My Monday night knitting group the Richmond Knitters have a blog thanks to our lovely hostess Sonia. The whole group contribute to it so you can read about what we’re up to collectively. I hope you pop over some time to visit it, see what we’re up to.
Well hello there, how’s your week been?
Since we last spoke I’ve become polygamous again. I’m not normally comfortable with polygamous knitting, it tends to overwhelm me with all the WIPs bearing down on me but for many reasons I seem to have not two but three projects on the needles and it’s actually ok.
So you may recall I was knitting a pair of socks and I got this far on the second sock…
Then last weekend whilst browsing Ravelry for potential patterns for a handspun birthday gift for my sister I recalled a pattern for handspun fingerless gloves that I had queued previously. I started wondering whether the mini skeins of Bond 2ply and N-ply combined would be enough to make a pair of mitts. Then before I knew it I’d cast on for one because a pair of mitts takes a day and a half to knit up tops. Happily one mitt used just less than half the mini skeins in weight.
I love knitting with handspun sooo much it’s silly.
So anyway despite the fact that it takes less than a day to knit a mitt up I didn’t cast on for the second mitt because erm… *shrugs*
Instead I cast on for Ian’s birthday scarf in a bid to have it knit for the 2nd April which is his birthday. I am all impulsiveness at the moment which is so uncharacteristic but I’m quite enjoying it. I’m about half way through this scarf now and it’s ticking a number of happy boxes for me. It’s a pleasurable yet mindless knit, it is using up some stash from way back when, there are stripes and Ian loves it (he chose the yarn and the pattern).
I have decided on a pattern for Fiona’s birthday but only because I saw one of my fellow Richmond knitter’s wearing hers and I knew that it would be perfect instantly. I won’t blog about it though until it’s with it’s owner.
Sorry for the belatedness Fi but it had to be right.
It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve had anything worth posting on here but that’s what life is like sometimes. I sometimes wonder if I should just post whatever but then after 10 minutes staring at the screen without touching the keyboard, I give up.
Anyhoo, there is some good news to post. Idlewood Again has been finished and I love it! I loved knitting it and now I love wearing it! Except that it’s now coming into Melbourne Summer so there won’t be much wearing going on for quite some time. Here are the details.
After an absolutely gorgeous lunch with Sonia last week, in one of Melbourne’s Southbank restaurants she took some photo’s of me wearing it and here they are…
See how it now fits and I’ve even knit a pocket for it, just one because I think that one is cute. Also, notice the cute skirt wot I made, love the fabric for this skirt but wish the skirt itself was a tad longer. Anyhow, the point is, Idlewood Again is now everything I intended it to be so I’m really glad that I chose to frog it completely (though if I’d have been smart I would have not frogged the cowl as that’s the same regardless of size). Ah, c’est la vie…
It has made me realise that getting the results you want is absolutely worth that extra time re-knitting, which brings me to the socks…
…I noticed that one cable was a row longer than it should have been and it irked me a bit but I continued to knit on. Then, at knit night on Monday I knit some cables a row too short due to lack of concentration. So now, I’ve dropped the cable row and hopefully will be able to fix the problem. I’m still on the first sock but here it is.
The yarn, Stranded in Oz, Dye…my pretties in fairies in the garden is just delicious and I hope to be back on track again soon.
In other knitting news, I’ve decided to concentrate on just the handspun bee-keeper’s quilt and scrap the other one. Mostly because the handspun one is more significant to me and also those puffs are larger so it will take me less time to make a decent sized quilt.
This leads me to spinning, oh it seems like now there is tonnes to blog about, what was I thinking? I have been spinning but a little half-heartedly. Here is what I’m on with…
It’s still the Finn X Corriedale/Romney that I dyed but I’ve decided that I want to N-ply it and I felt the urge to get the spindle out for a Crafternoon I had with some of my Richmond Knitter friends so I’m spindling it too. Because of this I’m thinking mitts/hat, maybe both but definitely not socks which was my first inclination. As for the half-heartedness about spinning this, I can’t really explain why, it’s just the way I feel.
