Hi , inserts wave here.

Hmm having just freely handed out business cards to family and strongly suspecting that they may just come "visiting" it is well overdue to do an update. [ Warning here to the sensitive spelling and grammar are not my strong points ]

Blogging now... well it is rather addictive. It is all Stephanies fault. Her and her ideas re knitting olympics. It really started with me treating myself to some early christmas pressies and buying her first book. Then of course discovering her website and becoming hooked on daily updates and of course chat at knitty.com. not to mention all the links to other sites.....

And of course the Knitting olympics...!! Just trying googling that one... go on I'll wait. We even made the Time mag.

So of course I wanted to take part, but that entailed a rather steep learning curve. Html is not a familar language. To the observant you will notice that my side bar needs serious work. Hm oh dear I will get around to it one day. Then of course winter came around and the computer room was a fridge . Daily updates were no more.

Why the need to "air" my feelings and knitting updates out to the ether...??? Hmm perhaps I was always a bit out spoken. I can remember a few runs in with a dear auntie in my teens but then perhaps we were too much a like. Strongly opinionated. But we are the closest of friends. And I think that is the appeal. I now have many friends world wide. We may never meet but share similar likes and dislikes. We rejoice and grieve together. Share receipes and photos. [ Talking of grief please spare a thought for Kristi and Noel as they have lost one of their prescious 3 babies ]

But most of all we knit. And boy do we knit... the world together hopefully. We laugh a lot as well as let it hang out.

So an update you say.. to start a DM's birthday dinner yesterday with said family. An ice cream cake...hmmmmm!





Inbetween spring cleaning the underhouse space and trying to reclaim room from DS's x2 stuff I have done a little weaving.... on this



[ Since this photo was taken I have nearly woven half ]


Remember this..... well it turned into this a small first size baby jacket from here which will be posted off tomorrow for DP's great nephew Harry. I am now working on another for the next baby due in 3 weeks. I must admit tho that I am making slight changes to it as I am not keen on the neck in the book.





I have also finished a pair of socks to go with the next jacket This is a great pattern and I can easily knit a sock a night. Much quicker and easier than booties.




I have been doing a little of this altho the weather has been the pits lately , wet cold and windy. Yuk! But we have now had 3x 5lb cauliflowers as well as the broccoli and the broadbeans just about ready to pick.



And what can you do when it is the above mentioned wet, cold and windy.......





..........why catch up on the beauty sleep of course. All 23 hours a day of it.

Cheers , knit on all in hope and confidence

Guess what?!!

Busy with kids today so a little something to tease.

First up one of my lastest knitting projects....
















What is it????

Then have been spring cleaning , have 5 [!!!] of the left item and 2 of the other, what are they....!!!!???

















Cheers, normal service resumes soon.

Black dog days and therapy

Hm, this post was nearly started several times but really when one is having a black dog day one isn't company even on a blog.

This year has been so great, it was like New Year rolled around and I had this "This is going to be the year life gets better and more normal" feeling. Then I discovered blogging and friends far and wide , then the knitting olympics and well the rest is history as they say. [ Altho have to be honest must spend time figuring out and tidying up the sidebar.!]

But only now just the odd day that black pit of grief opens and I whallow for a while. So many losses and so much buried grief..... This past month has been so strange. The kids go to their Mums' now every second weekend. This is great and I really enjoy having every second Sunday "off" but I am like a lost soul. So much I could do with the time but can't seem to get to it. I realise they were a good distraction , kept me busy and "out of my head". So this week Sunday rolls around and I sink into grief, no kids to distract. How one can feel so lonely in a crowded room. But now at least I had the sense to go do some gardening , go for a walk, drive up and visit Mum. By then feeling more "normal". Nothing like pulling a few weeds to dispel a black mood.

Nothing like getting in a car , turning the stero up and putting the foot down as well, but that is not the safest option. :)

When my husband was so sick and begging me to "let him go" I said that I couldn't as when he went I would lose myself as well. And in a way it feels like that at times. He was the one I shared so many memories with, the kids growing up , holidays, no one who remembers those days now. I feel on these times that I have lost myself as well. It is not easy rebuilding a life at 50, starting out again is so hard.

But I AM MAKING IT..... it is just taking longer that I thought possible and I am old and tired at times.

