Knitting by Zen

Kate gifted me some yarn from her recent trip to Bendigo and I’m in the process of turning it in to a Perfect Sweater.

It seems to be going well - I’m up to the waist on the front. I need to work out how to do a turtleneck on it now. Or else some of the amazing cabled collars that I’ve seen around this winter.

In other news, my yarn is up on ebay again- this time 4 skeins of sock yarn.

Ginger Ninja, Raspberry Beret, French Rose and Blue Moon (pefect for boy socks!)

I am procrastinating from univervsity work, so I stole a meme from Kate:

1. Where is your cell phone? Bag
2. Your significant other? Working
3. Your hair? Curly
4. Your mother? Mental
5. Your father? Fabulous
6. Your favourite thing? Clapotis
7. Your dream last night? Raunchy
8. Your favourite drink? Tea
9. Your dream/goal? Completeness
10. The room you’re in? Lounge
11. Your hobby? Knitting
12. Your fear? Injury
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Employed
14. What you’re not? Warm
15. Muffins? Pudding
16. One of your wish list items? Silk
17. Where you grew up? Everywhere
18. The last thing you did? Printed
19. What are you wearing? Tubey
20. Favourite gadget?
21. Your pets? Kitty
22. Your computer? Decal’d
23. Your mood? Grey
24. Missing someone? Yes
25. Your car? Yellow!
26. Something you’re not wearing? Perfume
27. Favourite store? Online
28. Like someone? Severals
29. Your favourite colour? Red
30. When is the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? July

I have finally finished my Tubey. Just when I thought it would NEVER end, and was resolving NEVER evah again to do 3x1 rib in the round (which is the true definition of "endless" letmetellyou!) I finally got to the end and cast off. Then I went back and finished the sleeve that I’d run out of yarn on *mumblemuble*inJuly07*mumble and cast off that sleeve as well.

Yay! Oh ok, here are some more photos:

So the top of the jumper has a fabulous orange contrast to the teal and it went for 1" before changing to the teal. There is a matching inch at the bottom, before I cast off using a picot cast-off. 

Yarns: Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8 Ply in Pumpkin and Bendigo Woollen Mills Mystique 8 Ply in Seaspray, which is a wool / mohair / alpaca blend that I adore. It’s a tad tickly / scratchy because of the halo on it, and for the first few weeks it is pilling but from talking to other users of the yarn, this is usual and you just need to pick them off and it won’t happen again. I knit on 4mm needles (Clover bamboo) and past the waist I changed to 5mm for the bottom part, instead of shaping it.

The pattern is elegant and well constructed but - I am yet to work out why you start somewhere on the back and work across the sleeve to one end, then unpick the provisional cast on and go back the other way. The only thing I can think is that it’s so the cast off is a cast off on both arms, but I’m not sure. The neck had to be adjusted after I had finished it as I’d picked up too far out but that’s a Good Thing as I could adjust that rather than just living with it, had I picked up too many stitches.

This is the first garment I’ve made, sewed in the ends, washed, blocked and worn immediately… and I am OVERTHEMOON with it. I love it to pieces and am so glad I have a teal and orange jumper that is handmade, uniquely Me, and quite eye catching.

This is me in it:

The drying rack is one I got from Bunnings for $5 a piece - they are a simple tubular plastic frame with a net over the top. Very useful and allows me to easily try my jumpers even in winter!

Lots and lots of yarn for sale!

I’ve been dyeing up a storm recently but you may notice a lot of purple and pink in there - not a lot of orange or red this time! But instead of posting the photos here in their entirety, click the link to pop up the skein you are going to purchase.

Postage - $5 for one skein, up to 500g (2-5 skeins depending on the type of yarns!) for no extrapostage cost. More than 500g and we’ll have to discuss. International purchases MORE than welcome.

