Stitch update

Regarding the confusion over moss and seed stitch, I am going to stick to my current definitions as About.com agrees with me. And that's good enough for me. Seed stitch is as I have been doing it, and moss stitch did have some craziness, but not quite the craziness I expected...and it's not complicated either. The complicatedness was a moss stitch myth. Anyway, maybe this whole seed versus moss thing started as a cultural mix-up between the Brits and the Yanks.

In further updates: there is every possibility that the bag will now become a giant floor cushion. Meg has suggested that even though the strip I have knitted so far is too skinny to be made into a cushion on it's on, it could be the decorative centre strip for a larger cushion, using fabric for the rest of it and sewing it all up. I wonder, can my sewing machine handle the power? I can see some hand-stitching coming into this!

Project #83,492

I picked up one of my many long-abandoned projects at Stitch n Bitch last night. It's headed for life as a bag, but at this point is still a rectangle...like most of my "works".

In this picture it looks like I am using two different yarns, but they are actually both the same shade of Gedifra Fashion Trend. The yarn is mottled but also changes from light to dark and back again every, say, 10 metres or so. So the two balls are just at different stages of light-to-dark. So I'm using 8mm needles and doing stripes in seed stitch and stocking stitch. Actually I'm not 100% sure this is seed stitch. There seems to be a bit of argument in books and on the net about the difference between seed stitch and moss stitch. What I did above is just k, p, k, p, etc, then knit the purls and purl the knits on the other side. I always thought that's what constitutes seed stitch and that moss stitch was far more complicated than this, with a purl row in there or something. But then I have heard my stitch above referred to as moss, and also a pattern for seed that was just WAY too complicated! Who knows. Hopefully someone out there can clear this one up.

So back to bagging. I'm not sure how I want to finish the bag once the rectangle is done. I'm thinking of using these handles on it:

They are just very dark brown plastic - nothing fancy. I would have liked to find some faux tortoiseshell ones but a. they don't grow on trees and b. they're pricey as hell when you do find them. Anyway, then there's the decision about the gusset (hate that word, makes me think of undies) - whether to knit it in the same yarn or a contrast yarn (I've got the same yarn in charcoal but I don't think that will go with the brown of the handles), or to sew the sides in a contrast fabric. It will definitely need lining because it's quite a soft yarn. I feel a bit guilty using such a nice fluffy yarn on a bag, but given the size of my stash, I can't afford to save any more yarn for "the perfect project". Nope, it's all gotta go. I've got to get this bag finished pronto anyway because I need the needles for another project which I will tell about tomorrow...

Craving escape

This is the latest thing I am MADLY craving after picking up a Flight Centre brochure this morning. Apart from escape in general (which I crave most of the time anyway), I am DYING to escape overseas and go see the Yukon - that part of Canada next door to Alaska. The pictures are just irresistable. These are the Tombstone Mountains:

And this is a beaver lodge in the middle of the Watson River:

There seem to be a few cheap deals going around to go in their Spring/Summer, and I think a week or two mountain biking and camping trip would be great. I also saw a few deals for dog-sledding in Winter too, but I don't know anything about the treatment of the dogs, so I think I will try to research that one a bit further first - wouldn't want to encourage any dodgy animal care practices. But here are some of the sledding dogs, looking really cute (you'll have to squint for this tiny picture - aaw, see their little doggy smiles?):

Holy crap it's Christmas

Well, it nearly is, and I have over committed myself...again. Every year this happens. I promise to make people little pieces of craftiness for Christmas and then put it off repeatedly, then discover right at the last minute that there's no way humanly possible that I can get it all made in the time I have left, so I end up madly shopping instead.

Last year I decided I would knit for every person in the entire extended family. I bought the yarn for two projects. I started one of them, hated how it turned out, and put it in the too hard basket. A year later and it's still there. What I did manage last year was sewing up a few handbags and knitting bags at the last minute. I think sewing for Christmas is a much smarter option for me because if I work intensively I can usually get a bunch of things knocked over in a weekend or two. I hope my recipients don't feel any less loved for me not spending several weeks in torture just for them.

My recipients, however, know what they are getting this year. And this is the other trick to getting myself to complete things. When people know they are getting something, the PRESSURE IS ON!

