Well, I barely know where

Well, I barely know where to start with the Holiday updates! This will be a big entry. All pics are clickable, but most are pretty big! I should also warn you now that there is a little knitting and yarn content, but near the end, and there isn't much.
We left at 5am on Thursday December 23, and headed up the coast. We stopped for coffee a few times and stopped for lunch in Coffs Harbour. At this point I should mention that Australia is developing an unhealthy obsession with "big" things. There are "big" tourist attractions popping up all over the place. Coffs Harbour is the home of the Big Banana, which I think was the the first "big" built. We decided to stop and see as many of these "Big's" as we came across.

That's Em and I at the Big Banana. We then headed up to Ballina where we intended to spend the night. There they had the Big Prawn. No pictures with it, as it was on the roof of the shopping centre.

We had the intention of stopping in Ballina, but we decided that the traffic was great, DH felt well enough to drive on, so we drove all the way to Brisbane. 16 or 17 hours total travelling time, and extremely cramped up we arrived. Did I mention that we own a tiny little Mazda 121 bubble? We had no trouble with her mechanically, but a larger car would have been nice! I had intended to work on my beaded sock when I wasn't driving, but discovered that a DPNS had been broken, so that put paid to the car knitting for the first day, as all my spare needles were buried under stuff in the boot of the car.
We stayed at a Formule 1 the first night in Brisbane, which was an experience in itself. I don't know if you have them overseas, but they are definitely budget accomodation. The bed was the worst I have ever slept in, and due to the large amount of crap I had eaten in the car, I felt nauseous most of the night. The next morning, Christmas Eve, we met up with some of DH's family in Brisbane before we drove to Nambour, where we met up with DH's sister at the Big Pineapple!

On the same plantation they have the Big Macadamia, but it was hard to get a good picture.

We then went on to Bundaberg, where the vast majority of DH's family live. It was lovely to catch up with them, and it was the first time I had been to Bundaberg, and the first time I had met many members of the family. It was extremely hot and muggy, so Em barely got in the door before she hopped into their pool!

We had breakfast with the extended family on Christmas morning, and these people really know how to do breakfast! We had a lovely outdoor barbeque, with steak, bacon, sausages, eggs and the rest. Let me tell you, I ate more on this holiday than any one person has a right too. And yes, I gained back some of those precious lost kilos! For dinner that night, we had a smaller dinner with ham, chicken, salad, the works :)
On boxing day, DH took me around Bundaberg to show me some of the sights. Bundaberg is of course where they make the famous Bundaberg Rum. And of course, there is a Big Rum Bottle.

We went to the beach then visited some family friends who told us about a friendly possum locally. So we took Em down to where the possum lives, and she had a wonderful time hand feeding the possum some grapes :)

We left Bundaberg on the morning of December 27. We were happily driving down the Bruce Highway, when I spotted a billboard advertising yarn. So I followed the directions, driving down a country road till we came to a farm with a sign advertising "Wagtail Yarns" out the front. We drove int he farm, and a gentleman came out to greet us and invited us in. Handspun, hand dyed yarns for $AU80 for 1kg 40%wool, 60% mohair and $AU90 for 1kg for 100% mohair. At least, thats what I scrawled on the scrap of paper here, it just doesn't seem right now, although I remember being amazed at the time. I bought around 500g of the wool/mohair blend. I got plain undyed yarn so I can dye it myself. He also had rovings, and I'm kicking myself for not buying some of those too. However, I was not expecting to find a yarn supply out there, and was alittle flustered when I did find it. Pity it's so far away and I can't go back for more! The lovely gentleman took us out the back and let us meet the goats who supplied the mohair. Em was very impressed, until they tried to nibble on her! :)

Later in the afternoon we ended up back in Brisbane where we went to dinner with more members of DH's family, who fed us a gigantic, delicious pasta and salad meal. These people really are the most hospitable and generous people you could ever hope to meet.
Then we had another night in another Formule 1 before heading off to Sea World!!!! First off ws Polar Bear Shores.

This was the absolute high point of the trip for me. They have recently adopted twin orphaned Polar Bear cubs, Hudson and Nelson from Canada. They have only recently been put on public display, and they were absolutely gorgeous!