Sock yarn (100g, 3ply superwash Australian wool - grown and milled and dyed) - $25 per skein
- Quantum Quatro
- Quantum Quatro

- Blue Moon
- Blue Moon

- Wisteria Thistle
- Wisteria Thistle

- Raspberry Beret
- Raspberry Beret
- Raspberry Beret
- Raspberry Beret

- Very Vermilion
- Very Vermilion

- Gold Fingers and Toes
- Gold Fingers and Toes

200g 12 py cashmere (this is a one-off skein and I am having trouble parting with it!) - $48 for the skein
- Roses are red

200g mohair/wool blend - $35 per skein
- Tomato Soup

- Raspberry Tea

- Blackberry Fool

30% wool / 69.6% cotton / 0.4% Lycra - $24 per skein
- Leprechaun

 
100g 8 ply 50:50 hemp and wool - $18 per skein
- Spearmint Heaven

200g skein 8ply 65% wool / 25% Blue Faced Leicester wool / 10% mohair - $37 per skein
- Palatinate purple
- Palatinate purple

- Pink Rouge

200g baby wool 100% superwash 3ply - $32 per skein
- Leprechaun (dyed dark Kelly Green through to white along the skein, for a UNIQUE effect as the start of the skein is different to the end)

Alpaca (8 ply - Australian grown, milled and dyed) - $42 per skein
- Strawberry Mousse

200g 8 ply superwash wool - $32 per skein

- Emerald City
- Emerald City
- Emerald City

- Port Wine Stain
- Port Wine Stain

- Grapey Goodness

- Passionfruit Vine

200g 8 ply 75% wool / 20% mohair / 5% alpaca - $44 per skein
- Rosebud Lips

- Hazelnut Cream

My shoulder is very sore at the moment so knitting is off the cards. But I did do some sewing:

And some photos from a recent trip to Nettle Farm with Kate:

I want to knit a My So Called Pidge.

I have buttons for it:

but have no idea what yarn to knit it with. I could get some 20 ply wool but would need to pick a colour that I don’t already have in my scarves collection! I have purples, and creams, but no pinks, no greens, and no blues (but it’s not a colour that I wear or like).

The local knitting guild here is something I no longer have much to do with. I say "much" as some of my friends and mentors hang out there so I do occassionally go and hang with them, and "no longer" as I was a part of it last year, but for the most part I find it pointless and I already have a knit’n'natter that I go to each week usually.

Wednesday nights, Everest Cafe, 5:30pm - 9pm. 

So I have braved two meetings in the past few months for various reasons, and it reminds me of why I’m not a part of it. Jokingly, today I nutted out the kind of Guild I would *like* to be a part of:

• Friendly and welcoming
• Egalitarian and co-operative
• Organised and forward-thinking
• One where I can learn, and I can teach
• Craft-centred rather than people-centred
• No garments made of feather yarn allowed
• Responsive and accountable in what it takes to be in the guild (so some level of prestige in being there!)

I also want to be finished uni, engaged to my lovely partner, the best midwife possible and comfortably rich .

Here are some photos from some of the crazy knitters I hang out with:

Lucy and me: Lucy isn’t crazy. Yet.  

Me and V and our awkward head angle:

Me and Mel:

Mel’s stand:  

Garments that need no caption (oh how I wish You Knit What?? was still around - you’d have had to see it up close in its slightly fluffy feather yarn glory to understand, and to also see that my camera was very kind to the purple and orange eye-popping one!):

V is happy to have yarn and is not afraid to sniff, weigh, and threaten with it:

And then there were the cupcakes, and I kid you not, the cacti:  

My mum gave me a sewing machine. It was a rescued one from her school (she is a home ec teacher among other things) as they were upgrading, and it was serviced and cleaned before being gifted to me. It’s a lovely Janome about 10 years old.

It came without instructions and seriously, the last time I sat down to a sewing machine was in year 8, which was in 1991 or so. Wow - that’s 15 years ago. *feels time* and so I had to get a refresher on how to thread a sewing machine. One quick reminder and I was easily on my way though! Funny how these things sink into the psyche / bones, especially in an impressionable child, and can come flooding back!

