OK, so I’m a little late…

However, I am now going to make up for lost time.

On February 4, 2008, my very best pal in the entire world turned 30 YEARS OLD. Hahahaa - now you’re old like me!

I wish to present to you, TwistedTexan - the most loyal, honest, caring, bat-shit crazy BFF I could ever ask for

I think we were juniors in high school (Go Scumball High! Get me out of this god-forsaken hell-hole!) when we decided to play dress ups in my mom’s costume cupboard, and document the results for posterity. This is by far my favorite, although there is one of the Disney character face which I think if I posted, would result in immediate BFF divorced status

Happy birthday chica, *MWAH*MWAH*!

Out of hibernation.

Because hubbyface is heading overseas (St Paul, Minnesota) later this month, I have challenged myself to complete Ben in time for him to take it along. It’s going to be cold and snowy, and he needs a nice warm wifey hug he can wear.

So why am I blogging when clearly I should be knitting? Good question. I guess I really don’t have an answer for that.

Oh, and tomorrow is someone else’s 30th birthday… there will be a post, OH YES. There WILL be a post. Look out kiddo… you know who you are……..

It’s mah berfday! Shake mah bootay!

Ahem. Yes. Well, my birthday came and went on January 23 (the gorgeous TwistedTexan has immortalised it better than I ever could so let’s just leave it there, shall we?). Too much lovely food was had, presents given, all-in-all a very happy Knit-nerd. Hubbyface and I are talking about taking a weekend trip somewhere in the next couple of months as an extended birthday celebration, but I’m not sure yet where we’ll go. We saw this show last night talking about Australia Day and what it means to various sub-groups within the country, and there was a segment on Tongan-Australians, so now I want to go to Tonga. I’m pretty sure they’ve got exactly the right approach to life. Eat, sing, laugh, enjoy your family and friends and don’t sweat it. Maybe we can go to Tonga for a few days, that sounds like the right kind of lifestyle for me, even if just for a weekend.

I finished the Nutkin socks - all blocked and purdy! They fit reasonably well (bit tough to get on as the cuff doesn’t stretch much), and I think they’re just gorgeous. I also love the sock blockers, they make a huge difference to the finished objects.

Nutty Nutkin!

I’ve also done some dying. I bought some Moda Vera Adore from Spotlight in a black and white colourway, but soon realised that I probably wouldn’t knit plain black and white, especially since I’d just made socks for hubbyface in grey and black, it was too similar to that and I got pretty bored with the fairly monotone colours. I feel that if I’m going to spend my time making socks, they should jolly well be in colours I can’t get anywhere else. So I overdyed the Adore with yellow food colouring and created a new colour I call Yellow Jacket!

Waspy!

So I’ve been making a concerted effort to be more social these days. I’ve volunteered to organise knitting meetups in my area (if you want to attend one, please contact me!), trying to get out and be less of a hermit. It’s hard, since I do tend to feel most comfortable in my own house with people I know. I do find it hard to put myself out there and meet new people, but I consider it maybe one of my resolutions for the new year. So here’s hoping I can be less antisocial

Err…

There has been much knitting in knit-knerd land! There have been socks!

There has been the beginning of a shawl!

There was also a scarf and some dyeing (and some scarf dyeing). Man, I can’t wait til it gets cool enough to actually wear knitted crap

The knitting is good, and most other things are good, too.

Christmas and New Year came and went (thankfully). This is not exactly my favorite time of year, so I’m usually pretty happy when it’s finished. I’m happy that life is getting back to normal.

I made a few resolutions, but decided to mostly keep them to myself, so the only person I disappoint if I don’t make it is me

I also bought myself a birthday present - a set of sock blockers from The Wool Shack, and I can’t wait to get home from work today to play the “let’s block socks” game. Does that make me a dork? Gee, I hope so

Oh dear.

94%DRUNKARD

Bikes!

Yesterday hubbyface and I went for the first bike ride since the biggun back in September.

I got a new bike months ago (Canondale Six13), but due to ongoing illness and weather issues, I hadn’t been able to ride it. I’m still not 100% healthy, but decided yesterday we’d give it a go anyway.