Sea World in Australia apparently has one of the world's foremost Polar Bear exhibits. It is modeled after an Arctic Tundra environment and they have the ability to change the weather and things. There is a huge swimming pool, and smaller freshwater pools, a waterfall, rocks and logs and plenty of toys. I just love it. I could happily have spent the whole day watching the Bears, but the family insisted on seeing the rest of the park. They have some great shows with the seals and dolphins, and an awesome shark exhibit. There is also a brand bew dugong exhibit which is a cousin of the Manatee. The dugong at Sea World is named Pig, and was very cute :)
Later in the day we went back to Polar Bear Shores, and the two older Polar Bears were out, Lia and Lutik. Lia and Lutik are also twins, adopted three years or so ago from St Petersburg zoo. We saw them 3 years ago on our last trip to the Gold Coast. They are the most beautiful animals! Lutik is huge now, and Lia is adorable. She has taught herself a trick involving back flips. She climbs a little way up the wall, then throws herslef back into the pool, floating across a little way before checking to make sure everyone is watching her :)
They were saying that she seems to have taught herself the trick as a result of the crowds reaction to it. She only does it when the crowds are about and cheering her on. After the trick she stops, looks around, wipes the water out of her eyes, makes sure everyone is still looking, then goes back and does it again.

Mid Back Flip.

Wiping her eyes.

Looking around :)
Lutik was very impressive, but didn't seem too impressed by his sister's antics. He enjoyed diving off the big rock.

And he liked the floating ball.

There are many more Sea World pictures, but I'll get to that later.
The next day, we started to head home, via Tamworth and Nundle. Nundle is a historic country town near Tamworth. It has a working Wool Mill which was what attracted us (me ;). Unfortunately, we didn't get there until 3.45pm, and they closed at 4pm. If we had got there earlier, we could have seen the mill in action, but we barely had time to make it through the shop. But I managed :)
Lots of mill ends and misdyed lots, but I managed to limit myself to a big cone of wool, a sweater kit and some roving. No pics yet, but I'll work on that for tomorrow.

That's my goody bag I'm clutching :) There are more pics of the mill, too.
We spent the night in Tamworth, where they have a big Country Music Festival every year, and they also have the Big Guitar!

After this pic we headed toward home. We did stop to take Emily to visit her other grandparents, my ex in-laws, and arrived home yesterday afternoon. I probably left out some important events of the vacation too!

The only knitting I managed on the trip was a little of one Pink Beads sock, and I did most of the increase section of Clapotis. No pics of that yet either.
I will endeavour to get pics of the knitting I accomplised and the stash I acquired tomorrow.
In the meantime, DH is working on a gallery of the 241 pictures we took on the holiday, and I will give you all a link tomorrow when it will hopefully be done.
Phew. Who made it all the way to the end? ;)

We're home! And glad to

We're home!
And glad to be here :) That's not to say we didn't have a great time, we certainly did, however as Dorothy famously said "There's no place like home!"
Lots of driving - I will be very glad not to drive anywhere for the next few days. Lots of food and family and fun.
We had a lovely Christmas day, and the whole holiday was very busy, very full and very fun.
Special highlights were the Polar Bears (duh!) and the wool mill (where I blew the yarn diet).
Very little knitting was done, but fun was had anyway :) I am also very glad I neglected the Christmas decorations, as I don't need to bother taking them down now.
A much more comprehensive update tomorrow - we've been home 4 hours, and I have more than 400 bloglines entries to read, and 50 unread emails. I have deleted the 170 comment spam i recieved for xmas ;)

Well, it's 10.30pm here,

Well, it's 10.30pm here, and we're getting up at 4am to go on holiday. So why am I blogging and not sleeping???
I won't have a reliable internet connection until we get back next Thursday, and I'm maximising my online time ;)
Tomorrow we go to Ballina, 800km (500 miles) away. Then on Friday, we head to Bundaberg, 570km (350 miles) further on. In Bundaberg until Monday, then we head back to Nambour 270km (170 miles) away. On Tuesday we drive 175km (110 miles) to the Gold Coast, where we will go to Sea World to see the Polar Bears :) Wednesday we drive 500km (310 miles) back to Port Macquarie, then on Thursday we drive the final 510 km (317 miles) home.
I think I'll need a week to recuperate!
I've packed loads of knitting. Lacy Poncho for Em, Clapotis for me, and two pairs of half done socks. I hope it's enough. :)
I hope I'll get to a computer in the next week (or I may go stir crazy!), otherwise I'll be catching up with you all next Thursday.
To all of you who celebrate Christmas, I wish you a Merry one, and to everyone else, I wish you a Happy and safe Holiday season.

