12 Days of Christmas - Day 3 and 4

Oops - its a double post today.  Yesterday was just one of those days.  I forgot appointments and just ran around like a chook all day.

The mugginess has lifted slightly, but now we have that damp feeling that comes with the rain on a warm day.  Still - the gardens are watered by nature, which is great since sprinkler bans kicked in Waipa last night.  Hand held watering still find, but no more sprinklers.  Still - if its hot, not much is going to stop me putting the sprinkler on for the kids to play in!

So - Day 3 received from Odette was a wonderful partner for Mr Claus.  She's pretty happy on the tree near her mate, but I have noticed all the decorations keep changing spots.  At least the decs aren't falling on the ground - not like all the needles.  Hmmmm.

Day 4 from Odette were these great little stitch markers. 

I never have enough stitch markers.  With all the seamless knits I do, I find that lots and lots of these things is an absolute must.

Day 3 sent was this tin.

It was filled with Days 4,5,6 and luckily Hannah has already said what she opened for Day 4, because I had forgotten to write them down before sealing them into Day 3!
Day 4 was a small, densely knitted cloth.  2 ends, and really thick.  Will probably be a great little kitchen scrubber.

Jenna is really beginning to get into this swap.  This morning she quietly came to ask me if she could open day 4.  I allowed her to, since she showed such restraint!

Bolero testing

Lately I have been doing a lot of testing.  Not sure why.  I think I like to knit under pressure - makes something get done.
Could be the excitement of knitting a pattern that is limited edition so to speak.
Might be the fact that for some of the patterns people can't wait to see the projects coming out so they get lots of "love".

Whatever it is that attracts me to them, I do too many.  Usually I am pretty good and get them out on time.  Lately there have been a couple of exceptions to this rule (mostly as a result of life throwing weird stuff at me, and having to reorganise my life on a daily basis!!)

When Kath produced images of her little blossum bolero, I fell in love!  Could be the fact that everyone has a soft spot for matching flower girls, but I just knew that this was a knitted item that my crazy daughter might wear!  I put my name down for testing it, and a couple of weeks ago the pattern came up for testing.

I've knitted it in purewool, a uruguayan 3 ply wool that is lovely and soft, not badly priced, but pills like a MF and stretches terribly out of shape if you don't knit it tight!

I'm very happy with the result.  It wouldn't be the combination I would choose, but there is something nice about pandering to your child's wishes, and actually making something they want to wear, not what you would like them to wear.  She wanted the ruffle, she got the ruffle.  I wanted to do the lovely picot edging or perhaps the lace ruffle, but J won.

So there are several combos of sleeve and edging in this pattern, its a lovely fit and a reasonably easy and quick knit.  Well worth it I'd say!
To be released on December 1st I believe.  Go for it :)

12 days of Christmas swap

Over on Ravelry (my haunt for knitting related guff), the NZ and Aussie knitters organised a small swap for the 12 days of Christmas.
The idea was - 12 gifts, one to be opened each day, max $30-40 spend, and the last day is to be something substantial.

My swap partner is the lovely Hannah aka Rainbowchild, and I have had alot of fun getting it all together, but its done and ready to be posted!

Its all a bit out there, and I think on some days she will think I'm a bit odd, but on other days I think I've hit it on the head.

I've photographed everything individually, so I plan to do a daily reveal of the gift I have received, and the gift I sent.  I'm really looking forward to this!  Except that gifts 4,5,6 are inside gift 3, which is wrapped, and I can't remember the order.....  And gift 3 is actually quite nicely wrapped, so I dont want to pull it apart just to check my numbers.  So 4,5,6 will be on the day 6 all together.

To whet Hannah's appetite, here is the total package ready to be sent out.  Wrapped of course!

Fun fun fun!!

Sock Yarn Swapsies - TNN

It swap time again in the TNN halls of residence!



I received this today - its just lovely! I am going to cast on with it immediately:


Not sure who it is from, I am OK with these things staying a secret usually. I'm not sure why, I guess I just used to get so excited about finding out what things were, I sort of wore myself out.

So there is 100g of sock wool (we specified a good quality mix this time around), a lovely little felted ball which I can't decide what to do with - definitely not for the kids.... and a pattern for socks - Peacock Tail Socks.

My swapper has done a lovely job, the colours are rich and vibrant, and with it being her first semi solid, I think she has done a cracker job.

So - to my Sock fairy in Christchurch (if your return address is genuine....) - THANKS!!!

My Precious....

Its a sad state of affairs when you have a thing for wool. I have a thing for wool. Therefore I am sad. Or pathetic. Or whatever.

Anyway - Wollmeise. Hard as anything to get your hands on, and after almost a year, this is my stash. I sold one to Sam who made a beautiful shawl, and knitted up some of my Saami, and this is what is left!



