They did WHAT!!!!!

My hubby got home from work today to discover we had been broken into. Thankfully it doesn't look like anything sentimental or non-replaceable has been taken.... but

The bastards touched my knitting!!!! They went through my knitting bag and in the process pulled out my dpn's from the glove Im working on. AND I discovered my vest thrown across the craft room and Im not allowed to touch it to see what damage has been done, it's still attached to the ball.

*rant incoming*

I can get over them tossing everything in my bedroom - it's expected when your broken into - not nice, but expected. I can even get over the fact that they have left a trail of glass around the house (making it easier to see where they went), but I can not forgive touching my craft stuff that I've spent so many hours on. It's just rude!

*end of rant*

Love & Hate

I feel very spoilt, even though I dont get to keep this... the ANZ knitting group in Victoria received 300 (yes 300) balls of alpaca which was donated for them to knit up into items for the annual winter appeal fund raiser. Last year we raised $15,000.00 so this year we are obviously aiming higher. Im getting 12 of those lovely balls of alpaca to knit up into mittens or hats or what ever takes my fancy and to send back. I have 4 balls each of black, brown and beige coming my way.

Have I told you how much I loved knitting with alpaca yet? No? Well I do, it feels soft and warm and fluffy.

Oh and I hate working in the city on school holidays, I went out to get some lunch and feel like Ive run the gauntlet on Gladiators.

This week is going to be particularly slack work wise too, not that I dont have a lot of work on... Im flat out. Tomorrow Im volunteering at the Anglicare WA annual knit in come join us if you have time.

Gifted Finished Objects

I really will get this up to date one day (probably not this week though). I've finished and gifted 2 projects this week. One I know has been received and is being loved by my mate J who now has warm hands, the other was received with a confused but happy look.

I made a pair of Dashing for my friend who lives in cold wintry Melbourne, he tells me he loves them, my hubby is modeling them here for us, you cant really see all the detail in them because they are so black.

I am really seriously considering making a pair for myself but dont think I have enough of the alpaca left over so will make a pair of Fetching instead but make them a little longer.

The other project were these anklets for my SIL who, when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday replied anklet socks. I thought, excellent I can knit her a pair from my stash, she loves pink and I have some cotton/wool blend sock yarn in my stash. My Grandma was there when the SIL opened them and was so proud of me (she hasnt seen the first pair of socks I made yet which while nice are a little big for me). She's a knitter and attempted to teach me knitting when I was a kid.

Again, I love this pattern so much Im actually going to make myself a pair out of the other ball of sock yarn (since I anticipated making socks I bought 2 balls and these only take 1 with left overs for the size 7's for my SIL).

What am I doing at the moment??? I have a couple of things on the go. My vest is still where it was last time I told you about it. Im embroidering some slipper type shoes for a friend for a costume, they need to be done by Friday and Im about half way through.

Im also making a random basket weave type scarf from 3 colours. I picked up 4 balls of Cleckheaton Country 8ply at Spotlight Cannington last Monday. In the store they looked like 2 different shades of the same toning in green, a mossy green which I really liked. When I got them home, out of the fluro lighting I discovered that one of the colours was a lovely mossy green and the other was more of a blue/mint green. So now I had 2 balls of each colour which didnt go together. I rummaged through the stash and came up with 2 balls of a burgundy which actually works with the other 2 colours.

Sick?!?!?!

You too? I had all last week off work and became a hermit over the weekend too. Im much better now thanks.

I have been knitting and am nearly at the cast off point of the first in a pair of Dashing which are turning out very nicely in the 100% alpaca. I was very seriously considering keeping them for myself and then reminded myself that I had another hank.... I could make some (to fit me) from that after J's are done and his hands are nice and warm.

On my vest *sigh* lets not talk too long on this because I got very cross on Sunday when I realised that either Blue Moon Fibre Arts were waaaaaaaaaaaaay off on the yardage on the skein's (very doubtful because I wouldnt be the first person to notice this). Or the pattern's estimates on the required yarn was wrong... like lots wrong. I was still a good 3 inches from casting off the back and I had about 11m left on the first skein.

