KnittingNatty

The kindness of others

Last week was a week of high excitement and lots of things to tell, but most importantly of all, I wanted to tell you about a couple of really wonderful things that arrived in the mail:

This beautiful triangular knitting bag arrived from Donna, as a "get well" gift! Thank you so very much Donna, it is very beautiful, (I loved the card) and I feel really blessed to have you as a friend!

I was also very lucky to be checking Amanda J's blog late one night before turning in. I read something along the lines of "the 7th commenter to this post will receive a prize" ... "6 comments"
!!!!!!!
So I quickly hopped on and made a comment to the tune of "wheeee, I'm your 1000th commenter!" and made absolutely no sense whatsoever after that.

And so, I received a prize in the mail, all for being Amanda's blog pal and making comments, but this one comment in particular.

Knittery chubby sock yarn in "Merlot". Chub for the Hub, I say ...
(Wait in line, wait in line, there Hub)!!!!!!!

Happy sigh - Life is good. Life is great. 

C'est un mystere non plus

hehehehe - the mystery project is revealled!

This was rather daft on my part, knitting a french project as a KAL for the Tour de France, and then not being able to reveal it! But finally I can reveal my project was none other than another Clapotis.

Here are some pics I took before it went for a trip to Donni's house.

Why do it? Apart from being a great knitting friend, she has been very generous in her time with the Good Yarn Karma site, is a valued member of our online knitting community, but there was another reason: She hand spun yarn for her own Clap, knitted it up and and then felted it by mistake. I felt her pain, and then started thinking "wouldn't it be good if Donni could have another Clap, but not have to knit it?"

And one thing lead to another. And there we have it. Just what the world needs. Another case of the Clap. ;O)

Birthday goodies

A very late but heartfelt thanks go to Donna and Donni (aka mog's blog/ indulging my inner knitter - seems her blog is down at the moment) for making my birthday last for a whole week, and providing some stash enhancement that was otherwise sorely lacking:

A Caliometry, knitted for me by Donni:

(Yes, my schnoz really is that big, hadn't you noticed before??)

And some lovely fibre for spinning with, all colours of the spectrum represented! The red on the left is a silk blend and is going to be kept until I get a bit good at spinning - I already know what I want to knit with it!

Some "dye your own" Knitpicks sock yarn. Now to  pick one of my favourite colours for the  dyeing process... hmmm...

and some bath goodies , already gone  gone gone!

And my good yarn karma? A present from Jess! (Knitpicks gossamer in a lovely girly colourway)

Thank you ladies, your  kindness will warm me as I knit with and use the goodies you sent!

Still here

I'm still here, although it has been a few days since last posting, I have slowed up in my knitting progress, and am about half way through the front of the little girl's jumper. I don't know why its turned into such a big deal but the pattern detail was only charted for the smallest size and then the instructions say to work it out for yourself, basically. I'm procrastinating on this panel, and I know it.

It really irritates me when you pay good money for a pattern, and you are still left to your own devices to work it out. It's not that the work that is required is hard, I just resent that kind of information being buried in the fine print of the pattern. I had read the pattern through beforehand, and knew what lay ahead, but anyways. At least it looks like I will have enough yarn to finish knitting all the pieces. :)

I have been indulging in a little stash enhancement sock yarn, gorgeous; 1 pair for the Hubster and 1 pair for me; bought on sale:

but I have no finishing to show you yet. I'm not quite sure what I've been spending all my time doing, but there seems to have been plenty of it. I think there was sleep involved...

And what with all the rain that we've experienced lately, I can report that we are not only safe and well, but dry into the bargain. There are ants everywhere where there is food, so I have to sweep and mop the kitchen floor absolutely once a day, and the rain has meant the washing takes a long time to dry and get done.

I am onto week 2 of the CSIRO diet, and am progressing well. With full time work starting, my exercise regime is about to drop away somewhat; and as much as I hate to admit it, I do exercise to eat, so it's finally time to whip that one into line once and for all.

