RoseLea Spins a Yarn

Shall we play...spot the difference?

2012-01-10T16:00:00.000+13:00

After my last post I couldn't stop thinking about my sock - should I carry on as it was or should I rip it?

Can you tell what I did? No, I haven't ripped...yet. I tried knitted a small sample of the pattern (this time correctly, i.e. including row 3 this time - who knew what a difference that would make!) and found that it was, indeed, slightly quicker to knit and looked a lot better. More defined. So, with a huge sigh, I cast on from the outside of my ball of yarn leaving the original sock intact. Just in case. But I like the new sock. In 6 days, or less, I am about up to where I was with the original sock (the heel flap). When I have finished this one, I will rip the first sock back to the top of the ribbing and reknit it correctly - and be much happier for it.

I'm not certain that I will be finishing any time soon, though. I am expecting a parcel of wool any day now. Yes, I know, anyone looking in my stash cupboard would wonder why I needed more yarn - but I did! This is for a special little someone (well two someones, actually) who is having a 4th birthday early next month. I have decided to knit her (and her young cousin who is turning 2 the following month) an Olearia cardigan with short sleeves and plain lower body. I think I will be busy! Why do I always do this to myself?

The yarn? The Little Wool Company perendale in cyclamen for the pink-loving older grandgirl and raspberry for the little one. Crossing my fingers it will be reasonably soft as I haven't used this wool before. Seemed good value and nice colours, both of which I wanted. If I bought yarn from a store in town I would've been paying at least twice as much. Knitting may not have been part of their birthday presents, then. (please don't say I could have spun the wool - neither child has caregivers I am prepared to give up handspun yarn to, unfortunately. Why do so many young (and not-so-young) people these days think that hand washing is to difficult/time consuming or not necessary?)

So, as they say, watch this space!

Catching Up...

2012-01-03T16:54:00.000+13:00

Even in summer, when the weather is warm (although the weather today is decidedly NOT warm and summer-like), one must think ahead and be prepared for when the cooler temperatures arrive. For a knitter, this means working away on all manner of warm, woolly garments to keep a body cosy when the thermometer drops.

As my store of hand-knitted socks has been wearing thin, literally, over the last winter I decided that this summer I needed to get working on several more pairs. Although I enjoy knitting I still seem to be rather slow at accomplishing any results - the yarn for the first pair was wound into a ball several months before even a stitch was cast on. But cast on I finally did in mid-December and have worked slowly away at the first Nine-to-Five sock (Ravelry link) since then.

Last night I began on the heel flap as the pattern had it written only to rip it back and replace it with the tried-and-true eye of the partridge stitch as I felt this gave a thicker, more comfortable result. As I was knitting the first rows of the heel flap, however, I noticed something rather disconcerting. I discovered that I hadn't read the original pattern correctly. My sock is pictured above. The original pattern is below. Can you spot the difference?

Hmmm...you would have thought that I would have noticed that the stitch pattern that I was producing didn't, in fact, look anything like the one in the pattern. Yes, well, obviously I wasn't paying a lot of attention to my knitting! I DO like the original much better but I'm not frogging half a sock, and three weeks knitting, and starting again. I don't think.

I recently finished my Red Current Cardigan knitted in Vintage Purls Sock (as is the sock above. I'm quite pleased with it although it may be a little long. As it is knitted top-down theoretically I could unpick the bottom and rip it back a bit and redo the ribbing. Is it worth it? I'm not sure. (Can you tell that I'm lazy?) I don't have a photo of the finished cardigan and I've only worn it for a total of two minutes so I really haven't had an opportunity to test out how much I really like, or dislike, the length. Yes, yes, you want to see the colour because it really is the best part!

Yesterday I also started working again on my Essential Cardigan which had been in recess for a few months. This one I'm knitting in Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool which I had heard lots of good things about. I'm not really that enamoured about it. When I first cast on it felt very similar to chenille; a feeling which is still to go away. The yarn is also rather delicate and will break with a half-hearted tug. It also contains a reasonable amount of VM, probably from the silk from the look of it. I'm not sure that I would buy it again although the colour is rather gorgeous in person.

I had got up to the picking up of the stitches for the front band, a part which I had been dreading for two reasons - one being that the dark purple is hard to see at night when I do most of my knitting, and the other because I really dislike picking up stitches. I know, I did tell you I was lazy! But I finally got down to it in the sunlight and picked all three hundred and umpteen stitches. Now to work out where I want the buttonholes placed and carry on and knit the three inches of broken rib. Yay! It's nearly finished! Yes, yes, here's a progress shot from some time ago:

As if these weren't enough I also did a test-knit for Jussi Turner - a Katie Snowflake Hoodie which will, eventually, be for my eldest Grandgirl. Again there are no finished photos (I am sensing something that I really need to work on in the future!) but, as soon as I have a suitable model lined up, that will surely happen. This was a fun knit and should be great to wear when the weather is a little cooler. I knitted this one out of Skeinz Vintage DK yarn - really nice to knit with and will hopefully wear well, too.

Ooops, I realised that I only have an image of the sample to show you. Sorry about that but at least it does show that I do sample my knitting first!

Well, that has about caught you up with some of what I have been up to in the last couple of months. Not everything, but enough of a taste. Now to go and mutter some more to myself about my sock...

1 January 2012 - It's About Time!

2012-01-01T16:11:00.000+13:00

It is a new day, a new month and a new year and it certainly is about time that I wrote here once again. Much time and many events have passed since I last sat down and put my thoughts down on these "pages". I won't bother going over most as they have been and gone - what is the use of rehashing old events?

But today is a new year. A traditional time of refreshing and renewing. Not one in which I make all kinds of rash Resolutions, though. Not ones which others will hear about, at least! We all like to think that the New Year will help us to become better and wiser etc, but it takes dedicated and honest commitment to change. Commitment that needs to last beyond the first few days, or even weeks, of the New Year. Do I have that kind of commitment right now? Maybe, but perhaps not to make ALL the changes I would like to see in myself. So slowly, slowly wins the race. So slowly even the tortoise may be considered an olympic sprinter!

So, what has been happening chez "Roselea" lately? Something good happened right before Christmas - I won a giveaway on Amanda's Small Acorns blog! You can surely imagine how thrilled I was! See below for the lovely parcel I received:

Aren't they gorgeous? Everything was wrapped individually in either tissue paper or brown paper and string (how long did THAT take??) when it arrived. The little packet of pegs and string (bottom right) is now on my wall with Christmas cards (including the one Amanda sent with the parcel) dangling from it. The bird, mushrooms and heart are all hanging on the Christmas tree (I so love ornaments that aren't the usual mass-produced commercial type) and the little pixie looks so cute propping up a photo on a shelf. The sweet little notebook and pencil are waiting for just the right inspiration to come before they are used. Now wasn't that a great parcel?

And speaking of parcels, I also received a very unexpected Christmas surprise (a cute sheep tea towel) from a blogging friend (you know who you are!). Thank you so much! I never expect to get presents but it is always nice when I do. :)

Christmas was a busy time for me with all my family here either for a meal on Christmas Day or on Boxing Day (or both). The weather was beautiful and meant that the little ones were able to get outside and play with the t-ball set and the water guns they had been given. I love seeing kids, both young and old, running around and having fun together.

New Year's Eve was spent going to Dunedin to help our daughter move her larger, heavier furniture into the flat she will be living in this year. As it was another beautiful warm, sunny day we took the "long" way home by going on a tiki tour - first of all around the Otago Peninsular...

I didn't take many photos yesterday but this one is looking down the Otago Harbour from about halfway along the south side of the Peninsular.

At the farthest tip of the northern side of the Peninsular is a lovely little place called Aramoana, made famous because of a rather unfortunate massacre there in 1990. The above photo looks across one of the lovely beaches at Aramoana towards the soth side of the Peninsular.

Once we had travelled both sides of the Peninsular we headed up the Northeast Valley and over the old road up Mt Cargill bypassing much of the motorway. Coming out at Waitati onto the main highway we then turned east a few kms further north at Evansdale and followed the coastline going through Seacliff and past where the old mental hospital was. Beautiful seaviews all the way along the windy road which crossed the railway line so many times I lost count. We turned back to SH1 once more at Karitane, where my parents lived when my sister was born many moons ago.

We stayed on the main road then, stopping at Hampden for their famous fish and chips which we ate on the beach watching the waves and the camping folk busily building a campfire for their New Year's celebrations. From there we headed straight home, happy but tired.

Traditionally, we go to Timaru to watch the fireworks at New Year but this time we were too tired from our travels (are we getting old?) and so stayed home like a boring old couple. Oh well, maybe fireworks next year?

Broken - Not Beaten!

2011-02-27T13:37:00.009+13:00

I'm sure that you will all know that Christchurch was devastated by a magnitude 6.3 earthquake at 12.51pm on Tuesday 22nd February. Although not as strong as the September earthquake, this time it was even closer to the city and, at only 5km deep, it apparently bounced off the volcanic basalt rock, upon which Christchurch is built, with disastrous consequences to the already fragile buildings. Five days later, already the death toll has risen to 146 confirmed deaths with many more people missing. A national state of emergency has been declared, mainly so that what needs to be done is able to be done quickly. Many countries have quickly come to the aid of New Zealand sending rescue workers, police and other forms of much needed aid.

Local people have also rallied to help those in need - an "army" of university students have formed and are helping to shift the estimated 100,000 tons of silt brought up from underground which now blocks streets and footpaths as well as surrounding homes. Bottles are being collected far and wide and filled with safe drinking water to be distributed to those who have no safe water. Food is being cooked and taken to suburbs who have been without electricity and water and sewerage for five days (and who are likely to not have these facilities for some time to come). Homes around the city, and indeed the whole country, have been opened for those who now have no home - or who have no faith in what they used to call home. Prayers are being prayed worldwide for the many who have need of them at this time.

All are in agreement that Christchurch will never be the same. But New Zealanders are a hardy, determined people. We come from pioneering stock and don't give up easily. Christchurch, like the phoenix, will rise again.

A couple of days ago my youngest son pointed out that Cher's song from Burlesque was very suitable for Christchurch at this time. I listened to the words and found that he was right. I don't have the knowledge, or the technology, to combine the music with the slideshow (the photos of which I shamelessly have stolen from countless places across the internet. Please forgive me! I don't live in Chch and I don't intend to go there at the moment and get in the way just to take photos - even if I was allowed.) but if you can, listen to the music while watching the photos. You certainly haven't seen the last of this great city!
(NB - the date on the video is the upload date, NOT the date of the earthquake!)

From Videos

Something Old, Something New...

2011-01-09T16:21:00.001+13:00

No, there's no wedding around here but I do have an (relatively) old project to show you as well as a new one started.

Which first? Perhaps the old one...the CPH Sweater. Progress, while not huge, is being made. The fronts have been completed, the shoulders joined (three needle bind-off) and the sleeve is in progress from the top-down. I put off the sleeve for a few days, as I do quite often. I like to think things out, mull things over, rehearse in my mind, before actually doing. Works for me! Anyway, once I started I sat down with my knitting in front of the computer and turned to Paula Ward's YouTube clip on top-down sleeves. I found this to be an excellent resource. Very clear and easy to follow. I made one change in that I wrapped every second stitch on my way around the sleeve, rather than every stitch. I read on Ravelry, somewhere, that this makes for a better angle of the sleeve.

Once I finished picking up all the stitches and started working in the round, the sleeve looked really good; I was so pleased with myself! Much better than struggling with trying to make a neat job of sewing a seam. Time then to calculate the number and rate of decreases. Then it hit me. There was supposed to be a cable right down the centre of the sleeve! Bother didn't quite hit the mark! A decision needed to be made - did I really want a cable? Yes. Yes I did. Ok, I had to bite the bullet. (Fainthearted folk needn't worry, this part was not photographed!) Ripping was involved but only the 18 stitches of the cable panel. That was enough. Right back to the pick up seam. Sigh. I then worked each row back in pattern until I had all 24 rows worked up complete with cables in their (hopefully) proper places. time will only tell if my maths was correct on that one as well. Cross my fingers that the cable ends in its proper place at the end of the sleeve!

All is well in the meantime, though. I am now happily working my way down the sleeve cabling and decreasing when I should. Stitch markers are in place to show when these were last done, in case my written records let me down.

Now for the new project! Did you know that I could, barely, weave? Did you even know that I owned a loom? No? Well, yes and yes! You probably didn't know that, though, because weaving is not my most favourite pastime so doesn't feature highly in my life. Now and then, though, it pops up and this is one of those times.

A couple of years ago I saw an advert for a small, 4 shaft collapsible table loom. My table loom was larger and more awkward to take to spinning/weaving meetings and I had been looking for something which would be more suitable. So I bought it. This loom had belonged to Anne Field (a well-known fibre artist) who was trying to make room in her studio (even the professionals have that problem at times!). She even sold it complete with a warp for a scarf on it. However, once home, this poor little loom has sat around waiting for me to weave up the warp that was on it. Finally, I have started on this scarf!

As the warp was a light yellow cotton, it seemed to me to be destined to be a summer scarf. In my stash I found some multi-coloured cotton/linen boucle which I thought should look quite good with the yellow cotton warp. I don't think it is too bad. It is hard to see my beating in the photo - it looks a bit looser than it actually is. I'm not sure what it really should be like for this type of yarn/project as I don't have a lot of experience with weaving but I think it is ok. I know fibres like wool will full after they're off the loom but I don't think this fibre will. Time will tell, but I'm having fun in the meantime and that is what it is all about.

I hope that you're having fun today, too!

PS - Thank you for all your encouraging comments, last time, about knitting the cardigan! The purchase of yarn is in hand and, provided the colour is suitable (hard to tell on the computer monitor) there may be yet another project underway chez RoseLea!

FO and decisions

2011-01-03T13:50:00.000+13:00

Today I have a finished object (FO) to show you and an idea that I am mulling over. Usually I like it when I'm thinking over something in advance, working out little details and dreaming of the finished article. Not so much this time. Why not? Read on...

I promised you an image of the felted bag I made for one of the Grandgirls so here it is -

Not perfect by any means, but I was fairly pleased with the results even if the hastily taken photo doesn't do it justice. The inside of this particular bag was a deep, but bright, blue which I also used in the strap. The flap was purposely placed off centre. The bag is totally seamless, made using a partial resist. Not showing up in the image is the sparkly firestar (? - I don't think it is that but I can't think what it actually is) I put over the last layer before felting. All little girls love a bit of glitter!

As for the idea I'm mulling over, I need a lightweight cardigan-type top to go over a long dress which I bought, and wore, for my son's wedding in 2009. It is a long, silk dress in a rather unusual dark purpley colour with lighter, more french pink, floral panels front and back. I wore a pale pink-purple top with it for the wedding but that is too formal for normal wear. It is a dress I could get quite a bit of wear out of (although I'm not normally a dress-wearing gal) by dressing it down a bit. I probably wouldn't find anything in the right colour down town to go with it, though.

My question is, do I bite the bullet and buy some laceweight yarn (I think I know of some fairly locally which may be the right colour) and knit myself a top? I was thinking of Simplicity (Rav link) which, I believe, should work fine with the dress. Any opinions?

I hope the dress still fits as I haven't tried it on lately. I've lost weight since the wedding so I may need to look into altering it a little. Shouldn't be a problem as I know someone who would probably do it if I feel it's too much for me. Bother it, I'll also need shoes, too, as I wore boots to the wedding. I don't think trainers would quite cut it, would they? It would be nice to get some more wear out of the dress, though, as it wasn't exactly cheap to buy. Either that or I'll need to think about selling it.

I didn't really intend to start buying any yarn quite this early in the year as I do have plenty to knit up. That is why this type of decision, for me, is rather annoying. But, when there is nothing in stash that is suitable what can you do? Will I really get it knitted up, though? That is the point. Lots for me to think about.

Catching up on what I've been doing...

2011-01-02T16:52:00.001+13:00

Surprise! I'm back again! Don't get too used to this but enjoy it while it lasts. I thought that I had better get caught up on what I've been working on over the past while.

I can't remember if I mentioned that I joined the Vintage Purls Knit-Along on Ravelry a few months ago (October?) but if I didn't, now you know. I chose to knit the Geodesic Cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio using VP lace in the Saag Alloo colourway. As you can see I have knit the whole body (it is knit all in one with false seams - seems to take ages but at least there isn't any sewing up at the end) complete with pleats up the front.

Next up are the sleeves. These are started with a provisional cast on under the arm and knitted upwards to the top of the sleeve cap. The sleeve cap is then sewn into the armscye, the stitches from the provisional cast on picked up and the sleeve knitted down from there. Simple to say, however... I have knitted the first sleeve cap but have stalled on sewing it into the armscye. Sewing up has never been my forte and the laceweight, at this gauge is particularly challenging for me. The cardigan has been in time out since the end of November. I must finish it before the warm weather disappears!

While I was not thinking about Geodesic, I was wanting to knit on Something, Anything else. Something that would suit what I had in stash. Something that was not laceweight. I searched Ravelry for days and came up with the Central Park Hoodie using the polwarth I had spun up a while back.

While I liked the idea of a jacket, I felt that a jersey/sweater would be more useful to me and my lifestyle so I did a little more research and found two or three sweaters on Ravelry using this pattern. A little sampling (yes, I do sample when the need arises and handspun definitely requires it) later and I was casting on for my sweater in the round. Yes, no seams to sew up!

I was a little concerned that the cables wouldn't show up very well in the variegated colouring of the yarn, but I don't think it is too bad. There aren't many cables and they are simple ones to boot. I have knitted up to the armholes where I split the front main cable in two and worked the first side of the front in the flat. The front is now up to the point where I need to decide on the neckline decreasing - something for me to concentrate on this evening.

The other craftwork I did recently, was to make three little felted shoulder bags for our little Grandgirls as last-minute Christmas presents. Unfortunately, they were so last minute (I was hastily putting finishing touches to them on Christmas morning and they were still slightly damp even then!) that I only have a photo of one of them - which it looks as if you may have to wait until tomorrow to see as Blogger isn't letting me upload another photo! So, until then...enjoy your day!

New Day, New Year

2011-01-01T16:57:00.001+13:00

Happy New Year!

It is a little late to round out the old year with a final posting so perhaps it's a good idea to start afresh this year. Not that I have anything in particular to say. I've just been on here giving things a little tweaking, bringing them up-to-date at last. I'm not sure about adding images - you may, or may not, get any this time around. If there aren't any you will know that I haven't ironed out the bugs of that one, yet!

Christmas, for us, was reasonably quiet. For the first time since our children were tiny I didn't put up any decorations. Not even a tree! As we weren't going to have anyone here for any part of Christmas I didn't really see the point in putting in all that work (and let's face it, dragging out the decorations and putting up the tree is WORK! Not to mention having to take it all down and put it all away again later) for just the three of us. Scrooge's ba-humbug, indeed! I must say that I did feel rather like that this Christmas, too, but that is another story and I would rather just forget about it, thank you, than re-live it all again. So, no decorations apart from the Christmas cards that arrived.

This year we were to join our eldest son (T) and his wife and family for a Christmas bbq tea. On the way we visited our youngest son, his new partner and his daughter as well as my sister and her partner, my father and my uncle. A long list of rellies but in reality only two stops to make. It all took time, though, and we were a little late getting up to T's. No surprises there! The kids were a bit hyper by that stage (as only 6 and 4 year olds should be - even the 9 month old was excited to see us) but that was to be expected.

The food was good, nothing particularly fancy but that is how we like it, and the company was pretty good, too. The girls opened their little presents in between courses and seemed to like them. If I can get the images to upload I'll try and find the photos on the camera of the bags I felted for them and show you next time I post. I was quite pleased with how they turned out, considering I haven't done a lot of felting before. I'm not sure that either of the girls (I didn't make one for the youngest) really appreciated them, though, nor did their parents. If I did it again, I would wrap them differently, and separately, to try and show off their real worth, rather than to include them with the rest of the present.

After the evening was all wrapped up, and the girls dressed for bed, it was time for us to head for home. I think it was about 10pm (late for the girls) when we finally left and never has that hour and a half drive home seemed so long! I was glad that I wasn't the one driving.

Now, a week later, it is New Year's Day. Last night we went to see the fireworks on Caroline Bay as we usually do every year. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go this year, especially as it was a little showery but, as it was the Bay Carnival's 100th anniversary, I thought that it may be just a little bit special this year. How special can fireworks get? Yeah, they were pretty good. They lasted about 20 minutes which isn't too bad. Any longer and you can really start to get fidgety. I'm sure they're not as loud as they used to be a few years back and that was what I really liked. Those huge, big bangs that echoed off the surrounding cliffs! The countdown? What countdown? That fell down even flatter than a pancake. No singing of Auld Lang Syne and no tooting from any ships in the harbour, either. Mind you, I didn't check to see if there were any in port last night. So, some parts were good but the actual running of the whole show needs a real brush-up.

After the fireworks were over it was a general melee to walk back across the Bay to get to the street entrance. So many people wanting to go the same way. Fortunately, most were well-behaved. It really helps that there is a total alcohol ban on the Bay for the duration of the evening. We were parked in a little side-street close by so across the main road we went (along with what seemed like another hundred or so other people) and back to the car. Easy. An easy road to go down to get back to the road home, too. All this a far cry from years ago when we used to spend at least half an hour or more idling along in the car trying to get out of first the carpark, then to turn out of the side-road and onto the main road! Diabolical. Still a very late night for me so I'm tired again today. So what's new.

(PS - the opening image, yes I got it to load, is an old one but I'm sure you will enjoy it better than nothing. I preferred to watch last night, than take photos.)

I'll tell you a little about my latest knitting next time I post. Until then, stay safe!

Spring Swap Surprise!

2010-11-20T13:39:00.002+13:00

Fibre Swap 6.0
Originally uploaded by RoseLea Fibres

A little while ago I had the privilege to be part of the NZ Fibre Swap 6.0 on Ravelry with the theme, this time, being Spring. It is always fun to receive a fibre swap parcel in the post and this one was certainly no exception!

Once my surprise parcel arrived, I found my swap partner was Matt, or Craftykiwi as he is known on Ravelry. He had put together a really superb parcel for me all beautifully wrapped in tissue tied up with multi-coloured string. The finishing details were lovely and something that, sadly, I fail at dreadfully.

Inside the package I found two wheels of braided fibre - 100g of polwarth (Spring Fever) and 100g of perendale (Jonquil Blush) with a silk hanky dyed to co-ordinate. Matt was the very able dyer of all the fibre! There was also a very yummy gingerbread man (mmm, ask me how I know that!!) as well as some packets of seeds which will eventually look very pretty in the garden - Forget Me Not (Marine Blue); Salvia (Victoria Blue); Petunia (Primetime Blues mixed).

Matt also included a sweet little gift card explaining the contents, the colours of which co-ordinated with everything perfectly!

Now wasn't I just the most spoilt one?

I have already spun up the perendale which I may make into a pair of fingerless mitts. Maybe. The colours came out into a lovely tweedy blend without going muddy at all. Really nice!

Thank you, Matt!!

TDF - Day Three

2010-07-06T13:23:00.001+12:00

Day Three
Originally uploaded by RoseLea Fibres

After and before shots (left and right respectively). If you look really, really closely you can see the difference. Will this bobbin ever be full?

Tour Days One and Two

2010-07-05T11:38:00.003+12:00

Slowly, slowly wins the race - so the saying goes, but will it get all my wool spun? The first two days of the Tour de Fleece have started out rather slowly for me due to family commitments (how often do your Father and Uncle turn 85? You can't say, no, I can't come to the celebratory lunch as I'm busy spinning, now, can you?). Winter isn't really my favourite time for spinning, either as I prefer to spin in daylight - the light is better - and there just isn't as much of it in winter. Time management problems there, really. I just need to juggle things around a little. Enough of that, on to what I did accomplish!

