The Knitter's Last Stand

100 Aussie things meme

2009-01-31T19:04:00.003+11:00

Thanks Yarnivorous for this meme
Make bold the things you have done

1.Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited The Great Barrier Reef.
5. Stood under the stars in the outback, the real outback – think Uluru.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to the Gold Coast’s theme parks – anyone, you take your pick.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sung a solo.
11. Bungee jumped, jumped out of plane, been paragliding or hang-gliding, hot air ballooning – you get the idea, you’ve been hundreds of metres about earth in a seemingly flimsy contraption.
12. Visited Melbourne.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Had a child. Raised a child. Worked with children. (All three)
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Been to the Snowy Mountains.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Visited the Brett Whitely studio in Surry Hills, Sydney.
20. Slept on an overnight train or bus.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Been backpacking.
23. Taken a mental health day.
24. Been buried in sand with just your head and toes sticking out.
25. Held a possum, kangaroo or koala – or any other native Australian animal.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Been in a fun run.
28. Been on the Blue Mountain cableway.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Played, or watched, cricket.
32. Sailed, kayaked or canoed our beautiful waterways.
33. Seen the Daintree.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Visited an Aboriginal settlement or mission.
36. Learned a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Toured the Sydney Opera House.
39. Tried rock climbing (indoor or outdoor), abseiling or just simple bush walking.
40. Visit Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art.
41. Been to the Tamworth Country Music Festival. (Been to Tamworth but not the festival).
42. Sunbaked at Bondi.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Broome.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone fishing.
49. Seen Tasmania’s old growth forests. (They have just about all been logged in the past including the ones that they’re protesting about).
50. Been to the top of Q1, on the Gold Coast.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre. (That’s showing my age).
55. Been in a movie.
56. Driven the Great Ocean Road. (About 3 times).
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Norfolk Island.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Guide biscuits.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Got flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma.
65. Gone jet boating.
66. Visited Port Arthur.
67. Bounced a cheque.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favourite childhood toy. (We got burnt out twice when I was a child).
70. Visited the Australian War Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Federation Square.
74. Been on the Murray River.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Travelled, or climbed, over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Three Sisters at Echo Point, Katoomba.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited St Mary’s Cathedral, in Sydney.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Been to Hermannsburg.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited Parliament House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Saved a pet.
95. Been to the site of the Eureka Stockade.
96. Swum in The Whitsundays.
97. Been involved in a lawsuit.
98. Owned a mobile phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day.

I'm not passing this meme on so if you want to have a try then off you go.

Catch ya later and in the mean time keep on knitting (if the weather permits).

Cathy

At long last !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-12-31T22:37:00.007+11:00

The 1st photo is of my secret Santa gifties that I got from the lovely Sharon at the last Launceston Ravelry for 2008.

These are a few of my winning entries in the Launceston Show that was in October 2008

Everyone have a Happy and Safe New Year for 2009 and most of all keep on knitting.

Cathy

Finished projects

2008-09-03T10:51:00.002+10:00

This set has been finished for quite a while.

The yarn used was Lion Brand Magic Stripes.

It is a different way of using this sock yarn and I think it will look lovely on a little boy.

This outfit is to be sold at a later date.

This little outfit was sooooooooooooooo quick to knit.

It is knit from Moda Vera Spell which we used to be able to buy at Spotlight but Spotlight being the way they are we can no longer get it.

These socks are knit from one of the Opal Petticoat range.

I can't remember at the moment where I found the pattern but if I think of where I will add it in later.

I knit this jumper for miss 6 as she asked me to make it in these colours for her.

She has been wearing one that I made for her in pink and white for the past 2 years and just loves it. She almost lives in it.

The yarn is acrylic and I think that I bought this at Spotlight as well.

The pattern is from a Debbie Bliss book called "Great knits for kids".

These socks look a dream.

They were knit from yarn that my great friend Katt dyed.

Don't they look fantastic?

The pattern is the one that I mostly use from my trusty Patonyle accessories knitting book.

I have a few more finished items to show off but the pickies are still in the camera so you will have to wait for them.

I promise that you won't have to wait so long until the next instalment of pickies.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Bye Bye Whiskers

2008-09-03T10:44:00.002+10:00

It is with sadness that we have lost Whiskers.

He was hit by a car on Saturday night and our lovable larykin didn't survive.

Whiskers was about a year old (we don't know exactly how old as he adopted us about six months ago) and he was a true free spirit.

Echidnas

2008-04-06T16:47:00.002+10:00

Here is a pickie of our grandson Charles at the Platypus House at Beauty Point last month with 2 of their 3 echidnas.

This post is taking a bit to type as #5 grandchild is on my knee and trying to type with me.

Isabella is almost 10 months old now.

2 posts in one day. I must be sick!!!!!!!

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Long time coming

2008-04-06T13:10:00.004+10:00

This scarf is really gold in colour even though it looks cream in the pickie.

I have knit 3 of these scarves so far as it is a lovely pattern.

This one has been set aside as a present and the other 2 have been put in the local CWA shop to be sold.

These socks have been knit from a pattern from the Vogue Socks Two knitting book.

The yarn is one of the Opal petticoat colourways.

I still luuuuuuuuuuuuuv knitting socks even though they hurt my hand.

I have arthritis in my left hand and am waiting to have surgery to remove some of the arthritis and also a boney growth.

These childrens socks are knit from left over Opal "caterpillar" yarn and the feet have been knit with brown Opal Uni.

Kids socks are excellent for the little bits that are left over when knitting adults socks and they are soooooooooooo quick to knit as well.

These little shoettes are one of 4 pair that I have knit lately as I have only been tackling small projects while waiting for my surgery.

They only take up a small amount of yarn and don't take very long to knit.

This strange looking thing is a childs bandanna.

The pattern was in the last Yarn magazine.

It didn't take very long to knit and I think that I will be making a few more of them.

That's all that I have to show at the moment but I have a few more projects on the needles.

I have just knit a baby beanie out of Magic Stripes sock yarn that turned out looooooooooooooovely so I have started the matching cardi to go with it.

I am hoping that I get it finished before I get called by the hospital though.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Time flies

2008-03-23T08:59:00.001+11:00

Where has the year gone.

It is already Easter.

Happy

Easter

Everyone

Keep on knitting

Cathy

Christmas cheer

2007-12-30T15:20:00.000+11:00

This is little Isabella our youngest grandchild on Christmas Day in a lovely Christmas skirt and t-shirt.

She is now 6 months old and doing very well.

This is Jasmin our second youngest grandchild on Christmas Day.

She hadn't long woken from having a sleep and was enjoying her Christmas lunch that I was happily feeding her.

Jasmin is now 18 months old and doing quite well these days as when she was born she was 6 weeks premature.

In the foreground is our daughter Aleeshia (Lee as she likes to be called) on Christmas Day.

This is a rarity as she usually pokes her tongue out when we try to take her pickie.

Lee is the mum of 4 of our grandchildren and is a good mum to them.

He children are Charles aged 11 years, Zoe aged 7 years, Jasmin aged 18 months and Isabella aged 6 months.

Last but not least this is a pickie of my African Violet.

I am soooooooooo pleased with this pickie as it shows that it is in flower.

Why am I so pleased that it's in flower? It is because every time I try to grow an African Violet I usually kill it within weeks and this one has lasted for about 6 months so far and is growing absolutely beautifully.

I can't believe that it is still alive let alone in flower.

Yesterday we went to Hobart to see some of the Sydney Hobart yachts finish the race and also went to Salamanca market and also the Taste of Tasmania and had a lovely day so today has been a bit of a rest day.

Tomorrow night we will be having a relaxing New Years Eve at Aurora Stadium with Miss 5 1/2 yrs and also our grandson (11 yrs). This is usually a good evening with entertainment and also fireworks for the children at 9.30pm and then more firworks at midnight.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and that you all have a safe New Year.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Season's Greetings

2007-12-25T09:05:00.000+11:00

Merry

Christmas

2007

and

Happy

New

Year

2008

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

A little more knitting

2007-11-19T21:38:00.000+11:00

This little oddity is an elephant finger puppet.

All kids looooooooove finger puppets so I thought that I would knit one out of a knitting mag that I had laying about.

These two cardi's were knit for a mother and son.

I have knit quite a bit of gear for the son but the mum wanted something that she could wear as well.

I have knit about eleven or twelve of these cardi's in the last few months as they are sooooooooo quick to knit as they are done in 14 ply.

The mum was so pleased with the cardi's that she got me to make another for her son for when he grows out of the one in the picture.

I knit these 2 cardi's for the two youngest grand daughters.

They are growing sooooooooo quickly but they are getting lots of wear out of these lovelies.

Jasmin is now 16 1/2 months old and is walking everywhere.

Isabella is now 5 months old and has cut her 1st tooth.

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2 posts in 1 day after nearly 4 months break from blogging.

Hopefully it won't be too long before I blog again.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Long time, no blog....................

2007-11-19T18:13:00.000+11:00

I have been verrrrrrrrry busy knitting but haven't blogged for sooooooooooooooo long.

I have hardly been online in the last few months.

Part of the time we had no internet as we were changing provider theeeeeeeeeen our old provider gave us a better deal when were changing and going elsewhere.

It's amazing what they will do when they are losing your business.

This little beanie is a cuty that I found in one of my new pattern books that I acquired.

Can't remember what book at the moment but it has more lovely patterns in it that i would like to do when I get time.

This pair of socks is from one of my newer books.

It has a lovely heart shaped lace pattern on the legs and also a lone heart one the heels.

I have a lot more knitting to show but that will have to wait until maybe later.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Jasmin and Isabella

2007-07-22T12:33:00.000+10:00

This is an almost up to date pickie of Jasmin.

It was taken when she was 10 and a half months old.

She is almost 13 months old now and is almost walking.

This is a pickie of Isabella Jayne taken when she was only 2 days old.

She is almost a month and a half old now.

I will have to get some more up to date photos of the girls off hubby as he has some later ones on his camera.

I will have some more pickies soon of the girls and also of some knitting.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Drat, drat and double drat

2007-07-14T18:45:00.000+10:00

I have been having a little issue with Blogger of late as it has not wanted me to log-in.

My password has not been working and when I click into the forgotten password box and I go through all the bizzo (and jump through all the hoops) that blogger wants me to do I type in my OLD password and the %$##~! thing works.............eventually.

I have been knitting frantically of late and have churned out copious amounts of finished articles but as yet all the pickies are still on the camera.

As well as all the knitting that I've done there are still pickies of our new (1 month old now) grand daughter on the camera.

Our daughter had another daughter on the 13th of June.

Her name is Isabella Jayne and she weighed 6lb 3oz and is just beautiful.

Next time I promise some pickies of Isabella (Izzy for short) and also some knitting pickies.

Until next time kkep on knitting.

Cathy

A few pickies to peruse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-04-30T12:16:00.000+10:00

This pickie is of miss almost 5's doll wearing a long standing UFO that has finally been finished.

I started this dress when grand daughter number 1 was on the way. (She's now almost 6 1/2).

This is a close up of one of the Ice Cream Sundae socks.

The lovely Katt dyed the yarn and I just couldn't resist getting it an knitting it up.

This is the completed pair of Ice Cream Sundae socks.

They have knit up beautifully if I say so myself.

I knit this little jumper for something to do in between other projects that I had on the go.

It was such a quick little jumper to knit up.

I used a bit of red pure wool that I had sitting in my stash so I was being verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry economical on the pocket and I also used a verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry old pattern.

This little hoodie was knit from Bella Baby Parade using a pattern from the BSODL Knitting Essentials book.

I found a lot of faults with the pattern as well as with the yarn.

The pattern said that the 1st size only used 2 balls of yarn but when finished I had about 2 metres of the 4th ball of yarn left. (That's twice the amout of yarn stated in the pattern).

