Here Be Knitting

Lovely, Lovely, Lovely

We have been away for a holiday - just Her Dad and I.  Bliss. And, scarily, at least 15 years since just the two of us were away together. Scary how quick 15 years can go by and scary how much weight you can so easily find in just 15 short years :)

 

 

I just love these little guys - bring back lovely memories from my not-always-great childhood.

No prizes this time for guessing where we have been :)  Results tomorrow (or maybe the next day) for the last competition!  New knitting and some big decisions made and shared then as well.

Enough for now.....

Competition

Last night, I decided on a little competition - to see if anyone can guess what I am knitting now.  I realise now that my second photo is really pretty unfair.  So, here they are again:

and:

Something knitterly for the first to guess either or both of these patterns!  The competition is open to Friday.  You can ask me questions in the comments if you would like some further hints :)

Enough for now...

Ugly Duckling and Some Things New

It has been awhile.  No excuses, just haven't been feeling on top of things lately (again....).  If this low goes on for much longer, I will have to seek some help.  I'm taking a mental health week next week.  Hopefully this will improve things.  I think we will go away, maybe to the beach and that really would be lovely.

I finished the Hanami on our Easter long weekend:

I think at the moment it looks rather like the proverbial ugly duckling.  Her Dad is going to make some stainless steel blocking wires and also some ss blocking pins.  At the moment, I am waiting patiently.... When blocked, I do have faith that the swan will be born.  I don't know that I would knit it again.  Once you get the hang of the pattern, it does drag a little as it is the same over and over.  However, I have seen some stunning versions on Ravelry in black, so that may tempt me to make another.  Of course, I also have so many "firsts" I want to knit that repeating seems a little like a waste to me.  We'll see.....

A few weekends ago, we travelled to Ballarat for another chess tournament.  Not one of The Girl's best tournaments, but she has bounced back now.  They held the event in The Old Ballarat Gaol.  That made me giggle a little - chess players are such a subversive lot that they certainly do need locking up (or perhaps their parents do for being so barking loony to be taking them all over the country) :)

Beautiful building:

 

and

I think my favorites were the original gutters (I know, I know the pun is just too obvious...) and the chimney:

I've got lots more on the history of Ballarat and some of its beautiful buildings, but they can wait for another post.

I have begun two new projects.  Here is just a taste of both:

and

Any guesses at what they might be?  Leave a comment if you have an idea and I will give a small knitterly something to any who guess correctly.  I'll leave it open until this Friday.  Have a go - I usually have nice "somethings" to give away!

Enough for now....

Milestones

Our beautiful Middle Girl turned 18 this week:

That is her, our Middle Girl, on the right. 

She was a lovely baby:

Who never slept, unless she was on or touching her Mum or her Dad.  We have photos of our Middle Girl sleeping peacefully on Her Dad's chest while he is totally jonked in front of the fire.  Our Middle Girl was a perfect baby who got everything she wanted/needed. That is how we parented all 3 of our girls - our belief that they demanded only what they needed determined how we cared for them.  It was exhausting but rewarding and, for us, absolutely right.

As a One Year Old, she was delightful:

She liked to run our MIddle Girl.  Whenever she left your arms, she would immediately run in whatever direction she was facing.  We took to leaving her in the backpack we carried her around in.  It didn't stop her running, but it slowed her enough that we could catch her up!

Our Middle Girl was/is a deep thinker.  At 5, she was interpretting books read by her kindergarten teacher as a 15 + year old. "John Brown Rose and the Midnight Cat" is a lovely Australian book meant at kindergarten/primary level to be about jealousy, new friendship and perfect for new big brothers and sisters.  At high school (and even older) it is a story about accepting death.  While all the others in Middle Girl's class are talking about jealousy, friendship, John Brown not liking the new cat etc etc our little Middle Girl pipes up and says that the story is about death and John Brown is frightened to accept death and let it in.  The teacher had to go home and look it up to see that it is exactly the meaning that the author intended!!  Frightening, her intellect....

