Vale Trevor

Last Friday Trevor, one of my colleagues, failed to turn up to work. That afternoon we discovered that he had passed away during the night. He was in his 40s.

Trevor didn't enjoy good health but his death was completely unexpected. Prior to last Friday he had been one of the oldest (if not the oldest) surviving Australians born with cystic fibrosis. But if you didn't know he had it, you would never have guessed it. What you noticed was his passion and energy and determination and utter commitment to unionism. If you noticed he was aged beyond his years, the immediate assumption was that maybe he had partied a little too hard in his youth. But the only drugs Trevor took were prescription.

Trevor could be overly direct and abrupt but, as one of my friend's put it, this was because he always knew he didn't have the same amount of time as everyone else and he wanted to fit it all in. Last week he was campaigning against one of the most recalcitrant employers in Australia and negotiating with his builder over a major Art Deco renovation of his home.

Everyone was in massive shock when they heard of his death. Yes, we all knew that he had lived 20 years longer than most people with cf and that he had been in and out of hospital several times over the past months (during which time he sat up in bed writing union organising plans) but there was no warning that his time was coming now. When someone has spent their entire life beating the odds, you expect them to keep doing so.

Trevor died as all good people should; suddenly and hopefully without pain, after years of doing what he believed in. He always wanted to do more but those of us left behind know that he fitted more into his shortened life than many people twice his age with perfect health.

His legacy lives on in the many people he touched over the years.

Still alive and knitting

It's been 35+ for the past four days (hottest February weather for 40 years) but prior to the heat kicking in, I finished the back and front of my cardigan. In the end I unravelled every attempt at eyelet holes and cables, deciding that the simple look was ultimately the best.

I'll knit the sleeves at the same time, which has three advantages. 1/ I won't suffer from second-sleeve syndrome (where one gets so bored with the knitting that the second sleeve is never knitted). 2/ It guarantees they will both be the same length and shape. 3/ If I run out of blue yarn (very likely) I will have a pink segment in the same position on each sleeve.

Merino Supremo

I bought this Cleckheaton Merino Supreme yarn on sale at Cleggs last year. Being an end-of-season sale and half price, there wasn't enough of any one colour to make an adult-sized jumper, but the yarn was just so soft and screaming "knit me" and it was an absolute bargain ($3/ball) that I couldn't resist. I figured the grey-blue and soft pale pink went well together.

And for once this is one impulse bargain buy that I don't (yet) regret.

It's been another mild week, so I cast on for a jumper and have been really impressed by just what a joy this yarn is to knit with. You can feel the quality in every stitch. And being 10-ply it knits up very quickly.

Even though I was initially planning on making a jumper, the fabric has more the feel of a lovely cozy cardigan, so I'll probably go this way. It also means I can use the pink yarn for the front bands as well as the ribbed bands and collar and cuffs.

I'm finding knitting the plain stocking stitch rather dull and boring but don't want to add even more bulk with cables. Maybe I'll introduce an eyelet pattern towards the top of the garment.

Two more hats

Ignore the colour of the hat on the left. It is actually the lovely deep rich purple which I used to edge my Lizard Ridge blanket but the camera was being very strange this morning. As part of my stash-reduction plan, I decided to use the last of this yarn to make myself a hat.

I'd pretty much given up on trying to knit hats for my husband - every hat I've made him to date has been too big, too small or somehow not quite right. But Goldilocks decided that my purple hat was just the right size and style for him, so I relented and did a black version.

Here is the really simple pattern for anyone else who has a Goldilocks in their life (and so I don't forget it myself). While all the ribbing is mind-numbingly boring, it solves a lot of sizing issues as it can expand and contract. And it is the sort of knitting you can do to justify watching Babylon 5 or Midsomer Murder episodes on TV or DVD.

2 X 50g balls of 8ply wool (any brand) - you'll only use about half of the second ball

3.75mm 40cm circular needle (optional)

set of 3.75mm DPNs (Double Pointed Needles)

(Tighter knitters may need to use 4mm needles - just use whatever size you normally use for 8ply knitting; the ribbing is very forgiving if your guage is a little out.)

