Gifts from generous spirits

I'm in a bit of a bind. I want to gloat over show you and acknowledge these thoughtful and beautiful gifts I received for my birthday and Christmas but I feel that gift giving is very personal and I don't want to embarrass anyone.

I will settle for showing you some of them. Everyone concerned has been thanked, and I do so again.
Stitchmarkers

A knitting puppy card, framed

Wine especially designed for knitters

Handyed laceweight, sock wool and cashmere

Anny Blatt kid mohair (some of which is already knitted)

Clupea

Yarn: 100g of 14 ply (chunky, bulky, )

Needles: 6.5mm needles (Imperial 3, US 10.5)

Notions: darning needle for the endy bits, button (optional)

Tension: 14st to 10cm (4") over pattern

Finished Dimensions: 87 cm x 13cm (34" x 5")

Abbreviations:
k = knit
p = purl
sl = slip stitch with yarn in front of needle
yfrn = yarn forward round the needle

Pattern (Herringbone Lace Rib):
Cast on 22 stitches
Row 1 (right side): sl1, *p1, k1, yfrn, p2tog, k1, p1, k1; rep from * to end.
Row 2: sl1, *k2, yfrn, p2tog, k2, p1; rep from * to end.

Repeat these two rows until you're almost out of yarn, cast off.
Darn in ends.

Because this is a very short scarf, more of a necklet really, I sewed a button as a closure. The lacy pattern provides a button hole. It does up on my breast bone and the top of the scarf rolls a little to form a small shawl collar. I also chose to show off the reverse side of the pattern becuse you get to see the beautiful colours of the yarn better.


Right side of the pattern in a plain yarn.


Reverse side of the pattern in a plain yarn.


I bought this wool at the Wool Room Country Store in Young. It is 109g hand dyed and spun Corriedale.

After the endless black cotton of the Mary Ann wrap (nore on this at a later date), which followed the endless white cotton of the 39 wash cloths (almost half of which were in basic white), I was absolutely desperate for colour and woolly colour at that. This is gorgeous and springy and not blocked because I want that dense springiness to remain.

Many false starts and rechecking of the stitch dictionaries occurred and the first metre or so of the yarn was starting to show definite signs of fatigue before I settled on the Herringbone Lace Rib. I was really looking for a double sided pattern, but after the first few repeats of this pattern I fell in love. The back and front of this pattern are different, but they are equally lovely.

Thunder in my heart

The forecast rain for NY Eve turned out to be a storm of reasonable proportions: hail, rain (there is a tide mark on my back door 3" up), high winds.

We'd just sat down to dinner with the in-laws (sigh) when it hit. My brother went out to check the block of flats he caretakes and came home past my place. The lovely gum tree in my front yard had divested itself of two branches, the biggest of which is 6m long, over the road. He dragged it back onto my place.

I wonder if the relevant authorities will deem it time to trim this tree. It's twice the height of my house and has horizontal branches (the ones that drop) and dead ones, too. We asked them to come 12 months ago - about the time a man two suburbs away was killed by a branch that fell from a tree just like mine. These trees are not known as widow-makers for nothing. Yes, the front yard is still in the nursery stage is progressing but slowly due to the drought.

In knitting news, I finished the teal and cream beanie with the in-laws last night and knitted through midnight on the red and green one. It's the basic Time Thief Watch Cap pattern. Instead of plain stripes, I played with random slip stitches - so much fun.

Come in, come out of the rain

And that should be the last Simple Minds reference for a while but I couldn't resist with lovely wet stuff falling from the sky here in drought-ridden Canberra and more is forecast.

Little Waves Wash Cloth
Yarn: 1 x 50g ball 8ply cotton (dk, light worsted, ) This pattern is a heavy feeder, you will need the whole ball.

Needles: 1 pr 3.75mm (Imperial 9, US 5)

Notions: 1 darning needle for the endy bits.

Tension: Tension is not that important.

Time Investment: About 3 hours.

Finished size: About 20cm x 20cm (8" x 8")

Instructions:
Cast on 53 Stitches

Knit 6 rows

Begin Lacy Waves pattern:
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: k3, p to last to last 3 stitches, k3
Row 3: k3, *yrn, p1, p3tog, p1, yon, k2; rep from * to last stitch, k1
Row 4: k3, p to last to last 3 stitches, k3

Work rows 1-4, 13 more times (14 pattern repeats)

Knit 6 rows.

