In all the happens in-between working and sleeping perhaps some knitting…
Back into running again which is keeping my mind sane
still knitting and finished this gorgeous cowl last week – just sewing in the ends before the photo
now cast on another cowl as I have cowl envy
and a hat
and baking bread
and a jumper
a lacy top
and perhaps I bought some yarn at the craft show…..
phew now to rest before a rather large week of filming ahead ……
lots of pictures but cant manage words at the moment
Little peasy for person down south
Another quilt cut out and being sewed
lots more fabric for more fun sometime soon (ish)
Guess who loves the quilt
other side of quilt – sorry a bit blurry
Love the edging
ta da finished quilt hurrah
lots of bread being baked here too
Reverse side of quilt
Jumper for Niece not quite finished
and oh a HUGE gaak penny dropped last week with all of the swatches I have been knitting – I am a tight knitter – so going up a needle size has been a revelation for me!!!
What you say
well it is all Rosered’s fault – I think – she coined the phrase Growth as a Knitter
well there has been a lot of growth here in the last month and a bit of face the hard cold facts.
First there has been the crochet – well not actually growth as a knitter – but i am bending the brain and testing the mettle of my ability to read patterns – and well I am getting there. My enthusiasm waxes and wains and I have to concentrate so much more when doing this so not so much the relaxing at home by tv activity. But the crochet Clinic Rosered runs has been fantastic and very inspiring.
I realise to do a new thing you need time to think. I have been wanting to learn to read crochet patterns and make this particular queen anne lace for ages now. But my poor brain has been overloaded with other stuff and just couldn’t take it on.
Secondly is the quilt thing – it is like the shawl flu of a few years ago, I feel a case of this coming on again too I fear, Fabric Fever has overtaken me and I have already put together one quilt – to be sent off today to be quilted. I am putting the start of Fabric Fever right at the feet of Randomknits and her gorgeous liberty quilt.
What you say off to be quilted that is the fun bit – well actually I like the fabric piecing but hand quilting a queen size quilt well I would rather knit or crochet in those spare hours. I bought the modern Quilt book a while back from Calico and Ivy and fell in love with a few of the patterns. I am doing pretty much the exact colours of the sawtooth quilt and super happy. Should be ready in a few weeks – whoot. The sewing together and cutting out did test my patience. I sewed a whole row of triangles around the wrong way – re cut and re sew. It took 3 hour block to do each of the following
cut the green triangles – 540 & the plain sections
cut the white triangles – 540
sew the triangles together – little flags 1080 triangle
sew the ironed out triangles together – getting them around the right way sweets!!!
iron and sew it together – pinning is your friend at this point I didn’t the first time and it didn’t line up at all – I then found the middle and 1/4 section of all of the strips and pinned then pulled the fabric into submission.
Today I am putting the backing together and posting off – hurrah
I am going to confess now I have material for another 2 quilts – and as Calico and Ivy is closing down I am tempted to go and get more…….HELP
Then the garden which I have, with the sage advice of a real gardener, trimmed and coaxed into a more presentable liveable space. Starting with the lawn which due to my absences away from home over summer had grown to about 40cm tall – urg. Then the deck needed oiling – done, and the veggie patch sorting out – now have gotten over the great tomato failure of 2012 and planted heaps of salad greens for winter. Where did the daffodil come from? It’s calendar is all out me thinks…
I have scored some pavers from Kris – and will be getting the end section paved in preparation for a new bigger shed hopefully later this year.
So what growth as a knitter you ask – well at the same time I have been doing Ysolda’s Perfect Sweater course. I have been doing the above to help me digest all the lessons we have done. I had to face my terrible track record of swatching, my real body shape and measurements and the haphazard approach I have to pattern reading. Whoah no wonder my brain has been exploding.
I have spent the last week swatching and then sorting out my stash – faced with the above all the wool I have been hoarding – yes I am going there – just made no sense. I have been storing snippets of other knitters words about stash and knitting – so my new goals are
SWATCH
Knit to suit - bought the knit to flatter book
Buy wool for a project not just because – this started the great easter destash
Shawls and socks are good filler projects and I really want to knit more complex socks and I have a bucket list of socks – another post
Keep on growing
Oh and it took 4 goes this weekend to get the hot cross buns right – but the last batch were winners!!!
Now for the bigger finished items
I had hope to enter one or two of in the show this year but it just was not meant to be. I knit one for the technique, on for the colour and one cause I didn’t get it quite right for me the first time. And I have only kept one of them.
