Phases

Do you go through different phases with your knitting? Or whatever craft(s) you like to do?

After a few years of knitting it's becoming apparent to me that I do. For a while it was socks. I couldn't get enough of knitting socks. I even started this year out (again!) with my stash-sock-club, and I did well with that until my new phase started to take over...

Next it was scarves and cowls. Particularly cowls. I think this was fueled by the super-bulky and extremely lovely Head, Heart & Hands range. Of course I nabbed some of this when it first came out and then wondered what on earth I'd do with one skein of super-bulky yarn! Scarves and cowls it was! I couldn't get enough of them. Strangely so, considering scarves were never really something I wore and not something I really wanted to knit because I perceive them to be generally boring. Not so when they're done in chunky yarn! And they've come in extremely handy when I'm standing at the bus stop at 7.45am and it's only 5 degrees!

But now I can feel a new phase coming on... this time it's cardigans. I can't get enough of looking at them on Rav and queueing them or favouriting them. I've even finally cast one on for myself!

Hopefully I can finish it before the next phase starts. Socks are looking good again.

Planning

Do you plan your days/lives at all? Even just a little?

I try to. We menu plan and I've also tried out a few purchased things to help me keep things in order and running smoothly. I have finally decided though, that good old Microsoft Outlook works well for making sure that appointments and deadlines are noted and easily seen. I just put everything into the calender, print out the month and put it up on the magnetic board. Anything that comes up can be written in and we (hopefully!) don't miss or forget anything.

That is as long as I remember to check it. But it is up there and it means that I don't necessarily have to have all the information in my head. Anyone else in the family can look at it and see what's going on too. At least that is my theory.

Recently though, things have gone a bit pear-shaped. I've lost my focus and I'm starting to do things on the fly again, rather than plan it out and stay on top of things. One of the big problems I'm finding is fitting in homework with everything else. We now have two children at school and we also changed to a new school at the beginning of the year. Not only do we now have two lots of homework to supervise each night, but the level and commitment expected at this new school is much higher than we've previously been exposed to. Add to that a 3-yo who is the Queen of Tantrums (especially in the afternoon when I'm not paying as much attention to her!) and things get kind of crazy around here. Just tonight we've been doing a last minute project due tomorrow which I completely forgot about and of course the 8-yo has not been proactive about. Of course most of this falls to me to supervise because I'm at home with the children most afternoons. It's draining to say the least!

So I've been reading Planning With Kids. I now feel even more disorganised than I already did! I don't know that I want or need to be as structured as their family is, but there are certainly some tools available which might help me get things back on track here. This page has lots of things that I'm interested in giving a go. I certainly need help with making sure our afternoons run smoothly and it's definitely time to get the kids doing some regular household chores.

My biggest problems really are that I don't seem to be able to sustain any long-term organisation. I find myself giving myself a break (and knitting when I really shouldn't be, or procrastinating on the computer) when I think I'm on top of things, and then within a few days we're back to chaos, and forgotten homework, and the big one - what on earth will I make for dinner?!? I love getting organised, it's just staying organised that I have a problem with!

So this weekend I'm planning to plan! As long as someone remembers to get new printer cartridges so I can print all my plans out. I should put that on the calender.

Milo Madness

There was a Milo KAL over on Ravelry during May. Of course I completely abandoned all my other knitting projects to take part in this event.

It was a lot of fun seeing all the different Milos popping up on Tikki's Ravelry group. The Milo would be one of my favourite kids patterns. It's so adaptable and suits girls and boys. Plus it knits up really quickly, which is always a bonus with growing (and fickle!) children!

I managed to churn 3 out during the month.



I charted the cupcakes and the hearts myself with the help of some online knitting graph paper. It was a lot of fun making them up and then tweaking them to get them to fit.

Fortunately Miss F has deigned to wear them all and even wore all three in one day! I'd call that a completely success! There's plenty more KAL Milos to be seen on Rav, so go check them out if you're already a member there.

Passive-Aggressive Much?

I got some beautiful hand-made Mother's Day cards from my boys this year.

Inside the one from L were these lovely sentiments...

Hmmm... good candidate for PassiveAggressiveNotes.com ?

He did clarify, after I asked, that my "complaining" relates to them not doing what I ask them to do, for example, cleaning up after themselves, tidying their room etc, so it's not really about me just complaining A LOT. Still.

