I hate lace knitting

Why do I do this to myself? Here I am, knitting a scarf for a friend who won't notice or care if it's in garter-stitch and would be impressed if I did a simple 3X3 rib. and I decide to try a lace pattern. I got it from a site called Mohair Dreams and it is relatively simple but still annoying (I can't knit it while watching TV or if I'm a bit tired or stressed and I've already made a few mistakes I've had to fudged around), and like all lace looks like crap pre-blocking. I'm also wondering about the intelligence of doing a lace pattern in a variegated yarn but I'm already 88 rows in and I'm not ripping it out for anyone.

I hate the yarn. It's a good quality mohair and is nice to knit but not when it is 36 degrees outside (hello Mr Weather - summer was supposed to finish LAST month; we're supposed to be cooling down now - and don't give me that global warming shpiel; I'm not in the mood for it.) Like all mohair, it is a bitch to unknit when I make a mistake. And I loath the colours. It's supposed to be Autumn Leaves. I'm thinking baby diarrhea myself. But that's the chance you take when you buy mohair off the internet; it's not the seller's fault it was brighter than I expected. And the recipient of the scarf for some reason seems to like brown and orange rather than purple and blue, so maybe she will like it. Maybe I'll also give her something else with it for her birthday.

I was getting so frustrated with my inability to work on this project in front of the TV that I slipped out to Spotlight yesterday and bought the wool for my husband's Dr Who scarf. Yes I know I have a room full of unknit wool. But not in the right colours for the Dr Who scarf. So this means I have a nice brainless project to work on in between.

The Dr Who scarf is VERY wide. One pattern called for 60 stitches of 8ply/DK on 4mm needles; the other 55. I only cast on 55 and I used 3.75mm needles (as I'm a loose knitter) but it looks like it is going to be huge in width, even if I knit the shorter length (which I'm planning to as the good husband doesn't plan to be looping the scarf multiple times aroun d his neck like Tom Baker).

I just realised I hadn't posted all my knitting Olympics medal tags. Firstly a new Team Australia tag that seems particularly suitable today.

And now my team DPN medal:

And my absolute favoutite, the Knitting Championship gold medal which some Christian moron objected to because it has a naked person on it. Now let's just ignore the fact that the original Olympians competed in the nude and take a good close look at the medal.

And here is a larger version:

Can you see any nudity??? Maybe the raunchy chest and bare feet?

Where would the world be without the Christian Right?

Rainbow Connection complete

Despite the heat (we pushed 30+ degrees Celsius the last few days), I finished the Rainbow Connection hat and scarf this evening.

In many ways it was quite easy - just plain garter stitch; knit every row. Being loopy mohair, it was too easy to occasionally end up with an extra stitch on a row but I just knitted two stitches together when that happened. And if I dropped a stitch I picked up an extra stitch somewhere along the row. The one advantage of loopy mohair is that it is very forgiving, hiding every mistake. There's no point trying to do any fancy stitch with loopy mohair as everything is hidden by the boulce yarn.

It was quite fun, knitting 24 hues, but quite time consuming to sew in all the ends. My friend Susan wanted to know why I didn't start with purple on one end and finish with red on the other (like a real rainbow); the reason is that there were quite a few shade of pink that wouldn't have fitted in if I had knit this way.

Sometimes my non-knitting friends ask why I don't sell my knitting. Well, this hat and scarf set used $50 worth of materials and probably took about 15-20 hours to knit. The minimum wage for an adult in the manufacturing industry is about $12.75/hour - and as I get no annual or sick leave entitlements for my knitting, the minimum casual rate of wages would be more appropriate - around $16.00/hour. So is anyone going to pay $350.00 for this hat and scarf set? I don't think so. And if I sell it for less, I am selling my skill and labour for less than someone packing goods on a production line. This is why I stick to knitting for fun and gifts - not profit.

Fortunately I have the skills to earn a living in ways other than knitting. I also like writing and for a while earned my living this way. But eventually I got sick of being underpaid for my skill while watching people who were far duller earning far more for doing far less. So I decided to earn my living another way, so I could go back to enjoying doing writing instead of resenting what I was paid for it.

The other advantage of something being a hobby, rather than a job, is that you don't have to answer to anyone or work a certain number of hours. While I have got my strength back in my right hand (after a scare some weeks ago), I still get the occasional strange pain around my wrists, so I limit the amount of time I knit between breaks.

The knitting is getting out of control again

Rainbow connection scarf and hat - up to the red shades, have started decreasing on the hat; will probably finish it sometime this weekend.

Jackie's birthday scarf - mohair has arrived, it's lovely and soft but a bit lighter coloured than I expected. The shade is called Autumn Leaves. I'm planning a basic rib with maybe some eyelets in the knit part. Biggest problem is the yarn is in a hank and I need to wind it into a ball without tangling it. No, I don't have a ball winder or skein-holder - I will try the back of a chair.

Jackie's mohair also came with some gorgeous blue mohair which I will probably also knit up as a scarf - there will be no shortage of recipients who it will suit (Mother-in-law, cousin, various friends). And me but I WILL NOT KEEP THIS ONE. Honest.

I still haven't done Rachel's baby present or finished off Miss Gabi's lace cardigan.

I still haven't finished my own drop-stitch mohair shawl.

I still haven't started the 6-ply socks I've planned.

My husband wants his own Dr Who scarf. In the original colours and technically correct pattern but not as long as the original (thank God). It's in garter stitch and I need to buy some revolting tan, greeny-brown, orangey-red and khaki-green wool which I can't bring myself to do. But I need to.

I've also committed myself to donating some hats and scarfs for an APHEDA fund raising auction (maybe one of the sets I've already knitted ...)

And I'm sorely tempted by two new free patterns: String-or-Nothing's Kureopatoria Snake Pattern scarf (which I will almost certainly make using my favourite yarn, Noro Kureyon) and Knitty's 'Winter Surprise' pattern, Startsky. I love the shawl collar; I love the fact that the pattern goes UP to my size but it will be a big project and is ranked as 'extraspicy' which translates as 'Advanced' which I'm probably not quite at the level of doing. I could probably swing it but I can't justify buying any more yarn now. The aim is to knit through my stash faster than my rate of buying. Which is difficult. Especially as I've joined the Melbourne Stitch and Bitch Group and already have details of a yarn-store's close-out sale.

I'm getting plenty of knitting done in the morning on the train and at lunchtime at work (my office is so well air conditioned that the milk can be stored safely there if the fridge goes on the blink). But the heat is building up again at nights. It is officially autumn (or FALL as the Americans call it) and the temperature is hitting 30+ degrees Celsius again (in the 90s Fahrenheit). The tram is so crowded and over-heated on the way home that knitting is impossible and it's still too warm in the evenings as well.

