.

Chat for the comments
What WIPs have you got at the moment? Or is everything on hold while you work on Christmas presents?!?

~Happy crafting!~

Share the love award

2009-11-09T11:16:00.006+13:00

I was honoured to be one of the recipients of the Neno's Award from dear Karen over at Musings of a (mostly) Self-Taught Knitter. Thanks Karen for all those lovely things you mentioned about me!

The Neno’s Award Rules and Regulations:

1. As a dedication for those who love blogging and love to encourage friendships through blogging.

2. To seek the reasons why we all love blogging.

3. Put the award in one post as soon as you receive it.

4. Don’t forget to mention the person who gives you the award.

5. Answer the award’s question by writing the reason why you love blogging.

6. Tag and distribute the award to as many people as you like.

7. Don’t forget to notify the award receivers and put their links in your post.

I love blogging because its great to be able to share. Whether its the book i'm reading, or what crafty project i'm working on, I can share it with people all over the world - its great to get my little voice out there, and to get feedback about it too! Its also great to record what progress i've made since I started knitting, which really wasn't all that long ago.

And the award goes to...

Susan at 2BKnitting! This lovely lady is a knitting machine! The reviews she does on all her knitting projects are super helpful, and she takes great pictures of what she's working on. She and I have had many conversations about alterations to projects and trying out different techniques, its good to have someone to bounce ideas around with. Although i've never met her in person (hopefully one day!) she's a good friend.

Leeshie at The Knitty Gritty! She and I 'met' over at the 20-something bloggers group (I think, is that right??) and she's a great blogger, with a cool sense of humor, and she's made some lovely projects since i've been reading over the last few months - check out her new Owls sweater! (And she's in Ysolda's knitting group! How cool is that!)

Let's have a chat in the comments - what is it about blogging that you love?

Let's talk: Christmas presents!

2009-11-04T16:03:00.008+13:00

Firstly - thanks to everyone for the lovely comments on my last post! Its great to know I have lots of support out there, and i'll be keeping in touch about what kind of things the course involves as I go through the year(s).

On to topic - there was an interesting post that I found though The Knitting Pen's blog, about how people with knitting-based blogs tend to* respond to comments through one-on-one contact like emails (or Ravelry) - and i'm the same, although I do respond to people when it goes through to Facebook. But doing it that way makes you forget that what you are replying, might be of interest to other readers as well. (*I say tend to, because I know a couple of bloggers that do reply in-comment - but I usually forget to go back and check if there's a response!)

So - starting now, i'm going to make an effort to respond in the comments section to all comments I get. Maybe we can start a discussion about a pattern or technique that you've been wanting to know more about that I mention, or you can talk about a book you've read that you think we might like. Share your opinion!

Let's start the comments ball rolling with something topical - what do you think about handmade gifts for Christmas? Have you thought about looking at Etsy, Felt or ArtFire for something that you could get personalised? Or do you make your own knitter/crafted gifts for friends and family?

I'm doing something a little different for my family presents this year, although I guess technically it's still handmade. I saw an ad a few months back about buying t-shirts incorporating designs that are drawn by orphans in Africa [here's the link] - so Sis, Mum and Dad get to pick one each :) Buying one t-shirt will feed an orphan for a month, so its a twist on the 'buy a pig/goat/pair of shoes' gifts i've been doing the last couple of years.

Let me know your thoughts - and check back to see what other's are doing, it might help you get some ideas!

If you're like me and forget to go back and check for a response, there should be a little box you can tick in the Blogger comments screen that says "send follow-up comments by email" - that's probably the best way. Facebook should notify you if someone else comments on a note you've commented on.

On a new path

2009-11-03T10:58:00.005+13:00

I handed in my resignation at work yesterday, after working in this office for the past four years. I'm starting again in a new direction...

I have decided to move out of Wellington, to go and study full time in Hamilton*. The course I will be doing is a Bachelor of Contemporary Christian Music at Vision College, majoring in bass guitar and minoring in vocals. You may remember that back in January I did a week-long music course - this is following on from that! It had been niggling at the back of my head that it was something that I really enjoyed, and that I would be silly not to pursue it. So after much thought and organisation, I applied for the course, did the interview and got accepted all in about a week! The full bachelor program is for three years, but i'm just going to take it a year at a time**.

This is a huge deal for me - i've never studied full time at university level before, and i've never lived in a new city on my own away from my family, so i'm both nervous and excited. Luckily I've visited Hamilton quite a bit over the last year and really love it there.

The timing of things should work out quite well - I finish work at the end of December before going on my holiday to the states, then when I get back I have about two weeks of relaxing/packing before the course starts, with two days of orientation before classes start.

So there you go! I've decided too, that with my new start will come a new blog, but more details on that closer to the time.

Knitting update
I've been pretty slack with knitting recently! I finished off a little something new for my Etsy store***, but that's about it. I have cast on for the Central Park Hoodie [Rav link], starting with the sleeve, but I need to find some more stitch markers for the cable section before I can go much further.

* for those not in the area - Wellington is at the bottom of the North Island, Hamilton is about a 7 hour drive north, closer to the top of the North Island. Here's a map if you're interested!
** they all say that - and they all do the full three years! It just sounds good...
*** I want to make a couple more, then they will be listed :)

Five books on the re-read pile

2009-10-30T15:39:00.004+13:00

With the dawn of audio books, I've been rather slack at reading actual books, preferring to jam in my headphones to get me through the train trip every day.

Meanwhile, i've still been buying books from the local second-hand place! There's just something about holding a hardback in your hands that seems terribly romantic and 'old-fashioned'; it will always appeal to me. Recently i've been getting flashes of my highschool days, when we were told to pick books to read from a reading list, and then write an essay on the themes. Sadly, this took the fun out of reading the book for entertainment - you know it inside out, but because you know it so well, you don't enjoy it - there's no tense moment waiting to see what will happen next, because you already know! On the plus side, you got to read books you normally wouldn't even consider reading, and perhaps understand them more from all the study.

It appears i've been on a pursuit lately to read books that have had movies made from them, to look at it from different angles. Now i'm going to try something different - going back to books that I've read a long time ago, in order to recapture some of what made them so interesting in the first place. Here's my list of books to re-read:

Tooth and Nail

This book is set in the 1930s depression era. Sadly it doesn't appear to have made it to any listings on the interweb, so I can't even tell you who the author is, but from what I remember it was set in New Zealand, about a teenage girl, and what it was like for her and the choices she had to make in terms of school and then work. I remember reading this several times during high school, so much so that I may have held onto a copy when school finished (they had plenty of other copies there!). There is a part in the book where the only work she can get is to paste up posters of upcoming shows - although disguised as a boy because girls weren't allowed to do that kind of work - and i'm reminded of this every time I walk through town and see people pasting up posters. I can't remember what happens in the end though, so this is definately a re-read, once i've found my copy!

Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

I was quite suprised to find I had the urge to read these ones again. They come in the catergory of reading-too-much-then-picking-themes-to-study - so I really wasn't a big fan at the time (I think the black and white movie of '1984' put me off!) but for some reason they have stuck in my head, and i'm interested to read them again now that i'm older and see what I think...

False Memory - Dean Koontz

I read this post-highschool - it was the first Dean Koontz book that I read, and made me want to read more of his work. Sadly I've found that none of his books were as good as what I remember of this one... I've been hunting around for a while for my own copy of it, and finally found one a couple of weeks ago, so that's made the list, so I can remind myself why it was so good.

Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

I got this on audiobook a while ago [my review is here] and thoroughly enjoyed it - it was the unabridged version of it, so the hardcopy book should be the same, but i'm interested in seeing how I go with the constant change of narration between Henry and Clare, without the voices to guide me through the story.

Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

Ok, so I haven't read this one before. And to be honest, the only reason I want to read it is to be able to follow up the quotes they use in Twilight (yes, i'm slightly obsessed, this we know!). But going through my dad's old bookshelf a month ago, I spotted a copy, so i've added that to my pile too - why not! I figure a story that was also made into an opera, movie and song must be good!

Over to you:
What books did you have to study back in the day? Are you compelled to re-read any of them again, just to see if you enjoy them more now? I'd love to know your opinions!

~Happy reading!~

Needle storage

2009-10-28T08:17:00.003+13:00

Wow, three posts in 24 hours! That's some record for me!

I was reading Marilyn's blog, The Stair Landing, this morning, and her latest post has got me thinking. As well as covering what fearless knitting she has done in 2009 so far, she's also questioned how people store their knitting needles.