So, that’s all my news, I hope it won’t be too long again before I have something to blog about.
ttfn Melanie x
I had a lightbulb moment today. It followed a conversation with my husband’s cousin at a family wedding. It turns out this cousin makes cheese as a hobby. How fascinating! I love cheese, well actually I love all dairy products, but still I was hooked on the idea.
My husbands cousin is from England so he couldn’t advise me of any local courses or places to buy equipment or anything but that’s ok because I know how to Google. So when we got home (there was no WiFi where we were and we struggled to get a signal on our phones) I duly Googled and lo and behold there are courses and people who sell kits and equipment all you need to add is unhomogenized milk. Hurrah!
It was this that sparked the lightbulb moment, yes I could buy cheese, good cheese at many cheese shops but making cheese myself would be thrilling. That’s my thing, I get so much joy from the process of making things and knowing that “I made that!”
Anyway I just thought I’d share.
Today I’m making an oatmeal, spelt and maple syrup loaf and bottling some golden ale that we brewed 3 weeks ago and as it’s Monday popping over to Richmond for knit night.
ttfn Melanie x
The stripy delicious socks failed me again last night when the yarn fell apart as I was knitting with it, my tension’s not that tight, promise. This doesn’t bode well especially given all that I know of Noro.
Then it was pointed out to me that having the jog seam running up the sole of my foot might not be very comfortable. We did an experiment of sorts, in which I ran a piece of yarn between a toe and along my foot and then I put my shoe on and yes I would find that irritating. The solution would be to make the stripe seam run along the inside of my foot for each sock and then change to the centre of the calf after the heel. An excellent solution, however I decided to throw the towel in or spit the dummy whichever way you want to look at it. As this is two Richmond knitter’s nights in a row I’m thinking it’s a sign, or something. The Noro is back in the stash cupboard and will become a scarf one day, maybe.
In the meantime I shall finish the hand sewing of my skirts and contemplate knitting the other socks in the pattern, they are really cute over the knee socks and I have the 2 skeins of fairies in the garden sock yarn from Stranded in Oz that would be perfect. This also means that I can easily swap the short-row heels that I’m not a fan of for my usual heel flap, a cunning plan aha!
I am also truth be told wanting to start Idlewood again. Mostly because of seeing Sharon wearing hers though she knit her Idlewood from her hand spun. I’m not super-jealous or anything at all!
My hand spun Gotland/Polwarth is still drying, I had a feel and it is squooshy delicious. I’m eager to re-skein it when dry and work out what the WIP and yardage will be.
Dithering, stalling, procrastinating, call it what you will I’ve been doing a lot of that this weekend with regard to knitting. I’ve had nothing on the needles for the longest time and felt no urge to knit either.
Sonia thinks it’s because of my new craft obsession, namely sewing but it’s not that. I think maybe a collection of things, like the fact that so many of my friends are knitting from their handspun and I’m envious. I have some other projects I wanted to get done like the Noro stripy socks for Socktober and the Noro stripy scarf for Norovember and Sam’s contiguous jumper and I want to knit them but I want to knit a handspun OWLS too. Oh I sound like a sulky child and that irritates me, grrrr, suck it up Princess! I think I’m also more than a bit disheartened about having to frog Idlewood and completely re-knit it too, bleugh the self pity! Get over yourself Melanie!
I know there is nothing to stop me knitting whatever I want except that first I must finish preparing the fibre and then spin the yarn and by then it will be too darn hot to knit a chunky jumper. Tonight at knit night it was 29 degrees C and I managed to knit exactly half a puff! It’s not even the first day of Spring! As a solution to the handspun knitting envy I’m going to knit some of my handspun singles bits into puffs. Thanks Katie for the idea. I have no solutions to the hot knit night problem except maybe a whip round to get some air con for our favourite cafe. As for Idlewood I shall just re-knit that later and I could try to be less annoyingly sulky and self pitying too.
However, I swear after Sam’s jumper I shall knit Ian a scarf and from then on I shall knit spontaneously only what I feel like knitting, no obligation and no planning. So I’m planning not to plan, OMG have I lost it? I’m babbling and dithering, oh dear me!
