Thank you Baby Cardigan

You might recall a few months ago I was the lucky recipient of another knitter's (thankfully small but good) stash (the mother-in-law of one of the mums in my my mothers group).  I promised you (and myself) that I would make a little something out of some of the yarn I received for this knitter's granddaughter.  I hoped that this is what the knitter would have wanted.

Last week, I handed over this:

I used some of the Heirloom Merino Magic from the gifted stash.  I didn't have enough of one colour for a whole garment, so thought this was a good pattern for colour-blocking while still being pretty (I didn't want to do stripes as I figured I'd be doing enough stripes for Connor over the next few years!).  I used the cream (2 balls) for the fronts and bands, a whole ball of lilac for the back, and almost a whole ball of green for the sleeves.  I had a ball of blue as well, I initially thought I'd do one sleeve green and one blue, but after finishing one sleeve, I knew I'd have enough for the second sleeve.

Details
Pattern:  Provence Baby Cardigan by Cecily Glowik MacDonald.  This is an easy pattern, mostly stocking stitch with a moss-stitch edging and pretty lace leaf motif on the front.  I did make some modifications to the pattern (see the mods section below).

Yarn: Heirloom Merino Magic, 3.5 x 50g balls

Sticks:  4mm KnitPicks Harmony Options (3.75mm for the neckband).

Time:  9 May 2011 - 3 June 2011

Modifications:  I knit the body of the cardigan in one piece - which meant I had to do INTARSIA!!!  I swore never to do intarsia, ever!  Although really, just changing colour twice in each row, in a straight line up the side "seam", probably doesn't count as real intarsia.  But I still did it, and it worked!  Although getting the two balls of cream and one of purple tangled every so often was annoying.  But hey, no seaming!

I also knit the button band at the same time as the body of the cardigan.  This resulted in a bit of a puckered button band (may have also had to do with my not-so-great buttonhole skills!), which probably wouldn't have happened if I'd knit it separate and seamed it on.  Thankfully blocking evened it out, mostly...

And I knit the sleeves in the round, from the top down!  They were basic drop sleeve style sleeves, so it was easy to pick up stitches from the armhole and knit downwards, decreasing at the same rate as the pattern specified increases.  It was a bit messy under the arms, but I stumbled through and fixed it up when I darned in the ends (there were small holes where I'd joined to knit in the round.

I also added neck shaping on the back (so it would come down a bit lower on the back, not right up against the neck).  This was partly because I was worried I'd run out of the lilac yarn with a row or two to spare!  as it was, I only just squeaked it in!

And finally a three needle bind off for the shoulder seams.  And thus no seaming at all in this garment, woo hoo!

And best of all, the mum was very touched by the gesture.  It really is a lovely thing to knit for others.

JustintimeforWinter Bandit

The magic of blocking lace never gets old.  Unlike my back, which feels it after a sustained period of bending over pinning lace onto a blocking mat.  Even when that blocking mat is up reasonably high, on my kitchen bench.  Heaven forbid if I ever have to block something huge on the floor!!

So this is the result of my most recent pain in the back!

Details
Pattern: Springtime Bandit by Kate Gagnon Osborne.  A very nice, easy lace shawl (and also free!).  Originally done in worsted weight yarn, but as I used fingering/4ply, I did extra repeats - it is very easy to add extra repeats, no need to do any recalculations for the edging or anything, just add the repeats until you are done, and start the edging.  A very good feature of shawl patterns I think, is the ease of adding extra repeats.  In this case, the pattern calls for 4 repeats of the body charts, while I did 7.  And ended up with a shawl about the size of the original, heh!

Blobby pre-blocking lace

Yarn:  Wollmeise 100% Merino, in Admiral.  Yes, another Week of Wollmeise project done!  (hmm, that makes 2 out of 7 complete.  Not really that much cause to celebrate, heh!).  I tried to use as much of the skein as possible, but found I had 32g left after binding off.  But not to worry, I don't think I could have gotten an extra repeat out of that much anyway.  Maybe it'll be enough for a wee pair of socks...

