Disco Knitter

Yesterday, Bev & Ted took Inigo to a Climate Change protest, while Emily and I had knitty adventures involving much sangria, Kris, and a few notable cameos.

Inigo wore his first ever shoes.

Picture courtesy of Grandma.

More protest pictures to come when Grandpa gets around to it.

I’ve been doing a bit of crochet with some odds and ends from my stash – odd balls that are never going to make it in to a special project. But I’ve been fantasizing about a Babette blanket, or at least a blankie that I can make gradually, a couch project that I can pick up and put down without worry about pattern, gauge, attention span, sleep deprivation induced dementia…

And today I came across this tutorial, which shows how to make a hexagon fabric, and join new pieces as you crochet. Gorgeous, and with minimal finishing? Sold!

Now I just have to squeeze some yarn money out of our very tight budget.

Oh, and I think I might have slipped up, and offered to knit my dad a jumper like that guy on Time Team.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name? Lara

2. What is your favorite food? Tetsuyas

3. What high school did you go to? Australian International Independent School

4. What is your favorite color? Pink and Orange

5. Who is your celebrity crush? Oprah

6. Favorite drink? Gimlet

7. Dream vacation? Whale Island, Nha Trang, Vietnam

8. Favorite dessert? Caramel Dumplings

9. What you want to be when you grow up? Peaceful

10. What do you love most in life? Family

11. One Word to describe you? Fun

12. Your flickr name? discoknitter

1. New Canon EOS 30D – First shots  …thank U Lara!, 2. Tetsuyas – Petit Fours, 3. Designer CONTACT +491789803472 – Phone Germany  Cultural Jamming Interface Design, 4. ready for the party……???, 5. Mr. Winfrey, 6. You Lookin at My Gimlet?, 7. Whale Island, 8. Dumpling au caramel.jpg, 9. Meeting the pregnant princess of the forest, 10. Prayer, 11. breathless, 12. Baby Jacket for Inigo

I’ve seen Cat Bordhi‘s new book. New Pathways for Sock Knitters has taken the sock knitting world by storm – but since I no longer knit socks, I flicked through it without really paying attention.

Today I had the DIY Network on while I was expressing, and Cat was on Knitty Gritty, demonstrating the Coriolis Sock.  So I did a quick search, and found the pattern here.  I might even have a go at these, as they are knitted with a double strand of sock yarn, on much larger needles than normal socks.

A test shoot for a calendar competition I am considering entering.  Not happy with any of the shots, but this one shows the singlet beautifully.  Thanks Bex!

For the last three weeks, Inigo’s weight gains have been only 40-60grams.  It’s on the low side of normal for his age, but it takes him further away from the 50th percentile – that he had been sneaking closer and closer to.

Today, he weighed 8.80kg, up 250gm from last week (8.55kg).  That is a pretty massive gain from last week, and fantastic in the light of the past three weeks mediocre gains.

This number takes him closer to the magic 50th – of course in real terms it means nothing, but the number is significant to the paed, as it ‘s in line with his length.  And, of course, it means that I can stop worrying that the minimal gains of the past weeks mean that I have to worry about another infection.

My neck feels bruised after a visit to the chiro on tuesday, but my range of movement is much improved.  And Inigo had his first unsupervised play date with Charlie, a kid from our playgroup.  Charlie’s mum, Liz is great, I liked her as soon as I met her, and she volunteered to take Inigo while I was a the chiro.  He also stayed at Adam & Sarah’s for a few hours last Friday while I took Josephine and Owen to the hospital. 

My Mr Greenjeans is coming along – after a false start and a trip to the frog pond.  I’m now past the armholes and heading for the ribbing, which starts just under the boobs.  I might be knitting for some time!

I finally finished the Melon Scarf (from “Victorian Lace Today”), the night of Kerry’s going away party (August 2nd, 2008).  I think this project took a year from start to finish, and was even lost for a few months.  I had intended it to be given to Kerry for her birthday in December 2007, and then for her last speech, but it was finally ready a couple of days before she went to Timor.

I’m really happy with the final result, but the border really kicked my butt.  The scarf itself was a pleasure to knit, but this was my first attempt at a knitted on border, and I really wasn’t prepared for it to take longer to knit than the body!