I love the stuff, and it smells great, and since I dye wool (often to sell....) I feel qualified to say her colours are intense, tasteful and insanely beautiful!

From left to right
Fratello (Yarnissima Kits)
Rhabarber
Buxkranzl (Sock Club)
Okzident (Sock Club)
Spina de Pesce (Yarnissima)
Hollerstaud'n (Sock Club)
Petit Poison No 5
Digitessa (Yarnissima)
Jultomte (Sock Club)
Rosenrot
Orient (Sock Club)
Campari Orange
Red Hot Chilli
and 2 naturals along the back.

There are 2 more sock clubs to come, and then I think I am done with buying Wollmeise. Its horribly stressful, there is lots of hoarders of the stuff, and the price is horribly inflated on places like Ebay USA. For example the latest installment of the sock club sold on Ebay for $300 USD. Now I love the stuff, but at $50NZD per skein, thats about my limit!! I cannot justify keeping more than this, nor can I justify the constant trading and selling that goes on. I wish people would just buy what THEY want, and leave the rest for other people who want to buy. I never buy more than 3 skeins at a time becuase postage goes stupid after that, and really, dropping $150 NZD on wool in an evening every few months is obscene as it is.

Recently I purchased all four kits from Yarnissima - she sells Wollmeise with a pattern in a stunning kit. They arrived today from Netherlands, and wow!! The wrapping, and the extra goodies all just show what an amazing buying experience this all is.

So watch for future projects. I think I am going to do a shawl with Rhabarber and Jultomte, and I can see a few other projects of mixing the natural and Saami. I also want to do a petit poison and Hollerstaud'd project I think as mine go beautifully.

I think the wool is worth it - its 150g skeins which in itself makes it worth minimum $30NZD (as most nice sock wools are around $20/100g, and with the colours, the quality and the gorgeous smell (Perwoll wool wash) its an enjoyable thing to collect.

Selfish Dishcloth swap

This was sent to Alison from TNN for a selfish dishcloth swap. Knitted from Bendigo cotton - very soft, probably better for a face cloth.


I liked it - it was loads easier to knit than it looked, just lots of wrapping and shot rows.

Swap - How cool is murder.....

OK - I have finally read through the file and I can state that my swapper was Christine. Thanks so much. It was the flash of light I needed :)

My swap theme was I guess murder? Hard to say since I got sent a case file which I hope I dont actually have to solve. VJ did an awesome job of this swap, only 100g of wool which is awesome as I love quality, not quantity, and her colours are perfect for me. Has she been stalking???

SO the box arrives - big case file, and I was already smiling ;)


Open in up, red splatters everywhere and I see the evidence bags. Wool. Sock stitch markers on a noose. Chocolate - dark. A novel. And a case file.

Admittedly I went straight for the goodies and looked (yay - wool and chocolate and reading....) , and glances over the rest, but it was clear to see a lot of work went into this swap.


From the getgo I thought it was Christine because she does insanely themed and overcommitted swaps that makes everyone say (gee I wish she was my swapper...) and I am stoked to be on the receiving end :)



So those that know me. I am a massive murder novel freak. I love them all - name a murder author, I have probably read ;) My fave over the last few years is Karin Slaughter. (keep in mind I have small kids, so if you have a new author you think I should read, please leave a comment.)

Red is my colour. Specially the deep red that Christine got.

I love sock wool - enough said. Patonyle is awwwwwwwwwesome.

100g is perfect.

Books are good.

Choc is OK, it sweetens up him, and goes nicely with red wine ;)

Sock patterns - yes I collect patterns and wool, yet rarely knit.

Recipe - I am a closet wannabe chef so all cooking goes down well here.

Tattoo shot - yes I have a tatt, and while its not the extreme that VJ pictured, I am still "drawn upon..."

I am always losing my bloody stitchmarkers, so everytime I cast on yet another project (I currently have 3 pairs of socks, 2 dishcloths, 2 shawls, 2 tops, 2 dresses, 1 soaker, 1 blanket....) my stitchmarkers (and KP's tips) have to be stolen off one project, and on to another...


Thanks VJ - lovely swap.
PS - yes I have read the book, and I already have a new swap in mind. Yes I have read the case file, and I found the VJ hidden amongst all the comments, so gut no longer matters, I have evidence!!!!!!

Lunch Bag

TNN are doing a series of yarn swaps at the moment, I have just sent off #3, so I shall put that up next week when my swapper receives it.

But this project was started right back from V1. Its been sitting there because I had run out of white 10ply hand wash wool. BUt I found some last week in my stash, and decided to put it to good use.

So here is the before shot:


And the after shot:



I need to find a fun button (oh damn - a trip to spotlight, or knit world.....) but I'm pretty happy with the result. A new lunch bag!

