We had homework to bring a rather large swatch in that had been measured, then washed and ‘worn’ (or simulated wear) to see how wearing and laundering will affect your yarn, and therefore the fit of the garment.

So I thought I should get a wriggle on getting the swatch knit sooner than later, so that I wouldn’t be trying to do it the night before.

He’s a monster of a swatch, so he is George… Because I shall knit him and measure him and wash him wear him and I shall call him George..

These are just a few things I’ve been up to recently.

First off is a “new to me” discovery.  New to me, only because it had taken me so long to actually take a serious look at these as a GREAT solution to the problem of having lace slip off the needles.  These are Knit Pro Spectra needles. I bought these from Morris & Sons, and will definitely be getting more!  Not only do they grip lace/slippery yarn with the PERFECT amount of grab for when you’re knitting in public, or have to frequently put your project down for whatever reasons (mine is an almost 4yo boy).  I started knitting my 100 Grammi on the Nickel Plated tips (I think they’re called “Nova” now), and I felt like I was knitting with glass.  The alpaca yarn I’m using just slid everywhere and I couldn’t put it down mid-row for fear of having the project fly off the needles if I looked at it the wrong way.  So the Thursday night before the Sydney Knit ‘n’ Lunch (aka Not Bendi Day), I picked up the new tips and I fell in love!  Plus, my inner geek loves the almost light saber-y look to them when the light catches them just right.  So if you love knitting lace, but get frustrated with slippy yarns, then try these!!

My Citron shawl is slowly progressing, now up to Section 6.  This section doesn’t actually exist in the pattern, but other people have knit beyond the pattern and have done the maths.  I figured I still have yarn left, so I will keep knitting.  I do hope that it will block a fair bit, otherwise it will be a very cosy neck warmer and not much of a shoulder wrap.  I really do love how this yarn has knit up.  And the silk in the lower part of the shawl just shines enough to be shiny and not ‘blingy’.

Back before Christmas ‘09, I started a suprise knit for my husband, a fulled (knit and then purposefully shrinking is technically called Fulling and not Felting) lunchbag.  Fulled wool is a great insulator, both for temperature, and for surfaces.  So his food is kept cool/warm a little better, and the gear in his bag won’t get beat up by a hard lunchbox. The pattern is “Brown Bag” from Knitty, and the yarn is some Jet I picked up for $2 a ball at one of the craft shows (I think it was a Newcastle one).  I made it a little wider on the bottom, and added a knit on Icord finishing around the top edge for style’s sake (haha).  I love how Jet fulls!  The fabric is nice and thick, it stands up by itself beautifully.  All it needs now is some lining on the inside, and a magnetic clip to keep it shut.  Pending husband’s reviews, I may make another for my son, and possibly one for myself.

And lastly in this post, I have a spin that I finished after the Canberra Jaunt, before the TdF (which I’m not doing so great on), which is a 3ply (my first), Blue Faced Leicester from Waratah Fibres that I bought while down there.  It’s between a DK and worsted (8-10ply for the Aussies), very smooshy and will probably become a hat and mitts for The Boy for next winter, there’s about 200m, so we’ll see if there’s enough.  The fibre itself was amazing to spin, and I’ll definitely be buying more from Waratah Fibres.

]]> http://www.vintagegrrl.net/2010/07/20/photo-catch-up-lots-of-knits/feed/ 1 http://www.vintagegrrl.net/2010/07/18/good-food-and-great-friends/ http://www.vintagegrrl.net/2010/07/18/good-food-and-great-friends/#comments Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:11:49 +0000 Vintage Grrl http://www.vintagegrrl.net/?p=929 . . . → Read More: Good Food and Great Friends!]]> This week has been abuzz in Bendigo with the Australian Sheep & Wool show getting into full swing.  Lots of people getting their knit on, buying up big and having a ball….

I, however, was in Sydney and unable to attend.

So back in March, my husband suggested I have a few people over for a lunch or afternoon tea for a bit of a knitting/spinning circle.  So I put it to my Ravelry friends and the idea was warmly received.

So warmly received it was, that by June, the number had far exceeded my ability to host the event.  So I was on the hunt for a suitable venue.

Thankfully not too far from me is a great Cafe, with lots of natural lighting, good staff and great food.  Cafe Birkenhead was very accomodating, with very helpful staff who were adept at keeping up with our food and beverage orders, given we kept changing seats to chat.

I took one photo all day, but thankfully other attendees/bloggers were better at taking photos than I. 1FunkyKnitWit did a great job, and a wonderful post over on her blog.

We were there for about 5 hours, and had such a good time that it flew by!

Thank you to everyone who came and made it a brilliant event.  We will do it again soon!!

The lovely cabled scarf I’m knitting has been frogged back the last three times I’ve tried to knit it at a group.  My socks require counting at the moment, because I’m up to the heel.  My cardigan is going to get frogged as I’m doing a workshop next month at Guild that has to do with design, and I’d like to do it properly.  And finally, my Citron has Angora in it, which one of my frequent KIP’ers, Miss Sharre, is allergic to.

So that leaves me with no ‘current’ appropriate projects.

This Saturday I am getting together with some other Sydney & Surrounds Knitters that aren’t travelling to the Bendigo Sheep & Wool Show.  So I needed a project that I can happily sit there and knit without having to count, or worry about increases/decreases, or send Miss Sharre into a fit of hives.

Thankfully I had a pattern in my queue that I knew I had yarn for.  It’s called 100 Grammi, and takes 100g of laceweight alpaca.  I had momentarily thought about doing it in silk, and I still might, but I’ve had 100g of baby blue laceweight alpaca in my stash for quite some time now, and I think this really is the perfect project for it.

It’s a knit at either end, and YO’s with P2Tog’s throughout over 60 stitches.  TOO easy!  So I’ve cast on, and will knit a few rows to get into the ‘groove’ with it.

I figure if I don’t like it the colour it is once it’s done, I can dye it.

We’ve had Tapioca, and given he’s currently off all dairy and dairy substitutes, there are no yoghurts/icecreams etc that he can have.

In come the Jellies!

Yes, I know it’s pretty much sugar and gelatin, and most packet jellies are full of artificial colours and flavours too.  Thank goodness one of the jelly companies did something about it!

They brought out a new line called “Create-a-Jelly“.  It’s basically unflavoured/coloured jelly mix.  You add 200ml of your own flavouring (and they have lots of suggestions for you to try), and you have custom jelly without having to measure gelatin etc.

So I’ve made a couple of different flavours.  Last night I did a quick Lemonade jelly, and this morning I have made two tea infused jellies.  One is Chammomile, which is Boy safe, and one which is T2’s French Earl Grey.  That is Mummy safe… hehe.

I have, in the past made a Pear & Elderflower jelly with this, which was awesome.  And if you want a little tang in your jelly, use soda water!

I’d really like to make a Lavender jelly soon.

35 grams all spun.  So I’m on par for 15g per day.  It really does take a while, though, and I am only spinning for a few minutes at a time in between all the other things I’m trying to get done.

But I am loving the colours!

To reach my goal of having all 360g spun and plied, I will need to make my way through at least 15g per day for spinning the singles, which will give me just shy of a week to ply it all.

Best get treadling!

There is about 15 grams on the bobbin so far, so only 345 to go!

I’m really happy with how this is spinning up.  The colours are gorgeous!