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?

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 ;)

horses warrant a day off?

not that i'm complaining, but it does seem to be a bit of a wank. especially as it's being called 'Community Wellbeing Day" or something rather than "Everyone calls in sick on Melbourne Cup Day anyway Day".

Nonetheless, it is a gloriously welcome day off. I have to say, working 5 days again has affected my ability to keep house. when i had two days off during the week when Monkey would not be home til 3pm.. i got so much more done. There's just no point cleaning around him, he splutters crumbs and all sorts of things and you cant really vacuum while he's playing on the computer. And it's weird, but i think that.. well. how to put this? most of the housework i do is pretty crucial to the upkeep of the house, our belongings, clothes, carpet.. etc. But it's not the sort of stuff that Monkey notices or thinks of (ie. cleaning loo, bath, vacuuming, mirrors, windows, folding and putting away clean clothes...). And somehow doing it while he's not here, even though i have to point it out to him, is much less irritating than doing it while he's here. Probably because he a) doesnt notice me all red in the face from vigorous scrubbing and THAT pisses me off or b) he DOES notice and can't understand why i'm bothering. This way around suits us both much better.

so i did some serious housework today and now i have fresh flowers and an aired house, clean dishes, no chip crumbs in the office or coffee rings on the tables. it's refreshing.

I have also been flirting with a few new projects since finishing my shawl. Firstly i cast on the Montego Bay scarf from Interweave Knits Summer 2007 using more of my own handspun silk. It's a lovely pattern, but i didnt have much yarn so i only cast on 33sts instead of 43 and i like the size it's turning out. It was a roughly sports weight 2ply from silk hankies.. and it's REALLY pretty. I have another ball in purple.. and i might have to do another. we'll see. i never used to get this into scarves ;)

I also cast on for the Seashell Shrug from Runway Knits by Berta Karapetyan. Yesterday. i think. yes. I decided that with that much 2x2 ribbing i really needed to cast on now if i wanted to wear it next autumn. it's a gorgeous pattern... and the styling in the book makes me want to go out and buy a new vampy lipstick. So good news all round really.

I was good (bad?) today and did no marking. everyone keeps telling me to do work for school only at school.. and i think this is very intelligent. I'm not getting paid as much as everyone else and i have to be around for a few 'available for relief' lines a week and i can do my work then. So far it's all going pretty well. I've had a few run-ins with a few of my kids but nothing i can't handle. It's amazing how quickly a 12 year old boy will miraculously understand why you find something offensive if you suggest they need sexual harrassment counselling...

Peace out
Ms Spider xo