Exclusionary inclusion

I’ve been reading sewing blogs to make myself feel better about not having time to sew. Black dress from craft camp is as yet unhemmed. Craft Camp is unblogged. I have the next few weekends ‘off’ since S is busy so I might actually do some of those things! After I tackle the triffids in the front yard.

So you know, blogs really aren’t meant to be consumed in big mouthfulls, but if I find a new blog I like I generally trawl through the archives before deciding whether or not to add it to my overflowing blogroll. I’m trying to simplify my stuff, in spring cleaning fever, and that includes the amount of information I consume. But when you do that, and do that with several blogs, you notice a trend.

The one I’ve noticed is this.

‘Hey, sewing ladies, and gents, too, maybe?”.

‘So, guys and gals…’.

‘What do you girls – and boys, I suppose, are there any of you out there?!? do in this situation?’

Either you’re being inclusive, or you’re not. I get being cutesy and addressing the reader directly – it’s fun to play with language! And it’s a nice way to be informal and create connections. Except when it’s not. If there ARE any men reading your blog, they now feel like it’s been pointed out that they don’t belong, and are an anomaly. I know I’m on the flip side of this all too often, where it’s just assumed that anyone who does [activity] or like [thing] or, ya know, exists and is important, are male. It gets irritating and exhausting.

Why even gender it? MegtheGrand likes to call all her readers ‘friends’ while Patty from Snug Bug addresses us as an assortment of animals and other adorable things – from ‘kittens’ to ‘marmots’ to ‘armadilloes’ – or else just says ‘morning all!’. It’s inclusive and friendly. Actually inclusive.

I suppose part of it might be trying to create a cosy atmosphere. It’s just ‘us girls’ and we can giggle and talk about silly things like sewing and clothes! Which I guess is fine. If you ARE actually trying to exclude people, then good job, it worked! It worked for me, too, since that’s not the kind of blog – or world -  I’m after, and I usually work myself up into an impotent rage whenever I read this.

Much like the impotent rage I get when someone uses ‘decimate’ to use ‘devastate’, or types ‘your’ instead of ‘you’re’ in a formal document. It’s about as important as that, in the scheme of things. Not that big a deal on the day to day but over time, slowly eroding clarity of communication.

So. There. Consider yourselves told.

Quickly

I didn’t get that job. But I got some really great feedback and there’s another position at the same place that they’ve asked me to apply for. So I feel, all in all, that it was positive.

I started knitting the second baby blanket. I decided I was better off getting her the kid’s blanket, so she had something nice to wrap the baby in in the first few weeks. Sunbreak is pretty big and heavy, I think it’s going to be more of a playmat/cot blanket, so there’s less rush. I’m knitting Abby’s Blanket by Kristin Kapur. Like all her patterns, it’s wonderfully knitting, and a perfect blend of simple, elegant and complex. Loving it so far – I’m up to the second repeat of the lace. I’m knitting it from Bendigo Rondo, which is a machine washable one but is twist plied not crepe. I like it a lot, it’s soft and smooshy. The colours are their regular pastelly ones, but somehow are less flat than usual, I guess because the base is nicer? I think the ‘lime zest’ is the same dye mix as the ‘pistachio’ alpaca, but it’s much less insipid. I’m using Lime zest for the inside, I’m just going to knit until I’m out, and then Ocean spray for the border, and I’ll just knit until it’s a decent size. But I’m thinking of this as more of a car seat/wrap blanket, so it shouldn’t be too big to be unwieldy.

That’s been my evening couch knitting. But I’m knitting the sunbreak border on my commute. I’m managing an average of 3 repeats of the cable each way. 27″ down. 161″ to go. That’s still a good 5″ a day, though, so I’m feeling ok about the whole thing.

The centre of the sun

I’ve been diligently knitting away on Sunbreak.

It’s not finished yet. It’s 47″ by 37″. That’s 168″ of edging to be knit – well, a bit more, counting corners.

It’s taking me about a half hour an inch.

So another 5040 minutes of knitting. 84 hours. Plus seaming. Not that I’m counting.

The recipient is due on the 4th of March. I don’t know if anyone realises, but that’s three weeks away.

Well, 20 days. That’s 4.2 hours of knitting needed per day. At least. My commute is two hours a day, and I can knit for most of it. Even so, that’s a lot of stitches.

Well, it’s a first pregnancy. It’s bound to be overdue, right? RIGHT?

Some actual information:

• I blocked it out pretty hard, as per the instructions. They tell me that the size I’m knitting should be 43.5″ by 51.5″ but I just blocked it until it was stretched, and then evened up the sides. The drape is really lovely, and the heavier middle and heavier cabled sides are going to make it even better, I think.
• The pattern is amazing, and really clever, but I struggled with a few bits. It’s clear enough for the advanced knitter it assumes you are, but there were one or two points where I could have used a hint. Once I remembered that the bumpy side is actually the right side, though, it all came good.
• Ravelry tells me I’ve been knitting this since the end of July. Six months, or so. Not too bad, really, especially as it reached maximum lap warming size about the time the first heatwave hit Adelaide this summer.
• I say the recipient is due in March, but that’s not true. This one’s not for the kid. It’s for its mum. She’s my oldest friend, apart from my cousins, and I wanted to give her something that showed her how much I appreciate her, and all the warm sunny thoughts I have for her future.
• I was going to knit another blanket for the actual baby. I still intend to. I think maybe someone should call a psychiatrist for me, or something.
• Doing the centre was freaking painful. There was swearing. There was an email to the intended recipient that read ‘I’m making you a blanket, and it’s going to be shit’. There was ripping out and restarting and darning in of ends. And it’s not perfect. But I am so, so happy with it. Like our friendship, there are dodgy patches and a wonky seam and a couple of ends poking out, but the overall effect is stunning, if I do say so myself. Besides being cozy and warm.
• Brb, knitting.