But it is too gorgeous to be drowning in so mucyh lovely yarn!

The rainbow connection

Have you ever wanted to walk into a wool shop and say "I'll have one of every colour"?

In a brilliant piece of marketing, Marta's Yarns have put together a rainbow shawl kit that includes every shade of colour in boulce mohair - 24 hues spanning blue to greens to yellow to oranges to red to pinks to purples for $49.95. I haven't weighed the yarn but I estimte there is about 10 grams of each hue. To buy a 50 gram ball in each shade would cost $240.

I'm still sh*tty that I was charged an extra dollar for a very simple shawl pattern that is available free on her site. But the yarn is far better than her customer service. I decided to forgo the crappy shawl to knit up a hat and matching scarf - I do 3 rounds of each hue for the hat (I cast on about 92 stitches on a 5mm circular) and then knit the remaining of each hue into a simple garter-stitch scarf (25 stitches on 5mm straight bamboos).

According to the girls at work, it looks like I'm knitting up a Muppet Scarf. But at least it is proper mohair, not polyester fug fur.

Knitting quiz results

Well I have to entertain myself somehow while resting my knitting wrsits...

You may not be a granny, but you've got the mentality. Hard work and artistic vision lead to your beautiful knitted results.

Are you a knitter?

You appear to be a Knitting Purist.You are an accomplished knitter producing beautiful pieces with a classic feel. You sometimes lament losing half of your local yarn shop to garish novelty yarns. Perhaps you consider fun fur scarves the bane of knitting society and prefer to steer new knitters towards the wool and cotton blends. Some might call you a bit of an elitist but you know that you've been doing this craft long enough to respect the history behind it and honor it with beautiful piece that can last a lifetime.

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You are interchangeable.Fun, free, and into everything, you've got every eventuality covered and every opportunity just has to be taken. Every fiber is wonderful, and every day is a new beginning. You are good at so many things, it's amazing, but you can easily lose your place and forget to show up. They have row counters for people like you!

What kind of knitting needles are you?


You're the 'classic' brands. You use lots of 'just
wool'. Technique may be very important to
you, as opposed to a yarn that does all the
work.

I hate racist Australians

I am so p*ssed off at racists. Not just because they are dumb and stupid and cringe-worthy and dangerous and pointless. But because they have stopped me being able to enjoy my own little bit of daggy kitsch Australiana fashion.

As you may know, I have a collection of Australiana knitting patterns, mostly from the 1980s. I also have a few Australiana knitting tote bags and a bandana in the colours of the Australian flag. I love going into tacky souvenir shops and selecting Australian-themed pens and notepads and erasers and tea-towels and caps and t-shirts to send my long-suffering inlaws in America. A few months ago all this meant was that I was a certified dag. Harmless.

But ever-since those racist moronic thugs in Cronulla (beach in NSW) decided to adopt the Australian flag to wear as an emblem in their intimidation of the Lebanese and other immigrants, wearing or carrying the Australian flag has become a political statement I do not want to be associated with. The reality of this struck me when I was in a souvenir shop last week contemplating a tote bag with a giant Australian flag last week. It would have made a perfect knitting bag. It cost $5.95. But I couldn't buy it because if I was seen carrying it around the streets, people who didn't know me would see me as politically supporting the racist anti-immigrant morons instead of being a daggy patriot. In fact I now have to be really careful not to carry around bags with giant Australian flags on it. Which is really really annoying.

I wonder if there was anyone in Germany in the 1930s who really liked the design of the swastika and was dismayed at how it was being used politically?

If only I could approach my life like I approach my knitting

I've noticed that when it comes to knitting, I really have it all together. Many of my non-knitting friends think I am so talented whereas it's more a case that I've learnt how to not set myself up for failure. For instance, the socks I just knitted; I deliberately went out and found a pattern for 8-ply wool because it would be much quicker than knitting 4-ply. I will attempt to make socks out of traditional (much thinner) sock yarn AFTER I've learnt how to make a basic sock. So everyone is impressed that I've made a pair of socks - they don't see me as having "cheated" by using thick wool; all they notice is that I'm not one of these people walking around with half an unfinished sock on the needles because it is just too slow and frustrating to get anywhere. I've learnt to utilise yarn that enables me to knit simple patterns that look OK (I love Noro!). I take "baby steps" learning one skill at a time on a project. And if a project fails, I can chuck it in saying "it just didn't work" rather than berate myself for being a failure in life because I couldn't manage a complex project.

Now if only I could transfer this healthy approach to the rest of my life, I might just get somewhere.

A knitter's greatest fear

Wrist injury.

Is it the start of the dreaded carpal tunnel syndrome (also known as occupational overuse syndrome - OOS - or RSI - Repetitive Strain Injury).

Or had I merely banged my hand against something without noticing?

I feared the former but my husband (aka Dr Jeff) suspected the latter, especially as it had come on quite suddenly. It actually felt like my hand had gone to sleep but the usual hand-shaking and rubbing wasn't getting the circulation going again. The only pain was around my wrist; it didn't extend up the forearm. What scared me was that I had lost strength to grip in my right-hand.

Dr Jeff prescribed ibuprofen and an ice-pack and things are better today - I've got the strength back in my hand but it is still quite sore around the wrist.

Maybe I just banged my hand after all.

Another hat/scarf set

The weather hit 35 degrees Celcius today so of course I chose to finish the Noro ribbed hat today. This is my third Noro hat/scarf set for winter...

I'm now working with the over-priced rainbow boulce mohair. I had forgotten what a bitch loopy mohair is to knit. I decided to make (surprise surprise) another hat/scarf set. I am knitting three rounds of each colour for the hat and then knitting up the remainder of each ball for the scarf. I'm using 5mm needles - a Birch circular and the new bamboo straights that were a gift. I have to admit I am beginning to see the attraction of the bamboo needles - they do feel very smooth and nice to knit with. But I will try and refrain from buying any of these needles myself. Five tiny bamboo DPNs cost $14.95 at Cleggs. WTF??? Even more than the Addis!!! I am terrified to think what my birthday gift of 8 pairs cost.

First socks finished!

And they are so warm I don't want to take them off.

I've learnt so much through this process; I'm sure my next pair will be much cleaner because I won't be unravelling and re-knitting as much next time.

Yes, I said next pair. Now I understand how people can get addicted to making socks; the shaping means you don't get bored and they don;t take too long to make.

I really like the ribbing; it makes them very comfortable.

My husband is teasing me and calling them Hobbit socks. He then has the gall to want to know where his pair is!

I'm making a brightly patterned pair next so I think they'll be safe from him.

Seven inches into second sock

Later:
Since posting this picture I have actually completed the full 8 inches of ribbing, 10 rounds of stocking stitch for the ankle and A COMPLETE heel-turn... I reckon I will have finished these socks completely witin the next day or two.

