What I did in the school holidays

I have been taking time off for the second week of TLM's school holidays, and am having a great time (I can't speak for TLM but I reckon she's having fun too).
Although we haven't left town, I'm definitely spending money as though we were!

After days of buying yarn, summer clothes for me and TLM, books (including Conversations with Joss Whedon), lunches and gourmet ice creams, it was no surprise when I got a low-funds alert from my bank.

Yesterday I took TLM rollerskating - it was only her second time ever but she did get to the stage of being able to roll slowly for a couple of seconds without holding onto anything. Then we spent the afternoon at the beach where TLM got most of her clothes sea-soaked, and built a weird sculpture from bits of seaweed and dead crabs.

Today will be a lower-cost day - she's spending the morning watching Horrible Histories DVDs with a friend, and in the afternoon I'll drag her to a yarn sale near the beach (and if she's lucky there'll be beach play and ice creams to follow).

Love holidays.

On turning 47 and knitting a 60's style jumper

Isn't this a groovy rug? The boy bought it last Friday when he and TLM had a school holiday day-out. It goes so nicely with my new jumper...

In case you're wondering, I knitted the jumper out of some Patons Zhivago which I had already knit into cardigans - and unravelled - twice. Yes, this is thrice-knitted acrylic yarn and it doesn't seem to have suffered to0 much in the process.

The pattern is from Wendy Bernard's Custom Knits book -  I had to add extra increases in the body to accommodate the extra centimetres in my body.

So anyway, my 47th birthday came and went with little celebration, except that for once I shouted morning tea at work (vegan choco cake and cookies from Midnight Espresso) and the boy made extra-yummy gumbo for tea, with extra prawns and scallops. Mmm...

Three hottie cosies, two woolly vests and a very flattering slanted gretel tee...

Just so you know I've been keeping busy knitwise,  I've made:

• three modified versions of the Hygge Nook hot water bottle cosy (but different because I knitted two strands of doubleknit yarn together so it would be quicker to finish, and did a central cable rather than multiple cables)
• the Back to School vest from Fitted Knits (attempted against my better judgement, only to have it confirmed that a ribbed pullover is only slimming if you are actually slim)
• a modified version of the Blue Alvarez stripey cabled vest ( but mostly in a paua blue Cascade 220 superwash with narrow red strips at the top, and with a completely different cable pattern. This works much better than the other vest, but it will be my last garment in a yarn thicker than doubleknit, because it's really true that chunky is as chunky does)
• the slanted gretel tee from Interweave Knits magazine

I have no photos of the cosies because they were all presents and now reside at my brother's place and my mum's place respectively.

I have no photos of the vests because I haven't gotten around to it and I'm seriously considering unravelling the ribbed one and remaking it into something less chunkifying.

But I do have a photo of the tee.

The armholes were worryingly tight, but once I'd wetted and dried it flat they seemed to expand enough to fit my giant armpits.

Getting into the spirit of the RWC

Despite minimal interest in watching sport, I still managed to gather enough enthusiasm to decorate my portion of the office with Rugby World Cup paraphernalia. In our office we all had to blindly choose two participating countries to support, and my picks turned out to be Canada and Namibia.
The Namibian flag is really quite pretty.

Of course, you already know what the Canadian flag looks like.

They've been talking about it in all the schools, so even TLM was excited enough to watch the opening ceremony (mostly just the fireworks display).

So in the next  weeks I'll be checking to see how the All Blacks do in their games, but also supporting the Canadians and Namibians.
I bet Flagz is making tons o' money...http://www.flags.co.nz/products.php?func=14&DPT=c&DCI=5

More style tips from Auntie Violet

Ever since socks and undies have existed, men have known that you can put off laundry day significantly by wearing these items inside out on alternate days.

We can extrapolate this to women's wear, though maybe not with undies because women tend not to like that idea.

Here's one for those of you who like your tights matt, but can't afford cashmere ones - turn the buggers inside out! This also works great if your tights are all bobbly from too many accidental turns in the washing machine.

Genius.