One for the colour….
Pattern: Soay by Gudrun Johnston
Yarn: Jo Sharp Aplaca Silk Georgette
Needles: 3.75 & 3.5mm
Time on needles : 15 days – wow that was quick
I really loved this colour and at the time someone else was wrestling with this colour and got a blue ribbon for her efforts yesterday – congrats Zena beautiful seams!!!
I found the most gorgeous buttons and finished it fully and wore it a few times – but it is just not me. The other day my sister came over to claim another cardie and I gave her this one as well – she is making me a dress or two and gave me a great top a fair swap I think. It does look better on her than me I think.
One for the technique….just realising now that they are all Shetland trader cardigans – I am a fan that is for sure
Pattern: Praline by Gudrun Johnston
Yarn: The Plucky Knitter Primo Sport
Needles: 3.75 & 3.5mm
Time on needles : 6 months - there were some issues…
Issue #1 – Derrr 29/1/13 today whilst knitting the sleeves – yes most of the body is done – I realised I have been knitting the motif wrong – and putting one of the yifw at front and one at the back – making it more of a bird motif than in the pattern – too late now to undo my error and I quite like this motif anyway….
Issue #2 -So everything I could do wrong I did – it is too small – but not yet blocked
I have put on weight since I started so I will blame that
Issue #3 -I messed up the stitch pattern – in the doing and lining up on one sleeve
I mad a mess on the sleeve with some of the decreases
So over to the sister it went – it fits her perfectly – (George if you are reading this don’t worry there are plans afoot for you too – and happy to swap knitting for woodwork anyday)
I love the sleeve shaping though and want to do this again on a plain cardigan
I also like the v neck – currently thinking about the Lucy in the Sky cardigan or a modification of this one and Lucy combined – I am doing this amazing online course with Ysolda at the moment which is blowing my mind and opening up my eyes to the was I am approaching my knitting… more on that later
Once more with feeling cardigan #3
Pattern: Audrey in Unst by Gudrun Johnston
Yarn: Blue Moon Fibre Arts BFL Sport – oh how I love this yarn
Needles: 3.75 & 3.5mm
Time on needles : about 3 months
sometimes the second time is more fun – and how I loved knitting this a second time. I got my size right and loved the yarn – it is great to knit with and then blooms something gorgeous. I finished sewing on the buttons last night and thing due to the drop in temperature today it will get a wear today. Love the pattern detail at the neck.
So cardigan love still reigns here and just because here are the ones I am lusting after at the moment – click on the photo to get the pattern link…
on your head, head , head
A trio of hats – one for me and one for each of two of my work colleagues from the past 2 jobs First up is my hat I made in China in January when it was minus 12 – yes you did read right -12 I only took one hat with me – stupid I know – thankfully I had this one in my knitting backup if I get bored or finish something – which I did – and started and finished it in 5 days
Pattern: Season Hat kit by Brooklyn Tweed
Yarn: Brooklyn tweed Loft
Needles: 2.25, 2.75 & 3.5mm
Time on needles : 5 days – it felt like 3 I think the band took the longest
I knit this in minus 12 in Zhou Zhou just south of Beijing during my adventure in China – I had 2 weeks in January to sort out the build. I had the best time with the crew there they were just so amazing. I so needed this hat as I forgot to pack more than one hat when I left and was getting in need of a slightly different one – although how could I get bore of my peerie floores?
Second Hat up for a die hard fan of some code of ball sports here in Australia – (google is my friend) AFL Sydney Western Giants - My old and about to be current boss is a HUGE fan and knows of my knitting predilection and hassled me for ages for a scarf. I was not going there but a hat I could do. I had these gorgeous colours that had tried to be a colour affection but just were not happy to be that – so here they are in a hat
Pattern: Zumthor Hat by Kirsten Johnston
Yarn: Abuleta baby merio lace held double
Needles: 5 & 4.5mm
Time on needles : 4 days – and he is most happy – actually as a production designer getting an architectural inspire hat is quite poetic. And he LOVES it – damn about to do another over the winter job no double I will be knitting that scarf over winter – and there is wool left over form the hat….
Last but not least is the Rosered hat for the gorgeous Liang Tong who is the chinese director of the show I was working on. She was so generous and bought us big huge coats when it was SO cold and even with all our layers in the middle of the day we were cold. So on my last trip over I cast this on at the airport.
