Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas! It was 36 degrees Celcius here today. It was fried turkey and bbq steak, and lots of cold salads here today.


Not much knitting happens in the "break" month, unless you're one of the crazy people doing a NEWT. This current one is my 11th, and I'm having fun so far.

This is where I ran out of blue. I ordered some more, though, and it came from Jimmy Beans in about 10 days. The pattern is Drachenfels, which is a big, stripey, 3-color garter stitch shawl/scarf. (It's a triangle, but I kind of hate calling them "shawls" because it sounds old-fashioned. A scarf that's pointy-ended and thick in the middle: that's better. Hehe)


I've almost finished the laceweight spinning

There was only a  teeny bit of fluff left, today, but I had to go to work.


In the days I was waiting for yarn, when I was out and about, or not in the mood for spinning, I knitted up this hat. According to NEWT schedule (where we have to say what we'll make for 50%, 75% and 100%) it's part of the 75% section, but oh well; it's finished early :)

I have to finish the Drachenfels and spinning for 50%, and this hat and matching armwarmers for 75%. Also, this boy :) wants a jumper and socks for his birthday, and I thought I'd just whip up another pair for Nathan, too, since he wears his wool socks all the time (except on days this warm).


Kids are on holidays, now, and Christmas finished about an hour ago. Byron bought me some old Doctor Who, which he plans to watch with me :) so Drachenfels (perfect TV knitting) should be done before the DVD's are finished. The spinning should be done in a few days (around work) and hopefully those socks, between Jan 1 and 5. (yikes).


Internet has been off at our place all week. Actually it's been about 10 days. Sometimes we can get a minute by rebooting the modem, but other than that, no internet and no phone, and mobiles don't work well where I live. So I'm internetting at work, when it's quiet.


Happy Christmas, crafty ones. Hope your Christmas knitting is all done :)

NEWT 10

Look at these two, having a modeling competition. :) At the moment, if I say, "who wants to be my model for a photo?", I get eager volunteers. I'm sure they think getting their picture on Ravelry is the height of fame! LOL

Fingering weight woven scarf

Finished the handspun, which is the merino/bamboo I got from Moseley Park's stall at Bendigo this year. I tried to spin it thickly, and then used it for the warp of a wide scarf, alternating yarns across the warp to mix them up.

Jas, volunteering eagerly as usual, but not really feeling well enough to actually smile

Then, for the warp I used laceweight, which I've done before. Turns out very squishy :)

This is the 8th scarf for the year. Planned to weave 12, but 8 is not too bad.

And this one, which is called "3-color cashmere cowl" is my fleece-to-finished-object part of my NEWT. It started off as a dirty Polwarth fleece, and I washed, carded, spun, dyed and knitted it. I think the knitting took as long as all the other parts! It's 550y of fingering weight, and I'm not a fast knitter.

Nice to wear, though. It really bunches up around your neck, and the polwarth is pretty soft.

This one will get the most wear, though. It's all the handspun BFL/silk that I spun for the last NEWT and knitted up for this NEWT. The top is long, and the hem is very wide rectangular shape, which falls nicely and fits well.

Well, that's my tenth NEWT finished, and I'm already started on my 11th! This next one is four projects and a spin (Muggle Studies: make a coordinated ensemble for a Muggle/ Charms: spin 1000y of finished laceweight). There's a shawl, hat, armwarmers, socks, and spinning, all with blue/green/brown colors that seem to be my favorites at the moment. :)

Next term I have plans to make Soup Bus Sets (maybe hat/handwarmers/cowl), and more CSM socks. I'm a bit sick of weaving, but I still want to have 365 different pairs of socks in the drawers :D