Success!

Hurrah!

Thanks to Judge John Deed again, I've finished my first pair of SSS socks.




They were supposed to be for me, but when I tried on the first one, it was a little small, so I've passed them on the missus.


And I've now started swatching for pair number 2 - Monkeys with The Knittery's merino sock yarn.



I'm not sure what colourway this is - I've had the yarn in the stash for a while and so the label's long gone.


Spent a considerable amount of time yesterday in the library at Uni catching up on some Contract reading.


After the bitter disappointment of Criminal Law on Monday, I picked up my Contracts paper on Wednesday and scored a credit which I'm happy with 'cause: (a) I find contracts really boring, and (b) I left it to the last minute to write.


I've now come to the realisation that I set high expectations of myself and that unless I want to be studying 24/7 I'm going to have to be satisfied with credits and passes.


And I'm totally fine with that :-)

Task avoidance syndrome

I can be easily distracted and this week's been a doozy!

I've become a bit obsessive about the SSS - wanting to buy up all the sock yarn that I can possibly find. BUT I've shown remarkable restraint and on Thursday managed to come home with only two new sets of Knit Picks needles and one ball of sock yarn.

But, there's some coming that I won on ebay from The Knittery, and I'm eyeing off some Tofutsies from another ebay seller.

Yesterday morning I'd reached the foot of sock number 1 and was feeling rather pleased with myself.

I'm sooo loving my Knit Picks - they're nice and sharp and sturdy! The Tulip bamboos were bending and I was so worried one was gonna snap and that was totally slowing me down.

So thanks to 'Wire in the Blood' on Friday night and 'Judge John Deed' last night, I've now finished sock number 1.

Of course, what I really should have been doing was homework for the 5day course I'm doing at work - a Train the Trainer course, or studying for Uni.

Uni exams are in the second week of November, so once they're done it'll be all about the knitting, oh and getting ready to move to Melbourne. But more about that later...

Preparing for the KAL

So last weekend I finally finished a jumper for the partner of the recipient of an earlier jumper in Melbourne, and I shipped it off on Monday morning - then immediately cast on a baby cardigan to refresh the palette after doing two man-sized jumpers back-to-back.

It's just a good old fashioned stocking stitch polo, knit in the round ('cause I detest sewing up) with Bendigo Woollen Mills' Mystique (wool/mohair/alpaca).

The recipient rang me before he'd even tried it on to gush about how beautiful it was - god love him.

Now, on Thursday I woke with a woeful headache - probably as close as I get to something resembling a migraine, but without the incapacity. Eight hours at work and 6 ibuprofens later I decide to try some retail therapy - the theory being that there was nothing physiological wrong, just a stress headache.

Off I trot to Lincraft to see if they've got the winter yarn on sale - yes they do, but it's really only the most crapulous stuff so I bypass it to the back of the store where they keep the 'good' stuff during the off season. Espied the Lincraft and Sullivan versions of sock wool at $12.95 a pop, but decided to forge on to Tapestry Craft and try my luck there. And apart from anything else, feeling guilty about even contemplating buying more yarn...

Mmm, nothing much to get excited about at Tapestry Craft. No, that's not quite right - LOTS to get excited about at Tapestry Craft, but my mood for shopping is flagging and I decide to head home instead, with the mistaken belief that I have heaps of sock wool in the stash.

Search through the stash today and discover, shock horror, that there really isn't enough to get me excited, but enough to get started.

So, I've decided that first up for the KAL I'll go for a nice plain pair of socks for me from this ball of Opal.

And just because I could, I took a photo of the first socks I made over a year ago - a plain pair with a skein of yarn I got from Happy Spider via ebay!

They're looking a little sad these days, and I didn't get the gauge quite right so they're a bit baggy, but I love them!

What a week!

It would be an absolute truth to say that the past week has been one of the most rewarding and hectic periods in my life (so far).

Singing at the Opera House

It's not everyday you get the opportunity to sing at the Sydney Opera House. It's even less frequent that you get the chance to perform in three shows on two days in two theatres. On Sunday 15th July at 2pm and 6pm in the Opera Theatre, and on Tuesday 17th July in the Concert Hall, I was among 100 very privileged choristers to join the Choir of Hard Knocks on stage for a finale that will stay with me, and I suspect the audience, for a loooong time.

For those who don't know, the Choir of Hard Knocks is a project administered by RecLink in Melbourne, and which was the subject of a 5 part ABC documentary aired earlier this year. The Choir Director, Jonathon Welch, is the most genuine and giving person I think I know, and I'm blessed to be able to call him a dear friend. He's taken a rag-tag bunch of homeless and disadvantaged people with little or no singing experience and turned them into a singing sensation.

I got the opportunity to visit the Choir at rehearsal in January, and the improvement in their skill since that time is phenomenal. Not only are they sounding wonderful (and better than some 'regular' choirs I've heard), they sing with absolute passion, enthusiasm and feeling that shoots you right in the heart. If I wasn't singing with them at the Opera House, I would've been in the audience, weeping throughout the performance as did my partner and friends.

Above is a picture of my choir backstage at the House.

Finished Object

I also finished a jumper I'd been working on for a dear friend of mine - being a Melbourne boy he appreciates the warmth of a handknit. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a decent picture of it - this is the best I could manage.

It's Bendigo Woollen Mills Rustic in 8ply in Graphite - the pattern is Sue Flynn's Shawl Collar Jumper from "Australian Yarn Art".

Uni Results

And then, at 1am on Wednesday morning after the Opera House I log onto my Uni account and find out that I scored Distinctions for Legal Process & History and Legal Research. What a blast!

It's really reassuring for someone who hasn't studied for nearly 10 years to come back to it and find out that the amount of effort you're putting in is being rewarded - maybe this semester I don't need to work quite so hard. I think my other half would appreciate that...