The yarn has joins all the way through it which is verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry annoying.

One ball of yarn even had a heap of ends (about 10cm long) shoved into the centre of the ball.

I have a hoodie on the go for miss almost 5 in the same yarn and am having the same problems with the yarn amount used and also joins all the way through the yarn so I will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER buy it again.

I am also going to get in touch with BSODL to let them know what is happening with the yarn as well as it's a rip off for them to sell yarn that when a lot of it is just unusable.

Oh well that's my rant for the day.

There will be more pickies of finished knitting at a later date.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Happy Easter

2007-04-04T22:19:00.000+10:00

Just a quick post to wish everyone a Happy Easter.

I hope the Easter Bunny finds all the good little children and brings them lots of yummy easter eggs.

I have been such a BAD blogger of late that I missed my second blogiversary last week.

That's what happens when you are sooooooooooooooo busy knitting that you forget to blog about KNITTING.

On another subject today I got a phone call from the lovely lady at the newsagents to let me know that the new Yarn magazine had arrived so I picked it up on the way home from miss 4 3/4's gymnastics class.

This time there are some good stories in the mag especially the one about the lovely Marta who is now watching us knit from all places heavenly.

There are no pickies with this post as I mumble mumble (forgot to charge the batteries in the camera) so hopefully next post there will be some pickies.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Just a quickie

2007-03-12T22:51:00.000+11:00

As the title suggests this post is "just a quickie" to let you all know that I'm still here.

I have been busily knitting and have even finished off a UFO that has been on the needles for over 6 years.

I will have to take a few pickies soon and let everyone know what I've been up to with my knitting.

There has also been a bit more stash enhancement due to the fact that the BSODL having a few sales at the moment.

They have been selling out of quite a bit of discontinued yarn and also today they had a store wide 20% off sale so I just couldn't resist.

I even bought a few things for miss 4 2/3 to keep her occupied.

Today she learnt how to tie a square knot in Scoubi's so soon she will be making bracelets for herself and her babies (dolls).

That's all for now so until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

I'm still "ALIVE" and "KNITTING"

2007-02-19T13:07:00.000+11:00

This beautiful little jacket was knit from a pattern that I got from elann.

It was a free pattern and is called a pinwheel sweater and is knit in Moda Vera Jazz.

I would say that it would fit from about a 3 month old baby to a 3 year old.

For a baby the jacket is turned one way and has a long collar and for an older child you turn it up the other way and it has a short collar.

Quite a novel idea and very serviceable.

The yarn that I used is verrrrrrrrrrrry soft as well.

This little jumper is one that I have knit a few times but not in this colourway.

I thought that the mauve would look very nice on the buttery yellow and I was right.

The yarn is Patons Feathersoft 8 ply and as the name says the yarn is sooooooooo soft.

I looooooooooove the pattern for this little hoodie.

I have knit 2 of them so far (see another one below) and I have another one on the needles.

The pattern is from the book titled Panda Baby Boutique and it is knit in 8 ply acrylic.

This pair of socks are knit Opal hand painted.

The colour is Rosehip and I just looooooooove the way that they turned out.

The pattern is my very trusty one from my Patonyle accessories knitting book.

These 2 lovely baby cardigans were knit from some of my yarn that i bought maybe about 10 years ago.

It was bought from the Wangaratta Woollen Mills way back when. (I don't know if they are still in operation. Maybe someone can leave a comment to let me know.)

The patterns for these two cardi's also came from the Panda Baby Boutique.

I have knit everything from this lovely little book and some patterns 4 or more times.

I have found the Wangaratta Woollen Mills who due to a merger became the Australian Country Spinners in 1991.

If you follow the clicky link it will take you to a page with a short history of this iconic Australian company. They even bought the New Zealand Sheperd wool brand.

These socks were a little of a challenge to make.

The pattern is "Reptilian Lace" from Knitty.

The main challenge was getting the beads onto the yarns before I started knitting.

They were also a bit slow to knit (sliding the beads down the yarns every few rows) but they were well worth it in the end.

If you can't see the colour of the beads properly they are gold which looks nice on the purple Opal Uni.

This pair of socks is knit in the "Rolling Thunder" pattern from knitty.

They are knit in Opal Petticoat and were a delight to knit.

The pattern gives the ladies size for the socks as well as a pattern for the baby socks below.

I found a small mistake in the baby sock pattern but is was easy to find for an experienced knitter.

This is delightful "Lambsie". I can't remember at the moment where I found the pattern but will let you know where from in a later post.

I knit it for my grand daughter Jasmin for Christmas.

He was knit in a multi yarn from the Spotlight range of acrylics.

This is the other hoodie mentioned above.

I gave this one to Jasmin just after Christmas and the colour looked really good on her.

The craft tally so far this year is 13 finished articles which includes 6 pairs of socks.

Ok that's all for now.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

2006 Tally.........................

2007-01-06T17:15:00.000+11:00

Just a quick post to let you all know that my crafting tally for 2006 waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas

159 total finished articles

35 pairs of finished socks

So far for 2007 I have a pair of "Rolling thunder" socks finished from the latest knitty.

Catch ya again soon.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Long time no blog...........

2006-12-09T17:10:00.000+11:00

These items are what I have knit so far for the India Project.

These beanies are for the grandchildren and another young chap that is also in need of a beanie to keep his little head warm.

They will get these in with their Christmas presents.

Things have been rather hectic around our house lately with work, school, dance classes, little miss 4 getting sick a few times as well as life is very busy with a 4 year old leading up to Christmas anyway.

Hopefully I will get a few more pickies posted very soon.

Until next time keep on knitting.

PS. Thanks everyone for you lovely thoughts when we lost our beloved Patches last month.

Cathy

Farewell good friend

2006-11-06T22:47:00.000+11:00

It is with sadness that I inform you that we lost a great mate today.

We lost our friend Patches early this afternoon.

She hasn't been well for a little while and until DH took her to the vet today we only knew that she was very ill and that she had developed epilepsy.

As she was soooooooooo unwell we decided that we couldn't let her suffer any more.

Today the vet said that she probably had an aneurism or a brain tumour which had been making her so unwell.

Patches was only 10 1/2 years old but she'd had a good life until about a month ago.

Farewell good friend and we'll meet again some day.

Cathy

Family mittens pattern

2006-11-04T15:35:00.000+11:00

As requested by Michelle here is my pattern for knitting mittens. These mittens are for a toddler, child, lady and man and the sizes are quite good. The hand section is a little long but that leaves room for the fingers to move.

Materials
8ply wool 50g balls
For child and toddler 1 ball and for lady and man 2 balls

8 ply acrylic 100g
For child 1/4 ball, toddler 1/3 ball and for lady and man 1/2 ball.

Needles
1 pair each 3.75mm (No 9) and 3.00mm (No 11).

Tension
23.5 st to 10 cm in width over stocking st.

Right Mitten
Using 3.00 (No 9) needles cast on 28(36-44-52) sts.
1st row - K2, *P1, K1, rep from * to end.
Rep 1st row 15 (19-23-27) times.
Change to 3.75 (No 11) needles.
1st row - Knit.
2nd row - K1, purl to last st, K1. **
3rd row - K15(19-23-27), "M1", K1, "M1", K12(16-20-24).
Work 3 rows.
7th row - K15(19-23-27), "M1", K3, "M1", K12(16-20-24).
Work 3 rows.
11th row - K15(19-23-27), "M1", K5, "M1", K12(16-20-24).
Cont inc in this manner (working 2 sts more between inc each time) in foll 4th row/s until there are 36(44-54-64) sts.
Work 1(3-1-1) row/s.
Thumb - Next row - K25(29-35-41), turn.
Next row - K1, P9(10-12-14), turn, cast on 2(3-3-3) sts.
**Work 10(12-16-18) rows on these 12(14-16-18) sts.
Shape top - 1st row - K0(2-1-0), *K2 tog, K1, rep from * to end.
2nd row - K1, purl to last st, K1.
3rd row - K0(0-1-0), * K2 tog, rep from * to end.
Break off yarn, run end through rem sts, draw up and fasten off securely. With right side facing, join in yarn and knit up 2(3-3-3) sts from cast-on sts at base of thumb, knit to end... 28(36-44-52) sts.
Work 17(21-25-27) rows.
Shape top - 1st row - (K1, sl 1, K1, psso, K8(12-16-20), K2 tog, K1) twice.
2nd and 4th rows - K1, purl to last st, K1.
3rd row - (K1, sl 1, psso, K6(10-14-18), K2 tog, K1) twice.
5th row - (K1, sl 1, psso, K4(8-12-16), K2 tog, K1) twice.
Cont dec in this manner (working 2 sts less between dec each time) in alt row/s until 12(16-16-20) sts rem. Cast off.

Left Mitten.
Work as right mitten to **.
3rd row - K12916-20-24), "M1", K1, "M1", K15(19-23-27).
Work 3 rows.
7th row - K12(16-20-24), "M1", K3, "M1", K15(19-23-27).
Work 3 rows.
11th row - K12(16-20-24), "M1", K5, "M1", K15(19-23-27).
Cont inc in this manner (working 2 st more between inc each time) in foll 4th row/s until there are 36(44-54-64) sts.
Work 1(3-1-1) row/s.
Thumb - Next row - K21(26-32-38), turn, cast on 2(3-3-3) st.
Next row - K1, P10(12-14-16), K1, turn.
Complete as for Right Mitten from ** to end.

Make Up
Do not press acrylic.
With a slightly damp cloth and warm iron, press wool lightly. Using flat seam, join thumb and hand seams. Press seams.

Hint
I sew the thumb up before picking up from the cast on stitches at the base of the thumb.

Happy knitting.

Cathy

Joy of joys....................

2006-11-03T22:38:00.000+11:00

Look what arrived at my local book store today.

I only ordered this book at Petrachs about 2 weeks ago and it is here already.

I have ordered the other 2 books that have been released by the Yarnharlot but no success as yet.

The distributors have run out of 1 and the other has to come from the USA.

I am in 7th heaven and started reading my book while at the bus stop waiting for my bus home.

I have now finished the 1st chapter and can't wait to get back to it.

This is a lovely set for a child in the soaring eagles project.

The yarn is Magnum Prints and the beanie pattern is the same as used before.

The mitten pattern is also the same as before but just knit in the womens size.

This yarn is sooooooooooooo soft and the colours are soooooooooooooooooooo pretty.

This little pair of socks are knit from left over Opal yarn.

The pattern is the baby cable socks but they are large enough to fit miss 4 and she has quite a large foot for her age.

This little beanie and mittens are for the India Knitting Project.

The mittens are my fave pattern again but in the toddler size and the beanie is from the Patons "Little Wonders" knitting book.

I'm not sure what the yarn is as I couldn't find it's label amongst my stash.

This little beanie is from the same pattern as above and this ball of yarn also had no label attached.

I'm on my way back to reading the Yarnharlots book so until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Still busy

2006-10-30T18:37:00.000+11:00

This pair of socks that miss 4 is modelling are from the pattern that Katt designed called "Little Dublin".

The yarn is some that I got from the back room at Bendigo Woollen Mills when I was there last year.

The pattern is sooooooooooooooo easy to follow which is a credit to the designer.

This is the second set that I have completed for the soaring eagles project.

The yarn is Magnum Prints.

The glove pattern is from the Patons craft ideas for fetes knitting book and the beanie is from the ptons winter warmers knitting book.

These are very reliable patterns that are well used by me.

This set for the soaring eagles project is a combined effort.

The beanie was knit by the ever reliable Katt and the mittens were knit by myself.

The yarn is Red Heart and the patterns are from the same books as used above.

This pair of mittens are my first completed article for the India Mission Project that I am collecting for.

These items are for a young local lass to take to an Indian orphanage when she does her stint as a volunteer from the end of December.

