School Knit

Once upon a time, long, long ago, I blogged about knitting. Truth be told, it was the knitting that got me into the blogging. My return to the needles in my late 20s saw me seeking out new techniques online, which is how I discovered the knitting blog, which led me to the sewing blog, the mummy blog, the any-kind-you-will blog. And eventually I was inspired to start my own blog.

So the knitting did beget the blog, and the blog, in turn, did beget the knitting. I knitted for the love of it, and to feed the growing obsession with yarns and patterns and the finish line. I knitted to clothe and warm other people's babies, and then my own babies, and, ever so occasionally, and far less successfully, me. The blog, meanwhile, was the impetus to keep going, to record, to show off, to share.

And then the blog led me to selling my knitting. And it was wonderful and grand and all things good. But all other knitting ceased. My children grew out of the last of my handknits and nothing has replaced them. No cardigans, no jumpers, no core-warming vests, no funny stripy leg warmers. 

My Lola started kindergarten last year and I couldn't bring myself to dress her in the standard issue acrylic V-neck. While she wore through a few fleecy hoodies, I got my hands on some superwash wool and found a pattern. Winter arrived, and left, and still she wore the hoodies.

This year I was determined to get it done. My hands weren't used to knitting on smaller needles. I wasn't used to reading an actual pattern. I worked at it in bursts, between the hats. I relaxed as we languished in a long, not-very-cold autumn. But when winter hit good and proper, I knew I had to finish.

My big girl, no longer a kindergartener, but a first-grader with a gappy smile and an obsession with books, finally has a handknit cardigan to keep her warm in the schoolyard. Now, back to the hats...

Pattern: Granny's Favourite by Georgie Hallam

Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash in Navy

Ravelry notes here.

12. Winter is...

..a very large pile of hand-washing. (A side effect of this, I guess.)

11.Winter is...

..yarn glorious yarn.

(Oh, who am I kidding? Knitting stopped being a winter-only sport for me years ago.)

Dotty

What a lovely bunch you are! Thank you for your good and kind and considered comments on yesterday's post. Belinda's formula sounds just perfect - two days for taking care of the business/admin stuff, two days for creating and making, and a fifth day for seeking inspiration or "filling the well," aka Julia Cameron.

Last night I let myself go off piste for some play. Bumpy dots, or dotty bumps. Do you like them? They're not hats (yet) so I guess that's something!

I'm working away in the background on an exciting project. Those of you who were here this time last year may remember my Very Bloggy Morning Tea in aid of the Cancer Council. It was such fun, and such a success, and this year I'm going for it again, only bigger and better. There'll be guest bloggers, cuppas and sweet treats galore, and a fabulous giveaway that you won't want to miss. And guess what? You're ALL invited!!!! 

Stay tuned. If you're on Facebook, make sure you hit 'like' over here to stay updated.

Tiny Pixie

The first in the Typically Red Tiny range for newborns, the Tiny Pixie, is available by custom order in the shop now. One size, seven colours, unquantifiable cute.

Box Ticker

I finished The Snow Child and, wow, did it tick some boxes. A really good novel - tick! A not-too-challenging read - tick! Tolerant of my flighty commitment - tick! A ripping tale - tick! Beautifully written - tick! (Oh, my, such beautiful writing - tickticktick!) Did it call out to me all day long? Why, yes. It still does.

What's more, the book compelled me to sneak pages in the car at school pick-up, and sit in unwieldy postures (think one knee and one elbow holding it open) so I could grab a chapter while knitting, snaffling moments throughout my week to read a handful of words here and there.

It came highly recommended by so many - thank you, thank you! And now I will pass that recommendation, with the greatest enthusiasm, to anyone who cares to listen.

This week, with the haunting chill still lingering, I embark on another recommendation - this one from Little Macaroon (have you visited her place? She always makes me chuckle.) I've only just started The Most Beautiful Thing. I'm promised an unputdownable second half.

And knitting? Alas, no beautiful cardigans for myself, or school cardigans for my kid (it's on the list!). Just a lovely stack of squishy soft hats for the much promised Typically Red Knits newborn range. They'll be in the shop just as soon as I can grab some photos of them on a tiny head.

Joining in with the Yarn Along here.