Well, I picked up the

Well, I picked up the spinning wheel. Everybody in the house has shown interest, but considering our combined knowledge (zilch), I'm thinking this will be a fun learning curve :)
My DH has christened the wheel Kylie. Because she's "spinning around". The Aussies will get the joke, I'm not sure about the US people. I've reserved some spinning books at the library, and once we're back from our trip, will begin learning in earnest. The wheel has no identifying marks at all, so I have no idea how old it is, or who made it.

I have two pics to show. This first one is of Emily on her first day of Kindergarten, 29 January 1998.

This one ws taken today, Em's last day of Year Six, the end of Primary School.

A day of mixed emotions. The time has flown, and I can't believe that she's heading off to High School at the end of next month. I'm proud of the young lady she is becoming, I just wish it weren't happening quite so fast.
The school makes a big deal of the last day. Fifteen minutes before the final bell, the whole school lines up in two lines, and makes a long arch for all of Year Six to walk through. Em had a bit of a cry, most of the other kids are going to the local High School, and she's going to the Catholic High School, but she's also excited about moving on.

Google obviously knew I needed a boost - more Polar Bears today! :)

Hmm.. it seems that I

Hmm.. it seems that I bought a spinning wheel. Now, keep in mind that I bought a drop spindle and used it once. Also note that I have never even actually seen a real spinning wheel in real life.
I had been watching them come up on eBay for a while, mainly out of curiosity. This one came up, and is only 45 minutes from my home. I had to go out an run errands this morning, so I bid $110 on it, then went out, fully expecting to be outbid.
I won it.
I have nowhere in my house to put it. I'm not quite sure yet if I'm sorry I won it. When will I ever get time to spin??? Anyway, we're going to pick it up tomorrow morning. I think it's an older style Ashford Elizabeth. It says it's an "Elizabeth" style, and it looks similar to an Ashford Elizabeth.

Anyway, for now it has to go into the garage, purely because there is nowhere in the house to fit it.
In other news, I finished my Mondo Cable and it is blocking as I type. And then I realised that I hadn't shown my Neckdown Pullover. Here she is, all done :)

I hate having my picture taken, btw.
I'm pretty happy with the finished sweater. The pattern was Knitting Pure and Simple's "Neckdown Pullover". I used Plymouth Cottrica from Elann. I wan't too impressed with the yarn in the skein, but it knitted up quite nicely. :)
Christmas presents are wrapped, now we just have to pack our bags for our trip. I have a tiny car, a Mazda 121 bubble. We have to fit 3 of us, luggage for a week, and christmas presents in. Lucky Em doesn't take up much room in the back seat ;)
And have you seen the Google holiday logo today? Polar bears!! :)

Christmas is madness. I went

Christmas is madness.
I went to the shopping centre today, despite swearing that I would *not* go back until the new year. I wasn't christmas shopping, I was clothes shopping in preparation for the vacation. I detest clothes shopping. Anyway, it was hot and crowded.
That was most of the day, but I got a little knitting done!

I'm looking forward to wearing these socks, so I'm working on them quite a bit. This is the first time I've worked with the Lorna's Laces, and I lurve it! I've got a nice little collection of it now, and it's beautiful yarn to knit. I see many LL socks in my future.
This is the progress on my Mondo Cable tank.

