December ?

Its December .. the local shops are full of Christmas cheer, like most of the western world that means fake fir trees, fairy lights, and sparkly things that catch the light in the night time, which is seasonal for those with winter christmas's.E xcept in the shoppers that mill around are wearing sandels and have bare legs and short sleeves, and the sun sets latter and later - for it is summer here. I have one more week at work before my summer vacation begins, five days in which to pack up my desk and book case ready for the move to a new building 5km away, attend an all day professional development seminar, and attend our students graduation ceremony. Five days! I also have to get as much of the preparation ready for next years teaching as I can, I will be off work until 2 weeks before the students arrive so I know I will be flat tack once I start back. In that new office ... oh my - it dosn't bear thinking about does it. So I knit, and walk, I'm back on my feet, the swelling has gone, crutches parked by the door ready to return, and I'm mobile again.


There has not been a lot of knitting on any of my projects, the secret one grew by a repeat or two .... and the Spiral Bound sock is now part way thru the heel, I've worked the gusset increases and now I'm mid heel extension. The gold safety pin indicates progress since last I blogged. Once the heel flap is done ... it is only the leg to go and that is quick.


I added a book to my knit library during the week, Sweaters that talk back by Lisa Anne Auerbach (2008). I stumbled across a reference to this book on Ravelry, and between wanting to support some one working with knitting in a political way and liking her approach ... subversive knitting, I had to buy it. I'm not sure I'll ever knit something from the book exactly as charted .. and here in New Zealand the protest messages in her work are not so applicable, but I will be inspired, and I want to inspire my students.

With the last week at work in our current building looming I have been lugging home my library of books from the shelves behind my desk. As the architects planned the new spaces I measured my shelving, I have 4.7 m of fashion theory, design theory and pattern making books, including some of my knitting ones. There is probably double or triple that number at home. Work wants us to box up our office and label it and will move things for us, but I have moved 7 times in 11 years and each time something has been lost. This time I'm taking all my important stuff home. I warned Bear that for the next 2-3 months there will be a working library under the bed, its the only place I could think of to put them that was out of the way of foot traffic. These are mostly pattern making books, the construction and knitting ones are in a wheeled shopping trundler waiting for their turn to be brought home. The theory ones will come home last as I need those to plan lectures right up to the last days, so they need to be on the top of the pile. While I'm looking forward to the holiday's I can't help thinking the weeks just before and just after might drain me more than the holidays refresh me.

Oh well, such is life, the garden grows, I think I am pulling out more weeds than are growing, spinning is at my house this week, the sun shines the days are warm and life is good. I know life is good because while I was at home last week with my ankle up I took the time to enter in all the yarns that I had acquired that had not made it into my Ravelry stash list - that included my recent spinning. I added 21 new yarns and fibers to spin to my stash list .... slightly embarrassing really, to have so much, but better to have it listed where I can see it and be reminded of what I bought it all for.
Take care :D
na Stella

That wasn't in the plan for this week...

No, crutches were not in this weeks plan, but there they are. In all their ugliness (I think I might have to give them back with a some knitted sort of knitted graffiti cosy). I'm ok, not broken, just bruised, to recap, Friday I had a day off work because one my delightful cubs had brought home a combined tummy bug and head cold, Monday the tummy continued and Tuesday I stumbled and sprained my ankle. Of course I didn't notice immediately, I went to work, and after a walk for coffee and some lunchtime errand running around my ankle began to swell and hurt. By going home time I was sore, and so detoured via the Urgent Doctors to see if they could help. On a scale of 1-3 I apparently have a number 2 sprain, for which the current advised treatment is a ice 20 minutes on, 2 hours off, elevation, rest, firm compression bandage by day, none by night, 3 days with the foot elevated, then resume usual activity as able, massage after 72 hours. So far so good, but much less knitting than I would have expected .. when things hurt, well some how it distracts from the knitting. Oh and painkillers play havoc with my tummy .....which is an excellent reason not to become addicted to them.
but you are here for the knitting, and there is news .... good news, I am teaching at Handmade 2011, and registrations are open. I've had 3 proposals accepted, one as a workshop .. and we are in discussion over the others, one should be more of a lecture.


Last night I did work a little more on the second Spiral Bound sock. I'm mid way into the gusset, and so soon the magic of the heel will happen. I always like those little moments when a garment matures to a shape that looks like a garment.

Before I disabled myself I finished up plying what I had been spinning, now there is nothing on any of my wheels. Here I have the multi coloured yarn from the Scrappy swap, in all its glory. I Chain plied it to retain the colour shifts and whilst it is not a yarn I would have picked to buy .. it may have potential. There is 130g total, with a length of 198m, so DK-Aran weight? And I have no idea of the fibre content, I know I supplied a merino silk blend .. and some of the fibre was considerably coarser - but overall the yarn is light and softish. Next to it is a much nicer pink, Insilk Fingerwolle from Shoppel, sold by here by Vintage Purls. This is 70%Merino, 30% Silk blend sold as pencil roving to either knit as is on jumbo needles or spin. I spun 2 50g packets into 344m. I feel another small shawl/scarf might be the right use of this, it has that soft I want to snuggle my face into it feeling.

