Motoring Along

Well, my socks have made progress, although it's only a little...



I'm working more on my shawl for Anne (Mystic Waters Shawl). That's made a great deal of progress ...

I'm now on row 264 of 367 and am doing around 10 rows a day. Of course, that may taper off a little as the rows get even longer. But then, I'm seriously trying to get this finished in February. I know it's (supposed to be) summer and all, but right now the weather is comfortable rather than hot, and it's wet. I'd like Anne to have it before it starts to get cold. As far as she knows, we're just making a few hats for her to wear as she starts chemo. This shawl is a surprise for her.

I was working on one of these shawls for me, but... it was full of mistakes, and the needle it was on was incredibly irritating. It was made of bamboo, which isn't a bad thing, but the connection between the bamboo and the cable was lumpy and it seemed every single stitch that went over it had to get caught on the bump. I've ordered KnitPicks Options needle-tips and the 152cm cable, and I'm starting over. From scratch. I loved it, and I'll love it again. Just now, though...

An Update! Shock Horror!

Heaven's above, an update! I think I may pass out! But no, I'm still alive, still breathing etc., This update is long overdue and I have some news to get out of the way, first.

Okay, does anyone remember the engagement? I was engaged, but... it didn't work out. I'm now trying to get back on track, and have dived into my knitting as a result. Thus, a rather photo-heavy post.




Does anyone remember this stole, from Victorian Lace Today? Well, I finished it last year, and it is fabulous. I freely admit, I stuffed up the border, didn't do the requisite repeat adjustments at the corners, etc. but you can't really tell, to look at it.



but along with my sister, her cat decided to help with the first blocking.

I have also learned to make socks. I can do the short row heel...


And the flap heel...



And one of these pairs I've even finished!


This pair I hadn't yet conquered kitchener stitch, but I've almost got it. I shall upload photos of the current pair of socks later. I can't be bothered fussing around with my camera and uploading it right now. But that pair is currently 3/4's done.

I'm also working on a shawl for a family friend, who had some bad news late last year. I thought a lovely lace shawl she could wrap herself in (in her favourite colour) would be nice.

That's all from me just now. There will be another update within the week.

Ja mata!

Goodbye, Ben

This is not a happy post in the least. Today, my family lost a member, my cousin. His name was Ben, and he had leukemia. He had two bone marrow transplants from his mother, but neither of them took. After the second failure, they told him there was nothing they could do, and gave him a choice. Take meds, and live for 6 months, or not take meds, and live for 6 weeks. He lasted 5 months.

I hadn't actually seen him in months. Every time I was in his area, I was sick myself. I didn't want to speed up his end by giving him whichever bug I had at the time. The last time I mentioned this was to my mother, yesterday. Now that seems silly. He's gone, now.

When we were young, he used to throw sand in my face and tease me, with the company of another cousin. The last time I saw him, I gave him a hug, the last hug he had from me. He was too weak to fight me off, then. But he'd grown up so much. He'd finished his HSC, and was looking at a promising life.

He was diagnosed soon after we discovered the malformed blood vessel in my brain. We both had life-threatening conditions. But his leukemia claimed his life, while my AVM is shrinking.

He wasn't supposed to die! He was supposed to get better! He was supposed to survive, like me!

I'm sorry, so so sorry, Benny.

Stole in progress

And here is my new stole in progress:



and I have a detail shot, too:



It's a great deal of fun. I'm really enjoying it. I love how it's getting horizontal stripes with the yarn colouration. Yay for new work! And even more for it making progress. :-D

Blocking blocked

Okay, I have found the card reader and can now upload the photos of my cat trying to steal attention from the silk stole. Or rather, trying to share the attention the silk stole is getting, as well as obtaining a comfy surface to lie on...



That is my poor sister who is kindly helping me block the stole. She can be found at this blog. After I took the photos, the cat was sadly evicted from his comfy spot. And the stole was blocked. I shall upload photos of the new stole in progress tomorrow.

Have fun!

Overdue Update

Okay, I've been way, way, overdue for an update. In life, I've reorganised my time schedule, so I'm not quite so tired, joy of joys. I'm loving my classes. One of my lecturers is showing a remarkable tendency towards getting distracted. This is good, as it means we aren't getting through much stuff in class, and he's only going to write the exam to include the stuff we've done in class. Therefore, our exam doesn't look to be very long, so far. Life is treating me well, and wedding plans progress.

In my world of knitting, the off-white lace stole is complete. And I've just discovered that I haven't actually taken any photos of it finished with my phone. It's much easier to put the photos on my laptop with my phone than it is with my actual digital camera. I did take a couple of photos during the blocking process with the camera, but I can't find the thing I need to transfer the photos over.

But typically, the cat saw some nice knitting being laid out on the bed and took his chance. He curled up on it while my sister and I were still putting the blocking wires in. For some reason, I objected to this. Partially due to the fact that he was lying in the middle, and I wasn't yet half-way down the side, and partially because ... it was my pure silk lace stole! Not a cat bed!

I'll upload some photos of the finished stole later, along with photos of my current project, another stole from VLT.

Have fun!

Border fixed!

I have fixed the border! I am very pleased with this.





I've done about 15 repetitions of the border pattern, am about half-way down one side, and I'm wanting to finish it as quickly as possible. So maybe another week or two to work on it. But I have good reason for wanting to finish it. My godmother visited the other day. And she brought yarn. I got 4 skeins of gorgeous 40/60 merino/mohair varicoloured with deep blues, purples, and greens.




Here is one of them, and I will be making another stole, I think, out of it. I confess, I love knitting lace. I swear, I'll make some socks eventually, but we've got summer temperatures in Sydney at the moment, despite still having a month left of winter, and lace is the best thing to knit in summer.

Yay for happy times and knitting progress!