if you blinked you'd miss it

Ok, so I just happened to glance at the calender today... and it's over a month since i posted. I suppose the upshot of being completely hopeless is that nobody relies on you too much. But that is a pretty sad upshot really.

Anyway, I turned 24 without incident. i can't see any proper wrinkles yet, but it could be denial on my part.

I was fitted for and ordered my wedding dress, and we found the bridesmaid's frocks.

I had a bad bout of laryngitis which knocked me out for over a week. Much better now though.

I've also been on a healthy-eating and exercise bent and have managed to lose about 3 kg. I know it's cliched, but I'm trying to trim down for the wedding. I feel like I've been trying to lose weight for ages, but now that i actually am trying I realise that before I was only whining about my weight gain but not making any real effort. My health has only really improved enough for a concerted effort recently. I know I'm not huge, but my body doesnt feel like my body anymore and i figure the longer I leave this spare tire the harder it will be to budge.
I feel better for it. I don't know if it's obvious to anyone else, but to me i appear more toned. and my clothes are just that teensiest bit looser. not baggy, but more comfortable. So i intend to keep it up; at least with the Celiac's I can't eat much in the way of cakes, doughnuts, biscuits etc. it's easier to be good when the consequences of eating naughty food is three days on the loo!

I have been knitting.
Chunky Cabled Tam from Knit.1 Fall 2009
Bella's Mittens by Marielle Henault
Front pieces of Soap Bubble Wrap from Connie Chang Chinchio Silly Apple Cozy by Casey Newman (my fruit always gets squished when i run for the bus in the morning - this is remarkably effective!)

And yet another BSJ, for a friend of a friend who just had a little red-headed boy.

I have been weaving.
Using Bendigo Rustic 12ply in Pacifica, a birthday gift for my future Mother-in-Law.
And I have been teaching. this is the 6th week of term and all is well. I have some lovely classes and delightful kids.

And as a result of all of the above I am completely exhausted. And it's nearly 10pm which is well and truly my bedtime!

I'll try to be better from now on!

Peace out,
Ms Spider xo

it's like rain

Some friends of ours are getting hitched today, which is kind of exciting. We haven't seen them in forever and i think this is going to be the first wedding I've been to where someone my own age is getting hitched.
Unfortunately, my energy levels are still in the crapper, so instead of being thrilled that I'm going to see them and that the day they've waited for is finally here... I'm sitting here like an angry little toad thinking "I have nothing to wear" and "there goes my Sunday". And I have SO MUCH marking to do and I'll get through about 4 books and then my brain freezes.
I washed up this morning... and then I had to have a nap! Honestly, it's embarrassing.

Anyway, what can I tell you about this week?
One of my students 'finished' (with help) her first project - a jumper of 'her' own design. I am so proud of her :) ! I made the front piece with the intarsia (I'm not that cruel) and i still have to sew on the duplicate stitch smiley face. (Yes, she is TINY).
I am reminded that when I was ten I wrote a list of things I wanted to do before I died and knitting a jumper/sweater was one of those things.

I also have a student who is nicking off for 2 years and is in my SOSE class. This chap has been wistfully mentioning how awesome a beanie that looks like a helmet would be... and I am obviously a total sucker (Hey, at least it's a going away gift, not a 'hi I am your servant' type thing). This is the Dwarven Battle Bonnet by Sally Pointer, first hair option. It's pretty close to being finished, but before the wedding I need the gentle therapy of lace.

This is lace shrug I am knitting for Taph. The pattern is... (desperate scrabble with desk) Diamond Lace Shrug by Gitta Schrade from Yarn Magazine Issue 3. I am using 2ply Cashmere Cave cashmere in black. It is lovely yarn, and I am enjoying making this but it's slow going because the increases aren't charted, so I do have to concentrate. I usually find lace with a complex chart relatively mindless because it's just a case of 'move the post-it' most of the time. It's not a massive pain but it is irritating.

My Sayuri continues to grow but is not yet worth a new photo.

Also, i should point out that a change is as good as a holiday (Excuse lack of make-up and general dagginess). Monkey approves. (For those who are now staring trying to work out what has changed, I died my hair Dark Copper Golden Blond. Really needed a change. Apparently red hair makes blue eyes very blue and scary. BOO!)

Still spinning the laceweight merino/silk. nearly halfway.

Also, I took my camera with me on the way to work because EVERY morning I see something that makes me giggle like a loon and I needed to share. Apologies to anyone I offend... I didn't do anything to stage this, it just grew this way (and if you don't know why I am giggling then you are a far far better person than I)Lawn Fail.

Ok, better go wrestle with the clothes I am slightly too curvy for now... sigh.

Peace out,
Ms Spider xo

progress ain't always linear

Why hello! Thanks for stopping by.
There has been movement (besides the whole down-hill slide thing). Monkey has his sights set on a new job. I won't jinx it but it's truly perfect for his geekiness.
I went another whole week without killing or maiming anyone.
My grandmother turned 80. She's so gorgeous.
I bought a spinning wheel from Mandie (She my Ashford pimp, yo).
It's not as frivolous as it sounds. It had been the plan for quite a while. My little traveller, Charlotte (which came to me via the inimitable Taph), was a TAFE cast-off, and while perfectly functional she is a little rickety. There are odd screws that untwist and... well. She's had a good run and she's not going to miss out on use. But...
Thing is, I missed Horace. I loved my traditional, I really did. The classic shape, the size of the wheel. The overall sturdiness that doesn't make me worry when I get a good speed going that I might knock it over.
So when my tax return came through this year i did my research. I knew I wanted a traditional but I wanted a little more versatility. So I invested in a Lace flyer unit and a Jumbo flyer unit as well. And I can yet again direct you with confidence to Mandie should you have questions about any of the ashford range - the lady is a champ.
Yesterday I assembled the new wheel. I probably should have sanded and oiled it then and there but the temptation was too great to give her a spin so I whipped up one of my squirrel EGMTK fibre club packages. Retro-Specto merino/soy 120g, roughly aran 2-ply, 210 metres.
This baby runs like a DREAM. *drool*

