After a long hiatus I've been working on a new design. It's been rewarding to return to the creative community after too long spent on lonely distance-study this year.
The Testing Pool is a Ravelry group devoted to connecting designers with testers, proofreaders, and translators. Ten minutes after posting up a request for testers for my new design, I had four volunteers. I'm always amazed at the generous spirit of knitters and crocheters!
The Testing Pool is a Ravelry group devoted to connecting designers with testers, proofreaders, and translators. Ten minutes after posting up a request for testers for my new design, I had four volunteers. I'm always amazed at the generous spirit of knitters and crocheters!
Swimming pool themed decoration was required to combat our Christmas day heatwave!
Inspiration from the Women's Weekly cake book and SimpleCookingChannel's cake.
Inspiration from the Women's Weekly cake book and SimpleCookingChannel's cake.
This handspun started from two complementary braids from jumbukjulie.
The braids were separated into piles of corresponding colours, then spun into blue singles and brown singles. Most of the singles were plied together as straight colours, but a middle section combined the two to create a gradient.
This project gave me some hope that bright coloured hand dyed fibre can be toned down a little for easier use in projects.
The braids were separated into piles of corresponding colours, then spun into blue singles and brown singles. Most of the singles were plied together as straight colours, but a middle section combined the two to create a gradient.
This project gave me some hope that bright coloured hand dyed fibre can be toned down a little for easier use in projects.
One week until the holiday celebrations - there is just time to make yourself or someone special a little TARDIS ornament ^_^
Image by Mrs Norris
Last night we baked some Christmas gingerbread for the family. The little packages turned out quite cute so I thought I would post a photo up to remember them.
I was going to just do zig-zag designs, but they turned nicely into Christmas trees ^_^
Ribbed Baby Jacket by Debbie Bliss
A special creation for a very special friend - this baby jacket was perfect for my imagined gift.
To compensate for less thick yarn I knitted size 38, and started with 4 rows of garter stitch to prevent a rolling hem.
It was a little tricky to keep track of rows while knitting the two fronts.
There was also quite a lot of grafting and seaming, but I actually enjoyed the process now that I am more comfortable with invisible seams and grafting.
If I made this pattern again (and I think I will), I would make a couple of changes:
A special creation for a very special friend - this baby jacket was perfect for my imagined gift.
To compensate for less thick yarn I knitted size 38, and started with 4 rows of garter stitch to prevent a rolling hem.
It was a little tricky to keep track of rows while knitting the two fronts.
There was also quite a lot of grafting and seaming, but I actually enjoyed the process now that I am more comfortable with invisible seams and grafting.
If I made this pattern again (and I think I will), I would make a couple of changes:
- I chose to graft the sleeves as other projects had suggested - this worked fairly well but resulted in a ‘stepped’ look because of the gradual cast-off. I would probably avoid any sleeve shaping in future.
- I would also cast off a little more loosely next time.
Kristi from the book Sock Innovation by Cookie A.
While I don't buy many non-digital patterns, I bought Cookie A's book after seeing some of westozcaat's (Ravelry login required) socks and wanting to try something a bit more complex. The book has 15 patterns, and I jumped to one of the last patterns because they looked most exciting.
These are definitely the best fitting socks I've made yet, and the most entertaining, but you wouldn't want to take these on if trying to use a cable needle, however, as they would take forever. I made them a little smaller by reducing the vertical lines on each side as recommended in the pattern.
The yarn is The Uncommon Thread Tough Sock in the Nimbostratus colourway, and I picked it up at Loop in London when I was there last year. With luck, I'll have enough left over for some fingerless gloves.
While I don't buy many non-digital patterns, I bought Cookie A's book after seeing some of westozcaat's (Ravelry login required) socks and wanting to try something a bit more complex. The book has 15 patterns, and I jumped to one of the last patterns because they looked most exciting.
These are definitely the best fitting socks I've made yet, and the most entertaining, but you wouldn't want to take these on if trying to use a cable needle, however, as they would take forever. I made them a little smaller by reducing the vertical lines on each side as recommended in the pattern.
The yarn is The Uncommon Thread Tough Sock in the Nimbostratus colourway, and I picked it up at Loop in London when I was there last year. With luck, I'll have enough left over for some fingerless gloves.
Two out of four sweater patterns I have made are by Laura Chau. I really like her style and her patterns are easy and fun to follow.
