Happy Mothers Day! 🙂

I hope you are all having a lovely day. I got breakfast in bed and some lovely gifts.

“Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook” and the Gwen Stefani CD. Now I know why Em told me she wanted my gift, LOL!
We went up and visited my mum this morning, and now (hopefully) a lazy afternoon stretches before me.
Well, we went along to the “Fashion Parade” at Spotlight on Friday night. It was advertised as 6-8pm. Em has dance lessons until 6pm, so we didn’t get up there until 6.20pm. By then, the fashion parade was over! Probably a good thing, as I didn’t see anything I wanted to knit 😉
I did buy a new Cleckheaton pattern book.

The yarn the book calls for is a new season yarn from Cleckheaton Australia, called Studio Mohair. It’s 50% mohair, 50% acrylic, and inexpensive. All the yarn was 20% off, so it was only $4 a ball, but I didn’t buy a single ball. It’s not that I didn’t like any of the patterns. I bought the book specifically for these two patterns in particular.


The jumper has a lace pattern in it, which is difficult to see here.
But none of the available colours grabbed me, and I thought of the stash at home, so I resisted. I’ve got the book now, I can always sub with something different later.
Now I’m off to read the Sunday paper, and knit!

A bit of a fragmented post today, as that’s how I’m feeling.
The sewing for Em’s dance concert has started, so for the next 6 months I’ll be buried in fabric, elastic, sequins and thread. It seriously cuts into my knitting time, and I’m almost always distracted, thinking of how to make making a pattern that fits 10 different kids, and still looks in proportion. Bleurgh.
However, I have been knitting a bit. I finally finished the Pink Pullover and the Baby Vest, but I keep forgetting to get Em to put the jumper on, so I still don’t know how well (or badly) it fits, LOL!

Em likes it, and is happy with the star, so lets hope that it does fit nicely!

The baby vest. It just needs to have some ribbon threaded through the holes at the neck, but I’m still undecided. I don’t really like the idea of ribbons around babies necks.
And the Bearfoot socks have progress!

The colour is very inaccurate – this close up is much closer.

I have also started the Baby Garter Stitch Wrap Top from Simple Knits for Chershed Babies, in Baby Alpaca.
I do have a problem with some of the gauges given in this book. I’m sure that somewhere years ago, I read that garter gauge is pretty much always twice as many rows as there are stitches. For example, 20 stitches x 40 rows = 10cm.
It’s one of those quirky facts that I picked up somewhere, and it’s always worked for me.
None of the gauges given in this book meet that “rule”. And I can’t get gauge.
The gauge for the wrap top is 28sts x 48 rows = 10cm. My row gauge is short. The gauge for the Garter stitch cardigan is 22sts x 36 rows = 10cm. Couldn’t get that either. So, either I’m wrong or they are. It doesn’t really matter, but it’s throwing some of my shaping off.
My local Spotlight store is having a “Winter Fashion Parade” tonight. I think it’s just Patons and Cleckheaton new season designs and yarns being shown, but they are offering 10% off any yarn bought, and they are giving away a hamper full of yarn and a pattern book, so I might go along, but I haven’t really decided yet.
And apparently my brain is giving up at an early age. My DH has had some really good laughs at my expense this past week or so.
My birthday is coming up in a few weeks. And I’ve had the usual “What do you want for your Birthday?” questions. (Am I the only one who hates being asked that? I never know what I want). Somehow I had got it into my head that I was turning 35. I was musing on 35, thinking how I wasn’t really concerned about turning 35. I’m only turning 34. I was making myself a year older. I truly thought I was already 34. DH got a giggle from that.
Then, last Saturday Em had a dance competition. It was at Seven Hills, maybe 45 minutes drive away. I was at the top of our suburb, and I turned left. I drove for maybe a hundred metres, and said “Good Lord, I’ve gone the wrong way, I need to go through Liverpool!” and turned around. DH and Em laughed at me. It got worse. I drove 100 metres in the other direction, and realised that I had been right the first time, and had to turn around again. I hadn’t even made it out of our suburb.
Senility. Pass the chocolate. Who are you? 😉
A cute pic of Twinkie to finish. This is how she cleans her ears.

It’s especially cute when she topples over backwards, LOL!

We had a drama yesterday. There was a quick blackout, and then I couldn’t turn my computer back on. I wasn’t sure if my computer had caused a surge and then there was a blackout, or if the blackout had killed my computer. Panic ensued, phone calls to DH, who wasn’t answering the phone at first. Finally get a hold of him, and he says he’ll look at it when he gets home.
I never thought I’d be glad that he keeps all those computer bits lying around.
The power supply had blown, so he pulled out a spare and replaced it. Thank goodness – I was having visions of selling the furniture for computer money 😉
Norma had a competition recently, and I won! My prize arrived yesterday.

