Just discovered SSof S is on again

And I would like to be in again but I am going to be very careful about what I promise. Have been knitting socks and acquiring stash all year so am looking forward to this. I want to try out new ways of making socks. Also would love to take part in a swap. cheers

Sun at last

Hi, thought I had better get back to this. It's been a long wet miserable winter here but we are finally coming out of it and today the sun is shining mostly and there is only a mild breeze. The bluebells are out.

I have been knitting (of course). Current favourites are:

The Myrtle leaf shawl with willow border from Victorian Lace Today in Dream in Color Baby, colour Strange Harvest. I bought the yarn from The Loopy Ewe and the shawl is for a KAL for a project using this yarn. I started knitting Madli's Shawl which is in Interweave Knits Summer 2004 but I was defeated by the nupps and the wavering pattern which couldn't be tamed by markers. Perhaps I'll try it again when I am more experienced with lace knitting. The Mytle leaf shawl is a delight to knit and although I haven't memorised the pattern it is easy to follow.
This is a funny photo but this sock is based on the scroll socks from More Sensational Knitted Socks with a different toe and heel. I love this yarn it is soft and stripes beautifully. It's Zen String Lotus Toes. She hasn't got any at the moment but other shops might have some. I think this also came from The Loopy Ewe.

Libby has tagged me to reveal 6 random facts about myself. Here they are:

1. I got married on New Year's Day in Perth Western Australia with only family attending and had a great time. Great to have such a low key day and so relaxing. Our friends were a little peeved that they weren't invited.
   
   
2. I am also a quilter as well as a knitter. I started knitting much earlier though but I love my quilting just about as much. I once won a price for one of my quilts - much to my surprise.
   
   
3. I decided that looking after my children was much more important than having a career and spent about 8 years out of the workforce and now only work part-time. I was lucky to be able to do this.
   
   
4. I have two children who are now teenagers. They seem to have turned out okay although some of the teen responses are a bit hard to deal with.
   
   
5. I once knitted a Kaffe Fassett cardigan - it was a dotty pattern. I used his tie lots of different yarns together trick, mixed up lots of different weights of yarns. It turned out okay except that it made me look like a sausage - my son called it my balloon jersey but it was very warm. I have since felted it (despite the acrylics in the yarns) and I think I will cut it up an make a bag (if I can be bothered).
   
   
6. I come from a small town in the South Island called Motueka. When I was a child the main products of Motueka were hops (for beer) and tobacco. Now Motueka is booming on the back of tourism. I was happy to escape from there when I went to Uni.

Now I am supposed to tag some more people which is a challenge. I am tagging Brooklyne, Nikki, Beverley, ennavic, Michelle and Hazel.

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

Back again

Hi there

It's been a while since I posted anything on here but I haven't been idle. Projects completed include:

Serendipity socks from the Socks that Rock sock club - January - STR lightweight

Tangled Yoke cardigan from Interweave Knits Fall 2007 in Naturally Yarns Harmony 8 ply.

Leafling socks, Socks that rock sock club - March STR mediumweight
and Salvia from Knitter's magazine No.86, made with Yarn Bee, Hues of Opulence #088 - not quite finished. I'm just working on the i-cord which finishes the fronts.
I joined the Dream-in-Color classy KAL with the The Loopy Groupies on Ravelry and am making Bristow using the Blue Lagoon colourway. Here are the sleeves which look as though they could be pants - done on one circular in the round up to the armhole. A bit tricky at the armhole but okay.


I am also making a scarf in white tencel/acrylic ( Moda Vera Jaclyn) for my DD because she says wool makes her itch. The stitch pattern is Close-woven basket lattice from A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G Walker. Still have 4 balls of yarn to go and quite slow knitting. Hope she wears it.

I have also joined the Rowanette exchange this year and have cast on for my exchange gift but that's a secret.

Cheers

Sock/ yarn clubs

Hi, how are you all? I was lying in bed last night about midnight planning what I was going to write here. I'd been at Stitching Group and had come home all hyped up with looking at everyone's work and thinking about my own. Love going to my various groups but I often can't sleep afterwards.

Stell asked about my sock clubs. Actually one of them is a sock club and the other is really a yarn club. I have just got the first posting from the Rockin Sock Club 2008.

I was thrilled because red has got to be my favourite colour. The pattern is a little bit lacey. You'll see it when I have made some progress but I have already cast on and am a little past the cuff ribbing. Love knitting around and around to see how the colours develop on the sock. I think this one is pooling rather than striping but I like that. This sock club is a yearly one with 5 postings. I had to pay the whole amount for the year upfront which was a bit of a blip on the Visa. The wool yarn is lovely and soft although I have heard it doesn't wear very well might have to strengthen the heels.

The other club I belong to is the Spunky Club. Here are most of the yarns I have received over the past year.
There is a mix of sport, DK and fingering weight yarns. Some are pure wool, others are a mix of nylon and wool or tencel and wool. Each is enough to knit a pair of socks, a hat or scarf. I like this club because there is no pattern that I feel I should knit and I can pay monthly not for the whole year.

