My 2 cents worth in reply to Spotlight's 2 cents offer to staff

I try and keep my knitting and union passions separate as I don't want to put off people who are not into both things. But sometimes there is a cross-over that simply can't be ignored - like Spotlight's decision to employ new staff on AWA's that up the hourly rate by 2 cents an hour (from AU$14.28 to AU$14.30) but remove all shift and overtime penalties for staff working nights and weekends. The relevant union involved , The Shop, Distributive & Allied Employee's Association, estimates that this means that new employees will earn $90 less a week than the current employees able to remain on the award. Read more here.

Call me a cynic but I don't think that $90 per week taken from some of the lowest paid people in Australia is going to translate into cheaper yarn for us knitting addicts. Spotlight has already reduced the amount of quality Australian natural yarn on the shelves and replaced it with pricier and poorer-quality imports (to any American readers, yes we in Australia now finally understand what you were all going on about re: Redheart yarn and totally agree). I suspect that $90 will be going straight into the bottom line of the people who own the store.

And who are Spotlight's staff anyhow? Well, according to their own website, people like you and me:

Are you interested in a job with Spotlight Stores?

Spotlight is constantly in need of new staff. Each Store is responsible for their own recruitment and will employ on an as needs basis. Exisiting customers are some of our best new employees!

Knitters for unions

I am always rather touched when non-knitting friends acknowledge my hobby and give me knitting related presents. The above book is a 'Christmas' present from Tash, my old union organiser. We are still friends even though we are continually trying to entice staff from each other's organisation to change sides. Neither of us has succeeded yet.

Tash may have a tiny little ulterior motive in giving me this book. She is on the board for Apheda and reckons a nice hat, glove and scarf set in Your Rights At Work colours would be perfect for the upcoming fundraising dinner. I'll let you into a secret - I'd make them up for her even without the book.

In other knitting news, one of the Melbourne SnB girls has accused me of being an enabler for letting everyone on the list know Clegg's in Melbourne is flogging off its Patons Lush Mohair for $3.95/ball. Now I am letting everyone on the internet know. This is the same yarn that used to sell for around $12/ball (and even more if you were foolish enough to purchase it from certain over-rated boutique yarn stores). I wasn't deliberately trying to enable. Just encourage everyone else to buy up the excess stock before my stash grew any bigger and my bank account even smaller. As of Tuesday 23 May they still had silver/grey, lilac-purple, autumn tones, lolly pink and pale green left.

I have finished the back of the Spot the dog jumper and am about to move onto the front. I forgot how much fun simple intarsia knitting can be and how quickly baby jumpers knitted up. My current tram project is yet another Noro yarn ribbed hat. I promise I will give this one away as a present. I didn't intend to knit another hat but I chucked a ball of yarn and the 6mm circulars in my coat pocket and it sort of happened.

Back to kiddie knitting

I received a phone call from my friend, Rachel, last week. Apparently Miss Gabi has discovered the Miffy jumper I knitted for her a year ago (bottom pic). It is still two sizes too big but this has not dissuaded Miss Gabi from deciding it's her favourite jumper for the moment. Miffy is being worn with sleeves rolled-up and being dragged all over the place. I am thrilled.

But it got me thinking that I really should get off my butt re: kid no. 2. Poor Michael doesn't even have a hat after Miss Gabi discovered the one I knitted for him, naturally too large, and decided that after a bit of stretching that it is perfect for her's truly. So I unearthed my favourite ABC For Kids Book of Knitted Jumpers and examined the stash and decided to knit up Spot.

The top picture is my work in progress whereas the second pic is from the knitting book. You may notice that I am knitting a black and white Spot, instead of yellow and brown. Michael is too young to notice and Rachel too sleep-deprived to care. Miss Gabi almost certainly will notice and care but hopefully she'll let Michael get on and wear the jumper. Maybe she will think it is Harry who I recall as being a black and white dog. At least the jumper will definitely be too small for her to steal. It will have Spot on both the front and the back as I don't have quite enough blue wool to do a solid back. I thought about doing a completely different picture on the back but decided against it. For the moment. I might change my mind tomorrow.

