A knitting pattern...

Many years ago a friend gave me a knitting book by Kaffe Fassett. The book contained patterns for the most beautiful multi coloured garments. I had previously knitted 'picture knits' for my children as well as for items donated to fetes and street stalls and had a working knowledge of knitting with several colours per row...but I never really liked it!
Then I bought a publication called 'Mon Tricot; a knitting stitch dictionary. One of the most exciting things that I discovered in Mon Tricot was 'slip-stitch' patterns. For those not familiar with these, they offer an easy way to do multi-coloured knitting projects. There is only ever one colour per row but when you slip stitches (slide onto right needle without knitting the stitch) you are able to bring colours from previous rows up to the row presently being knitted. Around about the same time as buying Mon Tricot, I also started buying a weekly craft mag called 'Silver needles' and I discovered more slipstitch patterns in that. I started experimenting on children's jumpers and cardigans and I found that it was possible to get 'the look' of some of Kaffe's garments by using the simpler slipstitch patterns. I also purchased the Harmony Guides to Knitting Stitches for even more designs.

I actually started knitting throws instead of crocheting afghans for charity around about this time too. I was a stay at home mum and knitting made yarn go further. I used a lot of slipstitch  patterns in these throws. The photo shows a baby throw I made for a nephew. That pattern is just called 'waffle pattern'.

Edward's baby rug

Another favourite pattern is the one I'm using for the throw that I'm working on at the moment. It doesn't have a name in the 'Harmony Guide to Knitting Stitches; Volume 3', it's just labelled 11.20. It's super easy to do and grows quite quickly. I first used mohair to make up this design when a friend gave me a bag of mohair yarn with 3 different colours and asked me to knit her a throw. Then after that one was completed I thought that I would make another one in mohair to send to DH's DD1 who was working in the UK. (the mohair is incredibly light to post) Another one went to a friend in New Zealand who was dying of cancer, and now I'm working on a fourth one. I'd like to share the pattern for a throw here. The details of actual stitches etc are 194 stitches for 10-12ply mohair on 6mm circular needles will give you a width of 120cm.

The original 3 colour throw

Sorry about the 'list to the right' of the image!! Also disregard the diagram on the top righthand side; it belongs to another pattern and I couldn't get the 'crop' to remove it. :-(

However this pattern can be used for smaller items and looks great as a border on a garment.

 Peter's throw; sadly, he's since passed away

This throw had quite a few colours in it and has travelled to the UK and is now back 'living' in country Wandoan!

FNSI

The Friday Night Sew In was a bit of a fizzer for me this month. It's all because of this problem I have...despite not having a medical degree, I tend to self diagnose :-(. It all started 2 weeks ago. I had some sort of gastric disorder. Not to worry, just a bug, I'll drink lots of peppermint tea and water. I also took an anti diarrhoea tablet that we have for DH when we travel. Then I noticed that I had backache that seemed to get steadily worse. No worries it's just my scoliosis. Then after a week things seem to settle down last Monday.Good eh? By Wednesday I had quite sharp abdominal pains so I rested and took some paracetamol. On Thursday I had a commitment at 9-11 helping out at Mainly Music at church. Before I went to that I made an appointment with the doctor for 11.45. Yes! I had 'given in'!

The antibiotics made me sleepy but my 'nurse' kept an eye on me

Apparently I have an infection in my colon. My doctor sent me for a scan and luckily the Xray place fitted me in straight away as I couldn't start the antibiotics until that was done. I slept most of Friday and then, after dinner (takeway organised by DH) I went to work on my knitting project for FNSI as I hadn't been able to prepare what I needed for a sewing project I was going to do. It went like this...knit 4 slip 2, doze 5 mins...wake up...knit 4 etc  until eventually I fell fast asleep with knitting discarded!

Saturday morning I did manage to do some more knitting so I guess it's been Saturday Morning Sew In for me this month :-)

SMSI! lol

On my mind...Mexican zebras...

Today I'm joining in with Rhonda's On my Mind Friday feature and sharing an experience we had while on holidays earlier this year.
Today DH and I watched the last DVD of our holiday in the US. This one contained files of our stay in San Diego and also our 4 hour trip to Mexico (Tijuana) from our motel in San Diego. We had been warned against going to Mexico as most Americans do not consider it to be a safe place. DH really wanted to be able to say that we had set foot in Mexico and at first we planned to go on the 'trolley' from San Diego. Eventually we went on an organised tour in a bus. The tour driver was an American (who spoke Spanish which was handy at the border) but all of people on the bus were either Aussies or New Zealanders.

We were dropped off in a particular section of the town and warned not to eat anything and to only buy drinks in cans or bottles not from 'soda fountains'. We were also warned not to go more than a few streets from the drop off point and certainly no further than a big metal arch feature over the road and to not pay the first price that they ask for. My husband thrived on the harassment by, and the pushiness of the local shopkeepers; I hated it! You couldn't walk even a few metres without merchandise being shoved in your face and entreaties to buy said merchandise. I wasn't a complete 'curmudgeon', I did buy a few items but I felt uncomfortable the whole time. The people are so poor and tourists must be seen as a way to make some money for their families. I understand that...

In the street where we were dropped there were a number of very interesting donkeys. Hopefully the dye/paint is not toxic but you have to admit it is creative. Tourists pay to get their photos taken with the Mexican zebras...$1 a time. We had a number taken with DH's camera and then the donkey's handler suggested we also pay the donkey $1...fair enough!!! lol

On the drive back to the border, we saw really, really, poor parts  and we saw unbelieveably ramshackle homes in which many Mexicans live. I expect there are other parts of Mexico which are not so poor...I hope so!

Patience pays off...

