Let me paint you a picture

A lounge room, wooden floor, mustard walls, old gold curtains, huge redgum dining table, squooshy dark green lounge.
On the floor beside the lounge, a scattering of knitting paraphenalia: rainbow basket of small things, black bag of knitting-to-go, blue bag of long-term WIPs, green bag with shawl...
On the coffee table in front of the lounge, fighting for space amongst the children's paper, pencils, videos, dvds, baby doll carrycot and random pieces of clothing, is last night's knitting. Two long, pale blue casein needles are bundled together with the pale pink cotton cardi they are creating. The cotton is fine, soft, the fabric is light, smooth, even. One sleeve flops out like the ear of a toy bunny, and about the same size. A friend at work was surprised by the very, very early arrival of her baby girl, and as I knit this cardi, I hope that her daughter grows strong and well, and am endlessly grateful for the healthy children I have, who never needed clothes this small.
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Woolhugs

At last I can reveal the stealth project of the last month or so!!! Our dear Tinkingbell has had a bit of family stress, so after a bit of fussing and wondering what on earth I could do to help when I live three hours' drive away, I stalked some of Tink's online knitting buddies and organised a blanket for her, to give her some 'woolhugs' (thanks Zeph for the word!)
As squares arrived I started laying them out on an old sheet:


Then I tried to crochet them together - not a success. And very v-e-r-y s--l--o--w... so I abandoned that plan and went with bold whip-stitching, and offset the strips, to create a very rustic blanket:


We drove up to Tink's place Friday evening, with me madly whip-stitching squares together in the car on the way (thankfully the MOMD does not object to me having the light on while he is driving). I then had to resort to some trickery and deception to get it finished: yawning on Sat morning, I blamed the neighbouring cows for keeping me up to midnight - not entirely true, I got several strips sewn together! Waking up reasonably early on Saturday, I got an hour of sewing in before appearing for breakky; and during a quiet moment after lunch, I checked on Miss V - and stayed up there for an hour - another two strips!! When the small people were eating their dinner, I claimed a headache and went upstairs for some quiet-time, fending off Tink's offers of pharmaceutical assistance (I was a little weary, but didn't need actual drugs) and got it finished! I came down, just in time to confess to my bending of the truth and give Tink and The Accountant their gift - Tink was quite overcome, and nearly burnt the prawns! She could not believe that I had been so sneaky, and that so many people had contributed without even a whisper of a hint reaching her - and she stayed thrilled from then until we left after lunch on Sunday. The Accountant had a gleam in his eye that boded ill for anyone who tried to wrest it from him during evenings in front of the tele, and Tink spent ages patting each square and trying to guess who made them. (I took pictures of all of them individually, so give me a shout out if you need a pic of your bit/s)
When we took photos outside yesterday, Tink said she loved it so much she could just wear it forever:


Now I am home again, and normal knitting can resume - aside from all the xmas gifts on my list that is!

Oh, and I have one more square I found hiding on my living room floor - that must be why there is an unbalanced corner - it was fate! My apologies to the knitter - I'll send it up there asap!
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Ahem.

Now that I've recovered my composure somewhat **wollmeise!**, I can talk sensibly to you all about life, knitting and birthdays.
So, it was my birthday on Friday, a glorious 35 years old am I. Thanks to my parents, I am reasonably intelligent, productive, stable and happy member of society. Thanks to my husband, I have a strong, loving and happy marriage with three lovely (aside from the tantrums) children. Thanks to my children I have hugs and cuddles every day, and every day I try to remember how lucky I am to have them (aside from the tantrums). Thanks to a lot of hard work and a welcome share of good luck, I have an interesting job which could even be called a career, and which is helping to pay the mortgage on our house. And thanks to my family and friends, I have phonecalls and messages and cards and emails wishing me a happy birthday. I am blessed, and well aware of it.

