The end of term

It’s been a good knitting week. 

On Wednesday Auntie Rhona gave me a crochet pattern, which she couldn’t figure out, to have a look at.  Definitely a case of the blind leading the much less blind than me here. And, oh my god it’s a miracle, I think I’ve figured it out.  It seems that they haven’t put the “*” or the “rep from * to last ? stitches” in the pattern, which kind of made it a pattern reading problem rather than a crochet problem.  Much more my area of expertise!!  So off to crow to Auntie Rhona on Wednesday after swimming – and hopefully get served up something really yummy for morning tea – and raid her garden for bits and pieces. 

On Saturday afternoon I started my first ever pair of toe up socks, using the Turkish cast on method.  Just as I was getting the hang of it, we had to go out and we didn’t get home until 11.30pm.  When we got home I thought I’d just have a nice cup of tea and another little go at it and got all the toe done.  When I looked at the clock it was 2.00am – a very long way past my bed time.

Sunday Steve went hunting with the boys so the kids and I had a nice quiet day, luckily.  A bit of gardening, a bit of tv and alot of knitting.  Elise is going really well with her knitting.  She did four or five rows of her scarf without dropping or increasing any stitches – not bad for a wildly impatient six year old.   

I have finished another design, a hat this time.  A thank you present for Al for doing such a great job on our new door.  Pattern to appear very soon…..

This is Steve being my model, he has a bigger head than Al

The Fairisle you have when you're not having a Fairisle

the pattern

Blah – sewing

I have been knitting, but my valuable knitting time is being hijacked by the dreaded sewing machine. 

We had new sliding glass doors installed in the dining room, totally, gorgeously bright and sunny.  The door had to be custom made, I wanted the largest amount of glass that could possibly be fit into the space available.  My builder was horrified, but, in the end, grudingly admit that the job wasn’t as bad as he thought it was going to be and that the extra size was worth it. 

Anyway, the upshot is that the door was expensive and there is no money left to pay someone to make the curtains, so I am stuck at the sewing machine, sewing endless side seams and hems.  We will also replace the blinds (oh the bliss when I throw those things on the scrap heap) at the lounge sliding door and our bedroom sliding door.  So three sets of curtains, two 290X220 and one 230X230.

So no knitting photos, but here is a peek at the new addition to the house….I am almost as proud as if I had had a new baby… 

Captain Anthony and the new sliding, but still naked, doors

UFOs disappearing at a rate of knots…

Baby doll top in denim cotton

It’s amazing but true – I have only one unfinished object on the needles at the moment.  Soon to be two, or even three, of course but still….

 

I finished my baby doll top which was started on January 10th and has been sitting around with only the sleeves to do for around eight weeks.  I did the sleeves both at the same time.  This is the first time I have done that, and it is really nice to not have to worry about getting them the same length and to not finish one sleeve and have to do the same thing all over again.  Kind of like two at a time socks….

I knit the Baby Doll Top from the Creative Knitting magazine, using Bendigo Woollen Mills 8 ply cotton.  I have used this yarn before and while it is lovely and soft, on washing it does tend to stretch widthwise rather than length wise so I lengthened the skirt, the waistband and the bodice sections to compensate, hopefully it works.

Baby Burgess Kimono

The baby is coming by scheduled c-section tomorrow and I finished the little kimono today.

The pattern is the Bunny Hop Side Wrap Kimono from Crystal Palace yarns and was a quick, easy knit.  I think the little wrap looks modern and the double wrap over at the front will make it nice and snug.    The neckband was easy and sits really well – quite an achievement in a cardigan pattern.  I really liked this pattern and would knit it again.

I used a cotton/bamboo blend so it can be thrown into the machine with the normal load.  I used an Aran weight (Cleckheaton Fiddle Dee Dee) for the contrast colour which made the band pattern really pop without affecting the sizing.  I used Moda Vera Bamboo/Cotton for the main colour.  This will be lovely and soft for the baby and shouldn’t cause any allergy problems.  I have to say though, that I was disappointed with this yarn.  At only 75m per 50g the yarn is quite dense with very little drape.  The yarn splits terribly and there were a couple of broken strands in each skein that I used.  As the yarn will not graft, it was frustrating to have to unpick a tail back to the beginning of a row even on this tiny garment, on an adult garment it would have been a REAL pain.

Anyway, here it is (unblocked)

   

There is only one word to describe brown…

…and that is, well, brown, really.

brown, yes, brown suri alpaca yarn

beautiful but brown fibre

This is my first attempt at “natural” dying.  I read an article, which inspired me, in Yarn magazine around 6 months ago which described the method and colours obtained from dying with eucalyptus.  The colours were absolutely to die for, golds, umbers, ochres and greens (not a brown in sight, I can assure you).

