On the move, and desperately seeking...

Today we pick up the keys to our new house and start moving. We have been packing and cleaning and moving furniture downstairs (with the very welcome help of Bells and Sean on the weekend - thankyou!). My Dad is coming up today for a few days to help Beloved actually relocate stuff.

So now the telly is sitting on a box covered with a sarong and we are playing freezer roulette for dinner and reminiscing about we were students and this was standard practice! All we need is the bricks-and-planks bookcase to complete the look.

Of course moving house means moving phone and internet connections, so we'll be offline for the next few days. Not that I've been particularly communicative the last weeks (sorry if I owe you an email! I still love you, honest!), but at least I could be found if needed. I'll check back in when we're all hooked up again.

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I also have a request. My non-blogging, non-Ravelrying friend, Dr Fe, is desperately seeking a discontinued yarn. Its for a Zoe Mellor pattern (fair isle cardi - Rav link) that she'd like to knit for her daughter, Little Miss M. I thought I'd throw the request out there and see if anyone has a ball lurking at the bottom of the stash. Hell, even part of a ball might do it - its for part of the the pattern, not the main colour.

She's after just one ball of Rowan Cotton Glace in the colour Bud (800). It seems to be as rare as hen's teeth. If you can help Dr Fe out, please let me know.

Alternatively, if you can suggest a substitute (that will knit up fine in fair isle in combo with the Cotton Glace - she has all the other colourways for the pattern), please let me know too! It seems to be on of those annoyingly unique yarns - not quite a 5ply, listed as DK in yarndex....

Thanks!

See you on the other side of packing box hell.....

This is my ....perfect dinner party guest list

What a corker of a theme for this week's meme. I maintain this list in my head - but of course as soon as I have to cough it up, the cached version has crashed! As soon as I post, it will pop back to the front and centre of my brain.

Anyway, here it is:

"You are of course hosting this dinner party with your significant other and you can invite 6 other guests.. All we would love to see is your choice (images please) and your reason why you chose that particular person... " (Since this is a dream list, Ive taken the premise that being alive isnt a prerequisite!)

Geoffrey Robertson, QC: We used to get shown Hypotheticals in class at school, and I've always admired his intellect and presence. Since I learned some years ago about his background as an international human rights lawyer, he's had a firm place at the top of my list.





Jill Dupleix and Terry Durack: Husband-and-wife ex-pat Aussies who have lived in the UK for years as food writers and critics, Im a huge fan of Jill's approach to cooking (she is unasahmedly a self-taught home cook raised on a sheep farm) and have long enjoyed Terry's writing. They have eaten their way around the world and would make fascinating dinner guests.

Katharine Hepburn: Her autobiography was the first I ever read. Not only am I a fan of her body of work and range as an actor, but she had a fascinating upbringing in a time of great change. She was taken to suffrage rallys as a child, was encouraged by her (very liberal) parents to frankly speak her views and attended college, not a terribly common thing for a woman in the 1920s. She had a remarkably strong personality - how else do you account for her loyalty to a drunk who refused to leave his wife for her, despite their decades-long affair.

Andy Goldsworthy: is a Brisitsh scultpor and photographer whose work I find inspirational. He works with entirely natural, found materials in their natural setting, just rearranging them. Although I did find a pic of him, Im sure he'd appreciate that I post a pic of one of my favourite works of his, called Soul of a Tree.
My Nan, Shirley Ida McMillan (sorry no electronic pic available): Nan died in 2000 and I miss her in a way that sneaks up on me at unexpected times. She was truly one of the kindest people I ever knew, who was a tireless charity worker and never had a bad word to say about anyone. She taught me the importance of seeing things from other people perspectives. Soppy, but true - my list, my wish!!

This is.....my trinket box

It's in here somewhere. I'm afraid you'll just have to imagine the treasures that are contained within. (And I'm also very late, but we wont dwell on that!)

This is just a small (tiny!) portion of our belongings, all packed up in anticipation of the move into our new house in about a week and a half.

We have finally found a house, after being given notice to leave our current home because the owners are selling. We got confirmation today that we can move in on the 16th of this month. Phew.