Happenings

Last week I came down with the black lung.  I spent Thursday and Friday in bed, coughing and achey, completely unable to do anything.  Even reading was too hard.  By mid friday, I was bored out of my mind and VERY whingey about it all.

Luckily, entertainments had been booked!  S’s kids are in Scouts, and they were performing in this year’s Scout Shouts.

Guys, a word of advice.  Never, ever go to see a pantomime performed by young children when you have a fever.  Especially not if it’s Peter Pan and appears to have random things thrown in just because they had extra people and costumes.  Like adolescent girls in lycra catsuits.  Just wrong.  They were led onstage by an adorable 5 year old and then BAM!  My involuntary reaction was ‘woah!  That’s confronting!’ and the lady next to me turned around and agreed.  It also involved an Indian scene rife with cringe-worthily inappropriate racist puns (although I did enjoy the scene that went: Hook:where’s my redskin? *first mate hands hook a lolly* Hook:no, where’s my REDSKIN? First mate: OH, you mean your nativeamericanprincess!)

And the second half of the show was a series of sketches themed ‘the human body’ and was apparently written by the young performers themselves which makes me feel a bit better about the amount and quality of the puns.  Sample sketch: two adorable young blonde girls run on stage in nurses uniforms (no, I don’t know why).  Someone chucks a bunch of plastic ears on stage.  The two adorable girls chorus ‘WELL THAT WAS EERIE!’ and scurry off stage in delight. 

Actually, I kind of enjoyed it, and the small children were incredibly adorable (especially the ones that popped out while they were changing scenes and sang ‘never smile at a crocodile’ over and over, complete with hand actions.  That song will not. Get. Out.  Of. My. HEad) but it was very, very surreal.  And ended quite late – about 11ish, I think, which was WAY past my poor invalid bedtime.

Then we had to get up early to vote (and wasn’t that all very exciting!  I am not commenting until it is all over because while i am not particularly sorry that Australia has registered its displeasure, the Mad Monk still scares the shit out of me) and collect my chickens. 

YES I HAVE CHICKENS.

They are Bantam Langshans and they are adorable, as are the teeny tiny eggs I am getting from them.  I have photos on my camera, and I will get them to the internet eventually.  They are black and shiny green, like beetles.

I spent the rest of the weekend doing not much, pottering around and coughing.  And this week I have had zero energy for anything, and the house is trashed.  It’s highly irritating.

I realise that I have no time because I am spending it bundled up on a couch with a snuggle buddy, and as such I am not complaining.  But given the amount of sorting and organising there still is to do of my sister’s stuff, it’s a bit irritating.  The spare room and laundry is literally just heaped with stuff.  I am hoping to get time this weekend to clear that out and get all of my sister’s stuff that’s left into boxes and in the shed.  And then I can start on my OWN stuff.

When I semi set up my craft room I sorted my wool stash and pulled out some rejects.  Mostly murky greeny brown colours that I will never use.  There’s more in there that I am determined to use  before buying more yarn.  Well, except that I just did, but that was for specific things – white for my semi-abandoned hexagon blanket and some yarn to knit S something for his birthday which I was thinking was nicely away in October but guys.  August is almost over.  And I only just remembered to turn my calendars over, so I’ve been missing out on Janet’s lovely photo of her sewing machine, all that time!  HOW is August almost over?  I nearly missed my sister’s birthday (luckily she’s already had her present).  So anyway, considering what a tardy knitter I am I probably should get going.  So I ordered more yarn. 

I haven’t been doing much crafting, to be honest.  I am still knitting away on a couple of WIPs, ones that don’t require much thought or input.  Thing is, I can’t really GET to anything – my stash is now accessable, but all those bits and pieces you might need – notions, scissors, measuring tapes – have no home.  That is also part of the projected tasks for the weekend.  Locating and amalgamating craft stuff.  Even if it WILL still be on the floor of the craft room for a while before I can get a new desk, at least it will all be in one area.  Things need amalgamating, Like needs to be with like, WIPs need to be sorted and assessed.