As well as these projects I have almost finished my final set of mittens and beanie for the soaring eagles project and have also started making the snowdrop shawl from the Yarnharlots blog in the yarn that I acquired and blogged about in my last post.

I think that I've rambled on enough so until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

This and that............

2006-10-21T20:41:00.000+11:00

This is a pair of gloves and a beanie for the soaring eagles project that is being run at the moment.

Some of my SnB group are knitting gloves/mittens and beanies for a some of the children in need on this project.

This is the 1st set of 3 that I will be doing at this stage.

This hank of yarn is one of my latest acquisitions from the local tip shop.

It looks to be 2 ply with 1 thread being silk and the other cotton.

It is such a lovely shade of cream and it's also soooooooooooo soft.

I thought that it might look good knit into a very fine shawl if not for myself then for someone else.

This is a lovely crochet sun top that I made for miss 4.

The pattern is from a book put out in the 1960's and the yarn is cotton that I acquired from a friend when she gave me her stash as she doesn't knit or crochet any more.

As you can see it fits miss 4 beautifully and she can't wait until the summer gets here so that she can wear it.

I am looking for a few knitters to knit some small beanies, mittens/gloves and maybe some booties for youngsters in an orphanage in India.

A friends daughter is going to India at the end of December to volunteer with her church with the missionaries and I asked her mum if it would be ok if I asked my friends in blogland to donate a few knitted items for the orphans as when they get to India it will be winter.

The main ones that we are looking at knitting for are the babies and toddlers so as mentioned above we are looking at beanies, gloves/mittens and booties for these young children.

If you feel that you can help just drop me a line by email so that I can let you know where to send them. My email address is on my profile page if you are interested.

The date that the items will need to be with me is December 15th at the latest as I will need time to get them to my friends daughter so that she can pack them ready to go to India.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Some holiday pickies................

2006-10-15T22:18:00.000+11:00

This photo shows the horse drawn tram at Victor Harbour.

The tram crosses the causeway to Granite Island which has a shop that sells some of the best fish and chips that I have ever tasted.

The fish that they used was caught fresh by the operators of the fish and chip shop (well it was when we ate there a few years back).

We missed the last tram to the island on this holiday but were there in time to see the last tram of the day as it arrived back at Victor Harbour.

Miss 4 got to pat this Clydesdale as well as the other 2 that had been working during the day we were there as they only work a maximum of 3 hours a day.

This is the Post Office/Council Chambers in Mount Gambier.

We only stopped so that DH could take this pickie but we ended up going in to Jen's for a lovely meal while we were there.

Jen's is to the left of this building across the road so if you are in Mount Gambier for any reason drop in for a meal as you won't be disappointed.

This is a lovely photo taken by DH of the remaining 12 Apostles.

The 12 Apostles are along The Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia.

We have been there twice now and will definitely get there again as they are sooooooooooooo spectacular.

I must say that these 3 photos were taken by DH as I am not that good with the camera (besides my little camera won't take shots like these and I'm not willing to get out of my warm bed at 5.00am in the pitch black dark to take them).

There will be more pickies at a later date.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Jumbled pickies

2006-10-11T18:47:00.000+11:00

I finished this pair of socks while we were on holiday.

They were finally finished just before we started on the Great Ocean Road.

The yarn is Jigsaw and the pattern is from the ever reliable Patons Patonyle accessory book.

This yarn is some that I bought from Lincraft while in Melbourne.

I didn't find anything to buy at Lincraft while I was in the Marion store.

There doesn't seem to be the range of yarn there that they had in the Collins St store in Melbourne.

The 2 large 500g balls of acrylic only cost me $6.99 for the 2 balls and the orange Lana Grossa yarn cost $5.98 for 4 balls of yarn.

The Lana Grossa Cat is 50% Microviscose, 35% Merino and 15% Baby Alpaca and it is sooooooooooooooooooooooooo soft.

As I sold a pair of ladies gloves in the shop that Katt and I knit for I thought that I had better knit another pair,

The yarn is Cleckheaton 5 ply that was acquired when a friend cleaned out all her stash as she doesn't knit any more.

While in Adelaide Joan took me to a wonderful shop called Barb's sew and knits.

What a wonderful store with shelves absolutely crammed with yarn.

To the left is what I bought in this wonderful little shop.

Lana Grossa yarn with GREEN in it for a friend, Jigsaw yarn that I just had to start a pair of socks in when I finished the pair that was on the needles while on the train, Vogue Knitting Socks, and a set of Clover dpns in size 2.5mm.

This is the back of Miss 4 who is holding up a pair socks made from Opal Dreamcatcher 1231 that I finished knitting on the train.

I wasn't very happy with the way this pair of socks looked when they were finished so they are already in the shop that Katt and I knit for so that some lucky person can buy them to keep their tootsies warm next winter.

As well as these items I have today finished another baby jacket and I have also got the 1st sock of a pair of Doomsday socks almost finished.

The pattern is the one that's been given out for the "Sock Wars" that is running at the moment.

I will post some holiday pickies veeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry sooooooooooooooooooooon.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Holidays, holidays, holidays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-10-09T11:36:00.000+11:00

As you can guess by the title we have been away on holidays.

We flew from Tassie to Melbourne, picked up a rental car then went driving.

First we drove to the 12 Apostles via The Great Ocean Road. We spent a comfortable night at a lovely farmstay that was only about 3 km from the remaining 12 Apostles which pleased DH greatly.

DH took plenty (make that HEAPS) of pickies of the remains of the 12 Apostles at sunset and then again at sunrise the next morning.

On day 2 we stayed on the Great Ocean Road and drove to Mount Gambier via Port Campbell, Warrnambool and Portland.

This was a beautiful drive and the country was soooooooooooooo green.

We looooove Mount Gambier and Miss 4 looooooooooooooves feeding the possums at the Umpherston sinkhole after sunset. The possums are reeeeeeeeeeeally tame and eat out of your hand.

While there we had a lovely evening meal at Jen's Hotel/Bistro and the meal was absolutely ginormous and talk about delicious. Yummo.

Day 3 we drove from Mount Gambier staying on the Great Ocean Road. We drove through Millicent, Robe, Kingston SE and Meningie.

We crossed the Murray River at Wellington by ferry then drove South West to Victor Harbour and then finally North to Glenelg (a suburb of Adelaide) after finding that the horse drawn tram out to Granite Island had finished for the day.

We went on the tram on one of our previous visits to Victor Harbour and it was great. The fish and chips on the island were also some of the best that we'd tried.

This was a very long day as we traveled about 800 km taking about 12 hours with stops along the way.

On day 4 DH went to do his own thing (pickies at the zoo of course).

Miss 4 and I were collected by Joan and we went on a girls day out.

Firstly we went to Barb's to have a look at yarn. This was an experience as Barb has soooooooooo much in her shop that you don't know what to look at next. I indulged slightly and bought 2 balls of yarn (only 1 for me), the 1st Vogue Socks book and a set of Clover dpns (I think I should have bought more now).

Next we went to the Marion shopping centre which is a lot bigger than those that we have in Launceston. I only indulged slightly and bought myself some clothes and a few things for Miss 4.

We next went to Joan's and had a leisurely afternoon drinking coffee, looking at pattern books and walking along the beach. Miss 4 loved throwing the ball for Joan's dog Merle. He's such a character.

Day 5 we went into Adelaide and dropped off our hire car and had a bit of a look around.

The rest of the day and the next day and a half were taken up with a conference at the Stamford Grand right on the Glenelg beach. This was a wonderful venue and the food was scrummy.

After the conference finished after lunch on day 7 we went into the Adelaide Zoo and then had a semi early night as we had an early start the next day.

Day 8 was spent on the train traveling from Adelaide back to Melbourne. This was lovely and sort of relaxing (as relaxing as it can be with a 4 year old any way).

In contrast to the Great Ocean Road a lot of the country we passed through was very dry.

Day 9 we spent shopping in Melbourne (I got more yarn at Lincrafts) and then flew home on the late plane.

We had a verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry busy time while away but we enjoyed ourselves which was the main thing.

What knitting got done I hear you say!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I finished a pair of socks that I had on the needles and also knit another pair. On the train back to Melbourne I started yet another pair in yarn that I bought at Barb's but that is all.

Hopefully I will post a few pickies of completed projects and also some holiday pickies later.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Even more FO's

2006-09-24T22:31:00.000+10:00

This is my pair of "Westbury socks".

I am soooooooooo pleased with the way they came out.

I wasn't happy with the self striping Regia yarn but in this pattern it looks reaaaaaaaaaaaaally good.

The pattern is from the Winter issue (16) of Creative Knitting from last year.

I was that pleased with the way the pattern came out that I will be knitting it again in the future.

This is a rug that I crochet from a packet of Moda Dea that I bought at the BSODL (Spotlight) when they had their $1 sales a few weeks back.

It is just crochet in the granny square pattern with a bit of a scalloped edging.

This yarn is sooooooooooooooooo soft.

This is part of a little baby set that I've made from the old faithful "Heather" pattern.

The yarn is Bendigo 3 ply pure wool.

If encouraged I might make the rest of the layette but at this stage I'm back into sock knitting mode again.

Since making this set I've knit another baby set that I haven't downloaded the pickies of yet.

The other set comprises a jacket, bonnet and booties made from a lovely pinky variegated baby yarn.

I've also knit another 2 pairs of socks and have almost finished another pair.

As I said I'm in sock knitting mode again.

As I will be on the road again for the next few weeks some more socks will get made as they are just perfect for traveling knitting.

Catch y'all in a few weeks.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Old and not so old UFO's

2006-09-02T09:14:00.000+10:00

This pretty little jumper has been languishing in the UFO pile for about 6 - 8 months I think.

It is finally finished.

The yarn is Spotlight brand Baby 4 ply and the pattern is from an old Guardian Angels knitting book.

This jumper has been waiting to be sewn up and have the buttons put on for about 12, maybe even 18 months.

The yarn is Peter Pan 8 ply and the pattern is from the "Panda Baby Boutique".

The yarn is soooooooo soft and knits up beautifully.

This scarf has been my mindless take along project for quite a while.

In the end it was soooooooo tedious to knit that I just didn't want to know about it any more.

The yarn is 4 ply pure wool that I got from "The Knitting Yarn Shop"

Katt and I looooove this store as they have some lovely yarn at a fabulous price and they are sooooooooo quick with their deliveries.
This little beanie only took me a few hours to whip up.

The yarn is ancient Patons Azalea 3/4 ply doubled throughout.

The pattern is an old faithful from the Patons Winter Warmers pattern book.

This is my cardigan that has been waiting to be sewn together and have the buttons put on for a few years (maybe about 3 years I think).

I can't remember which pattern I used as it wasn't with it but the yarn is an 8 ply acrylic that was made by Coats Patons when they were open that I picked up at a garage sale somewhere.

I am sooooooo pleased with myself that I have finished these projects as it means that I can now start a few more things and not feel guilty.

At the moment I am working on my secret santa project for S'n'B, "Baby Norgi" again (another UFO that I hope to finish soon), the Westbury socks and a new jumper for miss 4 in Patons Feathersoft 8 ply.

Oh well it's nose to the grindstone again.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Knitting plus...............

2006-08-31T22:57:00.000+10:00

I thought that I would show you a nice pickie of Tweety.

Tweety is a pied budgerigar for those who don't live in Aussie land.

He's about 4 1/2 years old now.

This pair of socks are knit from Opal Petticoat (colour eludes me at the moment).

I was asked to knit these for a friend and it only took me about 4 days to knit them.
This jumper is knit from a wool/acrylic blended yarn.

The main yarn came from the old Coats Patons wool mills which haven't been operating in Launceston for quite a few years now.

The pattern is from a book that I picked up from the op shop.