On Day One I focused on the hand combed, hand dyed mystery wool. I found that I only had one bobbin already spun so I was able to begin on a fresh bobbin. I didn't spin up a whole bobbin's worth, but then that is a fair bit of spinning on a Majacraft bobbin! You can see below what I did manage.

Day Two was the even shorter day for spinning in which I spun up a little more of the merino dyed by Jan Gibb. Before and after photos, if you look closely, show a little progress on the bobbin.

I think I've broken Blogger - it doesn't seem to want to add my photos! If I can't get them up any time soon, look on Ravelry (my name is KathyR).

Let the Tour Begin!

2010-07-03T13:15:00.001+12:00

Tour de Fleece Collage
Originally uploaded by RoseLea Fibres

Tour de Fleece 2010 begins today - my goal is to spin up as much of the fibre in the picture as I can. Time will tell what I can accomplish.
Let the Fleece be with you!

Here I Go Again...!

2010-04-15T14:28:00.005+12:00

I said last time that I would be back soon so here I am! So much has happened since I last wrote a "proper" post that I'm not sure that I will be able to catch up, but here goes...

Fibre Swap
In December of last year, members of the New Zealand Fibre Swap Ravelry group had a secret swap which I joined in on for the first time. My swapee (the one whom I received a parcel from) was Kate and if you look at the photos of the gorgeous items she sent you will see just how spoilt I was! Thank you again, Kate!

Blendy's Yarn Sampler Box
In January I joined in with many others and bought a box in Blendy's New Zealand Yarn Sampler Box with what I felt, at the time, was a mixed success. I felt that $35.00 (plus postage for a rather oversized box for what what inside) was a little steep considering what was contained in the package.

After I got over my initial disappointment, I did a bit of maths and sort of realised that maybe the cost wasn't too bad but I still feel that it is a lot considering that it is really hard to use up very little samples in a useful way. I guess it is a way, though, to put my creative hat on - if I can find it, that is!

Both the Fibre Swap and the Sampler Box have just had, or are into, their next round but I have decided not to join up with either this time. Financial restraints, time restraints etc, etc.

Time's fast running out so this will have to be it, for now. I have a horrible feeling that no photos will appear. Not sure why but I don't have the time now to try and fix it. Will try and do that in the weekend. Till then, cheerio!

Quick Post

2010-04-07T12:29:00.002+12:00

Just peeking in quickly to say:

I want to win the Spinning A Yarn Tussah Silk! Thanks to http://spinayarn.felt.co.nz & www.blendy.co.nz. @blendy

Be sure to take a look at Blendy's blog and even sign up for a Box! Lots of lovely goodies to be found here from all over New Zealand.

I am still around and will be back soon to tell of a few things I've been up to since I was last around. So, until then...

Hello again!

2009-07-05T15:40:00.003+12:00

Well, it has been a while to say the least! Lots of things have been happening here the first being the rather successful South Canterbury Creative Fibre Festival way back in April. (Has it really been that long?)

Heather and I were responsible for the education, a fairly big part of any Festival. Early on, when word "got out" that there would be no formal classes this time, there was an initial outpouring of ill-feeling among a small number of CF members around the country. This caused us to pull our heads in for a while but it soon blew over as people thought a little more about things.

Now the Festival is over and folk have experienced how the education was set up this year with 45 minute lectures/demonstrations and plenty of time in between each one, we have had so many positive comments that all the negative ones way back at the beginning have been well and truly left in the past. Not that either of us would jump at the chance of doing it all again any time soon! I know I was so totally exhausted by the end of it all that it took me a good 5 or 6 days to start feeling normal again. It didn't help matters when I needed to go to the A & E department at the local hospital to get 6 stitches in my arm after cutting it on a metal door which caught on my sleeve. Ever the clutz!

The next important thing to happen was our son's marriage last month. Yes, they chose a winter wedding. On the plus side, the sun was shining by the afternoon so it was lovely for the photos outside even though it was really cold. It could have been worse. Much worse. Sorry, I don't have any photos to show you at this stage. I must have had the worst seat in the room for photos (up the front but to the side - all you got was side-on backs) and I don't have any other copies yet. Maybe one day. But it was quite a nice wedding at a local-to-us camp-site (the bride's family live down south and the bride and groom live further north) on the edge of native bush. (If it had been earlier in the year when the kowhai was blooming, the area would have been filled with the sound of the bellbirds) The hall is pretty average but a local lady drapes it with frost cloth making it really pretty inside. Instead of a bridesmaids/groomsmen they chose to have their two daughters (aged 5 and 3) and niece and nephew (aged 6 and around 2) as their wedding party. An interesting choice but the kids did look cute dressed in lavendar purple. Anyway, a good time was had by all. Other son tells us they are getting married in Feb 2010 - only 20 months away!

Knitting? Yes, there has been a little knitting going on, with the emphasis on a little. Finally, at last, the Wildflower Socks are finished, as you can see above, and off the needles. Just in time, too. Not too many days ago I started to pull on the socks I was going to wear that day and riiiipp! Aaaaahhh! A hole appeared in the very thin heel of the first pair of socks I knitted for myself 6 or 7 or even 8 years ago. Yes, I have worn them constantly all this time, throwing them in the washing machine and pegging them on the line to dry. A very sad day but I am really glad I have another pair to replace them as the weather has been rather cold and wet recently. I guess we can't expect much else in winter so I'm trying not to complain too much. I haven't noticed the cold as much this year, anyway, as the logfire has made the house so cosy warm.

My uncle and my father both turn/ed 84 this week (my uncle yesterday and my father on Wednesday). With a family dinner last night, I needed to think of a small present to give my uncle. As he rides a pushbike everywhere (has never driven a car) I thought a warm pair of fingerless mittens might be welcome so out came my needles and wool. I used Clara Parkes' Maine Morning Mitts pattern as it is simple to knit and quite smart for either men or women. I had some dark blue alpaca/merino yarn from the Milton millshop in my stash so was all set to go. I increased the stitch count by 6 stitches as the yarn was DK and I was knitting for a man (allbeit my uncle is a small man). I added 2 stitches in the thumb. My uncle tried the mitts on when he opened his parcel and didn't take them off all night. I think he liked them! I must say I rather liked them, too, as I needed to keep trying them on while they were in progress - nice and cosy!

My Braided Pullover is still making progress, slowly. The body has been completed up to the armhole and one sleeve is approximately 3/4 done. The other sleeve will be ripped out as I feel it will be too tight. The more I work on this jersey the less I think I like it. Maybe it will be different when I get it all together?

There has also been a little spinning going on. Earlier this year I gave a quick demonstration of plying a beaded yarn at our spinning group. I am intending on using this yarn, along with the rest of the unbeaded yarn, to make a slouchy beret-style hat. I will need to hurry with this as I would like it to be ready for display at our group's Open Day on September 17.

I also recently bought a kilo of Arapawa wool from a woman on Trade Me. It is always a tricky business to buy wool sight unseen and this was no exception. The wool has been carded and, I guess, is a good example of the breed. That being said, it is not really what I would call good wool. It has a short staple with a very high number of nepps, noils, call them what you will. Also a lot of VM. But then, all this is really to be expected from this breed. It is a largely feral breed and the wool reflects this. It does make for interesting spinning! It is very stretchy and fairly soft. The finished skein bloomed quite a bit in the washed but also shrunk in length a fair bit too. Not a good picture but the yarn is very tweedy, which is what I wanted. I'm not sure if I will make the rug/afghan I was going to use it for originally or whether it will become a comfy jersey yet. Time will tell.

Anyone care to join me in the frogpond?

2009-02-26T12:35:00.004+13:00

Yes, here I am again after a short hiatus. Quite a lot has happened in the last three weeks or so since I have been here...

My sister's birthday - what there is of our reasonably local family celebrated by going out to dinner at an Indian restaurant. Not my favourite type of food (definitely not my daughter's!) but it was ok.

Granddaughter's first birthday! A big event in a little girl's life. We travelled up to Ashburton taking Dad with us. It wasn't quite her birthday but her "real" birthday fell on the Monday. D was already up there as he has been helping our son cut up trees that were felled in a strong wind last month so I had to drive. We had a lovely time there but I missed a little drama centred on my Dad when D drove me out to the farm to show me how the firewood was progressing. Dad was fine but didn't tell me what happened (he fell off his chair and narrowly missed going through a window giving everyone there a huge fright!). The drive back home was a bummer, though, with Dad being hypercritical about my driving - I was always doing something wrong in his opinion! (Just a note here, I believe my driving is very safe. I have often been complimented by friends when I taken them somewhere and have never had an accident - Dad has had several!) By the time we dropped him off I had had enough. If I didn't see Dad until next year it would have been too soon. No, I am not exaggerating but I have got over it. He did totally spoil what should have been a special day, though.

T's real birthday, 9 Feb, saw me in hospital for a scheduled eye operation. It wasn't a huge procedure (the excision of a pterygium and a conjunctival graft) but I have never been "under the knife" before. Apparently, patients having this operation usually have a general anaesthetic. My opthalmologist felt I was a good candidate for a local anaesthetic. Much better for a good recovery, but scary! I didn't even have a sedative. It was offered but, never even having had one of these before, I wasn't sure how it would affect me. Just call me brave!

Once I was settled in position on the operating table (how narrow are they!) my head was wrapped up and some sort of sticky stuff was put over my eye and a window peeled off. Anaesthetic drops were put in my eye and, once they had taken effect, an injection was inserted to numb the area around the eye. The surgeon then got to work taking off the growth and taking a graft from another part of my eye to cover the wound. I didn't bother to count how many minute stitches he made(after more drops were put in - I could feel the needle!) but it was quite a few. Dissolving ones, thank goodness. That was it! Not too bad after all and only took about 45 minutes. After half an hour or so (I was allowed something to eat then - yay! as I had not been allowed breakfast or even my cup of hot chocolate!) I was able to go home and recuperate.

All the material I had been given said that there was normally a fair bit of pain for which the doctor would prescribe painkillers. I took the paracetemol and ibuprofen as prescribed but, apart from a little prickling from the stitches and a sensitivity to light on the first day afterwards, I was fine. I saw the opthalmologist the day after the op and he, again, warned that I could expect to experience quite a bit of pain for some time as the eye healed. What can I say. I'm not normal! I did have a bit of a black eye for a while and the eye is a little red but otherwise I'm fine. I could even read without discomfort.

What DID hurt, though, was putting my back out the following day bending down to pick up something I had dropped on the floor! I think my back muscles had tensed up a lot on the operating table and bending down did them in. It has taken ages to come nearly right but it still hasn't settled down completely. I may need to seek treatment of some sort for my back as it often plays up if I do a lot of bending. I guess losing a bit of weight would help, too.

Coinciding with my eye operation came a radical change in the weather. I went in to the hospital that morning with the sun shining and the temperature, at 7.30 in the morning warm enough for me to be wearing a t-shirt. When I came out, just after lunchtime, a southerly had come through and the temperature had plummeted. Over three weeks later and it still hasn't been warm enough to do that outside since. Rain and cloudy skies have been the norm with the sun only making its appearance yesterday and today. It seems as if we have moved from a very warm Summer into Autumn overight, and February is supposed to be our hottest month. I feel cheated.

The plus side of the cooler weather is that I have once more got back into knitting. Well, after all the spinning I have been doing over the last few months, don't you agree that I needed to? Trouble is that I'm not working on using up the yarn I've been spinning. I am using yarn from my stash, though, so it isn't all bad!

I don't know if you recognise this but it is the beginning of Alina Khasanova's Braided Pullover from IK's Fall 08. The yarn I'm using is a merino/alpaca blend from the Milton millshop (Quality Yarns). A soft heathery brown (not grey - the camera lies) it is wonderfully soft and warm. But I have a problem. The pattern calls for a gauge of 20 sts to 4 ins, my gauge is 19 sts to 4 ins. So, not wanting to swim in my jersey, I went down a size. However, I have had a feeling something was wrong for a while. This morning I finally felt I had knit enough to carry out a measurement check. I put over half the stitches on another needle, spread my work out and applied the tape measure. What? Six inches too small? Try again. Same thing. I even tried it against a jersey that fits me comfortably. I was not mistaken. Unless I want the jersey to be stretched to its uttermost limits while it is on my body, I will have to start again.

I have no idea why this is so. Divide the measurement of the finished jersey by 4, multiple by the stitch gauge and I came to 209. Therefore I cast on 216, the closest number to 209. Before you ask, yes, I have checked and rechecked the number of stitches I cast on. It is correct. I really like this pattern so I will try again and see what happens. Sigh.

On a brighter note...did you notice the stitch markers in the photo above. No? Look here then -

Aren't they cute? I bought them on Trade Me for the princely sum of $1.50 plus $1 postage! I couldn't make them for that (considering I have never made any...yet!). Unfortunately the top ring is a little small for the 4mm needles I'm using so I use the larger ring instead. Still works for me, though.

Anyway, I guess I will have to face up to it and restart my jersey. If anyone wonders where I am I'm the one in the frogpond!

The rest of the story

2009-02-02T13:26:00.003+13:00

Surprise, surprise! I am back again to try and finish updating you on what I have been up to during the last four months. Yesterday I finished up with the skeins I had spun from some fleece I had dyed in the crockpot. Today I will begin with 2 ply skein I spun from leftovers of some multicoloured roving I spun, and blogged about here, a little over a year ago. The photo of this yarn is below:

The leftovers were only of the lighter roving which this time I spun and plied on itself to make:

Some people don't like yarns to barberpole but I don't actually mind it. Saying that, though, I have still not yet found a pattern for the main lot of spinning in this fibre. Not that I have looked too hard but it has been in the back of my mind as I trawl through the internet, look at books and magazines etc. One day I will find something which will call out to me.

For the little skein above, I intend to weave a scarf (yes, I do weave on occasion. You didn't know? Well, now my secret is out!) and include a soft little skein of dark blue wool I bought for this purpose. I think I will weave it in twill and may have narrow stripes of colour and dark blue alternating in the warp and use the dark blue exclusively for the weft. However, I may weave it in a log cabin pattern. I took a weekend course, years ago, in colour in weaving and this was one of the patterns we used. I was quite taken by it then but I'm not sure just how much drape it has. Being a scarf, I would like it to be quite drapey so that it sits around the neck nicely. Does anyone out there know how much drape a log cabin weave will have? Inquiring minds would like to know!

Next on the list of yarns I have been spinning lately is the leftovers of a bag of wool/mohair carded by Rotocard. I purchased this some years ago, spinning and knitting a small Faroese shawl for my late Mum to wear when she was more or less bed-bound. The leftovers now look like this:
The photo is a little washed out but the skeins are mainly a very dark blue with bright highlights of pink/mauve, purple, turquoise and teal. Squishingly soft, I really love this yarn! I spun this up in a bulky 2ply at approximately 7 wpi. There are four skeins here so maybe there would be enough for a vest, I'm not sure. (Have you noticed, yet, that most of my spinning does not actually have an end purpose? Sometimes as I spin I can visualise what I would like to do with the yarn but I usually wait until it has been spun before I really know.)

Some time ago, as in years and years ago, I was given a whole lot of carded "bumps" (more like roving which has been wound on a giant ball winder - possibly done by Belex carding) of wool when I bought a loom from an elderly Dunedin couple. The loom has long since been sold but still this carded wool lingers in my stash. I told you I had trouble throwing stuff out, didn't I? I used some of this to make a jersey for my Dad about three years ago but that hardly made a dent. Looking at what I had, I found this smaller bump of a grotty beige-looking wool. Should it go out? I pulled a little off and threw it at some water (all this wool has been carded greasy making it difficult to really tell if it will be nice or not). After its bath it felt quite nice and surprisingly soft. It had passed its first test. Next, I spun up a couple of bobbins and plied them together. The spinning went surprisingly smoothly considering just how long ago this wool must have been carded. It was also quite fine and definitely wanted to be spun fine too (unlike most of the other spinning I have been doing in my stash-busting excercise - spin it fast and thick and get it out of the way. Fun!).

The photo doesn't really do justice to this skein as it doesn't pick up its little nuances of colour. It is basically an oatmeal shade with some variations, darker and lighter, throughout. Quite pretty. Second test passed! It spun up into approximately a 4 ply at 13 wpi. Quite acceptable. I have since spun up two more bobbins and am halfway through plying those. I may get another two bobbins from what is left. Definitely enough to do Something with.

I haven't only been spinning during the last four months, nearly but not quite. I did start the jersey for D but haven't done very much of it.

I searched and searched for the Perfect Pattern for this jersey as I wanted it to be Special (so it should be Special as it was for a Special Birthday!) as well as wanting to showcase the lovely Gotland I spun for it. Originally I had thought of knitting it in a Fisherman's Rib pattern but then decided that it would look too much like the cheap, work jerseys you can buy in the stores. No, that wouldn't do. Maybe something with cables? I finally landed on John's Sweater by Nora Gaughan. I really love the pattern (plus the guy in the photo (John?) looks a lot like D although his beard is a little shorter (there is a story behind the long beard but not now!)) BUT it is a LOT of work! Cabling on every right-side row. I have to keep looking at the chart, too, as the pattern isn't untuitive for me yet. I have speeded things up a little for me by not using a cable needle but it is still slow. Our recent really hot weather (high 30's every day for a couple of weeks) really knocked knitting on the head but I still can't get back into the "groove" even though the temps have dropped somewhat. Should I carry on with this pattern? Or should I keep looking for a quicker knit? I don't know. I'll let you know when I know.

So, there you have it. The story of my crafting life, some of it anyway, over the last four months. I have really been enjoying the last couple of summer months. Maybe not the hot weather, so much, but certainly the lack of demand from responsiblities that other times of year have. So I have had time to actually work on MY projects for once. It has really been nice. Long may it last!

Did you miss me?

2009-02-01T15:50:00.004+13:00

Wow! I can't believe that this morning I turned over the page in my calendar to February. It has been four, long months since my last posting! What can I say? So I won't say anything apart from...I have been busy. I do spun up lots of skeins of yarn for you to see - nothing terribly pretty but I am in a spinitupandgetitoutofthestash mode. Mind you, once the fibre has been spun into yarn it may no longer be technically in the "fibre stash" but I guess it has moved over to the "yarn stash". Never mind, I'll think about that another day. Maybe at Tara. Moving on...

Sometime or other I promised someone (ok, Stella!) photos of my "award-winning" Serendipity (MS4) Stole. Yes, to catch up on my blog, I actually did finish knitting the MS4 stole, entered in our local A & P Show and won first place as well as the "best article" in the handcraft section! I suppose it is unnecessary to say that I was stoked. Yes, it is a small show but it was my first entry in the knitting section!

Here is the shawl blocking on towels in a spare bedroom This shawl represented a number of first for me - my first Mystery Stole knitalong, my first lace knitting (with laceweight yarn), my first bead knitting, my first time blocking, my first time kitchenering a large number fo stitches, my first entry (and win) in the knitting section, my first lace stole/shawl. I quite enjoyed the process as well as the outcome. I know that it isn't perfect, especially the grafting, but overall I am pleased with it. Will I wear it? I hope so. I knitted it with the intention to wear it to our son's wedding in June but that will depend largely on what I choose to wear on the day. So, in good motherly style, we'll see!

What else has been taking my time lately? In a word, spinning. I decided that I was tired of having so many fibres taking up space in my craft room. Being of good Scot's descent, I could not bring myself to simply throw perfectly good fibres away so I have been spinning up a storm.

The above is about 900gm of camouflage-coloured wool my husband brought home for me from a local auction. It isn't very pretty, but I guess would be a practical colour for every-day wear for a boy. I spun it up really quickly. Such a relief after the months I spent spinning the merino/soy blend (that's to come). It has spun up into a soft, bulky yarn which I may knit into a couple of little boys' jerseys to sell at the local market. Or maybe into a jersey for my husband. Who knows!

This lousy photo is of the 100g skein of laceweight (28 wpi) merino/soy blend I bought from Rotocard a few years back. I have no idea how many metres it is but it must be a fair few. It took hours to ply and then to wind off! I am quite pleased with the results and I may make a shawl from it. I haven't totally decided yet.

This large skein is, in reality, two skeins of yarn I spun from some fleece I dyed as an experiment in the crock pot. It came out quite dark and so sat around for some time before I decided to do something about it.

Above you can see the progress from dyed fleece (most of it was a lot darker than what is shown here), carded batts (I tried not to mix the colours too much so that the lighter, brighter colours would pop out of the darker background), and small sample skein. I liked what I saw in the sample so carried on to finish the rest the same. What will I do with it? Probably a hat but the pattern is, as yet, undecided. The finished yarn is soft and bulky at 8 wpi. Length unknown.

Time has flown and I need to give attention to other things right now. I will be back to finish the saga of what I have been spinning over the last few months (yes, there's more!!) another time.

In which I have been thinking!

2008-09-24T14:39:00.005+12:00

I've been thinking - never a good sign, my DH would say! Anyway...you may, or may not, know that New Zealand has 3 official languages - English, Maori and sign language (I think there's a "proper" name for this but it escapes me at the moment). Of course, I am fluent in English but I only know a few words in Maori (and probably murder the pronunciation!) and even less in sign language. Here in the South Island there doesn't seem much need to know much more Maori than this.

What I was thinking about was last year our daughter was on a European tour and visited the New Zealand memorial at Anzac Cove in Gallipoli. There were four New Zealanders on the tour, including her. As is normal in these tours, they stood at the memorial and sang the National Anthem (God Defend New Zealand). The three guys were from the North Island and only knew the Maori lyrics while our daughter only knew (more or less) the English version. I thought that this was a little sad on both sides.

(image courtesy of my daughter!)

I like to think of myself as being a fairly patriotic Kiwi. I was brought up with Anzac Day parades where our whole school would assemble in the school grounds and march down to the memorial about 200m down the road from the schoo. Each class would place a wreath on the memorial and listen to the trumpet playing the Last Post. We would also sing the National Anthem. Our National Anthem was also sung at assembly each week. I'm not certain this was normal, even in my generation, as I know that a lot of my peers would have no idea of the words to God Defend New Zealand.

However, my thinking brought me to the conclusion that I need to learn the Maori words to our Anthem so I have challenged myself to learn them. By when? Not sure, but learn them I will!

I have been making some progress lately on my knitting. Of course, not the knitting I should be doing ( my DH's jersey), or the knitting I had started a while ago (my Cul-de-Sac vest) but the lacy, frothy little Mystery (aka MS4) I began at the beginning of the month. Ta da...

In reality, the colour is not quite so green and a little lighter. I am really pleased with it even though I think I should have gone down in needle size. I have never before made anything quite so lacy or using such a fine yarn and am rather enjoying it. Progress has been made since these photos were taken and I have almost finshed clue 3 (am at row 120 of 132). The images here show me at about row 30-something. The spinning of the merino/soy silk is also progressing slowly but I won't bore you with a photo more brown yarn on a bobbin.

Spring is warming up and the equinoxal (is that a word?) winds are here, although not nearly as strong as were forecast. The weather this week has been absolutely beautiful - is it tempting fate to say this? Long may the good weather last, though. The weather has made me think of other things, as well, such as another raised bed in the vegetable garden. DH's has some half-rounds he doesn't know what to do with. Told me they were in the way of where he is planning on putting next year's firewood. To me, half rounds = raised bed. Maybe I can sweet-talk him into making it for me? Time will tell!

Awww...shucks!

2008-09-16T12:13:00.004+12:00

Sometimes when life isn't goign the way you really want it to (I've got a nasty cold at the moment), someone comes along and does something really nice.

First up, yesterday a friend gave me a little posy of flowers! So sweet, and unexpected. It started out as a joke (I managed to "save" her from an awkward encounter of the felting kind) but she then turned around and presented me with a lovely orchid. Don't you love having friends like that? I sure do and I really appreciate her, too.