There are lots of other clubs out there here are some of shops which have them:

Simply Socks Yarn Company
The Loopy Ewe
The Wool Girl
The Art Walk Sock Yarn Club
The Tvyarn Sock Club
Sockamania
Harmony Semi-Solid Sock Yarn Club
Hipknits Project Club
The Yarn Tree Sock Club
The Zen String Sock Yarn Club
Joslyn's Fiber Farm

Well that's enough for now. I'm sure there are lots more out there. There are also clubs for roving for spinners as well.

Have to go. Work calls.

Cheers

Seasonal knitting

Hi, this is bit of an up-date of what I have been knitting (or actually mostly crocheting) and what my plans are for this year.

Spent most of my holidays crocheting various scarves, some for presents. I finished my Boteh scarf from Interweave Crochet, Spring 2007 in Handmaiden seasilk (Sangria) and sent it to my sis for her birthday.

I also made one for myself in Colinette Jitterbug (Marble). I wasn't sure how this colour would work out but I think it is great and so soft and warm.
Then I finished off the Open Diamond Scarf which is from Vogue Knitting on the Go: Crocheted Scarves II. The yarn is Holly Spring Homespun Scarlet Fleece in Poodle.

Being a new year, I have been having a bit of a think about what I am going to do with knitting and other crafting this year. I think I've gone a bit overboard with the knitting and especially the stash enhancement and in fact I've totally run out of storage space. I'm not sure why but I'm finding it very hard to stop buying yarn and I've really got far more than I will ever need. I think Ive been using yarn buying as a kind of stress release but it really causes more stress when you have to deal with the Visa bill. I also have too many magazines many of which I'll never use to make anything. So I've decided to:

1 Finish off as many of my WIPs that it is worth finishing and frog the rest.

2 Decide which yarn I will definitely use and sell off or give away the rest. This is going to be very hard because I love most of it. Some of it will be hard to even give away though! Unless someone out there really likes shiny variegated polyester ribbon!

3 Make a list of what I really want to make this year (after I finish the worthy WIPs that is) Most of my WIPs are on Ravelry.

This list might look something like this:

• Tangled yoke cardigan- Interweave Knits, Fall 2007
  
• Fifi - From French Girl
  
• Cobblestone for DH - Interweave Knits, Fall 2007
  
• Swallowtail shawl - Interweave Knits Fall 2006
  
• Chevron scarf - Last Minute Knitted Gifts
• Serrano - Knitty, Fall 2006
• Plus a range of socks and scarves.

4 Go through all my magazines and decide which I want to keep. I have heaps of those English knitting magazines which don't often have patterns I like.

5 I am also not going to buy any more yarn (well I am going to try not to buy more yarn) although I have already joined a couple of yarn/sock clubs. I'm hoping that getting a monthly yarn "present" will help.

6 Limited browsing of yarn shops on the Internet - except I still hanker after some Wollmeise.

That's enough for now. I'll report back on progress.

Cheers

Time for a catch-up

Well, it's a long time since I've been on here. Hope you all had a decent holiday and some fun over the Christmas/other holiday break. Lots of picture on this one. We all went off to Victoria in Australia for Christmas and met up with lots of my relations whom I hadn't seen for about 30 years. Really great to catch up and meet all their children and children's children. Here's a photo of one of our get-togethers.

We spent about two weeks in and around Ararat which was orginally a gold-mining town but is now a centre for farming and a "gateway to the Grampians". The Grampians is a pretty spectacular range of mountains near-by. We visited them twice, one day it poured with rain and we couldn't see much of the mountains and the next time it was about 40 Celcius and we couldn't bear the heat! Here's my mum sheltering from the sun.


We also did a trip to Bendigo and explored a gold-mine and took a tram tour.

We spent a couple of nights in Portland on the south coast. It was supposed to be mostly industrial (there is an aluminium smelter there) but it was surprisingly pretty and interesting and much less over populated than some of the other south coast beach towns. Here is where we stayed.

Finished our time in Victoria by taking a trip down the Great Ocean Road which is supposed to be one of the great drives in the world. I have to agree. It was spectacular.

That's part of the 12 Apostles - I think there are only 11 now though because one fell down. And of course the obligatory koala. The photo was taken by DD of a koala in the wild. Pretty good I thought.

And although I didn't do any knitting I did do some crochet. Crochet is easier on a plane especially with a wooden crochet hook which doesn't seem to excite the security people. Here's a scarf I finished.

Made from Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome, pattern is the Cluster Stitch Fiesta Scarf from Vogue Knitting on the Go: Crocheted Scarves II.

Enough for today. I'll be back soon with more of the knitting I have been doing. If you are on Ravelry you can see some of my other projects - I am Diantee.

Cheers