And I like how he wrote I cook "food". Not "great food" or even "good food". Just "food".

This card is definitely a keeper.

Easter

These little guys have been popping up on Ravelry and they are so cute I just couldn't resist making some!

My plan was to hang them on the "tree" with the other Easter decorations I picked up recently. The "tree" is actually just some branches with lights on them.

They make a nice decoration in the room and at Christmas it occurred to me that I could hang some baubles on them and it might look good. It did! So when I found some sparkly Easter egg decorations in Spotlight I brought them home and decorated the tree for Easter.

These little guys lasted on the tree for about 5 minutes before Miss F figured out a way to get them down and spent the rest of the night running around with her chick-chicks. I think I'll let her have them for Easter. She can really do without all the chocolate.

I used WOOLganic 8ply for all of them and they were really quick to whip up. I did two in a couple of hours and one more later that night. They still need some feet, but for now they are ok and looking really cute.

Socks

I'm obsessed with them at the moment.

So far I've turned this


into these.



And I've cast on (and ripped out) another two pairs.

I've decided that I need to challenge myself a bit more now though, so I'm itching to cast on one of these patterns also - bmp and Vellamo

I'll probably go with Vellamo.

I've got some variegated sock yarn that I just can't find a good pattern for (hence the ripping out!) so I'm thinking it might look good broken up with some black.

I'm not sure I'll have a finished pair of socks by the end of March, but I'm trying!

Janaury

Hello Blogger my old friend...

ok, I won't inflict any Simon & Garfunkel on you, but I will give you a run-down of January. And yes, I know February is half over already.

During January there were socks...

Leyburn socks.

This is one pair.
Fun pattern and great for variegated yarn.

There's another half-pair of a different pattern (one lone sock) which is going to the frog pond soon.


There were child-sized shrugs...

Never Not Knitting's Chloe.

Not quite finished, just needs buttons and loops.
Miss F is not bothered about the lack of these and is wearing it anyway.


And Cowls...

Dew Drop Cowl

This was from a Ruby & Sage club slot, and I actually started it right after receiving the yarn.
Halfway through I discovered I'd twisted my stitches and that was the end of that for a while!
Just needs blocking now and it's done.

A Noble Cowl

This is one of those patterns that has survived many Ravelry queue culls since I joined up.
It would easily be my most favourite knit for a long while. The yarn is madelinetosh DK and it's just beautiful. Now we just need some cold weather so I can wear it!


February might not be as productive for me though.

I do have these on the needles...

Whisper Lace Socks

I've been a bit addicted to these. The lace pattern and the colourway are both so pretty and I haven't been able to put them down. Unfotunately this means sore hands, so I'm taking an enforced break from them and the other WIP I have on the go.

Both the boys are now at school also, so things have become a bit busier around here. More homework to supervise plus a new school with a longer commute. The upside is I only have one child at home with me, but without a brother around to play with her or distract her when I need it, it's actually a bit more demanding than having two at home. She even tells me to stop knitting these days if it's not a convenient time for her to have me doing that!

Hopefully I'll also have some sewing to show off next time. Fabric is all cut, I just need to find the time to sew it together.

Books

I used to read a lot pre-kids. Until recently though I don't think I've read a novel in about 5 years. Sometimes I just don't have the patience for it. Sometimes there are just too many distractions around here for reading - I certainly can't sit down with the kids around and quietly read a book! And with little ones that for a while didn't sleep through the night, picking up a book often put me to sleep!

Somewhat ambitiously though, I bought Eat Pray Love to read on our overseas holiday. I thought I might get an opportunity to read on the plane - that didn't happen, but I did find other times to get through it while we were away. With nothing else "new" available to read when I was finished with that, I picked up Pride & Prejudice which I've had sitting around for years. I hadn't actually read this one before, but I am a great fan of the story and of course of the BBC mini-series. I'd tried to read the book many times in the past, but for some reason couldn't get a rythmn going with it so never got very far. Maybe it was being able to picture Colin Firth's Mr Darcy that helped this time?! Not sure, but I flew through it and then hit the Book Depository for more reading material.

And now that I'm riding the bus for nearly 2 hours each week, I've decided I can use that time to really pick the habit up again.


