Bendigo 2015

Firstly, I finished my Sprig top (extra length and short sleeves) just in time to wear to Bendigo.

 It's asymmetric, which requires a bit of concentration. You start at the top of the left shoulder, going back and forth, adding stitches, and you end up with an uneven neckline. Then you make raglan sleeves, and sew about a zillion k's of stocking stitch. And after that you have many, many rows of charts to follow, making a cabled edging with its own icord edge.

I like it. It's actually this color:

This is me, sitting in FunBugs while the kids ran around playing for 4 hours, knitting on the neck. On the one long needle I've picked up the light green stitches, and on the other I'm knitting the cable chart, back and forth, and every time they meet I knit two stitches together. Neat!

The Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show was terrible.

I had to put up with this, and in the middle of Winter! hehe.

Here's Kathy's Fibres, one of my favorites.

I got these two in a colorway called Goldfields. One is merino and sparkly stuff, and the other is Merino/alpaca/silk.

Also got this Optim (merino) in "Sunset" because I knew Jasmine would want it. :)

Got this one from Gin and Tonic Yarns, mainly because of the cheeky Aussie name: "A dingo took my ANZAC biscuit!"

These three DK yarns from Moseley Park (and one BFL sock yarn on the right). These DK yarns are from Mum (who gave me Bendi money for my birthday). Thanks, Mum! I'm planning to make the kids each a hat from them.

Tundra from Ixchel which is ... Quiviut, Angora, Cashmere, Merino, Silk and Tencel! I can't tell you how soft it is! I'm making this one "From Kelly", since she gave me Bendigo Money for my birthday. Thanks, Kelly!

Merino/Alpaca/Silk from Moseley Park (love this mix)

And BFL/mohair from MP. Not the usual 75/25 mix I normally get from Kathy's Fibres that's so nice for socks, but then, I might 2ply it with some straight BFL, and that will make the mix right.

Sock needles. Love ChiaoGoo. Thought I'd try their bamboo needles for a change.

From the competition cabinets: Amazing lace,

awesome weaving,

cool felting,

and some creative little cables

Lunch :)

I also found some Madelinetosh Vintage. I could spend all my money there, but I only came home with three. Espadilles, Daffodil and Whitewash. (The names underneath are the Ravelers I pinched the pictures from, since mine are terrible.)

3pommes

ashe

eatlynch

And then I wandered home a little earlier than usual. I did see the fashion parade, but didn't see anything worth taking pictures of. It's wool, but it's generally not knitting. I got some dinner and stopped at Lake Weerona Park and watched people, and knitted... but more on that next time.

I've got some more spinning to do.

Jasmine 7

A few people have commented that she looks quite tall now, for a seven year old, so here is an old shortie photo...

from a mere 5 years ago!

Standing in practically the same spot, but with slightly longer legs :) 

Happy 7th Birthday, Jasmine! I know you'll outgrow this one in no time, but I do love watching you grow. You get smarter and kinder and funnier every day, kiddo!

 Pattern: Paprika
Yarn: Bendigo Woollen Mills Stellar 12ply in Garnet
Yarn used: 500g (2.5 balls) = 650m

 

June

 More things from June :-)

.

Adipose

.

Also a wheat pack cover

.

A balaclava for Zac that matches his gloves (same blue wool). Pattern: Antifreeze.

.

It's a bit big for him, but it should last him through many years of mischief.

.

This merino is in the colorway Opal. I don't like it much, and don't know why I have 200g of it. Also, one of the Kathy's Fibres Club fibres is almost exactly the same... and I have 300g of that.

.

Found a use for it this month, though, along the edge of a scarf warp that was too long and far too thin.

.

Not that 3.2m is too long! But I ran out of yellow for the warp. And then, somehow, I had too much for the weft, in spite of the wider warp. Must remember: need about 20% more for the warp that you need for the weft.

.

Loved spinning this, though. BFL from Southern Cross Fibres.

  I'm going to increase my stash of BFL socks next term, starting with a NEWT in August. My plan at the moment is to knit up 8 pairs of socks, mostly with that Hedgehog Fibres Twist Sock I got, which is 80% BFL and 20% nylon. My socks seem to last about a year, with me rotating about 12 pairs and wearing them most days. I do a fair bit of darning. I think the merino/nylon mix that's so common for sock yarn is just not tough enough for me.

Next: I'm going to focus on Jasmine's birthday top, which I have 6 days to finish. I might be able to do it. It would be easier if I didn't have to work! lol. But I'm down to the hem, and most of what remains is stocking stitch hood and ribbed edging. We'll see. It's up to 300g. Maybe another 200g?

Fred and George

This is the "Fred and George" part of my NEWT. To represent their twin-ness, I made skeins that were matching but different, and made of the same stuff. I spun up a skein of colorful fibre and a coordinating blue fibre, and Navajo-4plied them into two skeins. This is Fred’s (because it was finished first), which is 3 plies of the colorful one and 1 of the blue

 and George’s, which is 3 plies of the blue and 1 of the colorful.

