Is that knitting content??!!

Oh yes - at last. I have at last finished the Noro Eloise cardi for the oldest Flea - this will no doubt elicit many rude words from youngest Flea Katie, and her partner FiFi who will remind me of the Jo Sharp jumper I started for FiFi some years ago - it was a wide loose fitting style, but FiFi wanted it much shorter with longer sleeves. It languished half done for months because I couldn't bring myself to make it shorter when all the cold air would just circulate up the body - when I eventualy checked the fitting, it was too big (in MHO) so despite FiFi's protestations, I frogged it - then reknitted it - and it was too small - so I gave it to my DIL. Every time I see Katie & FiFi they give me stick! When I mentioned this to eldest daughter, she reminded me that she's been waiting for a handknit for longer than we have known FiFi ...... still, I MUST do the FiFi jumper - I just don't think I can face that Jo Sharp pattern again - it was a pain to knit. Mmmm - maybe I feel another Eloise coming on in a different colour.

Eldest daughter's Eloise is longer than the pattern - I humoured her on this despite my reservations. I used knitting in elastic with the yarn because my own Eloise has stretched so much - the fact that I have worn it nearly every day for the last 10 months hasn't helped! Originally I was just going to put it in the ribbed part, but decided to do it all over as my own was getting bigger by the day. The elastic made the fabric much firmer and denser, but I like it.

Last weekend while the 11 year old little Flea was here she spotted a scarf at Cherryhills and wanted one - that instant - BUT (why do my family always want variations?) she wanted pockets at each end for her hands. The yarn is Funky Fur (or some similar name) and the scarf was done on 10mm needles, so the pockets stretched when sewn up and I had to gather the tops in, but it should do the trick. Ms 11 has just read Roxie's book - Sanna, Sorceress Apprentice. She loved it, and can't wait for the next in the series. I loved it too - Roxie writes very well (and I'm very critical), and it is a delightful story incorporating Roxie's love of knitting. Apart from nagging me to ask Roxie to give her a pre-release version of the book (which I declined to do, as I want to buy her one for Christmas so she can have a matched set - and I also want to support Roxie's foray into the world of publishing), Ms 11 was very keen for me to knit her a pair of self heating mittens, the pattern for which is in the book. Unfortunately, I flunked out of sorceress school, apart from a low grade in ESP, so I can do the mittens (if I ever get the book back - it's been reread at least once) but can't do the self-heating part. She also has a yen for a bag that is bigger on the inside than the outside - you can see it hanging from Sanna's waist on the cover of the book. I must admit to a hankering for one of those too! Guess I'll have to go back to sorceress school! I asked Ms 11 to do a book review - here it is as left on the voice mail:

"Hi Grandma - and Pa - can't forget about you, Pa - just calling and here's my book review. I finished it in 2 days which is a new record for that sort of book, Grandma. And here's my book review. It was funny, romantic and very obvious that the writer is also a knitter. I couldn't put it down and I can't wait for the next one, however I think the ending was a bit short and that it didn't finish well - it could go on a bit longer and I never found out what happened to that cape, unless I skipped some. Would you please knit me a pair of self heating mittens, thank you. That's what I've written down on a piece of paper, but I still stand by that the ending was very, very short. He arrives and then he just says some stuff and he leaves. And then you're sort of left with the impression that the horse is just standing there and you want the book to go on. So, all in all, I think it depends on the sort of 11 year old reader. If it's someone who's into books, they'd enjoy it. And if it's someone who really isn't into books and more into, like, magic and sorcery, they should also enjoy it, but if it was someone who wasn't into things like that, they should also enjoy it. I keep laughing when I think of the power gem in Sanna's mouth, with the two chains coming out of her mouth. " (There is more, but I have mislaid the piece of paper I transcribed it on. I will post it, Roxie, as soon as I find it.)

I have explained to Ms 11, that books with sequels always leave you wanting more - but she still wants the contents of the NEXT book, in this one! I think you have a hit on your hands here, Roxie.

CORRECTION
I said in my last post that the glider possum was a squirrel possum glider, but after talking to the Council's wildlife officer today, and checking the internet again, I realise it is a sugar glider.

I'm doing a workshop at Cherryhills on Sunday with Lynne Johnson - I'm really looking forward to it.

Confession is good for the soul ...

So, having confessed to SOME of my UFOs, I suddenly find that there are now FOs appearing - first the jacket for Ms 11 (last post) and now this - - a little baby cardi I have been knitting for my chiropracter whose baby is due any minute. In my effort to get the cardi exactly right (unlike most of my knitting) I frogged the left front about a dozen times trying to make sure the buttonhole and three needle shoulder join were perfect - well, after wrestling with the damn thing for days, I finally had it all joined up, only to discover that I had LEFT OUT the button hole! How dumb can one person be! I refused to undo the whole thing again, so ended up crotcheting a loop to go over the button. This is a beautiful cardi for a baby as it doesn't sit right up under the chin. I haven't worked out how to link back to an earlier post, but the pattern is from Pipsqueaks (post of 17/2/07) and I used Zara. Note the way the sleeve is folded up - that's to hide the mess I made of the seam! C'est la vie where I'm concerned. It's the thought that counts! I still can't preview, so again, forgive any typos.