Cast off.

Darn in ends and give it a bit of a tug to square it up.

Things you might like to know about how I knit this pattern:

• I use a cable cast on, you can use whatever method you prefer.
• I slip the first stitch of each row knit-wise because I like the little bump on the edge. If you like a smooth, chain edge, slip the first stitch of each row purl-wise.
• To avoid the little loop that sometimes forms on the last stitch of the cast off, knit into the stitch below and voila!, no loop.

Time Thief Watch Cap

Yarn: 12 ply yarn (worsted, 10-12 wpi, ) . You'll need between 80 and 90g for this hat. Best be safe and have two full 50g balls or equivalent.

Needles: 1 x 60cm (23") 4.5mm circular needle (US & Imperial size 7); 1 set 4.5mm dpns. The whole hat can be knitted on dpns if you prefer.

Notions: 1 darning needle for the endy bits, 1 stitch marker of choice.

Tension: 19sts to 10cm (4") not absolutely crucial but should be within a stitch either way

Time investment: About 3 hours.

Big Brain Box Size (23-24" head)
Cast on 88 stitches, place marker and join in the round. Remember to slip marker from left to right hand needle at the end of each round.

Band
Round 1: *K2, p2 , repeat from *
Rounds 2-12: as for round 1
Round 13: Knit this creates a turning ridge for the brim
Round 14-16: as for round 1

Body
Round 17+: Commence stocking stitch (just knit and knit and knit). When whole work measures 20cm (8"), begin decreases.

Decreases:
Round1: *K6, K2tog, repeat from *
Round2 (and all even rounds): knit
Round3: *K5, K2tog, repeat from *
Round5: *K4, K2tog, repeat from *
you'll need to change to dpns about here
Round7: *K3, K2tog, repeat from *
Round9: *K2, K2tog, repeat from *
Round11: *K1, K2tog, repeat from *
Round13: *K2tog, repeat from *

Finishing:
Cut wool leaving a tail of about 10cm (4"). Thread tail onto darning needle and run through all remaining stitches. Remove dpns and draw tail tightly. Pass the threaded needle through the cat's bum at the top and weave in. Weave in the cast on tail. Turn up the brim at the turning ridge and c'est finis.


I'm a Lady Size (21-22" head)

Cast on 80 stitches, place marker and join in the round. Remember to slip marker from left to right hand needle at the end of each round.

Band
Round 1: *K2, p2 , repeat from *
Rounds 2-10: as for round 1
Round 11: Knit this creates a turning ridge for the brim
Round 12-14: as for round 1

Body
Round 15+: Commence stocking stitch (just knit and knit and knit). When whole work measures 17.5cm (7"), begin decreases.

Decreases:
Round1: *K6, K2tog, repeat from *
Round2 (and all even rounds): knit
Round3: *K5, K2tog, repeat from *
you'll need to change to dpns about here
Round5: *K4, K2tog, repeat from *
Round7: *K3, K2tog, repeat from *
Round9: *K2, K2tog, repeat from *
Round11: *K1, K2tog, repeat from *
Round13: *K2tog, repeat from *

Finishing:
Cut wool leaving a tail of about 10cm (4"). Thread tail onto darning needle and run through all remaining stitches. Remove dpns and draw tail tightly. Pass the threaded needle through the cat's bum at the top and weave in. Weave in the cast on tail. Turn up the brim at the turning ridge and c'est finis.

Things you might like to know about how I knit this pattern.

• It's called the Time Thief Watch Cap because, quite literally, I knit it in stolen time - walking to work, standing in queues, during staff meetings, at red traffic lights (shhh) etc... It takes about 30 mins for the cast on and final decreases time, the rest is bonus knitting time.


• The fabric is meant to be reasonably tight to increase the moisture repelling properties and warmth of the hat.


• I used a cable cast on, you can use whatever method you prefer.


• I hate joining in the round so I knit the first round as a row and join at the beginning of the second round. The small gap is sewn together at the end with the tail from the cast on.


• I don't use a marker until the decreases as it slows me down. The cast on tail indicates the beginning of a round until that point.


• To change sizes, go up or down in multiples of 8 stitches. 72 stitches, for example, would be good for a kid's size.


• There is no pattern for the stripes - I just make it up depending on the amount of wool available.
  

Someone, somewhere in summer time...

Chevron Lace Wash Cloth

Yarn: 1 x 50g ball 8ply cotton (you will not need a whole ball - somewhere between 25g and 35g depending on the brand) .

