Sticking the boot in

OK. That's it you damn sinus (and now chest) infection. I'm done with pussyfooting around and stealing a day off, here and there, to try to placate you. Get ready for barrage of drugs and more time on the sofa with the needles than you've ever experienced before.

Right, now that I've got that off my chest (I wish), back to knitting content, of which there will be plenty of action in the next week while I take a few more days off work to rest and knit. Doctors orders. (Well, not the knitting part, but when I'm given an opportunity/excuse to just sit and knit I'm not going to hold back). Some disjointed but related knitting content (because my brain is to fuzzy to turn them into a cleverly concocted seamless post):

Knitting content item #1:
Uptown Boot Socks. Started last Monday because I can't face the commute without some knitting. From one of my new sock knitting books. (Yes, indeed I did get "Knitting on the Road", but for my kind of sock knitting "Knitting on the Rails" might be a more apt title.)

Fresh in from Interweave's annual hurt/overstocked book sale. They look perfectly well to me, and I'm more than happy to squeeze them onto my bookshelf. I'm in love with Favorite Socks in particular. Some great sock patterns and a wide variety of techniques and details.
I'm enoying these socks so far. Knitting with Sundara's yarn is a pleasure (go check out the gorgeous new website for yourself. And do it frequently because it always sells so fast). I fell in love with the pattern when I saw Kirsten's. I love the undulating texture created by cables lurking in a sea of stocking stitch.

I'm doing my cables without a cable needle, which is certainly do-able, although it has it's tense moments, particularly if I haven't managed to get a seat on the train. As I leafed through Favorite Socks I learnt that this technique is called Estonian Cabling. See- full of interesting details and info.

Knitting content item #2:
Speaking of cables lurking in a sea of stocking stitch, I'd LOVE to knit up the beautiful Sea Tangles that just arrived in the Knitty Summer Pattern bonus. Beautiful. I love the way the pattern is derived. Just love it. Can't tell you how excitingly fabulous I think it is. Must go and update my Ravelry queue... And bite the bullet and order some yarn from Habu...

Knitting content item #3 and #4:
Speaking of updating my Ravelry queue, tonight I'm going to cast on for a new sweater for C.

I have a few balls of soft, grey Rowan Wool Cotton and was pleasantly surprised to find that Luka from Rowan Junior (which is sadly with another borrower from my local library right now) is available for FREE from the ROWAN PATTERN ARCHIVE. How did I not know of this before? What a fantastic resource. Just wish they had pattern previews of them all, so I wasn't opening up each and every one to see whether it was something I wanted a copy of or not... (Note- make use of the drop down box with the year and hit the search button to see patterns from the last 8 years).

Purple

Thankyou for the good wishes and sympathies after my last post. Indeed being sick with sick child is the pits, but thankfully being sick isn't a permanent state of affairs. I wonder if suggesting that we're actually getting over it will put a jinx on things (not something I want to do, given that I finish my antibiotics tonight, C is booked in for his immunisations tomorrow, our bathroom vanity is going to be here on Monday, half the new kitchen is sitting in the garage, and we have a builder busy pricing the extension...) but it does feel like we are all much better than we were, if not completely well again.

Back to some more uplifting creative blogging then? For indeed, despite the wheels of the household falling somewhat off, and the Bendigo Wool and Sheep Show going ahead without me, there was still crafting to be had. Quite a few hours sitting on the sofa knitting when I was incapable of doing much else meant that my purple socks are now a pair. I still need to work the ends in, but in the interests of taking photos in daylight and then sharing them with you, they can wait.


The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Cat Bordhi Coriolis Socks, either from this book, or from here.
Yarn: Australian Merino sock yarn, dyed by Lynne. Knitted with yarn held double.
Needles: 3.75mm Addi Turbo circular.

Pattern comments, modifications etc:
Wonderful pattern. Really wonderful. Intriguing, clever, and beautiful. I really want to get the book and explore her other sock architectures and knitting ideas. Love the increase when working with two yarns (knit into each strand- Brilliant!), and being knit with two strands on larger needles, a really quick sock knit.