However, that doesn't mean they're allowed to see the gift in process. So that means for the next couple of weeks before we go on holidays in Queensland to see the family, I will be providing diversional posts! I will be posting propoganda cover stories on "things that I am currently crafting" while all the time sneaking away into my craft bunker to toil on the real projects. This is all part of my mind-bogglingly sneaky ploy to keep my real craft goings-on a secret.

However, this is only until all gifts have been handed out. (And, of course, recieved with squeals of joy. Of course.) Because once this is done, I will be presenting an electronic catwalk of goodies. In the meantime, and for some creative inspiration from an unusual source, here's a time warp back to last Christmas, mucking around with the camera and Hubby's mum's kaleidoscope:

And furthermore...

Regarding the obligatory lighthouse shots from Wollongong and Kiama recently, and just to prove to Meg who was very upset that I did not love the Aussie icon that is the Thirroul M0tel that I do indeed appreciate accomodation with a historic side over the cheesy please-me comforts of accomodation giants like Accor, I would like to add this, my fave Aussie lighthouse picture. It's in Cape Bruny, the lighthouse keeper's cottage of which can be rented out for holidays from this site, along with a bunch of other lighthousekeeper's cottages around the country. Hubby and I are planning a trip over to Tassie sometime early in the new year, and I am hoping that we will make it to this fine icon of seafaring history at least for a fly-by, if not to stay.

Welcome to HELL, may I turn back your bedsheet?

This weekend Hubby and I did a big scooter tour down to Wollongong and back. It was originally intended to only be a trip to Thirroul, but we had a little run in with the devil while we were down there. Unfortunately we had booked a place to stay for two nights at an establishment in the area, and when we got there we found we'd booked ourselves into the doorway to hell. This is not the kind of thing they ever tell you on NeedItNow.com. They never say "Double room with ensuite, sofa bed, tea/coffee making facilities, 24 hour access to the Dark Lord". It wasn't till we got back that we found out that it was the very place where the artist Brett Whiteley died of an overdose in 1992. Maybe it was the decor that sent him over the edge:

Or the view into the neighbouring crackhouse:

And someone please tell me why the bathroom sink was not in the bathroom:

I have to be fair though, the worst thing about this place was the noise. All night, it sounded like road trains were about to storm the room. The next day we fled, leaving our second night paid up, and headed down to the Novatel in Wollongong. We figured we deserved it after the previous night, and whilst we're not keen on the Gong itself, the Novatel is right on the beach and has everything you need so you can be totally lazy (which is a good thing when you spent the previous night without sleep). Compare the view above with the view from Saturday night's accomodation:

But accomodation aside, there were many other sights to behold over the weekend. A sploosh of whales in the distance as we rode out of the thick of the forest in Royal National Park and popped out to the sea:

A little further down, mountain mist meeting the sea in the evening light:

A cafe with a brilliant name (haha):

And, of course, the obligatory lighthouse shot:

But I searched high and low and I did not see a single yarn, craft, or otherwise store. Not impressed!

Believe it or not!!!

Finally, and for the very first time on this blog, (and quite probably the last as well), FINISHED OBJECTS!!!

I know. You can't believe your eyes. But before you get too excited, it's only fair that I confess. These are objects that I finished earlier this year. And in fact, they are objects that I no longer even have in my possession! They have already been given away to their respective recipients, both newborns of friends of mine (although both projects were sized to be used at 6 months).

The first is a little pixie hat and the first thing I ever made without a pattern (apart from scarves, which don't count). Thankfully I had the good sense to write down what I'd done pretty soon after I did it, so I will be able to do it again. Behold its stripey cuteness:

The second is a cardigan that I adapted from a pattern from a magazine (I think it might have been Creative Knitting). Not that much adaptation though I must admit - the pattern just had awful wide suctiony sections of rib on the sleeves and waist, and a rib button band and collar. I just replaced all of this with a narrow piece of seed stitch. At the time I had ambitions to add a hood, but I soon realised that I was out of my depth and gave up on that one. I would have had to design the hood myself. Now that I am actually knitting hood (for the Rogue) with a pattern, I am thankful that I shied away from that one.

Note the car buttons. I found those buttons 10 whole years ago and hung onto them knowing that one day they would be perfect for some little project. And voila, perfect they are!

Heaps of new stuff!