This is a gorgeous navy/black colour, it works so well for lace because it is so dark, but you still get a gorgeous depth of colour.  It's just hard to photograph well!

Sticks:  4mm KnitPicks Options.  I'm glad I chocse the nickel sticks for this yarn, it made it much easier to knit at night!

Time:  1 September 2009 (heh!) - 9 June 2011.  Despite this, it's actually a lovely quick knit!

Modifications:  Only the extra repeats, noted above. 

Inspired by Al, I took some lovely "Victorian Lace Today" style photos at the WWKIP on Saturday.  Love how the sun shines through the lace.  Nothing like it to make you feel like a clever knitter! 

And that's another long-term wip I can cross off the list! I started the year with 17 WIPS, and of those, I have 12 left - so that's nearly 1 per month done.  Let's hope I can keep it up for the rest of the year!

WWKIP 2011

After two weeks of rain and miserable weather (I suppose it is winter after all!) Sydney really turned on the sunshine for this year's WWKIP.  After a smallish group braving it out in the open for a couple years, and suffering horrible weather for their troubles, the past few years have involved us gathering at an indoors venue.  Not as public as we'd like, but much more weather proof!

This year we were lucky to have a lovely indoor venue with a balcony as well!  Not to mention a bar downstairs where we could decamp after the "official" festivities were over!

So there was a bit of this:

And then some of this:

(How fantastic to be able to sit outside, in the late afternoon, in winter, and have a lovely cold glass of bubbles! Oh, and to knit as well, of course!)

And I took the opportunity to take a few photos of my latest FO, which I'll give you a sneak peek of now, and full details later!

A lovely day, thanks so much to the efforts of the volunteer organisers and the sponsors, including Australian Country Spinners (owners of Patons and Cleckheaton yarns), Jo Sharp, Biggan yarns, Morris & Sons, Ashford yarns, Calico and Ivy and others. 

For the maths geeks

Last weekend our parents group held a combined first birthday party for our babies (are they still babies once they are one?  I guess so, since he isn't a toddler yet, but he's just so much bigger than a newborn!).  I volunteered to make the cake:

and we also did a gift exchange, so I thought I'd make one of these:

And it was fun - mostly!

Details
Pattern: Celestine Crochet ball by Betsy Myles - a free pattern, yay!  A few people complain on Ravelry that this is a bit of a confusing pattern, or not well written.  I think it's written fine - you start off with a chain loop and steadily decrease to the point, then add another point building on the last one (got to love a join-as-you-go project!), but I did have trouble starting off each new point, more because I kept forgetting how I got it started the last time.  I think I managed to get it right after I'd made about 8 or 9 of the points!  Oh dear!



Half done!

 So I took some pictures, so hopefully I will remember next time, because I would like to make another one, they are pretty fun, and unusual looking - it's a 12 pointed star, a sort-of dodecahedron!  I just like saying dodecahedron, really!

Foundation row for new point

Yarn: Opal 4ply sock yarn col 1232.  Only 32g, so you can easily get 3 of these from a ball of sock yarn.  Or possibly from leftovers, if you'd already made socks!  You can use any size yarn, it will just affect the size of the end product.

Hook: 3mm

Time: 20 May 2011 - 27 May 2011 - a week, not bad!  I think it took me around an hour for each point, with all the unpulling every time I started a new point and forgot how to join the darn thing so it didn't twist and was facing the right direction!

Modifications: I made the pattern as written, but rather than doing the chain first and then the crochet into the previous point(s), I did the crochet into the previous points first, then the chain.  For some reason, this was easier to work out the joining. 

There's also a small error in the pattern when starting the 11th point, you only do 7 chain, the rest are all crochet into previous points.

The last point was very fiddly, but I managed it ok.  When stuffing the ball, I also put in a cat toy to give the ball a "rattle".  I was worried the stuffing might muffle the noise, but it comes out nice and clear, without being annoying loud like some (many?!) kids toys!

