Fyrewitch's Knitting Adventures

Shave for a cure

Before I take off on holidays I would like to let you know that I'm participating in Shave for a cure this year. This is a very worthwhile event in which participants either shave or colour their hair in order to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation.

I have long hair, almost down to my waist. If I can raise $1000 I will be shaving. Otherwise I will be handing one of my work colleagues a pair of scissors and getting them to hack off my hair at a relevant point. Pictures will be posted after the event.

I'm going for the chop on March 13. If anyone would consider sponsoring me, I would be greatly appreciative. You can do so here.

See you in a few days!

Holidays!

Well I did finally manage to get a train home, and I'm now officially on holidays. My fingers have been working very hard over the weekend in celebration of the fact that I officially have nothing better to do (which is lovely).

The first boss's sock:

The beginning of the knitting for the Mothers Day stall.

And new stash:

Mmmm, flat feet. I'm like addicted as. (Must be said in NZ accent).

And now, I have packed the clothes etc, but I have the most difficult task in front of me. What knitting to take. I was discussing this dilemma known my knitters the world over with my best friend D, who knows how far my knitaholism stretched and N, who doesn't. I expressed my concern at taking the right stuff, and dear N suggested that I take it all. This comment was met with laughter my myself and D. I then took N on a tour of my bedroom, showing her my camphor wood chest full of wool and the two 94 litre containers, also bursting to the seams. Then I marched her back to the lounge and pointed to the cupboard in the rumpus room which was slightly open and threatening to spill out another dozen balls of yarn.  N has come to the conclusion that I have an issue.

Oh, and do have a look at my girl and her favourite boy:

Darcy would not be in the same room as the witchlet until she was about 3. Now he loves her more than he loves me and cuddles up with her at every opportunity. I woke in the middle of the night one night to find that she had cast off her pillow, and he was lying curled around her head where her pillow should have been. They are so cute together!

Well, isn't this Wizard.

What a great place to be on a Friday afternoon. I'm stuck at work.

There was an absolute mother of a storm around 3.30, which apparently managed to knock out some signals on the train line in the Northern suburbs. According to the website, services will resume at 5.30 (which is probably QR time for about 6). So, here I am, on my last day of work prior to two weeks off, still sitting at my desk an hour after I was supposed to leave.

Thank goodness I bought some more yarn and an extra set of DPNs at lunch time!

I bought the Boss's sock in to work today to try for sizing, and not only does it fits perfectly, but I've made it to the point where I can begin to do the decreases for the toe. Unfortunately that requires me to tinker with the pattern, which is at home. Knowing that this would leave me without anything to occupy me on the train journey home. I made a trek to Lincraft in the city and picked up an extra set of DPNs (because too many DPNs are never enough) and a couple of balls of really pretty cotton 4 ply that I heard whisper that they would like to be socks.

Once again, knitting saves the day, and my sanity. I could be standing on the train station, cooped up with all the other Friday afternoon commuters who are wet, crabby and tired (and have that "I've just been rained on" smell that seems to make everyone's body odour completely pungent), but instead I can relax in here, by myself, in the peace and quiet, with my knitting. Of course at some point I will have to venture out and find a train to take me home, but I might give it half an hour, to let most of the wet and crabby people get out of my way first. :)

 

I'm back!

Yay, I have my internet connection back, and I'm totally jazzed. As promised, picture of Tim's Juicy Blue Hexie:

I'm really happy with how it turned out, and very happy that Tim didn't gag when he pulled it out of the bag. As it happened it didn't matter as his fiancee really likes it, and apparently that is the most important thing. Ah, to be young and in love!

Next is a ta da - my finished pair of Flat Feet Socks.

It's like wearing a pair of soft, cuddly hugs on your feet. I wore them to work yesterday and showed them to everyone who walked by.  Most of my reactions were "oh, they're ... great" but my care factor is low as I'm in love. I'm still having to resist the temptation to spend all the money in my bank account on flat feet yarn in order to enrich my life and sock drawer, but I guess that's the hazard that we encounter when we find a yarn we really love.

And I do love knitting socks, it's so much fun and so very rewarding. I particularly love knitting socks on the train. People seem hypnotised by the number of needles poking out and can't help but watch. I think it's that part of human nature that is waiting for something dreadful to happen - "surely with all those needles sticking out she'll poke herself in the eye ... "

So, next on the train knitting, is a pair of socks for my boss. His name is Alex, and he is a lovely boy and very cynical about my knitting endeavours. Although funnily enough, he's not very cynical about his own promised pair of socks. I got him to choose the yarn so I know it's something he'll like (although my mother is now threatening to fight him for them, and to be honest I'm not sure who would win.)

In other news, I have a couple of weeks off work starting as of next week and, thanks to an extremely late tax return, I have some extra $$ so the witchlet and I are going to the beach for a few days. Now I have to start figuring out what knitting to take and have to make sure I don't run out while I'm down there. The consequences could be serious!

Teeny tiny inconvenience

I've been a little quiet as my modem has died, and I'm waiting for a replacement from my ISP. So I'm resorting to a quick post from work (shh, don't tell anyone), so no pictures I'm afraid. They will be forthcoming though.

Tim's Juicy Blue Hexie blanky was finished for the grand occassion of his party. He didn't draw it out of the bag and say it was the fugliest thing he had ever seen, and seemed genuinely impressed that a) it was boy colours and b) that I had made it all myself. Woohoo. Now onto a pink girlie one for his fiancee.

The first sock is now finished from the Flat Feet yarn. It is gorgeous and fabulous and I adore it. Despite my initial fears that it would be far too small it fits perfectly. So I've started on sock number two. I've also bought a couple more delicious yarns from yarnomat which are now in my to do pile. I'm sure you will be deeply jealous when you see the photos of those!

