I feel like i have come so far in the last month! (not too mention bought so much delicious fibre!!)

First Up – I’d had some pure merino roving in two different colours since i first got my wheel, which i’d always planned on plying together. So! that’s what i did!

Summer Orchard

It ended up a nice bulky weight – about 7 wpi – and i have a whopping 170m of it, So i’m thinking a lovely scarf! I actually don’t have a scarf in these colours at all, so it’s just perfect! It’s sooooo lovely and smooshy. I called it Summer Orchard because the colours remind me of the plums and cherries i get to scoff in December and January

Second – Again, some merino I picked up ages ago at the Handweavers and Spinners guild of victoria. This was a gorgeous multidyed blue based roving, which had been dyed seperately and then carded together (rather than hand dyed). I considered plying with a solid colour, but in the end i just practiced my fineness and evenness and 2 plied the yarn with itself.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3280/3103681719_65c05f4d5c.jpg?v=0

Mariana

This one i named Mariana after the Underwater trench in the pacific. I’m sure the Mariana Trench is actually pitch black but these are such beautiful underwatery colours that the name just fit. This one is about 92m and a heavy worsted weight at 8 wpi.

Third – Fractal Spinning!! I received some beautifully hand dyed Norwegian roving from Ewe Give Me The Knits! in a ravelry swap. The colours ranged from bright red through pink and orange, great combination, but not for me, so i had the ingenious idea of spinning it up for my new friend S who is a total orange girl!! Since the colours were really clear i decided to try Fractal Spinning – this is a technique for getting a less randomised colouring through the yarn The basic idea is to split the roving into two halves – one which is spun with one full colour repeat (ie as is) and the other split three or four times and spun in multiple colour repeats. Depending on how the original colours are spaced, the colours should start to line up like so AA, AB, AC, BA, BB, BC, CA, CB, CC.

Cherry Bomb

This is one of the most even yarns i’ve spun and whilst the Norwegian is not as soft as Merino, it’s a dream to spin! almost spun itself!! The final stats were 100m, 100g, 10wpi (my finest yarn yet too!)

And S love it, naturally

Fourth! My friend E is a felter and had a whole pile of beautifully coloured merino slivers left over. she gave them to me for spinning, suggesting i put all the colours (she’s a quilter so she spends a lot of time putting colours together) in the one yarn. She’s also suggested that were i to make something out of it for her, that might not be a bad thing lol.

E's Roses

stats: 115m, 85g, 8-9 wpi (worsted weight)

It’s going to end up a cowl based on a scallop stitch pattern with pearl buttons

Five (omg) Is another Christmas present! I went and picked out a beautiful red based merino and silk blend at the spinner’s guild. The plum red is flecked with white and black and is just gorgeous! SJ had commented that she loved the smooshiness of my early yarns so i deliberately spun the first single thick and thin with a lot of smoosh factor. The other single i spun as evenly as i could (i do need to practice lol) and then plied the two together.

Cherry Ripe

Stats: 80g, 85m, 8wpi

SJ loved it, and the 15% silk really does add a real shine!

Six (wow) nummy nummy bunny fur! I FINALLY got around to spinning some beautiful Angorino (80% 18 micron merino, 20% angora) from Ixchel. This was an unnamed colourway and so i named it Soft Sunset because of the colours i’d seen in the sky  just the day before! I decided to navajo ply this to try and maintain the colour bands. The result was ok… It was my first time spinning straight from the braid without separating it all out – i found this really hard and tiring. And found it MUCH harder to maintain an even yarn this way. That being said, i spun the finest single i’ve spun, since the result is a 3 ply and about the weight of my previous 2plys. I let the wheel get away from me whilst plying (SLOW wheel for navajo) so it’s over plied in places, but it’s still quite lovely and the slow colour changes are gorgeous

Soft Sunset

144m, 151g, 9wpi. I’m thinking fingerless gloves to really show off the colour changes

Seven (phew) My first Silk Hanky! This was spun on the spindle and was a lot of fun. and i just lurrrrve the colour. I navajo plied after i spun the single – also on the spindle, but not on the fly. D came over and commented on the colour – so it ended up being her christmas present in the form of a crocheted choker!