Unseasonally warm

Today I was faced with a dilemma; when you've gone to work in boots and thick tights and the temperature surprises you with a lovely almost-summer warmth, which is worse - sweating it out in the boots and tights, or wearing the boots without the tights (and possibly still be sweaty but at least your knees will be comfortably cool)?

I decided to remove the tights. Fortunately my boots are leather lined, so my feet weren't tooooo bad. I even walked home this way, but it did feel kinda funny to be so intimate with the inner landscape of my footwear.

Though I probably wouldn't have risked it in synthetic boots.

Turning six, getting influenza and touching snow

It's been an eventful few days -  The Little Madam turned six last Thursday and had her birthday party on Saturday. It was a joint party, with her best mate at school who is her "star twin" (because they were born on the same day). The weather was kind, the kids were mostly co-operative and the animal biscuits went down a treat.

The next day was a different story though. At basketball she bopped herself on the nose with her ball, then when we played catch she got the same ball in between her fourth finger and pinky. And then she got sick.

On Monday I took her to the doctor's, where she was diagnosed with the 'flu. I'd been worried when TLM said her neck hurt, but apparently it wasn't due to meningicoccal disease - so that's good.

But once she'd had her first dose of Pamol, she was all lively and alert - enough to enjoy watching it snow (we NEVER get snow here). And now we won't have to go to Mt Ruapehu in mid-Winter for TLM's snow experience.

Knit skirt

This skirt was supposed to be the one that I found in the book Knitting it old school, full of great, tongue-in-cheek re-interpretations of old fashions. (Actually, the best thing in it was the crochet mini dress made out of multi-coloured granny squares, but I'm about 20 years too old and missing about 20 cm in leg length for that one!)

The original pattern was in pumpkin orange, with a big border of diamond shapes along the hem.
But it wasn't to be, because I ended up completely redesigning the thing to get it to fit me properly. Also, I had a hell of a time knitting those shapes without getting any puckering.
Here's a shot of my third and final attempt before giving up -

It was when I was reading Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting without tears (so apt!), that I realised what the problem was. The pattern had three different colours on the same row, with strands being carried across up to 11 stitches. My last attempt was using a stranded knitting/intarsia combination but it didn't work.
So instead, I picked a number of more traditional Fair Isle patterns to do instead - 

And here's a shot of the whole garment (pardon the weird colour effect - my iPhoto did it and I don't know how to undo it. So the above photo is a more accurate depiction of the colours.

It's a very respectable knee-length, which is another departure from the original. I might even wear it to work on Monday if it's cold enough.

Mug shots of the aforementioned new winter coat

 Here they are at last, photos of the coat which stole my heart and my wallet.

As you can see, the voluminousness of the body of the coat is rather awesome (as in, really big). Though that is nicely balanced by the narrow sleeves (which, strangely, are exactly the right length and size for my arms).

 And here is the back of the coat. The tag calls this coat a cape, and I guess it is - it's a cape with sleeves.

There's no way I would, on paper, wear a cape. But a swing coat  - which this is to my eyes -  I would wear.

Here's a shot of the lining. Can you see that the inside of this rather posh garment is covered in burlesque dancers?



True, it's not the coat that Gok Wan (or any other TV stylist) would have chosen for me me. But it's pretty special and keeps me cosy.

If colds could be exciting

I have the cold that TLM had last weekend, and it's a cold like no other I've ever had.
Like, for instance, the fact that my shoulders and knee joints hurt.
And my teeth hurt!
I got it on Wednesday and now, on Sunday, my teeth don't hurt any more so I can put off visiting the dentist for another few months (or years).

I'm glad that I took this week off so I could hang out with TLM during the second week of her school holidays. I'll be out of action for at least the next few days,  but it'll be nice not to have to stress about using up my sick leave when the real winter has only just set in.

Also I'm getting lots of knitting (and un-knitting) done during this time.

Thank goodness the boy is so good at looking after us!

My new winter coat

I know that, as a short and stockily built woman, the last thing I should be wearing is a massive swing jacket of thick, nubby wool which is topped off with a luxuriant faux-fur collar.