Needles: 1 pr 3.75mm (Imperial 9, US 5)

Notions: 1 darning needle for the endy bits.

Tension: Only if you've left it until the last minute. No, really, tension is not that important.This wash cloth will take about 3 hours to knit.

Finished size: About 22cm x 22cm (8.5" x 8.5")

Instructions:
Cast on 48 stitches.

Knit 6 rows.

Begin chevron lace pattern
Row 1: K4, *K2tog, yo, k1, yo, sl1, k1, psso, k2, repeat from * to last 2 stitches, K2
Row 2: K3, P to last 3 stitches, K3
Row 3: K3, *K2tog, yo, k3, yo, sl1, k1, psso, repeat from * to last 3 stitches, K3
Row 4: K3, P to last 3 stitches, K3

Repeat these 4 rows until piece is about 1 pattern repeat shy of square - I did 14 pattern repeats on some and 15 on others because the cotton knitted differently.

Knit 6 rows.

Cast off.

Darn in ends and give it a bit of a tug to square it up.

Things you might like to know about how I knitted this pattern.

• I used a cable cast on, you can use whatever method you prefer.
• I slip the first stitch of each row knit-wise because I like the little bump on the edge. If you like a smooth, chain edge, slip the first stitch of each row purl-wise.
• To avoid the little loop that sometimes forms on the last stitch of the cast off, knit into the stitch below and voila!, no loop.
• Sometimes I only knitted 5 rows at the end to make sure the piece was reasonably square.

Promised you a miracle ...

39 wash cloths completed by 2 December. Gift giving has begun with positive responses, although one of my volunteers guessed it was either a lining for his cod piece OR a wash cloth. Even he admitted it was beautifully knitted, though. The guys (apart from the cod piece remark) were particularly responsive to these gifts, which I didn't expect.

All of the yarn was purchased second-hand and no ball cost more than $1. In the main I got 3 wash cloths out of 2 balls. There are very few scraps left. I will be a making stripey garter stitch cloth for myself with the left overs.

I've been thinking about why these were the perfect items for hospital bedside knitting. Some reasons are obvious -

• portable
• simple
• distracting when necessary
• easily cast aside when required to assist the patient or the staff. With no more than 52 stitches to a row, you're almost always near the end of a row.
• quick - one cloth a day was not uncommon, so a sense of achievement was maintained
• rythmically comforting

Not so obvious reasons included

• something positive to talk about with Mum, visitors and staff that wasn't about illness, hospitals etc. It seems everyone was grateful at some point to have another topic of conversation, even for just a while.

It wasn't until I started wrapping them to give away, however, that I recognised a potential benefit to these knitting these simple wash cloths. The wash cloths were gifts. Intended to be given to other people. Had I been working on a large project for myself or my immediate circle and had Mum died, something that was a very real possibility and almost happened several times, I don't think I would have been able to deal with seeing the item again - it would have reminded me of a loss far greater than 39 wash cloths.

Roma loves Jack

Mum and I had morning tea with her Uncle Jack and Auntie Roma today.

After a cup of tea and piece of fruit cake, and while we chatted over this and that, I took out my knitting. Roma asked if I knitted constantly like my mother used to and told me how Mum and her sister never sat with idle hands. Then, between them, Jack and Roma and Mum told me the story of Jack's cardigan.

Jack met and fell in love with Roma at an early age. Roma was beautiful and kind. To my mother she was a glamourous older sister. Jack and Roma became engaged just before Jack was posted overseas with the Army. During his time away, Roma knitted him a cardigan.

It was a Fair Isle cardigan with eight different colours of beiges, greens, browns and tans. Mum, Roma and Jack all described the pattern and the colours in detail. It was Fair Isle all over, not just the yoke, Roma and Mum took pains to tell me.

Roma knitted Jack's cardigan at night at the kitchen table. She couldn't sit in the living room to knit it because she needed the family's tea cups and a flat surface. Each ball of wool was placed in a different tea cup to keep the colours separated. It was lucky there were only eight colours because that was all the tea cups they had. When someone in the family wanted a cuppa, knitting ceased until the tea had been made and drunk and the cup washed, dried and returned to Roma at the kitchen table.

When Jack returned home from his posting a year later, he and Roma were married. Jack swears the cardigan was his favourite and he wore it all the time. Mum, who was 7 when they married, confirms that he did as she vividly remembers the cardigan.

