The Jolly Knitter

Six month knitting recap

2009-01-10T13:49:00.008+11:00

Well, it looks like I haven't made a post in about six months! I'd be surprised if anyone is still around to read my little corner of the internet. I could blame ravelry for my absence. But maybe I'll try and make a new resolution. One update a week, minimum, and keep track of the weeks crafting activities. Because this blog isn't really for my own enjoyment, it's also here so I can show other people (who aren't on ravelry) what I'm making and how I'm doing.

And so, a brief summary perhaps. Since August, I've knit a fair few things.
From a swallowtail shawl for myself. It was about time really. I'd had knitted two, one for my sister and one for a friend's birthday. This one is in a sock yarn, so it's machine washable (still needs to be blocked) and is also a bit bigger than the other two. Still very small for a shawl, more a scarf really.

Also made some socks on commission, these are in a cashmere blend yarn from theknittery.com and were made for Julie, Sean's mum's best friend. She requested a pink yarn and I picked this one, partly because some of the sale proceeds go towards breast cancer research, of which Julie is a survivor. They look rather strange, but that's because of Julie's tiny size 5 feet.

My cat went missing. He was gone 7 days. Previously, his longest absence was 3 days. Upon his return, he barely shifted from the pictured position for nearly a week. He still refuses to confess as to his whereabouts during that week.

I also knitted most of a jumper. That's it there, on the left. Unfortunately, it soon looked like the picture below. Mostly because I tired it on. It didn't fit. I'm now on the shoulders. That really isn't much, considering it's knitted top down.

Also made some knitted earrings. They do have hooks on them now, just don't have a decent photo of that. These things are brilliant. Not too heavy to wear, and take about an hour from go to woah and so are perfect for last minute gifts. The pattern is free in the current knitty.com magazine.

I got this off two of my spindles. Not entirely sure why I had the same fibre on two spindles, but there we go. The skein is only about 80 metres and has been gifted to a friend who's about to take up some lace knitting. It's good for a practice swatch at the
very least.

My sister gave me this lovely new spindle for christmas. It's a square resin whorl from butterflygirl.etsy.com and it's part of a club. It means I get a new spindle and 100g of fibre for December, January and February. The fibre for December was a white blend of alpaca, silk and cashmere. It's like patting a cloud! I'll be keeping it unspun till I have a particular project in mind. I'm not wasting it! I'm also really looking forward to seeing what January's parcel looks like!

I finished this shrug on the 31st of December. I really wanted to wear it to the new years eve party. The body of it was cast off on and seaming started on the 29th, the edging cast on on the 30th, and the edging cast off on the 31st, with the seaming finished about 2 minutes before we had to leave.

I'm never ever doing deadline knitting again if I can possibly help it!

I also finished the cutest pair of booties in creation. Again, these were on commission, using the left over yarn from the Julie's bedsocks (above). There's weren't for Julie though, but for a friend at my SnB, who recently acquired a neice. I hope they fit!

And that's what I've been knitting in the last six months. Enjoy!

Study

2008-08-07T13:53:00.001+10:00

Isn't this the most pleasant of places to study on a mild winters day? We're at Shelley beach

I have a new hat!

2008-05-01T10:00:00.001+10:00

I wanted a new hat. I wanted to try stranded colour. Here is the result! Better photos to come

Swallowtails Ahoy

2008-04-24T11:46:00.001+10:00

This is the second one of these I've knitted this week. This one is in colourmart pure cashmere in a pale yellow. It was started last Thursday and finished last night as a gift for a friend, whose birthday is today. Hope she likes it!

Felting II

2008-04-10T17:18:00.001+10:00

And done! And I'm really happy with it!

Felting I

2008-04-10T17:16:00.001+10:00

The felted bag i cast on for yesterday. This is it pre- felting

Frost flower socks

2008-03-31T18:53:00.001+11:00

Making good headway on these. Only started them this week and I should have the first one done by the end of the week

Hand dyed

2008-03-27T23:03:00.001+11:00

My first ever hand dyed yarn, that also happens to be handspun. With luck, my sister will like it, it's to be knitted into socks for her.

Knitting and the great outdoors

2008-03-17T13:49:00.001+11:00

I've started taking a bit of time out at uni for knitting. With a view like this, why not? It'd be nice if i could bring my wheel out here!

Ooooh! Technology!

2008-03-17T08:18:00.005+11:00

Technology amazes me. The previous post was sent to blogger using my mobile phone. Way back when, (i.e. 6 months ago) I got a pamphlet in the mail saying "Look! Keep your mobile contract and get a new phone!" so I rocked up to the three store and this little sales kid convinced me to get a nice sony ericsson to replace my old nokia. I was all for continuing the contract and keeping the nokia, but I got the sony anyway. And it came with this mobile blogging function. I can take a photo and write a post and send it to the blog, all without having to use a computer! Woo!

Anyway, the photo down there is the shrug mentioned while falling off the wagon. Not much more work was done on it, on the grounds of being in a knitting overdose. I'm knitting a bit here and there, just not as much as I would have liked. The mystery shawl is still on the needles, but you knew that didn't you? You knew that if I'd finished everyone from here to Timbuktu would know! But I'm not that far off finishing, I just really need to sit down and do it! I've also picked up the rainbow barf socks, AKA Summer Daze, from the tofutsies club.

I'm currently trying really hard not to cast anything on till I've finished a few more things. Such as mum's socks! I've managed to finish those, finished them on Monday actually. I'll blog a photo of those when I next get my hands on them. Mum's been enjoying them, though she says they're a bit warm to wear just yet.

Camee's shrug

2008-03-17T08:15:00.000+11:00

The sleeve and some of the back of my red shrug

Ooops...

2008-02-06T17:34:00.000+11:00

Ok, i think I've fallen off the wagon... I have a mystery shawl on the needles, a drop stitch scarf for Anne (but it's in a fantastic microfibre ribbon yarn), two pairs of socks, and another lace shawl. And what do I do? Find a beautiful shrug pattern in a magazine an order yarn for it, with the intent to wear it next month...

Is there a Knitters' Anonymous group?

Mystery Shawls

2008-02-01T21:37:00.000+11:00

I may or may not have mentioned in the previous post that I was once again working on a mystery shawl. You may remember my first foray into the world of mystery knitting, that being the Swan Lake or MS3 by Melanie Gibbons. I got on rather well with it, but fell behind and lost my motivation. It's currently nearly finished, but living in my knitting bag until I can suck it up and get on with it.

However, in the mean time, I've started another one Dem Fischer sin Fru. Yes, I know. I'm rather hopeless. Anyway, I finished the first clue on time, and have worked one row of the second. Here are a few photos for you to enjoy while I head off to knit like a maniac to keep up

Oy...

2008-01-22T16:23:00.000+11:00

I'm currently knitting like a fiend. I cast on the triinu shawl while I was away at Kandos last week. I haven't been treated well by it though. I cast on, discovered my needles were the wrong size, knit away thinking it made a good practice swatch, made mistakes, ignored them because it was a swatch, got home. Found out my needles were the right size, but I had to rip out what I'd done because of the errors. It's now back on the needles, but a new, improved version. I went through and changed all the decreases to make it neater. MUCH neater.

However, I'm also taking part in a mystery shawl knit-a-long: dem fischer sin fru (The fisherman's Wife) which needs the same size needles, of which I only have one set of tips. The plan is to use the tips on the triinu after finishing each clue for the mystery shawl... At least until the new set of tips arrive! May be a while though, since they're currently out of stock.

