Exchanges, exchanges

I've now signed my self up for two swaps before the end of the year. The Australian Knitters group on Ravelry has decided to do a tea cosy/coffee plunger cosy swap. I think we all got excited at the thought of doing a swap where we would be spending less on postage than on yarn. And then, being Australians, we had to take the p*ss out of the whole thing.

Look at the email invite:

The Swap is to celebrate the cuppa, the short black, that mugo'chino, with or without a squeeze of lemon. The celebration of the cosy will begin on Monday, October 15th, with all swaps to be completed by the end of the year. For the moment your gracious hostesses, webgoddess and zephyrama, would like to you to RSVP your intention to participate. All attendees must have an Australian mailing address and be prepared to sit down with a cup of tea and an iced vovo.

How it works: To sign up, simply leave a reply below with your answers to the following questionnaire. Sign-ups will end on October 12th, at which time we'll get busy assigning swappers and swappees. You'll receive your pal's information that weekend (hopefully!). The swap will officially begin on October 15th, and you've got til the end of 2007 to send off your package.

What you do: Basically, you make them something! Once you've been assigned a pal, check out their questionnaire answers to see what they like. Maybe visit their blog to get a feel for their personality. Then get busy knitting or crocheting them a kitchen item, whether it be a tea or coffee cosy, a potholder, or a washcloth. (Note: Knitting from your stash is highly encouraged!) Please do your best to stick to your pal's preferences. Your package should also include a few small gifts, such as tea or coffee, bikkies (maybe even ones you made yourself!), local yarns, whatever you like. There is no minimum spend, but we suggest a target of $20-30 in total. Then send it off to your pal by the end of the year, revealing your identity to your new friend!

Anonymity/privacy: It's entirely up to you whether you want to keep yourself anonymous til you send off your package. If you're happy to reveal yourself, you can send a message directly to your pal to get his/her mailing address. If you'd prefer to build some mystery, you can contact webgoddess or zephyrama and we can ask them for you.

Questionnaire:

1. Do you have a teapot or coffee plunger? Would you like a cosy for it? If so, please tell us the dimensions of your pot. Coffee plunger. Height 22cm; circumference - excluding handle 32cm; with handle 42cm. Handle is 2cm from the bottom and 8cm from the top (if you want to include a slit for it to poke out from). Please add a cm or two of ease!
2. Other than a cosy, what other knitted/crocheted kitchen items would you like? A nice thick pot holder that one can use to pull hot items out of the oven safely would be nice (if you make this please do not use acrylic yarn). Whatever you feel like knitting.
3. Theme/Style: Do you celebrate Christmas/ Hanukkah/ Yule/ hatever? Would you like your pal to knit you something in that theme? I'm a Hanukkah girl but anything that isn't Christmas-theme is fine.
4. What colour is your kitchen? Do you like tacky kitsch, classic styles, or something more modern? I don't mind Australiana kitsch but please hold the fun fur. General preference for blues and greys as the base colour.
5. What is your favourite blend of tea (or coffee)? Are you a sophisticated Earl Grey drinker, a hippy-dippy Chai lover, or a no-nonsense espresso addict? Mint tea; hot chocolate. (My husband is very picky over his coffee so I let him buy that on his own).
6. What's your favourite type of bikkie? Tim Tams
7. Any weird food allergies or preferences you pal should know about? Hold off on the strawberry tea and/or jam - I'm allergic to strawberries.
8. Any weird fiber allergies or preferences your pal should know about? I generally prefer natural fibres over acrylics. I'm not a fan of novelty yarns.
9. What city/state do you live in? Melbourne, Victoria

Looks like it will be a lot of fun.


Meanwhile, over at ISE5 it appears that matches are being sent out. I haven't received any details to date but apparently we don't panic until Wednesday; I'm probably in a group where the hostess hasn't beaten the starters' gun.

Fortunately with all this swap knitting coming up, I am getting to the tail end of my Dark Mark Scarf. I found the middle plain section very tedious - and so, it seems, did the original designer. It was great mindless tv/travelling knitting though. I have less than 80 rows to the end and suspect they will go very fast.

I'm really enjoying making this scarf and I love how it's come out but I have no qualms about handing it over as a gift. I guess I prefer the more pragmatic thick winter scarves to wear for myself.

Spotlight embraces pragmatic necessity

Australian discount craft store Spotlight, which last year decided to employ all new staff under an Australian Workplace Agreement which forced them to trade away penalty payments, overtime and other benefits in exchange for a pay rise of just two cents an hour, has now decided to abandon AWA's in favour of a union collective agreement.

It turns out these AWA's didn't meet the federal government's so-called fairness test (which has more than a few holes in it) that was introduced after an election-threatening public outcry over the new workplace laws which allowed such exploitation. After Spotlight was advised that 460 AWAs were being rejected by the federal government's Workplace Austhority, they decided it made better business sense to negotiate a collective agreement with the employee's union.

No news yet on what's going to happen to those poor sods who signed AWAs prior to the Fairness Test coming in.

"It's our intention to clean up this industrial issue and really move into a more secure future with our employees," Spotlight chief executive Stephen Carter told ABC radio.

"The advice we've had at this stage (is that) some of the (pay) rates have been insufficient.

You could say that again!

I have deliberately avoided shopping at Spotlight ever since the news broke of their attempts to exploit already badly paid staff. And it's good to know that I can now return to shop there with a slightly clearer conscience. But I am not sure that I will.

The company's attitude towards staff (get the cheapest we can get away with) is representative of the sort of products they are now stocking. Australian-made brands have been abandoned in favour of poorer-quality items from China and other Asian countries (which hardly have a good track record when it comes to employee relations). The last time I went there (over a year ago) I was struck by how much novelty yarn there was and how little pure wool. And when you considered the quality of what was on offer, it really wasn't that cheap anyway.

Maybe it is just part of me growing up, trying to de-crap my yarn stash and wardrobe and house and life, but I am at the stage where I really want quality over quantity and substance over style. And I really don't think Spotlight can meet my needs in that area.

Dark Mark Scarf - first pattern repeat

Obviously this will look a lot better when it is blocked and the ends are woven in. But how cool in a totally geeky way is this??? I love illusion knitting; it is so much fun.

