Shaken, not stirred

The visitors have been and gone, the food was cooked and eaten and now onto the business of my knitting (or lack thereof).

First up, the finished set of serviette rings:





Also on the table Little Man and I made some lovely trees, suggested by Nora. Our version were slightly more toddler-fied (think, lots of glitter).



Here's the finished table, we had an entree of prawn and mango salad (with a mango chutney dressing and naan bread, delish). Then the traditional roast chook and lamb with all the trimmings (we won't speak of how I forgot to buy gravy...). Then for dessert, my piece de resistance...




Two tiered pavlova with berry cream, topped with strawberrries and mango. I was so happy with the meringue - they can go so bad and flat sometimes if you don't treat them with lots of tlc. This one was high and fluffy and teeth falling out sweet. Perfect.

And check what my husband got for me.

The present I knew about (because I pointed it out to him) (OMG I forgot to take photos! Tomorrow I promise, it's too dark now. Oh yeah, it's yarn).

and the one I didn't.



Of course, one must knit an iPod cover, I even put in a pocket for the earphones. Fancy.





So onward into the abyss known as I Have Nothing To Knit (aka IHNTK). I seem to frequent IHNTK a lot, and many of my knitting friends don't understand such a locale. Some look at me as if possessed and mutter 'I NEVER have nothing to knit.' Which, from the look on their faces, roughly translates as 'you are some kind of FREAK'. Some look at me with pity, 'you poor child, it must be awful not knowing what to do with your hands while watching TV' kind of faces. Other with hatred, knowing that they have about 2 billion projects calling for their attention at home. So how do I get to this point in my knitting?

1. Procrastination: I mull over what I'm going to knit for a VERY LONG TIME.
2. Serious Indecisiveness: When I narrow it down, it also takes a VERY LONG TIME to decide.
3. I like a quick fix: Quite often the quick fix I want to knit does not match any of my stash. Which, means I have to visit the LYS. Which leads me to point 4.
4. LYS-phobia. Not so much a phobia of the yarn store (and certainly not a phobia of yarn, I have the wrong hobby if that's the case) but more of the sheer amount of yarn and colour. I get overwhelmed by the sight of so much yarn and forget what I was there for. I can't just go into a store and buy yarn, I have to have lists or otherwise I come home with a whole heap of yarn that no pattern on this planet will match (see point 3) (it's viscousus cylcle).

I could go on. Suffice to say, I am currently at point 2. I have narrowed down - one being this (yes yes, in Crack Silk Haze. I reckon I could just about manage it in st st) or Eunny's lovely Print O' the Wave Stole. That would be stole, not shawl. No shawls here. And I think I might knit it thinner and do it as a scarf. I was thinking of using some Malabrigo laceweight that I got from a previous Knitty SP... but, I dunno. I hear so much from US knitters how Malabrigo is SO SOFT. But in a recent poll among Aussie knitters, it's just not soft. Maybe it softens on washing? It just doesn't feel like merino to me. But then I am spoilt and get to handle 17 micron merino fleece at spinning each week. So being the sucker for punishment I am, I'm thinking about this also in the Crack. Clearly I don'rememberer the Butterfly incident(s) that plague me every couple of months. Maybe I should add this to my list, short term yarn memory loss...

On a totally unrelated note, I got to go to the movies last week (usually unheard of around our house due to parenting duties) and we went and saw Casino Royale because you gotta see Bond in the cinema). I must say to really enjoyed it, Daniel Craig did a superb job (although I heard people walking out complaining he wasn't like Pierce. Um, hello? HE WASN'T MEANT TO BE). And I love the little references all through it to the usual Bond movies. My favourite line? The 'Bond girl' Vespar walkes up to Bond and says 'I am the money'. His reply 'every penny of it'. Classic.