Spin spin spin

My first handspun , all plied and set: 100% Merino 21micron, thick and thin, dyed a spotchy red, 76.5 metres from 100grams (dismal spinning effort). But my first all the same .. :)

And this is what that Terracotta dyed fibre is spinning up like:

It's interesting - I dont like multicoloured items at all.

I've always hated the variegated yarns that i've seen - i mean, they're pretty, but what are you going to make from them besides socks? So I've found it particularly interesting that I've enjoyed spinning multicoloured fibres. Will I ever knit anything out of them? Probably not, but I do enjoy the randomness of the colours that come up, and the way the singles work up. And after all, isn't this what venturing into a new hobby is about ? Getting out of your comfort zone, exploring new things, and doing something you've never done before! I think so.

FO: Phildar sweet tie up sweater

Yay! Another FO post :) They make me feel so satisfied knowing I've finished something!

The knitting on this one has actually been finished for awhile, but I just couldn't be bothered sewing it all up, and actually doing the finishing because I stuffed it up twice already.

Pattern: Tie up pullover short sleeve sweater, from Phildar Tendances 456. Pattern number 456-T6-225 (Ravel it!)

Yarn : Bendigo Alpaca 8 ply, in Grey. I used approximately 1 and 3/4 of a second ball. I had heard great things about the alpaca and thought i'd give it a go seeing as though I needed something drapey in substitute of the cotton the pattern originally called for.

So what are my thoughts on the yarn? Well, I do love the heathered look of the grey colour. It helped me disguise a few mistakes I made during finishing, and gave the sweater a little bit of a textured look.

The yarn itself shed a whole heap during knitting, and I often made the mistake of unknowingly heading to the shops with a black sweater covered in alpaca hair only to realise at the counter. The yarn is also a little scratchy , possibly because the guard hairs haven't been removed. I'll definitely have to wear a little singlet underneath this one if I want to wear it!

Needles: 4.5mm UK

Comments and modifications:

Unlike other phildar patterns ive used in the past, this one is very straight forward and easily understood. No "huh" moments or frustrating frogging to be had with this one.

The construction of the sweater is interesting, but I can't help but think it was way too much finishing for something that could have easily been avoided.

For one thing, you knit the main part of the sweater. Then you knit a separate band for the bottom and attach it on for a finished hem. One can't help but wonder if you couldn't have just done the folded hem in one continuous knit pattern instead of doing it separately.

Secondly, the neck bad / neck tie. You knit these separately too - you knit two separate sections of long strips, and then you sew the two together, and then you sew it onto the body of the sweater. I did this originally, and ended up with an ugly result. I then thought it would be easier to cast on, pickup stitches, and continue knitting . Much easier, and much neater, but in my case, I ended up knitting too short a strip. By then, i was too lazy to fix it. So short little bow it is for now .

I do like the key hole, button up, puffed sleeves but my "key hole" is too big . I would make it smaller if I were to knit this again.

So whines and whinges aside, this really is a very easy knit. Straight forward reverse stockinette all the way, and easy to follow instruction. Just be prepared to do some extra legwork at the end of it ;)

Handdyed fibre

This dyeing gig is strangely addictive.

I could spend a day just dyeing and fluffing around in the kitchen making a mess.. washing.. drying.. and then fluffing them out into soft little roving braids. I don't have to make anything out of them, i just enjoy playing with the colours!

This is what I did yesterday :

Both are 100% pure merino, 21 micron.

The first one is what I call "Terracotta" because it looks like the wall of my house. 95 grams.

The second is simply called Blues and Mauves , because i'm not very creative, and because it's obvious what they are ;)

Sneak peaks

(Not going to type up a long post because my internet connection keeps dropping in and out for some reason)...

I've finally managed to have my first proper play with my new spinning wheel. I spun up a bobbin worth of pure merino and it's currently outside setting its twist. In the meantime, I decided to spin up my horridly (muted) hot pink hand dyed roving and from this..

I got this...

And on the knitting front... I've finished both sleeves of Thao's Central Park Hoodie and am now starting on the back piece. (Promise I'll finish before winter is over Thao! hehe).

A wee bit of dyeing

The other day, i looked at the 1kg of white merino sitting patiently and eagerly waiting to be spun up and thought to myself "gee thats a bit dull, reminds me of an uncoated krispy kreme - full of promise but not quite as yummy". So i did a little bit of research on dyeing, and decided to try my hand at kettle dyeing with food colouring (spotted at the local woollies for a measly 80c a bottle - cheap stuff up if it need be!).


So i started by mixing 2/3 cup of water with half a cap of Rose Pink and poured it into the vinegar infused simmering hot water..

