nanacindynz

New Haircut

2009-02-09T14:18:00.000+13:00

YAY! i got my haircut, ala Alice Cullen..... here's a pic

a fresh start

2009-02-07T18:46:00.004+13:00

Ok dudes, I'm gonna try this again....

A recap for those that have been out of the loop:

I'm back at Uni full time, completing my BSocSci degree majoring in Psychology and IR&HRM, and I have almost finished a paper called Raranga Whakairo in which I learned the process of making Kete Whakairo... more on that later.

I attend a Stitch and Bitch group at Iguana in Hamilton (all welcome btw, we meet 5.30-7.30 every Tuesday. Message me and I'll make sure you're added to the drinks and nibbles list).

I have an etsy shop in which I sell handmade crochet earrings, handpainted rovings, sock yarn, handspun yarn and in the future I am considering selling Kete Whakairo.

I've taken up spinning and crocheting, among my other crap.

I'm currently OBSESSED with the Twilight saga books, and movie... seriously. Teh orhsome.

I think that's it. I'll post more as I think of it.

I'm currently meant to be writing an essay about Erenora Puketapu-Hetet, a well renowned weaver in the Maori fiber arts. She's a really interesting person, maybe I'll post the essay when it's been marked. I really should be writing that now actually, but I'm procrastinating.

Here's some of the weaving I've been doing with Harakeke. Harakeke is known as "flax" in NZ but it's actually quite different from the true flax plant used overseas. Maori have been weaving it for generations and I'm currently learning about what it's used for, the significance of it and such.

The first project our class made was called a Waikawa. It's pretty much a slap up basket, made when you need to carry something in a hurry. You don't need to really do all that much to prepare the fiber for it, not even soften the blade by hapine if you don't want to. Here's one I prepared earlier ..... Note that there are gaps in the weave. This is because the Harakeke has not been boiled or hapine so it creates a lot of shrinkage. If you don't boil or hapine the harakeke can be quite difficult to work with and will rot a lot quicker than if you prepare it properly but for this project you're not meant to be too fussy.

This is the first one I made and you're meant to give the first of each thing you make away. I have given this to my Mum in law, and I'm planning on making one for my mum when I'm down there with some harakeke she has growing on her property. I've also made one for myself and the one I handed in for assessment, my nephew has requested. They're quite sturdy and would be good for putting toys in. I've got my onions and kumara in my one.

Here's some Kete Whakairo that I've woven:

The one I'm weaving in this picture (taken by Keith) was my first ever Kete Whakairo. You weave these inside out then flip them when they're finished, because of how they're closed.

Here's the completed product! Note the handles which are made from muka, the fiber found in some varieties of harakeke. They actually have an extraction factory for this near Foxton, so I hear, and back in the day they used to export it overseas. I'm gifting this to Tina, so she has some Taonga for herself. The blue is dyed with Teri dyes (also my supplier for my wool dyeing so that makes it easy). You can see that it's a bit wonky in the edge but that's kinda what your first project tends to be about.

This is the second Kete I wove. It's dyed with Rit Dyes in Wine. It's a Patikitiki design, and it's woven in takitahi (one by one).

Here's a design which is also Patikitiki but it's got 5 takitahi rows followed by a takirua row (two by two). If you squint your eyes you can kinda see the pattern (looks a bit like pink fish all over it). I dyed this with Dylons, and the colours don't contrast as much as I'd like. I'm told that this is a product of working with Dylons but I don't mind experimenting a bit, considering budget restraints (dylon costs $4 vs Rit that costs $20).

Here's the one I'm weaving at the moment. I've left it to dry out until I get back to it, because if you leave it damp for too long it can weaken the fiber and also get mouldy... yum. A chick in the first year class had hers go mouldy and it was pretty unpleasant smelling to weave with. I'm sure it probably wouldn't have been so bad once it dried out, but still, if you can avoid it, you may as well. It's got a couple of "design features" (or as my lecturer calls them Moko, but they are not mistakes, no no no.....) but it's coming along nicely. This was some leftover random red dyes from somewhere that was at school. The pattern is one of the Niho Taniwha (taniwha teeth) patterns.

All of the patterns come from Mick Pendergrast's book called Raranga Whakairo. There's also a great website and blog written by Ali Brown (alibrown.co.nz) which goes further into weaving etc. It's a really great resource. If you're interested in weaving there are an incredible amount of books available at the public libraries. There are also a whole crapload of workshops going on which are usually advertised in the community education part of the newspaper. The University of Waikato runs a few papers, and I'd recommend taking them if you don't have someone to show you first hand, because they go into further depth than a two day course could.

