Purple Purl

Things to do...

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:57:00 +0000

I saw this fun meme on Mick's blog. It's a list of things I have/haven't done. If it's in bold, I've done it, if it's not, I haven't (yet).

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. (Does Chillagoe count?)
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.
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, summer 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 bushwalking.
40. Visit Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art.
41. Been to the Tamworth Country Music 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.
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.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Driven the Great Ocean Road.
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.
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.

Random honeymoon photo number 1

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:49:00 +0000

This little guy looked pretty sad in his cage. His body language was so much like that of a child, and just screamed "I just want a hug!". I put my finger near his cage and he grabbed onto it with his hand and then promptly fell asleep holding my finger. We sat like that for about 20 minutes. Aw. I think the closest thing he gets to love is little kids poking him and teasing him. Monkeys aren't supposed to be in cages.
On a happier note, we saw lots of monkeys in the wild, kamikaze jumping between trees... they looked very happy.

Stuff and things

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:29:00 +0000

Here are a whole bunch of photos of yarny goodness that I took ages ago (note the lack of leaves on the trees!) and never got around to posting.

An old finished object (around August from memory!) Made from my first handspun yarn :)

Another FO. With the gorgeous ruffles yarn my lovely friend Alice bought for me in Germany. The colours aren't as bright or horrible as the photo makes out. My camera just doesn't seem to do reds.
A purchase from the ACT Craft fair... sparkly brown merino.

Some merino purchases from EGMTK. The one on the left is called clown face!
Gorgeous 2ply alpaca which I bought in the alpaca shop in beechworth and am going to turn into a travelling vines scarf.

Another goreous laceweight, which I got at the Craft fair, which took me two evenings to wind into a ball and has convinced me to invest in a swift and ball winder! I was very close to throwing the whole thing in the bin in tangled frustration. It's becoming a feathers and fan scarf. Which I started knitting sitting in a hut in the snow near the top of Mount Buffalo! Lace projects are perfect to take on a backcountry ski trip - lightweight, but can keep you amused for hours while your more skilled mates rip up the slopes!So... the stash is getting bigger and there's very little knitting going on. I'm putting that off until after I've had time to sleep and do last weeks dishes. It's been a long week!

Can I be brutally honest?

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:25:00 +0000

Upon observing that it's been over two months since I last posted, and roughly a month between posts for the few before that, maybe I will have to face up to the fact that I might not be a natural blogger. But for some reason I still seem to hold out some potentially misguided hope that it's just all the circumstances of the last while that have been preventing me from blogging... quarter life crisis, corinbank, job hunting, wedding preparations.... But everyone else seems to keep blogging through the busiest parts of their lives, so maybe I have to face that I'm just not a blogger. None the less, I can't seem to shut down the blog for fear (or hope) that 'maybe one day I will want to blog more regularly again'.

When I get on the computer, I get so distracted by other people's blogs, that I never get around to posting on my own. And then I leave it so long that there are too many things to catch people up on, that it seems like a big task and I avoid it. (ah... some deep seated procrastination issues coming out here, but that's a separate struggle).

When I read everyone else's blogs, I am so blown away by how much you achieve... not only how much blogging, but how much knitting, cooking, gardening, sewing, photographing. Where do you find the time? And what am I doing wrong?? So I read everyone elses blogs, marvelling at all they are doing, instead of going and achieving something myself! Hmm.

A reflection - there is a lot of guilt associated with blogging. (again, perhaps me and perhaps related to my extreme procrastination problems). Noone has every critisized me for my very sporadic blogging... so I guess it's not guilt imposed by others so much as by me. I feel guilty for not posting, for not commenting on others blogs... (although there are so many blogs that I love out there that I'm sure I would never be able to keep up with reading or commenting, so don't even really try), I feel guilty for not doing the other things I want to be doing (knitting, cooking etc!) or should be doing (housework) when I'm instead spending time on the internets. But I guess there are no rules about how often I have to blog... only the expectations I'm imposing on myself. So... I'll continue to leave the question of my blog open ended, and see how things go. Maybe I will get reinspired. Maybe I wont. Either way, I'm going to follow Quilting Mick's lead, and make sure I leave time for doing 'real' things!! Maybe if I achieve more in 'real' life, I will be more inspired to post about it!!