All kudos to designer Lindsay Henriks aka Storm Moon Knits for making this fabulous pattern available free of charge.

Harry Potter on Ravelry

I hope this screen shot is readable. To me this sums up the glorious knitting geekdom that is Ravelry . I particularly love the "Knitters Who Haven't Read Harry Potter Anonymous' group - although I joined the "Harry-thon KAL/CAL Group".

Happy 5768

We celebrated the Jewish new year this week in the usual manner - big meal and get together with the family. For me it is the start of the annual retrospective: "What have I done with my life and where am I going?" which tends to last until well into the secular new year.

While I really admire and enjoy reading the soul searching of many writers on the Internet, I am acutely aware of the dangers of exposing myself to all and sundry. A casual comment from someone I only had a work relationship with about a knitting pattern I had put up on the Internet, reinforced the fact that I am not just typing into a cyber black hole.

So moving onto the safe topic of knitting... I'm about 1/4 of the way through the Dark Mark Illusion Scarf. I'm really enjoying this pattern - there is something which makes me want to knit "just one more row" or "one more pair of rows" or "one more set of four rows" every time I pick up the needles. It's not the best quality yarn - some very over-stretched reclaimed black Patons 8-ply wool and a sticky mauve Naturally NZ 8-ply wool from my stash - but this scarf is more for effect than warmth and I think it will wash up OK. And it is great to feel like I'm actually burning some of my stash.

Of course I had to immediately counter all this stash burning by sticking my head in at Sundspun which is having its winter sale (minimum 10% off all winter-weight yarns) and picking up 5 skeins of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran for the Palindrome scarf - this pattern looks like it eats yarn! The yarn is so gorgeous and I fear I will want to keep the scarf for myself. We'll see how it goes.

I've joined a couple of illusion Knitters group on both Ravelry and Yahoo but alas there seem to be very few illusion patterns out there on the web. One of the Yahoo group knitters says she is drafting up some Jewish-themed patterns which I am looking forward to trying.

I've spent way too much time in Ravelry this week; mainly reading groups in the forum and cyber-stalking other knitters (only joking). The Internet is amazing and brings home the lesson that there are many universal themes - I clicked on the profile of one of the Israeli knitters and ended up on her blog where she was agonising over whether it was ethical to use the ubiquitous green shopping bags that have obviously now infiltrated every Western country. On the one hand we all want to avoid the single-use flimsy plastic bags because of their impact on the environment; on the other hand these green bags have almost certainly been made by exploited workers in Asia using far from environmentally-sound processes. The answer, of course, is to make our own re-usable bags but most of us, including crafters, just don't get around to this.

Dark Mark Illusion scarf

Now that all the Harry Potter hype has died down, I've finally got around to casting on Storm Moon Knits amazing Dark Mark illusion scarf. (As usual, I'm 6 months behind everyone else).

I had no green in my stash, so I decided to use a pale mauve with the black. I also cast on a few extra stitches to ensure the scarf is wide enough as I am using 8ply/DK yarn instead of the American 10ply/worsted.

One of my friends has been begging for an illusion scarf since she saw the pirate illusion scarf I knitted for my brother. It's very fun knitting and gives an amazing effect for surprisingly little work.

In other scarf knitting news, I've joined ISE 5. I met a really nice partner last time around. And I'm dying to try Palindrome, a reversible cable scarf.

Bargain shopping

I've become much better at resisting bargains but I couldn't resist the Clover Promotion Pack at Cleggs today. For just $14.95 I got

• 2.5mm 20cm bamboo DPNs
• 3.0mm 16cm bamboo DPNs
• 4.0mm 23cm bamboo straight needles
• 4.0mm 33cm bamboo straight needles
• 4.0mm 80cm bamboo circular needle
• 4.0mm/F bamboo crochet needle
• 4.0mm/F metal/soft touch crochet needle
• 5.5mm metal crochet needle
• Mini Kacha-Kacha click counter
• Assorted notions (needle protectors, stitch markers, cable needles, etc)

Until I saw this pack I had no idea I needed all this stuff. And having just recorded my extensive needle collection on Ravelry, I'm still not sure that I do. But it was such a bargain. I couldn't resist.

Just to ensure I wasn't alone, I posted information about the sale on the Australian Knits group to enable my fellow Melbourne knitters in their knitting stash enhancement.

Lost in the inner sanctum

Well I finally made it into Ravelry and have spent a good few hours wandering around, thinking "This is way too much for me to ever comprehend".

The overwhelmed expression on my new icon probably gives a pretty good indication of how I am feeling. Nonetheless, I managed to track down Beth so I have one friend in there. If anyone else wants to find me, I'm theknitaholic (I can't believe no-one else had already used the name).

I fear I will be almost as bad as everyone else in my lack of description of Ravelry. It is a kind of knitters' universe - very big and constantly expanding. If you've spent a reasonable amount of time looking at knitting blogs and forums and websites and knit-a-longs on the Internet, you'll already know there is almost anything imaginable out there (who would have ever imagined we'd have a Knitting Olympics, Tour de Fleece or Sock Wars??? Not to mention specialised groups for people who want theme their knitting with their reading or other obsessions.) Well in Ravelry, all these groups are available in one place. There is a group for people who want to knit or crochet a thong (g-string) - AND they have 13 people signed up already. Seven people have formed a group for knitters with children adopted from China. Someone is trying to start up a group for people with sleep disorders - I have no doubt it will take off. And there are huge groups forming of knitters who are dieting together, fans of a particular designer, discussing their wool allergies and anything else you can imagine. Less than 48 hours after the Modern Quilt Wrap pattern hit the Internet, there was a group discussing yarn substitutes.

I gather one of the big things is keeping track of one's own projects, keeping a record of potential future projects and showing off/viewing others' yarn-stashes. I haven't got this far yet.

Hmm... I can see who doesn't have to pay for her own yarn

Sandi at Knitting Daily has been waxing lyrical about the gorgeous Modern Quilt Wrap. There is no question that it is an effective pattern, particularly when knitted in the 9 selected colours featured. I was tempted. But let me see: 9 skeins of Rowan Kidsilk Haze at AUD$18.60/skein comes to $167.40 for a scarf!