The book is "Knit me a rainbow" and was put out by the Family Circle magazine quite a few years ago.

There are a lot of jumpers that I would like to make from this book.

The purply jumper with intarsia a few months back on June 20th was also knit from this book.
This is a little jacket that Katt and I have made between us.

Katt did the knitting and sewing up and I did the crochet on this lovely little jacket.

Katt now has the job of putting the buttons on it. (They may already be on it as she has had it in her hot little hands since Tuesday).

Since finishing this gear I have also finished but not taken pickies yet of a 4 ply scarf that I have had on the go for quite a while as my mindless take along project, a baby jumper that has been languishing in the bottom of my knitting bag for a few months and also a beanie that I started and finished today.

I will have to rake pickies of these finished articles and post them.

I am verrrrrrrrrrry pleased with myself as I have finished 3 of my UFO's that have been sitting around for a while. Woohoo.

Lately I have been given a large garbage bag FULL of yarn and a heap of it is in jumper lots (aren't I lucky) and I have also mumble mumble (bought a few packets of Patons Feathersoft yarn as well.

This is absolutely beautiful yarn and as the name suggests it is sooooooooooo soft.

Miss 4 picked out 1 packet of the yarn in mauve to knit her a jumper so I just couldn't resist ( who could say no when a 4 yr old wants you to buy yarn to knit for them). I then went back a few days later and bought another packet in a lovely yellow colour called banana.

Yet again I think it is time for me to go to bed.

Why is it that I am always at the computer blogging late at night?

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Even more socks

2006-08-24T23:21:00.000+10:00

This little pair of child's rib socks are knit from a bit of left over Trekking XXL.

The pattern is once again from my Patonyle knitting book that I won.

I absolutely luuuuuuuuuuv knitting with Trekking yarn but it's quite hard to come by here in Aussie land.

This pair of socks is knitted in my long awaited Opal Rainforest in Tiger print.

I have had this yarn ordered a few times but it didn't seem to turn up each time that I had it ordered.

Well to cut a long story short it finally turned up about 2 weeks ago and voila - a pair of tiger print socks to keep my toes cosy and warm.

This is miss 4's new jumper that I made her to go away to Hobart last weekend.

The pink yarn is Magnum Prints and the white is just a generic acrylic yarn that I bought in a 500g ball.

The pattern is from a Debbie Bliss book (which one has slipped my mind at the moment) and the jumper took all of 6 days top make in total.

Miss 4 wore the jumper again when we went to a performance of Playschool today.

As well as this knitting I have crocheted some squares to help Katt out for a little baby jacket and also am working along the foot on the second sock of another pair of socks at the moment.

The almost completed socks are being knit in Opal Petticoat and are an order.

As it's quite late I think it's time for beddy byes so until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Even more FO's (including more socks)

2006-08-11T22:27:00.000+10:00

This lovely pair of Jaywalker socks was made from Trekking XXL sock yarn.

I am running quite short of this type of yarn at the moment so I will have to pull my finger out and find a supplier who can get me some of this yarn and get it for me quickly.

This pair of socks are made from pure wool that I bought from The Knitting Yarn Shop at a ridiculously low price for pure wool.

The pattern once again was from my Patons Book 1239 (Patonyle accessories for the whole family) knitting book that I won way back when.

The sock patterns in the book are sooooooooo easy that even a first time sock knitter can even follow them.

This pair of socks is already in the shop that Katt and I knit for to be sold.

I've been on a bit of a stash enhancement lately as I've been knitting quite a few pairs of gloves (with and without fingers) for the shop that Katt and I knit for lately.

Most of these have been ordered but I've also knit some that were just for general sale as well. (Nothing like keeping ahead of the orders).

The lovely knitting under this yarn is part of a UFO that has been on and off the needles for about 23 years.

The squares are knit in a log cabin design and it takes 35 of these squares to make a single bed cover. So far I have 20 squares finished and the other 15 squares are in varying stages of being knit.

I am using bits and pieces of yarn from wherever I can scrounge it up for this project as I don't want it to be uniform in colour.

I looooooooooooooove the random effect that these squares make so it will be interesting to see when I have finished it in the next hmmmmmmmmmmm let me see maybe 10 years the rate it has been going so far.

Each square is about 30cm (12 inches for the uninitiated)on each side and I'm hoping to crochet them together with black yarn.

There has as I mentioned above only been scraps of yarn used for the squares so there is also a mutitude of yarns used as well ranging from wool, acrylic and also a bit of mohair as well as cotton.

This is a Garlerlac Dishcloth that I thank Trek for kindly putting the link on her blog for.

The link goes to Dave's blog and he has the pattern there for everyone.

I have made 2 of these now and they are sooooooooooooooo quick to knit.

This is one of the many pairs of gloves that I've made lately.

I was making them that quickly at one stage that I was taking them to the shop and not taking photos of them.

In the last few weeks I've made 5 pairs of them as well as doing other knitting when I could.

I think I've rambled on enough for tonight so I will be off for now.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

A few FO's

2006-07-26T22:13:00.000+10:00

This little pair of booties was a quick project to do as I wanted something simple to make that wouldn't take up a lot of knitting time.

The pattern was a freeby from The Black- spot-of-doom-light and the yarn also came from the same place.

I really like working with this yarn but if you are knitting larger projects it tends to go a bit fluffy at the bottom edge of your work.

I put these booties in the shop that Katt and I sell out knittwear at and they sold in no time.

This little baby outfit is for the new grandaughter when she grows into it.

The set comprises of a little jumper, trousers and beret.

The yarns are Magnum Prints acrylic and the white is acrylic that I bought in a 500gm balls at Big W.

The pattern was from one of the Australian Creative Knitting pattern books.

The jumper was supposed to have flowers embroidered onto it as well as other fancy work on the frilled edging but I think that it would have looked a bit overdone. (Less is more in other words).

This pair of socks is knit from one of my fave yarns.

They are made from Trekking XXL and the pattern is from my Patonyle Knitting Book that I won earlier this year.

This pair of socks was a birthday present for a friend who had shown an interest in some of my other pairs of socks that I'd made.

On the baby front little Jasmin is doing very well and is gaining weight at a good rate.

I can't wait to see her the next time to see how much she's grown.

On the needles at the moment I have 3 pairs of socks (all of them on the 2nd sock), a crochet baby shawl in 4 ply pure wool from Bendi, a childrens jumper and the never ending 4 ply scarf that's been my take along project for the last few months.

I just remembered I started a pair of white booties last night and finished them this afternoon as well so that's another finished project.

While at SnB on Tuesday Sharon bought along the Pony Pearl sets of needles that we had ordered through her and Katt bought along my new 5 balls of sock yarn that I had ordered through the Sockmonster. Woopee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We (some of our SnB group)are having another dying time at my home next week so we should have a good time making a mess and also having a wonderful time with friends.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

A few questions answered

Katt the colour of the Trekking XXL is 125.

Amanda I got the Trekking XXL from Sockmonster but it takes a loooooooooooooong time to arrive.

Until next time keep on knitting again.

Cathy

They're home

2006-07-15T10:21:00.000+10:00

As the title says Aleeshia and little Jasmin have left the hospital and are home.

Jasmin had regained her birth weight and gained some by the time they left hospital on Monday. She weighed over 5 lbs by the time they left hospital and is still gaining weight quite well.

On the knitting front we had a quite rowdy SnB on Tuesday with lots of knitting and chatting going on.

I've finished yet another pair of socks this time in Trekking XXL. There will be pickies when they have been downloaded to the computer.

Little miss had her 4th birthday on Wednesday and is sooooooooo proud of the fact that she's now 4.

We are having a party for her today and hopefully the weather holds as we are having an outdoor party. If there's a shower there is a bit of cover at the venue which is good.

I've had a bit of a mind blank so if I think of anything else will post again later.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Here she is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-06-28T19:47:00.000+10:00

Here is a pickie of little Jasmin Louise.

She's such a little cutie (I'm not biased am I?).

We had 2 little visits with her and her Mum today and I only saw her awake for about 5 minutes of that time.

This is a photo of the proud mum.

She couldn't stop smiling today and with reason.

Miss almost 4 and Charles (big bro) both had a cuddle of little Jasmin and they didn't want to let her go.

Sandra. Aleeshia said thanks and she feel sooooooooo lucky and loved.

Katt. When I got home yesterday guess what was in the mail? Click, click.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

What order were you born?

2006-06-26T09:56:00.000+10:00

You Are Likely a First Born

At your darkest moments, you feel guilty.At work and school, you do best when you're researching.When you love someone, you tend to agree with them often.
In friendship, you are considerate and compromising.Your ideal careers are: business, research, counseling, promotion, and speaking.You will leave your mark on the world with discoveries, new information, and teaching people to dream.

The Birth Order Predictor

How did they know? They got it right as I'm a first born.

Cathy

5 things tag

2006-06-25T23:07:00.000+10:00

I chose to be tagged.

This tagging was from Bugsy.

5 items in my fridge :
1. Half a bottle of orange juice.
2. Home made mayonaise.
3. Lots of cans of Coke Zero.
4. Lots of bottles of purified water.
5. Miss almost 4's drink bottle made up with "magic" cordial.

5 items in my closet :
1. Lots of hats, beanies and scarves that I rarely wear.
2. Lots of shoes that I may wear some day.
3. Lots of dresses that I may wear some day.
4. My lovely, warm, long wool/cashmere coat.
5. A lot of unread books in a box.

5 items in my car (I don't drive so this will be DH's car):
1. Miss almost 4's Elmo booster seat.
2. Crumbled autumn leaves all over the floor where miss almost 4 threw them.
3. An old parking receipt.
4. Reusable grocery bags in the boot that we usually forget when we get the groceries.
5. A green froggy toy that hangs on the windscreen behind the rear view mirror.

5 items in my handbag :
1. My digital camera.
2. Miss almost 4's wrist harness for if it's needed (which isn't much these days).
3. Bus timetable.
4. Panadol osteo for when the arthritis kicks in.
5. Sticky tape because you can never find some when you need it.

I won't tag anyone but if you want to join in don't be backwards in coming forwards.

Cathy

She's arrived

2006-06-25T22:45:00.000+10:00

These wee little items are for the newest Grand daughter who arrived at about 10.30am this morning.

Jasmin Louise was born 6 weeks premmie with a birth weight of about 2kg (4lb 3oz) with a length of about 47cm.

Mother and daughter are both doing quite well.

As Jasmin was born so early DD asked for some little caps to keep her wee little head warm.

Now could I turn a request down like that? Nooooooooooooooo I couldn't of course.

We will hopefully be visiting DD and DGD during the coming days so there will be pickies very soon.

These 2 pairs of fingerless gloves are yet another order that I got on Thursday.

Unlike a lot of my recent orders these ones are not for the shop.

They are for a brother and sister that live up the road from us.

Both pairs are made from 5 ply pure wool so they should be nice and warm for their little hands.

Oh well. I suppose I had better get back to the sock knitting.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Broomstick Crochet

2006-06-22T20:53:00.000+10:00

Voila!!!!!!!!!!!

They are done.

My first solo dye job are knit into a pair of socks for miss 4 next month.

I am really pleased with the colour and how it knit up.

I have enough yarn left to knit a pair of socks for the youngest grand daughter for her 4th birthday next month.

Her 'tis!!!!!!!!!!!

This is "Broomstick crochet".

I only learnt how to do it on Tuesday and I now have my first finished article.

This is a scarf for Gemma's 4th birthday next month.

It took all of about 4 hours to make.

The yarn is a lovely pink yarn that came from a generous donation from I don't know where.

I can't remember just where it came from at the moment as there's been quite a bit of stash enhancement lately from where Katt and I sell our knitted items, Sharon's friend, a neighbour and also the local charity stores that I can't remember what came from where (insert blank look here).