Pattern was from Knitty, and is called Brown Bag. I never found out who this swapper was, but I hope they like what I did with the wool.

(I'll be honest and say I pushed this project ahead cause I needed my 6mm, 40cm addis for another project ;) )

Rainbow Dress Take 2

So someone else asked me to knit them a rainbow dress, but this time I did something a little different.

I started with this



Which I then dyed into this



And added this


To make this.


Unfortunately my vision wasn't the same as the orderer's vision, so I have 1 rainbow dress that needs a new home. Anyone interested? Sized about 18m-3y. Its overall length is about 41cm.

Its verrrrrry pretty and I am sure I can sell it to someone :)

Wollmeise - first project

Well I have finished my first project for the year.

I turned this



into this



And I love it.

Used around 70g of fingering weight wool, and had a few gauge issues as you can see in the colour repeat. I thought about frogging it, but decided it would be a constant reminder than gauge is important!

Plus it doesn't affect the size at all, just the colour pooling.

Onto the next project.......

Rainbow Dress

I got to make a rainbow dress!!! YAYAY! I have always wanted to make one, but dont really know anyone to make one for, as it seems a bit strange to force knitted items on people with girls ;)



A few days ago someone on TNN asked if there was anyone who would make a rainbow dress for them, as they are a non-knitter. I jumped at the chance!

I scoured my stash trying to decide what I was going to use, as there was nor real colour specification. Finally I cracked into my shop stash (Yarnadu at Craft Fetish) and decided to use this 10ply rainbow and another ball that was sitting in a very tangled skein that I had put months ago in the too hard basket.



What a result! I used every single scrap of the yarn - so all up about 180g of 10ply, and knitted the pattern as a 12m size with 4mm needles - hoping that it would come out the right size for a 2-3yo.

I absolutely love this dress, I love the colour repeats, and the combination. I am so proud that I dyed both the yarns, and they make me feel very "competant" as a dyer. Not quite enough to throw my job out the window and dye wool, but all the same enough to get the creative juices going to do some dyeing in the next week. I haven't done any dyeing for a few months now - been busy and all that, but you know, I should do some more as I am pretty good at it!



So now that one rainbow dress is done, I am trying to decide if I want to do anymore. I think that if I do, I will need to ensure that I have a cool colour change to look forward to, as it was this factor that made me charge ahead and knit it in silly heat for a whole day!



Well done Tikki - a great design, and I think a lovely result.

Wollmeise - spolier shots!

About 4-5 months ago I signed up for the Wollmeise sock club on a bit of a lark. It was 180Euro, and realistically a poor student can't afford that luxury, but I thought if I got a place, I would pass it on.

Well I got a place, and on the day I got it, Shane and I had a jolly big row so I decided - its mine!!! Bang on the credit card, and it was kept secret for a few weeks. Actually - its the only time I have ever been completely secretive about a wool purchase!

So I have had 2 deliveries now, and they are totally gorgeous. I was going to split the sock club with a couple of others from Woolaholics - a forum I frequent - but as I do love them all, and I have been completely unsuccessful at any of the Wollmeise updates to date (and I have sat through 3!!!!!) I have decided to keep them all. Sorry girls.....

So here are some droolworthy shots now that the spoilers are all done with - I think?

From the first shipment we have Buxkranzl (Box Wreath) and Hollerstaud'n (Elderberry). Lovely!!!!!!





Not sure what I will use these for - probably not socks.....

Then last shipment (December) was Jultomte and Saami.





Now if you have never been lucky enough to get a bit of Wollmeise, I shall show you how each skein is wrapped...

So far, Saami is my least favourite, but that really doesn't say much as they are all stunning, so it was the first to be removed from the skein form.

I have decided to try the Saami on two projects - hopefully enough as each skein is 150g. I am going to try the Chickidee Cowl (rav link), and then some forget-me-not socks, and see how I go for yardage. I have actually bitten the bullet and skeined this up, and of course taken some shots ;).



I cannot wait to cast on. Its killing me!!!!! But at least having the wool balled up makes me feel a little closer to using it. The colourway is very very strong, so I am hoping the linen stitch on the cowl will break up the colour repeat, and the socks because they have a small yardage. But we shall see - I have no problem frogging if its not 100% great :)

Shots from Prac

Photos updated...

So I finished my second prac a couple of weeks ago, and I decided to knit a couple of things for my associates - plus of course the mandatory box of roses choccies :)

Steve was my coordinator and my associate for Hard Materials Tech, so he had to put up with me for about 10-15hrs a week. The poor bastard! Occasionally he was heard to say - stop your moaning woman, or, man, am I at home? You get the drift. Needless to say we got along well, there was a healthy amount of mutual respect (which was of course favoured in his direction) and at the end of the day, we were happy to go back to our normal lives.

I decided to make him a hat - Turn a Square Sorry non-ravers.



