And so another week has slipped under the radar. For me it’s just been the general busy sort of stuff that happens at this time of year, but for Emily it’s been the best week of her life, apparently.
Her formal went beautifully, and she proclaimed when we picked her up that it was the best night ever. Her feet hurt (from dancing in heels, she thought) and someone had accidentally stepped on her foot, but that wasn’t enough to dampen her euphoria.
Saturday morning we woke up bright and early, because we had tickets to a Twilight convention that was happening in Sydney. From my point of view it was a pretty good day, although not very well organised. From Emily’s point of view, I think it was close to becoming a tie with the formal. She got to meet Edi Gathegi (Laurent), Nikki Reed (Rosalie) and Taylor Lautner (Jacob).
Her highlights? Nikki Reed told her she was pretty when she got her picture taken with her, and again when she got her autograph. But even better, she got to have her picture taken with Taylor Lautner.

She was shaking like a leaf after that picture. Later in the day, we saw him in the foyer, so Em went to say hello to him, and gave him some Aussie chocolates. He thanked her, spoke to her for a little while, and hugged her – twice. She’s still talking about it. We went to see the movie last night, and when he came on screen, and the tweenies started squealing, she leaned over to me and whispered “That’s okay Mum, he *hugged* me! Twice!”
She was so cute, I’ve never seen her shake like that.
Sunday she told me that her foot still hurt. I had a look at it, and noticed that it was looking very bruised. She’d mentioned that her foot had hurt before, but we’d put it down to dancing-in-high-heels hurting. Sunday morning, I realised that your foot doesn’t turn black and blue from dancing in high heels. Off to the doctors.
It’s not broken. But very badly bruised, the result of someone landing on it in a high heel at the Formal. Stay off it, the doctor says. Easier said than done, she had her dance concert on Wednesday night.
After strapping it, she decided she’d be fine. And she danced beautifully, and dancing is over for year. (Yay!!) Her foot still hurts though, but the bruising is mostly gone.
And good thing for Em number 3, when the Major dance awards for the year were given out, we learned that she had got the highest mark in the studio for her Tap Exam this year. (Well, equal with one other girl).
I told you, Em’s number one week in her whole life.
And knitting? I managed some in between all the fun and games.
For the Tangled Yoke, we now have joinage!

At first I was glad that the sleeves were done. Now I’m not so glad that I have all those stitches on the needle and have 3 inches of stocking stitch to do before the cables start!
The only other knitting I’ve managed is starting some new socks.

I started them and took them along to the Twilight convention, where I managed that much, and then they haven’t seen the light of day since. they are Esther socks (Rav link only, sorry!), in Cascade Heritage that I got from Yarns Online. So far I’m really liking this sock yarn, and at only $AU12.50 a skein (enough for a pair!), what’s not to like?!?
Hopefully with dancing and school over for the year, and less demand for my chauffeuring duties, I’ll have lots more knitting time! (I probably shouldn’t have said that!)

Sometimes I look at her, and I wonder where my baby girl went.

But then I just think about the young lady she’s becoming and feel proud.

We’re coming up to dance concert time, and Emily has her Year 10 formal this Friday (Like the US Junior Prom, I think), so there’s been a bunch of running around happening. And a bunch of social knitting, too!
Last Friday Ailsa and I went to Fox Studios at Moore Park for a knitting meetup arranged on Ravelry. It was originally going to be at Centennial Park, but bad weather interfered, and an alternate venue had to be found. It wasn’t a huge turnout, but it was a great morning! Zena and her twins were in attendance, as was Corrie, Claudine, Sheridan and Jacqueline. Emily had a ball with so many little kids and babies, and I’m looking forward to the next one, hopefully the weather will be better!
Then on Saturday I went off to Wollongong SnB, and the Christmas Party after. More great knitting company, and a seafood platter for dinner. Nothing to complain about there! Well, except for the fact that I forgot my camera.
But I have pictures of other stuff. Emily picked out her dress for the formal a couple of months ago, but she wasn’t entirely happy with it, and as we’d bought it locally, she was a little worried that someone else might have the same dress. So she asked for some alterations. Of course, I left it until the last minute to do something about the alterations!
Here’s how the dress looked to start with.

She wanted it puffier in the skirt, and she didn’t like the lace at the waist, but she still wanted some lace.
Voila!

Pictures of her all glammed up will be taken on Friday!
And amongst all that, I have knit a row or two. In fact, I have finished the body of the Tangled Yoke cardi, and I”m doing the sleeves.