Yes it is gorgeous and probably an heirloom item. Yes I did spend (mumble mumble) on Noro Kureyon yarn ($14.50/skein) for my Lizard Ridge afghan.

Today, however, I must be more fiscally responsible and admire from afar. And remind myself that I have a stash full of yarn to satisfy my knitting urge.

BSJ convert

OK, now I get it.

Look how this:

Becomes this!

And now (with buttons) this!

What I would do differently next time.
1/ Use a finer yarn (10-ply is way too heavy for a baby)
2/ As described in the excellent KnitWiki, change the pattern to avoid picking up stitches on the wrong side.

21 people from Ravelry invite

Found you!

• You signed up on June 25, 2007


• You are #10970 on the list.


• 21 people are ahead of you in line.


• 19095 people are behind you in line.


• 36% of the list has been invited so far

By the time you read this I will probably have finally received my long awaited Ravelry invite and will have made it into the inner-sanctum.

I have no idea what it is all about, how it is supposed to work and the little cynical inner core of me is wandering "Is this some kind of virtual cult for knitters?" and "How can anything live up to this level of hype?"

There is nothing in Wikipedia yet which is a bit disconcerting, however I found an intriguing description on Talullah's blog.

I think Ravelry is meant to be a kind of MySpace for knitters, but as I don't know how MySpace works, that isn't very helpful. I really will try and do my best to explain what Ravelry is, once I'm in there. Providing I haven't been taken over by a Stepford-style cyberbot that is only capable of saying "Ravelry is the coolest best thing ever for knitters and you are so out of things if you are not in there".

My husband has assured me that if I am sucked into some kind of knitters' cult he will send his troops from World of Warcraft (which of course is not an addictive cyber-cult) in to rescue me.

If this works out I will be very surprised

I am only about 20 rows from the end of this Baby Surprise Jacket and for the life of me I do not know how it is going to magically fold into a jacket shape. I guess that is the surprise.

I hope the slabs of colour look OK when it is finished.

I've really enjoyed this from a knitting perspective - it's a fun project - but I think I'll enjoy the next one more when I "get" how it works and where the stripes end up. I'm trying to reserve judgement but I think 10-ply (worsted weight) yarn is way too thick and heavy for baby clothes - even 8-ply would be pushing it. This little bit of knitting weighs a tonne - all I want to do is cast on a nice lightweight 4-ply sock next! The poor baby! Maybe it will be a good blanket alternative for next winter.

My colleague S safely delivered a little girl last night. Apparently the labour went for 30 hours. Counting backwards it means that labour probably started within a few hours of her finishing off work and finally going on leave. Months ago we were joking S would still be working while pushing out the baby; earlier this week we realised it was getting a bit too close to the truth.

I'm sending up the little sock-yarn jacket to her tomorrow (she's in another state); if the BSJ works out, I'll post it next week.

Still slogging along

Still slogging along with the BSJ, randomly alternating bits of pink and blue. I have no idea how the slabs of colour will fall when it all comes together (as my mind is not yet around the construction of this jacket) but I have faith that it will all work out in the end.

I barely knit at all on public transport any more. The trams are getting more and more packed - even having enough room to read is a challenge some days. I suspect the transport authorities will soon be hiring "pushers" to squeeze all the commuters in, much like they do in Japan. It's cheaper than putting on more vehicles but sooner or later they will have to have to concede that twice as many commuters into the same number of trams does not go!

I've got slack on my reading blog; trying to write reviews of everything I read started seeming a little pointless and I kept falling behind. But I'm still going to use it as a way of keeping a record of what I've read this year; a record of where some of my life has gone.

Today was the first glorious (almost) spring day of the year (it's still technically winter but someone forgot to tell the sun that). It was amazing just to be able to hand the washing outside and bring it back in dry within a few hours. I also attacked the ever-growing ivy and 'Wandering Jew' (I hate that name but I don't think there is another common name for the plant) that regularly takes over the side of the house - I fantasize that one day I will finally rid our home of these pests. I have to admit that I was inspired by Crazy Aunt Purl who has just redone her living room floor single-handedly; if she can do a major project like that on her own, I can face up to a few persistent weeds. Of course I ran out of space in the green waste bin before I finished the job but we can't afford a skip, so it will have to be a regular fortnightly project until it is finished. J, meanwhile, was painting a door on the flat; he reckons painting is the most boring project possible, mainly because you have to wait so long between layers.

Warped strip of garter-stitch fabric

The problem with the Baby Surprise Jacket is that it looks like nothing until it is completed. At the moment is is a warped strip of garter-stitch fabric.

I'm using some lovely soft Cleckheaton Merino Supremo yarn.

I got a bit confused at 'Make 1 using a Backward Cast-On Loop method' but found an excellent instructional video here.

I keep getting distracted. I've joined the Yahoo Illusion Knitting group. I finally gave the pirate illusion scarf to my brother and for the first time I think I may have even impressed him. I want to do more illusion knitting but I'm determined not to have 20 projects on the go at one time again.

And I've found a new pattern for an Irish Hiking Scarf that is completely reversible which I really want to try.

On top of this I really want to make another jumper for a three-year-old friend.

And, oh yes, I still have another lollipop sock to go.

Knit one, rip one

Not much to report on the Baby Surprise Jacket except that I have made every stupid mistake possible and have unravelled my first few inches three times to date. The worst part of this is that I then have to re-cast on 160 stitches which I suspect is a special form of torture designed especially for knitters.

I am contemplating starting with a fresh ball of yarn as clearly the ball I have selected, a lovely deep rich shade of royal purple, is cursed.

The truth is I am not paying close enough attention; trying a new pattern which involves counting stitches while travelling on public transport is just beyond my skills at this stage. There is nothing wrong with the pattern itself; I particularly like EZ's double decrease (slip one, knit 2 together, pass slipped stitch over) which I haven't previously encountered.

I'm sure once I get the first few rows right, the rest will flow beautifully. And I have even joined the Zimmermania blog to keep me motivated and inspired (I'll post there once I have something to show!)


In other news, my lovely ISE4 pal Beth, who has decided that a record-breaking hot Ohio summer is the perfect time to churn out multiple pairs of socks (I can't talk; I knitted my Noro Lizard-Ridge blanket in similar temperature during the Australian summer), nominated me for a Five Star Pal Award. I was very pleased to see that Beth also got a well-deserved award.

