Life goes on

I have been thinking about my poor neglected blog for months now, and every time I think about posting I think about how much has happened since I last posted and I'm not sure where to start. So I thought I would jump in to current stuff and move backwards when I get a chance.

So I wanted to start with my FO's for 2012, my first one is Legwarmies by Alana Dakos, I made these for Eva my niece I used Sublime yarns extra fine merino in DK in the Redcurrant colourway I used 1.25 balls and I knit them up on 3.75mm needles. I finished these on the 25Th of February.

This would also make great wrist warmers for an adult.

My second FO for 2012 is actually my first I'm not actually doing these in order, This is the Modish cowl by Stephen West, I knit it in Bendigo Luxury 10ply in Koala and stone on 8mm needles and I finished it on the 1st of January. I'm really looking forward to wearing this come winter.

My third project is something that I started way back in September 2010, it is the Hurricane hat by Andrea Goutier. I knit it with Malabrigo worsted on 4.5mm needles and I finished it on 24th of February.

The next FO is a beanie I knit for charity I used the Regular guy beanie pattern by Chuck Wright, and I knit it with Caron Simply Soft on 4.5mm needles. I finished it on the 2nd of march. This is the first time I have knitted with arcylic and I have to say it really wasn't a thrill at all.

I think I have enough yarn to knit at least one more beanie from this ball, and at some stage I will I'm just not in a hurry to pick it up again.

Now on to my last FO so far, this is another beanie using the regular guy beanie pattern and I have to say this is just the perfect hat for Mike. I knit this using Morris Pure, this is a 10ply 100 %wool yarn in Blue jean colourway and I knit it on 4mm needles. I was worried about running out of yarn so I made it 1/2 inch shorted than I would have liked. I finished this on the 3rd of March.

Now for some reason Blogger is only letting me add one link in the post, I'm really sorry about this if you have any question about the projects just pm and I will try and help out.

Until next time Happy Knitting!

Yet again Blogger has played games with the order of my photos and will not play nice. So this is going to be a little jumbled.

Now before you moan at the sight of another yarn filled post I assure you that I have been knitting. It just so happened that I was near two yarn shops on Thursday and who am I not to take advantage of that.


The three balls of Debbie bliss Donegal tweed were purchased from Sue's Cherryhills and the three balls of Jo Sharp Tweed were bought from Hornsby wool & craft nook. And at this stage I have no idea what I'll be knitting but I just love the colours.

Now on to the knitting front. I started this last night and can not believe how fast it's knitting up, it's the Owls pattern by Kate Davies, I have wanted to knit this for ages I just hope I have enough yarn.

This is the muffin of choice in our house at the moment, it's a vegan banana & choc chip muffin. I have been making at least a batch of week which is a bit extreme considering the price of bananas at the moment.

Jumping to one subject to another this is the project that Mike & I worked on over the Easter break, and yes I did more than just hand Mike drinks. We are only half way through and I never thought it would take so long. The decking is 20m x 2m and although the wood we bought was meant to be A grade not all the lengths of wood were perfect.

Apart from helping with the deck I did get a little kniting time in. I have almost finished the Ruby Cowl and although I will love wearing it I can not wait to get it of. the needles. It is just so repetitive but has made good tv knitting.

Well tomorrow it's back to work after having ten days off so I am going to try and get some knitting in this afternoon. I hope everyone has a great week.

Not a great deal of anything has been done in the last week due to me being sick. I have spent most of the last week in bed or laying on the lounge watching Midsomer murders. However on Wednesday when I returned from the Dr's I had a little parcel waiting for me. The spring issue of IK and two skeins of cascade 220 Heathers in greystone heather. Which I have already casted on for the Eternity scarf.

Then on Friday I treated myself to a trip to Hornsby wool & craft nook and picked up three balls of Rowans felted tweed in Storm Blue. I haven't yet decided what to knit with it I am leaning towards Super Cupcake or EDI cowl.