Then, today I clicked on Knifty Red's blog and found that she had awarded me this lovely blue ribbon! After a night with not a lot of sleep and the start of a day where you don't want to do too much in case your head does actually explode instead of only threatening it, this was such a nice surprise. Thanks, Kris!

As usual, this award comes with a few simple rules:

Post the award on your blog.
Ad a link to the person who gave you the award.
Nominate at least 4 others.
Leave a comment on their blog so they can pass it on.

So, without further ado I would like to nominate the following blogs for this award:

Bossy Little Dog - I may seem like a lurker on this blog but I really can relate to some of what she is going through
Knit, knit, frog - a fellow New Zealander but one who really thinks about her knitting (and spinning) and keeps striving to improve her work - even though I think her work is pretty darn near perfect as it is!
Kaylen's Blog - how cute can a little girl be! It is such a pleasure, and a privilege, to be able to watch this little one as she makes her way through life's journeys.
Spinning Fishwife - this time a blog from Scotland! Spinning, knitting and general family life - always something interesting going on.

There you have it - so many others are deserving of this reward, too. I'm not sure how others feel when they read the blogs of people they have never met, nor are ever likely to. I know that I often feel a little as if I am eavesdropping on their lives but, I guess, that is blogdom for you.

Knitting and, occasionally, spinning is making some progress. Slow, but progress nevertheless. I will show you one day.

"...Show me a garden that's bursting into life."

2008-09-03T12:30:00.005+12:00

No prizes for guessing where that quote comes from but maybe someone knows? Yes, Spring is officially here although I maintain it was here two or three weeks ago. I have seen daffodils, hebe, camellias, primulas and muscari flowering in my extremely unkempt garden (I would love to be a real gardener but can't seem to "get into it"!) as well as blossom on other people's trees. The weeds are growing, too, so the garden really is bursting into life now.

Instead of getting the garden tamed, my spinning wheel has been busy recently and I think that I have finally spun and 3-plied enough of the Gotland to knit a jersey for my DearlyBeloved for his birthday in late November. If you can see the figure on the scale in the photo you will see that the yarn weighs 1.240kg - enough, surely?

On the knitting front, the Cul-de-Sac vest is slowly making progress and I am ready to decrease at the armhole (armscye?). I've been lazy, recently (when am I not?), and haven't been working on it every day/night but just when I feel like it, hence my lack of real progress. I have lengthened the side from the pattern as I don't particularly like my garments to be too short but I still think I will be happier wearing it over a longer shirt. Time will tell.

Now that I have finished the spinning for the Gotland jersey I am carrying on with the merino/soy silk blend I was spinning ages ago. I am spinning it fairly fine so it, too, seems interminable. I have 100gm of this and have spun up about 47gm (I weighed it to make sure it was divided evenly into two - there is much more on the bobbin than the photo shows).

While spinning yesterday I had a thought about what I could do with it (are you like that, spin something with nothing particular in mind?). I'm not sure, yet, but I have been reading Nancy Bush's Folk Knitting in Estonia (one of my "hurt book" purchases from Interweave recently) and have been inspired by some of her patterns. Maybe this will be a little fine, though. Only time, and finishing the yarn, will tell. I must say, though, that I really have enjoyed reading this book. Some of the cast ons are quite attractive and I really like the braiding. Such a pity that our weather doesn't really require the wearing of mittens very often.

Who loves a Mystery?

2008-08-29T13:48:00.002+12:00

No, not books, knitting! Here's a little hint of a Mystery I knitted recently...

Pretty, no, although the knitting isn't my best. This is knit in Zephyr laceweight with some locally bought beads I was trying out. They don't show up too well on here but the bottom line are the turquoise beads which I think I will include in the article I will make. They add a lovely sparkle! I used 3.5mm Knitpicks Options to knit this piece but found the nickel coating rather slippery for this fine yarn. An email to Morag (with an exchange of just a few $) should solve this problem as my Harmony tips arrived by courier a few days ago. I will whip up another sample to try the needles out and I will be all ready to cast on my Mystery on Sept 6, or thereabouts.

Cul-de-Sac is coming along, albeit rather slowly. I am up past the point I got to at the last try and I think it will fit much better. Thank goodness as I wasn't prepared to try again. There's only so much nonsense I will take from yarn/patterns!

The carding, and spinning, of the eternal Gotland is also coming along. One more bobbin and I will be ready to ply what I hope will be the last skein I will need. I will then put all the completed skein in a nice warm, soapy bath (I am spinning in the grease, after all. Mind you I always wash my skeins after spinning to set the twist.) and put them on the washing line to dry (dependent on the weather, of course, but we have been having some milder, sunny days lately in between the drizzly ones. Spring is here, folks!!). I will then be able to assess better how much yarn I have compared to how I will need for D's jersey. Maybe I will then be able to cast on yet another WIP.

What? It's August already?

2008-08-20T16:37:00.002+12:00

No apologies for my long absence - I'm here and that is all that matters.

Some days/weeks/months I just don't feel like talking and this last month has been one of them. I think this whole winter has been like that for me. But today has been a beautifully warm, sunny Spring day so here I am!

(hmm...that's bad, I had to read my own blog to see where I was up to!) Our new log burner is in and, when the wood is dry and not still a little damp from the rain, works very well. Maybe too well at times! I am pleased with it.

Remember the little lacy sleeveless vest I was making for the Fleece Challenge? Once the buttons were on it winged its way up to the North Island to go in the display. Fortunately, it wasn't chosen for the suitcase (a little pair of felted booties made by another club member was, though. A great honourf or both her as well as the club) so it was able to come back to me and was given to T, our youngest grandgirl. It only just fits her, though. Wow, has she been doing some growing lately just like the proverbial weed!

Now that the corriedale has been finished I've been able to get back into spinning the neverendingly-grey Gotland for my husband's jersey. His birthday is fast approaching (late November) so, knowing how slow I can be at knitting as well, can I make it? Stay tuned. (No photos, I think you would get as bored as I've been.)

But what is this we see here?

In case you don't recognise it, this is the latest addition to my collection of wheels. It's a double-drive Wing. After bringing it home, I took it apart and stripped off the old finish and rubbed in Betty Kelly's finishing oil recipe which I read, some time ago on Stella's blog but which totally eludes me now (if you find it please let me know the link!). I am quite happy with how the wheel looks (as usual, my photo doesn't really do it justice) as well as how it spins. I really think that it has hardly ever been used as there is absolutely no wear on the flyer at all. In fact, I really had to sand the bobbin shaft back a lot before any of the bobbins would turn freely. There will be some serious spinning with this wheel sometime in my future.

Knitting? Yes, I have done a little. But only a little. Some time ago I went to the mill at Milton and bought two hanks of a charcoal-coloured lambswool/hemp blend with which to make a sleeveless vest. Well, I started by knitting the required swatch, counted the stitches and searched for a suitable pattern. I chose Elspeth Lavold's Cul-de-Sac as seen here and began.

This is as far as I got before I realised, ah...I know I'm not small but...! Out came the measuring tape and yes, it was more than a few centimetres too wide! Bother. So, I recalculated and have started again.

When things like that happen what do you do? Do you start over with all the vim and verve you had to begin with? Or do you feel the shine go off the item and start over but this time at a snail's pace? Me, I'm the latter I'm afraid.

OTHER THINGS are also going on in my life which seem to have sapped any creative energy I once possessed. I won't go into them at the moment. One day, though. Maybe.

But, for now, that's all folks!

What Have I Been Up To Lately?

2008-07-06T16:06:00.002+12:00

Long time, no see - I know but I haven't been entirely unproductive as you can see!

This top was made for the Fleece Challenge for the Creative Fibre Festival 2008. This year the Challenge was using Corriedale fleece. Our local spinning group decided to take part making baby wear as Corriedale is a fairly fine wool.

Washing the fleece was quite a challenge in itself. Even using very hot water I was unable to get it totally clean - it still felt slightly waxy but went through the drum carder ok. Spinning was fun but rather interminable (I wanted to get onto MY spinning!). I spun the yarn fairly fine and navajo plied it. The final yarn was about a 4 ply with some variations.

White yarn looked rather drab so I put it in the dyepot. Out came a medium-pale pink, slightly darker than I had in mind but still pretty. Because the yarn had been simmered in the dyepot it had also lost that slightly sticky feel.

As I only had 82 grams I felt a sleeveless top would be an ideal item to knit. I had a Margaret Stove pattern (has a singlet pattern I have used in the past as well) which I felt would be suitable. I adjusted the number of stitches as her pattern required 2 or 3 ply yarn. All went well and I finally ended up with this sweet little top! Mind you, it did take a lot longer than I had anticipated.

Gotta go now - we're (read that as D - I'm not silly!) taking down some ugly wallboard in our lounge in readiness for the builder coming to help us put in a new log burner to replace our dud pellet fire. It is now time to clean up before getting tea ready. Anyone who has been through small remodeling jobs in their homes will know what sort of mess my lounge is in and what will be needed to make it habitable once more! So 'bye for now!

Mosaic Me Game

2008-06-03T12:41:00.002+12:00

Just a short one today that I thought you may enjoy - I pinched this idea from Knifty Red.

If you feel like joining in the fun, go ahead!

So, what has been happening lately?

2008-05-21T14:46:00.003+12:00

Greetings on this rather cool, cloudy late autumn day! It has been rather a long, long time since I last posted - no excuse so I won't give one.

A lot has been happening chez Roselea Fibres. In a nutshell - Grandgirls have visited and gone home (a lovely time had by all!), new furniture has arrived and been used (I like laz-y-boy armchairs!) and new needles and yarns have been purchased (I love Knitpicks needles - thanks Vintage Purls!!) and received (many thanks, Stella!). I have also gone to play with other like-minded individuals at a knitting camp held at Waikouaiti (if you can't pronounce it I'm sure you're not alone! It is usually called Wack-a-white - spelled phonetically) as well as an Open Day of the spinning group at Milton.

During the school holidays (nearly a month ago now, yikes!) I had a lovely visit from Stella. Not only did she bring herself (which is wonderful enough alone) but she came bearing a gift! A beautifully soft, hand dyed skein of sock yarn (sadly, no photo at this point in time - I am having trouble with my camera batteries. They don't seem to be holding their charge; maybe it is time for me to buy new ones.) which, if you would really like to see it (and I would encourage you to do so as it is lovely!!) you can go here. My skein is the colour "Violet Beauregarde". Totally me! It was really great spending time getting to know Stella a little more.

As it was the school holidays, and kindy kids have holidays just like the bigger kids do, it was time for us to have our two older grandgirls for a few days. (Unfortunately, it seems that I am not a good Grandma and needed to be reminded of this requirement!) We had fun going to the park to play on the swings and slide, kick our way through the fallen leaves and study the chestnuts and acorns laying on the ground underneath the trees. Crayons and paper were retrieved from their hiding palce in the cupboard and pictures were drawn. Books, from a previous childhood, were read while snuggled up in warm beds after lavender-scented bubble baths. Corn-on-the-cob and carrots freshly picked from Grandma's vege garden were eaten for dinner. Toys and sleeping bags were dragged out to the little tent Grandad had erected on the back lawn. Many hugs and cuddles were exchanged with little voices whispering "I love you". Good times to be treasured forever!

Early this month I packed up the car and headed south to the little township of Waikouaiti. I had been invited to join some Dunedin ladies on their annual "knitting camp" - this year to study twined (or two-end) knitting. Unfortunately, Saturday saw me with a really nasty migraine which totally had my head in a fog when it came to "thinking knitting". I started on my mitten but knew I had made mistakes. Twined knitting, while not technically difficult, does involve some manual dexterity and a more agile brain than mine was that day! Not to worry. I woke on Sunday morning like a new person and after a swift shower in rather frigid conditions (the sign in the bathroom read - "windows must be left open at all times for ventilation purposes". Come on, people, have you not heard of exhaust fans? This was late autumn and two of the Dunedin ladies didn't make it to the camp because of snow and rain and hail!) I was all set to cast off my pathetic little piece of twined knitting beginnings and cast on afresh. Which I did with a lot more success than the previous day.

I rather like the edging of little arrow shapes. It doesn't seem to curl, either, which could be rather useful in "normal" knitting. By the way, twined knitting historically uses Z-twisted yarn. I wasn't sure if I would have any yarn like this in my stash but a careful search revealed quite an amount. I was pleasantly surprised. This yarn was some I had bought at the mill in Milton. It's a soft merino/angora blend which I, rather unsuccessfully in my opinion, dyed and then overdyed as I didn't approve of the uneven dyeing of my first attempt. In hindsight, I should have left it as it became even more unevenly the second time around! Oh well, I guess it now has "character"!

I think this photo shows up the "crook stitches" in the pattern a little better. These are purl stitches carried out using one yarn held in the front of the work while the second yarn is held in the back and is used for the knit stitches in between the purl ones. The "stocking stitch" background is made with both yarns held in the back. This is the sum-total of my efforts on Sunday - nobody claimed that twined knitting is fast!

This rather poor shot is of the back side of the knitting. You may be able to make out the twisted nature of the back. It looks as it it would be stiff but this is not the case - it is firm but has a surprising amount of give. It is quite thick also, as two yarns are involved, making it a good choice for mittens which are likely to receive a fair bit of wear.

Other knitting has been carried out over the last few weeks also - a call for baby mittens for our youngest grandgirl who tended to wriggle around in her sleep throwing her arms out, her hands getting cold in the process. Of course, if a knitter receives a call like that what is she to do? Take up her needles and knit, of course! Balls of leftover baby yarn were retrieved from the stash and knitted up into three pairs of mittens - a pale pink garter stitch pair, a turquoise pair with a lace cuff and white edging and a pair of white mittens with a feather and fan cuff. They didn't take very long to knit and are now gracing the little hands of their tiny recipient (who is growing like the proverbial weed!).

Spinning has also featured recently - some corriedale fleece which I have washed and drum carded and am now spinning at about 32 wpi. I will navajo ply this and knit it into something "for a baby". This is part of a fleece challenge our local spinning group is taking part in. I quite like this wool but am really finding it a pain to spin as I keep thinking of all the things I want to be spinning for me! It will get done, though, and then it will be back onto the Gotland wool I started so long ago.

Time for me to start getting tea prepared so 'bye until next time!

I am from...

2008-04-11T14:46:00.000+12:00

Reading Shirley's blog (about a month ago - yes, I am slow!) I was moved by her (and those she linked to) posting on where she came from. Childhood memories. Generations past. Where am I from? Let me tell you...

I am from working class roots with smatterings of middle class generations ago. I am from English immigrants (who were originally from Europe via Ireland) coming to New Zealand for a better life for their family. I am from a love story begun on an immigrant ship on the stormy seas. I am from the music played by the talented fingers of a great-grandfather I never knew.

I am from Papa who came home safely from war. I am from gardeners who toiled morning and night to feed their growing families.

I am from men not afraid of sweat so their families could eat. I am from women who plied needles and thread to clothe their children. I am from Grandma who taught me the skills of embroidery - and who tried, in vain, to get me to drink tea.

I am from peppermints - hidden by Papa when he was baby sitting. I am from the peas I helped Grandma shell for dinner. I am from gladioli and carnations, allysum and wallflowers, violets and dusty millers grown by Papa for their beauty, not for their usefulness.

I am from high hedges and tin fences, concrete yard and grassy lawns. I am from wooden floors and bedside mats and Dad never finishing the decorating "improvements" he started. I am from the fire crackling in the grate with the sofa pulled up close to keep us cosy on cold winter's nights. I am from bread speared on a long "no 8 wire" fork and toasted over the fire.

I am from "Listen with Mother" on the big radio which stood on the floor and stories on Sunday mornings on the transistor radio listened to while still tucked up in bed, eating the few little lollies left by Mum by my bedside.

I am from my sister's hand-me-down clothes made from Mum's dresses. I am from my first new frock, the one Uncle Phil gave me for Christmas when I was four and the cuddly teddy he gave me when I was born - from a black and white toy police car with a red light on top and a little toy organ which ran on batteries.

I am from climbing the neighbour's huge apple tree with the neighbour's youngest son. I am from crying while watching "Lassie" on another neighbour's tv. I am from the old Plymouth car where I stood behind the front seat so I could see out, or slept on the back seat with my sister on the long drive home from Christchurch.

I am from dogs - our Chloe and Uncle Selby's Jill who let me ride on her back (NOT Aunty Betty's - Binks always growled at me!). I am from Uncle Selby's trial dogs, dogs I was not allowed to touch but only to watch from my perch on the old tin fence. From his horses with their soft lips nuzzling my hand for the sweet grass I gave them.

I am from red cardigans and black gymfrock, red and black striped tie and white shirt. I am from school milk, drunk through yellow paper straws. I am from padder tennis bats and monkey bars with sharp gravel beneath. I am from assemblies, and marching, school choirs and latin roots. I am from ANZAC parades - marching in lines to the memorial, the laying of wreaths and the tears of Taps.

I am from long summers in borrowed caravans, camping at the lake too icy-cold to swim in. I am from fishing and shooting at targets in the dusty hall and following Dad around the golf course pulling his trundler. I am from riding on my bike to the baths with friends on Saturdays and eating cinnamon sticks or aniseed wheels or TT2s on the way home.

I am from books and knitting needles - and curling up in a chair with both at the same time. I am from Dollar Scholar, man on the moon and watching Princess Anne's wedding on our new colour tv with all the neighbours crowded in the room.

I am from bad times and good times. I am ME!

Finished Objects, New Project and Samples!

2008-04-08T12:21:00.003+12:00

It's high time I posted again so here goes:

I have been busy "doing" stuff since I last wrote so here is a little insight into what has been going on in my life recently - the knitting part, at least!

Yes, the Tomten Jacket is finished at last! It was sitting around for several weeks until I finally picked it up again and wove in the threads and sewed on the buttons. No photos of it on little T but there is a closeup of the buttons I put on. Suitably cute for a little one, no?

A few weeks ago I needed a small project to work on in the car so I looked around in my stash and came up with a couple of balls of Sock It To Me yarn I bought from Elann a couple of years ago. Kiwi knitters will realise that there is a real shortage of nicely coloured sock yarn in our LYS's, although the selection is a little better now than it was. This was why I bought some sock yarn from Elann - good price and pretty colours! It is maybe not quite as soft as Opal yarn but maybe it washes up softer. I'm not sure, yet, as the only socks I have made from the skeins I bought were gifted. This is the first pair I have made for me from them.

I am knitting these socks using the Wildflower Socks pattern from Fawn Pea. I quite like it in the colour I'm using but I think if I knit this pattern again I would knit the socks toe up instead of cuff down - I like the little "flower" pattern better that way! Still cute, though. A closer look at the pattern is below although I still don't think you can see the pattern clearly. Sorry!

I have also made another pair of Maine Morning Mitts from Clara Parkes' book A Knitters Book of Yarn. A nice, easy pattern when you need a gift quickly. Which is what I knitted these for. A gift for a friend. She likes them!

So she should, too! These were made in Cleckheaton Vintage Twist which is a very softly spun, and plied, 100% woollen yarn. One ply is spun in a series of colours and the other in one co-ordinating colour - very easy to emulate for spinners. It knitted up very softly but I did have to be careful. I normally use a long tail cast on with my thumb, a very easy and versatile cast on. However, this cast on slightly untwists yarns which have been plied Z as this yarn has been. (I have just had a closer look at the yarn and it seems that it has been both spun and plied Z! No wonder it is tender!) Because of the very soft spin, the yarn began to untwist and drift apart, not what you want for a cast on edge. When I discovered this, I got out a crochet hook and cast on over the needle with that (like a provisional cast on), very carefully. It worked and, as I had done it loosely, it was a nice stretchy edge. I also used two circs to make these but only one at a time as I only had one ball and didn't want to tie myself into knots using both ends at once. I was very happy with the resulting mitts.

Spinning has also been carried out recently as our group is taking part in the Creative Fibre fleece challenge this year. The fleece being showcased in 2008 is Corriedale. Our group was given a 2.5kg fleece to use for the challenge. A bit more than we had anticipated (we were thinking of making a couple of items of babies clothing) but it seems we are the only group in our region to participate so we got the whole fleece!

I have washed about half the fleece so far. Some members may prefer to work with the wool in its greasy state so I won't do the whole lot. I'm not sure if that is a good idea, though, as it may be too much like merino for that. As it is, I think it really needs another washing as it still feels a little, well, not squeaky clean! I always wash the yarn when it has been spun up, so it isn't a problem for me so I'm not going to worry too much about it.

I have prepared and spun up a couple of samples so far and would like to get one more done before the next meeting on Thursday. The first sample I prepared using my Majacraft minicombs and spun the wool in a 2 ply worsted style. The last bit on the bobbin I navajo-piled. This sample (photos next time, maybe) is soft and controlled-looking. Looks how I expected it too.

The second sample I prepared on my hand carders and spun up using a long-draw woolen style (well, as close as I could get. I'm not too comfortable with this style, yet.). It has come out beautifully soft and puffy but, perhaps, could have had a little more twist both in the singles and in the plying.

I would also like to try carding a little on the drum carder and see if there is any difference between this preparation and the hand cards. There's nothing like playing around like this to put off the decisions of what I will actually make! But it is fun, and a great learning experience.

Look What the Postman Brought Me!

2008-03-18T15:21:00.003+13:00

Yay! I like the postman - sometimes. Saturday was a good day for me as the postman brought me a present - to me, from me! I do like that kind as you know that you will like what you get. And I DID like what I got!

This is what I found when I opened the box. Not just the book I had ordered from Marsha White at the Needle Arts Book Shop (all wrapped carefully in brown paper and tied with pretty ribbons!), but also a "from the library of..." sticker as well as a little surprise packet! What was in it? See here...

A little sample skein of Grand Merino - 100% merino wool mde by Puppy Yarns in a lovely dark, chocolatey brown. Soft, too.

And the book? Guernsey and Aran Sweaters. All in Japanese but the graphs have all the info I need. I think. It is a beautiful book with simply gorgeous photographs of the garments. Unusual to see writeups of the history of guernsey and aran sweaters in Japanese!

If you are looking for needle art-type books, I would recommend that you try Marsha's site. I'm not affiliated - just a very happy customer passing on a recommendation!

What have I been up to?

2008-03-15T13:19:00.003+13:00

Five weeks since my last posting! Oh, my, sure has been a long time. But I'm back again. I have been so busy recently with one thing and another - a new granddaughter, D having an angioplasty, K leaving to go back to Britain for another nine months plus a myriad of other relatively normal happenings. My poor head has been spinning (unlike my hands, unfortunately - nil to show in that respect!)!

Little T is doing very well as are her Mum and Dad. She sleeps well (usually) and is putting on weight as any good little baby ought to. We have seen her several times but not really as much as I would like. Unfortunately, too much was happening in my life which I could not put off for me to go up there and help out. T's Dad doesn't go to work until mid-afternoon so he is able to help out a fair bit.

My husband, D, had an appointment at Christchurch hospital for an angioplasty (not his heart but the artery to his left leg). After waiting about 8 hours (he was REALLY hungry by then as he hadn't had anything to eat since the previous night) we were finally told that he would have to come back again the following week. (They fed him before we left, thank goodness!) Timaru hospital hadn't sent up his CT films and they weren't coming through by email (technology is not always what it is cracked up to be!). As he was able to go in first thing the following week, we stayed the night in a motel. Christchurch is about 2 1/2 hours away from where we live - to far to get there, and find a park, by 8 am! For whatever reason, he didn't get the procedure done until nearly lunchtime and then spent the next four hours lying completely still on his bed. An hour of sitting up followed this and then we were allowed to leave - but not to go home. No, we had to spend yet another night in Christchurch in case something happened. Nice motel this time, though!