StashDownUnder 2011 - May

I have to confess, May was my fall-off-the-wagon month in terms of the StashingDown...more like StashingUp, I'm afraid!  I've already shown off my purchases from the Canberra Woolfest, and I also succombed to the annual WEBS sale - who could resist Cascade220 at $US4.95 when our exchange rate is so good!

So I bought a jumpers worth, in the lovely Mallard colour which Bells picked last year (in our previous annual WEBS splurge, heh!).  I'm thinking this will be the lovely Metro cardigan.

And since it was also on sale, and I've wanted to try it for ages, I bought enough Louet Euroflax sportweight linen (in a lovely purpley eggplant ) for Jordan. 

Hmmmm, which to knit first...

Fortunately, I also managed to destash a bit of yarn this month (a very rare occurrence for me!) and thanks to Del, I remembered that crochet dish/washcloths are a fabulous stashbuster! I may have crocheted 5 in just a matter of 2 weeks (yay me!).

This month:
Actual balls used: 9.25 x 50g balls used plus 6 destashed
In this month:  33 x 50g balls
8 ply equivalent: 10.5 plus 6 destashed
metres used: 992m

YTD:
Actual balls used: 36.75 - 33 = 3.75 balls used (yay, still in the black, so to speak!)
8 ply equivalent: 41.5 x 50g
metres used:  4847m

Totally Terrific Three Tsock Pattern Club #1 Nutkins!

I've had this pattern in my queue for such a long time, and so was very excited when it was voted one of the patterns for the Super Special Six Pattern Sock Club (or in my case, the Totally Terrific Three Tsock Pattern Club!)

And I had the perfect yarn - the yarn called for in the pattern, in the exact colour used by the designer!  It was, in fact, this pattern, which made me covet the Wollmeise Spice Market so much.  Which is odd to me, since I hardly ever wear brown shades.  But this colour, I just love it.  The depth of colours, the way it works in this pattern. 

I'm really sorry that I can't capture it accurately in the photos!

Details

Pattern:  Nutkin, by Beth LaPensee.  I made a few modifications to this pattern - just to accommodate my personal preferences.  Lots of people in the group on Ravelry were determined to do the pattern as written, to try the short row heel and toe, but I  suppose I wasn't knitting them to learn something new, I just wanted a nice pair of socks that I knew would fit me - and short row heels are not friends with my feet!

Yarn:  Wollmeise Twin (80/20) in Spice Market (dark).  Cannot tell you how much I love knitting with Wollmeise and how happy I am with the way this colour knitted up!  I used about 105gm of the 150 gm skein.  What a nice bunch of leftovers! 

Sticks:  I used 2.75mm dpns for the cuff and first 3 pattern repeats, then changed to 2.5mm dpns for the rest of the leg and foot. 

Modifications:  Instead of the folded cuff, I did a tubular cast on with a twisted 1x1 rib.  Instead of the short row heel I did my favourite eye of partridge heel flap and gussets.  And finally, instead of the short row toe I did a standard wedge toe.

Time:  We had two months to knit this pattern, and I made it, hurrah!  1 March 2011 - 29 April 2011.

It's interesting, there is a lot of talk about how this pattern biases - which it does, for many people!  The designer suggests it is due to how you pick up the stitches when knitting down the turned cuff, but I think it is the pattern itself, as mine biased and I did a different cuff entirely.  But the biasing doesn't bother me, I just make sure the sock is twisted around correctly when I put it on!

I love my lovely new wollmeise socks (my first pair for myself - it won't be the last!)

Big balls and hot nuts

Yes, because I am really a 12 yo boy...

On Sunday I made the 3 hour drive to Our Nation's Capital, with 3 lovely lady companions (well, when I said I made the drive, I sat comfortably in the back knitting the whole time!), for the purpose of visiting the Old Bus Depot Markets for the Celebration of Wool day.  The markets are a regular event, but the wool day is once (or is it twice?) a year.  It was my first visit, and it was a very good market, I thought, not just for wool (and other yarns) but just generally.  A really nice selection of other stalls (very little crap, like you can find at some markets) and some great food stalls.

