Another year nearly over....

Where has the time gone.......I swear it was only April the other week.

I have been busy doing sometimes absolutely nothing. It was going to be the restart year. Get on with life and move forward from a lot of shit that happens in life....well 12 months on and I did try, not very successful at times, but I have survived.

So here I am mid December with a week and a bit to go before 16 days off work, including weekends and public holidays. I can't wait. I have written so many lists of what I want to do and then get a bit realistic and write another list that is more manageable of me getting the things listed done.

Then I think, well school holidays and as I am off the week before and after Christmas, I will take Aahliyah to Sydney Aquarium. She deserves a nice treat as she did so well in her first year at school (Kindergarten). Then the big decision (which I still haven't made yet) will we go before Christmas (maybe less crowds) or shall we go before the New Year......decisions, decisions. Well I am going to leave that decision for now and think about it some more later.

I have been on my yarn diet for about 6 months now, I have fallen of the wagon twice, once to Bendigo Woollen Mills and another time to my local yarn store that closed down (can't knock back a bargain).

I am busy knitting, ripping back, knitting, ripping back, knitting, ripping back....damn I am persistent...a 3 piece baby set for the shows in January 2015. I decided to do a very old pattern that my mother inlaw had her friend knit for my first baby. It was beautiful, not practical even for back in 1980, but never the less it was beautiful. He was a January baby so it was way to hot for him to wear, I remember putting the set on him in the hospital to take him home.....off came the bonnet as it looked silly, then when in the car off came the jacket as it was way too hot, he did make it home in the booties. Another time he did wear it, it kept getting caught on rings and bracelets that anyone who nursed him had on. I still have it somewhere packed away. I will try and remember to find it and maybe take a photo of both when I have finished the one I am knitting. Photos will come when it is all finished....no spoiler alerts as it is for the shows.

I will update my lists here on what to knit etc and see how well I keep sticking to it. I have listed all my stash on ravelry so I can just go there and look for yarn and a pattern on what to knit next.

I have enjoyed a knitalong on Ravelry, 12 months of Dish Cloths. I am all finished with them and I have some really nice dish cloths, some will be hard to use as they are so nice.

Have a very Merry Christmas and New Year and an even better year to come in 2015.

I have been knitting.....honest

I have been knitting, I have been so busy like most people these days, time just gets away so fast.

I have knit so many pairs of felted slippers and still have so much of the yarn still left. I have knit headbands, beanies, fingerless gloves for my grand daughter, both for everyday use and also in school colours for her to wear to school.

She loves the fingerless gloves, although she will wear them for the walk to school, but takes them off at the school gate. She is only in Kindergarten and the peer pressure of fitting in is very well alive.

I will have to get photos of my knitting here soon.

Bendigo Woollen Mills have brought back their lovely Alpaca yarn, only for a short time unfortunately, so today, I put in an order so I can have some in my ever growing stash. It seems to multiple faster than I can knit. Another reason my stash is growing is the fact that my most favourite local yarn store will be closing in September this year. Damn it. But they are wonderful women who I knit with at least 5 times a month so I will still get to hang out with them at KITGO (Knitting in the Great Outdoors) that I started, Wollongong Stitch N Bitch, Kiama Knitters Guild and every second Tuesday night which now will be at a new venue and not at their lovely shop C.R. & K Daisy Designs.

Daisy Designs has a sale on called "end of the row" sale. So I have been making the most of that.

But all good things must come to an end......and I now realise I have enough yarn to last more than my life time, so I will need to cut back.   I will see how that goes.

Happy Easter Weekend

I have been off work recuperating from an operation, and have been making the most of my time knitting.

I finally finished my Peasy cardigan, not sure if I can call it that as I messed up the pattern, so the yoke is nothing like it should be. I need to buy some buttons and then it will be complete. In will get photos.

I have completed 2 cotton dishcloths for friend and a pair of fingerless mittens for my grand daughter.

I have also finished 4 pairs of felted slippers in various sizes. I am trying to get the size correct to fit my grand daughter.

Autumn.....waiting for cool weather

It is 4 weeks into autumn and after the last week of heavy rain, today the sun is shining, it will be another 4 weeks before it starts to cool enough to start thinking about getting warmer clothes out. I can't wait for autumn colour to start coming through.

I have finished listing all my stash on Ravelry, When I first joined I didn't see the sense in doing that, but now I have, I wished I had done it earlier. I love the fact that I don't have to go searching through many tubs of yarn when I want to knit something, I now just have to look in my stash on Ravelry and I can look at what projects other people have done as well.

I am still knitting my cardigan (Peasy pattern) it is a slow knit being all stocking stitch now. I have made a couple of pairs of felted slippers, a couple more dishcloths and I am currently knitting a drop stitch scarf in Knit Picks Precious in Pearl colourway. It looks really nice, I am loving the way the colours are knitting up.

 These two dishcloths were apart of creative knitting new stitch knitalong over 4 weeks

 this dishcloth is on the  12 months of Dishcloth forum on Ravelry, this is the March cloth for St. Patricks Day.

 These are knit with Bendigo Woollen Mills Murano wool. They felt well.

 These were made to a size in between child and Women's for my grand daughter, I used Cleckheaton California, it felted so well that they ended up the same size as the original child's size which would fit a toddler. So now I need to see if I can get another ball to make them a bit larger again to fit her.

Loving the way this is turning out.

dishcloth knitalong

I am in the knitalong for a dishcloth a month on Ravelry. I have finished the February dishcloth. It is a very pretty pattern. My grand daughter got a pre-loved wooden dolls cradle this week, it had a piece of foam uncovered for the mattress, so I made a cover, a pillow and slip and a sheet. I thought the dishcloth pattern would make a nice blanket for the doll cradle, so with two strands of 8ply pure wool I knit the same pattern instructions using same amount of stitches, knitting the repeats once more, it fit the cradle perfectly and my grand daughter loves it.

February is going to be "finish projects already started" to get them out of the way. Today I am back knitting the baby jacket I started around new year.

Ooops!

I missed blogging in January. My plan was to blog at least once a month....I need to take back control of things I love to do after a shitty 2013.
It seems like many are facebooking instead of blogging....I miss blogging and keeping up with my blogging friends.
I have joined the dishcloth a month knitalong on Ravelry. I have finished the first one ...January theme was a Cupaccino dishcloth.
Today 1 February I am off to KITGO a knitting group I started that is Knitting In The Great Outdoors. Today we will be meeting in a park at Shellharbour near the ocean swimming pool. It is a hot summer day so a swim will most likely happen while there.
My current knitting on the needles is a beanie by Jarrod Flood, Koolhaas, I am knitting it in Wendy Traditional Aran..
My goal this year is to keep knitting from my stash, I know I need to buy yarn for one thing this year so I will see how I go with my stash busting.
My other knitting for January is a 3 piece baby set it is currently waiting to be sewn together and finished.

 

I am back home after a lovely day knitting with great knitting friends, it was so nice with the sea breeze.

 

 

Tonight I finished Koolhaas beanie. Yah, my first item for next years show is finished.