Jellybean socks finished

Note how different the toes look to the rest of the socks, thanks to the lack of pooling.

I resisted the urge to wear the socks bushwalking today - I want them to last more than one week.

I still have 1 1/2 balls of yarn left over and am thinking of making fingerless gloves - this time alternating the two balls to reduce the pooling.

Instant gratification for the ADD Knitter

The Christmas Morning Massacre socks should be finished by the end of this week - they are my current tram project.  I still haven't perfected the hole-avoidance technique but they will be quite wearable.  I should probably try some other style of sock-making but at least this pattern seems to produce socks that fit comfortably.

 

Over the last few days I made another hat for my husband -- but might steal it back for my own wear.  It's made of Jo Sharp Ultra - 85 percent wool, 10 percent silk and 5 percent cashmere - the most gloriously thick and luxurious yarn.  Colour 'clinker' which translates to dark navy blue with maybe a faint touch of green in it.  The label recommended 7mm needles, but I always go down a size or two; on my 6mm hat-making circular it was a bit of a firm knit but not ridiculously so.  I bought the yarn when I went to check out the famous Wool Baa which is a dangerous short tram ride from my work.  It's very similar to Sunspun in terms of types and quality of yarns and accessories.

 

I dream of making a jumper out of Jo Sharp Ultra Clinker but estimate it would be require about 25 balls (I'm a big girl and I like long jumpers) at $7.60 each...

 

Summer Interweave Knits arrives

After all the shenanigans of trying to get my Spring IK mag, the summer one came without any dramas quite unexpectedly last night.  There is a ribbed maternity jumper which has inspired me as to what I want to do with the as-yet untouched 20 balls of Jo Sharp DK yarn I have sitting at home.  I'll have to check my gauge and adjust for a non-baby belly (of course the pattern calls for a different yarn) but I think this could work.

Super-fast scarf

I made another Prime Rib scarf on 9mm needles; this time using lopi yarn I bought off eBay last year (pure wool, one single thick strand lightly spun; about 12-14-ply). It was a super-fast knit; just two nights in front of the TV. I'm quite pleased with the result - it's nice soft wool and I think a mistake-free item.

It's a gift for my cousin who has just come out of hospital - I wanted to make something nice but not spend a heap of time or money on it. The yarn wasn't overly expensive when I bought it and it's been sitting in my stash for so long that I regard this as a cost-free project. The scarf came out at 8 inches in width and 82 inches in length.

Jelly Bean Socks

As promised, a picture.

I've already nicknamed these, 'The Jelly Bean Socks' for obvious reasons. Although looking at them now, I'm wondering whether 'The Christmas Morning Massacre' may be more accurate.

These socks are a wonderful example of why one should alternate two balls when knitting with variegated yarn. You wouldn't believe that the heels and toes were knitted with the same yarn - as the rows were shorter at these points, the colour was distributed in a completely different manner. The technical term for what happened on the rest of the sock is apparently 'pooling'.

Current Interweave Knits for sale
The Spring 2006 Interweave Knits finally arrived. It has some great patterns but as I flicked through the magazine I knew I was not going to be getting around to actually making up any of the garments. There are 21 patterns including Drop-Stitch Hoodie, Oversized Cable Jacket (by Kathy Zimmerman), One Piece Lace Pullover, Lovely Lace Socks, Trellis Scarf, Mandarin Blouse, Streakers Shrug, Fingerless Mitts and more. So I put it up for sale on e-Bay with a starting price of $8.00 which is less than half what the magazine is going for at Borders. Hopefully it will find a good home with a keen knitter who might actually use it.

Still alive...

And still knitting. Just haven't been posting.