The 100gm of fine merino fibre and surrounding water turned a reddish pink, and slowly turned clear. I then added in 1/3 cup of water mixed with 1/2 cap of red to try and give the pink a bit of "depth" . (teehee, loving that word).

Once done, I then gently lifted it out of its pot and drained it in a colander. Then i rinsed it with wool wash.

And then i put it out to dry. It's not as red as I hoped it was. Actually its a bit too hot pink for my liking. But 100gm might just do me for a pair of mittens or a beanie so it wasn't too much lost.

Lessons learnt?

• learn more about colour theory next time
• add less water so the colour is more saturated
• investigate acid dyes

On knitting and therapy

Ive always thought knitting was therapeutic, not quite cathartic, but definitely calming during a storm.

The other day, i found out that the site I work at is being shut down due to the low nickel price. A job i utterly loved, with people I adored, and with so much promise - all to be gone in 4 weeks time (we are on demobilisation mode at the moment).

When i found out, I was on my R&R week. I got told via phone, and at the time, didnt get much info as everyone else was in the "what now?" boat. So, i had one and a half days of anxious waiting. Waiting to see if I'd have to uproot my life and go, waiting to see if i was being made redundant, or waiting on news that i might be able to transfer to another division.

Throughout this waiting, I fidgeted. I tried to spin. I tried to read. I tried to sleep. All to no avail. The only saving grace I had during that wait period was to knit while watching Heroes Season 3. Something about vegging out in front of the tv, plugging away row by row was therapeutic . And it got me through to the afternoon..

And then i got a call from my superintendent and HR one after another. It appears they want me to return to my previous position at head office (the one i came from before i was "loaned" out to site and decided i loved it too much on site to be back in corporate), and in so doing, would have to uproot my life as i knew it. But that's okay, it appears ( i say appears because it still has to be approved by CEO - and nothing has been confirmed 100% yet) that I still have a job (and a good one at that!), so i am grateful .

Damn those greedy corporate banks for sucking us into this global financial crisis! I didnt think it would hit me, but I've felt a bit of it so far, and i hate it..

PS. I'm knitting Central Park Hoodie, in Berocco Peruvian for my pal Thao .

Fluff here there and everywhere

Much to the dismay of my other half, I have transformed the living room into a mini craft room of sorts.There are balls of wool everywhere (Ps. i found it cute that Webs sent their yarn to me in a Jamaican Coffee carton), yarn cakes to be wound, spinning wheel and spindles here and there and kgs of fibre waiting to be weighed.

You may recall that I had previous plans to turn one of our two spare rooms into my craft room. Well, those plans have been put on hold for at least the forseeable future. Looks like im uprooting from this life, and returning to a former one. More on that next time...

FO: Millefiori Cardigan

I feel like all i've been interested in lately in spinning... well, partially true, but I have also done some knitting.

Pattern: Millefiori Cardigan, in Interweave Knits Spring 2009


Yarn: Bendigo Woollen Mills Cotton 8ply, in colour Damask Rose. I actually don't like this colour very much at all (isnt that a typical complain I have??), but I have quite a bit of cotton in my stash and need to use it up for fear of moths eating at them. Anyhoos, as always, the cotton is very drapey, easy to use and not splitty at all.


Needles: 4.5mm UK for main and 4.00mm for ribbing. I knit a little tighter than most, so often have to go up a size or two.

Comments and mods?
Overall, an easy knit but ONLY after you figure out the clam shell pattern. I , like a lot of others, struggled with the clam shell in my first attempt but after my first pattern repeat , i "got" it so ended up frogging it and redoing it properly . If you're a tight knitter, the clamshell can get a little difficult given the large number of stitches you are putting on the one stitch, but there's not that much clamshell in the pattern so once you pass that bit, it's smooth sailing from there!

I also ended up doing a broken rib instead of a twisted rib through no intention of my own. I misread the instructions and after one inch of broken rib, decided I was too lazy to frog it. So i continued with it the whole way through.

Personally, I like twisted rib as I think it looks more polished. But oh well - its not something i'm going to lose sleep over. hehe.

In terms of sizing, I knitted the smallest one for a 32" bust. It's a wee little bit loose (positive ease of about 0.5" or 1") but that's okay. If you want a smaller fit, you might want to knit one size smaller.

It feels like ages since i did an FO .. so im pleased i've got an FO post for ya! hehe. One down, two to go.

New toy

Guess what arrived at lunch time today?

All flat packed from New Zealand...

3 Bobbins coming from the box...

All the bits and pieces... putting together the Pioneer Wheel

.. Outside with its coat of wax (the wax smelled of lemon meringue. I wanted to eat it)

... Playtime soon .. !

