It was a one eyed one horned flying purple people eater

It was my Mum's birthday recently, so I made her some Tadpole socks in Colinette Jittterbug Purple Passion. They were such a victorious, unrepentant shade of purple they reminded me irresistibly of the old song about the purple people eater. Here they are in action with Mr Wriggly, who was pretty keen on them too.

Speed knitting

I do like my hairdresser, but recently she sheared me. When I went to get a trim last week, the word 'short' must have been mentioned at some stage (eg "my, what a short skirt", or "yes please, a short black would be great"). Regardless of the context though, I came away with very, very short hair. The shaver was even used!

I walked in the front door, thanked the Knit Widower for his supportive gasp because clearly it could only be a gasp of admiration, not, for example, shock, and immediately cast on a Thermis.


Once the Thermis was off the needles, it was clear it needed some mates, so I whipped up yet another pair of Evangelines with the left over yarn (Sundara, Royal Footguards worsted weight).


Now I am much toastier, but still quite shorn.

The amada fights back!

Not only is the UFO amada fighting back, with me casting on the lovely Marlene despite two looming birthday deadlines, but its ally, the stash, is also growing! Eeeeee!


Yes, I had some stash enhancement at the Craft Fair at Darling Harbour this week. It was pretty amazing, I hadnt been before and I hadnt realised just how huuuuge paper crafting is. Luckily I was able to find what I wanted pretty quickly and leave before the crowds starting heaving. More on the stash reinforcements later.

Treats! And and FO (take that amada!)

When I was little, I loved lucky dips with an unbridled devotion. At any school fete, local show or gymkhana I could locate the lucky dip and blow all my money in one hard core session. Its probably just as well I never figured out to work the pokies*.

This seems to have translated into a passion yarn clubs. After all, there is a large element of luck dip about a yarn club. Sometimes the yarns are sensational, sometimes they end up on a Ravelry destash thread quicker than you can say "Jeezus!" when you get your credit card bill (which is always a strong possibility with our exchange rate).

This week brought two lucky dips into my home. The first (which actually arrived more than a week ago, and been carried from room to room to look at in different lights) is from Knitting Inspirations's Lace Club. Its a beautiful skein of Cashlana in Ocean. I guess it doesnt strictly fit the lucky dip analogy, you get to choose your colourway in this club, but as I'd never seen the yarn before, it felt like a lucky dip winner to me! The yarn package also included some gorgeous stitch markers and a tape measure with which Mr Wriggly has fallen in love.


Today's arrival was from the Needle Food Sock Club. Out of New Zealand comes this beautiful, hand dyed sock yarn and treats! Stitch markers, Freddos, an exotic woolwash and some bamboo dpns hiding up the back of the photo. Cant wait for next month's shipment!



And finally an FO, from the aforeblogged UFO amada. The Hot Flush Rock and Weave socks. Made for Liza, modeled by Liza. I suspect she is wearing them this very moment, while snacking on ruburb crumble and watching Friday night crime.




*slot machines

Its a space armada!

How many UFOs does it take to make an invasion force? I reckon I'm getting pretty close to a battalion here.


Here are my three socks in progress. Waterfall Socks in Hero, Rozas Socks in Serenity and Rock and Weave Socks in Hot Flash (which I keep calling Hot Flush). There is a rather special project on the end, Heathers Mitts.

Heres a little close up of them. They are killers, 2mm needles. At this rate, I reckon they might be ready by next winter.

Hanami, finally

Finally, almost a year to the day of casting on, I have finished the Hanami Stole. I started it a few days before Mr Wriggly was born, thinking that I'd have a shot at finishing it because he was never ever going to come out. Ha. Boy, did he show me.

It was only two weeks ago that I felt mentally able to cope with the basket weave pattern again, which was a complete grind. The cherry blossom pattern just flew by though. I'm so pleased with how it turned out. The Sea Silk Handmaiden yarn is wonderful to knit with and the stitch definition is superb.


Here are the specs: two skeins of Sea Silk Handmaiden in Ebony. The idea for a Hanami in this yarn in this colour is totally ripped off from Splityarn. The skein used for the basket weave end was darker than the cherry blossom end. The cherry blossom skein had more copper highlights, and dare I say it, the odd undyed fleck. I beaded the ends with tiny, pinkish, glass beads, that are almost impossible to photograph. If I knew then what I know now, I'd have used larger beads as they have been mostly swallowed by the yarn. Of course, in searching for the link to Splityarn's Hanami, I just found her tutorial about how to do a beaded cast off. Hey ho.


Its destined to be the divine Ms N's birthday present. I'll try and get a shot of her modeling it.

I'm starting back at work on Monday, four days a week. The Knit Widower is going to be Mr Wriggly's primary parent. Its all a bit daunting really. I ran into Six and a Half Stitches in the newsagents this morning and she gave me some comforting words about managing the work-family-knitting-life balance. Thank you SaaHS! I'm sure once its all happening, it will all be ok.

As requested

Its hard to tell where most of the food went - on his top, around his mouth or into his mouth. Unusually, he doesnt seem to have wiped any through his hair.