I dips me lid...

Time Thief Watch Caps 2007.13-16

The Represent Christmas Pudding Hat (TTWC 2007.17)



Hats knitted from the donated yarn at the Harlot Happening. There's one more to come. It's a chunkier yarn, so it will be a different pattern to the Time Thief Watch Cap. I'm so grateful to whoever donated this gorgeous yarn - it was an absolute pleasure to knit with them.

Time Thief Watch Cap 2007.18

Knitted in Patons Jet. Soft and squishy and light in gorgeous colourway.

Time Thief Watch Cap 2007.19
Knitted in Cleckheaton Country 12 ply. Lovely springy all-purpose 12 ply in a rich purple.

Time Thief Watch Cap 2007.20
Knitted in Spotlight Basics range "Dashing". This knits more as a 10-ply and it's silky and soft and an absolutely joy to knit. This is bad news for me as I'm boycotting Spotlight Scablight because of its truly shameful industrial practices.

Finally, one of the berets I'll be putting in the TASDA raffle this year.

Yes, it does look like cat spew thank you very much, but it isn't finished in this photo. The bugger is, I've handed it in and forgot to photgraph the finished article.

It's Lynne Johnson's pattern for the All Sorts Beret. The technique is to knit a garter stitch beret using toning and contrasting yarns of different styles to create a rich, textured fabric. In the above shot, the ends are all loose. On the completed hat, I grub-stitches all of the ends in to add further depth and texture. Despite the use of eye-lash and feathers-style yarns, the result was gorgeous.

There's a second one in very similar colours in the pipeline. I've finished the knitting and most of the embroidery, but I need to photograph it before and after, so production has ceased for the moment.

The money from the TASDA raffle goes to Stasia as well. Last year we made shawls, scarves and wraps; this year we're making hats. We make about $2000 from the raffle and there are 70 or so prizes.

Carded

How cool is this? Thanks to Susan for pointing it out.

Want one? Go here.

Post Mortem

After fantastic Harlot Happening (read all about it here, here, here and here - in the days to come on any of the blogs under Canberra S'nB in the sidebar, I'm sure) I was visited by the tummy bug. This particular bug hit me after an hour's sleep on Thursday night/Friday morning. There was no further sleep.

This enabled me to finish the Christmas Pudding beanie (we got up to the decreases at the Happening) and another Time Thief Watch Cap and cast on another from some of the yarn donated at the Happening. Made it into work because we couldn't have opened if I hadn't and collapsed into bed last night at about 7.30, not surfacing until 8.30 this morning. Normal services should now return.

All up we raised $135 for Stasia's soup kitchen and her other work, particularly with our homeless and addiction affected population. We also made 21 hats (including the Christmas Pudding Hat), with enough yarn for at least 4 more. Not bad for 17 knitters. I wish we'd had more and I wish we'd made more, but I've done the sums - that is 0.006% of our population. If New York were expecting 750 knitters, that 0.003% of their population. We did pretty well.

I dropped everything off to Stasia this afternoon, just as she was unpacking from last night's soup kitchen. An entire van of boxes that 24 hours earlier had been full of food. That's a lot of hungry people nourished yesterday.

Stasia asked me to convey her thanks to everyone involved. That, my friends, is everyone who came or supported us (list in Bell's post) and all of you who supported us from home. Check out Gemma joining in on the internet from Sydney, and we had messages from The Shopping Sherpa and Janette as well.

Photos of the lucky door prizes: Not shown were the Patons patterns, Brittany needles and gift voucher donated by Cassidy's of Kingston, hand-dyed sock yarn, and hand-dyed hand-spun yarn from the Happy Spider, and the books A Gathering of Lace and Kaffe Fassett's Glorious Knits. Hopefully the recipients will blog soon. The yarn and needle kits also came with patterns for the Kiri Shawl, the Print o' the Wave Stole and the Sister Scarves patterns. The hand-dyed spinning fibre is Australian Merino from Ewe Give Me the Knits and the hand-dyed, hand-spun yarn is from Sheepy Chic - generous sponsors, talented women and great business name devisers. :) Jejune did the stitch markers and counting bracelet

Speaking of Jejune, these two photos show how the party got off to a VERY quiet start and it's all Jejune's fault. She devised two puzzles that had us all heads down and puzzling for quite some time. The first you can all enjoy on her blog - it's an interactive crossword. The second was a match the picture to the knitting pattern once the tension, yarn and needle size details have been removed. It proved a tough one, but I think we all got there in the end.

Here's the wool that was donated in lieu of hats on the night. I'm most of the way through a beanie with the Patons Jet. It's heathery purples and green and SOOOO soft because of the alpaca. There's enough here for 4 beanies, plus the leftovers will enrich other.

Harlot Happening in Canberra Tonight

If you can't join us tonight at Starbucks watch us live blog on Bellsknits from about 6.30 or so.

Harlot Happening - again

The poster is by Jejune - she's very talented. :)

If you find the small poster difficult to read - check the post.

I've confirmed with Stasia that this is all ok by her and her son will be joining us for a short time at 6pm.