Observant people may notice that the top of my sock has changed. I re-worked the sock so that the cast-off seam was on the top of my foot, not under the sole where it may have interfered with walking.

First sock!!!

I don't believe it! I have actually finished my first ever sock and it fits! It is also VERY warm (which one would hope given it is 100 percent wool). I rolled the ribbed cuff down.

I've read a lot about second sock syndrome but I'm actually looking forward to making the next one as I want a pair of these babies to keep me warm in winter. I don't think they are the most practical socks for wearing with shoes in winter but they will be perfect for keeping my toesies warm. As I'm knitting in 8-ply (DK for any Brit readers) it is a much faster knit than if I was doing it in 4-ply or 6-ply (traditional sock thickness).

One of my friends (Jackie) asked me if this would be my first and last pair of socks given the time it takes to knit and the cost of the wool compared with the cost of just buying a pair of socks from the store. I can see her point but I'm beginning to think hand-knitted socks are for something other than wearing every day under one's jeans and hence I may continue knitting them. To begin with, you cannot compare the quality (and warmth) of the pure wool knitted fabric compared with store-bought socks (yes, even if they are made from 100 percent wool). The other thing is that they are so easy to knit to my weird foot shape. And though I had a lot of difficulty initially doing the heal turn, I used the same technique for the toes with minimal problems. So I think now I know what I am doing they should be a much faster knit.

Things I have learnt.

It is MUCH easier to knit socks on 5 DPNs than 4 DPNs. Adding an extra needle one size down doesn't seem to cause any problems.

Having now used three different brands of needles for this project, I feel well-qualified to make some judgment statements.

I used metal (I think aluminum) Birch 3.75 mm DPNs. They cost $3.99 at Spotlight and worked very well. I'd definitely recommend them as a good value, user-friendly needle. Please note I am only saying this for the smaller metal DPNs - Birch plastic DPNs (and in fact Birch plastic straight needles) are disgusting to use and I have even thrown out some of them.

I used Morgan Lustre 3.25mm needles that I bought from a small wool shop that no longer exists for about $5-$6. They are really good needles that I would recommend but they are extremely slippery. They are great to knit with once you have a few rounds of knitting but an absolute bitch for the first couple of rounds.

I also picked up a pack of 5 metal Addi 3.00 DPNs that cost $9.50 from a boutique yarn store that I will not be returning to (because I was over-charged on the over-priced merchandise). $9.50 is not a bad price for Addis in Australia but it is double the price you pay for most other brands. So you would hope they would be very good. The plus side is that you get five of them, which is good for sock knitting. The minus side is that I felt that the wool stuck to the needle - it didn't knit easily. For someone who hates slippery DPNs, they would be wonderful. But I've discovered I would rather have a slightly slippery needle.

So my verdict is that for value and comfort, you can't beat the Birch metal DPNs. But I would recommend buying two packs so you have the benefit of the extra needles as spares and so you can do a five-needle sock round. You'll still be spending less than if you bought the famous Addis.

Oh dear, she's got distracted

OK, so there I am having got past the hardest point of my Olympics project, the heal turn, and then I get distracted by some leftover Noro Kureyon sitting on the table which is just begging to be made into a ribbed hat to match my latest scarf... I'm probably about 1/3 of the way through the hat; the safe percentage I am through my pair of Olympics sock.

It's kind of like Steve Bradbury pausing in the middle of his speed skating to go for a snowboard down the mountain.

Speaking of which, the Chaser boys had their 'War on Everything' show on ABC TV last night. It was a very unusual piece of television in that it was a totally intense 25 minutes without a single bit of filler - others would have stretched that much material into a four-part series -- and an absolute pisser. I hope they were joking when they said it was the last in the series (it was the first show).

My DH has demonstrated that he still hasn't come to terms with basic maths. I was questioning why he was only taking 2 antibiotics a day when I knew 3 was the usual dose. Finally it came out. The instructions said to take one every 8 hours. I pointed out that there were 3 lots of 8 hours in each day. He replied that he was asleep for 8 hours a day. I explained that the way to get around this was to take one antibiotic as soon as he woke up, one in the middle of the day and one just before he went to sleep... let's hope he hasn't now trained his bacteria to be immune to the antibiotics.

We have heel turn

I'll start by saying this is the first pair of socks I have ever got so far with. I realise I am coming behind a lot of the other sock knitters in the knitting olympics but us Australians are known to do some sneaky things from behind in the winter games. On my fourth attempt I finally managed a heel turn that I didn't feel needed to be frogged. Yay team Australia/ team first socks/ team dpn, etc, etc . It looks like I may be dumped from team procrastination at this rate.

Currently blogging on Team DPN

So if you want to read about me ripping my hair out as I try to knit a friggin sock (actually two) without unintended holes, click here.

I will resume normal blogging after the Knitting Olympics.

I'm also attempting to put on a slide show of some of the wonderful buttons people have made for the games as there is no way there is room for all of them on my sidebar.

Proof I've started

In a shocking and rare act of non-procrastination I have actually STARTED one of the socks for the Knitting Olympics. I'm knitting it in 8-ply Cleckheaton Country so it will definitely be one of the thicker and warmer varieties. I figure if it is too thick to wear in my boots, I'll keep them as bedsocks for winter. I've cast on 48 stiches on 3.75mm needles and will be going down to 3.25 mm needles at some stage in the pattern. I'm warping the pattern a fair bit as my feet are so wide - a men's average in width but a woman's average in length.

While I will certainly be striving to do my best, I refuse to set myself up for failure. Plenty of time to knit socks in skinny yarn once I get down the basic tecnique in normal yarn. Particularly when knitting to a deadline.

The pattern called for an "Old Norweigan Cast-On" and much to my surprise I could actually follow the diagrams to loop the wool around my fingers and manipulate the needle to do the cast-on. But the result wasn't terribly even and after several attempts and studyng the 'look' for a bit I worked out that one got exactly the same result with my usual two-needle cast-on method. So although I could see that the Old Norweigen Cast-On would be quicker once one got it down pat, in the end I gave up and reverted to my old habbits. Bite me.

In other knitting news, the baby hat for Sam's new kid was a failure. It just looks terribly uneven and badly handmade, even after ironing. Serves me right for trying to be smart and make it out of recyled wool that had been knitted up in some other garment and shoved in a cupboard for more than 30 years. I had to go to Target today to get some trackpants for myself, so I ended up buying a set of 3 Winnie The Pooh socks in a blue shade that came in a cute little pencil-case style bag.

Team Procrastination here I come!

Ye gawds! If you've been following the Knitting Olympics around blogland, you will see there are some people taking this very very seriously. But there was NO WAY I was getting up at 6am Australian time just so I could cast on during the lighting of the Olympic flame.