Can you guess what I was doing all this time? Yep, knitting, of course! During the first visit I was knitting a little Tomten jacket to fit Taylor for her first winter. I was using some leftover yarn from a project a couple of years ago BUT did I have enough? I knitted the body and started the hood. Suspicious, I left the hood stitches on some waste yarn and took stock of what was left. No, definitely not enough to even complete the sleeves. I have looked in various yarn shops since then but I believe that Naturally are not making this yarn (Lollipop - a 10ply boucle - 95%merino 5 %nylon) any more. Sad, as it is really cuddly. But I may be able to turn this into a little sleeveless jacket so my time and effort won't be wasted.

During the second time in the hospital I knitted a good portion of a second Tomten jacket.

This time I am using a mauve-coloured yarn from Naturally - Buttons. Quite cute as it has a tweed look about it. I had a lot of trouble finding a solid yarn to use for the trim but I finally found a purple acrylic (yes, I don't like acrylic much, either, but needs must!) which looks quite good with it. I think I made a booboo in the hood, though, as it appears fairly short. I may unfo the grafted seam and reknit this before sewing the sleeve seams and picking up for the band. This will be a four-ridge garter band with buttonholes as I don't like sewing zips in knits.

Meanwhile, I have started a pair of fingerless mitts using a free pattern from Jody Pirrello - Natalya.

For these, I am using some lovely soft angora/merino yarn I bought from Quality Yarns in Milton, Otago. I think they will be gorgeously warm and soft for winter!

And speaking of Milton...we took a trip down to Dunedin a few weeks ago (don't ask me when, it was during the last month - who know's dates anymore!) where I met up with Stella of Knit,knit,frog fame. We had a lovely time over afternoon tea getting to know each other a little better (she even had a present for little T - a bright green bib, so cute!) and showing her some of my loot from Milton. Yes, I'm getting to Milton! As Dunedin is only about 50 minutes from Milton, D and I drove down there to visit the mill shop. Lots of lovely bally of yarn here for really low prices! Well worth the drive. I blush when I think of how much I spent there that day. My, how even low prices add up! But I did bring home quite a haul - 2 kg of perendale sliver, a couple of hanks of undyed 8 ply perendale yarn (for dyeing), some 8 ply 40% possum/60% wool yarn destined to be a jersey for D (one day!), some undyed 4 ply 20%angora/80%merino which I may dye and use for the grandgirls someday and also some silver 8 ply 100% wool which I may overdye for moi. But, I also bought 2 hanks of this...

...a lovely, soft 8 ply yarn which is a blend of 80% lambswool/20% hemp in a tweedy charcoal. I'm thinking of a sleeveless vest for me. Hopefully with a few cables or some textured stitches. Not sure yet. I told you there was quite a haul! On the way back to Dunedin we stopped off at Lake Waihola for some lunch. A lovely spot for a picnic.

The lake is fairly shallow all over I believe and quite a popular spot in the summer holidays. While we were there we watched a small microlite-type plane land on the water then take off and fly around for a bit before landing on the water again. Rather fun!

Since all this has been happening, we have been up to Christchurch yet again (told you I've been busy) - this time to take K to the airport for her trip back to Britain. She'll be overseas for about 9 months before coming home again - hopefully for good this time! Unfortunately her journey back to Britain was not terribly smooth this time around. She slipped in the tunnel leading to the plane to take her to Auckland and scraped her elbow badly. It turns out that Air New Zealand planes (even large 777's as this was) don't have a proper first aid kit! They could only find two little bandaids, one being a finger one!

She then had trouble with the flight to LA and was told it didn't exist. It seems that although it was techniquely an American Airlines flight, the plane was a Qantas one (great food, K says!) which normally flies through Brisbane but was going through Auckland this time. Confusing. Once in LAX, K freshened up and had a sleep on the floor before boarding her British Airways flight to London Heathrow. With her bag safely checked in she got on the plane and had quite a pleasant journey in a plane which had several empty seats. On arrival at Heathrow she waited for her bag. And waited, and waited and...no bag! About 20 other passengers were in the same plight some with connecting flights to worry about. BA have been very unhelpful and very unapologetic over the whole business. They gave K a few little toiletries (not fullsize) to help tide her over. Ha! Six days (and one canned interview because of not having suitable clothing) later and her bag still hasn't arrived! British Airways suck - but, from what I can gather from other people's experiences, so do most other airlines. Not good at all.

Anyway, that is some of what I have been up to recently. Told you I had been busy!

Introducing...

2008-02-11T11:37:00.000+13:00

Finally, after a long and nail-biting wait, I would like to introduce Taylor Emily ---- born on Saturday, 9 February 2008 weighing in at 6lb 12oz.

The top photo is of Taylor when she was just a few hours old. The second one is of her safe in Daddy's arms the following day.

Her adoring Grandma thinks she is absolutely gorgeous!

As she was born by C-section her mum, R, will need a lot of care over the next 6 weeks. R's mother is taking 4 weeks off to help out and it seems like I will be helping (full-time live-in as they live 1 1/2 hours drive away) out the following two weeks so I will be getting to know this cute little one pretty well.

Waiting!

2008-02-07T13:59:00.000+13:00

An air of expectancy has been hovering over our home during the past two weeks and is now gripping us all with its tenacious hold. Every time a cell phone announces an incoming text or call everyone looks up with questioning eyes. "Is it the time, yet?" And the disappointingly negative reply is met with sighs.

The reason for our fixation? Our youngest son and his partner are expecting our third grandchild who was supposed, according to modern technology, to have made an appearance two weeks ago! But, like all babies, this one has her own timetable. An induction was set for this morning, however all the midwives in the small local-to-them hospital are ill today. Another appointment for induction has been made for tomorrow at the city hospital an hour away (two and a half hours from us). At the examination this morning, R was 2 cm dilated and had a contraction, unfelt by her, while attached to the monitor so maybe today will be the day after all. Meanwhile, we all go through the motions of the day hoping to hear the good news at any time.

Knitting? Yes, I have two FOs to report as well as another started. Pictures? No time right now, next time.

Excitement in the Roselea Household!

2008-01-20T13:08:00.000+13:00

Another finished pair of mitts - this time another pair of Fetching. A friend's birthday was coming up and I wanted to make something for her. We had agreed not to give each other Christmas presents (cost, etc) but she didn't say anything about a birthday present! I used a ball of wool I had already had in my stash for quite some time so I didn't think she would be able to complain too much!

As you can see the wool I used is an 80/20 blend on merino and possum fur in DK weight from Furlana. The colour is a dark aubergine not too different from the photo above (on my monitor!). It is so beautifully soft and very warm. My friend lives on a small farm and looks after the stock very diligently while her husband works. In winter she is often outside checking on the sheep as they are lambing, shifting the electric fence, feeding out etc. I would imagine her hands would get quite cold so I thought she might appreciate these mitts. Perhaps not very hardwearing but very warm.

You may notice that I extended the top of the mitts a little by putting in an extra cable. I also cast off normally instead of using the picot cast off as is written in the pattern. I wanted the top to be a little closer fitting. It was better, although still not perfect, but maybe they will fit my friend better than me as she has larger hands than I.

I have also been washing up some of the kilo of Hampshire Down fleece I bought recently.

This wool will be quite a challenge to me as the staple length is only about 5cm! I have been hand carding this, on my Ashford fine handcarders, into rolags which I will eventually spin woollen using the long-draw method. I have only played around spinning like this and, combined with the short staple, I have this feeling that no-one will want to be around when I try it out! Or maybe I won't want to try it when anyone else is around would be fairer to say. I have only spun cotton once and I'm not in a hurry to try it again. The one rolag of this wool that I played around with reminded me very much of that! I needed a lot of twist to keep the thread from breaking. I am used to not putting in a lot of twist. As I said before -a challenge!

But my biggest excitement this week is that my darling daughter is arriving home from Britain tomorrow morning!!! One year to the day that she left to go on her big OE. We will be leaving here reasonably early (7.30-8pm) to get up to Christchurch in time to see her plane land. I can't wait! She doesn't intend staying longer than about 6 weeks (sigh!) but it will be still be good to have her home again. To keep up her cash-flow she intends working while she is here so it won't be non-stop visiting but it will be enough. A family dinner is on the cards sometime too, the first time we will have all been together since Christmas 2006. Yes, I realise that this is not long by many family's standards but for me it is a looong time! So, all going well, there should be 11 adults and 3 children at our table soon. I think I'm crazy, I hate cooking food for a crowd!

But that is not all the excitement that is due this week. Oh, no, not by a long shot! Our third grandchild/grandgirl is due on Friday!!! Mmmm, I think my cup runneth over at the moment!

I Totally Forgot!

2008-01-13T11:35:00.000+13:00

I guess it was due to the hour being so late when I posted last night, but I totally forgot to include the photos I took of the fireworks at New Year on Caroline Bay! So here goes:

Not the best photos, I guess, but what can I say? They only lasted 10 minutes this year (last year it was 30 minutes long but I think the Bay Association is holding back some of their fireworks budget for a big bang for their 50th anniversary in two years) and it is hard to watch the fireworks at the same time as struggling to take a halfway-decent photo of them! Anyway, they were fun while they lasted and they were free! I really love fireworks, especially the really loud ones that echo around the cliffs surrounding Caroline Bay. I love thunderstorms, too, but that is another story!

Time to Catch Up

2008-01-12T22:17:00.000+13:00

Well, this year is already almost two weeks old and I am only just writing a post now. Bad blogger, indeed! I'm sure there are a lot more like me out there who may have the time to write but don't always have the inclination. So many times I have written a post in my head only to have it flee completely the moment I get in front of the keyboard. Never mind, I am here now.

So, what has been happening? Hot weather, that is what has been happening today! Even now, at well after 10pm it is sooo hot inside - over 24C. For me, that is really quite warm. It was a lot warmer than that today, too. Outside it has cooled down but inside is a different story. A really tough day for my eldest son, his partner and our two wee grandgirls to be driving home from holiday, but they did it. They called in here on their way home and picked up their Christmas presents. Too bad D wasn't here to see them, but it was the car/truck racing this weekend. He has been looking forward to this meeting for such a long time that he couldn't miss it. We'll see the girls in just over a week when we go to the airport to pick up our daughter who is coming home from England for a month or so. (I knew there was a reason I don't have the windows open with the lights on - I was just dive-bombed by a large moth! Not my most favourite experience!)

But you aren't here to read all this drivel - you want the lowdown on what I have been doing lately. First up:

Yes, I have finally finished spinning, and plying, the coloured sliver I've been working on for months! The photo shows almost all of the kilo of the yarn which I intend knitting into a jersey for me, someday. I am quite pleased with the way it turned out but I'm hoping that it isn't too busy when knitted. No, I haven't done a sample square, yet, but I do intend to some time as I will need to experiment a little. A closeup? Of course!

The yarn isn't shiny as it seems in the photo but I think the colours aren't too far off. I was pleased to see that the plying evened out fairly well. It is always wonderful to see how a wash improves the look of the skeins.

Now that that wool is out of the way I am back working my way through the Gotland fleece I bought quite a while ago from a young, local breeder - Hamish Black of Chocolate Wool NZ. I am spinning this one up for D - I think it is time I made him another jersey. Maybe it will be ready for his birthday near the end of the year?

As this is a lovely open fleece, I am separating the locks and combing them with a metal dog comb. That's right, I am not washing this fleece! Gasp, shock, horror! It is a method which has been used by countless spinsters over the years and if it is good enough for them... Really, there is something about working with a raw fleece. (No, not the odd thistle stuck in your finger! Although that has happened to me more than once, not in this fleece. It is a particularly clean, well-carded fleece.) I rather like the feel of the lanolin on my hands and seeing it shining in the sunlight. I even like the smell of the raw wool! Shoot me, I'm a country girl at heart!

I'm not sure if the photo shows it, but the butt end of the staples are a very pale grey which gives the spun yarn a bit of a tweedy look to it. There are a few guard hairs (?) in some of the locks but I usually pull these out before I comb the lock. I'm not being too anal about it, though, as this jersey will be for a guy and will be outer wear.

As you can see my spinning here is kind of rustic-looking (let's face it, none of my spinning would be mistaken for being commercially spun) but I that is what I want for the jersey. I want it to be more every-day wear than a fine jersey for best. As this fleece is spinning up fairly fine, I am 3-plying it to make the yarn a reasonable weight. It is about a fine DK weight, I guess, when washed. There isn't a lot of bounce to the yarn when it is spun. Gotland seems to be heavy and silky, almost like mohair.

But that isn't all I have done!

Ta da! A pair of Maine Morning Mitts from Clara Parkes' book "A Knitter's Book of Yarn". I happened to have a lovely skein of Noro Silk Garden in my stash and thought this may be just the place to use it. Don't they look nice? I had bought the yarn a while ago as I wanted to see how it was dyed. Noro is too expensive, here, for me to make anything substantial with it so these little mitts were just the thing! Now I'm waiting for winter to come to try them out!

Even though summer is going really strong this year, I have cast on for another pair of Fetching mittens. This time they are for a friend, K, who is having a birthday this month. No photo, yet, as I only finished the first mitten tonight, so be patient. I'm using a skein of aubergine Furlana (80% merino 20% possum fur) I had in my stash so they are rather warm to make even though they are small. why am I giving them to someone in the middle of summer? Because K lives on a small holding which she looks after while her husband goes to work. It can get pretty cold in winter when you are outside feeding out bales of hay, shifting the electric fence or checking on lambs etc, so I thought the possum mittens might just come in handy for her.

Well, I think that is about it for now. I'll try not to leave it so long until I post again - but you never know! So I'll leave you with a little bit of whimsy I found on Robin's blog:

What Kathy Means

You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life.
You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don't spill secrets or spread gossip.
People sometimes think you're snobby or aloof, but you're just too deep in thought to pay attention to them.

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.
You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
You have the classic "Type A" personality.

You are a seeker. You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life.
You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations. You're most comfortable when you're far away from home.
You are quite passionate and easily tempted. Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble.

You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out.
Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia.
Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person.

You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in.
You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising.
You may miss out by not settling down, but you're too busy having fun to care.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

It isn't all true but some is spot on! Strange, isn't it!

Twinkle, twinkle little star...

2007-12-03T14:01:00.000+13:00

December already and tomorrow it will be only three weeks until Christmas! Am I in the festive mood? No, even though there has been a little Christmas activity going on here. Knitted Christmas decorations, no less.

At the top are three little twinkling stars knitted from this pattern. They are rather cute, only aobut 5 cm from point to point, and take so little time to knit. There are only five rows, knitted flat with a tiny seam to sew up. In my stash inherited from my late mother-in-law there was some white acrylic with a lurex thread plied with it - Sirdar's Super Prelude which has been long discontinued I would imagine. No way would I want to wear this, it being rather scratchy and just not me, but it was just what I needed for these stars. Knitting up as a 4 ply I have made these three dainty little stars so far. More may follow. I may adjust the pattern slightly and make one or two larger stars as well. Perhaps.

Why am I knitting stars? Not for our Christmas tree, although they may make an appearance on there as well, but for a tree our Spinners and Weavers group are entering in a local competition. Not because we think ours will be the best but to lift our profile a little. Every bit of publicity counts. A lot of decorations were made for our Open Day in May but I have since found out that some of these have been given away (!!!) even though members should have known about this competition. So, in case we are short of decorations, I have been busy.

The other two photos are of a simple kumihimo braid also destined for this tree. All members at the last meeting were given 7 lengths of yarn to make these braids to add a bit of cohesiveness (and traditional Christmas colour) to the tree. Kumihimo, I have decided, is not my favourite occupation but this braid was simple enough and made up fairly quickly. At least it is now done and not waiting for me to make it at the last possible minute as I usually do!

Last weekend was the local A & P (Agricultural and Pastoral) Show. Again to keep up our profile, the Spinners and Weavers had a very small display in one of the tents (a rather out-of-the-way tent, unfortunately). Three of our members, including myself, sat with the table throughout the day. Not a totally wasted day as this is what I accomplished while I was there. The best part, though, was meeting Stella and her two children! This is the second time I have had the pleasure of physically meeting someone I have got to know online - both lovely ladies.

Through the week I also finished knitting the pieces for the Cabled Baby Jacket. Back, sleeves and fronts are finished with the front bands now needing to be picked up and knitted on before sewing up.

You may notice that I have chosen to use a tubular cast on for the bottom bands. I am hoping this will look neater, and be a softer edging, than my usual longtail cast on. I used a provisional cast on for the fronts as the front band is picked up along the curve at the bottom. Of course, I didn't realise this at the beginning (does anyone else not read the entire pattern before launching into the knitting?) so maybe I now need to research into the best cast off to match the tubular cast on.

There were other events which occupied me over the last week - a family dinner to celebrate several birthdays, the Rose Festival and D's birthday as well as the end-of-year lunch with our Spinners and Weavers group. Tonight is another dinner out - with friends, this time. Another birthday celebration. There seem to be an extraordinary number of family-and-friend birthdays during November/December as it is our Grandgirl, L's, birthday on Thursday as well. She will be a whole two this time! We'll celebrate this one with a bbq in Ashb on Saturday. It looks as if the busy times will still be here for a while!

Are you a "thinking" knitter?

2007-11-22T13:03:00.000+13:00

A very interesting, and thought-provoking, post on knit, knit,frog today about being a "thinking (or fussy!) knitter" and what has caused the author to become the way she is. I, personally, am not quite there yet.

I learned to knit when I was a child, taught by my mother. There were no knitting books available to me apart from instructions, although I'm not certain I had access to these at this stage. I was taught one way of casting on (long-tail using my thumb - although it didn't have a name, to my knowledge), one way of holding the yarn (right-handed) and one way of casting off. I did hold the needles differently to my mother and I also threw the yarn differently ( I still can't throw the yarn without taking my hand off the right needle no matter how hard I try! Am I slightly physically different?) but otherwise I knitted the same.

Until the internet! To repeat what millions of others must have already stated but it is amazing how a single piece of technology (I use the word "single" rather loosely here) has revolutionised the whole world! I now have access to a huge range of outside influences when it comes to knitting. Who knew there were so many other styles of knitting in practise throughout the world? I didn't. Who knew there was more than one way to increase, decrease, cast on, cast off etc? I didn't. But now, I do! I am learning, slowly, that maybe the way I have been used to knitting for the past ? years is perhaps not the best/most appropriate method for this particular article.

What I did know was that I had not always been totally happy with the work I had been producing but I had not known how to do it better. Now the answers are only as far away as my fingertips. My knitting library has grown in leaps and bounds since I discovered Knitter's Review and Amazon. Instead of simply a good range of patterns and pattern books I now own an interesting collection of how-to books and what-if books. I have now been introduced to knitters such as Elizabeth Zimmermann, Cat Bordhi, Nicky Epstein and Montse Stanley. I am beginning to not accept my knitting which is "ok", knowing there is a way to make it excellent.

For me, my knitting journey has barely begun!

Procrastinating!

2007-11-14T14:49:00.000+13:00

Mmmhmm, me all over! Putting off what I should be doing, writing minutes, re-hashing a newsletter and finishing off a pamphlet - not to mention the ever-present housework and grocery shopping! But it is chilly today with numerous, short, sharp southerly showers coming through. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

I thought and thought and thought some more about the Cabled Baby Jacket, or, more correctly, the colours I originally chose, and finally invited the Frog in for a little party over the weekend. I will use the bright pink and the blue-violet for something else (or, more accurately, some things else) in the future.

Instead, I bought some pastel pink Cleckheaton Cocoon and have knitted up one sleeve and have started on the next. It is rather unusual for me to be using the yarn the pattern calls for, but that is what was available in the LYS I was in when I made the decision. It is quite a nice colour, maybe a little paler than the photo shows with a decidedly blue lean to it. The yarn is lovely and soft but not my first choice as it is 30% acrylic. Call me a yarn snob but I really do prefer natural fibres. Most of the time. But, whatever. It is what was there so what I bought.

I have finished a couple of small things since I last posted. First up was the pair of Pocketbook Slippers mentioned last time. (A totally horrid photo but what can one do when no-one else is around to help one take a photo?) I guess these are ok for what they are but I don't think I would make the adult size again unless I really wasn't sure of the size of the foot. These really only just fit me so will be just the same on K. Maybe they'll shrink a little with further washing?

The other items I knit, started and finished, since the last post was a pair of Fetching fingerless mittens from Knitty. These were also for K's parcel but, and I hang my head in shame here, I totally forgot to take a photo of them! But they were black so probably would not have photographed well anyway. I made these from some black, probably wool, yarn from my stash. No label so I have no idea what it was. They knitted up well and, apart from a little gaping at the cast off around the top, turned out quite nicely. A pattern I would probably knit again one day.

Speaking of my stash, I wonder how many others have one like it? Much of my yarn stash is made up, not of useful amounts of any one yarn, but mainly of odd balls left over from long-finished projects. Most is not originally mine. Some comes from my late mother when she gave up knitting after her eyesight began to fail. Most of the stash, however, belonged to my late mother-in-law who used to make a lot of crocheted rugs for charity. She must have used a lot of mohair or brushed acrylic-type yarn as well as there seems to be a preponderence of this type of yarn. Not my favourite and mostly not colours I would choose. But most of it could be useful at some stage and my Scottish heritage won't allow me to throw much of it away. (I've tried giving some away but that hasn't been entirely successful, either!) Quite a problem as I have two 60 litre tubs of it! So, I was quite pleased to use up one small ball on these mittens.

Another reason for my procrastination today is that I am a little annoyed with how things have been turning out for me lately. I had recently made careful plans to rid myself of three responsibilties which weighed a little heavily on me at times - mostly because they often seemed to all come at once. But the old saying about the best-laid plans of mice and men came true once again. One of these responsibilities I have finally managed to offload - but only after three months of frustration. The second, I have had to shoulder for one more year. This isn't too bad in itself and there is light at the end of the tunnel for this one. The third, due to be offloaded last night, was also frustrated! The person I understood to take over from me had elected to take on someone else's position. Fortunately, another came in to help but, at the moment, is only taking on part of the responsibilities leaving me with, perhaps, the more fiddly part. Patience. I must practise patience. This, too, will pass as they say.

But we did have a celebration in our family last week - our youngest son turned 21! Happy birthday, M, for last Thursday! He doesn't normally look quite so much like a skinhead but had recently shaved his hair for "Movember" (a charity fund-raiser), or some such thing. He has done this a couple of times in the past for CanTeen week, too. Fortunately his hair doesn't take long to grow back!

So that is me caught up with for now. Time for me to get something productive done before the day gets any older!

Some progress

2007-11-04T17:31:00.000+13:00

I cast on something new again this weekend - a pair of Pocketbook Slippers for K. Winter is coming on there and I want to know that she has something warm and cosy to put on when she finishes work. The Christmas surface mail is due this coming Saturday hence the quick knit. There is still something more I want to add to her parcel but time will tell if I can get that done. Sorry about the lousy photo - the lighting was dreadful and I'm not searching for a better position at the moment. The actual yarn is a little less electric looking, but still rather bright! Medium blue, turquoise, magenta and purple variegated. Fine for slippers but not something I would wear in any larger amounts! It is actually a mohair boucle - so wasn't the easiest to knit with. The seams still need to be sewn and the buttons attached. When that has been done I will try and get a better photo if I have time.

I started another sample for the Baby Cabled Jacket this time doing a corrugated rib. I'm still not certain I like it - I guess that is why it is still sitting next to me on the computer table untouched for several days. This photo shows the colours really badly, too. The violet-blue shows here as much more denimy than it really is. The pink is also not as red as in this photo. I may try a third time (isn't three times meant to be the charm?) and cast on with the pink then go straight into the blue. Maybe that is all that will be needed. We are going to Ashb on Thursday for our son's 21st (yes my baby will be 21!!!) so I will take my efforts up there for their approval - or not. After all, it is their baby the jacket is for.

