it's 2009 already?

whoops! It seems being on holidays has not improved my time-keeping any. I've been playing with flickr mosaics (havent we all) but before I show you that, I'll quickly squeeze in the last few knits for 2008.

My Nightsong Shawl, knit from my own 2-ply lace-weight hand-spun, from EGMTK's merino/silk in Octopus' Garden.
The last couple of repeats really felt like they were dragging but when I actually checked on ravelry.. it took me 8 days. I think that's my new record! and it's full-sized too!
I havent got around to snapping it after being rescued from blocking - that's our queen-sized bed it's blocking on to give a size indication. I love it! :) You can't really see but each point has a clear silver-core glass bead threaded onto it.

Also, on New Year's Eve I finished off my Naive socks in Trekking. These were almost instantly gifted to the lovely Heather, my future SIL. (and no, I can't be bothered fixing the photo. They're socks, whatever way up.)

As for wedding stuff - blech! We're planning, tentatively, for October 2009. And it is doing my head in! Finding a balance between 'dodgy' and 'affordable', 'inviting who I like' and 'not pissing off the rellies' and 'doing it all myself' and 'forgetting about it til the last minute' is... well... I'm glad I'm on holidays.
In some respects I am very lucky. My parents are total hippies with no ties to tradition and my Mum really doesnt care. This has the wonderful silver-lining of meaning she doesnt think I should have to invite rellies who openly hate me or havent seen me since I was 1. This also has a down side: my Mum really doesnt care. So I can't mention it to her or she just says "oh how horrible, why don't you just elope?". Which, while I see her point, is rather like knitting someone a very elaborate and mind-numbing lace shawl and being told "why dont you just buy them a scarf?".
It's early days and I am still in enough of my senses to be vaguely on top of things. Our net being down for three or four days REALLY didnt help, so I'm fairly confident I'll get it together... if i can only work out what sort of dress I want (no, not knitted. am not quite that mad yet.).

Oh ok, mosaic.
I was going to do 2008 in knitting and spinning but got bored so here is the last 6 months or so.



1. Handspun Nightsong Shawl 2. Indigo Ripples Skirt 3. Starburst Sweater 4. Starburst Sweater detail 5. Sea Surf Scarf (handspun) 6. Flora cap 7. Loop-through scarf 8. Naive socks 9. Casablanca 10. Slubby handspun, Hippie Heaven 11. navajo plied BFL/soy, Boutique Skies 12. Scalloped Edge Hat (handspun) 13. Jaywalkers 14. Flutter Sleeve Cardigan 15. Catch-me-if-you-can-socks in HappySpider Kelp Forest 16. Process of spinning for Nightsong shawl 17. BFL/soy fibre from EGMTK 18. Sock-it-to-me scarf (handspun) 19. Laceweight handspun with 5c for scale 20. Sayuri Sweater 21. Viking Battle Bonnet 22. Catch-me-if-you-can-socks 23. Scallop-edge beaded necklace 24. Devil hat 25. Owl 6-ply socks 26. Mohawk beanie 27. short-circuit scarf 28. BSJ in HappySpider Pansies 29. Felted clogs 30. Hanspun merino 2ply 31. Felted clogs 32. Spider Socks in Swamp Beast 33. Square for Jet blanket 34. handspun tinsel 35. Merino and Angora, navajo plied in Big Top from EGMTK

Ok, and now I'm being told it's bed time.

Happy New Year, I hope everyone has the best 2009 possible.

Peace out,
Ms Spider xoxo

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

I've been busier than I thought

Well, I'm ridiculously pleased with myself:
Voila! the completed sleeve portion of the seashell shrug! Only 6 months in the making... phew. I've been a very responsible little puppy and washed the piece. After 6 months i figure it wouldnt hurt to rinse the dust off it, right?
Yesterday I finished my Moses Fire socks too. Ooh, that pic is blurrier than i thought. Let's just pretend it's the cashmere fuzz, k? They were meant to be for me but i think i need to gift them to a woman at my work who's been just the most amazing source of support over the last month or so. It's not like I've been teaching long enough to have any decent advice or resources to offer her, and i know she'll appreciate them.
Also started a lace shrug on friday. It's going to be for Taph who needs one in October and does not have the lace-is-fun chromosome in her genetic makeup. It was originally going to be in a frugalled coned 3-ply but clearly I am a decadent hedonist because i succumbed and purchased some 2ply cashmere (from here) because it would be so much nicer to knit with... and of course, to wear.
Having finished the red socks i cast on some green ones so I wouldn't be without bus knitting tomorrow morning. It's the Catherine pattern from ravelry using Filati Bacio. I am surprised at this yarn! It's 50/50 wool and ack which is a little too much ack for me usually... but it's a gorgeous yarn.
I love European yarns for this reason; when they use acrylic, it's to improve the yarn. They do it so well! In Australia, ack always gives the impression that it was chucked into the mix because it was cheap. Katia, GGH and Filati... the ack is to improve wear, soften the yarn up, do something special. I respect that. It's the yarn first, you know?
Anyway, my point is - this is a very nice sock yarn and I'm sure it will wear like a dream. And of course the colours are sensational.
Oh, and I finished Francis on Thursday night - mad dash to have something warm to wear on Friday!Photos are not great because, as usual, i dont have a photographer or decent light, but you get the idea. It is my new favourite - so soft, so warm! No seaming! yummeh!