Jack's eyes glistened this morning when he told me how upset he was when Roma discarded the carigan when they moved into their retirement unit earlier this year. He smiled and held her hand when she told me that although she'd always hand washed the cardigan and looked after it properly, it had shrunk a little and was becoming quite worn.

Jack and Roma married in 1949.

Uncle Jack selling hub caps at the Jamison Trash and Treasure Markets, 5 September 1985.

Image courtesy of the absolutely essential ACT Heritage Library, Canberra Times Collection.

Last Tango in Braidwood

I really did think that a day looking at quilts hanging off balconies in Braidwood with my mother and her friends would be S.E.X.* free. Heaven knows I could do with a weekend of yarn celibacy.

Then I met this evil temptress.

From the moment I touched her soft downy balls, I was beguiled. Her charms were seemingly endless.

It began with a smile and a caress but soon escalated.

Watched and encouraged by both her husband and my mother (oh, the perversity), we engaged in a mutal petting session that ended in an exchange of cash. I felt so cheap. $2 for each of the Patonyle, and $3 for each of the cones of Bendigo baby 4ply. She threw in the set of 2.25mm dpns because of my enthusiasm.

My reserves breached it was an orgiastic frenzy of linen and alpaca (50c a ball for 2 balls of each), climaxing in a box of 20 pairs of tortiseshell needles (some still in their virgin state original wrapping), 7 sets of circular needles, a few cr****t hooks and assorted accessories for $40 in which I was joined by my mother's friend Bernie. Sadly, the photographs of these will not load. Seems Blogger has moral standards.

I needed a towel down (tea towel with knitted top) and a cup of tea ($5 for a really cute Bodum plain glass teapot). Sometimes I really miss smoking.

*Stash Enhancement eXercise, for the uninitiated

Going, going, gone

TSS and Bells - the Jo Sharp books are yours. Will put them aside for next time we meet.

TSS if you want the swift back, just say the word. It's an excellent one, so you did very well. :)

The week that was

Last week was a busy one here at Chez Taph.

The Saturday trip to Young for the mega SnB was bookended with this last Saturday's trip to Braidwood for the Airing of the Quilts. In between there was

• Some mild Sunday morning op-/bargain shopping (I now have a couple of spare copies of Jo Sharp's Knitting Bohemia for $2 if anyone wants one - that's what I paid for them at the Angus & Robertson stand at EPIC)
• Sunday lunch of cherries with a friend and her children and checking out the knitting section at the new Borders (Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears, Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks: New Twists on Classic Patterns and the Yarn Harlot's Yarn harlot : the secret life of a knitter) and a whizz through Academic Remainders in Civic (Brendan Mably's Brilliant Knits: 25 Contemporary Knitwear Designs from the Kaffe Fassett Studio)
• Sunday SnB with the girls - welcome to our newest recruit, Olivia.
• work and work functions (at which I finally met The Shopping Sherpa who is even lovelier live than in her blog)
• visitors to my parents' house for 3 days which meant much entertaining, organising and endless negotiating
• another round of specialist visits with Mum (more hospital knitting)
• an interview by the ABC for a forthcoming Compass program during which I found out there's a Chicks with Sticks knitting group at the ABC in Ultimo who meet during lunch times. I also knitted on camera while walking up a mountain in 30-odd degree heat - madness I tell you (photos to follow).
• a day at the Airing of the Quilts in Braidwood with Mum and her visitors (photos and full report on disgusting stash enhancement to follow)
• a night and a day of drying out much of my house after returning from Braidwood to find the washing machine had been pumping water into my house all day
• gifts in the form of a ball winder and swift from The Shopping Sherpa. Thanks so much TSS - they are great.

Output

Washcloths 36 (really need 3 or 4 more by Monday)
Beanies 16
Shawl to wear on TV Christmas morning 0.05

Young at Heart

Sharon, Spidey and I went to Young on Saturday for a meeting of the SnB clans.

Entirely wonderful from the company to the stash enhancement opportunities at The Wool Room Country Store in Young. It is EVERYTHING you'd want a local wool shop to be.

...

After bribing Sharon's dogs (Patrick, Maeve and Erin) with white chocolate to be good while we were gone and collecting Spidey, we hit the road. We used the journey to introduce Sharon to Brenda Dayne's Cast-On podcast.