I assume you'll be wanting some more photos of the recent happenings.

I spun some yarn on the lovely ashford joy my grandmother has generously lent to me:

The yarn has graciously allowed me to knit it into a pair of booties, since it spun up at about 4ply/fingering weight. The booties will be given to a pregnant friend for the baby's going home outfit.

I also knitted a practice bunny for the baby:

Definitely not to be given, the thing isn't machine washable and I wouldn't do that to the poor mother!

However, on a brighter note, last year I took part in the Knitters Tea Swap. My swap partner, Amy Artisan, sent me this wonderful parcel!

Detail shot of the yarn:

Not pictured: the three blocks of chocolate also included in the parcel!

I've not yet knitted any of the yarn she sent, I'm trying to think of the perfect pattern for that sock yarn! The biscuits were tasty, and the tea delicious. I'm really looking forward to this years swap. I'm considering gathering things together now so when it starts I wont be behind the 8 ball again!

MIA

2008-01-20T20:38:00.000+11:00

Ok, I'll admit it. I've been away for a bit. A bit you say? A BIT?! Well, if by bit you take me to mean nearly three months, then yes, a bit. You can all blame ravelry for this. But then, you can't really see it right now unless you're already in. Just now it's still in beta and thus not open to the general public. It has been sucking my time tremendously though. What with piles of forums, easy to browse patterns, being able to track what people are up to and so on, why wouldn't it suck my time? All in all though, it's been sucking my time away from my knitting budget.

So you'd like to know what I'm up to, now that you know I'm alive? Well, here we go.

These socks here?

They've been frogged. I really wasn't happy with them, and they didn't fit too well. Instead, I knitted these:

They were much more fun to knit, if a little frustrating at times. I certainly didn't get gauge and had to make the adjustments as I went along because maths is one of my big hurdles. They should fit their new owner though! The mini-cables are so very pretty though, and here's a detail shot of them:

So that's one of them so far. I'll leave it at that for the moment and update again soon with more of my exploits of the past three months! If you check the sidebar, you can see little progress bars showing what I'm actively working on at the moment. Enjoy!

Ben

2007-09-28T19:47:00.000+10:00

This is the second such post on this blog. and yet it's far too soon

Today, my cousin died. He was 20 years of age and he had leukemia. He went through two rounds of treatments. After the second one they told him there was nothing more they could do. He could stay on meds and last another six months, or go off the meds and last six weeks.

He lasted 5 months.

I didn't see as much of him as I would have liked, though I saw him regularly when we were all little. At the family picnics at manly dam and clontarf, he used to rub sand in my hair, throw sand in my face, dunk me in the water, and generally treat me like a very young male treats a similarly aged female relative.

He grew up though, and he was a promising young man.

I'm sorry Ben. Really, really sorry.

Oh dear...

2007-09-28T11:49:00.000+10:00

Well, I've been extremely quiet of late. I'd apologise, but in truth I have been rather busy.

In the past few months I've done something extremely out of character: I got an assignment in on time without stressing, panicking or otherwise losing my head. I even had a draft done in time to have a tutor look over it before handing it in!

I've been knitting, but also spending far too much time in ravelry than I really ought to, particularly when I have uni work to do. It's strange that a site dedicated to knitting and crocheting can actually sap the time you used to use for those activities! I suppose I've just been having problems keeping this going, when ravelry effective does what this blog was designed to do. I'm going to keep it though. Ravelry does not include a blog.

As far as knitting goes, besides adding things to my ravelry queue, I've been knitting socks. I currently have four socks on the needles and I've also knitted a mug cozy.

Interestingly, it does actually help keep my tea warm. I'm planning on knitting another one today or tomorrow. Can't hurt to have more than one!

I'm also taking part in a sock swap and for that I'm knitting this sock.

I really have to get to work on it, but I'm suffering from a slight case of anxiety with it. I've had to mod the pattern a bit for many more stitches and I'm not entirely sure it'll work. I suppose I just have to have faith

I'm also knitting along on mum's socks. There isn't a deadline on them really, seeing as they're made from a cashmere blend and she wont be able to wear them till next winter. I'm really enjoying that pattern though!

The other two socks I've posted about before. They're the cablenet and the summer daze socks. I've started the second summer daze sock, and I did a few rows of the cablenet last week. That's really all I have to say about those two!

The mystery stole is still on hiatus, though a row was worked on it yesterday.

First sock done

2007-08-22T23:19:00.000+10:00

About ten minutes ago, I finished sock 1 of the Summer Daze pair and I'm very happy with it. It's the first time I've got the bind-off loose enough.

Anyway, here are some photos of it.

As it's nearly midnight here, I'll cast on for the second one tomorrow morning. I've learnt casting on late at night can cause some serious side-effects!

Enjoy

Pfaff for me!

2007-08-22T21:17:00.000+10:00

I have a new toy! Today mum and I made a trip out to Artarmon and, after a fair amount of driving about, picked up this:

This being my new pfaff sewing machine:

I'm really looking forward to using this. I've always wanted to sew more, but I find my mother's machine intimidating. Hers is also a pfaff, but it's a tad newer than mine, by about 20 years.

I'm making going out tomorrow and buying some fabric to make a bag I think. Something easy and basic to introduce myself to the new toy.

Spinning and knitting

2007-08-19T21:04:00.000+10:00

So I've not been too great on the blogging front of late, so I thought I'd through in a few recent photos to try and kick start myself. And failing a scintillating post, at least there are photos to look at!

I've been working away on my summer daze sock. I'm trying really hard to finish these so I can can continue work on the mystery stole. I've found that if I'm getting nowhere on a project I can knit an interim one and get my mojo back. The interim for the alpine lace was the shimmer shrug. The result? I got both finished!

Also, last Tuesday I had a quick spinning lesson at uni with Katy and for a short while, Mel. During this, I remembered how someone on the spindlers list had mentioned spinning on a stick, so I gave it a shot using the working needle for the above sock. I ended up with this:

And upon home I had to demonstrate for the boy and my mother, and I did this one:

It's very slow, but rather fun! Not a way I'd want to use to produce any usable amount of yarn though.

Also, the cat decided to take up residence on my table/desk:

Right on top of all my knitting things! Including my recent stash acquisitions and my knit picks binder. I'm not entirely sure if you can call that comfortable in any sense of the word!

Also, for those who already there or on the waiting list, I'm on ravelry! I'm really enjoying it and getting to understand what all the fuss is about. It's brilliant! For those who've never heard of it, ravelry is like myspace/facebook/multiply ect but designed for knitters and better. Much better! My username is Camee if you'd like to look me up

It's been a slow week...

2007-08-17T10:09:00.000+10:00

It's been a slow week in the way of knitting around here. The uni/house/ect work has been getting in the way. With any luck I'll be getting more done around here during the coming week.

However, I have managed to turn the heel of the tofutsies sock. I found I had an issue with picking up the wraps on the short row heel, but only on the knit side. Either way, it's all fixed, and there's a great video to show where you're going wrong at knittinghelp.com.

The heel has now been fully turned, and an inch or so worked on the leg. I managed to leave my camera at a friend's place so I don't have a shot of the actual current sock, and yes, these are different needles to the other photo. My gauge was too tight so I had to go up a needle size. I'm really not liking the bluntness of these bamboos though, so I've ordered a set of the knitpicks. These needles do hold a special place though, they were my first ever pair of sock needles, purchased last year at the Stitches and Craft show.

