Sock

Well one done....not sure that I feel as excited about the second one. I'm having trouble with the rib at the top of the next one, and that's the easy part. I'm just too tired. I've had a cold for the last 7 days and my year 3 class had to present the assembly this week. That meant extra stress and props and costumes to organise. Plus I have a prac student in my class (although he is quite good so far it's something else to contend with) We did a play of 'Where the Wild Things Are'. One of the parents commented saying it would not be too much of a stretch for these kids. They are a very "lively" bunch of kids.

Tomorrow I have to be up and off early as I've decided to go for Senior Teacher Status, that means extra study and that means tomorrow and next Saturday will be spent doing extra school work. But in the end it will mean a significant increase in salary so that's a bonus. I'm thinking that I could drop a day a week and with the increase in pay not notice it so much.

PS. I now have one warm comfy foot and one slightly cold one! (Yes I am now walking about the house with one sock on.)

K17, k2tog,k1,turn, P6,P2tog, P2, turn.....AGAIN.

This is why I started knitting again.
I wanted to knit a sock- well hopefully a pair of socks. So I bought some socky yarn from the yarn shop, silk and nylon I think, it feels nice but it splits a bit as you work making unravelling something you don’t want to have to do. This is my second attempt. The first didn't get beyond the band.

The difficult thing was the pattern did not make any sense at all to me. I could not for the life of me imagine what those k1 sl1 psso’s would translate to. So I just had to free fall following the pattern and trusting that something sock like would emerge. It was actually quite challenging to follow something without understanding or visualising how it would work. Now I know you will laugh but it was a bit like bungee jumping -well as close as this control freak will get to it. I had to plunge into the unknown, trusting someone else's directions. It was ... a bit sad really that the most exciting thing I did this long weekend was face my sock fears!

So I read and re-read the pattern decided that it was indeed another language totally of which I could only vaguely grasp part of what was being said to me. So I just started and hoped for the best.

And remarkably it is sockish and I am on the downward slope working toward the toes.

Next challenge- Make the second sock.

oh no!

oh no!
Originally uploaded by dette.k

just don't look too close! See there are little ladders on the side! i think with some practice I will improve this.

Are we there yet?

I have been knitting, knitting, knitting almost non stop! and I'm almost there!

This is the view I have had for most of the week and a half I've been knitting non stop! Although that is not entirely true. I have made a lined purple jacket which I will photograph when I get new batteries for my camera. I also had lunch with the book club girls- Though I've hardly read a book in ages! I've watched several movies though as it is much easier to do that than read while you knit.

See my new red shoes. I LOVE red shoes and have done since I was a little girl when I fell in love with the story of the red dancing shoes. On reflection I don't know why because it is quite tragic really as she dances herself to death. Maybe that is exactly why I loved it - she died dancing!

I am much happier now I have some nice shoes to wear on my holiday and some thermal singlets Oh and I made a pair of soft, stretchy, black,wide leg, wool pants too! ( I really must learn to ban myself from blogging when racked with hormonally induced magnification of my self esteem issues!)

I also stopped for afternoon tea with some of the girls from the school I used to work at.

I made an Apple and Rhubarb Crumble Cake.


I used the basic vanilla cake base from this cake but added 3/4 of a cup of milk rather than 1/2 a cup to make a less dense cake. I topped the batter with about 1 and 1/2 cups of stewed apple and rhubarb and topped with a crumble mixture
2 tble spns raw sugar
3/4 cup wholemeal plain flour
1tspn (or a good shake) of ground cinnamon
60g of butter
1/2 cup of chopped almonds

Rub butter flour and sugar together. Add almonds sprinkle over cake mixture. Bake about 50 mins in moderate oven until golden and skewer comes out clean.

Enjoy with organic clotted cream!

I also made Caramelized Onion and Fetta Tarts
These are so easy and very yummy! (Don't let on how easy they are as people think you are very clever!)



Caramelized Onions
3 or 4 spanish onions sliced
a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to cover the base of a frying pan
about 2 tble spoons of brown sugar
a good splash of balsamic vinegar
a good pinch of sea salt

Gently fry the onions in the olive oil as they start to go translucent add the sugar and balsamic vinegar continue to cook until they are soft well coated. Add salt.
At this point you will need to taste the mixture to see if more sugar or vinegar is required to get the balance right.

Tarts
Caramelized onions
puff pastry sheets
your favourite fetta (or blue cheese for a yummy variation.)
chopped rosemary

Cut pastry into squares and pop into patty pan or muffin tins.
Top with onion mixture, crumble over cheese and sprinkle with chopped rosemary. Bake in a hot oven until pastry is crisp and golden.


