Like Sands Through the Hourglass...

Another weekend, but this time something special........sunshine!
Yes, we finally had an (almost) rain free weekend, with only a bit of rain from 7pm last night to sometime this morning.

Last night we went to eat delicious sushi & drink sake & sup on miso, then went off to see a movie...the Simpsons movie. As a fairly die hard Simpson's fan, I was pretty disappointed. Its like someone who watched a few episodes wrote the movie. Thin on gags, poor continuation of character...not great. Excellent Mickey Mouse joke around 2/3 of the way through.

Anyway, a finished object...This is the beautiful baby hat from Purly Whites. Knitted in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino (I really should buy shares in her company, the amount I use), on aluminium 3.25mm dpns. They were horrible. I really need some bamboo or wood dpns of this size - I felt like I couldn't keep gauge (although it looks ok in the end), and it was slow going. But the pattern itself is intuitive, easy, and despite looking like it is going to fit a giant, ends up looking quite nice. I didn't do the 'stem' out the top (well, I did, but I didn't like it so I undid it!). So another thing (unwashed and unblocked as yet) put away for the coming baby influx.

Also, more progress on the black socks...

Which, in fact, has commenced. My dear friend Vincent and his lovely wife Andy had their two beautiful babies last week. They are very little and a bit early, but everyone is healthy and I would like to wish them all the best wishes. In the meantime, there is a bit of catch-up knitting to be done (they are both early and smaller than expected! Although if I wait long enough they will get to a more finished-object-friendly size...)

On a different note, some pics from tonight's meal...

Almost looks like summer, doesn't it!

ECF

I just love the colours & textures. Also, tomorrow is the weekend!!!

Can't Stand the Rain...

So much rain. At least we aren't flooded! The river near us is very very full, but we are a fair distance uphill, so we are ok. It does mean getting around the place a bit tricky.

Anyway, some things just seem to love all this water...aren't they great! Also, they are a bit bigger than they seem here - about as long as my forearm at the longest! And pretty tasty too.

Furious Political Thought

I know I usually keep this blog to knitting, our allotment, our holidays and general stuff. However, this is really starting to piss me off, and I just don't know what to do other than to let others know and ask for their help.

I grew up in Tasmania, which, for those who are unaware, is a smallish island off the south coast of Australia. There are around half a million people living there. It is known as a beautiful place, and the more I travel the more I realise that it really is spectacular. I know that everyone thinks that the place they come from is special, but Tasmania is unique in its natural beauty, and in the way of life that people continue to enjoy.

We grew up in the north, living along next to the Tamar river. Since I grew up, this has become a major wine production area. The river is a large estuary, and an important nursery ground for many fish and haven for all sorts of marine wildlife. When I was young, it was a bit risky to swim in the river. Since then, the river has been cleaned up in a number of ways and there are now seals, dolphins, pelicans, waterbirds and other visitors to the area.
So yep, I guess you get it. It is pretty special, to me and to others.

However, there is plans to build a pulp mill on this river, at one of the most beautiful parts. The local community is very much against this. The process for approval seems rife with loopholes and corruption. The mill will create all sorts of problems for the area. There are other places in Tasmania and Australia that want this mill in their community. It will impact on many aspects of the local environment, and provide further reasons to chop down our trees for chipping and pulp (a separate but related issue). Here are some links for further info about the company Gunns, and on the proposed mill (and some pictures of what the Tamar looks like), and from the Wilderness society.

I don't want to rave on too much, but it seems to me that this is another example of another small and unique part of the world being destroyed for commercial gain. While we are all looking at our own carbon footprint, and the wider ramifications of global warming, small communities struggle to maintain important local environments and in some cases need our wider support. If you think you would like to support our fight against a pulp mill in this area, there are details of who to contact and people to email here. The Wilderness society are another good source of information (http://www.wilderness.org.au/).

Thanks for reading. I am sorry I don't have any photos of this area at hand, but I will try to get some up soon.


You can find out more about Tasmania here.

Treats! More Treats!

Look - a final parcel from my great unsecret pal, Carol:


My camera really can't handle the yarn - the bit that looks blue is a deep electric violet colour, and the muddy colour here is a purpley brown. The yarn is amazing - I have no idea what it will knit up like! Thanks Carol - you have been such a great Secret Pal!
Also, a new WIP - I am getting good at having more than one thing on the go at once (especially little things!), although I feel the need to get a larger project on the needles.....

ECF

I can't take the credit - these are pics of New Zealand, courtesy of Simon from our recent trip. A heavenly place. Happy Friday!