And as you can see, I’m using my least favourite method, two at once on two needles. Well, I should say my second least favourite. Least would be one at a time! I have got into a few tangles along the way, but nothing too dramatic. Yet.
Last week my cousin called me up to say that they’d cleaned out my Aunty’s house, and found a few things that my sister and I might like to have. A little back story here, our mother was killed in a car accident when I was 8, and my sister was almost 5. Between us we have only 5 pictures of our mother, and very few of her things, so we are always pleased to get anything we can. There was a personal possession or two, and he had a few old photos. Only one was of my mother, but it made me ridiculously happy. It’s a picture of my mother and I.

Not a big deal, really, and not a wonderful picture, but after I got home I just looked at it for a long time. I have one other picture of myself and my mother, but in that one I’m just a baby.
Sometimes, a photo is the most wonderful gift you can give a person. This little jpg file has jumped up almost to the very top of my most valued possessions. I’m ridiculously proud of that little picture, and I’ve been showing it to anyone and everyone I know!
And in other wonderful pictures that you’ve all been waiting for.

Twinkie, washing her hands before dinner.

Oh, poor neglected blog! I don’t quite know where the days are going.
Em has officially finished school for the year, and is home with me now. Until January 29th. We’ll see how that goes. One of us may kick the other out long before the end of January!
There has been knitting happening, amongst lots of other busy things. And I’ve been tagged for memes and things that I really haven’t had time to think about yet, but I promise I’ll try.
Today, lets get Evie done.
The weather here has turned unseasonably cool, but I’m not complaining. It’s given me plenty of opportunities to wear Evie!
We went to my niece’s 13th birthday party on Saturday night, and it was Evie’s first outing, but unfortunately, photo’s weren’t great.

You lose a lot of the detail in that picture.
Here’s a better one of the cardi itself.

Specs:
Pattern: Evie by Kim Hargreaves. I bought it as a kit, but now it’s only available in her book, Thrown Together.
Yarn: Rowan Classic Cashsoft 4ply in Black
Needles: Knitpicks fixed circs in 3.5mm.
Modifications: None.
Yup, none. I knit it exactly as the pattern said and was 100% happy with it. Well, almost. Actually, the sleeves are a little long, so that’s something I may change if I were to knit it again. It did seem to drag on forever, but that had more to do with the fact that it was 4ply (fingering) weight on 3.5mm needles. And I wish I’d known the sleeves were coming out long, because they really seemed to go on and on.
Love the yarn though, it’s beautifully soft both to knit with and wear. I haven’t done a full wet block yet, I just steam blocked it, so I’m hoping it doesn’t grow, because I’m happy with the fit.
Twinkie is not at all concerned by the cooler days we’ve been having. In fact, she’s about as relaxed as she gets.

I have no idea how she gets so flat. She must have rubber bones, I think!

Thankfully, last week is over. Let me tell you about Friday, because it just summed up the whole week perfectly.
Emily had a pupil free day on Friday. (The teachers have a day at school without the kids, for meetings and stuff. Happens 3 or 4 times a year) So I’d booked doctor’s appointments for us both.
Got up early (for me), showered, breakfasted, then went to get the car keys. Looked in all the usual places, no keys. Looked in a few creative places, no keys. Enlisted Emily’s help, started to rip the house apart.
No keys.
I rang David at work to ask if he’d seen them. Nope. But he assured me that they had to be here, after all, I drove myself home and let myself in on Thursday afternoon, right? Then I saw the look on Emily’s face as she recalled going out to the garage to take the bin out. She’d unlocked the garage with my keys, whined and moaned until David went out to assist her, then came inside while David locked the garage again. With his keys.
My keys were locked in the garage. No garage key, no car key, no house keys. No doctor’s appointment! While on any other day we would have coped, Friday afternoon was my Aunty’s funeral. I needed those keys.
So David had to turn around and make the hour long trip home again to open the garage.
If I’d been in a better mood, I would have laughed, I’m sure.
However, last week is now over. And we had a hectic weekend, with interstate visitors, and meals out with relatives, and early morning wake ups. So now, I can knit again!
Now that Evie is done, I didn’t waste any time casting on the next project.

The Tangled Yoke Cardigan in Grignasco Tango. I scored six balls in a Ravelry destash, and by an awesome co-incidence, rang The Wool Inn in Penrith to try to obtain the one more ball I needed, and not only did they have the yarn in the shade I wanted, they even had the exact same dyelot. Even though the first six balls came from the other side of the country. Some things are just meant to be!
So I’ve been avoiding alterations by knitting and visiting. I’ll probably regret that before the end of the week!
The new Twist Collective is up, and I am in love.
There’s lots of nice things in there, but Sylvi has really caught my eye. It’s gorgeous.


I’m undecided as to whether I can take on such a big project though. It may require more dedication than I have. Especially if I want it finished in time for winter. I’d have that great big thing draped across my legs all summer long. And we don’t have air conditioning.
I’ll think on it.
Twinkie has already begun moving into her summer residence.