The skeins are both made of the same colorways of Polwarth/Tencel, the same construction, and almost the same yardage (266 and 270). They go well together, but are not exactly the same.

It wasn't easy to ply! N4ply is a bit tricky on its own, but that kitten of ours was making a nuisance of himself again. Still, it's done, and the two together are more than enough for the triangular 'scarf' that I'm going to make with them for Bill.


And then, I finished these for Zac.

He loves them, and has worn them so much they look old. He immediately began pestering me for the matching balaclava I said I'd make him. lol.

I've put a few more hours into Sprig and Paprika, but mainly I've been spinning. I won a random draw over in the Southern Cross Fibres group (for knitting that Barley hat with SCF a few months back). David sent me this Discworld one.

We are having a "mega spin-a-long", which involves a few popular dyers dyeing colorways that have to do with the characters from Terry Pratchett's Discworld. This one, however, wasn't available to buy, as far as I know; it was just made for prizes. So I spun it up into sock yarn to make some bright Finn socks... maybe next month.

Horace the Cheese

I've been reading a bunch of his books, too (there are about 40 in the Discworld series). Silly but clever, much like "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".  Pretty funny. Make me chuckle to myself as I walk around the supermarket, sometimes, like a crazy person. :)

The Fiend!

This teeny thing

has been driving me nuts all week. He loves wool, and I think he loves flashing shiny knitting needles even more. He likes to jump from nowhere and knock over my loom, or run off with my spinning fibre, or unwind and tangle a ball...

Sigh. It's like having a small kid again, one that won't let you do anything for 2 minutes in a row, or won't let you use two hands at the same time. Lucky he's cute.

I did finish this scarf, with not to many weft threads clawed. It was an experiment, or rather, a copy cat project, because I saw one of my Slytherin friends try something similar. The idea is to warp your loom with thick yarn and use thin yarn for the weft. Here are mine.

Two skeins of thick handspun and one skein of laceweight silk.

It's so long, almost 3.5m. I wore it this day wrapped once loosely around my neck and the ends hanging below the hem of my black coat. And it is soft! All the fibres are merino, faux cashmere, rose fibre and silk. Not an inch of itch. Love this one. I was going to send it to Kelly for her birthday (with the socks) but... too bad! Hehe.

The socks

These flew north to my sister in Sydney. It was her birthday, and she appreciates handknitted socks, having knit some herself.  She also gave me wool for my birthday. :-)  They're made with the Holi yarn I dyed a while back, and knit with two strands held together, nice and tight on 3mm needles. Hopefully they'll resist the urge to wear out for a bit longer! I ran out of yarn, and used some blue Solemate for the heels and cuff. Literally had about 3 inches of Holi left.

I finished some spinning

Into the Whirled. "Quoth the Raven". Fingering weight N-ply (despite trying to spin thickly!)

Merino/silk from Kathy's Fibres, with pinches of sparkly stuff as I went. 144m of N-ply.

And I made Byron some cotton gloves (ie a sideways garter stitch tube with a hole in the seam for his thumb) to match his birthday top.

Now, I'm making Zac some. He wants dark blue and light grey stripey ones, and a balaclava. He even went though a box of wool with me, to choose the colors himself. Hehe. I'm also knitting away on my Mission for the game, which is Sprig, and Jasmine's birthday top, which is Paprika, spinning dark blue Polwarth/tencel for my NEWT (the Fred and George yarn) and making teeny clothes for a little wooden magnet man, just for fun. So much to do. Luckily, this month I have holidays (2 weeks) coming up soon, and I should get some things finished, at least.

Byron 8

Finally finished this top for Byron, and steam blocked it at 2am on the morning of his birthday. LOL. He did appreciate it, though, and wore it for half the day, until his party at an indoor playground

The TARDIS pockets are "bigger on the inside" (the whole front bottom half is one big pocket) and it's nice and long. And cotton! I used Bendigo Woollen Mills cotton 10ply, and it's actually not too bad to knit with, but it doesn't fluff-together at all. I used 4.5mm needles on all but the hood, but if he wears a white shirt you can see the white through the moss stitch up the front.

He's not one for smiling for the camera, either, but he did have a fantastic day. A lot of people gave him Lego and things to build, and sciency things, so he's as happy as can be. :)

I also finished this Bond/Silk laceweight. Only 636 yards of N-ply laceweight this time. Hehe. It will make a very soft lace something one day, if I ever knit with it.

I'm still working on thick Holi socks, and I've started another spin. I'm also battling with this new Thing.

His name is Pepper, he's 10 weeks old, and he loves wool as much as any kitten. He's actually not too bad with it, but when he wants to Play you don't get much else done. Hehe.