While thinking about but not doing all of this, I’ve decided that, as well as having too much of my sister’s STUFF, I myself have far, far too much STUFF.  I have too many plates and glasses and bowls, too many knick knacks (not that many, but definitely too many) JUST enough books, so please stop buying them unless you plan to finally read all those ones that you never got around to and then maybe pass them on.  Some things can be gotten rid of altogether, some, like the excess crockery, can be put in the shed in case I suddenly decide to entertain 30 people (ahaha). Problem is, by the time I get home, it’s cold and dark and I’m tired and lazy and just wish to sit by the fire with the cat.  And I get a little bit done on the weekend, but I really need a good two hours at LEAST with no distractions.  S would be perfectly happy to sit and read while I putter – last Sunday he sat in the sun while I pottered around weeding and watering and the like.  But I feel guilty and, more to the point, would rather join him in the sun reading, or on the couch talking, or whatever other activity is in the offing.  But I am DETERMINED to get at least the spare room and maybe the laundry sorted this weekend.  That would mean I could have a table to eat at, and the other organising can be done in half hour lots. 

I am trying to curb the wanties, too.  I want new, more, better.  My life would be shinier if I had this shelving system or that single use tool.  Mostly this is a symptom of inaction (buying feels like doing something, and if I don’t have time to make something I am more likely to buy it ) and of feeling poor.  Which I am not.  But I have a backlog of largish purchases to make, like more mulch for the front yard and a new desk, and bird wire for the rabbit run, and I really need new glasses but I’m putting it off.  I got my tax return, and the same week I got a water bill, a gas bill, an overdue phone bill (the post office has been losing our mail) and council fees.  Bye bye, tax return.  Which, you know, is fine.  At least it meant I wasn’t stressed.  And hopefully bills will be lower now my sister isn’t taking two showers a day and sitting in front of the heater all night.  I mean, there’s no one living there most of the week, since I am at work.  That should cut down the $$, one would think.  And I’ve downgraded the internet plan and decided to eat less meat (mostly because all that stodgy winter food was making me feel a bit icky), so hopefully the pennies will start to add up.  It would be nice to be able to buy those large things I want, and then maybe start paying more off the mortgage.  Well, there will always be something else that I ‘need’, I guess, but I’m trying to keep the wanties to a minimum.

Well, that was a tad whingey.  But I feel like that.  It’s friday, and I’ve been mildly sick and listless all week, and work has been irritating while I do bitsy work and wait for people to get content back to me, and I feel scratchy and bound down.  I bleached and dyed my hair last night – I had massive regrowth and the blue was fading, and I was SICK of it.  But it takes about 5 hours all up, so I had to stay up late to do it and now I’m tired, and I’ll have to top it up later because I missed some bits and didn’t leave it on as long as I’d like.  But I couldn’t see a free weekend when I was going to be ok walking aorund with gladwrap on my head for 5 hours, so I just went for it.  On top of that, I’ve been dragging up my mother issues this week, which has made me generally a bit glum and a bit churned up.  But that’s a blog post in itself.  If I ever get around to it.

 But, on the other hand, it’s friday!  Tonight I am heading up to S’s place in the hills, so I will get a good dose of lounging around guilt free on Saturday (while at the same time meeting one of his best friends, no pressure or anything) and then Sunday I might achieve things.  I’m hoping to use my pent up purging urge while it’s around.  What are you all up to this weekend?

A quick, free knitting tip

It really helps if you READ THE PATTERN.

FOtastic

I’ve been a bit of a lurker lately.  I’ve been reading everyone’s blogs and looking at your flickr photos, but just haven’t felt like I have much to say, or the brainspace to put anything into words.  Feel a bit on the back foot, just in general.  That’s not really accurate.  I feel like I’m riding in the passenger seat a bit.  Everything seems to be on hold – until my sister moves out (soon!  Scary!) until it gets warmer and lighter (hooray for solstice!) until… I don’t know what else.  But I miss chatting at you guys, and I have to talk about craf camp and Julia and my FOs.

Queen’s Birthday long weekend I went on another lovely craf camp.  It was LOVELY.  But that deserves its own post, not to be part of this bitsy one.  While I was on camp, I pestered Suse and Janet into taking photos of my two finished jumpers – Emily, which had been done for a while, and Cinnabar, which I seamed up finally that weekend.  It just needed the arms attached.

Here is Emily (rav link).

You can see the line where I lengthened it and the grafted it – the band originally started where that line is… much too short.  I could have lengthened it a couple inches more, I think, but I’ve decided I’m happy with where it is.  I shortened the sleeves, too, since I knit this out of regular yarn not cracksilk haze as the pattern calls for, so instead of being soft and billowy around my hands they were just bulky and annoying.  I didn’t do bust darts because the neckline is so low, and I don’t think it needs them, although looking at the curving-up hem on that last closeup it wouldn’t have hurt.  The fit is ok – I just did the shaping in the pattern and it doesn’t match me perfectly but it’s pretty good. I might have to start lengthening jumpers from the middle by knitting and extra inch or two between the hip decreases and the bust increases, since that is where I have the extra length (I’m long waisted.  Most people fit two sideways-hand lengths between the bottom of their bust and their waist, I fit three) and most jumpers – this one included – sit a bit out above my hips because of that.  Looking at the photos I feel like it’s a bit lumpy bumpy, but I can’t work out how much of that is 1)because it is 2)because it’s photos of me and everyone always thinks they look terrible in photos even if they are FINE and 3)because I made it so I know all the places where it is not-quite-right, could-be-better, wish-I-had.  Why are we always so hard on ourselves?