Anyway... if you've made it through the self-indulgent ramble, here's a post. There's too much to share to not post. So here it is.

Mr Purl and I tied the knot on the 11th of October. It was a perfect, glowing, happy happy day. To be surrounded by everyone that we love, celebrating our love of each other and of our community of family and friends... made me so ridiculously happy that my cheeks hurt from all the smiling. I couldn't be surrounded by a bunch of more talented, generous and beautiful people, or be blessed with a more amazing man to share the rest of my life with!
So... less gushing more photos?? Sure! Thanks to one of those highly talented people, Tim Grainger for the gorgeous photos.

Our gorgeous outfits (including our beautiful flower girl's dress) were made by our even more gorgeous friend, Polly of Polby Designs. She's one incredibly talented and generous lady!

I wonder if one thing thats discouraging me from blogging is the fact that it takes me so frick'n long to write a post, in between all the distractions of everyone elses blogs, photo editing etc. This post has taken well over an hour and half! Anyone have any advice for blogging/internet efficiency techniques??

This is... my favourite childrens book

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:04:00 +0000

Peepo, by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. I got this book when I was a baby... and it got a lot of loving. (As you can see from all the pages being held together with sticky tape!)

One of my favourite aspects of the book is the chaotic and cozy mess that their house is in!

This is... my first time

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 08:24:00 +0000

I've been enjoying reading everyone's posts for the 'This is...' meme over the last couple of months - a very clever idea thought up by Three Buttons. So I've decided to throw my hat in the ring too.

This is... what makes me happy.

Spending a rainy day inside in the warmth with good friends learning new skills and getting thoroughly hooked! The lovely Katherine ran a (free!) beading workshop for us. I've always loved pawing through beads in the bead shops, and have accumulated quite a few, but have never had quite the right tools, skills or inspiration to do much with them other than making hemp friendship bands (which, incidentally I quite like, but you can only take so far).

It was a real thrill to learn new skills and to come away after five hours with three completely unique handmade creations! I know what everyone's getting for Christmas this year!! Not these ones though. These are mine!!

Thanks Katherine!!

Knit-Con*

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 07:54:00 +0000

*obscure reference to Can-Con - in Canada, the radio stations have to play a certain quota of Canadian Content (or Can-Con) .

I realised it's been a while since I posted any knitting content, so here it is!!

Finished a couple of weeks ago: My Mum's tea cosy! Mum specifically requested a tea cosy to fit her favourite tea pot, which doesn't cover the handle so that the handle doesn't get super heated. This is the first tea cosy I've made, and I just made up the recipe. The wool is hand spun and dyed that I bought at a gorgeous little handcraft shop called The Purple Paddock in Keith, South Australia. I used a basket weave cable. (officially my first cables. So many firsts!) If anyone would like the pattern, let me know in the comments and I will put it up (it's pretty straight-forward).

And last night in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep, I looked up some info on how to knit up the funky tape-like yarn that my mate sent from Germany. It's called Geniale by Schachenmayr Nomotta (50% Merino, 50% Acrylic). And thanks to the ever amazing Ravelry, I discovered that it is very similar to "Linie 194 Solo' and saw lots of examples of things people had knit up with it. (I also saw that Jejune had stashed some way back when.) Anyway... it's kind of fun, kind of awkward to knit with, and automatically makes little ruffles. I liked the look of the skinnier scarves people had made with it, so this is just 5 stitches wide. I've twisted the tape at the end of each row so that the purple shows up on one side of the scarf, and the orange shows up on the other. I like how it's turning out so far. Thanks Alice!! :)

Great minds think alike?

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:36:00 +0000

I was curious when looking at my blog stats that lots of people had stumbled across it whilst googling 'purple purl'. Now it doesn't seem like that common a phrase, and there's not that many people who know my blog name and would be searching for it. At the time I started my blog, I checked, and there wasn't that much else around with the same name. But upon a quick search of my own, I discovered that apparently a new yarn shop called The Purple Purl recently opened in Toronto! How bout that? I'll have to visit it one day :)

A year.