A big thanks to Jess for a very kind e-mail, and a little something something that I cannot mention or I'd have to kill you ;)

Oh, and for Terri, a photo of my coffee knitting table with 10 WIPs on it:

And what it will look like when I get the "February is for finishing" projects off the table:

Not a bad summation on the whole. Would you agree?

Back story

I've gotten no knitting done for the last 2 days - it's been peanut butter sandwiches and endless cleaning up of little messes.

It's been a bit of an "awww crap!" week, nothing serious, just annoying: the Christmas fudge didn't set; the rosellas were too old for jam making and had to be chucked out; I still have not made any Christmas cards, but I have made 2 birthday cards for October just gone.

But, Bron must have know this, because  this week, her Christmas parcel arrived! YAY! There was handcream - always a favourite;

Knitpicks yarn (rubbing hands together...)

and, the kids' favourite, the singing, howling moving Christmas dog!
I must say that Caitlyn was terrified the first time she saaw t singing, but now they are best buddies, and fight over him a bit. I have to stop them taking him into teh bath, and bed, that sort of thing! Its all good, and no, I haven't been driven crazy as yet...

But I'm sure the day is coming! ;) Thanks Bron!

Warning: skite heavy post ahead

Yay! Yay! Yay!

My parcel arrived all the way from Newport Kentucky! Julia (apparently blogless?) was my swap pal, and folks, she works in a yarn shop! Wow! I'd just take my pay in yarn if I worked there, and my startitis would be terminal!

Inside the box was a long and lovely letter and some very special Italian and hand-dyed by Julia laceweight yarn. This photo does not do it justice - it has a lovely lustre, and has lovely shades of blue, and I can't wait to cast it on (tell me something new!)

Hang on, lets try some photos outdoors:
First, a sunshot:

What you also can't see is how soft it is! Second, a shade shot:

to go with the yarn, the Estonian Garden Wrap shawl pattern, which I have been eyeing off for some time

some handmade soap made from the pear tree growing in the back of Julia's LYS, and fashioned by the good folk a couple of doors down from the LYS. Now here's something I haven't shared with you yet - I have recently become addicted to handmade soaps, so this is a particularly well suited gift!

and some "Jordan Almonds". Now this reminds me of a story. Thirty or so years ago, when I was born in Brisbane Australia, you couldn't buy these sweets. And many of you know that my mum is French, where these sweets are called dragee (with an acute accent over the first "e"). Traditionally, when a baby is christened, pink and white dragees are given for a girl and blue and white ones for a boy. When I was christened, my French Aunty sent over an oval white satin covered and embriodered box full of dragees. This beautiful box was placed (full) in the wine glass cabinet, where it still resides to this day. The dragees were eaten slowly I would think, because even today when you open the cabinet doors, you can still smell them. This is one of my favourite smells of childhood, along with how my mum's clothes smell. So this, again, is a poignant and meaningful gift.

Talk about spoilt by a generous pal! Julia was also very thoughtful, checking for pet hair allergies, colour preferences and such; and to top it off, I felt it was a very personal and refined offering, her letter was warm and very interesting (not rambling at all!)

Trust me, in a swap situation, Julia just rocks!

Can you help?

Karen is asking for a hand. Sister, you have my support.

Just go to her site and say gudday even if a donation is out of the question. She sure will appreciate it!

Great mail day

A couple of weeks ago, I put out a Cotton Ease "SOS", and NurseShar answered my calls for help.

On Thursday (she sent it air mail to boot), I received a parcel with 4 balls of Cotton Ease in Sugarplum. This will be plenty of yarn for me to finish the baby blankie, and do the edging that was written in the pattern.

Thank you Sharnette! Your yarn will also help me to avoid having to use the bright red squares, which I wasn't fussed on as they were too bright when positioned against the other squares. (The bright red will be refashioned into washers, and wrapped with some local handmade soaps for Xmas presents for some rellies. None will go to waste.)

The pink envelope is a letter from my sis. Another reason it was a great mail day.