Anyway I have to finish off YET ANOTHER baby hat since YET ANOTHER friend produced YET ANOTHER child.

Sam had YET ANOTHER boy making it 3 in total. She was all booked in to have her C-section on Friday when labour kicked in at 4.30am on Thursday. The best laid plans of mice, men and Elsternwick girls. By 10am she decided that natural labour was NOT FUN and she wanted a C-section. NOW. But as she was still reasonably early into a perfectly normal labour and only felt like she was dying than actually doing so, the doctors didn't break any records getting her into the theatre. At 12.30 she gave birth to Aaron Abraham who at 4.1 kg weighed more than her previous twins did together.

Her other two boys are called Ariel and Asher, so they all share the same initials.

I'm at the decreasing stage of the hat, so it shouldn't take too long now.

I'm adding a few more Knitting Olympic buttons on my site. I can't find "Team Procrastination" yet but there is "Team What The Hell Was I Thinking".

Proof of progress

If you look at the short-row ribbed scarf you can clearly see my progress in knitting skills. The early sections have the odd hole or two (yet to be repaired) and a few obviously mis-sized ribs while the newest sections are almost neat enough to have been done by a machine.

Last night I came to an essential decision-making moment on my scarf as I came towards the end of my third ball of yarn - how long was I going to make this scarf?

I hate too short scarves - they look skimpy and cheap as though you just want to save money by not buying an extra ball of yarn (this does not apply to people responsible for the care of toddlers who are capable of proving a 2 year old can strangle a grown adult to death if they pull hard enough on a scarf wrapped around the adults neck. But I do not have children.) But I've also come to the conclusion after the last two scarves that four-ball scarves are probably a bit on the long side even for me. So it looks like I'll be making this a 3 1/2 ball scarf - probably around 240 cm once it is blocked. Enough to hang down a decent distance even when wrapped around the neck but not so long that I will trip over it.

Yes, I used the word 'I'. I think I may be keeping this one also. I like the pattern too much to give to someone who isn't super special to me. And the colours, although not what I would have initially chosen for myself, seem to go OK. It's about $40 worth of yarn plus god-knows how many hours so it really is the equivalent of a $200 designer scarf. So why shouldn't I be selfish and keep it for me?

In other news, the DLB hat has gone down well with the baby's aunt, which is the main idea. She thinks it may be a bit big for him right now, but I'm cool with that. It means it should fit him perfectly around winter. I don't know how much wear he'd get out of it in our Indian summer.

I also bought another set of Addi DPSs to start swatching the Opal 6-ply for my Knitting Olympics sock challenge. 2 days until kick-off. WTF was I thinking??? I signed up to get Interweave Knits direct from the US (even with postage it will be about 30 percent cheaper than getting it in the shops in Australia - when I can) which also gave me access to their online stuff, including a sock pattern which in theory is suitable for all gauges and sizes.

Here's hoping!

Team Australia...Go yeah!!

This is getting ridiculous. I don't have enough room on my side-bar to post all the buttons already made by other more talented bloggers for Team Australia in the 2006 Knitting Olympics.

So here they are:

And here are some more:

And the wombats:

And a tag as a first-time sock knitter:

And a tag or two as a member of Team DPN:

Plus of course the original Knitting Olympics Tag:

And for the purists:

The only way to cope:

Good grief!!!

Gearing up for the Knitting Olympics

If I was any kind of patriot (and the owner of a blog read by thousands instead of a few), I would be organising a Knit-along for the Commonwealth Games which are being held in Melbourne from March 15 to 26 this year.

The only problem is only a handful of countries (ie: Commonwealth countries) compete in these games and the Australians are expected to wipe the floor against most of them - at least in the swimming. Swimming is possibly the only sport where it is harder for the athletes to make it into the Australian team than to win the international event.

Winter Olympics rates slightly lower on the radar for most Australians as we have very little ice or snow, although no Aussie will ever forget when speed skater Steve Bradbury won a gold by being too far behind the other skaters to get caught up in a collision which took all the other competitors down. As literally the only man left standing, he skated into gold medal place and Australian sporting history. Lest anyone knock Steve for his lucky break, there are very very few people in the world who could qualify on their own merit into a men's Olympic speed-skating final.

Not surprisingly, the Winter Olympics rate more highly in Canada which is why a Canadian blogger who goes by the name Yarn Harlot decided to set up the Knitting Olympics to coincide with the games. Already there are more than 2500 registered knitters for the program, far exceeding the number of athletes registered for the official Winter Olympics. I signed up today as an official Australian participant and I have the cute button on my side-bar.

The idea is to start and finish a challenging project during the life of the Olympics (February 10-26). I selected a pair of socks as I have never yet managed to complete a pair.

For anyone who questions knitting as a winter sport, curling has been included in the Winter Olympics for many years.

As part of my preparation (training) I will attempt to finish the short-row ribbed scarf before the Olympics begin.

For the designer label baby...

It's amazing how quickly this hat knitted up once I finished the irritating knit-one purl-one rib.

Hopefully it will pass muster with the Designer Label Baby's mother.

One thing about kids is that they are a great leveler. A grumpy toddler having a tantrum is just as annoying whether he is wearing Big W or Gap or Gucci. And kids have no appreciation for labels. In fact, evil bitch that I am, I can't wait to hear about the DLB having his first nappy leak while wearing his Baby Osh Kosh jeans...

Years ago I visited a friend who was living as a single mum with her toddler in one room. The kid happily played with my car keys while his mother and I played with the Fisher Price toy I had brought as a gift. She always felt guilty about how "deprived" he was as a young child. Fortunately things improved for her and last time I visited she had had two more kids and was living in a beautiful suburban house. Her youngest child, surrounded by every modern toy a child could want, spent the afternoon running happily around the house holding a broom and wearing an ice-cream bucket for a helmet.

Hopefully the DLB's mother will allow her son to enjoy such affordable pastimes.

Back to knitting instead of venting

OK, the last two posts were a bit on the long side for a blog but I had some issues to deal with AND they were even related to knitting.

I am going to try for the first time to post pictures using Photobucket as uploading via blogger is at best limited (as to where the pictures will appear) and at worst frustratingly impossible (whenever there are strange server problems).

So may I present my designer baby hat in progress (Opal 6-ply sock yarn, basic beanie pattern but I am going to make up a tag stating 'Maggie B original' which hopefully will impress the hell out of the mother while giving a good giggle to those people who know what I really mean). I'm really friends with the aunt of this baby; the mother is not quite as awful as she sounds (she's actually quite a decent person) but one of her aims in life is to own a Lexus 4WD to drive between designer boutiques in inner-city Melbourne, so we don't have a lot in common.

I cast on 90 stitches on 3.25mm dpns; the first 6 cms were a royal pain being in single-rib but now I have moved onto the stocking stich (knit around and around and around) it's much quicker. I'll probably finish it early next week as I am only knitting it in the evenings.