I managed about 12km! I was really pleased, given I’ve had a chest/throat infection for more than 4 weeks now, and I’ve stuffed my back from all the coughing. It was great!

In knitting knews, everyone loved the the face washers I gave as Christmas presents with a bar of yummy soap from The Body Shop and some other bits and pieces.

I’m up to the cuff on hubbyface’s second sock, which I will hopefully finish today or tomorrow. As my Christmas present to ME, I treated myself to the Harmony Sock Set so as soon as those puppies get here, I’m casting on another pair of socks

Now, off to start my Sunday - who knows what the day will bring? I’m banking on boring, but we’ll see

Bloody yarn…

No, really - it’s called Bruised Bloodwood, and I think it’s now my favourite colour in the world.

I’ve been playing around on Ravelry a hell of a lot lately, and before I start carrying on about how that place is basically crack for knitters, it really has been a good resource for inspiration.

I found an Aussie dyer with an Etsy shop called Yarncakes, and while browsing her shop came across one of the most beautiful colourways I have ever seen. I knew immediately that this yarn would be perfect for Jeanie from Knitty. Of course, I’m going to need about 500g of this stuff, and the skein she had for sale was only 100g, so I contacted her to see what we could do.

Not only was she happy to do a special order for me, but she sent me some samples to play with to help me decide!

The original yarn is a sock weight merino, which I love, but she also mentioned that she could do a baby alpaca yarn in the same colourway. Faced with options (sometimes I hate options, ya know?), I wasn’t sure which to choose, so she sent me a colour card with a bit of the merino attached and a big ole chunk of the alpaca to swatch. I had a bit of a fiddle with the alpaca but decided that the cables didn’t “pop” enough. As nice as it feels, and as beautiful as it is, I just don’t think it’s right for this project. It’s also a finer yarn, so gauge would have been an issue. Seeing as the intended pattern is a wrap, gauge is not as important as if it was a sweater or something, but I didn’t want it to end up Barbie-sized.

So I decided to wash the sample of the merino to see what it would do - after all, I would have to block this project (I don’t do a lot of blocking) and I wouldn’t want the wonderful squishiness of the merino to vanish after it gets a bit wet. Washed… and huge amounts of dye came out! OMG! It also seemed to lose a lot of texture, I was a little worried but after it dried fully, it seems to have sprung back pretty well. The colour doesn’t seem to have been affected by the bleeding either.

So, top marks to Donni from Yarncakes for both product and service, and I can’t wait to get my bloody yarn

Uhg.

Bleurgh, I’ve got a dirty stinking rotten cold.

Because it’s not the most attractive thing in the world, I will leave you with a picture of what I consider to be one of the most attractive things in the world, which is Natalie Wood.

I sort of watched a documentary about her on telly the other day when I was home sick. She seemed to be such a beautiful, tragic figure. A biography was written about her, which I’m currently trying to find at the moment.

Things! They happen!

Quick update!

1. Finished the cardigan, at last! It’s currently winging its way over to TwistedTexan’s house!

2. Made 4 out of the 5 wash cloths I plan to give as Christmas gifts… I love making wash cloths, they’re so quick and give me a chance to try out stitch patterns I wouldn’t ordinarily try. They’re like useful gauge swatches!

3. Cast on P’s second sock today because I was at home sick (and sick of knitting plain square wash cloths

4. My sister’s boyfriend finally proposed to her! Yay! I can’t wait to find out when the wedding will be, although knowing my sister it will probably be a little while off. That’s OK - gives me plenty of time to come up with an embarassing story to tell at the reception. Hmm, if she reads this blog, she’ll probably muzzle me now

Tiki tea cosy. So awesome.

I got my secret tea cosy swap package today!!!

Some drama involved, however - my stupid dog got to the package before I did, and helped herself to a packet of Haigh’s chocolate coated coffee beans (SOB!) and Hello Panda biscuits, and chewed a nice big hole in the calico Tapestry Craft bag.

The haul!

The cosy!

The side

An eight-sided magical octarine hotpad

The Librarian, in sock form

Chocolate. Cheesecake. Brownies.

Webgoddess, you completely rock