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.

Clocket

Created by Christiane for Daniela whose podcast (Secret Knitting) blog I found this on. It does keep time, apparently.

Score!

Among other things pursued, dragged down and hauled back to the Taph lair from op-shops this morning was this for $4 (still in the shops for $30.95) containing 2 episodes I've never seen - so happy!

And two pairs of black Bally shoes for $6 each.

Stalking the Yarn Harlot

For all of us not in North America we get to join the Yarn Harlot on her book tour thanks to YouTube.



If it won't embed go here and look at it. It's by Freecia.

Curly Whirly Scarf Recipe

Hi, if you've come looking for the curly whirly scarf pattern, please click here.

It was lovely to meet you at the exhibition and thanks for looking.

The rest of you - get to the TASDA exhibition this weekend at the CSIRO Discovery Centre - it's an inspiring feast for the senses of sight and touch. If I haven't hit you up already - buy a raffle ticket and support Stasia Dobrowski's soup kitchen and have the chance to win one of nearly 100 wraps and scarves.

And the girls are feeling very pretty since their wash and cut on Thursday. That's Rosie without the bow and Peggy with. Peggy removed Rosie's bow almost immediately but resisted all efforts to take hers away. They are different, it just doesn't look like it at the moment. Their happy smiles are identical, though. They love being groomed.

Blue Monday

Was once a cardigan, but $1 and several hours of unpicking, unravelling, skeining, washing and drying later it is 515g lovely soft blue 4-5ply wool.



Dunno what it wants to be yet but I've had New Order's Blue Monday stuck in my head since I started winding it. Not a bad song to wind wool to, actually.

Wanders off singing, "... and if it wasn't for your misfortune, I'd be a heavenly person today..."

not completely idle

Sunday before last for Bek's baby shower/Tupperware party - we have mini cupcakes iced in lurid pink for girls and striking blue for boys. The ones in the middle are iced with the fruit of the passion. I thought it was funny at the time but I was a little punchy.

I really did finally put handles on Mum's loofah. I believe this was meant for her in April but that cr****t nylon is such awful stuff I managed to forget all about it. The handles ended up being cannibalised from a Bay Swiss bag. By all accounts it's fantastic and does the job. It's rough and Mum reckons it will never wear out. Just as well because I ain't touching that stuff again - not even for her.



Now to yarn reclamation.

Here is a lovely cabled jumper with bobbles (ugh) on the bottom picked up at Vinnies for $1.

Washed skeins weighted by water filled chip packets (new Smiths chips, a lot like Pringles but with reusable packaging on sale at Woollies for 99c each a couple of weeks back) dripping into the shower stall. There's a really good photo of the skeins but Blogger is being unco-operative.

Here it is wound into beautiful centre pull balls and weighing in at 683g. That's a lotta hats for the homeless for next winter for $1.

More mean than green

The non-cow post has caused some interest so I continue my personal review of products.

Butter substitutes ? well there really isn?t one. Nothing tastes as good as butter. I use a vegetable oil in baking where possible. Woollies sells a soy margarine (55% veg oil ? mostly soy) and there?s good old Nuttelex for those who can?t have soy or dairy. Both are reasonably awful. Nuttelex wins on several fronts (not on taste). It is salt-reduced, Australian owned and the container is square so it fits in the fridge better and makes the empty container more re-useable. Did I mention I often buy based on the re-useability potential of containers? I try to re-use packaging at least once before it is recycled. More mean than green I suspect but either way it?s better for the environment.

Mayonnaise also posed a non-cow problem. I?ve finally found a decent one. It doesn?t taste much like the sugary stuff I used to buy, but that?s a good thing. Sometimes one just has to retrain the tastebuds. The Norganic mayonnaise is fine. It comes with a ?delicious honey and lemon flavour?. Dunno about that, but it tastes ok and is good with chicken. There?s also a fat reduced version. This is an Australian owned company, too. I find it in the health food section of Woollies.

My icecream maker is a Krupps I bought for $20 at a Salvos store. It has two parts - the motor/beater which clips onto the bowl and the bow, the walls of which are filled with some liquid. The bowl needs to be frozen for at least 24 hours before use. For best results, ingredients also need to be as cold as possible. I usually keep the bowl in the freezer most of the year (not at the moment, even I think winter is too cold for sorbet) and make up a batch of ingredients the night before I need it. A family favourite is a big tin of mango, a small tin of passion fruit pulp, a little sugar syrup (artificial sweetener also works but doesn?t taste as good), blended, chilled and then sorbeted. Fresh fruit is, of course, best, but not always available ? tinned stuff works fine. If you want to skip a step with the tinned stuff, buy the tins in syrup and you don?t need to make any sugar syrup at all.