But, our Middle Girl has been chased by her own Black Dog.  She has suffered from episodes of depression since she was 5.  At times, it has been very hard to live with our Middle Girl and her Black Dog.  We have had numerous professionals attempting to help.  They would make it better for a little while and then he was back, nipping at her heels.

Early last year, our Middle Girl attempted suicide.  Horrible, horrible, horrible does not even begin to explain how absolutely terrifying it was.  We were lucky, we didn't have enough pills in the house for her to take enough to make the event final.  Months and months and months of a long, slow, painful journey back to wellness.  Sometimes, we were close, I think, to her trying again.  Waiting for the medication to have an effect.  Hoping that this Psychologist would know her stuff and that our Middle Girl would let her in.  Painfully breathing in and slowly, ever so slowly breathing out.  And, one small step at the time, our Middle Girl came back to us.  The black hole that had opened beneath her and beneath us all began to close. 

Her birthday was the real gift.  A girl on her way to wellness, laughing, contented, open and honest again. 

Our gift to our Middle Girl was a celebration of this journey.  We gave her a Pandora Chain and some items have a special meaning:

   

Her March Birthstone.

Her first initial for her stunningly beautiful name.

For Our Middle Girl's beauty.

A locket for our love for our Middle Girl.

The Chines symbol for Happiness - our wish for our Middle Girl.

Happy 18th Birthday!

Enough for now....

The Knitting. I'm Baaaaaaccccckkkkkk.....

I'm back, I'm feeling much better, thanks for asking and The Knitting has actually ahappening been :)

It seems to be a season for multiple repeat knittings of the same pattern and I'm not immune.  Here is my very own Simple Beaded Lace Scarf completed 4, almost 5, times.  One for me (the multi-colour Ovation) and 4 for stash gifts (Using Elann's Kidsilk Haze equivalent in mohair/silk):

I love this pattern.  Very simple, great TV knitting, but the finished scarf is just stunning.  Easily made into a goassamer thin night time jewelled beauty or a wonderful addition to a day wardrobe.

I've also finished Sock One of the Embossed Leaves:

The Girl very begrudgingly allowing me to use her leg as The Model.  Another easy pattern that gives a lovely fabric. 

I've also begun another pair of simple socks - The Hedgerow - for Her Dad. I'm knitting these with STR yarn (again!).  They are stretchy, soft and quick to knit:

 

The yarn is darker than it appears here and the pink is more a blood red - the problems of taking photos late at night.  As there is a history of Her Dad's socks ending up as gifts for others, I hope he actually gets to wear these ones.  Especially as knitting for Size 12 feet really is a labour of love I would prefer to repeat only very ocassionally - so very like child birth really :)

The Hanami is through pattern repeat 4 and now about halfway through repeat 5 (although photo is only to end of 4):

As you can see, an awful lot of difference from the last photo :)

We are planning on heading out to The Block tomorrow, so I should have some photos to share.

Just to leave you with some taste tempers - some wonderful sock patterns I have discovered that I plan on knitting soon:

Primavera Socks and

The Firestarter Sock (click on the last sock in the photo to take you to the pdf).

Enjoy.

Enough for now...

And the Winner is (Part Two)... and Tomorrow is Important

We spent the rest of our tourist time in Sydney in and around the city centre. My favourite photo from our time away:

It is from The Rocks region of Sydney.  It reminds me of what cities are all about - The People.

Her Dad's favourite photo:

No longer in service, but these buses faithfully took him to and from school when he was a wee lad!

The Girl's favourite photo:

She loved the aerial roots of the Port Jackson Fig.

We all loved:

The beautiful sandstone in and around the foreshore.  Mrs Macquarie's Chair is a very famous example and here is Our Girl having a great time on it:

Tomorrow is a very important day for all Australians.  Our new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, will issue an apology to Indigenous Australians for what are now known as the Stolen Generations - when Australia forcefully removed young Indigenous Australians from their families.  An abhorrent practice that began almost as soon as Europeans arrived and continued into the 1970s.  This Apology has been a very long time coming, marred by Political fighting, and that length of time has, I believe, lessened our Nation.  Tomorrow is the historic first step in beginning the Healing.