The picture is of a tea cosy, made as a gift for my boss in return for him hunting out some knitting books for me. We don't have a teapot at home, so it is being modeled by the coffee canister. Use your imagination...

After all the effort of trying to learning Prime Rib in the round and having to rip and re-start and rip and re-start, I ended up doing it in a plain 2X2 rib.

The Trekking socks are on hold. I managed to break one of the fine bamboo needles at home (do'h!) I can keep going on four but it is all rather disheartening. I don't think I'm really cut out for this fine work.

Luckily I was able to get distracted by some other rainbow-coloured yarn which I bought from Lynne at Yarnivorous - it's the same yarn that she is making the baby hat out of - and I'm starting a pair of quick-knit socks out of it (the yarn is about six-ply and I'm knitting on 3.25mm and 3mm needles, 52 stitches). Of course I didn't learn from her experience and knit with two balls at once to reduce the pooling. I've finished one sock and it looks quite Christmassy, with a red spiral snaking its way around a green background. I've started the second sock and it is pooling quite differently - I'm getting vertical blogs of colour that have begun to swirl now I've switched to smaller needles (the camera batteries are currently being recharged - photos will be uploaded when camera is operative again). At this stage I don't care. It's freezing in Melbourne and I just want another pair of hand-knit warm woolly socks for myself!

Well the ironing isn't done...

But I have finally finished Gabi's cardigan!!!

Gabi's cardigan bands done!!!

I am very very very excited.  Maybe excessively so.  My longest work on needles project is ALMOST completed and I know I will get it finished this week because I have finally overcome THE hurdle - sewing on those friggin bands on the front of the cardigan.  Now that I knew that they were meant to be so short and I did need to s-t-r-e-t-c-h them as I sewed, it was all so easy.  Thanks Karen! (from SnB Melbourne).

 

And somehow I managed to pick up the right number of stitches around the neck first time, so the neckband is done as well.  Last night I finished sewing in all the stray ends, and all I need to do now is sew in the sleaves and sew up the sides.  I can't guarantee that will be done tonight due to an ironing marathon being required :(  But it will be done this week.

 

Gabi's birthday was on Sunday but she is two years old and completely oblivious to the timing of that sort of thing and it's only clothes and I send presents randomly through the year.  I called up on the day, and with everyone being willing to blame Australia Post, I think all will be forgiven when the package turns up a couple of weeks late.

 

 

New look Knitaholic

Fingers crossed that this 'new look' is more readable than the old version. Firstly, thanks to Ozknitter who tried to help me by sending me instructions on how to change my old template's background to white. Unfortunately as Blogger is a very fickle beast (we are talking about a system that capriciously decides to not upload photos for days on end, or not upload new posts on the blog for a few days, even when it tells the author "blog successfully republished"), it decided to interpret a few simple changes to the code as "let's turn half the blog white and half the blog pink and put strange pink and white blotches all over the place" (which I gather is how the blog had been appearing to some people before I started tweaking). I'm not going to slag off Blogger as it is a free system and I've seen almost as bad stuff come off expensive commercial programs, but I was VERY frustrated.

Anyway, I managed to finally upload a brand new white-background-based template which would accept most of my personalised links. I decided to simplify things by taking off most of the fancy buttons which used to be in my side-bar as they took up way too much space. So this is a very minimalist look blog for the moment. I'm not used to it myself yet but I would prefer it first and foremost to be a readable blog. If it's as fickle as the pink one, let me know and I'll reinstate the old template.

Multiple projects on the needles

Firstly, apologies to Karen and anyone else who is having trouble reading this blog. I know nothing about html and am one of these people who is blogging on the fly with pre-defined templates and cutting and pasting and bandaids and prayers and swear words holding it all together. Barely and badly. I gather this template isn't very readable on some systems. I tried today to select a more simple white-background template. But for some reason every time I tried to make the simplest change (such as replacing the 'edit me' link with a real link) the font changed size and the sidebar ended up on the bottom of my blog. And I started growling and pulling my hair in frustration. Which is not very good for me or my hair. So template editing is on hold, at least until the weekend.

