rollin' with my homies

One ventured out into the cold this evening to Stitch n Bitch with Taph. It is cold today! The heaters in Starbucks are still on the blink and there's only so nimbly one can knit with fourteen and a half layers of clothing on.
We did have an excellent turn-out however.Having finished my lorna's laces socks, i have started on an original pattern that i am designing as a freebie for people who attend my heels and toes of socks workshop. Here is a sneak preview - I'm calling them 'Turtle Walk' as the lace pattern looks like turtle tracks in the sand. The yarn is my own hand-dyed sock yarn in Kelp Forest Variegated. It's an easier sock pattern than it appears, i can tell you :)

Here is how i spent the chilly day - spinning. After much discussion i am still at a loss as to what to name it. It looks tweedy but it isnt a tweed at all. It is very berry-esque but that's been done to death. I would call it damson wine but my rogue hoodie is in damson (rustic 12ply). Any thoughts fallen apon with cries of joy. It's 100g and about 300 metres, roughly equivilant to a 4ply, about 15 wpi. I know that most normal people are working at the moment and seeing the evidence of my vacationism must be frustrating... but i really did need a holiday, honest! and uni's back on the 16th so i'm enjoying it while i can :)

Well i have a lovely bottle of Petit Verdot open and i'm off to keep at this sock.

Peace out
Ms Spider xo

PS dont you all forget the creative fibre day this sunday at bus depot markets! YUM!

I'm really not the world's best blogger am I?

Ok so what has happened since we last spoke? lots!

On thursday night we had the harlot happening in manuka and it was FABULOUS! there were knitters everywhere, fun puzzles, free starbucks samples (Sherpa is such a sweetie) and a plethora of prizes ^_^ i in fact took out the first lucky door prize of the night! this beautiful roving from ewe give me the knits. It really wants to be reinvented as sock yarn but we will see. I'm thinking a fine two ply anyway... maybe gloves? i really dont want to walk through this gorgeous fibre :)

There are lots more pics over with Bells who did live blogging during the event. If you scroll down a bit you might see a seriously spaced out looking girl (i really didnt want to look at the camera, that's what that face is about) wearing her newly completed green sweater! I'm very happy with it, the wool is great - very soft and really makes the pattern pop.

what else? well on sunday i started a pair of socks for Sherpa. He LOVES them (the finished one has been worn already). it's a reticulation pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks (again) and I'm using jade green patonyle and deep green striping four seasons hot socks. Its a interesting technique and i definitely recommend it to you if you have gotten over the plain stocking stitch self-striping sock yarn thing. this way you get to do something more interesting, practice your stranding and you look like you're way smarter than you really are (or way less lazy, whatever).

Funny thing that happened this week:

Told my boss' 8yo son i had to vote today
aemon: dont vote for (insert some random country MP here).
me: why not?
aemon: he's evil
me: who told you that?
aemon: ads.

do you think the political ads are maybe hitting the wrong demographic?

oh and my leg is really hurting at the moment. i was pretty much limping again today and it was so much better for a while there. have to wear loose clothing for a while longer i guess.
oh and Harry is visiting for the weekend. He is not a poser, clearly the camera is going to bite him.

off the top of my head i cant think of anything else...

The vague
Ms Spider

PS. Mum loved her birthday socks and Nana Sherpa loved her anti-carcinagenic socks. all is right in the sock-dom.

blatherings

So life goes on. The stitches are driving me spare and i may hurt someone if i dont get them removed like promised on wednesday. i suppose i will go back to work this week. if i don't then food may become a bit of a problem, not to mention stress management through retail therapy!

i have no knitting pics but have finished the two body pieces of my green sweater and am onto the sleeves. i'm knitting them at the same time so hopefully by next week i'll have a new sweater! huzzah!
oh and i bought some lovely regia cotton/wool blend sock yarn on ebay the other day and it arrived today along with Folk Socks by the divine Nancy Bush. this book is great! so much well-presented and interesting history and then a nice chunk of decent patterns with a good blend of useful, attractive socks with varying levels of skill required. i reckon if you made every pair of socks in this book you'd have the whole thing covered.
so that helped brighten an otherwise hideous uni day ;)

for your viewing pleasure i include a few pics from my garden.
this is a random plant in my dahlia patch... it produces apricot and white flowers.. and as you can see sometimes a mix of the two! never let it be said that my home does not embrace difference!
also, what with all the rain, we've had a host of mushrooms spring up! (no, i don't own a lawn mower) i've never seen them around here before, they were always part of the 'on the farm' chapter of my life.. i'm quite charmed by them in my own backyard, i must admit. must be all the rain we've been having plus the humidity.

oh and my bandage rolled off during the night so sherpa took a quick shot of my stitches before putting a new one on. i wont put it up here as i feel its a bit.. icky. Not overly graphic or anything but thought i'd rather give you ladies a choice in the matter. so i'll pop it on Flickr (link here) for those of a curious disposition. there are only 8 stitches visible, but there were 2 internal ones as well. i'm walking normally again, though it does ache mostly and twinge painfully from time to time, and it's clearly healing well. i wasnt prepared for how much energy healing takes up, i've been sleeping 10 hour nights and then nodding off during the day. i'm like a sleepy zombie i tells you!

Oh and come to our Yarn Harlot night - details here! i will be donating some sock yarn as a lucky door prize and there will be lots of other goodies up for grabs. it will be a dashed great night for all! Newbies be not afraid! Let us unite in an evening of joy and yarn and show the world that we are worth staying on the good side of. I have spoken to Sherpa and they will open late for us too so it needn't be a rushed event :) knit and the world gives you beverages!

onward and upward
Ms Spider

the Young ones

On saturday Taph, Sharon and I went on a leeetle road trip to Young. Young is a little place with a lot of cherries and a brilliant yarn store (The Wool Room). The ladies and I partook of it's delights with no hesitation at all. The demise of our credit rating is documented below (I'm not strip-teasing to pay my way, Taph just took an ill-timed photo :p)

The lovely owner Kate is everything you could want in a yarn store owner - friendly, helpful, interested. When i met her last year i can honestly say she was my first yarn store experience which did not leave me humiliated and cranky - i may be 21 but this does not mean i can only knit garter stitch on huge needles. It is refreshing to be served by someone who appreciates that i know what i want and am willing to pay money for it and that treating me like an imbecile is not good business sense. for the LYS owners in Canberra - get it into your heads! WE WILL GIVE YOU MONEY.

next, somewhat poorer, we made our way to JD's Jam Factory for the Young version of SnB. (here with proof of purchases !) Sharon's mother started the group up when she realised how much fun Sharon was having and these ladies are a scream! i have completely forgotten most names and in the interests of fairness i think i will add them only when i know all of them. And please! this is not because they were not a memorable bunch of ladies! I'm just apalling at remembering names (and i had a bit of a headeache which made it harder to concentrate).
a few more (just to prove we were all there ;)

On the way home we bought cherries at an orchard (i got some cherry port too, yeehaaaaaa!) and stopped in Harden at Which Craft for devonshire tea and plotted drum-carder theft (i ask you, what good is it to have one ON DISPLAY but out of normal line of vision??? i NEED one, and that's just cruel!)

and on monday i finished my pembrokeshire pathways socks. (out of context? its the memory issue, im telling you!)

and its bloody hot and my poor zucchinis keep wilting :(

the heat-stricken, poor and cherry-bloated
Ms Spider xo