So anyway, I have been itching to make things for myself hence I asked mum for a sewing machine at some point in the next year or so. I’m on a clothing diet at the moment - this year, I’ve bought no new clothes except for a few things that I needed to buy in Sydney as I don’t go there very often, and… nope that’s it. I’ve halved my t-shirt stash by putting 1/2 of them away for next year, and I am knitting quickly through my half-done patterns because I need to knit jumpers for Winter.

Not that there is anything out there that I would buy. Bras and undies and socks perhaps, though I will get into undie making as I have lovely hips and buying undies is le painful. But on perusing Target the other day, I was also annoyed and frustrated at the colours available, the lack of natural fibres used, the clothes available and also the idea of having the same thing as everyone else.

Things I want for my wardrobe:

• swishy skirts of various lengths
• a pinafore
• long sleeved stretchy cotton tops which are long enough to cover my kidneys!!
• pj pants
• a cloak
• pullovers
• pants
• dresses

so I need to get my skills back up again.

Actually, I think I just need to not read anything that implies I, as a beginner sewer, am an idiot and am therefore incapable of sewing. I know that when I’m teaching people to knit, I sugges they immediately make a lovely scarf instead of a butt ugly one - use 7mm or 8mm needles, yum-delicious yarn and garter stich and cast on 20 stitches, then knit each row until you get to the end. None of this "knit a square" crap that just bored and frustrates people! And most of all, large needles are easier to use and also hide any mistakes in increasing and decreasing stitches.

Anyway, I decided to sew a Caroline Bag though I didn’t have anything around the house that I could repurpose so I went and bought some fabric today.

I made a small version first as the boy cutting the fabric had no idea what he was doing and went way over what I asked and paid for.

It’s very cute and holds my mobile and keys. Can’t wait to make another one! I also want to make drawstring ones for my multitude of knitting projects.

Rogue: Yep, back on the go. I’ve done the waist shaping and am moving up through the neck. It goes quickly but as it’s cabled I need to concentrate.

Tubey: is gorgeous and below nipple length, which is a plus!! But $&(&&%*&#(*(@@@! I have another foot or so of 3x1 ribbing to go. It’s mindless and perfect for uni knitting or for rehearsal knitting but it’s now a bit big for me to stuff into my backpack, so home it stays. I love the colour and can’t wait to wear it this Winter.

Cozy: again, lace is not the kind of thing that can travel with me. Which is a shame as I like it but it may yet be frogged and repurposed.

Vest: needs to be frogged and redone in something that I won’t want to scream over. It may be a good uni project (although really, I’m on holidays for the next couple of weeks/months so that’s not an excuse!)

Secret cardigan: Can’t tell you where it’s from but I’m flying through it - in two days I’ve done the collar and am halfway through the yoke. Boring uni lectures have something to answer for! It’s being knit out of the stunning yarn that Osk bought me in Japan last year and it’s lovely. Photos to come when I charge my camera battery up.

Clapotis: still going. Again - it’s too big to take to uni to work on! And I feel guilty if I knit at home instead of studying.

Feather and fan shawl: OK so really I should just finish something, huh. I have finish-itis perhaps? I’m a process knitter!! What more can I say? Except it will be GORGEOUS when done. But I’m going to have to buy a new needle to continue this project - I’ve reached capacity already.

Socks: various Tofutsies, monkeys for me, and bed socks. I don’t like knitting socks it seems. Which is a shame as they’d be good at uni! 

Photos all over the place!

Names!! Ok! Names!

Top 3 are upclose and personal on something or other, and another notsocloseup, and then yay! a decent group shot. It’s like taking photos of small children who’ve been on red cordial and cocopops for breakfast.

Then Spaghettification, Cold Nebula and Quite Cedar.

Row 3 is Cat’s Pjamas, Persephone and Deep River.

Orange Meow, Emerald City and Cherry Tree Lane (back by popular demand!!!).

And last but not least - Crayons in a Blender.