When I saw it hanging in the World shop, I loved the black and red wool fabric and oversized red and gold buttons - but the fur collar wasn't detachable and the cape-like silhouette was going to make me look like the dwarf in Don't Look Back (old movie starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, if you're under 35).

So I tried on a different coat, which was similarly floaty but too long and had giant heart-shaped pockets that didn't open at the top (they unzipped at the sides). And then, because I had nothing to lose I decided to try on the gorgeous red coat with the neck-shortening faux-fur collar and the widening cape shape.

World is not a shop I enter frequently, it being a designer shop where a skirt at 50% discount will still cost over $200 (though it will be beautiful and look like nothing else on the street). So I was unprepared for the sweetly attentive saleswoman, an older woman who knew how to talk me into buying it. She told me how much the original price was.

Suddenly the fur collar was not at all irritating, the voluminous folds "draped beautifully". I lusted after it.

Dear reader, I bought the coat.
I had to - it was, like, 60% off and a World garment.

Of course, by the time I had got it home and tried it on again, I didn't look quite as classy in it as I'd remembered.  But it is still a beautiful coat which looks really special and is wonderfully warm. I don't care that it's not completely flattering, because if I only ever wore what was flattering my wardrobe would be full of black scoopneck long-sleeve t-shirts, black tunic dresses, black tights, black shoes and a black princess-line coat (which, even though a common item, would be expensive because I'd have to have it altered to fit me). Actually, that does describe most of my wardrobe - except for the coat.

When I wear my new coat I am reminded of when I was a teenager accompanying my mother to a shop in town that specialised in real fur, leather and suede coats and jackets. We went more than once and at one point she probably had about four coats of different styles, from that one shop (she always managed to bargain the retailer down to get a good price). While most of her coats have been passed on to others, she still has one coat which gets lots of wear now that she's elderly and feels the cold.  I'm just glad no-one has tried to throw paint on her.

teeny geek

TLM has her own iPad2.

The season of the lurgy

first TLM was sick. Then the boy got what she had, and languished at home for a week (yet still able to produce an impressive amount of work, considering he seemed to be near death). Now I've got what TLM and the boy had. I think. Though fingers crossed it's just going to turn out to be a short-term bout of yucky coughing.

I'm taking the day off work, but not because I'm sick. It's because TLM is sick - again. A mere fortnight after she sneezed and coughed away a wallet-full of money in unused after-school care, the poor creature is now laying about restlessly on the sofa having already vomited twice today and once yesterday.

Such is winter in our household...

The tattoo jumper

Here we go. The boy is proudly wearing his new jumper for the third time in four days! Even though it is still about 10cm too short! Mind you, he's not likely to wear it without a t-shirt underneath, so he doesn't risk any hairy-belly exposure...you can't easily tell from this picture, but the design is a bit bulgy and that's probably because when I floated the black yarn behind the patterned bits, I didn't do so loosely enough. Maybe it will all sort itself out in the wash...

This is the left sleeve, pretty much identical to the right sleeve....

 

 

I knitted it. He wore it.

There's a myth/old wives tale/cautionary tale, that if you knit your boyfriend a jumper (sweater) you will eventually break up. I think it's okay to knit for your husband though, because they're supposedly a bit more committed.
But that's not why I haven't bothered to knit much for the boy - mainly because it takes such a long time to make something that fits a man who's more than six foot tall and has a chest that makes gay tailors swoon.
Well, I did make him that Slytherin scarf. It took about the same amount of merino yarn as two me-sized jumpers. But he wore it, and stayed.

Today, I finally finished the Tribal Sweater (or, in Kiwi, the Tattoo Jumper), the one from the Knitting with balls book.

It was too short all over so I picked up the stitches at all the hems and added a couple of inches. I can do that because the hems are in stocking stitch not rib, and they curl up anyway. Apart from that, and many attempts at knitting the big octopus-thing on the front, it went pretty well. In fact, he's wearing it right now. And he's still here.