I'm quite excited about the move, because the new house is in the same suburb (which we really like), has nice central heating and is all on one level (unlike the last three houses we've lived in. I'm totally over stairs!). There's just the rest of the packing and the moving between us and a nice, warm, stairless new home.

So I'm sorry that I can't really share on this great meme this time round - maybe I'll revisit it when we're all settled in a couple of weeks!

To market, to market

I finished the Embossed Leaves socks just before Easter, and as we were going to visit my parents for a few days (unlimited baby sitting!) I felt needed a project that would work up fairly quickly and not require a whole lot of thought on my part. Relaxing knitting.

Enter a pattern I have long wanted to try out: the French Market Bag. Added bonus: it requires felting which I have also long wanted to have a crack at.

So here it is:

Yarn: Lincraft Cosy Wool (dk), 2 strands held together throughout

Sticks: 6mm straights

Mods: I ignored the yarn weight and gauge recommendations - the finished measurements had the bag quite small, and I wanted mine bigger. I knit the base flat according to the pattern, and picked up the body stitches as stated, but then just knit and knit until I thought the sides were high enough.

Here it is before felting:

Felting: having a front loader machine, and being a felting novice, I wanted to be able to control the process, so I opted for using the dryer. I soaked the bag for an hour or so in warm water with some wool wash added, rinsed it cold water, wrung it out in a towel, tied it in a pillowcase and put it in the dryer with a few beach towels on hot.

I checked it every 20 minutes or so, rewetting it after about an hour and a half. It took about 2 and a half hours to loose stitch definition and get a tight fabric.

I wasn't sure how the Cosy Wool would shrink. It seems to have shrank quite a bit more vertically (the base went from 36 cm wide x 32 cm long to 28 x 22; height went from 30 to 19 cm). Although I had added extra height to the bag sides, I made the handles to the pattern and they seem too short. Lots too short. Even in the unfelted version, I cant see how they would come out as long as those in the "model" bag from the pattern (hindsight is a wonderful thing).

I am considering (credit to Beloved for this idea) knitting and felting two straps, then cutting the existing handles and sewing in the pieces. It may make the handles weak though - your thoughts are welcome!

And finally, this pic is especially for 2paw, who also cant take a photo without the obligatory Lab supermodel hogging the limelight!

This is...the contents of my handbag

This is such a mess!


This is a good chance to have a clean out.


This is very dull compared with other people's handbags!

A gift voucher for my Dad's birthday from hardware chain

Teddy bear bikkies (now teddy bear crumbs) for PJ

My work pass

Paracetemol

Travel pack of tissues

A pile of used tissues and old shopping lists

2008 diary

Notebook and pen - I always need something to scribble on

Tape measure

Mobile phone

Emergency dummy for PJ (yes, he still uses one in time of distress)

Emergency sugar rations - snakes and barley sugars (it gets ugly if my blood sugar gets low)

Two house keys (same house, same door!)

Tickets from the paddle steamer ride in Echuca with the Germans in February

Business cards, including one for a wool shop in Luebeck, Germany

FIVE lipsticks / glosses. (Strange, because I put lipstick on once a day, on days when I work. In the car before I go into the building. )

Saftey pins

And my purse and bag, both from Colorado.

Very utiliarian, Im afraid!

All the leaves are brown and the sky is grey

We are finally waving goodbye to summer in these parts, and although this year has been lovely and mild (only a handful of days over 35oC), I'm not going to miss it. I was feeling the heat as the bump grew, and its nice to snuggle under the doona again. The trees on our (soon-to-be-former) street are starting to turn colour and we've even had a little rain.

My lack of blogging can't be written off by disaster or tragedy - it has been simply due to lack of time and anything interesting to blog about.

But there has been knitting. A commission for my colleague G (who either admires my handknits or uses it as a way to shut me up about knitting!) as a gift for his partner's birthday next month.

G wanted some socks. After much discussion, and cruising of Ravelry, he decided on embossed leaves (sorry, Rav link) from 25 Favorite Socks, using The Knittery's cashmere-merino sock yarn in Merlot.

This yarn was just a dream to knit with, and they came up beautifully. It was very hard to give them up. Sorry about the dodgy photo though; little fingers smeared the camera lens and the light has been tricky this week. It doesn't do them justice (even if I do say so myself).

