Pransellknit

If this post was to be one word long, ‘duffer’ is probably the most appropriate way to sum up this year in knitting. It’s been a bit of a ‘wheel spinning in the mud, not getting anywhere fast’ type of year, with all the reknitting I did. That’s perfectly OK though; it’s helped me realise that patience isn’t as overrated as I always thought it was.

I’m really happy with how all this year’s projects turned out, but strangely I don’t have much to say about them. My favourite colours, green and brown, were well represented and I became a bit more adventurous with pattern modifications.

This year my partner Matt released a couple of knitting apps for the iPhone. While not my achievement, I’m still immensely proud of Matt and the effort he put in for a couple of tools to make my knitting life a little easier. I can’t even begin to describe how pleased it makes me to hear that the apps are also useful to other knitters and crocheters – the support and suggestions from the knitting and crocheting community has been nothing short of amazing.

Outside of knitting, I finally tried my hand at some other crafts, and was pleasantly surprised by the results. Unfortunately these other crafty activities took a back seat when I left Brown Owls to move interstate, but non-knitterly crafty activities haven’t been far from my mind. Going from thoughts to reality is sometimes the hardest part of the process, I think.

Finally, I also tried my hand at selling some of my knitterly wares. By far, this was the most daunting thing I did this year. Going to market was a lot of fun, and nerve-wracking all at the same time. I will try again next year, with a little bit more wisdom and a lot more organisation.

Perhaps the word for 2009 should be ‘wonderment’, I think my pleasant surprise has been mentioned in just about every paragraph!

On that note, I think this dufferly wonderment of a year from the Pransellknit perspective has been covered. Thank you everyone for reading my funny little blog. I hope I’ll see you again in 2010!

Hot

Christmas. The lead up is always manic, but it’s a relaxing couple of days and I get to spend time with my family.

Knitting on planes. Finally!

The veggie garden. My tomatoes and chillies have gone berzerk. Stay tuned for tomatoes and chillies forming part of the ‘not’ list in the future as we run out of ways to use them all up.

Not

My ankles. I hurt them while going for a run about a week ago. As a result, the amount of exercise I can do has diminished greatly. This has made me a bit of a cranky pants.

Sugar. I’ve consumed too much lately and I know it’s only the beginning. Must engage willpower.

(more at Loobylu)

As it is Christmas Eve, it’s more than likely that this is the last post before Christmas Day. On that note, I’d like to wish everyone a very merry and relaxing Christmas break, however long or short it may be!

Still no non ‘Hot + Not’ blog content, but there is some on the way.

Hot + Not, brought to you by Loobylu!

Hot

Knitting. Despite (or perhaps because of) the lack of blog posts, it’s been a pretty productive knitting week. Hap is done, Matt’s jumper is being seamed and Victory is over half finished. My mind is wandering to potential next projects, but I will resist until Matt’s jumper is done.

Today’s Google logo. Even thinking about it makes me smile. Is it because the ‘oo’ is his eyes? That the other letters are choc chip cookies? That parts of those choc chip letters are missing? I think it’s all of those reasons.

The realisation that in just over 3 months, we’re going to Japan! Japan!!

Not

Possibly one of the most insane ‘nots’ that will ever be uttered – the public holiday on Tuesday. My body clock appears to be completely mucked up on account of the mid-week holiday. It’s all a bit bizarre.

Realising in just over 3 months, we’re going to Japan! Besides a few vague ideas (Studio Ghibli, shopping, vending machines, Mount Fuji and maybe Kyoto), we have done zero planning and pretty much zero saving. Whoops.

Loobylu’s meme seems a nice (and easy!) way to get back into the blogging groove.

Hot

Beer! Not just any beer though, the Federation Square Microbrewery Showcase is on today and tomorrow. It got a little crowded tonight, but the great brewers and delicious beer made up for that.

New Mattress – we bought a new pocket spring mattress last week, replacing a clapped out old futon that was a little past its prime. I feel like I’ve got a big kid’s bed now.

My Mum’s birthday. I don’t think she reads my blog, but Happy Birthday for tomorrow Mum!

Using eBay to declutter. One person’s clutter is another person’s treasure it seems.

Rediscovering lovely shops such as this one, while the Australian dollar is relatively strong. This does nothing to aid the decluttering effort (see above).

Not

A dreaded springtime lurgy that has descended upon the Pransell household. It’s the biggest ‘what’s not’ this week by far. I can’t hear, taste or smell very well, my energy is zapped and my patience thin(ner than usual). And I can’t bake. (whinge whinge whinge! I do feel a bit better getting that off my chest)

Mattress shopping. It’s boring, and lying on mattresses in big showrooms is awkward.

Overzealous yarn overs. In particular, discovering over zealous yarn overs 4 rows, or over 1000 stitches, after doing them.

Last weekend was spent galavanting around the countryside. As mentioned in the last post, Saturday was spent in Bendigo checking out the Sheep and Wool Show. There was a lot of looking at yarn and marvelling at the sea of Ravelry badges, but only one thing was purchased.