For those who can't make it but still wish to send in a hat - send me an email either at
unravelledblog AT yahoo FULLSTOP co FULLSTOP uk or canberra FULLSTOP knitters AT gmail FULLSTOP com and I'll send you the address.

Canberra Day

Today is our Canberra Day holiday. It was actually Canberra Day last Monday, the 12th, but the holiday is today. It is being blessed with steady, soft and much-needed rain.

Canberra is distinctive for a number of reasons. It is the city (with the possible exception of Darwin) most populated by people from somewhere else in Australia, and for that reason - and also because it is the national capital - it is the least parochial of the capital cities. Only in Canberra can one get a serious discussion about something happening across the whole country or in a state far away. Its effective planning, publicly owned land, integration of the built and the natural landscape and avoidance of large-scale advertising make it look different at once. That difference worries some Australians, who think cities ought naturally to be noisy, badly planned and chaotic because that is what they know. And the placement of the national government there has made “Canberra” a synonym for politics and bureaucracy, a word almost never used affectionately in news telecasts. The parliamentarians understandably rarely like it, especially those who live far away.

Aitkin, Don. What was it all for? The Reshaping of Australia. Allen & Unwin 2005, pp.184-185.

I was raised here and my earliest memories are of this place. When I was away in Sydney for 20 years, it was still home. Canberra's landscape is the geography of my heart. Canberra is my cherised home.

Knitting brush with fame

I have friends who do not knit. Well, some of them knit, but not like we do.


Sometimes these friends make me go to things that are not knitting related, nor particularly knitting friendly.


Tonight was dinner and a show. A prawn omlette and a beer at Woodstock (yes just across from the Starbucks we SnB in - got a few rounds in while I was waiting for my companion) followed by "Noises Off" at Canberra Rep where we ran into several friends and acquaintances and spent the interval chatting theatrical stuff with this man, actor
and director, Tony Llewellyn Jones. What a sweetie. Last time I saw him he was many years ago, 3 seats from me at the Sydney Town Hall, belting out Cwm Rhondda (my favourite hymn) at a concert by a visiting Welsh male voice choir. Here's something I should have put in 6 things you don't know about me - I'm a sucker for a male voice choir, particularly a Welsh male voice choir. Makes me go all week at the knees every time. Remind me to tell you about the time ... never mind. ;)


Didn't get any knitting done to speak of, but the latest Time Thief Watch Cap was in my bag hanging off my arm so it brushed fame.


Anyway - had a lovely night. The play was very well done, the company excellent and now I'm going to sing my weary way to bed.


You can take the woman out of the kirk.... *wanders away singing at the top of her lungs to the consternation of Westies and neighbours alike*


Guide me, O thou great Jehovah....

I'm sorry, Mr Harvey. You were right.

Twice in two weeks I've been required to use what could be described as "proper" maths.


I'm relieved that I remembered the definition of a prime number, thus retaining superhero status in the eyes of my 12 year old niece. Two hours of working out primes and factors and weird pyramids and formulas with Emily tonight brought back the horror of high school maths. Geez I hated maths. I'm so proud of Emily. She really stuck at it and got the whole of the last problem done all by herself using a pencil and paper. Almost as proud as when she gave away a penalty shot in her soccer grandfinal on Tuesday night by defending a little too hard with her left elbow. They won anyway, and the ref was totally biased!


Anyway, the second maths challenge - last week at woodwork I correctly identified that the thing we really needed to work out where to place pegs on the skeiner was trigonometry - specifically tan and cos. Luckily one of the workshop is a physics teacher. He was dead chuffed to have a practical application.


So, my humblest apologies to the long-suffering Mr Harvey, my year 12 Senior Maths teacher. Yes, Mr Harvey, 23 years on, I finally found a use for trigonometry (and physics teachers).


I leave you with a totally gratuitous Westie pic. I got up at 5am, this is what I found in my bed at 7am. The mornings are definitely getting cooler.

Not completely idle

Despite the lack of blogging, knitting has happened. Not all of it is photographed (or finished *sigh* yet) - but I'm working on it.

I present, in no particular order, a collection of the quick knits.

Two side-to-side scarves knitted from the BigW "Sean Sheep" purchased when it was 50c a ball before Christmas. These were intended for the TASDA sales table at the exhibition later in the year but I am (a) incapable of selling my knitting, even knitting of the novelty yarn variety and (b) a couple of days after they were finished I met someone whose daughter's favourite colours are pink and purple and who loves tactile stimulation. They've gone to a good and loving home. I was rather pleased with the silver beading on the fringe. One of the yarns had a silver thread through it, and the beads looked pretty bloody good. Here it looks like a cat o' nine tails - it was much less S&M in real life.

Then we have the dishcloths.

I participated in a dischloth swap. This saw a spate of wash cloth making from a variety of cottons in weird array of patterns. In the end I made 5 of the things, discovering a bias stitch (the red) that made an interesting diamond shape and is nice an nubbly on stubborn kitchen stuff. It's made from a reclaimed cotton. I have 4 jumpers worth of this stuff - get used to seeing it.