And this is just so cute I had to share. My friend C went to NZ last week and this was just one of the very cute gifts she bought me back "Cutest of Cupcakes" I just love it!

And this is the start of my Eternity scarf. Until next time I hope everyone has a great week!

DIY

Since moving into our house just over four months ago we have done so much to the garden and I have realised I haven't shared any of it. So I though I would post a couple of before and after photos.

The above two photos are of the decking that runs all the way along the front of the house. Mike did the gardens himself but as we went along we realised the wall looked very bare and we wanted to break it up a bit.

So we ran merbau timber along three front sections and one section from the front wall to a pillar if that makes sense. I'm pretty impressed with the job we have done so far. We have also done the same thing under the pool decking just to hide all the rocks and dirt but with all the rain we have had this weekend we haven't had a chance to finish painting it yet. Fingers crossed for next weekend.

On to non DIY news, I am still working on my HP scarf and have finished The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. It is great story through the eyes of eight people that witness "the slap". Christos is an Australian writer and the story is set in Melbourne in the Greek community. I did read online that the book is going to be made into a mini series. If this is true it will be well worth watching.

Until next week Happy Knitting!

Oh my!

I cannot believe it has been just over a month since I last posted. And sadly this isn't going to be a long one.

Mike and I have been so busy every weekend in the garden that my knitting has definitely suffered. Having said that I have picked up my Harry Potter scarf again and as you can see it was a case of "when knitting attacks" I believe I was watching midsomer murders when I lost my concentration. And after ripping back around ten rows I am back on track.

When to comes to my to do list we have been planning number three and six. Getting married and going to the states. We should be flying over in early June and I cannot wait. I should have more details next week.

That's all for now I hope everyone has a great week.

List update

This is my update so far.

1. Finish at least one garment a month. So far I am on track finishing two projects in January.
5. Take a photo every day. I have been very close but did forget a couple of times.
8. Bake or cook one new dish a fortnight. Completed for January.
9. Start a garden. Started and currently shopping around for a greenhouse.
11. Bake at least once a week. This one has been fun and easy to complete.
12. Lose ten kilos. So far I have lost three.
31. Give blood Completed and planning on doing this again in another twelve weeks.
13. Walk at least five times a week. Apart from this last week (due to the heat) I have completed this every week.

Although I haven't completed all my daily/weekly goals I am still very happy with what I have achieved. And I really enjoying progressing down the list.

A bit of nothing

Well it's a day late but it's here. A very short post...

I wanted to share a couple of photos I've taken in the last couple of days. The first is of Harry in a very cute position. I love that his smart enough to find something comfortable (himself) on hard slate tiles.

And the second is of my first tomato plant that has sprouted. Since this photo was taken I have had five more tomato seeds and one eggplant seed sprout. I have never had much of a green thumb but I have to say I'm really enjoying this gardening thing.

Well I did say this was going to be a very short post, so until next time happy knitting!

Jam packed!

I always amaze myself at how much I can fit into one day. Today I worked in the garden like a demon, cleaned the house, baked and managed to start a new project after finishing The slouch last night.

And it feels great to finally get my garden started. I planted seeds for capsicums,eggplants and tomatoes I also replanted my herbs into bigger pots.

I am very excited about the seeds and really look forward to watching them grow. We just have to figure out where to replant them when they get a little bigger. I am trying to convince Mike to build a little garden at the side of the house. Fingers crossed.

These muffins seem to be a family favourite, I'm not a huge peanut butter fan but when mixed with chocolate it is the perfect combo.

And a quick update on my list. I am donating blood tomorrow for the first time so I'm excited to tick that off the list and to be doing a good deed. Wish me luck!

Until next time happy knitting!!!

What a week!

Where do I start???

You would have to be living under a rock not to know about the floods in Queensland so I am not going to go there. So I will talk about my week.

