Taking Stock - September

Making : no much as I'm working heaps more than usual so not making as too tired!!!  lol  
Cooking :  as little as possible.
Drinking :  peppermint tea.
Reading: The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah
Trawling:  etsy
Watching:  Gilmore Girls - loving it.
Wanting:  a new series like Girlmore Girls to watch when I finish GG.
Looking:  at the rain.
Deciding:  what to do in the holidays.
Wishing:  my sore neck would get better.
Enjoying:  a couple of hours on my own.  
Waiting: for the boss to come home from holiday so things can be back to normal.  
Liking:  busy days at work.
Wondering:  about Christmas that is coming fast!
Loving:  lighter mornings, until next week & the clocks go forward!!!  
Pondering: what patterns to use my sock scraps for.
Listening:  to the constant sound of rain.
Considering:  a little holiday!
Buying:  trying not to buy too much sock yarn right now.
Hoping:  my boss has a terrific time on her trip.
Marvelling:  at my boy & his piano playing!
Cringing: at how it gets so cold all of a sudden!
Needing:  a holiday...  
Questioning: the creation of yet another coffee shop in our town.  
Smelling: coffee
Wearing:  still the hand knit socks.  Could still be for a few more weeks at this rate.
Noticing:  how long the evenings are.
Getting:  a new but old bookcase!  Yay!  
Bookmarking: "Connie Ray of Hope" crochet a long.  I would like to do this one!
Disliking:  all the sickness that is everywhere at the moment.
Opening:  birthday cards. 
Feeling: to tired to do much of anything except sleeping. 
Hearing:  BJ's piano practice coming along amazingly.  

Airmail

I was bored.

That happens occasionally.

It's OK though.

I found something to do that suited my mood at that time.

I dug out some fabric that are some of my favourites.  I used to be an avid letter writer so anything with letters printed, especially vintage looking ones are pretty cool in my eyes.  Team it up with an Airmail stripe & you are set.  But lets have a think.

It's funny to recall the letters of the past.  Most children these days would have no clue.  I must educate my boys.

There were aerograms.  Those blue fold up & stick it shut letter sheets.  You could only write a letter as long as that.  That's all.  It would have been good value for those with not much to say. I remember Oma getting them with writing all over the outside as well as the inside...  never enough room!

An aerogram was never big enough for me & the letters my thoughts ended up putting down.  Plus I had a terrible stationery addiction too.  You can't write pretty letters without pretty paper can you.

I think I can even say when my paper addiction begun!  My Oma gave me a stationery set once.  I guess I was 6 or 7.  It had about 15 sheets of paper & 15 envelopes in a plastic folder type sleeve that held it all in place with a pretty picture on the front.  That picture indicated what that pictures on the paper & envelope would be like.  Well I loved it.  Of course I had no one to write letters too though.  So I do remember I used to write them to myself.  I put them in our mail box in our front yard too.  It was a whole other thrill getting mail out of the mail box!  We never had mail delivered to our home in those days.  We had a post office box.  So I never got to enjoy getting mail out except when I wrote to myself.

I think I was about 11 when I got my first penfriend though.  She lived in Queensland.  Funnily enough, we lost touch in our teens but since social media came into play, we have reconnected again!

At one stage I had about 30 penfriends from all over the world.  I used to send them all birthday & Christmas presents in the mail too!  Gee, you can barely do that anymore.  Postage prices are prohibitive!  I still have contact with a few.  It's pretty cool really.  I don't write the letters I once did.  It takes me ages to write still & I do hand write them.  My arm isn't used to it.  So I should do it more often & then I would be fine.  But it really does take me a while.  I write a lot!

Anyway, I am quite side tracked when all I wanted to do was show you the bag.  It's a pattern I have used a couple of times now for project bags.  These are a great size for my sock knitting.

Thursday Thanks

• A bit of extra work again.  
• Busy days.
• Great customers.
• Fun days at work with my colleague.  
• Lovely lunch out with like minded knitters.
• Chickens & eggs they continue to give.
• A bargain that is just meant!
• A boy that seems to be taking well to learning piano.

728/1000

Not Happy Socks

First pair that I am not entirely happy with.

Why is that?

The pattern is good.

The yarn is beautiful & soft.

But the colour changes bothered me.  These were meant to be gifted but I can't gift them I don't think.  Anyone else would think them mighty strange.  So I will have to save them for me for next winter I think.

Back to the drawing board for a pair of socks to give...

Socks # 14 2017

Ladybug Present

A pillow that is not quite the usual theme.  Ladybugs was the go for this one according to the mum.  Yay, something cute.  I did a fabric swap with a friend too which was cool.  She had cute ladybugs, I had some cool stuff that she could use for an eye-spy quilt.

Pillow present # 14

Thursday Thanks

• A boy that is finally grasping times tables.  The work we are doing with him is paying off.  Yay!
• A littler boy that is learning to read & it's just crazy that this little kid can!  
• Being able to do parent help in the little guy's class.  
• Watching the faces of the little ones in class that glow when told they did well.  
• Seeing my boys try so hard & taking on the extra work we do at home without too much complaint.  
• Finding cool shows to watch.  No violence or bad language is refreshing!  

720/1000

Thursday Thanks

• Some extra hours at work.
• Birthday celebrations at home.
• Nice customers that become friends out of work too!
• Father's Day.

714/1000

Party Time

Thank goodness these are quick to sew up now.  Trying to juggle more work & the rest of time is tricky right now.

Pillow present #13

Man Socks

A while back I got some Knit Picks sock yarn to try.  

Stuart is going to score a pair of socks in it.  These are his.  Yarn is called Coffee Shop.  Looks awesome.  Really is a good colour for him.  

Socks # 13 - 2017

Cool Cotton

Do you use cotton yarn often?  It's different.  

I have a lot of the stuff.  I use a lot for dishcloths.  Knitted or crochet dishclothes are terrific!  

We recently got some new cotton at work though.  It is perfect for a baby blanket for a baby that lives in Queensland.  So I had to make one.  After doing the massive fat acrylic knitted blanket I had to go with something lighter.  

So I had a very long browse at patterns & ended up with the Larksfoot design.  Look like little space invaders.  There is a good tutorial on Meet Me at Mike's if you want to try it out.  

It goes to it's new home soon so I hope they like it.  

Double Party?

Ok, it's Father's Day.

But funnily enough it is also my birthday!  Yay me!

New Techniques

I saw a blog recently with some cool ideas in something called "A Year of Techniques".

The first one was making striped socks in single rows & using a clever way of removing the "jog" on the change of colour.  You know!  That little step that the change creates with knitting in the round.

This is great as I used left overs from 2 yarns I have used before.  What a great way to use them up.  I am pleased with how they came out & hopefully they fit my friend!

Socks # 12 - 2017