And I got Wollmeise from Tink!!!
And Doctor Who - The Complete First Series (Billie Piper Christopher Eccleston) from hubby and kids!!!
A Bunnings gift card from MIL for house/garden things!!!
An as yet unseen surprise from Mum and Dad!!! (they only got back from UK/France holiday on Tuesday - lack of posting time is understandable)
And my school threw an Octoberfest evening for me!!! - Well, no they didn't throw it for me, but they did have an Octoberfest on Friday evening, so that's close enough - I didn't have to cook, or clean up, and I got lemon-ricotta cheesecake for dessert. What's not to love?
And yesterday we had a bonus snb for Kim, (tenakee on Ravelry) who is on her annual conference visit from Alaska. We met at the Rotunda in the Botanical Gardens, and enjoyed a glorious spring afternoon eating and chatting and watching spouses look after children whilst we talked knitting, the universe and everything :>
BBQ tea last night - with daylight savings it is light outside until 8pm now - and an evening on the computer playing with pattern ideas in Ravelry. I'm thinking of the Forget-Me-Not shawl (Ravlink), or perhaps the Hyacinth Lace shawl (Ravlink), both from Evelyn A. Clark. I'll have to make my mind up in the next half-an-hour, because I neeeeeed to cast on something with this amazing yarn!!!
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TdFKAL Wrap Up

As the riders in France begin the final, fearsomely anticipated stage of the tour, chez moi it is a time for reflection...
My goal for the Maillot Vert was to design and knit a vest/une tunique for ma petite fille, et voilá l'Ondulation:

Verdict? I am really pleased with this! It was knitted in the round, designed on the needles, guesstimated and tinkered around with as it reached the bodice (Miss V let me put it on her for about 10 seconds to check for chest fit 10 days ago), and ended up being a great fit! (I know that Jet relaxes, so it shouldn't be as snug after a wash) The shell stitch edging around the bodice, and more open version around the hem, were my first attempt at edging a knitted item with crochet, and I'm glad I did so - it was not as beautiful without them. The buttons were the best I could do with the range on hand in Spotties, but I doubt I'll bother trying to find better ones - they are turquoise butterflies on a purple background, and very sweet.

And Mamzelle V checking herself out in the mirror was too cute to pass up :>


Pour la bonification, deux versions du Calorimetry:


Et comme les domestiques, qui donnent un peu de la variété, quleques WIPs:


I have enjoyed being part of the Tour de France KnitAlong again this year, and being the captain's understudy was great fun! Watching the gorgeous French countryside was very refreshing in the depths of our far less picturesque winter, although a little exhausting what with being on the other side of the globe and supposedly 'working' at my 'job' all day...
Socially speaking, it was lovely to meet a team of new knitty friends, and to take advantage of the many links to surf around the blogs and Rav pages of other KAL participants. It also gave me a new way to surprise and bemuse my new work colleagues (a TdF knit-a-what??), and Ribby Man has had no shortage of admirers amongst the small boys of my acquaintance!
Speaking of that dashing figure, he assures me that the hero of Team Rabobank, Denis "the Menace" Menchov, will be giving him a personal interview about his success in the TdF, so please stay tuned!

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Proof of Life!

Ondulation, clutched fetchingly to the torso of intended recipient, to demonstrate general three-quarter's doneness.

(Don't bother trying to embiggen - this one was taken with the iSight, which is not reknowned for high-res gorgeousness)

And for those who commented today, thank you, I managed to read them even though Haloscan refuses to show them after my post - apparently I am not the only one this has happened to.

As for tonight, well, knitting may be interrupted by going out to dinner with the ladies from Playgroup, at a swish Italian restaurant in Battery Point (aka Hobart's answer to The Rocks, complete with stone cottages, boutique accommodation and fancy eateries).

Hoping that you are all doing well, your needles do not droop, and that your night is a nice one.
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What are we doing this for???

Later tonight I will have 1 Evangeline (Ravlink for pattern)arm-warmer done, and another started, but before I take pics and show you, I want to have a little moment to think about what I'm doing here.