Wildlife Wednesday .......... well, everyone else has a day .......

More wildlife- this time a largish kookaburra which landed with a thump on our deck rail as soon as we sat down to eat lunch. It had been in the tree, but fancied its chances when it saw food - it's obviously used to being hand fed. Grandpa Flea went to place a piece of meat on the railing and the kookaburra lunged forward to take it from his fingers.

We are a bit wary of birds that get too close when food is involved - once we were quite innocently sitting in a national park eating our lunch, surrounded by birds that were apparently used to being fed scraps by visitors (as they kept invading our space and were not too happy to go away when we "shoo'ed" them). Grandpa Flea was about to put a piece of sandwich in his mouth when a huge crow swept down, snatching the piece of food from his fingers. In the process, it gave him a nasty abrasion on his hand from its sharp beak. We decided to sit in the car to finish our meal and .... shades of Alfred Hitchcock .... dozens of these birds landed on the bonnet pecking at the windscreen, making it quite clear that if they could break in, they would! It was very unsettling - well, let's be honest here - it was downright frightening even though we were inside the car.


It's amazing how some birds within a group, all with the same colouring and all about the same size, can quickly become recognisable as individuals. This is our favourite - "Cranky Pants". We assume he is male, as he is the dominant bird of a pair that visit regularly. He scolds at us if we approach too close, and he gets very annoyed when I take his photo. You can see him giving me some very explicit advice on where to go in this photo! I must do some reading up on lorikeets - I would have thought that it is too late in the season for mating, but Cranky Pants was in fine form today, doing an amazing display for his mate - almost a snake dance with his head, whispering sweet nothings in her ears and making an enormous display of flapping his wings. When he became a bit too amorous, his "meek" little partner gave him a peck and buzzed him off!


And for Carson a visit from a large brushtail possum.

And so to knitting - I bet you'd forgotten that this is a knitting blog .... today was the Knitting group at Cherryhills, my LYS. A whole pile of Debbie Bliss books have come in - but how many knitting books can one person use? I think I'd like to live in that shop - I could have yarnball baths at night - go to bed on a pile of yarn as soft as featherdown, cuddling several balls of soft Annie Blatt angora - tie pieces of ?Annie Blatt "Fleur" around my neck for necklaces - knit myself bedsocks and hot water bottle covers in any combination of yarns I fancied - wear the smell of new books for perfume - aaaaahhhh - the list is endless.
Despite my obvious yarn addiction, I came home with only ONE ball of plain wool to add to a skirt I'm knitting for one of the little fleas,and a pattern book for Freedom wool - I think my daughter-outlaw would look great in one of these vests - let's hope it gets finished instead of FROGGED numerous times before being forever consigned to that great frogged pond in the sky - whoops - I mean the back room.

I'm off to bed.

Day 52 - I'm just froggin' along ...

Well, it is with great regret and joy that I announce that Annie Blatt has bitten the dust! The wretched thing has been blocking away for days (I was too busy/lazy to pick it up) - when I went to sew the sleeves in, I discovered that I had done the three needle cast-off shoulders by joining the fronts (knitted on 2.75 needles) to the original back, knitted on 4mm needles. Do not even ask how this could have happened! So, I undid the shoulders and dropped several stitches. I dutifully frogged back and redid the shapings, then immediately rejoined the small needle front to the big needle back ... need I go on? It only gets worse. Eventually I decided that it would be kinder to all concerned to send it to the big frogpond in the sky. I have now bought the (ever so slightlyfrogged) yarn from Cherryhills and intend to use it to make a small pillow for my granddaughter.

The weather has been hot and steamy here. Monday I went on a group excursion with Grandpa Flea - a two hour train journey to Cronulla of the beautiful beach; a twenty minute ferry ride to Bundeena, a small community across the bay;
a walk along the beach;

lunch, a walk around the town and repeat of the travel, in reverse. It was a hot and sunny - the water was a a clear blue - magic. I love the beach - the way the waves roll in and out,


the beautiful shapes, patterns and colours in the rocks, and the amazing little rockpools just waiting to be explored. I lived near the beach for some of my childhood and I guess it brings back memories.

Kate has asked why I'd move from a beautiful, bushy environment to a big, wet hole in the ground! Grandpa Flea asks the same question, but as he currently has a knee like a balloon, has to hop down stairs and can't sleep at night because of the discomfort, I think he has answered his own (and Kate's) question. Sadly, it's age - it happens to us all and I know that if we don't move now, it will all become too hard in a few years time. Happily though, I can report that the big, wet, hole in the ground is now
a big, dry hole in the ground ... quite an improvement!

Well, I'm off - perchance to frog a little!

Day 25 - Where Has January Gone?