Silk Hanky

Silk Choker

And Last but not Least – My first Art Yarn! Mandie at Ewe Give Me the Knits kindly carded some gorgeous green merino with red wing flash angelina. I spun it nice and thick (and not so thick) and plied it with a cranberry variegated plying thread which i’d strung with seed beads! Wow. was that a lot of work! the single kept breaking, the beads got tangled, the plying thread doubled back on itself… but i love the result: A christmas yarn for the spin up challenge at the Ewe Give Me the Knits group on Rav.

Happy Hollydays

Named for the holly green colour and the season of course! 104, 113g, and i haven’t bothered to take wip reading… it’s to varied.

On Sunday I went up to Tacoma in the Melbourne foothills to Foothill Fabrics and Threads – the home of Leanne Beasley -  with a good friend to do an apron sewing workshop. (you can even see a picture of me on Leanne’s blog – and underneath the apron is my awesome handknitted 50s style cardi!)

Now I can sew – I can follow a pattern and put stuff together and make 3D objects from flat pieces of fabric, but it was nice to go to a class and learn some new techniques which can be applied to other items besides aprons and to hang out with some not-knitters (mostly quilters and patchworkers) and generally begin to appreciate why i probably should press my pieces BEFORE i sew them (fine, fine, I get it now!)

I decided to make an apron for my mother for christmas, since when i mentioned the workshop to her she reminded me that all good aprons should have pockets!! With E’s help I decided to do my first stitchery on the pocket! I used to do cross stitch a lot as a child (and this has actually inspired me to FINALLY finish the winnie the pooh xstitch i started over 4 years ago for my little cousins) but I haven’t even stitched onto a proper existing fabric before. But E showed me how to trace the pattern i want and we picked out some thread and i spent sunday and monday nights finishing it off! I managed to sew up the rest of the apron during the class so I only had to sew the pocket on, wash and iron it… and here it is!

finished apron

pocket embroidery

I’m really happy with it and i think she’ll like it. I’m now also planning two more! one for myself which I’ll probably not get round to till after xmas – with a kitteh and my name on it. the background will be a mid to dark purple with diagonal lines of paler purple flowers, the pocket will be a pale purple with little grey and purple flowers on it, and the stitchery will go on a plain cream before going on the pocket – i might even make a double pocket!

and one for marmie for xmas, even though she’ll tell me off for it! I’ve picked out this gorgeous fabric wih oak leaves on it, and will embroider an owl and ‘marmie’ on the pocket for her.

I hate to think how much i spent *sigh* I deliberately didn’t ask for the total and just chucked a bit of money back in the account when i got home. but mum sill had to rescue me today! ooooops. still, it was worth it to totally learn how to a) make an awesome apron b) do a stitchery (i can always borrow E’s lightbox to trace the image – i even have keys to her house!!) and c) put fabrics together for that sort of project.

while i was there i also asked Leanne about some fabrics for a bag – a sequel to this one made from her pattern!

a bag for knitterly things

she ended up agreeing upon the combination i had selected, so that will be made sometime soon so i can have 2 knitting bags – I will make the handles longer though – and maybe it will just be my new bag? who knows!

so (ha!) those are my sewing adventures in recent weeks. but that being said, there are many many things i want to sew before i travel next year!

I have already cut out a gorgeous 50s style dress which needs sewing up

I have material and pattern for a 50s fullskirted dress

I have material and pattern for a maxi dress – which i really need for summer

and i have material and pattern for a kaftan style dress – again i really need it for summer (and this one will hide mah belly!) – and that one is TWO summers old!! *sigh*

it never ends!

PS: one more xmas present off the list

Kate's bowtie scarf in pure baby alpaca

as i mentioned previously, I’ve been spinning a lot lately – mostly inspired by my lovely gift from Knitspirations on ravelry.com – two beautiful tops – and a trip to visit charly at ixchel where i purchased a new spindle and beautiful angorino top (and have since purchased another one, plus some more tops from Ewe Give Me The Knits!!)

new spindlemaker spindle - mulga wood

I’ve been spinning undyed (which is starting to boooooore me) because it’s cheaper and i can experiment with dyeing it. And I’ve taken up the spindle to finish of the packet of sample fleece i got ages ago from sunset fibres on etsy.