The Honeybee cardigan is originally a cropped, patterned all over sweater, so this version required lots of modifications, and highlighted how little I know about how to construct sweaters.
The project travelled around Europe with me at the end of last year, and I loved working the honeybee lace panels with this yarn.
Followed some other lovely examples on Ravelry, I changed the pattern to include three pattern sections on the back and and one on each front. I had to re-knit the neckline and rip out the button band multiple times to get the neckline to work, as due to my modifications I wasn't sure how to follow the pattern for these sections. The neckline turned out too wide, but I'm still happy with it and it is what I visualised upon starting the pattern.
Invested in some more expensive yarn for this creation in the hope that it might pill less. Socks that rock lightweight in Haida, which I previously used to create my Echo Flower Shawl (which has proved one of my most warn knits and is not showing many signs of use).
The Honeybee cardigan is originally a cropped, patterned all over sweater, so this version required lots of modifications, and highlighted how little I know about how to construct sweaters.
The project travelled around Europe with me at the end of last year, and I loved working the honeybee lace panels with this yarn.
Honeybee cardigan by Laura Chau (Ravelry)
Invested in some more expensive yarn for this creation in the hope that it might pill less. Socks that rock lightweight in Haida, which I previously used to create my Echo Flower Shawl (which has proved one of my most warn knits and is not showing many signs of use).
2013 was our second year attending the Australian Sheep and Wool Show. We haven't discovered any other large wool shows in our area so this is an exciting time of year.
It was three degrees walking around the Ballarat showgrounds so we rugged up with our woolly scarves and hats and gloves. It was mostly inside but the sheds were rather chilly.
Lots of pretty colours everywhere!
I got some more lovely stash:
Garrett hand painted laceweight yarn from Wool n Wire
and Skein DK in Quill from ZigoZago ^_^
It was three degrees walking around the Ballarat showgrounds so we rugged up with our woolly scarves and hats and gloves. It was mostly inside but the sheds were rather chilly.
Garrett hand painted laceweight yarn from Wool n Wire
and Skein DK in Quill from ZigoZago ^_^
Have dropped behind in the last months, but hope to catch up on my blog, even if just for a record of projects completed over the years.
Amelia by Laura Chau (Knitty | Ravelry)
Amelia is a free pattern on Knitty, and I first heard about the pattern on the Stash and Burn podcast archive where it was mentioned as one of their most practical knits. Compared to two previous sweaters that I made out of somewhat 'primary' colours (Owls, Tubey) and which didn't really turn out to be practical knits for our weather here in Melbourne except at home, I was much happier with this one.
Since I finished this project in July 2012 it has pilled a little, but I haven't found much yarn that doesn't pill, which makes these large projects a less tempting unfortunately.
Amelia by Laura Chau (Knitty | Ravelry)
Since I finished this project in July 2012 it has pilled a little, but I haven't found much yarn that doesn't pill, which makes these large projects a less tempting unfortunately.
Before the next semester of uni steals away my blogging time again, here's one of the large projects I've been working on:
Henami stole by Melanie Gibbons (pattern website | ravelry)
From the pattern description:
The Henami stole is asymmetrical. One side has a beaded cast on and a basketweave lace pattern inspired by a traditional Sashiko, or Japanese quilting design. The second half of the stole is dedicated to cherry blossoms blowing in the wind.
I'd recommend this pattern to anyone who enjoys following lace charts. Instead of the monotonous progression of many scarves, every row of this one is enjoyable in seeing what comes next.
The yarn is Schoppel-Wolle Lace Ball (ravelry) which I found at Wonderflex, Malvern. Long gentle colour repeats make this wonderful to work with. I would definitely be interested in trying some of the other colour combinations.
Henami stole by Melanie Gibbons (pattern website | ravelry)
From the pattern description:
The Henami stole is asymmetrical. One side has a beaded cast on and a basketweave lace pattern inspired by a traditional Sashiko, or Japanese quilting design. The second half of the stole is dedicated to cherry blossoms blowing in the wind.
I'd recommend this pattern to anyone who enjoys following lace charts. Instead of the monotonous progression of many scarves, every row of this one is enjoyable in seeing what comes next.
The yarn is Schoppel-Wolle Lace Ball (ravelry) which I found at Wonderflex, Malvern. Long gentle colour repeats make this wonderful to work with. I would definitely be interested in trying some of the other colour combinations.
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