And this is one of the brilliant stitch markers my sister gave me. I think they're great!

Also, I'm nearly on Ravelry!

You signed up on July 9, 2007
You are #9247 on the list.
265 people are ahead of you in line.
16582 people are behind you in line.
34% of the list has been invited so far

Friday, the day of knitting and yarn!

2007-08-10T16:32:00.000+10:00

Well, tonight marks the second last clue for the mystery stole. And I'm still over a week behind. It's not much further along than the photo shows in the last post. It's hard to believe that it'll all be over soon. Till next year anyway.

My push to get the alpine lace done kind of gave me lace overload so I've been a bit slack. However, I still have been busy, though it doesn't really look like it. I've been going to uni and keeping up with my work, and even trying to get ahead. It's easier to keep up if you're a week in front!

I had been a bit antsy about the tofutsies club. Everyone else appeared to have their yarn but me! I was right too, an clerical gremlin upset the shop's address book so she accidentally sent my yarn to the wrong address. However, the yarn appeared on my doorstep this morning! Yay for fast postage!

I have to say, if I'd seen this yarn in the store, I'm not so sure I would have bought it, but I'm glad I've got it. I'm really enjoying knitting it up. See?

Well, not quite yet anyway. Turkish cast ons on dpns are not my friend, but they do indeed look good and are good practice. That's what I tell myself anyway!

To make today even better (any day that include the arrival of a ball of yarn is a good one) we were visited by our godmother. She also brought yarn!

That's 6oog of laceweight! It's going to the stash for the moment though. I'm trying to make myself finish something else before I start more.

I've also been knitting on the boy's sock. I'm on the last pattern repeat of the leg before I try and figure out what on earth I'm supposed to be doing for the heel. The pattern isn't the easiest to follow, but it'll be fun!

A week late, but it's an update!

2007-08-03T22:00:00.000+10:00

Yeah, I've been slack. After I finished the alpine lace shawl I took a bit of a breather. I worked every now and then on various projects and started a new tatting project.

I very nearly started a new knitted lace project today too, as my triinu shawl pattern arrived! I'm very excited, but a tad daunted by the pattern, so I've delayed it till I've finished the mystery stole.

Speaking of which, clue five was released about 10 minutes ago, along with the theme. Every mystery stole has a theme, which is released about 6-7 weeks after the start. It turns out this one is themed Swan Lake, and now we knit a wing apparently. I'm a tad behind anyway, so I'll get a chance to see what the wing looks like before I knit it. Otherwise we have the choice to knit it symetrically. I have a feeling I'll be doing the wing though, I feel like doing something new! I did a quick steam block the stole before taking the photos, it's getting a tad long for me to be bothered pinning it out just for a photo.

I'm really impressed with how it opens out. It feels wonderful!

New, which brings me to the next segway, I'm expecting a new ball of tofutsies! The new balls have apparently been sent out. Mine has yet to arrive but I'm looking forward to it, I need another pair of socks.

I've done a bit more work on the boy's cablenet socks. I'm under instructions from the recipient to work on them only when I'm tired of the other projects on the needles.

The tatting project is the celtic bookmark. I'm enjoying it and learning a fair bit, such as how to hide the ends as you go.

Here's to a more productive week ahead!

Finished Object!

2007-07-24T00:22:00.000+10:00

I now have another finished object! I have completed the Alpine Lace Scarf from Victorian Lace Today.

It measures 19" by 62" and was blocked on the spare bed in front of a heater. It's winter, and I wanted it done as soon as possible!

I'm going to miss this stole though. I mean, I still have it, but it has been my constant companion for months. I'd memorised the pattern so I could pull it out, work on it and shove it back in as required. It's suffered the most appalling abuse knitted lace has ever been subjected to: it's lived loose in my handbag and uni bag, been squashed by wallets, phones and laptops, gotten keys and ipods tangled in it, had tea spilt on it, nearly been dropped in the bath (don't ask...)

It has done something else though. I really enjoyed knitting it. While I haven't cast on anything new as yet, I am really looking forward to my next lace project after the mystery stole. I need to cast off one more project before I'm happy with casting on another.

I did order the triinu shawl pattern however, so that's next on the list. If you want to see a photo of that one, let me know. It's a rather expensive pattern, but it's beautiful and it's a challenge!

As for the other challenge, the mystery stole, I finished clue 3 last night.

Let's see if I can catch up! Onwards to clue 4!

(edit: taking a short lace break currently)

Radio Silence

2007-07-20T17:56:00.000+10:00

Things have been rather quiet over here for the past week. There's been knitting on the mystery stole, and there's been knitting on other lace.

Remember this?

That's my Alpine Lace Scarf from Victorian Lace Today. I've been working on it for about 5 months.

Well, it now looks like this:
And of particular interest is this bit:

Yes, that would be the top border that's just been started. I have a bit of a problem, but soon discovered that while the pattern says 37 repeats, it does require an even number, so she either meant 37 repeats in addition to the repeat used to 'set the pattern' or the just meant 38 and put in 37.

I ended up with 36 repeats. I'm short, the loss of a couple of inches isn't an issue.

I'm working on this almost exclusively in order to get it finished, blocked and ready to wear by next Friday. I'm being taken out to the theatre on that night, so for the first time I'm going someplace in which this stole would be perfectly appropriate.

I plan on wearing it to uni and such, but it'd be nice to have it ready for Friday.

As for the mystery stole... It can wait till after I've pinned this out!

Clue 2

2007-07-12T22:21:00.000+10:00

And I've caught up! I have finished clue 2 just in time for tomorrow. And a good thing too, it means I can spend tomorrow apologising to the magenta lace for neglecting it. I have a couple of other projects I want to start, but I have to get something off the needles first!

Not the best photo, you can't see the beads. I might do a detail shot after I finish the next clue.

Mystery stole catch up

2007-07-08T12:17:00.001+10:00

I have caught up! I hope, anyway. This is the completed first clue, the clue for the week I was away without internet access or beads.

I finished about 1:30 this morning, but now I can relax and take this weeks clue at a nice steady pace.

Typically, I had problems putting my lifeline in this morning, ripped it out and decided I'd be fine without it, I'd made it this far without a mistake, right?

Wrong, first error in the first row of the new chart. Turned out to be nothing more sinister than a missed yarn over that was easily fixed. Bring on the lifelines!

The Week in Review

2007-07-06T19:54:00.000+10:00

Well, we have returned from my sojourn in Kandos and I had a lovely time. We spent an awful lot of time just doing as we pleased, watching dvds, walking around, visiting the surrounding country towns and so on. We also took a fair few photos of the green. It's not been that green out in the central west for almost a decade, so photos were taken just in case the drought continued, and so:

I knitted, I watched Sean knit: (yes, he knitted that himself)

I started learning to walk on stilts!

Speaking of knitting, I finished the tofutsies!

I'm very pleased about it really, it means I wont still be working on them when the next ball arrives. It also frees me up for some of the other projects I really should finish, such as the magenta lace.