Now I understand why people love Colinette Jitterbug so much. So many wonderful colours! Jitterbug is quite a departure from the mental image of ribbon yarn I previously had of Colinette yarn. This yarn, velvet plum, is destined for someone else, but I think I’ll be buying some for myself once some stash is cleared out. There was one other thing I wanted to cart away from the show…

Yesterday was Melbourne Open House, part of the State of Design Festival. Like the rest of Melbourne, I wanted to check out the Manchester Unity building. A little over an hour of queueing, we were in. A truly lovely building inside and out, and well worth the wait to get in. I heartily recommend seeking it out next year.

Things, big and little, tend to niggle and weigh on my mind until I do something about them. There are some big things that I know I can’t do anything about for months or even years, but the smaller things have been getting me down lately.

Some of the smaller things are kind of silly, like getting my hair cut, and some things, like my unfinished knitting projects and yarn stash, weigh so heavily that it becomes overwhelming. It was starting to get to the point where I dreaded going into the room where my unfinished projects and stash are kept.

This week I got sick of feeling bad about it and started to do something about it. Projects that I’m never going to finish are being ripped out, and yarn is being sorted through and will be given away or sold. As soon as the first unfinished project was ripped out, I felt so much better, like I was finally doing something positive to get rid of the yarn monkey on my back. I guess it was quite cathartic. Why didn’t I just do this earlier?

The vast majority of books foisted upon us for high school English were, in my opinion, pretty average, but the class just had to deal with whatever the teacher decided to give us to study. However, in year 12, there were a number of English streams to choose from, so students could choose which set of books they wanted to study along with two (in my opinion average) compulsory texts. I chose the stream that included studying Frontline and The Outsider by Albert Camus. As I’d never perviously heard of The Outsider, my choice was based on my fondness for Frontline, and because it meant I could watch TV. The Outsider was the last book I ever studied at high school. However, it has ended up being one of my favourite books even after a number of re-reads and dissection of language and storyline that comes with studying it.

Within my group of friends at the time, it seemed to be quite a divisive book. The only person I know that liked it, outside of my friends who studied it as well, is my partner.

As The Outsider was originally written in French, I often wonder if there’s nuances in the French language that get lost in the translation to English. I guess, more than anything, I wonder if my understanding of the text is as complete as it can be.

This tin keeps catching my eye more than other tins, containers and baskets around the house, so it must be my favourite.

The bold colours, font and patterns makes me think of the circus, but the diamonds on the side also seem a bit toy drum.

I often wonder what it held between holding ice cream and me owning it. I like to think it was brightly coloured plastic figures, like farm animals or soldiers, or a collection of a child’s most prized possessions (a la Amelie, I guess!).

For me, the tin sadly still stands empty. I don’t have any brightly coloured plastic figures to put in there, and I want to make sure the contents of the tin captures my attention as much as the outside does. Perhaps it’s time I collected up all my little treasures.

Pip is hosting a week of favourite things, and I thought I might join in.

Technically these aren’t shoes, but ‘my favourite footwear’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it. The day I bought these boots, they were my little rays of sunshine on what was a frustratingly annoying day. My partner and I were in Melbourne so he could have an operation done. The day I bought the boots was the day he was due to go into surgery, but we received a call cancelling the surgery less than an hour before he was due to be admitted. We quickly booked flights so we could get back to work asap, but had the rest of that day to ourselves.

To try and relieve the annoyance, we wandered around the places we used to hang out when we lived in Melbourne. It was then that I came across my boots. I loved them as soon as I clapped eyes on them, but was a bit put off by the price. After an hour of deliberation I bought them, and the rest is history.

Even after owning them for a year and wearing them lots and lots, they are still my rays of sunshine distilled into footwear. The detail on the toes, the bright red buttons and stitching, the polka dot lining, all those little things about my boots make me smile. They were worth every penny.

I admit I’m quite a stationery fiend. Some of my most prized possessions include a lamy fountain pen and a giant Lego man with a sharpener for a head, and a tape measure for a back pack. Sometimes it takes all my might not to go completely bezerk during back to school time, and buy enough highlighters to satisfy the needs of many generations of future Pransells.

While scooting around the internets recently, I’ve come across some stationery (and vaguely stationery related) gems that have made my pupils dilate and my heart go all a-flutter.

Birch in Eucalyptus cards – These cards are so pretty that even though I am possibly the world’s worst correspondent and rarely send cards, I am looking for an excuse to send someone one of these.

Modofly Ruby Moleskine – I bought a Modofly notebook for my partner earlier this year and they are very nicely done. Ruby is a new design that caught my eye.

Exclamation fabric – I’m quite drawn to this fabric, although I have no idea what I’d do with it, and I still feel a bit shaky when it comes to sewing.

Circus Print – This one is possibly the least related to stationery, but I think it’s my favourite. It’s part of a monthly print subscription service, Wilkintie. Luckily, you can also buy them individually. Also luckily, it’s pay week this week, so I might just have to get one for myself. Found via Frankie.