So who gets the naming rights...........

Meet my new friend.

I am his maker but not his keeper, that honour is going to go to my niece.

My question for you is this............who gets the naming rights?

Is it okay to give a toy already named?

Even if I tend towards names that crack you up to hear come out of a little kid's mouth and even better their parents?

I think he looks like a boy, maybe a little like a Ralphie? or a Norman? Trevor? is Dick taking it too far?

What do you think?

(BTW: he is Steve from Denyse Schmidt Quilts Book, all from old clothes. Cute huh.)

Jaywalkers

Sometimes I have been known to shoot my mouth off. I may have done this about Jaywalkers.

I have tried this pattern twice in the past and both times ended up with failure early on. Now I wonder why didn't I get it. This pattern is a darling. As easy as stockinette and much more thrilling to watch grow. Oh and it loves variegated yarns and how many patterns can you say that about!

I was down to my last ball of variegated sock yarn, one I have had for a long long time, one that I would just keep pushing to the bottom of the pile because I didn't like the colours.





So here was the plan; to knit a pattern I didn't like with a yarn I didn't care for.





And I have ended up with success, go figure.

Maybe they should have a talk with the thneed.

The Silence was Deafening.............

Just over a week ago we lost our monitor.

Not as in "where the hell is it under all this renovation material" but as in "it just decided to stop working" lost.

I think we may be a little dependent on our computer. We realised that we do not have a radio (we stream live from around the world), do not get a print paper (all online), we have no TV (we just watch any movies or shows we are interested in on the computer - you know after the kids are in bed - as in it is not what we do but what we say sweetie), have email as our primary means of contact with family and friends around the world, have all of our money and accounts online, no updates on all our podcasts, my beloved Ravelry and of course you out in blogland.

It was remarkable how quickly we lost touch with the world. We did all those things you do when you get stuck in a blackout for days; we had roaring fires, played games, read books, talked.... screw that I want my computer back! A friend took pity on us and has just lend us an old monitor until HP finally get their lack of customer service ass together and honours our warranty ("3-5 days is always the answer", the question should be "from when does the 3-5 days start" since they haven't even picked up the monitor yet).

So now I am squinting a teeny tiny little screen without sound, no comforting dings and musical notes that I always sing along with (it's my blog and I'll be a dork if I want to, a dork if I want to - see even now I am singing, I, my friends, are a good time).

Monster Rug.

Finally he is laid to rest......




.....About 150 t-shirts later and it is done.




This was a mammoth project but well worth it in the end. I love it. It is warm, cushy and cosy. Many of the t-shirts used were no longer wearable, with holes and many stains so it is a wonderful way to recycle. The entire rug was done in single crochet with a big mother of a hook (here is my crochet ignorance - how do you measure hooks if you don't have a hole thingee? What part is measured?).


Excuse the space, it has not yet been renovated. And watch that chair, it is next on the upholstery block! (Ooooh springs....)

This has been a big part of my creative time lately, along with the blanket. I may have to take a break from the blanket soon. I knit and knit and yet there are still more squares to go! I now see why crochet blankets are more popular (and sensible). I did cast on for the monkey socks but changed my mind on the yarn. It is a handwash only cashmere sock yarn, it didn't take me long to realise the folly of handwash socks in this household! I think I will save that yarn for something else. Anyway hopefully I will have some more interesting knitting going on around here soon.

Dirty Little Secret...........

A while back I made a scribble scarf.

It is made out of Rowan Kidsilk Haze and a mohair/tussah silk hand spun from Mendocino Fiber Art. It is garter stitch done on size 19 needles. Fast and easy (so many jokes I could make with that one but since I have already used the words "new baby" and "skank" in the same sentence this week I should take a break.....)

For some reason this scarf has attracted more attention, more compliments than all of my other handknits combined. It is a garter stitch scarf. Thankfully it is not the pinnacle of my skill. Sure it is pretty but it is no fancy lace masterpiece, no cabled labyrinth and yet it inspires awe and respect. For a while there I would reply with the old "it is nothing and any idiot....." and then I really heard myself and now I just say thank you. Maybe it was about the same time I realised that no one else was as nasty, had ever been so nasty to me as I was to myself. And I always felt I had a pretty good self respect. But one day it hit me, if anyone else talked to me the way I talked to myself, about myself, I would not be friends with them; you know after I had decked them. God damn, if I had only read all those self help books like everyone else did in the '80's!

So it is our dirty little secret, I am that "ever so clever, so very artistic, wish I had the talent to do that" knitter who knitted that gorgeous (garter stitch) scarf, ssshhhhh.........

Why are they all getting in the way of my knitting?......

Life has been full.

I have returned to part time studies.

I have returned to part time work.

I have 2 kids that seem to demand never ending care and attention.

An old house that is constant in it's cry for renovation.

Oh and yeah I am now on Ravelry and all I want to do is spend hours exploring it.

I have decided I need a house elf.

Oh now I get it..........

I whipped out another pair of Fetchings. That is how it feels, you just whip them out, these gloves fly off your needles. The first time around I added some extra rows here and there because quite frankly they felt skimpy to the point of being indecent and when it is a gift for someone you don't know indecent ain't right. This time I did as I was told and I am loving them. I am in the midst of a long dark winter and are feeling the cold. These gloves have become my new best friend.



The yarn? It is a Knitpicks yarn that I got a couple of years ago. I had ordered a selection so I could swatch their yarns before doing a large purchase, this was one I never got around to. Once again the colour leaves me a little cold but the yarn is luscious. It is Knit Picks Andean Treasure, 100% baby Alpaca, 110 yards in Sunset. I had just enough, with no swatch. I knit them up in size 5 needles.


I even wear them under these when out and about:



My kick-winter-in-the-ass felted mittens.



Kiwis think heat is for whoosies. In fact on our road we are seen as a little soft in the head not only due to the fact we have put in heat (and god damn it we even turn the heat on, in the day!) and insulated our home but because when it is hovering near zero (Celsius) we insist our kids put on hats and gloves to go out and play, all while the neighbour kids are playing in freakin short sleeves.

In spite of all this winter dreariness I love that when I look at my kids I see them covered from head to neck to hand to foot in my knitting love.

If only for this, winter is worth it.