Disco Knitter

Mark and I loathe all things Christmas (except seeing our families!), so its a real struggle to share Inigos new found joy in Santa, and Christmas trees, ornaments, etc. Weve told him that it is a celebration of the birth of Jesus, and a bit about what he means to a lot of people. Ive also told him that Santa cant come to our house because we dont have a chimney, but he will leave something for Inigo at Nannas.

But I do love his excitement, so I have decided to do a countdown to Christmas, cheapskate handmade style. Hes going to love it!

A few posts ago I mentioned my granny rug, and got some revelry tips on finding discontinued yarn.

Zephyrama came to my rescue, and very kindly sent 6 balls of the green that was almost impossible to find. She also sent a rocking handmade bag that is now my new favourite project bag.

And she asked for progress shots, so here goes

A long time ago Emily taught me how to find a discontinued yarn on Ravelry, and I managed to finish a project. Now I have started another project, and the yarn has been discontinued. It’s Moda Vera Pure Wool 8 Ply in Lime Green (Rav link).

Can someone please tell me where the appropriate place to beg is?

Thanks!

And I’ll post the project details one day too…

Update! FOUND THE YARN. Only 6 balls (I think I need 8), but maybe the blankie will just be slightly smaller than I originally planned. Thanks for all the tips

A few weeks ago, some fabulous people came over for a crochet day. Most of us learned something (except maybe Andrea – but she was a great teacher), and we all decided to do it again.

The chicks getting our crochet on.

The blokes getting their nerd on.

The event didn’t have a gender divide artificially enforced, but Adam had a work deadline, and Mark is weak when there are laptops around. And Inigo? Any excuse to get his hands on an iPod, an iPod, and iPhone…

So we all had a great time, and vowed to do it again, hopefully on a regular basis. How does Sat 20th suit?

After a scare last week, and a mammogram this week, it would appear that I don’t have breast cancer. There is some comfort in knowing that I have already lived through the worst thing I am ever likely to experience, but I am grateful not to have to deal with that particular pile of steaming crap.

But a friend of a friend is. She has two babies, one a little younger than the Squish, and one less than a year old. SHe thought she had a blocked duct, but it’s an aggressive cancer, and she is currently undergoing chemotherapy. Apparently, there is a 90% chance that she will still be alive in five years time.

So after dealing with a metric buttload of misery myself in the past few weeks, I am taking up my knitting in earnest. I am going to knit two chemo caps for two people who need something warm and beautiful on their heads, and I am going to go easy on myself for just a little while, and take the time to knit some love and healing.

Last week, a package came from America. A stunning shawl, knit with love from a dear friend who couldn’t be here to hug me. I wish I had a picture to do it justice, but Cecelia, your shawl has become my lucky shawl. I wore it when I went to have my mammogram done on Tuesday.

I have a leave pass next Saturday – Mark has offered to take the Squish away so I can play with yarn. Anyone want to sharpen up their crochet skills with me?

Lien asks, “Like a real workshop, or just a get together? I think I may be able to make it for a few hours!”.

Well, if we can get Andrea to come (and/or somebody else who can crochet and read patterns), then it will be like a real workshop, but if not then we can just muddle through by ourselves

Sarah – does a 9am start work for you? I have to go up to Pearl Beach afterwards, so we’ll finish around 3pm, but if you have to leave earlier, that is fine.

OMG! Two crochet posts in one day. The world is coming to an end…

I helped the Inner City Knitters Guild people run some learn to knit workshops in libraries in the west this morning, and at one of the libraries, a whole pile of squares had been donated. One of the squares had a really interesting construction, and now I am on the hunt for a pattern, or instructions, as I can’t quite get my head around how it was done, and I’d really like to have a crack at it.

Any ideas?

Can anyone teach me how to do this? My crochet guru is no longer speaking to me, so I need to cast a new net

Am prepared to pay in food and wine/gin.

I wonder what sort of uniform the nerd superhero wears?

There is still a few glitches (can’t leave blog comments), but I have my calendar back, and I have all my blog feeds! Normality is resuming, and I adore my husband. Not just for his good looks!

And tonight is results night. Pizza and red wine are on the menu, my friend Dionne is coming from Newcastle with her kids, and we are going to cover the kitchen in flour and dough while we wait for those crucial text messages. Dionne was in my environmental peace unit, so we are supporting each other.

And tomorrow I am teaching small children to knit. Give me strength!

And here is a picture of a small boy playing an orange ukelele.

Inigo wearing the jacket that Jussi knitted before he was born. He’s had a lot of wear out of that one!

For the uninitiated, that’s World Wide Knit in Public Day. It’s been happening every year for a few years now, and it’s a fun way to spread the knitting obsession with the public.

I’m going again this year – without Mark and Inigo, who will both be at the zoo, cleverly arranged by Mark’s work.

If you’d like to come along, there is more info on Sally’s Blog. Thanks to Sally for being the driving force behind this for a few years, Kris for kicking it off, and Margot for taking the baton and running with it.

As well as chatting to a few mums that needed breastfeeding support, Ive also culled, sorted an labelled the toys, painted a birthday card for my gorgeous nephew that is about to turn 4, and started up the t-shirt printing again.

Feels much better than wallowing, but I think there is still wallowing to come

…when life gives you -

one mouldy orange
half a bottle of mango and apple juice
one random cleanskin red (with a skin so clean it doesn’t even list a variety or region, let alone year. Yup. Clean)
and a six year old bottle of cinzano bianco from a brief martini fad

You make sangria of course.

And yes, I deserve it!

You’re supposed to wait 24 hours after printing to iron ans set the print, but Inigo wasn’t having that.

Off to daycare in his new favourite shirt.

But press play for the clip. You’ll thank me.

When needs must, a glass table and a dolphin torch do quite nicely.

Inigo was indecently proud of his new shirt, rubbing his belly, and telling anyone that would listen that, “mama made that for me”. He also refused to take it off at bedtime, so we discovered that it makes a pretty good pyjama top too. The only other shirth he feels so strongly about is his “Nuna Nuna” shirt. Actually, it is of Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba, but because of the Elijah Wood/Yo Gabba Gabba/Dragostea Din Tea/Numa Numa clip I found on You tube, Inigo calls it his Nuna Nuna shirt, and wants to wear it every day of the week. And apparently this lime green shirt goes best with the purple sparkly trousers I made him for his first birthday party. They’ve been washed so often recently that the sparkles are fast disappearing.

My first FO!

40.

I do hope to get a lot older, but 40 has a certain gravitas. I do feel that 40 year olds should have a certain amount of their shit together. Not all of it, of course, or you might as well give up, but 40 means goodbye to nightclubbing (at least the way *I* used to do it), and hello grown up and responsible.

So I am planning a party. A knitters house party. Mum and Dad have said I can have the house at Pearl Beach for the weekend of my birthday, so people can come and go all weekend, and hopefully some people will want to stay over, so we can all sit around and watch movies, drink wine, knit, and chat.

Sounds like a proper grown up part don’t you think?