My 'system' leaves alot to be desired... when I got back into knitting again last year I was on the prowl for needles for a long time, buying bulk sets in online auctions, so I have far too many needles! All my straights are in one knitting bag, a piece of string holding together the different sizes. My old circulars are just lumped and tangled together in another knitting bag. My knit picks are probably the most organised - i've written on their plastic case the different sizes of tips so I know which ones go where - although the cables are a mess. My DPNs are sitting in a glass jar on my desk. Along with Marilyn, I too probably have a few stray ones in project bags spread around the place. The piece of knitting equipment I have to have at the start of every project is my needle sizer just so I can find the right needle to use!

My question to you - how do you sort and store your needles? Do you have any tips you can share with me and others about how to tidy things up a bit? I look forward to your comments!

~Happy knitting!~

Etsy Treasury: Blue Butterflies

2009-10-27T20:47:00.008+13:00

Spazzyyarn made a gorgeous Etsy Treasury a while ago, and kindly gave me a link to instructions on how to make one. She also linked to a clock which showed how long to go until the next slot to get in to make one, since you've gotta get in quick!

Since then i've been checking on and off, waiting for the numbers to drop in my favour so I could get in there and make one for myself - and finally today I looked at the right time!

Here's my Treasury: Blue Butterflies

(expires 30th Oct)

The search I did for this was blue butterflies - my favourite - and all the items are perfect stocking-fillers for Christmas.

If you're not sure what a Treasury is, it 'is an ever-changing, member-curated shopping gallery of handpicked items.' Its a good place to start hunting for items on Etsy, as they are usually grouped by colour or theme.

If you've joined Etsy and would like to make one for yourself, here's the instructions, and the clock to keep an eye on. You have to wait until the number of lists drops below 333 - right now as I write this, there are 641 lists! They expire after three days, so that's when you can jump in to a free spot.

Have a look at Spazzyyarn's Etsy store - she spins and dyes some gorgeous yarns - or follow her on Twitter. A big thanks to her for the tips - it was alot of fun putting together my own collection! I'd love to make another one next time I get a chance :)

FO: Buttony

2009-10-27T09:46:00.004+13:00

(Excuse my weird vacant expression and crazy hair...)

Buttony is finished - after starting it in MAY i'm glad its done! This picture was taken pre-blocking, so hopefully it won't look so bunchy after a wash. I'm pretty happy with it though.

I wanted to try something different with the buttons - one of my sewing books says you can sew buttons with four holes on to look like little birds feet, so I gave that a go. I love the contrast of black on red!

I got the yarn for this from a closeout sale at WEBS a long time ago, as it was discontinued. That meant I had to make the most of what I had - hence the shorter sleeves and slightly short body. It was still great to work with though - and I do have a little left over to make something else small with. In hindsight I could have just added this to the length! Oh well :)

The pattern [Rav link] is more of a recipe - as with most raglans you can choose what size you want and therefore how many increases you do. My big fault with this one was to make the increases one inch longer than I should have, resulting in the slightly bigger size. I think I also cast on too many stitches in the first place - the maths I had to do for the cast on with this yarn wasn't quite right... but live and learn.

Overall i'm pretty happy with it - and glad that the weather here is still kinda grey so I might be able to wear it before next winter! It will be great to take to New York with me in a few months time.

~Happy knitting!~

FOs: Baby Suprise Jacket and Baby Beanie

2009-10-23T15:47:00.005+13:00

Would you believe that, apparently, it's spring here in NZ? You wouldn't be able to tell, from the abundance of rain and clouds over the last few weeks - it does not put one into a spring-type mood at all!
At least it is a long weekend, the weather is supposed to cheer up, and i'm going to Auckland to see Andre Rieu live in concert!
Here is his website if you don't know anything about him. He is a brilliant violinist and leads the Johann Strauss orchestra - if your a fan of orchestras and opera I think you will really enjoy him. He tends to do something local to wherever he tours - in New York he accompanied the Harlem Gospel Choir (his concert at Radio City Music Hall is my all-time fave!), in Australia he lead 'Waltzing Matilda' - so it will be interesting to see what he picks up from New Zealand... i'm guessing Pokarekare Ana? Whatever he chooses, I bags dancing the Blue Danube in the aisle with my Dad (my mum and I are in competition for that one!).
Anyway, enough about my plans, I have some finished knitting to show you! On with the show...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Baby Suprise Jacket

Yay its finished! It went suprisingly quick in the end, although I found myself referring to those helpful YouTube tutorials quite a bit. I chose to do the applied iCord edging, although only down the front and along the bottom, not around the neckline. I think the starry buttons finish it off quite nicely :)

Once I got started and figured out how the stitch marking worked, this pattern was really easy - loads of garter stitch, which I loved. It was fun to give it to various people, knitters and non-knitters, to try and fold it together before sewing it up! I'll be definately making another one of these, probably in proper wool rather than cheap acrylic. This one is going to no-one in particular, just for 'my bottom drawer' as they say. Here's the [Rav link] if you want to buy the pattern and give it a go yourself.

Baby Beanie

This was borne out of a need to use up one very small purple ball of pure merino that i'd picked up on sale from somewhere. I love the feature on Ravelry where you can just put in what yarn you have and it comes out with all the patterns you can make from it! This is one that came out, and it was good to test me with using double pointed needles for the whole project for the first time - it took a while to get used to pulling the stitches tight at each end, and as a result I have a little laddering at different points, but its not overly obvious.

Here's the [Rav link] - its a free pattern, and easily adjustable for different sizes by using different weight yarns and different stitch counts. This one came out smaller than I was expecting, more preemie-size, and i'd like to give it a go in a heavier yarn. Again, this one has no home at this stage, I may end up giving to the preemie unit at the hospital, but my baby doll is enjoying it for the moment (she's tiny so I had to fold up the ribbing!)

In other news, I have also (finally!) finished my Buttony sweater! The ends are sewn in and the buttons are sewn on, it just needs a good blocking - i'd like to see if I can shrink it down a little, as its about one size too big... watch this space for photos when its done. I'm now working on a clapotis, and I swatched for the Central Park Hoodie last night! These are kind of obligatory patterns on Ravelry - most people have made either one or both - so i'm joining the band wagon.

~Happy knitting!~

FO: Verity

2009-10-06T15:20:00.000+13:00

My Verity beret is finally finished!

I used my two special skeins of Artyarns Supermerino for this, and it was well worth it - it's fabulous to knit with! I started this back in July, but as i'd just shifted I could only find one skein of yarn as the other one was packed, so it was put on hold for a couple of months while I hunted. I think I would have been able to finish this in one weekend if I had them both. The colour is closest in this next photo rather that the one above:

The pattern [Rav link] is by Ysolda and she is very talented - it is a great pattern, very easy to follow. And the result is gorgeous! I'm definately keen to try out another one of her patterns.

I made the small size and opted to just do a ribbed band rather than the patterned band with the button, because I didn't think I would have enough yarn (turns out I would have had plenty for the patterned band!).

I would highly recommend this pattern - I would say it would be rated beginner-intermediate.

Sad 'n sweet September

2009-10-05T14:57:00.004+13:00

I didn't do alot of blogging in September, but alot happened!

Firstly, we found out that my puppy is very very sick. I say puppy, but he's really 13, and has had a very good life. We are happy that he continues to be with us, two weeks longer than expected, but its still sad news. We are making the most of lots of cuddles...

There was also some good news - not much I can talk about right now though, but I had a nice weekend away with my mum - lots of shopping, gave the credit card a good workout! There are a few photos here on Flickr if you're interested (the ones marked September) - mainly of the botanical gardens we went to, they have different theme gardens like Indian and English, and the flowers everywhere were amazing.

I have also got lots of knitting done. It was my boss's birthday, and I whipped up a quick soap sack for her, with a little starfish embroidery. Its made from cotton, with soap inside, so you can lather it and use it that way. I want to make one for me now!

I also made another couple of cherry-comb hats - one in pink and one in brown, to match scarves I have.

As I still have a couple of balls of this pink and original red yarn, a friend suggested to me that I make up kits with the pattern and a ball of the yarn to sell in my store. What do you think?

Speaking of my store, its still there - I now have stock up at Etsy as well as ArtFire, and a couple of things on TradeMe if you're in NZ. I'll be putting the rainbow shawl and knitted bag I made a couple of months ago, up on my web site as soon as the weather cheers up and I can take some decent photos!

~Happy knitting!~

Win yourself some Ugg Boots!!

2009-09-29T08:56:00.003+13:00

I've just been alerted to an amazing competition run by Whooga Ugg Boots, where you can win a pair of ugg boots each month! And its open to anyone in any country! I don't know about where you are at the moment, but here at the moment ugg boots are super popular, with a tunic and a pair of skinny jeans. And they're so comfortable!