I'm sure there are heaps of other little WIPs running around but that's enough for now. i dont want you all thinking I'm a crazy person.

One week and then it's mid-year holidays! Expect slightly more lucidity soon-ish.

Peace out,
Ms Spider xo

PS. Big clicks to Georgie who added to her family tree on Friday. I wonder who cleaned up on the due-date bets?

the joys of silk

I may be just a tad OCD (i'm sure i've mentioned it before).

For example:(hey, I didn't say it was necessarily a bad thing to have OCD). So yeah, count it! also, i frikkin hate the crochet cast off but love how it looks and blocks. grr. that was a three and a half hour process... just casting!
totally worth it though..
While we wait for it to dry, let's all enjoy some Black Beauty roses.

Happy Weekend,
Ms Spider xo

pendant le weekend

Another weekend dead and buried. How does it happen?
We've been dogsitting Harry, who has spent most of the weekend fretting. Now don't get me wrong, he's not really distressed. He just likes to stand in front of you looking sad. It's kind of irritating after a while. And I'm refusing to walk him right now so he's lying on the floor with his eyes open, sighing and whimpering.

I've had a funny old weekend really. Have a had a killer headache for about a week and by about 9.30 sunday morning it was full-blown migraine city. Hence my no-show at SnB. However, up until this point i did a lot of knitting (and some in the evening after it had backed of a bit).

On my thistle shawl i am up to the third chart. This means i no longer have nifty thistles to knit so it may become less interesting to me rapidly. This yarn is a dream. OMG. And i've only used 30g so far. i love laceweight. And i'm pretty much up to knitting on my Addis without having to magic loop... which always makes me feel a bit special. Knitting really is amazing.

Also, as a result of a disgustingly hot week and a weird body shift that has taken me from scrawny to curvy.. i need some more summer clothes. Well, ones that don't make me look like i'm trying to escape, if you know what i'm sayin'. So Taph's donation of some Patons Fresco was latched upon and i cast on for the drop-stitch lace tank from Fitted Knits. the yarn is a dream, you'd never know it was 50% ack. And i love the colour (see pic above - the one below is what happens to the colour above when struck by morning light on an orange couch). And the promise of getting to drop some stitches makes the ribbing go quicker. (hooray for Addis!)

I really havent been knitting any socks.. took the shine of that apple, plus i find it hard to knit stuff i'm not likely to wear as soon as i cast off. I might catch up later, but now i have no more Uni work i'm way more keen to play with tops and lace and... mmmmmm. Don't get me wrong - i LOVE the socks. Spidey heart socks. be back soon no doubt.

Hope you all are coping with the heat.. Kuka i still have that sock yarn aside for you if you still want it; we keep missing each other. Sorry :(

Wish me luck with the whole migraine/12yo pyschos issue today..
Peace out,
Ms Spider xo

time flies when you breathe too many yarn fumes

Another weekend gone. How does it happen?

Since last we spoke i have gotten onto the second ball of yarn for my seashell shrug (of 20 though, so nobody get too excited). I got 9 inches of 2x2 rib over 78 sts out of one ball, so i'm pretty happy with that.I need to knit 18 inches before i can do anything remotely interesting (like.. decreases). But this afternoon i just needed a comfort project and this wool is really delish. Nothing like a crepe. It's a much deeper, winier colour than the picture shows too.

