knit ball
Say hello to Oscar. Some ........ (insert low life description here) left Oscar in a box, down an ally behind my daughter's office. When found he was not too distressed, so she took him to the local vet, and after being pronounced fit, Lizzy rang me and asked if we could fit one more cat into the house. What do you say to a (grown up) kid when they ask that? She has her own income and is responsible enough to look after the little guy, so its no surprise I said it was ok with me. It's a week until Bandit and Whisper are allowed to meet the interloper, should be a little fun then. Right now they are sniffing around outside the room where Oscar slept. Liz also knitted a bunch of Easter eggs, and that's one Oscar is playing with, low calorie, and great for throwing at sibs and cats.
Whisper is making sure I am not up to mischief on the computer. That cat will find the smallest patch of sunshine and make herself comfortable in it.
This is the ab/fab Gabrielle, on her way to a hip hop party. In the background is Issy, who is the biggest show off at times, she just had to get in the photo too.
And these are the snakes, I can't believe how big they are getting. The corn snake is now approx 2 metres long, and the brown one (children's python) is about 1 metre. Nothing like variety in the kind of pets we all keep, these two are my sister's. She also has three birds who live in the enclosed back room, begging tidbits from unwary visitors, and one who tries really hard to nibble ear rings when you are not paying attention.
bandit
Here is the finished cabled yarn. Am looking forward to knitting this so I can see how successful (or not) it is. Bandit, bloody cat, takes over the spinning chair if I move away from it for 5 seconds.
I am experimenting with cabling with the extreme pink soy silk and the sugar & spice merino. I read of the technique in Spin Off (the current magazine) and just knew 1 part hot pink to three parts soft pink/gold would be just yummy. So far am about half way through the first plied bobbin. The idea is to heavily spin the singles (S), heavily ply (Z), and the lightly cable 2 of the plied bobbins (S). Here's the progress so far, this is 1 part hot pink, 1 part pink/gold. More tomorrow when I get the second bobbin ready to cable. That's a Canadian penny for scale.
A little more eye candy, socks toe up 3/1 rib,
shawl in Kid Seta, and
Short Sleeve cardi in Ranco Multi.
There is more, but the're about to get frogged, as they have all been waiting for so long to be worked on, and I know myself well enough to know how that will end.
Labels: spinning
A very simple joy was reinstated for a while this morning. The ex rang me and during the course of the conversation he pointed out to me that I had been quiet this week. I had no idea what he was talking about and it must have come through in my voice, so he very kindly reminded me that my f
ooty team had ended his
footy team's 14 match losing streak. It made me happy to have someone to talk football to, but sad, because I did not know anything beyond the result, because I did not really follow the comp any more. Kind of bittersweet really.
Anyhoo, the week at work has been good. The boss returned from Portugal (and brought pressies), very jet lagged, but having presented a paper and met with colleagues from around the world she was on a high. None of the patients are playing up at present, which meant it was really smooth sailing.
The off spring are all behaving, and winter cricket has started up again, which means its quiet on a weekend as the games are miles away, and the boys have to leave early to get there. Last night there were two ring-ins staying over in order to be out of the house in good time to set up the field and play. At least if they are burning up energy playing sport in the great outdoors, they are too bloody tired to get up to mischief on a Saturday night.
It's been raining quite heavily this week, and I will be out doing a bit of spring garden preparation. I have bought bulbs, another thing I never did when the boyo was here, as I want to plant them in the lawn. Its dormant now for the next four or so months, and come spring there will be (hopefully) soft long grass, and daffodils and all kinds of other flowers popping up their pretty heads. If this happens no doubt I will post pictures.
The dogs are wrestling, and crashing into the walls of the verandah. You would think with a large back yard they would play on the grass, but no, it gets more attention from mum & grandma if they play right up at the house. bloody dogs!
How could I be mad at those faces??
Finally a FO (or two) to show. The very sexy toe up, gusset heel, generic sock from Wendy, knitted in the Earth colourway from Daphne at
The Knittery. Ribbed legs just to add a little visual interest, but really the colours are so lovely, blending greens through blues with earthy purple/brown/grey, and of course soooo soft, merino/cashmere/nylon. (yes I am really into dragons, this one is a blankie from Ikea- gifted by Catherine, just because)
Labels: dragon, FO
Okay, I could not stand it any longer, I caught the spider in a cup and took it down stairs to the garden, where it will hopefully live a short but useful life. FSM I hate spiders!!!!!
Sometimes I just wish people were not so helpful. "Oh look!!!" said the doctor joyfully (it was in her voice, that little "I love spiders and isn't it wonderful when the wildlife comes inside" voice.
Yep over my desk (for who knows how long now, but as I type two days) there was a "rain spider" or huntsman. Apparently harmless, but fast. When they go, they really go. Now I have the biggest crick in my neck from constantly watching the big guy (approx 5 inches across leg span). I don't know what's worse, (if he is not there when I come in then where is he????) or if he is still there. In all the things I have come across in 48 years, and that includes snakes, cockroaches, rats and mice, and kids, nothing frightens me like spiders (that's because they are like zombies, and jump on your head and suck out your brains..... ahhhhhh). (sorry that's just my whole spider phobia). Anyhoo, since the ceiling is about 10feet up, he is safe from me, I just hope he respects that and I am safe from him too.
My Tiny Wee Sock arrived from
Bibby, who knitted it in Trekking XXL. She knits superbly, her stitches are so fine, its a little bugger of a pattern, with not quite enough room to manipulate stitches like in a real sock. Lovely work, thank you Bibby.
The unbelievable pink soy silk is spun, and after getting my copy of Spin Off I do believe I will try cabling. (4ply, spinning tight singles, tight 2plys and then cabling two bobbins of two ply yarn in the same direction as the original singles really quickly so as not to undo the two plying, only sound slightly terrifying). The pale pink is a merino top from
Mandie (of course, my favourite supplier) in the Sugar ' n ' Spice colourway.
Cheers one and all, have a great day (ps its raining in Sydney once again, my grass has not looked this nice in years!)
here's a little something for
looking at today.