By my calculations, at 350m per skein at 2 skeins I should have about 700m. The pattern calls for 590m for the size I was knitting. Sure I had added just under an inch on the lenght of the vest but that shouldnt have used up all that much yarn when I should have some extra to play with?!?! So I spoke with Spider_Knit, who, enabled me... (which is only fair since I told her that buying discontinued Rowan for her wish list really isnt stash enhancement or falling off the yarn wagon when you have a project for it)... Im ordering another skein. And since Im ordering another skein, I ripped it back to the arm shaping and added another couple of inches so it can be exactly the lenght I want it.

My hubby though this was a good idea because he really likes the yarn and found a few other things that would be good for me to have when I was browsing their website. I am going to order some yarn for some gift knitting and whats more he cant say anything about it when it arrives because he told me to!!!!!!

I think he might just be finally getting this "being married to a craft addict" thing. That or he decided it was easier than listening to me grumble for another hour (which I did before I spoke to Spider_Knit), either way, I get to buy more yarn!!!!

oh and I saw this today in a medical journal/magazine that I get:

Doctors at a hospital in Melbourne have gone on strike. Hospital officials say they will find out what the doctors' demands are as soon as they can get a pharmacist over there to read the picket signs.

:)

How was your Saturday?

It's Saturday 14 June, which means it's WWKIP Day (World Wide Knit In Public Day). The one day a year knitters from all around the world gather and shock the muggles (non-knitting folk). I went along to the gathering in Forest Place in Perth. Spider_Knit and I were discussing on the way there how many people we thought would be there and we both agreed probably about a dozen. We arrived at 11am and there was already more than that when we got there. Here are some photo's of the day:

Here's my Solo, I'm 11 of the 14 inches into the back. I'm making it an inch longer owing to the fact that I'm tall and hoping that that will be long enough. Oh and it is actually black, remember this yarn? Well it looks fantastic in the sunlight but it doesn't photograph that well in the sunlight.

and.... I cast on Dashing for my friend, from some alpaca I bought last year. He wants them black and that's what I had so he's very lucky! Oh did I mention I got my hair cut yesterday? I nearly strangled myself when I rolled over in bed with the winter sheet's on (hair stuck to the pillowcase and well you can laugh while you think about the rest, everyone else has) and so I decided it was time for a serious cut!

I have more FO's and bit's to show you but that's enough photo's for one day.

What I've been doing / FO's

I figured that since I took photo's of these I should blog about them.

A month or so ago I made a red velveteen cloak for a costume, the pieces were so wide I couldn't use my sewing table to put them together so while hubby was at work I used the dining table. It worked out really well with black lining and lace trimming. I'll eventually get a photo of me wearing it. The pattern is Simplicity 4947, technically it's the cream one but I didn't put the fur on it, instead brought the lace around the hood. It's really warm and easy to put on and off.

Our desk is finished and all the 2 computers (yep I got a new one finally) are up and running. This is my computer when it arrived...

and our desk when it was finished.

I will be working on another robe/cloak for a friend of mine this weekend. It's going to be in monk brown because he needs a costume for a crazy monk. So that's going to be fun, I think I will be cutting this one out on the floor. The hood needs to be big enough to cover most of his face and the arms not quite so "wizardly" as he termed it. So should be a good weekend of sewing for me.

Ive also been doing some spinning yesterday and today, about 20 min per go or my back gets a little sore. I'm getting better at keeping it consistent but still cant join the pieces of roving very well.

Last but by no means least, baby Alexandra. I told you she was cute!

The blanket is gifted

This is baby Alexandra's blanket, she was born today at 5.22pm weighing 6lbs 10oz and is cute as a button!

I know it's not the best photo of it but it's the only one I have at the moment as we had to leave our camera at the hospital for the mum and dad to use as they werent expecting the baby to come and therfore didnt have everything with them.