My first Trekking sock is going well - 17 cm down the leg - I'll knit to about 20 or 21cm before starting the heels. Due to the delicate nature of the needles, the over-crowding of Melbourne's public transport, my general klutziness and the thugs in private school uniforms (isn't it nice that some of these schools are now accepting thugs from all ethnic backgrounds, not just WASPs, as long as they have the money and a bad attitude? - but I digress), I am leaving this project at home.

I'm a little bit freaked-out because a few days ago I posted a question about avoiding little holes when making short-row heels on the Wiseneedle website and the owner of that site decided to answer the question, complete with pictures, on her own blog, String-or-nothing. OK, I'm sure I'm not the only person in the world with this question but it's scary the impact one can have. Even the formidable Carol of Go Knit in Your Hat has started adding in metric disclaimers in her posts after a few of us Australians made comments about American cultural imperialism in the knitting world.

The girls at Stitch 'n' Bitch last night saw me struggling with about four attempts of starting a Prime Rib Tea cozy - I am pleased to announce that I have finally got it going. I ended up only casting on 50 stitches as it is for a small teapot. It is being made for my boss who in a previous life owned a second-hand bookstore. He's going to locate the old knitting books from the store in return for a tea cosy. If I'm lucky the books will include one of the rare collectables famed in the knitting world. More likely it will be a collection of Patons patterns from the 1980s.

I'm actually very impressed with this pattern. This girl (woman?), Megan Mills, from New Zealand worked out a way of doing Prime Rib in the round. The great EZ would have hated it (as it involves lots of purl stitches) but my dislike of sewing up far exceeds my dislike of doing purl. And it is quite easy once you get going. Hint to anyone else making the tea cosy - it is much easier if you cast the stitches onto a very fat needle (I used a 9mm) and then slip them onto the 4mm needles. No need to learn a fancy Old Norwegian cast-on or other such nonsense.

I also talked to the girls at Stitch 'n' Bitch re: the bands on Gabi's cardigan and learnt they are meant to be as short as they are - I need to s-t-r-e-t-c-h them massively as I sew them on as otherwise they will droop and get baggy. So I will definitely get off my backside and do that this weekend as Miss Gabi is nearly 2, winter has set in and that cardigan needs to be finished.

Living dangerously

I bought myself some bamboo DPNs the other day and they are just heaven to use. The texture is perfect - neither so slippery that the yarn slides off at any opportunity, nor so sticky that knitting is painful.

The only problem is that I live in terror of accidentally snapping and breaking the delicate needles. Especially the 2mm ones which are almost as fine as toothpicks - albeit very long toothpicks.

I'm using the needles to knit up my first pair of 4-ply socks using the gorgeous Trekking yarn. This yarn has to be seen to be believed. It is actually four strands of finely twisted yarn and each strand gradually changes colour, creating an amazing kaleidoscope effect.

I used 3.75mm needles to cast on 64 stitches (as I have failed to learn any of the fancy techniques for doing a loose cast-on), slipped them onto 2.5mm DPNs, knitted 3cm of k2p2 rib, changed to plain stocking stitch and after the sock was 9cm in length changed to the 2mm DPNs. I was quite surprised by the difference 1/2 millimetre makes.

After my abject failure to calculate gauge last socks I decided to live dangerously and just follow the pattern, only substituting needles one size smaller at each point as I seem to be a slightly loose knitter - especially when the needles are so delicate. The ribbing was driving me nuts so I decided to make these a plainer pair of socks - hopefully this will not prove to be a mistake.

This is definitely a home project - there were a few near misses when I was merely a passenger in the car yesterday. I shudder to think what the private school thugs on the train could do to my needles with one careless shove. I'm not comfortable living that dangerously.

Sharing the warmth of wool

It was so cold yesterday that I wore one of my hats all day, even inside the house. It got me thinking about people who aren't as lucky as me and don't have a hat. Or even, in some cases, a house.