Back to my knitting, this is it so far. It is as long as I am and I am 175cm tall. I've got half a ball of wool left to go. Plus one left to add some crocheted edging but am unsure if I will add it or not at this stage. I am rather enamored with the lovely long lines created by the plain knitting.


Must dash into Freo soon to buy wool for Chicky Babe's scarf that she has requested for the trip to match her hat. She also wants a dress made for the yr 10 dinner dance that will be 2 nights after we get back from Melbourne so I best do it before I go!

*K2 tog, Sl1,PSSO repeat to end.

It is a whole new language, but today I worked out what that meant and I made this for Chicky Babe. (I did do about 5 hours of school work, although I haven't finished it yet!)

I also learnt how to do the embroidery. The instructions had a knitted pattern but I wasn't ready for that just yet! Chicky Babe was delighted the pattern and colour was just as she wanted.

Apparently I am AWESOME!
Now it is 2am and I have to go to work tomorrow obviously I am also a little bit silly.

P.S the flowers in the previous post are some type of protea (I'm not sure if that is how you spell it. The computer doesn't like it but offers no sensible alternative!)

Scarfette

I found the short crocheted scarf so comfortable to wear, especially at work so I decided to make another. This time I used the wrap and turn technique I learnt in the urchin hat to shape the 'scarfette' to sit around the neck better. I'm going to do another one, but this time I am going to keep track of what I do so that each side is the same and so that it is easy to replicate it.

They are also a good way of using my old brooches and lapel pins and a good excuse to make some more!

A knitting frenzy

I made this scarf this evening to go with my new hat. I came across a brooch / pin I made back nearer art school days. Copper wire some kind of gem stone (can't remember which) and drift wood collected from the beach after a storm (my favourite time to go to the beach).

I had hoped that the scarf would also match the hat a friend of mine made for me- she who has inspired me to delve into this knitting frenzy of late!

I'm not sure if the red in the scarf is quite right for the red of the hat. Maybe I'll have to make another one after all.

This clasp is made from twisted copper wire and glass beads. I made it as a hair clasp but I think it could work here.

Chicky Babe was quite taken by my hat this morning and my outfit this morning was greeted with a "Hey COOL! Can I wear it? Don't be surprised if it ends up in my room." The best compliment I had all day. A teenage daughters approval is a rare and special thing!

When I made this scarf I felt it needed an interesting clasp, this lead me to have a little search for the driftwood piece. I am feeling a pull to make some more jewellery. Maybe soon...

I have been instructed that my next project should be a woolly hat with the ear covers for Chicky Babe. One with lots of colours and patterns. Not sure if I am ready for anything too complicated yet. I might cheat and get her to choose wool similar to the scarf that makes its own pattern or perhaps some embroidery onto it...I'll check out what is available on line.

Is anyone else out there having trouble loading photo's onto flck-r?

urchin

I finished my "urchin" hat. The grafting was fiddly but it worked. I think it is a bit stiff, I prefer a softer fall for hats for me- woolly hats can make me look like a boiled egg in a cosy! Maybe I should have used bigger needles. I'll wear it a bit and frog it if I really don't like it.

Bring on the knitting patterns!

Knitting, learning and growing.

I received a call from the local council- Bantam Boy took the call while on study break. The fellow was wondering had I received the notice they had sent some time back and would I call him re the addition to the house.

I didn't want to call thinking it would be bad news that I would after all have to remove the "out building" enclosure of the patio. I fretted and thought about putting it off but I didn't. I rang this morning. He wondered if I had got the letter the council had sent a few weeks ago.

"Do you mean the approval letter for the studio, err patio enclosure thing?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Are you referring to the earlier one about the lack of approval for the enclosure?"
"Yes"

I told him I had spoken to someone in there about it and put in papers and the building had been approved. Oh, he wondered who did you speak to? I couldn't remember I spoke to several people. Obviously they don't speak to each other!

So I worried for nothing, but I didn't worry for as long as I could have done! I am also making an effort to open my letters as they come and trying to deal with things as they come up!

The next thing will be trying to get to bed at a reasonable hour rather than spending the wee hours trying to nut out what the knitting patterns actually mean. I decided to make a hat following a pattern.

I started....

Realized I'd not cast on properly (provisional casting on), so with the aide of this site knitty.com
I started again....

Still it was not right so I frogged it and returned to the help tutorials. I started again Frogged it once more......



I think I've got it! Wedge one of eight to make a woolly hat from this designer who has some free patterns. I really love this sweater and if I learn how to do this knitting thing I might just buy the pattern and give it a go. The good thing is the pattern goes up to larger sizes too.