Bamboo Bliss

They've arrived! (Well, actually they arrived last Friday) My very own sexy Addi bamboo DPNs! I got 2.0mm and 3.5mm, both sets of 5. They're quite short - only 15cm long - but oh so lovely to use. *swoon*


The 3.5mm needles are George, and they are doing good service on a new pair of Voodoo Wrist Warmers (this time for ME). As for the 2.0mms, they are the collective Luc, very sexy (sock-sy, get it?) with the grey Patonyle (thanks HappySpider!)...

White Rabbit announcing...

...my son leaving home, perhaps? I started this cross stitch birth sampler before my son was born, and although it's finished (with his name and date of birth omited for privacy reasons), I've never got around to framing it. Now that he's nearly a legal adult, do you think I should do something about it? LOL!

More cross stitch pics to follow, just for some variety :)

Nearly a pair

I've finally finished my first sock, and started on the second of the pair! It's so cute! I adjusted the pattern slightly to make it shorter to fit me better. I have to knit socks very slowly, cos I still battle with RSI (or whatever you want to call it - my hands hurt a lot if I do anything too demanding like playing the piano, embroidery, or knitting - all things I LOVE). The ultra-thin needles are really stretching the relationship (not sure if it's a friendship yet) between my hands and knitting. I have some 2mm (and 3.5mm) bamboo DPNs on order from Ozeyarn, though, for subsequent socks, and am hoping their lightness and flexibility will ease the pain :)

Tagged!

I've been tagged by HappySpider - my first time! I don't know that I can choose the next 5 people to be tagged, as all the people I know with Blogs (like all 4 of them) have already been tagged by Happyspider ;) Anyway, here goes :

***Ground Rules: The first player of this "game" starts with the topic "5 weird habits of yours" and people who get tagged need to write a blog entry about their 5 quirky habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next 5 people to be tagged and list their names.***

#1 : I re-clip clothes pegs so they're hanging nicely on the line. This is mainly because my family rips their clothes off the line, leaving the pegs barely grasping the line at all, ready to fall, but I also like them to be able to slide along the line, so I re-clip them to the biggest 'hole' so they slide.

#2 : I swear at bad drivers and give them the finger (out of their sight though). I actually swear quite badly (or well, depending on your point of view) and more than I used to. I blame it on my teenagers ;)

#3 : I hate Earl Grey tea, even though I'll drink any other tea (apart from herbal concoctions - they aren't tea!).

#4 : I used to belong to a cult, but I got out. It's immunised me against religion for life. That's not really a weird habit of itself, but when I was in it, one of MANY weird habits was I washed my 'top clothes' (bras, shirts, singlets) separately from my 'bottom clothes' (pants, undies, socks, skirts). I don't do this anymore - YAY!

#5 : I correct books as I read them - crossing out incorrect words, fixing spelling, typos, duplicate words etc... usually in pencil, but sometimes in pen. I have this little tiny perfectionism problem, you see... ;)

There - that's probably more than you wanted to know, isn't it!

I *had* to!

31 Jan 06 : Here's the knitting part finished and sewn together - I've got the zipper, now just need a scrap of satiny fabric for the lining, and we're in business!





Today I was at Jamison, so I had to go to Cassidy's, and Othlon and I just about fell over looking at ALL THE YARN they have - it's amazing! I really need a small clutch bag, something to hold my purse and phone and keys when I go out at night (yeah, like it's a lot). Anyway, I'm making a very simple bag - tightly knit rectangle, folded in half, sides sewn up, zipper sewn into the top. I'm using 5.5mm needles.

These two yarns are just gorgeous - got them from the sale table at Cassidy's (Yes, they have TABLES of wool on sale, not just a few bins). The photo doesn't do them justice, the colours are warmer... The soft olive green is Grignasco "Arabesco" (colour 860) - a merino, polyamide and acrylic blend. The lovely ribbony stuff is Filatura di Rosa "Tai" (colour 57), a cotton polyamide blend. It's shiny, and a mix of gold, light orange, soft olive, and warm brown.

I love this bag already!

Tychus

This is the Tychus pattern off Knitty, and my introduction to short rows. So I know how to do them. A lot.

I made this hat several months ago, for my DH - it's pretty big, but luckily he has a boof head ;) Even then, I only knitted 4 'segments' rather than the 5 called for in the pattern. This is cheap ACKrylic — will probably make more of these, smaller, with nicer yarn, in the cooler months. It's a nice hat design. Apart from the 'Bananas in Pyjamas' colour scheme, which was my fault :D

Musical Mitts

They're finally done, my son's musical wrist warmers. He plays electric guitar and bass, so the dual clefs appealed to him.