I have also joined the mystery stole knit-a-long. Basically, a wonderful woman known as Melanie writes a pattern for a lace stole, lace that's not worked in repeats or such like much other lace. She then releases the pattern in parts every Friday. You need a bit of faith as you have no idea how it'll turn out when you start, but going by her previous works, I'm thinking it'll be just gorgeous. I swatched for this while I was away, and managed to find internet access in Mudgee so I could obtain the first clue. However, while I had the yarn and needles with me, I couldn't start it. I had to wait till I got home to get the beads, which didn't show up till Thursday anyway.

I'm working with undyed laceweight merino from live2knit.com and gold-lined clear seed beads.
Last night I finished Chart A and I'm now working on the second half of Clue 1, so hopefully I'll be able to catch up by the end of the week. Here's a shot of where I left it last night:

The magenta silk still look similar to the last photo I put up, just a bit longer. If I wasn't working on anything else, it'd be finished next week, but hey. All in good time!

Random update

2007-06-26T19:50:00.000+10:00

Not much is going on here at the moment. I had my final exam today so you should be seeing much more in the way of knitting coming from me over the next four weeks. Yay for knitting time! Also, from Friday I'll be away for a week. Heading out to Kandos for a holiday free from distractions. There will be much in the way of sleeping in, cooking, photo taking, stilt walking, juggling and unicycling alongside the knitting and spinning.

It was mentioned to me a while back that I had tatting in my intro, but no sign of it on the page. Well, here it is, proof I can tat:

It's a very basic edging. To be honest, for me tatting is like crochet: something I can do passably well, I'm just better at knitting and I enjoy it more.

And that blue sock? I'm now just beyond the cuff. Mainly because I frogged it three times. I made an error for the first, and the second two were turning out waaaaaaaaay too big. All fixed now and progress is being made

Socks

2007-06-21T23:36:00.000+10:00

Yes, I'm knitting socks. Yes, you say. We know. No, I say, you don't. Because this is the first you're hearing of this particular pair.

The tofutsies haven't been finished yet, but they're currently living in my bag to be taken places when I'm out and about. This new pair will likely never have the privilege of living in my bag. They are attached to a 200g ball of yarn courtesy of the Bendigo Wool Mills.

I wasn't really expecting them to be that large, so I ordered two to make absolutely sure I wouldn't run out of yarn. Yes, it makes sense that a 200g ball is 4 times the size of a 50g ball, but it didn't sink in till the balls arrived.

I think I have plenty to make at least two pairs of socks... Even if one is a pair of man-socks. The man-socks are actually Cable Net socks, which are actually remarkably similar to the pair I started with this yarn, then ripped back because the cables tightened it up too much.

The pattern is rather fun, complex without being too demanding, and no cable needle required!

And I got this far before heading to bed:

............

Yes, I'm rather enjoying the camera, thank you for noticing!

edit: I've fixed the comments. You can now leave a comment if you're not a member of blogger.

What's that? Alive you say?

2007-06-15T11:26:00.000+10:00

Well, I live, as does everyone else in this house. However, there is some truth to the saying, I knit, therefore, I am. And I have been. I have also picked up a digital camera that I'm very pleased with, a Lumix (aka Panasonic) TZ1. It has all sorts of nifty features. Please be tolerant of the photos while I learn how to use the thing to take good knitting photos. I did only pick it up yesterday.

Speaking of photos, here are a couple.

Here are the socks I've mentioned in previous posts. I'm working on finishing the foot of the second one in between cramming for my PSY237 final next week. I can't fail a sock, I can fail an exam.

I've been really enjoying this pattern though. It's an easy pattern to memorise, the yarn is lovely and soft and forgiving (I may or may not have frogged one or more repeats when I just started). And the colour! It's currently reminding me of a tiger that fell into vat of pink dye. I'm very much looking forward to finishing these socks, wearing them and starting on others. I've ordered some yarn to knit some socks for Sean, along with some undyed yarn that I'm probably going to dye when I visit Joy to pick up some laceweight she ordered for me.

As for the lace,

Here it is at the halfway point. It's on semi-hold till I've finished the tofutsies. I'm working a row here and there, but again, study is coming first.

I'll also post a photo of my gloves once I have them and my camera in the same place at the same time.

Home and Away

2007-06-06T10:34:00.000+10:00

Well, life has been exciting for the past week, and I'm not talking about knitting for once. While I know this is my knitting blog, I feel like blogging about my life in general.

I've not been knitting much, even if I have finished a sock (well, almost, seeing as I have never done Kitchener before. Anyone got some advice?). I have done no more work on the pinwheel or the lace since my last post.

Last Friday, my sister got dashed off to Royal North Shore with stroke like symptoms. It turns out she's OK for now, but if she has another event like this, there will be issues. She just needs to keep her fluids up and be careful from here on in.

The weekend was wonderful, with camping and bush walking. I also discovered it is rather difficult to work a lace sock by the light of a campfire.

However, as for Monday. A day I had set aside for knitting and studying... I was the one dashed off to Hornsby hosp. Severe pains in lower left abdomen. Still no explanation. The pain still hasn't gone away, though it is no where near as severe. Hopefully I'll find out what's going on and how to fix it later. I did, however, manage to turn the heel of my sock while I was there. Come rain, hail or nasty tummy pain, I will knit!

As for lack of posts. I've also been without Internet for the past week. We're trying to upgrade, but Telstra, iinet and TPG are all taking their sweet time in sorting it out. With luck, I'll have internet back by tomorrow at the latest. Just now, I'm using the uni computers.

Oooh, the sock! The sock is from the South West Trading Company's tofutsies sock club. They have this nifty system where they release club only colours, to a limited club population, and you sign up to the club through a middleman (in my case, ecoyarns.com.au) and in return they send you a ball of yarn and a pattern every two months for the coming year.

I think it's brilliant! I love my socks! Well, sock for the moment. I'll be able to finished grafting the toe when I get home and cast on for the second one. I'm surprised they went so quickly. The first pair I knitted on these needles took forever! The colour of these ones is pink and charcoal grey. When knitted up, they remind me of a tiger that fell into a vat of pink dye.

Apologies for the rather rambly post. I'm tired and there's been alot going on.

Oh My! An update?

2007-05-30T20:30:00.000+10:00

There isn't that much to report really, though I thought it was about time for a post. I haven't been doing much since finishing the gloves apart from more work on the lace. However, I am pleased to report that the lace has just crossed the halfway mark and is actually moving much faster after having memorised the pattern! Wooo!

Haven't been doing any spinning at all. I decided to knit up the laceweight alpaca into a adapted branching out scarf from knitty. After two repeats I have decided I don't like it though, so it's being frogged.

I also have a couple of photos of that pinwheel jacket that I've been talking about since the very beginning of this blog, but have never actually shown here. Here it is! You can see the start of one sleeve there on the right. The left is still on the stitch holder. It was quite interesting there for a while, as I started the sleeve before I started the trim, so for a fair while I was juggling a pile of knitting that had three balls of yarn and 9 needles attached.

Pinwheel Jacket

Edging detail

The edging is applied i-cord. One of those things I had never done, couldn't work out from looking at the pattern but suddenly made an amazing amount of sense when the time came. Very pleased with that.

Also, I'd like to say Hello to Mrs Chris. Because this is my blog and I can!

Hello! And hello to the girls too!

Rambling...

2007-05-26T21:29:00.000+10:00

Well, I haven't been well, hence the lack of lace.

It's also been bloody cold of late so I decided to knit myself a pair of the fetching gloves from knitty.com. Or at least a variation of them. Mine have 6 repeats of the cable at the cuff, two at the knuckles and the thumbs are a tad longer. I knitted nineteen to the dozen to get them done by Friday night too, with the plan being to go see Pirates 3 with a group of friends and I didn't want to have cold hands.