Blocked and appliquéd

Amazing what a difference proper finishing makes. It's not perfect but I'm not ashamed of it either - and I've learnt an important lesson for next time.

I've started the famous EZ Baby Surprise Jacket. No pictures yet. Casting on 160 stitches while travelling on a packed tram was the major challenge for today!

In denial

I resolutely finished the sleeves of the baby jacket.

It still looks unbalanced.

I tried to crochet a dark flower to sew onto the light side and a light one for the dark side.

No go.

I'm contemplating an appliqué.

I'm in denial.

I think it is time to start on the EZ Baby Surprise jacket in a nice plain yarn with no pooling possible. Although I'll probably introduce a contrast stripe.

Once that is finished I may be able to face unravelling the jacket I've just knitted so the yarn can be reused for socks.

WAAAH!!!

Pooling problem

Oh dear.

I cast off the baby jacket, folded the fronts together and noticed a slight problem. The Opal yarn stripes had pooled. As can be seen, the darker colours, the purple and pink pooled on the RHS of the cardigan, while the white and pale blue pooled on the LHS.

It doesn't look like it, but the body is all one piece!

Hmm. Well at least it answered my question about whether I should try and match the stripes on the cardigan sleeves.

Any ideas?

What is the use of a blog without photos or hyperlinks?

No photos today. Sorry. I am well aware that the modern-day equivalent of Alice's "What is the use of a book without pictures or conversations?" (C S Lewis, Alice in Wonderland. The original book. Not the Disney movie. Go visit a library. Look up 'classics'. Hell, it can be downloaded free here) is "What is the use of a blog without photos or hyperlinks?"

However I'm blogging from my gmail account which means it's a case of either no pictures or no entry today. I'll try and include some hyperlinks.

Knitting: I'm about a third of the way through the baby raglan cardigan. I'm using 6-ply self-patterning Opal sock yarn which I'm convinced is the best yarn possible for baby items. Reasons:

• It's the perfect balance between being hard-wearing (25% nylon) and quality natural yarn (75% wool)
• It can be thrown in the washing machine and dryer with few ill-effects. After watching one of my friend's babies throw up over a jumper I had lovingly knitted in hand-wash only yarn, I had a greater appreciation of the value of using washing-machine friendly yarn for kiddie clothes - especially as sleep-deprived parents will just chuck everything in the washing machine and dryer, no matter what you or the label says.
• The self-patterning nature of the yarn means that one can get a very impressive effect on a relatively simple item - in fact it shows up best on plain stockinette stitch.
• 6-ply knits up relatively fast compared to baby-weight yarns but is not ridiculously bulky.

Best Knitting Exchange Pal ever: Beth. She has put me in touch with some brilliant patterns that one day I will have time to knit, offered to hold my hand through the EZ Baby Surprise jacket pattern, and has provided lots of helpful knitting tips and plenty of inspiration as she knits her way through enough socks to outfit every kid in Hogwarts in their house colours.

Biggest waste of time: YouTube. J & I went to see Phantom of the Opera which is currently playing in Melbourne, starring Anthony Warlow who is arguably the second-best Phantom ever (after Michael Crawford). It was brilliant. But then of course I had to go onto YouTube and download the five million versions of Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman (the original Christina; the part was written for her) singing Phantom and then I got side-tracked into downloading their other music videos and it was after midnight before I got to bed.

Knitting Interruptus

Like most of the other blogs I've been perusing lately, Harry Potter has cast Knitting Interruptus on me while I finish the final seventh book.

No spoilers here for anyone still going through it.

I finished my first ribbed Lollipop sock (which looks seriously Ridiculous when not on my foot - J was making rude remarks about it looking like a condom for a horse - now that is a vision should a Bogart take over any one's cupboard...)

And at the risk of incurring second sock syndrome I have cast on another project.

One of my loveliest colleagues (based in another city) is expecting a baby on 2 September which means I have five weeks to make, block and post an appropriate item of clothing. EZ Baby Surprise jackets are all over the knitting blogosphere at the moment but 1/ I don't have the pattern; 2/ I'm not confident of the instructions for the alternative Baby Surplice jacket that I do have the pattern for; and 3/ I've previously made this top-down raglan baby jacket in self-striping 6-ply Opal sock yarn and I'm confident it will turn out well.

If I have time I will tackle the Baby Surplice jacket.

How our cats broke a $19 floor lamp and we wasted a whole weekend

On second thoughts, I don't think I can bare to recount everything that happened this weekend. The short story is that J & I:

• Woke up on Saturday to a 'crash' that turned out to be the cats knocking over a cheap but useful uplight floor lamp. Not only was the shade broken, but the light fitting no longer worked.
  
• Went to Bunnings (giant warehouse hardware store) and chose two new lamps that combined an upright and reading lamp on each (1 1/2 hours)
  
• Set them up (1/2 hour)
• Noticed we had bought the wrong light bulbs from Bunnings for the upright part.
• Decided to use bulbs from the kitchen light fitting (that were the right wattage)
  
• Noticed a strange burning smell (five minutes after turning on the lights)
  
• Heard a load pop
• Quickly turned off the lamps. Unscrewed a bulb and discovered it was burnt and melted at the base.
• Later we discovered that the reading lamp lights on both lamps no longer worked.
  

Sunday

• 10.30am:Went back to Bunnings and showed a skeptical staff member evidence of why we were returning the lamps.
• Waited 10 minutes while someone from the electrical department was called to inspect the burnt bulb and fitting.
• Had our claim approved
• Waited 20 minutes in a queue to return the lamps
• By this stage the girl processing the claims had forgotten it was already approved. Waited another 10 minutes while she verified it.
• Told the girl we also wanted to return the light bulbs. Girl takes three attempts to refund the final $11 onto my credit card.
• J tells me it is too early to buy a sausage from the scouts who have set up a stand outside the store.
• 12 noon. Drive to Nunawading. Visit Harvey Norman (department store). Spend half-an-hour wandering around and dragging J out of the computer section.
  