It seems my photography skills are getting worse and worse. Here's an attempt to show the Katia Surf yarn I was considering making into a shrug. After knitting up a sample however, I am thinking it might be a bit bright for me, and better suited to a scarf. In fact it might make a good Xmas pressie scarf.

I ripped up this sample at Stitch n Bitch last night and started it again in a pattern from Scarf Style, called Midwestern Moonlight. It's a good pattern for a variegated yarn as it seems to randomise the colour a bit more. When knit plain this yarn gets a bit of a blotchy, blobby effect, but MM breaks these patches up.

In other late breaking news, I got a bunch of magazines yesterday. This one, Sandra, is one I always find something I like in:

And wouldn't you know it! They had a pattern for my DREAM SHRUG!

Love it (though I'm willing to admit that it's more of a bolero than a shrug)! I am going to have to order the yarn from the internet because there's no chance of me getting it at my local yarn stores. I'd like to use the exact yarn they do as I really like the colour choices. That same mag also had this rather nice looking coat that might be worth a try, and which I would be happy to do in a substitute yarn:

Another mag I picked up, this time from the UK:

That one had some nice patterns, though nothing I feel compelled to do just now. But it did have some very cute finger puppets.

Then in cross stitch (one of my more secret fetishes because of the "dag" factor) there was this:

Normally cross stitch books are full of a lot of the teddy bear and kiddie type projects, but this had a couple of nice things. What I really liked in this mag though, was an ad for Barbara Thompson designs. She has some gorgeous cross stitch kits/patterns for sale, mostly in the Art Deco style of the 20's and 30's, including this cushion:

and this wall hanging:

Unfortunately she doesn't seem to have an Aussie stockist, but you can order her things online from the UK.

A shrug by any other name

I had a good look through my vintage patterns for that 1930's version of the modern shrug, the bed jacket, but haven't found it yet. Mind you, my pile of patterns is almost as big as my pile of yarn, so I didn't quite get through them all.

Still I did find this little beauty. It seems there have been more than one incarnation of the shrug throught the ages. And look, here's the 80's Grease Lightning version, simply referred to as a "waistcoat".

The glitter "waistcoat" is a special place that I don't feel quite ready to go. Instead I am considering the Mia Shrug, brought to you by Karen of Yarn is My Metier. Now that's better.

It's spring! Time to...buy more yarn?

I know I'm supposed to be reducing the stash rather than adding to it, but I couldn't help but see whether the summer range of yarns was at my local the other day. This one was irresistable:

I hven't figured out what to do with it yet. I have some cotton 8 ply in the same colours that I have been saving up for something but haven't seen any inspiring patterns yet. There was one pattern I considered for a while that was a very simple long sleeved top in a very loose gauge that you'd wear say over a singlet or something. I'm thinking I could do it in the green cotton with the occasional stripe of pink cotton and of the stuff above.

I have also been thinking about this shrug thing that everyone is getting into (see the one skein wonder that Mason-Dixon have fallen in love with). I was looking around on the net for a pattern with a bit of a tie-up at the front and maybe a bit of a lace stitch as I'm keen to give that a go too, and saw something written by an old lady who was having a laugh that the shrug that's so popular now is exactly the same as the bed jacket they used to knit for grandmothers in her day. That reminded me of the big pile of old patterns my mum gave me a couple of years ago, and the pile of patterns my grandmother passed on to me when she died too. I'm sure I saw something from like the 30's for bed jackets. Gonna have to dig that up tonight, and will report back. In the meantime, I'm running off to lunch with Hubby but hope to sneak back through Lincraft for some shrug related inspiration!

Bandannas, evil, and other stuff

I've been flat out lately and haven't been able to post much, but that is all going to change now that hubby and I have a new family member, Roger. Here's Roger's picture:

We love Roger. Love him like a son. Here's little Roger wearing his CanTeen bandanna/monitor-dustcover:

And it's just in time that we got him too because lots of things are happening that need to be reported. Like these nanna-made knitted toys that I picked up from Red Cross for example. A rather nice kangaroo taken in a very unflattering light and hence looking rather not nice:

And a puppet which I suspect was not crocheted by a nanna at all but by some slightly unhinged "artiste". Frankly I've always been a little suspicious of crochet, and I regard this as proof of its evilness. This disturbing creation is some kind of morph of a cat and an alien (or maybe a pirate). Beware his shiny knitted hook:

Speaking of evilness (yes, when I don't write for a few days there are a few things I have to get off my chest), we watched a DVD of Amityville Horror (the original) on Roger last night (and it was such better quality than watching on the telly), and I discovered that the chick who played Kathy Lutz reminds me of someone I know in life and who I feel may be entirely evil. Or at least really damn rude.