The weather here has finally packed up after quite a good run of nice, warm weather. It is supposed to rain for the next 3 days so maybe I will be able to get a little more knitting done without feeling guilty for not getting work done in the garden. Spinning is calling too - I really do want to get that coloured roving finished and out of the way.

What have I been up to?

2007-10-27T14:59:00.000+13:00

Hmmm...Ravelry has been eating has been eating a reasonable portion of my time lately! Yes, I'm in and slowly getting to grips with the place. My name there is KathyR (what else?!) if you are interested in finding me.

But I have been busy knitting, too. I finished the sleeves of a baby singlet which I had started, well, a couple of years ago! It is Margaret Stove's pattern in a Heritage Collection leaflet. I used 3 ply baby wool so it should fit a baby up to about a year old. I have used this pattern before to make a smaller vest (I must have used 2 ply wool then) and ws really pleased with it. The pattern is really easy (I knitted it in the round) but quite cute. Lots of side ways stretch, too.

I also finished the Baby Surprise Jacket along with a tiny pair of Saartje's Bootees. These were made out of Cleckheaton Merino Bambino 4 ply. This is a really soft, machine washable woollen yarn but I did find it split quite often so I needed to be careful while knitting with it. I was really pleased with the results. I just hope the little ruffle around the neck isn't too reminiscent of a clown's collar! I wanted something that was more girly than a plain collar. I really love the little bootees, too. Both should fit an average newborn.

I have also cast on for a cabled jacket to fit a 3 month old. I was at a LYS looking for yarn to make a little cardigan from the Dale of Norway pattern book I bought a while back but I didn't find any in the colours I wanted. Also, this pattern book seems to call for really fine yarn - 2 ply, maybe - as all the garments are knitted with 2mm and 2.5mm. If I wanted anything other than white I would have to dye it first. So I kept on looking (as you do!) and noticed a Cleckheaton pattern book (# 951) with really cute baby patterns in it and bought it. All of these patterns called for 4 ply wool of which I had a small supply - don't you love using stash yarn? Of course I did need to supplement with another 2 balls, but that's ok! I wanted to make something a little brighter than the normal pale baby colours but the bright pink on its own was rather loud! I chose, instead, to make the jacket in a blue-violet with the bright pink for the ribbing. I'm not certain how much I like it though. Maybe I should have done corrugated ribbing using both colours. I'll think about it. It would be even better if I could get M and R's opinion on it. After all, it is for their baby!

In the meantime my DH, D, is still slowly getting through the tests to see if he has a blockage in the veins/arteries in his legs. More tests next week and an appointment with the specialist the following week. It is a real nark getting older and the body breaking down little by little.

The spinning year is coming to an end next month with our final meeting and then our Christmas outing at the end of November. Hard to think that the year is fast coming to an end but we have been quite busy this year for a change. Things are slowly coming together for the Festival in 2009, as well. More hard work to do next year for it. I have been spinning a little every now and again but progress there is slow. One day I may even get around to taking photos of the skeins already spun and post them here!

Dear Blog...

2007-09-30T15:58:00.000+13:00

...Please accept my sincerest apologies for neglecting you for so long. I did not mean to, but things (real life) sometimes get in the way as they have this month. I mean, have you looked at my calendar lately? There has hardly been a day where I haven't needed to be somewhere, doing something, or at home, doing something else! In the future I will try to be a better blogger - but I will not promise.

Yours sincerely
Me

Yes, I have been a very bad blogger recently, but I have not been idle! Spinning, knitting and family life have figured greatly during the last few weeks. First up, knitting. No more progress has been made on Mermaid but I do have a FO! I have started, and finished (well, almost, maybe) an EZ Baby Surprise Jacket (as yet, unblocked) for our little grandgirl due in January. I made it out of 3 balls (75grams) of Cleckheaton Merino bambino 4 ply (yes, I know, Aussie wool. What can I say?). It is beautifully soft but only measures 35 cm (14") around the chest so will definitely be a newborn size. A pity, as January-February is not usually a cool time of year. I guess to make a larger size I would need to use DK weight yarn, not what I really like for a young baby.

Didn't I do well with the seam? Well, I'm pleased with it at any rate and, when it comes down to it, that is all that matters! I have never done mattress stitch before so that is what the fuss is all about. I still need to find some buttons as well as decide about the neckline. There is only a very little bit of yarn left from the 3 balls, probably not enough to make a little collar (picot edging, ruffle - I haven't decided yet). I don't mind buying another ball, though, as I could then make a little pair of booties or socks to match. I had considered making the neck edging in lavender or aqua to match but I don't think I will do that. Maybe if I had put in a stripe or two of it but I didn't as I had wanted to make one as the "pattern" reads. By the way, my thanks go to Dawn Adcock for her very helpful notes!

On the spinning front, I attended the first day of a very worthwhile silk spinning course tutored by Priscilla Lowry (no website to my knowledge). I have not had much experience at all at spinning silk and Priscilla very ably introduced us all to this fascinating fibre. We spun up small samples of both tussah and bombyx mori silk as well as degummed cocoons, yellow cocoon strippings, throwsters waste and mowata cap. No photos yet - I forgot! One interesting tip Priscilla told us was to NOT put on handcream just before spinning the silk! Apparently, once the silk yarn has been washed and knitted grey streaks will appear which will never come out.

We also were treated to having a close look at a number of garments which Priscilla has spun, designed and knitted. These garments were really beautiful. Again, I am sorry that I have no photos of these. I didn't think to take my camera to the course and I do regret that now.

For more of your viewing pleasure, I thought I would include a photo of a skein of yarn I spun quite a while ago. It comes from Hallblacks and is a blend of merino (or possibly halfbred, I'm not sure now) and silk which was gilled after carding. While not particularly well-spun it is nevertheless to-die-for soft! It will probably end up as a scarf but I may dye it as the colour is not one I can really wear near my face.

Familywise, we had the grandgirls to stay for a weekend again! Lots of fun, with a trip to the park to see the wallabies and play on the swings etc. D put up a small tent on the lawn for them to play in which they seemed to find exciting. All in all it was a delightful visit with them!

So that about fills in all I will talk about this time around. You can see that my lack of posting did not equate with a lack of progress craftwise!

Mermaid Progress

2007-09-10T14:42:00.000+12:00

Yes, I have been making a little progress on Mermaid since I last posted here - almost to the gusset at the centre back. I am enjoying this knitting but I don't knit on it every night - just when I feel in the mood for it. I hope the finished article is worth all the time and effort spent on it! Apart from the pattern being a little vague at times (I'm not having too many problems with it, fortunately) it is taking ages as a) I am not a fast knitter, and b) it uses a fairly fine yarn and needles - 3mm. I really like the way the gussets give it shape. Very clever.

I haven't been doing any other knitting apart from Mermaid. Very single-minded for a change! But that can't last for long as there will be a new little grand-girl to knit for shortly! I have so many ideas but haven't settled on anything yet. Perhaps I had better finish the sleeves of the singlet first.

Spinning has been coming along slowly with two skeins of the multi-coloured rovings plied up. No photos yet cos I forgot! I have also had several books arrive in the mail lately from Amazon. Presents to me, from me! More on those another time.

Next week is our big week in the pellet fire saga. I applied to the Disputes Tribunal for a hearing and it is set for Tuesday. Hopefully the situation will then be able to be resolved and the fire either replaced or taken away and refunded. I took temperature readings of ours (with the thermometer I use in dyeing as it can take quite high temperatures!) and compared them with readings I took of one which is working well. There is a difference of about 20C between the tow on high and 10C on low. Ours is the lowest reading in both cases. Doesn't this alone say something? More on this when the "verdict" is in.

It has been so nice lately to watch Spring start to come. The days are longer and warmer - we see a lot more sun than we had been. Blossom and flowers are starting to open and the birds are starting t build their nests. A few days ago I enjoyed watching a thrush collecting beakfuls of long grass (yes, our lawns need mowing too!) and fly away with them, presumably to her nest. I love Spring - can you tell? But what am I doing here when I could be outside enjoying the sunshine? See you...!

Finished, at last!

2007-08-28T10:38:00.000+12:00

Oooo, doesn't time fly! It is now over a week since the Grandgirls visited and I finally got photos of L's finished jersey. Not a good photo as the days have been nice and sunny lately (yay! Spring's here at last!) but you can sort of see what it ended up like. I am not very happy with some of the weaving in of colours but not unhappy enough to do anything more about it. Off the body, the neckline looks a little stretched at the edge but it goes over L's head really easily, which is what I wanted. Nothing makes kids hate jerseys quicker than one that they have to force their head through! I used a needle 2 or 3 sizes larger than the one I was ribbing with to cast off and used a stretchy cast off as well.

As you can see there is a little room for growth in the finished jersey. I was planning for this as there shouldn't be a lot more jersey-wearing days left in the season so I was hoping L would be able to wear it next year as well. It isn't a terribly good photo of L, or the jersey, as I had to take it quickly. When H, L's older sister, sees a camera she wants to be in the photo! Not easy to take one of L without H! It is amazing how quickly these little ones grow - it doesn't seem that long ago when she was crawling around. She definitely has her own little personality - she doesn't say many words yet but certainly understands everything we say to her!

Since finishing this jersey I have been working on Mermaid. The first front is finished and I am now partway across the back. Photos to come when I can find the right lighting for it (and time, of course). As it is a fairly fine knit (3mm circular needle) it is slow going but not too bad. I don't mind working in garter stitch as I mainly knit while watching tv at night. Not a good thing for me to try working a complicated pattern when I am tired. The knitting is straightforward but Hanne's pattern is a little challenging to decipher at times. Very clever, though.

Spinning has been progressing slowly with another skein plied and many more to go. I will probably take my wheel to our "weaving" day this week (originally the fifth Thursday in the month was set aside for the weavers but, now that there are not many willing to cart around their portable, but heavy, looms, the day has been opened to anyone) so may get some more accomplished then.

Stell, thanks for the suggestions for the boucle jersey. It is still sitting in a corner of the cupboard in disgrace - I will think some more about it another day, probably at Tara!

A month later!

2007-08-17T13:45:00.000+12:00

Has it really been a whole month since my last post?!! What has happened since then, I wonder?

In knitting, I finished L's little slip-stitch jersey (yes, I haven't yet converted to americanisms, Stell!) and gave it to her last weekend. I haven't seen it on, yet, so no photos. Yes, bad blogger that I am I forgot to take one of it before we took it up to her. But, all going well, the two little girls will be with us for the weekend so just maybe I can get the camera out! The jersey is nowhere near perfect, but it will just have to do. I must learn to weave yarns in better as one or two show on the right side. Darn. But lesson learned, I will NOT use two or more colours at once in the round unless they go all the way around!

I tried going back to the circular, raglan-sleeved, v-necked, variegated boucle jersey I put away from me in disgust many moons ago but as I looked at it I didn't have the heart. I messed up the decreases in the raglans and need to rip it back. Not a problem but I also was fast running out of yarn and, no matter how fast I knit, there wouldn't be enough to finish it and I will not be able to get any more. Also, looking at it, I felt totally out-of-love with the whole thing! I put it away again until I can think of another approach. Probably will end up frogging the whole thing. Double damn!

So, being the good little knitter that I am (who do I think I am kidding here??) I pulled out yet another UFO - this time it was the Mermaid I started goodnessknowswhen. I had already done a little ripping on it and I was able to find my way back to where I was in the directions. I was only halfway through the first gusset so not very far through at all. I am now past the second gusset and halfway into the following striped section so a little bit of progress has been made. I am quite enjoying working on this at the moment as long as I have good lighting.

I even worked on a little spinning again this week - I plied up a bobbin of some coloured rovings (yes, there are two different ones I am plying together) which I don't seem to have a photo of. You will have to wait patiently for that too! More plying to go (I have four bobbins needing to be plied together).

On the work front, things are coming together. A replacement has been found and time will tell if he is reliable. Soon, I hope, I will be able to hand everything over to him. That will be very nice!

Our pellet fire is continuing to under-function despite a "technical expert" from the supplier coming to have a look at it and announce it was working perfectly! Why do we need to have the heat setting so high when others are perfectly warm with the fire set on low? I have tried to get the company to take the fire back and refund the cost as per the Consumer Guarantees Act but the amount they offered was laughable. I have therefore put in a claim to the Disputes Tribunal so we will see what happens in about a month's time.

That brings us more or less up-to-date with what is going on in my life at the moment. Maybe next time there will be pictures!

I'm Still Around!

2007-07-20T11:56:00.001+12:00

I am still here, in case anyone as wondering. I haven't really been hiding, just not posting for a multitude of reasons most of which I won't go into here.

I have been busy, sort of. I have been writing letters and making lots of phonecalls trying to sort out the problems with our pellet fire. According to the supplier's experts, our fire is problem-free! Why isn't it heating our home the way other people's pellet fires do? I don't know, but the upshot is it at this stage, it looks as if the fire will be going back and we will be refunded some money. How much, I don't know. Probably not enough to cover the full cost of buying a new log burner and putting it in. Funny thing is, today the fire is the hottest it has been yet! At the same setting we've been using. And on the nicest day we've had for a while. Ah well, such is life!

Another thing happening in my life is that I resigned from my "little" job. Technically, this job is supposed to only take about 15-20 hours per month. In reality it is a fair bit more some months, especially when you take into account the time spent in meetings. I have been doing this job (as a favour as no-one else would take it on) for over three years now and have been involved with where I'm employed for about 10 years. Time to take a break as my stress levels, at times, have been too high. Just me, really. I won't cut all ties with them, just the employment side. No-one has applied for the job, yet, despite it being advertised. I will not carry on past August, I will not carry on past August is my mantra!

Spinners and Weavers group has been fun lately with felting being the focus this month. No photos of my work here as it isn't quite finished. We all made little needle books as well as a piece of felt which gets cut to make into a little folded box big enough to take a small piece of jewellery or small cake of soap. It would make a sweet package for a tiny gift.

I have been doing a little knitting recently. I finished H's handspun top-down jersey and it even fits, as you can see! The neck is a little sloppier than I wpuld like but not enough to bother undoing it, especially as a little girl was watching me finish it for her!

I am still working on the jersey for L. This has proved to be more of a challenge than I first thought! Note to self: no more working in the round with alternating block of colours. I found instructions in IK Fall 2003 for intarsia in the round so the jersey is now back on track after stalling for some time. This method is not particularly neat, but it is easier than the breaking off, and weaving in, of the colours as I had been doing. Below you can see the progress I had made until I stalled.

The body pattern is made up of four rows of one colour. On the first two rows every fourth stitch is slipped so that the previous colour is introduced into those rows. Looks, and sounds, more complicated than it really is. I felt that the jersey woudl look too busy if the same pattern was used for the sleeves as well, so I decided to make them plain. That is where the problems came in. Fine if it was knitted flat, but I was knitting in the round, so each round has one sleeve a different colour than the rest of the row. Next time I'll think further ahead. Hopefully!

Tomorrow we are due to go and see the little darlings. Will the jersey be finished? I don't know. I will have an hour and a half to knit on the journey, though. That should help.

My Five Factor Personality Factor

2007-07-20T11:09:00.000+12:00

Thanks to Smariek:

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion:
You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations.A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you.You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people.
Conscientiousness:
You have medium conscientiousness.You're generally good at balancing work and play.When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done.But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it.
Agreeableness:
You have high agreeableness.You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly.Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone.You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance.
Neuroticism:
You have low neuroticism.You are very emotionally stable and mentally together.Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly.Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure.
Openness to experience:
Your openness to new experiences is low.You're a pretty conservative person, and you favor what's socially acceptable.You think that change for novelty's sake is a very bad idea.While some may see this as boring, many see you as dependable and wise.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Scarily on target for the most part!

A meme for you to enjoy

2007-06-16T10:16:00.000+12:00

A meme from Joyce Makes Art:

#1 Is it about the finished item or about the process of knitting? Some of both? Has your focus changed one direction or the other over time?

#2 How do you view mistakes? Do you think they give your project character? Is it important to have one, as my Aunt says, because only God is perfect? Or would you rip all the way back to row 5 of your husband's finished sweater knit on size 3 needles to eradicate a mistake no one else would notice?

#3 Would you rather knit a project that is comfortable for your skill level, or do you prefer a challenge that requires you to figure out new things?

#4 What is something you really want to make but haven't yet? What holds you back? Is it money, skill level, time, fear of the unknown or something else?

After you answer, please link to your blog in the comments so I can go and read and see what your thoughts are!

I don't usually take part in these but this one was quite interesting so here goes:

#1 Is it about the finished item or about the process of knitting? Some of both? Has your focus changed one direction or the other over time?

I first knitted because I enjoyed doing it (process, I guess). When I started a family, having a very limited income, knitting (and sewing) was a way of providing clothes for my family at a reduced cost, clothes being expensive then and wool not so much. Nowadays, still on a budget (!!) clothes are cheaper than they used to be but yarn not so much. I still enjoy having the finished product (when I do finish something and it fits!) for myself or, more and more often for a gift, but I still also enjoy the process. A long way of saying - a bit of both!

#2 How do you view mistakes? Do you think they give your project character? Is it important to have one, as my Aunt says, because only God is perfect? Or would you rip all the way back to row 5 of your husband's finished sweater knit on size 3 needles to eradicate a mistake no one else would notice?

Mistakes - I loathe them! But sometimes I can, and do, ignore them. I have always managed to fudge a mistake if it was one too many or too few stitches in a row. Something more noticeable, such as a cable going the wrong way or a purl stitch where a knit one should be I would be more likely to frog back (or down the line of stitches) and fix. To prove that, look back and see the number of times I frogged and redid the Oslo-Cairo hat! I am not of the belief it is important to include a mistake to prove only God is perfect. I have never held the mistken belief that I am perfect and am too fond of showing others my faults (in my life as well as my knitting) if they haven't already noticed them!

#3 Would you rather knit a project that is comfortable for your skill level, or do you prefer a challenge that requires you to figure out new things?

I am a believer in moderation in all things! I like to eat vegetables as well as chocolate. Beside my bed I keep non-fiction, reference-type reading (usually knitting or spinning) as well as entertainment-type lighter reading material (a novel). I have more challenging knitting projects on hand for times when this is desired as well as simpler, easy-to-knit-while-watching-tv type knitting.

#4 What is something you really want to make but haven't yet? What holds you back? Is it money, skill level, time, fear of the unknown or something else?

Where to start! In my cupboard I have a Hanne Falkenburg Mermaid which I have started but put down months ago because I made a mistake and need to frog back. Maybe the actual knitting of this isn't challenging, but interpreting and following the instructions is, a little. I guess time does hold me back to a certain extent, or rather, time I want to devote entirely to sitting down and concentrate solely on my knitting. That, and not knowing exactly what size the finished product will be and not wanting to blow it by making the wrong size.

So, there are my answers. What are yours? Please put a link to your blog in my comments so I can learn more about you!

I knew I could be expensive to run!

2007-06-15T13:55:00.001+12:00

A little lighthearted quiz I found on C's blog:

You Are a Ring Finger

You are romantic, expressive, and hopeful. You see the best in everything.
You are very artistic, and you see the world as your canvas. You are also drawn to the written word.
Inventive and unique, you are often away in your own inner world.

You get along well with: The Pinky

Stay away from: The Index Finger

What Finger Are You?

This week has been a fairly busy week in many aspects of my life including the fibre part. On Monday, two ladies from our spinning group travelled with me to the Ashburton Open Day. This day is especially fun as they usually have a number of interesting traders. This year was no exception!
Last year I took a "shopping list" with me and came home with nearly everything on the list. This year I went with an open mind - not really wanting to shop and definitely not needing to! I failed. What you see here is 500gm of Chilko Fibres (sorry, no website) carded sliver in the Manapouri colourway. This sliver is actually darker than the photo shows and is a mix of light, medium and dark blues and greeny-blues. Rather nice and destined to be spun up sometimeinthefuture and plied with something, which will probably be a dark blue, and knitted into a jersey for my husband. He deserves something warm and, well, pretty. In a masculine kind of way, of course!

Yesterday was our monthly spinning group meeting. To do something different, this month we invited two ladies to the group to teach us to weave a kete (kit or bag) from NZ flax. I had made one kete* a couple of years ago but, as there were no written instructions, I could not remember exactly how. I soon remembered and was surprised at just how quickly I managed to finish this one, the first taking the whole afternoon! It is only small, about 12cm x 16cm (4 1/2in x 6in) but still a little bigger than my first effort.

According to Maori custom (kete of all shapes and sizes were used for many things including food baskets) the first kete you make should be given away. I didn't want to give my first one away until I had made another so yesterday I gave my first to one of the ladies teaching us.

The other strange object in the photo is a flax flower I made at the end of the class. I'm not too fond of these flowers, at least the ones I have made, but they are quite fun and quick to make. Both the flower and the kete will dry to a golden beige colour and will shrink somewhat as flax curls as it dries.

Knitting has been progressing but not what you have seen on here previously! I started making a top-down raglan for our youngest Grandgirl from some wool I had spun up, originally for our daughter, years ago. I wasn't too thrilled with the yarn when it was done as I thought it looked a little loud and colourful and young for her. So it has sat in a bag for a number of years. Some I have already made into a child's jersey. But there was more left. Even though I checked my tension as I knitted, the jersey I started last week was looking as if it would be a little big for the youngest. Never mind, if it doesn't fit her it should fit her older sister! Only about 10 rows of the sleeve and the sleeve ribbing as well as the neckband to go and it will be finished. Who said I couldn't knit something up fast! Photos another day.

With that, I think it is time to feed the guinea pigs and start looking in the cupboards to see what I can make for tea.

* Edited to add: kete is pronounced with two syllables, both e's sounding like the e in let.

4 June - Mum

2007-06-04T11:34:00.000+12:00

In Memory

Rosina Gladys Taylor

(30 January 1924 - 4 June 2004)

Three years ago this morning I was woken up by the telephone ringing. It was a phone call I had been expecting - but dreading. The Hospice was ringing to tell me my Mum had passed away at 5.30 that morning.

Six months previously, Mum had been diagnosed with lung cancer even though she had given up smoking more than 20 years previously. By the time she finally relented and had gone to see a doctor (she was very proud to have not seen a doctor for probably ten years or more, despite our pleadings!) the cancer had spread to her liver. She was given a short round of radiation therapy which slowed the insidious growth but didn't stop it.

Mum may have lost her physical battle but her memory stills lives on.

Three months before she died, Mum was so proud to have been able to hold her very first grandchild. That day brought much pleasure to her as she had been so proud of all four of her grandchildren as well as her two daughters.

As our children were growing up, Mum had been such a help to us. We lived just around the corner from my parents so our two eldest were able to see Mum often. On their way home from school these two would call in to see her nearly every day. I would get a phone call to say "Mum, we're at Grandma's. Can we stay a while, please?". Mum would toast the sandwiches from their lunches (which were never eaten at lunchtime) before giving them a "white thing" (an icecream - my son didn't like coming right out to ask for something. He would sidle up to Grandma and ask "Grandma, could we have a white thing?" When our youngest boy was a little older his brother would always get him to do the asking!) The ice cream would come out of the freezer and the cones from the cupboard. Cake decorating lollies would always be sprinkled on the top for them.

Before our youngest went to school we moved 30 minutes out of town. Mum and Dad would come down for a day most weekends to spend time with us all. She often did my ironing (one of my least favourite chores) while she was there. Mum also enjoyed walking around the few acres we had, looking at anything new we had done and just soaking up the peace and quiet of the place.

Not long before she died, we moved once again - same town but off the land we had. Mum was never well enough to see this house but I think she would have approved.

Mum had always supported me in the various crafts I tried out over the years. It was her who first taught me to knit when I was about seven and I made a pair of slippers for a Brownie badge (I may have been younger when I first learned but this was the first item I made). When I wanted to attempt knitting a jersey Mum helped me choose the wool and pattern from the shop. She knitted the front and sleeves while I knitted the back. It actually turned out well and I wore that jersey quite a lot.