So I looked up some great videos on you tube and practiced on both my spindle and wheel. I’m getting more even, but i’m still a bit thick and thin and have trouble maintaining a single any smaller than an 8ply (which means my plied yarn is very bulky)

here are some photos!

merino single, drop spindle

silky top (not sure of the exact composition - but nice long staple) spun on the wheel

my first plied yarn. 2 merino singles wheel spun

There’s another skein of this sort of weight 2 ply currently drying. I will re skein the two together and get a meterage. I’m considering making the dumpling bag from interweave knits from this for my friend – hand dyed in her favourite colours!

Things i have learnt

- how to predraft properly. in order to get an even fibre I really can’t afford to skimp on this bit.

- how to draw out the draft while i’m actually spinning – not a lot, but enough to thin out some of the ‘thick’ bits.

- i need to find a better way to guide the two singles when plying in order to get a more even twist in both singles

- i’m still over spinning a bit in some places, particularly on the wheel.

- i like having a notch on my spindle, especially when they’re as beautifully smooth as the spindlemaker!!

I really want to try navajo plying – especially with my coloured tops, in order to keep the colours even.

I have some raspberry and fuchsia merino i want to spin and then ply, in order to see what the two singles are actually doing.

i have plans to spin the more orangy of these two rovings into a skein for my friend for christmas. hence all the practicing!! Of course it’s important to remember – there ARE NO SPINNING POLICE lol.

a fibrous gift

and i fail at craft blogging! I fail at blogging all over the place pretty much… but that’s because it’s very hard to type with yarn/fibre/fabric/needles/hooks in your hand!

I started making christmas presents about a month ago, knowing that i would feel happier getting them out of the way early. for christmas day we’re having a secret santa type set up, so i’m only giving one official present to the ‘other half’ of the family, but I’ve still made a few extras, plus a few for family members to buy off me to give to other family members! how awesome is that

So for my own spirit of christmas I have made:

2 seahorses for my cousins aged 5 and 7

seahorses

a beautiful alpaca silk scarf for my aunty sue – one of my official secret santa presents

alpaca silk scarflette

a pair of burgandy mitts to match the hat i made for mothers day, and a hand embroidered apron for my mother

evangeline mitts

a tea cosy for my grandfather

diagonal cosy in noro silk garden (226)

a pair of adorable little mitts for my cousin aged 16

Twee mitts

a beautiful bookmark for one of my best friends and a beautiful striped crocheted scarf in pinks and green for another of my best friends (no photos – they might see!!)

for others to give to people, I have made

A hat for my grandfather to give to my older cousin

Kate's beret

A pair of face cloths for the little girls

E + J =

2 sets of wine charms for my mother to give to people

charming

colourful

a set of felted bowls for my grandmother to give my mother – I’m still a bit uncertain about this one, if they don’t work out, my grandmother can give mum the fingerless gloves and i will just give her the apron.

and still to make (!!!)

a hat for my father out of zara wool – beeeautiful stuff

a skein of handspun for one of my best friends (I’ve been practicing like mad!)

a felted bag for one of my besties (possibly from hand spun)

a scarf (same as my aunt’s) from alpaca for my cousin – I’ve been planning this present for ages and I’m going to give it to her dammit – even if it’s a ‘late birthday present’

a hand embroidered apron for my grandmother.

a crocheted cuff for a friend

a market bag

arrrgh still so many to make! lol

Some of these can’t have pictures, because then the people who they’re for might see them!! but i have photographed everything, so all in good time.

and then there’s all the stuff i’m making for me lol!!

So, I have been very quiet, spending much of my time volunteering at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival and working at the fabulous Wool Baa. mmm. I love my job!

I found out a few weeks ago that my friends are having a baby! This will the first bubs in my circle of friends and I’m very excited. I made my first pair of baby booties! I used Saartje’s very famous free booty pattern, which is quick and adorable and knitted in Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino in a beautful teal colour – very gender neutral. the buttons are little red buttons that i fished out of my big grab bag of buttons. They took me a saturday evening of Gilmore Girls and Tea

I’m also planning on knitting Zoo from Rowan. I’m going to do it in bamboo in chocolate and cream with a pale purple elephant. ELEPHANT!!! i wonder if it’s appropriate to ask that the recipients of a baby top return said baby top when the child has grown out of it…

I managed another ’saturday evening’ project this weekend, crocheting for myself Gem from Kim Hargreaves ‘Heartfelt’. I’d ordered some kidsilk night from the fabulous folks at cucumperpatch and it arrived on Friday, so I bought the kid classic to match up with it and off i went! Here is the result and I wore it all day today!

