(This was Tuesday)

1. On Tuesday it was HOT
2. DAMNMNMNN Hot
3. We camped out in the lounge room eating snacks and hiding under the air conditioner
4. That night (Tuesday) Slinky (of the Black Cat Malinky variety) had a fight with another cat
5. The next morning I found out he had some yucky ‘puncture wounds’ in his hind legs
6. $108 worth of vet later and he is fit as a fiddle
7. But he doesn’t like the squirt of antibiotics I have to give him down his neck twice a day
8. I don’t like giving him the squirt of antibiotics either
9. Such is life
10. Today is colder
11. Heh heh – that means it’s 17 degrees C
12. Crazy weather
13. I have found some blogs I enjoy
14. This is one 
15. and This is another
16. And another
17. I could tell you the reasons why I like them but it doesn’t seem important suddenly.
18. I just do
19. I read Rox’s blog today which took me to No. 15’s blog which took me the long way around to this lovely etsy seller and I bought these lovely prints
20. Naughty Rox.
21. I have been spinning up the dyed gear and have totally enjoyed the difference of all three fibres
22. It’s rather exciting, but at the same time scary, to spin with a hope of creating enough yarn to make a garment
23. Gulp
24. I am trying not to think about that.
25. I have been slogging away at my ‘that which shall not be named’ project
26. ….by that I mean the Habu jacket
27. (Ha! Just named it)
28. I decided to do the fronts and back all in one piece so I didn’t have to seam up the sides with the teeeeeny tiny thread.
29. I am almost up to changing to one teeeeeny tiny thread with the cotton instead of 2 teeeeeny tiny threads (Please note RoseRed)
30. I am feeling wishy washy about all other projects until I complete this project as I feel it has been going on too long.

And I think that’s enough for today. Anyone got anything they can add to that? Random thoughts and links (but not spam spam spam) appreciated. Fanks. 

In fact. I feel a little fibre giveaway coming on.

Leave a comment with a link that is interesting and random to go into the draw.

Up for grabs will be 100gms of sock yarn I have in my stash.  And maybe some other stuff too. So I might take 2 bites of the apple. 2 winners! Hurrah.

(And for those interested I am going to do a destash on the weekend)…..all this spun fibre is piling up and I need some space.

I go for it.
Snaffled a few hours on Saturday when no-one was around.

So I got some fibre out and dyed it all. This is a deceiving shot as there is a total of 800gms here all looking nice and neat and tidy. But there was an awful lot of it blowing around when it was drying.

First up  is 200gms of EGMTK’s blend of BFL/bamboo/viscose that Miss Mandie let me get (un-dyed) .I decided to dye in a few deep dark colours and called it Winter Wonderland.

Beautiful and rich and deep dark purples/reds/blues/greens/yellows/ and lots of other colours.

Want to spin it asap ……….

But  I have 300 grams of beloved Margaret Peel Superfine merino that I have been hoarding for years.

It wanted to be deep dark reds/blacks/with flashes of yellow to break up the colour a little. There is enough there for a whole garment I hope

.

I have had trouble getting my face out of it as it is SO soft….

but then I do have….300grams of EGMTK merino silk blend that begged to be all sorts of greens.

I called it Pickled Cucumbers.

ZOMG! So soft.

So now – my wheel runneth over. Too much choice.

Isn’t it.

Life that is.

And friends.

Tonight I went out with 5 other chicks. The ones I walk with occasionally. Some I have known for years. Some I didn’t even know I knew back in high school. Now we are together through the kid’s school. But also through friendship.

We laughed. We chatted. We ate. We drank. Not a lot. Just a little.

Life’s brilliant isn’t it when you can celebrate something as simple as life as we know it. Something as simple and as complicated as our kids trials and tribulations at primary school. Or to sit and chat about an upcoming holiday (6 weeks in Europe no less) of one of the girls. We discussed the shortcomings of a certain teacher. We discussed a wedding 10 years ago. We discussed holidays and lack of the flushing toilet on camping trip. Heck we even covered circumcision. It’s all out there with girlfriends isn’t it.

I came home buzzing in general. And switched on SITC. Love re-visiting that show on Austar.

Friends. And Life. And peoples to share it with.

Life’s good really isn’t it.

myself.

Well. I would like to…but that’s not what I am talking about.

Just making myself do some more stuff on the wheel than I got into the habit of doing with my Ashford Traditional.

When I first started to spin I was entranced with funky slub yarns.  Got the Plucky Fluff Books when they came out. Used to spin a mean slub (these  are one that sold from 4 years ago).

1. Bahama Mama, 2. Urban Grind, 3. Jewel of the Nile

I could see how clever it was to add all sorts of stuff to skeins but I like to wear what I knit/spin and I couldn’t work out what I could do with the funked up skeins. But there is a kind of magic to whip up something in an hour rather than the 6+ hours it takes to get 100gms of thin stuff spun and plied (yep – 6+ hours).

Crazy Mel and I are off to the Blue Mountains Insubordinknit workshop for 2 days next March. I figured I’d best start on playing with some crazier gear to get my hand it. (I am fairly certain Crazy Mel, lurker, won’t care that I call her Crazy Mel).

Just the Facts, Jack

Here’s some of my lovely Politically Incorrect batt that I tricked up – nice singles plied hairy scary like with some black zephyr. Mad – and totally insubordinknitworthy me thinks.
1. Just the Facts Jack, 2. just the facts jack, 3. just the facts jack

Then – when a certain fibre club offering hit my doorstep last week I had a go at some thick and thin slub. Not as easy as it usually is with all that lovely viscose/bamboo slippery sliding stuff in amongst the bestest colours ever. Had to spin it, set it and do a bit of s ’spit and rub’ on the ’slugs’ as they didn’t want to stick together. It is SO soft and the colours POP.