So in case you can't guess, the Big Balls refers to all the huge hanks (some formed into balls) of natural coloured merino, and the Hot Nuts is of course the freshly cooked caramel macadamias.  I scoffed at the others when they said they were going to get some nuts, but when the nut man offered me a sample, I was sold like the most gullible person ever. 

I think between us we'd eaten half the bag before we even left the market (ok, it was mostly me!)  And I only bought them as we were walking out, heh! (this photo was taken after I'd arrived back home and had a few more...)

But like the bad photographer I am, I did not get any photos at all at the market, so you'll just have to imagine the Big Balls for yourself.  According to those who'd been before, it wasn't as good as in previous years - fewer yarns and possibly fewer attendees as well, but I still had a good time and of course made some purchases...

Merino Twist x 2, MCN sock and Merino Silk

All of these from Fibrewebs - because we all know I have a terrible shortage of red sock yarn and sock yarn in general...

Lang Jawoll Magic

And this lovely from Rex and Evelyn Reynolds Yarn Supplies.  I could have bought one in every colour, but restrained myself...although I did encourage others to partake, because buying vicariously is almost as good as buying for myself!

After tiring ourselves out shopping, we were in need of fortification, so headed to a great Malaysian/Chinese restaurant called Sammy's, with some other Sydney knitting pals.  And had a huge and amazingly inexpensive feast.  With maybe just room for a hot chocolate (ok, and a chocolate sample plate) afterwards at nearby Koko Black. 

After that we were ready for the trip back. It was a really lovely way to spend my Sunday, and Canberra turned on beautiful weather for us - my overcoat and huge shawl were not even required!  Thanks to Ingrid and Linda for chauffering me!

Connor's birthday vest

Now what sort of knitter would I be if I didn't make the little fella a new handknit item to wear for his birthday (I guess I'm lucky his birthday falls in mid-autumn and not mid-summer, heh!).

As it can still be quite warm around this time of year (just not yesterday, brrrrr), I thought a vest would be best.  And I had this lovely handspun from my clever knitting and now spinning friend Ms Funky.  Perfect!

Details

Pattern:  Argyle Slipover from Special Knits by Debbie Bliss.  Of course, I omitted the argyle, and I converted the pattern to be knit in the round up to the armholes and then flat.  I also did a three needle bind off for the shoulder seams and knit the armhole bands in the round.  Of course, even with that, I still had 20 ends to sew in once the knitting was done - gah!!

I wasn't sure I'd have enough of the red for the body, so I added in a couple of stripes across the chest, just to be safe.  I was knitting pretty close to the wire, deadline wise, so I didn't want to have to rip back in case I ran out.

As it turns out, I would have had enough, but I still like the stripes!

Yarn:  150g of Fruit Salad handspun from Ms Funky, plus some of the turquoise colour for the contrast edging.  And about 5g of Rowan True Botany 4ply in a similar-ish turquoise (shade 552 Frost) for the stripes.

Sticks:  3mm and 3.25mm KnitPicks Harmony Options.

Time:  17 April 2011 - 6 May 2011.  Just squeaked it in, with time for a wash and block the day before his birthday (thank goodness it was sunny that day!)

Paired with his new jeans (from Gap!  Yay for having Gap in Australia finally, although booo for how expensive it is), I think he looks pretty darn cool!

They say time flies...

and they'd be right!

It's a cupcake-erpillar!

Yes, it was the little fella's first birthday today.

I can hardly believe it!  Since it was also mothers day, we had a family bbq to celebrate.  And to top it off, we had a perfect sunny autumn day for it.  I didn't quite get a sleep in (well, not for as long as I would have liked, heh!) or breakfast in bed, and I spent the morning baking cupcakes and other prep work, but the good thing about bbqs is the  leftovers, which meant no cooking for dinner, huzzah!

And it was a lovely lovely day.  Hope you all had a lovely Sunday too. 

Strength in every stitch

At around the same time as we were all devastated by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, one of my friends lost her mother unexpectedly. So I did what knitters in these circumstances so often do. I got out my sticks and a special yarn and, using a pattern sold to benefit the earthquake relief funds, I made a shawl for my friend.