The colour in the pic is way off. It's a much brighter colour, a lot prettier than this. This pic makes it look very washed out. I'm enjoying knitting this, too. The yarn is a little slippery, but overall it's not bad. The pattern is easy to follow and nice to knit, as is usual for Bonne Marie!
Yes, my nails are long! Well, actually they used to be longer :)
They are my sole indulgence (Well, apart from yarn!) And for all the people who asked how I work with them - I have had them for so long, they are like an extension of my fingers. Honestly, if I break one, I can't do a thing. They are no problem in my knitting or my sewing, and as for housework? Well, I try not to do any. ;)
Just for Norma, I'm going to grow them even longer now, and paint them red! :P

I have a confession. I

I have a confession. I was dubious about the sock yarn and the beads together. I looked at them in several different lights, I picked them up, I put them down, I pondered.
Today I cast on the first sock and got busy while watching "Cats" the musical on cable TV. And I have to confess, I love the yarn and the beads together!

The more I knitted, the more I liked them. It's not a colour I would normally pick for myself, and needless to say Em wants it for herself, but I love it now. :)
The pattern has an extremely short cuff (at least for me), and I considered making it longer, but I figure if I keep it short, I may be able to get a pair for Em too. Of course, I could just buy another hank of yarn, but why not try the shorter cuff - I may like that too.

Norma posted yesterday about having a laid back Christmas. No stress, no fuss. No nothing.
I agree.
Here is my Front Door.

No wreath.
Here is my Christmas Tree corner.

No tree, no gifts. Well, they're mostly bought, I just haven't wrapped any. :)
Here is my one and only, lonely Christmas Ornament.

A polar bear, of course! He sings a jazzy version of "Santa Claus is Coming To Town" Indeed he might be, but you wouldn't know it at my house.
Of course, we are driving 1300km (800 miles) to visit the in-laws, and won't actually be here for Christmas. That's how I convinced Em that we didn't need the tree this year :)

The yarn for my Beaded

The yarn for my Beaded Sock for the sixsox knitalong finally arrived :)
However, I got a bit of a surprise when I opened the envelope.

Can you guess what colour this is?

That is correct. Pale Pink. Jeez, I'm glad I didn't order Hot Pink. I thought they'd sent the wrong thing until I checked the label. I'm a little concerned that the beads don't look as pretty as I'd hoped, but I'll push on. Mainly because I'm too lazy to hunt down others, and because I want to start the freakin' socks!

Pale pink, indeed!
Didn't get much done today. DH has had a recurring ear infection that has been bothering him on and off all year. Considering his previous medical history, we don't stuff about when he feels ill. He's been in pain for a couple of days, so off to the local doctor today, who advised him that he had fungus growing is his ear. Like little mushrooms were the doctors exact words. Ewww. As I told DH, it just proves that his job keeps him in the dark and feeds him shit ;)
Anyway, we then had to drive 25km into the middle of a shopping centre in the week before Christmas to DH's Ear, Nose and Throat Specialist to get some special anti-fungal powder that I get to blow in his ear.
Lucky me! :)

Thankyou for all the lovely

Thankyou for all the lovely comments about Emily! She was most happy to read them all :)
She refused to let me redo her hair this morning. They had a picnic day today at a local "Leisure Centre" which is basically a swimming pool complex, and she wanted her hair left alone. I managed to convince her to take the pins out and just have a curly ponytail. Apparently she was not the only one still in her "party hair" :)
I'm behind on photos. I owe you all a picture of my finished Neckdown Pullover. I had a haircut yesterday (first one since April). My hairdresser quit back in April, and I hate finding a new hairdresser. So I had this plan to get a picture of my sweater with my lovely new hairdo.
She cut my fringe too short. I hate new hairdressers!
So I still owe a picture of the sweater. :)
I have just about finished the back of my Mondo Cable, only about an inch and a half to go.
In lieu of knitting pictures, here are some pictures of a Rainbow Lorikeet in our garden this afternoon. Noisy little buggers, but they're pretty. We have two grevilleas in the front yard, and they sit in there chattering to each other.

Happy Wednesday!

Well, the big news for

Well, the big news for today was Emily's first grown-up dance.
She finishes Primary School next week, and they have a mini-prom to celebrate. She picked her dress, she picked her tiara, she decided how she wanted her hair done. I was a little worried that she was overdone.

However, when we arrived at the venue, Em was nowhere near overdone. Some of these eleven and twelve year olds were in evening gowns. Several girls were wearing tiara's, and Em's was the smallest.