Cast on 120 stitches onto the ciruclar needle (or DPNS, 40 stitches per needle if you have a set of 4; 30 stitches per needle if you have a set of 4). Join ends, being careful not to twist stitches.

(The most difficult part of the hat is now complete).

Put on a dialogue-heavy DVD or BBC radio play (Lord of the Rings or the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy are good)

*k2, p2 (repeat from *) until you have a ribbed tube measuring 25cm in length.

*k2, p2-tog (repeat from *) for one round.

*k2-tog, p1(repeat from *) for one round.

Change to DPNS

Knit one round (placing 20 stitchers on each needle)

*k8, k2-tog (repeat from *) for one round. (54 stitches remaining)

*k7, k2-tog (repeat from *) for one round. (48 stitches remaining)

*k6, k2-tog (repeat from *) for one round. (42 stitches remaining)

*k5, k2-tog (repeat from *) for one round. (36 stitches remaining)

*k4, k2-tog (repeat from *) for one round. (30 stitches remaining)

*k3, k2-tog (repeat from *) for one round. (24 stitches remaining)

*k2, k2-tog (repeat from *) for one round. (18 stitches remaining)

*k1, k2-tog (repeat from *) for one round. (12 stitches remaining)

*k2-tog (repeat from *) for one round. (6 stitches remaining)

Cut yarn, leaving a 15 cm tail. Thread the end onto a wool needle and draw through the remaining 6 stitches. Pull tightly and sew end neatly into the wrong side of the hat. Sew in the starting end. Roll up brim to desired height.

How to buy size 14 clothes on sale (really)

Once upon a time when I was a size 14 and thought I was the biggest blob on the planet (now of course I wish for those heady skinny days) I used to get really irritated in clothing stores that seemed to sell out of their size 14 or large items within a day and were filled with extra small and small sized clothes (sizes 8-10) that inevitably were heavily discounted at the middle or end of the season. It just wasn't fair!

Now that I am a little larger I buy a lot of my clothes at stores that specialise in sizes 14+. I went to the sales last week and while I did reasonably well (3 skirts and 4 tops from Taking Shape for well under $200 in total), I noticed something else. Like all clothing stores, most of their sale items were in the “extra small” and “small” sizes which in the plus-size world generally translates as sizes 14 and 16. So if you happen to be a size 14 and visit a plus-size store, you can not only pick up a good bargain in clothes that actually fit but you can also have the satisfaction of walking around wearing a genuine “extra small” labelled garment. (Very silly I know, but also satisfying on a superficial level.)

For instance, the MySize clearance store in Richmond had good work shirts that I paid $60-$70 for a few months ago for only $9.95 – if you happened to be a size 14-16.

I can't wait until I am a tiny size 14-16 again and can take advantage of such bargains.

Lessons from the summer of 2006/07

I love a sunburnt country,

A land of sweeping plains,

Of ragged mountain ranges,

Of drought and flooding rains,

I love her far horizons,

I love her jewel sea,

Her beauty and her terror -

The wide brown land for me.

Dorothea MacKellar

That just about sums up this year's summer - and we're only just over halfway there.

What with the 40+ degree temperatures, power outages, 50 days of continuous bushfires and now flash floods (the international tennis players at the Australian Open must wonder what surreal hell they have fallen into given that the weather has been extreme by even Melbourne standards), the climate over the past week hasn't exactly been conducive to knitting. I think I might have done a couple of rounds of a ribbed beanie in front of the fan before my husband screamed that I was making him feel hot. I might get a bit more knitting done next week given the weather bureau is predicting cooler temperatures - providing of course we don't get rain leaking through the cracks that have appeared in the house from 3 years of extreme drought.

Welcome to Australia.

But I am not going to whinge about the rain or the monsoonal steam that is creeping in everywhere, no matter how irritating or how much mould it is forming. "We need the rain"; this is the Australian mantra. I just hope some of it is putting out the bushfires and/or falling into the dams. Too often we are mocked with just enough rain to be irritating but too little to do much good. We need good heavy rain in the right areas right now.