Anywho, for those of you who are interested, I'm having a sale at my etsy store mentioned above. Here's the announcement:

SALE SALE SALE!!!!!
I need to clear some space for new stock so…. a sale is in order!

Use code Ravelry/half in the checkout for buy one, second item half price.

Use code Ravelry/free in the checkout for buy two, get one free.

I popped this up on Ravelry and Plurk in various places but there ya go again.... I really need to sell some stuff.... please?

Kay, well I'm not sure I'm going to make this a truly regular thing but I'm gonna try... We'll see how uni goes when I'm back to full time and working three jobs hahaha - see ya

February Baby Sweater

2007-11-19T19:25:00.000+13:00

This is me after my friend's wedding on Saturday.

I knitted two February Baby Sweaters, one in pink:

And one in green and blue - cute huh!

New Hair

2007-11-08T20:45:00.000+13:00

I got a hair cut and colour! I got it done at a training salon, and it only cost $45! Amazing! And I was there for over 2 hours being pampered! So, I know my mum wants to see, here ya go mum. This is the best one of the colour but ew, double chin. Time to go on a diet... Next week.

yeah, I know...

2007-10-22T19:46:00.000+13:00

First of all, here's some FOs:

A little jersey I started forever go, and really had only the hood to do! Cute huh!

And the little hood, awwwwww:

Also for mum, i have also been working on this for you, i'm actually almost finished the front but oh well....

It's Isabella from Knitty.

This is the Baby Surplice Jacket from Vogue sometime last year. I got a compliment already from Ravelry, man i love that thing. If you're on there I'm under nanacindynz.

Here's a scary thought - My RSI is getting so bad that I have given up knitting for a WHOLE WEEK! I just don't know what to do with myself. I think that's why i'm posting. Oh well, there'll be more by the end of the week, I'll let ya'll know how I go.

More Knitting Less Blogging

2007-09-08T16:51:00.000+12:00

Hiya family! If someone isn't my family and is reading this then leave a comment, because I don't believe in you (apart from Jeannie from the knitting shop haha).

I finished my monkey socks in Socks That Rock's Sherbert colourway. I couldn't find a picture when I was looking at how they wore, so here's one for those of you who have not yet been introduced to the glory of Blue Moon Fiber Arts sock yarn:

I was disappointed that they rubbed up a little, but that's really the nature of the merino yarn they use. Definitely not as bad as the Merino et Soie I used for Keith's sweater.

We went for a visit to Mum's a couple of weeks ago, and her and I dyed some yarn with Ashford dyes that we bought from the Kairanga Craft Cottage, which is just down the road from Mum and Dad's place. Here's how mine came out, using rust, blue and yellow with a little black food colouring for the navy colour:

I don't think I'll use these dyes again, I prefer the food colourings etc that I was using mostly because they're food safe and I don't have to worry too much if I get them on my skin, although I did get some funny looks when I was out later on that day.

On the way back from Mum's I stopped into The Wool Company in Utiku and picked up this gorgeous yarn! It's in the Gems colourway, and people, I utterly endorse this wool. It is so soft and the colours are beautiful and very reasonably priced too. They do have an online website, and I recommend taking a look. The yarn seems of very good quality; I've worn the hat a few times, including to bed a couple of times (poor Keith) and this is how it looks:

I also go a great bargain at the Spotlight end of season sale this year. Cleckheaton Country Silk in 8 ply. It's lovely and soft to work with too, but I'll wait until I've worn and washed to to see how it wears. I am knitting an overshirt in it:

I've almost finished the front, see:

I also put an order in for the Interweave socks compilation book and also the new Cat Bordhi Book about knitting socks which I have heard so much about on the podcasts these last couple of weeks. It should be here in a few weeks I hope. I decided I would have to make some stitch markers from the sounds of things they are essential for making these. I went to buy some beads from Spotlight, but they only had ugly plastic ones, so I decided to do a Leona and make some out of fimo. They actually look pretty cool I think.

A knitted Poo...

2007-08-06T17:45:00.001+12:00

Keith wanted me to knit him this:

http://www.craftzine.com/blog/archive/2007/03/happy_poo_amigurumi_pattern.html

unfortunately it's crochet, which I don't do. I searched and searched last night on the internet, giving up finally at about 8pm.

I got this text this morning from keith, at uni:

You know its hard to look cool when you open up your laptop to calm a group of students, demanding to see your new flash animation, and what_s the first thing they see? A sissy wool background and instructions on how to knit a bl**dy poo. Be kind, rewind - in this case log out.

Dude, he had me in tears with that one lol....

Aww it's sooo cute!

