beanie bonanza!

it's beanie time! about 20 minutes after i wrote that post last week, i grabbed out my needle roll and started a beanie. isn't my needle roll the cutest? bought it in a sale at the haby goddess .

also got this matching one for my crochet hooks. they're both katie fleck designs and i love them to death! now, back to beanies...

beanie number one: green apple sorbet.

lovely sorbet wool that i got on sale at spotlight, $1.50 a ball! down from like $9 each.

the way that it's in a skein made it feel all special, something a bit different from a ball.

this was really great until it came down to actually knitting with it...

an hour later and it was rolled in an easy to use and manage ball. skeins are stupid.

out came my bright red number 10s. they're from the op-shop so one of them doesn't actually have an end, makes it a little difficult, but worth the care.

65 stitches, i cast on. after the first night, i'd knitted this much. i was proud, it'd been ages since i'd done any knitting, let alone knitted a beanie. the thick wool and needles felt strange in my hands, compared with the thin 3.5mm crochet hook and 8 ply wool i've been using for my big ripple.

after night two, little apple had grown substantially. this one'll be done in no time! unless of course you're an absolute tool like i am and you lose one of your needles!!! so green apple sorbet has been put on hold until payday, when i can nick to spotlight and buy another pair of 10mm needles.

beanie number two: airhead diva.

actually knitting a few wools up for this one, which is what i prefer to do.

airone, diva and kaleidoscope.

i decided at about 9pm thursday to start this beanie, it was finished by 1am friday. the airone knitted up amazingly quickly.

first beanie done, first beanie done! don't mind my stupid face though...

beanie number three (yes THREE): another mixed-up wooly one.
tammy and kid mohair blend and a random blue-green one that i found in my wool mess.
should end up a lovely blue-green textured lovely beanie.

75 stitches on 8mm needles. they're TINY in length though. i'm quite scared of losing half of them off the end when i put it down...

and that's the end of my knitting adventures for this week... three beanies started, one beanie finished. i'll have all 10 beanies done in no time. definitely have 10 ready this year by june.

UPDATE: i found my red 10mm knitting needle. it was in the middle of my front lawn. for 4 days. domestic blindness.

UPDATE (again): aaaaaaaaaaand i got 100 page views today! thank you thank you thank you! i added a counter about a month ago so it hasn't really counted the previous 11 months or so...
aaaaaaaaaaaaaand it was my first blogiversary at the start of february and i didn't even NOTICE! i fail at anniversaries...

wooly times.

yesterday i tipped out my wool basket. i've been meaning to do it for a while. it's been sitting under my dresser, dribs and drabs hanging down the side, getting under my feet while i do my hair or moisturise or put my face on.
so out it came, all over the lounge room floor.
tangled and unravelled and messy and untidy and horrid.
3 hours later, i'd re-rolled all the balls, sorted them out into colours.


much better don't you think?
i then preceded to sort out 10 beanies worth. and then tied them together. yup, beanie season is almost upon me again. and this year im going to submit 10! no excuses!!!
my fingers have been itching for a little while now to get click-clacking some needles together, mainly inspired by clara's knitted lovelies and the knitting olympics . i would really have liked to do something for the knitting olympics but i really quite fail at organisation. i can knit a beanie in 2 days if i'm motivated so it's not really an "citius, altius, fortius" type deal. and i fail at following knitting patterns. oh well, next year, er, the year after that i guess...

in any case, stay tuned for beanie bonanza... and maybe a little big blankie ripply update, it's getting quite big now.

pantry makeover.

oh hello!

i know it's been a little while, i've been busy working and then not in fact working, but holidaying at my parent's place.

i've been itching to get busy, to get done some of the massive holiday to-do list (seeing as how uni starts back in less than a month!)

let me introduce you to my pantry, it's cluttered and dodgy looking. it's a nightmare to find anything and i hate even having to open it to get anything out.

something needed to be done.

so off i trotted to bunnings, or as i like to call it, heaven-on-earth. $40 later, i had a litre of paint, 2 different sized paint brushes and some sanding blocks.

i emptied out all our food. quite a lot huh? everytime now when my boyfriend says "i'm starving and there's NO food left in the house," i'm going to show him this picture. we have so much random food!

after ripping off all the awful contact, i pulled all the shelves out, and the random hooks and thumb tacks that seemed to be embedded everywhere. gave all the surfaces a good sand-down. still looked horrible..

i did the first coat. the sides literally soaked up the paint. thirsty thirsty pantry. there's also a gross looking stain on the bottom shelf. i think it's some kind of oil stain because it shone right through the water-based paint.

after the second coat the walls looked much better. the colour was much more solid and looked quite lovely actually.

after all the paint had dried, i put the shelves back in. i also attached a basket to the bottom of one, for onions and potatoes and garlic. i bought it because it was supposed to fit over the shelf, it didn't fit properly though. so i permanently attached it with hooks. the real estate agent said we could do stuff without permission as long as it improves the quality of the house, it improves the quality of the house for us so hopefully they'll let it slide...

and voila. all the food's back in, neatly and tidily. the top shelf is like a supermarket shelf :D
there's so much of a difference, i actually keep the pantry door open now. it's pleasant to look at. love it.