Spindling

On my recent trip to Perth for work purposes, I was able to pop into BilbyYarns, a little store in Myaree and have a wonderfully long chat to the proprietor, June Lynn. From my understanding, Bilby Yarns is the storefront for the Melanian Sheep Society, and all the fleece, fibres and yarns in there are locally produced and made. June was a delight, extremely helpful and obliging in my millions of questions about spinning, roving, fleece, everything - something that all LYS should have ;)


The main purpose for me popping into Bilby Yarns was to talk / research / buy a spinning wheel. Bilby Yarns stocks Ashford spinning wheels and associated accessories, and also has on consignment, several second hand wheels. At the time I was there, there was a Dutch Flax (i think?) and a locally WA handmade wheel. June let me treadle on these (as well as the Ashford Joy and Ashford Kiwi) while I got the feel for it.


In the end, I didnt buy a wheel. The kiwi was fairly limited in what it could do for me, and the Joy, while portable and therefore fantastic for my lifestyle (perth to kalgoorlie to leinster and anywhere in between), was also very limited in what it could do. I have however, ordered a new Majacraft Pioneer wheel, which I'm hoping to get today or tomorrow via the courier.




I did however come out with an Ashford spindle, some roving / tops (i dont know the difference yet) and a brand new wool winder. My last wool winder was not aligning properly so i figured it was time for a new one.


Taking it home, my first day of spindling was disastrous. I had high hopes of being a natural spinner (teehee) but alas, all i could produce was horribly overspun, undrafted, yarn barf. The next day however , something clicked and the drafting seemed effortless, and the results much better. Still overspun, and a long way to go but i'm rather pleased with my first efforts !

Offline for the time being

In today's world, we often forget or we don't realise how much we've come to rely on technology until it's not with us. Being out and about without a mobile phone, left without internet connection and not being to go online, and one that now affects me, being left without a camera for 2 weeks.

Yup, I'm in Perth at the moment, off to restaurants, off to birthdays, off to parties, and no way to capture any of it. More relevantly, I'm in Perth, with a finished Millefiori Cardigan, lots of new yarn, about to venture into spinning wheel territory and no way to document any of that.

So rather than fill this text with descriptives and text, I'll just have to go on a short break until I get back to Kal (not till next Friday), so I'll probably be offline until then.

Until then, have a wonderful day :)

Time for a new craft?

Thank you for your comments on my recent "search for snugness" post re: looking for a nice snuggly winter coat. While i'm hoping to knit at least two for the winter, I have decided that one of them would be Wenlan Chia's Bulky Coat from Vogue Knitting.

I have always loved Wenlan's aesthetic and have enjoyed her previous knitting books. That said however, I have never knitted anything of hers up. For one, I worry about how the bulkiness of her knits would look on me (i'm fairly petite so I dont want to look 1- Like i'm swamped and 2- Like i'm gained 10 kgs overnight in all the wrong places). But i figured that the bubble coat was "bubbly" enough to look as if it was meant to be slouchy, oversized, and something to be deliberately gobbled up in. So, dilemma 1 solved. Now for dilemma Two. Subbing for Twinkle Soft Chunky.

I have done a whole heap of research into possible subs for Twinkle Soft Chunky and have found suggestions including:

• Brown Sheep Burly Spun
• Rowan Big Wool
• Plymouth Yukon
• Cascade 128
• Cascade Bollicine Revolution

However, on inspecting the gauge instructions, none of them was suitable (too small).

According to Webs, Soft Chunky knits up at 1 st per 1 " or 4sts per 4". That's a FAT yarn.

So i thought, hey, why not get 3 or 4 strands of something smaller and swatching? So i tried 3 strands of worsted weight yarn that I had in my stash (but am not necessarily going to use on this project), and it gave me 8 sts per 4". Then I tried 4 strands and it gave me 7 sts per 4".

Just how FAT is this yarn?

Well, 6 strands of yarn gave me 4sts per 4" that's how fat. While the calculations aren't exact, that's almost 72 ply of yarn (metric)! That's a whole lot of yarn.

So then I went this way, and that way.. and in the end i thought "what if i spun my own yarn"? Yes , I'm considering buying a spinning wheel. Of course, for such a big outlay of cash, I'd need to research it a little bit more.. But the idea of being able to spin my own yarn to the colours and consistency that I want it to be is just too exciting!

Bed bound and fondling yarn

One of the great things about working a FIFO (fly in fly out) roster is that I get 6 days off after 8 days of work. Yup, that's right - I work 8 days straight, and then get a whole 6 days off each week. It helps make up for working away and the long hours that I do put in when I am on site.

Having 6 days off each roster cycle means that I get a lot of "me" time. "me" time to go for a short trip, "me" time to rest and relax before going back to site, and "me" time to just be.. well.. "me".

One of the things that I don't like however, is wasting that "me" time. I'm on my second last day of R&R (rest and relaxation week) and am due to head back to site tomorrow. I am however, bed bound. *sobs*.

