Whew! What next?

Well that was a month and a half. After DS2's landlady announced that they were going to sell the house he was living in, it was all on. Land agents ringing and visiting not to mention the several open homes. As she wanted a large price on the house, even more than the current housing boom warranted we thought it would take a while but it suddenly sold which left us with 6 weeks to find him another home.

This proved nearly impossible and we thought that we would have to have him and the kids here. Fortunately we have a reprevie. A lovely little cottage a stone's throw from their school. Only fly in the oinment is that it is only for 6 months so we can have a rest over winter and start over again. We are hoping that the market will free up a little with more available.

As for the move... well exhausting. I am getting too old for this. We had to move in the middle of the week which mean DS's friends weren't able to help. It took from 6.00pm Monday through until noon Thursday. It didn't help that the 3 1/2 ton hire truck got stuck in the gravel up DS's new drive. They tried for nearly 2 hours to dig it out until we gave up and rung a tow company who took another couple of hours under spots [ dark by now ] to winch it out. Believe me when he moves out we will try car and trailer anything has to be easier than that $200 tow. Oh of course the large flight of stairs up to the house didn't help either. As the house is somewhat smaller that the last half his stuff , including fridge and washing machine is now stored guess where? Yes that's right in our garage!

The only plus about that... we didn't have to carry it up those stairs. Who needs the gym, by Friday I could barely function. At least with a long week-end this week we have had a couple of days to chill out. [ After the trips to the tip and Sallies that is.]

At least I now have my chest freezer back. I had lent it to DS as his fridge wasn't working well. As he now has a new fridge I now have room to freeze the garden vegies. So today was spent cleaning out 3 freezers and reorganizing them,. Yeah for room and ease of finding things again. I then froze 3 containers of tomatoes as well as making more relish. Just have to cut up and freeze some of the 14 pumpkins. That's right found another hiding under the tomatoes when I was pulling up some of the vines to make room for the winter vegies.

The weather is so topsy turvy at the moment. We had a freezing winter last year with a short late summer and now May has been the warmest on record. 18 + degrees this past week. So the tomatoes are still ripening well.

I think I have found a cure for startitis. With this course I am doing it needs a few samples knitted. They have been such a life saver this past month. A bit of mindless knitting with enough of a challenge to keep me interested. I have really enjoyed all the cast-on's , cast-off's etc. But now find I am hankering after a "bigger" project. So what next?

I want to knit some more of these for a dear Aunt to keep warm when the cold finally hits.



I know this yarn looks purple but believe me it is a dusky rose. Hmm amazing how a camera can chamge a colour.


These yarns are more true to colour. I am planning a knee rug for DM out of these from here.




I havc some spinning on the agenda as well. Here is some yummy mulberry silk silver in pastel colours and white China silk to ply with it. Oh just remembered I am spinning some at the moment. I did a workshop with Jo Reeve on carding colours and liked the results so much I have spun it up. I have also spun some silk to ply with it and thought something lacy to make it go a long way. Will have to take a pic of this for next time. This is in a lovely orangey hue.





Just incase you think I haven't been knitting I am working on some socks for DP. They are in a deep burgandy and the pattern is by Nancy Bush from Piecework. An old Weldon's pattern. They are going well. When I get time that is.





I suppose it is bed and off to work again tomorrow. Could do with a couple more days, hmm migrane coming on. :)

Anyway something to tempt the pics are up from our Creative fibre festival, go have a look....here.

Knit on all, cheers >^..^<

Finshed, ripped and choices.

Hmmm a quick post before bed. Some maybe wondering did I make it...?? To 9+ feet that is. [The knitted silk/wool kimono obi for new lurkers]

Yes I did !! and in time, well I did deliver it by tea time Saturday , the latest possible. Thank goodness for some sunshine as I was able to get it dry.

Here it is in the sun. I had to fold the ends in once the middle was dry as the weak winterly sun was only shining so far. Of course everytime I turned around there was a furry body trying it out as a scratching mat.




This pic doesn't do it justice but the light wasn't the best. Here's a close up...... again the colour isn't quite true the silk is brighter than appears here.




I also managed to finish weaving the Japanese placemats using the handspun linen and chopsticks. I had one or two issues and would have liked longer to play to get them right but was up until 12.30pm as it was to finish them. So in the end I "cheated" and brushed a small amount of craft glue on the back on each chopstick between the warp threads. It just gave me more confidence that the chopsticks couldn't be pulled out. I really like these. Here they are "posed" for a shot....


Now the freedom I hadn't realised but I have been working to self imposed deadlines since before Xmas. It feels great to just sit back and think...what will I knit next? No due date or pressure to complete.

What with , exhibitions, fashion parade and knitting and pattern writing for the new Devore book by Anne Field it has been somewhat busy.

Now just find DS2 a new home to live in... 3 weeks to go before he has to move and we haven't managed this yet. There is a lack of rentals available at the moment. It goes to family court on the 16th and he should finally get offical full custody of his two so the timing is a bit stressful to say the least. They might end up living here with us again...!!!

But the feeling of freedom today has been marvelous. Had a good hunt through and tidy in my craftroom cum studio and am trying to restrain myself to finishing a few UFO's.

I did a few rows on this last night....





I knitted the back and fronts a few years ago just needed to do the side panels. But now on reflection it is too big and I don't like it. I like the pattern but not in this yarn and would never wear it so into the frog pond. rip rip. [ Well when I get to it in a day or so. :) ]

So tonight I really enjoyed just sitting back and doing a few samples for my C & G's 5 cast ons done already. It was so nice to do some mindless knitting.





Now what to do next..?? You will just have to check back and see :)





Now an interesting sidetrack... when I brought my first car 5 years ago it only had 81,000 k's on the clock....see how much kiddie running about I have done.....








Ok the pic is rather small but that reads 200031! Yes 2nd 100.000. Now my car is my baby...well she is not been used so much now. DP is meant to be buying a new one having been stopped and offered an offer he couldn't refuse for his "classic" Mazda we are now down to 2 cars again.


Here it is sparkling and waiting for it's new owner, who is going to restore it fully.



So we are car and house hunting..

Cheers all ...knit on >^..^<