• Visit three different lighting stores that want to charge us between $135 and $450 for a floor lamp.
• Visit Officeworks to use the toilet. Lose J in Officeworks. Find him 20 minutes later buying DVD discs.
• Decide to visit Bunnings Nunawading. Spend 40 minutes looking at poor quality lights and deciding not to buy anything.
  
• J won't let me buy a sausage from the scouts here either.
• 2.40pm: Home for a quick lunch. I look online and find the perfect lamp combing an upright and reading lamp for only $29 in the Ikea catalogue. The computer claims it is available at Ikea Richmond.
• 3.30pm: Drive to Richmond. Spend 20 minutes trying to find a park in the worst-ever designed carpark that is in serious need of a traffic engineer or at least some staff directing traffic.
• Walk around the rat maze that is Ikea trying not to get distracted by the soft toys and kitchenware. Discover our perfect lamp. Also notice that an exact replica of the broken lamp is available for just $19.
• Decide to buy perfect lamp. Jeff collects matching light bulbs. Suspicious empty pallet next to display lamp suggests that the perfect lamp is sold out.
• Spend 20 minutes finding and waiting for customer service who confirm perfect lamp is sold out.
• J & I look at each other and concede defeat. Go back to the $19 lamp that is a replica of the broken lamp. Buy it and spend 15 minutes getting out of the carpark.
• 5pm. Get home. J sets up new lamp and retreats to his room to play World of Warcraft.

Final words on ISE4

I am no longer putting buttons in my sidebar (except for the knitting ring buttons). I lost all my buttons when I moved to the new Blogger and found that I could cope without them. And I could never decide how long to keep them or if the number was getting ridiculous.

Hence the internal posting for the 'Gold Star ISE4 Pal' button for playing by the rules, making contact with my pals, sending my scarf off on time and posting to the group blog. A kind of high tech version of what the teachers used to put on neatly written work in primary school.

I ended up exchanging a couple of (nice) emails with the organisers expressing my concerns about how some of the exchangees seemed to be pushing up the ante when it came to sending 'extras' with their scarf - which added to postage costs as well as the cost of the extras. (I previously posted about this here.) And I got a very nice receptive response from Sharon who is also in Australia who said she was thinking of organising a lightweight category in the next scarf exchange - which means packages including extras would be limited to a reasonable (but yet to be decided) weight.

I think that's a fabulous idea and am looking forward to a lightweight ISE5.

No I don't have skinny ankles

As Judy aka the Sheep Rustler noted, the self-patterning wool doesn't look quite as good in ribbing as it does in plain stockinette stitch but I decided to go for comfort over pure style. And no, my ankles and calves aren't that skinny; it's just the elasticity of the rib pattern.

I'm very happy with how this sock is coming out - it is the first time I've done a short row heel without having to fudge any of the stitches and there don't seem to be the usual mysterious holes either. Hopefully I haven't jinxed the next sock by writing that!

The global knitting village

I rang up Tapestry Craft in Sydney (on their 1800 number) to order some sock knitting needles today – everywhere in Melbourne seems to be out of the 2mm needles or else they are charging ridiculous prices for fragile wooden toothpicks I know will snap within about 3 seconds of me using them (speaking from experience) – I would have just bought over the net except I couldn’t see any secure encryption on the site (they may have it but I couldn’t see it). How did people survive pre-internet? I am buying yarn from Holland, needles from Sydney and a pattern from the USA with funds and some of the goods being transmitted via services that didn’t even exist 10 years ago! I have this nifty tool on my blog that tells me how many people have visited and from what countries their computer is located in (you can even set it for cities but I find that a little too creepy). And if I wanted to, I could join the “Tour de Fleece” knit-a-thon where thousands of knitters around the globe are knitting and spinning yarn while they watch AND COMMENT ON the bicycle race, the Tour de France. (Drug testing not mandatory for most of the knitters.)

The world in 2007 is a wonderful and very strange place. Yes, there are still so many people dying of starvation and preventable illnesses and in stupid wars and maybe climate change in the not too distant future will destroy us all. And increased material wealth has not solved the problems of sadness and isolation and mental illnesses; although the internet now enables us to know we are not alone, no matter how obscure our personal issue.

What would our ancestors working 18 hours a day to just survive and never travelling more than 20km from home in their lifetime think?

Lollipop sock

My multi-coloured bag is currently felting in the machine (I hope! It's on it's 3rd cycle but some shrinkage is at least evident) and I decided to move onto something completely different. Socks.

It's been a while since I've knitted socks and after the knitting chunky yarn on 9mm needles all week I couldn't face the usual tiny skinny sock needles and yarns. This is Opal Lollipop 6-ply which I knit on 3mm needles. As it is self-patterning yarn, I find a very plain sock pattern works best. In this case it is a toe-up plain foot with short-row heels and a 2X2 rib for the legs. While in many ways much of this knitting could be seen as simply a smaller version of the knitting of my bag (knitting plain garter stitch around and around and around), watching the self-patterning form provides an ample diversion. "I'll just knit to the end of the pink. OK, to the blue. Look this dark blue and white is making an interesting spot pattern."

Yarn bargains
My resolution to refrain from yarn buying took a bit of a hit on Friday. Cleggs was having a sale. I restrained myself to a mere 4 balls of purple Naturally NZ DK yarn and 2 balls of grey/black Patons sock yarn. At $2/ball it was a bargain too good to resist.

I am very proud of myself, however, for resisting the 'bargain' novelty yarn that I would probably never knit or wear.

I was sorely tempted by some of the silk blends and a bamboo yarn but my budget won over my heart.

No longer a beginner

As I sit in front of the TV mindlessly knitting, knitting, knitting in the round, it strikes me that I am no longer a beginner. I am getting bored out of my mind knitting, knitting, knitting this bucket bag on 9mm circular needles, even while watching TV. The only thing keeping me going is the desire to see whether I can actually felt this into a bag. And I'm chuffed to have finally found a use for those fat circular needles I bought on impulse from eBay a few years ago because it was such a great 'bargain' (I'm much better now at resisting 'bargains' on eBay).

So I predict I'll have this bag finished by the end of the week, providing I can stay awake for that long.

Yawn.

