2008 Projects

2008 Projects, originally uploaded by Ballatrina2008.

Here is a visual collage of all my knitted projects from 2008!

There she goes again

Ok, random title I know, but I couldn't think of anything, and this song is on the radio! However, it fits quite well with what's going on with me at the moment, but more on that in a bit.

First, some pics of mum's new hat!














She's worn it everywhere ever since I gave it to her I think, which is nice :) I'm just jealous because it fits better than mine - which has stretched and now just blows off my head at the suggestion of a breeze! I just need to get some elastic to fix it.

I also finally started on my Sassy; here's my progress so far:
I've actually done heaps more than this since this photo was taken - i'm just about up to seperating for the sleeves now (about 6in from cast on). Its coming along well, although the colour isn't quite what I expected it to be, its still nice, and its not splitting as much as when I first cast on, which is good!

My queue on Ravelry is still growing, although I think i've got it quite well managed now. I'm also starting to look at Christmas presents for the fam too, which i'll need to start work on soon. I really want to get into some charity knitting too, and I guess that won't take too long, I might do a couple of little hats once i've finished Sassy and send them off quickly. I also rearranged my stash a bit more last night, it now fits in one big bag, with the exception of the other stuff that's in a plastic crate under my table - I had no idea that the pile was so big! Thank you TradeMe!!

Anyway, back to what else is going on - i'm currently flat hunting. I got a letter from my landlord saying that his dad was unwell and they needed to move him into my cottage, so I have to find somewhere else to go. Its such a shame, I really love my little house, i've been there almost two years now! But now, I have to start finding boxes and packing everything up, which is a long process. I suppose its a good excuse to reorganise stuff and get rid of lots of junk, so as long as I keep thinking like that i'll be fine :) More updates later.

On autopilot...

Friday night: Work social at The Lanes, followed by movies and tennis on tv.

Saturday night: Movie at mum and dads, then attack from the storm.

Sunday night: Impact Live, youth service at church.

Monday night: Season finale of Bones, again at mum and dads.

Tuesday night: Knitting group at the Bristol.

I'm looking forward to an EARLY night tonight, i'm definately running on autopilot today! Ok, so they were (mostly) all self-inflicted, but I still deserve to get a decent nights' sleep!

The knitting group last night was interesting, I went down a little after 7 so I wouldn't be the first to arrive, only to find that it was quiz night, so it took a while to find a chair! I finished off mum's cable cap, which I started on Saturday afternoon, and finally started on Sassymetrical. The ladies there were really nice, and there were a couple there that were just learning, so that was fun. Sadly our team didn't win the quiz, but we got the knitting questions right! It was good to see what everyone was working on too - there were socks, scarfs, jerseys, and even a doggie jumper that would be donated to the SPCA! What a fantastic idea!

The quiz finished about 10.15, which meant I missed the 10pm bus and had to wait until 11pm. "You just need to appreciate how attractive I really am!" These are the things you hear while waiting for said bus... its certainly a very interesting time of night to be hanging around in town!

Sadly I haven't got any decent photos of the finished cap, but i'm hoping I can get some when mum comes to pick it up, so stay posted! Also, I'm not sure what i've got myself into with this Sassymetrical, i'm just working on the moss stitch border - 8ply wool on 4mm needles, 137 stitches, it took just over two hours to do four rows! It was nice to see it starting to grow though.

Better get back to autopilot...

Social weekend

Bec left on Wednesday, and already its really quiet! M&D are also away this weekend, so instead of pouting on my own (although i'd probably get a ton of knitting done that way!), i'm going out with S tonight for drinks and a catch up, and H tomorrow night to see Sex and the City, and enjoying a quiet night on Sunday since the final of Greys and Men in Trees is on! So there, I do have a life :P

Knitting-wise though, I have another baby to knit for, so i'm making the Presto Chango sweater - its such an easy pattern so far, although a few holes have appeared at the end of the moss stitch on the back, but no-one but me is going to notice... It appears I have developed a slight case of insomnia lately, so I didn't put my knitting down until about 11.30 last night, since I figured I had to try and get some sleep if I was going to make it through a day at work AND my outting tonight!