To enter the competition, go to this link. All you have to do is add a badge to your blog/MySpace/website. That's it!

Best of luck in the competition.

***
Thanks to those who have asked if i'm doing ok - yes, i'm still here, alot of stuff has been going on with me lately, and its zapped my energy, but I haven't stopped knitting and have a few new FOs to show off, so i'll be back to regular knitting posts as soon as I can :)

~Happy knitting!~

Artfire store OPEN!

2009-09-09T13:46:00.002+12:00

I have officially opened my ArtFire store!

More stock will be listed soon! I still have the neck cozies left from the fair to put up.

My Celastrina Creations website will still be active, but more for custom orders at this stage.

Thanks everyone for the support :)

~Happy crafting!~

Market results + a new project!

2009-09-08T10:58:00.006+12:00

Sadly, the market didn't go too well - food proved to be the most popular option on the day! Here's what the stall looked like, all set up:

You can see my bags hanging up along the front, and my neck cozies are there too, on the table between the blue and pink bags. I was told that plenty of people picked them up and looked at them, even tried them on, but sadly none were bought.

Its not all bad news - it means I have plenty of stock for my shop! I'm going to take photos today and list them all, so watch out tomorrow for the link! Or you can become a member now to be the first to know when new things are listed.

I've taken a little break from all things crafty over the last few days, busy with other family and church things, but on Sunday afternoon the bug hit me again, and I found myself charting and swatching for a new scarf - with argyle patterning and a bit of lace thrown in...

It doesn't look like much at the moment, but its taken a while to figure out how its going to work - I ended up frogging it back to the start last night because I wasn't happy with it! The yarn is Patons Brushed Caressa 7ply, which i'm knitting on 5.5mm needles to make it airy and light. The design process has been fun so far. I'm away for a long weekend to stay with my mum (and go to New Zealand's biggest craft fair while i'm there!) so I should get alot more done on it during the 9.5hr train trip.

~Happy knitting!~

To market we go...

2009-09-04T10:54:00.005+12:00

Things are all ready for the big craft day tomorrow! Unfortunately I can't be there as I have prior commitments, but i'm looking forward to seeing photos of the stall all set up. Its exciting!

For those of you who haven't looked on my Flickr, Twitter or Facebook pages, here's what I had all ready to go:

Tote bags

Neck cozies

Click here to view the full set of images on Flickr

Everything has a little swing tag with my contact details and care instructions, as well as a hand-sewn-in label*. Despite it being a pain to do^, it was actually alot of fun and very rewarding. I hope this fair will be a good start to my little business.

Website
For those of you who are interested, I do have a website for Celastrina Creations which will soon be stocked with some of the other things i've made to sell. In the near future I will be putting up listings for custom orders of tote bags and neck cozies. If you'd like to be first to know about when new items are listed, you can become a member of the site to join the mailing list. Feel free to sign the guestbook while you're there too! Click the logo below to get to it.

~Happy crafting!~

* the reason for my recent lack of sleep - I was getting into bed about midnight most nights for the last week...
^ literally - I have scars on my fingers from my sewing needle - I should really get a thimble!!

Ballatrina's Books: Breakfast at Tiffany's

2009-08-31T10:28:00.003+12:00

Buy from Amazon

Author: Truman Capote
Started: 25-Aug-09
Finished: 29-Aug-09

I picked this up while browsing at Borders last Monday; i'd just finished watching the movie (again!) and thought it might be good to compare the book. In this case, I think the movie was better! There seemed to be alot more going on with the characters in the movie than in the book. Holly Golightly seemed alot more flighty and vague in the book, and it was very hard to like her character. The main male character in the book is vastly different to the one in the movie, and his book character again is very vague. I was pleased though to see that some of Holly's movie quotes came from the book! I'm aware that the book came first, and while it was good in its own right, although alot shorter than I had expected, i'd rather watch the movie any day than read the book again.

This version of the book also had two short stories at the end (and STILL the book was only half an inch thick!), but I haven't got to reading those yet.

Next on my book list is 'Under the Tuscan Sun' - again, a book that matches a movie, and although so far they too seem like very different beasts, i'm really enjoying the book - its more about what real life is like in Italy, and how the author had to learn things from scratch starting with just her love of the place.

Craft update
Thanks so much for all your lovely comments about my tote bags! I had a very busy weekend, knitting neck cozies all day Saturday and sewing tote bags all day Sunday, but I managed to finish off the bulk of the work - just need to sew my labels onto the tote bags, and attach the little cards, and they'll be ready to go on Wednesday!

~Happy reading/crafting!~

Friday Food Frenzy - Osteria del Toro

2009-08-28T15:15:00.004+12:00

The new Monday Meal Madness!

This trip was out to Osteria del Toro, as part of the first Wellington on a Plate event that has run for the last two weeks - $25 for a set lunch of entree, main and glass of wine.

You walk in, and the interior is amazing! Loads of space, high ceilings with black patterned wallpaper and gold curtains - it looks a lot bigger than you would think from looking at it outside. Very classy :)

The food was brilliant. The entree choices were either hummus with pita bread or Bruschetta; we had one of each. We both opted for the Sicillian meatballs for the main, and there was enough there to be full (too full for dessert!) but not stuffed. The wine was nice too.

The full menu looks interesting with lots of different choices. Will definately be going back again!

Two new totes!

2009-08-26T11:14:00.003+12:00

One maroon with a red polka dot pocket, and one denim-blue with a green polka dot pocket. That's five down now, five more to go!

I'm knitting the neck cozies too, finished one more yesterday, so I have 6 more of those to go.

~Happy crafting!~

Sewing FO: Tote bags!

2009-08-24T14:04:00.004+12:00

I decided this weekend to make some tote bags, to add to my list of things to sell at the craft fair on the first weekend of September. What do you think?

I've only made these three so far, two on Saturday and one on Sunday, but as they only take about an hour and a half to make it shouldn't be too hard to whip up some more - I need 7 more to sell at the stall.

There is a pocket between the pattern and the plain fabric, on both sides, as well as the main part of the bag, so plenty of room.

I have a few more different types of fabric matched up ready to make some more. I'll also be selling some short knitted scarves that button up, and i'll put up some pics of those once they are done. Some of Bec's paintings are going to be sold too, so it will be quite a stall!

~Happy crafting!~

FO: Cherry-comb beret

2009-08-21T16:23:00.004+12:00

This is my latest finished project. I call it Cherry-comb - because the colour is cherry and the pattern is like honeycomb! Original, I know.

This was borne out of a need to have a beret. Verity is still in the wings, but I still haven't uncovered that second skein of yarn, so its still on hold. Rooting through my stash I came across this 10ply NZ kid mohair which I thought would make a nice warm hat. After hunting through some patterns, I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so I just kinda made this up. Its a simple pattern - the lace is just YO,k2tog (it was hard to k2tog with this yarn, let me tell you!) and then some decreases once I thought it was long enough. I suppose it could have been a little longer, but you don't realise this until its too late of course.

It took about 4-5 hours of solid knitting to get this one done, but spread over a few days with a few rows here and there. It's going to get a matching scarf as well this weekend! I see many more of these in my future - this one only took about half a ball of the yarn, and I have three more balls in this colour, as well as three and a half in candy-floss pink.

~Happy knitting!~

More than a ball of yarn

2009-08-18T10:34:00.005+12:00

Through my usual internet surfing I can across this very interesting article about how the practise of knitting and crochet is coming back. I'm sure this situation will be familiar to some of you. Original article here.

~Happy knitting!~

More than a Ball of Yarn

Your Purpose posted on 07.09.09 by Mary Kassian

There’s a mall with a small Zellers Department Store not far from my house. Because I’ve frequented it often over the years, I’m quite familiar with the layout of the store and roughly what’s contained in each aisle. Several months ago, I ran into Zellers to buy a few things for the house. I rounded the corner from the aisle containing pillows and blankets into the next aisle, where I expected to find candles, vases, and home decor. But what I saw stopped me dead in my tracks. The aisle had been transformed. From top to bottom, beginning to end, it was stocked full of colorful balls of yarn. I stood there gawking in amazement.

Now you may not think that there’s anything particularly unusual about a yarn aisle in a department store. But I was stunned. The reason I was stunned was that the womanly art of knitting and crocheting fell by the wayside a long time ago—along with the idea that the best place for a young wife and mom was in the home.

When I was a little girl, my Oma (granny) had taken me to the yarn aisle to pick out beautiful skeins for my next crocheting project. And although it was still possible to find yarn in craft stores, I hadn’t seen a shelf—let alone a whole aisle full—in a department store for what seemed like eons.