Sharon managed to ignore my "look, there's a Vinnies" at several small towns en route and the "ooh, they've got a market on this morning" at Booroowa. By doing so we made Young in about 2 hours - plenty of time to hit the local wool shop - The Wool Room Country Store before meeting Sharon's Mum and her SnB cronies for lunch.

The Wool Room is EVERYTHING one could want in a local wool shop.

The owner, Kate Sevier, is knowledgeable, enthusiastic, welcoming, kind and generous. She also runs a sheep stud, so the woman knows her fibre.

You might want to check out the photos on Spidey's blog of our visit to The Wool Room. We spent about an hour in there fondling yarn, browsing the extensive range of patterns, comparing colours, brands, textures etc. Kate has commercial ranges (Patons, Cleckheaton and Shepherd, Jo Sharp etc.) as well as some locally spun and dyed woollen yarn and dyed sliver. Needles were the usual range. There is also natural fibre clothing and accessories throughout the store and it was with some difficulty I left behind some gorgeous shawls, felted bags and throws. Sharon picked up some fab cotton t-shirts and immediately changed into one.

I cannot rave enough about this shop or it's owner. Go, buy stuff from her. She will mail order and we are now on the mailing list for special events and workshops and stuff. As Arnie would say "I'll be back."

Next stop was our lunch with Sharon's mum and her SnB cronies. Edith started the SnB when Sharon told her about how much fun ours is. The ladies meet at JD's Jam Factory every Wednesday morning. The women were utterly delightful, and I only hope I can remember their names. I was enchanted from the first moment when Betty handed us each a Sean Sheep pattern book she'd picked up at the local Salvos for 20c. Gotta love a group who welcomes me withop-shop gifts! Then there was Winona who used to breed Westies - so she won me over pretty quickly, too. There was my name twin and Patty and Margaret and Marie x 2 and Ann as well, I think. There was the woman who brought in a laundry basket containing a gorgeous baby layette and other baby stuff she had made. So very pretty and so very skilled.

Over what can only be described as very average food, we shared patterns and tips and giggles and jokes. We were made to feel like welcome friends and it was a blast.

Spidey and I have requests for patterns and Ms Spider has converted at least one more knitter to the secret society of sock knitters. We're invited to return. Edith also made a contribution to the swaps basket - get in quick.

Our third major stop was to Richens for cherries. We were advised this was the best place to go, so away we went. There are photos but Blogger is refusing to play.

Here I displayed a self-restraint not evident at the Wool Room earlier. I bought only the required 4 cases of cherries (one was for me the others were requests from family and friends) and a couple of better-than-Cherry-Ripe chocolates. I lugged the 20k of cherries to the car and Sharon took her Cherry Wine and small box of cherries to the car. Spidey, however, had the services of yet another sherpa to transport her box of cherries and bottle of cherry port the 10m to the car. The woman is a sherpa magnet. (Funnier if you could see the photo).

Home via Murrumburrah where we made a recommended stop at the Whichcraft & Coffee Cottage in Albury Street. A whole historic house crammed full of local craft goods and a small tea room. Some good crafty stuff, some not so good. It's staffed by volunteers and was opened n 1971 to stimulate interest in the town and district in both tourism and craft. Well worth a visit.

It was in the tea shop part that Spidey revealed a previously hidden prediliction for crime. While we waited for our scones and tea, she spied on display on a high shelf, several items of spinning equipement. There was a spinning wheel, a yarn swift (upside down but still recognisable), hand carders, some bobbins and a DRUM CARDER.

"Psst", Spidey hissed at me from the side of her mouth, her excitement only betrayed by the slightest trembling of the hands, "you create a distraction and I'll nick the drum carder." Furtively I surveyed the room: no staff in evidence, a direct route to the door and a ready supply of sturdy chairs to climb to reach the shelf. A tic began in Spidey's left eye and the trembling of her hands became more noticeable.

"OK," I assented. "Sharon, you go start the getaway car and open the hatch, while I knock over that pile of towels with cr*cheted edges and maybe the hats cr*cheted from plastic shopping bags."

Just as I made my move, our waitress appeared with the refreshments. "Drat, foiled again", I muttered as the silence of the scones descended.

Spotted

I love this community.

I met Jejune doing BookCrossing things on my way into Woden Plaza this lunchtime, Bells spots me looking at forbidden goods in the novelty yarn aisle at BigW not 10 minutes later (she's planning on a knitterly gift for her next fibre victim niece), and The Shopping Sherpa texts then rings me about cones of Wangaratta wool at Belconnen Vinnies. You women are the absolute BEST!