At last I have managed to reset my email address so that Blogger recognises me and lets me in - I'm exhausted - it's been a hard battle! But that's not the reason I haven't posted for days (and days). We've had two grandchildren staying - one for two days and the other for seven. We picked them up the Subday before last but Ms 10 had to go home early to meet her obligations with Nippers (junior surf life saving) so we put her on the bus on Wednesday afternoon. She has been travelling alone for the last year now - it's a two and a half hour journey. It's a local bus company and if no one is there to collect a child travelling alone, they take them on with them while the office tries to contact the family.

Before Ms 10 went home, Grandpa Flea took her and Master 7 to see "Walking with Dinosaurs" - they loved it - Kate from Blue Mountain Knits has given a very good description and photos of it on her blog. Then I took them to see the movie "Arthur and the Invicibles" - they looked pretty bored during it, but came out wanting it on DVD so they must have enjoyed it. I was not that impressed with it, but then who am I to know the workings of little minds? The rest of the week was spent playing "Bub & Bob" with Master 7, taking him to swim at a friend's house, raking huge piles of dry leaves with him - which he really enjoyed - watering the garden with a watering can on the days when we can't use the hose (which he also enjoyed) and taking him to see "Badjelly the Witch" - a Spike Milligan play which he seemed to enjoy. I say "seemed" because anything other than computers is second rate entertainment in his eyes. Master 7 does love to knit - albeit in a rather gung-ho manner, so this holiday I had a French Knitting thingy for him. He spent hours making i-cord on it - 6 and a half metres! which he wanted me to sew into a draw-string bag for him to keep his money in - and, like the good Granny I am, I obliged.

Another major undertaking was a BLITZ on table manners with both, and GRAMMAR with Master 7. Using your knife and fork(!) and PROPERLY, eating with your mouth closed and wiping your fingers on a serviette were the main manners we attacked. With some success.

Grammar was a different story. I only attacked "them" as in: "what are them things?". Not much luck until I introduced an incentive - $1 when he used the right word spontaneously, and 50c when he used the wrong word then self-corrected. You have to be quick though - he started introducing "those" into the conversation at every opportunity! So we had some success, but I'll be interested to see if he maintains the change when he's been home for a while.

During this time the weather was atrocious - 40C degree days - the tree ferns have browned right off, and some of the bird's nest ferns are severely sunburnt, as is the mondo grass. I'ts impossible to give them enough water by hand. Still, if it's a choice between the plants and having water to drink, I'll go for the drinking water, thank you.

Not much knitting has been done - probably an amount equal to the amount of FROGGING. I've been doing an Annie Blatt baby cardi for Sue at Cherryhills, and I've found the pattern very confusing - even more so when I am working from the graph and reversing the shaping for the other side! In the end I had to write it out, and I'm still not sure it's right.

Day One of the New Year

... and I hope it is a happy one for you. I am not making any New Year's resolutions this year because I ALWAYS break them. We had a quiet New Year's Eve and are following the same pattern for today - other than a potential buyer for our house arriving with ten minutes notice - the very day I hadn't made the beds, done the dishes from the night before etc etc. - you've never seen anyone move so fast!

I have just tried to post a photo, but that seems to be a problem - maybe because I have a Mac. Does anyone out there have an answer? I've looked at the" Help" section but it seems to suggest I need a Google toolbar which is not compatible with a Mac. I'll keep fiddling with it.

I did quite a lot of knitting on Eloise last night, and just a little frogging - mainly because I was watching "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and forgot to stop the ribbing and change to reverse stocking stitch; ditto with the first buttonhole. I still like to watch my knitting and only look at the TV at critical moments. Grandpa Flea is well trained and gives me a running commentary to alert me to things that I need to know eg "he just slipped poison in her drink".

Roxie, your comment made me laugh - what does a 62 year old's blog look like? It reminded me of a Michael Parkinson interview with Sally Field - when he said she didn't look her age - she replied "well, that's what 50 looks like these days"! How true. I guess if you're not an Aussie you're not familiar with the Ginger Meggs comics (rather old fashioned these days). Ginger's mother was a large round woman, rather busty but shapeless with it and always wearing an apron - so like my grandmother that the artist could have used her as a model. But that was how grandmothers looked then (some of us still do!) - largish and shapeless or rather thin and angular. At least that what my memories are. Grannies (who crack the glass ceiling) these days seem to run corporations and wear designer suits. And if we can believe the TV ads (ha ha), after they have moved into a retirement village, they also ride Harley Davidsons and have romantic liaisons on the beach at sunset, champagne flute in hand. Aah - QUICK, I hear you say - book me into the nearest retirement village - NOW!
I can't believe I'm normal - although you did say "might be" - my entire world view will have to be reoriented if I accept that premise. Thank you for your faith in me - but just remember the old one about "all the world is queer 'cept me and thee"...
I'll spend the next few hours pretending that I'm normal and see if it feels comfortable!

Happy New Year.

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.

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 -