It’s VERY warm. The beads on the brim are just little pale purple seed beads. My friend said the kidsilk night made it sparkle like it had been rained  on or it was dewy, which is just the right amount of sparkle XD.

I’ve now also done Calm from this collection, in Jo Sharp’s mohair, but I’m yet to take good photos of it.

I must say that while I LOVE kim, i find i need to add more in the sleeves. I did this with calm and even then it still pulls up a bit short, so I’m tempted to knit some little ruffly cuffs in kid silk haze to wear underneath to add length – would also be useful under my cherish.

Speaking of which it is now Spring! which means it should be just right to wear Cherish soon – the problem with it is it’s too warm to wear inside, but it’s still too cold outside in Melb to wear the bolero without a coat – and the big wool is just too thick to wear a coat over! so it needs to be cool enough to wear outside, but warm enough to not need another layer – hello spring! I do love it though and want to wear it more!!

my current WIP is a jo nathan design from her Merino Deluxe DK book, though I’m working on it in Zara. mmmm Zara. photos to come… I’m also working on a beautiful baby alpaca scarf which I have a feeling i will wear CONSTANTLY when it’s finished!

Yesterday was the Melbourne Etsy sellers meet. I had a fantastic time and met some fabulous people, some of whom are on Rav, which is great, and all of whom I have favourited (or will when i dig out the business cards!) and genuinedly favourited too, I really do love everyone’s stuff. Made me feel a little inadequate and unoriginal really. I’m also now struggling with the copy cat bug! everyone’s ideas are so great it’s hard not to want to experiment with them! does anyone else have this problem? the only thing I’ve borrowed (?) – expanded upon (?) is kalliopi who makes fabulous button jewellery. I was making up a package for a raveller who loves buttons and i made some stitchmarkers with buttons instead of beads. I liked them so much I made a few sets. So inspired by, but not really a copy…

I am really excited about the next one and I must say I picked up a lot of business tips and ideas too, which is great.

Speaking of etsy there are now some ‘manly’ things on there, something I’m working on. There’s a gorgeous black and tan scarf and a reversable rib beanie. I’m also trying to make a bit of a niche for myself with knitted flower accessories, like hair clips and brooches.

I’ve been getting a lot done, but I still feel like there are things I need to finish – primarily because i either have everything i need, or i’ve actually started them. Mainly this is sewn items – including the dress I’ve actually cut out and need to put together. I cut it out in May… lol.

Anyway I will leave you with two things. The first are some little felted birdies that need a purpose… ideas are welcome. The second is a link to the most hilariously awesome thing i have ever seen on etsy made by fellow melbournian jellibat.

the best soft toy ever made...

I have had a few requests (well, 2, but i feel that any more than 1 request for this particular item is worth noting) for squids for birthdays.

My friend nett put me on to hansi singh’s adorable squid-a-licious pattern asking me to knit her one in colours of my choosing for her birthday present. She bought me the pattern and a handful of others as my own belated birthday present, so it only seemed fair!

So, I present Squidy the First!

When i mentioned this request to another Gemini/Cancer cusper i know, she too requested one for her birthday present!

and so i present (apologies for the poor photo) Squidy the Second!

it’s hard to see him, but he’s a maroon purple with green underside and green pupils. This is one of those times where i actually feel my first effort was the more successful of the two, but I do actually enjoy doing these!

I also knitted an owl (one of the other patterns I received for my birthday) for my grandmother for mother’s day (may). She loved it. I knitted it in a silk tweed in pinks. strange colour for an owl i know, but it suits him. Apparently she kept picking him up and looking at him and putting it down again.

Next – Seahorses!

Things are starting to get going at my etsy site!

I’ve purchased a showcase spot today (7th) and already someone has spotted one of my items and included it in this gorgeous purple themed treasury. She’s also listed her treasury on her blog, so in return I’m linking back to her here!

Thanks Talli – insert Streetcar Named Desire quote here

I also had my first completely random stranger sale on Friday night. Some lovely person in India has purchased one of my first listings – my beaded pinboard pins – and my latest creations – knitted flower hair clips!