The dithering hasn’t been all bad though, I have tied up a loose end in that Coraline has finally got some buttons on it and I made the button loops too. This is the Coraline that I finished almost 12 months ago! They aren’t the buttons I wanted but they are a cute second best and I love the button loops I will definitely make them again. Coraline is my favourite cardigan, ever! So I’m really glad it’s now complete.
I also spun 100g of Gotland/Polwarth carded roving.
I spun it long draw so it looks a bit shit but hopefully after I’ve spun the other 100g of singles and ply the 2 bobbins this weekend it should turn out ok.
Ok, enough exhausted rambling, I’m off to bed, work in the morning, but i had to get it off my chest so I can sleep. We’ve just had a thunderstorm so it’s cooled down a bit too.
I’ve been busy knitting knits for my men. They all have something new and warm and woolly now.
The first beanie was too big for hubby so eldest son happily claimed it…
So the next day I set about knitting another beanie which would hopefully fit hubby. Again another Wooly Wormhead pattern but this time in Icelandic Lopi mmmm, snuggly warm.
It fits, huzzah!
Youngest son then decided he would quite like a scarf and as it was his birthday last weekend I couldn’t refuse. I didn’t have any black aran weight yarn in my stash so I ordered 5 balls of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran in coal from the Woolbaa that night and sent hubby to collect it the next day as he works near there. I decided to use Stephanie Pearl McPhee’s one-row handspun scarf pattern because it’s reversible and I really like it.
He gets the “moon tan” from me, I tried several times to take photo’s in different areas and they all had that, I’m a stranger to daylight look. Any tips Damian? The scarf was completed 2 days after his birthday and he’s very happy with it because it’s not itchy. The grass looks that vivid because it’s just rained.
I’m now occupied with secret gift knitting and will be for a few weeks so there will be no sneaky peeks until they are with the recipients. However, on Friday I’m going with some of the Richmond Knitters to Bendigo wool and sheep fayre so I hall have heaps to show and tell after that. It will be my first time and I am giddy beyond belief. There will be sheep and fibre and yarn and all manner of woolly stuff, I believe camelids too but… meh! The men are a tad worried that I might come back with a sheep or three but as vivid as the grass looks after rain I think perhaps it is insufficient to sustain even one sheep. Perhaps we could move before next year’s Bendigo though.
My wheel arrived on Monday and I would have posted earlier but I was on my way to knit night with the Richmond knitters when I got the text and then I was at work on Tuesday and so yesterday was the first day I had to get to know Owen. So called because that’s the name written on the underside of the wheel “Owen Poad”, maybe the guy that made my wheel, I don’t know, I would love to know though so if anyone can tell me I’d be grateful. Two other friends that have Little Gems have Andy Poad and Jemima Poad, I’m sure we shall be having many a spin-in together which will be heaps of fun and the whole point of a Little Gem, you pop it in the bag and go and spin with friends.
It would be very true to say that Owen is my new love, he is so pretty and very eager to put twist into fibre. It’s very exciting this new love affair as I’m learning how to spin with him, it’s quite a different feel to spindling but knowing that we have a lifetime of making beautiful yarn together makes me so happy.
I haven’t lost any love for my beautiful spindles though so don’t worry. Anyway, pardon my waffling on. Pictures are required, so without further ado, here he is…
Isn’t he gorgeous? I’m spinning the BFL/Tussah silk Wintry walk on Filey beach that I dyed first and it’s looking very pretty.
On the day that Owen arrived a parcel of fibre that I ordered from Spun Out also arrived, It’s New Zealand Polland which, is a blend of Polwarth and Gotland. Polwarth is a fibre I have spun a taster of before and Gotland has been on my must spin list for a while now. It is a primitive breed from the Island of Gotland and their fleeces are supposed to be a handspinner’s dream, as fine as Merino and as lustrous as Wensleydale, how could I resist? I shall wait until Owen and I are much better acquainted before I spin it I think, as I want to do it justice. Also, I need to start thinking about spinning with a purpose and not just randomly spinning things because I want to, so I shall have a ponder. Here is a picture of that lovely fibre…
On the knitting front, I turned the heel on the first sock, yay socks! The BFL sock yarn is lovely, soft and shiny-pretty in my favourite colours, if you haven’t tried BFL sock yarn do it! You must experience the soft, shiny, prettiness, though the silky sheen isn’t all that apparent in this poor photograph.
