bekswhoknits

Getting organised

Posted on January 12, 2012 by bekswhoknits

Well even if I haven’t kept to my blogging schedule (a weekend camping festival kinda ranks on the priority scale) I have been busy organising things at home.

I went through my stash with a box of glad bags and a permanent marker.
Now I don’t have the hugest stash (it fits quite neatly in a hamper in the living room), but it was getting out of control.
I could never find what I was looking for, my circular needles were getting all tangled, and it was starting to overflow.

So now all my circular needles have their own bag (clearly labelled by size and length), and all my yarn is all in bags labelled and ready to go.
I also put my yarn and needles on Ravelry.
I aim is to use Ravelry more this year so I don’t have the same Christmas panic as I did this year. And also so others can learn from my mistakes and successes.

The other thing I’ve done is made a cleaning schedule.
I’m not a clean person. I don’t get any satisfaction from cleaning when I could be doing more important things like sitting on the couch.
But the mess is starting to get to me more and more. So I wrote down everything in the apartment that needs cleaning. I divided that into frequency and then put that onto a calendar as recurring tasks with that frequency.
That was the fun part.
Now I have to stick with it.

There are four things I want to do everyday.
– make my bed
– clear up all the dishes (from the bedroom, lounge etc
– wash all the dishes
– no clothes on the floor

Last night I got off to a good start, I swept the floor (as it was Wednesday), did all the dishes, and did a few loads of washing in an attempt to get all our clothes organised (post-camping festival).
I now remember I forgot to make my bed this morning, so day 2 isn’t going quite so well, but it will go better once the Mister is back at work and I’m not getting ready in the dark trying not o wake him.

Hopefully the schedule will keep me motivated about the small stuff, and get me to remember the big stuff that only happens now and again.

Stuck in my head – The Drums

Posted on January 11, 2012February 1, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I had a wonderful time at southbound. I will tell you all about it soon, but one of the best things was chilling out on the Sunday morning listening to The Drums on the stereo because I was singing this song all weekend

FO- Toe up socks.

Posted on January 6, 2012January 6, 2012 by bekswhoknits

So, toe up socks are awesome.

These waterfall socks were recommended to me by knitting on circular needles when I was having a twitter conversation regarding socks. Now I don’t think I’ll go back. I learnt the turkish cast on for a trio of baby socks for my nephew (I’ll have to show you those, they are adorable), and then went chasing patterns for grown-up toe up socks.

And I love these socks. Albeit they don’t quite match as it took me a while to read the pattern properly. But it won’t take me long to knit up another one. Maybe in a different colour, just for something different (I love odd socks).
And the beauty of toe-up socks is they eliminate one of (what I find) the most annoying parts of a cuff-down sock and that’s picking up all the stiches after you finish turning the heel.
All the information I’ve read about cuff-down socks is that turning the heel is the tricky part, and the rest is straightforward. Well it’s a lie I tell you… Picking up those pesky stiches is very annoying, and it’s always looks like the most unfinished section of my socks.

So toe-up socks is the answer.

The yarn is Moda Vera Noir, in blue. And they’re going to remind me of Christmas, Wuthering Hights, and holidays.

Stuck in my head – Grouplove

Posted on January 4, 2012February 1, 2012 by bekswhoknits

One of my blogging resolutions this year, and one of my strategies to maintaining this little blog’o’mine is a schedule.
I’m still working out the detail but one thing I didn’t like about last year was how music got left behind (which is funny as it used to be Musicfoodlife – music being high on the agenda).
So every Wednesday or hump day, to get me through the week, I’ll share a song.
Something to keep me going, or that’s been stuck in my head.

Music is such a massive part of my day, and even more so on a Wednesday.

So song number one for the year is by Grouplove.
A band I’ll be seeing at Southbound this weekend!!!
It’s catchy and poppy and all kinds of fun with a creepy creepy video clip. Enjoy!

Happy New Year

Posted on January 3, 2012 by bekswhoknits

Happy Christmas and New Year to you all.
I’ve enjoyed my little break. I finished most of my Christmas knitting and baking with some time to spare and even made a few pressies for myself.
I’ve had a bit of time off work to relax and unwind, but after being a month old at the new job I only took the Public Holidays off – but still two long weekends in a row was quite nice.
I spent a lot of time catching up with friends and family, my liver took a bit of a beating but I’m glad to be back talking to you all.

Last year was a fantastic year. I saw so many great bands and have so many good memories. I learnt how to knit (and can’t imagine a time when I haven’t knitted), I bought a sewing machine (and vaguely know how to use it), and I tried my hand at embroidery.
My boyfriend moved in. We had a few notable events together. I looked after him when he got his wisdom teeth out, we endured the great flood (two bedrooms of sewerage is not fun), gave police statements (whilst our apartment was unliveable due to the great flood), and eventually got life back to normal. We both changed jobs (for the better), celebrated new couch day, new mattress day, and new ipad day.

My best friend moved in down the road. Together we’ve laughed until we cried, cried until we had to laugh, seen cricket matches, football matches, and spent a lot of time at The Belvoir (The Getaway Plan, Portishead, Cold Chisel, & Gotye – in the space of two months).

We ended the football season where we started it, at The Inglewood. How much of our time and money has been spent there this year? I don’t know, but it’s been a faithful friend.

And soo much good music. Southbound started the year with a bang, Soundwave, On The Bright Side, Future of The Left, And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, The National .
And new albums too!

The Hairpin and Ravelry have become two very close friends. Between them and all my blog friends, there is all of my internet time.

So here’s to 2011 – and here’s to 2012 being just as good.
Cheers

Guest Post – Her Name Was Greta

Posted on December 16, 2011December 16, 2011 by bekswhoknits

Everyone head on over to her name was greta.

The lovely Stina let me guest post for her.

And while you’re over there spend some time looking at all the beautiful things Stina does.

She crochets, and bakes and has gorgeous cats to drool over.

Go on.
I’ll still be here when you get back.

Christmas knits – FO scarf

Posted on December 13, 2011 by bekswhoknits

Oh dear lord this took a long time to knit.
And photos are not going to do it justice.

3 months ago I cast on a scarf for my mum for Christmas.

However I made (what I think would be a pretty common mistake) a choice based on colour and not on fibre.
It looked so pretty in the shop, but working with it was a NIGHTMARE!

Moda Vera Noemi is designed for people with more patience and experience than I have.
It’s so finicky and furry.

It took me three attempts to find a pattern to accommodate the yarn. I ended up with the one row lace pattern (yo k2tog k1 k1tb )
K1tb is my abbreviation for knit through the back loop. I found this worked the best to create a nice gap in the pattern.

My mum is going to love it.
But I will be happy if I never work with fuzzy yarn ever again.

busy little bumblebee

Posted on December 9, 2011 by bekswhoknits

Just a quick little update – December is going to be a very quiet month.
But I am working on a guest post for the endearing her name was greta.

In the meantime, I’m deep into Christmas knitting (some times it feels like a lost cause), busy with my new job (which is really awesome and challenging and I’m enjoying it thoroughly), and trying to fit the endless social engagements into my calendar.
As well as the more homely calendar items such as the carrots should be ready tomorrow!

But I am still around. You can always find me on twitter or instagram.
And I look forward to coming back refreshed and ready to blog in 2012.

I’ll probably still post photos of Future of the Left and Gotye in the next few days though.