I'm stll here

I can't believe it has been so long since I've been on here. I had trouble logging in as I couldn't remember which email or password I used. After quiet a few attempts I'm in.

It would have been about April when I started house hunting and by June I found a duplex unit that suited me. It was late August when I got the keys and was able to move in. There were a few odd jobs that needed attending to but I am slowly getting things there. I have yet to tackle the yard and gardens (or lack of). The retaining wall out the back is rotting away and needs to be rebuilt before I can start any garden out there. The front has two large palm trees which the neighbour in the other unit and myself want out before we take repairing the front garden.

My sewing, quilting and other craftwork have been almost non-existant for months now but I am thinking of quilting again. There are so many patterns and ideas I have in mind. Recently I purchased a Miniature Quilts magazine from ebay to add to my collection and there are a couple I would like to try one of these days.

New Scarf

I have recently made another new scarf. This was a free pattern I found on Ravelry. The pattern is in multiple language downloads. http://melusinetricote.canalblog.com/archives/2008/03/18/index.html

I made mine in a burgandy coloured yarn from Cleckeaton Country 12ply. The photo shows the scarf looking more red than it is. I might get another photo another day.

Finished Dr Who Scarf

I finished the scarf a couple of days ago then spent forever sewing in all the loose ends from the colour changes. The tassells were completed this morning and hey presto, it's done!
I did less stitches so it wasn't too wide for me, 10 inches, and used a smaller needle (3.75mm) to make the length shorter. At 4'11" I did not need a 12ft scarf! The final length was 9ft. The only problem I have now is what to do with all the left over yarn!

Dr Who Scarf

Wow, it's growing and up to 81% now. I took it to show my grandmother and she helped me take a couple of photos of it.

GAAA - Square 5 Jay Campbell

Well, I am slowly getting there along with a couple of other knitting projects. This was fairly easy although I thought having 5 bobbles was too much for the top section so I did 3 instead.

Progress

Now that "The Scarf" has reached 50% I have started on my next square in the GAAA. I have too many things on the go at the moment.
The last week or so I have been getting into Photo Meme's and have made a posting nearly every day. I started a new blog for this so that I can keep it seperate from my craft posts. Check out my photos at Nell's Pics.

Dr Who Scarf

Yep, thats right, a Dr Who scarf! Of course with me being only 5 foot I will not make it to the original length but probably to 10ft. Here are my colour choices.

GAAA - Square 4

I've started the next square, this time I did not go for the next in the book but picked out the Ginette Belanger. After completing the first 5 rows of garter stitch I realised it was not going to stretch to the required 12 inches to I started again with 54 stitches and only increased by 18 when the time came. It was much better although still required stretching to make the 12 inches. I found it hard to concentrate as there are so many patterns on the internet I would like to try. I've downloaded heaps of Ravelry and following links from peoples blogs I have come up with a number of sock patterns I would like to try. I've only ever knitted bedsocks in the past.

Last night I finished the square and blocked it today. Here is a pic.

GAAA - Square 3

Square 3 is done, yesterday. While not an easy or hard one it does require some concentration. Another one that you are on a different numbered row with each graph and you do need to keep track of where you are.


Today is another hot day in the high 30's (celcius). I have spent some time on the bathroom floor, the only cool spot in the place, the dog is on the laundery floor. A breeze is blowing outside and soon I will be able to open the unit up to let it in but for the moment the sun is still on the windows.

Curiosity

It's been a very hot week with temperatures around the 40C mark - over 100F. I've spent a great part of the afternoons, after getting home from work, on the bathroom floor with the dog, a bottle of iced water and cold cloth by my side. The agent has finally got hold of the owner of the unit with my requests; a TV antenna and air con, both of which the units either side of me have got. The answer was no.

Just out of curiosity I wondered how high my balls of wool for the GAAA would stack. Almost as tall as me (150cm or 4ft 11). This was minus the ball that I am using. They wouldn't stack so I put them on a stick.

Also I have started the Morioka square, things are progressing slowly but getting there. It's been too hot to bother knitting this week and I just couldn't concentrate on the pattern.

Today was Australia Day, I took my old car for a run to the local celebrations. The car club I'm in had a display day. The weather was overcast with drizzle. I put the flag on the car and drove down the road feeling like a bit of a dickhead - I was the only classic car on the road and the only one with the flag but then in was still early morning. Things changed when I got to the park. It became a rather busy day but also rather boring - I was home by lunch time.