Sock yarn! Yum. It’s a gorgeous colour, not blue as the pic suggests, but shades of purple. It’s called Gypsy Rose. And there was a funky little notepad. Em hasn’t seen it yet, and I don’t intend to let her see it – or she’ll steal it! She’s a notepad-aholic, and would adore it, but it’s mine! 😉
I finished a little baby set in Cotton Ease.

Jill sent me a ball of this ages ago to try, but it was still in the stash. The set is from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies (again!), and it called for Rowan All Seasons Cotton. The Cotton Ease gauge was pretty much the same, so I subbed it (sacrilege!)
What a pity this is being discontinued. I quite enjoyed using it. I could see this pattern becoming one I’d knit for new babies, in this yarn. It’s easy and quick to knit, I like the finished item, and it’s easy to care for. I like the colour range for babies, too. Trust me to find it just as it’s going!
I still have to get some buttons for it. Somehow though, I think the hat is going to be way too big. It’s the same size as the pattern, but it just looks huge for a 6 month old baby. The sleeves seem to look very long too.
What’s next? Not sure yet.. stay tuned 🙂

Just a quick entry today, because I’ve been on canteen duty all day at school, and I only have an hour until I go pick Em up, and I’m way behind on the housework.
Tap Dogs was fantastic!
And here are the pics some of you asked for.
Here’s the black dress. It’s made from Linen, but it’s a lovely soft non-crinkle linen. It’s a New Look pattern, 6631.

I believe that I have mentioned that I detest having my picture taken. I think I was in the middle of a smart-arse remark to my DH when he took this, but it was the one I liked best, LOL!

The dress with the coat. The fabric for the coat is a wool blend, the pattern was Butterick 6337. I never know what to do when the camera is pointed at me, and DH takes forever to take a picture, so I feel like I’ve got a fake smile on my face for ages.
And here is a pic of Em and I, just because I like this picture. She wore my Flower Basket Shawl 🙂

And the mention of the Flower Basket Shawl is about as much knitting content as I can manage today!

Jussi tagged me for the book meme, so here we go! (The Knitting Book Queen? 😉
1)Total number of books in your house:
Too many! We’re all voracious readers, and there are bookshelves full, and boxes and boxes in the garage. Several hundred, at least. Pretty much everything Stephen King ever wrote, most of Anne McCaffrey’s books. Everything by David Eddings, Knitting books, DH’s computer books, Anne Rice’s books. When DH moved in we got rid of a lot because of the doubles. Em has a heap all by herself. She reads above her age level, and these days is more likely to ransack our bookshelves. Lately we borrow more books from the library than buy them, because they’ve become so ridiculously expensive. A new release paperback here in Australia is over $20 now.
2)The last book you bought was:
Last books I bought were from Amazon, and they were knitting books. “Simple Knits for Cherished Babies”, the Harlot’s book, “At Knit’s End”, “The Sweater Workshop” and “Simple Socks: Plain and Fancy”. Hard to find good knitting books in Australia, many of them aren’t released here, so we have to order them, or get them from Amazon, and even with International shipping, it’s usually cheaper to order them from Amazon.
3)What was the last book you read before reading this?
I’m halfway through a series by Robin Hobb, The Farseer Trilogy. I’m up to Book 2, “Royal Assassin” It’s a re-read, I love Robin Hobb’s books. Fantasy genre.
4)Write down 5 (or 6) books you often read or that mean a lot to you.
Hmm.. I met DH online, through a David Eddings newsgroup. Loved the books, but that adds to the sentimentality. Mind you, the latest books by him have been total crap.
I have a really old Reader’s Digest “Guide to Knitting, Crochet and Needlework” that was my mothers. My mother passed away when I was only 8, and I don’t have a lot of her things. It’s from the 70’s, full of gaudy, tacky granny squares and loud patterns, but I’ll never part with it, even though the spine had fallen off, and it’s getting a bit ratty looking.
“Gone With The Wind”. Old favourite from years back. Em’s middle name is Scarlett. I wish I’d named her Scarllet as her christian name, there are far too many Emily’s in the world.
No others spring to mind. I love all my knitting books, and there’s usually at least one out. Right now there’s Socks, Socks, Socks and Simple Knits for Cherished Babies on the coffee table. I’ve asked for sock books for Mother’s Day and my Birthday. (Both this month). I couldn’t think of anything else I wanted for my birthday, except sock books and sock yarn. I’m a woman of simple pleasures 😉
5)Who are you going to pass the stick to (three people) and why?
Jacqueline, Jill, and Annie, just because 🙂
Twinkie just likes to be comfy.

Off to Tap Dogs this afternoon!