So far I've read all but one of the above books in the last 3 months. I'm currently on The Book Thief, which is turning out to be quite intriguing. It's a lot longer than the others so it might take me a while to get through with only 2 hours a week to devote to it! If you haven't read The Lovely Bones, then I recommend you do, but have your tissues handy! I couldn't put that one down.

I do try to read a bit at home these days too. Now that the kids are getting a bit older and less dependent on me, it's easier to feel less guilty about taking some time out for me. Although it can be a bit difficult trying to read with a 2yo climbing on and off your lap! There was even a lovely moment last weekend where L and I were both lying on the couch together and reading our respective books, undisturbed. Bliss.

I did get another book that I wanted for Christmas too. Not a novel:


Even the kids are interested in this one! I know a lot of this is on the Bakerella blog, but the book is so cute and I needed a suggestion for DH for a Christmas present. I probably wouldn't have gone and bought this for myself, so a perfect opportunity to get my hands on it!

And I treated myself to something knitted related too:


I thought it was about time I learned how to do this so I can avoid Second-Sock-Syndrome in the future. I'm yet to give it a try, but I'm planning a DIY Sock Club for this year with the sock yarn I've accummulated, so hopefully this book will help me plough through those less painfully and with 12 PAIRS of socks to show for it! My only disappointment with this book is that the socks pictured on the front don't appear in the patterns in the book.

Do you like to read? Do you have any recommendations for me?

Bye bye, 2010

I achieved my goal of finishing my two WIPs before the end of 2010! The first was my mum's Christmas socks, and then these:

Flutter-by socks (Rav link)

These were a really fun pattern to knit up. They went pretty quickly too, which is great when you have two of them to make! I had knit the first sock before I even started my mum's socks but I put them down to make hers. I had actually intended to knit one of these and then knit one of hers, and then do the same with each second sock. But Christmas crept up on me and I needed to finish mum's socks first.

Anyway, I scraped these in by finishing up the foot on our little after-Christmas camping trip, and grafting the toe on New Year's Eve! Yes, what an exciting life we lead... me knitting at home on the couch on NYE. But really, we had spent 6 hours driving home that day and life with small children means our days of partying are kind of over. I even skipped the ringing in of the new year and went to bed at 11pm!

So apart from a couple of UFOs which are really long-term WIPs, I was project free at the beginning of the year. Kind of.

Christmas Knitting

I said I wasn't going to knit any Christmas gifts this year, but then all the Christmas knitting on Ravelry got the better of me.

I decided on a pair of socks for my mum.


She's a knitter and has a few pairs of socks made by me already, so I know that she appreciates them. I don't knit for anyone that doesn't appreciate the finished item anymore. Hence why no one else in my extended family is getting any knitted gifts!

These are Shur'tugal and they were a lot of fun to knit. I love the features in the heel flap.


I did make a mistake on the second sock after picking up the gusset stitches, but you can barely tell. I'm still not sure exactly what I did wrong, but when I got to that point on the second sock the pattern didn't make any sense to me whatsoever! And I know that wasn't the case with the first sock. That will teach me to leave such a long gap between the first and second socks! Or to take notes with the first one.

Anyhoo... I have decided that I must learn to knit two socks at once to avoid this and second-sock-sydrome in the future. That will be my challenge for 2011.

I've also decided that there will be no more new projects for 2010. I currently have 2 active WIPs that I want to finish off and that will be my task for the rest of the year. One is a whole sock so that will probably take up most of my time!

Hopefully I'll make a couple more posts with more FOs before 2010 comes to an end!

Decorating

We are getting in the Christmas spirit around here finally. All the birthdays are over with for the year and we are able to concentrate a bit more on relaxing for the next couple of weeks.


The tree is up and we finally got the advent calender up last night.... only 14 days late! But better late than never. Although I'm not entirely sure it's the best idea with Miss F, who is a bit too young to understand that you only get a treat from the calender once a day!

This year we finally have a tree that is taller than the adults! One day we'll have a real one, but for now it's just a fake. I like the traditional Christmas colours - red, gold and green - so we've gone with that theme. It helps that we already have plenty of decorations that fit the theme!


The kids are on school holidays and I plan to spend my non-working days hanging out with them, decorating the rest of the house and hopefully managing some crafting before the 25th. No Christmas crafting though. That's another hassle I don't need to put myself through!