I woke up this morning unable to move my left hand side. It wasn't numb, it was just completely aching, with a stabbing pulsating feeling everytime I went to move it. After one hour of lying in bed (thinking it would go away), I called my other half for assistance and he promptly took me to see the doc. Luckily (or not), it appears to be nothing too serious, and that my muscles are just spasming. I've got muscle relaxants to treat it but 4 hours after seeing the doc, I'm still sore and unable to turn or move my head too much (i can type though!) hehe.

Now, i don't normally mind a day in bed .. but I do mind it when I have brand new yarn to play with! The postman just dropped off my latest package, containing Classic Elite Cotton Bam Boo and it's a beautiful raspberry colour. I'm planning on using it for Megumi Hirai's Rose Shoulder Shrug (I hope it's a good sub for "Silken Straw"?):



Unfortunately, I can only fondle but can't really knit because it tightens up the muscles. So, a day of R&R wasted. But at least there's something new to look forward to.

UFO discovery

When people ask me "do you go to the gym", I often reply with a smile "I have plans..." knowing full well that somewhere in my mind, I have blocked out all thoughts about the $60 / month that is coming out of my credit card and I have only been twice in 2 months, and that while I'm on site for work , I get free membership to the gym.

I block these thoughts out because I don't want to feel guilty about the money i'm wasting, the food that i'm eating, and the general lazing around i've been well known for .

Today, when it started to pour outside, I woke up and couldnt get back to sleep so I decided to be a little bit resourceful and unpack one of the boxes that has been hiding in my craft room for some time (a box that I brought back with me on a recent trip to Perth). In it , I discovered several sweaters that I had forgotten (including my Phildar Swing Jacket and Patti Cardigan).

I also discovered a shoe box with some UFOs, including my first chocolate brown Lisette Cardigan, Thermal Sweater, as well as a stashed away Phildar tie up sweater I had only just started..

I don't even know where I'm up to for Thermal, or if I even still have the pattern but luckily it's freely available so *phew*


Regarding the phildar sweater.. I am ooooooohhhh sooooo close, but in my attempt at being "smart", I decided to pick up the neck band and knit rather than sew on a separate neck band. In my "smart" state however, I grossly undercalculated how many stitches I would need and the resultant neck band hardly ties up. In fact, it just bobbles.


So, in an effort to finish off some of the knits I've started, I'm hoping to take a leaf out of Christie's blog, and make it my two aims to finish these knits. Unlike her however, I won't be putting a timeframe on it.. hehehe i'm just "planning" to do it ;)


And finally.. here's a progress shot on the Millefiori Cardigan. It's been very quick going.. only two sleeves and some finishing to go. Hopefully i'll end up with something finished ;)

Casting on... Millefiori Cardigan

A little something that I'm working on...

The clamshell pattern in a bit more detail..


Sorry about the lack of words - Happy Easter. Will be back shortly!

In search of snugness

With winter approaching in approximately 3 months time, I am on the lookout for a great Coat/Cardigan pattern for those moments where maximum snuggliness is required. While I did manage to pick up two of the said cardigans on my recent trip to Melbourne, I'm also feeling the urge to buy upwards of 20 balls of yarn for the pleasure of knitting a long bulky sweater coat.
In my search, out came all my magazines and booklets.

Here's what I found. (PS. I haven't looked online yet, so if anyone has any fab ideas for a coat cardigan, please let me know :D I haven't settled on one yet!)

From Jo Sharp Knit.2: Obviously I wouldn't parade around in a bikini all day long ;)

From Phildar Tendances:

From DB Cashmerino:
From Interweave Knits:
From Vogue Knitting:

From Rowan Studio 8:

From Knit.1:

A Whole lot of Food in Melbourne, Australia

As I mentioned in my last few posts, I recently went to Melbourne for a few days to visit some friends who had done the whole "moving east" thing after uni. Besides Marv, the other boys were actually out of town, so it became a girls weekend of sorts.

Melbourne is famous for a few things - great shopping (that I did have on the first day, but not so much luck on Chapel or Bridge Road the days after), a great bar scene, and fabulous food.

(Apologies for the photo quality - I was limited to my bf's little Olympus P&S which I'm not familiar with)

On the first night, we went to a Korean bbq place in the CBD (didn grab any photos), then Max Brenner:

On Saturday, we went to Apte (A place to eat), a cafe given a perfect 20/20 score. While the service was a bit slow, the food was faultless.

Then there was Maedaya, a little japanese Sake Bar with great nibblies (almost like a Japanese tapas restaurant).

On Sunday, there was Hutong Dumplings Restaurant:

Followed by Koko Black for delicious dark chocolate goodies.

Was I satisfied? Definitely. Would I head back for more? Absolutely.