Biopsy day was yesterday. The mass in Mum's adrenal gland turned out to be a cyst which the absolutely charming Dr G. blew into thousands of harmless droplets to be dispersed in the fullness of bladder time. Actually, he said he aspirated it but I prefer the super hero version.

I am happy and weepy and officially finished my Christmas shopping. Christmas knitting on the other hand ...

Output
Wash cloths 29
Beanies 9.5

Vague

New Vague

Taph's Tools - stitch marker+

A year ago I'd never met a pretty stitch marker in the flesh. I was a loop of contrast wool girl. I was also a bread tag girl.

No, really - this makes an adequate stitch marker when no alternative presents itself. I was forced into it one day when I had absolutley no spare wool with me and I needed a marker. So now the old bread tie is useful for more than just a makeshift plectrum.

Since then, I've discovered they make great identifiers for circular needles. Grab a fine tipped permanent marker (I recommend the Sharpie which I use for work but which are now available in places like Woollies), and record the needle length and size.

Modern life offers many moments for incidental knitting

Remember this? It's the mystery 12-ply stunt wool from Taph's Tools last week.

Well it appears that this is an adventurous yarn. Red wool is like that, don't you find?

Anyway, it's had quite a week. It was spotted by the Head Honcho of my work place as I knitted and walked from the carpark this week. She admired the yarn and asked how long it took me to knit a beanie like this. When I replied, "Not time at all", I don't think HH believed me. It's almost true. It takes about 30 minutes of dedicated, not doing anything else but listening to audio books/podcasts/cds etc. to cast on, do the first round and the last 6 rounds of knitting.

The rest is done while other essential things are being achieved. Walking to work (not that I've done that in a while), walking to and from the carpark, waiting at traffic lights, standing in queues, sitting in staff meetings, in the down time during cooking dinner etc.

This weekend I got a few rounds done at the carwash. I love how the yarn matches the washing brushes.
It's now 2.3 beanies.

Output
Washcloths 27
Beanies 8.3
Victorian Cabled Wristlets (was mystery gift) 1 pair

Au revoir, Margit

Sad SnB this evening - it being the lovely Margit's last.

She departed in style by finishing a Carla beret - seen here

and bringing a garbage bag full of yarn for the swaps basket. Forgot to take a picture of that, but here's another one of Margie in her beret.

Kylie also brought some very noice yarn for the swaps basket. Here's Kylie being mugged by Lulu, Jejune's very naughtly lamb.

And for those lovely people who asked, here's the link to the Victorian Cabled Wristlets, one of which is modelled below by the ball winder.

These took 50g of Bluebell (5ply), knitted double.

For those who think that spinning is too slow...

I'd be more impressed if there was actual fibre involved, but it's funny nonetheless, and as close to spinning as I've managed in weeks.

The Short Post

So great to finally get to an SnB last night. Small but enthusiastic was the crowd. The Happy Spider came, fresh from moving into her new home, and newbie Caroline who's recently moved from the US and immediately found an SnB. She used to run one a SnB and she let me fondle her Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and rub it on myself. She also wants to breed alpaca and got to the alpaca show on the weekend (I didn't need to know that). Definitely a kindred spirit.

Looking forward to Thursday night at Starbucks very much.

Output:
Washcloths - 25
Beanies - 6.3
Other finished objects - 1
Jobs - 1 (for now)

Gratuitous Westie pic - this is Rosie the last time she was groomed. Happy smile, non?

Taph's Tools - ball holder

Mum is home from hospital. She's not fully well but she's much improved. A needle biopsy will have to be done sometime soon as they accidentally found a mass in her stomach which now must be investigated.

Did not get to the alpaca show, dammit, but several woollen jumpers have been reclaimed, skeined, washed and await the application of the swift/ball winder combo to make them useable. We have pink Bluebell, chocolate Bluebell, green Herdwick and some red mystery 12 ply.

Wash cloth count 24
Beanie count 6
Mystery gift item 1/2 (I know I wasn't casting anything else on, but it's a present!)
Job 1 (for now)

Thought I'd begin a series of posts on my favourite knitting tools. Let's not get into the best needle debate - it's far too divisive (I'm not that fussed on my new Addi Turbos - 'nuff said).

