Friday, April 27, 2007

Just Finished

Baby jacket and hat made with pink chenille and multi coloured eyelash yarn plyed together.




Thursday, April 26, 2007

More Knitting

This next one is the cardigan I knit up for my two year old grandson's third birthday this summer. It was supposed to be for Christmas but I expect he'll have out grown it by then. It's just a basic V neck cardigan that I've added some cables to.

I finished this pullover for myself. I call it my gold leaf sweater. This is not my design. It's from Paton's. The good news is: IT FITS!
Close up of the leaves and berries.










Friday, April 20, 2007

Damn Cat

If I didn't love her so much I'd cook her up for dinner!




My First Handspun Knit Shrug

My first knit item from my first ball of wool I spun on my first spinning wheel. After taking the picture I was able to step back and look at it with fresh eyes. I no longer consider it to be as hideous as I thought it would when it was still on the needles. Actually, it looks pretty darn good. It fits. It's warm. I love my new shrug! Maybe I should write down the pattern before I forget what I did.


I ran out of my home spun (light blue stripes on right sleeve and across most of the back) so I found a cake of denim blue Buffalo Wool and spun it up to finish the left sleeve. With all the different colours in it I don't think it's too noticeable.

My First Ball

As per the instructions, I soaked the skein in hot water and dish detergent to set the twist. Then I rinsed the detergent out in more hot water and slung it in the washing machine to spin out the rinse water. It took forever to dry, draped over the back of my rocking chair strategically placed near the gas fireplace, but once it was I wound it into the thing of beauty you see below.


The next step is to find a pattern for something useful for myself, that only needs 100g and knit it up.

A Couple More Firsts

First bobbin full of my hand spun wool.


As you can see, I have improved. Not by much but I have improved.


First skein on my niddy noddy. Apparently, spinners use cutesy names too.



My yarn looks much better on the niddy noddy as lots of the kinks got stretched out. The next step is to tie off my skein and wash it to set the twist. After it dries I'll wind it into a ball and knit something. I haven't yet decided on what to knit but whatever it turns out to be will be kept. I'm not giving away or selling any of my firsts.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

I Gave My Spinning Wheel

a whirl *yuk, yuk* and, as I expected, my first attempt at spinning was a complete and utter disaster but so was my first attempt at knitting so it really hasn't put me off. The instructions said to tease the rovings so I called it a fat, hairy gorilla but I think the roving is overly sensitive because it just wouldn't cooperate after that. No problem. My mom is coming for my birthday, next week and she'll show me what I'm doing wrong.

Also finished two more pairs of socks. One pair for my tootsies and a little pair from the leftovers.

Monday, March 19, 2007

My Spinning Wheel


was delivered last Wednesday but I didn't have a chance to put it together until today. It came in a box about two feet by three feet and six inches high. I opened the box and immediately thought of Christmas Eves long past, sitting up 'til 3:00 am assembling whatever stupid toy the kids couldn't live without. I didn't count the bits and pieces of wood as I unwrapped them from their newsprint blankets but they littered the livingroom floor like shells on a beach. The instructions were interesting. Damn! I finally get to assemble something from an English speaking country (New Zealand) and there are no words. Just pictures. I suppose I could have knocked a good half hour off the six it took me to put it together if I hadn't put the cross pieces on upside down. I only hollered for DH when a rebellious screw refused to be tightened and when I needed an extra pair of hands.
Here is my little beauty. I'm going to give her a name once we get to know each other better. I only have one little problem. I can't use her. My rovings (fuzzy strips of wool that are spun into yarn) won't arrive until Wednesday.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Nice, Warm, Woolly Socks

Santa put a gift certificate for my LYS (local yarn shop) in my stocking at Christmas. It was only for $25.00 so I had to take my time and choose wisely. I walked into the shop and realized I didn't have a clue what I wanted to knit, let alone which yarn I wanted to knit it with. I spent a good hour in the little shop waiting for something to scream, "BUY ME!" but all I heard was a shy, little voice saying, "You can buy me if you want to." so I did. The shy, little voice came from the shelves of sock yarn and I ended up spending a bit more than the gift certificate (Serves Santa right for being such a cheapskate). I bought one 100 g ball of blue, grey and white Regia for $12.95, two 50 g balls of yellow, tan, teal and white Confetti for $4.95 and one 100 g ball of denim blue and grey Austermann Step with Aloe Vera and Jojoba Oil for $17.99 for a total of $43.49 including tax. Now I just need to psych myself up to knit my nice, warm, woolly socks.

Friday, January 26, 2007

My Latest Work of Art



Unfortunately, this one doesn't fit me either. It's waaaaay too small. I swatched! Really I did. Oh well, it's not too difficult to find someone smaller than me who I can give it to.
The colours are a tad deeper and richer than they appear in the picture.
I didn't use a pattern. It's just a basic vest with a tie front. I found the yarn at Walmart in a 1 lb. bag stating "100% Unknown Fibre" for $5.00. I suspect it's an acrylic chenille because it is soooo soft and silky to touch.
The lovely, brown t-shirt is not included.

Monday, January 08, 2007

My Spinning Wheel

will be made in New Zealand, shortly. Then it will be shipped to my dealer in Greenwood, BC. Then my dealer will ship it to me. I should have it in seven to nine weeks. If I had known it was going to take that long I would have ordered it seven to nine weeks ago. :o(

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Bug Sweater






I knit two of these for a couple of my grandsons.

Monday, January 01, 2007

My Calendar

It's that time of year again.

"Knitting Pattern-a-Day Calendar 2007"


I see they have April 5 on display. Were they to have shown the weekend of June 16/17 you could have seen my pattern that was published. Oh heck, I'm gonna show it to you anyway.