Anyway that was Sunday. Yesterday had such a lovely day at home pottering about , tidied the garage , got rid of lots of junk and best of all, knitting , weaving and spinning. See this is my therapy.

But I tell you, what I wouldn't give for an electric yarn winder.....!!!!! After winding 5 balls of fine 2ply Merino in black and white for my next weaving project my arm was ready to drop off.



Two pis of the loom ready to go.....



But I think I may need to borrow a finer reed with more DPI this one seems a little to wide...hmmm.



Next up, finally I have managed to find a brown yarn that goes close enough to the yarn I already had. Remember this... well in the pic below you can see a square I had left + the one in the middle which was the original sample and one on the right which is the first of the squares knitted to go around the hem of the dress to go with the above. I hope to finish it to put in our fashion parade next year.




Next up is a rather blurry pic of some spun hemp plyed with silk. Half of a sample I am doing for our advanced spinners group. Will do the next half and ply with linen. So must get on with it as it should have been finished weeks ago. [ post script - have now spun half the rest of the hemp so getting there.]




Now a finished object with a banana for scale. They are so "cute". I am now up to the heel on the second pair so they should be finished in good time.




Last but not least a new project. Some tencil to spin. Hmmm it should dye well and be part of a devore project. Perhaps plyed with silk and knitted into a lacy scarf with burn out areas.



Anyway you can see what a lifeline craft has always been for me. Better away to turn a heel. Knit on all.

Cheers >^..^<

Action updates!!

Hmm I think after a few more months I will have to start using the old "vol 1 # 3" etc. In other words title ideas are drying up.

Anyway readers may remember me mentioning doing a course a couple of weeks ago by a well known NZ weaver, Anne Field. The subject was devore. Now this was aimed at weaving but 3-4 of us in our club requested being able to do it with knitting. Now Anne is in the process of writing a book on this techinque so was more than happy to do so as she wants to include knitting in her book. So I can only give you a short idea of what is involved.

Basicly we knitted samples, put on templates and painted on the solution either with the templates or freehand. Once dry the solution was heat set to acitvate it then washed out. The idea is to use both plant and animal fibre. The plant fibre is etched out of the final fabric.

It was a great day and produced some differing results. Definately a learning process. Some samples worked well and some didn't. But it has given me many wonderful ideas. Now just to find the time.....!!!!



This is a before shot. It shows the knitted sample and the stencils applied.




This pictures shows two finished samples. You can see the "washed" out patterns where the solution was applied. The lower one the white areas is the washed out patches.

The next pic show another sample where I tried using text.



The finished sample. It was difficult to keep the solution in the right area so the letters became blurred.



The small sample to the left used over twisted yarns. This baised and pleated on washing out.

Anyway a very interesting day. By the way I attended the Textile fibre forum lectures today. I would have loved to go to the workshop but couldn't really afford the $500NZ for the week. Perhaps next year.


Now some finished objects. I discovered that our young cadet at work, a 20 year old young man was "expecting a baby" not only that it was his second!!! So knitted these. Of course the baby arrived early before I had finished. But they have now been passed on.




It was rather fun to knit booties again. I can't think how many years it has been....!!


Next up I finally got around to twisting the fringe on my red scarf I wove. Here it is waiting to be washed.



Now talking about baby clothes DP has two nieces expecting next month so after enjoying the booties decided to knit some more. Now having an aversion to making more than one of anything hunted up this.....



.....from here.

An early birthday present, which I am enjoying reading at the moment.

Now I also am in sock mode so ........



No pic yet but have now got this far on the second of the pair. Knitting one at a time this time.

By the way while talking about babies do go and visit Kristi. She needs all the encouragement she can get as she is on bedrest for another 6 weeks or so ... go on I'll wait.

See the scans aren't they cute already.

Now a bit of excitement at work, we have had another southerly with cold biting winds and snow from the south. It was peeling off the sign next door to work so the fire brigade came to take it down. Of course it was when I had the kids so they had a great time watching out the window as the fireman chased the pieces across the carpark.




Now last but not least.....the Model railway clubs had their annual show so DP and I took the two DGC along. Great fun was had. Here they are "driving" Thomas. Of course the favourite of DGD
was the one complete with smoke and sound effects.



Oh well late again and working again tomorrow, better be away to bed.

Knit on all see you soon.