Just Checking in....

Well its been a lousy 4 days so far....
I caught a nasty gastrobug in the weekend and haven't been able to do anything! It's been so bad that my dear husband has had to take time off work to look after the kids and I haven't been able to knit even one stitch! Worst of all I missed my knitting group meeting yesterday and I am very sad as I really enjoy those meetings. Thankfully we are meeting up tonight so I shall drag myself along for an hour or so as I am no longer sick - just tired.

Anyway I am trying not to be a drama queen so lets focus on what else I've been up to since my last post.

I finished a hat which I had intended for a friends little girl, however my daughter Cara went mad for it because its pink, so I let her have it and I'll make another one in green.

My kids are growing up! My eldest is now at Kindergarten (USA equivalent = preschool)  three afternoons a week and my youngest just started solids and is trying to crawl.
It leaves me with a bit more time up my sleeve and I have been eyeing up some more challenging projects to do - now I just have to wait for my Knit Picks order to arrive from the USA.

Book and Yarn Swap - Parcel Received

I received my parcel from the USA!
Many thanks to Vanessa from New Jersey who was my swap partner.
Unfortunately, New Zealand Post opened up my parcel and broke into all the Easter eggs, but it didnt stop my daughter making a beeline for them!

I received a Ball of Chunky Green Sugar and Creme yarn, (which I will turn into a hat for my daughter), a copy of  The Sword and The Chrysanthemum by Susan Scharfman, an activity book called The Girls Doodle Book for my daughter (who loves it) and lots of yummy chocolate Easter eggs.

Slow going with this AWFUL yarn...

I am tring very hard to finish this sweater for my eldest daughter, its not a hard pattern, its on 4.5mm needles and you'd think that I would have finished it by now considering its been on my needles for 3 weeks! Alas there is a hiccup - the yarn - its AWFUL! its Panda Magnum Soft - a 100% acrylic that my daughter chose for herself so I couldn't say no .... 

It was fine in the ball, seemed soft enough but once I started knitting it I began to hate it - its scratchy, itchy and not soft enough for my liking! Its not that I hate acrylics in general I just hate this one and its enough to make me vow to never buy a 100% acrylic again!

Panda Magnum Soft

I decided to test myself on a different acrylic to see if its just the panda and yes it is, I started knitting with the King Cole Splash I was given and successfully finished the back of a Cardi for my younger daughter over two nights, whilst also struggling to do about 10 rows of the other....... (sigh). The King Cole is fine to knit with - no problems at all and I like the self striping pattern.   I promised myself that I will finish the magnum yarn and then never buy it again.

King Cole Splash

Yarn, Yarn,Yarn and More Yarn

I have been buying again - very naughty as I am supposed to be on a yarn diet. There are mitigating circumstances though.....

About a month ago I ordered some lovely alpaca from Webs in the USA, it was sooo slow to arrive that I decided to e-mail and complain, they told me to wait another two weeks and if it didn't arrive they would do a trace. Well of course it didn't arrive and they tried to trace - no luck. They e-mailed me to apologise and refunded me my money - of course I was gutted! Anyway, the very next day it turned up!  I am a firm believer in what goes around comes around, so I e-mailed them to say that it had arrived and to cancel the refund, but they refunded me anyway - thanks very much I will definitely buy from you again.

Classic Elite Inca Marl - Coral

Plymouth Worsted Alpaca

Whilst I was waiting for this yarn to arrive, I discovered a gorgeous pattern for Leg Warmers by Marie Connolly  and went on a yarn hunt for some nice 4ply. At the same time, I received a Voucher for $10 to use at Spotlight so I bought some cute merino. - yay more free yarn!

Cleckheaton Merino Bambino

Now that I had successfully bought some yarn for free, I decided to spend some actual money...

I need to make a sweater for a friend's little girl and as she is a very girly little girl so I went in search of a nice pink and bought some Organic Merino from SkeiNZ, for $5 a ball - what a steal, this stuff is a test dye for the Elan Organic Merino which usually goes for $12 a ball and should do the job nicely!

Organic Merino

Unfortunately though it didnt stop there.........just as I was leaving SkeiNZ, I noticed a bin of odds and ends, and discovered two balls of a lovely burgandy DK wool which will be perfect for some Nappy Soakers that I am trying to convince my friends mum to crochet for me.....

Sigh, I promise to be better at my yarn diet next month.

DK Wool

GRRRR Knitting maths gone wrong

Well I got about 10cm into the front of "Preppie" for Cara and then realised my maths was so far out that I was making it about three sizes too big. I was sooo mad but figured hey I'll carry on and put it in the drawer for when it fits. However, 20cm further on I realised I wouldn't have enough yarn for that size!
So, sadly I frogged back to the start, had a break, re balled it and started again. However, this time I decided to use an existing pattern for a 3-4 size and I am going to add the dot pattern as a panel on front. That way I wont have to worry about my maths skills until I get to the panel.......

Latest Splurge

I just bought some gorgeous 4ply Merino Mix from www.needlefood.co.nz
It's called Sprinkles and its just gorgeous.

I bought it spur of the moment when Michelle from needlefood e-mailed to let me know that my new Hiya-Hiya needles had arrived, I was impressed with the speed of delivery and they sent me a small whittakers chocolate and some cute stitchmarkers, so I am very happy.

Then, I collected my mail and my friend Sally, who's in the UK, sent me two balls of self-striping King Cole Splash which will be very cute for a kids cardigan.

Work In Progress

Well its been awhile....

I finished the baby sweater, decided not to crochet instead my mum is going to embroider something pretty.

I also made a new beanie for my daughter Alice, its from all the left overs from the others I made. I think it turned out quite cute.

Now I'm working on a sweater for my other Daughter - Cara......