Details
Pattern: eiki, by Janel Laidman. This pattern was designed and released just after the devastation in Japan, and the profits are donated by the designer to various disaster relief funds. According to the designer, eiki means "strength" in Japanese, and I thought that was exactly what my friend would need in the times ahead of her.

The pattern itself is a small shawl, the main portion done in garter stitch and the edging in stocking stitch with a lacy leaf pattern. It will use a largish skein of sock yarn, although I used a laceweight.

Yarn: Habu Tsumugi Silk! In red #52, from the stash. Japanese yarn, for a friend who loves this yarn, for a pattern to aid Japan. Couldn't have been more perfect, really. And it had the specified yardage as required by the pattern - although surprisingly, I had about 100 yards left over. This is an interesting yarn - a bit rough to knit with, but not uncomfortably so, but yet soft in the knitted fabric.

Sticks: 3.5mm KnitPicks harmony options. I perhaps could have gone up a size or two, but being garter stitch, I didn't want it to be too open and stretchy.

Time: 18 March 2011 - 11 April 2011. Not bed for me and lace knitting, thanks in part to working on it while we were on our holiday!

I was interested to see how it would grow on blocking, and discovered not a lot! It didn't really grow at all across the top (about 1m/40") across, but did grow down the spine, from 43cm/17" to 52.5cm/21". So a small shawl indeed, or a large neckerchief! But one with thoughts of strength, love, life and hope knitted into each stitch.

StashDownUnder 2011 - April

I feel like I didn't get a lot knitted this month, although my totals aren't doing too badly, now that I've sat down and worked it all out.  I do have a couple of FO's to flash, which I'll do in the next week or two (promise!).

I did come into some yarn this month - I'm in two minds about whether to count it as part of my incomings, since I didn't buy it - I kind of inherited it.  I sort of think I won't count it...I do plan to knit up some of it as a gift back to the person who gave it to me, in the next month, so that makes me feel less guilty about not officially counting it, heh!

It wasn't a huge amount, and it was all good stuff (I had visions of being the recipient of a vast amount of yarn of questionable quality, but I got lucky!).

First up was 16 balls (well, 15.5, as one ball was quite damaged - like it had been accidentally cut by scissors or something...well, that's what I'm hoping anyway, rather than moth damage!) of a navy 8ply/dk merino crepe yarn - which I'm thinking will make a nice Greenfield cardi.

Next was 5 balls of Heirloom Merino Magic in a range of colours - nice yarn (this will be the gift).

And I saved the best for last!  4 balls of Zara in tomato red!  woo hoo!

I also received a bunch of needles, mostly straights, including a couple of KnitPicks harmony straights - which I suspect have never been used - I'm thinking of selling these - anyone interested?  (I'm not sure many people I know knit with straights any more, especially the really long ones!)

This month:

Actual balls used:  3.5 x 50g balls

8ply equivalent:  7.5 x 50g balls (lots of 4ply and laceweight this month!)

metres used:  702m

YTD:

Actual balls used:  21.5 x 50g balls

8ply equivalent:  31.5 x 50g balls

metres used:  3855m

Fit for a (royal) wedding?

I do love to wear a hat to a wedding.  It's a dying tradition in Australia (perhaps everywhere) but I have done my bit to keep it alive.  There's just something about a hat that makes an outfit special.  I suppose it's partly because it's so rare to see them at weddings any more, that's what makes you stand out!

I'm seriously considering wearing a hat on Friday as I watch the royal wedding on tv ... I watched Charles and Diana, and Andrew and Sarah, and Edward and Sophie, and even Charles and Camilla.  I will totally be watching William and Kate!  I'm not a monarchist by any means, but there's just something about a royal wedding which totally appeals.  It's probably the frocks.  And the hats.  I'm sure it's the hats!

I made this one a while back, but didn't get a photo shoot for ages, and then I sort of forgot to blog it, until now!  Thanks to my friend Miss J for modelling so fetchingly for me!

