Friday, April 29, 2011

special delivery...

...the next installment of Woolgirl's Victorian Writers Yarn Club has arrived! and I am IN LOVE
you just don't know how crappy a day has been until a box of yarn appears on your doorstep and makes everything eleventy billion times better. Plus, there was cake in there!

This month was Little Women and mainly Jo themed (the pattern and the yarn colour) but oh my, it's precious!
all the goodies

the yarn! oh such a PRETTY deep deep tealy turquoise

um I meant to take a photo before I ate it but something happened
it was DELISH - cake, marzipan, something else sweet and delicious and CHOCOLATE

stitchy marker

the pretty pretty drawstring notions pouch

yarn with beads! this is a terrible likeness for the yarn but pretty close for the beads
This club was the best decision I made this year. It's the nicest little surprise in the mail every two months, LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

unselfish knitting is a little bit shit...

... so lately I've been on a bit of a selfish knitting spree, for years I knit for other people, for charity, for babies (oh, the babies!) and now I'm a bit like, no, my turn!

Yet after my housewarming a week or so ago was mostly over. there was a request to pull out the box o' knitted items and have a bit of show and tell. It basically turned into people picking their favourites and me clearing out some older and not-so-loved-by-me stuff! win-win I say! Of course I wasn't completley unselfish, I still held fast to my faves but still!

so Tatlie got the brown scarf with pocketmittens on the end, Natalie B grabbed the green moebius cowl, and a couple other things went too that i can't remember exactly (yes, I have too many lots of knitted things).
that's Tatlie enjoying a warm neck and a yummy cupcake
and on a similar note, way back last year when Tracey was preggers and we were SO SURE she was having a girl, I knitted her a cardy and matching hat for bub-to-be

Lola the Monkey not included

turns out that bub was very much a boy, a super cute boy at that, meet Ryder John! the only Essendon supported i can ever love...
 
perpetually surprised, seriously, he's always shocked by the camera

anyhow, it turns out he's not such a fan of being dressed up in 'girly' coral cardigans with stupid ice cream cones on the front so he's generously donating his cardy and hat to his brand new baby cousin Lexi. I love that Tracey wanted to give it to her sister (who apparently has been asking about it!), yay for people who appreciate handknits and actually WANT THEM TO BE WORN! I don not understand putting away handknits for special occasions, if it's cold, it's special enough, they grow too fast for special occasions! So yay, that'll be winging it's way to SA tomorrow and finally getting some use, and Trace did say she wants it back when she has a girl, so it should get plenty of love, yay!




my very bestest friend Aga has been requesting (semi-patiently) a pair of mary-jane style slippers for a present for quite a while now, and when she was here in Melbourne back in January we took a bit of a mini-yarn-tour (WoolBaa, Clegs, M&S, Onabee, Dairing) and she bought some boring Freedom super chunky 100% wool in grey, handed it to me and asked for slippers. We also got her started on her own knitting project that she brought along to SnB in Richmond and she has now finished that and gifted it to her dad, it's a circle of giving.  I'm now half way through the first slipper and NEARLY OUT OF THAT YARN, again, I have no luck with yarn sometimes, and this isn't even for me so I'm pouting about having to go to Clegs, when you are on a yarn diet, buying yarn for OTHER people is super un-fun. but never mind, they are knitting up VERY quickly and so squishy it's unbelievable. Although I'm still not sure how the pattern writer got 4.5 sts to 2 inches. i'm close enough. But, pattern writers, please help a girl out, don't just say what yarn to use, give an estimated yardage, it's seriously helpful.

i love when hand knits get used and appreciated. whether it's something that took 80 hours or a 1/2 hour, everything is made with love and effort and it's nice to see it loved in return.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

the cherry on top...

so apparently, i have started a trend because the, yes THE Yarn Harlot, is now going to knit a Damask with her Jacob fleece. read about it here

although i have to tell you, i think mine is the prettiest thing ever, so she better BRING IT with hers :) see, look!

hanging over the back of the couch, the OCD in me wishes it was more of a perfectly perfect pattern
but it's too pretty to fuss over!

this yarn, Araucania Solid is just darling, and i'm so excited that the ever lovely Sonia bought me a skein in the deepest of blues as a housewarming gift as well (yarn is totally for the house, my confused cousin understands nothing about yarny people).

it's squishy, it's light and airy and drapey and it's around my neck at work, which is nice, my colleagues have finally slipped over into accepting the knitterly things i love, i no longer get weird glances when i knit at lunchtime or wear shawls/sharves/cardigans all day and ask them to pet the fibres of what i'm knitting. they're a good bunch!

halfway through blocking, R is finished, L is getting there
A nice reminder that I need blocking wires for the top!
 
bit of up close and personal, i changed the nupps from N7 to N5 as i could not for the life of me
get all 7 sts back on to my needle for the nuppage

and on me, perhaps next time I could stand in an even LESS flattering way?