And here they are done
Turned out I didn't need them. I came down the the flu on Friday afternoon and so didn't really get to go anywhere. I spent the night curled up feeling sick instead. I'm really quite irritated about that. I finished the gloves at 4:30 with an hour to spare before I had to leave. I've also done appallingly little work on the lace because I just cant concentrate. Instead I'm doing more work on the pinwheel jacket. I'm past halfway on the edging and then I have 1 2/3 sleeves to go. It's good, mindless knitting and it's getting me closer to finishing the pinwheel, something I'll be very happy about. I'll also be happy when the lace is done, but my lace mojo just isn't flowing.

It's amazing how things start to pile up. I have a huge pile of stuff, including the pinwheel jacket and the lace, I also have a few projects planned, like a hat I'm designing for a friend's baby, a jumper for me, and I have some sock yarn to arrive early next month because I signed up for the tofutsies yarn club over at ecoyarns.com.au. I'm looking forward to all this, I really like knitting socks. There's something extremely satisfying about wearing you knitted yourself, even if it's something small.

I just realised I haven't done nearly as much spinning as I would have liked by now. Dammit.

And there's uni work to do...

I think I'll go curl up on the lounge with my mindless knitting instead for the moment. At least until I feel better.

edit: photo added on 22 June. Yes, they're fuzzy. They were fished out of the boot of my car post-camping trip for the photo to be taken.

Alpaca yarn, lace and accounting

2007-05-19T19:35:00.000+10:00

I have posted about the alpaca I'm spinning up before, and I now have 100 yards of laceweight yarn hanging to dry in my shower! I'm not sure what I'm doing with it as yet, but I have a feeling I can do whatever I like with it, having 300g of the lovely stuff! I'm thinking shawl, but I'm not sure about what style yet.

Also, the bit about this alpaca is it's the first fibre that I'm preparing myself. I got it as 300g of fleece shoved into a ziploc bag. I'm carding it and spinning it from the rolag, and washing it after spinning using woolwash. It's coming up very nicely, though I'd forgotten how long it takes to spin laceweight, but then, all the laceweight spinning I'd done up till now had been on a spindle. But I never got 100 yards of it off a spindle, I always got a tad distracted before then

No photos as yet forthcoming, but the other news is I might be obtaining a decent digital camera soonish!

I've also picked up the alpine lace again since I finished my uni assignment. i'm not quite halfway there yet though.

I have to confess, I enjoyed accounting. It was nice, and neat, and everything had it's place and it was relaxing. I'm liking the same qualities in my lace. Every stitch has it's place in relation to the ones that came before it, the stitches here will make up a rose leaf later, the placement of each stitch culminates in a piece of art

Thus endeth tonight's rambling

Finished Object!

2007-05-12T14:00:00.000+10:00

I have finished a garment! The shrug mentioned in previous posts (pattern found here) is now adorning my shoulders and it's very nice indeed. The tencel yarn feels wonderful against the skin too.

As for the things I've learnt while knitting it, well there are a couple.

Don't knit late at night (i.e. after midnight) when stressed and very tired. That's how you get "lace pattern adaptations") Following advice, I continued on with the 'adaptation' and it looks just fine
Do not, under any circumstances, continue knitting past that "adaptation" on to your first ever attempt at raglan shaping that's also to be done while keeping the lace pattern correct (that's right, that really easy lace pattern you've already managed to foul up). That's how you develop your skill at fudging the edges! However, it did turn out just fine anyway

All that considered, I'm still very happy with it. I did use different sized needles to, if not match the gauge, at least make it fit better than it would have otherwise. Sleeves knitted on 5mm, body on 4.5mm and ribbing on 4mm. All hail the knitpicks options set!

Also, the panic mentioned here? Not required. I didn't need that extra ball of yarn from a different dyelot. It's now sitting around waiting for something to occur... Perhaps a mini-mobius scarf... The yarn is certainly soft enough

And here are some photos for your pleasure, courtesy of Nikki

All things considered, I'm going to call this one a win

Sleeves, lace and books

2007-05-09T11:55:00.000+10:00

The lace has been put on hold for the next few days. I'm finishing the shrug, dammit! I'm currently halfway through the second sleeve and I'm trying to decide what size needles to use for the body, considering the yarn I'm using doesn't quite match that used in the pattern... Anyway, I'll have to make the decision at some point tomorrow probably!

The lace is at the same place it was in the previous post.

As for books, I got two new books and a pile of yarn in the mail on Monday morning. The books are the twisted sisters sock workbook and fitted knits. And now I have a pile of things to add to my to do list... Oh, how terrible!

I also got 760g of burnt orange 8 ply crepe. Not sure what I'm doing with it yet, but it was cheap and good yarn.

And now, off to do uni work.

Chart vs written patterns

2007-05-05T17:39:00.000+10:00

I have noticed a few changes in my knitting of late, one of which was called into the spotlight last night.

In the previous post, I mentioned knitting the Shimmer shrug from knitty.com (of which I have started a sleeve and it feels wonderful in that tencel blend yarn!)

Until I started on the alpine lace, I could not work from a chart. Perhaps because I'd never tried. I'd also used combined knitting. Post-alpine lace, I knit english style as it makes following the pattern easier. I can now also read a chart. Rather well, I think.

Anyway, I went to start knitting the shrug, and so I read through the pattern and noticed there was no chart, only a written pattern for the lozenge lace. And I realised why written patterns make no sense to me anymore, and why they barely made sense when I first started lace and kept making mistakes.

We read this way --------->
<------------- and you knit that way (unless you're knittng left handed)

And that would be why I had to sit down last night and draw up a chart. I used a chart thingy made by Jacquie, in this to make my life easier

Day of Nothing

2007-05-04T15:14:00.000+10:00

Today, I have done nothing. I have not spun, nor have I indulged in knitting. However, that does not mean I haven't done anything related to either activity, no!

Yesterday, I went shopping. I bought some yarn on sale. 4 balls of teal Zhivago. I had the idea to knit a shrug with it. I came home, searched knitty.com and came up with this. Perfect, the gauge matches my yarn and everything! With the exception of me being one ball down...

Today, I made a mad dash into the LYS and found they did indeed have some of the same colour, just not in the same dyelot. I decided to give it a go anyway. After taking this photo I can't tell the difference anyway. That may change after the knitting, but I'm not entirely sure it'll show enough that it will be noticable. I'll probably make a start on it tonight.

After coming home from the shops, I found a big brown paper parcel on the doorstep. It held this:
And this:

The top one is the natural grey tops I ordered from Wendy Dennis, and the bottom one is a bag of natural grey with silk. I'm looking forward to spinning these up! No project in mind for them as yet, but that may change.

And in case this post wasn't photo-heavy enough, here is a lovely shot of my cat, who has decided to comandeer the alpaca wrap I bought at this years easter show.

Bedsocks on request!

2007-05-02T20:09:00.000+10:00

Someone requested a photo of the bedsocks and so, here they are! I knitted them on the spur of the moment, without regard to swatching or yardage checking... hence the orange ankle on the left foot. I think it's kinda cute, so I'm leaving it like that, even though I could put a new cuff on the right sock. Anyway, I knitted them a tad big and so they're really comfortable for wearing around the house. They knitted up in less than two days. It took me two days, but I did have uni on...

