Thursday, March 30, 2006

Phew!!!


Well here is the first progress report of the Cabled Shrug, I have just completed the first main repeat. I have to do another eight of these babies, I may have to shorten it yet as I have short arms so maybe seven, and this is not for the faint hearted let me tell you. I can only knit it during the day as lack of daylight and lack of brain power after dark makes for too many mistakes. I did wonder when I started what you would need all the stitch markers for, it is only cables after all. Well I can tell you they save a lot of heartache and mean that you only have to unpick a few stitches as opposed to a whole piece when you finally would have discovered a mistake. I am probably making it sound like it is a terrible pattern and why on earth would you want to attempt it, but that is definately not the case, I LOVE IT!!! Sure it keeps you on your toes but the cables are beautiful, and the yarn is just gorgeous.

I wont be getting much of it done over the next few days as I will be too busy getting organised for my sisters wedding. Final dress fittings today and I have to get the spare bed made up for my auntie as she arrives tomorrow. So wish me luck, that I don't trip over walking down the aisle or anything silly like that and I will post a piccy of Janelle and I in our finery as soon as I get a chance.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Cabled Shrug


Look what turned up in the post today from Bendigo Woollen Mills, along with some other 12ply for the stash and some baby wool for Katt. The colour is a much deeper rust colour than the picture, almost bordering on brown, it is just gorgeous. I can't wait to start it, but being dark it may be a daylight hours only knit. I did order some other colours and thought that I may have a hard time choosing when it arrived but this colour just grabbed me as soon as I opened the parcel

This is what the wool is going to fly off the needles (I hope)to become, it is the cabled shrug from Interweave Knits Fall 2005 issue. It is more like a shawl with sleeves which is what I loved about it, I much prefer it to the figure hugging shrugs. It was a must do pattern the moment I saw it but unfortunately when we receive the magazines we are in opposite seasons so it had to get shelved until our Autumn (fall). It is perfect for wrapping around your shoulders when it is cold and believe me here in Tasmania it gets cold.

I am going now to cast on, I will post a progress pic. as soon as I get a bit done.

Sunday, March 26, 2006

I Will Try Again

I tried adding the following photo in my previous post but Blogger has been a little bit disagreeable of late and would only let me upload the one pic. I am not going to whinge as you get what you pay for!!!

Here is the beanie that a lady in my favourite book store asked me to make for her sons birthday, wrapped and ready to be delivered. I can tell you that she was very pleased with it and she actually paid me for it, YAY money for doing what I love. The yarn is 6o% wool and 40% acrylic which I bought off ebay and the pattern is from
THIS PATTERN BOOK and is a k1 p1 rib beanie in 8ply.

I am feeling much better now and can face next week with a lot more energy than what I had this past week, which is just as well as my auntie is coming over from Victoria to stay with us so I will be giving my house the big 'spring clean' so that I can spend the following week relaxing with her and not having to worry about the dust etc.

Yesterday we had the dress fitting and I was pleasantly surprised that it had to be taken in, I was so worried that it would have to be let out. They are beautiful dresses and Janelle looked absolutely lovely in hers.

Our knitting group had our first market stall yesterday and from what I can gather a lot of lookers/fondlers but not too many buyers but hopefully as the weather gets cooler so will the buyers and they will be in need of a nice warm woollie or two. Cindy has a photo of our humble little stall over on her BLOG if you want to go take a peek. Oh well that is all for now, hopefully the order from Bendigo turns up tomorrow so that I can start my cabled shrug as mentioned in the previous post.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Stitch Marker Swap


I recently participated in a stitch marker swap over at KNITTERS REVIEW FORUMS where we each sent stitch markers to two people. These are what I received from JULIA and EVELYN, aren't they just beautiful. They will look just lovely on my needles, thankyou, you are both very talented people. Also a huge big thanks to LAINE for going to all the trouble of organising this it was a lot of fun.

I have a cold at the moment which as usual has gone to my chest and is making me feel very miserable, to add to this our weather is so cold in the mornings it makes you feel ten times worse. But I have found a great pick me up that works a treat, I ordered some lovely wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills, my favourite woollen mill here in Australia. I have ordered some for KATT too as it is postage free when your order is over $25.00. I ordered 1kg each of green tweed, midnight tweed and russet all in 12ply from their Rustic range and for KATT some cream baby wool, which is no doubt destined to become a lovely kool-aid coloured creation. I am going to be making the Cabled Shrug from Interweave Knits fall 2005 issue in one of them, whichever one grabs me the most when they arrive but I am leaning towards the russet as it is a deep rich rust colour, beautiful. There was a lot of discussion over at KR about this shrug, some loved it some hated it, I personally love it. It is a lot bigger and baggier than the traditional shrugs which really lets be honest look a lot nicer on size 10 small busted women, and as I definately do not fall into that category, I think this one will suit my 'bazookas' better ;) I will post pics of the yarn as soon as it arrives and maybe you can help me decide which colour, till then happy knitting.

Monday, March 20, 2006

Aviator Hat


Janelle wanted the aviator hat for camp so I finished it off with a couple of hours to spare on Friday, sorry I don't have a photo of her in it but you do get a view of my back yard complete with washing line.

A good time was had by all at camp, tiring but a lot of fun just the same. Not much knitting got done so I am in withdrawals a bit today and NEED TO KNIT!! As you know the WWW Sock Festival was on over the weekend and unfortunately I had to miss it but you can read all about it over at SUZIS BLOG as she was there and took some great photos also. Two of my fellow S'n'B ladies won prizes, well done to CINDY and CATHY. looking forward to hearing all about it tomorrow.