I got Nicky Epstein’s Knitted Flowers a little while ago and I’ve been playing around with some left over yarn and her little patterns to create some of my favourite items yet. And they’re already becoming quite popular!

I must say though I do find Ms Epstein’s instructions a little hard to follow at times, so i sort of have to use my geometric engineering brain to work out what i’m supposed to do. The picot flowers i’ve been doing look adorable, but I’m sewing them up to make them look like that, rather than following her sewing up instructions, which make NO sense to me (any help here is MOST welcome)

I’ve also knitted a gorgeous brooch which will be listed as soon as there’s enough light to take a decent photo.

I’ve enjoyed playing around with the flowers so much that i’ve ordered her crochet flowers book too, since my crochet skills are improving all the time!

I entered sockwars this year for the first time!

I’ve been in a crafting frenzy, so i thought why not put it to a competitive use!

I finished my socks within the week, even with my mother visiting on the Mother’s Day weekend.

The pattern was quite simple and I used one of the deleted colours of the Patonyle patterned sock wool in a pretty pink/purple/blue/white/yellow combination and despite not liking yellow (it’s so overly optimistic!) I really loved the colours! (In fact, so much that I bought another 2 balls to do socks for myself before they all sold out at work, which they now have!)

So anyway… here are the socks!

I took the photo before i grafted the toe, as they were designed to fit a foot a bit shorter than mine and my toes were sort of sticking out of the end.

So while those were wistfully winging their way to Maine, I received word from my ‘assassin’ that my socks were on their way from Cleveland Ohio!

They arrived before i heard anything regarding my own victim’s socks, and they’re lovely! My assassin was also wonderful and put in a whole pile of postcards, info and MAPLE CANDY! from cleveland. I <3 MAPLE CANDY so i was very excited!

here are some photos of me opening the bag and receiving my socks.. you’ll have to forgive the picture quality, but i’d come home from work and the inbuilt camera on my computer is my grainy friend!

So thank you Sally in Cleveland, and Courtney in Maine, I hope your socks find you happy and well…

and good luck to the lucky sockknitter who is going to win a whooooole lotta tofutsies!

Having bought Heartfelt, I knitted something from it! And I LOVE it.

It’s Cherish, knitted in Rowan Big Wool (as designed) in the M/12 size in colour Smokey. It is sooooo warm and snuggly and as it gets colder here in Melbourne I’m hoping to wear it even more.

Here it’s pinned with my sewing up needle, but I have since sewn a button on it, though in my eagerness to wear it i modelled my own shawl pin for a while, which looked great!

I’m now working on Calm, which i’m knitting in Jo Sharp’s Rare Comfort Kid Mohair in colour Tranquil. How appropriate, no? I’m aiming to finish it in time to wear to work on Saturday.. so two days! but i only have the top of the sleeves, the sewing up and the small yoke to knit. Easily done!

(precursor – I apologise for not updating in AGES, but I can’t craft and type at the same time! – yet!)

Well, I can now cross one thing off my ‘things i want to learn to do in 2008′ list…

I can crochet!

I bought a book at work which I highly recommend to anyone wanting to learn (from a book) – Learn to Knit, from Patons Australia. It uses Jet, a 12 ply and Inca, a 14 ply (bulky weight yarns) so it’s quick and easy to see what you’re doing.

I bought it on a Wednesday, took it on a plane with a ball of yarn and a plastic hook and by Sunday I had made these:

The hat is made from Jet (and will be available on my etsy site as soon as I have some better pictures of it) which is an Alpaca blend so beautifully warm. I would keep it, but the style doesn’t suit me at all!

The scarf is made from a soybean/wool mix and despite being a tad rough, i love love love love it and wear it at least once a week! It goes with ALL my purple things and is super warm.

There is also a crochet scarf available on my etsy (after i made one for me!)

I splurged and bought The Happy Hooker (Debbie Stoller’s crochet book in the Stitch n Bitch series) and have the yarn for a couple of the bags from it. I’ve also favourited a pile of patterns on ravelry, including the prepster blazer, the crocheted skirt and the cold-shoulders capelet, which i have some gorgeous mohair I bought on sale i want to use up on it!

I’m also now waiting for Sensual Crochet (and Sensual Knits, Scarf Style and Nicky Epstein’s Knitted Flowers) to arrive from the UK. I’m hooked!

(boomboomching)