Mum wouldn't teach me to crochet, however! She didn't like it, I think, so I had to learn from a book. Many years later, she bought me a loom when I wanted to weave. I still have this loom now, even though I seldom use it.

She was proud of my spinning, also, especially when I knitted her a shawl from my handspun yarn. That shawl kept her warm and cosy while she sat up in bed when she finally became bedridden. I have that shawl now and I love to hug it to me and feel that Mum is a little closer once again.

Over the years, Mum had done so much to help us out. In my heart, I have named our house partly after her (one day a name-plaque will be put up to make it official!). And, in case anyone has wondered in the past where the name of my blog has come from, now you know!

Mum, this post is dedicated to your memory. I love you and miss you so much.

Boring, but a little news!

2007-06-01T14:18:00.000+12:00

Heck, it has been nearly two weeks since my last post! Where has the time gone? I have been busy but with nothing really interesting. I even checked my camera and there aren't really any interesting photos on - not for on here, anyway!

We now have the new pellet fire installed. Hmm...not as warm as I would have liked for this house. Because of how we got it (a trade-off with a new business in the area) we had no say in the model. The business, understandably, had a budget and were offering the lowest-cost option not the best-for-your-house we were lead to believe it would be. The living areas are still warm (or are when we manage to set the thing right) but it isn't warm enough to open the door to take the chill off the rest of the house like our old wood burner was.

Perhaps if we were to run it a lot higher it would be warmer but at $8.50 a 20kg bag of pellets we are wary of it costing too much. We used to be able to get the wood for free, just paying for fuel and upkeep on the chainsaw and transportation of the wood to home. But D's back is a lot worse this year than it ever has (and it hasn't been good for 20+ years!) and I'm not sure how much longer he would have been able to carry on cutting the firewood. So this seemed like it would be a good idea. Next time I have a good idea, someone shoot me. Please. (Well, not really, but you know what I mean!)

I also feel very let down in that I thought the trade-off was to reduce pollution in the area. I thought that we would be doing our little bit for the environment. Now I find that the business will actually be burning coal! The pollution they are trying to offset is from this, not from the production of their product. I feel cheated. Very cheated.

Apart from that there has been a little fibery goodness going on in chez Rose-Lea! I have almost finished a WIP I started, and abandoned, almost 2 years ago. Just a little thing. There may be pictures when it is properly completed. The socks have made a little progress, too. Almost to the toes. I'm not sure why I am not enjoying this pair. I much more enjoyed working on the plain-vanilla ones! Perhaps because I could knit on them while I was on the computer. Patterns are just that much more difficult to work on in tiny increments.

I have also done a little spinning this week - one and a half bobbins (why can I never type bobbins successfully on the first go?) of some multi-coloured sliver I bought a couple of years ago. Quite pretty in blues, greens and mauves. They are two space-dyed slivers (500gm each), one darker than the other, which I will ply together. (Aha, I remembered I had photographed the lighter one a while back with my new spindle, so you can see one of them!) Two bobbins down and ?? to go.

Ok, yes I know it was a pitiful post but some things are better left unsaid and others will have to wait for the right time to say them!

I did it! I did it!

2007-05-20T16:37:00.000+12:00

Yes! I finished the Oslo-Cairo hat in time for the Open Day! I am quite pleased with it even though it is a little smaller than an adult-size. I wasn't surprised, though, as I had spun the yarn fairly fine. Not intentionally, but it just seems to be the way I spin these days. Somethink I must work on as I need to be able to spin to task not have to alter the task to suit the spinning!

But isn't it pretty? Not a very good photo of it but I don't have a head I can put it on. The two colours (not quite the red my monitor shows but more of a dark, dull orange) look quite good together, I think. I don't recall ever having knitted with two colours on a set of five dpns before, so that was a first. Hopefully a last too! I much prefer two circs but I didn't have any the right size and I was too stingy to go out and buy some!

At left you can see the crown of the hat with the four decrease points. Looks rather effective, I think. I have never made a hat like this before. I have only decreased evenly around the whole crown on other hats I have made, so this was another first. One that I will definitely repeat sometime in the future.

On the right you should be able to see the two stylised animals (alpaca? deer?) facing away from each other with a tree between them.

The Spinners and Weavers Open Day went quite well, too. We had two speakers - Stuart Albrey on his journey into fibre and Pauline Jones on making pergamano cards. They were both well received. Stuart brought along several examples of of fibre including a beautiful roll of carded and gilled moorit 16 micron merino. This was worth $600 per kilo! Lovely stuff he called the "Rolls Royce" of spinning fibre. And no, I didn't buy any!

The table with the articles our members have made from the Dartmoor dyed fleece attracted a lot of interest. The photo shows just a few of the items on display. We have some very creative and talented ladies in the group!

Shirley Goodwin was also at the Open Day demonstrating handpainting yarns with the Tillia Dyes (Prochem) which she sells. This was a very popular table which was always surrounded by interested ladies. The colours of these dyes were really rather nice and when I need some new dyes I do believe I will buy some from Shirley.

This week looks like it will be no less busy for me as the builder will be here at 8am tomorrow to finish preparing for the new pellet fire, which is due to go in on Wednesday morning. Having taken out the old log burner this morning, the next couple of nights may be rather cooler than we have been used to recently. I am hoping that our recent reasonably warm (for this time of year) temperatures carry on a little longer!

Did you miss me?

2007-05-14T15:04:00.000+12:00

Ok, so it has been awhile - but I have been busy! A little with knitting but also with work and family. Our grandgirls stayed last weekend and that is always a busy time. Children of the tender ages of three and one are very active little people! Just keeping an eye on them so they don't get into mischief is enough to tire anyone out. Lovely spending time with them, though, but nice to take them back too.

Work, I won't get into but suffice it to say that I don't take well to stress and it has been stressful on this front recently. Bah!

Knitting - not much in recent days (we've had our son and his fiancee staying over the weekend) but I must get cracking on the hat. It needs to be finished before Thursday! It has been swimming in the frogpond several times in recent weeks! Maybe you can see where I went wrong -
In the centre the green part which looks like an H is the trunk of a tree. On each side are the feet and legs of alpacas (??). They are both supposed to be pointing towards the tree. One side is, but the other side? No. Hmmm...do I rip it out and rework it? Sigh! Yes, I did and not for the first time, either.

But out it came and my needles started clicking again. As you may see below I got it right this time. Yay! This time I have used more stitch markers. Why on earth did I not think of that in the first place? Duh!

I didn't have smaller needles to work the hem at the beginning so it was knitted in the same size needles I have been using for the body. I am hoping this doesn't make too much of a difference. Too bad if it does because I am not going to redo it all! I have got a little further than the photo below shows; about two-thirds of the way to the crown decreasing. Surely it will be plain-sailing now?

Plans are all in place for the Open Day - the speakers have accepted and a dyeing demonstrator has been arranged. All I need to do now is bake something for a couple of "plates" and make a pot of soup for lunch. Easy, peasy (yeah, right!). I will need to be up extra early on Thursday as we will be meeting at the venue at 8.30am to begin setting up for the visitors to arrive at 10am. I anticipate it being a rather long and busy day with me having to MC it as I am our local President. Yay - not something I am particularly comfortable with. I much prefer staying in the background. Maybe I will be able to do that at our next Open Day in another two years.

Before I forget, my thanks to those who have taken the time and effort to comment (not that easy on Blogger, I know!). I really appreciate hearing from you all. I am not an expert spinner by any means and definitely not an expert knitter - but I try!

There is a little time left this afternoon before I prepare tea so maybe I can get another couple of rows done after I have looked for a recipe. We were given two ducks yesterday (it is duck-hunting season here) and my son cut out the breasts for me to use. (He also sharpened my knives for me! They were long overdue and he is quite good at it, given that it is part of his job.) I wonder what we will end up with tonight?

What's soft and colourful and in the "zoo"?

2007-04-29T11:19:00.000+12:00

I haven't yet shown you what I bought from TradeMe recently so here goes:

On the left you can see 50gm of glitz in the Winter colourway. Very pretty colours and so shiny - but...I think it will be a pain to spin as it is full of static and is flyaway just like angora. Soft, though.

And to the right is another 50gm of glitz this time in the Autumn colourway. So many colours in this.

And, finally, another 50 gm of glitz. This last one is in the Summer colourway and is very similar to the Autumn one. If I had known how similar the colours were I perhaps wouldn't have bought both of these. But no worries.

Now is the fun part! What to do with them??? I have seen glittery fibres before which you sort of lay in as you spin the base fibre. But would you do that with these? As you can see they are in a roving form. Taking bunches of fibres out and laying them with a base fibre would probably destroy all semblance of colour progression and may lose the colouring altogether. Wouldn't it?

Splitting the roving lengthwise would be problematic in itself with the flyaway nature of the fibre but, I guess, would be doable. Would there be enough here to do anything with this way?

Hmmm...lots of questions. Any answers? In the meantime this fibre will sit in my "petting zoo" - well, not really as it is in ziplock bags. Too flyaway to pet too often!

Progress is happening...slowly!

2007-04-28T14:11:00.000+12:00

Remember this these little piles of colour from the Dartmoor dyeing? I was working on getting these spun up so I could knit them into something for our spinning group's Open Day next month. Good news! The spinning has been completed - ta da....

I give you... two skeins wound up into balls as well as two skeins which have since been swished around in some nice, warm, soapy water to clean any left-over gunk from them. Let the knitting begin! No photos of that, yet, but I can tell you there have been a few gribbit, gribbit noises coming from the two balls of yarn. Yes, they have been to the frog pond a couple of times. Maybe they have settled down now. Time will tell. But, hopefully, they may look like this one day soon. Do you think I can do it? The pattern is in Spanish, of which I know next to zilch, but after a run through Babelfish it is a little more understandable (the emphasis is on little!).

The hat, if it doesn't run into another frog, may be on the small side but I don't care at this stage. Even though the fleece was from a Border Leceister sheep, for some reason it seemed to spin up very fine. More like a 3-ply than a 4-ply (this is the weight of yarn, like DK, not the number of plies). No-one else seemed to have this problem so I think it must be me. But it is nice and soft and has a lovely sheen. The softness seemed to be unique to me also. Is it the way I spin? What is so different about it?

I wish I could show you the other items being made from this same fleece but you will just have to wait until after 17 May for photos! There are a couple of hats and a glove and cravat set. More items are still to come. But my favourite, so far, are two needle-felted dolls made by a new member of the group. This woman is a doll-maker as well as making bobbin lace and beautiful embroidery. But she says knitting is too difficult for her!! As Rove McManus would say, "What the...??" She has taken another couple of little coloured piles and is going to transform them into some little needle-felted boxes. I can't wait to see them!

We will have two speakers at the Open Day - Stuart Albrey, a local black and coloured sheep breeder and Pauline Jones who makes pergamano cards (google it for various sites showing this unusual card-making method). should be an interesting day.

All sorts of yummy goodness!

2007-04-18T12:40:00.000+12:00

Hmmm...it has been a rather long time since my last post. Sorry about that. It is amazing how life can get in the way sometimes. Not only that, though. Sometimes I just don't feel like "talking". Anyone else get like that?

Anyway, down to business! I have been busy spinning on the Dartmoor dyed fleece from a previous (March?) post. Most of the ladies in our spinning group have taken two, or more, little piles of fleece to spin and make something from for our Open Day in May. I started out with four piles (mainly because I couldn't decide which one would go with the rather lovely orange/pink/yellow/green pile which was my first choice) and have only got half a pile left to spin. The rather mottley-looking one on the left of the photo spun up to be a rather attractive green/yellow skein. It still never ceases to amaze me how a so-so lump of rather matted-looking fleece can become something which is quite pretty and soft! I'm not sure what these skeins will become yet, but I am thinking of a multi-coloured hat. Socks would be nice but I don't think I have that sort of staying power right now. (The socks I have been working on for some time now are still glaring at me in an unfinished state.)

The postman has been a little busy in my neck-of-the-woods recently. A while ago I borrowed a felting book, Felt to Stitch by Sheila Smith, from from the nearly-local-but-larger library. I liked it so much that I ordered it from Amazon.

This book does not go into great lengthy details about each different type of felting, but does give enough information to whet the imagination as well as produce an article. A very nice an well-worthwhile book, in my opinion.

I also bought the Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques by Nancie Wiseman. I do like this book, too, but I feel that it doesn't really have any new information in it that I don't have in other books I own. A little disappointing.

One day recently, while having my daily fix on Knitter's Review I noticed an advertisement for stone spindles from One Planet Yarn and Fiber. They looked so pretty (has anyone noticed what a sucker I am for pretty things?) that I gave into temptation and ordered both a single whorl and a double whorl spindle.

I have tried both of the spindles out since they arrived and, while they both work, they do not spin for long at a time. I find that a little frustrating as I don't enjoy having my spinning pleasure interrupted by constantly having to turn the spindle. So, once again, I am a little disappointed with my purchase - but they are pretty, aren't they? The whorls are quite small in diameter (about 4.5 cm or 1 3/4 inches) and taper towards the edge. Maybe that is the problem - the weight is more in the centre than towards the edge. But they do look nice on display!

The postman also brought some goodies all the way from England for us, too! An Easter present from our daughter who is living, and working, in the Cotswolds at the moment (not for long as she goes on a European Contiki tour next week for 45 days - lucky thing!). Dark chocolate, Mars mini eggs, licorice and aniseed lollies as well as a novel and some English guide books. Mmm, so hard to make them last!

Harvest Home Festival

2007-04-07T14:57:00.000+12:00

This has been an interesting, if not trying, week. We had a really good weekend when we went to the Harvest Home festival at the Totara Estate a little south of Oamaru. This is where the first shipment of frozen meat from New Zealand was exported from. As the festival was advertised as having a bullock team from Motueka as well as horse-drawn ploughing demonstrations we decided that it would be interesting to go along. We weren't disappointed!

First up, we visited the handcraft tents. There were several ladies making bobbin lace as well as a local spinning group who were making a spinning and weaving a shawl from a fleece which was blade-shorn that day. Sorry, I forgot to take a photo of these ladies (and one man) but I did get one of the lacemaker. I love the finished product (who wouldn't) but I'm sure that I would get not only confused with all the bobbins but also tired of the time it took to make even a small amount of the lace. These women certainly have lots of patience!

You can see a couple of the sheep waiting in the shed for the shearer to come back. They didn't seem to be worried about people standing there staring at them - in fact they seemed just as interested in us as we were in them!

Another sheep we saw was being lead around by (or rather, leading) some little children. This was "Shrek", who became famous when he was found after avoiding the musterers for a number of years. I have long wondered about the truth behind the story as, to me, he seems rather tame for having had no human contact for years. But, whatever, it makes a good story and there has been quite a lot of money raised for charity because of him.

Old-style woodcraft was also showcased at the festival. A woodworker was making a coracle out of willow branches and another was showing a little boy how to shave the wood. The little boy was not phased by the crowd watching and was talking to the woodworker ninety-to-the-dozen!

Another interesting procedure I had never seen before was the shoeing of a draught horse. Apparently the horse had been brought in every hour for a new shoe to be put on. We caught up with the proceedings for the last shoe. By then, the horse was getting rather annoyed and was not on its best behaviour. But, with some perseverance on the part of the blacksmith, the horse was finally lead away with its four brand new, specially made him, shoes.

There was also a team of four bullocks all the way from Motueka. I think these bullocks are part of the only working bullock team in the South Island. It was amazing to see these quiet animals (so quiet a couple of brave young boys were sitting on their backs at one stage) and realise that 150 or so years ago animals just like these brought settlers and all their meagre belongings across hundreds of kilometres of rough, untraveled terrain to begin their new lives on the land. Throughout the day many people, both adults and children, were able to have rides on the cart pulled by the bullocks. Towards the end of the day these bullocks must have been getting annoyed as we saw that the drovers, whips cracking and voices shouting, were having trouble keeping these animals going in the right direction. Not an easy task to steer four 1200 kg animals in a direction they don't want to go in!

We also took some time to watch the three teams of horses ploughing up the ground. Our favourite was the five-horse team of Morgans. I have read a little about these strong, versatile little horses and was quite impressed by them. Hard work ploughing this way, though.

At the end there was a small parade of sorts complete with pipe band. A man was zipping around on a penny farthing - how on earth people used to ride these things I don't know! More my style was the modern-style wagon pulled by two draught horses with spotted dalmation along for the ride. This outfit, along with several others, have recently completed a trip from Invercargill to Picton raising funds for the Otago Rescue Helicopter Trust along the way.

If you look hard at some of the photos you may also notice that a lot of the festival-goers were dressed in clothing reminiscent of 100 or more years ago. Some of these seemed quite authentic and it really did add something to the atmosphere of the festival.

This week also marked the arrival of two packages - one was the latest issue of Spin Off maagazine. The other package held two very pretty little stone spindles from One Planet. But more about these purchases next time!

All the colours of the rainbow?

2007-03-30T12:53:00.000+12:00

Sorry for the extended hiatus. I'm not sure what happened although I have been reasonably busy. Sometimes, though, I feel as though I can't really be bothered stringing words together and this week seems to have been one of those times. I have hardly even emailed my daughter in England!

Yesterday our spinning group had another day together where we had a good look at the fleece we had dyed. Now that it has all been rinsed (thanks to yours truly - have you ever had to rinse out 4 kgs of fleece before? No? Believe me, it is hard work and takes ages!) and dried the colours seem more vivid than they were at first. Nearly every colour of the rainbow was present in some small way. Many of the piles (there must be a better word to describe these small blobs of coloured fleece!), because of the very nature of the dyeing-wool-in-the-fleece-beast, are multi-coloured. For instance, some of the blues have quite a bit of green in them and the greens have a fair bit of yellow mixed in. Very pretty when you really look closely.

Each of us took several piles and began to separate the locks and comb/card or started to spin from the straight away. I was a little concerned that maybe the piles would have become matted from all the rinsing they needed and the compression when the whole lot were rolled up together in storage once dry. Surprisingly, though, the majority separated out quite nicely and, with some, it was even possible to spin without combing first. This fleece was a Border Leceister, though, which I think helped a lot. If a finer, more felting-prone breed was used the outcome may not have been so good. This is something any would-be Dartmoor dyer should take into account.

I chose a pile of red/orange/yellow fluff to comb and spin. Not my normal colours (if there is such a thing) but really pretty. Especially as we are going into Autumn here. The colours are reminiscent of bright Autumn leaves - think sugar maple! Very nice after the dull brown I am still churning out (about halfway or slightly more now). I'm not sure what I will pair this with. I think I'll wait until I have plied it up.

We are all going to work on something small for display at the Club's Open Day in May. Hats, maybe fingerless mitts. Who knows? Should be pretty and colourful.

Last time I was here I spoke about my "petting zoo" - my stash. Since then our family all went toan animal-type zoo, Orana Park in Christchurch, for our grandgirl's 3rd birthday. What a lovely time we had walking around the extensive grounds and seeing all the animals in as close to a natural environment as NZ, enclosed spaces and considerations for their particular species can give them. It was amazing to be separated from a large Sumatran tiger by only a plate glass window!

The kids (3 and 15 months) really enjoyed their time there. It was lovely to see little children really enjoying a close encounter with different types of animals. For as far back as I can remember I have loved animals so it gives me a little thrill to see that love being passed on to yet another generation. Both my sons and my daughter love animals also. Perhaps this is why my son and his partner chose this particular place for a birthday trip.

Another special thing for me was being able to go through an enclosure with different types of native birds in it. I missed several of them but I did manage to see a tui (pictured) for the first time and the kereru (wood pigeon) was so close I could have reached out and touched it! I know there are both in the native bush not far from here but these birds are not always easy to locate. We are often visited by bellbirds in the garden here, though. In fact I heard one singing its beautiful song this morning. Tuis, although a little more showy in the looks departments, do not have the same singing voice!

Giraffes are another of my favourite animals (I'm not sure if there are any that are NOT my favourite!) but this time we weren't supposed to go quite so close to them as we used to be able to. Not to be outwitted, my sons grabbed my camera and climbed the small gate and got up onto the higher platform to get me a good, in-your-face photo of them. I don't really approve, but I wasn't saying no!

Well, that is about it for today. Other things are calling out for my attention. Hopefully there won't be such a gap between postings. And, just maybe I'll have photos of the spinning of the fleece!

New Additions to my Petting Zoo!

2007-03-20T12:31:00.000+12:00

I realised a day or two ago that I had not shown you the skeins I had bought in Nelson while on holiday in February. Bad blogger! So here goes:

Yes, I know only five little skeins, but at least that is something. From the left we have a lovely soft 200g skein of slub yarn from Touch Yarns. This skein is unbelievably soft to the touch and such pretty colours which are fairly true on my monitor but perhaps a little more muted. Plans for this yarn? I have no idea, but I am open to suggestions! Although there is no length stated on the label it does say that the yarn knits as an 8 ply on 4mm needles.

To the right of this skein is another offering from Touch Yarns, this time a super-soft 4 ply fine wool in a lovely deep red, not quite as pink as the monitor shows. Again there is no yardage stated but the skein weighs in at 100g. I'm not sure about a final destination for this one - perhaps a scarf (either long or triangular) or a mobius.

To the right of this, again, is a tiny little offering of kashmir sari ribbon from Yarntraders. Very pretty in shades of pinks, reds, purples and teals (do I see a pattern here?) the label states the skein weighs in at 50g and is a mere 19m long! It is 90-100% silk. To its right there is another skein from Yarntraders, Makula, 80m of 100% recycled cotton. The usual pinks, purples and blues with a fair smattering of orange and yellow in it.

On the far right you see a 75m skein of Banana Silk from Yarntraders in the colourway "Magic Carpet" which appears to be spaced dyed red, blue. pink and turquoise. The label describes this skein to be rayon made from banana palm fibres. It has a slight sheen, is spun fairly thickly but with some thinner patches. It is quite dense and heavy for its size - it weighs 200g.

I have been thinking of making these last three skeins into a scarf knitted lengthwise maybe finding a woollen yarn to work in along with them. Not sure yet. I wouldn't mind making them into a small bag but I'm not sure how to combine the three and would I have enough to do this? Again, suggestions welcome. But I am not averse to having them sit here in my stash and bring them out now and then to look at, dream about and maybe pet a little!

Busy Week!

2007-03-15T14:50:00.000+13:00

I hope that you will forgive me for the long interval since my last posting but I have been rather busy. Last week was Dyeing in the Park day for our Spinners and Weavers group. This time, we had decided to dye a fleece using a method written about in our Creative Fibre newsletter (the newsletter received by all members of Creative Fibre New Zealand) - Dartmoor Dyeing. This involves 4 kilos of fleece in the grease, 4 dyepots and 4 colours of dye (red, yellow, blue and green) as well as several willing helpers. The end result is 48 colours of fibre and several happy, and tired, ladies.

To try and cut down on the time involved on the actual dyeing day I weighed out 3 piles of fibre and split each of these into 4 bags. This worked really well as each pile of fibre was the same size. I had also made up the dyes to the specification of the recipe so that there was the correct amount available and measuring on the day was kept to a minimum. If using this method with these dyes (Teri Sandolan Dyes) again I would perhaps make the concentration of the red dye (red B) at least half as strong again. Or even double. It exhausted rather well on the day meaning there was little left for the second dipping.

Perhaps I should explain this method a little more - the fleece was divided into three equal parts. These parts were further divided into four parts. The first set of four parts were put into the dyebaths - one part into each - and simmered for a while. They were then taken out of the dyebath and divided into four parts. One part from each dyebath was kept aside as a clear colour while the other parts were put into the other dyebaths. After more simmering these were taken out. The dyebaths were replenished with more dye, salt and vinegar and the process gone through again with the next of the first three parts. This happened again for a third and final time.