And here is part of the short-row ribbed scarf (about half-way done); this is my tram/train/lunchtime project. There are a few mistakes as I have been learning as I go (see Mine is to reason WHY...) but all in all I'm quite happy. I'm confident of patching up any holes but I'm still not sure whether I should try and do something with the mis-sized rib parts (what I don't know) or just ignore them because"they add character and prove it was hand-knitted and not made by a machine or robot". I suspect the latter view will prevail.

Details: Noro Kureyon Colourway 148 knitted on 6mm needles.

How not to run a business

Dear XXX,

I just thought you might like to know why I won't be returning to your yarn store or recommending it to any of my friends.

I have to admit the "up to 50 percent off" sign did grab my attention. Not that I was expecting it to actually mean anything. I imagined a basketful of odd-balls and maybe a few multiple balls of yarn in a strange colour that didn't catch on last season. That's what it usually means.

What I didn't expect was a basketful of odd-balls with regular prices inflated far above anything I have seen elsewhere. I guess it is easy to offer 30 percent off Patons Lush, for example, if your regular price is 25 percent higher than the regular price anywhere else. Your discount price worked out to be the regular price I can buy that yarn for at most other stores - although I usually get it for less because they offer genuine 10-20 percent discounts. I didn't even consider any of the other so-called discount yarns once I recognised that anomaly.

I had really come in to check-out the hand-painted yarns that you are famous for, and I have to admit they are beautiful. Despite the high price tag I was still tempted to buy the rainbow shawl kit but I think you demonstrated a poor sense of business by charging me $1.00 for a pattern that I could download for free off your website and which basically amounts to casting on 70 stitches on 20 mm needles and knitting 2 rows of garter stitch in each colour. I'll give you a clue. Most yarn stores give such simple patterns away for FREE when someone buys nearly $50 worth of yarn. Especially since it is only half a page that might have cost you a whole $0.05 to copy at Officeworks.

But the creme de la creme of my whole shopping experience was the way you ripped me off an extra $0.80 on the needles I bought at your store. They were clearly marked $9.50 but you charged $10.30. OK, I should have checked the addition more carefully before signing the credit card charge. My fault. But yours too. Maybe the $9.50 was the pre-GST price and the real price was $10.30 but it is bad business to mislead people that way. I was probably only ripped off about $1.75 in total by you. Less than a cup of coffee. In the greater scheme of things, not that important at all.

But at the end of the day I have an unpleasant memory of visiting your store and I will not be returning. Buying yarn at a local yarn store is more than just a business transaction. It has to be a pleasant experience or else we might as well all stay home and purchase via the internet.

Yours sincerely,

Maggie B

PS: I have decided to use the rainbow yarn for something more exciting and deserving than a stupid garter shawl.

Mine IS to reason why...

Once upon a time in a terrible place not far enough away I was an employee in a call centre run by an evil controlling micro manager.

This micro manager was concerned with all the important things. Like if I said 'bye' instead of 'good-bye'. If I used the client's name 3 times, even if they just rang up to confirm something simple. And she would never, ever deign to explain why something had to be done a certain way because if I was a good employee I would do exactly as I was told every minute of the day even if there were 1,995,974,327 little rules to obey and she wouldn't tell me which were the really really important ones to get right and which ones there was some latitude on. Because as a good little robot employee I was supposed to get them all right all the time.

Then one day a visitor from another part of the organisation told me something simple. He explained why it was important to use one particular phrase when granting clients an extension of time to pay their bills instead of another. Apparently they had slightly different legal meanings which could result in a huge difference if the client never paid their bill and we had to take them to court.

And the funny thing was that from that day I ALWAYS used the correct phrase because now I knew WHY it was important. I still messed up lots and lots of the other little rules because no-one ever explained to me why they were important. But I never messed up enough to be fired and one day my saviour came and swept me away to a new job in accounts away from the evil micro manager. And years and years later I heard she had left the organisation under a dark cloud for claiming to be sick when instead she was down at the pub. So it all ended happily ever after, if not quite as quickly as I would have liked.

"So what has all this got to do with knitting?" you may ask.

Well although my mum taught me how to cast on and knit and purl, I have taught myself most of my knitting skills from books and magazines and articles and blogs on the internet. And wonderful as all these resources are, they often exclude the little 'why' tidbits that one person teaches another when passing on the love of a craft. Every now and then I can feel the gears turning over in my head as I realise something that is so blatantly obvious that no-one ever actually explains it but which would have been really really useful to know one project back.

For instance, in my current short row ribbed scarf (yeah, yeah, pictures will come one day when I find the camera), the author gives out the tidbit of information that the "slip, slip, knit" decrease is preferable to the "slip one, knit one, pass slipped stitch over" decrease because it forms a tighter and neater decrease. Which probably explains why my first short row scarf was a lot bumpier than the one pictured in the pattern.

So of course I use the "slip, slip, knit" decrease on this scarf and surprise, surprise - no bumpy joins!

Now grateful as I am now for that bit of information, I can now add two more little tidbits to anyone else learning their knitting skills by perusing blogs like mine. And which would have been so easy for this author to include except she didn't because it was so blatantly obvious to anyone who knows what they are doing.

Firstly, if you choose to knit this short row ribbed scarf pattern (which I highly recommend as it is quite a fun pattern which gives a nice result and an interesting variant on the standard scarf), you will find it a lot easier if you realise it is a 3,3 ribbed pattern (that is 3 rows of stocking stitch alternating with 3 rows of reverse stocking stitch). This tiny tidbit of knowledge will save you hours of counting stitches trying to work out what row you are up to BECAUSE IT WON'T MATTER. IT WILL BE BLATANTLY OBVIOUS. YOU WILL AUTOMATICALLY KNOW WHETHER TO KNIT OR PURL A ROW BECAUSE YOU UNDERSTAND THE WHY of the pattern.

Sorry for shouting, but I can't help getting excited when I've worked out something.

I just wished I had worked it out before muffing up a section early in the scarf which I hope no-one will notice except me.

The second tidbit gem has to do with the business of slipping stitches knitways or purlways. Now it is important to follow these guidelines as if you don't, at least with the short rows scarf, you will end up with a hole in the middle of your work.

But again, you don't need to follow the written pattern blindly, if you understand the WHY behind this business. When doing short rows you turn around the work before you get to the end of the row and if you are changing which side the 'bumps' are on it is important to wrap the yarn around the turn stitch or else you end up with a hole. You automatically wrap the yarn when making sure the stitch is slipped knitways or purlways but GUESS WHAT! If you concentrate on ensuring the turn stitch is 'wrapped', it becomes obvious whether you need to slip knitways or purlways.

Hopefully this will make sense to someone and help them on their knitting way.

