All around me is unfinished objects.
Currently on the needles I have
– hitchhiker shawl #3 for me
– 10 stitch blanket
– mini mania scarf
– parcel jumper
– ripple crocheted afghan
– blue cabled hat (in no mans land)
So what did I do this week? Cast on 3 more projects.
I’d like to introduce my team bee socks
A zigzag hat
And a cabled scarf
I think I need to buckle down and maybe finish what I start.
Or I could search ravelry for more pretty patterns!!!!
My day leading up to this blog post.
– Stumble out of bed, find clean clothes, walk to train station
– Train ride to work, check twitter see what’s going on in the world.
– Get to work, check work email, check bloglovin (formerly google reader), set tasks for the day, make tea
– Remember the federal budget was announced last night because coworkers are stating misinformed opinions as facts.
– Put headphones in and play mclusky loudly.
– Mclusky is making you more angry and is affecting work productivity (as much as coworkers are). Make tea.
– Seek calming music. Check twitter. Find out Still Corners just released a new album
– Day is looking up. Make tea.
– Work
– Find out The National are streaming their new album too. Can’t find link to stream. Day is looking down again.
– Work
– Check twitter. Find a number of horrible news stories. Tweet about horrible news stories. Find solace in lovely twitter people that are not horrible racist, sexist, transphobic bigots.
– Renew concentration on work tasks. Computer malfunction. Make tea.
– Coworker reignites conversation about Australian politics.
– Listen to Still Corners new album again
– Realise it’s Wednesday and decide to blog about new Still Corners album
I’ve failed as a blogger this week.
Only after I had three packages of knitted goods complete with care instructions all wrapped up in tissue paper did I think about photographing them.
The mittens I already had photos of because I’d blogged about them before, but I’ve just sent two hitchhikers into the wilderness without any proof they were here.
Well that’s not entirely true, but it does leave me at a bit of a blogging loose end.
I do think the hitchhikers were a success. The colours I chose matched what they were wearing when I saw them (always a good sign).
The hand knitting process gives you plenty of time to um and ah over colour choices so I was a little frazzled by the time I had finished.
So in absence of good pictures, I have the ones for my care instructions.
I use the Phonto iPhone/iPad app which makes putting text over photos very easy.
I use that app to make personalized cards too. My mum is always requesting photos of me and my partner so I find a decent photo, add our names to it and put a fridge magnet on the back.
Next time I think I’ll crochet a border for something different.
A while ago now I made some bed socks for my most favourite girl in the world.
Since then they have been well loved. As they were so well loved I had no issues with making another pair.
Only problem was I don’t quite know where that pattern book is. Maybe under the couch somewhere, but it’s lost at the moment.
So I did a bit of research and found nothing I really liked.
I did find a really cute mitten pattern which is only in Swedish but I thought I could figure it out and make it into some socks.
Using size 7 needles and Moda Vera Jet bulky yarn I cast on 8 stitches using Judy’s magic cast on
Then increased every second row until it fit my foot.
Then I switched colours and did a few rows of purling, switched colours and did a few rows of knitting.
There was no heel so I just kept trying it on until they were long enough.
Alternating the colours whilst doing two at a time is something I like doing a) because it creates odd socks that match and b) because it means you don’t have to wind the yarn into two balls. You just start with each colour and then swap. You do end up with a lot of ends though.
I’m hoping that with use the heel will magically appear and they’ll look less like woolen condoms. 
It feels like winter has just hit. I walked home from work in the rain with my feet squelching in my shoes, and immediately donned my trackydacks.
It’s the sort of weather where I want to curl up with a nanna blanket, and mulled red wine. I crave music by The National, Still Corners, Portishead, Zero 7, Silversun Pickups, and they greet me like old friends.
Yo La Tengo is my newest cold weather friend.
As long as I can remember I’ve been a bookworm.
My school holiday highlight was going to the local library to get as many books as I could carry and I always had difficulties in only picking 10 to take home.
Frequently bed time reading time would include the phrases “just one more chapter” and “don’t turn the light out yet!”
So yesterday when I bumped into something in the kitchen and my partner said “why don’t you get your nose out of that book and watch where you’re going”, I immediately replied “yes Mum” out of habit.
I took advantage of knitters block and spent almost all weekend with my nose in 3 books, read in quick succession.
Diary Of A Young Girl or The Diary Of Anne Frank has been on my to read list for a long time.
With the announcement this week that Neutral Milk Hotel are reforming (and coming to Australia squee!!!) it rekindled my original interest in the book.
It has been well documented that their album In The Aeroplane Over The Sea could be based around Anne Frank’s writing. I had Holland, 1945 swirling around my head whilst I was reading.
After reading it I spent the next few hours looking at Wikipedia articles about the same topic.
I am the first to admit that my knowledge of history is pretty terrible so I am trying to rectify that with my reading this year.
What struck me most was how well she wrote and how well she knew herself.
I don’t think I was that mature and self aware until I was much, much older.
Still on that vein I went looking for more to read on that subject and I found Adolescence in Auschwitz by Regina Frankel
Although not as well known as Anne Frank, her recollections and experiences have been documented and exist now as a gruesome memoir. It was a challenging read even with some details being left out, but I felt it was important to finish it.