On Sat we had a bonus snb meetup to try out a new cafe. While there were only six of us, it was still really enjoyable to sit and chat and goss and knit. At one point, following on from blackie's confession that she only joined Ravelry because we all kept on about it and she wanted to see what she was missing out on, I asked what people got from blogging, using Ravelry, and the internet generally as far as knitting is concerned. Two of blog regularly, two irregularly, and two don't blog. All of us are now on Ravelry, but we use it differently. Some only like it for the databases of patterns and yarns, and links to finished projects with comments about style, fit, finishing, pattern errors and so on. Some like to dip in to the Tassie Knitter's forum or display pictures of their projects. Some are really committed Ravelers, enthusiastic members of a number of forums, frequently updating their projects, stash and queues and checking their Ravmail umpteen times a day.
So why so much difference in how we use these online tools? The six who were there on Saturday might just span fifteen years in the age-range, all of us are (purportedly) adults, with homes, jobs, some have children, some have pets, (I have both), we all have internet access at home and cameras for digital pics and we all enjoy knitting, and often other crafts as well. We all find pleasure in each other's company once a month (and increasingly twice), we email or Ravmail in between times when we have questions or comments.
I am interested in the whys and wherefores from both a personal and professional perspective. Personally, I started reading blogs at a point when I was going on maternity leave for the third time, the end was in sight for my Masters degree, and I was increasingly turning to knitting as a creative outlet at a time when I had neither the time nor the energy to tackle longer term sewing or cross-stitching projects, let alone go outside and garden. I had no knitting friends, but I was enjoying the craft, so I went looking for books, magazines, and then the online community.
Then we had child number three and moved to Tasmania, and I knew no-one and had a non-sleeping baby and an active three-yr-old and a degree to finish and I just needed some relief, a connection to other adults who shared similar interests, and blogging gave me that. Following that, blogging led to bloggy friends like 2paw which led to meeting Penni and the Hobart SnB gals, and I now have a number of different folks to talk to about knitting and other stuff too.
So now that I know some real people, why do I keep blogging? I like the opportunity it gives me to think about what I have done, am doing and plan to do next. I like the sense of discussion when I pose a problem or ask a question and comments come back from readers. I like being able to show off to an appreciative audience (ie you) when I do something I am proud of - while the MOMD is excellent and increasingly clever at using words like 'swatch' and 'cable' correctly (he admired my 'pretty' and 'shiny' and 'smooth' harmony needles yesterday) he is not a knitter and cannot fully admire or commiserate. I enjoy the opportunity to play with words and combine them with the interactivity offered by the internet. Blogging connects me to an online community of bloggers and blog-readers, like a virtual snb where we can make a mug of our favourite beverage, grab the munchy of our choice, curl up in our daggiest houseclothes, and catch up with friends who might otherwise be hard to see, what with work and family and schedules and commitments and the general hassle of being presentable enough to take over part of a cafe for a couple of hours without upsetting the owners :)
And how is Ravelry different? As a different tool (or toolkit, perhaps, considering the number of different functions) it serves a variety of different purposes. Yes you can display your projects, with yarn and pattern and comments and progress - it is a little more organised than blogging about them, but also there is less room for the discussion aspects that I enjoy so much - triumphs and tragedies, inspirations and hesitations are lost in the data-driven matrix. The groups and forums (fora, if we are being persnicketty) are a way to meet and keep in touch with groups of knitters (and crocheters and whatnot) who share interests or characteristics with you, to have conversations on particular topics that are easy to follow and participate in. The pattern and yarn databases, and the opportunity to queue faves is wonderful, if somewhat unrealistic (and yes I am thinking about my own knitting fantasies here). Ravelry provides me with several different ways to enhance my knitting life, both technically and socially, but it doesn't replace either my personal multimedia gallery or my real-life knitty friends. I will never be devoted or unscheduled enough to photograph every skein, update every project, or follow every thread. Knitting is a creative, personally satisfying hobby which brushes over onto other areas of my life, but it does not rule my life (I have kids for that).

This really is a total ramblefest, but if you've come this far, let me sum up:
* online communities need to have a defined purpose, a shared sense of place, and provide some kind of benefit to members. They also need to respond to and evolve along with the needs of the community.
* a blog is kind of a personal representation of one's preferred online community - my blog, my rules, my content, my style, my time.
* a person's needs determine the kind of communities they will seek out, online or face-to-face, and so they will only participate in communities that satisfy those needs, and only to the extent necessary to make them happy.