Here's two favourite tools. Not originally designed for knitting use, they adapt perfectly well. Thank you, Mr Tupper.

On the bottom is my Tupperware digital scale. I LOOOOOVE this scale. It measures accurately, has a wide flat plate, takes up very little room, does grams and ounces and came with it's own batteries.

On top is the 1.5 litre Tupperware Rock 'n Serve. It's perfect to hold that ball of wool you don't want rolling around the place collecting dust and attracting pets. The vented seal is big enough to accommodate quite thick wool. Here the hand wound ball of mystery 12 ply is about to become a centre pull ball and below is a better picture of the container.

Score card

Thank you all for your warm wishes and support. I sincerely appreciate it.

The state of play is

• Mum is still in hospital and may come out some time this week. She's definitely improving. Dad is also improving, emotionally. In a fit of displacement activity (he cannot sit by bedsides), he has built a large open topped box in my back yard. It's 1.2 metres high, 3 metres long and 1.5 metres wide. It will eventually become my herb garden.
• Wash cloth total - 20.
• Beanie total - 5.
• Days to go until announcements about major changes at work - 4.
• Stress levels - beyond any scale you can conceive.

Code Blue

Absolutely gutted to have missed SnB today, ladies. You know that only the most dire of emergencies would keep me away.

Mum has been in hospital since Thursday arvo. Pneumonia x 2 is back with a variety of other little complications that affect treatment. We thought we would lose her on Thursday night but she's pulled through and, although weak, is improving.

Much bedside knitting has been done in the last 3 days. The wash cloth count is 17, and another couple of beanies have been added to the pile.

The beanies, in particular, arouse the interest of the nurses. Apparently none of them have seen knitting in the round before and there was an audience for the finishing off of one today so they could see it come off the needles and go straight on a noggin. Three of them tried it on and I didn't have a camera!

Posts will be intermittent, if at all, for the next little while.

Wasting time on YouTube

Tracey Ullman and Mel Clark at the Toronto Textile Museum uploaded to YouTube by Amy Singer of Knitty.

The post with no name

Too tired to come up with a cute post title, sorry. Things are happening at work that make life pretty crap but I can't blog about it.

Mum had cataracts removed from one eye last week which left her pretty wonky on the health front because she had to come off all other meds to have it done. She's not back to speed yet, but she's looking better ;) .

ALL of the teams I supported on grand final weekend lost, including my beloved Newtown Jets (go the Bluebags) who lost by a golden point in extra time. So devastating.

The long weekend, however, was not a complete bust. The generous and talented The Shopping Sherpa made me the most gorgeous knitting bag. Check out the photos on her blog . It's absolutely fantastic! I'm calling it my ANZAC tote because it was made by a Kiwi for an Aussie and has a digger knitting socks on it. It's also made from NZ frugalled denim and AUS frugalled sheeting and rick rack. Did I mention I adore it? Well I do. It's also just the right size for small projects like socks (it came with it's very own sock kit and a book on spinning and gorgeous red needles). It is also just the right size for my current knitting obsession, wash cloths.

Yep, I know I've been a little scathing sceptical about the usefulness of knitted wash cloths but both Jejune and Gillian have convinced me to give it a go. Made one for Jejune for her birthday and haven't stopped since.

During the clear up of stash (and there has been more than one go at this in the last month), I found rather a lot of 8ply cotton lying around. So I'm stash busting washcloths for Christmas. 36 are needed - 11 for boys, 25 for girls. That's one for each volunteer, one for each member of staff and a couple for "oops I forgot" gifts. Current accumulation - 10 wash cloths. Current rate of production - about 2 every three days. I'm well on schedule, but if you see me and I'm not knitting cotton wash cloths, please mention it.

Busting is also happening in the reclaimed and 12 ply stash. Hats for the homeless are on the needles and I'm doing about 1 a week just in the daily little gifts of time that modern living provides - like walking to and from the car at work, walking around shops at lunch time, standing in Medicare queues and waiting for meetings to start.

Operation Wipeout in September saw some gains. I unravelled, washed and skeined 4 jumpers and there are pieces of several more waiting to be skeined. Skeining takes away from knitting time, though, so they may wait for a bit longer. The back of the Celebate Vest is finished and during the football grandfinals, about 2/3 of the front was done, too. Err, other stuff was done, but certainly not all of it. Beyond the Christmas knitting, though, no new projects have been started.

Cannot get any pictures to load, sorry. More later in the week.