All the more satisfying because I'm really pleased with the outcome. Would have been nice if they'd been a bit longer, but I used all but a few metres of the yarn, so that's life. I'll be wearing them around the house, so the length doesn't really matter that much.

The yarn was lovely to knit (sorry, I don't know where the undyed yarn came from) and I love the colour- rich but slightly mottled. I'm marvelling at the fact that they have a perfectly matched subtle striped appearance- somehow when knitting with both ends of the skeins the colour variations aligned perfectly, the subtle variations pooling together in exactly the same way on each sock. Amazing. The sort of thing that would never happen if you wanted it to.


More photos on Flickr. Other examples of Cat Bordhi Socks on Flickr here.

The system is experiencing some down time

*sigh*

I am sick. I am sick and have been soldiering my way through being sick for a while now. On top of my being sick, my son is sick, and my husband is sick. We are a house full of sickies, who want to be anything other than sick.

We want to be smiling and ready to head off in the morning and enjoy the day. We want to be dashing around town sorting out options and prices for our kitchen. We want to be ripping our old kitchen out. We want to be throttling the neck of the vanity maufacturer. We want to be meeting with new potential builders (we did manage to meet with one last night. Fingers crossed.).

We don't want to be crawling into bed at 8.30pm because we're just too tired to do anything other than sleep. We don't want to be thinking about money that we're spending on childcare that our son is too sick to attend. We don't want to be thinking about how many days we've not been at work due to someone or other being sick.

And I certainly don't want to be pulling out of a craft weekend at the last minute because we are all just too sick to manage it.

On a positive note I have finished one gloriously purple Coriolis sock. It's lovely. I'll come back and share a photo of it with you once antibiotics and vitamins have kicked in and my system is up and running again.

A mixed week

The disappointing:
Our builder pulled out. Two days before signing the contract. He gave a barrage of reasons which I'd love to say "....BUT.....!!?!*" to, but he doesn't want to talk to me and I'm sure it's all for the better. This way, we may be months behind schedule (do you think we can delay Christmas until March?) but at least we're not ripping out the central heating in the depths of winter. Best we get on with the kitchen works ourselves while we find another builder.

The deliciously good and satisfying:
I started some new socks. Some deep, luscious, lovely purple socks. Some socks that have me hanging out for work days so that I can work on them on the train (preferably whilst listening to Y Knit podcasts). Cat Bordhi's Coriolis socks [Ravelry Link, Knitty Gritty Link], knitted with this yarn, from former fellow Melbourne S'n'B'er Lynne (What is it with Melbourne S'n'B'ers being dragged to the 'States by their husbands? That's at least two of them now...). I've actually ripped out what you see in the pic- I'd done the garter square toe but didn't like how it felt on my foot, so I restarted with a turkish cast on, and am now nearly up to the heel. I can't tell you how much I'm loving working on these, discovering Cat's innovative "sockitecture". It's like delving into a new world in a captivating novel. I'm trying not to read too far ahead in the pattern for fear that it will spoil the surprise and intrigue to come.

The inspiring:
Angry Chicken's homemade deodorant. I suspect that I'm probably not going to make myself any, but I am so with her on the idea of not using heaps of manufactured product on ourselves. It's just so unnecessary most of the time. C has only ever been bathed in plain water, with a little olive oil massage to follow, and his skin is always in perfect condition (and my husband's hands, being as he does the massaging, have never been in such good condition). I know it's not just the absence of products that makes it so, but it just shows that you don't need all this highly processed stuff that producers would like to sell. And it's great to hear that others feel the same, live the same, and are willing to share their discoveries.

The tempting:
Book sale at Interweave. So tempting I couldn't resist. I've ordered a couple of sock books to keep me in fresh fodder for train knitting.

I think I over compensated

There's been a real lack of swatching (alot of just getting on with knitting) and the end results bear the scars.