I'll post a photo at some stage, I just have to wait for a time when he's wearing it and it's not evening and we're not in a hurry to do something or go somewhere.

the personal politics of caged pork

Ever since I realised that Kiwi pig farmers like to jam their animals into tiny cages, just as much as pig farmers do in the UK (and no doubt a few other parts of the world too), I have refused to eat caged pork.

Even though I miss pork sausages terribly, I don't miss them enough to condone what I think is a cruel practice.
But my mum is a big pork fan, and has only just given up on trying to deceive me into thinking that the stuff she bought at Pak n Save and roasted so deliciously ( going by the smell) is free range.
On the other hand, if I accidentally (really!) buy a sandwich which has pork or ham in in, then I'd rather eat it because to throw it away means that a pig has lived and died in misery for nothing.

Which means I have to be a hypocrite - I'll refuse to buy the stuff or eat my mother's offerings, but if it ends up in my fridge somehow then I'd rather eat it than throw it out.

I still feel a bit guilty though.

As soft as a baby's bottom

Gawd, is this what it's like to have normal, healthy skin?

I finally got myself an appointment with the dermatologist, months after being plagued by horribly anti-social itchiness and the complications that followed.

The day after I started on two types of antihistimines (one for day and one for night) and a steroid lotion (to replace two ineffective ointments), I felt my belly and it was soft and smooth.

In fact, my whole body is soft and smooth. I'm almost in lust with myself - several times a day I catch myself standing in the middle of the lounge feeling my tummy skin.

Okay, so I'm a bit dopey in the mornings because of the antihistamines, but it's a small price to pay to be (relatively) beautiful.

I also found a nice moisturiser that was both effective and completely non-irritating. It's a product which is custom-made for me by the lady who owns the Earth 174 shop in town; she mixed it up from almond oil, vitamin E and manuka honey, and will keep adding stuff to the recipe to see what my skin will handle.

Knitting for the boy

I offered to knit the boy a sweater, to make up for the fact that I seem to spend every free moment knitting (instead of wrapped around the boy or making him cups of tea or getting him a beer). At the library I found exactly three books of knit patterns for men.

The boy liked only one of the sweaters - not the one with cables all over, not the one with Ernie stripes, not the argyle vest... the only one he liked was a plain stocking stocking stitch crew neck with no ribbing at any of the hems, and a giant octopus-like symbol on the chest (plus baby ones on the sleeves).
(I think it was in Knitting with Balls). It was called the Tribal Sweater, although we call it The Tattoo Jumper (because we call sweaters jumpers around here).

So I started with the front, because the back is just boring old stocking stitch all the way up. And man, it is driving me crazy! First time trying to knit from a chart, and you can tell. I've been knitting the octopus back to front and with the leggy bits all pointing in the wrong directions. And then I've knit gaps into the graphic  and the strands are either too tight (causing weird puffines) or too loose (so I get a holey effect). And the tangles!

I've unravelled the thing 3 times now, before turning it into the plain ole back piece. I think I'll have to leave that front to last, when I'm a bit more practiced.

Cables are way easier - and I've only just started learning how to do those.

Happy Mother's Day

I had this idea that we'd be doing something special today, to mark Mother's Day.
But when the boy got up this morning moaning and groaning about dizziness and stomach pain, I knew that wasn't going to happen.
On the other hand, just having a day of full rest seems to have helped him get mostly better (though not well enough to risk eating my cooking). Maybe it was just a bad tv dinner.

And I can't complain that I didn't get a lovely card and a nice present (Gok Wan's Work your Wardrobe). The boy was as sweet as he could manage and TLM, as always, was a delight.
It's quite nice being a mum.

A knitted dress for TLM

I used the free knitting pattern called Oriental Lily, on the Ravelry site. The main part of the dress is made from an acrylic yarn called Robin Paintbox, and the lilac bands are from a single ball of cotton/acrylic Wendy yarn. The acrylic stuff was a bit on the plasticky side, but it was the only one with the right kind of variegated colouring, which I could be sure wouldn't cause any irritation.