But if they are like me they will be reading this as they look at their last project thinking "so that's why it ended up bumpy and full of holes. Wish I had read this before I knitted it."

I'll just go away now and stitch up a few holes in my scarf that formed before I worked out this wrapping and slipping business for myself.

Oh sweet glorious cool change!

Oh sweet glorious cool change! I had forgotten what normal weather was like. 23 degrees Celsius (69 degrees Fahrenheit). I knitted 1 1/2 more sections on the short-row ribbed scarf while on the train and tram going to and from work. I arrived at work with only a slightly damp bandana around my head instead of dripping in my own sweat. And everyone was just so more cheerful now the oppressive damp has passed. Even if they were sleepy from staying up watching the tennis.

I did the walk from the city to South Melbourne. I've decided this is definitely the way to start the day. No matter what else happens, how little I achieve, I've at least done 30 minutes of walking for the day. And it is far more pleasant than being crammed in a tram.

Lots of people do this walk - most wired for sound with earphones dangling. I love my i-pod but I'm disturbed by the way it can cut one off from one's surroundings; create a little isolationist's world. I think of cyborgs. I decide to save my i-pod for the gym and look around me as I walk.

I look at Melbourne in a totally different way since traveling overseas. Start at Flinders Street Station with the ancient but still working clocks, look across to St Paul's which is making a building appeal - before I know it we'll be like most European cities with scaffolding and constant renovations propping up the old buildings. Across from St Paul's is Federation Square a quirky new construction which is growing on me with time. As long as I don't walk there. I don't mind the buildings on odd angles but I find it too easy to trip on the sloping cobblestones. I attended a workers' rally in Federation Square last year. Times have changed since the 1905 workers' uprisings in Russia. Today we watch a multi-media presentation on the giant screens and take digital photos and contact friends with our mobile phones. And my grandfather thought watching the destruction of the Berlin Wall on TV was bizarre enough.

Past the Art Gallery with its Water Wall - I love Melbourne and its people. I remember as a kid with my brother and mum leaning up against the Water Wall. The arty-farty types when they renovated the National Gallery wanted to remove it permanently. It wasn't artistic enough. But Melbournians rose up in protest and wrote letters and rang up talk shows. It might be daggy but it is OUR Water Wall and we love it. So it was reinstated after the renovations and children still run up to press their hands against it. What could be better on a hot day in the city but a trip to the Water Wall?

Even on the hottest day, the lawns of the St Kilda Road boulevard remain fresh and green and the English trees provide plenty of shade. I don't know how they manage it, how they resist the sapping dryness of the Australian sun. I hope they are using recycled-water.

Past the College of the Arts. Sculptures - I like the abstract suggesting wrestling and a compact grey stone that just begins to emerge as a fist. But the perfect dancers playing a flute and holding a shell leave me cold. They look like they should be atop a bird bath in a Toorak garden.

Next is the floral clock, where perfectly position flowers provide a face for the mechanical hands. The Army barracks in a magnificent stone building. An ancient cannon decorates the lawn. I can just hear my husband whispering "The latest in Australian Army technology!"

More floral decorations. This time the flowers celebrate Melbourne's hosting of the 2006 Commonwealth Games. The buildings on the other side of the road are dull and uninteresting. A giant grey square entitled "The Melbournian". No wonder people think we are backwards.

Past the Governor's residence. I will never forget the day when as a school girl I witnessed an accident caused in his honour. Police car sirens screamed from his road, traffic slammed to a halt. One car was not fast enough and slammed into the back of another. The police cars roared passed, oblivious to the accident they had caused. They were escorting the Governor's car down St Kilda Road causing chaos to peak hour traffic. I never found out why it was so important for him to be rushed so quickly away from home.

Back on the west side of the road a modern interpretation of a Georgian hotel, complete with Sushi Express cafe. I can never see myself buying sushi there; the atmosphere is just wrong for that kind of food.

There is always a tram jam at the Domain Road interchange. I turn down Albert Road, past the construction site and the first group of cafes and lesser office buildings. Across Kingsway I see my old school, Macrob, in all its architectural gory. I never understood what was so impressive about its cream bricks and red and purple windows but it has been heritage listed. At least two of my former teachers are still there - and I graduated 18 years ago. For all its imperfections it is a good school and teachers, as well as students, compete to attend.

Albert Park Lake is in the distance. I still haven't managed to organise myself to go for a walk around the lake at lunchtime.

My office is a short way up a side street off Albert Park Road. I am always surprised at how quickly I come up to it; I expect the walk to be longer. But I check my watch and inevitably 30 minutes have passed.

And today's non-knitting is brought to you by Melbourne's weather

I know this is meant to be a knitting blog, not a weather blog, but any Melbournian who claims to have knitted this week is either 1/ Lying or 2/ Owner of a far better air-conditioning system than me.

It's been HOT. There have been some terrible bushfires in the country, including my beloved Kinglake. I'm trying to be happy that it's raining on the basis that the firemen are happy but it seems we have substituted desert heat for tropical jungle heat. I felt like I was walking through steam to work yesterday.

None of this is very conducive to knitting.

It looks like I'll be knitting another hat as one of my friend's sisters has popped out a baby. At least it has a chance of being worn this winter, unlike, say, booties which I have never seen any baby wear except for photos or to show to someone who made them. Not that I'm holding my breath. A handmade item doesn't have a designer label on it but there is no way I'd ever buy a designer item or this kid will be allowed near a Target outfit.

Before we started our fifth heatwave of the season I had done a few pattern repeats on a short row rib scarf I am knitting. As you can probably tell, I'm going through a short row scarf phase. I had seen this pattern but would never have considered it based on the photo except I saw a photo on another blog of someone who did it in a multi-coloured yarn and it looked fabulous. I had a pack of Noro Kureyon Colour 148 at home which was just begging to be knitted. I love the way the scarf is turning out but the colours aren't 'me' - too much olive and not enough purple. So it will be a gift.

I've also started a long-stitch kit that I bought at the Op-Shop last year. It's of the Barrier Reef and had not been started - the packaging was just a bit damaged. So it was a good buy. Long-stitch is for kids and ADD adults who want a super-quick result. I'm not overly fond of them (it feels like cheating) but I love the pattern and colours on this one.

And hi to Susan (if she is reading this). Although I mainly write this for myself, I like to put in something for everyone and there are some people who aren't happy unless they can pick up a few mistakes. I've fixed them up now :)

Looks like another baby project

Well the good news is that Rachel is definitely healthy and does not have gestational diabetes. The doctor sent her for tests after it seemed that she was producing quite a large baby. The bad news (for me at least) is that I will definitely have to come up with another birth present. Which is fine. I'd rather she gave birth to a large healthy child than a small and sickly one.