2007-08-02T18:53:00.000+12:00

Look what I made for Rose at work, who's having a baby in a few weeks....

And I cast on for socks. Oh no, not to match a pair. These....

I was getting some ugly pooling but corrected it by knitting a round from each end of the ball.

Knitting for Charity

2007-07-28T16:15:00.000+12:00

Yesterday was the Glenview Stake Relief Society day for sewing together all the squares everyone has pitched in and made for the orphanages.

I was truly amazed at how many squares were given, and how many people who were there.

I love how knitting brings people together, it's amazing how many people want to knit but don't know who to approach to teach them. I got asked to start a kniting group - I may start it fortnightly, as it's hard for people to get out once a week. I've been told I just need to organise it and the chapel is ours when we need it (within reason).

I think I'll probably send these into the Ensign (church magazine) to show all of our involvement and hard work.

There were other activities going on too:

They cut out pictures for scrapbooks...

Made home-made board and card games (that's my Sister-in-law, Amanda, on the left)...

...and nice things for us too... haircuts...

Yummy hand massages (I had one, it was WONDERFUL!)....

and manicures.

So far Tui (my Mum-in-law, who organised all of this, including lunch!) has collected 21 blankets (with another 10 or so still to come in), 98 hats, 22 scarves, 38 pairs of slippers and 21 other items such as sweaters, booties, etc.

One sister told us that although she has terminal cancer, the Spirit (Holy Ghost) has prompted her to work on making a whole blanket. She kept thinking that she just couldn't do it, she was in pain, and very unwell. But, the Spirit continued to prompt her to press on. She left before I could get a picture of her with her completed blanket and all her other gifts.

I got home and this was waiting for me from Mum:

Socks that Rock Lightweight. For Monkeys, with a picot edge like January Ones. Mum got some too, also for Monkeys.

I also have finished 2 socks.

I have sadly cause a dose of SSS (Second Sock Syndrome) and haven't been able to make either of them their mate just yet. I bought the little orange sparkly buttons from Knitworld for the Rock and Weave which I'll do next, after I finish this little singlet for a lady at work:

I've outdone myself, I've made up for my months off now!

Hi Everyone it's MOIEEEEEEEEE

2007-07-24T20:35:00.000+12:00

Hey I'm back! I apparently have more than one fan now, hi Uncles and Aunties!

I have some awesome pics of the little sweater I made for the orphanages through Church. I used a Maori pattern from a 1975 magazine for the front...

I also finished Dad's birthday socks....

I'm working on these socks now for me (finally something for myself). Socks that Rock, Rock and Weave:

and Socks that Rock Titania's Revenge

and also this scarf in cashmere (!) Pretty eh!

Me and mum dyed this yarn ages ago, she's knitted her first pair of socks by herself with it:

I think the other one's a little sweater for mum's future grandchildren (hurry up Keith!).

I'm gonna go, Keith's reading me Harry Potter, I can't bear for someone to wreck the end before I have finished!

Hey I'm Back!

2007-07-24T19:39:00.000+12:00

Just Checkin In...

2007-04-19T21:43:00.000+12:00

Oh man, it's been a busy week (or two). Started the new job, had lil bro and friend to stay, took lil bro home and visited the folks, then straight into work again. I'm hammered after a day of work, all that learning!!!

Dude, I can't even concentrate on writing a post, I'm distracted by the british version of Pimp My Ride. It's lame. Square as white british men trying to be pimpin rubberduckin rappers yo. And the person who owns the car speaks utter gibberish, the thickest accent ever. Anyway, when I've recovered I'll write a progress post.

Knitting wise, I've had to undo all the work on the sleeve of Keith's jersey, I calculated wrong, but oh well. I've started knitting a lacy scarf with the kool aid yarn.

More later anyway, with pics of the yarn Mum and I dyed on the weekend (hint hint Mum, you'll need to take some photos before you roll it up).

See ya lay-ah

An FO!

2007-04-09T15:11:00.000+12:00

Heya,

I finished the lil baby vest! It is so darn cute - ya wanna see? You do eh? Weeeeellllll, ok then........

*gasp* The photos I took aren't on the camera! Oh nooo! I'll have to go back and see the baby again!!!.......

I do have some pictures of Keith's sweater for you though:

I finished the main bits - now I'm onto the sleeves. I had a go at the duplicate stitching because I haven't really done heaps of it before, and I wanted to show Keith what it looked like. He's so so stoked, he's funny man.

My lil bro and his mate are staying at the moment. They are 15, and noisy. I'm off work til Wednesday anyway so it's ok really. I start the new Uni job on Wednesday, wish me luck!