Yarn Along

I put out the call and you responded in kind, you good people. Michelle provided a list as long as my arm. No less than six of you recommended The Snow Child, and when lovely Lori repeated the name five times, I knew I had to act. It has arrived, and is everything promised and more - a wintry fairy tale with a slightly dark underbelly. I'm only a few chapters in, and I've only caught a glimpse or two of the child of the title, but already I'm enthralled.

I promised myself I'd cast on my new cardigan by the end of the month - last month. I chose my pattern and bought it, and today tried all day to grab a moment to wind my yarn and work up a swatch. During the dinnertime madness, I began. This is how far I got.

Am I the only one who gets to the last, say, tenth of the process before caving in and letting the yarn loop fall off and tangle beyond repair? Always within a whisker of finishing I'm left with a mess that takes twice as long as the winding to set right. I need one of these. Soon, soon.

Joining in with the Yarn Along.

Bookless on a Wednesday

It's Wednesday and I've nothing to read. Who am I kidding? I've been bookless for months. Novel-less, at least. I'm not sure what happened, but I've stopped reading. I'm still dipping into the best food book I've ever read most nights. But what's sorely lacking is a novel, a really good novel. Any advice? I can't do anything too challenging, or that requires too much of my brain. It must tolerate being read in bursts, sometimes only a page or two a night. That said, it must be beautifully written and tell a ripping tale. I certainly won't say no to un-put-downable, and while a slow-burner is fine, I have to be grabbed from the get-go. If the book calls out to me all day long, so much the better. I don't mind being taunted if the story is worth it.

I'm being taunted by this yarn. Beautiful, beautiful Quince Chickadee in richest Honey. I've enough to make myself a winter cardigan - this one, this one and this one stand out - but I need to find a break between hats to get serious about it. Winter's a few months away, and I know myself well enough to realise it might end up being for the winter after this one. But for the sake of balance, and all things good, I will cast this on before the month is out...once I decide what it will be.

I'm joining in with the Yarn Along despite the distinct and glaring absence of a book.

Also, please check out my very woolly giveaway. Two of my handknit hats are up for grabs - winners choose colour/style/size.

Tiny

Knitting: A tiny hat for a tiny head. Short of stalking the exit to the maternity ward, I'm not sure how to find out for sure if it's newborn size. For the first time in a long time, I have no very tiny people to call on.

Reading: A book about a precocious 5-year-old to a precocious 5-year-old (and loving every page).

Yarn Along here.

A Little

"Or make an omelet but leave it unfilled and unfolded. Flat, round omelets are quiet, and a little serious."

I think I might be a little in love with this book, and this writer. Tamar Adler speaks of food in a way that sings to me, with poetry and humour and great common sense. I am not yet halfway through, but already I am saving my broccoli stalks and taking pause before cracking an egg to consider my intentions.

I might also be a little in love with this yarn, soft and calm and coloured this time. I am knitting a special order of hat and boots for a baby boy in New Jersey. One boot to go and it'll be on its way, in time for the February chill.

Joining in with the Yarn Along.

Subdued

When all about is red and green, silver and gold.

When everywhere is technicolour and bold-print and sparkle-glitter-sparkle.

When everything is jingle bells, ding-dong merrily, hark the herald angels sing.

When volume levels are increased to deafening, and visuals are just as loud...

How soothing to sink into these beautiful, undyed natural hues.

As soft on the eyes as in the hand.

Wending its way into tiny newborn hats for the shop.

Like knitting with bunnies and cotton wool and creamy hot chocolate.

And reading? Nothing. Completely nothing.

It doesn't feel right.

But I wanted to post in the last Yarn Along before Christmas anyway. 

Wishing all the lovely knitters out there a soft, gentle, natural, soothing festive season.

iKnit

I had a massage today. That's not something that happens very often. It was a gift voucher given to me - wait for it - two Christmases ago. (Thanks, sister-in-law! It expires tomorrow. Nothing like leaving things to the last minute.) I was given chamomile tea on arrival and ushered into a dimly lit, near-silent oasis for an hour of pampering. Bliss.

Not wanting the feeling to end, I took my desert-lime and mimosa scented self to a favourite local cafe for a soy latte. I should probably have ordered something cleansing and herbal, but old habits die hard. Besides, I still had to survive dinnerbathbed. I sat at the window bench and retrieved my knitting from my handbag. My iPad was in there so I grabbed that too. I've been a bit to reluctant to jump on the e-book bandwagon, but I have one that I started reading on holidays and promptly dropped once real life resumed - The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.