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:12:00 +0000

Happy blogiversary to me... Seems pretty crazy that it's been a year... sometimes I get a bit scared how fast time goes... like somehow I'm not taking enough notice of each moment as it zooms past. Something to work on!
Hehe... reminds me of the Douglas Adams quote: "I love deadlines. I especially love the whooshing sound they make as they go by."

So here are some flowers to say thanks to those of you who read my blog occasionally, and put up with the extreme sporadic-ness of my posts! Cos you reading it is what makes blogging worthwhile I spose! If someone blogs in the forest and noone reads it, does the blog cease to exist?

I'm back on the job hunt. It's kind of exciting picturing all the different things you could do. Kind of painful answering selection criteria. Kind of nerve-wracking going to interviews. And kind of crushing getting turned down. Ah well... all good experience right?

Time waster

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:40:00 +0000

Does anyone remember the old MS-DOS game Rockford, or it's precursor Boulderdash? I've recently rediscovered it thanks to the magic to the interweb, and it's nostalgia plus around here! Just check out those little sandwich-butterflies!! Awww.

Cordially

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:25:00 +0000

I'm proud to present... our wedding invitations. Each and every one of them lovingly screen printed by Mr Purl and myself (neither of whom, for the record, had ever touched a silk screen in our lives before deciding to take it upon ourselves to master the photo emulsion method and do 2-colour printing of One. Hundred. and. Twenty. Invitations!!). The fabric is quite heavy, and has a funky botanical wallpaper-style print on the back.

We also managed to make a complete team effort of designing the waratah motif.

When Mr Purl first suggested screen printing the invites, it was kind of a joke, as we were talking about getting a silk screen for making some patches for Rat Patrol. But it somehow grew into something to be seriously considered... and to give him credit, they came out amazingly, and they're certainly different than your average wedding invite, which is what we were after! :)

Space to breathe

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:05:00 +0000

I've been back to the yoga retreat twice in the last couple of months. It's a truly gorgeous and special place. Here are a couple of piccies from when Mum and I went there for a week long retreat last month. It was a treat to re-live the autumn colours after they had pretty much finished in Canberra.

Trivialities

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:04:00 +0000

It's been a lovely relaxing long weekend. Mr Purl was off in Newcastle flying his hang glider (although it sounds like there was more sitting around camp drinking beer than actual flying - the winds weren't right apparently). So I stayed home and mostly vegged.

Friday night was a trivia night at Cafe Satis in Watson, organised by my favourite workmate. It was definitely the best trivia night I've been to, partly because of the yummy tapas Cher from Satis served up, but mostly because of the original trivia questions!! One of the bonus rounds was a sheet of pictures of hairy, bead wearing hippie folk, and you had to guess whether each one was a Guru or Folk Singer! Then there were rounds such as "Name that Grain" - identifying grains/pulses/herbal teas etc in big jars, "Name the Smurves" (they decided that in the leaf/leaves plural tradition, the plural of smurf must be smurves). Then there were questions on games (everything from Dungeons and Dragons to Scrabble to Jump rope!) Questions on Canberra, Cartoons, and a round entitled "Questions we got from the Internet". Nice work to all involved, it was a thoroughly enjoyable night!

I think I'm definitely over having housewife time. Apart from sporadic moments of productivity, I'm finding I'm not actually being that productive, and then I'm feeling bad for not being productive!! So I think it's definitely time for me to be doing a few more hours at work!!

Decadency

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:38:00 +0000

We had lovely weekend in Rutherglen last weekend, celebrating Mr Purl's grandma's 90th birthday. We stayed at The House at Mt Prior. Very fancy!! (but not to exxy!)

Their hospitality was amazing. When we got back to the B&B late on Saturday night after pubbing in Albury with Mr Purl's cousins, this little offering was awaiting us in our room!

This is their cellar, takes up a good part of the room under the house.

On Sunday we got a bit of time to explore the wineries, including our favourite, Chambers, and All Saints, where we got some delicious cheeses!