Just a few more photos of beautiful Sydney:

And the ability to survive and thrive; the palm growing in the chimney pot:

Enough for now...

The Ramblings. And the Winner is Sydeneeey (Part One)...

I'm still feeling pretty cr*p - so we won't even go there.  We will, instead, have a tourist break.

We have spent a few weekends of late in Sydney.  It truly is a beautiful city. 

We came down to Bradley's Head:

Especially famous for 2 things  -

1 Because of its position on the Harbour, it has been seen as important in the defence of Australia.  Firstly, from the Russians during the Crimean War. (Also during the two World Wars, but I don't think that's as intriguing as the defence effort we put in for the Crimean, which when you think about seems to have been an awful lot of effort for not really a very great risk?? - so therefore much more interesting) 

Military machinery and extensive tunnels dug into the hill for the men.  So dark, you can see The Girl feeling her way through them:

And some more of these extraordinary tunnels:

2 And, of course, Bradley's Head has spectacular views of the Harbour.

Here are some natives enjoying the view:

A termite nest with arguably the best real estate in Australia - position, position, position!!

And the views?  See for yourself.

Enough for now.....

The Ramblings. Down and Even Further Down....

I haven't posted to The Blog like I promised.  I have been feeling really low.  It doesn't happen to me very often, I am essentially "The glass is half full" sort of girl, but this week and last I have been dragging my heels and not wanting to do anything.  I have emails from friends (sorry Shelagh and Lynne) that I need to respond to, comments from readers of The Blog that I haven't answered (very rude of me) and I have essentially just come home and flopped in front of whatever was on the tele.  Don't know why, it is just how it is for now.  I know it will pass (it always does) but, just right now, I have managed to fall into the pothole and I'm just struggling a little to get myself out.

Knitting of course has been affected.  Here is the evidence of a pretty meagre haul:

I have completed the third repeat of The Hanami.  I still love this pattern and the alpaca yarn is so, so soft.  I'm not good at memorising pattern repeats, so have to keep on concentrating on the pattern, but otherwise it is a straightforward, enjoyable knit.

I have finished the second Feather and Fan sock.  They look absolutely fantastic, the STR yarn is great in this pattern and they are an easy knit for good results.  But, they don't fit me or The Girl so it made them harder to complete.  Mmmmmm I wonder if this is when the current low mood began to appear......

A second Ovation Scarf with beads - this one for me.  A good quick knit that is very feminine and pretty.  As you can see, it has been a while since the poor spinning wheel has enjoyed some use.

And now for Something Completely Different...

A few weekends ago, we ventured into Victoria, passing through the small town of Holbrook in NSW to get there and back.  Nothing very interesting in that.  But, they continue the famous Australian theme of large tourist attractions.  I am thinking here of Australia's Big Things (keep your mind out of the gutter, at least for now...). Holbrook's is slightly different because it is real.  Behold, The Submarine:

We thought this was lovely (but strange) for a few reasons.  Primarily, I suppose, is that Holbrook is about 250 kms from the ocean.  We didn't check for any very large dams nearby :) 

The other slightly odd thing was they seemed to us to have a fixation with things below the waist.  Behold:

And:

And:

Just sayin.

The Girl had another good tournament last weekend.  She began 46 of 56 competitors in a strong field and finished equal 14th.  She won her rating division and collected some $$.  She was happy.  We have lots and lots of photos from our trip to beautiful Sydney which I will put up soon.  For now, a taste of what is to come:

Enough for Now...

The Knitting. Pay it Forward

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  I have been travelling, mostly for work, and haven't had the time or the head space to post.  I also haven't had much time for knitting.  I have completed only a little more on the Hanami, I've not really touched any of the socks, have begun and finished another scarf in Ovation (just like The Girls) for me and have begun two simple (one knitted on the diagonal and the other feather and fan) scarves to take with me for knitting in the car.  All very boring.... and, at the moment, no photos because I have no energy to go and get the camera and hussle the projects into some sort of photogenic order.