Christmas is coming

Earlier in the year I made the decision not to try to make any knitted Christmas gifts this year. I was doing ok until I decided to make a pair of socks for my mum. Then I saw all the Christmas stuff start popping up on blogs and Ravelry, and I started to get ideas.... I've managed to contain myself pretty well, but I did think that some little things as stocking stuffers for the kids might be nice.


Pattern is Little Rocket. Great use of left-over yarns!

Now I'm considering what else I might be able to whip up, and who I can gift them to! I must get control of myself...

Long time no blog

Wow, it's been nearly a month and a half since my last post. I haven't really had anything to say, and not much to show off either.

Things have been very busy around here lately - we're going away overseas very soon which is taking much organising. We've been searching for (and have hopefully found!) a new school for L & M which has been pretty stressful. All our weekends seem to have been full of kids activities and illness has been and gone and come back again. Not to mention the most boring job in the world completely sapping all of my energy. Busy, busy, busy.

I have finished another Milo recently though. I winged it with this one (although the larger sizes are now available with the pattern purchase I believe) - it's sized to fit my nearly 8yo, although I probably could have made it a bit roomier in the body for him. Still, it fits nicely and he seems to like it. And it's another Shop-the-Stash project off my needles (which means yarn out of my stash).


Speaking of Shop-the-Stash, I think I've been doing a bit more shopping-and-stashing, than shopping-the-stash, but it's the thought that counts right? I do look to the stash when I'm ready to start something new. I'm not buying new yarn to make projects with. I'm buying yarn to add to the stash. Then I can shop it.

Anyway, that's all from me for now. I don't expect I'll blog again before we go away, and in fact I'm not sure I'll blog again at all. I'm not really feeling the motivation for it right now. That could be due to all the craziness and illness that has been through here lately, so I'll see what kind of motivation (and energy!) the warmer weather brings with it when we return from our holiday.

MmmmmMalibgro.....!

I do love this yarn. It's so buttery soft and knits up so easily. I do find it a little grabby though, and my cast on tail always seems to felt up before I've finished knitting with it. I hope that's not an indicator of how the garment will perform!

Anyway, another FO
(I was going to wait to post a whole bunch some other time but I'm on a roll now so might as well go with it).


This is Just Enough Ruffles. And the pattern name is very apt - there certainly are just enough ruffles in this! Although I seem to have flattened a few of them with blocking. The colour is "Damask Rose" and although it looks quite pink in the photo, it's not so in real life. I'm not sure I like the colour all that much now. It's more of a dirty pink. But it's so so soft I don't think I can let the colour affect me enjoying wearing it on chilly mornings when I'm catching the bus to work. It was a really fast knit - the ruffles took the longest, and even those seemed to go pretty fast. I'd like to knit this again for sure.

And a little WIP.


The actual crocheting part of this is done. I intend to sew it to something else to use as a cushion cover. So far I don't have anything to attach it to. I keep meaning to go to the Op Shop up the road and check out their clothing section for a suitable item, but I never seem to find the time. I must do so soon though because our couch is cushion-less, and it looks a little bare.

I used the Neat Ripple Pattern from Lucy of Attic24. So easy to understand and follow for a non-crocheter like me!

Bloom

I'm a bad blogger. I mean to blog more than I do, but I just can't seem to find the time for project photos lately. Take a look at my Rav page if you know me on there... lots of photo-less projects! I'm trying to get caught up now though. One good thing about blogging infrequently is that when I do get around to it at least I'll have a few projects to show off! I have about 6 WIPs at the moment, all in varying stages of finished-ness. Hopefully I'll be able to get my act together with posting them here.

But for now I've just got one FO.

This is Bloom by Tikki. You may recall I was a test knitter before the pattern was released. That was a medium size done in 8ply.

This little bundle of pink sweetness is a small size in BWM Luxury 4ply in "Baby Blossom". It's destined for a friend's own newborn bundle of pink sweetness. I love this colour and pattern together! The style and the lace pattern is so pretty and sweet and the colour is so pretty and sweet also. A perfect match!

In other crafty news we've been playing with Sculpey. Need a bit more practice but it's lots of fun. Hopefully I'll have some of that to show off sometime soon too.

IKEA.....

...addicted much?

and that's not even the half of it.

Cupcakes

Miss F recently turned 2.

