Simple pleasures.

The other day, I broke out a new toothbrush. And I’m standing there, brushing my teeth and thinking, “This is ridiculous, something as small as a new toothbrush should not be making me this happy!”. And that got me thinking – why not? Why should I only look for joy in the big stuff? So today I give you a (by no means exhaustive) list of things that make me happy out of all proportion to their size or importance:

1. A new toothbrush.
2. Freshly painted toenails
3. Crisp white cotton sheets
4. Newly sharpened pencils
5. Thick fluffy towels
6. Bread, fresh from the oven
7. The first sip of coffee in the morning
8. The smell of rain on a hot day
9. Cherry tomatoes

So, what have you got to add to this list?

Another Wingspan

As previously mentioned, I cast on a second Wingspan immediately upon finishing the one I made for Boyo’s Year 6 teacher.

It is now finished and blocked, so this morning I took it outside and hung it in a tree.

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This one is made from the Crazy Zauberball I bought in Brisbane at the Stitches & Craft Show in October 2011.

My favourite part is that slash of red, edged with golden yellow.

If this scarf can’t brighten up a dreary winter day, then nothing ever will.

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The Vital Statistics:
Cast On: 3rd November, 2012
Cast off: 25th January, 2013
Finished: 30th January, 2013
Pattern: Wingspan, by maylin Tri’Coterie Designs
Yarn: Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball, colourway 1564 “Tropical Fish”
Needles: 4mm Knitpicks Options circular
Modifications: I worked a wrap-and-turn at each short row, because I prefer that.
Ravelry Project page here.

What I’ve been doing all this time…

Aaaaand again, I have failed to keep my New Year’s Resolution to post every week. A large part of that was the study thing – I finished the easy introductory part of the course, and they threw us into Anatomy/Physiology, which was really interesting but quite difficult in parts, so I needed to buckle down and stop faffing about online. It worked: I came out the other end with good marks, which was both pleasing and surprising (I know it shouldn’t be; I’m a smart person, and I worked hard, but I always am surprised when good marks happen. It’s just how I roll).

The other part was family stuff. Boyo had a very difficult 2012. He starts high school next month, and he is understandably anxious about it, but where another kid might deal and move on, he has turned that anxiety into a whole slew of behavioural issues. I won’t go into detail, but between meetings at the school, ferrying him about to various therapy appointments, and no small amount of screaming and crying (both him and me), he has taken up a fair bit of my time. I’ve applied to defer my course for 12 months, as I really need to focus on getting him through this first year of high school. I haven’t heard back yet from the Powers That Be, but I’m told there should be no problem, I definitely qualify for “special circumstances”.

Anyhoo, while all of the above has meant the knitting output slowed down somewhat, there has still been some fibre-y goodness happening. As mentioned in the previous post, I made a Wingspan scarf for Boyo’s teacher, and both she and it are swanning around Ireland at the moment (lucky girl!). I loved knitting it so much that I promptly cast on another for me, and have almost finished it, despite the ghastly hot weather we’ve had here.

Also, socks-in-progress for Tech Support, from EGMTK! Super Sock Yarn bought at Bendi:

And the learn-to-spin thing is moving along nicely. I did indeed break out the BWM fibre, and look how pretty it spins up!

On top of all that, I’ve been sewing:

…and dabbling in a bit of quilting:

This is what happens…

…when you let a 9yo pick the fabric.

So, all things considered, a not-unproductive 2012.

Wingspan

What you see here is the result of collaborative effort.

My idea was to knit a scarf for Boyo’s teacher, and to buy the yarn at Bendigo.

Boyo decided that since we didn’t know her favourite colour, we should go with a rainbow.

Dr Bones pointed out a particularly lovely example of rainbow yarn.

Tinkingbell saw the ball of yarn and said “that needs to be a Wingspan”.

And then I came home and got to knitting.

The Vital Statistics:
Cast On: 28 September
Cast Off: 2 November
Pattern: Wingspan by maylin Tri’Coterie Designs
Yarn: Wisdom Yarns Poems Sock colour 957
Needles: 4mm Knitpicks Harmony circular
Ravelry link

This was such a lovely knit! I’m confident Boyo’s teacher will love it. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

In a spin.

One of the things I did at Bendigo was park myself in front of a spinning wheel and attempt to make my fingers do that thing that spinners always make look so easy.

As you may have guessed from the above, it didn’t go so well. The words “lumpy overspun mess” would not be out of place here.

Undeterred, I came home and started practicing. First, I read the Ashford Book of Spinning. Then I spent some time practicing treadling very, very slowly. Finally I decided it was time to try again with some fibre. Armed with my knew knowledge, I pulled out the Big Bag of Unidentified Top that has been lurking in the back of the stash cupboard for the last couple of years, waiting for me to have a wheel (and a clue). And I started spinning. What came out at first was still ugly, lumpy and overspun, but I persevered. I knew that overspinning can be fixed somewhat by plying, so after a while, I put a second bobbin on, and once I’d put some singles onto that, I plied the two together. This is what came of that first afternoon’s work (click to embiggen):

Still odd and overspun in places, but an improvement.

Every day since (well, almost) I have spun for a minimum of 30 minutes, usually of an evening while T.S. and the boys watched telly. This is what came of the first week:

Then I decided that white fibre is boring, so I threw some dye around:

It really feels like it’s getting better. Soon I think I’ll be ready for some of the fibre I bought at Bendigo.

I’ll keep you posted.

Foxhollow

Presenting my beautiful Foxhollow cardigan:

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The Vital Statistics:
Cast On: June 11, 2012
Finished: July 20, 2012
Pattern: Foxhollow, by Amy Swenson
Yarn: The Knittery 10ply Aran: Posmerino, hand dyed by me, colour “Blackberry Jam”.
Needles: 7mm Knitpicks Options circular
Modifications: Added about 20cm to the length, because I wanted to.

It’s my new favourite thing ever! So soft and warm and cuddly that it’s like wearing your dressing gown out in public. I finished it at Bendigo, so it took just about six weeks to knit, start to finish.

I can’t brain today; I have the dumb.

• Got home from Bendi mid-afternoon yesterday.
• It was awesome, as always.
• Today is a Designated Recovery Day (if you capitalise things, they seem more official).
• I took hardly any photos.
• I bought lots and lots of stuff.

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