My Big Fat Greek Socks

So ... yeah ... DD went on her very first "alone" trip - no Mommy and Daddy (although, Grandad and Grandma were with her). And the place they chose to visit - the Greek Islands ... well, nobody said DD had cheap tastes!!

I wanted a small part of me to be with her, so I secretly knitted her some socks with the Greek flag on them. She got to unwrap them on the plane en route to Athens. I am so glad I did them because apparently she was a bit homesick (missing Momma) the first couple of days and hugging and snuggling the socks helped!! Awwww!

Some UFO's came to settle in my home ....

Sometimes, when I read through my blog, I wonder to myself ... do you ACTUALLY do any knitting? Or do you just waffle all day? Well, Yes, I do occasionally knit - mostly then frog, then knit again, then frog again ... now you understand why there are so few FO pics!! But every now and then I do finish something ... Like this :

A friend sent me some Sari yarn to try - it was a small ball and therefore, it became this .... A sweater for my cellphone!! (Which often complains of the cold!)















But, I just gotta say, although it is pretty yarn, it is a f**king bugger to knit with : it is lumpy and bumpy and twists and coils around itself -





In other words, it is just plain crappy!






But at least my little cellphone is as snug as a .... well, as a cellphone in a sweater!

Happy Hell 'O Weird

So, what about the wool/yarn then???

In anticipation of the millions of wool shops and mounds of yarn, I actually took an EMPTY suitcase which I intended to fill to the brim with wool and knitting needles from Italy......

Number of wool shops found : NONE
Number of shaken (shook?!) heads when asking for wool shops : MANY
Number of small haberdashery shops with one small basket of wool : ONE
Number of balls of wool from basket purchased and brought home : TEN
(TEN!! Ten frigging balls of wool in the whole of Italy - and no choice of colours or types - just TEN BALLS!!)

But, I was so excited after two weeks of total withdrawal to finally find the shop with the wool, that I grabbed every ball they had in the basket.
Saleslady to me : "You no can take-a all the wool-a"
Me to saleslady : "Oh yes-a I can-a"
Saleslady : "NAW, leave for nother signora"
Me : "F**k nother signora, I want it ALL"
Saleslady : "NAW!!!!!!! macaronispaggettiraviollitagliatelli* (*unintelligible stream of Italian)"
Me : Grabbing handsful of wool "Give me this NOW"
Saleslady : "Half-a now, half-a tomorrow"
Me : "W-T-F????"
Saleslady : "Mama Mia ....!!!"
Me : "Mama flipping MIA ....!!!"

So, I bought half the balls then, and had to make a return trip the next day to buy the rest - which, lucky for the saleslady, was still there!!

And this is what all the fuss was about (there are 4 balls of the reddish ones) :



Oh yes, and the ONE pair of double pointed needles they had - twice as long as normal - I am not sure if I will ever actually USE them, but I HAD to have them too!!

Oh alright then ......

There WERE some slightly younger, slightly sexier, slightly yummier Eye Tal Eons. In fact, there were MEN IN TIGHTS even ....














However, when they whipped out their flagpoles (yep, that's what I said!!) and started waving them around for the audience to admire ......












We began to feel nervous and wonder about them ....








.... and THEN .... they staged a battle and began whacking each other with swords and broomsticks .....














Until they "died" ...














Well, that was when I KNEW .... we South Africans may be strange, but at least we are not completely LOCO COCO!!

Italian Stallions

(especially for You-Know-Who .... don't you Maryannlucy??)

Purely in the interests of research, OF COURSE, we headed for the market to case out the local Italian stallions ....














But found the offerings were about as derelict as the 400 year old buildings around them!














But if you look at what they eat .... it's no wonder they are all dried up and shriveled!















This is the best sighting of an Italian stallion we got all vacation ...!


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...


..

Hedwig's great great great granddaughter arrived!

My Harry Potter swap pal sent us a lovely package which seemed to have toured the world before landing on our doorstep (it came from Canada, went to the USA, then to India (?!) and finally to us in the UAE!!)