I have been keeping up to date with the Yarn Harlot's book tour lately. I felt so bad for her when I read about how bad her day was the other day.

I can relate. When things go bad for me, they truly go bad. You don't believe me? Ok how about this:

February 2003 -

1 - I had been working at an awful, awful job where I was treated like crap daily - - not by the customers - but by the people I worked with. I quit because I had lost about 10kgs as a result of the stress of it (I think that's about 20 pounds) and was down to about 45kgs (I'm 5'2", but even so, that's very small). It had gotten to the point that I was so upset about work that I was dry retching in the mornings when I got there.

2 - The manager then accused me of either partying or being pregnant. Being that neither of these things were happening I was seriously annoyed and upset that she had thought that of me. ANYWAY - I decided to quit.

3 - I had a massive fight with my dad and went to stay at my boyfriends. I couldn't drive there because 4 - my car had broken down.

5 - My boyfriend broke up with me.

6 - On valentines day.

7 - Which was, by the way, 5 days before my 18th birthday.

8 - Uni was starting 5 days after my birthday, and I had no-one to go out and partying with.

I made up with my Dad only to find out that 9 - My auntie had cancer.

So to recap - I had no car, no job, no money, no boyfriend, nowhere to live, and nothing to look forward to!

Oh well, I can look back and put it down to experience.

Anyone else.....?

Update - Lovebird Colourway Handpainted

2007-03-31T15:33:00.000+12:00

I just spent the afternoon doing this:

Excuse my fingernails, I couldn't get the dye off.

Here's another shot (I love Ammon's camera).

And now for the money shot. Mmmm Yarn Pr0n

This is some 2ply Merino I had in the stash. The red is strawberry Kool Aid and the rest is yellow, blue and green food colouring. I used a photo of a lovebird for inspiration, but the red turned out a little redder than I thought it would, it was meant to be more of a pinky shade. Still looks mean though.

A boring post...

2007-03-31T12:34:00.000+12:00

Hiya,

Just checking in. I will be doing an upgrade of the site in the next few weeks as soon as i can figure out how to use dreamweaver on Keith's Mac.

I'm about halfway through the front on Keith's jersey, and halfway through the front of Rachel's baby's vest.

I'm also going to try to figure out how to put a counter on this thing so I can see how many people actually visit, because I think it's just my mum and dad! If anyone can help with this let me know!

No pics today, I'm wishing for a super camera like Ammon's, if that day will ever come. But right now $1000 could go really far on a few other things.

ok bubye for now

The Husband Sweater

2007-03-24T20:10:00.000+12:00

I hope I'm not cursed. I'm making the sweater. For him. Out of very expensive yarn. Merino et Soie 10ply by Naturally. It's 70% NZ Merino and 30% Silk. Here's a pic of the back so far (almost finished):

And a close up:

Pretty eh.

He likes it too. I had a terrible time trying to get a pattern that would fit right, but I have adapted a Lion Yarns raglan pullover so it fits nice over his shoulders.

It's our first wedding anniversary tomorrow and Keith got me frangipanis! Imported from the Cook Islands, where we had our honeymoon. They smell so so so soo good, the best smell in the world!!! Ya wanna see? Do ya? Hmmmm ok...

Perfect looking!

And a close shot.

Also - I got a job up at Waikato University!!! I'm so so so happy. I've been at my current company for about 3 1/2 years and it's a great opportunity for me YAY!!!!!

Yarn Pr0n - and Trixie Firecracker

2007-03-14T21:22:00.000+13:00

Oh YEAHHHH!

Keith brought me lunch in the other day, and MY SOCKS THAT ROCK YARN!!!!!!! A whole month early!!!

I fondled it all day. Shamelessly. My Co-workers think I'm strange on a normal day but oh well.

I won't keep it from you any longer...

and now for the close up:

Fire on the Mountain, Mediumweight. Destined to be "Rock and Weave".

Pucks Mischief, Lightweight. To be "Titania's Revenge". The colour is pooling terribly, but thankfully is going a little stripy.

I started on the Rock and Weave (despite the fact that I have 2 sweaters - one for Mum and one for Keith, a Jesse's Flames from S & B AND a pair of socks from the latest Knitty for Ammon, the Space Invader ones on the cover).

I woke up the next morning to this:

Oh Trixie Firecracker. She only likes the EXPENSIVE STUFF!

My sweet cat Fay is well known for her exciting personality. She's usually ok, I have her trained quite well. But she has her Trixie moments.