The yarn is Bennet & Gregor and I LOVE it to pieces.  It is soft and smooshy and the blended colour is really interesting – you can see the darker strands if you look close and that gives it depth and saves it from being to beige.  There definitely needs to be more of this in my wardrobe.  In varying colours – natural sheep colours, of course, since that is what they do.  They don’t have an internet shopping cart, but they are very friendly and helpful – if you contact them, Nancy will send you out a colour card, and they take mail orders.  They are usually at Bendigo Sheep & Wool as well, keep an eye out for them.  Their yarns have some vegetable matter in them, but it’s a small price to pay for not using sulfur to process tehm (says the itchy one) and it’s not enough to be annoying.  The yarn is an absolute pleasure to knit and to wear.

I haven’t gotten heaps of wear out of this one, but I think that’ mostly because it’s gotten cooooold and this isn’t really a full coverage jumper, and because you can see whatever you wear under it it is less versatile for layering.  I think it will be the perfect transition season jumper, though.  I am not 100% happy with it, but I love the overall look and I am ignoring that line.  Because this jumper is done and I am f*&king NOT regrafting it.  So there.

What I would change: the adjusted sleeve length is perfect (ravelry tells me I made them SIX CENTIMETRES shorter) but I wish I had been more carfeul when I picked up stitches on the sleeves and seamed them, because they are a bit bunchy chunky there.  Not too bad, but a bit irritating.  I would have made it much longer – when I fixed it I knit three extra inches and I wish I’d done just one more.  I wish I had seamed better (I’ve recently given up and learnt mattress stitch and folks… it makes SUCH a difference) but overall it’s a good, servicable, wearable knit. 

What I love: The yarn.  The neckline.  The yarn.

And here is Cinnabar (rav link).

This one was a bit epic.  I was determined to do this one RIGHT and I ripped and I ripped and I ripped.  And it’s still not quite right, but it’s close enough.

Issues with it: The collar is a bit weird – I had trouble making the placket the right length to sit right.  Since I don’t intend to add buttons, I’m not fussed.  I might have to undo that bit where it’s all bunched because I seamed it badly (on the left of the neck in the above photo).  The right sleeve is a bit wider than the left because I switched to circs for that linen sitch band, and my gauge was looser than on straights.  Again, not much, but enough to be a bit irritating, especially when putting on jackets, etc.  It’s actually a wee bit long.  I deliberately made it long and I love the length, but it bunches up when I sit down, so I end up tugging it back into place when I stand up.  This is more pronounced because the whole thing is just a bit big.  The yarn (just Bendigo 8ply rustic in Red Currant) bloomed quite nicely when I blocked it.  I also made a larger front size to compensate for absentmindedly casting on and knitting half of the back before realising I was knitting it a size too small.  I needn’t have gone up an extra size, it’s plenty big.  The extra size in combination with my laboriously knitted bust darts means it pooches a bit at the shoulders/underarms (you can’t see it in those photos because my hands are on my hips stretching the extra fabric out).  It’s not that big a deal, but it looks more pronounced to me because I am looking down, which makes it obvious.  I’m sort of tempted to find a dryer and chuck it in for a minute to shrink it just a biiit, but the thought of actually doing that is a bit scary.

Most of these issues are not actual issues.  It’s just that it’s turned out to be a different jumper than I thought I was making – I thought I was making a form fitting jumper to be worn over a tshirt.  Turns out I was making a comfy winter jumper to be worn over at LEAST two shirts.  I’ve worn it twice every week since I finished it, and I see it being in high rotation for many months to come.  It’s comfortable, well made (except for that fracking placket bit) and the red is lovely and makes it look smart.  I am not 100% happy with this one either, but I am very very proud of it.  I definitely took more care with this, and I feel like I’ve learnt a lot.

Things I love: the colour.  The length.  The beautiful seams.

I really need a better system in my wardrobe.  At the moment I have NO ROOM so all my jumpers are shoved into the top bit of my wardrobe.  Really, shoved.  This makes it very hard to find anything, and I just wear the same ones over and over.  I now have enough hand knit jumpers that I could probably wear one a day to work without repeating (although a couple of them I don’t really wear much) and I’d like to get more use out of them while it’s still cold.

While we’re on the topic of FOs, you can see another one in the Emily photos.  In my last minute packing frenzy for craf camp, I chucked a skirt into my luggage.  It was part of a set that my sister bought at an op shop, of a cape and a skirt.  Sort of like this, although slightly less lairy.  Here it is, on the floor at sewjourn.

The sister kept the cape, and since the skirt was teeny, she said I could have it, because I had admired the fabric.  It’s not pure wool, but close enough.  It really is teeny: it literally only just fit my thigh.

Please to excuse my tres sexy pj pants – I spilt tea ALL OVER my jeans (it was v. dramatic) and had to wear my pjs for half the weekend.  Because I am classy, that’s why.

Anyway.  Janet had very kindly borrowed her mum’s sewing machine so I could have a go at sewing.  And did I!  I did.  Janet was very patient with all my nervousness and umming and ahing, and I chopped away at the skirt, refaced it, and took it in a bit.  Then the lovely Suse pinned the hem and I hemmed it (by hand and everything!).  Ta da!