Ever since I saw a photo of this yarn I have lusted for its beautiful brightness. It just called out to the inner toddler in me who is in love with pinks and purples and all the colours of the rainbow.

But I was good. I was responsible. I resisted. Because at US$5.95/ball plus postage from the Netherlands it was too much a threat to my fragile budget. Then Astrid put her last five balls up for sale at US$5 for the lot and I succumbed. Sooner than you could say PayPal, it was winding its way to Australia along with a skein of full-priced Opal 6-ply sock yarn because, hey, I was paying all that postage anyway and might as well fill up the satchel completely.

Hmm... well it made budgetary sense at the time.

The label says it is Vogue Collection Ligne Noire; 50 metres in a 50 gram ball. And now I had to decide what to do with it.

I have enough scarfs and wanted something more challenging than knitting 2 metres of garter stitch. And the thing about a thick-thin rainbow coloured yarn is that IMHO it looks a lot nicer on the ball than actually knitted up into anything. But I wasn't going to let it just sit in my stash making me feel guilty about all the money I spent on postage and the space unnecessary 'stuff' takes up in the house.

According to Astrid this yarn is 100% wool and great for felting, so I thought I'd have a go at making a felted bag. I haven't had much luck in the past trying to do felting but the 'thick' part of this yarn is barely-spun roving. My friend Google pointed me towards this pattern for a Felted Bucket Bag. I'm hoping I have enough yarn - the pattern calls for four skeins of Noro; I have five skeins of this yarn but there is far less yardage per ball.

Pirate illusion scarf complete

This is seriously the coolest thing that I have ever knitted.

Not the most complex or challenging or useful or best looking thing I have ever knitted, but definitely the coolest. Which just shows you how big my inner geek is.

As you can see from the bottom right-hand corner of this photo, when you look at this scarf from one angle, it looks like an ordinary striped scarf. Ho-hum.

But as you can see from the top left-hand corner of this photo, when you look at this scarf from another angle, a white skull and cross-bones appears on a black background.

It looks even better in real life when you are not dealing with my dodgy camera work taken in less than ideal conditions under yellow lights of a scarf being wet-blocked on old towels strewn under other drying washing.

But I was too excited to wait to take a photo under ideal circumstances.

I'm planning to give this scarf to my brother for his birthday. If he doesn't appreciate it, I will take it back and give it to someone who does. Like myself.

Things I have learnt: Don't bother trying to add extra knit stitches at the start and end of each row. It doesn't stop the curling and it means that a striped border also appears when viewing it from the picture angle. Not that I overly mind in this case.

The actual knitting was actually quite easy. All the talent belongs to Ysolda who created the original pattern (link to pattern here). I just knitted and purled where she instructed.

Thank you Juli

Juli sent me this lovely soft neck-warmer from North Carolina. It is a gorgeous rich deep purple plum that defies photography - if you are a purple fan, you will know exactly what colour it is. The yarn is a soft silk/angora blend and the pattern is Cinnabar from Magknits. It came out at about 130cm so I don't have to worry about tripping over long ends. She also managed to fit a Vogue Knitting magazine into the Priority Paid envelope. The magazine has lots of patterns including a gorgeous EZ Baby jacket I'm itching to try (no, I don't have any news).

Progress on the Pirate Scarf and thoughts on knitting exchanges

I'm getting quite blown away by the effects of this illusion knitting - my photography really doesn't do it justice. From one angle it looks like a regular striped scarf and from another, all theses skulls and crossbones just appear. I'm about 40% of the way through this scarf - gaining speed as I gain confidence that it is going to work as long as I follow the pattern, and as I internalise the logic of illusion knitting (ie: understand in my head why it works).

It'll probably be a birthday present for my brother.

My ISE4 scarf partner has emailed me to let me know my scarf is in the mail. I'm really looking forward to this. We maintained anonymity for all of about 3 seconds after she accidentally sent her first email with links to her blogs on it (oops - LOL!) but that was fine. In many ways it was good because I felt confident that I was dealing with a real person and I could see her regularly posting on her blog. I didn't go into a meltdown worrying I was one of those people whose partners had disappeared off the face of the earth.

This has been my first such exchange; I'm not sure whether I'll do another one. The plus side was meeting new knitters and new knitting blogs and being part of a group project and extending myself and having a good excuse to purchase and knit with some yummy yarn. That's a LOT of plus side.

The not-so-much minus but less-plus side of the exchange was watching the level of "keeping up with/outdoing the Jones" that seemed to be happening. I tried not to be intimidated by the more complex lace patterned scarfs and shawls that other knitters were making. They were more experienced, I was doing something nice that was challenging for me (breathe Marg... remember to breathe).

Then the photos of packages sent and received started appearing.

I signed up knowing that I would have to spend about $25-$30 on yarn and probably $15-$20 on international postage. It soon became clear that a lot more than just scarfs were being sent. Stitch markers, needles, knitting magazines, skeins of expensive yarn, coffee, chocolate, scented soaps and sometimes a extra knitted items were being included. What the...? Would I be seen as cheap if I ONLY sent a scarf made out of nice yarn?

It wasn't only the cost of purchasing the additional items, but the impact the weight of each item has on the price of posting overseas. Books and magazines are a real killer but I ended up picking up a lightweight soft toy koala, some stickers and a few chocolates to chuck in with my scarf. I wasn't going to get into the one-upmanship competition but I didn't want my pal to feel completely short-changed. (For the record, I'm fairly certain she was quite happy with her extra warm scarf and goodies.)

I don't want any of this to be seen as a criticism of the wonderful people who voluntarily organise such exchanges. The ISE4 organisers have tried to address this issue in their rules:

Many exchangers add fun goodies, local treats and other tidbits to their parcel. Please remember that this is not a requirement. It is lovely of course and very generous but it is above and beyond the requirements. Please do not feel obliged to do this and conversely please do not be disappointed if your pal sends only the scarf she has carefully made.

But human nature being what it is, there is always a tendency for some people to go completely over-the-top, which leaves some other people feeling inadequate. And of course there is the converse problem; those people who try to get away with as little as possible; who never send a scarf despite receiving one themselves or who use cheap and shoddy materials and don't bother to correct their knitting mistakes.