This morning I sanded and oiled and assembled the two separate flyer units. Then we went to my grandmother birthday lunch and got kissed and made small talk and tried to ignore the fact that my cousins seem to think 'mid winter sunday lunch with gran' is a good event to wear a mini-skirt to. blech. teenage girls. *

This afternoon I attached the lace flyer and started on the latest offering from EGMTK fibre club - merino/silk Octopus' Garden' (click the pic to truly appreciate the insanity).Now I've spun lace before with the traveller and though it was a challenge, i managed it and was happy with the results.
I had no clue!

See you in the spring?

And apparently I need to mention kniteratti, my school knitting group. It rocks! We are so hard-core, we even share needles! Although the needles supply is seriously depleted so I am running a raffle to raise some funds. Here are a few things I've whipped up for the raffle in the last week.
Devil hat from Stitch n Bitch using panda Woolbale. A short-circuit scarf (that i did finish but forgot to photo off the needles) using 3 balls of Jet. Mohawk Hat from Domiknitrix, using Merino Spun and Katia Aspen (Monkey not included).

Now I seem to be working on another throat infection, which makes me very cranky-pants. It kind of relentless sometimes. Some days I get home, think about all the different ways in which I feel crappy and marvel that I yelled at no-one all day. Hope the little buggers appreciate it.

Ok, I shall sign off. But I should like suggestions for a name for my new wheel. Please? It doesnt feel right til I name her and I'm totally stumped.

Peace out
Ms Spider xo

* You may realise at this point that I spend a good chunk of my time teaching teenage girls and I do like them mostly. I just don't understand some of their behaviours and really didnt need to see my cousins vpl today.

ETA - apparently I suck at Ctrl+C or something. Mandie is now linked properly... sorry for the faux pas!

don't mess with who you are

December Lights Tam blocking on a dinner plate.
so much frikkin fun, it took me no time at all. Go on, knit one, you know you want to...

Ms Spider xo

frisbee!

Just in case anyone is suffering from the post christmas blues, here's something to cheer you up :)



In case it doesnt imbed properly, you can also try here.


I can also now give you a preview of my December Lights Tam. I am using my own sock yarn : Kelp Forest against Gothic Princess so i am getting stripes without the effort.

I think i'm in love :)

Peace out

Ms Spider (and Monty)

you can stick your ecru shoes lady

well i find it very exciting when i have a photo so obscure no-one gets it :) but yes Taph, it is blocking on a plate...
and here it is:The Lace Tam by Lois Young from A Gathering of Lace. I knit it out of 1 ball of Grignasco Bambi and didnt use the whole thing. I knit it on 3.25mms because i couldnt get gauge on the 2.75mms the pattern called for. cute or what?

Now ladies, i went into the new Wool Shed store in manuka on monday. it recently changed owners and the shop moved a few stores down, but they still have a good range. i went in because they had called me to say that the new order of the Jo Sharp Alpaca Georgette had arrived and i want to knit a vest out of it.
i found the new yarn on the shelf and was suprised to note that the colours had appeared VERY different in the pattern book. i had myself set on a nice sky blue but it turned out to be grey. completely grey, not even a blue-grey. so i take it up to the counter to ask if maybe there's any from last season left or whatever. and the MOST CONFUSING CONVERSATION ever happened.
the lady behind the counter apologised that she usually worked out the back so she had no real idea about what was going on. i asked to see the alpaca kid lustre which was behind the counter. she called out to another lady. I'll call her tweedledum. i repeated my query to T'dum and she went on into this big anecdote about how she only knits Jo Sharp yarns and the colours are incorrectly labled, how she has a pair of shoes that colour. I blink and say that none of the colours are any good for me because they are all 'dirty' colours and i really need clear ones. T'dum proceeds to tell me that pastels are IN this season (T'dum and T'dee were both wearing bright orange). i repeat that pastels aren't the problem... she starts talking about her ecru shoes again. i ask to see the alpaca kid lustre. they both ignore me.
By now i'm feeling pretty frazzled, half expecting someone to jump out screaming "Gotcha!" but no. Sherpa starts to catch my vibe and comes in to rexcue me. i say, thanks but i guess i'll just have to substitute.
T'dum says "what size is it? it's a five ply".
I say "No, it's a 4-ply".
She says "what size are the needles?"
I say "3.25mm"
she says "2.25. well.. blaa blaa blah"
SHERPA says, firmly "NO, 3.25mm"
T'dum says "oh its three two point five... well thats almost a baby yarn. thats like a 4-ply"
ME - grabs addi turbos and strangles her to death.
or not. but it did cross my mind. i am editing somewhat, but i counted and i asked to see a ball of the alpaca kid lustre EIGHT times and neither of them payed any attention.

and these are the women who patronise me on a regular basis "do you know how to rib dear?"

here is the start of my fiddlesticks peacock shawl. I'm knitting it in my own colourway "Grape Juice" it's a nice pattern. I find charts very... comforting or something. its nice to have a post-it note to tell you you're halfway there.

Off to work. yuck.
The sleepy
Ms Spider xo