I love it.  I haven’t worn it to work yet, since it’s been too cold really, and I’ve been too tired to futz around with stockings.  But it will be worn.  Oh, yes, it will.  I wore it home on the plane, too.  Looking at this photo reminds me of my pirate-plaid skirt that would go very well with cinnabar.  Must crack that out when it warms up a bit.

I also traced off a pattern from one of Janet’s Ottobres and sewed another skirt, which just needs hemming.  Which of course I haven’t done.  But it has a ZIP!  The most badly done zip in the history of zips, but still!  A functioning ZIP!  Oh, and I also finished Damson on camp, but I ran out of yarn on the cast off.  This is what I had after I eliminated a purl ridge and cast off again:

One.  Inch. 

And it was too tight.  So I ripped it when I got home and recast off with different yarn, but I haven’t reblocked and photographed it yet.  Hmm, this sort of turned into a craft camp post.  Well, let’s change directions and make it a FO post, since I don’t think I’ve talked about Sahara (rav link), have I, since I finished it?

I really need to find somewhere where I can take self portraits.  I have no good photos of this – I asked my sister to take some, and this is what I get:

No, no, take photos of the TOP!

No, of the TOP!

Well, yes.  Technically that was what I asked for.  OH HAI INTERNET HERE ARE MY BOOBS.

It’s been a while since this was done.  Don’t really remember much about the knitting of it.  Rav tells me I used a smaller needle and a larger pattern size, to get a fabric I liked.  I used Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool which is ACE and I would totally knit with more of it if I could find it somewhere that doesn’t charge as much for shipping as for the yarn.  It’s surprisingly warm, but also nice and cool in hot weather.  It’s a wee bit scratchy (for sensitive folks like me) so I almost always wear it with a singlet underneath – for modesty as well cos, dudes, that’s a LOT of boob.  But it’s a flattering length of neckline for the big busted among us – breaks it up a bit.  I pretty much knit this to pattern apart from diddling with gauge and adding bust darts, and the shaping is excellent.  Oh, I believe I lengthened it as well.  Since it was top-down, I could try it on to see where the shaping should be, which was wonderful.

I had a bit of a wrangle whether to knit the cap sleeves, short sleeves, or long sleeves.  I am very happy with the cap, and sort of converted to the whole knit-tshirt thing.  I’d previously thought it was a bit silly, but no!  It’s so useful!  I see more in my future, if I can find appropriate yarn… why is it so hard to find summer-weight yarns in Australia.  Counterintuitive.  But I would love to have a long sleeved version of this as well.  I see on rav that some people have knit it in wool, and it looks fine.  I’d do a DK and do the same gauge shenanigans.  I reckon it’d be ace.

God, that boob photo is confronting.  Note to self.  Find place to do FOs, STAT.  I don’t have any finished photographs of Rogue, either.  I wish I had crafty papparazzi here ALL the time.

And to finish off, here’s a WIP.

Remember my granny hexes?

Gosh, the colours in that bottom one are making my heart thump!

I was doing them on a 3mm hook.  Once I had a few of them I put them together and realised that they were too stiff.  Not nice for a blanket at all.  So I decided to get a bigger hook and restart them.  This was a bit disenhearteining, so they languished.  Then, last Tuesday, I decided I had to restart them RIGHT NOW.  Possibly spurred on by the granny blanket I found at the Pt Adelaide Market for three dollars. It’s lovely, too, I wish I could show you now, but the photos are still on my camera.  Anyway, I went to look at other people’s crochet to see what size hook I should use and got enchanted by Lucy’s Hexagon how-to.  Then I got sad because I didn’t have a 4mm hook, which meant that I couldn’t start them AS SOON AS I GOT HOME.  I was emailing S and mentioned this.  He was picking me up from work that evening and… he brought me a 4mm crochet hook.  That man knows a way to a crafter’s heart.  WAY better than roses, I tell’s you.  I might have blushed.

So, anyway, I started with some hexagons that night.  I thought I’d ordered white yarn to edge them, but apparently not, so I’m just cranking out little circles at the moment and I’ll start joining them later.

I’m actually quite happy with that as it gives me time to build up some colour diversity.  I might need to order some more yarn for them, because otherwise I’ll use up my leftover yarn too quick.  There’s some rainbow wools scraps leftover from this blanket (rav link). 

 

The scraps are lovely – both the colours and the yarn – so I might get me some more of that.  Or maybe just some more Bendigo, since that’s cheaper and that’s where I’ll be ordering the border yarn from.  If anyone has any 8ply scraps in bright colours that they are feeling guilty about: I’ll have em!  I have less yarn to work with than I thought because I rejected some yarn for being too muddy.  Don’t worry, though.  Those hexagons didn’t go to waste.  I upcycled them into hats:

Anyway, I had booked in a ‘hermit weekend’ to spend by myself, having some down time and cleaning my house, which is a bit trashed.  I DID mop the floors, but apart from that I mostly slept and spent quite a while this weekend sitting on the couch drinking tea or beer (in the evenings) and crocheting away.  They are like potato chips, I can’t stop.  I have about twenty some now.  I think I want to make it big enough to be used on my queen bed, but I might be kidding myself.  Then again, I’m sort of happy to be working on this for years.  My favourite part is choosing which colour to use next.  Looking at them makes me really happy.

