Archive for October 5th, 2008

Knitting, knitting, and more knitting!

October 5th, 2008 -- Posted in knitting | 3 Comments »

Well, I ventured out today to the local knitting store, where I immediately bailed up the nice lady at the counter. Now, I was taught to knit by one of my babysitters as a kid, and about 6 years ago I tried it again - but I bought a terribly fussy yarn, with lots of fluffy bits, and it just got too frustrating. That project is still sitting in a box somewhere, needles attached!

So, I asked her advice about which yarn to start with, and which needles. I ended up with a colourful acrylic yarn, and some 5mm needles. Oh, and a Patons ‘Learn to Knit’ book. There are some nice simple patterns in there, but I thought I’d start really basic so as not to discourage myself.

The hardest part was learning how to cast on. There was a method described in the book, but I couldn’t figure it out - so I used the method outlined in this video on YouTube instead:

If you’re picking up the needles again after a long absence, it’s a great refresher! I’ll be going back and watching it again to learn how to cast off. So, my first few rows went well…

As of tonight, I have gotten this far:

I’ve only made two mistakes so far: I accidentally added an extra stitch in my second row, and I dropped a stitch a little ways back. But, overall, it’s been really easy.

Truly, as soon as I’d cast on and went to make that first knit stitch, it all just came back, and I just started knitting! My hands are a little sore from the unusual activity, but I’m hoping with time and practice this will disappear.

I’ve decided that this first project will be a headband, and I may try and find a few buttons to funk it up if possible. I’m really quite enjoying myself - I told Nick he may have to hide it from me, I just can’t seem to stop!

Those of you out there who knit - what was your first -completed- knitting project? And what cool things have you made?

We’re Home! Oh, and the bookshelves :)

October 5th, 2008 -- Posted in home | 1 Comment »

Well, it’s finally home. We’ve just come back from a week-long holiday in Fiji, and it was so lovely to open the door and step back into our own home.

We managed to get the house totally sorted out before we left, and packed those pesky unpacked boxes off into the garage to be worried about in future. The saga of unpacking was helped along enourmously by the completion of the two bookshelves - you should have seen the pile of empty boxes once I unpacked this lot!

The shelves made by my dad, and stained by Nick and I.

Bookshelf No. 2 is currently in our spare room/cello room:

This morning started as all Sunday mornings should - with a cup of tea in bed. Fast forward a few hours, and we have Nick making awesome bacon, mushroom and onion omelettes for breakfast:

Nick\'s quite the Jamie Oliver, or is that Gordon Ramsey? Not quite enough swearing to be the latter.

The garden is looking great, too. Did I mention that it took us three trips with the 4WD and trailer to get all our (okay, my) stuff from The Rental to here? And that one of those trips consisted solely of plants? Ahem…

The strawberries are going great-guns, and the little mulberry tree has fruit all over it! I can’t wait to tuck into these..

Mmmm, mulberries...

Oh yes, and we finally got ourselves a proper compost bin - it was on sale at K-Mart for $25! We saw it at Bunnings a few days later for about $45. Bargin!

Our backyard is huge, and mostly empty, so I’m hoping to ask the landlords soon if we can make a bit of a vegie garden along the fence - I would be estatic if I could actually finally garden in the ground properly!

Now I’m off to buy myself a pair of knitting needles and some yarn. Yes, I have decided to re-learn how to knit, and join the legion of make-it-yourself knitters. The last time I tried knitting I bought some fluffy, silky yarn which was a nightmare to work with, and started by trying to make a scarf. Needless to say I got fed up - so this time, easy yarn and a small project to begin!