And while I'm here and posting photos, here are a few more, of more socks and lace in progress!

This is my new sock. Knitted in some kind of recycled yarn I picked up of ebay. No composition listed but it feels like it's mostly cotton. But it's coming along nicely. I'm not working on them exclusively, as I'm also working on this:

I'm on the 14th repeat of the double rose leaves, but I'm not yet halfway there. However, I have reached the point where I can knit without the chart! It only took 160 rows to do it...

Once again, sorry about the quality. If you like, I might get hold of a family members camera and fix it up.

UFOs revisited

2007-04-23T10:56:00.000+10:00

Remember way back in one of my first posts my mentioning of the Pinwheel Jacket? It had been put on hiatus for a fair while, since about the end of january really. I found it was too hot to knit with a large lump of wool sitting on my lap, summer is not the season for a pure wool knee rug!

Anyway, I've picked it back up again. I have a number of assessments at uni due and an exam that frankly scares the living daylights out of me (I don't normally do well with exams). Mindless knitting that occupies the hands and not the mind is exactly what I need at the moment, and so I've recommenced work on it. To be honest, there isn't that much to do. I have 1/3 of a sleeve done and only 25 rows to go on the body, and maybe the i-cord edging. I'm not sure if I'm going to do that yet.

Besides, I bought a few books, and I'd like to have a warm jumper finished before I knit anything out of those. I'll review the books as soon as they arrive. I did buy them from Amazon.com so it might take a while. Has anyone else noticed that knitting books in Australia are absurdly expensive? It is cheaper to buy them from America and pay the shipping!

And a First! My first knitted object from my own handspun!

2007-04-21T11:12:00.000+10:00

And here is the finished mini-scarf! I knitted it to use up a few skeins I had lying around, spun up from a samples set from Wendy Dennis of Tarndwarncoort, but I really wanted to knit them. I hadn't any idea how big it was going to be because I didn't swatch, check my yardage, weigh it, or even have a look at the wpi. And despite all that, it knitted up wonderfully!

The pattern is one I wrote for a friend of mine, Wendy. She wanted an easy shawl pattern that could be knitted till you ran out of yarn and she could put ribbons through. While it's hard to tell with this one after I blocked it to within an inch of its life, there is a border of eyelets up the sides of the triangle too. Hers is being knitted in a varigated red mohair. I might put up the pattern here if anyone would like it. It's easily adaptable, and I'm planning on knitting a bigger one with lace motifs all over it. And no, I didn't swatch the pattern either. She asked me for it after 10pm when I was amazingly lacking in yarn and needles in my vicinity. Either way, it worked!

Anyway, it's really not very big, It'll just go around my neck for stopping those irritating down the back draughts and it's the perfect size to go around my head. While I look like I just stepped off the Amish farm, it will stop my hair from getting singed while fire twirling!

Handspun!

2007-04-19T13:41:00.000+10:00

Well, I've finally managed to spin yarn on my wheel that I'd actually like to knit. And the sad part is it's all in three different sized sample skeins, there's not one full size skein of any of the colours. However, they are all polwarth, and they're all the same weight.

So, while I've only got a small amount, I'm going to knit a small triangular scarf with them, starting with the smallest skein and going up to the biggest skein. The plan is even if it's small, I can where it around my kneck underneath a collared shirt and so on.

I'm looking foward to seeing how it goes! I'll knit while listening to my lectures again. It'll be very nice easy knitting. Yay!

Magic Loop part II

2007-04-12T21:24:00.000+10:00

I can now say I have used the magic loop. I have even succesfully made a sock with it. Before morning I will have made a pair of socks with it.

I used leftover yarn to make some bedsocks so the socks don't entirely match, but they're good enough, because they're besocks and no one is really going to see them.

I'm also really glad I used leftover yarn from that pinwheel jacket because it means I've knitted the socks on 5mm needles, so they've knitted up damn quick... And so I can follow what I did on the finished sock as I made it up as I went...

I'm really happy with it, particularly the cast off. I knit socks toe up (I also learnt the figure 8 cast on. Learning ahoy!) and so my cast offs tend to be rather tight, but I made up the cast off as I went, using a half-remembered picot cast off and ended up with a really loose cast off.

Yay!

Magic Loop?!

2007-04-04T16:34:00.000+10:00

Yeah, I'm writing this post at uni so it might be a tad premature, but I'm taking advantage of the wireless internet here.

That bobbin full of singles I put in the last post? It turned out to be one of the worst examples of my spinning I've ever done. It was underspun in some places, overspun in others ect. However, all is not lost, ladies and gents! I do indeed have a use for it! I only hope that i have enough...

I have discovered that I have trouble getting to sleep at night without bedsocks as I'm too cold, so I'm going to knit that lovely coloured yarn up into a nice pair of bedsocks! I also suffer from second sock syndrome, which is the reason I have made a single pair of socks to date, so I'm exploring the magic loop method.

I've a large number of reviews that tend to basically say this technique blows, but it's looking rather easy to me so I'm giving it a shot when I get home with some spare yarn...

To come: my experience with the Magic Loop? Is it really Magic, or a simple Fraud?

Recent activity

2007-04-01T11:57:00.000+10:00

I have been rather quiet on the blog front as of lately. Partly because I've been busy, and partly because I've been battling the computer (There's a reason I christened it Hades).

My knitting:

I'd been having a great deal of trouble when I was using the bamboo (as mentioned in the post below) but these are the knitpicks (yes, I know you can't see the needles, but the photo's from a mobile phone!) and they are simply wonderful. The stitches slip along them easily, the joins are smooth and don't catch on the silk, they're nice and light for my hands... I just couldnt be happier with them!

And in the vein of Julie's cat posts, while trying to take photos of the knitting my lovely Vinnie attempted to usurp my attention by plonking himself dead centre on the knitting while I was fiddling with settings on the camera/phone. I got bitten for the trouble of removing him.

And as I sat at my computer this morning, I realised that I was sitting next to a spinning wheel, with a 1/3 full bobbin and a pile on unspun roving next to me. A little while later and I had this:
The focus is way off, but this is the closest to the true colour I could get. It's light fingering weight and is still planned for a(nother) shawl. I hadn't done any spinning for a couple of months, long enough that I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it. I'm also tempted to get out my spindle again, and remove the horrible coarse stuff that's currently on it and start using it again. I'd stopped using it after I experienced the speed of production a wheel offers.

I'm also rather happy with a discovery this morning. I'm a member of a number of yahoo groups, most having to do with spinning. This morning I found a group that was for fiber fanatics who had fibromyalgia and other problems, such as CFS, lupus and so on. So basically, a group of people who'll understand and offer advice for such thing as having trouble with knitting because you can't hold your hands steady enough to put the needle through the loops. The group can be found here for those of you who are interested.

Hopefully, more updates to come as I progress!

Update + Mobius photos!

2007-03-18T21:02:00.000+11:00

I have to admit, my application to this blog has been sorely lacking of late. Mostly because uni has decided to give me a royal kick up the behind and has taken me away from the sweet, sweet knitting and spinning time. However, the stole is on hiatus until sometime early this week when my knitpicks needles should arrive! Yay! I'm currently using a set of clover bamboo circulars and the transition isn't smooth in the least, or it just doesn't like silk. Either way, it's not being easy to use.

In other news, I finally obtained photos of my in the lovely scarf sent to me by Leigh!