I might be her mother, but I think my Emily was the prettiest ;)

As an added bonus, my DH and I went downstairs (the venue was a local club), played the pokies (won $45!) then got to have dinner together, just the two of us. I can't remember the last time that happened :)

Sorry, no pics today, crappy

Sorry, no pics today, crappy stormy weather, blah.
I spent some time wandering around yesterday trying to decide what to start next. Finally I pulled out some old Patons Cottontop that I won in an eBay auction.
Now I don't know exactly how old this is, but it's 100% cotton boucle. The ball band has no details aside from that, apart from washing instructions. No yardage, no needle size, no gauge recommendations. So I figured it looked around an 8 ply, and began swatching with a 3.75mm needle. (An Australian 8 ply generally knits up to 22sts/4" on a 4mm needle) I got 4 sts/1". Hmmm... went down to a 3.5mm, then a 3.25mm. Best I could get was 5sts/1". So I pulled out some pattern books, surfed the web, got the patterns for the Ribby Shell and ChicKami from chicknits. I love Bonne Marie's patterns - easy to follow, easy to knit, easy to wear. However, the cotton didn't rib well, so I frogged the Ribby Shell. I cast on for ChicKami, did few rows, then realised that I was getting 20sts/4", but I was getting 32-34 rows/4"!! Cripes, I detest gauge! I was too lazy to do the math and convert the pattern, and frankly, the idea of 32 rows/4" on 3.25mm needles depressed me. So I tossed the yarn back into the stash box and sulked for a bit before going to bed. I spent half the night trying to work out what to start next.
This morning, I got up and decided to start Mondo Cable. The pattern calls for 16 sts and 20 rows over 4". I bought some Schachenmayr Micro Big Shine from elann specifically for this project quite some time back. elann only said that the recommended gauge was 16sts/4". When I got it out today, the ball band says the recommended gauge is 16sts and 26 rows/4". I need 16sts and 20rows/4". So I swatched anyway.
I love that my row gauge is off! I got 16sts and 20 rows first swatch :)

I finished the Neckdown Pullover

I finished the Neckdown Pullover very late last night, it's now blocking. Pictures tomorrow, maybe.
I also bought our tickets to Sea World on the Gold Coast (Queensland) today. I am so excited. There are twin baby Polar Bears from Canada there, who go on pubic display over christmas. This will be the high point of our holiday for me. There are several other theme parks on the Gold Coast, Dreamworld, Movie World and Wet 'n Wild. (God only knows what hits I'll get for that!) However, we always go to Sea World for the Polar Bears :)
After that, I had Polar Bears on the brain, so I hit eBay. I wish I could move to the USA! You people have Polar Bear Tupperware! Avon Polar Bear christmas ornaments! Your Tupperware and Avon is way cooler than ours. I tried to email Tupperware USA to find out if the polar bear range was being released here, but I got an error page every time I hit send. The best yarn, the best Tupperware. I'm so jealous!
My DH has threatened to hide the credit cards to prevent me buying all the things I wanted :)
I'm thinking of emigrating ;)

I repeated the dyeing process

I repeated the dyeing process today, and I'm pleased to say that it gets even easier and quicker with practice. Cleaner, too :) I took Jill's advice today and used a garbage bag under my work, and that worked a treat.
I managed to be pretty clever in matching up the dyes to yesterdays hank, too.

Notice that one of the hanks is shorter? I was a little worried that I may have been a little rough with yesterdays hank, and it may have fulled a little. But as hank 2 has dried, it seems to have 'bloomed', so it may just be a case of a dry hank next to a wet hank. I'm happy with the colours and the stripes though - there doesn't seem to be a gigantic difference. I think I will still do 2 rows from hank 1 and 2 rows from hank 2 to minimise any big discrepancies. Here is yesterday's hank balled up.