The feminist women-centered analysis (err . . . brainwashing) of the seventies and eighties had convinced women like me that womanly crafts like knitting and crocheting were trivial, if not borderline demeaning. We were taught that women should stop doing menial things for the home and devote our attention to things of serious importance—like developing a career and earning a lot of money. I hadn’t picked up a crochet hook in decades.

I was so overwhelmed by my thoughts that I stayed there in the yarn aisle for a while, pondering the cultural significance of it all. I ran my fingers over the skeins, feeling the thickness and texture of the strings. I studied the sizes and types of hooks and needles. I thought back to sitting at Oma’s feet, having her guide my clumsy young hands in basic crochet stitches. I thought of the pretty doilies she taught me to crochet and the sense of pride and accomplishment when my mom displayed my work on the living room coffee table.

I thought about the relaxed womanly camaraderie . . . a grandmother sitting for hours mentoring and training her young granddaughter in womanly arts. Things that she had learned from her grandmother. And she, from her grandmother before her. I thought about the whole concept of an older woman training a younger woman how to be a woman and how to pour herself into making a house a home. I thought about the admonition of Titus 2:3 for older women to teach younger women good and beautiful things. The sense of nostalgia that swept over me at that moment was profound. We women have lost so much.

I think that many women are beginning to feel the vacuum. They’re yearning for womanly things. That’s why a whole aisle of yarn has, after a 25 year absence, suddenly re-appeared at my local department store.

Inspired, I bought a ball of crochet thread and some hooks. I pulled out some old patterns I had kept stored in a box in my basement, and sat on the couch refreshing my memory on how to crochet. The next time I stayed with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law in Houston, I bought some bright pink, blue, and green skeins and large plastic hooks to teach my young niece how to crochet. We sat on the floor for a couple of hours as I guided her inexperienced hands in how to hook chains and do single crochets. We laughed together and worked together. When she was finished, she decorated her bed frame with bright, pretty crocheted flowers. I don’t know who was more proud.

What took place that day was a whole lot more valuable than a day at the office. It makes me think that our foremothers were a lot wiser than we gave them credit for. It is us—and not them—that have been deceived by an elaborate yarn.

Award and update

2009-08-18T08:57:00.007+12:00

I got this award from Sarah over at Class and Coffee, so if you regularly comment on my blog, I’m awarding this to you! I love this – I’ve been saying ‘OTT’ quite a bit lately about different things, so its very fitting!

Now the fun part! You have to answer these questions, only using ONE WORD:

1. Where is your cell phone? handbag
2. Your hair? frizzy
3. Your mother? Smiley
4. Your father? Funny!
5. Your favorite food? Grapes
6. Your dream last night? None
7. Your favorite drink? tea
8. Your dream/goal? Happiness (I’m stealing Sarah’s answer!)
9. What room are you in? office
10. Your hobby? Knitting…
11. Your fear? Loneliness (again, stealing answers!)
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? married
13. Where were you last night? Lounge-room
14. Something that you aren’t? quick!
15. Muffins? Yum
16. Wish list item? Touch-phone
17. Where did you grow up? Australia
18. Last thing you did? Typed…
19. What are you wearing? Yellow
20. Your TV? Old!
21. Your pets? Cobby
22. Friends? Few
23. Your life? Limbo
24. Your mood? Bored!
25. Missing someone? Family
26. Vehicle? Dying
27. Something you’re not wearing? Necklace
28. Your favorite store? Spotlight!
29. Your favorite color? Blue
30. When was the last time you laughed? 7am
31. Last time you cried? June
32. Your best friend? Unknown…
33. One place that I go to over and over? Subway
34. One person who emails me regularly? Matt
35. Favorite place to eat? BNZ (ok, it seems weird with just the one word – yes, it’s a bank, but they have an amazing foodcourt underneath!)

Let me know when you’ve come up with your answers, I’d love to check them out!

Knitting update
I’m working on lots of things at the moment.

I’ve seamed up one shoulder of the Baby Surprise Jacket, so I have to do the other one and sew on the buttons.
I’m making a red mohair beret out of some stashed yarn I have, so I have something pretty and warm to wear in New York in January – I think it will have a matching scarf too! I couldn’t find a pattern I absolutely loved so I’m kinda just making it up. So far so good – about halfway through!
There’s a little purple preemie beanie sitting staring at me from my desk that needs to be finished too… just need to figure out how to stop the stitches at the ends of each DPN being so loose, its not looking that great.
We had a craft day with some ladies from church on the weekend and we've now knit enough squares for three small baby blankets for Casa Kiwi! They need to be sewn together.
I knit up a cotton bath mitt last night, as something I might be able to sell –unfortunately it’s a little too big but again I was making up the pattern, so I know what to fix for the next one.
Speaking of selling, I have to get my A into G, a craft fair is coming up the first week of September and someone has offered to sell my stuff there, so I have to get a move on with lots of knitting and sewing for this! I have visions of tote bags floating around in my head…
That Buttony sweater is now my new lunchtime project – I’m managing at least two rows per break, because there are so many stitches, but slow and steady wins the race – at least I’m working on it again!
I’ve been reminded that its about 130 days until Christmas, so I’m thinking about Christmas knitting in the back of my head… probably not a lot this year, since I’m going away, but who knows!

What’s on your to-do list? Have you started thinking about your Christmas knitting?

~Happy knitting!~

Sun in Winter

2009-08-10T09:44:00.005+12:00

Its rare to have a beautiful sunny day in the middle of winter here, so we made the most of it on the weekend and went up the coast to our beach house for the day on Saturday.

As you can see it was a perfect day - not a cloud in the sky, a little cold but not windy. There were plenty of people on the beach - only a couple swimming - and it was nice to go for a walk in the sand. I can't wait for the real summer!

Knitting progress
It takes about an hour to get to there, so I got a good dose of knitting done in the car on the way. This is my progress on the Baby Surprise Jacket as of Sunday night:

I've definately got the hang of the pattern now. I've cast off the stitches for the neck, and i'm about to put the sides on a holder needle while I add to the length. Here's what it looks like folded up so far:

For all my worrying at the start, it turns out its a really easy project! I'm definately going to try it again with some nicer wool, this acrylic is getting a little hard on my hands, but its good to try it out.

Comments
Thanks for the comments on my last couple of posts! Sadly I can't respond to each of your comments, I'm not set up for that, but I do read them all and they make me smile :) Leeshie - thanks for the comment about the puppy jumper - they go to the SPCA, and i'm working to get a photo of their puppies wearing the jumpers, which should be really cute! I haven't made one for my dog because I don't think he'd like it that much, but I may make one just to see...

~Happy knitting!~

Photo gallery (part 2)

2009-08-06T10:50:00.008+12:00

More photos and information about what i've been up to lately...

There's been some baking - lemon tarts with homemade lemon butter filling:

And, of course, my puppy is as cute as ever:

I've also done some sewing. This little bag was gift wrapping for my sister's birthday present. I'm hoping she can come up with something else creative to use it for! I used up some of the fabric I got at the easter fair earlier this year, and used some of my ribon yarn for the drawstring, with a couple of beads tied to the end, and a felt star sewn on for good luck. She has a thing for red :)

Current knitting
Buttony is still festering away in the corner of my room... but I have a couple of new projects in process at the moment. The first is Verity [Rav link] - a beret pattern from the very clever Ysolda, which i'm using with my Artyarns supermerino yarn. I totally love this project - the yarn and the pattern are working really well together, and the colours are coming out well.

The only problem is that I have two skeins of this yarn - i've used up the first one, but the second one is still packed in a box in the garage from when I moved! I've had a quick look through the boxes but its not jumping out at me, so i'll have to wait a little longer until I can fully unpack the boxes. Its a real shame, the weather is perfect for a beret at the moment!

I've also started on the Baby Surprise Jacket [Rav link] again - this time with the assistance of some very helpful videos I came across on YouTube through the BSJ group on Ravelry.

I don't think I would have got this far if not for these videos - its hard to figure out the deal with the markers if you just look at the pattern (well, it was for me, anyway!) - so if you're thinking about making this I highly recommend the vids as a starting point. Its my new lunchtime project, and its super easy so far - i'd say advanced beginner, once you figure out where the markers go. Its plain knitting all the way, with simple double increases and decreases, and very little seaming at the end - just along the shoulders. Its kinda like knitted origami, from the look of it. The M1s in the pattern look a little tricky, but the videos explain them too.

I'm also working on a simple baby beanie, using up some lovely baby merino from my stash, but that's coming along very slowly - its on DPNs, and i'm yet to figure out how to avoid the runs between the needles - any assistance would be gratefully accepted!