Trixie Firecracker is her evil twin personality (like Nicky/Jessica from Heroes). She did this. Now what I want to know is why she has never done this before. She's usually utterly uninterested in my yarn. I have given her a ball before and she wasn't interested in the slightest. She must have expensive taste (like her mother).

It's ok though. My NZ$50.00 socks have been saved, and rewound, but I had to knit it through the winder for the whole cuff. This encouraged me to finish the cuff:

I love the way the yarn looks in the Linen Stitch

I also started the Titania's Revenge:

And to assure you, Mum, that I really am working on your Birthday Sweater, here's my progress:

Gasp So Long!!!

2007-03-06T21:54:00.000+13:00

Shocking! and no pictures either!

Just a quick post then because the internet is playing up ugh!

My first night at Creative Fibre Hamilton tonight. The ladies there were really nice. Anne showed me how to spin properly, I'm getting some even yarn out of it! Yay, thanks Anne! I'm soooo going to join, they meet twice a month at night (every week during the day but I work full time) and it's only $40.00 for the whole year. They have an amazing amount of resources, including the Interweave Knits magazine, which I MUST get my hands on to make the "Dollar and a Half Cardigan".

ok nuff for now, I promise more later this week.

The Go-Everywhere Go-With-Everything Cardigan

2007-02-26T19:28:00.000+13:00

FINISHED!!!!

It's currently blocking so you'll just have to hold ya horses to see it on. Maybe in the morning or something. I used a moss stitch border and these awesome green striped buttons! I wish I could work this darn camera!

Pretty!

My Birthday!!!!

2007-02-16T21:06:00.001+13:00

Whoa! Look what I got in the mail today!

First I opened this totally cute card my sis sent me and some cute as stickers from our childhood... oh and some scratchy tickets (it's ok if they're a gift ha ha).

And then I opened this massive BK fries box and see this:

"Mean", I think to myself, I love yarn. Now, I knew there was a vegetable steamer in there, and the Elizabeth Zimmerman book I've been searching for (Knitting Without Tears, it's really hard to get here) but I started to take the yarn out and.....

It's small because it's very blurry and I can't be bothered taking another one but......

LOOK HOW MUCH STUFF IS IN THERE!!!!!

This is more than I got at Christmas (excluding the stocking, thanks Mum).

I'm being good though, notice the presents are all unwrapped?

Oh except for this beauty. I'm pretty sure it was for valentines day. Sorry Mum, Keith and I spotted these at a dollar store but here's the big reveal:

Ooh - a rose, how lovely...

Hey! Whats this in the middle...?

Oooh yes, very tasty - How did you know?

But she also made this really cool handmade card, she's great at these:

Oh yes, and I have been knitting, of course:

This is the cardigan from S & B, (Go Everywhere bla bla). It's coming along rather nicely, just both sleeves to go, which I'm knitting at the same time. Then I think I'll pick up the stitches in a fushia colour and knit a moss stitch border instead of crocheting the edges. A, because I can't crochet and can't be bothered learning and B, I think this will look better.

Lovely. See ya next time.

The Updates...

2007-02-12T18:17:00.000+13:00

Well - FINALLY! - here is the first pic of Teeny knitting - awwwww I'm so proud! Look how long that scarf is! This is her very first scarf ever!

And the next two stages of the coloured spinning....

Wow what a sux picture.... but here's a couple of pics of the finished product.

One all alone:

And one being modelled by my gorgeous niece:

I also have pics of our new garden. This is Keith's garden, I'm having a vege garden whenever we can get it dug out. Looks good, huh!?

I had Susan over on the weekend and her sweet little baby Danny. I got lots of photos, look!

AWWW look at the baby! He was 8 weeks yesterday!

I want one!

Keith even had a hold, it took me half an hour to convince him but you should have seen the huge grin he had on his face when he finally took him.

I have a cute one with Danny's mum as well, doesn't mum look pretty and thin these days!

Heck of a Week! (boring post without pics)

2007-02-09T14:13:00.000+13:00

Well it's been a heck of a week!

I have had something on every single night since I last posted.

First of all I've been knitting with my sister's best friend Teeny, I'll post some cute pics later of her getting her knit on... She was taught by her grandmother years ago, and wanted to pick it up again since my sissy moved away, and she didn't sew with her anymore. She's made 2 scarfs in a week, garter stitch, I'll post some pics later. Needless to say I'm proud of her, and it's really nice to have a knitting buddy. Every time I offer to teach someone they look at me like I'm totally crazy.

Anyway Teeny asked me where to buy yarn from because she wants to choose her own for the next project rather than raid my stash - oh dear - us knitters aren't known for just buying what we use now are we!!! I did warn her off, but let slip that The Warehouse have some really cheap yarn at the moment, perfect for her scarfs. Darn her too, she's funky enough to pull of the noveltly yarns - yes I said it! Trust me she totally is (eh Mum).