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Damask

doing another shawl, i just love them, something about the way the triangle appears out of nothing, so satisfying
this one is expecially pretty and is probably the most complicated shawl i've ever tackled (17 pages of pattern anyone?) but it is done VERY clearly line by line and with charts so yay I haven't hit any snags (yet)

i had put it on the backburner for a little while as I finished the Mock Moch Cardi and now I'm back into it, picking up from halfway through a row last night at Tatlie's house where Kellie, Tatlie and I sat knitting and watching terrible shows on Foxtel until 1am, WHOOPS, knitters rock hard on the weeknights

i'm really going to try hard - between now and Knit Camp (June 3rd) - to make shawls with as many different construciton techniques as possible. a) to find the one I like the best and b) to just see how they work!

it's being worked up in this delicious cherry red colour, semi-solid (although quite heavily on the solid side) 4ply and I want to eat it!!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

I know you wish you were as good a photographer as i am....

... but alas, underexposed, shadowy, vaguely blurry photos are really just my expertise. You'll all have to stick to focussed, light filled lovely photographs :/

'tis finished! all knitted and ends sewn in and slightly-too-big-in-the-neck cropped Mock Moch Cardi is finito!


photo shoots in the work bathroom are super edgy don't you think? also super quick so that the entire office doesn't think you're a big weirdo who takes photos in the bathroom (i am) oh well!


Thursday, April 7, 2011

The Mock 'Moch Cardi'

so last weekend i started knitting a cardigan. No plan really other than, bottom up, a bit swingy, not tight anywhere and probably a round seamless yoke, but i'd figure that out when I needed to.

it turns out i like having a pattern to follow, i need more of a plan than that above. so now i'm making a bit of a hybrid of my original plan and the Moch Cardi by Gudrun Johnson. i'll continue with my turned hem on the body and the sleeves but use the yoke and shaping from the Moch. I think this'll work out. I'm using old school vintage Patons 'Tweedly' yarn, a yarn that has no yardage listed so it's interesting. Also has no recommended needle size and I can find exactly NOTHING about it on the internet, so I guessed at it's weight and went with a 4.5mm needle and I'm getting a nice fabric, so I'm going with it. using 4mm for the inside of the turned hem on the sleeves as well so they fit nicely inside.

managed to make it to Richmond SnB this week, gosh I miss those girls. so lovely, and always feels like home when you walk in! Got a fair bit of knitting done and showed off the latest FO (which STILL hasn't had all it's ends sewn it, sew what?) and had the first appropriate responses to a 79 x 34 " shawl knit completely in Linen Stitch, non knitters just do not appreciate the dedication heehe

trying to organise myself for Albert Park SnB this weekend, as well as a planning meeting/dinner for Knit Camp this Friday night, Kensington SnB tonight and gearing up for my housewarming (who decided it was a good idea to knit bunting?) knitting projects are a go. and yet, guess i thought it was a good idea to leave the house without any knitting today. FAIL. will go and use the last of my voucher at M&S this arvo on the way to SnB

seriously, how would i even have time for a boyfriend? i barely see my non-knitting friends as it is! think it's time to really cut back on the eating out at knit nights though, trying to save for a house of my own (dedicated knitting room anyone?) for next year and $50 here and there adds up. \

so that's it for now, pictures next time of the finished shawl, and maybe a WIP photo of the Cardi.

Friday, April 1, 2011

winter! winner!

wowowwwwhhoooooooo! as i write this it's 9.15am and it's NINE DEGREES C outside! how awesome is that?

i'm officially calling it almost wintry around here, which always makes me knit a bit more and hug my yarn a bit tighter. i love winter, i love how dapper all the men look in their coats and jackets and how lovely my face feels when it's squished up into a big  scarf made from Pear Tree. it's the best season, without a doubt.

so since the last post, I was going to do a WIP post but since one of the WIPS is now a FO it seems silly. These are the Ysolda Teague Grown Up Booties (slight mods, 2.5" seam along top edge to secure them and bulkier yarn). Made with gorgeous handspun that Jen spun! They are so squishy and delicious and 3 million times better than socks.





and ok, so they aren't going to win any beauty pageants if you don't have the mad love for garter stitch that i have, but i think they're pretty spunky!