The yarn is OnLine – a Croatian Tree Wool (cotton) and Viscose blend.  It has a gorgeous lustre, a fabulous drape, and the colour is rich and splendid, but it was splitty, slippery, and a bitch to join one ball to the next.  The whole thing will probably degrade into a pile of knots the first time it is washed or comes across a harsh breeze, but I have come to terms with that and am glad to have the thing out of my life.

The invisible omnipotent being only knows how many balls of yarn I used on the project, what needles, and all that other juicy knitting blog content that you get on real knitting blogs.  All I know now is that it is done…

…and I rock!

Note: I apologise for the dodgy background. Photographs were taken in the bathroom, due to it having the best lighting in the house at 8pm, as we were due at the party at 7pm.  The scarf was not blocked, and probably still smells of stale beer from a pub knitting accident.

Note Also that the model for this shot is the ubiquitous bathroom bottle of Passion Pop.  But that is another story.

As a celebrant, I have an obligation to do ongoing professional development every year, and today is the day. I arrived at the venue early, after dropping the boy at Bev & Ted’s (they were there, I didn’t leave him in an empty house!), and tried to find a park.

I thought I would find a park behind Glebe library, and went up a narrow laneway towards it, only to find that the entrance was at the other end of the carpark. Reversing, I encountered an unexpected telephone pole.

The car bumper is scratched (but it was already scratched), and I have whiplash. But at least Inigo wasn’t in the car!

A few weeks ago, I dragged the boy out in the cold so that we could knit for charity at the ABC studios in Ultimo.

Here‘s a link to the ABC site with pictures.  And there is a pic of Inigo and I here.  Which I found out about today, Lyndal from R+L told me!

Inigo inspects the specifications before embarking on the project.

Bex and Miss Fe workshop the finer details

Excitement reaches fever pitch

Cecilia is voted “Girl Most Likely”

It was early – it really was that blurry!

And then Miss Fe took us down to the dungeon where she works

Bex meets Big Ted

Cecilia meets Little Ted

Emily is concerned that Aussie Humpty is a poor copy of the English original

Big Ted thrills yet another generation (I think he was around when I was a little tacker!)

Inigo tells Henny Penny about her cousins in the wilds of Granville

Interview with the Nerdy Husband:

Lara: What is your favourite thing about my knitting?

Nerd: It makes you happy.

Lara: What is your least favourite thing about my knitting?

Nerd: Sometimes it takes you away from me.

Lara: What is something I have knitted, that you recall as good?

Nerd: The shawl that you knitted for my mother (Swallowtail).

Lara: Do you think knitters have an expensive hobby?

Nerd: Not excessively, no. There are plenty of more expensive hobbies.

Lara: You don’t spend much money on gaming, do you?

Nerd: Not since I cancelled my WoW subscription.

Lara: Do you have a gaming stash?

Nerd: Yes, a shelf full of gaming books.

Lara: Have I ever embarrassed you, knitting in public.

Nerd: No.

Lara: Do you know my favourite kind of yarn?

Nerd: No, it changes.

Lara: Can you name another blog?

Nerd: Yes I can. Web Goddess, Subversive Lesbian Knitter. Several.

Lara: Now, do you mind my wanting to stop at knit shops wherever we go?

Nerd: Mmmm. No.

Lara: Do you understand the importance of a swatch?

Nerd: (Laughs) Yes. From bitter experience. (He knits, but isn’t big on swatches, or patterns for that matter)

Lara: Do you read DiscoKnitter?

Nerd: Yes. What a silly question.

Lara: Have you ever left a comment?

Nerd: Yes. (in fact, he can comment without being moderated – it feels a bit intimate really!)

Lara: Do you the house would be cleaner if I didn’t knit?

Nerd: Only that there wouldn’t be a huge pile of yarn in the study, but you’d probably just collect something else!

Lara: Thank you for this insightful interview. Would you like to add anything in closure?

Nerd: Knitting is fun. Sometimes.

——————

Idea stolen from several places – but I think IrishEyes was first!

Amethysts are a quite attractive colour. Pines are not grey. Scarlet is bright and vivid red. Electricity has no colour, but the name usually describes colours of a startling and clear intensity.

Crystal also has no colour. And if it did, it wouldn’t look like cat vomit.

Sugar Plums don’t look like diseased apricots.

You might just be on the money with “Blue Haze”. But I don’t really know, it’s been a long time since I’ve been in one…

A knitted lampshade.

Scroll down past the reasonable use for an appalling craft for the knitting.

