Category: Knitting

I know I referred to your lovely Noro jumper as the Vajumper, and developed Tourettes whenever I saw it (SPADGE! SPAM PURSE! AXE WOUND! MINGE!). But then I saw this, which is really a much better example.

I’ll call it the Vulva Vest.

Another cute habit the husband has, is to empty the mailbox, and then hide the mail.  He rarely does this with boring mail, just the good stuff.  Hence my reluctance to email Interweave Knits to complain that my latest issue hasn’t turned up, because it might have just been hidden by the mister.

Like he did on Valentines day.  Probably because he was suspicious that I was getting a lumpy valentines day card that wasn’t from him.  It was from the lovely Ailsa, and it contained the best stitch markers ever.  They have built in irony™ too. While you visit her blog, please note the lovely finished and almost finished objects.  This woman has it.

And this is a magazine I ordered on the intertron about three years ago.  It may not have been quite that long, but it was a looong time.  I remember still being housebound at the time, and I’ve been up and about for more than a year now.

Apologies for the crappy pictures, taken using the built in camera on the lappy, because I have to race off to a Mardi Gras exhibition opening dahlink.

Would be a lot more bearable if they didn’t have that bloody ad for ABC Learning Centers. It has cute children, good cinematography, and inoffensive music. But the voiceover woman would be a whole lot more convincing about the “Learning for Life” thing if she said literacy instead of lideracy. Bah.

I went to the doctor. I have a cold. I might be better tomorrow, or I might be worse. Drink plenty of fluids, rest, and take zinc and vitamin C. And rest. Did I mention rest? Again with the bloody rest.

Oh, and I have officially got the family curse. My mum has them, and my brother, and I was hoping I’d be immune – and I was for my first 36 years, but no more. The bite that Custard gave me before we went to Vietnam has healed strangely, and is kind of sore and dark and itchy. As an aside, while I was getting poked (with a stethoscope, don’t be dirty) by the doc, I thought I would ask him to take a quick look.

It’s definitely an abnormal growth. Let’s just hope that it has stopped growing, because the little buggers can be like tumours, and keep growing for years.

But I cast on for the second sleeve, and got some good knitting done today. I hope to finish the sleeve and get it attached tonight, at least that will give me a good feeling about my achievements for today.

And to Mark, of course.  I have mathsphobia.  I know it’s stupid.  I can actually count.  I can multiply, and I can subtract.  On some occasions, I can also divide without a calculator.  I can work out correct change without a cash register, and have been known to split a restaurant bill, including tip.  But ask me to change a pattern that includes increases or decreases, and I turn into a big girls blouse (not that there is anything wrong with a blouse, but it just isn’t me).

So Mark helped me.  I may have been less than gracious, and a bit difficult to deal with.  I was in pain, and I have this sore throat thing which makes it a bit hard to talk, and I wasn’t very able to explain what I needed, and what the limitations were.  I think we ended up with a workable pattern, but then I took it to Rubi + Lana’s and stuffed it up.

Sally checked our calculations, and looked at my knitting, and looked at my neatly marked up pattern notes, and helped me to determine that while I had my rows checked off as if I had done them correctly, it wasn’t possible that I had done them correctly after looking at my knitting.  I contemplated crying, but that would be embarrassing.  Sally makes up her own garments as she knits.  There were other very competent and wonderful knitters there.  Pamela was there.

Pamela made this.  There are much better pictures, and a thorough explanation of why it wouldn’t do to cry in front of Pamela here.

Meg suggested that I do it like an all in one garment – ie, in the same manner that I had started.  She explained the basic concept, we agreed that the decreases should be a little less frequent, for a not so steep angle, and I was on my way.  After far too many knits and rips…

Saturday, I finally got some washing on the line (thanks Mark!), saturday night, the heavens opened, and we finally have some water going into the dams.  Hooray!  I should wash more often.

Today, it was Courthouse day, and though I feel a little guilty for using a little emotional blackmail to get the crowds out today, it was wonderful to see so many people, and I thoroughly enjoyed my last Sn’B as an unemployed person.

Tomorrow, employment.