NEWT progress

Lyla's part is finished

The leaf ties are fun :) and the yarn ended up being 20WPI

I entertained the girl one hot day (it was 40C) by helping her dye up the yarn for her jumper.

I divided it into 9 skeins (about 65-70g each) and presoaked them in water and vinegar. Jasmine stood up on the chair, and I gave her the dye box, a teaspoon and a pyrex jug with a little water. She picked a color and scooped out some powder with the handle of the spoon, and put it into the jug and mixed it up. Then I gave her a dye pot full of water and she tipped in her dye. She took a skein from the bowl of wet wool (holding it by the red ties) and lowered it in. I put it on the stovetop until the dye was exhausted, then rinsed it in the sink, squeezed it out a bit and laid it on the towel. She rolled it up and stepped on it to dry, then carried them out to the washing line for me to hang.

I knitted up this tiny swatch yesterday to see if I was happy with the color order. I think I might do random stripe thickness, throwing a pair of dice, but not until March. She wanted me to start on her jumper before the yarn was even dry, so I might not make her wait until her birthday in July ;)

She had a lot of fun, anyway. Totally addicted. After dyeing the nine skeins, and then telling me how sweaty she was, she wanted to get on with doing some more. hehe.

I may have started spinning her yarn...

It's one third "sparkle". One Third. I can't photograph it right, but it glitters like a Cullen at an Aussie Christmas Barbecue ;)

Have also started the jumper for Zac...

Two sleeves to the armpits and the start of the body of Owlet. Love this color (Madelinetosh Vintage in Bark). Hope I don't run out :)

The only thing I'm *supposed* to be working on, I keep avoiding, because it has about 100 kilometers of grey icord. My friend, Telly, asked for a brain hat, because she thinks they're funny and perfect for a nursing student; both things are very true, but I cannot get enthusiastic about knitting it.

I should go do a few inches of icord now. Hmmmm..... Might do some housework instead. :)

The Magizoo

In the mad silly world that is the Harry Potter Knitting/Crochet House cup, my NEWT number 2 is underway. This time I'm doing a mix of "Care of Magical Creatures" (hatching creatures from eggs) and Muggle Studies (sweaters). I put in my plan here and started on the first part.

Basically, I'm going to spin a yarn and knit a little top each month. It sounds pretty reasonable to me, actually, and I should be able to find time for other projects, I hope... or maybe I'm a bit overambitious...? Anyway, each month is dedicated to a kid, so here we are in December: Lyla.

I've proposed (to make sure it's enough work to be NEWT-worthy) fingering or sport weight n-ply. In other words, the completed three-ply yarn should be able to wrap around one inch of ruler 16-20 times (AKA 16-20 WPI). The yarn is merino with a streak of bamboo through it (30%) and it's a Kathy's Fibres job called Fantasia, which I got in Bendigo last July.

Unchained. The navajo ply should keep these color changes as they are.

The bamboo doesn't take the dye, but it does make the stuff extra soft, and it spins up kind of marled.  Pretty.

The yarn is secretly for me, not my niece, but in my NEWT this is the "egg" I'm knitting for her, because she likes the Bowtruckles, and for her Bowtruckle-y top I'm making her a Bloom. I made one for her "big" cousin, Elizabeth, in green here  and this one will be the same, only in the light brown color of Madelinetosh sport called Teddy Bear.

I can't seem to photograph the color without turning it grey :) but it's cute, anyway. I think I made the waist part a bit long (between the underarm and the skirt should be ten rows, but someone misread the instructions and did 20) and I've done three rows of lace diamonds now. I love this little dress. They fit for a long time, have sweet little cap sleeves, and look girly without being too frilly.

The plan is to give her that for Christmas, and then get an early start on Zac's January...