the boy is a moth

So on my way home from Uni on monday i stopped in at Lincraft to get some hook and eye tape. you know what i found? Nil, nada, zip(s, hundreds of them). This is making me a very cranky spider indeed. I do not want to make the trek out to spotlight, only to discover they dont have it either. I don't want my Cambio to sit around until next spring. And thanks to the lovely commentor who suggested it might be ok with a nice clasp... we'll see. I still need to find the right thickness of velvet ribbon (lincraft had it in 'minutely thin' and 'ridiculously wide') because it really needs the reinforcement - those beads are heavy dude!

On sunday, while playing around with my new sock (which i think is going to be called peacock's tail) my Sherpa Monkey came and gave me a glum look. He is going away in a few weeks for a few weeks. it is his birthday 4 days after he leaves. he has thus far been completely useless at knowing what a suitable birthday gift might be. Until sunday.

"i think i'm only going to take handknit socks to Ireland"
"Mmmmm-hmmmmm?" Spidey foolishly places conversation on backburner while trying to invert a lace stitch.
" But i dont think i have enough pairs"
"Mmmmmm... wait. What??? you have.... 6 pairs! 8 if you count the ones you've shrunk/walked through"
"...... :(........."

So. I have cast on another pair of socks for my knitwear-shrinking, walks-holes-in-them, spoiled and hang-dog faced boyfriend. *sigh*
appriately the skein of my sock yarn he selected is another new colourway - "Indignant". Yes, you could say that.
So the peacock's tail socks are on hold (mostly because i'm using my favourite set of dpns on the indignant socks). I show them side by side to show they are similar yet not identical colourways... and so i can feel like i might finish the indignant ones fairly swiftly.

Oh and just when we thought we were out of the woods he went and caught my 'flu'. but as he's on the mend barely 12 hours later i am not overly sympathetic.

the slightly indignant
Ms Spider

PS not as cross as i sound, but a girl's got to keep him guessing... right?

had to share

yes i know, a rare occurance - the double-blog! Just catching up on Go Fug Yourself and fell apon this gem.
the dialogue is just so... on. no?

nighty-night

stupid cotton

Why does it take SO long to dry? what a pain.As you can see, Cambio is resting calmly (I use this towel for blocking a lot, dont i?). I, of course, am a little less calm. A word to the wise: if you are in the habit of spinning excess water out of handwashed knitwear in the washing machine... don't do it to Cambio if the beads you managed to find were a little brittle. It's not obvious... well to me it is but i'm the Queen of Obsessivia (and on the city council for Passiveaggressivia) and it's going to annoy me that i'm missing a few beads. i may be able to sew them on.. but i dont know if it will look neat enough to be worth it.
So, Cambio is drying. I finished it after a marathon of Medium (i want her family) and am a little antsy because before i can wear it i have to get some hook and eye tape and some velvet ribbon to reinforce the edges. I'm not about to wear it without those things - i know as well as anyone how temperamental cotton can be when you give it a chance to droooooooop. But i cant decide if i ought to sew those things on by hand or by machine. Advice would be appreciated!

While waiting for Cambio to dry, i pulled out some silky mohair. holy mother, this stuff is glossy! I'm going for a fingering weight 2-ply. are you surprised? it's just the weight i find easiest to knit with. anything bulkier and i really struggle to do anything with it.

And i responded to the siren song of some sock yarn i dyed a few weeks ago and then couldnt part with. it's a new colourway that i have yet to name. And its a new sock pattern i'm nutting out as well. so, i'll keep you all posted.

The flu is pretty much in retreat. i'm still snuffley and tire easily but i feel SO much better. Actually, it's kind of doing my head in - i feel great and then get exhausted halfway through doing the groceries! Thanks so much to all the well wishers. It's been a little weird having my parents out of the state while i'm so sick... monkey is a great nurse but sometimes you just need your daddy, you know what i mean?

Ok, off to glare at Cambio some more and knit my un-named and delicious sock yarn.

the cheerier
Ms Spider xo

my cranky-pants are giving me a wedgie

hello all. I'm just going to begin by apologising if i come across as a little cranky today. If i do, there is a reason... however poor:

I have flu.
AGAIN. Is it just me getting a whopping case of the "poor-old-Spideys" or have i been crook a lot lately? anyway, it's pissing me off big-time. Which means I am not sleeping properly, not working.. in fact i'm basically spending most of the day on my butt trying to drink enough fluids that my throat doesnt give out on me. so yeah. cranky.

It does, however, allow time for knitting.
Cambio is trailing along. here it is as i knit the second sleeve on dpns. I find cotton hurts my hands a little... and 200 odd stitches back and forth in Stocking stitch is maddening at the best of times. But i enjoy the product, sitting in my lap, the blue beads glowing in the sunlight. here it is, after both sleeves have been attached and the raglan shaping started.This cotton really is ridiculously soft and drapey. A dream. I cant wait to wear this baby.
there are a few (everyone who knows me just laughed out loud, didnt they?) WIPs lying around but i cant quite put my mind on them just now. In a few days i may show you what i am up to with this lovely hand-painted mohair my future MIL gave me..

I did a little spinning today after i got my balance mostly back (you know how when you're sinuses are stuffed up, and your ears are all blocked you start to wobble a tad?). I've been at this silk for some time. It was a whole lotta silk caps and i (rather foolishly) decided to spin it super fine. Great idea, right? wrong. I started this about... mmmmm.... 6 weeks ago? finished, finally... and i do love the product. and its easier to knit something out of 450 metres of laceweight than it is to knit something out of 100 metres of 4-ply... but it was a trial. I'm glad its over!I include my thumb nail for gauge.

