2009 Personal Sock Club #3 Yarn Pick and Anniversary Socks Update

The Anniversary socks are knitting up beautifully in the green colourway. Strangely it has come up much brighter in this pic than it is in actuality...But it is a gorgeous combination of greens.

And I have collected my new Personal Sock Club yarn Handmainden Fine Yarn Casbah in Pinata colourway. I will have to think of something to make. Roll on Easter for lots and lots of knitting time.

Meet Brown Elijah with 2 ears now!

I love an unplanned knit.

Especially when it is quick - one day from start to finish.

Cute and cuddly but in need of some eyes.

BWM Rustic is the yarn (Some leftover yarn from when i made the Backgammon board for dh for christmas a few years back).

Quick update on the Anniversary socks

I have finished one of the purple and started on the green pair for dh.

Here is a picture of the finished purple sock. I love the stripes!

When one has a challenging deadline looming - what does one do?

So currently i have 2 pairs of socks on the go with a 17th of April deadline for our anniversary.

I have completed 1 and part of 1.

The Personal Sock Club next shipment arrives in a day or two on the first of April.

So what do I do today with my knitting time. Finish another sock. - that is what any sane and reasonable person would do. Especially after being on call for work (and being called) killed my Saturday.

Nope...I cast on an elephant for a colleague who is due shortly. Almost done! One ear, some eyes....too adorable. The pattern is Ysolde Teague's Elijah. All worked on dpns and you knit and stuff it as you go.

Project Bags and Anniversary Socks

This weekend has been a mixed bag...or is that I have been making mixed bags.

I thought I should start to make up some of the material I have around so i cut out 4 project bags and made 3 of them up this afternoon.

I still have to thread through some ribbon on two but the are looking very nice indeed.

My knitting has been a little underdone this weekend only completing to the heel of the 1st sock of the 1st pair of the Anniversary socks. I decided that trying to knit dark purple yarn in a darkened cinema was fraught with danger...so just sat and enjoyed Calamity Jane. Good fun really.

Things that have Amused me Recently

I am a long time sometime collector of Avantcards (the little advertising cards that they put in cafes, cinemas and other public places people gather).

I love the marriage of art and marketing that creates these. I adore a lot of the gorgeous photography and graphic art used.

Whenever I am in a coffee shop or cinema I find myself flicking through looking to be entertained. In the last week 2 have caught my eye mainly for the amusement value.

First up was an Ad for NAB's student banking...
In block White letters on a Purple Background you see
IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED CALL IT VERSION 1.0

Second Up was the the ad for The White Lies on the front a brooding out of focus washed out colour photo of three brooding young men.

On the back the best Band PR I have ever read

Whitelies are the glowering, glistening, moody, magnificent
cheekbones-of-granite, stone cold future of rock.

Songs full of dark 80s dram and big, room-filling vocals, equal spades
of The Killers, Nick Cave and Joy Division overdosing on James Herbert
and Shakespearean Tradgedies.

I have yet to bring myself to listen to their music as I don't want to be disapointed.
Is this the case of the idea of something being better than the reality?

Link here - http://www.whitelies.com.au/

On the knitting front I have cast on the first pair of the Anniversary socks (the yarn is very very dark and difficult to see in dim lighting). I have also done a bit more of Icarus.

Not personal Sock Club Socks! (Anniversary Socks)

So I have another sock club package to open in a couple of weeks so what do I do.

Start a scarf, another shawl, a bag...not me that would be variety and not a challenge.

No, I set myself the challenge of knitting not one, but 2, pairs of socks for our Anniversary.

Which is now exactly a month away tomorrow...No Pressure right!

Pattern: Anniversary Socks by Nanch Bush

Yarn: Wollmeise in Purples (for me) and Green (for him!)

The yarn is yummy and should encourage me to zip along with these.

Progress so Far: Wound balls and put into a zip lock bag, photographed, blogged and went back to the Icarus shawl.

2009 Personal Sock Club - 2 Down

On Thursday night I finished the second Pair of Socks for my 2009 Personal Sock Club.