Last Friday I wrote about a knitting project that I'm currently working on. It is a throw which will be a gift for a friend and I'm hoping to complete it in the next couple of weeks. It is a simple slipstitch pattern and as I said in the Friday post, it has 40 colours to celebrate a significant event for my friend. The project has rows of 194 stitches and I'm using various mohair yarns. Knitting that number of stitches in a row takes a bit of time and you can imagine my reaction when, on Monday night as I neared the end of a row, I realised there were not the correct number of stitches on the needles; I was 1 stitch short. I checked and re-counted but didn't seem to have made a mistake in that row. Unfortunately the colour before this one was very close in hue and even with the Daylight lamp I couldn't see the pattern of stitches clearly. I decided that it was important to me that I get it right...sometimes you can 'fudge things' a bit in knitting but I wasn't able to work out how at that time. It was late so I left it and went to bed.

Next morning after breakfast I started to unravel the row, one stitch at a time, picking up each stitch as I pulled out the row...I would never pull such a project completely off the needles and 'pull out' and pick up from there. I counted and still was missing a stitch...so I started unravelling the next row down...and I found the mistake in the first 5 stitches of that row...2 stitches had been knitted together which is easy to do with mohair. DH was speaking to someone on the phone, so I wrote on a piece of paper and held it up to him...'The missing stitch has been found!' lol
After that I was right and I soon re-knitted the rows and then some more!

The birds...

As I typed the title I thought of the Hitchcock movie of the same name, but this post is not scary like that! lol
The work on the side veranda continues, with the part demolition of the structure to allow for repairs and a slight extending of the width. The railings have gone and it has reminded me of those verandas on the old homesteads of the early settlers; it's quite open as a result. I was pottering around in the loungeroom late one afternoon last week when I thought I heard someone walking around on the veranda. The noise persisted but there was no knock at the door or a voice calling out. So I looked out the sliding door....and there was a large black crow looking back at me. He calmly continued to strut around for a while, then flew off.

The start of pulling down some of the veranda; look how untidy it is under there? lol

A day later I heard a similar noise on the veranda and looked out an caught a glimpse of a magpie helping him or herself to the cat's dry food bowl. This time I managed to get some photos!

Oops! The front steps have gone!

 Russell, the builder was there too and we both wondered if dry cat food is able to be digested by magpies. We are discouraged from feeding native animals by wildlife experts but this guy was helping him/herself! lol

Building work has now slowed down as the roofing structure won't be ready to be delivered until early next week. With it being the storm season already, Russell is leaving the old roof and its posts in place until the new roof arrives.

My new toy...

Well it's technically not that new any more...it's about a month old and I bought it during the Janome sale at my local sewing machine shop. Yes! It's my new sewing machine and it's not the super expensive model I thought that I would buy. I read reviews in sewing magazines of various brands and models but when I went to actually try out machines at the little local shop I found this model did everything I wanted and best of all...it was simple to use! So I hardly touched my 'tax refund' money and it stays in my account earning interest until it's needed.

My old machine has stayed; I'm not quite ready to part with this old friend. We've been a team for 37 years but even I knew that there had to be machines that did buttonholes easier. That was basically the only criticism I had of my Elna 'workhorse'...the complicated buttonholes :-(   That machine sewed so many items of clothing for family members, it pieced quilts, sewed cushions, curtains and seat covers. It sewed wovens and stretch fabrics, organzas and silks, linens and cottons, it sewed trapunto and applique, it mended and upcycled and it got lugged to classes etc.

But when I had my first lesson on my new machine...I realised I was in love...so much potential fun is coming up! I don't know why I was so surprised by all the marvellous possibilities of the new machine...after all a lot of research and development, as well as scientific innovation can happen in 37 years!!! And most importantly...it has three types of buttonholes and they are all easy!!!

Through the generations...

My mother died 10 years ago last May and it's just been fairly recently that DD2 has indicated an interest in any items that may be still around in the family that belonged to Granny. Ten years ago she was nearly 17 and on the morning that I made a dash to the nursing home, she had come home at 3am and was very churlish when I woke her at 7am and suggested she might like to come and say 'goodbye' to grandma. She was distraught when I rang her at 8.30 to tell her that granny had passed. I was so proud of her when she arrived at the nursing home and sat with her grandmother along with the rest of the family...she hated nursing homes and found it hard to visit.

Recently I have been sorting through photos looking for ones of my mother as DD2 has indicated she would like to make a photo montage of her grandmother. Some photos that predate my birth were water damaged but many are able to be salvaged. I still have a few more boxes and albums to go through but I've been delighted with some of the 'treasures' (photos) I've unearthed in this search.

But I have another way that I can connect my daughter to her grandmother. When she moved into her own home a few months ago I decided then and there what part of her Christmas present would be. In my garden there are 'descendants' of plants from my mother's garden and I am potting up some of those for her. Add a voucher to enable her to buy some fancy pots for her courtyard in which to put these plants and I've given her some memories. One such plant is this begonia. Each spring it would flower and it was one of the few flowers that mum would let me pick to take a bunch of flowers to my teacher. So my memories are fond ones of this plant. It was really important in those distant days of the 50s and 60s to occasionally take a bunch of homegrown flowers to the teacher. (actually it still happened in the 70s when I started my teaching career)

Mum's begonias

Mum was very particular about what flowers I could pick...definitely not her gerberas, roses, violets or galliardias, but it was ok to take the daisies, nasturtiums and the begonias. Other plants of my mother's I will pot up for DD2 include some bromelaids, aloe vera and a variety of 'mother-in-law tongue' with the yellow edge around the leaves. Plants from my MIL that I will do the same, will include an aspidistra. So I guess I'm potting up some memories and linking the generations.