Yarn Along

I'm in knitting disarray at the moment. I started a Vanadium last week, but I'm uncertain that the wool that I've got is going to work for me. It's malabrigo sock yarn and I just couldn't seem to get the gague right. So it's on hold. Its one of those times where I've got the wool for a cardi but I just haven't found the right pattern yet!

I've ordered wool for a man hat for the man, but it hasn't arrived and so I cast on a Violet last night. A wee dress for the wee-est one. Its some bendigo woolen mills and it's machine wash, ideal for a 17 month old. I'm hoping it'll be a quick mindless knit that will keep my hands busy until the malabrigo chunky arrives for the hat.

I got this book in Dublin at Christmas as a gift for my father in law, and I just can't bear to part with it. It gives me a giggle every time I open it up. It's full of quotations, definitions and explanations of things Irish, which if you are Irish seem like they need no explanation at all. I now understand why I get blank stares from people here when I ask them if there is any craic to be had . . . .

Happy knitting. I can't seem to get Ginny's button working on my iPad blogger . . .

After the fact . .

We did some Easter crafting this year which means the stars must have been unusually aligned. The big girls made some easter nests using some brown wool scraps and a bottle (I'm not exaggerating here) of pva glue. They used some barely blown up balloons to wind the sopping wool around and across. They look quite like birds nests actually. Then I knit a heap of colored eggs to go inside.

All three big kids made some easter candles using egg shells. I melted down a tall candle in an enamel cup in a pot of boiling water. We carefully cracked the eggs close to one end and emptied them out. We used the wick from the tall candle in the Shells and poured in the melted wax. They were cuffed and we lit them at lunch on Sunday.

Yarn Along

Winter Hats! It was freezing here a few weeks ago and I had myself convinced that that was it, the warm weather was done and dusted.  I was wrong and its been sunny as for the last while now.  We went to the beach last week and I seriously considered unpacking the snow suits from the winter clothes to take with us.  I'm glad I didn't because the sun shone on us all week! Love this Autumn weather.  Hot sun, cool breezes, early shadows and leaves starting to turn. Didn't stop me casting on and off a few winter wooly hats and I'm just wrapping up the third one now.

I finished my Wurm/Hive.  Then I ripped back the band because it was too loose around my head and did some decreasing to tighten it up and knitted it backwards.  It wasn't until I was sewing up the band that I realised I'd knitted instead of purled, so I ripped it out again and purled it.  Then I cast it off too tightly, so I ripped that bit out again, and finally(!) I have a very snug Wurm/Hive that I'm very happy with.

Next up was a Stella Pixie hat for the baby.  My first version turned out wayyyy to big, so I ripped that whole thing back and started again with fewer stitches.  Its now on the small side, but will see her through the winter, if she ever lets me put it on her.

Last of all, for now, was a boy hat. That's the one in the top photo.  I'm making it up as I go along, based on a few pictures I've seen here and there.  Its similar to the Wurm/Hive and I'm not going to decrease at all.  Just seam across the top when its the right length.  I'm hoping to dye this once its finished.  White and my boy are not two things that go together.

I  think that I need to face up to the fact that the only real reading I ever do involves Children's books.  Adult literature is just not fitting in to my world these days.   The last real adult book I read was The Dubliners, last year.  I really enjoyed it, having grown up in Dublin I guess helped. But these days I don't sit down in the evening till 8.30pm. Then I knit for an hour and a half.  Then I pass out.  There is just no room. Until I learn to knit and read at the same time.

I do however read at least one chapter of a children's book every night, along with numerous picture books throughout the day.  We are reading the second volume of the Wishing Chair stories by Enid Blyton.   I found it in Dublin at Christmas.  They've got a much better selection over there then here!
She was a wonder that woman and she has my kids hanging off her every word, decades later.
Love it.

Happy knitting!