I've been nominated!

Disco Knitter has nominated me for one of these:


She actually did it a while ago, but I have only just (touch wood and any other available lucky object) emerged from a three week round of getting up hourly to every two hours as Lloyd has been having such noisy REM sleep its been waking me up. We are talking sleep screeching here. Yup screeching while sleeping. I cant imagine what sort of dreams the poor boy is having.

So without further ado, here are my nominations:

Knitdevil - what's not to love? Music, cool craft and 'tude. Also her hilarious blog comments and invaluable advice about blocking and the trickiness of gauge. Love ya Madge!

Bells - probably her billionth nomination. I love her honesty, flower photos and prodigious knitting output. And Southern Summer of Socks

Rose Red - also probably her billionth nomination. Shoes, fabulousness and knitting. And also Southern Summer of Socks.

Random Knits - another billionth. Love her friendliness, encouragement, fantastic range of knitting and her bunny.

Kgirlknits - combining The Pixies, The Breeders, Bowie and knitting. And roller derby! Heaven!

Knitting on the Chaise Lounge - cool, arcane and with a picture of Paul Newman looking totally gorgeous.

And finally, a new blog discovery Not Drowning, Mothering. How can you not love a blog that uses such immortal phrases as "but of course, no amount of praline will stop your arse from itching" and reveal the sneaking schadenfreude of your coolest friends announcing the impending arrival of a sprog. Makes me laugh loudly enough to wake Lloyd every time. And in finding those highlights, I've just managed to wake my boy up.

Carmen Miranda

For years my sole associations with Carmen Miranda have been fruit, frills and, for some reason, the dastardly United Fruit Company. Then along came Loani Prior's Wild Tea Cosies, and I knew that I had to make Carmen! During Lloyd's long cold 2am feeds when he was a new born, I mentally sorted through my stash, hoping to be able to create something gorgeous out of ill concieved purchases of novelty yarn. And surely enough, Loani's inspiration lead me to whip up Carmen. Who thought knitting and crocheting fruit could be so much fun!

When bloggers meet, and a master of the art of cuteness

Recently I met with the Disco Knitter. This was my first ever meet up with a knit blogger. Imagine - lunch, adult conversation and knit talk!! Twas heaven! And Inigo provided a great role model for Lloyd by scarfing down beans and broccoli like they were chunks of chocolate. And Ms Disco Knitter has promised to introduce me to a whole new craft experience with a visit to Spotlight at Granville in the near future. Am saving up for the trip.

On the home front, things are well although Mr Wriggly has adopted a rigourous nightime schedule of waking or stirring every two hours. Its a killer, so its lucky he is looking extra cute at the moment. See exhibit one below. At the moment every night is an adventure. Its enough to make me knit fruit. And on that tantilising note, you'll have to wait for news of my next FO.

The biggest FO since 1988

Presenting the biggest FO since 1988! Yes, that was the last time I knitted a cardigan. Now twenty years later, I've managed to complete another. Knitters, I present to you Evie!


Evie was a most instructive garment. I overcame my fear of armholes, pockets and button holes. I learnt to keep a simple pattern. And after I'd sewn her up, I learnt that I should have measured myself before I started knitted! But on the positive front, it was nice to learn that Kim Hargreaves' sizing is generous despite her use of waif-like models. As you can see, Evie is about two sizes too big for me. Luckily though, she is just about the right size for my Mum.... I can sense a Christmas present coming on...


The garment was completed courtesty of: a road trip to Byron Bay (in total about 20 hours of knitting), a road trip to Canberra (about 6 hours of knitting), the final two seasons of Arrested Development, Season Three of Shameless, Season Four oF Entourage and Seasons Three and Four of The Wire. (Yes, I am a teev addict.)

By popular demand...

...and because I have no knit fodder, here is a photo of Mr Wriggly looking only slightly stunned.



And another of my two boys. Awwww.....



BTW 1 - subscribed to Thicket's email list last week and got a lovely package with some sample yarns in it. I hadnt seen Jo Sharp's Silk Georgette in Devon before. It is beautiful. I'm now on the hunt for a worthy project. Anyone have any suggestions?

BTW 2 - I had a live sighting of Sixandahalfstiches beautiful grey Lady February Sweater. I had recently faved it in Ravelry and was so excited to it in real life!

Stacked Eyelet Cowl

Done!

A survey of ufos

I have a number of ufos on the needles at the moment. Here they are:


From left to right: Hanami in Ebony Handmaiden Sea Silk; Spiral Boot Socks in Foxy Lady Cherry Tree Hill; Stacked Eyelet Cowl in Shrinking Violet Socks that Rock; Evie in Deep Rowan Soft 4 ply.

Dont the yarns look pretty? Shouldnt that, plus the fact that all of these projects are ridiculously close to being finished, inspire me?



Apart from an inspiration deficit, I'm also being delayed by having to take it easy on knitting at the moment. My elbows, wrists and hands are sore from the joint softening hormones that are still floating around in my body. This is exacerabted by lugging around the 6.5 kilo Mr Wriggly. So, its very limited knitting for me for a while. Its killing me!