Ooooh, shiny happy colours!

Sign I am not normal #574

I had to stop myself from squeeing when I saw that beefrank of Mr Xstitch faved one of my flickr photos.  I know it was probably only because it has the word ‘vagina’ in the title, but still!  She’s INTERNET FAMOUS, y’all!

 

Look, Johnny Depp isn’t going to be favouriting any yarnginas anytime soon, so I’ll take it.

Sign # 573: every time I see a ball of yarn like that I think of vaginas.  I didn’t post the photo where my sister was sticking her finger into it, though, so maybe I can still be allowed out into society?

Last night

I had a dream that I was living with Marianne Kirby from the Rotund, and that I was a coblogger on Fatshionista with Lesley.

Then there was a zombie apocalypse of a not very terrfying type.  We just had to stay inside until the zombie disease killed all the zombies, but I did have to rescue Janet’s Grace from the zombies by buying her off of them.  She cost $170.

I think I need to stop listening to podcasts right before bed.  Last night I listened to fatcast and this TED talk.

I also hung the prints I had framed when we moved (three? months ago) and a bunch of photos.  I need to go through more photos and get some printed out in black and white to hang.  It looks like a grownup lives in my house!  And I tidied and sorted my room and the living room – doesn’t sound like much, but it was getting a bit ridiulous given the lack of storage space.

My sister booked her ticket to Ireland today.  She wanted mid June but everything was booked so she managed a cheap ticket for the end of July.  I must admit that my first reaciton was disappointment, because – I know this will be a shock to you because it’s not like I keep going on about it – but I am so so looking forward to living by myself.  But I’m not-so-subtly encouraging her to pack up some of her stuff that’s in the house, like all her books and DVDs that take up half the living room, which will ease my cranky claustrophobia, I think.

Not the craft camp post

I had the loveliest, bestest time ever on craft camp.  I didn’t think that it could possibly live up to how good everyone always says it is, but it did – oh, it did.  Because I have a ‘what bastard drank half of my drink, I bet they slipped a roofie in it, too’ kind of person, I can see that given enough time, we could definitely rub each other the wrong way.  But it was pretty darn close to perfect, as perfect as any group of people ever is.  And after the four days away, if someone had invited me to live on a commune forever with those lovely, wise, funny, caring, creative, helpful, empowering women, I would have signed on the dotted line without pause.  In blood.  The food alone would be worth it. 

But I am not going to write about it properly yet because I am attempting to get my photos up to flickr without killing everyone in an overload.  So it’s bit by bit, and I’ll do a craft camp post later.

This isn’t even a ‘what I did on the rest of my holiday’ (quite a lot, achully, and it was also COMPLETELY ACE) post.  This is just a ‘I’ve hit the afternoon blahs (3pm sharp) and now all I can think about is knitting’ post.

While on craft camp, I worked almost exclusively on my Cinnabar Pullover.  This was partly because it was the project I brought that I want to wear the most, partly because I was up to all the tricky bits and wanted to get past them, and quite a bit because I kept having to rip it.  The first time I had to rip it was because… wait for it… I’d decreased instead of increasing.  For 40 rows.  Yes, apparently I think that I go in at the waist, and then IN AT THE BUST.  This is patently untrue.  So rip it I did. 

Friday night, merrily knitting away. I would realise my mistake about two hours later.

The second time was because although I had brought the destructions for the maths for the bust darts, but not the actual part where you knit the short rows, and how to do it.  So I called my sister and made her read it out to me from the book (she was thrilled) but I was still winging it.  And short rows are confusing.  So I was knitting to the SECOND stitch before the short row, which gave me ONE stitch in between instead of to the THIRD stitch, giving TWO in between.  Short rows appear to be like Quantum Physics.  No matter how well I understand them as they are being explained, the minute the sentence is over, it all flies out of my head.

Anyway, the upshot of that is that the bust darts were far too steep.  So… I ripped.  It probably would have been liveable, and even better fitting than a not-short-rowed jumper.  But I would have had weird poofy bits under my arms, and the last thing I need is more weird poofy bits.  I ripped it and reknit it. 

I didn’t have to rip it again after that, although there was much muttering under my breath and counting, and perhaps just a leetle swearing.  And on Sunday evening while Janet manically sewed and Suse stuck bits of sheet together on the board on the wall, I knit frantically.  I steam blocked (alternate title of this post: steam blocking, you complete me) and basted the pieces together.  And then I looked at it.  And it looked at me.

It was past midnight.  It was WELL past ‘don’t do anything you can’t easily undo’ o’clock (10pm for me).  It was into emotional crafting time.  If I tried it on now, and it didn’t fit, there was about a 50% chance I would have run inside and stuffed it into the fire.  Ok, maybe only 25%. 

I tried it on.

It FIT.

I am so, so pleased with it.  I have one side of the placket sewn on, and the other side ready to sew.  And then I just realised last night that I need a 7mm circ to sew the rest of the neck piece, so I ordered one from the internet (internet, I also love you) cast on one of the sleeves.  The linen stitch is so beautiful after steam blocking (oh, steam blocking, I heart you) and the jumper is so red and it FITS ME.