That's about it from me for the moment, although I do have a few quotes to catch up on for next time, and there will be another MMM soon - Wellington's having a special restaurant deal with cheap lunch menus for a couple of weeks in August, we just have to decide which one to pick...

~Happy knitting!~

Photo gallery (part 1)

2009-08-03T13:30:00.011+12:00

Guess what - I remembered to bring my camera to work today! So, I present the long-awaited photo gallery of what i've been working on lately - in two parts, to save you a bit of uploading time. Sorry for all the mosaics - i've been playing around with Picasa, and I love that it fits all the photos together in one rather than uploading heaps! Have a look at my Flick photostream to see them in more detail, or click to see them bigger.

Knitting projects
Do you remember that shawl I was making? Well, its all finished. I sat down one afternoon and sewed on the fringe, then finally got up the guts to take it off the blocking wires. Unfortunately my cast off was far too loose (I started doing it tightly and then thought against it because I didn't want it to pucker at the top, but I should have left it!) so it curls a fair bit at the top when worn, and it could have been much longer, but its done, and i'm pleased overall. This will go up for sale on my website one that's up and running.

I like to try and fit in some small charity items between big projects, just because its fun and goes to a good cause. My 'tween project this time was another puppy jumper - this time for a little boy puppy, and in a lovely green colour - closer to the first picture than the others, it didn't photograph so well in the daylight. Its now down at the SPCA being put to good use in this cold weather!

This pattern [Rav link] for little converse booties is definately now my favourite pattern. I made a purple pair for our finance manager who had a baby girl, and another secret pair that can now be revealed! They were for Noah, as a gift from our church for his thanksgiving service.

Boy, did this project cause me some headaches! The first one I made was super huge (will be stuffed as a Christmas decoration I think!) so I modified the pattern a little and changed needles to make it more the right size. That was the first blue one. I then went on to make the purple ones, as they were needed quickly, with a different weight yarn and slightly bigger needles. Unfortunately, I didn't note down what needles I used for which, so when I made the second blue one with the bigger needles, and didn't realise until I went to sew them up on Friday night that one was bigger than the other! Did you know - you can make a whole new bootie, in the right size and including seaming, in the same time it takes for the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice to run? [ETA: here's my review of the book!] Felt stars were sewn on on Saturday, and mum helped me make the laces (I'm still getting my head around how she did it, but i'm hoping she can teach me!) so that by Saturday afternoon they were stuffed and ready to gift for Sunday morning. And they were well recieved :) [ETA - the yarn I used for the blue one was Moda Vera Cup Cake - a lovely soft worsted weight yarn - if you haven't tried it I highly recommend it! It feels far too soft to be nylon/acrylic...]

That's it for now - stay tuned for part two, what else i've been up to, and what i've got coming up!

~Happy knitting!~

Ballatrina's Books: Pride and Prejudice

2009-07-29T12:10:00.010+12:00

Buy it from Amazon.com

Author: Jane Austen
Started: 15-June-09
Finished: 28-July-09

Oh my goodness. I loved this book! Well, that was obvious from the time I brought it, but it exceeded my expectations! (ETA - turns out this post if more of a mini-essay, so read on if you have time, but you've been warned! Or you can just shoot down to my overall opinion at the end...)

The olde-english language was hard to get at first, and I found myself re-reading sentences and 'translating' them into today's language just to get my head around what was going on sometimes, but I got used to it after a while. It was strange that sometimes words were missed out - sentences like ' in the ------ shire' are littered throughout, but it was easy to overlook them. It would be interesting to find out why they were there though, and if they are in other editions as well - maybe it was that the first person to type it up couldn't read Jane's handwriting???

...I get lost in the language, words like "Thither. Mischance. Felicity." I'm always in agony over whether Elizabeth and Mr Darcy are really going to get together. Ah! Read it. I know you'll love it!
- Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan, 'You've Got Mail')

After reading the first chapter, I immediately said that Mr Bennet was my favourite character, and that didn't change at all. Some of his quotes had me laughing out loud, which is always a good sign. He's so grounded in reality, but still has a fantastic sense of humor about everything - I suppose you would need it to live with Mrs Bennet. She's such a pain! Its nice that she cares about her daughters so much to get them married off, but the extent that she goes to, to set people up, is a little much. And she always blew things out of proportion, the small things became such a big deal. And really, don't get me started on Lydia, talk about rubbing everyone's noses in the fact that she was the first one married! Her antics just about made me give up on the book a few times, she was that annoying.

But enough of the bad stuff. I loved the relationship between Jane and Elizabeth - it was good that they had somewhere to escape to, to talk about the serious stuff that the rest of the family wasn't taking so seriously. Mr Bingley sounds like a bit of a pushover, but he and Jane are still the perfect pair. As for the main two, I spent most of the book figuring out which one was proud and which one was prejudice - by the end i'd figured Mr Darcy was the former and Elizabeth was the latter, but i'm sure that's open to interpretation, as they each seem to flip around between them a bit. I was taken back a little the first time that Mr Darcy proposed, as it seemed so out of the blue, but that's about the time that he started growing on me, so my feelings changed in sync with Elizabeth's. And i'm a sucker for a happy ending, so I was 'awww'-ing by the end of it - now to find my 'Mr Darcy'! :)

(This must be the first book that i've ever gotten into this much!)

Overall opinion

A brilliant book - if you haven't read it yet, highly recommended. Jane Austen is a talented writer, with humor and intelligence beyond her time - if not for the old language and society setting, it could have been written in the last decade with the same appeal.

Next will be to watch the movies (the loooooong BBC version and the newer 'Hollywood' version) to compare them to the book! And, of course, to read some more Jane Austen classics - Sense and Sensibility perhaps? [ETA - watched the BBC version on the weekend, just as brilliant as I remember! The only difference I noticed to the book was that they did a wedding scene at the end.]

~Happy reading!~

PS - An update on my new knitting book that I ordered: sadly it's out of stock! I ordered it from a discount catalogue, so they won't be getting any more in. I will have to keep an eye out for it elsewhere.

Playing catch up

2009-07-27T09:21:00.004+12:00

I work in administration, so I sit in front of a computer pretty much all day, and when I get home I usually can't be bothered - which is why I haven't updated recently! But I promise photos will be coming soon (I forgot my camera today...).

I didn't do any knitting at all last week, I just wasn't in the mood, but yesterday afternoon it all came back to me! I finished the second pair of those booties, they just need seaming - I knit one in just a few hours! Took a couple of goes to figure out the alterations i'd made to the first one to get them to match, since I made it so long ago, but I think they are about right. I've started a little beanie to match from the leftovers; I think i'll have enough.

In lieu of any further exciting news, I thought i'd point out some updates that i've caught up with this morning, in case you're interested:

The fall Knits magazine is out - complete with these patterns from Connie Chang and Melissa. I think my subscription has run out now so I won't get this one, but that's ok - my queue is long enough as it is, no point in teasing myself! I can always order a back issue if I need to.
There's some pretty sad stuff going on over at Yarn Harlot's blog - if you haven't caught up with it, its a very interesting read. As a Christian i'm embarrased about some of the comments that were made in particular, and I can't imagine what Stephanie is going through, it must be a huge personal blow. There is heaps of support for her on Twitter though, so if you tweet make sure to give her a shout out.
Some amazing new FOs - Liz has made a new crochet market bag, Li has finished a little lace vest, Kris has come out with some new beach-themed dishcloths, and Susan has completed her lace and cable vest! All stunning projects, all inspiring me to get my A into G and get my hands busy!

Also, I've ordered a new book! Sadly I can't remember what its called, so I can't find it on Amazon, but its all about knitted embellishments. I thought it looked interesting - maybe I can brighten up the peach baby vest, or even Buttony when I get that finished...

Sorry for all the links, but I hope this keeps you busy and puts me back in the good books until I can get those photos up!

~Happy knitting!~

Ballatrina's Books - Finger Lickin' Fifteen

2009-07-20T09:35:00.007+12:00

It was a lovely sunny weekend this weekend, so what better to do that sit in the sun and read! I brought this book last week (I found it for $30 in a store next door to where they were selling it for $45! Bargain!) and decided that I couldn't wait any longer to crack the binding.

