The descent into gift knitting season has commenced over here. A couple of birthdays are on the horizon, and I needed to whip up something quicksmart.

Turn a Square
a smidge of blue Lincraft cosy wool, a smidge of Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8ply in Raven and Anthracite and a smidge of Bendigo Woollen Mills Rustic 8ply in Graphite
3.75 and 4.5 mm dpns
Start: September 2008
Finish: September 2008

The hats are for are typical boys, so I wasn’t very adventurous with the colours, but that’s ok, because they were scraps of yarn that weren’t doing anything anyway.

Even though the recommended yarn is worsted weight, 8 ply seemed to work fine without any modification to the number of stitches cast on. I opted for a 3.75mm needle for the ribbing, as I wanted to make sure it fit snuggly around the band. I had a bit of trouble getting used to the jogless stripe technique, but once I got the hang of that, the hats were done in no time at all. In fact, I highly recommend this pattern if you need to whip up a present quickly, and the giftee is a skull cap wearer.

Because it is the gift knitting season, and I don’t know who reads this blog, I won’t be posting about projects much until they’re done and they are in the recipients’ possession. Don’t want to be ruining any surprises!

Thankyou for the lovely comments about my sewing exploits. Fingers crossed its warm enough this weekend for its public debut.

Georgie tagged me for the seven random things meme. How I chose the things wasn’t particularly random, in fact it’s very much a deliberate attempt to not come across as a complete weirdo, or be a list of embarrassing childhood anecdotes that you would expect a parent to roll out at an 18th or 21st.

So, here’s my very non-random ‘Seven Random Things’ meme:

– I love Nintendo. I never had a video game console as a kid, so as an act of adult rebellion, I promptly bought myself a NES from an op shop shortly after leaving home. Take that, parents! The collection has expanded, and I now also own a SNES, a Nintendo 64, a Gamecube and a Wii. I do have other non-Nintendo consoles, but they pale in comparison. I don’t really play them anymore as I don’t seem to have the time, but it’s comforting to know they’re nearby. As a bonus piece of info, my favourite game is Yoshi’s Island on SNES.

– I have an irrational hatred of bananas. I fully admit that it is irrational, and I have tried tried tried to be at least a little accepting of them, but I just cannot stand bananas. The taste, smell, texture, the look of the banana peel, the sound of people eating it, everything. This is an aversion that does not discriminate, as it extends to lolly bananas and banana chips.

– The Poppy is my favourite flower. As a happy coincidence, they are out in bloom around my birthday, which is nice. So this isn’t a photoless post (and to bulk out this ‘thing’ as I’ve not got much else to say about it), here’s a couple of photos of poppies I took in Melbourne when I was down there for my birthday this year:

– My life’s ambition when I was little was to be 6 foot. Nope, not a fireman, or a marine biologist, 6 foot tall was the only goal in my sights. Unfortunately I missed out by 2 inches.

– I can watch the same movie over and over and over and over and over again without getting sick of it. In 2002 I bought Amelie on DVD, and watched it once a day for nearly a week. I still love that movie, and could still watch it over and over. On the other hand, I’m not very good at watching movies that are ‘must sees’ at the time. I haven’t seen a Harry Potter movie, but I have seen Jurassic Park and the Sixth Sense, however they were dubbed in German.

– I’m good at writing lists, but atrocious at actually doing the things on the list. I’ve been trying hard to get better at actually crossing off items from any lists I make, but I still find lists written down everywhere, forgotten and unloved.

– I once won $60 in a Home and Away quiz at a local radio station. I’m mildly repulsed by that now, as I was always a Neighbours girl. The winnings were wisely invested in an Australian cricket jersey which is still worn to the Boxing Day test every year.

As I’m fairly new to this blogging caper, I shan’t tag anyone specifically even though I know it’s a cop out. However, if there’s anyone who hasn’t done it yet and would like to, consider yourself tagged. Please let me know if you do the meme!

I’ve been feeling a bit ‘meh’ about the projects I’ve worked on recently. I like them all well enough, but didn’t really feel a sense of accomplishment that I usually feel. This project, however, I’m pretty pleased with.

Vital Stats:
Simplicity 3835 (a Built By Wendy pattern)
Red cotton poplin from Spotlight

Sewing has been something I’ve wanted to try for some time. I’ve made a couple of things in the past, but this is my first attempt at a garment. I didn’t find it too hard to do, even setting the sleeves in was ok. Some of the seams are a bit wonky, but the elastic in the neck and sleeves hide a multitude of sins (I think). Once it warms up a bit more, I’ll definitely wear it, and I’ll use the pattern again in the future, perhaps with some patterned fabric.

Next up, sewing wise, is a skirt. I’m not a big fan of elastic waists, and it might be too early to attempt a zip, so maybe I’ll have a crack at a wrap round skirt.

While knitting on the bus earlier this week, I noticed I was knitting with olive green yarn, while wearing an olive green coat and an olive green bag in my lap. Then I realised that my wallet is olive green, the last jumper I finished was olive green, two neglected projects in my cupboard are olive green, and I still have some olive green yarn stashed away. Even the first lot of yarn I bought after I started knitting again was olive green.

I really do like olive green, but making that mental list made my head spin. Once this current project is finished I will not be knitting with or purchasing any olive green yarn for a bit. It’s only fair for the other colours in the spectrum. I hope that I’m not the only one with a subconscious obsession for a colour.

So yes, the current project. The Tyrolean cardigan from Sarah Dallas’ Vintage Knits. This was an opportunistic project as I had the needles, yarn that knit to gauge, a number of options for buttons and the book, so it really didn’t require any effort on my behalf at all.

Despite my apparent love for all things olive green, I didn’t really want to be olive green. I was inspired to give this pattern a shot, after seeing this version on Ravelry, but wanted to do it in some manner of grey. Having said all that, I’m fairly satisfied with the colour so far.

Progress has been fairly steady, with the back finished and the left front almost done as well. The body is a couple of centimetres longer to accommodate for my slightly longer torso, and I think I’ll give the embroidery a miss.

Being vegetarian, a lot of the savoury recipe cards aren’t really suitable, so savoury delights will be few and far between. I suspect that even if I didn’t mind eating meat, not many of the savoury offerings would really do it for me – tripe in parsley sauce anyone? I must get a scanner in the near future, and share some of these culinary delights.

This week’s offering is the french cheese stick. The french reference loses me a bit, as it contain curry and mustard powders, and the cheese is just good ol’ cheddar cheese. Perhaps it’s the mustard that gives its frenchness. As the title indicated that it was a french stick, I assumed it was bread, but it’s more of a scone dough with curry and mustard powders, and chunks of cheese.

I had never plaited dough before, so doing that was quite fun, and made the bread look really good. It was also nice to be able to put my many years of training as a professional my little pony tail plaiter to use. I had often wondered if it was time well spent as a kid. Let me assure you, it was.

I’m still in two minds on this one. The curry flavour and turmeric colour of the bread is kind of wrong, but kind of not. The cheese chunks are great, especially when it’s warm, because you get a nice surprise of melted cheese. I think it’s worth another chance, but next time I might ditch the curry powder.