It was made out of Noro Cash Iroha and Silk Garden lite, and I have to admit - it a little funky! This wool was actually knitted 3 times before it made it into this hat. First it started as a Fake Fair Isle - unfortunately floats carried too tight (I was optimistic so I knitted the whole thing before blocking and failing) and it was frogged. Then it started as another fair isle, but I got sick of that, and then I began this one. I was actually pretty concerned about the colouring, but it looks awesome on. Really funky, great shape and lovely and soft. Yay!



SO I only had 2 other assocaites this prac - one for Physics and one for junior Science. I was so lucky with all of my associates in all of my pracs this year, but John and Sandy, and the classes were awesome. I decided to knit a dishcloth for them, with the choccies. I *guess* they were happy?

For John - here



And for Sandy this one ( a rav link again - I'm sorry.....)

Some little mushies....

These form part of my next swap for TNN. Its a hand dyed wool swap, with some extras. I dyed the wool up ages ago, and I have been having trouble deciding exactly what do theme it around.



Its nice having a theme :) Sort of ties everything together.

So this is one part of my swap - and I hand felted them this morning in the kitchen, and they are rocking cool!!! Like really - I wont show an after pic as I want the whole swap all captured together, but these are just so nice.

Pattern is here and can I just say its rare that my finished items look like they do in the pattern, and this time they do :) Happy little knitting fi!

Hopefully I will have the swap off in about a week. I am working on the big part at the moment, and I think that I will have to hand felt it, which IS NOT COOL.

Woodlands Shawl - WIP

This is one of my many WIP's at the moment. Woodland Shawl

I actually helped someone with their's last week - the same lovely person that gave me my strawberry plants, so its definitely a deal that I got the best out of :)

Anyway - I am knitting this in flydesigns - Flying Sheep BFL. Its supposed to be DK weight, but it feels more sportweight to me. I have added an extra 2 repeats on the side, and its going really well. I am about 1/3 into my wool, so I expect it will be short and wide, which is fine since I have lots of long shawls.

Dont you love it when you get into a lace pattern, and you dont have to look at the chart anymore. Even better, when you can knit lace and have a conversation. Even better still, knit it around your small children.

I am really looking forward to finishing this one. I think it will be stunning once it is blocked.

Noro Scarf

Sunday Market Shawl

I made this a couple of weeks ago. Totally, totally love it!!

It would have been no good as a shawl, the pattern I think needs to have a twisted stitch either side of the dropped stitch, like the Clapotis, because only a week of wearing it has made the dropped stitch merge grossly into the next stitch. So there isn't a great thickness to the shawl, and its more long and thin.

However - what a scarf!!! I love this baby!! 3 balls of Noro Silk Garden, and it is a blissful joy to wear. It looks like a nice chunky ribbed scarf, without the weight. It was going to be a gift, but its too nice to give away :)

A couple of other hats...

These are some of the other hats I recently knitted.

My hat is the Feather in Her Hat, made with nearly 2 balls of Jet. I love this hat, and I wear it nearly every day at uni. Very warm!!!



(Modelled by Shane....)

I also made Shane a hat - Jacques Cousteau, which is a fun hat doing the rounds on Ravelry. Shane's hat is made with Bendigo Woolen Mills 8 ply rustic.



I made the large size, and did the full length, but it is too long. I think the length would have been fine if I had made the smaller size, but I reckon you would have to have an enormous head to need the full sized, full length hat!

Death by Hat!!

This weekend the Death by Hat comp started through Woolaholics, a knitting community I belong to.
The "targets" were released on Saturday morning, and the pattern released at 2pm NZ time Saturday afternoon.

My target isn't a NZer, so it will take about 5-7 days to get to her in WA, so I thought I had better get cracking! I have no doubts that I will be killed quickly - I expect I will only knit one hat, so here is my finished product. Actually - not quite, its blocking at the moment :)



The pattern is the slouchy copy cat hat, and it was really easy to knit - using about 2 balls of Kureyon, colour 150.

I am sure my victim will be happy to die with this hat ;)

Frog a friend

Tagged by Kelly , this is my frogged friend.

Sadly my rainbow vomit argosy was not panning out the way I hoped it would. In fact its usually a good sign that the project is better off frogged when it actually looks nicer in the ball than knitted up......



And now I tag Sam :)

Feathers in her hat

I am seriously happy I knitted this hat :)

I had coveted it for a very long time, and finally I got up the urge (or the procrastination) to cast it on.
Couldn't put it down, my kids and partner felt starved of attention all afternoon, but after about 6hrs, it was done.

I love it!!!!!!!!



I wore it all day, and then I said to DP "Hey, you try it on" and he wouldn't take it off!!! So now I have to knit him a new hat - he has chosen the pattern, and I just have to get it done if I want my hat back :)

Link is here