Although David’s toe up sock cookbook could well be my all time favourite sock pattern, particularly good for handspun socks, oooh, handspun socks, drooooool. I have purchased two more toe-up sock books the first arrived today.
It’s true to say there isn’t a sock pattern in this book that I don’t want to knit so while I waited for the book to arrive I dyed some BFL sock yarn to knit socks with, I particularly wanted some solid colours for the intricate cable patterns because I think they look stunning in solid colours so here’s the outcome.
Not bad for a beginner I think. I shall dye some more soon, I have another 6 undyed hanks but need to have a think about colours first.
Well that’s all my exciting news for now. As life isn’t all about the fun stuff, I have to leave it there, essential housework needs doing unfortunately, then brownie baking at the boys’ insistence.
ttfn Melanie x
Yesterday I went out to Cantebury for lunch with some of my knitting friends and there was yarn shopping too. Are you surprised by this? No, of course your not because you can do basic maths.
a group of knitters+lunch near a yarn store = yarn purchases
It doesn’t take a genius does it. However, you may be surprised because I went in to the yarn store with the intention of purchasing just a crochet hook for picking up dropped stitches, this is all I’ve ever used a crochet hook for and my old one is broken. That’s not the surprise though, I came out with…
2 skeins of Noro (no surprise there either). No, the surprise is that I bought 2 crochet hooks because the Noro screamed “I would make a great granny square scarf” to me and so the second crochet hook is for that purpose. Weird!
Weird, because I can’t crochet, when I say I can’t what I mean is, I tried once and failed miserably. Crocheting didn’t compute at all. But now I’m determined to learn all because I need to create a granny square scarf with the Noro. I think it was mainly the colours that encouraged this random desire to crochet, because Noro just “colours me happy”. So now I get to dabble in another fibre craft which is really exciting and hopefully this time round armed with my new crochet-me-into-a-pretty-scarf yarn I’ll be more successful. I hope so.
But it struck me last night as I was musing on my new purchase what it was about wool that really excites me. I’m talking about wool in all it’s forms because I pretty much obsess about all forms of wool nowadays. What it is that is really exciting is it’s potential. I love the usefulness of wool of course, the fact that it is going to keep me comfy and cosy. However, it’s the potential to create something beautiful, that says something of a __________(insert fibre craft of your choice) individual sense of aesthetic and style and desire and of the skills that I have learned that transform a skein of yarn into something wonderful. It never ceases to amaze me how one single yarn can be interpreted so many ways by different crafters (I’m refraining from using the word knitters, look how aware of other fibre crafts I’ve suddenly become, this must be a sign). There are over 2000 projects listed on Ravelry for Noro Kochoran all very unique. One yarn, so much potential to be whatever we create with it, no wonder fibre crafters are generally such a happy bunch of people.
I’m hoping everyone is having a great time over the festive season. As yet I haven’t managed to finish my last WIP of the year and it’s looking like I won’t finish it till early January but never mind I have one sock done. Other plans have however, been more successful.
I had a great idea for the festivities one Monday evening with the Richmond knitters, we should have a one skein/100g Secret Santa swap. Everyone thought it was a great idea and the rules were quickly drafted out. Everyone who wanted to participate was given a Christmas card and on it they wrote their name and some clues for their Secret Santa such as preferred yarn weight, colours and fibre content. The cards were then placed in blank envelopes and when they were all collected in we picked one each. The yarn had to be virgin (previously unknitted) be a minimum of 100g and cost was limited to around $20-$25.
I’m happy to report it was a roaring success and elicited many squeals of delight as we unwrapped our presents. Here’s my bounty…
It’s Touch Merino 2ply, I haven’t got a project in mind as yet, but yes it is that blue nomnomnom.
ttfn Melanie x