On the needles

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:29:00 +0000

While I'm here, I'll show you what I'm working on at the moment!
A tea cozy for mum... as a very late mothers day present, using the handspun wool that's in the blog title bar! I'm using a basket weave cable pattern.

And the back of my cardigan... which I haven't really been working on much, but is coming along pretty quickly anyway... (the second picture shows the colour a bit more realistically).

And seeing as it's the second day of winter today, here's some Winter Thyme!

Reflection

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:23:00 +0000

Well... seeing as it's been about two months between posts, apparently I'm just not blogging! Part of the reason is that I'm far more interested in reading everyone else's blogs than actually updating my own. And the other reason is I just can't seem to find the time in amongst everything else! I suppose when I look at the things in my life that are really important to me, blogging isn't coming out anywhere near the top. (which is fairly evident from the complete lack of activity on my blog).
And the silly thing is I have a lot of guilt about not posting... not sure where that comes from? And then because I'm feeling guilty, I'll put off posting even longer!! So it seems like one solution to not feeling this guilt would be just to scrap my blog all together... but some part of me just wants to hang on to it... to know that it's still there. The thing is, if I find I do have something I want to say, I like the idea of having somewhere to say it!! And I really do enjoy being a part of this knit blogging community!
Hmm... so I think I will keep it around, but remove myself from the blog rings etc, where you're actually required to post at a certain interval. And I'll ask everyone to forgive me in advance for my incredibly sporadic posting! Or maybe it's just me that needs to accept my sporadic posting, and everyone else is already OK with it!?

Anyway... that's probably enough introspection for you, so here are some photos...

Last month, there was a freaky cold snap and it snowed in the Brindabellas. I got home from work on a Monday night to Mr Purl and T & H saying "we're going to the snow!" I thought... that's nice... thinking they were just telling me about their own intention to go to the snow... not realising that it involved me! They had all my snow gear ready for me, and within about 5 minutes we were on our way up to the mountains. We drove as far as we could... played in the snow, then had a yummy dinner in the Bulls Head stone shelter where T & H had gotten married almost a year ago! (time flies!) What an incredible way to spend a Monday night!!

As a very early wedding present, Mum and Dad gave us a new fridge. We've been incredibly overdue for a decent fridge as you can see from the before and after photos: (notice the broken top shelf, serious lack of space and the metal bars Mr Purl had welded for the front of the shelves in the door after the chintzy plastic broke!!)

A little poetry...

Done

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:17:00 +0000

Well... Corinbank has been, and gone. And it was AMAZING!!! Only those who were there can truly understand the amazing vibe, the wonderful hidden surprises in each little nook and each wilderness campground. At the end of the festival, there was not a scrap of rubbish to been on site - a pretty amazing testament to the waste crew volunteers and the environmentally conscious punters!!
The Chai tent was a huge success, and I was pleased to be able to contribute my own little part of the festival (as well as being on a huge high that people actually liked my chai, and the chill out space I had envisioned!)

That's my sister, and that's Darren Hanlon playing an acoustic gig under the trees!!! Festival highlight for sure!!!
And that's Xavier Rudd!!! Playing at Corin Forest!!!! OMG!

Now my life is my own again, and will slowly get back to normal. Today I had my first lunch break where I didn't have to do corin stuff in about 2 months. So I did some spinning. What glorious relaxation therapy!! Woohoo!! Lots of WIPs coming soon! :)

The months zoom by...

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 09:15:00 +0000

Wow... I can't believe that my last post was a month ago! Life is crazy and consumed with organising this festival. I can't wait to get my life (and my fiancee) back - in one and a half (!) weeks time!
Anyway, I wont go into detail about how exhausted and over it I am. Because there's also a lot of excitement... things are looking absolutely amazing for the festival... the program has just been released, and even those of us who've been working on this thing for over a year are blown away by just how much is on!! (definitely check it out!) And preparation for the chai tent (my little bit of the festival) is going really well.

The yoga retreat was amazing... relaxing, centering... just brilliant. I discovered when I got back though that it's really hard to hold on to that relaxed state when you spend your days with 20 toddlers... your lunch hours and weeknights and all weekend helping to organise a festival, and absolutely no time with yourself or the person you're supposed to be getting married to! (oh yeah, but I wasn't going to go into detail about being OVER IT!!) Anyway, I'll definitely be going back to the ashram. soon!