Anyway I finally got around to giving it a try this weekend.  I collected 200 grams of eucalyptus leaves from young trees at the front of the property to dye about 100g of 100% suri alpaca commercially spun, unbleached, undyed yarn. 

Everything was going swimmingly.  I soaked the leaves overnight and then boiled them for a couple of hours the next day.  The colour of the resulting dye liquid looked gorgeous, kind of a rich amber.  I treated the yarn with alum and popped it in. 

Everything went downhill from there, unfortunately, I have tried different terms in my head to describe the resulting colour.  Fawn, beige, caramel but I think I will have to stick with, well, brown….

66 hours without a stitch

This has to be the longest I have gone in a very long time without knitting one single stitch. 

We went away for the weekend with some friends and although I took knitting I didn’t even manage to get the bag unzipped.  And I took my knitting with me today, and when I left home I truly believed that I would get a chance to knit at least a row or two. 

I went to Maccas after Kindergym with a friend for coffee and thought about pulling it out there but got too involved in chatting.  Then thought Anthony would fall asleep in the car on the way to school to listen to the kids read, so would get to knit until he woke up, but no luck there either.  I could, of course, get it out now and break the drought but I need to fold washing and then get tea ready so I think, all up, it’s going to be about 70 hours without a pair of sticks in my hands.  I am aghast….

Time to Come Clean

Right, time to document exactly why I did not buy any yarn at the alpaca breeders exhibition on Sunday. 

This is the stash:

My recycled CD shelving for storing some of my stash

 

Inside my wardrobe - my husband's side of course

Some part balls and bargain $1.00 balls picked up at Spotlight sale

I know, by some standards, it is probably a wee drop in the ocean, but when I look at it, it is starting to make me feel kind of panicky.  It has to be REDUCED.  No more yarn until I have space in either of my “Storage Units” to put it. 

This will be my new mantra and standard to live by:

Only two storage units of yarn allowed

Only two storage units of yarn allowed, only two storage units of yarn allowed, only two storage units of yarn allowed….

I can feel it working already…

 

The Alpaca Breeder’s Show

According to the Wall Street Journal, alpacas are a solid investment, which I suppose is a good enough reason to like them on it’s own.  It does help that they are incredibly cute creatures with a fine fleece in the most beautiful organic colours – over 20 apparently.

Elise and I attended the Alpaca Breeders Association exhibition at Ranelagh Showgrounds today.  The breeders were approachable and more than willing to spend time chatting about their herds.

Briony Cairn of Bruny View Estate (www.brunyviewalpaca.com) showed us her fine caramel and rose grey fleece from this year off her prize winning Huacaya alpacas.

Bruny View Huacayas

Chakaya Alpaca stud of Glen Huon were showing their beautiful little Suris.  I have knit with their yarn in the past and the garments exhibit the most beautiful drape.  The yarn is 100% suri alpaca and it is like knitting with spun cloud.  I have a small amount of yarn left over from a previous project which I am keen to dye up for a feature edging using eucalyptus (a subject for a future post).  The only drawback with the suri fleece is the amount of shedding.  I have never seen a yarn shed quite so much – my project bag was black and it, in particular, collected a thick layer of cream fibre by the end of the project.  After washing a couple of times for blocking purposes it did seem to shed less. 

The Chakaya Suris

My absolute favourite was the blue black herd of Mossvale Alpacas run by Helen and Mark Jessop (www.mossvalealpacas.com.au).   The fleece and commercially spun yarn were magnificent and they have some beautiful animals for sale.  We are seriously considering it…….

The Mossvale Blue Blacks

 

There were animals, fleece, yarn and garments available for sale but I was strong and resisted – I am sticking to a very strict yarn diet at the moment.  As soon as there is some space in my stash the first thing to fill it will be some of that blue black Huacaya – something to look forward to.

We did splash out on the CWA morning tea…..

scones and home made raspberry jam - yummy

….Elis’es favourite part!!

starting to bbbbbllloogggg….

…..birds do it,

bees do it,

even educated fleas do it…..

well, that’s what it feels like anyway.  So I thought I better start doing it too.. not falling in love, I mean blogging of course.

I think I just want to talk about my knitting mostly, my obsession, my outrageous yarn stash – currently taking over my house and my life.  I have started worrying about who to leave it to in my will and I have only just turned 40, but there is no way I will ever get through it even if, by some miracle, I live to 110.

On The Needles

1. Baby Doll Swing top – almost finished, just sleeves to go. It’s going to be too cold to wear it by the time I actually finish it, but I thought I may get a navy blue thermal to wear underneath it so I can get some wear out of it before next summer.
2. Lindy’s tennis socks – light and lacy for Vietnam weather.  Not sure about the colour – it is much more creamy than I thought it would be. 
3. Sheryl’s tea cozy – my first commission (well, from someone who isn’t family).  My design – pattern to be added soon.

Photos to come next post……