As a shawl

As a standard scarf

I'm rather pleased with it actually. It has a wonderful feel to it, and it is rather warm. Thanks again, Leigh!

YARN!

2007-03-04T19:28:00.000+11:00

My mother chose well when she picked out my godparents. Very well indeed. It turns out my godmother, who is heavily involved with such crafts as knitting, spinning and felting, also sells yarns when she sells her wares at market. Not yarns she's spun her self normally, but yarns that she gets from her suppliers at wholesale price...

Guess who now has 6 skeins of 2ply merino/mohair on order... at $12 for 100g...

I have a feeling I'll be knitting lace from Victorian Lace Today for a fair while now, and I don't have a problem with that idea, nope!

Also, I recently obtained a skein of handdyed magenta laceweight silk. I have responded to this acquisition by commencing the alpine scarf from VLT. I have an occasion I want to wear it for next year, so I'v justifed it rather well, I think!

I'm aware that the photos have been few and far between recently. I'll try and fix that once I get hold of a camera. I've been rather disillusioned with the quality that I've been getting from the camera on my phone. I'm not overly surprised though, it is actually a phone, not a camera.

All hail the ball winder!

2007-03-02T10:57:00.000+11:00

It has come to my attention that the hand crank ball winders may in fact be one of the more useful tools in a spinners collection.

I came to this conclusion by spinning up a bobbing full of plied yarn and found it to be under plied when I tried to wind it to the niddy noddy. The ball winder came to the rescue. The yarn when straight from the bobbin, to the ball winder and back through the wheel in less time than it would have taken me to redo the lazy kate (my lazy kate is only object that I know of that can be temperamental and yet have no moving parts...)

Yay for the ball winder!

In other news, I've been trying to learn to spin laceweight yarn. Laceweight appears to be my default on a spindle, I can't spin bulky on a spindle but it's easy as pie on the wheel.

Ordinarily, this wouldn't be a problem, but I would like to knit a beautiful lace shawl from my own handspun, in a lovely merino/silk blend. There's a goal for me to try for!

I've also been tidying the house recently, and I've found my stash is much larger than originally thought... I haven't been spinning all that long, and yet I have piles and piles of wool in batts, top, rovings and one raw fleece! At least I don't have to worry about running out any time soon. The biggest problem here is time management. Uni work, or spinning, or knitting?!

Combined knitting?

2007-02-19T17:32:00.000+11:00

For a while now, I've been slightly confused with all the knitting patterns that aren't designed for circular or double pointed needles for the simple reason of my stitches being orientated slightly differently. Not confused enough to stop me knitting the pattern and coming out with a lovely piece, but confused enough to wonder...

You see, I discovered today that I knit using the technique known as combined knitting and seeing as I've never knitted with other knitters, only with my family, all of whom were taught my grandmother, I've never seen any other technique. With this method, when knittng a purl stitch, you take the yarn underneath the needle instead of over as in the English technique. This results in a stitch that is orientated backwards, with the front leg of the stitch being behind the needle, as if you were twisting the stitches.

It also means that apparently you have to change some patterns slightly to accommodate this sort of different slant, such as reverse ssk and k2tog.

If you knit the same way I do, I recommend checking out this conversion chart that I found today, it'll help in fixing patterns for your knitting, instead of having to learn a different technique for each project.

Conversion Chart

What do you mean... swatch?!

2007-02-08T18:45:00.000+11:00

I have to admit, I've never swatched in my life. Not once. I've always viewed as a waste of time that could be better spent workng on the actual project. I may have knitting up samples of lace, to see how it worked, but that's about it. I've always had good tension. I've always been able to pick up the the recommended yarn and needles and knit the pattern and have wonderful results. I've even been able to substitute yarns with minimal maths and still have perfect results

However, today I started a swatch.

This is for a number of reasons.

I'm not following a pattern
I'm making a gift
I'm using my own handspun and therefore don't have a recommended guage or needle size

This isn't to say that I'm knitting something difficult. I'm actually knitting something really easy. It's only a scarf in a basic checkerboard pattern, but I'm knitting it as a gift, so I want it particularly nice. Luckily, It appears that I'll only have to do the one swatch. It's knitting up rather well. I'm very happy with it

Commenced!

2007-02-04T18:39:00.000+11:00

I've started the pinwheel jacket finally! I decided to give up on the entrelac cushion cover and the mitred wrap. Mainly because they were both started as experiments, to see if I could do it at all, not because I actually wanted to make those objects. The other reason being they're using awful, acrylic yarn that I really don't like.

I'm rather pleased with it, really. It's knitting up rather quickly, but that might be the 5.5mm needles. I think I may finish this much faster than I previously thought, it may be done in time for winter after all!

A slight hiccup, and a new knitting book

2007-02-02T19:20:00.000+11:00

Today I did nothing related to the topics of this blog. Absolutely nothing. I've not knitted, tatted, spun, nor even skeined up the bobbin full of plied yarn that I promised myself I'd do today.

Mainly because this morning, I lost consciousness for some, currently unknown, reason. Therefore, it was decided I should do nothing more strenuous than lie down on the lounge and be fussed over. The doctor took some blood, so hopefully I'll find out on Monday if there is anything I should be concerned about.

In other news, the boyfriend did buy me this book.

It's a fantastic book, full of rather off the wall patterns. It's also one of the very few knitting books I actually own, considering most good knitting books have a not so good price tag. But I have at least three of the patterns to the list of things to knit. I'm considering trying at least one of the patterns in handspun, so that should be interesting!

So, what have I been up to?

2007-01-29T15:18:00.000+11:00

I have been busy since the last post, but things should be calming down now. The wheel has been almost as busy as myself. I've been trying to spin slower, but treadling slow is alot harder than treadling at a moderate pace, I've found.

Anyhow, this is what I've produced so far.

It really doesn't seem like much, but I haven't had as much time as I would have liked. However, everything bar the two on the left are three ply, so they did take me a fair while as I'm trying to get a decent navajo ply going.

Here are their stats:

Chocolate brown crossbreed.
76 yds, 10 wpi, 3 ply

Natural colour blend crossbreed
66 yds, 9 wpi, 3 ply

Wool/angora blend, I'm not sure of the ratio, or actual breeds
88 yds, 13 wpi, 3 ply

more crossbreed, natural colour blend,
stats to come

Merino/silk blend, 85/15% from www.spinnknit.com purchased at the 2006 stitches and craft show, one of the two skeins in that photo that actually has a project set aside for it. The one mentioned below is the other.
100 g, more stats to come

I don't yet have a photo of the blue one on the far left on the computer, but it's the multicoloured merino roving from virginia farm. I still have 100g of the stuff left to spin.

An expedition and some Sad News

2007-01-22T10:14:00.000+11:00

Today I am setting forth and making a trip to Virginia Farm. I've been hunting around for somewhere relatively close by where I can get spinning wheel accessories (Hannah, my Traveller, came with only two bobbins) and rovings. Virginia Farm, only a half hours drive away does both and I am very pleased with it. I'll have to be careful though. I have a feeling it'll be very difficult to keep a rein on my credit card.

For the past 8 years, I've been privileged to know the grandchildren of a close family friend. I've babysat the eldest child, now 8 and in addition his younger brother for the past three and a half years. I've watched them both grow up, misbehave and be angels in turns.

