Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Baby Bonnet

I don't usually like knitting baby clothes, sure I like the fact that the time taken to produce such small items is very short but I am definately not a white bootees, layette kind of person. Even my own children had to rely on their Grandmothers knitting as I had really bad carpel tunnel while pregnant and couldn't knit even if I wanted to. Anyway baby knitting has never been high on my to do list, that was until I found THIS I just had to make it, plus I needed a slight diversion from sock knitting, for a day at least.


I used Cleckheaton machine washable pure wool as I am sure any new mum would not have time for handwashing and as it used less than one ball for the main part and a tiny amount for the contrast I have enough left over to make another in the reverse colour way. The colour is much deeper than in this photo, a deep burgundy trimmed with a lighter burgundy, see I told you I am not a traditional baby knitter. I would have loved to knit it using the colours used in the pattern but for some reason no one seems to produce a chocolate brown, not even Bendigo who have almost every colour of the rainbow. So if someone knows of a machine washable chocolate brown wool let me know. This particular one is going to be a gift for a young couple in our church who have just had their first baby, I hope they like it as much as I enjoyed knitting it.

I will definately be making this one again, but for now back to socks.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Lest We Forget


They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.


To all those brave young men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in all wars, we will remember them and their families, not only today on Anzac day but always.

Friday, April 21, 2006

Socks, Socks And More


I have finished the two pairs of 8ply socks that I was working on for the market, pressed, ready to be labeled and hopefully sold tomorrow, nothing wrong with being optimistic now is there. The sock in progress is the first of the three pairs ordered, this one is the same as the others, 8ply, nice quick knitting. The pattern is a simple seed stitch which doesn't require a lot of thought and can be taken anywhere.

Janelle had a haircut yesterday so as I sat waiting, I knitted and received lots of comments about my knitting, it cracks me up when I get 'oh isn't it great to see a young person knitting' wouldn't it be great if our craft could lose the 'only old people knit tag' I mean what other hobbies or crafts attract such a negative vibe? It must be how young people who play lawn bowls feel!!!


Look what I bought off ebay
Yippee, I have been bidding on this for ages and of course kept getting outbid, this happened again this week and when I received an email telling me that I had been outbid there was a link for another one available. It was a buy it now and would you believe that I paid less for it than what they have been selling for in the auctions?? Now I must be patient and hopefully the same will happen with Nigella Lawsons Feast.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Too Much Knitting

I am sure we have all heard the old saying of too much knitting and too little time, well I feel a little like that at the moment. I have orders for three pairs of socks, two of which are 8ply so that isn't too bad, the other pair is in Opal using
MY SOCK PATTERN which is plain stocking stitch on 2.5mm needles.

Janelle also wants THIS knitted in Patons Zhivago.

and of course there is also my Cabled Shrug and 60's Cabled Jumper that I am working on.

Do I mind? No way, I love it and I will see how long it takes me to knit the socks, after I finish knitting the other two pairs I have planned for the market on Saturday, I will hopefully have some pictures to show soon. Till then I will be busy knitting socks!!!!

Oh and a great day was had yesterday at S'n'B and to CATHY a huge big thanks for picking up some tortoise shell knitting needles for me, there were some odds that I could match up with some of my odds at home so I actually made 5 pairs out of them. I have an obsession with tortoise shell knitting needles that means if I ever find one on their own I will buy them, for you just never know when his mate will be found somewhere else. We were also spoilt by CINDY and KATT who both gave us Easter presents, thank you so much, do I belong to a great knitting group or what?

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Shazza Is A Happy Little Vegemite


Our knitting group/coven had our humble little stall at the Yorktown Square market today and a great day was had chatting with SANDRA, SUZI and CINDY, we are all a bunch of talkers when we get together and the topic usually revolves around knitting. A bit of knitting was also done, the 60's cable jumper which is my no brainer knitting on the needles at the moment, I need to have that as the cabled shrug is a must concentrate knit, grew a bit.

The reason I am a happy little vegemite is that two pairs of my socks sold, yippeeee!!! My faith in the market has definately been restored, especially as the organisers didn't charge us for our spot today, because of Easter not all the usual stall holders were there, so it was entirely up to us whether we went or not.

This of course means that I must whip up a couple of pairs of socks to replace what was sold. I am using 8ply so that they will knit up quickly and hopefull will have them finished by next weeks market.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Abbey Road

Janelle wanted to go shopping after school today and while we were stopped at the traffic lights The Beatles were staring at me from a shop window. There they were John, Paul, George and Ringo with a big neon sign saying Shazza take us home, the first available parking spot was grabbed and now The Fab Four have a new home. Well not the real life Beatles, I mean that would be impossible as two of them are dead after all, but this bag with their Abbey Road album cover is now mine.

And I have the perfect use for it too, what do you reckon?? I think that George would approve, I hope so.

Now this little shopping expedition also included a trip to the supermarket and it wasnt until I got home that I realised I was wearing an extra necklace today. It's not a very good photo but you can clearly see that I was walking around town today with my row counter still hanging around my neck, I didn't realise until I got home. Oh well I guess unless you were a knitter you wouldn't even notice, right!!!!!

Monday, April 10, 2006

Aviator Hat Pattern


I have had a lot of emails from people commenting on the Aviator Hat and asking me for the pattern. I had thought that it was unavailable but decided to do a search over the weekend and I found
THIS SITE if you type in www.ozyarn.com it will bring up the original web site complete with their free patterns. Click on free patterns and scroll down and the original pattern was called Alpaca Earflaps and it is still there in a pdf file.

When I made mine I didn't make the I Cord tassles, I used 3 strands of each colour and made two plaits 25cms long and I also went up a needle size so that it fitted better as I used 8ply DK yarn instead of the recommended alpaca.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

I'm Back

I have had a very busy week with my Auntie and a lot was crammed into a few days which meant not a lot of knitting and no time at all for updating my blog. I did manage to make this hat for my Auntie to take back with her for her first grandchild due in November. Here it is modelled on Janelles baby born doll, so it is a bit big as it is for a 6 month old baby. It is the umbilical hat from the first Stitch and Bitch book by Debbie Stoller and the yarn used is Lambs Pride, which is such lovely yarn.


I also managed to do this quiz that everyone seems to be doing at the moment. I think it sums me up pretty well.



You Are a Visionary Soul



You are a curious person, always in a state of awareness.

Connected to all things spiritual, you are very connected to your soul.

You are wise and bright: able to reason and be reasonable.

Occasionally, you get quite depressed and have dark feelings.



You have great vision and can be very insightful.

In fact, you are often profound in a way that surprises yourself.

Visionary souls like you can be the best type of friend.

You are intuitive, understanding, sympathetic, and a good healer.



Souls you are most compatible with: Old Soul and Peacemaker Soul



I am looking forward to working on the cabled shrug which unfortunately has been a little neglected over the past week and catch up with my favourite blogs and knitting forums.

Monday, April 03, 2006

A Proud Mother I Am


The wedding was beautiful, aren't they always? My litte sis looked lovely and Janelle was quite the young lady. I was a very proud mother let me tell you and it was lovely sharing the day with her, getting our hair and make up done and getting all dressed up. The weather wasn't too kind as it was very windy and although the sun was shining the wind made it very cold especially for us girls in our dresses. As promised I have posted some photos of Janelle and I and of course my little sis.


So you can see why I was proud as both my little girls were looking all grown up on Saturday, as there is 16 years between my sister and I she is like my own daughter and I love her as if she was.