Ok and have had lots on for church this week, was sick as on Monday and Tuesday, but I think that was partly to do with the medication I'm on. Thought we'd have a quiet night on Wednesday but we ended up going out to our friends house and playing Wii. We left early enough, just in time to go to bed at a nice hour to work on Keith's essay for entry to the Computer Graphic Design degree at Waikato Uni. Then he says to me "babe, can you listen to my heart"....... well that always, always means that it's gone out of rhythm again, which means a trip to the hospital, usually overnight.

We turned up to the hospital at about 10.30pm and they took us straight through to emergency as the usually do (don't mess with heart pains). Found him a bed etc etc, and we figured we'd be in for a long stay like usual because the doctors want to "observe" and "see if it goes away by itself". It has never ever done this, people! This is why we come to see you doctors!

Usually they'll have us there overnight until they figure out that the medicine they always give him didn't work this time, the same as every other time they give it to him, and every new doctor that comes on the shift comes to play twenty questions, because his case is so unusual for such a young guy. Maybe fun the first time, but after about six games of this in one night, where we didn't sleep, it got a bit beyond a joke - but I digress....

The doctors on on Wednesday night were the absolute best we have ever dealt with! They were quick to see us, quick to make a decision and had good senses of humour. They said they would just give him the shocks (as in what they do on ER when they say "clear" and the person bounces on the table - yeah - that!) and be done with it, because this time they actually read his file and figured out it wasn't going away by itself. We only had to wait about 1/2 - 1 hour for the room to be available to do this, and they let me sit in. I hadn't in the past because you get a bit panicky and I'm really not good when I'l sleep deprived (a tiger, eh Dad). This time though, because it was only about midnight, and everyone was so easy to get on with, and also the fact that I had some knitting to get on with to calm me, I thought I'd watch.

It really was not as scary as you would think. They don't use those paddles either, just some big sticky pads on his chest and back and they press a button on the machine. I saw him go under anaesthetic, and they zapped him - 200 joules, got him first time (instead of working up to that amount and giving him 4 zaps; which makes him really feel like crap) and then woke up slowly. The zap is not as violent as it looks on TV, he kinda just looked like a baby when they are just going off to sleep and they jerk themselves away. Kinda cute actually. AND I got to hold his hand as he woke up - awwww cute. I'm glad I watched, it puts my mind at peace for next time.

Anyway hopefully there won't be too many more of these as he's due for an operation in April or so. Oh and by the way, the condition he has is call Atrial Fibrillation or AF for short (in case you're remotely interested).

Last night I went and did my visiting teaching, then popped over to my SIL's to see how my nephew's first day at school went - surprisingly he didn't do too badly, considering he's a shy wee guy, but SHE was the one who was in tears lol. Oh but his Mummy and Daddy are so proud of him (let alone his Auntie Cindy and Uncle Keith). He's even brave enough to ask his mum if he can "come over to Cindy's place one time all by myself and you drop me off Mum" - AWWWWWW. I think he wanted to play Wii without Dad taking over lol.

After that I dropped some plums off to some of our family friends, who are really into their bottling of fruit and things. They're a bit sour (the plums, not the friends) but I think that's just the nature of the plums themselves because they seem to be as ripe as they're gonna get. They did an exchange and gave me some jam strawberries, which I took home and covered with vinegar (to make a strawberry vinegarette - will post a recipe later).

Then I got home and decided a really cool idea would be to do my grocery shopping, since a have a pretty full on weekend coming up, so at 9.30pm off we went. Got home about 10.30pm then Keith needed some help with his essay (yes, that would be the essay we attempted to do on Wednesday night). We finished it, and it is actually very cool, very him.

Tonight I'm finally going to visit my friend with the newborn and give him the little blue sweater from my old posts. If I get time I'll post some pics of Teeny.

This weekend I plan to ply my handdyed yarn with some cheap opp shop stuff, but I think it will look cool. I think it'll end up being a hat, but we'll see.

My First Lot of Coloured Spinning

2007-02-01T20:45:00.000+13:00

I spun this!!!!!!! A bit slubby but I think it's getting better?! i might even try plying and knitting this stuff.

OH also - isn't it a little sad that they're making a new Rocky movie? (haha mum I so know you're going) Come on Sly, give it up.... he must need some money for his retirement.