Tomorrow we are off to Sydney as The Girl has another chess tournament.  She did well in her last one.  She came into the tournament 64 of 64 participants and finished equal 27!  She was very pleased with herself and it has reinvigorated her interest in chess.  Chess is such a confidence game; you really need to believe that you can beat the person across the Board.  In terms of psychology, it ranks with boxing(I'm not sure I would call boxing a "sport" as I can't support that level of brutality as anything other than gross, but I digress....) as being one of the hardest sports so it can be tough on the ego, although at least it is gentler on the face :)  As the forever suffering parents, we get to sit around in chess venues and wait for her to finish.  This has its upsides - generally lots of quiet and plenty (plenty, plenty....) of time for knitting, reading, podcasts etc etc.  So the next two days should be great - The Hanami here I come!

I have joined the Pay it Forward knitting project with Lynne.  I know, I know (and as usual) I am getting to this late as most of blogland has already signed up.  But.... if you would like to play and haven't yet acted, the first three commenters to this post will receive a knitted gift from me sometime in 2008.  I'm not promising what it will be or when you will get it, but you will get one.  You just need to promise to do the same on your blog.  I hope this makes sense (its late and I'm tired).  I don't mind sending to anywhere in the world, so if you would like something from an average Aussie Knitter please don't hesitate to leave a Comment.

We have a public holiday here on Monday and other than some cleaning of this pigsty we loosely call home; I have a relatively free day - Yah!!  I promise to post photos of our recent travels and my projects then. 

Oh... and I need some cheering up, so please don't just lurk, leave me a comment and make me smile!

Enough for now.....

The Knitting. The Things I have Learnt....

1  I should complete "serious" lace knitting on straight rather than circular needles:

Here is The Hanami Take Two Day Three.  I have completed one pattern repeat of the basket weave.  And a close up:

I am happy now with how it is knitting up.  I have gone down .5 mm to 3mm needles but the real difference is in the straight needles.  They provide rigidity to my knitting which is desperately needed.  When I knit lace I knit pretending to not be a mollyduker - ie as a right hander (the pattern row anyway, on the "return" row, I just turn around and knit left-handed - I'm such a cheat).  This right handed knitting means that I throw, drop and grab needles and yarn in a very ungainly, painfully slow way.  It also means that I can't keep even tension on circular needles.  Change needles and problem fixed - yah!!

2  Lace isn't always stretchy.

These Feather and Fan socks don't fit me or The Girl :(  The pattern is very unstretchy and this surprised me.  I am hoping they will block a little wider and I will then send to my MIL whose feet are narrower than mine or The Girl's - here's hoping.

3  I don't like the Dutch heel.  Although it is a pretty to look at heel, it is very narrow - see 2 above.  I won't be using it again and will substitute my normal short row heel I think.

4  STR yarn is truly beautiful.

This is STR's Bella Coola and the pattern is Embossed Leaves from Interweave's Favorite Socks.  The pattern is lovely as well and the leaves are actually on show much more than this photo would have you believe.

5  Sometimes I don't know my own stash.

I have been happily quoting this yarn as coming from Sundara and being her Lenten Rose Colourway.  Actually, this is STR Monsoon colourway.  I realised this last week when I thought I had lost my Monsoon yarn and couldn't identify the other sock yarn I had in my "soon to be used stash" - duh!!!  The unidentified and unused sock yarn was, of course, Lenten Rose.  These socks also reinforce Number 4 above as do the Feather and Fans.

6  Sometimes knitting can be painful.

All my sock knitting, especially the lace, has literally cracked the back of my finger in three places.  Do you know how painful revisiting this injury with knitting needles can be....!!!

7  Photographing fingers while holding the camera is hard.

Enough for now....