A little of this, a little of that....

Thought I'd do a quick post before it gets too long since I've posted. Of course I had to then go and take a quick photo or two of some WIPs, and then download them, and then realise that I haven't posted any photos for a while.





I've finished my ISE4 scarf (except for a light blocking and weaving in the ends). It's lovely and soft, and my photos really aren't that good. It is sunny here today (which it hasn't been for quite a few days here) but also windy which isn't conducive to photo taking outside.




I've started, and almost finished a pair of "Fetching" fingerless gloves/mittens from knitty but fell short-just. I either need to get another ball of the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (colour-Teal-luxury to knit with!) or rip 1 and 9/10 of the pair and redo with smaller needles.........


I've got some more model stitching coming up-another project for The Gift of Stitching - details to remain a secret until published, and also something for Stitches and Spice. This one will most likely be a sampler of some kind, and will be used as a model at various craft fairs around Australia.

I haven't done lots of my own stitching lately but did (are you sitting down??) work on my Chatelaine's Medieval Town Mandala. I've just cut some fabric for Long Dog's St Sylvestre which I have had in my stash for a long time. The fabric is "Dawn Light" in Belfast linen and the thread I am planning to use is DMC 4240 (a blue/purple variegated cotton). For the moment I have pulled out my L&L Celtic Autumn because I am in the mood for a bit of straight-forward stitching. Here is a picture I took today-not the best but it's windy outside!







Just a few more pictures. We made a special trip a week ago to the Kernewek Lowender or Cornish Festival which is held every 2 years and which we usually attend as Ron's ancestors are Cornish. This time we weren't planning to attend as it was no longer on a long weekend. The reason we made a special mid-week trip was that Ron's great-grandfather was being featured in the "Dressing of the Graves" and his parents wanted Luke (as the great-great-grandson) to lay the floral tribute. The picture on the left shows Ron & Luke with Ron's parents next to the grave. Below that is knitwear sighted in the wild. A lot of work went into that! And also a picture of school children waiting through the boring speech part before they get to sing. We made a day of it and pottered around a couple of the towns. One of the advantages of being there mid-week was that we avoided the crowds and traffic.

I am having a quiet afternoon as we hosted the "Biggest Morning Tea" at school this morning to raise money for the Cancer Council and I was the main organiser. We have a movie night (Shrek 3) coming up in a couple of weeks and I have to print up posters and tickets for that so I am having a quiet time before I move onto those tasks.

Think I will load some of the latest podcasts onto my MP3 player and stitch on Celtic Autumn.

Stand on your head and whistle "Dixie"

Sometimes I wonder about our family.........my daughter, Caitlin, asked my husband, Ron, if he could stand on his head and whistle "Dixie". Of course he can, and so he had to demonstrate. I did take a photo but it's still on the camera which isn't here right now.

I do have several photos from the school holidays which I haven't posted yet. We went into the city (Adelaide) to see this exhibition at the Art Gallery. It was highly enjoyable-I came away with an urge to learn to write hieroglyphics. We also had to visit the SA Museum which is next door. Caitlin also had a mission to see the pigs in Rundle Mall (life size bronze pig statues to clarify) so I had to take photos.

Another thing I haven't provided (but said I would) was some links to my model work for The Gift of Stitching editor Kirsten Edwards. If you are a subscriber to the magazine, you would have seen some of the models, but you can also see some pictures at Stitches and Spice - you need to click on the "Gift of Stitching Kits" link. The two that are my work are "Stitcher's Wallet"and "Quaker Mail Art". They are always fun to do and who wouldn't love to get paid stitching with hand dyed fabric and silks!


I've read quite a bit on various sites and blogs regarding the Knitpicks needles-both circulars and dpns, and happened across this Australian online shop that was new to me Knitting Inspirations which happened to have both and with the full set on sale. The Deluxe Set is available in quite a few Aussie online stores, but I've only seen the dpns here at Prestige Yarns which also stock the smaller circulars and all the bits separately. So I've ordered the Deluxe Kit and a set each of 2mm and 2.5mm of the dpns from Knitting Inspirations (my latest model work payment went towards this). Oh, and I also bought the Egyptian Garden when Martina released it as a downloadable chart last month. Not that I will be starting anytime soon as I have 3(!) Chatelaines as WIPs.

Currently I am trying to finish off The Drawn Thread's Random Thoughts which shouldn't take long as I have decided not to do the border and hemstitching. I found a note that I started this in July 2001 so it is past time to become a finished object. Here is an old scan I found-I am a bit further along than this now though. I'm also over halfway on my ISE4 scarf-see my sidebar for a link to the exchange-I'll post more details about the scarf I'm knitting another time.

Don't faint...........but I finished something!

Really!! I did-and what is more I am posting about it. It's "The Sampler Sampler"by Brightneedle-stitched over one on 32ct lugana (what was I thinking?). There are 28 different colours (mostly Anchor) and the stitch count is 105 square. There's a lot of work in that tiny piece (it's about 8 cm square) but it looks lovely and I'm happy with it. I started this mumble years ago-well before I contemplated stitching a HAED (which are usually stitched over one and are huge).

We all survived the holidays-more about them another post as I have to go to the post office and school shortly, but one of the major things that happened here was that it rained. And rained. For a few days even. We ended up with about 100mm or 4 inches in the old measurements. There are more showers forecast for later this week so it's looking good. I will have to look up what rain we've had in the last year, but it's not been good.