Also, I've started my charity donations for the month - chemo caps. I bought some wonderful soft fluffy wool from a lincraft sale which is making up into beautiful bright hats. Two down, and at least three to go.

The Wool Sniffer

Yup, that's my new nickname.

I was sitting in the waiting room of the clinic where I go regularly and was, of course, knitting. I have already waxed lyrical sufficiently to bore the pants off you with regards to the Flat Feet yarn I'm currently using, so decided to bore my mother with my praises instead. This included the wonderful smell that it has (certainly preferable to the people I catch the train with, although it is summer in Brisbane, so there will certainly be some stinkage on the local public transport).

I ended by shoving my nose into my half knitted sock, much to the astonishment of the only other person in the waiting room who was walking past on her way to the loo. The expression on her face was priceless, as though I'd decided to snort a line of coke in a public place, rather than a harmless half knitted garment. Once she disappeared into the lavatory, I burst into a fit of giggles and told my mother and the receptionist (who usually asks me what I'm knitting this time) what had happened. My mother reckons she's never seen anyone sniff a ball of wool before, although the receptionist suggested that she had once caught her mother in the act. At any rate, we couldn't stop laughing when the poor unsupecting woman emerged from the loo. Little did she suspect that the joke was on her.

And it does smell really good!

Pluto, Lord of the Underworld.

Yarnwork is one of my great passions. One of my other great passions is astrology.

I confess I used to think that astrology was a big pile of crap. How is it possible for everyone assigned a Virgo to have the same thing happen to them on a given day? Impossible! Exactly. I've since learnt that the horoscopes in your average newspaper/magazine is like going to a tabloid and expecting decent reporting.

Astrology is thousands of years old and really is an amazing science. It could take you a lifetime of studying to actually learn every bit of it (which, frankly, is one of the reasons why it appeals to me).

Beginning about a year ago, Pluto, the Lord of the Underworld, made it's first ingress into Capricorn, the sign of the earth and of big business. It was about that time that the first stockmarket dip occurred. Pluto is now at about 2 degrees of Capricorn and making himself right at home - as you may have noticed with economies going belly up the world over. Pluto will also, however, have an immediate effect on people if they are having a transit (ie, the planet is passing over something in your natal chart). It astounded me around Christmas time, the number of young people in the news who had died in accidents either on or close to their birthdays - when Pluto would have been sitting on their natal Suns.

At the moment I'm beginning a significant Pluto transit. Pluto transits take a good two years to work through as the planet is so far away and moves so slowly. So far so good, I've been doing a lot of work and preparation towards this to try to help things along. But just over the last 5 days or so, I've been feeling very much surrounded by Plutonian events.

On Friday, there was a massive housefire in which someone was killed, a street away from where my daughter is in daycare. She doesn't go to a centre but in someone's home, and I turned into the street to find it closed off with police cars and fire engines everywhere. Now the house is fenced off and surrounded by police tape. I know this stuff happens all the time, but I've never experienced it so close to home before.

The witchlet's step-grandfather had a heart attack on the weekend. He is recovering now and should be fine.

A friend of mine has been diagnosed with cancer. She has travelled this path before, and didn't particularly want to go down it again.

And lastly, an airline which owes a significant amount of money to the company I work for has just gone down the tubes. Watching the slow disintigration of the company I work for is like playing kerplunk - the sticks are coming out slowly but surely, and it's just a matter of time before the marbles come crashing down.

I'm not particularly stressed by any of these events, just watching with a vague curiousity and praying for those who need praying for and trying to support those who need it. And wondering ... what will be next? The world (and the universe for that matter) is certainly an amazing place.

I love Sundays

I was going to entitle this post "Sunday Blessed Sunday", but then though that it sounded as though I was going to start on a religious rant, which certainly isn't my style. But happy Sabbath to those of you who celebrate. :)

It's nice and cool and rainy here today, so I'm looking forward to doing lots more juicy blue blanky work today after a short stint on the puter.

A few photos to share.

  This little fella I'm very proud of, it's taken months watering and protecting from the harsh sun to actually get this little sprout. It's going to be an avocado tree when it grows up. The witchlet was very excited to see it. I was going to give up on the seed about a month ago, and dug it up only to discover that a huge root had erupted. Patience and tlc has paid off.

This little guy is one of my regular visitors. It's at the point now that I have parents bringing their babies to feed on my shed. I get all sorts of pigeons and doves, pee-wees and even butcher birds. I also get lorikeets in the winter, but not so much in the summer. I'm hoping to get a photo of the pee-wees having their daily bath, they're so cute.

Also my boss (who is a 29 year old Russian boy) was making fun of my crocheting and crafting skills in general, so I will be decorating his desk with these tomorrow.  I'm also going to make him a pair of socks to bring him over to the dark side. He has chosen the yarn so I know it's stuff he will like. Another purchase from yarnomat, which gave me an excuse to buy another yarn from there which I had my eye on. They should arrive Monday or Tuesday and photos will be forthcoming.

My Flat Feet socks are progressing nicely. Part of me wants to knit them up as fast as possible to see what they look like when they are done, and another part of me wants to savour every single stitch because it's just so lovely to work with. Fortunately I have the blanky deadline looming so I'm pretty much having my hand forced y that at the moment. And yet another part of me wants to buy up every square of Flat Feet yarn I can find because they are just so pretty! There's a sock club running for the USA and Canada, but yet again, nothing for us poor old Aussies. I've emailed Conjoined Creations begging, so we'll see if I get any suggestions.

Also, I've discovered the Sticks and String podcast. David is a man who knits, who lives outside of Sydney and podcasts about it. How wonderful to find an Aussie bloke who does more than drink beer and watch footie.