Every ending is a new beginning ...

So another year has passed - where did it go? But this year's ending is a first! - I decided some years ago to re-evaluate my many UFOs and WIPs once a year - they had become like monkeys on my back. So I ruthlessly (well, fairly ruthlessly) frogged everything that stood little chance of completion for whatever reason. It felt so good! But this year there is nothing that needs to be frogged! (apart from a few things that I hid earlier in the year so they didn't annoy me). maybe I'm learning some discipline at last - it's only taken 62 years!

Roxie, thanks for your encouragement - but I have to tell you that I'm the only person who could sew a school uniform kit together back to front, in a totally unsuitable smallest tension ever, spend hours unpicking it, in the process cutting the fabric which had to be darned later - and immediately doing the exact same thing! not once, but twice... maybe I'm not going senile after all - I was born that way!

Umma - your holiday sounds very restful - not! But it will settle down - now you've put your bed up - I'm sure! The weather in Sydney has been quite comfortable - overcast for part of the day, some sun and heat, and some RAIN- little children are hiding under their beds in fear and terror - the sky is falling! I'm looking forward to visiting Berry in July for the spinning and weaving day - I'll probably arrange another bus trip down there for the knitting group and the Guild if enough people want to come. The other thing I'd like to do in 2007 is a weekend workshop at the rag rug place down that way somewhere - do you have any interest? Have a great holiday - I'll see you at lunch when you return.

A very peaceful and happy New Year to everyone out there - if only we could wish the same for the world and think it might come true.

Born to knit ..

... or born to frog ... you guessed it - I'm Queen of the Froggers. The Eloise that I so rashly frogged before all the good advice came pouring in ... when I started to cast on last night to reknit, the penny dropped - I needn't have frogged the whole lot - just down to the top of the very extensive ribbed section - if I had done that, then knitted an extra row - the band would have been on the right side after all ....... spatially challenged is a kind way of putting it. Fortunately the Blossom knits up very quickly. Your comments (Roxie's the most recent) are making me laugh - I can see why blogging is so addictive!

Today I went to see "The Queen" and have lunch with some good friends I used to work with. We had a great day and all agreed that the movie should have been called "The Queen 'n Di" - none of us had realised that it only covered the period immediately following Diana's death. I'd love to know what Lizzie thought about it - and when Helen Mirren goes to Buckingham Palace on Lizzie's invitation, will she be sent to the Tower or "Damed"?

Happy knitting.

Thank you for the warm welcome

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome to blogland that you've given me. I've posted individual replies in the comments bit. We are currently trying to sell our house to move to a place more suited to our arthritic knees - in the process I've had to store most of my ENORMOUS stash away and hide all the other junk that normally clutters the house. I've quite fallen in love with living in a neat and clean house with the beds made! But (there's always a but ..) I've stashed everything out of sight for the inspections (don't open a cupboard door or it all falls on you) and I've carefully put my camera somewhere which is now quite irretrievable from the creaking memory banks - as soon as I find it I'll post some photos of Eloise. As well as Eloise I'm also knitting funny little baby jumpers for babies born with AIDS in Africa. Someone in one of my knitting groups has a mother who belongs to a church group which is knitting/collecting them for a charity somewhere (note: this level of vague detail is typical of my life these days!) Apparently the poor little newborns go home wrapped in newspaper to keep them warm. The instructions are quite specific - follow the pattern exactly, use only acrylic and no pastels as they may never be washed. We take so much in our own lives for granted.

Frogging away as usual ...

SO... a second post in my first day - I must be into it! I did mention in passing my frogging addiction ... well, I've done it again - working away on Flea1's Eloise cardigan, making really good progress as the Noro knits up very quickly - get up to the armhole and realise that I've got the button band on the side which should have buttonHOLES. So I'm frogging my little heart out here -

Welcome

Welcome to my blog! Don't ask me why I have joined the blogging community - I don't really know, but do enjoy reading some of the knitting blogs I visit. Not that there will be much knitting on this one as I am an expert frogger and don't seem to get much done! At the moment I'm knitting a Noro cardigan, Eloise, in Blossom for my eldest - Flea1. I've knitted this pattern for myself already, but found that the garment stretched - every which way - so this time I'm using knitting-in elastic with the yarn. The fabric seems much more rigid as a result - just hope it has enough stretch in it to fit!
I hope you all had a peaceful and happy Christmas Day with lots of woolly knitbits under the tree.
Grandma Flea