Finger Lickin' Fifteen - A Stephanie Plum novel
Author: Janet Evanovich
Started: 18-Jul-09
Finished: 18-Jul-09

As you can see, I got through it in one afternoon. That's how much I love the Stephanie Plum series! If you haven't read one of these books before, a little information: firstly, I would rate it M (mature) because of some of the language and, ahem, sexual references. But if you can take that in your stride and love some good humor, these books are very funny! The story is about Stephanie Plum, who works as a bounty hunter for her cousin, but she isn't all that great at it. She lives in an apartment, but often goes home to her parent's house for the free food. Its a very easy and light-hearted read, but it helps if you know a little about the characters first, so I would suggest starting with one of the earlier books. The first one I found was book 5, then I went back and started from number 1 because I enjoyed it so much!

In this book, Stephanie's sidekick Lula comes into the bond office after seeing a famous TV chef decapitated, and the guys who did it are coming after her. Lula decides the best place to corner them (to claim the reward of course) is to enter the barbeque cook-off, so she and Stephanie's grandma set about trying to come up with the best sauce, and it takes several humorous attempts, and many explosions, to get it right! At the same time, Stephanie works with the oh-so-gorgeous Ranger (another bounty hunter, but a serious one, who has a little bit of a crush on her) in his security office, trying to crack a crime from the inside.

As part of the series, I wouldn't say this was the best one, but it still had some fantastic laugh-out-loud moments. Its almost like the Stephanie/Ranger story line was added just so Ranger could be in the story, it turns to be not so major afterall, a bit of a let-down. And there's not enough Morelli for me - he's her on-again-off-again boyfriend, who's always jealous of Ranger. These books come out about once a year, so its a shame I have to wait a year for the next one! Maybe i'll just have to start from the beginning of the series again :)

I'm still working on Pride & Predjudice too, i'm over 3/4 through, the language is just a little tricky to get my head around - I don't think I would have got this far if I hadn't seen the movie (the original Colin Firth one, which is way better than the new Kiera Knightly one) to know what the storyline was!

Knitting update:

I was off work sick for most of last week, so I had alot of knitting time! Unfortunately I still haven't unpacked my second skein of Artyarns Supermerino that i'm using for a beret so that project is still on hold, but I finished a puppy jumper and i'm halfway through a little baby beanie just to use up some of my stash. Photos will be coming soon I promise! I had a go at starting the Baby Surprise Jacket by EZ (will be my new lunchtime project) but got totally perplexed by the pattern so I ripped it out - if you've made it before and can give me some help, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know!!

~Happy knitting!~

Monday Meal Madness - Ghengis Khan

2009-07-07T13:56:00.002+12:00

MMM-GK, originally uploaded by Ballatrina2008.

Monday Meal Madness continues! This time we went to Ghengis Khan - a Mongolian BBQ restaurant - with a friend visiting from down south.

I love restaurants where there's a process for getting your meal, rather than just ordering off a menu. At this place, you grab a bowl, make your way along a bar of noodles, veges and meats - gathering whatever you want - then you add sauces and spices, and they throw it on a flat top BBQ and cook it in front of you! Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of this process, but it was really good :)

The desserts were amazing too - Matt had a 'smoking chocolate sundae', much to the amazement of the others in the restaurant. It was dry ice in a glass set off with the appropriate liquid, then another glass set on top with the icecream, so the 'smoke' from the dry ice came out between the glasses. Very impressive!

Shawl - work in progress

2009-07-07T13:55:00.002+12:00

ShawlWIP, originally uploaded by Ballatrina2008.

I was given two balls of mohair yarn from my neighbour, and decided to use it to make a shawl. I've never made one before so I just improvised on a pattern - I started out with basic increases but it was still too narrow so I started increasing every 10st. These pictures are rather deceiving - the width actually now spans far more than the two needles! I'm hoping it will grow some more with a good blocking. Once finished (only a few more rows to go) i'll be adding the fringe.

Finally, the bag!

2009-07-07T13:53:00.002+12:00

Bag, originally uploaded by Ballatrina2008.

This is the bag that I designed and made up - its knitted ribbon sewn to a soft canvas lining, with two i-cords for the handle. The main sections are strengthed with a sheet of plastic mesh. The base and sides were hand-stitched on because the thickness of all the fabric was too much for my little machine! The size is about that of an A4 sheet of paper, just a little smaller.

After taking it out once to test it (as you do!), I discovered I need to strengthen the handles as well, perhaps with some fishing line, so that the ribbons don't stretch with the weight in the bag. It also needs some way of keeping it closed - just a snap button I think.

Overall a fun process :)

The magic of Disney :)

2009-07-03T08:47:00.001+12:00

And the award goes to...

2009-07-01T16:08:00.006+12:00

A lovely big thanks to Susan and Leeshie for nominating me for this blog award!

It is my pleasure to pass this on to those who's lovely blogs I read:

Hanging by a thin thread - ChelleC is a lovely blogger, giving full descriptions of her experiences, very interesting reading
fly along - this blog is full of photos of her amazing projects and latest spinning
Liz Knits - Liz is a great knitter and has come up with some awesome designs. And she just got chickens!
Skeins & Steins - Catherine is another fantastic knitter, and has an Etsy store too, where she sells alot of her recycled yarns
Twenty Cent Mixture - I met Louise at a knit night a while ago and she's just as lovely in person as she is on her blog. She's a fantastic seamstress as well, and her Felt store is worth a look
Musings of a (mostly) self-taught knitter - Karen's blog was one of the first I started reading, and she's always very entertaining with tales of her kitten, and the Meme Monday's!

I hope you enjoy looking through their blogs as much as I do. Have a look at my blog roll for some of my other constant reads.

In other news...

The purple baby set was well recieved! Its good to know these things are going to a good home. It also stood out because it was purple - everything else was pink!
I'm updating Twitter more than my blog these days - I hope this will change soon, but if I haven't updated for a while, there will always be a new tweet!
I've changed my blog layout again so I can make room for bigger photos. If its causing you any problems, let me know!

~Happy knitting!~

Marathon knitting weekend!

2009-06-29T15:31:00.009+12:00

I finished! Crazy full-on knitting weekend is over, and the gift has been wrapped and ready to pass on. No more late nights and headaches! Thanks for all your encouragement in the comments, it didn't go unnoticed :)

Do you wanna see?

There are some other photos on my Flickr page too.

Ok, the details. I've loved the pattern [Rav link] for the booties since I first saw it, and i'm working on another pair for someone else now too. I changed it a little though, as the first one I made was huge - I followed the Chuck Taylor adaptation, and then took out some of the rows along the bottom as the foot came out too tall - taller than my foot even! I also made the tongue of the shoe a little longer, going by some other recommendations, and just used a single piece of yarn for the laces, rather than an i-cord, purely to save a little time - it still works just as well. I found some felt stars at the $2 shop and hand-stitched those onto the side, just like the real Chuck Taylors. I did try out the circle as per the pattern, but I just couldn't get it to work.

The jacket was a last minute addition, and was based on a free Lion Brand pattern [Rav link]. I'd found some cheap ribbon when I got the felt stars for the shoes and I wanted to add that somehow, so I did a row of 'k2tog, yo' about an inch from the bottom on all the panels so the ribbon could be woven through, the used some more for the bow at the top to tie it all together - I think its a nice finishing touch. I used a different weight yarn to that suggested in the pattern so I didn't following their sizing, rather judged it on the size of a little top i'd already bought, and sadly it came out wider than I'd planned. I'm sure baby will grow into it. I'm looking forward to working with this pattern as a base again - maybe stockinette or lace, and adding the sleeves as well (I just ran out of time for this one!).

The booties took about a week and a half all up. I started knitting the vest on Wednesday night and finished on Saturday night, working on it in any free time I could find! Last night working on finishing the booties it all got a bit much and I nearly fell asleep, so i'm looking forward to an early night tonight. Next on my list is to finish my bag, which I have to do painstakingly slowly by hand, as its too much for my little sewing machine to handle, with four layers of fabric and two layers of knitting. I promise to show you pictures of everything before it leaves for the roadshow! My Squeeze Me shawl is coming along well too, it almost spans two needles now. It wasn't widening as much as I wanted it to, so i'm adding in extra increases as I go along. I haven't even used half a ball of yarn yet! Do you think it needs tassels?

~Happy knitting!~

More Ballatrina in the web world!