In the interests of positivity, happiness, and PMS not completely taking over my otherwise nice-as-pie demeanour, I will say no more.

I love nannas

Great things I have bought from nannas (grannies, grandmas, call them what you will), or places that sell stuff made by nannas:

1. The Land-Prawn. I found this at the Red Cross store in the city. I had no idea what it was, but it had charm, a nice prawny colour, and eyes that followed you menacingly around the room.

2. The Scotty Dog. From the same store - they had millions of them. Somewhere in the Sydney metropolitan area there is an old woman with nothing left in her life but a pair of needles, some white yarn, and a scotty dog pattern.

3. The Very Small Bunny. This came from the Manly Primary School flea market on Saturday and is the right size for a one-year-old's hand. So why do I have it? These are questions you should not ask.

4. The Little Doggy Pin Cushion. This piece of knitted usefulness matches the Very Small Bunny. Why does one need a pin cushion with matching bunny? Again with the questions.

We can be (knitting) heroes

It's that time again! The Sydney Royal Easter Show (which is on in April every year) has put out the call for next year's pieces of artistic and craftastic masterpieces for judging!

Meg of Days Full - this is your year. Everybody - look at this finished piece of brilliance and just TRY to tell me any good reason why this fine example of the Rogue might possibly be overlooked by the Easter Show judges:


Not a chance, I tell you. Not a one. By God, Megsy, put the thing in or forever get ribbed for letting this one get away. Remember, darl, forever is a really long time to get bugged by me.

Here's the form for any of you out there contemplating similar endeavours. Remember, there are lots of other categories (mosaics, crochet, sewing, handbag-making, bla, bla, bla) to choose from so don't get stuck on the knitting. Your due date to get the form in is 9 December 2005, but you don't have to have the finished object ready till late March 2006, so no reason to panic.

Bandannas are back

Big yay for Carla for being first cab off the rank with the bandanna challenge. You can always rely on a Type A personality to get in first. Hers has become a nappy for her 6 month old bub (maybe not so effective, but certainly stylish). See the rest of the glamour photography here. Carla also shows a second bandanna being used as a baby toga. I would like to add the disclaimer here that whilst the toga is the preferred attire for university drinking binges, no babies were made to scull rocket fuel in the making of this posting.

A virtual tour of Kiama including yarn shop (naturally)

Hubby and I finally found a house we rather fancied on Saturday, but had to get away and do all that serious thinking type stuff about what offer to make, which mortgage to sign up to, whether or not to promise first born. So we drove down to Kiama on the NSW South Coast. Of course, it pissed down 90% of the time but it was actually kind of a good thing as it gave us an excuse to languish in cafes and do a bit of navel gazing about the house situation. Naturally, I took a bucketload of photos in which you may note the many splendours of the location...

The whales that fling themselves into the air with gay abandon when not being photographed, but which taunt mercilessly from beneath the grey waters as soon as the camera is raised:

The blowhole for which Kiama is famous, and which normally spurts water high enough into the air that a couple of years ago a news story broke that two teenagers "enjoying each other's company" on the rock face were blown right off the rock causing, as you can imagine, some rather nasty, and private, injuries. No such luck for us though. We saw hole, but no blow (ahem):

Misty views of the coastline:

The local council's saucy suggestion for disabled parkers:

The obligatory lighthouse shot:

Scary looking cliffs:

Another obligatory "coastal scene" shot:

And of course (yes you knew it had to be in there somewhere) the local yarn peddlars. This was the busiest small town yarn store I have ever seen, and yet the selection was fairly limited. They must have figured out exactly what the locals and occasional tourist wanted and had stocked the shop with that and only that. I must admit though that they were cheap (I will not speak of the unleashing of my bank account in that store. Nor shall we ever speak of this again. Ahem.). I even saw evidence of local knitters in one of the cafes we stopped in. A woman was doing some gorgeous and rather complicated looking lace in a nice seaside blue, so I pulled my knitting out too in solidarity. No pics of that though.

End of slide show. Please feel free to talk amongst yourselves.