And so I sat, sipping my glorious coffee, clickety-clacking away on another hat, and reading. Yes, reading. I'm not new to the knit-read combo, but I've always had to choose carefully. Something that lies flat. Something that doesn't need to be re-arranged every time you turn the page. Something with large-ish type.

It wasn't until I'd 'turned' three or four pages seamlessly - just a quick tap of the screen - with minimal interruption to both the knitting AND the story that I realised what I'd hit on. Are the Apple people even aware? The perfect device for the multi-tasking knitting reader. Or reading knitter.

I am delighted.

My book shelves may suffer as a result, but my 'book shelf' is about to get some new additions. What next? Audio books, no doubt.

Joining in with all the other lovely knitting readers and reading knitters here.

I did seriously consider getting my knitting out for the sitting-up foot rub part of the massage. Too much?

Today

Today I have been experimenting in preparation for Christina's Handmade Ornament Swap...

Upsizing an old favourite...

Getting busy in the kitchen, cooking, writing and taking photos...

And playing with fabric and trims for an exciting project in the pipeline.

If I had to spend all my days like this, I wouldn't complain.

Wednesday

A big stack of magazines waiting for a big stack of spare minutes on a lazy afternoon, coffee in hand, children otherwise occupied. I looked at the calendar today. I think they'll be waiting awhile.

And at risk of sounding repetitive, the only thing happening in knitting news is hats. Hats, hats, hats. I have a special order for some newborn pixies, and I'm waiting for the yarn to arrive. So in the meantime, I've been making sure boys are fairly represented in the shop, tricky when all my days revolve around three girls. My funny little nephew Oscar modelled the chocolate Chubby Pixie when I visited on the weekend. He stood very still and followed direction beautifully - we'll have him back any day.

Yarn Along here.

More photos from the shoot here.

Buy the hat, or order something similar, here.

Monkeys

Now, if I could just get this pair to stop monkeying around long enough for me to get some useable pics, I might be able to finally open my shop. Hoping for early next week. Stay tuned!

Yarn Along: The Holiday Edition (and a winner)

I'm between books and between knitting projects, and something tells me things will stay that way till I'm on the plane. Please, don't ruin the elaborate fantasy I've woven in which I knit and read all the way to Singapore while three small children sleep the trip away, behaving immaculately in the 27 minutes they're awake. 

The two books in the photo above represent my holiday reading. They've been waiting patiently for their time. The two handknit hats are winging their way to a little girl in Queensland, who's about to embark on a very exciting adventure to New York. 

Stella and Pearl did a little modelling before I packaged them up. They know woollen bonnets won't be required where we're going.

My holiday knitting plans are a bit fluid at the moment. Initially I thought I'd just keep working on the hats, but I've decided to leave them at home and indulge in something fresh and different (for me). On the radar is this lovely shawl which would be the perfect gift for a dear friend whose birthday is fast approaching. I may have even gone so far as to order some beautiful squishy organic yarn today, because, of course, there was nothing appropriate in the stash. 

And the lucky winner of last week's giveaway, 'How Tea Cosies Changed the World', is Kylie from Canada. Congratulations, Kylie. Email me your address and I'll ship it off to you. I look forward to seeing an elaborately adorned teapot on your blog sometime soon! 

Joining in with the Yarn Along because it's Wednesday and that's just the way it goes.

Yarn Along and a Giveaway!!!

One tiny summer baby knit complete! It's in lovely, soft, drapey organic cotton, and I took a gamble and made it in the 6 month size, based on prior knowledge of the above-average height of both parents and rather hefty birth weights of his older siblings. He's only a couple of weeks old, this boy, but I reckon he'll be able to wear his new vest all summer long, even if it does reach all the way down to his skinny little knees.

Almost as exciting as a new baby in a handknit is a giveaway! I was lucky enough to be given a second copy of this gorgeous book after buying my own copy at the launch back in May. If you haven't heard of Loani Prior, she wrote 'Wild Tea Cosies' and 'Really Wild Tea Cosies', and this book, 'How Tea Cosies Changed the World', is the third in the series. It's not just a book of knitting patterns but a hilarious and wonderful read as well. I chuckled my way through it, I admit. I've heard of knitting patterns that make you cry, but how often does one make you laugh? There are 18 spectacular tea cosy patterns as well as a scarf, a beret, a bag and more. Just in time for Christmas, these would make wonderful gifts for tea-loving friends.