Confused? I think it is something you have to do to understand! Anyway, the upshot was 48 small piles of fibre in various shades hues and tints! Quite amazing, really, considering we started with a fairly large, greasy fleece! All of these piles were wrapped up in a sheet which I took home. I now have the "lovely" job of rinsing out all the piles and drying them. I am a quarter of the way through. Because of the grease in the fleece each pile is needing to be rinsed about three times trying not to subject it to too much agitation. I would hate to ruin all our hard work by felting it all.

Another thing keeping me busy for a while was a visit from the Grandgirls! We had them for the whole weekend (from Friday night until Sunday afternoon when we took them back). Kind of a challenge considering their age (almost 3 and 15 months) but enjoyable for the most part. a visit to the local park was a hit. They loved watching the wallabies (or "wobbalies" as the 3 year old said at first! Sad when she changed it to wallabies before the day was out) and playing on the playground equipment.

Another thrill was watching the 15 month old walking! She had been taking the occasional step up until the Monday of last week, then it was all go. She is almost running now! Funny how some kids don't do things until they can actually do them properly. I think she may get this from me!

This week we spent a rather large chunk of money getting an HRV (Heat Recovery Ventilation)system installed. Too soon yet to tell if it is going to be worth it but I do know there is a huge amount of heat in the roof space to be tapped. We live in an old (about 100 years old) wooden house with high ceilings and an iron roof. The living area heats up nicely with the log burner but it can be difficult to heat the bedroom areas. I don't know how much longer we will be able to have a log burner, either, as my husband's back makes it difficult to cut firewood as well as the relatively new regulations regarding log burners. Our old one will be illegal in a few years and the new ones do not stay in all night. Hopefully, this system will make an improvement to the temperatures throughout the house as well as keeping the house dry and the air clean.

Spinning - well I spent about half an hour yesterday on the merino/soy silk. Not much to show for it! Knitting - haven't been able to settle on it this week. Hopefully progress to show next week.

In which I feel a little let down

2007-03-03T13:57:00.000+13:00

My copy of Interweave Knits arrived today. At last. I must be one of the last people in the world to receive it! But I needn't have worried - I don't think I would have missed much if it hadn't arrived. I think the only thing in it I would consider knitting is Grumperina's Roza's Socks.

Everything else, to me, is rather ho hum. I kind of like a few things but the shape or the neckline or whatever is not my cup of tea. For example, why on earth would you make a v-neck with one side longer than the other? It makes it look like you knitted it wrong. Or that is what the non-knitting public would think at any rate. Otherwise, that top is a very nice, classic little piece. A little unfair of me, I guess, to single out that one particular piece but that is one that annoyed me. I like balance and that top offended my sense of balance!

Also, did anyone else notice that a few of the garments look like they should have been a slightly larger size for the model? In no way am I saying the models are too large. Not at all! But just a couple of the garments look ill-fitting to my eye. Take the Dollar and a Half Cardigan that many seem to be raving over. A very nice cardigan but the button band is gaping and the sleeves are a tad too long. Also the Bauhaus Fair Isle (again a very nice jersey) should be longer in the body length as well as in the sleeves for the model. Shouldn't it? Or am I just being picky?

Maybe I am just put out that the magazine I have been haunting the letterbox for has been such a disappointment. I hope this is not repeated in a couple of weeks when the books I have ordered from Amazon arrive!

My apologies to anyone who notices my favourite blogs list in the sidebar. The names seem to be awol at present. This will be rectified as soon as I know why it has happened and how I can fix it! Thank you for being patient with me.

My Visual Profile

2007-02-27T15:36:00.000+13:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

I was amazed at how accurate this was! Thanks to The Knittin' Coop for this.

Looking Back

2007-02-27T14:12:00.000+13:00

On Knitters Review a few days ago there was an interesting thread about the largest items we had made from handspun yarn. As I have been spinning for a number of years my mind was cast back over a variety of projects I had made. They were mainly jerseys my children (when they were smaller), my parents and myself.

My favourite, though, is a jersey I spun and knitted for D close to 10 years ago. I bought the 60% wool/40% mohair sliver (colour = Midnight Sky) at the Creative Fibre Festival in Greymouth in 1997. It had been dyed and carded by Rotocard (no website). The firm has since changed hands but they still have the same colours, as well as some new ones. Although the spinning is a little inconsistent (thicker at the beginning getting a little finer as I spun on) I was really pleased with the final product - soft and not too fluffy. The base of the sliver is black wool with the colour coming from the mohair which was not overly carded into it leaving the colour coming in clumps rather than becoming a homogenised mass.

I wanted to knit the jersey in the round. Never having done this before, I used Elizabeth Zimmermann's percentage system which I found described in an old Spin Off magazine. This worked really well although, if I used this pattern again I would increase the number of stitches in the sleeve. A little tight for today's styles, in my opinion. Some of the colours came out more strongly in some skeins than others (for instance, one of the sleeves has a decidedly yellow cast) which, if I had been more careful I may have been able to even out a little but overall I was really pleased with it. Like the spun yarn, the knitted fabric is soft and silky but not too fluffy. The mohair has raised a little over the years but is still not too "fluffy" for a man to wear.

Even today, D wears his jersey proudly always keen to tell people who ask about it (and there have been many!) that his wife spun and knitted it from scratch! Just thinking about it makes me think that maybe I should get cracking and make him another. After all, this one is nearly 10 years old! Still going strong, though.

Want to see something?

2007-02-21T13:06:00.000+13:00

Ok, time for some knitting content on here! I have been slowwwwwly working on the socks I started while on holiday. I like the colour and I like the Slipped Stitch pattern (from Knitting Sensational Socks by Charlene Schurch) but I'm not really sure they marry up well. I'm not going to rip them, though. Too much effort wasted - it seems to take me ages to knit a pair of socks. I really don't know how some folk can churn out a pair of socks in just a few days!

It would be nice if there was a real choice in sock yarn here. Apart from Opal, which is available fairly widely now, there only seems to be dull, boring mens-type colours around. Or is the real problem the local shops around my area? Yes, there is a huge selection available at the click of my mouse button but the cost of shipping is fairly high. I have bought yarn from Elann (who can resist??) a couple of times but I would go bankrupt if I did that too often! At least the sock yarn in my stash will last quite a while at the rate I knit socks (or anything, for that matter!) so I shouldn't be moaning.

I have been making a real attempt at sitting down at my spinning wheel most days, if only for a little while. The consequences of this are a tiny little bit of spinning up on the soy silk/merino blend I bought a few months back.
Not much to show for my efforts but, in my defence, it is being spun fairly fine. For the more technically-minded it is somewhere in the vicinity of 40 wpi. I just checked. I intend to navajo-ply it when I have finally spun all 100 gms (this may take a lifetime!) so it may end up being around 12-13 wpi. Does this sound about right? Unless I decide that I do want to punish myself enough to knit with it as a two-ply at around 20 wpi.

So that is it as far as my craft-efforts go. Unless, of course, you count the meeting on Monday. That was craft-related. I must write up the minutes today, too. Darn.

Goodbye sweet friend

2007-02-15T12:03:00.000+13:00

In Loving Memory of

Libby

June 2003 – 14 February 2007

Sadly, I can't find a photo of my little sweetheart but I will keep looking. She was a mini-lop rabbit (the one with the floppy ears) and was given to me by my daughter for my birthday in 2003 (as far as I can work out).

We didn't have a cage for her at the beginning as she was a surprise present so Libby lived on the kitchen floor for a few days. That may seem gross to some but it was the only hard floor we had that could be kept secure and relatively bunny-friendly. That is where dangerous gaps and electrical cords could be eliminated. At night I would catch her and pop her in her box for her own safety.

She was never a cuddly bunny - it got increasingly difficult to catch her at night - but she was so soft and cute! Then she grew up. Not being overly friendly meant that I sported toothmarks in my fingers on occasions. But I always forgave her. She wasn't the first rabbit we had looked after but I never realised that bunnies can growl and hiss - until I met Libby! She was funny when she did that. As long as you got your fingers out of the way quickly enough. I soon learned - do not play with the food!

I'm not exactly sure why she died yesterday but she was still warm when I found her. Probably the one time I could give her a cuddle without a struggle.

Goodbye Libby. I love you.

A driving we will go!

2007-02-14T13:49:00.000+13:00

Well...so much for getting a post up quickly after we got home! If you know me well you will already know that I think about a lot of things but often don't act on them quickly! Never mind, I am here now. But be prepared - this could turn out to be a long post!

I had hoped to post before we left for a week's holiday but that never eventuated. Sorry about that but some things do need to come first. Things like housework - there is not a lot worse than coming home to a house that is yuck and untidy! Also I needed to get things organised for a couple of meetings I needed to attend the day after we were due to arrive home. But back to the holiday.

D's cousin and his wife, who live in Nelson, were to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary early February. Invitations had been sent out to all the rellies far and wide. Knowing we would be rather stressed out after a month of houseguests (yes, in my book your own kids can still rank as houseguests!) we thought it may be nice to go up there and help them celebrate.

The more I thought about it the more I thought, why not make it a nice little holiday. All our married life the only holidays we had taken were spent at relative's homes (yes, I will admit, all but one night of even our honeymoon were spent at the rellies!). This was mainly because of finances but also it was the only chance for D's parents (well, his Dad, anyway) to see the grandkids. But with no kids at home now and only two guinea pigs and a rabbit for a friend to look after (as opposed to the dog and 20 sheep, 10 hens and a cow or two in the past) we thought, what the heck - let's go!

So 4 nights in Nelson, return ferry tickets to Wellington, 2 nights in Wellington, and 1 night in Christchurch were booked. The car was packed and on the morning of Wednesday 31 we set off! Yay! A real holiday!

Even though D is from the West Coast neither of us had heard of the Maruia Falls until our son stopped off there early this year. The Falls are on the way to Nelson (we decided to go the inland route) and were well worth the short walk from the carpark down to the river as you can see here. This view is looking across the river from the carpark off the road.

When at the waters edge you look up and across to these hugely wide (by NZ standards!)falls with the water pounding down on the rocks below. Created in 1925 by the Murchison earthquake, these falls are only a baby on the world's time scale but are, to me, so beautiful. Like a mini-Niagara!

We got to Nelson without incident and found the motel we were booked into - clean but not flash. Not a problem. Thursday was spent looking around town and visiting D's cousin.

On Friday we packed a lunch and travelled west towards Motueka which isn't really as far as I had thought. On the way we stopped off at the Hoglund glassblowing place just out of Richmond, a sort of suburb of Nelson. Beautiful work - but some was really expensive! There were some vases/decorative pieces with a price tag of $24,900.00!!!! They were handblown first then handpainted in a kind of Picasso-type style then handblown again overlaying it all with clear glass. Nice, but not my style and definitely not my price tag!

We carried on from there and found a lovely campsite/picnic area at Ruby Bay. It stretches a couple of kilometres along the coast below the road up on the cliff. It is long and narrow so everyone camping there isn't bunched up together and everyone gets a lovely sea view. There are a number of toilet blocks dotted right along the camp as well as two or three blocks with two showers/toilets! There are also heaps of water taps right along as well as basic wood-fired barbecues, a campervan waste-dump and a quite-nice children's playground. The whole place, including the toilets, was nice and clean and well-kept. Even I could be tempted by it! We had our lunch there sitting at a picnic table looking out over the bay towards Nelson. After lunch we took a long, leisurely walk along the beach up to the point then back to the car following the road going through the campsite.

Motueka was only a few kilometres further down the road. A nice little town which seemed to be buzzing. We had a look through the museum there, good but not as large as the one here. Had a cool drink on the way back at a lovely little garden/cafe place where I got some good solutions for some parts of our garden at home.

Where is the knitting? I can hear some grumbling! I didn't have a lot of room in my bag for much but packed some Opal yarn for another pair of socks. (There was also another ball or two of yarn stashed in there but that didn't see the light of day!) I cast on for the socks on Thursday morning while waiting for D to have a shower, and got a couple of rows of the ribbing done, but that was about as far as it got that day. More got done on the boat to Wellington but otherwise sightseeing was more important!

I did intend to make another pair of the Embossed Leaves socks by Mona Schmidt (see one of my early posts for a photo of previous socks) but have since decided to use the Slipped-Rib Stitch from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch. I think it may look better in the self-stripin Opal than the Embossed Leaves. That is such a pretty pattern it deserves better than Opal, IMHO. I like Opal but I sometimes wish that it wasn't, well, quite so stripey!

Anyway, that is enough for me to write, and you to read, for one day. I will carry on with tales of our holiday next time.

If I lay here...?

2007-01-27T13:28:00.000+13:00

I love that song (the one played on Gray's Anatomy) but I can never remember the actual title or artist! Never mind, but it is kind of appropriate for today as I am sitting here with my leg propped up on a chair. Most uncomfortable as it is my right leg and my computer desk works better with the left leg propped up. Ask me how I know!

The reason? Tuesday morning I woke up and noticed my right shin was a little itchy as if I had an insect bite. Not again, I thought. For the last two or three years, every January like clockwork, I have had an insect/spider bite on my lower leg (till now, the left one) to which I reacted badly. The first year I couldn't wear a shoe for a month! It appears to be the same this year although the bite mark is not so obvious this time. A trip to the doctor, then the hospital (the joys of living in a rural area are travelling 30 mins (45 km) to the nearest hospital so that the results are available quickly) for a blood test to rule out a clot. No clot, but possible cellulitis. So it is antibiotics for me with instructions to stay off my leg and keep it propped up as much as possible. A perfect opportunity to knit - if I could only decide what to do! As soon as I divide up the bal of Opal I have in mindI will cast on for another pair of socks.

I have had several emails from K - she is fine, has found another hostel in London to stay in for a week or two (too expensive to stay there too long) as is enjoying seeing the sites. She has applied for a job or two but is feeling a little discriminated against when trying for supermarket-type jobs. It seems most grocery people there are Indian or Pakistani and she was told there was no job for her there. This was when they had a job vacancy sign out! Never mind - she would probably be better living, and working, out of London anyway.

Thanks, Bess, for your comment about the scarf! The photo definitely do the scarf any justice but I really liked it too! So warm and cosy and really quite easy to make. I am tempted to make one for me as well!

Sorry there are no photos today. I tried to take some of the Comet McNaught which we have been able to see on clear evenings, but they didn't come out. A pity as it is really quite interesting. Amazing to think we can see a ball of ice and dust which is hurtling through space so far, far away. We are told the tail alone is several million kilometres long! You may have to be satisfied with this photo from the Waikato Times. I couldn't find a link to our local paper.

So, until next, take care!

Catch-up at Last!

2007-01-22T13:19:00.000+13:00

Finally I am back! The last month has been kinda stressful and fairly busy which is why I haven't posted here since before Christmas.

Our middle child, T, and his partner, S, came, along with the two girl darlings, to stay for three weeks while T was on holiday from work. Because he hasn't worked a full year with the firm he doesn't qualify for the full amount of holiday pay. Plus, as they get paid fortnightly, he wouldn't be getting paid for two weeks once he went back to work. Sucks, eh? So they all came to stay with us to help cut down on expenses.

While they were here T and S worked a couple of days picking strawberries and T worked a full day picking cherries. Also, on the few fine days we had, he started to prepare and paint our house for which we paid him. The house is nowhere near finished but it is started which is definitely an improvement!

Having two young, active little girls in the household was definitely a challenge! H is 2 3/4 and l is 13 months - they are sweet but definitely not perfect! Special bonds and memories have been forged, though. Something that is more difficult when we only see them occasionally for a few hours at a time.

The day they left my DH, D, went to shift our eldest, K, back here for a week before going overseas. We now have all of her things stored here again. This includes all the furniture and appliances from her house, clothes, books etc! Just when it was looking like the car would be able to fit in the garage soon!

Last week has disappeared oh, so quickly, and suddenly it was Sunday - the day K flew out. We drove up to Christchurch airport picking up my Dad on the way and calling in to see her two brothers etc on the way.

After two hours of waiting around after K checked in it was time for her to go to the departure lounge, the last time we will see her for at least six months. I really don't know how parents carry on if a child dies. I am feeling almost as if I will never see my beloved daughter again! Silly, I know, but it is how I feel.

OK, time to get over it! At the moment K will be flying somewhere over Europe. She is due to land at Heathrow in about 4 1/2 hours so I am guessing she will be rather tired by now. 10 1/2 hours to Singapore, 4 1/2 hours in the airport there then 14 hours to Heathrow - enough to make anyone exhausted.

It will also be rather cold for her when she gets off the plane. Coming from somewhere it is supposed to be summer and going directly to another place where it is winter is rather a shock. But she has warm accessories! I finally finished the scarf to go with the fingerless mitts and hat I made her for Christmas! Yay! It may have come down to the wire (I finished it in the car on the way to the airport) but I did finish it. :) (Forgive the poor photo - I had to take it while we were travelling!)

With that finished I will have to get back to some of the other UFOs I have on hand. The decision as to which one will have to wait for another day. There are a few things I really need to get onto in preparation for our little holiday. Yes, we are taking a holiday too! Something that doesn't happen very often but we have decided to take advantage of D's cousin's 50th wedding anniversary (he is a fair bit older than D). We are going to spend 4 nights in Nelson (where D's cousin lives) then cross over to Wellington on the ferry and spend two nights there. I really want to see the Te Papa museum which, I hear, takes at least a day.

After that we will cross back to the South Island via the ferry and drive down to Christchurch and spend a night there. The next day we are going to Akaroa for a short cruise around the Akaroa harbour on the Fox II which is a two-masted ketch. Should be really good! Then it will be home again in time to go to the first spinning meeting of the year the following day. I must say I am really looking forward to it all. The holiday, that is.

'Tis the Silly Season!

2006-12-17T10:34:00.001+13:00

It most certainly is the "silly season"! The time of year many (including me :( ) spend way too much money and run around like a chicken with its head chopped off trying to get everything done before Christmas comes! I will have 11 at my table this year. I am not really a good hostess so I do find all this rather stressful, especially on top of the stress of finding presents for everyone. And paying for them. Then there is the cleaning and getting the house ready! So what am I doing on here? Procrastinating, that's what!

We will also be having our son, T, his partner and the two Grandgirls staying for three weeks followed by our daughter, K, for her final week before going overseas. I am looking forward to having them all here. But... Stress and I don't make good bedfellows. Need I go on?

I am in the middle of the scarf mentioned earlier. Progress is very slow as I don't often feel like knitting these days. Too many late and broken nights' sleep have made me rather tired. No end in sight there so I will just have to get over it. It will be finished before K leaves even if it isn't finished in time to give to her for Christmas.

So much for more serious things, now for a little lightheartedness! I stole this from ?! I can't remember where but it is on several blogs. Go ahead and try it just for fun!

Your Elf Name Is...

Flakey Hot Chocolate

What's" Your Elf Name?

And this one came from ?? (I put them in my blog a few days ago and, especially at this time of year, my memory is often suspect!) Just enjoy!

You Are a Traditional Christmas Tree

For a good Christmas, you don't have to re-invent the wheel.
You already have traditions, foods, and special things you bring out every year.

What Christmas Tree Are You?

As I am unlikely to get back here for a while, I wish each and every one out there a very merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year! May the joy and peace of Christmastime be with you all!

Christmas is HOW close?

2006-12-07T13:23:00.000+13:00

Isn't it amazing how quickly the week slips away from you and suddenly you are looking at the end of another week - again! Especially at this time of year. I was hoping to be really prepared for Christmas this year but with only just over two weeks to go I am not there yet. Is anyone?

I do have most of the presents bought or I know what I will be buying. The ham for Christmas dinner is ordered and will be ready to be picked up on the 20th. I have written out a "menu" for the dinner but have yet to ask others to bring particular dishes. Nothing fancy, just plain and simple - the way I like it!

I have bought a couple of CDs of Christmas-type music so we can have something playing softly in the background. The only Christmas music I had was on a tape and I no longer have a tape recorder. A pity as I did like that tape.

I started putting up some decorations yesterday. I bought some cheap fairy lights and have strung them around the room. They look quite pretty with the lights out at night but may have been better with some tinsel strung with them. Maybe an idea for next year. I am hoping to get the tree up later today. I'm not very good at these decorative things but I would like it to be pretty for the little ones.

Yesterday (6 Dec) was a Big Day for the littlest one (our youngest grandgirl) - it was L's first birthday! I wish we could have been there but will just have to be content with going up there on Sunday for her party. I did ring them but L isn't much for talking on the phone as you can imagine! I did hear her in the background grunting for whatever it was she was wanting. She is resisting learning to talk preferring to point and say "aaah, aaah, aaah!" until she gets what she wants. Maybe it's a second-child thing as I think I can remember her father doing that too.

Before you get too bored (if you haven't snored off already!) I do have a photo - I finished the hat that matches the fingerless mitts from a while ago and finally took a photo of them yesterday. I am quite pleased with how it turned out. I used the basic hat pattern in Ann Budd's book (sort of) and included the same cable as the mitts. I fudged the decreases at the top a little so that the knit stitches between the cables remained as long as possible. As with the mitts I knit the hat on two circs. The scarf is still a work-in-progress having knitted about five complete cables. Photos when there is more to see!

There has been a fair bit of controversy lately on KR about the pink Denise circular needles. I have long wanted a set, particularly as I would like to try Cat Bordhi's mobius pattern and I can't buy a long-enough circ here. The pink set made a good excuse anyway, I thought, to buy the set knowing that I would also be donated a little to a good cause. So what if it is donated in the US rather than here. My sister had breast cancer four years ago so now I need to have yearly mammograms (yuck!). All is well with her, now, but may not have been if it hadn't been detected early.

Whatever, the set arrived this morning and is so pretty in all of it's pink glory! I love it and can't wait to use it. Once I have finished the scarf there may just be a mobius in my future!

Enough time on here, I think, time I was getting back to my Christmas preparations! I hope your's are going well, too.

An Ending...and a Beginning?

2006-12-01T14:24:00.000+13:00

The little baby jersey has been finished (the buttons bought and sewn on) parceled up and delivered to my sister's home ready to be given to the new baby boy. In the end I was really quite pleased with how it looked even though my seams are not really the best. I guess I am more happy to have it finished and given than have it sitting around not being used while I worried about perfect-looking seams. As if any little baby would worry! What do you think?

The shawl in the background is one my MIL knitted for one of our children 20+ years ago. Unfortunately there are a few holes in it presumably from moth-damage. Do moths eat acrylic yarn? I have tried to repair some of them but darning and repairing are not one of the things I do well (the older I get the more seriously I look at myself and realise that there aren't many things I do well! Is this normal, I wonder?). So the shawl sits in the cupboard as it is, a sweet reminder of times, and people, past.

With the NZ dollar still holding out strong, I recently decided to buy a few more knitting books from Amazon to add to my growing collection. I am not sorry I did! Yesterday morning the courier braved the cold, wet conditions to do his job once more and deliver my three new books to my doorstep. Maggie Righetti's Sweater Design in Plain English, Nicky Epstein's Knitting Beyond the Edge and Jane Sowerby's Victorian Lace Today now await my reading (and drooling) pleasure. I have been able to flick through VLT - very nice! The photography is lovely and the history is something I look forward to exploring further. Whether I eventually knit anything from this book remains to be seen, but there certainly is a lot of scope for dreaming. Knitting Beyond the Edge looks to be as good as her previous books but once I caught sight of VLT I was hooked. I will save KBtE for later.

On Sunday my friend K and I travelled to the "city" (it is officially a city but is rather small by world, and even NZ, standards) for the annual Market Day on the Bay. This was the culmination of the Rose Festival week celebrated here each year. We really enjoy going to this each year. There are many stalls selling all sorts of bib and bobs, some good quality and others not so. As it is a rose festival there are always several stalls devoted to all manner of plants including, of course, roses.