Look at the lovely loot we received :

I was so excited to get the Charmed Knits book and the embroidery yarn, that I immediately started a Ravenclaw bookmark for DD. I took it on holiday and now it is finished and really looks smart - the first time EVER that I have knitted a pattern exactly, with no changes to the yarn or pattern!!

Thanks Pixieriot, you can breathe now!

Guess who's back ......

Oh yeah ... you thought I was gone for good, did you? No such luck ... I needed a bit of time to clear my head and then went looking for some Italian stallions .... (more about that later) - so pour yourself a strong cuppa chow or a double whiskey, sit back, put your feet up and have a squiz at what's been going on in MY life .....

Do you D A R E ?????? Huh? Huh? Do you? I double dare you ....

I won, I won, I WON!!!

Well, I never .... I actually won that Jeffrey Dahmer knitted bag competition (with my intestine bag) Karin Slaughter who ran the competition sent me two different copies of her current bestseller - autographed!! And these were some of the other goodies I received as my prize :




















I am SO entering all the competitions I can find from now on!!

.....but, I followed the pattern exactly!!!

Beware ... This post not for sensitive viewers!

I recently entered a competition to knit a bag based on Jeffrey Dahmer (remember him ... the cannibal who murdered young guys and then kept body parts in his fridge etc!) Yeah, I know ... I am weird, but hey, I'm cute!

Anyhooo, the website had a basic bag with a dagger knitted into it .... I modified it to this .....




Unfortunately,the contest website has not been updated, so I don't know if they liked the bag .... Now, just exactly what am I going to do with it ... Can't quite see myself walking down the street with an intestine draped artistically over my shoulder, can you?

Felting .... Second verse, same as the first !

I refused to give up ... I wanted to felt the bloody bowl, even if it killed me!

Today I decided, after chatting to a knitting pal who has "vast" experience in felting (she felted a hat by mistake and ended up with a bowl ... which is exactly the reverse of what I tried to do!!) maybe my washing machine does not get hot enough to do the deed.

So .... I BOILED my hat/bowl in a saucepan on the stove. Picture the scene ...

Dinnertime - DD lifts lid of saucepan as she asks her regular daily question "So, what's for dinner?"
Me : "Boiled raccoon"
DD *screams and faints*
Yeah, well it COULD have happened, you know!

Anyhoooo, I boiled it and I poked it again and I squished and squashed it again and guess what ..... it felted -slightly-, in that it got sort of furry, but guess what else ....

......

...... go on, guess ......

......

it

S - T - R - E - T - C - H - E - D
Yup, it is now the size of a generous lampshade, BUT IT IS FELTED .....
I WIN, I WIN, I WIN!!

I'm a F***ing failure!

F-e-l-t-ing, felting, I'm a Felting Failure!!

I got some Lopi 100% wool, which is virtually guaranteed to felt if you just wave it over some water. Well, I decided to make a lovely felted bowl for knitting knick-knacks ... So, as per the instructions of several websites I consulted, I knitted with the wool doubled - to ensure that it would be nice and thick in the end.
The tight doubleknitted stitches played havoc with my wrists, but it was finally done ....
It looked like this BEFORE FELTING

The label distinctly says "Gentle handwash in lukewarm water, do not rub or wring" - HAH! With a peverse sense of pleasure ... I proceeded to dunk it in water, I squished it and squashed it, I pummeled it and poked it with a wooden spoon, I mangled it and even mashed it with a potato masher (does it sound like I was having a bit TOO much fun??) I poured a kettleful of boiling water over it - it smelt like a wet sheep, a very DEAD wet sheep! I tossed it into a pillowcase, along with a couple of plastic lids (for extra agitation, you know ... although the only thing getting agitated was ME!) I bunged it into the washing machine with a pair of jeans (for EXTRA agitation ...) and sent it off for 20 minutes of hot water swirling and churning. I could almost HEAR the fibres screaming for mercy .... HHHHAAAHHH!
Opening the washing machine door was like opening a long awaited Christmas present ... with impatience I ripped open the pillowcase and tumbled the contents out ...
It looked like THIS - AFTER FELTING :



Do you think it looks e-x-a-c-t-l-y the same as the "BEFORE" photo????