She Spins Sea Slugs by the Sea Shore.

1. Sea Slugs, 2. Sea Slugs, 3. Sea Slugs

So that’s a start. I am going to have more of a play and may put some offerings in the etsy store. Who knows?

Hole/Spade + Water + Cousins-that-live-far-away + Buckets = MUCHO FUN

I apologise for the crappy video but you get the idea.

One of the very very very bestest things about my holiday was that when visiting my Aunt in Brisbane she mentioned that she lived just around the corner from a new yarn shop and that we should pop in.

Lo and behold it was Tangled Yarns.

Fantastic.

What a great shop. Things got swooped up quicker than I could blink. Some Berroco here (and maybe some more), a Crochet Mag here, a Berroco pattern book there AND a soft lime green Namaste bag that called me the minute I walked in.

What a great feeling when you walk into a great yarn shop. It just felt, well, welcoming.

And comfortable.

Kelly was there wrangling yarn and tired bubbies.

All the latest yarns/books/patterns/EVERYTHING. Don’t you love it when you get to touch all the stuff you have only seen online?  Sigh.

(Kaela made a bee-line for this yarn and pattern and I struggled with my rudimentary crochet skills for a while then gave up)

There was coffee there, and little cupcakes, heaps of space to wander, with lovely crisp white walls and yarns displayed just the way yarn shops should.

And there was a large area with lounge chairs and a centre table.

And knitters.

Knitting.

(I have already started a Clapotis (FOR ME) with some of my haul – using Berroco – Seduce)

And chatting.

One of them was wearing a Herbivore.  I had to ask. The Herbivore knitter/wearer confirmed it.  We got to chatting about Ravelry and it turned out it was FROMASEED (rav name) and lovely pixieb (another Raveller). I had to laugh as Marian said  “Oh  - you are on your road trip aren’t you!”  Even though I write the blog in the public domain, I really do forget that others read it. I always get quite a shock when I realise that others read it too. ( I don’t know if you know what I mean by this – it sounds silly).

We got to talking. I was invited to sit. And Knit. And Chat. All day.

Boy was it hard to knock that back (Schedule for the day was packed as it was).

‘Twas lovely.

Can’t wait to get back there again Ladies, and I will take you up on that kind offer I promise. And if you are planning a trip to Brisbane I would highly recommend it. Great place.

Wheeeeeee.

Nothing like a road trip to clock up the knitting time.

Although Steve said the sweetest words to me (“Next time we will fly”) before we hopped in the car yesterday to start the 12 hour drive home (over 2 days), I must admit I had ample time to knit myself into a stupor.

I chugged through my “Fingal” (named after the colour of the Beach where we stayed for 2 weeks) (this is the actual place we stayed) (my Aunt and Uncle own this lovely place) and finished it within the first week away.  My lovely Lisa Souza merino silk hand-spun was a pleasure to knit with and although I followed the Gaia pattern I made it my own by switching to the Yarn Over rows when I felt like it.

Towards the end of the skein I swapped to pure garter stitch and every two rows I increased the needle size from 5mm to 7mm to 10mm to 12mm and this really opened up the garter rows and gave them a slight wave/ripple.

It would have to be my most favourite project to date. The end product is whisper light and feather soft, and just the right size to fling around my shoulders.

I say “glurk” cause the kids and I spent the day at White Water World and it was so much fun….but we are all feeling rather worked over and water logged. ( I dropped the “f-bomb” inadvertantly when cresting the edge of a precipice and plumeting to nothing short of death on one of the rides )

Last week was taken up by a few days of the dreaded lurgy when Kaela and I spent lots of time sleeping and recovering.

We then did a bunch of visits and over-night stays and sightseeing and excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages in Brisbane, Wynumm and Pomona and caught up with dear friends and several different relatives/cousins.

I managed to sneak off and meet some other lovely Ravellers ( purely by chance, mind) in the “shop of envy” – Tangled Yarns. What a shop!!!! I was not so surprised when some Berocco yarns came home with me but was even happier when a lovely Namaste handbag told me it wanted to stay with me too. Sigh. Great shop. We visited South Bank, the GOMA ( where Kaela had a close encounter with Leigh from Project Runway), and a poke around Noosa and Eumundi.

So…. This week will entail a few more catch-ups with relatives and we even get to spend some time with Gail and her kids ( one of our close friends from Wollongong ) – always get to find out exactly what other people having been saying about others with her – most informative!

Then we make our way back on saturday via Byron Bay and Port Macquarie and then home. It’s a nice leisurely pace though – we are all feeling very relaxed.

We’ve tackled 920 kms in a few days and chased the rain the whole way.

It stopped the minute we arrived at my Aunt’s hoIiday home which, I must say, is bigger and better appointed than our own home. It’s like being in a beautiful holiday home magazine.

Daybeds abound and French quilts and throw pillows are scattered around. The fridge has cause huge excitement as it has an ice maker and water filter INTHEDOOR!!! ( we have the ordinary run of the mill fridge so mucho iced water has been gedrunked.

A fun filled day at Dreamworld, and I am dreaming of wine’oclock…

Best part is that we have another 10 days of this.

I could used to thinking we are wealthly and normally live like this…..

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Just thought I should let you know we were free of all mishaps yesterday… But the rain continues.

We are on our way to “the big banana” at Coffs Harbour where Steve will fork over another $100 to me as he didn’t believe there were such things as banana chips…he is, as the ever witty Jane-in-Brisbane said “an untapped resource” ( did I mention that he offered me $100 to clean up Hamish’s, ahem, “illness” this week already.

Enough about illness.

Onward.

In the rain.

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