GAAA - Square 2 finished

Well, I've finished my second square. It started out a little strange where I had to increase 3 into one stitch and do that 4 times in one row. It would have been better to Inc 1 (twice) at regular places along the row. The first couple of rows of the pattern didn't seem to work for me but I prefer to work from the instructions and not the graph. If I had looked at the graph I would have seen that the first three rows included a moss stitch. It did get rather confusing at times because some graphs had different number of rows to complet it and I had to keep track of what number row I was up to on each. Eg. at one point I was on: Graph A row 23, Graph B row 19, Graph C row 41 (this graph started at B23) and Graph A row 1 (this one started out as A21). Confusing?

Both the squares I've finished have been too long but only just (with a slight stretch) make the 12" top and bottom. As you can see it's a little bunched up.

GAAA - Finished first square

I started knitting this square as soon as the wool arrived on Friday. I picked out one of the easy ones to start with as it's been a while since I've knitted. Things turned out pretty well but I will have to block it to the correct size, the cast on/off rows are a bit short/tight but across the middle is fine. Length wise should be ok when blocked.

The pattern was a little strange whereas the center cable pattern was two rows shorter than the side cable patterns. I had to keep track of where I was up to with a notepad and pen by my side and write down every row.

It's arrived

My wool has finally arrived and I can now start my Aran Afghan!


I phoned them yesterday just to see why it was taking so long, after all it has been 10 days since they processed the order. They said that it was out of stock and my order had been shipped the day before. So I guess that two days from Melbourne to here is pretty good going.

Yesterday was over 40C, what a hot day. I ended up emailing the real estate agent again asking for aircon. Why is it that the other two units (there's only three here) both have aircon and not me? The unit was a hot box by the time I got home from work about 12.30pm. I filled up the portable air cooler with water and ice but it just blew out hot air. It blows out what it sucks in. I tried the pedestool fan but it just circulates the hot air in the room so it didn't help either. I gave Dudley a cold bath and we spent some time on the bathroom floor. A southerly change came through about 7pm, by the time I went to bed the room was cool again. I opened up the windows and let the breeze just come on in for a pleasent night until....

One of the guys next door and some of his friends decided to get a small motorbike out of the garage (the wall common with my bedroom) and take it to a reserve two doors down to do laps..... at 2.50am! My alarm is set for 4.15am so I wasn't planning to be woken up that early.

Still Waiting

I'm still waiting for my wool to arrive so I can start my GAAA. It was ordered late last year but the Benidgo Woollen Mills were on holidays until 5 January. I ordered 11x200g balls in Magnolia Cream, the pattern calls for 1x100g ball for each of the 20 squares in the main afghan and for the boarder. I joined the GAAA discussion group on Ravelry, an interactive web site for knitters and crocheters. While lurking around in there I found that some people used up to 3 balls of yarn for their boarder. I thought I'd ordered enough to get me through but maybe not, I didn't want to have to order more near the end and have a different dye lot colour that was noticeable, then there were the extra 4 block pattern that were suggested as pillows/cushions.

I tried phoning Bendigo Woollen Mills after New Years with no answer (I didn't know they were still off work) so sent them an email to increase my order to 14x200g balls. They phoned me back on Wed 7th to say my order was being processed so hopefully it shouldn't be too much longer.

In the mean time I am having a great time exploring Ravelry and finding small projects to keep me occupied. At the moment I am knitting 'wash cloths' just to get me back into practice.



I also had an email the other day from the real estate agent regarding the air con I asked for:
"With the air conditioner you can install one as long as the place is left the same after vacating. You can also buy very good portable air conditioners which you can wheel around from room to room."
How can I install one and leave the place the same? These things need to be installed professionally and holes are drilled, switches put in etc.... I'm not paying for one only to leave it behind when I leave. The unit next to me has proper air con. I already have a protable cooler and no matter how much water and ice I put in, it's not cool enough. On the hot days it blows the hot room temperature air.

Hot Hot day

OMG it was sooo hot today. I didn't get to see the weather on the news because it was just too hot in the loungeroom but it was around 35C. This unit has NO aircon, ceiling fans or anything. The two bedrooms - the main and the computeroom - get the full afternoon sun and are like a sauna. Acually the whold place is like a sauna. I was out for a while this morning and when I got back the unit was very warm. Dudley and I spent most of the afternoon flat out on the bathroom floor, the tiles were about the coolest room in the unit.

I sent the real estate agent an email asking for aircon for the lounge area and ceiling fans and/or outdoor roller blinds for the bedrooms to get some relief. I can start work anytime between midnight and 5am so on some days I go to bed late afternoon/early evening. It's just not possible in this heat. And to think we are only one month into summer! I have a few more months of this to come. Tomorrow is expected 37C.

When I first moved into this place two months ago I requested a TV antenna because there was not one and I get very poor reception. A couple of months have passed and I am still waiting...... That was something I also mentioned in my email to the agent. The other two units both have outdoor antennas and one even has aircon!