Firstly there was the teeny tiny BSJ, which got frogged when I realised how small it was going to be. And then I cast on Sid. Cuddly, chunky, big, brown Sid, who may perhaps fit C in a year or so...

So the quest for a sweater that fits him now continues, and I'm giving myself a breather from baby knitting for a moment and have cast on a pair of socks instead. Haven't sweatched for them either, although I did just measure progress so far and it seems about right. Socks are a bit more adaptable. And at least babies grow so Sid should fit him one day. Just hopefully not in the middle of summer.


The Vital Statistics

Pattern: Sid, from Rowan Junior
Yarn: Naturally NZ Harmony 100% Merino DK, four strands held together, 8 skeins.
Needles: 15mm straights and sparkly Addi circulars
Size: 1-2 year
Comments, Modifications etc:
I substituted 4 strands of Harmony DK held together for the Big Wool the pattern calls for. I didn't swatch. If I had, I might have realised how loose the stitches were going to be, and might have decided to tinker with the stitch count and sizing and knit it with smaller needles. The tension is roughly right, it's just the texture that's a bit loose and floppy, and probably inclined to stretch.
I've been thinking about maybe giving it a lining, to add a bit of support and draught protection. I'm going to wait until it's a bit closer to being his size though. At the moment it's way oversized and totally unwearable, which I suppose if I'd thought about it, I would have realised a 1-2 year old sweater size would probably be. Hey, I could have even calculated the size based on the number of stitches. Wow- that would have been smart!
I also tinkered slightly with the pattern, knitting an extra 4 rows in the body below the underarms, which I think gives it a better proportion (I just don't understand why so many baby knit patterns have such short bodies!). I found that using the circular needle meant I didn't need to bother with stitch holders (one less bit of fiddling). I also kept the sleeve stitches live, and stitched them into place on the shoulder seam using a kitchener-like stitch (ie, stitched to mimic knitting) which gave it a neat finish and avoided extra seam bulk on an already bulky sweater.
Overall it was a fun, quick knit. It looks cute, but I'd feel more satisfied if I felt it was about to be worn to death, like the Red Kaftan currently is.

A bit late on the bandwagon perhaps, but....

If I was one to keep up to date with such things, I would probably know whether cupcakes have already become passe, and if so, what the In Thing to be baking was. But I have too much else to do to bother keeping up with the latest fads. Call me a complete dag if appropriate, but I made my first ever cupcakes for C's Birthday Celebration (a quiet little afternoon tea for family).

The recipes came from Julie Le Clerc's fabulous "Little Cafe Cakes". The book, and Julie too I am sure, based on this book, is more proof that very good things come from New Zealand. A fantastic collection of varied little cakes (which can also be prepared as big cakes if you prefer) that are generally very simple, but never boring or conventional, and from the selection I've made, quite delicious.

It was hard to decide what to make. In the end I opted for the Sour Cream Cocoa cakes with chocolate butter frosting (which has to be one of the easiest and tastiest chocolate cakes I've ever made) and the Roast Pumpkin Spice Cakes, with lemon cream cheese icing. (I was also tempted by the Couscous cakes, the Pear Olive Oil Spice cakes, and the Whole Orange cakes with orange syrup, but there will be other occasions for those...)

My only complaint was that I probably could have made 18 of the chocolate ones, rather than the dozen suggested in the book. The cases were too full, so overflowed, rather than producing nice little dainty round topped cakes. With the pumpkin, I learnt from experience and filled 18 cases, and they worked much better. (They must have bigger muffin trays in New Zealand). Certainly I couldn't complain about how they tasted (YUM) or the delight to see C wolfing down his own first birthday cake (He had the pumpkin, not the chocolate. That frosting is seriously rich. Adults only.)

And at this point I want to say thank you for the wonderful feedback and comments to my last post. I don't think I'm the most eloquent of writers much of the time, so it's lovely to get such a warm and supportive response when I put some more personal stuff out there.