Travel Bug

This is where my "I've Got the Quilting Bug" travel bug is at the moment. It seems to be on an island in Canada. Does anyone know this place? It seems to be very close to Oregon as the crow flies, but I wonder how it gets to the mainland from here?

Poor Holly's bug made it to Hawaii, but then was taken back to the US!! It was getting closer to Australia, but you have to wonder how long it will take to get back out there in the rest of the world. Why would someone take it back to the US when it clearly says on its tag that it wants to go to Australia? Not the full packet of biscuits, that's for sure.

No sewing really - well that's not true. I have added some extra quilting to the couch quilt, and I've done some more work on the hexagons, but that's it. I should be making CWDQ blocks, but I'm not. I'm going to be out on Friday and Saturday, so it isn't looking good. Maybe on Sunday.

I've just washed 3 of the quilts today, as we have seen the sun for the first time in about a week. I also washed the sheets and clothes, but now the clouds are back and it's spitting again - I'll never get them dry now, and the house feels like it needs a hot breeze to blow through it to get rid of the damp feeling.

There has been a breakthrough in beagle relations this week though. Since Chloe came to live here, she and Simon have been friends, but not as much as they could be. They've been getting closer together, but this week I took this photo of the pair of them in the crate together.

I think Simon must have been in there, and then Chloe went in too. Perhaps once it gets colder there will be more snuggling.

I've been thinking about knitting lately too, and think that I might finish the socks I started so long ago! Hope I can remember what to do, and where I'm up to. I think I'm up to picking up stitches for the second heel - the least fun part IMO.

1st Sock Finished

Here you see my finished 1st sock. It is too big really, and the heel drops down lower than I think it should. Maybe this is because I have made it too long, or the needles are too big. Whatever - I now know that I can do it, so hopefully the 2nd one will be a bit tighter too, as I have a better grasp on the pointy needles. It looks a bit funny at the toe in the photo on the left, but is ok when on. I had 8 stitches on each of 2 needles at the end, and I did the 3 needle cast off. The stripes are groovy, so I will wear them with my slippers or something.

The weather has finally turned a bit cool which is such a relief. It is about 17 deg C - 27 deg C, which is very pleasant. I slept under the doona last night for the first time, and today I have dug some holes for trees without expiring from the heat. I would be very happy if the weather was like this all the time. It is quite windy though, and all the people on boats on the Bay for Easter probably had a miserable time.


I have been working on my hexagons a bit, the 4 patches and bits and pieces. The 2nd sock is next.

Tsunami Warning

We had a Tsunami Warning yesterday. Well I found out about it last night on the news, so luckily it came to nothing. A 10cm rise in sea levels apparently. I would have been washed away in my bed, fast asleep, with the beagle on the end! My land is 11 metres above sea level, but as I live in Moreton Bay, which is protected by islands, I'm sure I'm pretty safe.

Anyway, I've been awake since the Crack of Dawn - in fact before the COD - too much night duty. So I got up and sewed some 4 patches out of some of my new fabric, which I couldn't really afford. I have also reassessed my dodgy mathematics, and the size of the quilt, and have decided that I need 248 x 4 patch blocks. This may not be the case, but it is my latest estimate. I have them pinned in groups of 10, and find that I have 206. Pretty exciting stuff! I find it very hard to calculate how many blocks I need, as it is an on-point setting, but if I make 248, then I can always make some more later if I've stuffed it up. The blocks are very scrappy, so I wonder how it will turn out?

As for the other projects - the sock is up to the toe decreases, so I'll have to get onto it before I scare myself silly thinking about it. The current dilemma is when to start the decreases, but I sort of put it on the other day, and figure that my toes were sticking out about 2 inches, so I'll just have a go and hope it fits.

I have the knitting bug for sure - I made a cotton dishcloth yesterday. I have never used a cotton dishcloth, so I will test it out. I made it out of an abandoned crocheted UFO, so there is nothing to lose.

I tried to go all the way around the Q4P Ring this morning too, but after 2 1/2 hours I stopped before the end. I had a look at the list and there are over 70 members now, so sorry if I didn't get to you.

Otherwise all is quiet here. The weather is teasing us by 'marginally' cooling down, so hopefully it will not be long before you can do things without immediately breaking into a sweat. I have some trees to plant, but between the heat and the mossies, I have just been watering them every morning in their pots, and hoping they survive. Soon, soon...

Sock Tantrum

Does this look right all of you sock gurus? I'm not 100% sure about it. I hope I've not stuffed it up, as I could very easily get discouraged right about now. I have finished (I think) decreasing for the instep, and now have to keep going til I think it will be long enough to do the toe part.

How far that will be I don't really know. How long is the toe part? I think I read somewhere about 2 inches?

It all looks fairly big - I really think I could have used 0.5mm smaller needles, but too late now. The other thing is that I have HUGE feet, so I probably need the room. I had a tantrum the other night after picking up the stitches for the - well I don't really know - how are you supposed to do all that with these fiddly little needles? Crochet hook for the next one I think. Anyway I had 9 stitches on needles 1 & 3, 32 on needle 2. I had to pick up 18 along each side adding them to the 9, which gave me 27 x2 and 32. I counted and counted and counted. I had it right I swear! Then around the whole lot with one row of knit to pull it all together - 1 stitch too many. I tell ya! I had Speed on the TV, things were getting pretty full-on on the bus, I had a bit of a headache that was rapidly increasing, I was hot and sweaty and hadn't had a proper night's sleep the night before. It was also the day of the lizard 'surprise' (see previous post), and frankly, it all got a bit much. I looked and looked to see where I had picked up this 'extra' stitch which I swear wasn't there before - no go. So, as I thought to myself "bad habits are starting early, aren't they my Girl?", I knit 2 together, finished the row, put it down and went to bed.