I hope the scarf is well received by the recipient as it is lovely and warm and the miss almost 4 that lives in my house is not impressed that it isn't hers. (She already has about 5 or 6 scarves anyway).

I will have to show all the ladies who want to learn broomstick crochet at one of our S'n'B get togethers. (This may need to be an evening session so that Amanda can come and see as well).

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Busy knitting

2006-06-20T21:14:00.000+10:00

Hey Sharon, do you recognise the purple yarn in this jumper?

It's one of the yarns that your friend gave you when she destashed.

It's made a beautiful jumper for miss almost 4.

The pattern is"Carnival" with additional striping (I don't think any experienced knitter ever follows a pattern completely) from the Family Circle "Knit me a rainbow" pattern book that I bought for only 50cents at one of the local City Mission charity stores.

This sock is knit from my solo effort at dyeing yarn.

The sock is now finished and it's mate is on the needles.

These socks are for miss almost 4 as well.

Today I learn how to do "broomstick crochet" and that is even more addictive dyeing yarn.

I have an old curtain rod marked out for DH to cut up, shape and sand into a large needle so that I can do a bit more of this verrrrrrrrrrry addictive craft.

I think that's all for now so until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Lookie what I did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-06-18T22:56:00.000+10:00

This is my first dyeing effort on my own.

It came up a treat and the colours are to die for.

They are soooooooooooooooo vibrant that they nearly blind you.

I only used food dyes to colour this luscious ball and a half of Patonyle yarn.

This pair of socks are from my first dyeing effort when the S'n'B girls came to visit for the dyeing night the week before last.

They look really "cool" as some of the young ones say.

This is my newly dyed yarn after it has been wound into balls.

I love the colours and I hope miss almost 4 will too.

I have already started knitting her a pair of socks in this yarn and they are looking quite good so far.

I think I have the dyeing bug so maybe there will be some more dyed yarn to be viewed on my blog at a later date.

Also on the needles is a jumper for miss almost 4 from yarn (purple of course) that the lovely Sharon bought to the last S'n'B get together.

I have almost finished her jumper so it won't be long and I will hopefully have a pickie of it to show everyone.

Time for beddy byes so until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Dying to dye again!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-06-10T23:09:00.000+10:00

Our local S'n'B group had a dyeing night at our home on Thursday evening and great fun was had by all.

We had lots of dyeing, lots of laughter, lots of food and lots and lots of fun.

Those present were Cindy, Katt, Margaret, Sharon, Susan, Sandra, DH and myself (after the kid's had gone to bed).

This is my first effort at dyeing yarn.

The foundation yarn (pre dyeing) was cream Patonyle which became rainbow yarn. It is soooooooooooooooooooooo lovely.

To the left is the yarn this morning after I had wound it into balls ready for me to knit.

My needles were very anxious to get this yarn onto themselves and I didn't disappoint them.

How could I not start to knit this luscious yarn and see how the colours would work out on yet another sock.

To the left is how the newly dyed sock yarn looks when it's knit up.

It is very busy but it looks looooooooovely. I'm sooooooooooo pleased with myself.

Thanks Katt and Margaret for showing us how to become addicted to yarn dyeing.

Miss almost 4 would now like me to dye some yarn to make her a pair of socks in purple, pink and blue.

Oh well!!!! She doesn't ask me to knit her much so I suppose I will do this little task for her. (Can you see my arm bent behind my back while I have a big smile on my face).

Ok then I think it might be time for beddy byes.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

The socks are finished. Will post pickies in a future post.

Cathy

Meet Patsy

2006-05-28T10:44:00.000+10:00

Patsy is my new friend in the sidebar.

Go have a play with her if you have the time.

Since we lost our treasured Tuppence our house has been lacking the presence of a cat and this is the next best thing to getting a new kitten.

Catch ya on the flip side.

Cathy

Busy, busy, busy

2006-05-28T09:10:00.000+10:00

I have been soooooooooooo busy with my knitting of late.

In the last few weeks I have made 11 items for orders. As yet the photos haven't been downloaded to the computer.

The ordered items were:-
1. A 2 ply cream baby singlet
2. A 2 ply cream baby jumper
3. A 4 ply cream baby cardigan
4. An 8 ply baby jumper
5. A pair of red ladies fingerless gloves
6. A pair of black ladies fingerless gloves
7. A pair of girls black fingerless gloves
8. A pair of teen boys grey fingerless gloves
9. A red and white toddlers beanie
10. A purple and cream beanie for miss almost 4
11. A pair of purple fingerless gloves for miss almost 4

The baby singlet was finished about a month ago and between that and the other orders I made hats, booties and mittens for a friends premmie twins.

The remainder of the orders were completed between May 6th and May 24th.
My fingers and shoulder were getting quite sore by the end of that time.

My tally of finished articles so far this year is 61 finished items and the number of finished pairs of socks is 14 pairs with a few pairs in progress at the moment.

While looking in my little book I also noted that I finished a long standing UFO on May 16th as well. I have taken a pickie but it is still in the camera (as usual) so will post it at a later date. This particular UFO had been waiting to be sew up for about maybe 4 1/2 to 5 years.

I have also started working again on another UFO that has been waiting to be finished for about 5 years.

The stash enhancement has been on the go again as I have some more sock yarn from the sockmonster as well as from the LYS (oops) and also some yarn bought at Waverley Woollen Mills when they had their recent open day sales.

Oh well I think I've rambled on long enough for now.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Finally....... the me meme

2006-05-08T23:25:00.000+10:00

I have been meme'd by Katt!

I will gradually fill in the answers as they come to me.

Seven Things To Do Before I Die:
1. Try to use up more of my stash before more stash enhancement
2. Give startitis the flick (Ha, ha)
3. See my grandchildren graduate from school
4. Learn how to say "NO" when someone says could you knit me ......
5.
6.
7.

Seven Things I Cannot Do:
1. Drive a car (my eye sight just won't allow it)
2. Sit still with nothing in my hands
3. Say "NO" when someone says could you knit me ......
4. Go to a yarn shop and walk out with no new yarn
5.
6.
7.

Seven Things That Attract Me To My Man:
1. His patience with me knitting all the time
2. His forebearance with my yarn buying habits (he even points yarn out to me these day)
3. He gives great cuddles
4. He cooks yummy poached eggs on toast with just the right amount of worcestershire sauce
5.
6.
7.

Seven Books I Love:
1. Mean Streets Kind Heart - The Father Chris Riley Story ( What an inspirational man - I could listen to him talk for hours)
2. Uncle Whiskers by Philip Brown
3. Books by Mary Higgins Clark
4. Books by Janet Evanovich
5. Books by Erle Stanley Gardner
6. My Story (A child called "it", The lost boy and A man named Dave by Dave Pelzer
7. Books by Matthew Reilly

Seven Things I Say:
1. Settle down
2. Eat your tea
3. Sweet dreams (Ah! The childrens bed time is blissful)
4. Catch ya later
5. Love ya
6.
7.

Seven Movies I've Loved :
1. Titanic
2. Dirty Dancing (Patrick Swayze....yum)
3. Dances With Wolves
4. The Green Mile
5. Bicentennial Man
6.
7.

I will take some photos of my recent knitting in the near future and then post it sometime soon.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

More FO's

2006-04-23T14:56:00.000+10:00

Happy Birthday to the delightful Katt. Everyone pop on over to her Blog and wish her many happy returns for today.
This pair of socks is made from Hot Socks yarn and the pattern is falling leaves from the latest Creative Knitting.

These socks have been donated to a charity group for a prize in a raffle.

This is a close up photo of the pattern in the socks.

These socks were a joy to knit and didn't take long to make at all.

These childs fingerless gloves were made with leftover yarn from the above socks. (I still have some yarn left out of 2 balls).

The pattern is from my new Patonyle Accessories book that I won.

This pair of gloves are for sale on the S'n'B market stall.

I have been busily knitting more baby gear both for the shop and also a secret project lately so keep on popping in to see some completed photos in the near future.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Finally ............. 2 of 2

2006-04-21T20:47:00.000+10:00

This magnificent creation is a crochet string bag from Creative Knitting.

The bag was crochet from 8 ply cotton that I found at the local salvage yard (tip shop).

It folds a pocket that is in the base of the bag which buttons up to look like the bottom photo in this post.

I gave this bag to DD for her birthday in March.

This pair of childs gloves was knit from the yarn left over when I knit the socks below.

The pattern came from my new Patonyle Accessories book that I recently won.

The yarn is one of the new Patonyle colour ways.

I put these socks on the stall that our local S'n'B have at a local market and they have already sold.

This pair of socks was knit from a pattern in Creative Knitting.

The yarn is Patonyle and they really came out a treat.

Since these delectable items have been finished I have also knit another pair of socks and also a pair of childs fingerless gloves so I've been quite busy.

This is a view of the above string bag when it has been folded up.

It makes a nice, neat package to put into your hand bag (if it's big enough) so that you can get it out when needed to carry your shopping.

Today after a visit by the delightful Katt and family we went for a drive to Scottsdale, Bridport and George Town before finally coming home.

We had a delicious lunch at Scottsdale at the Steakout Cafe/Restaurant. The meal was absolutely to die for and I would recommend that anyone going to that area of Tassie drop in for a meal.

Children and adults were well catered for on the menu at a very reasonable price.

Hopefully Katt's computer will be up and running soon as they now have the disks that we hope (fingers crossed) that they need. (Thankyou to DH for hopefully getting them back online again).

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

1 of 2

2006-04-17T18:55:00.001+10:00

I have decided to break todays post into a few parts as Blogger is being a bit of a bugger and not wanting to accept my photos.

This is a pair of mens 5 ply pure wool socks.

The pattern is mens cable rib socks from the Vogue Socks 2 knitting book.

I am still deciding what to do with these socks. Should I sell them on the stall that my fellow S'n'Bers are running or sell them in the shop that Katt and I sell our knitting in.

These socks didn't even get to the market stall as when I went to handcraft on Tuesday morning a lady who was visiting from the North Island (Mainland Australia) bought them as a gift for a friend.

The S'n'B ladies didn't even get to see them that afternoon.

This pair of socks are from the Pomatomus pattern but I call them the Flippo as I knit 2 tog. through the front of the stitch instead of tbl as the pattern says. I have made them from Opal Prisma yarn.

Oh well!!!! Not everyone's perfect.

I am still deciding whether I want to keep these socks or sell them on the stall.

This pair of socks are knit from the book that I won in the Westbury World Wide Sock Festival.

The yarn was also part of my prize.

The pattern was stitched on after they were finished.

I am still to decide what to do with this pair of socks as well.

Catch ya with the next section of this post (if Blogger will let me).

Cathy

What kind of soul are you?

2006-04-04T23:35:00.000+10:00

You Are a Newborn Soul

You are tolerant, accepting, and willing to give anyone a chance.On the flip side, you're easy to read and easily influenced by others.You have a fresh perspective on life, and you can be very creative.Noconformist and nontraditional, you've never met anyone who's like you.
Inventive and artistic, you like to be a trendsetter.You have an upbeat spirit and you like almost everything.You make friends easily and often have long standing friendships.Implusive and trusting, you fall in love a little too easily.
Souls you are most compatible with: Bright Star Soul and Dreaming Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

Oh!!!!!!!!!!! The pressure!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-04-01T16:59:00.000+11:00

I am listening to my readers and posting the recipe for sponge cakes that we were given at our last CWA handcraft get together.

DD and I tried this recipe and it came out beautifully and didn't last very long at all.

It was soooooooooooooo scrummy.