I’ve been designing (in my head) a follow up to the Myrtle Scarf – but not doing much knitting. Knitting has consisted of more booties, one pair from the gorgeous watermelon yarn that Bex dyed for me ages ago, and an orange pair now on the needles to “match” his purple corduroy pants that I made.

Here are a few pics I took of Myrtle before she went to her forever home, hopefully illustrating the beautiful sheen and stitch definition of the yarn, and the lovely drape of the finished scarf. Unfortunately the photography is nothing special – I was literally running out the door as soon as I took the blocking pins out.

And here is a picture of the sprog in his February Baby Sweater by Bex.

On a desperate mission to get a scarf finished by thursday, so any spare moment I have while the child is asleep has been spent knitting.

Lynne, our community health nurse is retiring this week. She has been an amazing support, and will be sorely missed. She was instrumental in getting us to see Dr McVeagh, and ultimately getting answers. I had always intended to knit her something special, but I never expected to have such a short deadline. I am on the last of three balls, but I am seriously worried about my chances of getting the knitting finished, and getting it blocked and dried by thursday morning. Project details here for those of you on ravelry.

Last thursday Inigo was 7.13kg – above the 3rd percentile for weight – finally! He’s hovering around the 50th percentile for length, but his head circumference is above the 97th percentile. He is on track to follow his father into the special hat shop for cranial gigantism.

On friday night he tried “solids” for the first time. There are funnier photos, but the kid will have friends that know how to use the internet one day, so I’d better keep them private for now.

There has been some knitting. Nothing complicated, nothing interesting, but I wanted to prove that I do still knit. A little.

Here is Oscar in his pram blankie and beanie set, knitted years ago when I was off work recovering from my collapsed disk. It is knitted in Bendigo Harmony which, sadly, looks like it has been discontinued. I love this stuff, a wool cotton blend with a little lycra, it is lovely and soft to knit with, sproingy, and great against the skin. It always had a pathetic colour range, but it’s been shrinking for the last couple of years, and now seems to be disappearing all together.

And here we have Ella, Inigo’s cousin wearing her new winter hat. It’s based on the Umbilical Cord Hat from Stitch ‘n Bitch, but made a little larger to fit for a little longer. The yarn is bamboo cotton from Spotlight – exactly one ball with about 30cm to spare!

And soon here is Inigo in his new bootees. Cecelia made three pairs of “Christine’s Baby Booties” for Inigo, which have been fantastic. They are the only footwear that reliably stay on his feet, but he is growing out of them, so the time came to make some in a larger size.

The yarn is Stella, 100% bamboo, and has a lovely sheen and drape. I’ve held it double and knit on 4mm needles to make a larger bootie using the same pattern (it calls for a “fingering weight” yarn).

Tresillian will be calling me tomorrow for an admission interview. Apparently they expect me to tell them what I expect to get out of the Tresillian experience. Give me strength.

Yesterday I went to the Inner West mothers group that Miriam goes to. Needed to get out of the house to preserve sanity and escape rising hysteria. Being around so many healthy, normal babies was really hard, and I nearly cracked when one mother said to me, “I’d be really worried if that was my baby”. Apparently it isn’t obvious to the casual observer that I am consumed with fear, bleeding terror from every pore, and only barely managing to breathe through each new day that brings no news.

But on a lighter note…

Yesterday the child exploded. There was such a tidal wave of poo that it gushed out of the nappy, down the trousers, and welled into the top of the new booties. So I gave up on the modern cloth nappies for now, his thighs are too thin to plug the leg holes in the nappies. So it’s cloth terry at home, and huggies newborn for outings. Unless I want to buy a whole lot of newborn sized modern cloth nappies, this will have to do. I do feel like a bit of a failure, but right now I have other battles to fight.

Well, the baby isn’t quite finished….

But more of that later.

…that it’s about time I stopped being so lame, and learn how to crochet properly. I like crochet, not so much for garments, but for accessories, and for edging knitted pieces, but my crochet skills are pretty poor.

And this morning, I got “Crochet Blocks in a Box” by Luise Roberts. I had entered a Yarn Magazine competition ages ago, and apparently I won!

Thanks Yarn – looking forward to the next issue, and continuing a beautiful friendship.

Most of us give to charity now and then, Mark and I make a donation every year at Christmas instead of buying gifts for his family. We try to make it different every year, and last year for the first time we chose a human instead of an animal charity – we chose to send money to the orphanage we visited in Vietnam.

