Starting Anew

So while I'm blocking the first sleeve with saddle shoulder, I started Daughter's Trellis cardigan. It's looking good and feels nice and soft although it's acylic for easy wash and wear. I am loving cables so much at the moment but it is good to have a change from the yarn on my sweater. It's not rough as such, but stiffer than anything else I've used. Here's the sleeve blocking..



...and the saddle



...and the back of Daughter's Trellis in a pale blue acylic



Our nephews are here on their school holidays again, so they're watching S.W.A.T with Colin Farrell and Samuel L Jackson, and I have a wicked migraine so will have to miss the movie and go to bed early. The soundtrack is pretty good so far as I can hear.

Including the two nephews we had their sister (our niece of course), and their nephew too and Grandad and Sister and that came to ten people here for tea. Roasted chicken and vegetables, yummy dinner.

Half Of A Sleeve



I'm on row 56 out of 84 rows. Just finished the ball of yarn I started with, just two balls for a sleeve perhaps. I was thinking of blocking the front of the sweater last night, but after unpinning the back I wasn't up to leaning over the table for 20 odd minutes, so I knitted on the sleeve instead. Made good progress too. Of course each row is getting longer as I increase but because it is just reverse stockinette stitch I get through quite quickly. I like the way the ribbing on the sleeve matches the wheat ear braid up the center of the sleeve, but I did design it that way. I don't like it when the ribbing suddenly halts and doesn't join up onto the sleeve pattern, especially when you can make it flow.

Pouring with rain here today, will have to forget the walk unless it fines up later on. Lucky we went to the library yesterday and stocked up on more books to read. I'll have a go on my exercise ball later too, feels good to stretch those muscles!

Watched A Knight's Tale with Heath Ledger


and Rufus Sewell (check out his eyes!) with the kids this morning as it is so cold outside. No walk this morning. Maybe a trip to the local library in the car later on.

I just realised I saw Rufus in Bless The Child a few weeks ago. He was the bad guy Stark.



I started a sleeve last night and will take a photo when the day brightens a little more. It's so dull here even with the lights on inside I can't get a clear photo of the sleeve. I'm using Alice Starmore's advice on how to increase on the sleeves and man it's complicated (I needed a calculator!) but made alot of sense in the end.

Taking Up The Table

I'm using the dinner table to block something. Wonder what it is?



It's not like we really use the table anyway, we usually eat on our laps and the kids eat at their small table. It just seems easier that way. Hmm.



It's the back of my sweater, blocked out to the correct measurements with a kabillion pins. When the back is done I will do the front too. Though I still haven't started on a sleeve I have more of an idea on what patterns/cables I want to use. I want the wheat ear braid to go up the center and on to become the saddle shoulder, and maybe a few twisted stitch cables on either side with a plait cable on either side of that. We'll see.
Here's the bottom edge of the back of my sweater, hardly any ribbing there..



Listening to You're Beautiful and Goodbye My Lover by
James Blunt who has had a very interesting past previous to his singing career. It says on one of the reviews he was a soldier in Kosovo and watched the Queen Mother as she lay in state. I love his voice, it cuts right through me.

The One Where Hubby is 36

So we had a gathering last night for Hubby's birthday, but as requested there was no cake or balloons for him. BBQ dinner with family and a few friends. Hubby got down on the floor at one stage and let both kids ride on his back down the hallway and back again.


Brave man! Combined they are about 40 kgs.
So we watched Pulp Fiction after I put the kids in bed. Been a while since I'd seen that movie so it was good to see it again. Love Tarantino's role in it, so snarky and 'helpful'.

The aftermath...



at least the lounge is tidy and no more mess than the dishes to clean up. Hubby is past the days where he would likely trash the house just for fun.

Sister was here last night too, and showed me her ladybird blanket - alas I was too sleepy to think about taking a photo of it. It's looking really good with one row of ladybirds done, and only six more rows to go. As for my project, I'm finished the front now, and spent last night weaving in the ends on both pieces while I contemplated how to start the sleeves. I'm kinda following the pattern I found other than I'm running different gauge than the pattern and had to add more cables to make the difference. So for the sleeves I'll have to measure and adjust the length etc.