And with that, it is time to put the kettle on, grab some chocky reward bikkies (for spending more than three hours in domestic martyrdom on this, the first weekday of my holidays), put Battlestar Galactica on the screen, and finish my first Evangeline.



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Friends! and Finished!! and Bought!!!

Hey folks - how's it going? I'm pretty busy, but am getting a handle on the fastest way home, which days mean cream bikkies in the bikkie jar, which students are ratbags, etc etc.

Last weekend, to celebrate the Great Aussie Tradition of Going Away for the Long Weekend, we went away. In fact, we went Up. Up to Latrobe, in the north of the state, to visit Tink and co. On the way, we stopped in Launceston for a mid-afternoon break and get together with 2paw and amandaj. Such lovely ladies! We strolled along the boardwalk until we found a cafe that would do tea, coffee and cakes, then sat and chatted and knitted and sipped and nibbled until it was time to get going. In the car on the way up I finished a washcloth for 2paw, in a gentle green 8ply cotton, the pattern (which I adored knitting - completely fun!!) is Spring Arbor washcloth from K1, P1 Keeping You in Stitches:

However, I couldn't find a needle in my bag anywhere and had to gift it with the ends unwoven!!!! (bad bloggy friend) 2paw had come prepared and gifted me with a new pencil case for my new job - into which I immediately placed the Salty Toes socks-in-progress - I have priorities!!! Sadly I forgot to take a pic yesterday (bad blogger - again) but will rectify this weekend.

and then there is the finishing news - my Sock Knitter's Pentathlon 2008 Jacobean socks are DONE!!!


and I just looked at the time so I'll fill the links in later, but here is what I did with a little bit of my first pay packet:

A picture speaks a thousand words???
:>



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You Make My Month

There's an award that has been doing the rounds, and I was thrilled to bits when Kate and then InkBerryBlue listed me amongst their choices. It has taken me a dreadfully long time to reciprocate, but at long last here it is:

The rules state:

Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware; you may get the award several times.
So here are my top 10 bloggy smile makers:

1. 2paw - my first Blogging Friend
   
2. Madam Sewingsticks aka Penni - my first Real Life Knitting Friend
   
3. KissMyFrog Kate - she makes me giggle!!
   
4. Tinkingbell - generous, gregarious, gorgeous!
   
5. My Knitting Group - they make my first Saturday of the month, and the occasional extra!
   
6. Jess, Knitting and Chocolate - we share a deep love of purple that cannot be denied
   
7. the Ruth Spoon - the thing with the aprons is quirky :P
   
8. Random Knits - her lace shawls are so so beautiful!
9. littleblackcrow - she puts the Goth back into Amigurumi (and knits a mean sock, too)
10. InkBerryBlue - she always has flowers!
    
11. all the funky blogs I click on for humour, lace, peacocks, colour, the Aussie knitting scene, design, the madness of modern family life, and sheer volume of garter stitch - to name but a few...

I hope to keep reading, commenting, chatting and even meeting you all for a long long time. Keep it up guys. You make me smile.

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So before we get to this Saturday

Let's talk about last Saturday!