Today I came across the story of Macho, a baby alpaca who was the last of his flock to survive after they were abandoned to starve. Macho has been rescued by Edgar’s Mission, and is looking for sponsors to contribute to his care.

Inigo in his hand knitted organic merino soaker for the first time – kit from Eco Yarns

I took the squirt to see our community health nurse on thursday morning, as I wanted to ask her if she thought his issues were normal and nothing to worry about, or if it was worth pursuing further doctoring. My confidence was rocked rather badly by the Tresillian paediatrician, so I wanted to be sure I was on the right track before going off half cocked. She thinks it’s worth pursuing – screaming in pain an hour after a feed isn’t normal apparently. So we’re getting back on that horse, and I’m not getting off until we get an answer.

Alex sports a new hairstyle after a bath

I then went in to visit Alex, Adam and Sarah, and Sarah gave the boy a manicure and pedicure. Little fingers and toes have very little nails, and I still can’t bring myself to cut them. I tried once, it took me an hour to convince myself that I could do it, and then 15 minutes to cut one nail. I have a phobia about finger and toenails (I once put a staple through my thumbnail, and had to have someone else change the dressing until it had completely healed), and I come out in a cold sweat at the thought of having to trim his nails. As it is, I have to keep his hands in socks when his nails get too long, until I can get him over to see his Aunty for a manicure.

The view of the city from Balls Head at twilight

I picked up Mark from work, and we took the boy to Balls Head Reserve for a picnic. Since it was the day before payday, we had about $11 between us, which bought some chips and BBQ sauce, and a bottle of very cheap plonk, which we drank out of the bottle.

We were almost molested by a wild possum, who only left us alone after we convinced him that all the food was gone, and he went off to pester someone with food. One of the other picnickers was startled by a wet possum nose pressing against her leg as she was absorbed in conversation.

A fuzzy view of my Valentines Day. A gorgeous view, a beautiful husband, and a superb baby.

Ted, Inigo & Bev – his first “portrait” with grandparents

And Ted is fine.

Mark’s dad had to have surgery for a blood clot, which he was told was very dangerous. We were all very worried, and news that he was OK was a huge relief for all of us, especially Mark. We’ve all heard the stories about scary in-laws, controlling, manipulative, and downright mean, so it’s taken me a few years to get my head around the fact that Mark’s parents are exactly as kind, thoughtful, generous and caring as they seem. It’s a little bit strange to me that people can be that nice and not have a hidden agenda, but they are. Better parents in law you could not hope for.

Oh, and I finished knitting the socks. Now I just have to graft the toe and weave in some ends, and it’s safe for dad to have another birthday.

Inigo, a study in green

I STILL haven’t finished dad’s 2007 birthday socks, and that is still top of the queue. But I am at the toe of the second sock, so I could finish them in an hour if I just had an hour to sit down and do it. I have an hour now, but I am blogging about it instead of doing it.

But I need to finish it, so that Dad can have his richly deserved socks, and so that I can move on to my next project – a cotton or bamboo cardi for ME.

I’m having an odd morning, and since I don’t really want to phone a friend and unload on them, I’ll do it here, and provide an opt out (if you don’t want to know, don’t read – simple).

The boy was really sick last night. Spewing heaps, full of mucous, and SCREAMING like he was being tortured. We were on the verge of putting him in the car and racing off to the hospital (apparently they have a new emergency Paediatrician!), when he calmed down and fell into a deep sleep. He’s vomited a lot, that’s not really new, but since he’s been on the Zantac, he’s been a lot less spewy, and a lot happier too.

Yesterday he was particularly unsettled, and obviously in pain for a lot of the day, but when he turned into Linda Blair it freaked us both out. Just as I turned to Mark and asked him what he thought about going to emergency, Inigo fell into a deep sleep. He slept from 11pm to 5.30am, and seems pretty good this morning. But of course, I’m still stressed!

Daisy (the long suffering feline) has been leaving odd wet patched where he has been sleeping, and I think he needs to go to the V.E.T. (we don’t say the word out loud).

And there’s other stuff too, which I won’t go into here because I don’t want to dwell on it, but suffice it to say that I’m feeling a little wobbly today. So the boy and I are off to visit Miriam and Oscar, and I’ll try to maintain my grip.

Feets by Inigo, Socks by Ailsa