2009-06-26T08:33:00.005+12:00

Just thought i'd pop in with a quick heads up - I've been talking with Liz at Knitting for Profit about how much to charge for my recent contract knitting job, and she's put my question and her answer up on her blog! Check it out here - some helpful advice, very handy if you're thinking of contracting yourself out as a knitter.

~~~

I'm still knitting crazily along with the present for work-baby at the moment - I only have two and a half knitting days until I have to hand it in! Suffice it to say that i've had a few late nights lately; its coming along well - i'm kinda making it up as I go along, so ideas keep popping into my head, but I think it should look alright at the end. Then I can get back to the stuff for the roadtrip, and the other commission job which is half finished, and then things can slow down a little!

~Happy knitting!~

Squeeze me!

2009-06-22T14:00:00.004+12:00

I was commissioned by a friend to make a pair of baby booties for another mutual friend of ours, for a special present, to be given in a couple of months. I then found out that our finance manager at work's wife is having a baby in early July, and all staff were invited to put together presents for them. I've also been commissioned by Aunty Ali to make a cardigan for baby Emily out of lovely bamboo yarn (she's supplying the yarn and the pattern, but I haven't seen it yet). On top of that is all the things i'm supposed to be making for my other friend to sell on her craft road-trip in mid-July. And then, Mum found some old knitting in her knitting bag - a toddler's jersey that just needs the finishing, and she's suggested I give it to the hospital, or to Orphan's Aid International - its so old she can't remember who did the knitting! Oh, and Buttony hasn't seen the light of day since I moved back home.

What was I thinking, when yesterday morning sitting in bed, I picked up some spare needles and some new mohair yarn I was given, and started on this:

This is a triangle shawl in Squeeze Me! mohair. I must be crazy! I think to get the best of both worlds, I'll leave this project at work to carry on with in my lunch hours. Sorry about the terrible phone-photo - the colours are far more stunning in real life, and so far the colour pooling is working out ok. I was given two balls of this, so if this shawl works out ok i'll make another one and sell them both! Its a very simple pattern, here on my Ravelry page, but the colour changing is enough to keep it interesting :)

So, here's the timeline for my other projects:

Finance manager's baby stuff - a pair of purple/white converse booties (i'm addicted to this pattern!!), and a little vest if I, by some miracle, still have time!
Items to sell - sewing together the bag, maybe another couple of neck cozies or some embroidered bags
Booties for mutual friend
Emily's cardigan (there's no rush for this one, i've been told)
Finish Buttony!
Finishing for toddler jersey (neckline & seaming)

Maybe then we can return to our normal broadcasting! Unpacking some more stuff yesterday I came across a large black plastic bag of all my project bags - patterns that have been matched with yarn, just waiting for me to come along with the needles... Another reminder that I won't be buying more yarn again in a hurry.

~Happy knitting!~

Fun FOs

2009-06-12T14:41:00.009+12:00

Just playing a little catch-up here with some FOs that you haven't seen before, and some you have, but this is a different view... read on, you'll see!

Ok first, I need to introduce you to Fireman Sam. He's been finished for a while, but since he was snaffled away so quickly, I forgot about him meeting you before he left!

(Click to see it big) Playing 'oops'; Time for dinner; Movies and chocolate

I believe he enjoyed his recent trip to Australia, and is soon off to the States!

Another recent FO is my awesome cowl:

I brought one ball of yarn at Easter and knit this up in a few hours - sadly it wasn't long enough to make the scarf I wanted, but i've worn it nearly every day since! Its nice on its own in the office, and super snuggly under my winter coat.

And now, my favourite part. You'll remember a while ago I made a garter yoke cardi with little matching beanie for a friend's baby. Well - I present to you Noah wearing my gift!

Isn't he gorgeous!

~Happy knitting!~

Monday Meal Madness, and new books!

2009-06-11T15:25:00.005+12:00

The end of an era - we had our last Monday Meal Madness this week. Bec is off on her big trip in a couple of weeks, and Shorty is off to Oz before that. We decided to try a cheap new Thai place for our last time out - A-Roy Thai Restaurant in Cuba Mall - and it was great! I'd been there a few days before and had my standard chicken satay skewers (and they were fab, definately makes my top 10 for Wellington satay! Shorty had them this time) so I tried something different this time around, chicken and mushroom with rice. Bec had the chicken cashew which was tasty too.

Overall highly recommended if you want something quick and tasty with great prices! I believe they do takeaway too, must try that one night. (And for dessert, of course, we ended up back at BK again for their chocolate pie. A good end to a good night.)

I promised I would do another book reivew soon, and I have good news! While we were still in town and waiting for a ride home we popped into Arty Bees Books for a look around (by far the greatest second-hand book store in Wellington!) and I picked up some new books to read:

A real mix - Pride & Prejudice, 7th Heaven, Les Miserables, and Violets are Blue. I've started reading P&P in my spare time, and so far i'm finding Mr Bennet has a most agreeable sense of humor! I can see why people enjoy Jane Austen :) So look forward to my review on that one in a few weeks. Not sure what to read next though, perhaps Violets are Blue? The size of Les Miserables is putting me off a little, although I was inspired to buy after watching my old high school perform it as their latest production - its been years since I first saw it, but they did a brilliant job!

Up next: some more FO pictures!

~Happy knitting!~

Belated FO #10 and a photo gallery!

2009-06-08T10:58:00.005+12:00

I took a photo at a work meeting the other day of our members (its to be put up on our website) and when I was uploading the photo today I realised that there were heaps of other photos I haven't uploaded!

So, I give you a belated FO post - my mothers day present (yes, its been that long!):

I haven't seen it used so far, but i'm sure its somewhere being treasured :) I think if I was to do another one of these I would (get the right cotton to start with, so it wasn't so stiff! and...) do the image in a different colour, so it stands out more. Maybe its just the cotton I used, but its hard to see the design. Oh well, it was a good learning curve and as always, a great pattern from KrisKnits! My only change was to make it mUm rather than mOm.

Here's a gallery of the other photos on my camera - just some goings-on in my life over the past month:

Row 1: Bec baking (they were yummy melting-moment cookies that she stuck together with melted chocolate, they were amazing!); Mum catching some z's at the airport while waiting for the shuttle (they had just come back from my great-uncle's funeral in Melbourne); enjoying a Krispie Kreme glazed donut!! (you can't get them here, so I have a special standing order whenever someone comes back from Oz!)

Row 2: Cobber pretending he's a bunny rabbit; taking a break from packing and sorting out clothes; Dad and I after the Noise conference (a worship led by Henry Seely of Planetshakers Church in Melbourne, aimed at worship leaders - it was really good)

Row 3: The sunrise from my office window (catching the train to work gets me there really early!); Dad showing off his jelly-slurping technique at the chinese restaurant (mine needs a little work...); hoodies and pj bottoms seemed the order of the day!

Row 4: Enjoying my newly set-up bedroom; my baking skills (they were little lemon tea cakes - very tasty, and only took about half an hour in total!); Dad and I discussing the option of getting a Wii from the EB sale to replace our PS2 while waiting to meet Bec for lunch (well, I was trying to convince Dad anyway, I don't think it worked...)

So there you go - a little catch-up from me.

As for knitting, i'm still working on a bag to go with my other projects for my friend's craft roadshow next month, which will also end up on my website, so once that's done I can get back to Buttony.

~Happy knitting!~

PS - I'd really love to do a book review again sometime soon, but I haven't read anything since finishing the Twilight series (i'm catching up on podcasts again) and all my books are still boxed up in the garage! But watch this space for something soon.

What's in a name?

2009-05-20T11:36:00.007+12:00

I'm up to the 9th button hole on the Buttony sweater, but i've put it down for the moment, not only because i'm moving out of my flat this weekend (finally - that's another long story!), but because i'm also making up some new stuff. A friend of mine from work makes candles and quilts, and is going on a roadtrip tour around the North Island in July to try and sell them to different places - and she's asked if I want to make some knitted things to go with it! Of course I said yes :)

But that meant coming up with a name to sell under. You may remember a while ago I asked for suggestions, thinking that Monarch Knits sounded good to me, and you agreed. I changed my mind though, now that i'm sewing and wouldn't only be selling knitting, and decided on Monarch Creations. Unfortunately, my mum was in Melbourne last week and brought back a present - and its brand was Monarch Creations! So there went that idea. We were pondering changing it to MonArk Creations, or something similar - mum's obsessed with Noah's Ark - but that still didn't sit right with me. I decided that I don't really like the look of monarch butterflies anyway - orange isn't my colour, I prefer blue.

