Tangled

Oi. This fair isle business is a bit messy. I know I should have the yarn on small little bobbins or some such fun but you know I like to do things the hard way (preferably the hardest way. You know, so then I can whinge about how hard it is). And the carrying of the yarn - who knew? I find that 3 sts is the furthest that I can go without carrying the other colour along, god knows if I'm doing it right, I kind of loop the colour I'm not working with over the top of the other every 3 sts and continue on with the colour I'm working with - does that sound right? I guess I should pull out my trusty Elizabeth Zimmerman book, I'm sure she has some words of wisdom on the subject.
This is where I am at.


I'm actually quite enjoying it, not as brain frying as lace but not as brain numbing as st st.



What I don't like though is that it is taking away from my precious Alias DVD watching time - I have to watch what I'm doing and not the TV. It's a hard life. However, when I do look up it seems to coincide with when Michael Vartan is on screen so it's not all bad. (Did I tell you he was one of the celebs we interviewed at the Cup. My producer gets the glamourous job of meeting the celebs, I get the not so glamourous jobs of watching the interview on a monitor about 500m away. Lucky me).

It's moving along pretty darn quick. Which is a bit scary as I don't have anything lined up to knit next - what a surprise!

Did someone say NEW COUCHES?

That would be me! Saying it A LOT! Well, they are here (it looks black, but it's actually chocolate).
Here is my latest project kicking back on the 2 seater (my DH gets the 3 seater. I guess it's only fair since he is 6'5"...)



It's a xmas stocking for Little Man. I'm choosing this as my first foray into fair isle, however I think the pattern is way too busy for me, so I'm knocking it back a bit from this:


to this:



It will have his name knitted into it at the top bit too. I've just started on the first bit of white, this is going to be interesting...


I did some tasty orange/pink merino with a splash of silk at spinning this week, felt I needed to spin something with a bit of colour after the many hours of spinning Ms. Mere. Delightful as she is to spin, after a while I felt that if I saw any more sable coloured cashmere I might poke my eye out with my threading hook (don't tell her I said that, we have a tenuous relationship. She's very fickle.)

In case you didn't know...

I have a sale so hop on over and check it out.
Still no knitting to see here, still have lines in the forehead. Same old, same old.

Monday! They're coming on MONDAY!

In the immortal words of Big Kev, I'm excited. I just got word that my new couches are arriving on Monday. So what does a knitters mind turn to when hearing that large furnishings are descending on her loungeroom?
Knitted cushion covers.
I had asmss s sk,sspqspsapsssss.xcx'x. sorry, Little Man hijacked the laptop.
So covers. I sewed some covers for our current couch but recently they have come apart at the seams. I think this is mainly due to the fact that they are brocade and I didn't overlock the seams. Let me tell you, if you have brocade, you HAVE to overlock the seams. Otherwise your DH will sit on the couch many times over, mush up the pillows, which in turn weakens and then splits the seams. Bitter? Noooooo.
So I might do these tasty little numbers (or something like it, I really don't think I need a pattern to knit a square) (I have that in writing when it all goes horribly wrong).



And very happy that I have matching yarn in my stash - the observant among you will notice that this is the infamous yarn from the Mohair frogging incident of 2005 (the incident in which I did not learn from).



I think it will look mighty tasty with my new brown leather couches, and ties in nicely with the red and yellow asian painting on the wall. Mmmm, did I ever mention I wish I was an interior decorator?

I was just doing my nightly round of up the blogs - how GORGEOUS is this from Wendy? (the second pic, although the kiddies jumpers are super cute too). I likey.

Knitting? What knitting?

I wanted to come back with a post full of flair. Wit. Charm. And lots of yarn.
What do I have for you? Nada.
I am drained, DRAINED I tell you. 12 days non stop working will be guaranteed to knock the wind out of your sails. Then coming home on Saturday night and starting work on a new job on Sunday has just sapped all of my strength. I haven't even wanted to pick up the needles, friends that is SERIOUS.

I did, however, pick up the needles a tiny bit while away. Just to knit with the Crack on that shawlly, shrug thing a couple of posts down. Didn't get too far though, it's not the most stimulating knit (probably just as well, my brain might have leaked out my ears if I had to think too much harder).

In my time at the computer while back that hasn't been work I have been getting back into a past addiction... skincare & makeup. I cannot tell you how many lotions and potions that have graced my shelves. Back in the late 90s I was a frequent poster on Make Up Alley, even made a friend who happened to be a makeup artist in the States. And how's this, she came over to my wedding on the other side of the world to do my makeup (and be a guest, of course). Many people who know me think my makeup obsession is hilarious - for someone who barely ever wears any (only if I am going out, and we all know how much going out time you get in a toddler household) I have more Stila, Benefit, et al that you could shake a brush at. And skincare! Love it. From Eve Lom to Dove I have tried almost all of it. Currently I am coveting SKII. I would say slowly making my way back into high end skincare, but at the price of SKII it's more like diving head first into the Arctic. What has prompted this reawakened interest is some serious lines on my forehead. Doing an examination in the mirror to find out what facial expression is causing them, I see that a eyebrows raised stunned look is the culprit. Not that I think I walk around with a perpetually stunned expression, the lines say otherwise. I am forever told by every beauty therapist that touches my face that my skin is dehydrated, so I figure the dehydration has finally caused the roadmap. So hydrating creams are next on the hitlist.

Here's a pic to distract you from the lack of knitting action...



Move along, no knitting to see here. Just some deep furrows in the cranial region...

AWOL

Horses, hats and hooligans.. yup it's that time of year again.
I'll be emerging back out of the deep hole that is the Melbourne Cup carnival sometime next week. In the meantime I will again watch the Cup on a monitor in a dark room a mere 200m from the track... you know I think it's safer there. One year I'll flash my members accreditation and actually go and see it from the safety of the members area, much more civilised than the mosh pit that is the public area.
See you soon.