Anyway... that gives you an idea of why blogging has fallen by the wayside. (and knitting too incidentally!). But that's all going to change in a week and half hopefully!! :)

See you at Corinbank!! This is what the sky looks like up there... (sometimes) (well OK, only once... but you might be lucky!)

Catch you on the flip side!

Il pleut!

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 07:45:00 +0000

Lovely lovely rain is falling. And I've been sitting inside relaxing with H. I've been passing on the art of the heel, passed on to me by Ms Spider. Like we did in Spidey's sock workshop, I got H to just knit the heel part of the sock on it's own, so that when she gets up to that bit in her actual sock, she knows how it goes and it's not so scary. Then I passed on my very limited carding knowledge for some lovely brown alpaca fleece she's inherited. Then we did ear-candling! Weird, but relaxing!

Went to the ANU Food Co-op today for the first time ever. (I'm so embarassed that I've never been there before!) All this wasted time!!! What a great place to shop. They have an amazing range of natural foods, yes, but it's just a pretty cool place to shop, atmosphere-wise. You feel like you're back in a pioneer-days general store! What a contrast to woolies with it's excessive packaging and stuff we don't need and screaming children and grumpy check-out chicks! I'm sure the stuff is more expensive (not sure just how much though, need to compare that)... but is it worth it for the pleasurable shopping experience, and the lack of packaging?? (you take your own bags and jars from home to put stuff in).

Sorry... still no photos. Have to pack for my yoga retreat now, I'm leaving first thing in the morning.

See you in a week... hopefully all chilled out!

Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:33:00 +0000

My beautiful friend H lent me a book last weekend. It's called Laurel's Kitchen, and was written in the seventies. It's all about nutritious, healthy eating and lifestyles, and vegetarianism. Unlike other books on the same subject from the same era that I've read, it's not at all preachy. The main author has a beautiful 'voice', and is very down to earth and honest.
Anyway... this book feels life changing for me, but I think that's mainly because it's come at a time when so many factors have been converging for me. The more I learn about and practise yoga, buddhism, meditation... the more they all resonate with me and agree with and support each other. And I spose I've always felt like ecologically, being vegetarian - or close to it - really makes more sense... but I've always loved meat too much to follow through with it! But now, with all these things coming together I feel like being vegetarian is just part of a whole way of life which makes sense. OK... I'm potentially not making sense... but this is a big thing for me at the moment, so I thought I would try to express it. Thankyou H for sharing the book with me. You're a lot more like Laurel than you think.

Next week I'm going on a yoga retreat at an ashram just north of Sydney. I'm really excited just to have that intense, reflective time (at least that's what I'm hoping it will be!). I'm not really sure what to expect... I've never been on anything like this before. But with all the work for the festival, and my life being very much focussed on supporting someone else's endeavour at the moment, to have this time for me will be a real gift. Apparently as well as getting up early in the morning and doing yoga, and listening to talks and stuff, we do gardening and baking bread and stuff and contributing to the general ashram life. It all sounds pretty good... kind of a pampering for the soul rather than for the body!

Neglect

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 07:03:00 +0000

Poor neglected bloggy (there are some flowers to assuage my guilt!). I've taken blogging without obligation to a new level... I call it 'Not Blogging with absolutely no Obligation whatsoever!!' :)
Life continues to be crazy. Being part of organising a festival... and being engaged to the head organiser apparently takes up a lot of your life!

Combine that with long work hours where I'm nowhere near a computer and come home as wrecked as spending the day with 20 two year olds is likely to leave you, and my blog has fallen by the wayside a bit.
Anyway... I'm still here. Still knitting... in between sleeping and working bees up at Corin every weekend!
I'm enjoying the socks I'm making with my hand dyed wool... they're going slowly though, because I think I was getting a bit bored and in need of a new challenge. So I've started a cardigan which hopefully I can finish sometime before the end of next winter. It's with a really pretty wool... but no pics today because the camera's not here. I'll also have some pics soon of the gorgeous purple merino all spun up.
Instead I'll share some pics from my Christmas break.