I'm not sure what the answer is. There is no doubt that the knitting exchanges are a great way to make contact with other knitters and the ISE 4 seems to be particularly well organised. Maybe I should just refrain from worrying about the Jones on the website if I join again next year.

Beginning of the illusion of a pirate scarf

Although I am not in the same league as Beth who has created the most amazing Dark Mark Illusion in just a few days.

I've also been busy updating my new blog, The Readaholic.

Secret project revealed - and a new reading blog

The secret project was a version of the Irish Hiking Scarf (two cables instead of three made in super bulky Patons Husky wool from my stash). It was a birthday present for my friend Phill. His birthday isn't until next week but it has been a very cold (by Melbourne standards) and sudden introduction to winter and it seemed cruel and unnecessary to hold it off.


I presented Danica to Jess, Phill's wife and also a good friend, whose birthday is also next week - last year I gave her a hat made out of the same yarn, so it worked out well. I'm very happy to say that like most knitting, Danica improved markedly with blocking but I think I forgot to take a post-blocked photo of it (Do'h!).

Introducing The Readaholic
I have decided to start a new blog for writing about the books I'm reading. This should keep things a bit more organised and allow this blog to focus mainly on the knitting. I was inspired to start The Readaholic by Juli who is knitting a scarf for me as part of ISE4. Juli's set herself a reading challenge; I'm already doing a lot of reading because I spend 2 1/2 hours a day on public transport and it is getting too crowded to knit en route - I can read standing up with one hand holding onto a seat back using the book as a barrier between me and my fellow commuter's armpit. Plus I love reading anyway. So check it out if you are interested.

The illusion of knitting something new

The secret project is now finished; I'll post a photo later this month once the recipient has received it.



I have finally started to dip my toe into illusion knitting. After a couple of false starts I decided on Ysolda's skull illusion scarf. I've slightly altered the pattern - added two extra garter stitch rows at the start and an extra three garter stitches at the start and end of each row; this stops the scarf curling at the sides and ends; it also makes it a bit wider which I prefer. Assuming it turns out as planned and I can finish it within a month, it will be another birthday present.

The prophecy of Philip Dick

The Secret Project is now half done - how I love big bulky wool!

 

Danica is looking a lot happier now that I have steam-blocked it but I still hate the seam-look.

 

I have a disturbing number of project ideas either on the needles (no dear socks, I haven't forgotten you) or spinning around my head or in print-offs and photo-copies of patterns.  I've extended my borrowing time on Big Girl Knits and obtained a new interesting stitch idea from my ISE4 partner Beth. And I'm only committed to four more birthday presents within the next two months.

 

So of course I have chosen this time to interrupt my knitting to catch up on some long missed reading.  I am currently going through a Philip Dick stage - he was the twisted mind behind the ideas that created the films Blade Runner, Total Recall and Minority Report.  Apparently he took a lot of drugs which probably led to his early death (just a few weeks before the release of Blade Runner) and I suspect that reading some of his books may be a way of accompanying him on his drug trips without the nasty side-effects.  They have the internal logic of some of my bizarre dreams that make perfect sense while I am having them but make no sense at all once I've woken up.

 

His books explore the two philosophical ideas that obsessed him and that he never resolved during his life - "What is reality?" and "What is an authentic human being?"  What I find most fascinating is that he explores concepts that have become the reality in our world, decades after his death.  He never lived to see the growth of the Internet or creation of virtual worlds such as Second Life and World of Warcraft  - but more than 40 years ago he described the issue of people becoming obsessed with a virtual world to the exclusion of the real world.

 

I fear that it is only a matter of time that science and technology catch up with some of his ideas about the role machines play in our world.

Secret project

No photos today as I am working on a Secret Project for someone I am fairly sure reads this blog...

 

Hints:

• It is using up some super-bulky (16-ply) light grey wool from my stash
• It incorporates cables, now that I realise that cables are really, really easy but look impressive to the uninitiated
• It is a birthday present
• It is not being sent offshore

Tantalised yet???

Shameless photo stealing

Not only is Beth a really talented knitter, she is a much better photographer than me. Here are her photos of the scarf and chockies I sent her as part of ISE4.

Danica - the close-up

OK, it still needs blocking but as you can see from the close-up, even that won't solve the problem of the wrong side from looking like it is full of seams.

Apologies for the lack of photos but the rechargeable batteries in my camera have a half-life of approximately 3 seconds and are currently in their usual place (the recharger) instead of in the digital camera.

(Yes, I realise that photos are essential to a blog; it's a sort of modern-day version of Lewis Caroll's Alice who has no use for a book with pictures or conversation. Maybe my links are the modern version of conversation?)

I have finally finished Danica. It was a fun knit but in retrospect probably the worst possible technique for use in a scarf as the 'wrong' side looks very wrong (as if one has sewn together a whole heap of little squares and you are looking at the seam side) and a scarf is the one item where you are guaranteed to get a good view of both sides of the knitting. So 8/10 for the fun of knitting but not so high a score for the wearability of the final product. Mind you, the way fashions are nowadays with raw seams often on the outside of clothes, maybe it does work. But not for me. I will inflict it on a friend who is already the recipient of a jester-style hat made out of the same yarn - she's got the quirky personality to actually carry this off.

I haven't posted for a few days. I finally got over my cold and returned to my job on Monday to find that exactly none of my work had been done by anyone else in my absence. I wasn't surprised but this week has been a bit of a huge catch-up game for me.

And today I got an email from my ISE 4 pal Beth who has received my scarf and says she loves it. Plus of course the obligatory Australian chocolate which was included. Most Americans, I've noticed, go nuts over Australian chocolate whereas we go nuts over the Swiss chocolate. I wonder what the Swiss go nuts over (or do they merely acknowledge their superiority in chocolate-making as part of the natural course of things?) Beth is an amazingly talented spinner and sock knitter who produces beautiful items at an incredible rate. Mind you, I envy anyone who can knit a hole-free heal. LOL.

My other partner has been in regular contact and I am confident of receiving my scarf from her, probably towards the end of June (which is the official due date).