The reason I bought a second machine (also at a Salvos and yet to be tested ? it?s a Sunbeam) is efficiency and quantity. The Krupps makes about 750ml at a time and takes about 30-40 minutes to be ready. I need to wash and refreeze the bowl between batches, so even doing one batch early in the morning and one late at night I can?t always keep up with the demand of a large extended family. My nieces and nephew live 15 houses away ? my place and my freezer are very popular on hot summer weekends. Aunty Taph?s sorbet is also in demand for sorbet cakes for the two kids who can?t have soy or dairy and sorbet cakes are usually at least 2 flavours and 2 cake moulds full. Also, when the fresh fruit is available, time is important ? just like with jam making.

In knitting news, one jumper is completely unpicked, unravelled, skeined and washed. Just needs to be wound into balls and it's ready for a new life as hats for the homeless. Three other garments are in various stages of unmaking and should be done by this time next week. I'd forgotten how slow this process is, but it's worth it to save the yarn from the landfill.

Get Real

You are all aware, I'm sure, that Operation Wipeout is
a wish list rather than something achievable.

Yes, Gillian, I do love my lists and like you do the
little easy jobs first. I have been known to add
things to my lists in order to have the pleasure of
crossing them off.

Just the making the list gives me a bit of control
back.

As for soy products. I resent having to eat soy. I
love love love dairy products. My father's family
were dairy farmers for goodness' sake.

Larissa asked for soy recipes. I don't really have
any as such. The soy dip is one carton of Tofutti soy
cream cheese mixed with a handful of chopped gherkins.
With everything else I just substitute soy for dairy
if it's possible. Desserts are a problem. In summer
I make fruit sorbets. The icecream maker is in
constant use in the warmer months. So much so that
I've invested in a second one for this summer.

It could be worse, I have a niece and nephew who can't
have dairy or soy. That rice milk stuff is really
rank. It makes OK pikelets but cakes with it are
lumps of yuk.

OMG

THIS is why Margie wasn't so fussed on Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean.

How could the people at Interweave do this to us?

Operation Wipeout

Work is a complete bastard and the family even more challenging than usual. I am unable to control those things much but I must be in control of something, so this is the plan.

*cue the Surfaries* .... September is Operation Wipeout. Here's the list so far:

1. Unravelling

• green opal sock (yep, I've called it a day with the mega sock. It turns out that I knit a whopping 2 stitches per inch less when knitting in the round - my gauge sucks like a Hoover) - 11/09
• grey Kiri shawl (this may actually be cut and chuck because it's in Cleckheaton Studio Mohair)
• navy Kiri shawl (also in mohair)
• all reknittable jumpers earmarked for hats for the homeless (there are at least 3 of these)

Aran with bobbles - 9/09
Mid blue cardie - 4 or 5 ply - 515g 11/09
Mint green baby hat - 4ply - 50g 12/09

2. End Processing

• press and wrap red baby jacket (10/09)
• sew button on Rough Day Ruff (01/09)
• finish embroidery on hats
• put handles on loofah (01/09)
• graft toe of baby sock A
• line workshop sample and make up
• cot sheets for Bek
• sew tassels on novelty yarn scarf

3. Knitting

• baby sock B
• finish lacy rib sock A
• knit lacy rib sock B
• finish JEC's jumper
• finish Celebate Vest
• finish boucle short circuit curly whirly
• finish navy matinee jacket
• find and do something about Angelina (this will probably entail much muttering, measuring and probably unravelling)

4. Prep

• organise hats for the homeless stash and equipment
• organise baby stash including patterns and equipment
• sort felted stash into colour

And then there's the Andean Plying Tools, the Niddy Noddies and the Lazy Kates that all need finishing.

Sometimes the outward sign of my inability to be in control is a radical hair cut (I wore a hat for 8 months the last time this happened), body piercing, contemplation of a tattoo or compulsive furniture moving. Another sign is the need to finish all projects currently underway and to over organise the various stashes. I think finishing projects and over organising the stashes is more positive than the other options.

