More shrinky plastic rings

Had another attempt at shrinky plastic rings. Last time I only did two designs but this time I did quite a few. See planetjune's wonderful tutorial to if you're interested in making some yourself.

Mushrooms!

Celtic bands

Another castle

and some Tolkien themed ones

Lots of fun :)

Would people like if I did a giveaway?

Works in progress - haruni and amelia

A couple of big projects on the needles at the moment. Has anyone else made an Amelia or Harumi? Would love to see them if you have.

Harumi shawl (rav link) by Emily Ross

Amelia by Laura Chau

Black mingled yarns

A yarn dyeing adventure with Slightly Squiffled equals the teal/black I had been wanting to make for ages!

It turned out more speckled than I'd hoped, but i hope to have another play one day and make a darker more blended version with thinner yarn.

And I also made some blue-y black

And she gave me this yarn, as she was less fond of the colour, but I think it's awesome, what do you think?

Corset mitts - first attempt

I had an idea to create some mitts that laced up like a corset. My first attempt wasn't quite what I was visualising, but it's an interesting effect. 

Unlike some other corset mitts I've seen, I decided to make the holes part of the glove rather than leaving an opening for lacing. This would hopefully avoid stretch in the edges of the knitting after lots of wear. They were quite fun to make :)

 Corset mitts on Etsy

Windsbraut - Sommerwind shawl

Pattern: Windsbraut - Sommerwind shawl by Monika Eckert (Wollklabauter)

This was a lovely free pattern, but involved a (rather hard on the eyes) full chart instead of a number of repeats. I didn't have enough yarn so had to rip back many rows before the edging to have enough. Even then I had to re-write the edging quite a lot of have enough yarn. It lost what I originally loved about the edging, but it's still very nice to wear.

The sunset light makes it tricky to see the colour of the yarn but it's black and teal and I love it to bits. In fact I love all yarn from Dyeforwool. Their yarn names are the best! Slightly squiffled has also been experimenting with teal dyes for yarn so I'm keen to go over for a visit and we can have a play to make some.

More owlish gifts

Pattern: Owlings by Kerrie James (rav link)
Finding this pattern so handy for gift giving this year. I made another two sets of Owlings over the Christmas period, one in hand dyed organic merino in 'damson' from EdenCottageYarns, and the other in some of my early handspun (which turned out pretty colourful but the recipient enjoys lots of pretty bright colours).

It's great to hear too that 'Owlings is currently being worked for re-publication'. The new pattern will apparently include 'three sizes in several gauges as well as a thumb gusset. While the original file will remain available free of charge, the new file will be for sale'.

Yay for tiny owls!

2011 knitted gifts

Knitted quite a few Christmas gifts this year again, although some of them were knitted earlier in the year. Thanks to all those designers who shared these wonderful free patterns


~For a friend~
Pattern: Cupcake Mittlets (Rav) by Shantha Ramachandran
Yarn: hand dyed organic merino in 'damson' from EdenCottageYarns

~For my Grandma~
Pattern: 198 yds of heaven by Christy Verity (read previous blog post)

~For Dad~
Pattern: An American in China (Rav) by Gryphon Perkins
Yarn: hand dyed organic merino in 'broken stones' from EdenCottageYarns

Made some changes to the linen stitch panel as I was getting some RSI issues. Think I made this one too long in the foot and not long enough in the leg (ran out of yarn). Hope dad likes them, think they may have to be for only wearing in the house.

~For Mum~

Pattern: Cerus Scarf (Rav) by Hilary Smith Callis
Yarn: My bamboo handspun - bamboo from silversunalpacas

Fibre FRBRisation

I started writing about Ravelry and the describing of knitterly information for a blog post, but decided to expand and submit it to the library magazine inCite. It was published with a few changes I didn't expect, and perhaps therefore has a different message from what I intended, but if you're interested in Ravelry/libraries you can read it here.

Red and grey crochet book cover by Geekworks on Etsy

Shrinky plastic ring fun

Can't wait play with shrinky plastic again!

I used planetjune's wonderful tutorial to make these first attempts (a castle and a sort of garden thing) but I've got lots of other ideas!

The tricky bit is shaping the plastic after its baked. I failed a little on this one, but hopefully will get better with practice!

Sour soreness and Salamanca

These little lollies may look innocent, but they have made my last week of holidays very painful

Ever since our 2005 trip, I remembered Tasmania as a land of tasty green sour lollies. This time, lured into a wonderful house of sweets, my eyes fell upon these super sour green apple delights.

I put the first in my mouth and it literally burned. After eating it for less than 10 seconds I had to stop, and five days later I could barely eat anything - my dinners uneaten, my nougat pudding abandoned :(

I suspect something was wrong with the sweets (perhaps out of date and very potent for it). I guess I have learnt my lesson and will steer clear of anything labelled 'super super sour' in future :/

We did manage, however to buy something a bit more yummy in Tas - some Ella Rae Lace Merino from Tasmanian Woollen Co in Salamanca Place - yum!