She's ba-aaack !

Quilting Mojo is still MIA, but as her sibling Ms K. Mojo [ known as Knit to her friends ] has returned to the fold, can QM be far away ?

Mind you, Ms Knit is severely displeased with me.

She expected to return to piles of finished woollies
and
what did she find ?
nothing!
not a scrap!

By the time she had finished castigating me for the pathetic lack of sticks-and-string related activity, my membership in the Knitterly ranks was in serious danger of being stripped from my wilting shoulders. Oh the shame !
There was no help for it.
I had to re-establish my credentials asap.

A quick rummage in the depths of the UFO basket under the coffee table produced a vaguely familiar bit of feather-and-fan. I seem to remember starting it around New Years with the nebulous intention of it being some sort of trans-seasonal long sleeved shrug for Nadie.
When I actually got around to showing her what I'd started, she was somewhat less than enamoured with the colour [ a subdued sort of bluey, mauvy grey] and it ended up in time out.

So now it's going to be for me

The yarn is an aran weight Patons cotton blend that I originally bought - cheaply - at the local supermarket, and then added to when I found some more balls of the same dyelot going for a song at the Salvo Op Shop [ Thrift store ].

No pattern as such: two identical panels of feather and fan with garter stitch border and a segue into stocking stitch for the back[s] and then joined centre back with kitchener stitch.

I could've also just seamed the two pieces together, or done a three needle cast-off ... or I could've just done it all in one continuous piece with the lace at either end and trusted that no-one would actually notice that the pattern on one sleeve was upside down.

anyway for those who care about the specs

yarn - Patons Washed Haze Aran
needles - 6mm KP Harmony

No promises about how long it will take me to sew up the sleeve/side seams.
Can't rush these things.

evidence...

Natal congratulations

Hippo Birdy
two ewes
Hippo Birdy
two ewes
Hippo Birdy deeeeeear Nadie
Hippo Birdy
twooooooooooooooooo ewes


Hard to believe that my 'baby' is 29 today !

Nadie circa 1990

so here's the thing

what with
the alternating floods and heatwave[s]
the running to and fro to Melbourne to get Nadie-and-The-Boy packed up and moved in here
the running to and fro to Melbourne because MIL collapsed and got dragged off to 'ospital the day after Nadie-and-The-Boy moved up here
the packing/unpacking/rationalising of two households worth of goods and chattels

all coming hot on the heels of the Great Annual Post Christmas Take-Down and Pack Away [ which was somewhat more prolonged and involved than expected due to the fact that some of my usual storage spaces were about to be repurposed for storage of the above mentioned goods and chattels ]

and let us not forget the garden ... repeated flooding rains after 15 years of drought equals rampant and unprecedented growth equals [happy] hours of pruning and weeding,

and then, naturally, Nadie and I had to spend some quality time sitting-and-contemplating-the-results-with-book-and-companion-animals



net result:
I have not touched anything involving needle or hook for over a month
[gasp]

and Bear would like you to know that he is still adorable

Ms Spiny Spider had just finished mending the storm damage to her web when Nadie decided to show us what her top side looks like. You may remember the recent pic of her nether regions

... and now that I read that sentence again, it does occur to me that it is, perhaps, open to more than one interpretation ... erm ...

Obviously, I'm referring to the arachnid she's nether regions, not those belonging to my darling daughter