So I'm mending (my ankle not more knitted things), and no longer need the crutches, this weekend we have the smallest cubs ballet concert, all three shows so the weekend will be full.

take care,

Summer colds ...

are strange, when one has a cold there seems to be an internal drive to cuddle up, sip hot citrus and honey drinks, keep warm and snug. All that seems better to do when the weather is wintry, and the days dark and cold. In summer .. well being full of sniffles and a 'thick' head feeling is less straightforward to treat, cold orange juice (yes), but some how wandering around in bare feet and tee-shirts seems wrong, and yet if I add more layers them I am too warm. As you might have guessed I have a summer cold, its 23 degrees Celsius (73 degrees F), and warm and sunny and I have the serious head thickening sniffles. I've been sleeping a lot and sitting without doing much - odd for me, there has been a little knitting, but mostly spinning - easy things that don't require much input from me, things I can do on autopilot. I find my self sitting with my knitting on my lap, with no progress and not even following what is on tv .... still the sun is shining, and its warm and the days are longer and sunnier so I'm not complaining.

I've spiraled my way up the first sock (Spiral Bound by Vintage Purls). The spiral finished very neatly into the 2x2 ribbing.


So with the first sock done I cast on 6 stitches, increased madly in pattern, and worked the toe on the second sock. These are designed as mirror images, so one spirals clockwise and the other anti-clockwise. It is easy knitting, just round and round with a little kfb here and a k2tog there.

I'm not sure if it is the head cold so a need to do simple things, or that most of the projects on my needles are worked from charts .. but I found spinning called me more than knitting this week. So I've been treadling my way thru the scrappy swap fibre, I thought if I had it all spun before the end of today, then I could ply it at spin night tomorrow. But feeling like I do I'm not sure that I'm going to make it to spin night, at home I can blow my nose and ditch tissues into a waste paper basket beside the chair and keep spinning. Out visiting that might not be appreciated, and I'm not keen on sharing this feeling with my spin friends. As for the spinning, it could still go either way, beautiful ugly or just plain ugly ....

take care
na Stella

The shortest path from Virginia USA to Dunedin New Zealand is

apparently via Vientaine Lao PDR!

A few months ago I blogged that I had found a Stirling silver ball point pen amongst my Dads work-tools, and rescued it. Then Bear offered to buy me a matching Parker 75 fountain pen and sourced one on line. It duly arrived and was blogged but had a medium nib rather than the fine it was advertised as having. No problem the seller had several for sale and they were all good, and obviously had picked up the wrong one and so sent off a slightly different one. In all other respects it was as advertised, so rather than return it and wait for another I paid a little more and had a xtra fine nib sent at a very good price. That was over 4 weeks ago .. and I had begun to wonder if my parcel had gone missing. Turns out it has traveled to New Zealand from Virginia via Lao! As the seller said when I told him 'Crazy!', so next time your mail takes longer than it should .. perhaps it has taken the scenic route?

There has been some knitting this week, a wee bit on the super secret project of which I can not blog, I worked my first ever Nupps. I totally agree with all that I have read about these things, you really do have to work the nupp stitches very very loosely ... very very very loosely. So far I've only managed Nupps with 5 loops, I will attempt at some point ones with 7 or 9 ... but not yet. Five is fine for now.

My spiral bound sock grows, these are a little snug on me ... I suspect they will become elder cubs as he has leaner feet. Shush ... don't tell and I can make them Christmas stocking presents.

Monday night I spun about half of the scrappy swap fibre ... I'm not sure if this will be as ugly beautiful as M's or just plain ugly. I am trying to spin it from deep blue at one end, thru purple, reds, into orange, and rust then yellow, to green and finally pink. The idea is a stripy blanket or hat or scarf .. but only time will tell if it is a wild experiment with a weird outcome or a good thing to do.

And it is 'that time of the year again' - where I can point you at the end of year show work of the schools students. I'm just going to leave you to look if you want .... I mostly teach the Year threes, the graduates .. and as usual they are all individuals. Which is exactly what one wants in a design graduate ... unique outcomes.
Besides as an 'insider' to the process, I do tend to loose a little focus, remembering how far the student has come, or the risks they took, or all the little out of their hands dramas that may have shaped their collection. Those can range from the wrong type or colour or amount of fabric being shipped, to dyepot disasters, to commercial printers letting students down, to models arriving for fittings and then departing before the show and the replacements not being a similar size or look. As usual - its a team effort, the students and all the staff, and every one almost without exception did amazingly - don't you think?

take care ...
and don't trust the international postal service for directions :D
na Stella