While I was steam blocking the second placket the night before last (don’t you like the word placket?  It’s almost as good as pelmet.  Actually, you know what?  I think I like placket even more than pelmet.  Wow this is a long aside.  Almost more of an a-front, really.  Where was I…) ANYWAY as I was steam blocking that I got out my Emily, of which I don’t appear to have any complete photos.  Ravelry tells me I’ve been knitting it since September 2008.

I stuck a fork in it in May 2009.  And I wore it once, and then I realised that actually, it was too short.  Far, far too short.  I don’t know who I thought I was knitting it for, but it wasn’t long-waisted me.

So it sat in a basket and moldered and then a while back (ravelry doesn’t have this information) I bit the bullet and snipped off the bottom bit.  I then popped the top half on a needle, picked up stitches on the bottom, and knit up about 3 inches.  I then repeated this process for the other side.  Then it mouldered for some time further before I kitchenered it together.

The line was pretty obvious.  I think I did it too tightly, because there are bits where it was looser, where the line was less obvious.  But I am DONE with this jumper, so as I was steaming the placket I steamed the CRAP out of Emily, and then I wore it to work yesterday.  Everyone asked said that yes, they could see the line.  But no one said ‘OH MY GOD what is that LINE through your jumper!?’ so I’m calling that a win.

See, thing is, I don’t appear to have any jumpers to wear.

The top part of my wardrobe is stuffed with jumpers.  But I don’t like wearing ANY of them.

Photo stolen blatantly from Suse.  Hey, suse, did you know that your blog is the second in the list when you google ‘pea soup?’  Right after the wikipedia article.  Pretty cool!

My big blue wrap fits.  Because it is a big wrap with no shape.  I wear Cobblestone all the time, and could do with one that wasn’t blah brown (although I seem to be liking everything in brown lately, for some reason.)  And my Sahara fits, because I could try it on as I went and I did bust darts and other maths to make sure it did.  But everything else is a bit short or a bit tight, or a bit baggy or the sleeves are too short or long. 

Sahara fits

Last night I gave my CPH to my sister.  I don’t wear it.  The sleeves are tight and long, and the hood is small and it needs buttons.  But worst of all, it is too short, by a good three inches.  This is exacerbated by the fact that I have put on weight since it was done, as I can see from the photo below, and my front bits all pull it up, so it’s got a lovely dip in the front.  And by lovely, I mean heinous. 

I’m keeping my Rogue, but I might have to do surgery on the two-inches-too-short sleeves.  And most of the rest of my knits will, I think, be frogged or otherwise adapted.  Because they should be worn.

So here is my resolve.  Now that I know what I am doing, I will knit more things that fit me, and more things that I will wear.  I will not knit things that do not fit this category, or if I do, I will rip them.  This means lots of stocking stitch with interesting additions, and room for bust darts.  It means knitting things longer.  It means choosing patterns carefully in the first place, so that they are flattering.  It means doing the maths.  It means, above all, trying things on and being willing to rip them out.  As Janet said on the weekend, the thing that makes you a good sewer is your willingness to rip out.  Same goes for knitting.

Wish me luck.

Been a while

I had to reenter my WordPress password, that’s how long it’s been.  And remember it, too!   It was a struggle.

It’s been crazy, folks.  Also, we only got internet on at home yesterday.  And while I am, in fact, blogging at work, it seems like there was some sort of mental block about blogging when I didn’t have the net at home.  And somehow it didn’t feel quite like we’d moved in without the net.  I’m not sure that’s a good thing.  But although I was very glad to load up my ipod with new podcasts, and I’ve missed my bloggy peeps, I must say I enjoyed not having the net for the most part.  Except that I kept missing events because I didn’t know i’d been invited to them, and even if I did know, I couldn’t find out where they were.  I just don’t function well without technology anymore!  I’m not organised enough…

So, I’m just going to chuck a bunch of random things in here, because lots has been happening.

• Over the Easter weekend, I did the teatowels.  Remember that sawp?  The one with the deadline that was a month ago?  Yeah, that one… I still have to heat set them, but they’ll be in the mail this week, I promise.  Sorry to my lovely swap partners who have lavished me with towels and been very understanding about not getting theirs.

• Over the Easter weekend, I also dyed my hair blue.  I do not have a photo of this, but it is very blue. 

 

• Also over the Easter weekend, I pulled up all the concrete that Osk had jackhammered into pieces, and put it into skips.  Well, my sister helped a bit.  For about an hour.  I also pulled up millions and billions of three cornered jacks.  The raised bed is clear and mulched, as is the roughly same sized area below it (about 1.5x5m).   I did this one evening, and the next morning there were magic little green things growing in it.  Just weeds, undoubtedly, but still!  They are not (all) three cornered jacks!  And the ones that are three corenered jacks are easy to spot – by the time they peek out of the mulch, it is obvious what they are.  I’ll have to stay vigilant, but I am confident that I am slowly winning.  I did a massive order of flower seeds from Diggers, to put in the raised bed, because I am desperate to have something growing.  Preferably something colourful and cheery to distract from the wasteland that is the rest of the garden.  I also bought half wine barrels from a lovely lady from Mt Compass, and I have a dwarf lime to go in one, a bay tree coming from Diggers for another, and plans for potted colour and herbs for the other two.