So I've got one copy to give away, and I hope all of you knitters, and even you mysterious and strange non-knitters, will love it. All you need to do is be a follower of Typically Red (click over there on the right) and leave me a comment here before next Wednesday. I'll happily post worldwide. Good luck!

Ravelry notes for the tiny vest here.

Yarn Along here.

My dear friend Briony, mother of Max, if you have read this far, surprise! The vest is on its way x

Series

I listened to an interview with Ian Rankin the other day. I realised I'd never read one of his novels, nor ever watched 'Rebus' on the ABC, though it seems to be on constantly. Apparently there are 18 books in the collection already. Something about working through a series appeals to me at the moment. I've read very little crime fiction in my time, apart from the Peter Corris books that line the GM's shelves. But I love Edinburgh, and reading about Edinburgh, and when the Ian Rankin book I picked up at an op shop last week happened to be the first in the series, I took it as a sign. A-murdering and abducting we shall go.

Back in the real world, there's a series of new babies - one already here and a couple waiting in the wings. Highly inconvenient, these warm-weather newborns. It makes things a little tricky for us knitters. I couldn't bundle them up in one of the gazillion hats I've been churning out lately, so I've turned my attention to what must be the perfect summer baby knit - tiny vests in organic cotton, just like this one I knit way back when. 

Joining in with the Yarn Along after a brief absence last week.

Grateful to be knitting something other than winter hats.

And so looking forward to seeing what everyone else is creating.

this moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

Via Soulemama.

Seven Days

Seven days is all it would take, I reckon. Seven child-free, work-free, meal-preparation-free days  to tackle the lists. Seven days to feel less like I'm drowning under the pile of to-dos and able to enjoy things again.

Day one would be for the house. Cleaning it from top to toe, inside to out, and underneath, over and back to front. Not just gathering up the mess and shoving it into piles, not just wiping down the obvious sludge and sweeping up the blatant mounds of crumbs, but real, proper cleaning.

Day two would be for the garden. A whole day of planning the planting and then doing the planting. Pulling weeds. Turning compost. Tending to the tiny herb garden. Filling the empty pots. Talking to the tomato seeds to see if that will make them sprout, because sunshine and water doesn't seem to be doing the trick right now.

Day three we'd call ADMIN DAY. In big letters. Finally getting the last of the addresses changed after nine months in our new home. Sorting out the girls' passports. Filling out the school enrolment forms. Sending letters to tenants AND landlords. Organising for salaries to be paid into different accounts. Booking optometrist appointments. Finding a good local GP. A meal plan. Filing the great stack of papers that need filing. And perhaps doing a budget. Now, wouldn't that be novel?

Day four would be friends day. Sitting down with cups of tea and the telephone and having good chats with good friends who I've been neglecting because there never seems to be a run of enough spare minutes, or enough quiet in the background, to make a phone call possible. And then I'd gather up a pile of cards and stamps and write to all the people who I really need to say hello to, friends of my mum who would no doubt love a photo of the girls and some news. And then I'd attend to birthday gifts that have gone wanting in the great chaos of the year. There are some 18-month-olds in my life who still haven't received their first birthday present.

The sewing machine would get a workout on day five. I'd be able to finish off all the almost-finished odds and ends that need buttons or hems or elastic. I'd whizz through a stack of easy pants and skirts for the girls, the ones I refuse to buy because they're so easy to make, and yet I don't make because I don't quite get around to it. I'd get Lola's nature bag made that I've been promising her for months. And I'd at least try to make a dent in the fabric stash.

Day six would be me and the computer, tackling some writing projects that never even get a look-in these days. Perhaps I'd act all writerly and take the laptop to the local cafe so I could tap away whilst sipping lattes and feeling nostalgic about the good old days. That would be nice.

And on day seven, of course, I'd wander through my pristine house, feeling the weightlessness that comes from having checked off the last thing on a long, long list, I'd pull up a chair under a tree in my immaculate garden, and knit. Knitknitknitknitknit a whole day away. A cup of tea within reach, a magazine open in front of me, birds a-tweeting, perhaps some music drifting by and the gentle click-clack of my needles.

Just seven days. I think that's all I'd need.

I'm currently knitting tiny hats from big balls of wool (my favourite Cascade Eco), and I'm yet to choose another book having finally finished The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. Perhaps today's Yarn Along will throw up some ideas.