I'm so pleased with it that I've left it on the table so that I can admire it as I go past :)

Emily went to a party tonight, in honour of the end of year, the holiday season and the impending end of Primary School. She only has 7 school days left at Primary School, the last day of school is Tuesday, December 21, and High School starts on January 31. It's starting to get a little sad now! Anyway, one of the mothers hosted a pool party for some of the kids tonight. (Around 40, I'm told!!) A pool party. It's summer in Sydney, we've had quite a few heatwave days, and we're in the middle of a drought.
So, of course the rain began at 2.50pm, the party started at 4pm, and the rain has only just stopped now at 10.30pm. Apparently, this didn't stop anyone from having a wonderful time in the pool, on the jumping castle and generally running about in the rain.
When I picked her up, she was wet through. She had changed out of her swimmers, but her 'dry' clothes were wet. Her swimmers were wet, her towel felt like it had been in the pool, and her jacket had been tossed over the back of a chair in the rain. She was shivering, blue lipped and sniffling. I asked her if she had fun. Her reply?
"It was excellent!" :)

I ordered some Landscapes dyes

I ordered some Landscapes dyes from Virgina Farm Wool Works. Talk about quick - I ordered them yesterday, and they were here today.

Of course, being the impatient soul that I am, I had to dye stuff immediately :)
I have a few hanks of 8ply (DK weight) wool that I plan to use for Clapotis, so I whipped out all the equipment and set to work. The biggest pyrex dish I have only held one 200g hank, so I only did one. First I gave the wool a nice soapy bath.

I wanted to use all three colours in random dyeing, so I got to work. Pink first!

Then blue.

Purple came next, but I didn't get a picture. Why not? Because at this point, I realised that I had spilled permanent dye all over the benchtop, the sink, various spots on the floor, and it had seeped through a tiny crack in one glove finger, rendering my forefinger a lovely shade of bright blue. This is my benchtop.

So at this stage, I tossed the dish into the microwave and cooked her up, while I got out every cleaning fluid in my cupboard and attacked the benchtop. Thank heavens for Rapid Mould Kill. Smells like shit, but it worked. :)
Anyway, ta-da! Here is the finished product.

The purple is more vibrant than it appears here. And now tomorrow I have to try to repeat the experience. Preferably without dyeing the whole kitchen.

Jill sent me some gadgets!

Jill sent me some gadgets! :)

I love gadgets. There were other things in the package, but they are intended for Em's christmas stocking, and she's a snoop, so they can't go up here yet. I had asked Jill to get me a Chibi (or two ;) and she popped way more in there for us. There are so many gadgets that can be got in the US that we can't get here.
I finished the first sleeve of the neckdown and started the second. Hopefully I can have this sweater done by the end of the weekend, and start something new.
I should never say something like that, because if I say it, it never happens!

I got some sleevage done!

I got some sleevage done!

I feel much better about it now - it seemed to get too narrow too soon before I ripped it back. Now I think I may have spaced the decreases too far apart, but time will tell. I also started a pair of socks for Emily. I'm getting a little impatient waiting for my sock yarn and beads for the beaded socks :) Mind you, it probably won't get here before Friday at the earliest.
I went to the Post Office today to mail off some Christmas cards. This is somewhat of an Event, as I am usually way too lazy to write and mail Christmas cards. Of course, when I got there, the queue was out the door of the Post Office, so I quit and came home :)
When I downloaded the sweater picture from the camera, I found that Em has been busy with my camera. This is our other family member, Fuzzy Lumpkins. Despite all good intentions to teach him to talk, it never happened, although he doesn't realise that he is a bird. He is quite sure that he is a Person. He lives in our family room, near the back door with a clear view of the refrigerator. Whenever someone opens the fridge or goes near where the bread is kept, he reminds us that he is there and would like to be fed, too. Now. Anyway, I liked these pics alot :)

I thought they were pretty good (in an arty farty type way) for an eleven year old. Mind you, they were taken when she was supposed to be getting ready for school, but thats another story.
Here is how Fuzzy normally looks :)

Our Real Estate inspection is tomorrow. Our lease says that we aren't supposed to have pets, but birds in cages and crabs in tanks are okay. Therefore, we aren't actually supposed to have a rabbit. So tomorrow all evidence of Twinky gets hidden away, and Twinky goes to my Mum's house for the day. Mum lives just up the street.
Twinky would rather lay in the dirt :)

Happy Tuesday! Everyone go out and buy Baby Silk from Elann. It goes up at 1am locally, so I want it to be all gone by the time I get up. Please ;)