I ordered my wool online today for Sassymetrical , which i'm so excited about making - the wool has to come from Canada though so it may take a while to arrive :( I'm going down to the local to get the wool for this Shrug which i've been planning to work on for a while - it was the first thing on my Ravelry queue! I've also been asked to make another Cabled Cap for mum, but that shouldn't take to long to whip up, since I know what i'm doing now. All that being said, i've put the baby kimono into hibernation for the moment, in hopes that i'll be inspired to work on it again soon! I'd planned it to be a Christmas present, so i'm not in any real rush.

QUOTATION OF THE DAY from the New York Times:
"Plants have a secret social life."
Susan A Dudley, an evolutionary plant ecologist at McMaster University, who found that a plant species can recognize its relatives...

Another one bites the dust!

I'm definately building up my knitting confidence now :) I finished my cabled cap on Wednesday night! Or rather, the wee hours of Thursday morning.... I thought at about 6pm, 'ok, i'll just finish the three cable pattern repeats, then i'll go to bed.' Then, 'ok, there's only a few rows of decreases, i'll just do those, then i'll go to bed.' Then, 'ok, i'm about to change to DPNs to do the final decreases, that won't take too long, I might as well finish it now, then i'll go to bed.' Then, 'ok, i've come this far with only the brim to go, i'm going to finish the whole thing, THEN i'll go to bed!' By this time it was about 12.30am! Once i'd finished with the obligatory photos, I got into bed about 1am, leading to a nice strong coffee at work the next morning to get me through the day :) I've received lots of compliments about it already, work people are very impressed, as are some of the girls in my youth group!
Here's how it turned out:

Please note that i'm not pasty and gaunt-looking like this in RL, I just had to lighten the photo so you could see the hat!


Baby projects on hold for the moment, i'm up to that painful stage of the kimono where you have lots of m1's, and i'm all about the instant gratification projects at the moment! I'm working on a secret present for my friend 'S', which I don't think will take too long because the wool is so chunky, but its good practise with my DPNs.

Anyway, the good thing about long weekends is that it then leads to short weeks - I can't believe its Friday again already! Looking forward to seeing the new Indiana movie on Sunday night with the fam, probably our last fam thing before Bec heads overseas. Which reminds me, I must change my dentist appointment so I can see her off at the airport!

Long weekend over :(

Back at work today... it was nice to have a long weekend though :) And that means its a short week! I spent most of the weekend up at Mum and Dad's, watching Bec sorting through her clothes for washing and such. She leaves in two weeks; its going to be quiet up there without her...

My knitting project for the long weekend was the Newsboy Cabled Hat. I cast on about Saturday lunchtime (after giving up with the mittens I had planned - I think the yarn I had was just too chunk on the DPNs, i'll try with some different stuff another time!) and managed to get the hang of cables ok and worked through the pattern reasonably well. Cast off last night just before Mum left for the airport, only to find that it was too big! I must have done an extra repeat when I should have, as no one else on Ravelry seemed to make any comment about the pattern being wrong - it must just be me! I frogged it shortly after that and will have another go tonight; at least I know what i'm doing now :)

In other news - Andrew Jason Lake, 8lb, was born on Sunday morning at 6am! He's gorgeous :) Mum and baby doing well, although labour lasted 24 hours! Must alter the wee vest I made him - it was that peachy colour, which isn't very masculine, but i'll come up with something to 'man it up' a bit...

Audrey knits!

I've been a big Audrey Hepburn fan since I saw My Fair Lady when I was young, and now I love Breakfast at Tiffany's, and I have Roman Holiday in my queue of movies to watch.
Check this out:

She knits in RL too! How exciting! I now love her even more!

In other news - this was the view from my house yesterday morning when I was getting ready for work... It was really erie, walking out into the fog! I haven't seen it like this for a long time. It was freezing cold too :(

I ordered the One Skein Wonders book and and the Stitch N Bitch Nation book off Amazon last week and they both arrived yesterday - guess what i'll be doing this long weekend! I've had my eye on doing this cabled hat for a while (which is why i bought the SNBN book!) so I can get started on that finally; also this lovely pair of fingerless mittens from the yarn I have left over from Bec's hat. Baby stuff will just have to go into hibernation for a while - its cold, and I need stuff to keep me warm! The cabled hat will be my first ever cabling project, and my first time knitting on DPNs too, so i'm kinda nervous, but Mum has promised to help me if I help her with her Publisher project in return :)

Yay it's 4.30pm on the Friday afternoon before a long weekend! God save the Queen :)