Dairing knits

Went to Melbourne Craft and Quilt Fair with SlightlySquiffled this weekend. There was quite a bit of squooshy yarn - lots of Noro - but the most exciting thing was the stainless-steel yarn from Dairing

I loved the layered dresses they had on display (sort of as above but more blacks and greys)

We both got some yarn and I've only just started having a play - it holds its shape when you squish it, so creates a really interesting effect. As pointed out - sitting down in a dress made from this stuff might be interesting...

Announcement of giveaway coming soon...

Back from the snow

Very long week - our mini visit to Lake Mountain seems like ages ago and it was only 5 days - I am still sore after finding skiing harder than unicycling and falling over lots

Here's some pics of the slow regrowth after the fires around marysville:

I have managed to leave not one but two jumpers at netball courts - hope I can get them back :(

Coming up: what happened with the shawl for which I was running out of yarn

Happy stranding discoveries

Recently discovered that I have now practised enough continental knitting that I can easily colour strand holding yarn with continental left-hand and English right hand.

It's soooo much faster than dropping and picking up each strand. This was a very nice discovery because I hear of people working up to this, whereas I've somehow learnt it accidentally.

Here's a pic of my twined knitting (Scandanavian technique where you knit alternatively with two strands of yarn and twist them behind each stitch) project using this technique:

Running out of yarn

Over the last few months I've been knitting away on the Spring Thaw Shawl - a very pretty pattern by Cheri McEwen from Knitting on the Border. I am also working on her Small Talk Shawl which is crochet and a lot easier to work (simply because crochet is a easier to keep track of where you're up to)
I've come to the point where I have a dwindling ball of (handspun) yarn, and 42 rows remaining in the pattern :s (I didn't notice that an even number of leaves down the centre spine was required before starting the edging so have to knit another 8 rows to achieve 10 leaves).

My choices...

• Measure remaining yarn against how much yarn a row uses up (time consuming)
• Rip back about 12 rows to have 8 leaves (lifelines remain luckily, then start edging
• Continue knitting and hope very hard it works out

hmmm

Treasury - Mobius Strip

RSS viewers can see the treasury here

Matt Smith Big and Cuddly - now a knitting pattern

For all the knitters who have been missing out on the Doctor Who love, here is my Big and Cuddly pattern converted into knitting ^_^ enjoy!

Download free pattern

This is certainly not the most elegant knitting pattern, having been converted from crochet, but it worked surprisingly well. I still encourage all those knitters who haven't yet picked up a hook to try it, because crochet really is best for certain purposes.

Pattern includes instructions for both knitting flat / knitting in the round

So beginners can have a go too. I hope to see lots of knitted characters spring up, like all the wonderful crochet creations out there. View this pattern on Ravelry

Have a look at the directions for colour and decoration in the Big and Cuddly crochet series to help you create other characters

Matt Smith | David Tennant | Rose | John Barrowman | Gareth David-Lloyd

Giveaway - octopus pendant from SlightlySquiffled

*** Giveaway closed - winner announced here ***

Hello!

You may remember my lovely bday presents from SlightlySquiffled ^_^

Today I've got a special giveaway for you:

eee! isn't he cute?

This design was a practice piece based on a design by Lorelyn Medina and will not be made available for sale. Prize is for aluminium pendant (no chain).

Giveaway closed - winner announced here

Off to Passing Fancy

This morning I'm off to 'Passing Fancy' - four day juggling/passing convention (of which I'm only making it to one day) - bit chilly - hope I can get my hands warm enough to catch things!

Eaton Fudge

Imladris gloves shorter and scarlet

Some shorter Imladris gloves available on Etsy

Get the pattern here if you'd like to make your own

Rose pattern add-on update

Hi all,

Realised recently that there were some errors in the rose pattern add-on, I have now fixed these and also fixed the formatting to match the other patterns in the series. Linda's add-on has inspired lots of cute versions including martha and some dark swan plushies (which I hope to show you soon).

download the new version

--

Other patterns in the Big and Cuddly series
David Tennant | Matt Smith | John Barrowman | Gareth David-Lloyd

Blogalalphabet

I follow around 250 blogs/sites, so thought I'd share a blogalalphabet of my most loved (mostly knitty/crochety) reads - I find I have a gap for U, X and Z - any suggestions?

Happy reading everyone :)

Angels have the phone box

Bonito Club / Brooklyn Tweed

Curious Knitter / Crafty Tardis

DELicious Designz

Epheriell Designs

Free Amigurumi Patterns

Geek Crafts / Geek Central Station

Hungry Knitter

Inspiration Fibers

January Wish

Knitfreak.com

Laris Designs

Mel Paton

Never Not Knitting / needled

Owlishly

PennyDog - Adventures in resin

qwantz.com - *dinosaur comics* (non craft)

ritsukurimono

Smoking Hot Needles

TECHknitting / Trailing yarn

U

Voolenvine Knits

WooWork.com

X

Yarn Harlot

Z