The lovely persons who volunteered their services as test-knitters ( i have chosen two) will find an email of the pattern in their inbox soon... well, as soon as i am happy with the one i have written up. Thankyou for offering :) :)

Ok. Now i seriously need my beauty sleep.

The crook'n'cranky
Ms Spider

something witty

again, it has been too long. in my defense, i am working three days a week and its GOOOOOOOD but tiring.
Had a serious migraine over the weekend and i'm still recovering. its one of those things that doesnt really properly go away for ages.. it hovers and knocks you about when you can least afford it.
since i last posted, several things have happened.
My grandmother had her birthday and we had her over for dinner (luckily, being Hungarian, her favourite meal is sausages. easy!).
I had my interview with the DET. scary! i think it went well, wont find out how i went until october some time. erk.

there has been knitting.
finished the Travelling Vine Stole. today actually.
Have to write the pattern up nicely and then my part of the commission is done and i get some fibre baby!
My first honeybee sock is complete. (yes, i was too lazy to find a surface away from the computer. bite me). So cute, i love it. Again, this one needs the pattern written nicely. Monkey has set up adobe for me so i can sell pdf files of patterns from this blog... i may be needing a test knitter or two though. let me know if anyone is interesting.

Harry stayed over for a few nights and helped me deal with my migraine-related lack of motivation.
He's such a sweetie. (Monkey has finally worked out how to get the camera out without Harry hiding from it.) (And i decided it was ok to have that much of my butt on the internets because i was asleep and in trackies. )here he is again... on the wrong side of the front door, as usual.

Anyway, i'm off to bed. Work in the morning (W00T!)

The erratic
Ms Spider

swamped!

Bounjour mes amies!
it's been a while, eh? sorry about that.
Since we last spoke, i've cast on a few things (Deepest apologies to those of you with broadband...)
started designing a new sock, using the honeybee lace pattern (because that's what my monkey calls me sometimes...)I am enjoying them, but these are a 'when i feel like it' knit. I'm not going to kill myself to finish them because i find the honeybees a little slow-going... you have to keep casting on more stitches every 6 rows. it is VERY pretty though!
finished my keyhole top. I'm not about to wear it for you because i need to develop a waist or a better self image - whichever comes first. but it's a nice pattern, if a bit of a pain to pick up all those waistband stitches and get the pattern stitches to line up in the middle.I found knitting with the 8ply bendigo cotton so pleasant that i bought some more and cast on for Cambio (finally! I've had the beads for 2 years!). It really does have lovely drape, i recommend it to anyone. its not a shiny cotton, its soft, drapey and seems to wear well. Quite sensual to touch when its knit up.
I dont know if i mentioned it, but i offered to knit some lace for Helen Rippen of Waratah Fibres (my favouritist fibre-dyer there is!). the yarn she wanted knit up arrived on monday and i've been designing a stole in traveling vine lace.It feels like it is growing slowly, but i think its just because i'm used to knitting top-down shawls and they grow very swiftly to start with. It's lovely yarn, very subtle colours and i'm happy with how the pattern is working out. I'll probably make the pattern available through her at a later date (but i'm sure interested parties can tease it out of me ;p its not a hard one). The best thing about this? I get someone to gush over my lace knitting (even though it's nothing special) AND i get paid my comission in fibre!!! you cant tell me you wouldnt jump at that!

And do not let it be said that lovely housemate Vic is resting on her laurels. This is her first sock, in a large man's size no less (tis now completed, contrast toe and all and she's on the second one) and this is her second project ever! She also cast on for a Debbie Bliss girls cardi this week, in some Bendigo 5ply we dyed together. She's one to watch, this girl! I think maybe is was the fumes my stash was putting out!

and on the work-force front - i'm teaching! i did three days relief this week and i have my department interview next tuesday. EEeeeep!! It's extremely nice to be back at Lyneham.. i know the kids and they LIKE me. I havent had any behaviour problems in three days (well nothing that made me uncomfortable). its a lovely school with wonderful staff and gorgeous kids. I caught the bus home two days and not one kid gave me crap about it. OOh and i had fun at the end of a yr 7 english class - i swiped a joke from the simpsons and stuck a post-it that read 'TEACH ME' on the back of one of the cheekier boys. It was a class i had last semester for SOSE, so i knew i could get away with it. I love teaching, i love being around the kids and seeing them emerge into the world. And i have to say, despite what anyone says, kids are more tolerant than they used to be. They speak their mind, they swear right through classes and are surprised if you complain, they joke and bounce around, lie on the floor and through soccer balls (in class) but if someone says (to just about anyone!!) "Err what are you, a fag?" 90% will turn around, give that withering glare that teenagers manage so effortlessly and say "what kind of insult is that? grow up."
I know this probably sounds like i'm full of myself but i am really enjoying what i'm doing at the moment. i dont think you have to be a hard-arse to teach. i really dont. and honestly, who has the energy to yell about stuff that is, really, quite petty. like wearing hats in class. It never occurs to me, and particularly when its cold i dont see the problem. and it may come back to bite me, but i think the respect i get from my students from treating them like rational human beings who are capable of making decisions for themselves serves me much better than screaming at them like a banshee and threatening them with detentions i dont want to give. i'm just not that girl, and when it comes down to it they can tell.

Ok, i'll sign off (who's kidding, everyone stopped reading after the pics)
I've been gardening, dyeing and spinning too, so i might have some more pics over the weekend.

Peace out and happy friday to you all!
The finally paid educator
Ms Spider