A lot of people say this is all part of the climate change from global warming; others claim it is just an extreme blip on our always erratic weather patterns. Australia has always been notorious for extreme weather; the above poem was written in 1906. But this year has definitely been a wake-up call to remind us that even if this is not the result of climate change we, as Australians, simply have to be wiser and more sensible about our use of water.

My first cable hat

Made out of scrap 14-ply wool. The 3:3 cables came out rather tight.

Lizard Ridge complete!

Hard as it may be to believe, this blanket only incorporates four different Noro Kureyon colourways (126,139, 148 & 163), so it really showcases the variety of the yarns. I edged it in a rich purple 8-ply which I'm fairly sure was Naturally New Zealand. It took about 4 months of off-again on-again knitting, sewing and crocheting to complete (with a few scarfs and hats knitted in between). All-in-all I'm pretty happy with the result but I don't want to think about the amount of money I spent on the yarn (even though about half was already in my stash). My husband claims just looking at it is making him feel hot (it's the heart of summer in Australia), so I've rolled it up and put it away for winter.

There is light at the end of my blanket

I would normally feel guilty for watching 3 entire series (that is years) of a show over a period of less than a month, but I have spent most of this time also sewing together my Lizard Ridge blanket and it is tantalisingly close to finished.  24 beautiful squares stitched together, using the invisible mattress stitch.  The first row of single crochet around the edge.  More than half of the second row almost finished.

 

Of course the temperature is now going through a post-30 degree Celsius spurt (summer has returned) and I have returned to work from my holidays but I can see a light at the end of my blanket. 

 

I will post a picture as soon as I can

 

We watched the first Babylon 5 movie last night which was not nearly as good as the series that followed.  I believe that many, even better, shows have also taken months, if not years to warm up.  It makes one wonder what potential gems are never forming with new shows being yanked from the screens if they don't rate within a week or two.

New Year, new resolutions

New Year's resolutions are generally both worthy and worthless. We resolve to do worthy things - eat better, exercise more, be nicer to people, etc. And they are worthless because after a few hours, days or weeks, we revert to the usual habits.

I didn't bother waiting for the new year for the usual resolutions. And I am keeping them better than I have in the past. But this year I decided on a special knitter's resolution. As I currently have enough wool in my stash for at least a dozen jumpers and pairs of socks, I will attempt to knit up at least one garment in between purchasing more wool. Scarfs and hats don't count, although I suspect they will be a major part of the destashing process.

I had enough of the 14-ply recycled jumper wool left over to make up another hat - this time with tight twisted cables, a first for me. Picture to follow, when I can be organised. I started knitting up a pair of socks but unravelled them when I started making mistakes (a lot of my knitting is being done while watching Babylon 5 and series 3 is proving to be very enthralling). Instead I am sewing up my Noro blanket while watching TV, which is a worthy job. With any luck it will be finished by winter. Memo to self: No more blanket squares, even if they are Noro. I hate sewing.

We interupt this summer for some winter knitting

It's been really cold this week in Melbourne and we are really glad we've procrastinated taking in the winter doona for its summer clean because we have needed it. This time last year we were melting in the heat.

What I should have been doing was sewing together all those Noro blanket squares. What I have been doing is a new hat and scarf project (because I only have about 50 of these already!) But it is not all bad: I found the half-finished 14-ply jumper I started about 8-months ago and abandoned after realising it was too short and too wide for me to wear, ripped out the knitting, salvaged what yarn I could. Then I started on a nice simple piece of therapeutic knitting, a four-stitch four-row wide basket weave scarf. Then I realised I had plenty of yarn left over, so I made a matching hat. It's all very daggy or "cute in a retro way" as my husband puts it. It is also very warm. I'm not sure if I will inflict it on a friend or relative or donate it to charity.

You wouldn't believe this if it was in the movies

Australia is famous for some pretty quirky weather including sudden changes that tend to freak out visitors and newcomers. But a film script based on the events of the past few weeks in Victoria would be dismissed as being too unbelievable (although I can see it being promoted as 'A Christmas Miracle'.)