The Embossed Leave pattern is just lovely and the star toe that continues the pattern all the way through is stunning. The striping on the sole is quite obvious in the photo but the leave pattern creates an almost zig zag stripe across the front.

All up an easy knit, great yarn turning out fantastic soft and comfy socks.

I have also been continuing on with Icarus and have finished the last full repeat of Chart 1. the BMFA Silk Thread is looking just stunning.

Shopping At Ikea and A Cat In A Box Again

My favourite storage system at home is a set of backed Ikea bookcases consisting of 6x2 Cubes.

We have one stacked on top of three others in the study and a lof of the gaps are filled with practical and easy to use Cane baskets. My SIL went shopping before Christmas to buy us some more but unfortunately they were sold out. So yesterday, armed with the gift voucher we recieved instead, I headed off with my mother to Ikea.

Our shopping list consisted of just 2 things baskets (4-5) and some plastic coat hangers she has found useful to hang up clothes on to dry.

We managed to find the baskets and got side-tracked in the material section.

The fabric they have is mostly cotton in prints and colours in sturdy heavy furniture weight. Perfect for Tote Bags and handles! The price starts at $5.00 a metre and going up as high as $12.00 a metre. This was too much for a pair of ladies that have a fabric stash (My mother now has a fabric stash that is enviable it will exceed her lifetime filling a built in Wardrobe (floor to ceiling) and a heap of storage in her sewing room (second spare bedroom if you are really desperate). I picked out a selection of bolds and plains as below. But alas the coathangers proved elusive (even though the website says they have 300+ of them). I did pick up a three pack of cheap scissors (to encourage the family to leave my fabric and knitting scissors alone) and some bag sealers for the freezer.

We had a strange experience at the checkout. One of those things that is going to make me sound like a grumpy old woman. Whilst in the middle of being served a nearby checkout operator asked the young man serving me to count some cash for her 1x$100, a few $50's and a few $20's. He counted 3 times (the last time using a calculator) and didn't get the same number as the first operator or himself even once. (It was $620) Scary as he was working one of the all-payment method registers. I was horrified, the couple who were trying to purchase something were embarrassed at holding up 3 other customers in the end as the girl handed it to the next checkout as well. I happily covered nearly all my purchase with the gift voucher and just over a dollar in change.

Whilst I am in grumpy old woman mode i should say what is the point of having ramps between car park floors (Rhodes Shopping Centre) if the barriers stop the trolleys going up and down between floors - no wonder the lifts are impossible to get in and out of.

On return home we stacked the baskets in the loungeroom ready to be used. This morning after her breakfast the cat has found them and identified them as her new resting place for today at least.

On the knitting front the 2009 Personal Sock Club #2 project continues to fly with 2 pattern repeats on the leg complete and starting on the 4th one.

2009 Personal Sock Club #2 Progress Update

I have finished the first sock (after waiting until Wednesday to cast on). This pattern is gorgeous and looks fabulous in the Green/Blue yarn. I like how the pattern is easy to remember and easy to pick up again after putting it down.

Patterns, mathematics and inter-related systems are a big part of my job and everyday life. Whenever i pick up a new pattern my brain tries to work out what the next steps will be. Predicting the next row so i don't need the pattern and can do it by working it out.

This pattern is quick to work out and therefore easy to continue with when you have the pattern or not.

I may have forgot to mention that the end result is lovely flowing arcs and gaps.

2009 Personal Sock Club Pattern Pick #2

So yesterday after unwrapping the yarn I contemplated the pattern.
What pattern did the yarn want to be!

I arrived at Embossed Leaves Socks by Mona Schmidt in the Favourite Socks - 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave Knits.

This book is one of my favourites I love the spiral binding and the collection of sock patterns that are both beautiful and practical.

I also like the way it is presented an entire sock pattern at a time as opposed to the Vogue Knitting Ultimate Sock Book which has some patterns at the back preceeded by a whole heap of stitch options.