Pattern: Rosered by Ysolde
Yarn: Lindcraft Silk Plus
Needles: as per the pattern
Time on needles: 4 days
This was the second time around for me and this pattern and again it was so well written and a delight to knit. I love the way the cables ebb and flow – and this pushes one along to keep going. I knit the largest size and would have enough yarn left over to do a medium or small… Anyway she also loved it and as you can see it really suits her, Hurrah
Well not to London to visit the queen
but to Beijing to work on a new show for our dear old Aunty…
Came back with a terrific cold which has lead to a blocked ear for over 2 weeks now – so boring
But I am back and so behind with finished item photos and post I thought I better start somewhere
My new Deck – which is old enough that I am going to oil it this week. The Monday before Xmas my super fantastic construction crew came over and said yep we can do the deck “THIS WEEK”. S.V. got an excited call – guess what you are getting for Xmas – he corrected me and said we – well that is the truth but more fun to say it was for him…
so today I’m off to get the cleaner and oil – as I didn’t know it takes 3 months for the timber to leach and weather before you can oil it.
We had Xmas eve dinner on it but it was way too wet for Lunch on xmas day – we are so happy as it is big enough for BBqing in the rain – undercover, to eat under, dry clothes when it is wet so that the lounge is not covered in clothes dryers, fix bikes on a flat surface, block knitting, keep the cats happy, and fit a wheelbarrow down the side.
The guys chipped the rock a bit to get a smidge more deck space and also got rid of a nasty bit on concrete ontop of the gorgeous sandstone.
It is like having an additional room……super happy indeed
next up some knitting……..
A sad thing happened on Xmas Eve – in my flurry of making mince tarts and pavolvas in the kitchen I knocked a teacup against my red dibbern teapot handle
I then picked it up to make a pot of tea and the handle came straight off – I was devastated ( I know first world problem but it is all relative)
This teapot and I go back a few years now and thanks to blogging I can see exactly when and I was right thinking it was 5 years – 51/2 to be exact – and many cups of tea later it was so sad to see it fall apart.
It has taken a while and a lot of debate in this tea obsessed household to decide whether we upgrade or if we could upgrade the teapot. S.V. sourced a few possibilities but we still went back to the dibbern for all aspects of tea making and drinking and function
This morning we had our first cup of tea from the new pot
finally here
Thanks to Zena for the order I have my summer sandles
the red ones have been worn for about 2 full summers and are a go to favorite
oh you say is that a NEW deck i see there – oh yes it is finished just in time for Xmas and another blog post in the offing
26 projects in 2012 a fall of a quite a less than last year (31) but I think I have had some pretty good excuses
No the cats did not eat my knitting – I just got side tracked by work and note to self one job at a time in 2013
After reading Lyn’s round up I thought I would pick out my favorite few
The first shawl completed dot dash or Line Break as it is officially known was my most loved and worn piece this year – and make it so far 3 times to China.
The yarn is so soft and it drapes really well – I scored some more of the yarn in a destash wonder if it will make the cut in the soon to reorganise the stash – more on that further on
Only one pair of socks for me this year – and thanks to Kylie for the inspiration and Nancy for the pattern – must knit more of her socks they are so much fun to do.
The sock victim had more socks made this year a total of 4 pairs and his first pair of wollmeise socks which he loved. He also got a jumper and a hat – which have both been worn heaps
Cardigans were cast on but not all finished this year and I only made 3 – I think, and a jumper which got a first wear in China.
I have a total of 8 wips in my Ravelry list and I intend to knock some of them off before casting on anything new – well that is the intent not sure of the reality of that one….
I have been reading the Webs 31 days to get organised blog posts and thinking about a clean out – and a look at my current wips, patterns yarn and all wool/ knitting related items. But that would also mean facing the room of storages, as it is now known, and I am working my way up to that one
I must also confess I am a bit behind with my finished item blogs which I will endeavour to remedy in the next few days – I suspect I have forgotten the odd project on Ravelry so the count may go up slightly
what keeps you sane
when away from the normal comforts one really just takes for granted
coffee – I can live without – nescafe powder with sugar and coffee mate surfices
tea – all the tea in china but no black tea and milk, I drank chrysanthemum in bucket loads with my own thermos
bread – let us not go there
the internet – most of it not around – ravelery was phew and I even bought and started a new knitting pattern
skype is a life saver – talking to your loved one is a must
hot water – I have never shaken with cold like I did on the first night south of Beijing
Translators – with a sense of NZ humour a must
food – in moderation