Due to a lack of rain, the bushfire season started early with the first fires in October. By the start of December there were massive bushfires in the alpine areas of Victoria, destroying hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest, burning down buildings, and injuring a number of firefighters, killing one. In the week before Christmas, the fire was threatening several communities and there was the very real possibility that a major ski resort would go up in flames.

Then the miracle happened. It rained, enough to put out some of the fires. The weather remained cool. And on Christmas day it snowed. In the middle of an Australian summer, snow fell on the Victorian alps.

If you don't believe me, visit the story here. They even have a photo of the fire truck covered with snow and Christmas decorations, surrounded by some very relieved firefighters.

And now the work begins

I've finally finished knitting all 24 Lizard Ridge squares, all the ends are woven in and I've even steam blocked the squares flat. But how I dread sewing it all up!

Speaking of sewing up, it looks like my square for Grandmother Purl's blanket made it into the main item (3rd row from the top, 3rd square from the right) - not everyone was as conscious as me in ensuring they produced a perfect 8 inch square; hence two more blankets made up of "squares slightly smaller than 8 inches" and "squares slightly larger than 8 inches" will be made up.

I also received a certificate from The Beaconsfield Close-Knit Community Working Group thanking me for my contribution to their 925 metre scarf. Look out for the extra-bright lime green section if it comes to a town near you.

I've (obviously) been a bit "off" blogging the last few weeks; my knitting slowed down but did not stop altogether. I've been reading a bit more; conscientiously slogging my way through "The God of Small Things" - I know it is meant to be great literature but I'm finding it slow going. A faster, and for me more enjoyable, read has been Dodie Smith's "I Capture the Castle" (click on the link for a good plot summary). A $5 bargain from my favourite op shop. Written in 1949 but amazingly fresh and compelling. A film version was made in 2003 but I'm sure it could not capture the nuances and energy of the book.

An extra inch

You learn something new everyday. One of my hats was returned to me this weekend by the owner who found it just that little bit too short to wear comfortably. Could I possibly add an extra inch?

The main problem was that I had knitted the hat from the rim up, so I couldn't just unravel the last row. I wasn't in the mood to unravel the whole hat so I thought I would try picking up stitches from the cast on row and see how things went. Much to my surprise it worked - possibly because it is a rather silly style to start with and a row of tiny holes where the new yarn was joined in fitted in quite OK.

I was able to use up a small amount of rather gorgeous rich purple Cleckheaton Country I had left over, which fitted in well with the Noro. I wasn't able to resist the green and red yarn combination for the final edging - if she hates it, I can easily undo the final few rows and do something else. But there is something about an elf-style hat that just begs for a little green and red trim.

Maybe it is just the time of year and Holiday decorations everywhere.

No knitting allowed for potential jurors

Well my excitement about spending my day around the courts knitting turned out to be a little premature. Despite the official website of the Courts and Tribunals - Victoria stating:

You can bring things with you, such as books, knitting or paperwork, to
occupy yourself while you wait.

(Scroll down to 'Facilities in the pool room')

my knitting was promptly confiscated as I entered the court building.

While I realise this is consistent with the policy of airlines, I was a bit annoyed as I had specially checked before taking my knitting. And it is not just the website; it's in the official handbook for jurors which they gave me after taking away my knitting. Apparently if you are selected as a juror you can bring in the knitting for when you are not actually in the courtroom but I don't know if I want to test this.

Lucky I had brought a book.

Finally a place to legitimately knit!

Knitting needles may be banned from planes but at least they are not considered a dangerous weapon as far as Melbourne's law courts are concerned. I've been summoned for potential jury duty on Monday and "knitting" is listed as one of the acceptable items to bring to occupy oneself while waiting to be called or otherwise. Everyone I've spoken to who has been summoned for jury service has told me it will be the most boring day of my life and to bring a good book to get through the day.