Sponge Cakes

4 eggs
3/4 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup cornflour
1 (heaped) tbspn custard powder
1/2 tspn bicarb soda
1 (heaped) tspn cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 350*F (180*C)
Sift cornflour, custard powder, bicarb and cream of tartar.
Separate eggs.
Beat whites till thick and fluffy.
Add sugar a little at a time, add egg yolks one at a time.
Sift dry ingredients into mixture (ie. second sifting).
Stir through till well mixed.
Put in 2 x 8 inch round, high tins.
Cook 25 minutes.
Cool then cut in half and fill with whipped cream.
Sprinkle with icing sugar.

Variations

Coffee - Add 1 tbspn coffee essence
Chocolate - Add 1 tbspn cocoa

On the knitting front I have completed my cable rib socks in Patonyle (no pickies as yet) and have also completed the main part of Baby Norgi from Knitty.

Today I wanted to do something different so I knit a childs glove with some Patonyle that was leftover from my cable rib socks. The pattern is from my new Patonyle accessories book that I won in the WWW sock comp.

Oh well it's time to finish cooking tea so I must go. Tonight we are having grilled blade steak with home grown veg (potatoes, corn and beans) then we will be having lemon fluff for dessert.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

I'm late, I'm late...............

2006-03-30T15:31:00.001+11:00

As per usual I'm late again as yesterday was my

1st Blogiversary.

Life has been soooooooooooooooo hectic around this place that we call home that I plain forgot what day it was.

On the knitting front I've completed another flat cat for the market stall and have knit 1 leg of a pair of baby leggings from the new Creative Knitting that I bought on Monday.

I will be knitting the complete set which comprises leggings, jumper and beanie in the coming months along with "stuff" for the market stall.

My local CWA handcraft ladies had a lady come in to show us how to make sponge cakes that "NEVER FAIL".

These were some of the cakes cooked by Bev and 2 of the other handcraft ladies.

DD and I had a go at making some the other day with DD doing most of the work and they came out just as good as these ones and they didn't last long either. They were sooooooooooooo scrummy.

The photo at the top is of the sunrise just south of Campbell Town about 2 weeks ago as we were heading to Hobart for the day.

It was a beautiful sunrise so I couldn't resist hanging my little digi out the window to get a pickie.

Oh well time to go and start getting tea ready. Apricot chicken and veg tonight and the kids will probably ask for ice cream for dessert again.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Surprise, surprise.......................

2006-03-24T20:53:00.000+11:00

Was I ever surprised when DH came back from the local Post Office with this lovely parcel of goodies from the Westbury World Wide Sock Competition Committee.

The book is Patonyle Accessories for the whole family and the yarn is 10 balls of lovely cream Patonyle 4 ply sock yarn.

This pair of socks was knit from the leftovers of sock yarn when I made my falling leaves socks.

The yarn is Opal Brasil and the pattern is from the Guardian Pharmacy pattern book from 2005.

They will fit about a six to 12 month old baby.

These delightful creatures are flat cats.

The one on the left was knit for the market stall that our local S'n'B are having but miss 3yrs 8mths decided she liked him so the one on the right has been made for her in her favourite colour.

Can you guess what her favourite colour is?

You guessed right, her favourite colour is purple closely followed by pink.

I found the pattern for these lovely things in the Panda Cleckheaton Celebration Days Volume 2 pattern book. This book has some wonderfully simple patterns in it for knitters with little experience up to very experiences knitters.

Miss 3yrs 8mths is back to normal now. Thankyou to every one who wished her well.

Thankyou everyone for my birthday wishes.

I think it's about time I went and sat down and did a bit more sock knitting.

So far this year I have knit 9 pairs of socks and I think I have about 4 singles hanging around here.

Sockitis has found it's home in my house again.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Happy Birthday to me......

2006-03-23T20:30:00.000+11:00

As the title suggests today is my forty "something" Birthday.

It has been verrrrrrrrrrrrry eventful so far as we had Miss 3yrs 8mths at the hospital most of the day.

She has been suffering a bit from gastro over the last 3 days and got dehydrated so off to hospital we went so that she could have some special drinks and special ice blocks to get a bit of fluid into her little body.

She's alright now and had a little tea then went to bed for the night.

Cindy, Sharon, Katt and I entered a pair of socks each into the Westbury World Wide Sock Competition and lo and behold Cindy and I won our respective categories.

Above is a photo of my entry in all their glory with their prize certificate above them.

The pattern is tangled garden from Knitty and the colours are the colours of my fave AFL footy team.

Our little S'n'B group are having a stall in the new market that starts this Saturday in York Town Square.

Most of us have been knitting furiously to make articles for the stall. I have either 13 or 14 articles for sale on the stall from small knitted coin purses up to the baby cot blanket mentioned in a previous post.

Hopefully we have a lot of sales (but then again if we sell everything it means we have to make more things for next weeks stall.)

Okay then I think that's all for now.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

2006-03-09T08:07:00.000+11:00

This project is a cot blanket that has been on and off the needles for about 9 years (you are reading correctly when you read NINE YEARS).

It was knit in 4 ply cotton with most of it knit on a set of 4 dpns.

This is the second one of these cot blankets that I've made and I would consider doing another one.

This is the Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah part of this blog entry.

A cup of coffee, my new sock tote made especially for me by the wonderful Cindy and my knitting.

The knitting you can see is the start of a baby jumper that I have now completed.

The yarn is some lovely, soft baby yarn that I got from Spotlight. It is soooooooooooo soft and is a dream to knit.

These socks are knit from Trekking XXL and the pattern is leaf lace.

At this stage I can't remember where I got the pattern from.

The yarn came from Sockmonster.

The socks are resting on one of the four pumpkins that we have so far harvested from the garden.

These two little sets are for a friends twins who were born verrrrrrrrrrrry early.

They were born at about 24 weeks gestation and were very small. (300grams and 700 grams)

The set on the left are from yarn inherited from my mum and the set on the right are from the same yarn bought from Spotlight that I mentioned above.

As you can guess I've been having a bad case of second sockitis.

The sock on the left is Tiptoe from Knitty and the other sock is Tangled Garden from Knitty as well.

The Tangled Garden sock now has a mate and is on it's way to the Westbury World-Wide Sock Competition.

I have been trying to blog for a few days but blogger or my computer (or both) haven't been very kind to me so a lot of my news is out of date but as we all say "better late than never".

I always write a list of completed articles in a little book so I can have a record of what I have completed and when so I can look back at a later date and see when a particular article was knit (or crochet) and find it very helpful.

The first entry in my little red and black book was completed on 20th November 1994 so my books been around quite a while.

So far this year I have 22 completed articles which consists of 9 pairs of socks.

Whew! It's been a busy year so far and with more babies on the way all the time and with knitting for the shop that Katt and I knit for it will stay busy.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Q is for Quentin

2006-03-03T18:58:00.000+11:00

You will sink in a mire. You like to think you're
normal, but deep down you really just want to
strip off your clothes and roll around in
chicken fat.

What horrible Edward Gorey Death will you die?
brought to you by

My ten trivia tips

2006-02-28T23:37:00.000+11:00

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Cathy!

There are now more than 4000 satellites orbiting Cathy!
Cathy has only one weakness - the colour yellow.
Cathy will always turn right when leaving a cave.
Cathyology is the study of Cathy.
The first Cathy was made in 1853, and had no pedals.
You can tell if Cathy has been hard-boiled by spinning her. If she stands up, she is hard-boiled.
Baskin Robbins once made Cathy flavoured ice cream!
More people are killed by Cathy each year than die in aeroplane accidents.
American Airlines saved forty thousand dollars a year by eliminating Cathy from each salad served in first class.
In Japan, Cathy can only be prepared by chefs specially trained and certified by the government.

Finally

2006-02-22T21:33:00.000+11:00

This meme was passed on to me a while ago by Dandy and Sharon. It's taken a while but here 'tis.

Four Jobs You've Had in Your Life:
1. Mum
2. Grandmother
3. Foster Carer
4. Sales Assistant

Four Movies You've Watched Over and Over:
1. Dirty dancing (Patrick Swayze)
2. Ghost (Patrick Swayze)
3. Under Siege (Steven Segal)
4. Star Wars 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, &6

Four Places You Have Lived:
1. Zeehan, West Coast Tasmania, Australia
2. Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
3. Ulverstone, Tasmania, Australia
4. Launceston, Tasmania, Australia

Four Places You Have Been on Vacation:
1. Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia
2. Canberra, ACT, Australia
3. Adelaide & Barossa Valley, South Australia
4. Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia

Four Websites You Visit Daily:
1. My e-mails
2. My fave blogs.
3. Yarnharlot
4. S'n'B

Four of Your Favorite Foods:
1. Cake of any sort
2. Yummy dim sims with thin pastry
3. Toffees
4. Chocolate

Four Places You Would Rather Be Right Now:
1. Canberra
2. Adelaide
3. Alice Springs
4. In the middle of a yarn shop where everything is free

I'm not passing this meme on but if anyone would like to have a go at it please yourself.

Next time we'll have some knitting news and also some pickies when they're downloaded from the camera.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

What do you think this is?

2006-02-04T22:41:00.000+11:00

This is a pair of socks that I started quite a while ago. They are now finished and waiting to be sold in the shop that Katt and I sell in.

They are made from Miami sock yarn that I bought from Bendigo Woollen Mills . The yarn is a cotton, wool and nylon blend and it had too loose a tension for my liking.

What do you think this is? It now has a partner and they will be sold in the shop that Katt and I sell our knitting in.

Thanks for your guesses on this knitted object. A few of you got it right as it and it's mate are knee warmers.

This is some yarn that I found at one of the local salvage shops.

The large hank of yarn is absolutely beautiful 3 ply baby yarn. It is a really huge hank of yarn.

The other 2 hanks feel like cotton blend yarn but they will still knit up well.

All this yarn was in 1 bag and it cost me $8.00 in total. What a bargain.

I have been tagged by Dandy and Sharon to do the same meme but I haven't had the time to fill in my answers yet but I will in the not too distant future. (Honest).

Since finishing the blue mystery items I have also knit another sock in my other ball of Trekking yarn that I got from Sockmonster last year. I am very happy with the way the sock has turned out and am already to the heel shaping on the second sock.

In regards to the Knitting Olympics I am going to stick with Sharon, Cindy and a few others and be a spectator as I am uncertain with my sore wrist whether I could tackle a lot of knitting in a few days and also it can get quite hot at this time of year.

I also think that over 1500 participants is a very good number of entrants. Good on everyone for joining in and I will be on the sidelines barracking for you all.

I think that's all for now so until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

What's your scrabble score?

2006-01-31T22:51:00.000+11:00

I found this while cruising Dandy's blog

Pholph's Scrabble Generator

My Scrabble© Score is: 13.
What is your score? Get it here.

Knitting and stuff

2006-01-25T08:03:00.000+11:00

This is a pair of toe-up socks that I finished way back in November. They are knit from Trekking XXL that I got from Sockmonster along with some other sock yarn. They are sooooooooo soft and the yarn was excellent to knit up.

This pair of socks was finally finished last night. They are knit from Opal Chameleon and the pattern was from the Christmas edition of Creative Knitting. It's a lovely pattern and is sooooooooo easy to knit.

To the left is myself wearing my new wrap that I knit from wool bought from the Bendigo Woollen Mills. The colour is Maize and it's a lovely warm yellow. The pattern came from the Summer edition of Creative Knitting and was a breeze to knit. My DD even wants me to knit her one now. (I think she should make her own as she's quite a good knitter.)

To the left we have my Lorna's Laces socks. The colour is Bittersweet and the pattern is the same as the Chameleon socks above. I looooooooooove this yarn. It is beautiful to knit with and the colour is sooooooooooo pretty.

I have counted up the number of articles that I completed last year. It was a grand total of 85 (yes that number is EIGHTY FIVE). Included in this number is 30 (yes your read it right, that was THIRTY) pairs of socks.

I haven't done a break down of the other articles that I made last year but there were a few jumpers, baby singlets, baby booties and scarves in amongst the tally.