Non-cow food

A note about non-cow, mostly soy products.

Yup, Margie, the soy cream cheese was Tofutti. The one I used for the dip was the plain one. There's also a herb flavoured one which is yummy, but it's hard to find. I've only ever found it in Coles' at Woden. It's not Philly but it's pretty good. I'll have to give the jam and tofu trick a go. I like mine spread on toast with home made pumpkin and sweet corn soup. You must be onto something though because the website has a recipe for a raspberry cheesecake. I don't recommend this company's fake cheese though.

There is a good soy yoghurt - King Land. Comes in a variety pack of peach & mango, strawberry, berries, blueberry.. The tubs are half size but the yoghurt is fine - not gritty which is the problem with most soy yoghurts. Also, it says it's organic and non GM. I'm told there are 250g tubs around, but I've never seen them. Pity because I prefer the berries to the other flavours.

Can recommended, the Sanitarium So-Good Chocolate flavoured soy drink. Not low fat but yummy. So yummy that only one litre a fortnight is allowed in this house. Sanitarium's So-Good Chocolate pretend ice-cream is ok, too. Not the real thing, but not too bad for the ice-cream deprived.

I find I can't have cow or goat's milk products, buy sheep is fine (go figure!). Lemnos make a very nice sheep's fetta. http://www.lemnosfoods.com/lemnospdf/fettapacks.pdf

If Sanitarium, Kingland, Lemnos or Trialia Foods would like to sponsor this blog, that would be fine. Am prepared to take food, or fibre, for comment.

Break in transmission

I'll be off air for a week or so - promise to look in on you all when I get the chance.

Hate the sin not the sinner...

That song has been stuck in my head for the last two days and seems appropriate here. Well that and my secret love for bad boy Robbie. Oh the shame.

Yes I was a victim of child cr****t abuse. My mother cr****ted me a purple cotton bikini with matching poncho. Those of you have met me will understand how very very cruel that was.

We also had in our house, not one, but two cr****ted swan centrepieces. It has been my mission of many years to purchase all known patterns of this particular crime against taste to prevent other impressionable youngsters from suffering as I did. And now I find that Interweave has it as a freebie. Oh the inhumanity.

Pity me and understand.

PS I did macrame as a child. My mother was forced to display spider plants over the bath cradled in wonky cream pot plant holders and a really hideous macrame owl wall hanging. I think we can consider that some payback for the cr****t. Or, horror of horrors, the cr****t was payback for the macrame. A vicious cycle of evil crafts.

Et tu, Jejune and Spidey?

See how liberal I am. I allow your defences of the evil craft through unmoderated.

It's just me and the Yarn Harlot against the tide of crap.

Saying the hook is useful as a knitting tool for picking up stitches etc is fine. Using an electric chair is a great way to crisp up some vegies, but I don't want to put it to the purpose for which it was invented.

Scrapbooking is pretty dire. I did a workshop in it once (long story, it wasn't voluntary) and it was scarily persuasive. Mind you, so was the Knitting with Dog Hair book and certain extremist political movements, but it doesn't make it right.

Cr****t rant (yes, another one)

Right, none of you had better ever try to convince me of the validity of cr****t again. No, I mean it.

Sometimes I feel really mean taking the piss out of cr****t and then someone does this. Go ahead, look. I'll wait.
http://thecrochetdudepatterns.blogspot.com/2006/08/glass-flip-flops.html

Now I really hope he was being at worst whimsical and at best subverting the form, but I think he's quite serious about this.

I am an equal opportunity blogger. I think it's great that guys do needlework. More of them should. If more of them did we might get taken a bit more seriously. Do you really think we wouldn't be allowed to knit or even cr****t on planes in this country if the blokes in suits up at the pointy end of the plane knitted? For goodness' sake, they're called airCRAFT. But back to my point. I don't think it's stupid because he's a guy or even that it's cr****t (I could so knit one of those) but because it's a useless, tasteless waste of time. And just as I was coming round to the whole dishcloth thing, too.

To answer Kylie. The wool on my needles in what some may call gold, others may call mustard and now that I'm nearly halfway up the back I am secretly referring to as baby shit yellow, is a vintage Villawool 5ply crepe. I'm knitting a vest. We are calling it the Celebate Vest because I am not sleeping with the person it is being knitted for. Mon has a rule that she only knits for people who provide sex - she puts out so they should.