I was particularly struck by one quote by Joseph Stalin “The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic.”
I’m not going to say too much more about these two books mostly because its very difficult, conflicting, and I need to be a better writer to articulate my feelings clearly enough to do these events justice.
After those two I needed something a little lighter so my dreams wouldn’t be haunted by the experiences of those two remarkable women.
I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella fit the bill nicely.
It’s an easy to read story about a girl who loses her engagement ring, and then finds a mobile phone which becomes her lifeline.
It’s the sort of book I usually read, and I do own a lot of her novels.
It’s a bit formulaic but her characters are relatable and fun.
Now to decide what to read next?
It was pointed out to me once that calling these ‘socks’ was a bit misleading.
Calling them yoga socks is also misleading because I’ve never done yoga.
So I’m calling them half socks.
These half socks come in really handy with my tiled floor.
I am a clumsy girl. I usually have unexplained bruises. My bed frame in particular attacks me.
I have sustained injuries from hair ties, cereal boxes, and Nutella jars. (The Nutella jar incident required 8 staples. I still eat Nutella though. I’m such a trooper.)
So walking around my house in slippery socks is a recipe for disaster.
I also have cold feet all the time so I need socks.
These are an OK answer. They still don’t stop my toes getting cold, but it’s better than no socks at all.
I’m counting these as sock 4 in my 13 in 2013 project.
If you watched my video from last week you may have noticed I showed you a finished object that I hadn’t blogged about yet.
So this is a little cushion with two different lyrics from The National on either side.
It’s not a standard shape, mostly because I didn’t realise I was going to make it into a cushion when I was embroidering those song lyrics onto scrap fabric.
Fortunately the scraps were big enough and I could turn them into a cushion.
This is cushion #3 in my 13 in 2013 project.
Welcome to my little corner of the internet.
Please make a cup of tea, and find a cozy place because today I thought I’d show you around my blog and point you to my favourite posts which you’d probably never see otherwise.
My blog is very dear to me. I consider everyone who follows and comments as a friend.
I treat my blog as a diary, where I keep track of what I’ve made, where I’ve been, and what I do. I find that if it’s public then I’m more accountable and I’m more likely to document events, take photos, and take the time to look back at what I’ve done.
Its proven itself quite useful over time, as a reason to get me out of my comfort zone, but also as a record of what I’ve done. I quite often search my own blog to look at the details of a knitting pattern or what recipe I used (most often it’s to find my mum’s zucchini slice recipe).
About 2 years ago I sat down with two pointy sticks, a ball of cheap acrylic, and the Lord Of The Rings boxset and taught myself to knit. I don’t think it would be a understatement to say it changed my life.
It’s been a steadying influence and is now a constant companion.
Since then I’ve made socks, scarves, hats, minions, cats, and a blanket.
About a month ago I decided it was time to learn crochet and am slowly but surely getting used to the hook.
I have a sewing machine which I’m learning how to use, mostly to make cushions and basic skirts. I have a thing for quotes so embroidery has been quite fun.
Apart from crafty pursuits I watch a lot of football. My team is Port Adelaide Power and their colours are teal, black, and silver. My best friend is a Hawthorn Hawks supporter and their colours are Brown and Gold. I think I have a better deal. My Partner is an Adelaide Crows supporter and his colours are red, blue, and yellow. So those colours pop up in my knitting for no other reason but football. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the most important people in my life are also football mad.
We like to go camping and get out of the city from time to time.
I love to read, and have made a concerted effort to read more this year. More than just my favourite books which I re-read all the time.
I also love live music and spend a fair chunk of time and money going to gigs and buying cds.
Every Wednesday I pick a song to represent the week. Sometimes it’s a band I’ve just seen or about to see, others it’ a new song which I can’t stop listening to.
At the end of the year I have a nostalgic playlist.
I’m also working towards 13 in 2013.
At the beginning of the year I made 13 goals, some internet based, some project based, some just for fun.
And so I’ve been working towards them and having a lot of fun along the way.
I hope you’ll stick around. And please introduce yourself to me, I’d love to make your acquaintance.
To make it easier for you, I’d like to know the answer to the following question.
What is the first thing that pops into your head when you read the word “Sparkles”?
(hint: there are no wrong answers)
So where do I want to be in a year?
I want to have completed my 13 in 2013 project.
I want to learn more crochet and how crochet instructions work.
I want to have finished a jumper or cardigan.
I want to get better at cables.
I want to finally figure out what this pattern is!
I find about things I don’t know how to do mostly when I browse new patterns and it uses a new technique.
So I’ll be interested to see what I’ve learnt in a year and what I’ve made. I’ve already learnt so much about knitting, enough to know I’ve only scraped the surface.
I would like to say that this week has been really awesome.
Thank you Eskimimi Makes for organising it!
It you haven’t already I highly recommend looking up any of the tags for the blog week #4KCBWDAY7 or DayX
I’ve really enjoyed reading and discovering new blogs and meeting all the new visitors to my little corner of the Internet.
I’ve had a blast!!
polka-dots & sparkles 