Also - a message for all those customers I have seen today - if you pay your bills your power won't get turned off. Is it that hard to understand? No-one owes you anything, especially not Winz, especially since you have literally never worked a day in your life for no apparent reason and the only reason you can't pay your bills is because you smoked your money away - I know, I can smell you - and if you want your power bills to be lower stop using so much power!!!! Ahhhhh that's better - be warned.....

Spending Money.....

2007-01-30T18:13:00.000+13:00

Drove up to Orewa on Saturday to pick up the spinning wheel, we left at 8am, got there at about 10.30am. It's really awesome! Here's a pic taken on the new camera:

... and I got this fleece with it, and some handspun she chucked in as well:

The woolcraft book is apparently a must have for new spinners. I've had a read and it is really good as far as I can tell. I picked it up from Browsers in Hamilton city for $12.00.

I ended up dyeing about 200 grams of the white fleece yesterday. We don't have Kool Aid in little old New Zealand, and I couldn't afford to fork out $57.00 for some acid dyes so I figured that food colouring would work. It did! i soaked the wool for about 1/2 and hour and I just watered the colours down a bit, squirted them on with some cheap mustard and tomato sauce containers and then squirted on a whole heap of vinegar. Microwaved it for about 6 minutes, checking it every 2 mins. This is the result of blue, green and red:

and a close up......

Then (on Saturday, I'm jumping around a bit here) we went down to Te Kuiti to some Ashford dealers. I picked up some great coloured fleece, some colour cards, magazines, a wheel maintenance kit and I have also ordered a pair of hand carders which will be here in a week or so. Here's the magazines etc:

And some pics of the fleece that I bought:

100g Magenta Corriedale

100g Turquoise Corridale

100g Tangerine Corriedale

and 160g total of the alpaca blend slivers:

I especially love the beansprout colourway.

Also I got contacts fitted today, they feel a bit tickly but they're gonna be mean to go snowboarding with.

And..... I've been knitting the go-everywhere, go-with-everything cardigan from S & B. Haven't got a pic because it's too dark and I'm too lazy to take another one. But - it is in the green mohair blend from one of my old posts.

Another Finished Object

2007-01-24T19:33:00.000+13:00

Awwww aint it cute! Should fit a 6 month old but this is for Susan's baby, little Danny. It won't fit him yet but it will be perfect this winter!

Here's a close up of the cables:
Sorry - a little fuzzy, flash photography sucks butt.

I also thought I'd post this awesome painting, a joint effort between Keith and his Sis. Keith did the painting and Mel stuck on the shells. The recipient (heheh recipitant) was very pleased!

Hmmm that's all for now...

Oooooeeeeee! Look what I bought!

2007-01-23T19:46:00.000+13:00

A spinning wheel!!! I'm so excited! Keith doesn't understand why I would need to spin wool when I have so much already, he will never understand. As my friend from Knitworld said today "us knitters are just a different breed". So true...

So i'm going to join "Creative Fibre", the spinning guild in Hamilton. I'm fully fully psyched! I called the lady today and she is just lovely, offered to give me lessons to get me started and everything! Thanks Anne!

Still waiting for my mum to ring me, we keep missing each other - Mum if you're reading this, I love you and please ring me when you have time 'cause I really miss you!

Also I went to Cirque du Soleil's Varekai on Saturday with the whole Jones' clan - the coolest thing I've ever seen in my whole life! I wish I could see it all again! Here's a pic of my fave part:

The costumes are awesome, the music is awesome, the lighting is awesome, the things they do with their bodies are awesome, the stage is awesome - seriously it is worth every cent for the ticket (except Mum Jones got us all the tickets for Christmas so SWEET!) so I encourage everyone to go when they come to your town.

I've almost finished the little baby jersey, just finishing the v-neckline now.

Look What I've Added to my WIPs

2007-01-22T18:23:00.000+13:00

It's a little baby jersey, raglan sleeve, should fit a 1 year old or so.... sooo cute huh! For the future children, or possibly a gift for a friend.

I am knitting as I type this, type type type, stitch stitch stitch...

I am looking at getting a spinning wheel; just the next level of my obsession.... I found some ok ones on Trademe for cheap as. I might place a bid, I'll see how much I get paid for my bonus first.

I'm still waiting to see if I get that email from the Rockin' Socks Club. I sooo wanna join but it doesn't look like I'll have a chance until next years intake.

Shannon (from work) went garage saling on the weekend and bought me a whole lot of acrylic yarn, only .50c a ball! It will make some little baby jerseys or something or maybe a summery lacy top. Thanks Shan!!!

The Finished Pomatomus

2007-01-17T20:27:00.000+13:00

Yeah yeah yeah, I know my legs are fluroescent. I still wear shorts though... in public too. Sorry about the crappy flash photography... best I can do since I work full time.