A quick whip around the house found no less than 8 hats which were not being used by either my husband or myself, nor had they been listed in my Etsy store. There are at least two worthy projects in Melbourne dedicated to collecting handknitted items for people in need - Knitters for Melbourne's Needy and the KOGO (Knit One Give One) project. Interestingly they were both started by Jewish women who I have me - pensioner Rifka Knox founded Knitters for Melbourne's Needy, while the KOGO project is an offshoot of the Ardoch Youth Foundation which was started by teacher Kathy Hilton when she discovered that one of her students was living in a Brotherhood Bin but still trying to come to school and get an education.

According to the website, Knitters for Melbourne's Needy is not currently accepting any more knitters (I suspect the project has grown beyond the capacity of being able to coordinate so many knitters) but is always in need of more wool. KOGO, however, is only in its second year and as such is keen to get more knitters involved.

Opal socks finished!

Things I am happy with: I finished these relatively quickly (2 weeks); I got the needle size right (3mm), the stripes pretty much match up.

Things that need improvement: I made them too large - 64 stitches is definitely at least 4 too many, I still somehow get a row of holes where the short rows are matched up with the rest of the sock, the three needle bind-off on top of the sock is quite bulky.

The socks are quite warm so I will save them for wearing around the house.

Supplies from the Nethelands

Like I really need any more yarn...

It's called Trekking XXL and is even nicer in real life. I haven't started knitting yet but it feels better-made than the Opal. It's a German brand.

I'm finishing a matching sock to my oversized Opal sock.

Random non-knitting thoughts now on another blog

I'm trying to keep this blog knitting-focussed.  For my ramblings about fashion, plastic people and whatever else pops into my head, go to: http://www.marg101.blogspot.com

The Mr Happy jumper

I made Mr Happy for my friend's child probably about a year ago and he has just now grown into it, in time for the cold spell. He is such a happy smiling child that I put his name on the front and Mr Happy on the back. He proved to be a rather wriggly model, though...

I really have problems with gauge

I really have problems with gauge and sizing. This sock is a bit big and loose. But at least it is still warm.

Are you a Knitting Geek? (Version 1.1)

Well that didn’t take long. I knew I’d left out some items. To make it easier for those who did the beta version (1.0), all the new sub-categories are at the top so you can stop when it all seems a little too familiar.

This is an unofficial expansion pack of the original Geek Test, inspired by the final question “I can think of other things that should get me points on this test”.

Simply select the most relevant answer from each sub-heading – if none apply, you score 0 for that section. I haven’t adjusted the numbers required to reach Certified Geek Knitter status as it looks like I may have set the bar a bit high the first time around; you now have an extra 6 categories to score points on.

I hope to continue to build upon this quiz – constructive comments and suggestions welcome.

______________________________________________

Knitting for charity
I’ve donated hand-knitted items that didn’t quite work out exactly as I intended to charity (1pt)
I’ve donated one or more quality knitted items to charity (2pt)
I am a regular knitter for charity (3pts)

Sock knitting
I enjoy knitting socks (1pt)
I make at least one pair every two months (2 pts)
I now only wear hand-knitted socks (3pts)

Gift giving (part 1)
I’ve given hand-knitted items as gifts (1pt)
And they aren’t always scarfs (2pts)
I spend more on yarn to knit a gift than I would otherwise spend on the gift (3pts)

Gift giving (part 2)
I enjoy making knitted items as gifts (1pt)
My friends and family know to expect a hand-knitted item as a gift (2pts)
I start planning for Christmas in June (3pts)

Cat companionship
I live with one or more cats (1pt)
I no longer live with a cat due to the unfortunate incident in the yarn stash (2pts)
I have made a kitty pi bed for my cat (3pts)

Knit-a-longs
I’ve participated in a knit-a-long (1pt)
And finished the item (2pts)
I’ve hosted a knit-a-long (3pts)

