A little while back, Ailsa, Jussi and I ordered a cone of Zephyr to split three ways. It came to my house last week, and I sent it on to Ailsa, who used Donni’s jumbo ball winder to wind it for us.
And yesterday it came back to me.

Thank you, Ailsa and Donni!
I think it is destined to become this.

The Seascape Shawl from Fiber Trends. I buy my Fiber trends patterns from an Australian ebay seller, Wool Cottage. Great prices, and actually w-a-y cheaper to buy in Australia than to import from overseas. (For a change!)
Not sure when I’ll get to the shawl, I seem to be buying projects faster than I can knit them.
I joined a new knitalong too! Sock It To Me Summer hosted by Taryn and Alison. I really need to finish Em’s never ending knee highs so I can start new socks. I want to teach myself 2 socks on 2 circs.
I took some pictures of the lorikeets in the front yard. Here is Australia, we have some really pretty native birds. These are Rainbow Lorikeets. Extremely pretty, but noisy as all hell. I’m telling you, the prettier the bird around here, the more horrible it sounds. These guys are not often seen alone. There are generally 2 or more together, and they feed in the native trees. Our villa complex has Grevillea bushes all up and down the driveway, with one only a yard or so from our bedroom window, and another one 2 yards from the loungeroom window. One day last week, there were several in each bush, squawking, arguing and chattering to each other at 5.30am. Loudly. Seriously, they never bloody shut up.



That last guy looks a bit menacing, doesn’t he? You can get up pretty close to them, but as soon as they realise how close you’re getting, they start telling you off. Loudly. They don’t do anything quietly! The galahs and cockatoos are noisy too, but we don’t get many in our yard. We occasionally see Kookaburra’s. When we stayed at the in-laws last christmas, there was a Kookaburra right outside the window that started carrying on every morning before the sun was up.
It’s amazing how unamusing their laughter is then!

Well, Wool Winder was almost right!

It’s Sivia Harding’s “Mary Ann’s Cashmere and Pearls Lace scarf”
I’m using Madil Kid Seta on my 3.5mm Addi Bamboo circular. (Which is honestly my favourite ever needle!) The beads are “A Touch of Glass” 6/0 glass seed beads in Teal Transparent. Although, to me, they don’t look either Teal or transparent.
Anyhoo, heres my progress.

Not much, but I have been working on some top secret christmas things as well. I really like the Madil Kid Seta, although I had to tink a few stitches, and I think if I had to frog, it would be a bit of a pain. It’s ticky and grabby, so I had better not make any mistakes!

I really need to get back to blogging on a semi regular basis! I find lately that my time is not well organised, so I’m being overwhelmed with things to do. Especially at this time of year. End of year for school and dancing, dance concerts and photos and dress rehearsals and presentation days. The dreaded Christmas.
I lay awake until after 2.30am on Sunday, after I suddenly realised that Christmas was only five weeks away. I then got up yesterday morning and wrote a long list of things I need to do before Christmas. I’ve managed two things from the list, but I think this Sunday is going to be a big, long, shopping day.
I had a visitor this morning.

(Ignore the state of the linoleum, it’s being replaced on December 6. And don’t let your kids tap dance on your lino!)
A Common Myna Bird. They are clever little pests, but pests they are. Twinkie’s dinner bowl is just inside the back door, and the birds come in to try to get her dinner. Twinkie tends to just lay back and watch them. I have to keep a constant ear out if the door is open, and I spend half the day chasing them out, or convincing Twinkie to come inside.
Knitting news.
I finished the Vanalinn Gloves!

I’m extremely pleased with them. The pattern is straight forward and easy to follow, and they are so pretty! I used Elann’s Baby Cashmere in Rose Heather. I needed just a bit over 2 balls, and they are lovely and soft. Now I need some cold weather to wear them. Why do I knit winter woolies in Summer? Huh?
The gloves would have been finished earlier, but I got sidetracked. By these.

This is “Bertie and Bruce” from The Knitted Teddy Bear. One of them is knited in Rowan Kid Classic, and I thought to myself, “I have some Kid Classic left over from Em’s monkey, Darwin!” So off I went, and began to knit a bear.

Then I realised something that I should have noticed long before. I didn’t have enough yarn. I got the body, head and ears done, then had to admit that I was wasting my time. So much for using up leftovers!
However, something new has been started. Can you guess what? Tune in tomorrow! Or maybe the next day. Definitely by Friday!

My hubby is away tonight, on a business trip. Anyone who knows David is laughing at this point, but it’s true. He flew out this morning, and will be back tomorrow evening.
Someone told the arachnid population. Because he was no sooner out the door, and one came in. Having no choice but to deal with it, I had a panic attack, then I sprayed it with half a can of insect spray, it fell onto the lounge, and I very bravely sucked it up the vacuum cleaner. Now I’m scared to use the vacuum, because even though I know it’s dead, I can’t use it, knowing it’s in there.
Unreasonable, but true. Yes, I know I’m pathetic.
That was the big deal of the day 🙂
I’ve been busy with the Vanalinn gloves. I finished one.

And I’m past the thumb hole for the second.

I really love this Baby Cashmere. We went into the city last weekend, and whilst at Kinokuniya, I picked up “The Knitted Teddy Bear” by Sandra Polley. Qute a few of the little bears in here call for fingering weight, and the cashmere would just be divine. Elann has some at the moment, but I’m trying to resist. Goddess knows I don’t need any more yarn. But cashmere teddies. Yum.
Behold, The Sphinx

Mystery Shawl 2 done.

I’m pretty pleased with it, but I have a few issues with the construction. First you knit a triangle from the point up (The centre triangle), then you cast off and pick up stitches along the two sides of the triangle. The cast off edge becomes part of the top of the shawl. I found that even though I cast off quite loosely, it was still too tight for me to block as aggressively as I would’ve liked.
My other personal beef with this shawl is that we were originally told we’d need 1200 yards of laceweight. We only used around 600. I already had the yarn, so it wasn’t so much of an issue, but if I’d bought yarn especially for the project, i’d be pretty pissed.
It’s the Mystery Shawl 2, from the yahoo group. I knit it in Knitpicks “Shimmer” in the Morning Mist colourway, which I overdyed with some landscapes dye in the colour “Opal”. I really like the Shimmer, but I’m not so keen on the colourways, I think there is too much contrast for lace.
I used 3.5mm needles, and I’m pretty happy with the tension.
So, it’s back to the Vanalinn Gloves. The first one is nearly done, so it’s not a huge amount of work until I have another finished item.
Twinkie gets a little impatient for her dinner sometimes.

You think she’d know by now that her dinner lands there!