I hit a snag with

I hit a snag with the Neckdown pullover. I did the sleeve decreases as the pattern advised, and had finished the decreases by the time the sleeve was only two thirds as long as I needed it. I could have just kept on going, knitting plain until it was the length I wanted, but the shaping looked wonky. So I ripped the whole sleeve. So I have made no progress!
This weekend and today, in addition to the house cleaning I have been busily getting stuck into some christmas gift sewing. The gift knitting is done, just a few things to finish up with in the sewing and I'm done. I think I'm happy with what I've done. Will the recipients be happy? Let's hope so.
Am I the only one who gets a little stressy when making handmade gifts? I love to receive them, but I always worry when I give them. What if they don't like it? What if they don't want it? What if the colour is wrong, or the size is wrong? Then again, it would be unlike me not to worry :)
Emily's social life continues apace. School Dance this Wednesday, End of year pool party on Friday. Year Six Farewell dinner dance next Tuesday. I should have half the fun!
Elann is releasing Peruvian Baby Silk again. Why have they done this to me? My stash is not shrinking. I have spent most of the day trying to justify buying some, and I can't even come up with a project I'd like to use it for. Ideas, people - leave me some :)

Why is it that whenever

Why is it that whenever I plan to have some free time, it never happens? I thought that after the dance concert, I would be able to settle down a little and start to have a little more time. Ha!
My best friend from High School had a baby boy on Friday. So today, we ended up at the hospital visiting. He's so cute. Not cute enough to make me want one, but cute ;) We spent a couple of hours up there visiting. We did some Christmas shopping yesterday, and although I planned to finish the shopping, I couldn't get a great many things. Who would think that it would be difficult to get Pokemon Leaf Green or Fire Red this close to Christmas? And why didn't I buy it a month ago? This game is a neccesity - we're driving 17 hours to Queensland, and 17 hours back. I need it to keep Em quiet ;)
We rent our house, and the Real Estate sent me a letter on Wednesday saying that they are coming to inspect the house this Wednesday, so every other spare moment has been taken up with house cleaning. My favourite pastime. No, really. Really. No you're right, not even I believe it.
And finally, this is the corner where the Christmas Tree goes.

What do you notice? (Not the stash box under the table!)
No Christmas Tree! I figure that seeing as we're not even going to be here at Christmas, I needn't bother. I haven't even put the wreath on the door. Am I mean?

Em's end of year Dance

Em's end of year Dance Concert was last night, and I'm pleased to say that it all went well, everything was beautiful and there were no major dramas. :)
And now I have some semblance of a life until Late January or early February, Yay!
In all the excitement I have even managed a little knitting. Here is this morning's progress on the Neckdown Pullover.

The colour is pretty accurate on my monitor. I have since finished the body and cast off, and started a sleeve.
For the Six Sox Knitalong, I ordered some new yarn. So much for my Yarn Diet! I think I lasted a week, LOL! But it's for a knitalong, so I needed it. And sock yarn isn't really stash, is it?
So I went over to The Knitting Zone and ordered Lorna's Laces in Pale Pink and some 8/0 beads in Blush. Not an exact match, but I hope that it'll be fine anyway. I was good and didn't order anything else. Good thing that, seeing as the car is being serviced today and the quote so far is pushing $500. Ouch!

Another heatwave today - it

Another heatwave today - it reached 42C locally, I am told. No knitting was done, I just laid around being hot all day, until the most welcome cool southerly wind came in at around 4.30pm.
Even Twinky was hot.

Usually she isn't particularly fond of water. She is laying there between a frozen bottle of water and her food bowl, and has let me stroke her with my fingers dipped in cold water. In fact, she didn't like it when I stopped, so I just kept going until she got up and shook herself off like a dog. :)
The next pattern has been announced for the six sox knitalong, but I can't get to the pattern yet. However they are called the "Pink Bead Socks".
Despite my abundant yarn stash, I have no pink sock yarn. Well, thats a partial lie. I have some Lorna's Laces in Old Rose, but that is earmarked for the Breast Cancer Awareness Socks. So I have to get some pink sock yarn. And presumably, some pink beads.
Any suggestions?