Life Whirlwind

My life has been like a whirlwind lately. A willy-willy of change, if you will.

Right after I last posted, I finished the Jaynes. I was extremely excited to be able to hand them over to E and T, who squealed and jammed them on their heads immediately.

We don't get out of bed for less than 10,000/day, dahhhhhling.....Thank you to Boy, who helped me weave in the ends (the bit I hate the most, see all the 90% finished projects in the sidebar ------->) and made the pompoms for me.

Then I got swept up in the whirlwind of baby knitting. All of a sudden, my pregnant work colleague started ballooning out to alarming proportions, which had me all in a tizzy - I have to make lots and lots of baby clothes, NOW!. As if she was gonna blow at any minute, like a large Moby-Dickian sea creature. Images of myself on a soaking wet rolling deck, wearing fisherman's gear and frantically waving little bootees and bonnets around swept into my head. So I have a vivid imagination, ok?

So as not to leave out my brother's baby, even though it's not due til January, I started a more intricate, long-term, guilt-assuaging project - a pair of bootees made on 3mm needles, mostly in moss stitch:

Masochistic!I call them "Thrilled". The pattern comes from an old booklet (c. 1950s?) of bootees and mittens that I bought from Ebay about a month ago. The pattern is called 'Happy'. I don't know why, because it's gonna take me for-bloody-ever to knit them! For a start, you begin with 49 stitches, increase 15, and you're supposed to end up with 69! Why, why, why? It's a one-row-at-a-time kind of project. My mantra for this one is: 'I have til January, I have til January...'

Then I was too tired to knit for about 4 days. Work was so draining, I didn't even have the energy to hold up a pair of needles. Just when I needed to do something to de-stress. I didn't even have TV reception, dammit! But then finally things calmed down a bit, and I continued the Berry Bonce, which was a breeze compared to Thrilled, and as of yesterday, it's finished!

"Finished" here means only have 2 ends to weave in,
which are easily tucked to the back. Ahem.It's lucky I finished "finished" that, because I started a new baby project yesterday as well - I'm calling it the Baby Bum. It's one of those underpant thingies the baby wears over its nappy. In the US they call them Soakers; I don't know what they're called here.

At least the waist band is finished!Yes, I'm using the dreaded double-pointeds again. It's a bit more difficult to hold the needles the new way with this project, because it's larger than the Berry Bonce, but I'm getting there. I also hate doing ribbing with DPNs, but it's only for the first 5cm, and there's some interesting fair aisle work straight afterwards, so I can cope. *grinds teeth*

I'm going to break away from knitting for a little while, and talk about art. I bought 2 prints from Etsy* the other week, and I just adore them!

Trying not to breach copyright too much. See the shop.I got them framed, and it cost 4 times as much as the prints themselves did, but it was sooooo worth it! My bare loungeroom looks positively spiffy now!

From Etsy I also bought my first zines! Mama would be proud! I bought Stolen Sharpie Revolution, which is a zine all about making zines. According to Craftypod, it's The resource for making your own zine. I also bought another one by the same author Practical Body Modification, which is all about her experience with getting an IUD. They're both great examples of interesting, informative zines. I want my own zine, Mommy!

These experiences have inspired me to get out the paints and continue to create my own works, so the other night I made some ACEOs:

Far left and far right: finished. Rest: who knows?It left me feeling creative, peaceful, calm and slightly embarrassed. I'll probably always have that voice inside me saying, 'whatever you do is crap. It's just not good enough'. Shut up, damned voice!

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* I'm thinking about buying the keyring someone has made that says 'Etsy is my crack'. That's how much I love this website!