I decided cupcakes were the way to go for her birthday cake this year. And buttercream icing was the perfect choice too! I've got a cool little syringe-type thing with different tips for icing, so I had plenty of fun playing with that.

But then I couldn't decide which topping to go with.

Sanding sugar?

Hearts?

Butterflies?

So I went with them all.

Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream. Yum!

I used a packet mix, so cheated a bit, but did make the buttercream icing from scratch.

Knitting in Public

I've been doing a lot of it lately. Well, maybe not a lot by some people's standards, but a lot by mine, considering I haven't ever really KIP at all before.

Public transport is my new method of getting to and from work, and despite a few hiccups with times and getting on wrong buses which involved having to beg a driver to let me off at an intersection and running back two stops when I was already late, things have been going ok. And with the trip being approximately 30 minutes each way it's at least an hour of knitting time per day! It seems to keep the other people on the bus from wanting to sit next to me too, so plenty of room for me! Maybe they are afraid of the pointy sticks?

I've seen some people looking at me strangely, and I caught someone watching me the other day. Mostly though, I'm in my own little world. And I was going great guns on my "bus knitting" until I discovered that I'd twisted my stitches back at the start, so now I have to start again :(

But I do have another FO. Olearia - the latest from Tikki.


I snapped this one up as soon as it was released. So far just the shrug version, but I'm itching to get a cardigan version on the needles soon. Very quick knit and nice and easy. I used Woolganics 8ply and didn't swatch. I'd say that I need to go up a needle size next time. I'm a pretty tight knitter though. Miss F seems very happy with it. She especially likes the buttons. So much so that I suspect she swallowed one of them before I got them all on the shrug! One is missing and can't be found. She had some in her mouth. I'm keeping a lookout!

Foliage Shawl

Sometime ago - before Christmas I think - I participated in a pattern- swap-Kris Kringle-kind-of-thing over on Ravelry. Everyone was assigned another person and the idea was to buy a pattern for that person from their wish list. I love this kind of swap! So easy, no stress, don't have to spend time making anything - just look at their list and buy something that you know they want. Easy! And patterns are relatively inexpensive too.

I was lucky enough to get the Foliage Shawl pattern from my swapper - Kris from Monsterknits.

I had the perfect yarn for it too. And here it is:


It's done in The Knittery Merino/Cashmere Sock yarn in "Passionfruit". Sadly The Knittery is no more. Thankfully I have a small stash of this yarn undyed though!

It was a pretty quick knit, although the border took most of the time and I will confess to putting it down for a while for a break before finally finishing it off. But it's done now and I love it. I've even worn it to work already and it is super warm on the chilly mornings we've been having here lately.

Photo isn't that great since it's not really easy to photograph a shawl alone, and the only helpers I have around right now are either sleeping or likely to run off with it and use it to scoop up dirt.

It's probably appropriate that the Foliage Shawl be photographed on a plant anyway.

So far so good

First week back at work has gone ok. Work itself isn't too stressful (yet!), it's the getting there and getting home that cause some dramas. We're still working it out, and after a minor kid-pickup disaster on Tuesday I'll be trying a new way of getting there next week. I so wish I didn't work in the city though. I know to some people that would be a huge drawcard, and once upon a time it was to me too, but now it's just a drawback. But I do (and right in the centre of it I might add) and I'll need to try out a few things to see which is going to work best now. Plan A has been a relative failure, so on to Plan B.

I know it's only been one week (and not even a whole week at that) but I suddenly feel like I've got far too much on my plate. And here I am blogging, to add to all of that! Until last week I was feeling a little bored, and now things seem to be moving so much faster. I'm certainly glad I didn't opt for more than 2.5 days. Joining the gym at the same time as returning to work probably hasn't helped either. Just another thing to fit into what already seems like too-short days.

The big event this week - if you can call it that, I wasn't all that excited about it - was another year of my life passing by. It happened without a great deal of fuss (or presents I might add :( ) but I did get woken by my boys with birthday cuddles and kisses. Having to go back to work on that day kind of took the focus away and I actually kind of forgot that it was even my birthday.

There's been no crafting of any kind at all this week. I've been far too tired in the evenings. Hopefully I'll adjust to that soon. I do have an FO to show off but it's a hard one to get good photos of and the weather has turned cold, wet and grey (which I don't mind!) so photo opportunities in good light are limited.

Back soon with something crafty I hope!