On Sunday night, the youngest died of drowning, aged three. Before dinner, he asked to go for a swim, and his grandmother said no, wait till after dinner and Sage did not protest. 15 minutes later, she went to get the washing off the line, and noticed something floating near the bottom of the pool. It was her grandson. She dragged him out and began CPR. His lips were still pink when they got him to emergency. However, he died in intensive care.

Teach your children to swim as soon as possible! Take them to a heated pool when they start crawling! Ensure that your pool is not fenced onto the house, but has a separate fence, and make sure it's secure!

No one should have to bury their children because they didn't realise the danger of a backyard pool.

She's here!

2007-01-14T21:18:00.000+11:00

I have obtained my spinning wheel! Here is the lovely little darling!

She was brought home a few days later than I had originally planned. I'd organised to pick it up on Tuesday, but on Monday I was informed that my cousin's holiday house in Kandos was in fact going to be empty this week if we'd like to go. And so Sean and I headed up for a few days. This mean that the wheel had to wait till yesterday.

After the first fifteen minutes or so that it took me to figure out how it worked (the previous owner had lost the manual, assembly instructions along with two bobbins and the horizontal pieces of the lazy kate) I've spun a couple of skeins:

Photos of the finished skeins will come later, after they've been washed and dried. They are a tad uneven, but I was expecting that, considering this is the first time I've ever actually used a wheel!

So yeah, I'm very, very pleased with it. I really enjoyed spinning and I'm trying very hard to resist the urge to spin some more...

Oh what the hell! It's not like I haven't got plenty of stash!

Oh, and the mobius scarf that's on the needles in the mobius post? It's been completed, but I managed to leave it behind so the photos of it will have to wait.

I have a spinning wheel!

2007-01-07T22:07:00.000+11:00

Well, it's official. I own a spinning wheel. A second hand ashford traveller to be exact. Or at least I will, come 2:15 on Tuesday afternoon when I go to pick it up. This is what will very soon become my precious. She will provide much distraction though...

She's missing a couple of bobbins, and most probably the instructions too, but the bobbins are easy to get and rather cheap to boot. And I have a feeling I'll be able to get the maintainance booklet rather easily.

So yes, very happy indeed!

I will post again when I've taken her for a test drive and I have at least a faint idea of how to use the little darling!

MY yarn!

2007-01-05T17:04:00.000+11:00

These are the first skeins that came off my new spindle, a lovely red gum top whorl.

I'm not entirely sure what I'll do with them. I'm thinking I'll leave them alone until something perfect for them turns up.

Mobius!

2007-01-02T12:11:00.000+11:00

While spending my time in a sensible, constructive manner (read: procrastinating about housework by searching for nice free patterns) I stumbled across a mention of Cat Bordhi's mobius scarf.

This has to be the one of the most interesting things I've seen in knitting for a very long time. Knitting a true mobius (with a half twist as opposed to a full twist) without grafting is slightly... mindbending... and all... squishy...

The edge marked.

I have to admit, though, if you're thinking of knitting a mobius, go with Cat's cast on. The other cast ons are fairly obvious, Cat's is almost invisible. That's the cast on marked there, but it's the visible one. The camera I have wont give me enough detail for the one still on the needles.

Just a note: If you're going to do one of these, just go with it. It'll look like you've made a mistake for a fair while until you've got enough fabric between the needles. Also, use the longest circulars you can find! 80cm isn't quite long enough.

Finished!

2006-12-24T01:03:00.000+11:00

I have finished one of the projects on the UFO list! That being the pair of striped socks! They were knitted with Online supersocke self-striping yarn. A yarn I have decided never to use again. If I want stripes, I'll do it myself! At least then I wont have to deal with finding knots in the yarn without enough of that colour left to have a full stripe.

I'm a tad disapointed with the cast off though, it's still a little tight (these are toe-up). I tried Elizabeth Zimmermans sewn cast off, but it wasn't any more elastic than my standard cast off... I'd appreciate any suggestion!

Note: this is also the first pair of socks I have ever knitted. I feel proud! The next pair of socks in the pipeline will be made with that red handspun mentioned two posts ago. I found the same wool in a lovely orange colour. That'll make for some lovely striped socks!

Note II: sorry for the appalling photo. It's 1:10AM and I'm using the camera on my phone.

squeal!

2006-12-22T22:19:00.000+11:00

Since some point earlier this year (read: easter) I've been planning on knitting the pinwheel cardigan from elann.com (they have an absolute pile of free patterns, for those of you who don't know about about them). This is also the cardigan that I mentioned in the previous post.

The point about all this is that the yarn arrived this morning, just in time for christmas! I'm not using the same colours as the example though. It just looks like the ideal kind of thing to knock about uni in a comparatively mild Sydney winter.

However, I've not yet finished any of those other projects I have to finish before this gets started.

I will have the socks finished by tomorrow, I think. And then, the cabled cardigan. And then, the entrelac cushion. And then, I start this! I like to keep the spinning to break up the knitting so I don't do a burn out on any given project (though, this is the kind of thinking that gives me piles of UFOs...)

A Knitter's Palaver

2006-12-05T11:44:00.000+11:00

I have a new resolution. Yes, I know it's a bit early to do the whole New Year's thing, but hey, I've never been good with new year's resolutions. Anyway, to the point:

I have resolved to no longer be an unfaithful knitter and thereby, reduce my UFO count

Yes, knitting is the one area in my life where I cannot be faithful to one project over another. I currently have the following projects in progress:

Knitting

Mitred wrap (nearly finished the first strip...)
Lace Skirt (made a major error and needs to be frogged)
Striped sock (sock 1 has been finished)
Cabled cardigan (the body's been finished...)
Lace mohair scarf
Entrelac cushion cover

Crochet

Willow pattern blanket

Spinning

Red yarn that's to be three-plied and knit into a lace shawl
natural coloured corriedale/merino blend that's to be used as a trim on a pair of socks that I'm planning
There'd be more, but I'm waiting on some ceramic whorls for more spindles

Well, the list is shorter than I thought. I plan to finish at least three of the knitting projects before I start work on my winter jacket. Luckily, temptation does not worry me: the yarn has yet to arrive!

The Jolly Knitter

Six month knitting recap

Study

I have a new hat!

Swallowtails Ahoy

Felting II

Felting I

Frost flower socks

Hand dyed

Knitting and the great outdoors

Ooooh! Technology!

Camee's shrug

Ooops...

Mystery Shawls

Oy...

MIA

Ben

Oh dear...

First sock done

Pfaff for me!

Spinning and knitting

It's been a slow week...

Friday, the day of knitting and yarn!

A week late, but it's an update!

Finished Object!

Radio Silence

Clue 2

Mystery stole catch up

The Week in Review

Random update

Socks

What's that? Alive you say?

Home and Away

Oh My! An update?

Rambling...

Alpaca yarn, lace and accounting

Finished Object!

Sleeves, lace and books

Chart vs written patterns

Day of Nothing

Bedsocks on request!

UFOs revisited

And a First! My first knitted object from my own handspun!

Handspun!

Magic Loop part II

Magic Loop?!

Recent activity

Update + Mobius photos!

YARN!

All hail the ball winder!

Combined knitting?

What do you mean... swatch?!

Commenced!

A slight hiccup, and a new knitting book

So, what have I been up to?

An expedition and some Sad News

She's here!

I have a spinning wheel!

MY yarn!

Mobius!

Finished!

*squeal!*

A Knitter's Palaver

squeal!