Details

Pattern:  Modest Cloche by Jennifer Hansen.  I have long admired this pattern, I do love a cloche hat, and there was just something about this one, perhaps it's the flower, perhaps it's the angle of the project photograph, I don't know.  But I was glad to be able to finally make it!

Yarn:  Silky Merino by Malabrigo, 2 skeins in grey green (a lovely birthday gift from Bells).  This was actually not quite enough - I didn't have enough to do a full flower, so only managed a small one (which also curls somewhat annoyingly), but I think it's ok.  If you did the flower in a different yarn or colour, 2 skeins would definitely be enough!  This is a gorgeous yarn, especially nice to crochet with.

Hook:  2.25mm hook - the pattern suggests a 2.75mm hook - I didn't have one, so tried 3mm (too big), 2.5mm (still too big) and then 2.25mm (just right!).  I'm not actually sure I've ever seen a 2.75mm hook before, I shall have to keep an eye out for one in future.

Time:  30 January 2011 - 21 February 2011.  I actually finished the hat itself on 7 February (crochet is SO QUICK!) but tried to get some extra yarn to ensure I had enough for the full flower (via the ISO thread on the Australian Knitters board on Rav).  None was forthcoming (I knew it'd be a long shot) so I just went ahead with what I had.

And I'm pretty darn happy with it, really!  The cool texture is done by front post stitches, and the "gathered" part on the top of the head is done by varying the stitches on each row (treble at back, then transitioning through half treble to double crochet - I'm using english terminology here!).  Very clever pattern!

Now what hat to wear on Friday...I think it should have some feathers...

I read a book!

I read a book!  I even read two!  Or, more accurately, I listened to two books.  I have become a fan of the audiobook.  So good for listening while knitting.  Or on public transport.  Or doing the dishes.  Or holding a sleeping baby.  I buy my audiobooks from Audible - I have a monthly membership, which is good value right now that the dollar is so good.

The first is Bill Bryson's At Home:  A Short History of Private Life, read by himself.  I love his travel books and I thought this sounded interesting - a history of private life, themed around each room in the 19th century rectory house in which he lived in the UK.  It's an interesting book, crammed full of facts and anecdotes, but I found it a bit of a slog.  I'm not sure if it suffered by being an audiobook - it might be better read in the traditional way, because it would allow you to skip around to find whatever next takes your fancy.  It also doesn't display nearly as much of the humour Bryson has in his travel books.   

But if you are the sort of person who goes on wikipedia (or whatever) to look up, say, when the first house was built, and end up going on a journey including skara brae, whale hunting, the poorhouse, manufacture of bricks, the history of medical discoveries and treatment in particular as it pertains to women and so on, then you will love this book!  And if you are me, you will come away with a sense of gratitude that you are a woman now and not in the past when you might have had a breast removed due to cancer, without the use of anaesthetic.   Urk.

The second was a refreshing change (which is kind of weird, since the story itself is almost a horror story!).  Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, read so delightfully by Dawn French.  I just loved this, and the narration was perfect.  I found it really difficult to "put down", and had this one read within a few days (whereas At Home took me a few months to finish).  It is a kid's story, but doesn't overly read like one, and had just enough suspense without leaving me totally freaked out, if that makes sense.  I highly recommend it!

Advance Australia Fair!

I picked up a little something something in a shop on our way to the country for the family reunion - one of those shops country towns have where the locals sell their handmade goods and produce - jams, chutneys, relishes, quilts, knitwear, crochet, sewing, woodwork etc.  And this particular shop had a small op-shop/thrift store at the back.

On the shelves was this book.  For $1.  I couldn't leave it behind!

Published in 1984, when oversized shapeless bright knits were totally IN!  Not that I think I'll ever knit one of these garments - but I might one day incorporate one or more of the uniquely Australian motifs into something I knit - maybe a version of Bellyphant with kangaroos instead of elephants, or something like that...

It would be cruel of me not to share more of the patterns (there is one for each state and territory as well as a few more general patterns).

This one is for the Canberrans:

And my Tasmanian friends:

And this one is just perfect for Sydney:

Brash and loud!