It's probably 18 degrees celcius at the moment, but I still have my new socks on... but man I'm glad I finished them.

Next up I'm going to finish my cashmere scarf, and start some socks for Ammon. As soon as I get my S & B Nation book I'm going to start that hat... for a mystery person who might see this page.

A patch...

2007-01-16T18:52:00.000+13:00

Ew this is sooo ugly, but hey, I needed to fix this, and really it couldn't be pretty or it wouldn't look right:

And... the finished product:

Not very sexy, but very functional...

***I think I'll have the Pomatomus finished by the end of the night, I promise to post them as soon as I'm done.....

I've also added myself to the waitlist to be in the 2007 Rockin' Socks Club.... I hope I get that email, even if it does mean I have to give up $340 nz to pay for it......

Hey, I also found some great pages when I was supposed to be working. For all you Prison Break fans, here is a knitted T-Bag (not actually as weird as it sounds)

and also i found this fantastic page, Mum wants to buy the book......

Have fun looking at the links. See ya later!

Finally

2007-01-14T21:43:00.000+13:00

HA! need i say more......

My New Yarn Cubby

2007-01-14T13:11:00.000+13:00

Look at my yarn cubby!!!! My DH and his dad spent quite a few hours making it for me! Speaking of Keith, he still won't let me take his photo, a little girl waits.... Anyway - looks cool eh Mum? (Holy crap look how much yarn I have when did I even buy it?)

Speaking of Mum, she sent me the S & B book (first one), a belated Christmas Pressy; S & B Nation is on it's way.

I did a bit of stash enhancement this week, Knitting World had a massive sale, I just had to get this:

Pink DK wool >>>
only $1.60 a ball. I got ten, I'll make some little girls cardigans (future children!!!)

<<<>

Bottom Right - 3 skeins unlabelled mohair laceweight yarn, to make another shawl with, $4 a skein;

Top left - 5 balls of Naturally, green mohair blend, to top up some I had from my stash - $2.50 ball;

Top Right - 3 balls Paton's Bluebell 5 ply, to make some socks with - $2.90 ball.

I've made a mistake in the Pomatomus, I'm onto the foot but i've got no motivation to rip it at the moment and reknit. let you know when I do...

KEITH CUT HIS DREADS!!!!!

2007-01-08T19:50:00.000+13:00

Hey Y'all (ugh how Britney am I?) SOOOOOO..... Keith's mum has been asking him to cut his hair for about forever...

He looks so damn cute with it short! So anyway, to the left is a photo of us from our wedding in March at the Hamilton New Zealand Temple (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) which I've added as a "before" photo.

Tomorrow he is getting it cut into a style, at the moment we've combed it all out and it's all cute and curly. This will be his first haircut he's had in over 3 years! So tomorrow there will be the "after' photo, mostly so my mum can have a look.

In knitting news, I have frogged the Print O' The Wave Stole. I have started the Kiri from alltangledup.com. It looks just the same as where I was at with the other one so I'll post a photo when I have some more progress. Still at the same point with the Pomatomus, got second sock syndrome.

New Project

2007-01-06T21:27:00.000+13:00

Heya. Well I now have started a new project, although I'm still going on the Pomatomus. I'm actually starting to enjoy the Pomatomus a bit more, now that I have more of an understanding of the pattern.

My new project I think will be an ongoing one, it's my first go at lace. It is called the Print O' The Wave Stole, by Eunny Yang. I think i'm going to need a lot of patience with this one. I suppose though, that the pattern will get easier to read as i go along, because it's basically the same 11 rows over and over. Here's what I have thus far:

So will update mo latah, when I've actually finished something maybe. Also to come (cue drumroll) some photos of completed previous projects.... maybe tomorrow, then again, maybe not.

Pomatomus

2007-01-03T18:16:00.000+13:00

Yes, I am knitting the infamous Pomatomus (does that rhyme?) in:
Patons Patonyle 4 ply 4311; 80% wool, 20% nylon.

It seems like everyone's been making these except me. I'm glad I cut my teeth on that other awesome sock pattern by Cookie called Monkey, they were super easy (once I got used to the DPNs) but I have found the Pomatomus pattern a little more tricky.

First I had to figure out how to do a YO, P1, and after calling on various resources on the net worked out that I just needed to wrap the yarn around the needle.

Once I got that sussed, I had to figure out how to do a P1 tbl - what the? Anyway, after about an hour of searching, knitting, frogging, knitting, frogging and knitting I finally found out how to do this from a link the The Nimble Knitter's page: here.