Favourite photos

These are my favourite photos taken in recent memory. From a knitting perspective, I am wearing 3 items of handknitting (the hat, scarf and jumper) and don't look completely ridiculous (although I do look like I'm dressed for the snow; it was a very cool Sunday morning but not snowing). And both Jeff and I are smiling and look like humans (as opposed to Shrek and Fiona body-doubles). The little boy is Joshua, the son of our good friends, Phill and Jess. He is so cute and adorable and for some reason really likes us. Last time we visited he was plotting ways for us to move into his house and allocating a space for our car in his parents' garage.

Can't knit... must sleep

The problem with being a basically healthy person is that I tend to get very grumpy when I get sick. It's nothing serious; just a head cold that needs lots of fluids, vitamin C, over-the-counter pills and rest.

I knew things were wrong on Tuesday night when I spent more time unravelling mistakes in my knitting than actually achieving anything. So knitting is out. The TV is annoying me so it is off but surprisingly I can still read. Well, for about 10 minutes before I fall asleep with the book on my face.

Smudgey, who has recovered well from his surgery, is setting an excellent example for me; he can sleep anytime, anywhere, including on top of me for company. He has become such a calm cat since his abscess was removed! I'm feeling really guilty as it looks like his klutziness and grumpiness was not just the result of middle-age (as we assumed) but probably related to the abscess - and he may have had it for years. That's the problem with our four-legged friends, they can't tell us "I have a sore butt". Smudgey is still lazy but not half the klutz or coward that he was; in the past he would just let his (smaller) brother dominate but over the past week he's shown a tendency to stand up for himself. Hopefully the boys will re-establish their territorial boundaries without hurting each other. We can't afford any more vet bills.

Jeff's being a good Yiddishe mamma and has put on a big pot of chicken soup for me. He's trying to take care of me and fussing around and I'm responding like a big grumpy cat that just wants to be left alone to sleep.

Monday 14 May 2007

Currently knitting: I've been gradually working my way through Danica. I think this scarf will be a birthday present for a friend in June.

I've been dying to try out illusion knitting. Except instead of a DNA helix I'd like to slip in a a reference to the original subversive knitter, Madam Defarge (Dickens). Must remember to finish projects before starting another! I still have a partially started sock and I want to knit another jumper for my friends' 3-year-old and maybe a jumper for myself...

On the Amazon wish list: My favourite blogger Crazy Aunt Purl is releasing a book in October. I am addicted to CAP as she is affectionately known by her readers. Her writing is hilarious and touching and sad and meaningful (often all at the same time) and so true that it just rips your heart out and is just begging to be made into a Bridget Jones-esque style film. After 10 years of marriage, CAP's husband walked out, telling her he needed to get his creativity back. Two weeks later he moved into a new apartment with a new girlfriend. CAP had a few girlfriends of her own who stood by her, coaxed her out of her house and into a knitting group and put up with some really bad cooking as she went through the ups and downs of rebuilding her life and becoming a self-actualised person. And she kept a diary of the process.

We never find out what happened to Mr X, but CAP found her own creativity, built up a readership of 10,000 people and got a book deal, all to the cheers of thousands of women and some men from around the world. She's now campaigning on all the other important issues like why do stores turn up their nose at stocking a basic collection of women's clothes in a wide range of sizes. Anyway, go to her site and read her blog from the beginning. And I bet you end up putting her book on your wish list too.

Book that should be burned: As a reader and book lover I don't generally advocate destruction but this particular volume is an insult to readers, knitters and human beings in general. It's a collection of photos of has-been and never-were so-called celebrities and their scarf "patterns" nearly all of which are "cast on X stitches and knit every row". Yep, we really need a book to tell us that.

Although if they did another volume and it included photos of Paris Hilton accidental strangling herself with a garter-knit scarf... well, I could be tempted :)

Look what I found at my local library

The knitting blogosphere has been buzzing with positive reviews and comments about Big Girl Knits ever since it came out (April 2006) because there are very few examples of figure flattering designs aimed at larger women. As I live in Australia, I thought it would be months or years before I saw a copy; yes we can buy anything from Amazon but that also involves swallowing the international postage costs.

I've never really thought of looking to my local library for knitting books; I just assumed there would be a few dated volumes from the 1960s, 70s and early 80s and nothing worth considering. But I wanted to find a particular Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern and thought that as her books are more than 25 years old there was a chance it may be at the library. As it turned out the library did not stock any Elizabeth Zmmermann books - but it did have some surprisingly recent knitting volumes, including Big Girl Knits.

I'm not sure I'll actually knit any of the jumpers but there is a really interesting section on design and fitting. And it has been really great to be able to have a look at this book before deciding to hand over my hard earned cash.

The indignity of it all!

Smudgey was released from hospital this morning and as you can see he is not impressed with his new neck-ruff (which stops him licking his wound). He spent some time walking backwards today (in the mistaken belief that he could walk out of the collar). Jeff put his food on a flat platter so he can eat. While Smudgey prefers an outdoor toilet, he's going to have to get used to his kitty litter for the next fortnight.

Despite being annoyed with us for abandoning him at the hospital for 2 days, he's decided he wants our company - on his terms that is. He is currently sitting next to me on the good computer chair while I'm on an old chair.

Visiting the Lort Smith Animal Hospital is a rather surreal experience. In many ways it is just like visiting a normal hospital; the same sterile look and plastic waiting chairs and a triage nurse who explains that your appointment may be moved back if an emergency comes in. Then the PA announcements come - the pet's name and your surname; "Coco Smith to room five... Smudgey B---- to room six..."

The vet, who must have seen some pretty bad things in her time, winces as she looks at Smudgey's backside and tells us "This is serious" and that she is going to have to admit him for surgery. We're given the option of contacting a private vet at goodness knows what cost for doing surgery on a Sunday or leaving Smudgey at the semi-socialised not-for-profit hospital for an operation some time over the next two days.

We have seen how the truly ill and injured animals always take priority at the hospital, and are confident that they will operate on Smudgey before he deteriorates any further. We don't have a regular vet and would have less confidence in one picked at random from the phone book than one working at the Lort Smith. We book Smudgey into the hospital.

On Monday afternoon Jeff gets a welcome call from the Lort Smith hospital. They've operated on Smudgey, it wasn't as bad as expected and he will be ready to be picked up on Tuesday morning. The final bill, while not cheap, is a lot less than we expected and probably half that a private vet would have charged.