I bought a good book today (Dymocks was having a 20 percent off sale) but unfortunately I've already finished it before even making it to court! Kazuo Ishiguro is probably most famous for "Remains of the Day" (which was made into an excellent film starring Anthony Hopkins). This book, "Never Let Me Go", is completely different - if I didn't know who the author was, I would have confidently bet that it was written by Margaret Atwood; there is the same sort of "feel" and skewed morality of "The Handmaid's Tale" - and it is equally, scarily, devastatingly believable. Written as a memoir, "Never Let Me Go" traces the life of a group of friends growing up in a seemingly loving boarding school to their inescapable fate in the wider world as part of a subclass born and bred only to provide vital organs for others. It is totally enthralling and devastating and "unputdownable".

So, I will bring "The God of Small Things" (which I still haven't been able to get into) to court on Monday and my knitting (probably a pair of socks).

Lizard-ridge progress - 17 squares complete. I will probably be able to finish 20 before I need to buy more wool.

More blanket squares

The top picture is Lizard Ridge squares 12, 13 & 13 1/2. I'm now using colourway 126 which I bought off eBay. A bit garish for my taste -- there is a lot of orange and yellow -- but it will work in well with the blanket.

We had a sudden burst of summer this week (two days above 30 degrees Celcius) which slowed down the knitting. Looks like my timing (re: when the blanket will be ready) is as good as ever.

Also pictured is the blanket square for Grandma Purl which I will post off this week. The pattern I used created a little row of holes around the outside, so I threaded through some contrast thread to brighten it up. Hopefully she won't mind the Christmas colouring :)

And a square for Grandmother Purl

Well I've signed up for the Knit a Square for Grandmother Purl blog. The squares are supposed to be 8 inches square and as they are all going to be sewn together, it's pretty important to get the sizing right. I've always had a problem calculating tension and my first attempt started a square that ended up more like 9 inches in width. So although I would have loved to do a square complete with Australian motif, I decided for the sake of my sanity to knit a square on the bias that at least would come out the right size :) And yes, that is my lurid green stash that is being used up - too bright for an individual garment but fine for a patchwork blanket. And perfectly good quality 8-ply yarn too I might add.


Maybe after this one is finished I will try another style. Or maybe I will return to my own selfish Lizard Ridge personal blanket making (currently halfway through the 12th square in the most lurid Noro colourway I have ever seen).

My contribution to the Beaconsfield scarf

Well this very unexciting piece of over-loose knitting is my contribution to the scarf remembering the rescue of the Beaconsfield miners. Look out for the over-bright green patch if the scarf makes it to your town! I'm actually very happy to have finally found a use for this recycled yarn that I could not bare to either throw away or use in a garment that I would actually wear. We've been asked to send some thoughts about the Beaconsfield rescue with our knitting. So I'm contributing the lines: "In memory of the Beaconsfield rescue for showing us that miracles can occur even in this day and age and that light can come out of the most tragic circumstances". Corny, I know, but true and I think they will like it.

I'm knitting as fast as I can (part 2)

Pictured are Lizard Ridge squares 8-11. Mostly knitted out of Noro Kureyon Colourway 169 - sea greens and blues. With a few bits and pieces of other Noro leftovers.

The lime-green is the beginning of my contribution to the Beaconsfield scarf knit-a-thon. It's just 30 stitches of 8ply on very large 9mm needles, which creates a net-like fabric. The aim is to create a 925 metre scarf for the Beaconsfield Museum to commemorate the miraculous rescue of 2 miners who were trapped 925 metres below ground after the mine they were working in collapsed (a third miner, Larry Knight, died). Not the most challenging project in the world, but for a worthy cause.

I'm also hoping to make a contribution to the Knit a Square for Grandma Purl project as Crazy Aunt Purl is one of my favourite blogs and I'm pretty confident that the square will end up in a blanket for a worthy older person.

Then OzKnitter starts a My First Toe-Up sock knitathon. OK, I've made one pair but I'm keen to make Daimante from Fall Knitty, which are toe-up socks and will be a challenge for me. And my new supply of sock-yarn from the Netherlands arrived today. It is very sad that not only is there a better range of sock yarn available overseas but it is far cheaper, even taking into account postage.

What can I say? I'm knitting as fast as I can!