After two and a half weeks of holidays I went back to work, same company different position. I have to tell you I was very excited, The role was something very different to what I have been doing so I was informed that I would get several weeks of training. However this does not seem to be the case. The first day which was very hectic contained almost no training at all. On the second day I received around one hour and Wednesday was a total flop receiving no training at all and to top it off my new boss has a teeny issue hiding his emotions. Now I understand everyone has bad days but your mood doesn't generally change hour by hour.

On Thursday morning I sat down and informed him that it wasn't go to work out. I received a confused puppy dog look and after about twenty minutes he told me I was making a big mistake and I should just stick it out. After talking to his boss which I must add totally understood where I was coming from ie: the mood swings. He has agreed to find someone to replace me so I can with any luck go back to my old position.

Considering all the bullshit at work I did manage to get some things on my list done. I managed to take a photo almost everyday. I also baked once and walked five times within the week. I did however fail to do my eight hundred sit ups which I am trying very hard to do so I think I deserve a little credit for the four hundred and fifty that I managed.

.

And on the knitting front I finished my mobius scarf and I started the slouch from the mother and daughter knitting book using a Bendigo Rustic yarn in a 12ply.

As soon as I get some decent light I will take photos of the scarf and post them. Until then Happy Knitting!

A fresh start!

Okay so a new year is here and I want to make some changes. I didn't want to make a list of resolutions that I didn't stick to. I wanted goals for the whole year. So here is my list of sixty things I want to achieve. Yes I know it's suppose to be 101 but I could only think of sixty. Having said that I think this list will keep me very busy.

This list is not in order of importance.
1.Finish at least one project a month.
2.Take a sewing class.
3.Get Married!!!
4.Blog at least once a week.
5.Take a photo a day.
6.Holiday in the USA.
7.Sew at least five garments.
8.Bake or cook one new dish a fortnight(this doesn't count when I am doing #6).
9.Start a garden.
10.Put up a greenhouse.
11.Bake at least once a week.
12.Lose ten kilos.
13.Walk at least five times a week.
14.Listen to one knew podcast a month.
15.Find a church and attend.
16.Watch Carlton play one game live, I do live in Sydney so this could include a trip to Melbourne.
17.Bake bread from scratch.
18.Make my own ice-cream.
19.Go on a road trip.
20.Watch a sunrise with Mike on a beach of his choice.
21.Do at least 800 sit-ups a week.
22.Go on a bush walk.
23.Make more home loan payments than required.
24.Attend a knitting group.
25.Make cushions for the lounge room.
26.Make more Christmas decorations than I did in 2010.
27.Donate all the stuff I no longer use or want.
28.Watch at least five films at the cinemas.
29.Attend the theatre.
30.Make birthday cards this year.
31.Give blood.
32.Go to a museum at least once.
33.Take Mum to a Sydney swans game.
34.Make a duvet cover.
35.Change all my coat hangers from plastic to wood.
36.Help paint the interior of house.
37.Build a new kitchen(not me a builder).
38.Replace both bathrooms (builder).
39.Put in internal access from the garage (builder again)
40.Have old flooring replaced.
41.Buy a Wii and Wii fit.
42.Use the Wii and Wii fit that I will buy.
43.Go to a sydney beach I haven't been to before.
44.Organise all my bills and bank statements into folders.
45.Knit one pair of socks.
46.Bake a birthday cake for Mum.
47.Plant at least one plant, can not be apart of the veggie garden.
48.Knit one item for charity.
49.Make at least one birthday gift.
50.Reach 1500 tweets on twitter(should be easy).
51.Bake Jenny a batch of peanut butter and chocolate muffins.
52.Cook Gunter a pot of his favourite soup.
53.List my favourite podcasts on my blog.
54.Update all the links on my blog.
55.Do not buy any yarn unless I know what I'm going to use it for.
56.Try and dye yarn for small projects I have planned.
57.Finish more projects than I start.
58.Do a monthly update on my blog.
59.Look at the failing relationships I have with some family members.
60.Make a list of 2012.

Now that my list is up on the net I am off to work on #1.
Night All :D