Next Knit



I just found this pattern at Knitty and I really like it. I think I'll have to do something small after my big sweater just for a change, and this has enough cables to keep me interested. It's called Trellis and I have a pale blue it would look lovely in. I'm really into knitting cables at the moment.

The front of my sweater is an inch away from neck shaping too. My hands are sore, though I'm pretty sure I can fit some knitting in tonight after tea.

Went to the library again today and got another Patrick McGrath book out. Martha Peake. Looking forward to reading this one as if it's anything like Spider then that'll be fantastic.

Nearly Done

Yep, got heaps of knitting done yesterday and am on the home stretch for the front of the sweater. Then I have to work out which patterns I want on the sleeves. Here is the finished back next to the front I'm closing in on, around six inches to go before I do neck shaping...


Sorry about photo quality, that's what I get for trying to take an inside photo on an overcast day!

Sister has started the ladybird blanket for her daughter's baby due next March. It's looking really striking with the red, black and white.



Keeping track of the graph isn't too hard Sister reckons, though she had to frog about six rows as she had been knitting white ladybirds instead of red ones. That was a pain in the butt but she soon recovered.



Photos of snow from yesterday, it's looking much the same outside at the moment...



Still think this is fairly odd for September weather, especially as the days before the snow we were down to wearing t-shirts.

We watched Saint Sinner last night, and I got a lot of knitting done then. My hands ended up saying STOP! and my brain was saying GO! so I had to stop and have a break from it. Saint Sinner was an ok film, Hubby enjoyed it.

Snow Day

Son and Daughter are home from school and kindy as it's snowing out and we're not used to being stuck at home. Making the most of it though, as Son still has a cold and is happy enough to sit and write out the alphabet that he knows and play games on his computer. I'm playing Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron on DVD and it makes wonderful background music. Daughter loves the movie too, it's her favourite.

I'm also knitting and got around four more inches on the front done last night, haven't got a photo though as it's the same as last time just longer. Steady progress is good, though I am enjoying the knitting of it and every row I get closer to the end the sooner I won't have the knitting to do. Does that make sense? I am really enjoying the process of making my cabled sweater and feel that it is good therapy for how I'm feeling at the moment.

I have Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting book out of the library at the moment and I'm longing to knit St Brigid. It would look lovely on me (if I don't say so myself) and I would love the knitting of it. I want to knit it with the Alice Starmore yarn too if I can find it anywhere. I have seen Rowan Aran Tweed in the local Knit World that would be good enough to replace Starmore's yarn if I can't find it. Lots of people have blogged or posted about knitting it. This colourway is in the Alice Starmore yarn 'Wilkinson' and in the book there is also an image of the colourway 'Brass' which I would like mine knitted in. Seems that the yarn hasn't been available in a while now, so I'll have to find a good substitute for it.



Looking at the Photo Friday Challenge too. It's a wonderful way to see beautiful and/or bold images of our world.

Doing Stuff

Or doing stuff all. I've been working away at the sweater and I'm a little up the front now.



While I knit I have been watching tv and the kids play and simply enjoy the weather warming up the world around me. Finally screened the episode of SVU with Doug Hutchison in it. Scavenger. I really enjoyed it, he's such a brilliant actor, and I hope he continues to make movies and be on TV for a long time to come.

Saw the third Harry Potter finally..



this is the poster that is on my door as Son is too scared to have it on his own door.

Have been fixing sundry ripped/outgrown items of clothing



and reading the book Spider by Patrick McGrath. The movie was made with his help and I see that some of the dialogue is straight from the book. Ralph Fiennes portrayed Spider/Dennis amazingly.



Also been looking after Son, who has yet another cough and snotty nose



oh it's so much fun, at least it's almost warm outside.