These are adapted from the Voodoo Wrist Warmers pattern on Knitty. My son designed the bass and treble clefs, and I made them. Both were unravelled to the lower rib edge at least once each! My son is a little - obsessive? The top and bottom rib sections had to have exactly the same number of rows each (10), and the intarsia images had to be exactly centred etc etc... He wears them even though it's summer, so I guess he likes them ;)

These were my first attempt at intarsia - avoiding holes was the main problem, they kept appearing even though I was wrapping the two coloured strands around each other. Anyway, tis all done, and I do not need to do them again, and again, and again...!

Official Gloat

I was at Salvos at Weston Creek yesterday, and I couldn't believe my eyes - there were 3 bags full of wool for $10... yes, folks, $10. In these bags, which I grabbed with almost unseemly haste (only growling slightly at nearby shoppers) was :

• 19 balls of Pingouin Sorbet, cream/white, all the same dye lot and in its orginal wrapping. 50% acrylic, 30% polyamide, 10% mohair, 10% wool. Sparkly.

• 12 balls of Pingouin Sorbet, in a soft aqua blue, all the same dye lot. Also sparkly.

• An unopened reel of very fine knitting-in elastic, pale pink, 400 m.

• Some assorted balls of wool / acrylic / odds and ends.

• A single glove, a half-finished doll's jumper, and some knitted squares

So I'm fairly pleased, and I think I've just slipped into some higher level of 'stash acquisition' as my stash no longer fits in the wooden chest in my living room. There's enough to actually knit a WHOLE thing. I've tried dyeing the cream with food colouring, and there's enough animal fibre to take the dye, so this may end up being more colourful, too :)

Scribbling

I've started on my Scribble Lace! These instructions are from Unexpected Knitting by Debbie New (book brought along to our Stitch n' Bitch by Jordan - thank you!).

Basically, you need a thick yarn (I've used "Curly" by Filatura di Crosa in my sample, but I think it might be too bumpy), some very thin yarn or sewing cotton (I've used Gütermann upholstery cotton), and large DPNs or circular needles (this is important - straight needles won't work).

Do a long-tail cast on in the thick yarn. Work 3 rows of garter stitch with thread, then 1 row in thick yarn. Repeat til you run out of wool! The trick comes with the single rows of yarn - the working end of yarn will be at the other end of the row after your third row of thread - so slip the stitches down to the other end of the DPNs or circular needle, and knit back from there. Catch the yarn in at the side of the second thread row, too, to carry it up along the side of your work. Hmmm, that all sounds as clear as mud... ;)

I'm not sure what I'll do with this, but am happy just experimenting with this technique at the moment! I'm using 7.5mm circular needles, and the instructions in the book do recommend a much bigger needles (12mm or so). I think it will be worth finding some 12mm DPNs to try. The boucle may not be the best choice - the scribbles are not very clear - so this might work better with a smoother yarn.



There are some free Scribble Lace patterns on the web :
Scribble Lace Scarf
Loopy and Luscious Scarf

Today I also ensured my teenage daughter's continued knitting habit by taking her to our LYS for the first time - hook, line, and sinker, baby! "Oooh, Mum, look at this!" was the refrain of the day :) I'm so proud - she's even starting her own knitting blog (link to be added once it's ready to fly).

Knit a Toddler

Yesterday my niece (nearly 4) visited, and I showed her how to use the ball winder, and helped her do the basics of knitting - first holding the needles as I moved them, and then doing the yarn over the needles while I knit... a good start!

I let her play with the ball of green ack-rylic that she'd wound... anyone want to knit a toddler?!
I'm still trying to unravel the knots! :D

BALLS to you!

I have been very remiss — I should have posted this last week, but Christmas, a birthday, and unbelievable heat intervened...

Taphophile bought me a SINGER WOOL WINDER off eBay!! Best. Present. Ever. It's in the original box (held together with blue electrical tape) and everything... it is SO COOL. For the record, she gave it to me on 24th December.

Isn't it funny - a few months ago I didn't even know what a wool winder was, and now I HAVE one, NEED it, and LOVE it.

Also, Dear Dotter gave me some needles and wool for Christmas - 2 sets of DPNs (both sets of 5 needles), a bamboo circular (short 4.5mm), and 3 balls of black Heirloom 'Merino Magic' wool.

I will post photos soon!