I don't know if I have mentioned or not but my sister is getting married in less than 2 weeks time so I will be busy getting organised for that as I am her matron of honour and Janelle is one of her bridesmaids so of course she is getting very excited. The one down side to this is I have to wear a dress, I'm a 159cm well rounded girl who doesn't do dresses but thankfully the style of the dress is one suited to all figure types. Tomorrow we are going shoe shopping which should be fun, I LOVE shoes, we are going with a flat heel as none of us wanted anything uncomfortable which I was happy about as I don't know if my back would have coped real well with wearing high heels all day.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Hats, Hats And More Hats

Janelle has asked me to knit her one of those trendy little avaiator hats that were all the rage last winter, I have already knitted one in pink tones for an auction last year which unfortunately I never got around to taking a picture of before it had to be delivered, I was on a bit of a deadline with that one. She wanted aqua green tones and I ordered the wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills during their sale, it is machine washable pure wool. The pattern was a freebie from a knitting site here in Australia called Ozyarn (not to be confused with Ozeyarn) which is no longer operating, I'm not sure if this pattern exists elsewhere.

As the heading for this post suggests I have been knitting hats and nothing else but hats for the last few days. I made some more MUSE HATS as our S'n'B group are holding a market this Saturday. I have also been asked to knit a beanie for someone which is finished I just have to sew it up.

We had a long weekend here and also my kids had a student free day yesterday, which has really put a HUGE dent in my week. Normally that wouldn't be such a problem but I am going away with my GEMS girls group on camp this weekend so I have 3 days to get organised for that and of course make sure everythings up to date on the homefront.

It is the worst possible weekend to be going away as there is so much on that I have to miss out on, the Saturday market, the WWW sock festival, my sisters hens night (that might not be such a bad thing!!!) and to top it off I have to vote as the pollys decided to hold an election here in Tasmania. So today I have to go and organise a postal vote so it is safe to say that you probably wont be hearing from me either here or via your blogs until next week. I can at least take my knitting to camp, and will definately need the relaxation and calming effect that it provides.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

From This

to this


Yes I have finally got around to posting some pics of my very first attempt at dyeing, this is also one of the wonderful pressies that BECKY from SP5 sent me that I have just gotten around to doing. She sent me some lovely hand spun wool together with some Kool-Aid, which we can't get here in Australia which is a bit sad. I think I could get used to doing this so that when I finally get the hang of spinning I might just start spinning and dyeing my own yarns, maybe, please don't hold me to that.
**UPDATE ON ROCKY**
Rocky is doing fine, a little quieter than usual but considering I have had the wool winder out which usually can be a little tricky with a playful kitten about, probably just as well!!

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Non Knitting Post


As I started this blog as a knitting blog I always post about my knitting first and foremost, any other subjects are added later, even my beloved family. But today that changes, my Rocky was mauled by a brute of a cat, a cat that was trespassing in my little fellows yard. He has only started going outside the last few days and this big bad cat from over the back fence was in OUR yard and attacked Rocky viciously. He has huge puncture marks on his body and is feeling very sick, sore and sorry for himself. I took him to the vet and he gave him a shot and has put him on antibiotics to help with infection. He is limping badly because the big bad cat damaged his sciatic nerve(sp?)

He will be OK but I feel better now for coming here and venting a bit of anger!!!

Monday, March 06, 2006

Hippo Sock #1


I finished the first POMATOMUS FROM KNITTY over the weekend, it is a wonderful sock pattern which I enjoyed knitting. Enough of a challenge to keep you thinking but not too complicated that you need to lock yourself away to be able to knit it. I will cast on #2 with not the slightest bit of 'I don't want to make another one' in fact I would possibly knit this again. However if I did it again I would have one less repeat as it is slightly longer than I would normally make my socks.

'Hippo' wasn't the only knitting I did over the weekend, I also made a couple of hats, the first hat is my own MUSE HAT this time I made it on size 6mm needles which was a better fit for me, I might even add one more pattern repeat next time also just to give it a little bit more length.

The second one is the CUP CAKE HAT which I have made before in a bigger size but thanks to WOOL WINDER who has written instructions for smaller hats using this pattern, I made one for a newborn baby.

I also am thinking of knitting the famous PANTA as I go walking with a friend once a week, in winter here in Tasmania that can be pretty cold so one of those to cover the ears would be great. The link for the Panta is over at the Panta Along site and who should be modelling their very own Panta? Our very own STRIPEY TIGER well done Sharon, it looks great, now I definately am going to make one.

Friday, March 03, 2006

WWW Sock Entry



Lighthouse socks are done and dusted, hip hip hooray. Not a sock I would repeat, don't get me wrong I love the pattern but I am a knitting perfectionist and therefore not 100% happy with how they turned out. As these are to be entered into THIS COMPETITION I did have plans of knitting a 3rd sock and entering the best two but I really could not face knitting another and as the competition stresses that the main thing is to have fun, I thought that was being a bit silly.

In our local newspaper there was an advertisement calling for stall holders for a market, being something we at the knitting coven ( CINDYS name for our knitting group) have mentioned that we would like to do from time to time, I rang and asked about the details. It is on our agenda to discuss on Tuesday, so if anybody has ever given this sort of thing a try and have any advice or ideas to pass on to us it would be appreciated. Plus what a great way to advertise to the public that knitting is not only for little old ladies.