After Chrissy, I had a lovely week AT HOME (miraculous). I got to catch up on a lot of stuff I wasn't getting done, which had been hanging over my head for ages. I also got to do some yummy baking, which I had been having withdrawl from, having not cooked anything exciting for many months. Here were the results:

Ginger Caramel Crunch cookies out of a Womens Weekly. Sooo yummy! (those are whole Werthers caramels melted on top!!)

Blueberry, Ricotta and Almond Cupcakes from the Cupcake Bakeshop blog. Also incredibly yummy. But mostly, pink and cute! :)

This is where we spent a good part of New Years Day after New Years Eve up at Corin. Cooling- off in the pool at the top of Gibraltar Falls. It was a sweltering hot day here, so the cold water of the falls was a beautiful relief! And not a bad view either!!

Sorry for my absence from SnB, lack of commenting etc... miss you guys and will hopefully catch up soon!!!

So much to tell you!

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 08:47:00 +0000

WARNING: Very long and overdue post follows...

Well... I'm still alive, and have been up to lots of stuff... but just a bit behind in posting about it!

Since I last wrote, I've had a birthday. My first birthday present was D & E having their bub on my birthday!! (thanx guys, that was sweet). She is a beautiful, perfect little bundle of joy! And I think she likes her new bunny 'Herm', who I can now finally post photos of. Yay!!
He was crocheted from a pattern in the US magazine Knit Simple.

In other finished items news, I made Mr Purl a stubby holder! My first colour work... (It says 'Nancy' which is his Rat Patrol name...)

And, speaking of Mr Purl, the wonderful man got me a spindle for my birthday!!!! (and he hasn't seen me much since!!) He got it made by Pete Filmer at the OBD Markets... not sure at this stage what type of wood it's made of, as Mr Purl didn't retain that information... but I will find out. It's absolutely gorgeous!!

And that purple roving I got from Helen now looks like this:

Two little balls of plied yarn, and one ball of singles yet-to-be-plied. You can certainly tell what order I spun them in... I'm getting less uneven (although some people say that unevenness is a desirable feature). I'm a little over half way through the 50g of roving... and thoroughly enjoying the process! (so much so that I've done very little knitting since I got the spindle!!) I also really like how the slightly different hues of purple are all showing up when it's spun :)

And in other birthday goodness, my beautiful friends were very generous... including a gift voucher for Stitch 'n Time in Mawson, and some homemade goodies! Pol made me this gorgeous bag... which happens to be just the right size for my spindle and roving!

H. made me this stunning knitting needle roll. She's a talented lady!! (and sweet too).

I got great enjoyment out of deciding where to slot in each pair of needles!!

I've also been playing with some alpaca fleece which some of mum and dad's mates generously gave me (thanks also goes to the alpacas Monty and Ruben!). On my way down to mum and dad's last time I stopped in at Ashford and dropped a substantial amount of money on some stuff... including carders (which, incidentally were way more expensive than I expected).
Carding takes a long time. And is dirty. But still kind of fun. I did quite a bit of it in the evenings at mum and dad's, sitting in front of the telly.

And I spun up one little ball of Monty's fleece just to see what it looked like:

Other things I've been up to include my first picot edge - performed on the sock I'm making out of my first ball of home dyed wool :) (oh, and in other dyeing news... the mulberries are out... soon to be made into a dye bath!)

And this... (no, not me, but a dear friend who got hitched on the weekend).

Right... that's all. As you were.

Roll you sweet rain

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 11:26:00 +0000

On my lovely long weekend with my folks, mum and I attended a sculpture course near Cobargo. Gorgeous setting, gorgeous company and gorgeous rain!

Mum hacking into her limestone block.

This is the soapstone block that I was originally making my sculpture out of. See that big crack down the middle of it? Yeah.

Mum's finished 'reclining goddess'

My finished sculpture. Namaste.

On the main street in Cobargo.