I told you I am a F***ing failure!! And I now have a lovely, non felted, fairly floppy, pure wool HAT instead!!

Look who's chatting on MSN

Do you recognize the avatar on the top right of the page?

Kool Aid is sooo Kooool

(Note : This entry is dedicated to Deb Brown, a fellow knitter without whose generosity, none of this creative wizardry would have been possible. Thanks Deb!)


Last Saturday the Lulu family turned bright red and blue and purple ... no, we weren't angry, we were Kool Aid dyeing!! If you want to do it too, these are the what-to-do's (and some definite what-NOT-to-do's!!)

Start with bare yarn and a truck load of Kool Aid in various colours (oops, sorry, flavours!)
Swat off whingeing daughter who scuttles off clutching packets of said Kool Aid muttering "It's for drinking not dyeing!"














Stop for a bite of spaghetti ... heh heh heh ... soak yarn in water and stir well (NOT!) ... Did someone mention doing it one skein at a time?














Put on plastic gloves (IMPORTANT!) and pose with cheesy smile for the BEFORE picture!














Artistically drape skein over dishes containing dye so it looks professional for the photo













After trying to get artistically draped yarn out of bowls without the colours touching each other and running, decide to use one big bowl with yarn wound round in it















Cover, microwave, rest, rest yarn, microwave, rest yarn, have coffee, rinse yarn, *squeeze out excess water, burn fingers, swear, drop yarn back in water, repeat from *, drape artistically over laundry drying rack, allow to dry whilst cleaning up the wrecked kitchen













Puff out chest and coo like proud mamma at beoootiful colours of yarn produced by own dyed, burned hands














Turn into yarn cakes - delicious enough to eat!
And ... they SMELL so good too!!













Knit up squares to make unique, one of a kind, Kool smelling blankie (and one handbag for said whingeing daughter)














Now, doesn't that sound like fun ... go get some bare, nekkid yarn and some Kool Aid and try it for yourself ... if WE can do it, ANYONE can!!

A Bag for a Bag

This is the lovely bag (tote) that I received in the recent Bag Exchange. It was specially felted for me because I had never seen/felt a felted bag before. It is lovely and roomy and I really like the colours. My super pal included some other knitting goodies as well - jealousy gets you nowhere!!


Thank you so much, bookwoolies aka sheepish61 aka tori .....

MOTHER MUGGLE MANAGED to beat Harry!

Work your fingers to the bone and what do you get .... boney fingers
.... and some pretty nice socks!
















Yes, the socks made it to the opening (at 3-00am)















She got her copy - thank goodness she has ears - or her smile would have gone right the way round her head!















She plunged straight into the book (at 3.30am!!)







Even Precious the cat was ignored ....

















Oh yes, by the way, I invented something else ..... a book band, which keeps the book open while you read!




Well, I guess that chapter of her childhood is closed now .... what's next?

Will Mother Muggle Manage? UPDATED UPDATE!!

I consider DD one of the foremost afficianados of the literary phenomenon currently in vogue .... in other words, she is nuts about Harry Potter!!





At the last book launch, she was super-excited and managed to be Number 100 in the UAE to get the book (at 3.05am!) She had dutifully worn her HP scarf (as megafans do!)

The idea this year was for her to add some more HP knitted garments for her line-up.

Plan A did not quite work out as intended, so Mother Muggle (Me, Myself) has hauled out the knitting needles and is frantically whizzing (wizarding?) up a pair of socks. Naturally, DD did not want plain ol' stripey socks, so we combined stripes, zigzags (scar ala Horcrux pattern) and some liberal thumbsucking by moi! I was stumbling along, having almost completed the first sock, when I realised ....

Urm ... THAT is not much time for a novice like me to bash out a pair of socks ..... I pulled my finger out, finished the first sock and have cast on the second one .....

Bearing in mind, the child does not have feet,

she has YARDS .....

WILL
MOTHER
MUGGLE
MANAGE??????????????????????????

LOTS of coffee later .... we are closer but time has flown too ....

Progress is sure, but slow .... I wonder if she can wear them like this ?




*Sigh* Hubeasts are such odd creatures!