So far this year I have 5 ( yes FIVE) finished articles and in amongst that are 2 of the above pairs of socks. It will be interesting when we get to the end of this year and see how many finished articles that I end up with.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Some finished baby items.

2006-01-24T21:33:00.000+11:00

To the left is a pair of little baby socks from the Vogue Socks Two knitting book. The colour isn't really obvious but it's a very pale green that I get when the lovely Katt was destashing. Notice the pretty knitted item under the socks. More on that later.

To the left is a baby outfit that I made for a friend who is due to have a baby boy is about a months time. Again the colour of the yarn isn't very obvious as this outfit is a pretty turquoise colour.

This is a pretty pair of booties that I was asked to knit for a baby that is expected later this year. They were knit in 4 ply and were one of the easiest bootie patterns that I have ever knit. Notice the pretty knitted item in use again under the booties.

This pretty cardigan and pair of socks were made from yarn that Katt was also destashing. The pattern for the socks was in the Vogue Socks Two knitting book and the cardi pattern was in the Peter Pan 25 Year Celebration pattern book. The socks pattern was an 8 stitch repeat and the cardi was a 6 stitch pattern repeat so I just converted it to an 8 stitsh repeat and it fit the number of stitches perfectly.

Oh well the life of a knitter is never dull.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

A reading we will go!!

2006-01-20T22:01:00.000+11:00

As the title suggests I've been doing a bit of reading of late.

My left hand is quite sore (the doctor thinks it may be carpel tunnel syndrome so we'll wait and see what the specialist says) so I haven't done much knitting lately. Have you ever tried to knit with a splint on your wrist? It's quite difficult but it can be done. I know, as that's how I'm attempting to knit at the moment.

I have read 5 books so far this year but the last 2 have been really great reads.
They were :- Eleven on top by Janet Evanovich and
No place like home by Mary Higgins Clark.

I have read most of the books by these 2 authors so it was great that the library had the 1st one in stock and the other was leant to me by a friend.

I also have another 4 books here to read by Janet Evanovich that are romances but with a fair bit of comedy in them. What book by Janet Evanovich don't you have a giggle to while reading it?

I have started the 1st of the 4 romance books (Back to the bedroom) and am having a cackle to myself every couple of pages.

As well as reading I have done a bit of knitting. I've finished my Lorna's Laces socks and am onto the second sock of a pair using Opal Chameleon. Both these pairs of socks are using a lacy pattern from the last edition of Creative Knitting. I am also doing a little baby knitting as well.

I still haven't taken photos of a lot of my FO's so will have to get onto it so that I can post them on my blog. Some of my FO's have already been sold or put into the shop that Katt and I knit for and I was verrrrrrrrrrrry remiss and forgot to take pickies first.

Oh well it's time to go to bed and do a spot more reading.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Hi everyone

2006-01-09T22:23:00.000+11:00

Just a quick post to say Hi and Happy New Year to everyone.

Hopefully I'll have a more newsworthy post in the near future with ? a few pickies of recently finished articles.

I should also post a final tally of last years FO's and also a tally of the pairs of socks completed last year.

Until I add up all the figures and take a few more pickies guess what I'll be doing? You guessed right. I'll be knitting.

I have 3 finished articles so far this year.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

2005-12-25T13:55:00.000+11:00

MERRY

CHRISTMAS

EVERYONE

It's getting too close to Chrissie!!!!

2005-12-22T15:33:00.000+11:00

Oh my there are only 3 more sleeps until Christmas and miss 3 is getting really excited.

All of my Christmas shopping is done and we are almost ready for the big day.

All my Christmas knitting is also done but dd has a little more to go as she's making all the neices and nephews their Christmas pressies this year. (Good job Lee).

I haven't taken any photos of a lot of my recent knitting so I will have to pull my finger out and get the diggi to work.

I have completed a lot of FO's which I am about to list for you.

1. Trekking toe up socks for myself.
2. green jacket for a freinds baby when born
3. green bonnet to go with the jacket
4. green booties to go with the above
5. white lacy baby singlet for the shop that Katt and I knit for
6. navy cotton socks (pretty comfy sock pattern from socks around the world )
7. white rib and moss st singlet for the shop
8. pink rib Regia socks ( I was very disappointed in the way the colours worked in this ball of yarn)
9. pale green baby socks from the Vogue Knitting Socks 2 knitting book

In the last few days I've been knitting a pale green rib baby singlet and have knitted a multi coloured baby sock from the Vogue Knitting Socks 2 knitting book that I ordered and it finally arrived a few weeks ago.

Last Friday I ordered some wool from the Bendigo Woollen Mills sale and it arrived on Tuesday. I've started knitting myself a wrap/scarf from the last Creative Knitting with some of the wool that arrived in the pack.

Also in the packet was a few balls of frost (white) 3 ply baby wool and some cream 4 ply baby wool.

I can't wait to get into some more baby knitting but that will have to wait for a while.

Until next time keep on knitting and have a happy and safe Christmas and New Year.

Cathy

Which of Santa's reindeer are you?

2005-12-15T22:21:00.000+11:00

You Are Prancer

You are the perfect reindeer, with perfect hooves and perfect flying form.
Why You're Naughty: Because you're Santa's pet, and you won't let anyone show you up.
Why You're Nice: You have the softest fur and the sweetest carrot breath.

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

I don't know if it's only me but I can't read the 1st line but it says "You are Prancer"

Thanks goes out to Suzi for the link to this quiz.

What colour should your eyes be?

2005-12-11T23:19:00.000+11:00

Your Eyes Should Be Brown

Your eyes reflect: Depth and wisdom
What's hidden behind your eyes: A tender heart

What Color Should Your Eyes Be?

This quiz got it exactly right as my eyes are brown.

How addicted to blogthings are you?

2005-11-19T20:18:00.000+11:00

You Are 43% Addicted to Blogthings

You're a Blogthings fiend - addicted but not totally dependent. So what if you know your personality type by heart?And while you may feel like Blogthings is crack... There are people much worse off than you!

How Addicted To Blogthings Are You?

What does your birthdate mean?

2005-11-18T23:40:00.000+11:00

Your Birthdate: March 23

You're not good at any one thing, and that's the problem.You're good at so much - you never know what to do.Change is in your blood, and you don't stick to much for long.You are destined for a life of travel and fun.
Your strength: Your likeability
Your weakness: You never feel satisfied
Your power color: Bright yellow
Your power symbol: Asterisk
Your power month: May

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

FO pickies at last

2005-11-18T22:12:00.000+11:00

To the right is a pickie of my new yarn that I took possession of from the lovely Katt at S'n'B on Tuesday. It came from Sockmonster who sells lovely sock yarn. Drop on by and she may have something that would interest you.

Below is a pickie of the "Jaywalking" socks that I have knit using Opal Lollypop sock yarn. These socks are for myself as I have totally given up on bought socks. They are not worth buying when I put holes in the toes after only about 3 or 4 wears.

This is a pickie of the 3 ply baby jumper that I knit in just over 3 days. It is made from Cleckheaton Baby Soft yarn that is really soft and lovely to knit with.
This jumper is for Jayden Samuel who was born on Sunday morning.

At the moment I am knitting the baby shawl that I started to knit a few months ago. It is coming along beautifully. A few months back I knit the 1st section and at the moment I am knitting the 2nd section. It will look lovely when it is finally finished.

On Wednesday I started knitting a sock from some of my new & wonderfully soft Trekking sock yarn. I finished the 1st sock and then thought I had better get back on with the shawl but I can't wait to get the other sock done. They look really nice and feel soooooooooooooooo soft.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Gnomesense

2005-11-15T21:13:00.000+11:00

I have just been checking out the Woolly Warbler's blog and had a good chuckle at a few delightful gnomes that she has made. They are naughty little critters that get up to no good.

Today I went to the local S'n'B gathering of the Coven and we had a great time knitting, chatting and I collected my sock yarn that had just arrived from the Sockmonster. She has her own on line shop called sockmonster sales where she has some wonderful sock yarns.

I got 2 balls of Regia, 2 balls of Trekking and also 2 balls of Lorna's Laces. Woohoo a sock knitting we will go.

On the knitting front I have completed my Jaywalking socks, a 4 ply baby singlet and a 3 ply baby jumper. I will have to post pickies when they are uploaded to my pc.

The baby jumper I knit in just over 3 days and it looks beautiful and hopefully the recipient will be very happy with it.

My friend had a little baby boy on Sunday morning even though I only got the phone call when I arrived home this evening. This was a long waited for child that will be well loved by his sister who is 3 1/2 yrs old. Welcome little Jayden Samuel.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

What colour heart do you have?

2005-11-12T15:36:00.000+11:00

Your Heart Is Green

Love completes you, but that doesn't mean you seek it out.When love comes your way, you integrate it peacefully into the rest of you life.
Your flirting style: Laid back
Your lucky first date: Walking around aimlessly and talking
Your dream lover: Is both enthusiastic and calm
What you bring to relationships: Balance

What Color Heart Do You Have?

I've tried to put a clicky link into this quiz but have been unable to find it again on the blogthings site.

Oh well maybe someone else may find it another time when they go into blogthings.

Cathy

Thankyou Blog girl for the link to the "What color heart do you have?" site.

I loooooove these quizzes as you may have guessed.

Cathy

What's your Irish name?

2005-11-08T18:55:00.000+11:00

Your Irish Name Is...

Chloe Moore

What's" your Irish Name?

How much is your blog worth?

2005-11-02T20:27:00.000+11:00

My blog is worth $4,516.32.
How much is your blog worth?

I found this little quiz on ttbookjunkie's blog. Thanks Amanda.

The clicky link on the quiz doesn't work so here's the clicky that works.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Why, why, why????????

2005-11-02T20:00:00.000+11:00

While cruising my regular reads I had a look on the Knit 'n' Bitch blog and clicked onto a limk that she'd found and wondered where do people get their ideas from and why do they even bother making some of their weird creations.

I went to the local S'n'B yesterday and had a great time. There was lots of yarn to fondle and plenty of completed and UFO's to be looked at.

Suzi & I bought Cindy a lovely (sic) mug at the City Mission shop that was along the hall from where we had our get together.

The elephant made an appearance as did the jaywalking socks that I have finished. (Pickies of jaywalking socks is in the camera but is yet to be downloaded.)

After Miss 3 had been to dance class today I went to Rivers at Kings Meadows and bought myself a new pair of really soft sandals. Cindy they even had a dark green pair and they were only $19.95 a pair.

Well it's time to get about 3, read that THREE kids to bed.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

What kind of rocker are you?

2005-10-30T23:32:00.000+11:00

You Are a Chick Rocker!

You're living proof that chicks can rockYou're inspired by Joan Jett and the DonnasAnd when you rock, you rock hard(Plus, you get all the cute guy groupies you want!)

What Kind of Rocker Are You?

Hey Suzi here's another one for you to try.

Baby elephant walk.

2005-10-30T22:25:00.000+11:00

My secret project from the vega 91.5 radio station is finished.

He's a lovely orange elephant and he looks beautiful in my garden bed with the new green bean plants behind him (or her).

This lovely little elephant is eventually on his way to the ambulance station as they give soft cuddly toys to their patients to help to settle them down when they are in crisis. These gifts are not only for the youngsters as sometimes the adults like something to cuddle as well.

To the right is the yarn that I got from the Knitting Yarn Shop which came on Monday I think. It's been that crazy around here that I keep losing track of the days.

The lovely purple is a wine coloured 'zest' 8 ply yarn. It is no longer in the hanks that it came in but in 7 balls that I wound up on the wool winder that I now have thanks to Sharon. The other yarn is described as premium second 8 ply variegated wool - dark purples. It's quite pretty and I will be taking a ball to the local S'n'B on Tuesday so that everyone can have a fondle.