On the way there I stopped a Ashford in Cooma and bought some carders (amongst other things) to card the Alpaca fleece that mum had acquired for me. Carding is hard work!! But strangely therapeutic! After 1 1/2 evenings, I ended up with about 35 grams of rolags ready to spin. *sigh* this jumper is going to take a long time!!! :)

The kids were wild today. It's not a full moon is it? Or perhaps they found some magic mushrooms in the garden. It's funny how all 20 of them manage to have collective moods.

OMG!!

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 09:55:00 +0000

I was wondering in my last post what Wensleydale sheep looked like. I found out!! (photo from www.wensleydale-sheep.com)

I want one!

Hook, line and spindle

noreply@blogger.com (Neet) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 08:39:00 +0000

Ooh ooh ooh! What an incredible day was had last Saturday (don't let my tardiness in posting about it reflect how I felt about the day... I think it's just taken me this long to come down off the high!!). I forgot my camera, but check out Taph and Spidey's photos of the day.

A bunch of Stitch n B!tch-ers (and Knit n Talk Sh!t-ers) went to play at the Waratah Fibres Studio in the home of Helen Rippin in Bundanoon. Helen's home is fibre heaven... she has a whole room at the back of her lounge room where the walls are lined with scrumptious hand dyed yarns and fibres!
After much drooling, fondling and hoarding, we settled in for a drop spindling lesson. As I think I have mentioned a couple of times, I have been super keen to learn how to spindle (is 'spindle' a verb?). Helen made it look so easy. It wasn't. But it was tonnes of fun, and very relaxing once you got into the groove. But most of all it was highly addictive. On Sunday I went straight out to order my new spindle! This whole week I've found myself daydreaming about all the beautiful spin-able things you can buy at Ewe Give Me the Knits (thanks George!)... and trying to convince myself that I don't really need them, seeing as I have copious amounts of alpaca coming my way! But they're so pretty... Anyway... moving along!

After a lunch of gourmet pizza and salad (did I mention that we were completely spoilt?) we headed outside for a lesson in dyeing. We learnt how to make 9 different shades of colour from two original colours, and we all ended up with little sample cards to take home. Seems like a great technique so that later when dyeing up a batch of yarn, you can choose which colours you like together etc and reproduce them exactly.

So of course, although I tried to be restrained, (don't roll your eyes Mr Purl!) I came home with lots of gorgeous goodies... wanna see?? :)

Most excitingly... my very first spinning attempt knitted up into a tiny square.

And fibre (is it roving? is it sliver? is it tops? who knows! I'm sorry, I know a few people did try to explain the difference to me!). Hand painted Wensleydale in 'parakeets' colourway. If this doesn't inspire you to spin, nothing would!

This is some beautiful merino which I think was dyed by a friend of Helens. It somehow ended up on the pile of stuff I was buying because someone thought that for some reason I might like it (I can't imagine why! :) Thanks Spidey!). It really is lovely. There are about 5 different colours of purple in it... less blue looking than in the photo... I'm really having trouble getting true colours from my camera. I think this will be the first thing I spin.
And some very prurdy lace weight in Jacaranda and Outback Sunset colourways. (I'll let you figure out which is which!)

This may be the most lovely of all... Polwarth/silk blend which Helen dyed over grey fibre, giving these incredibly gorgeous muted purples and pinks and greens. Stunning! And it's so incredibly soft. Not soft like alpaca... but a different kind of sturdier feeling softness... mmm...

Some very fun 8 ply in 'Tropical Birds' colourway.

And this is just something that, inexplicably had to come home with me. Gorgeous curls of Wensleydale... dyed in my favourite colours... and they're really soft and pretty... and I couldn't stop fondling them... and they just made their way into my shopping bundle. I'm seriously considering not doing anything at all with them except fondling... but they would also be really cool thrummed (my new word for the week!) into a scarf or something! (I can't spin them... because then they would lose their cool curlyness!) I can't believe that there's a sheep that actually has these cool curls. I have to go check some of them out!

These are the sample cards that we came home with. All of those combinations out of three original colours - 'Raspberry', 'Mulberry' and 'Daisy'.

So huge thanks to Helen and the ladies from the local spinning guild for hosting us, and to Taph and Spidey for setting-up this awesome opportunity, and to Emma for driving us there!!