I'll finish off the cardigan I started. One of my friends is tossing around the idea of having a craft night as a fundraiser for her charity and I'm sure a cardigan for a small newborn baby will sell well. Not that I've got much knitting done. It was 40 degrees yesterday and will hit 43 today (109 in the shade for any Americans).

I started my new job last week. I'm still feeling around as to what I should do although they have written all sorts of nice things about me in the organisation's magazine. I seem to have two quite distinct and separate roles. One is to come up to speed on all aspects of salary packaging and the related tax implications for members as this is one aspect of my boss' job that he definitely wants me to take over. The second is to research and understand the local and international labour market as it affects our members. A third role, which I'll be trained in, is learning how to evaluate jobs in the brave new world of Australia's Industrial Relations system so our members know what their fair market value is.

I've started a multi-directional ribbed short-row scarf to work on the tram/train going to and from work but put it aside for a book when the weather started heating up. The really good part of my new job is that it is easy to build 45-60 minutes walking per day into it. It's a lovely flat 30 minute walk mostly along a shady boulevard from the city into work in the mornings, when the trams are packed anyway. Two nights last week I also walked back into the city after work - the other days I still had to walk 10-15 minutes to catch a tram. It was tough the first few days but I can tell my body is getting used to it.

More knitting news when the weather returns to something approaching normality.

I'm still alive

I'm feeling really guilty for not posting for a while, not the least because a couple of my friends, the proud parents of a shit-producer who I so wantonly insulted a few posts back, bought me a set of bamboo needles as a belated birthday present.

Not a pair, but a set of 8 pairs of bamboo needles, ranging in size from 3mm to 6mm, in its own lovely needle case.

It was one of the most thoughtful presents that I never expected to get from non-knitters. I have so many multiple pairs of plastic and metal needles that I could not justify buying bamboo needles just to try them out because I had read so many other blogs praising them.

Not that I've had a chance to try them out because I started my new job this week and am getting into the swing of things. Plus summer is back with a vengeance - 35 degrees today and tomorrow.

But at least I've started walking everyday - 30 minutes from the city to work, so I'm not kicking myself.

Knitting for a newborn

Here's hoping that Rachel doesn't pop out an extra-big baby this time. I've done the body of the cardigan and it is about 16 inches around which according to what I can find on the internet is about the right size for a full-term newborn baby. So I figure her kid will have about six weeks to poop all over it before it grows into the next size.

I've only spent a couple of days knitting it, so I'm not too stressed if it only gets a couple of months wear. I'm sure to knit up something else by then.

When my friends had their first rounds of babies I made everything way too big - jumpers that they couldn't wear until they were 12-18 months old. I didn't want them to grow out of the clothes too soon.

This time around I am actually trying to knit something that will be usable within the first year.

Why I love kids (but have trouble with the parents)

As a knitter I have to love kids. Nothing says "instant gratification" like starting and finishing a baby's hat in an afternoon. Even jumpers and cardigans are time-friendly. It's a great way to try out new patterns and techniques because even if it is a disaster, one is only frogging a few hours instead of a few days worth of work.

I'm currently working on a seamless raglan baby cardigan for Rachel's baby due in about six weeks time. I'm almost half-way through the knitting. I'm making it is 6-ply self-patterning Opal sock yarn which means it will be a little smaller but in a worst case scenario it will be appropriate from birth to six months rather than 4 months to 10 months. I made about 3 of these for little Miss Gabi (now a sturdy 20-month-old who has very definite opinions about what she likes and doesn't like).

My friends with kids sometimes say "Oh it must be so boring for you" when I visit and they may be right but not in the way they think.

I love the kids. I love playing with them and reading to them. They are so interesting. You can see the cogs clicking in their brain as they work out how to do something and I love the way they will ignore an expensive toy and spend hours opening and closing a cardboard box.

Unfortunately the parents are no longer quite so interesting. All they do is talk shit. Literally. When they are babies we hear about the colour and consistency of the shit. And they seem to think they are offering you a great favour by offering you the opportunity to change their baby's shitty nappy.

"How do you cope with the smell," I gasp in agony.

"You don't notice the smell so much when it is your baby," they reply.

Oh yeah???

The next stage is when their little darlings discover how to take off their nappies and leave the shit-filled items in the most inconvenient place while running around the house naked. I realise this must be difficult for parents but must we hear about it in all its glorious technicolour detail?

The third stage is toilet training. Any conversation with the parents is peppered with constant interruptions of "Who needs to go to the toilet?" and the sobbing of a kid "I had an accident".

Not to mention the smell.

It's times like this that I love my cats that are born toilet-trained.

I realise that a cat cannot bring you the rewards that a kid can. But hopefully I do not bore my friends silly talking about their toilet habits.

PS: Any parents who are offended by the above can take great pleasure watching their kid poop all over the clothes I spent hours knitting for them instead of just spending the same amount of money and a hell of a lot less time purchasing something far more practical for them to wear from a chain store.

Reflections on my 35th birthday

I always swore I would never be one of those women who moan about getting old. As I read somewhere a long time ago, "The only alternative to growing old is dying young", which is something I'm not planning on doing.

I have heaps of older women role models amongst my mother's friends and my work colleagues. One of my best-ever bosses was a 50-something woman who got up at 4.00am each morning to take her dog for a walk and felled her own trees on her own farm. One of my mum's best friends qualified as a barrister at the age of 58. A 60-something woman I know runs writing workshops to help senior citizens write and publish their own memoirs. And after my mum's death at far too young an age (58) my dad took up with a brilliant intelligent older lady whose attitude and energy belay her late-60s age.

My grandfather was in his 80s when he made the memorable comment "I'm going to Montfiore (Aged care nursing home) to visit the old people". He lived until he was 93 and up until the week he died he was plotting how he could return to live in his flat following a massive heart attack. His mind was as sharp as a tack; it was his body that eventually let him down.

So I have plenty of role models showing me that age isn't a number; it is an attitude. But I must confess, on my 35th birthday, for the first time I am feeling maybe a tinsy bit old in a negative way. And I don't like this one little bit.

Maybe it's because I haven't yet had children and the biological clock is ticking away. Maybe it is a reflection of society's attitudes which ooze like poison via osmosis into the brain. Maybe it is because I know my health and fitness isn't as ideal as it could be and I'm probably at my last chance of avoiding following my mother's footsteps of high blood pressure, Type II diabetes, heart disease and early death.

Next week I start a new job; the first one where I have been employed as an experienced grown-up with valuable skills and experience, rather than as a bright young thing
with potential, at the entry-level.

Maybe on my 35th birthday I have finally grown up.

Good grief, another hat!

I swear this is the last hat that I am knitting for a long time. It is yet another beanie made for yet another relative in America. The problem is that one can't knit beanies for three of the relatives and ignore the other two. No, I ended up having to knit a beanie for everyone.