It was that or out the window to be ravaged by a cane toad in the night.

But on I went the next day, and here we are. I'm just going to keep going, and if it isn't right I will do a better job on the next one. One of the Doctors at work was talking about her knitting last night, so I showed her my sock and she was very impressed. So that made me feel better LOL. She has never done socks though, so anyone who has not wrestled the 4 satay sticks before is always impressed in my experience!

I continue to chant my mantra of Progress not Perfection.

Between Me and Insanity

lies the humble mosquito coil. I have never in my life seen so many mosquitoes. I took the dogs for a walk late this afternoon, covered in insect spray, and in the end I couldn't bear it - I had swarms of them buzzing around my head, and biting me all over. Despite having fly screens, the house seems full of them. They come in with you, and I'm sure a few sneak in through the dog flap. Then you get into bed, turn out the light.... and bbzzzzz. Bbbzzzzz. Bbbzzzz-zzzz-zzZZZ-zzzz. All around your head. Aarrgghhh, the agony! So the old Earth Tiger coil is going non stop. Do you like Ms Redhead in a snow globe with Australia-shaped hair?

Anyway, back to the socks! I got a bit of knitting done at work last night as I had to sit with one patient a lot of the night. I am up to the heel turning bit, so it's all happening. I just love the magic stripes in the sockyarn. My rib is not very good - a bit loose, but I was struggling with the live hedgehog that lives in the double point needles (see previous post). However I am confident that I am improving. Progress not perfection. Thanks for all your suggestions and help. The Come to Silver sock tutorial that Quilting Fitzy suggested was very helpful, and Anne and Diana thanks for the loop switching advice. My ladder is less noticeable now, and it is getting tighter. Tazzie has been very helpful too, and speaking of knitting have you read about Ruth's announcement yet?


All this talk of finished UFOs around the blogs has me feeling a little guilty about neglecting the hexagons. So I got them out tonight to reassure myself how close I am to finishing (this is what I tell myself). They look a bit crumpled as I have started folding the whole thing up in a tablecloth so that the parts stay fairly close to where they need to go. The dark border probably would have been finished by now, except that I have gone around and added another row of hexagons as I have decided to slice the tops off the outermost row and bind the quilt with a straight binding. So time consuming, and I am a bit sick of the dark colours.

So I haven't forgotten it, just having some time out. Also it has become too big and unwieldy (is that a word?) to take along as a mobile project, hence the knitting. They must call me the crazy crafty lady on the ferry. Or as someone said to me last night "That's interesting. Knittting with Satay Sticks now. What's next?" Hmmm.

Progress

I know this is supposed to be a quilting blog (being in the Q4P ring), but I hope you will allow me this little knitting interlude. I think I've figured out the needles now - see my little tube there on the left. I'm still getting the 'needle change ladder' effect, but only in the ribbing, not in the stocking stitch. Don't know why.

I've decided to start a sample piece as per the sock pattern to try to master the techniques, but not putting the length required for a normal sock into it. Make sense? I have just looked at the heel instructions, and it makes no sense at all, so I will look at some tutorials before going on.

Doubt there will be much quilting done today, as there is plenty to be done in the yard and the house. Maybe tomorrow I'll get onto that Girl Guide quilt. I have to put the borders on and quilt it. I hope the Irish among you didn't overdo it yesterday, and are suffering now...

Double Points

I've just found this quote on Knitty while looking for a tutorial on how to use those infernal double pointed needles. I can really identify...

"Until you become accustomed to knitting with double points,
it may feel like you've got an unruly hedgehog in your
hands."

Touche!

Comments

Thanks heaps for all the helpful comments regarding my first applique attempt. I don't feel so bad about it now.

I always try something new (applique, setting up stuff on computer etc) with the thought "How hard can it be?", only to find that it is quite hard after all. I think I should be able to get it on the first go. Not so, obviously. I suppose I thought that I wouldn't need to do too much preparation, but now I see that I do. That's cool, as long as I know. When you see other people's work you don't often get to see what goes on behind the scenes. "The one I prepared earlier" gets whipped out, and it just seems so easy! Joke's on me I guess!

While thinking about the applique I thought I'd try the sock knitting. The real reason was that I was in the vicinity of the very nice wool and thread shop Threads and More last week, so I went in and asked for the basic sock pattern. The lady also sold me a set of double ended needles that were so small they looked like the skewers you thread meat on to make satay sticks (they were bamboo). Anyway, I got home and opened the pattern, expecting to see a couple of sizes, which I thought was indicated on the back of the packet. Wrong. Then I measured my (HUGE) foot, to find it is 2cm longer than the larger of 3 foot sizes for the One Size Fits All pattern.

At this point a bizarre and evil thought came over me.... "Perhaps I should knit the tension square?" Now I have to tell you that this concept goes totally against my philosophy in life ie. "Work smart, not hard". I mean to say - does anyone ever knit the tension square?? That's just extra work as far as I can see it, for not much pay off. But I did it. Well I started to. Just enough to establish that it wasn't going to be big enough. Blast. I found some old needles of my Nana's that were a 3.5 not 2.25, and started again. I did that bit you see in the photo, and think that they are probably the more appropriate size. So tomorrow I will be near the shop again, so I will buy some more pointy skewer sticks. Then I will start asking for help! I think I'll be able to get to the heel if I can get my 4 needles working. After that I will be needing help. Keeps me off the streets.