Tink and family were visiting Hobart for the weekend, which naturally involved a flurry of emails regarding going to stitch'n'bitch, the markets, and possibility of stash enhancement. Tink and co found our house mid-morning, our various offspring considered the possibilities for playing with great solemnity (ie they stared at each other for a while before remembering when our family visited Tink's house last year), and I put the kettle on. Tink, Her Accountant, the MOMD and I sat down to chat, drink, munch, and play show-and-tell - well, you can guess who was involved in that last bit! Tink produced her travel knitting bag, with glories such as the Noropup sock, the Mystery Sock, the Vog-Ons, the Red Bird Every-Other-Month Sock Club Kit, and a full range of Harmony dpns - and then expected me to Give Them All Back!!!! In (revenge) return, I shared some books from my shelves, a number of WIPs (making her drool with my L&L Clapotis), and gave her a little b'day prezzie. This had been a little tricky to achieve, as when I sat down to make the prezzie, I discovered that the presser foot was missing from my sewing machine! ARRRRKKK!!! Miss V was the most probable culprit, but has she hasn't yet learned to speak, the chances of a successful interrogation were miniscule. I gave up hope, rang various shops to no immediate avail, and sewed almost everything with teh zipper foot. (Don't ask me about the tension.) (Material or Emotional.) And on top of all this drama, Tink gave me a prezzie - the woman is nuts! (But welcome any time her generous heart desires!) I now have a new Liberty floral pot-and-cup set (pics later - if I try to do it now you won't get this till next Thursday).
Aaaaaanyway, we had a nice time chatting and giving the hubbies and children time to get acquainted, then Tink and I made a wild bid for freedom, and headed for the city! We spent a couple of hours wandering around Salamanca Markets, poking around in the Spindletree, and then made our way to the Feb meeting of More Stitchin' Than Bitchin' (click on over for some excellent pics - can you spot my Rav tshirt?). A fun time was had by all, WIPs were admired, styles discussed, and we welcomed a new person - Kirra, who was found on Ravelry! We headed home at 4, somewhat reluctant to return to lively children and no knitting time :P The hubbies had done an outstanding job, children were intact and still being cooperative (woweee!), and Tink and co stayed on for a bbq dinner with wine and talk and bursts of laughter.
I know our family had a lovely time, the MOMD at no point said 'never again' (which means I am quite happy to dob him in for babysitting in the future), and Tink seems to have enjoyed herself :>
SO much fun. I wonder what this weekend will bring?

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Fun with Friends

Yesterday I met up with Penni and Kim-from-Alaska at the Botanical Gardens for a little mid-month KIP. Penni and I had our two charming daughters, so our knitting was interspersed with doling out food and drink, arranging hats, wiping faces and removing important items from fingering proximity! Kim is working on a Swallowtail shawl, and fighting with border charts and stitch numbers and so on, so wish her luck! Penni was working on her Koigu sock, which comes out very pretty... oh and Kim showed us some Jitterbug, too, which she is turning into a wonderful pair of Monkeys! I did not go home with anyone else's lush sock yarn, but the urge to buy a little something special in honour of my birthday is getting hard to resist!
Here are some kitschy patterns Penni is lending me for ideas for the Aussie Tea Cosy swap (a Ravelry-facilitated event, watch the forum boards for the next one!)

Penni brought homemade scones, with some lush jam and cream, of which Miss 1 totally approved!


Penni also brought with her some birthday goodies for me! I am feeling very lucky!!
There's still some chocky left, but not much (I did share a little with the MOMD), and I tested the liquid-holding properties of the gorgeous mug yesterday afternoon - may I say, form and function match perfectly!! And the cloth is very cute (have fiddled with contrast and whatnot to try to make the pattern stand out - it's kind of coral-coloured in real life). It's now my official teacloth!

I was late yesterday morning, however, because as I crossed the backyard, the fence decided to pop apart!

This is the nearly put-back-together panel of fence - the top rail was not properly riveted in at the end (ie not at all), so after all the wind we've been having, it was obviously vibrated far enough out of whack that it just popped off in the next breeze (I'd like to think that it was the sheer power of my presence as I crossed the grass.....) And we got to meet the nice lady over the fence, who liked my miraculously-not-barking dogs! So, an eventful morning!!
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A Real Live Knitty Friend!

Yesterday I met Penni (and her baby girl) for morning tea at one-of-an-ubiquitous-chain-of-coffee-shops-guaranteed-to-be-open-over-Easter - an actual knitter, same age group, same professional background, same age babies (I'm ahead on older kids points though) and living in the same suburb!!!
We had a nice time chatting through the new acquaintance checklist (you know what I mean), and meandered through some knitting topics - socks, knitting lots but not ending up with own things, gauge, dishcloths/washers, Yarns I Have Known - it was really nice and a bit weird at the same time - I have had sewing friends, a motorbike-mad cross-stitch friend (we used to hit Lindcraft, the bookstore, and the cake shop after exams finished), a scrapbooking friend, crafty friends and family members, but, somehow, No Knitters! This is a new experience for me - I can mention a magazine, designer, technique or whatever, and she will Get It!
Very. Very. Happy.
☺☻☺☻☺
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