The reason i needed a no-brainer was that i started another shawl yesterday. I'm using some Fibreworks 2ply silk that i bought from Helen Rippen on our little day trip (joods got some too). It was a realy bitch to wind, for some reason the skein was very tangled and being silk it was sticking to itself.Anyway, that pattern is the Thistle Dinner and Coffee cloth from the second book of Modern Lace Knitting by Marianne Kinzel (genius). Obviously i am making a shawl, not a huge doily, and have altered gauge a fair bit.loving it, but the chart is a little bizarre so it requires my concentration. I might photocopy it and then alter it with white out so i don't have to remember that there are two symbols for k2tog that are used interchangably (and no, one is not ssk. well, not consistently anyway).

Had Taph round today for our weekly fibre exchange. I am now the proud owner of 11 balls of patons fresco (cotton acrylic blend) for the drop-stitch lace tank from Fitted Knits. VERY excited, but as i am now using BOTH the addi sizes required it may take a little while.. or not. i am such a yarn whore.
We had a nice little play date and I spent the evening knitting 2x2 rib and watching Jonathon Creek with a very sleepy, cuddley monkey. Quite satisfactory.

Peace out,
Ms Spider xo

PS. Dear SSS participants: i told you i'd get sick of it ;)

shawly not!

Well i am being VERY naughty and blogging at school. I'm just having one of those days... need to take the edge off. I've been playing on Ravelry and queueing things madly. i'm waiting for a few books to arrive (the first and second books of modern lace knitting and the best of knitters magazine shawls and scarves book). in anticipation of these glorious additions to my collection (i jut typed addictions... perhaps i should have left it so) i pulled out all the stops and finished my handspun silk shawl yesterday. (the handsome triangle pattern from Victorian Lace Today)
i have decided that the crochet cast-off for a large shawl is rather like childbirth - it's agony while you're doing it, but the joy of having the finished product in your hands afterwards erases the horror... until you're elbow deep in the next one.
as i'm at work i'll have to give the pics a miss , but i'll give you some nice when i get home. it is ridiculously light.. gossamer. i love it. it blocked like a dream and got a fair bit bigger than expected. check out my flickr account for some progress and blocking shots.

but of course now i am between big projects again which sucks a bit. hoping for those books to play with on my day off, hurrah! and i may have to partake of some more bendigo cotton for a nice summer top... maybe that sagey green colour they have now? i think it's the one called fennel (the pics are terrible, i have to examine my shade card). but 8ply or 4ply? hmm

Peace out
Ms Spider

Edited to add pics on Tuesday 6th

5 sleeps left

well, i'm past the halfway mark. i was doing quite well up to a point... and then i got some fabulous news and it was just too much that my monkey wasnt here to celebrate with me. so i've been a little contrary, swinging between deeply glum and embarrasingly cheery.
but the news is... i got an early offer of permanency for next year! of course it relies on my completing my course work and graduating and everything but it is just SUCH a relief... but yes, sad to not have him here to be happy with me...

Have been knitting (who's surprised?). Borrowed Vic's camera so i actually have some things to show off :)
firstly, a better pic of my vest. Love. It.
because i finished that i needed another sweater... so i eventually decided on Pam Allen's Wheat-Ear Cable Yoke Sweater from Interweave Knits Summer 2007. I'm using cleckheaton country that i 'won' on good yarn karma. it's not brown like the cable detail and its not as purple as the other pic... stupid camera.
I'm enjoying it. I'm a bit over for gauge but i really wouldnt want to knit this yarn any tighter.. and i feel like i need a slightly roomier sweater for bloated days ;) i'm enjoying it, though it was a real relief to hit the cable charts finally - all that stocking stitch was making me a leeetle crazy.

Oh and my shawl is progressing slowly. this is the silk i spun and it is SO fine, cant get over it. i think this is a long-term commitment WIP.

And i've been doing a lot in the garden of late - it's my baby! i visit my plants several times a day.. does that make me a geek?
today i edged the vege patch with brick-things. I've done this to my flower beds but hadnt got to the vege patch until today. it was a bit of an effort (bloody hot today!) but i'm glad i went through with it - it makes it so much easier to keep the grass out and the veges in. and it looks purdy. ignore the slightly uneven height of the edging... it just shows where i was impeded in my digging by the presence of trees ( we have these weird ornamental pistachios that i'm never sure how to prune.. fact is i'd like to take them out. why plant something if it doesnt make nice flowers or something you can eat? not even decent shade? weird)
and yes, lots of my veges have gone to seed. so much easier than buying more seed really... self sowing lettuces are a godsend in summer...

anyway, i have to go knit a front piece and two sleeves before i get to do the fun cable yoke-y bit so i'm off. thanks for all the kind words.. i'm ok. just missing my geekier half, you know ;)

Peace Out,
Ms Spider xo

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