grumpygirl

Chance

The malabrigo beanie. A bit blury but oh so cute. It was so cold today when we got out of the car that I thought maybe he won't take it off. That or he was too distracted being in the Baby Bjorn. He wore it for most of the time we were in Sunspun.

Funny thing happened to me whilst I was there today. I heard the owner on the phone speaking to a person with an uncommon name. I waited and then listened out for the address. Bingo!
My offer of "Does she want me to pick something up for her?" resulted in my previous post.

What are the chances?!

Hostage

What's it worth to you, miss ceels?

Settling

We have a settlement date - 5 June hooray! That's just over 4 weeks away. When we bought the house, we weren't going to be moving in for 77 days, now it's so so close.

Dash

This marvelously freezing weather is making me cast on handknits with an amazing amount of anticipation. After our swimming lesson today, we caught the tail-end of a farmer's market. It was unplanned so we pulled on whatever extra layers we could find in the car. Lucky we tend to carry half our outwear with us.

WB was wearing the Espresso vest I finished yesterday, plus some socks knit with some leftover Sweet Georgia in Stillwater. The hood on the Stokke kept the wind off him really well, but he needs more handknits for all the walks we'll be taking once we move to the new house. Very much looking forward to some flat ground.

WB was wearing Beau and his Noro Striped scarf. It's so cool (ha ha) to be able to wrap loved ones in handknits.

It was soo cold, it felt like we were daytripping in England again. We were only there for a really short time, considering the wind and the threatening rain. And, despite the stallholders being in packing-up mode, we managed to get some Madras curry sausages, wine and garlic veal, eggs, tomatoes, potatoes, brussell sprouts, plums, and a blueberry strudel. Not to mention a visit to the sausage sizzle stand! Not bad work for a quick dash.

Tonight, I've cast on a beanie for WB. I'l teach him to keep it on if it kills me.

Mossy

This is a jumper that a lady who BD worked with last year knit for WB. It finally almost fits.
It's beautifully knitted and must have taken forever with all that moss stitching.

The cold weather must have got my knitting gears going - I've just cast on for anther vest for WB. This time I'm using some leftover Yorkshire Tweed Aran from BD's Beau jumper. I'm making the whole thing checkerboard, so it will be a cross between Beau and Jake but probably without sleeves - we'll see how far 3 balls goes.

It makes sense to me to be making a mini version of the bigger project.
1) I know that the design has been proofed - yarn, project, gauge have already been worked out.
2) I have leftover yarn.
3) Plus, it's kinda cute for my boys to have almost matching handknits.

Dilemma

So I finished it. I started 5 days ago on the 21st, so woo hoo me. 4.5mm projects rock!

It looks like Sooz's in vest ing vest which was my inspiration, but it's not ribbed, has a garter edging at the bottom, uses my own measurements and well, I knit and decreased and picked up ON THE FLY. No number crunching, no schematics. And, credit where credit is due, it is very very similar to the Joelle's placket neck pullover from Last Minute Gifts.

The Sundara worsted is a lovely yarn. So far I've made this vest and this jumper with it, and now this new vest. So pleased with it. Fits just right with a bit of room to grow. And there is still some yarn leftover, which I'll have to make a teeny fourth item with. Normally I wouldn't knit so many items with the same yarn AND colourway, but I love love this Espresso Over Brick colourway.

Dilemma - let him wear it today or wash it first?

And just to show how messy and un-neat my knitting is before it is washed and blocked, here is the 'before'. The 'after' will follow anon.

Big

In the frog pond:

It took me a day to knit this up, so I know the two skeins are more than enough for a vest, but it's far to big. It was so quick to knit up, gotta love those 6mm needles.
The next attempt will have to be minus about 10-15 sts.
In the meantime, I've moved onto another vest - with the remainders of my Espresso Over Brick Sundara

You know things are bad when...

...you look in every one of your yarn stash boxes for a second skein that you're 99.9% sure you've bought, only to finally chance upon it your knitting box in the lounge.

Alternatives

We caught up with some people from high school today. It was better than I'd anticipated, but the husband of one girl in particular is still not someone I actually want to engage in a conversation with. I quite successfully managed to tune him out most of the time, but there were two conversation threads have stuck in my head.

It always irks me when people have opinions which they expect everyone else in the world to agree with unconditionally. More than an expection, it's as though it has never occurred to them that alternative views exist.

His first statement was that he's done the maths and that rather than go to the UK to work and travel, people should stay home and just travel during during their annual leave. Because after you take into account the relocation costs etc. it just doesn't work out financially. Huh?

But the thing that really annoyed me was his statement that he'd decided to give up overseas travel for 10 years whilst the children were young because it was too much of a hassle. His sister is a paediatrican and drugs her kids, but he doesn't want to drug his, so it's no travel for them. Double huh?? 

So many retorts ran through my head, but I kept quiet. There just wasn't any point in arguing with such a person. Does this mean I'm becoming more tolerant? No wait, I had some very intolerant thoughts when, after we told him what WB's name was, he questioned us bout it being a girl's name. Because, once again, there is no possibility that he was thinking of a completely different name which sounds similar to WB's is when the latter is pronounced incorrectly.

Perhaps I should have said 'Oh dear, you're right, why didn't someone tell me this 10 months ago?' Or maybe just 'Wow, you're stupid. And incredibly rude.'

Assorted

Back to ze knitting content.
Herewith an assortment of commissioned, gift and stock items.