Let's talk: Christmas presents!

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.

Needle storage

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!~

Win yourself some Ugg Boots!!

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.

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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!~

More than a ball of yarn

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.

The magic of Disney :)

More Ballatrina in the web world!

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!~

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Blogoversary!

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!~

8 things meme

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

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

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY (in no particular order)

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

8 THINGS I WISH I COULD DO

1. Read minds :)
2. Focus on the task at hand/stop procrastinating
3. Read more classical books
4. Speak my mind
5. Fair Isle/Intarsia
6. Play the piano
7. Speak a different language
8. Do a cartwheel

8 SHOWS I WATCH

1. Shortland Street
2. Friends
3. Chuck
4. Desperate Housewives
5. Grey's Anatomy
6. American Idol
7. Lost
8. October Road

8 BLOGGERS TAGGED

1. Catherine
2. Karen
3. Sarah
4. Stephanie
5. Susan
6. Apron Boy
7. Knitaholic
8. ChelleC

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

Featured blog!

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!)

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

Do Re Mi dance

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

Payin' it forward!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully: (As seen on The Velvet Cerebellum)

1. What I create will be just for you, with love from me.
2. It'll be done this year (2009).
3. I will not give you any clue what it's going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber, and may be weird or wonderful.
4. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange...or awesome!
5. In return, all you need to do is post this text into a note/post of your own and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to it.
6. Send your mailing address to kattanic (at) hotmail (dot) com

IMPORTANT: This offer is null and void if I do not see you post your own note to pay this forward!

A great way to share the love and find some new blogs to read :)

The knitting code

I studied web design for about a year, before waking up one morning and realising that I wanted to do something other than sitting in front of a computer for the rest of my working life. Selfish, I know - a job like that is for some people, just not for me. However, I still remember a fair amount of code from all the study I had to do, so it still catches my ear when I hear someone talking about it.

That's why this morning, listening to episode 73 of Cast-On on the train, I was intrigued to hear about KnitML - a coding language being developed to assist with knitting patterns! The aim is for designers to use KEL (Knitting Expression Language) to write a standard pattern in KnitML, which can then be not only translated into different languages and measurement systems, but also allow people to only find information relating to their size, and easily sub in other yarns and needles. What a brilliant idea! "KnitML was based on Laura Porter's vision to create a standard markup language for knitting patterns. She had noticed that patterns tended to be written using non-standard styles and abbreviations, so it was often difficult to convey meaning universally." (from the website) Jonathan Whitall was joking about it one day with his collegues, and is now looking at it seriously!

If you're interested, have a look at their website (complete with sample patterns) - and there's even a Ravelry group!

(Think all this code talk is too much for you? Take a look at the pattern you're working on. Do you know what 'ssk' is? Or 'k2tog'? Or 'YO'? Then you know some knitting code already!)

Knitting news

I'm still going on Buttony, although i'm no further along than the last time I talked about it. Why? About 4 inches into the increases I took a serious look at it to figure out how it was going to work, only to realise that i'd missed out a whole set of increases! So, I ripped back the whole thing and started again. I didn't mind so much, because that allowed me to cast on 90st instead of the 82 I had originally, which was looking a little small. I'm happier with it now :)

Random...

Martha Stewart is on Twitter!

~Happy Knitting!~

Knit Purl Girl giveaway!

Just popping in to tell you about an awesome contest going on over at Knit Purl Gurl's blog - Kathy Elkins from WEBS is sponsoring a competition, and you could win this AWESOME prize!!!


Head on over to Knit Purl Gurl's blog to check out the rules of entry. And take a look at the WEBS online store if you can't make it there in person - i've shopped online with them (for the yarn for a Buttony Sweater) and I can recommend them! I've just started listening to their podcast too, and its really good - I drool a little every time I hear about all the new yarn they're getting in!

Good luck with the competition!

~Happy knitting!~

Today's letter is the letter H

This is my first meme, thanks to the lovely Karen :) Comment and I'll give you a letter, and you get to write a list of ten things too.

Ten things I like that start with the letter H:

1. Honey - the best thing to have on toast when i'm hungry in the morning. I used to have it on bread with 100s & 1000s at my aunty's house every time I visited!
2. Heat - Summer is my favourite season!
3. Hot chocolates - I love these at night just before going to bed, although it has to be Cadburys, not Milo
4. Hoodies - my favourite comfort clothing, although I almost never wear the actual hood...
5. Herbs - I add herbs to every meal that I can, its not the same without it
6. Holidays - yay for holidays! Family time, and no work!
7. Home - there's no place like home :)
8. Hugs - hugs are great! I can never get enough!
9. Healthy eating - something that is usually seasonal for me, but I try...
10. Hershey's cookies & cream - only the best chocolate there is!

Knitting update

I'm still going on the cardi - i'll be finishing the first sleeve at lunch time today (i've just gone through that phase where you measure it, then knit, then measure it again, and it doesn't get any longer! Agonising!) so then I can start on the second sleeve. I bought some matching buttons yesterday so i'm very close to finishing! Ravelry tells me I started this in December - I know i've had lots of holiday-ing between then and now, but I still can't believe its taken this long! Photos will come once i've sorted out my camera issues...

And thanks to Karen and Susan for your nice comments about the Fearless Knitting badge :)

Shop name

My sister has a web shop where she's been selling all her art work, and she suggested that I should get one so I could eventually start selling some of my knitting. We've been trying to think up some names, and the one that's sticking so far is Monarch Knits. My initial thought was that, in the instance that I started sewing things to sell too, I couldn't do it under the same name, but i'm over that now - and B suggested that I make little knitted tags to go with it, which would cover that problem! So, I'm asking the blog: what do you think? Any other suggestions? Or do we like Monarch Knits?

~ Happy knitting! ~

Fearless knitting

Reading around the knitting community, I can see that Fearless Knitting has been a big thing for 2008. I know we are already well into 2009, but it was interesting to look back over my work for the last year and discover whether or not I was a fearless knitter. I think its fair to say that yes, I was - since I really only got back into knitting last April! But here's a little list of what I conquered (in no order):

• Picking up and knitting stitches - for the sleeves on the baby vests
• Cables on my cabled cap
• Working circular needles! This was my big one, it took so long to figure out how it worked!
• Working a heel in flat knitting - for the mini christmas stockings
• Creating a button band - for the Presto Chango
• Magic loop method - for the sleeves on the Sassy cardigan
• Kitchener stitch - for the hood of the Wallaby sweater (wrong the first time, but right the second time!)

I think that's a good effort for just one year of knitting! I have therefore awarded myself this badge, courtesy of Knitting Daily:

Goals for 2009 include working more with lace, perhaps trying fair isle and more colourwork, knitting my first pair of real socks that I can wear, and finishing at least one project per month from my stash, so i'm not left with a huge pile of WIPs!

Were you a fearless knitter in 2008? What are your goals for 2009?