Blogging
I blog regularly about my knitting (1pt)
On more than one site (2pts)
I have established and administered a specialised knitting blog site with multiple members (3pts)

Terminology
I know what at least 3 of the following terms mean in relation to knitting or blogging about knitting: frogging, KAL, LYS, WIP, SP, DH, KIP, SABLE (1pt)
I know what all those terms mean (2pts)
I regularly use those terms in conversation – and haven’t you left out a few? (3pts)

Fun fur
I know fun fur is Muppet murder (1pt)
I deliberately forget that I may have used it is the past (2pts)
I correct people when they describe eyelash or other novelty yarn as fun fur – correct terminology is important (3pts)

International Linguistics
I recognise that yarns and needle sizes are called by different names in different countries (1pt)
I have a conversion chart to guide my way in the knitting world (2pts)
I am an American who understands the metric system (3pts)

Stash building (part 1)
I have yarn for more than one future project in storage (1pt)
I have a dedicated bookcase/cupboard/room for my yarn (2pts)
I have reached SABLE (Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy) point (3pts)

Stash building (part 2)
I recognise that non-knitters may consider I have an excessive amount of yarn (1pt)
I have tried to go on a yarn diet (2pts)
I fell off the wagon (3pts)

Local Yarn Store
I have a favourite local yarn store (1pt)
Where I am signed up to the loyalty program (2pts)
Several different local yarn stores regard me as their best customer (3pts)

Buying online
I have bought yarn online (includes eBay) (1pt)
From another country (2pts)
I have a list of favourite suppliers of yarn located around the globe (3pts)

The Knitting Olympics (part 1)
I took part in the inaugural Knitting Olympics (1pt)
And joined a team (2pts)
And made a specialised button for the team (3pts)

The Knitting Olympics (part 2)
I put a Knitting Olympics medal on my blog site (1pt)
On the permanent sidebar (2 pts)
Even though it is not gold (3pts)

Stitch ‘n’ Bitch (part 1)
I am a member of the local Stitch ‘n’ Bitch (1pt)
I am a member of more than one Stich ‘n’ Bitch group (2pts)
I organise/administer a Stich ‘n’ Bitch group (3 pts)

Stitch ‘n’ Bitch (part 2)
I understand the significance of ‘Free to Stich, Free to Bitch’ (1pt)
I have put a ‘Free to Stich, Free to Bitch’ button on my blog AND/OR purchased ‘Free to Stich, Free to Bitch’ paraphernalia (2pts)
Even though I am not in the United States (3pts)

Knitting in public
I knit in public (1pt)
I knit on public transport (2pts)
Even if I don’t have a seat (3pts)

Yarn snobbery (part 1)
I prefer to knit with natural fibre yarn (1pt)
I prefer to knit with Jo Sharp/Debbie Bliss/Noro/Rowan brand yarn (2pts)
I prefer to knit with my own handspun yarn (3pts)

Yarn snobbery (part 2)
I can’t believe I ever knitted with acrylic/craft yarn (1pt)
I feel sorry for or despise people who knit with acrylic/craft yarn (2pts)
I think acrylic/craft yarn should be banned (3pts)

Needle snobbery
My favourite needles are made out of bamboo (1pt)
I have disposed of the cheap plastic needles that may have once been in my collection (2pts)
I only knit with Addi needles (3pts)

Gender (Bonus section)
(Don’t whinge; the girls get bonus points in the original Geek quiz)
I am male (1 pts)
And heterosexual (2pts)
And my male friends know I knit (3pts)


Score
40+ Certified Knitting Geek. I’m sure you have lots of ideas for additional questions for this quiz. Please leave them in the comments section.
30-39 Aspiring Knitting Geek. You’ll get there soon.
20-29 Knitting Geek in training. Keep reading the knitting blogs.
19 or less Are you actually a knitter?

All content is copyright Margaret Bozik 2006 and may not be reproduced without permission.