Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Lets have a blog whinge

Ok, so Christmas was awesome, and so was my cousins wedding but I have no photos of either because I have flogged my camera to its last photo and nothing I do will make it come back from the dead. My Mums ruby isbel is complete and has been blocked in he bedroom which is empty because Im the only one home. I didnt even get to see mum for her birthday : ( Ive been working at my cousins lolly shop in KV and Ive been very good as to not eat all of the stock, only a few sneaky lollies while Im bagging them up. However, Ive been packing a very health lunch and walking to and from work each day which is making up for the lollies.

Im starting to think about what the new year will bring, a holiday (with my boy in Vic, BWM here I come), my Dad turning the big 6-0, the Valley Show, a move and new career in Goulburn, graduation ceremony, hopefully a few more holidays, maybe a bit of studying, and the best bit, planning for 2011; where Im gonna go after my new grad year!

My knitting planning is also on my mind, pavo real is a pattern I have been mulling over, damson is waiting for some awesome sock yarn to fall into my lap and my springtime bandit will start soon in some beautiful 8 ply from BWM. Im also thinking about if the pavo real will be my ravelympics project but then it wont be ready to be entered into the Valley Show. After years of wandering the pavillion I will finally have somethings worth entering!

Hope everyone a great NYE, Ill be on the lounge with my knitting and dog, how sad, lol.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Holidays and such



I've had a very hectic week so the first thing to get neglected was my blog. Last friday night Maikha and I travelled to Wagga for my end of uni cohort party where everyone had a smashing time. Here we are looking all loved up before the do, aww!

Next morning, after a wander around Wagga, we headed back to the coast to pack, in readiness for my families holiday to Shellharbour on Sunday. We left the puppy and home after promising him a holiday next time we took the van somewhere, he was very sad :(

But... after a wheel fell off the van and Mum and Dad sat on the side of the highway for 5 hours waiting to be towed we were lucky that Peewee wasnt with us. The first two tow truck drivers did more damage to the van and the third was a godsend who finally got us to the caravan park before dark. Seeing our 16 ft van in the air on a truck with one wheel was a scary sight, but atleast it is still in one piece and we can have our holiday before the final repairs need to be carried out in February.

The weather on the coast has, so far, been a mixed bag, with rain, wind and sun all in out first week of holidays. Yesterday I knitted for atleast 5 hours getting stuck into the lace for Mum's Ruby Ishbel, which I will hopefully have done by Christmas, depending upon how many A-B repeats she wants.

Today we're back in Kangaroo Valley for my cousins wedding. There will be alot of family around and I'm sure we will party late into the night.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

I Love Knitting

After many problems I finally have photos of recently finished projects to brag about. My herbivore was worked on as I tripped around with Mum and Dad so not only is it green and hand-dyed with a friend, but I worked on it during a trip around our beautiful state of NSW.


The photo was taken in a relatively dark room with a flash so the colours arent as accurate as in real life, although I am waiting to get some action shots.




Cowra Japanese Gardens and Dubbo Western Plains Zoo were the highlights of our trip around NSW with one of my Dads younger brothers, his wife and two and a half year old daughter.





My colonnade is my other recently completed project and after blocking it I am totally in love with the colours and the drape around my shoulders and it is still light enough for on a summers afternoon.
Ive just started a gaenor with some of my stash picked up in Wangaratta, Im loving the pattern and after working from the written instructions for a while Ive progressed to looking at the chart to jog my memory, hopefully I may become a chart reader! Mum has also requested an ishbel, so some BWM Luxury has been ordered in Ruby and my Gaenor will be set aside to try to get it finished by Christmas or Mum's birthday which is soon after. December is always the busiest month and trying to get orgainised early is my only hope of staying sane until New Years.
Safety and best wishes to all, xoxo

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

The quietness of a small town

Apart from spending the good part of a day in my 'favourite' government office applying for a rubbish interim payment before I start work in March, I have had the luxury of spending a few days at home just hanging about. My knitting has enjoyed the time but so has Mum, utilising my extra set of hand for all manner of household chores. The other day, just as dad and I had emptied out a storage shed the heavens decided to open. I forget how beautiful and green the world can look after some rain. After living in Wagga for 3 years you forget that the rest of the world isnt brown.

The jacarandas and Illawarra flame trees are in bloom at the moment, I got a great photo of the ones close to home, but do you think I can find my camera cable... nope! So photos are still on hold, and my camera only takes photos when it feels like it.

So when my hands are sick of knitting I have been listening to the audiobook of Pride and Prejudice, its kinda cheating, I usually love reading books, but I find the langauge a bit too much and listening to it is a bit less daunting. Im enjoying it alot and I havent seen any film adaptations so the story is all new to me.

My ravelry has also been getting alot of attention, all of my needles have been catalogued using the needles and hooks tab and I am surprised by how many I have accumulated seeing as I only started knitting in May. Boredom is a wonderful motivator. The following days hold similar activities. Although I do have a date with a friends ball making doovy watsit on friday so I can tame my lumps of 4 ply remnants picked up from the Wangaratta ACS outlet at $27.50/kg which works out at $1.50 per 50 gram ball, which is very cheap. Thankyou to gypsy retired parents for travelling to that part of Oz to buy them for me.

Anyhoo, I should return to my ravelry and the woes of Elizabeth (what a great name). xxx