Egads, its worse than I thought. Trust me, they're pretty!

Yarn: Knittery merino-cashmere in Merlot (link above)

Sticks: 2.75mm knitpicks dpns

Mods: Several. Remedial sock knitter here, don't forget. I didn't follow the first two lines of the pattern; I just used my usual cable cast on and then did 20 rows of twisted rib. I also had to make them a bit longer to fir the recipient's foot, so did an extra half pattern rep (rows 9-16), then did a usual flat unpatterned toe shaping and grafted toe (instead of the slight patterning as stated). Oh, and an eye-of-partridge heel too. Just to make myself feel clever!

I really can't take credit for these socks coming out so well; the pattern is really straight forward and I enjoyed knitting them. But I must thank Bells and RoseRed for holding my hand when I got all angsty and needy over the changes.

In other news:

The bump is growing. All is well.

We may have finally found a house to move into to. Its not yet 100% certain, so please keep up the sacrifices to the goddess.

PJ and Beloved are both recovered from the chocolate-induced comas of Easter. Am I a bad mum if I steal the easter eggs out of PJ's basket while he's searching for more eggs, to hide them again and keep the fun going?

Friday round-up

tap tap tap...hellloooo......testing.....Apparently I blinked, and February happened. Hopefully there are still some readers out there who drop by occasionally, water the plants, feed the goldfish, check on stuff. Because I have been somewhat negligent, and it serves me right really if Bubbles has gone belly up.

But I'm still here, honest!

On houseguests:

The Germans, Frank, Katja and Maya, have come and gone. As is always the way, time flew, we all had a fabulous time and we were very sad to see them go. Spending time with them always makes me wish we lived closer to family and could hang more than once a year or two.


On knitting:
I finally have some FOs to report (drumroll, please!) (hold on to your hats, people these are MAJOR FOs - ahem):


Dashing, for Beloved, in Lana Grosso Bingo, bought from Germany. I love this yarn; its super-soft and has a gorgeous twist. I have some more small amounts in the stash, but will be seeking to upgrade on the next trip to the Vaterland.



I have been participating in this project, although only at a minimal level, Im sorry to say. However, I did manage to finally send off my "Dishcloth series" to Elizabeth's exhibition in Philadelphia:

Top to bottom, they are:

Lacy dishcloth in Achor Magicline (pattern from the dishcloth boutique, which, alas, isnt working right now);

Ballband dishcloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting in Yarnbee 4ply;

Ballband in leftover Heirlook cotton;

Squidge cloth in Anchor Magicline;

Grandmother's Favourite (from Dishcloth Boutique) in Panda 4ply cotton, 2 strands held together;

Squidge cloth in gifted unknown cotton from Happy Spider;

Grandmother's Favourite in Peaches and Cream;

Ballband in Peaches and Cream;

Feather and Fan (from Dishcloth Boutique) in Peaches and Cream

I am totally sold on two things: dishcloths as instant-gratification, cant-concentrate-on-anything-larger knitting; and Peaches and Cream cotton. None of the others even come close, I love love love it. Really. Love. It. Sadly I have found only one supplier in Australia (The Wool Shack).

On excessive garden produce:
I love the idea of a veggie garden, but rarely nurture it enough to produce any, well produce. This year, though, the conditions in Canberra have obviously been perfect because we have had a glut of tomatoes. So far nearly 10kgs from 4 vines.

I wanted to make some nice preserves, since it makes me come over all Nigella-housewifely to preserve stuff. So I made some tomato kasundi recommended by kms, and some spicy tomato relish from a recipe shared by Tinkingbell.

Yum.

On house-hunting:

Nada. Nix. Nought. Nothing.

Looking for a reasonably priced rental property that is livable is a depressing and infuriating process. We still dont have a house, and we have 4 more weeks to find one.

However, we are packing and cleaning, so we are at least trying to get ready. Please keep fingers crossed for us!

So that's it - the long weekend will surely be spent doing more packing and cleaning. Oh joy.

But there is another project on the needles that I will blog shortly - its a secret-squirrel gifty project, so I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. And there's too much packing to be done for that!