 

• The mulching is a good thing because although we didn’t get the rain we were promised over the long weekend, it BUCKETED down overnight, with more rain promised for the rest of the week.  There was thunder and lightening this morning, and when I had to run from shelter to the bus, I got about as wet in 3 seconds as I would have if someone had dumped a bucket of water over me.  The garden is completely flooded, since the soil is rubbish and doesn’t absorb any water at all until it’s been bombarded.  Hence the mulching being good, because the area with the mulch was already damp and therefore managing to absorb water.  Also, it will stay damp and maybe more magic green things will show up!  The verandah is also damp, because the lean-to is leaning slightly in towards the house (how apt) and is therefore not watertight with the roof.  So water comes down right in front of the door.  Except that it’s been ‘fixed’ by placing a metre of guttering over it, so NOW it comes down either SIDE of the door.  I’m thinking of getting some longer guttering and feeding the water off onto the soil at the side of the house where at least it will run off into the garden and not onto all the things under the verandah.  Until I feel like replacing the whole lean to.  Sigh.

 

• I called Bunnings about special ordering in some multigraft fruit trees for out the front.  I’ve got two dwarf lemons out there, with space in between for a crab tree to make a hedge.  I’ll get two avos whenever anyone has them in stock again, for a hedge on the other side.  And two Natal plums to to fill in the bit where the sad roses are, downt eh middle of the drive.  I’m trying for a peach/nectarine tree and a multigraft pear in the front.  I also ordered stuff from Yalca fruit trees, which Tanya’s partner runs.  I bought some garlic from her and BOY does it smell good.  Like actual real garlic that tastes like garlic!  She also sent me a bonus tea towel, even though we weren’t swap buddies.  Aaaaw.  And it has CHICKENS on it!  Ahem.  Anyway, I bought a cherry for the back, and two dwarf apples to espalier along a fence.  A 20 ounce for cooking, and a hubbartson’s nonsuch which, besides sounding very cool, is awesome for everything.  Also some raspberries and blackberries and some kiwifruit to climb up the verandah.

 

• I worked the state election.  It was fun, but it was a looong day.  I worked Kavel, which is where my mother lives and where I grew up.  Lots of old familiar faces, and the Polling Booth Manager and one of my fellow workers were my old 2/3 teachers.  They job shared and I loved them.  At the end of the evening we were discussing what we would buy with our money.  I said it was probably juuust about enough to buy a spinning wheel and Wendy perked up and said I could have hers.  If she could find all the bits.  I remember her telling me how she used to sit inside the kid’s playpen and spin, so that they couldn’t throw themselves onto it.  I was very grateful and said I would love to give it a new home, but no rush because I don’t have anywhere to put it and also only technically know how to use it.

 

• Becuase we were working from 7:30 until 10pm, we stayed at our mother’s place.  It’s only the second time I’ve been back since the wake (I still have to specifically stop myself from saying ‘my parent’s place’).  It was like a paradise.  There are scads of tiny birds everywhere, the trees I planted ages ago are massive, the gardens are beautiful.  My mother is talking about selling it – it’s 18 acres after all, and a lot of work to keep weeds and stuff down.  I don’t think she’ll sell for a few years yet.  It made me sad – we moved there when I was 1, while my folks built the house.  My sister was born there.  It was my home.  But I realised that weekend that it isn’t my home anymore.  I’d like a place like that to call my own – although maybe not with 18 acres.  I would love an acre or two of land to have trees and plants and gardens on, and encourage birds to visit.  But I do not wish to live at my old home.  It was a relief to realise that.

 

• Oh, and I got a new job and quit my job.  I have two more weeks and then I am OUT of here.  It was a really tough decision to make, because there are lots of things I love about this place.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t loving my job, and the general craziness was sort of making me hate my life.  The decision was hard to make, but I am very glad I did.  The week after I quit, one of the managers came up and told me he was very disappointed that I was leaving, and told me all the wonderful things that they were going to do – get me on other projects, etc.  I was so angry I cried.  Hot, angry tears of anger.  Apparently you have to quit around here to get any attention – that did the same thing to the last two people who left, to similar effect.  Even though I’ve been asking for a year or more if there were any projects I could help out on, any opportunities, because I was bored and coasting, I’m still supposed to feel guilty about quitting JUST as they were going to do wonderful things for me, which were definitely in my best interest despite the fact that they had never actually asked me what I wanted.  It strikes me as very similar to the time I had an unfortunate fling with someone and after I told them I only wanted to be friends because I wasn’t ready to be in a relationship (which was true: but helped by the fact that the sex was truly, skin crawlingly terrible).  His first response was ‘who’s the other guy’ and his second was ‘but I was going to take you on holiday to New Zealand!’.  I did have a brief vision of sheep and possmerino, but since he probably would have wanted to do physical activities in the snow (a clear indication of how little he knew me) and the next time we spoke I’d been downgraded to Kangaroo Island, it was hardly an incentive to reconsider.

 

• Anyway, the point is that I have two more weeks in this job, then a lovely week in Melbourne, and then I start a lovely new job.  Speaking of, I’d better get back and do my old one.  Somehow only having two weeks left have made it suck even more.  Oh well, last time I have to do x and y, I guess.