So I googled 'butterfly species' and it came up with a couple of suggestions - I was going to go with Ulysses, because I love their colour. That was until I came across the Summer Azure Butterfly. The original picture I saw showed them in an even-more-gorgeous pale blue colour, so that settled it. THEN I saw the genus name for them - Celastrina neglecta. See that? CelasTRINA. That's me! (Ok, its pronounced 'sell-us-TRY-nah', but still!) And so a store name was born. All it took then was an email to my clever sister, who came up with this logo for me*, to which I added my own image:

"Ok, who did you have to bribe to get a butterfly named after you!!"

- Mum

I'm glad its all coming together. Now all I have to do is start making stuff to sell! I have a few ideas, but it will mean that things will probably be quiet on here until I have it all done. But don't worry, you'll be the first to know when things are up and running!

~Happy Knitting!~

*she also noted that the font used for Celastrina is 'Edwardian' - to fit my Twilight obsession!!

Blogoversary!

2009-05-14T11:17:00.004+12:00

My blog button tells me its my 'blogoversary' today - one year ago I started my first post!

Its been a good year - there's been ups, downs, and funny moments along the way. A big thanks to Cindy and Ali for having babies, which lead to my knitting obsession (family - you can blame them!!), which lead to starting a blog!

And a big thanks to those who've been reading over the year :)

~Happy knitting!~

Motivation

2009-05-14T10:58:00.005+12:00

Progress on Buttony is coming along slowly... i've been busy the last couple of lunchtimes so I haven't worked on it that much (and nights have been busy sewing ribbons onto a dress for B!), and to be honest, i'm at that point in the project where is SO slow that i'm close to giving up! What a waste of effort that would be, especially as i'm not far off finishing the body!

So, for motivation, I was looking at my Ravelry queue to see what i've got coming up:

(Click on the link above to get to the patterns)

This queue has changed alot recently - I was hit by the reality that i'm REALLY never going to get around to knitting everything, so i've been adding to my favourites more than my queue. The order changes often as well, as I come across new project to knit as presents! At least there are some projects on there that I can work on simultaneously - the hat at the same time as the B.O.B jersey, and Clapotis at the same time as CPH - to keep up the interest! I'm also likely to work on Thermal at the same time as Wicked, in hopes that the boring stockinette of Wicked will balance the intense pattern of Thermal.

Just need to get through Buttony now... Wish me luck!

~Happy knitting!~

Book worm

2009-05-08T11:47:00.006+12:00

I'm sorry i've been quiet on the blog front recently... i've been doing little knitting, but much reading! As of last week, I have officially completed the Twilight Saga :) I started reading book one at Easter, and have found all four of them hard to put down! What to do now though, that i've finished? Start again! Well, i'm going to have a break, I have other books to read for other people, but I definately plan to get back to them soon. In the meantime, i'll keep watching the movie and wait for movie two to come out at the end of the year.

Knitting update

Amongst the reading I have managed to sneak in some knitting - mostly when i'm at my parents house where I can't read while watching tv!

First project was to make a square for UNICEF - they were aiming to collect 1,400 squares to make into a large blanket to present to parliament, to represent children in need - turns out they got over 3,000! This was my little contribution, a good way to practise my weak crochet skills: (Rav link)

Next on the list was a cowl, using the Cleckheaton Vintage Hues yarn I brought at easter. (Sorry, no photo yet, hopefully tonight!) My plan was to knit a scarf on huge needles to make it stretch and look lacy, and just keep knitting until I ran out of yarn. Sadly I ran out much sooner than I thought, so it turned into a squishy cowl instead!

On top of all that, I knitted up a mothers day present from this pattern. (My photo to come) Nice easy knit, although I changed the chart to say mUm rather than mOm. Finished just in time, 11pm on Saturday night to be precise, so it was still wet from blocking when I gave it to her, but I don't think she minded. I'm looking forward to knitting some more of KrisKnit's dishcloths in the future, she has some fantastic patterns!

Progress on Buttony continues - the sleeves are seperated, and I added some waist shaping today. I'm worried that the sleeves may be a little big, but i'm assured that's a good thing since i'll be able to wear layers underneath as well. Time will tell... Anyway, here's the latest progress picture - just after i'd seperated the sleeves:

In sewing news, I got a new book today - 'A is for Apron'! Its got a whole lot of awesome vintage-looking patterns that I can't wait to try! And guess what - it's available here on Amazon.com if you're interested! (Just realised - lots of exclamation marks - can you tell i'm excited??)

~Happy Knitting!~

8 things meme

2009-05-01T10:23:00.004+12:00

Here's how to do this 8 THINGS thing:
Mention the person that tagged you (that would be Rich). Complete the lists of 8's. Tag 8 of your wonderful bloggy friends. Go tell them you tagged them!

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO

Disneyworld in Florida
New York!
Parachute 2010
The weekend :)
Reading the last Twilight books
Next year...
Finding my Edward (one day!)
Making the new bag I designed yesterday

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY (in no particular order)

Played table tennis and pool at youth group
Watched Twilight, again, for the 4th time this week...
Had a glass of wine
Took minutes in board meetings all day :(
Seperated off the arms on my Buttony top
Drank copious amounts of tea
Met two new people
Got saturated standing in the rain!

8 THINGS I WISH I COULD DO

Read minds :)
Focus on the task at hand/stop procrastinating
Read more classical books
Speak my mind
Fair Isle/Intarsia
Play the piano
Speak a different language
Do a cartwheel

8 SHOWS I WATCH

Shortland Street
Friends
Chuck
Desperate Housewives
Grey's Anatomy
American Idol
Lost
October Road

8 BLOGGERS TAGGED

Come back and let me know when you've put up your reply :)

Featured blog!

2009-04-25T11:10:00.004+12:00

I just heard that my blog is featured over at Pattern-Knit! How exciting!!

I'm loving this new website - the beginner tutorials are really good, they have a big range of links to knitting patterns, and the stitch library is amazing!! I'm sure to be making some swatches from there soon.

Head on over and check it out :)

pattern-knit.com

(Hello and welcome if you've come here through there!)

Note: My blog picture was taken by Eclipse Photographic at my sisters graduation. Have a look at his portfolio.

Monday Meal Madness - Oaks Satay Noodle House

2009-04-21T13:43:00.003+12:00

The new tradition continues - last night we went to Oaks Satay Noodle House on Cuba St last night for dinner.

The aim was to find somewhere quick and cheap to eat, and it certainly was! Our meals were delivered within 10 minutes of us sitting down, and mains were around $10 each. My chicken satay kebabs were certainly tasty, although the rice wasn't that hot, and the chicken was a bit stringy - you get what you pay for, so I can't really complain, but it has been nicer in the past. Here's hoping it was just an off day for the cooks...

Because we had sweet tooths (and Oaks don't have desserts) we popped across the road to Burger King for some chocolate pie :) A nice way to end the night!

Blog update

2009-04-20T14:04:00.002+12:00

Just a quick note to tell you a couple of things that have changed on my blog.

I've changed the comments section, so that now anybody can leave a comment, regardless of whether you have a blog or not. (That's for you, Aunty G!)

Also, i've got a new email address - ballatrina(at)hotmail(dot)com - so if you'd like to contact me directly about something, you can use that.

~Happy knitting!~

Do Re Mi dance

2009-04-20T11:42:00.002+12:00

This is amazing!!!! Share it around!!

2009: FO #9

2009-04-20T11:03:00.006+12:00

Ok, this isn't knitting, but its still an FO for 2009!

Flower Power apron

This is made from an old teatowel from the Family Store, and an old pillow case cut and sewn up for the ties. Its not adjustable, but it fits me fine. I see more of these in my future...

Coming up...

A book review on The Contest, Monday Meal Madness restaurant review, and FO pictures of Fireman Sam - I managed to sew his hat on this weekend, so all that's left now is to embroider his face and finish his belt buckle and buttons.

~Happy knitting!~

2009: FO #7 and #8

2009-04-16T12:15:00.005+12:00

I thought I better stick with my system and officially note these...

Easter Chicks (free pattern)

SUCH an easy pattern! I used some cheapy 4ply yarn I brought off TradeMe about a year ago (which I used doubled) and just picked up the nearest needles I could find - I think they were 3.5mm. They took around three hours of solid knitting, and I guess another hour or so for the finishing - it's more fiddly than it looks! The only mod I made was to not add the wings, purely because I couldn't be bothered, and I changed the 'hair' - instead of adding loops I trimmed the cast on/off edges to look like little spikes. Cute!

Black beanie

Pattern: Hot Head by Alex Zorn (Ravelry link)
from Stitch 'n Bitch book by Debbie Stoller

Again, another easy pattern - I started in the car on the way up to the beach on Friday afternoon and was finished by that night. I knew it was going to be cold and I wanted something warm and snuggly! I used Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky in black with 6.5mm needles. I didn't make any alterations to the pattern, other than just doing plain black without the stripes. It only used about half the skein.

~Happy Knitting!~

Easter Holidays

2009-04-15T14:17:00.006+12:00

Back from holidays, and already i'm looking forward to the weekend!

It was nice to have some time away though, it was reasonably cold up at the beach, but we still enjoyed it. I won't go into great detail about what we did, but here are a few of my favourite photos from the trip. The whole lot are here if you're interested.