This year I bought two roses for the garden (I use this term loosely when talking of my particular garden. I have plans but this is as far as I have gone!) - one is a lovely white English rose Glamis Castle the other, another English rose, William Shakespeare. The latter is a beautiful deep red/burgundy with an amazingly lovely perfume. I used to have this at our previous home but it died when we tried to transplant it. I hope this specimen will have a longer, happier life! I was particularly drawn to this rose, not only because of its outstanding looks, but also because of its name. My grandmother's maiden name was Hathaway and family legend has it that we are, in fact, descendants (or more likely relatives of) Shakespeare's wife Anne. Nice thought, anyway.

Another smaller purchase which made its way home with me was this - a handmade shawl pin. To fasten those dream-shawls with? I rather like its slightly rustic look although the end of the pin may be a little sharp for comfort. Cute anyway.

It was a pity that our day at the Market was a little short-lived. Soon after lunch really dark clouds gathered and proclaimed in no uncertain terms that the already dubious weather was going to become worse. And soon! K and I went back to the gardening-stall area, collected my roses, and made a dash back to the car-park. And none too soon. Huge drops of rain began to fall as we were scurrying for shelter. Once we were in the car and on our way the rain began to fall in earnest sending the stall-holders rushing to cover their goods. We were very pleased that we had had the good sense to come away when we did remaining relatively dry and happy with our purchases. Maybe the weather will be better next year.

A Long-time Blessing

2006-11-29T10:20:00.000+13:00

A short post today with no pictures, sorry. I hope to have one next time as I finally finished a UFO yesterday after a hiatus of four years! A friend of mine gave birth to a little boy four years ago and I started making a cute little jersey for him for when he was about three-six months old. The weather would have been cooling down by then.

The knitting went fine and it was looking really cute. Then came the sewing up. This is the part of knitting that I really don't enjoy - possibly because I am not that good at it. I have never managed to master the mattress stitch (I wish I knew someone skilled at it who could actually SHOW me how it is done - books just don't cut it for me in this area) and have usually used my own type of stitching. It has never come apart (which is good) but it is not always extremely neat.

Anyhoo, I sewed the sleeves in then pinned the sleeve and side seams. Something was wrong! The jersey is knitted in two colours (pictures next time) and the stripes were not matching up. They were only a few rows out but enough to really, really bug me. I don't like giving a friend something which is not "perfect"! So it sat and sat. I was not about to take out the sleeves - my sewing in is permanent and I was not about to try cutting out the stitches and have the thing fall apart!

In the end I didn't give my friend the jersey. So it sat in the cupboard - out of sight but not entirely out of mind. Meanwhile, my son's partner, Shad given birth to our two beautiful grandchildren - both girls. So the jersey sat some more. While it is not THAT masculine I wanted it to be for a boy. Also, S doesn't handwash. Her decision, but I don't like risking my handknitting in the washing machine so not much of my work has ended up there. Very sad.

Recently, my sister told me that her son's ex-girlfriend (who was now living with another guy) had given birth to a son on Saturday. She is going back down south next week but my sister is really worried about her. She is not quite 19 and will have no family support where she and her partner live. They also have very little money. This area is notorious for its very hot summers and freezing cold winters. So I thought of my little, ill-fated baby-boy jersey. I got to yesterday and sewed up the side-seams (thank goodness wool really is rather forgiving!) and wove in all the ends. It isn't quite perfect but still looks sweet! I will buy some buttons today and put those on and take it round to my sister. I hope the jersey will finally become a blessing to this new little one.

A Little of This and That

2006-11-23T14:10:00.000+13:00

Eeeek! I see that I last posted on Sunday and here it is Thursday again. Time certainly flies, especially at this time of year. With Christmas nearly upon us there are still several birthdays over the next month. First up is D's (my husband) burthday on Monday. I knew it was soon but had forgotten just how soon - until he reminded me. Nothing like a supposedly grown-up guy who still thinks of himself as a kid! Doncha just have to love 'em?

After that it is our youngest grandgirl's turn to have her very first birthday on 6 Dec. Party day is on 10 Dec. L is becoming such a sweet little cutiepie! Shopping for her present was a pleasure but not easy when you know that Christmas follows so closely.

The other family birthday is for my nephew, J, who will be 21 shortly before Christmas. As he lives in Melbourne, Australia, I didn't think I would be getting him anything but my sister tells me she is going over there for his birthday. I'll think about it. $ are tight all year round but especially at this time of year. And what do you get for a 21yo nephew who seems to have most things he needs?

I did buy another birthday present while I was in town this week. This time it was for our daughter, K. Her birthday isn't until June but she will still be overseas then so I got it now. After all, she will need it while she's away to take all the photos I expect to see! (Have you guessed that it is a camera? An entry-level digital that isn't excellent but none of us a camera-buffs. It'll be fine. For now.)

I have done some knitting this week - I finished the pink wristwarmers and am halfway up the hat. Sooo lovely and soft! I should have finished that hat by now but some days I really can't be bothered to knit and the last two or three days have been like that, even though the weather was quite cool until today. I decided to have a fold-up brim on the hat for extra warm around the ears, and because I think it looks better. I hope to get three repeats of the cable pattern before the decreasing comes in. It should look ok, I think.

I have been think more about a dyeing project than my knitting in the last few days. A little while back I learned of a dyeing method, called "Dartmoor dyeing", for 4 kg of raw fleece where you end up with 48 little piles in various shades and tints of the original 4 colours. But I needed a fairly large, preferably white, raw fleece. And I didn't have one! (oooh, time to get excited - fibre-buying time!)

I didn't want to spend the earth on a fleece, either, in case it didn't come out very well. Where could I find a nice, soft but not too fine, white fleece? With sheep farmers all around here you would think it would be a fairly easy task - but not necessarily so. Most breeders I know of that breed for spinning have coloured sheep. The white breeders tend to shear their sheep on an 8-month rotation and send the wool to the buyer. A fleece which has only grown for 8 months is not really long enough for nice, easy spinning.

At the same time all this thinking was going on, I had a spinning wheel on TradeMe (a NZ version of ebay). It sold to a local lady! (Yay, no packing and shipping!!) It turned out I knew this lady. She and her husband breed sheep and she is a spinner. I had been going to ring her about my quest but kept forgetting to. To cut a long story slightly shorter, she brought me four fleeces to choose from when she came to pick up the wheel. I now have two, large, lovely white fleeces in my dining room (I must move them, but where to? Not really enough room in my craft room! I don't want to run the risk of moth-damage in the garage.) one for me and the other for our spinning group. I thought it would be a good group project for our annual dyeing-day in March.

I have already thought of what I would like to do with this wool (once it is dyed and spun, of course). Isn't it absolutely gorgeous?! It is from a Japanese book I learned about on Knitter's Review. I think that I like every project in this book. But it is all in Japanese!

We do have a member of our spinning group who is Japanese. She spends part of the year here and the rest in Japan. I thought she was due back here in October but so far I haven't seen her. I hope she is ok.

But, back to the book, I think I can understand enough from the charts to be able to work the colour pattern out. My spinning will no doubt be at a different guage to that of the pattern so some tweeking would be inevitable even if it was in English. I think I will start with the hat. That should give me an idea if it will all work out.

Here is a photo of the book in question. I bought it through YesAsia (sorry, I will have to look up the link sometime). It took a while to arrive but was well worth the wait. There are some really nice cable patterns in the book as well as a nice entrelac one. Can you tell I really love the book?

Sooo...that is much of what has been occupying my life and thoughts over the last few days. I wonder what the weekend will bring?

What Flower Are You?

2006-11-19T12:29:00.000+13:00

I am an
Echinacea

What Flower
Are You?

For want of a "proper" post this may have to do today! I would have liked to to have been a rose (sigh!) - an echinacea seems so...boring. Not sure that I am all that health conscious either!

A little bit busy...

2006-11-16T13:26:00.000+13:00

Isn't it wonderful how life gets in the way and nearly a week passes before you can get back to your blog? Well, that is how it goes with me, anyway.

Last time here I promised photos of some fibre which happened to come home with me. Sorry it isn't a very good photo but it is enough, perhaps, for you to get an idea of them.

The white fibre on the top-right is 100gm of carded polwarth. I have wanted to try out some Polwarth for quite a while but all the previous rovings I have seen had a bit too much vm in it for my liking plus they seemed a little too coarse and scratchy. This roving isn't too bad on both counts so it was allowed to join my stash!

The pale fibre at the bottom of the photo is 100gm of very fine "honey" merino. I think the "honey" they refer to on the bag is the colour - a moorit colour. I don't know what the count is for the merino but it seems to be fairly fine. I just liked the colour!

On the top-left is a darker lot of fibre. This is 100gm of a merino/soy silk blend that is named "fudge". Again, the colour? I could have bought a pure soy-silk roving but felt I would try out the blend first. I have started spinning this into a fairly fine yarn which I think I may navaho ply. I have noticed that it needs a fair bit of twist (I'm not a technical person so I won't even try to say what ratio I'm using or how many twists per inch etc. I'll leave that up to those who know about such things!) which, I suppose, is the merino content.

All of these fibres came from a Blenheim carding firm, Rotocard. The link is for their email address as I don't think they have a website. They do sell some beautiful coloured fibre. I especially like their wool/mohair blend. The present owners have only had the firm for about a year and have carried on with the past owner's colourways. I am hoping they will maybe bring out some new ones in the future.

Well, that is the very little bit of spinning news. I have done a little knitting in the last week as well. I wanted to try out something simple while we travelled north to celebrate our youngest son's 20th birthday. The journey takes about 1 1/2 hours so there is a little time to knit. I thought I would start a pair of Pocketbook Slippers. This link is for the adult sized slippers but when I first found the pattern there was also a pattern for Wee Ones, which are the ones I knitted.

The slippers are so tiny that I managed to knit the first one and part of the second. Not bad for someone slow like me! The colour is rather off on my monitor - it is a really rich, deep red which I really love. I used some leftovers of Naturally Tussock, aran weight. I really like this wool and have used it for slippers before. I guess they don't look a lot like slippers but the foot goes in the space one of the "handles" makes and the ribbing on the bottom stretches to accomodate quite an amazing range of sizes. I intend making a pair in the adult size one of these days.

You may have noticed that I haven't said anything about the lovely wool/angora blend yarn I balled up and sampled recently. That is because I haven't even finished casting on for that yet! I am still afraid that I won't have enough yarn for my size. So I am procrastinating yet again! Yes, there is a story behind my procrastination habit - Many long years ago, when I started high school, I took Latin for the first two years (don't laugh! My mother made me do it - she wouldn't let me take french and typing like I wanted. I had to take french and latin instead). In the week we were expected to cover our exercise books so they would stay tidy. Of course, I didn't get around to doing it in time and had to write out lines - procrastination is the thief of time. Only, I had never heard of the word procrastination and didn't know what it meant. I thought that the teacher had said proscrastination is the theme of time! It has been ever since! Ha ha!

In the meanwhile, I have bought some pale pink mohair to make my daughter some fingerless wristwarmers from Wendi Dunlap, a hat and a scarf (patterns still to be decided). A bit strange considering we are heading towards summer do I hear? A little, maybe, but my daughter is going on her OE to England in January - going from the middle of our NZ summer to the middle of an English winter! I don't think she really has any idea what it could be like. Being a good mother, I have been a little concerned about her ability to stay warm - hence the wristwarmers etc! I have finished the first wristwarmer and am about 1/4 of the way up the second. Photos later. I must say the first one is lovely and cosy!

On Saturday we will be going back up north for a double birthday celebration dinner for our son and his fiancee. Maybe more knitting will be done in the car on the way up. Time will tell!

In which I whinge just a bit!

2006-11-11T13:31:00.000+13:00

Sorry, folks, if I have been "missing in action" for a few days. Sometimes life just gets in the way, for good or not so good.

Good news is that my youngest darling is now 20! We went up to see him, and the rest of the clan, on his birthday on Wednesday. Nice to catch up with them again. I really don't like not seeing the kids on their birthdays, hence the mid-week journey. There will be a "proper" celebration next Saturday as his fiancee turns 19 on the Friday so both families will have a get-together meal at a venue yet to be decided. Hopefully somewhere a little quieter than last year.

Not so good for me was the following day. It was one of those days where just about everything was (how can I put this politely?) absolute yuck! the last spinning meeting for the year was messy.

After that I had to go do my bit for a local non-profit organisation I have been connected with for the past 12 years or so. I have been the very-reluctant secretary there for the past three (?) years but I have never been happy with this position and have always felt, and constantly warned them, that someone else should be found for this position. I only took it on in the first place as a temporary fill-in.

But, I have decided - no more! I will not put up with public criticisms month after month. Like a stone beneath a dripping tap I have been worn away until I feel that I must put an end to this before my health suffers. Yes, it is a bad time of year to find a replacement (the work and meetings (and stress) carry on right through the holidays) but that will not be my problem.

All this has made for a decided lack in my spinning and knitting so I am sorry there are no photos as there has been no progress. (Oooh, I lie! I have made a tiny pair of slippers but I am not sure where the link is for the baby-size pair. They are really cute but you will have to wait for a photo.) Progress on the wool/angora jersey is halted at present. I am really amazed (and ashamed) at the number of stitches I need to get for my size and the gauge it has worked to for me. I really don't know if I will have enough yarn and I know I will not be able to get any more. So this has stalled before it really got anywhere. Maybe I should wait until I lose some weight? Yeah, right!

Maybe tomorrow I will be more in the mood for taking some photos of the latest fibres to come home with me. They aren't very exciting to look at but at least it would be something. Mind you, I guess I should be attending a working-bee at the above-mentioned organisation tomorrow. I'll see how I feel about them tomorrow.

So, until next time (when I will try very, very hard to be in a better mood!), cheerio folks!

A finished object at last!

2006-11-02T14:19:00.000+13:00

Firstly, a huge thank you to all those who have left your kind comments here! I really get such a thrill that you have taken the time and trouble to wade through my ramblings. Being new to the blogging game, I am uncertain on the etiquette for comments - whether to answer each personally, off-screen or on. I have chosen not to answer individually (it is my blog after all, and I can set, or change, the rules!) but please know that I do read them all and appreciate each and every one! If this contravenes any unwritten blog-law, please let me know. I am, or try to be, a law-abiding citizen after all!

I haven't been totally non-fibrecrafty lately. No,
I have actually finished my long drawn-out Embossed Leaves Socks by Mona Schmidt
They have taken me a fair while, not because they were difficult, but because I didn't feel like knitting much of the time. Not sure why, just couldn't be bothered. I'm sure you get like that sometimes, too. Anyway, here they are. I knitted them out of Opal sock yarn - Petticoat 1290. I'm not sure if I really like the colours myself (I tend to prefer blues, reds, pinks and purples) but I think my daughter, K, likes them so she may be the recipient. We have the same sized feet which makes it really easy to knit socks for her!

I am now playing around with a gorgeous, hand painted wool/angora blend yarn by Marnie Kelly of Touch Yarns here in NZ. It is soooo soft and really nice to knit with. I bought it at an Open Day held by another spinning group about 18 months ago. Marnie had a jersey (sweater/jumper/pullover/whatever!) on display with the pattern and yarn as a kit. But the pattern doesn't include a picture of the jersey! I can't really remember what it looked like apart from liking it. So this could be a rather wonderful journey for me!

I don't think the pattern sizes are quite large enough for me (no, I'm not HUGE - just a tad overweight :) ) so I was a very good girl and tried out a gauge swatch yesterday. Yes, I know, the cable on the left is wrong at the bottom - I wasn't reading the pattern correctly - but it is good enough to give me an idea if I can use this pattern. It calls for 300 gm of this yarn (see - it is sooo light and soft!) and I have 400 gm. Enough for some size leeway, do you think? I will give the sample a little bath and check the stitches per inch after that.

This pattern also calls for knitting the jersey in pieces. It shouldn't be too difficult to translate into the round. I really dislike seaming if I can get away with it. I may change the sleeve pattern, too, not too sure at this point. Will there be anything left of the original pattern? Probably enough that I won't claim it as my own, never fear!

I still have a pile of white mohair fleece I washed last week, along with another pile of black huacaya alpaca I washed as well, sitting in my "craft" room waiting for me to do something with them. Still heaps more to wash too. The mohair was a little disappointing - rather short and smelly, as only goat can be! I thought that maybe I could rainbow dye some and card it with something else. Wool of some kind, probably. I wonder if this would work? Kind of make little blobs of colour in the spun yarn.

I thought I would card up the alpaca with a little angora (I've had this sitting around for ages and after knitting with the Touch yarn I really want to try it out) and some sort of wool. I will try out a test batt, anyway, and see what I think about it. I have plenty of alpaca hanging around here to that I can "waste" some sampling. Boy, was it dirty, though! Must have really been having some good dust baths. If I didn't know better I could have sworn the dye was coming out - but it is a natural black colour!

One last thing, perhaps someone can tell me (a person with very little blog/computer knowledge!) how one goes about writing with a line through the letters (strikethrough). There doesn't seem to be a button or shortcut here. Just curious, and you never know when the knowledge may come in useful!

My adventures with Dad

2006-10-29T13:37:00.000+13:00

The trip north with Dad went well if a little harrowing at the beginning. Dad wanted to go in his car, which was fine with me, but he also wanted to drive! Not good! With age and infirmity (among other things both hips have been replaced more than once and are very stiff due to lack of exercise) Dad is no longer a good driver. My sister, L, refuses to be a passenger in his car and always insists on driving!

I am not my sister and am not as "bossy" as she is! So Dad drove - sometimes in the centre and sometimes near the side of the road. Sometimes at 80 or 90 km and sometimes at 110 km! (By the way, the speed limit on the open road is 100 km) He wanted to put on his sunglasses so got me to hold the wheel while he did so. At one stage he got right up behind a vehicle and indicated to overtake. This was on a long corner and I could see cars coming towards us not far away! I nearly yelled at him!! I'm sure my blood pressure was nearly double normal - I KNOW my stress levels were mighty high!

But another thing about Dad - he doesn't like to negotiate a town he is unfamiliar with. About 10 minutes out of our destination he pulled to the side of the road and let me carry on. Big relief! So I carried on from there, not terribly happy driving a fairly unfamiliar and larger car than mine but the stress levels did begin to drop. We arrived safely.

Visited T, my eldest son. Sadly, his partner, S, and two daughters (my grandgirls!) weren't there as they are visiting S's mother for a few weeks awaiting the birth of a new nephew. But it was nice to catch up with T and make plans for his visit next weekend. It was then on to my other son, M, his fiancee R (yes! they got engaged last weekend!) and my daughter, K, who lives with them. Again great to catch up. They are all coming down next weekend (it is Guy Fawkes and we will be having a bbq, bonfire and fireworks as usual) but I think M and R will be staying at R's parents' place. But we will fit them in if we need to. Thank goodness for a large house!

After all the visiting it was time to head home. As it was about teatime Dad got me to stop off for a meal at an old favourite place of his. A reasonable meal for a good price - just a little noisy, though. Hard to hear Dad talking and I'm sure he couldn't hear me as he is rather deaf.

Back in the car after the meal (yay, I'm still driving!) do you think we could go straight home? Nah uh, not Dad! He is a long-time wanderer when it comes to outings in the car and this was no exception! "How would you like to go back through...?" So off the beaten track we went. Now keep in mind, people, that by this time the sun is very low in the sky and we were heading straight for it on a totally unfamiliar road. It was also extremely windy. Both my hands had to stay firmly on the wheel.

So we are driving down the road going goodness knows where! Even Dad couldn't remember when he had last been along that particular road. We ended up where we were headed, though. Going out through the other side of the town I had an inkling of where Dad's mind would be heading to. I was right! So we ended up visiting an old (well, she isn't really that old!) friend we had last seen probably three or four years ago. Lovely, friendly lady. Great to catch up with her.

Late leaving, though. Still half an hour to get back to where Dad lives and another half hour's drive for me after that. After 11 pm when I got in, tired and pleased to get home.

And am I getting on with my fibery goodness today? Not yet, but I did put a link to KRs webring on my sidebar! See it? I actually did it! Just hope it works, now.

No fibre for me today!

2006-10-28T09:27:00.000+13:00

Sorry, no pics today. I was to have had a lovely, long weekend to myself doing all sorts of fibery things while my DH went to the car racing. But no, it looks as if that is not to be - my Dad, thinking that I would be lonely, has invited me for lunch today and then wants to go north to see the kids.

Sigh! I love my Dad - but I had the whole weekend planned! I could get out of it, but I don't think I will. At a fairly frail 81 you never know where life will take him, so I don't really want to miss the opportunity to spend time with him or deny him of time spent with his grandkids.

So, a-travelling I will go. Maybe tomorrow I will be able to spend time with the alpaca I washed a couple of days ago. More on that next time!

Strong Fleece Challenge

2006-10-22T10:58:00.001+13:00

As promised here are the photos of the project our whole spinners and weavers group got behind early this year.

The NZ Creative Fibre Festival this year included a strong wool fleece challenge where groups entered articles made from a strong fleece - the one chosen by our Area was Border Leicester. As you can see from the above photo we had a great time together combing, spinning and plying the fleece which had previously been washed by moi. Once the wool had been plied I took it all home and looked at it for a while. After about a week of cold, rainy weather (this was meant to be late summer!) all I could think of was Spring - so spring colours this yarn became. Daffodil colours, in fact!

The clubs in our Area had decided that each club would make a cushion (easier for the delegate to squash into her luggage to take to the Festival). To save on construction time I conscripted one of our ladies to weave the back for the cushion, leaving the decision on the type of weave up to her. She chose to use a twill weave and stripe the colours across it with the pale yellow as the base.

To be on the safe side she asked me to dye another skein of this colour, as she wasn’t sure there would be enough. Out came the dyepot again – thank goodness I took notes the first time! The skein came out exactly the same shade as the original – even I was shocked!

It was then time for the other ladies to start working on the front of the cushion. To include as many as possible I had thought to construct this piece in a scrumble/freeform fashion. Having never knitted anything like this before, there was a little scepticism at first but once it was started the ladies actually enjoying working on it and the cushion quickly took shape.

Once it was roughly the dimensions I had asked for, I joined the cushion pieces together. Not the simple job I had first thought, though! I had been going to join it all together with an attached I-cord but, for some unknown reason, the edges showed through the I-cord stitches. Not nice at all. Instead, I knitted a stst border on the front and sewed it on the back. Time was getting very short, so I am not that pleased with the quality of this part. Too bad, at least it did get finished just in time.

Enjoyable though it all was, I don’t think our group will be in a hurry to take part in another Challenge too soon!

2006-10-21T20:31:00.000+13:00

My first post! Wow, I can hardly believe that I will actually have a blog. I wonder if I will ever have anything to say that anyone will actually want to read. Never mind - here goes...

To introduce myself - I am married with 3 grownup children and two beautiful little granddaughters. I am privileged to live in a small rural town nestled into the South Island (the mainland!) of New Zealand.

My fibre-loves (since that is what I have created this blog for) are mainly spinning and knitting. I have dabbled a little in weaving in the past but it isn't really for me at this stage. In fact in the dim, distant past I have dabbled in many different crafts but that, my blogland friends, is another story for another day.

I belong to (am actually president of) the local spinners and weavers group. This is a fairly small group of mainly older ladies - I can safely say that I am the youngest member at present. Most are reasonably active in the group but as they age (average age, apart from me, would probably be about 68 or more) they are becoming more content with doing the same old thing. Very difficult to come up with new and varied ideas. They really are sweeties, though! And when there is a project to do they do get behind it. If I can work it out I will post photos one day soon of what the group did this year as a challenge.

But I think that is enough from me for now. Time for me to go and finish Mona Schmidt's Embossed Leaves Socks from the Winter 2005 Spin Off. Just the toes to go. I may even treat you to a photo of these, too, soon! Cheerio for now!