I have been busy in the garden as you can see by the bean plants that are growing behind my elephant. The greenery in front of the elephant are my pea palnts. They have just come through. I have also planted lettuces, carrots,butter beans and sweet corn. The children have also planted pumpkins which have come through a treat. (Hopefully all the seed won't germinate as I think they put about 20+ seeds in 2 holes.)

I don't usually plant sweet corn but the garden has been so productive in the last few years that we've been in this house that I decided to give it a go this year.

I think that's all for now so until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

How weird are you?

2005-10-24T21:34:00.000+11:00

Thanks Dandy for another great quiz.

You Are 50% Weird

Normal enough to know that you're weird...But too damn weird to do anything about it!

How Weird Are You?

Vega 91.5 secret project

2005-10-20T20:36:00.000+11:00

I have been knitting the Melbourne radio station vega 91.5 secret project and it is going to be a toy elephant.

My efforts are pictured on the right. The photo doesn't do the yarn justice as it is a pretty, bright orange not pink as the photo shows.

This site has also been mentioned on Bugsy and Lynne's blogs as well. Hopefully they will get in and knit the secret project as well.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Yummy cake recipe

2005-10-18T20:43:00.000+11:00

I went to the local S'n'B at the Kameo Cafe today. We had a really good time knitting, eating and even more knitting.

At the moment I'm knitting the secret project from the new Melbourne FM radio station vega 91.5. I started the project last night where the on air knitters started the 4 week project 3 1/2 weeks ago.

I've been very slack on the knitting front lately as I've been doing a bit of cross stitch as I had a small cut on my had that hurt when knitting. (It was ok for x stitch though as I can't go without doing any craft work.)

While at S'n'B today we were mentioning recipes that we cook and I mentioned that I make an old fashioned rhubarb cake so below is the recipe for Cindy and Sharon. The recipe was originally in lbs and ozs so I used my trusty scales and modernised the recipe for the imperially challenged among us.

Old Fashioned Rhubarb Cake

30g butter
190g brown sugar
1 tspn vanilla
1 tspn bicarb soda
1 tspn cinnamon
1 egg
150g plain flour
grated rind of 1 lemon
125ml sour cream
250g chopped rhubarb

Topping

80g brown sugar
1 tspn cinnamon

Method

Using a wooden spoon cream butter, sugar, egg & vanilla.
Stir in sifted flour, bicarb soda & cinnamon followed by sour cream.
Add rhubarb & lemon rind.
Pour mixture into round tin.
Sprinkle with topping & bake in a moderate oven for 40 - 60mins.

Nice as a dessert topped with custard.

Hey Sharon the wool winder works beautifully. Thankyou very much.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

A frogging we will go............

2005-10-09T21:30:00.000+11:00

As the title suggests I did a little frogging today.

I was knitting my first jaywalking sock from the latest Magknits and I got about half way along the foot and realised that the sock was going to be too small to fit onto my foot. Bummer.

I had to frog the sock all the way back to the rib as this sock was started at the top. (I usually prefer to knit socks from the toe up.)

The sock is supposed to be knit on 2.25mm needles all the way but as the tension is too tight I have knit the rib on 2.25mm and am knitting the rest of the sock on 2.75mm needles.

I am now about 2/3 of the way along the foot on my first sock and the tension is really good on the 2.75mm needles (and the sock now fits my foot).

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

What type of sock are you?

2005-10-05T11:13:00.000+11:00

Wow! You would have been a pair of socks as long
as it's possible for socks to be before they're
tights - and all multi-coloured with pretty
patterns and detail all over the place - then
you could stand and admire your sock-self all
day!

What type of sock are you?

Brought to you by Quizilla

I thought this was a great quiz borrowed from Dandy & it's perfect for someone like me who's hooked on knitting socks.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

More finished socks!!!!!!!!!

2005-10-02T13:07:00.000+11:00

Above is a my pair of socks knit from Opal Brasil 5001 in the falling leaves pattern from Knitty. As this pattern was knit on smaller needles the texture is a bit closer and the tension is a bit tighter.

To the right is a pair of Opal socks that have been knit to the lacy socks pattern from the latest Creative Knitting pattern book. The yarn is Opal Rodeo 1158. These socks were a pleasure to knit. They are a Christmas present for a friend. I know I'm safe posting this picture as she doesn't get onto the net as far as I know.

Another project that's finished is my secret santa item for our local S'n'B group.

Startitis has hit again and even though I have done the back and one of the fronts of Miss 3's cardi I've started the back of a jumper in some lovely Magnum Prints 8ply in a beautiful shades of purple. The pattern is the same as Miss 3's cardigan that I knit in the Bendigo wool. It's the lovely pattern with the textured bands and the moss stitch hearts on it.

At the moment I have DD and GS staying for a while so I have DD knitting a scarf for herself. She's been knitting since she was about 8 yrs old.

It's quite hectic with 2 children in the house as GS is almost 9yrs old so he is attending the local school. If we're not going one way with one child we're going the other way with the other one.

This seriously puts a dent in the knitting time.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

What pattern is your brain

2005-10-01T09:08:00.000+10:00

Your Brain's Pattern

Your brain is always looking for the connections in life.You always amaze your friends by figuring out things first.You're also good at connecting people - and often play match maker.You see the world in fluid, flexible terms. Nothing is black or white.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

Happy Birthday Sharon

2005-09-24T11:55:00.000+10:00

Today is Sharons Birthday.

Sharon's a keen Kangaroos supporter (that's North Melbourne in old terms) from wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy back.

I won't say how old Sharon is but here's a hint. Next year she'll be the big four oh.

So yet again HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHARON.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Knit, knit, knit.............

2005-09-23T10:10:00.000+10:00

I've finally finished the Bendigo cardigan for miss 3. The pattern was Bendigo Woollen Mills Pt8132. The wool is 8 ply pure wool from the Bendigo Woollen Mills back room and the colour is thistle.
A close up of the pattern in the jumper and bands. The buttons are dorset buttons that I made with the same yarn as used for the cardigan.

2005-09-23T10:09:00.000+10:00

A pair of socks knit Opal T-99. The colour is sunset. These socks are for me.
The 1st sock of a pair that I'm knitting for myself from Opal Brasil. The pattern is falling leaves from the latest Knitty.

I have started knitting the 2nd sock but got sidetracked and have knit 1 1/2 socks for a Christmas present from the latest Creative Knitting.

On Tuesday we had a meet up of the S'n'B group at Cafi Centro and it was great to see the girls again as well as the 2 new ladies who joined us.

The chatting was enjoyable, the food was delish and the knitting was wonderful in the supreme company that was present. I can't wait until next time at the Muffin Kitchen on October 4th at 1pm.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

I've been Meme'd again.........

2005-09-19T15:58:00.000+10:00

The Darling Katt has tagged me. So here I go.

THE RULES:

1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five people to do the same.'

"I have posted a few pickies of the shawl as well as a pickie of my toe-up socks."

This sentence sounds a lot like what I used to always post when I was using "Hello" to post all my photos. (Before I found out that I could post pickies using blogger).

Now the five people I have chosen to tag with this meme are:
Lynne
Marji
JoanM
Leeanne
Melanie

It will be interesting to see what these ladies find as their old post because some that I've read have been quite comical.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

I've been Meme'd

2005-09-17T20:16:00.000+10:00

Lynne has tagged me so here I go...

TEN YEARS AGO: 1995: I was living on the West Coast of Tasmania being a full time stay at home mum to an almost 16 yr old son and a 14 1/2yr old daughter. I was heavily involved in CWA (as I still am) running the weekly handcraft sessions.

FIVE YEARS AGO: 2000: I was semi-single (sort of) as hubby was working away 12 days a fortnight and home for 2. I had not long ago become a short term foster carer and was enjoying looking after little children for respite care.

ONE YEAR AGO: 2004; I had only just found out about blog land. I was making plans to go to Canberra to attend my 1st Foster Carers National Conference.

FIVE SNACKS:
1. Lolly gobble bliss bombs
2. Darrell Lea peanut brittle
3. Jelly Belly beans
4. Chilli philly with water crackers
5. Double coat tim tams

FIVE SONGS I KNOW ALL THE WORDS TO:
1. Mambo Italiano - Shaft
2. Final countdown - Europe
3. It's over - Kurupt
4. Everything by Hi-5 thanks to miss 3
5. Happy birthday

FIVE THINGS I WOULD DO WITH $100 MILLION:
1. Buy hubby a Winnebago.
2. Buy a house with plent of natural light for my craft work.
3. Set up my own craft store as I am very disillusioned with some of the local ones that we have.
4. Build a studio at the back of the house for hubby to set up for his photography.
5. Take hubby on a nice, long, relaxing holiday (preferably a cruise).

FIVE PLACES TO RUN AWAY TO:
1. Antarctica (for a short visit at least).
2. Egypt.
3. Japan.
4. New Zealand (they have 1 or 2 sheep there so they should have some wool).
5. The Shetland Islands

FIVE THINGS I WOULD NEVER WEAR:
1. a g-string
2. a bikini
3. false eye lashes
4. false fingernails
5. lanolin (I'm allergic).

FIVE FAVORITE TV SHOWS:
1. Blue Heelers
2. All Saints
3. Midsomer Murders
4. CSI
5. Dr Who

FIVE BIGGEST JOYS:
1. My grandchildren
2. My husband
3. My children
4. My foster child
5. My craft

FAVORITE TOYS:
1. My knitting needles
2. My crochet hooks
3. My cross stitch
4. My computer
5. My new mobile phone

FIVE PEOPLE TO PASS THIS ON TO: I will pass this on to Tracy, Roberta, Valerie, Michelle and Shel. I will be interested to see what their answers are.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

Some finished objects & more.............

2005-09-13T21:51:00.000+10:00

A cardigan that has been sent to Iran as a birthday gift.

A close up photo of the buttons. They are dorset buttons that I made myself.

A pair of socks for Katts daughter Harley. Katt Kool-aid dyed the main colour of these socks.

A "Branching Out" scarf that I made for a birthday present. It was sent to Iran for the mother of the little girl that received the cardigan.

A pair of black pure wool socks that will be sold in the shop that Katt & I knit for.

2005-09-13T21:50:00.000+10:00

A sock knit from Bendigo Miami sock yarn. The second sock is yet to be started.

The back of Miss 3's cardigan knit from yarn bought at Harris Scarfe. The 1st front is knit to the underarms. This yarn is sooooooooooooo soft.

More Opal sock yarn bought at the local yarn store. I just couldn't resist, could I. I have started knitting the yarn on the right and it is looking really nice.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

What vintage movie star are you?

2005-09-11T17:15:00.000+10:00

You are Lauren Bacall. You started off as very shy
but with a little help, your roots come out.
You're an honest person and your values,
beliefs and convictions are very clear. You
love a good time, and you want security at
heart but you're ready for anything that comes
your way. You may also have an air of grace
about you, and more beauty than you'll ever
realize. But others will see it.

Which vintage movie star are you most like?(For girls)
brought to you by Suzi.

He's up and running at last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-09-10T20:16:00.000+10:00

DH has finally got his blog up and running at last.

He would appreciate a visit from everyone out in blog land when he's up and running properly and got a few more photos posted.

Oh well! Back to the knitting and Midsomer Murders.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

What a blast!!!!!!

2005-09-10T12:32:00.000+10:00

I have just posted a "few" photos that DH took the night before last of the lighning we had. We had a really good thunder and lighning storm.

We've also had another fairly good storm today but as it's day time there are no photos. (bummer)

We are going to have to get a blog site up and running for DH soon so that I can claim mine back for my knitting content.

I have photos to download of some FO's then I will post them.

Until next time keep on knitting.

Cathy

2005-09-10T12:24:00.000+10:00