This is yet another worthy stash-burner project. I had some left-over hand-dyed 'stormy skies' yarn from Highland Cottage Crafts off eBay. As you can see it is a lovely colour. It wasn't enough for a hat so I 'stretched' it by knitting a few rounds in some left-over purple Cleckheaton yarn that blended nicely.

I've decided this is going to my mother-in-law while my sister-in-law will get the pinky purple alpaca beanie. My father-in-law gets the grey worthy beanie and bother-in-law the cream beanie I made out of scrap wool last year. Isabella of course gets the pony hat.

I've now picked up a drop-stitch shawl that I started last April during a union conference. It's very easy and great for mindless TV watching knitting but it's got to the awkward size where I can really only knit it at home, so I'm going to have to find another project to keep me busy on the trams when I return to work next week.

Isabella's pony hat

This beanie is for my niece, Isabella, who lives in America. I really wanted to make it Australian-themed with a kitsch koala or kangaroo pattern but my husband convinced me that horses might be better given that Isabella has riding lessons every week and is in love with her pony.

I got the pattern out of one of my Liz Gemmel Australiana knitting books - it's supposed to be brumbies (wild horses in the Australian high country) but I'm sure Isabella will assume it is her pony.

This is almost as virtuous as the worthy beanie - it is made out of the remainder of some pink 8ply yarn that I used to knit a jumper for Isabella last year and some tan Patons yarn that I inherited from my mother and which probably dates back to the 1970s. So no extra money spent on this either. Which is a good thing as the credit card is severely strained by my need to purchase some professional-looking clothes for my new job which starts next week.

I hate Spotlight

I know I am a fully-fledged yarn-snob Knitaholic now because I went to visit my local Spotlight (translation for non-Australians: big chain craft store) to buy some 3.75 mm dpns & left feeling rather nauseous at the sight and prices of their latest selection of novelty acrylic yarn.

(Of course if I was a TRUE Knitaholic I would have spent $18.00 plus postage on Addi bamboo dpns but I decided a could still cope with the $4 Birch versions as they are aluminum. But no more cheap plastic dpns - I am seriously thinking of tossing those I currently have as they are a bitch to knit with. But I digress...)

Spotlight is selling some acrylic novelty crap for $8/ball. EIGHT FUCKING DOLLARS!!! WHO BUYS THIS CRAP??? Especially when you can buy 100 percent pure Australian wool for around $3/ball. The mind boggles.

Carol S of Go Knit In Your Hat has written a wonderful article entitled 'The myth of cheap big-box craft store yarn', comparing the prices of various brands and qualities of yarn available in America. Read it, even if you are not in America. Because it is certainly equally true for Australia and I suspect most of the world. Basically she proves there is usually a cheaper and better quality substitute for many crap yarns,

Now I have been known to lash out up to $14.50/ball on Noro yarn (before I discovered my Canadian supplier) so I know how to spend money on yarn. But at least Noro is beautiful unique multi-coloured quality wool that is a joy to knit with. I don't want to think how much money I have wasted on crappy novelty yarns that ended up producing a scarf worthy of the Reject Shop or that was eventually donated to the local Op-shop or sold at a loss on eBay.

I never have the same urge to toss or otherwise rid myself of the pure wool and mohair in my stash because I know I am going to want to use it eventually. It's just a matter of finding the time.

Fortunately today I was not in the slightest way tempted by the $8/ball novelty yarn because someone in the store had thoughtfully displayed a jumper knitted in that yarn which was enough to scare off any sane person. And contemplate a contribution to You Knit What.

The Worthy Beanie

This is a beanie non-knitters will understand. It is a durable classic beanie made out of 100 percent Australian wool. The knitting is even and the hat is warm. It will last years, probably decades. The yarn would have cost less than $6. It is left-over from a jumper I made a couple of years ago so as far as I'm concerned I haven't spent anything extra on it. It took less than a day to knit.

It is very worthy. And very very boring.

The purpose of pompoms

What a difference a pompom makes!

"Is that a cock and ball warmer for a horse?" asked my husband rather rudely when I showed him the hat sans pompom (please note, I had already decided a pompom was required but couldn't resist showing off my masterpiece).

I had a day off work. I had a heap of New Year Resolutions to clean up the house and go to the gym. I had one ball of Noro Kureyon and a small amount of purple alpaca yarn left. So of course I made another hat. For a friend's birthday. In June.

I'm planning ahead.

First Finished Objects for 2006

Because what one needs in the middle of an Australian summer heatwave is yet another woolen hat and scarf combination.

The yarn is my favourite Noro Kureyon (colour 134); the patterns are Multidirectional Scarf and my own Noro Ribbed Hat design - both available free on the net.

After the freaky hot end to 2005 (we hit 43 degrees Celsius - that's 109 degrees Fahrenheit - in the shade on December 31) the weather has settled down to a much more pleasant mid-20s degrees Celsius (that's about 75 degrees Fahrenheit) temperature this week.

In terms of my NY resolutions - well yesterday I went to the gym, washed up the NYE party dishes and worked with my husband on the garden. And I didn't eat any junk food. I bought a 2006 diary, posted out a DVD I'd owed a friend for weeks and posted the accident report to my insurance company. Let's hope the RACV accepts it as they haven't been able to make contact with the driver that ran into the back of my husband. It seems that despite all the advertisements that say that if you are able to identify the other driver in a no fault accident, you won't be hit with an excess charge, if the other driver doesn't answer phone calls and letters from the insurance company, we could still be hit with a $450 excess charge. Which is so not fair. What else could my husband do but get the name, address, phone number and registration of the other driver?

The Resolution and The Reality

Has anyone else noticed that New Year's Eve is probably the worst possible time to resolve to change one's life and one's bad habits? January 1 is the one day of the year nearly everyone is guaranteed to wake up at best sleep deprived, and at worst hung-over and with indigestion following the partying of the night before. Which hardly sets the scene for life-improving resolutions.

Resolution: I will improve my diet and eat only healthy food.
Reality: Left-over chips and sausages from last night's party prove to be an irresistible lure.

Resolution: I will exercise every day.
Reality: Getting up from bed is about all the exercise one can cope with on New Year's Day.

Resolution: I will cut down on caffeine consumption.
Reality: There is no way I am going to get anything done on January 1 without a kick-start cup of coffee and can of coke at lunch.

Resolution: I will get on top of the housework.
Reality: It's January 2 and the remains of the New Year's Eve party are still piled around the house.

My New Year Resolutions don't take effect until the New Year's public holidays are over. Which is tomorrow. Which means I have another 24 hours to clean up the house, fill the fridge with salad and ensure my gym gear is washed and available. At least this way, I have a fighting chance.

And from something I saw on another blog:

In the year 2006 I resolve to: Stop being a productive member of society. Get your resolution here