WIC (Work in Completion)

Completed Hello Yarn bonnet in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. Worked out pretty good, although clearly Lamby has a slightly unbaby shaped head (I think it is the ears), but you get the idea! The stripes had a bit of jog on one side, but not so much that it ruins it, or that non-knitters would really notice, to be honest. I just love how this yarn knits up. I know it is a bit ubiquitous, but these colours really appeal to me. And it used just a tiny bit of each ball! Plenty for more knits. Also, some pics of our holiday. As you can see, we were pretty enamoured of the New Forest ponies!

Uncompetitive Knitters!

Hey - well, after a flood of entries (two!!!), I have completed some complex calculations, and the winner is...Anne! Which is cool, cause I haven't ever heard from Anne before, and (one of) the points of the blog is to meet people. So Anne - I will be in touch. If you care to know, I now have 16 different yarns in my collection - SP10 gave me an increase of around 50%!! Well, more if you count the stuff I bought each time I went to buy stuff for my pal (he he!).
So thanks for reading - maybe the celebrations for 2000 hits will be more thrilling. Who knows. In the meantime, I have exciting weekend adventure photos to come...

WIPs

Look - actual knitting!

The first bit is both very exciting and very boring! The exciting bit is that Simon actually asked me to knit him something! He wanted plain, black socks. Plain plain plain. So I bought some black Regia sock yarn, found a nice plain pattern, and have surprised myself how much fun it has been. They are knit on 2.00mm dpns, which is always a bit like knitting on toothpicks, but it has knitted up beautifully. Even Simon thinks they look good! I just hope they will stay up (his biggest criteria) - I think I might knit one and get him to wear it a bit before starting the other, to see if it needs more rib on the leg. Anyway, I promise that the yarn is the blackest of black yarns, it just was a sunny (yes, actually sunny!) day.

And this is a partially finished Hello Yarns top-down bonnet, knit in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. It is just quick knitting, as there is a whole flotilla of babies due in the next 12 months and I want to be ready! It is nearly done - finished pics coming soon.

A competition...

So, as previously warned, to celebrate that 1000 hits have been registered to my humble little blog, I give you....a competition! This seems to be blog etiquette, so here goes...
If you ever read my SP10 questionnaire, you will know that at the time I completed it, I said that I didn't really have a stash. If you don't have a stash, and you think you might like one, I suggest joining in SP11 - somehow I now have a stash! It is fantastic, only my brain hasn't adjusted and I still seem to want to buy yarn specifically for projects, rather than working with what I have. Ah well.
So, the competition is this: If you can guess how many different yarns I have, you could win a little treat! Nothing huge, but something. I haven't decided yet, but I promise it will be something knitty and maybe also tasty. If you aren't a knitty reader, I reckon I could go tasty only (I know there are a few of you!).
Now, by different yarns I will include (a) different brands of yarn and (b) different colours of yarn, but not individual balls (cause some are bits and some are not wound from hanks). So, for example, I have two colours of some German wool that I lost the label from (2 balls of one colour and 1 of another) - this would count as two.
Suddenly this is sounding much more complex than intended! ANyway, if you want to play, just leave a comment and your guess. Closest guess wins, and if there are two or more that picked, then I will get Simon to draw a name out of a hat (he has a good hat for this kind of thing).
Happy 1000 hits! I really enjoy writing this blog, and it is nice to get comments and hear that people read it.

PS: Oops, forgot to say until when...lets say, next Saturday 14th.

Weekend memories...

Well, I had intended to blog what we did on the weekend, and suddenly its Thursday....so I'll do it anyway!

Saturday we went into London for the day, and saw some theatre (Cats Eye at the Kings Head theatre- it was ok) and caught up with Bennie, Simon's friend. We went to the Borough markets which are excellent and about 99.9% food and booze! Shame I ate too much for lunch and didn't want to eat anything, but we did get some good parmesan. Highly recommended (get off at London Bridge station, but go the right way - we didn't). We had dinner at our fave korean place in Soho, had a few drinks (if you could get to the bar thanks to the London Pride rally!) and slept home on the bus! Lovely, but it rained all day! I am really glad we went - I was a bit uncertain after events on Thursday, but it was well worth it.

Sunday we had a 'home day', putting up with the rain again, but we bottled our homemade cider (even before secondary ferment it tasted good! I'll keep you posted), I made a carrot cake due to left over cream cheese (meant to take a photo but is all gone!), a batch of onion jam (picture below) which turned out ok I think (first attempt and copying the ingredients from the jar that we bought at a fete about a year ago!), and I almost finished knitting a gift! I promise more on this soon...

So anyway, very productive. We dug our first spuds from the allotment yesterday - some stuff is doing well, but lots of things look like they would love a day or two of sunshine (including me!) Anyway, I am preparing for my next post to be pretty big - I will have had 1000 hits to the site! I know, nothing flash for most folks but any excuse for a celebration here!

In the meantime, check out Esmerelda's blog - she has some cool NZ sites listed there. And have you all seen Brooklyn Tweed's latest creation? I am completely in love with it!