The mauve is one I sent my swap pal. It's a standard 8 ply knitting cotton in a pattern that I've not seen anywhere, but which just emerged from the needles when I was trying to do something else. It turned out great and mimics my favourite purchased pot scrubber that cannot be bought these days. I ended up making three of these before the size was perfected. The other two are in service in my kitchen. Conversion to knitted washcloths now complete.

Time Thief Watch Caps 2007.4-12 - examples thereof.

Slowing down on these due to a lack of 12ply yarn. Half of the above 9 are in 8ply and they take AGES to knit.

A trip to Vinnies Belconnen on Friday increased my bulkier yarn stash considerably. I purchased a large bag full of hand spun and spent 2 hours on Saturday untangling it and putting it into colours and wpi groups.

I also sorted the 12ply odd-balls into shades and discovered many long-forgotten UFOs.

The Shopping Sherpa helped with one of the hats (at an industry function, no less) and was instrumental in the bulk lot of hand-spun coming home with me. Many thanks TSS.

Re the UFOS. I've unravelled 2 part done Kiri shawls and other unravelling will begin soon. This will be aided by the completion of a skeiner at wood work class. Might be finished tomorrow night, might be the week after - but it's very close now. Unravelling will be but the work of but a moment when my skeiner is complete.

Hopefully the rest of the FOs will be photographed by the end of the week.

Harlot Happening - the details

If only you knew how many times I've tried to post this. Here goes again.

*updated 7/3 to add more lucky door prizes*

VENUE: Starbucks, Manuka

DATE: Thursday 22 March,

TIME: 6pm

As Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's "Represent" Tour is unlikely to take in Canberra, we're adopting it as our own. We will also include the emphasis on providing material assistance to those who do not have the money or the leisure to indulge a love of knitting.

LUCKY DOOR PRIZES. So far we have a list of donated prizes that includes

• pattern books
• Boobrock stitch markers
• spinning goodies from Ewe Give Me the Knits
• hand-dyed sock yarn from the Happy Spider and a voucher for same. This may in fact become sock kits - awaiting on word of needles.
• row counter wristlet from Jejune (can't find a picture just now, but they're fabulous and are just like these ones only better)
• Book A Gathering of Lace donated by Janette of Knitting on the Avenue and Stick to Your Knitting.
• and other stuff but my list is in the car or somewhere
• if there is something you'd like to contribute, please get in touch

For a ticket to win one of these prizes you can donate a gold coin. To get 5 tickets you can donate a gold coin and a hat for the homeless. You can donate multiple gold coins and multiple hats but there is a maximum of 5 tickets per person. If you don't have time to knit a hat, I'm happy to provide you with one in exchange for 2 balls of 12 ply wool so I can knit another hat for the homeless.

The money and the hats will be donated to Stasia Dabrowski for her soup kitchen. Stasia has been running the soup kitchen in Garema Place for 28 years. Her work is not affiliated with any religion or political party.

ACTIVITIES

Some of these may not happen, but we sure had fun coming up with the ideas. Those of you who couldn't make it to the last Woden SnB missed a funny (pass-the-Tena-lady funny!) and quite rude evening.

• Yarn Harlot inspired crossword puzzle from Jejune (link further up)
• readings from the Yarn Harlot's works
• pin the pom-pom on the beanie
• guess the mystery yarn
• Christmas Pudding hat making (everyone gets to knit a round, just like everyone gets a stir of the Christmas pudding)
• match the pattern to the picture
• sock in progress picture - we'll take a mass photo with our socks. If you don't have a sock, bring something in progress or speak to Spidey - she'd be happy to initiate you into the sisterhood of the sock.

Got other ideas - send 'em in!

Lost in the mail

My Yahoo account is taking a little rest. Either that, or any email sent in the last 3 days has been of such standard that it's being kept somewhere for special attention.

Upshot - if you have emailed me since 1 March, I haven't received the message. I don't know if it means the emails I have sent are also being held captive somewhere. Yahoo has been notified and I await a response.

Meantime - leave a comment on the blog. If the content is not bloggable - just say you need me to get in touch. If you have an email address attached to your profile I can respond.

As Mark Twain once said...

"The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated"

This from the lovely Kate of The Wool Room Country Store, 196 Boorowa Street in Young.

The Wool Room Country Store is alive and well. ...

Early February we went to Stitches and Craft show in Sydney at Rosehill and took boxes of yarn to tempt knitters. We had a good response.

We are DEFINITELY NOT CLOSING. ...

We have 99% of all books in stock from Australian Country Spinners. You can check their websites at www.patons.biz , www.cleckheaton.biz , www.shepherdyarns.biz , www.pandayarns.biz. You can see all their patterns, yarns and colours which we stock.

I have a huge range of yarns in stock and also organising other yarns this season.

Please let me know what you and your friends are looking for. We like to give personal service.

Those of us who have been to this shop are very glad to hear this and can attest that the stock and the service are fab. Don't believe me - read the posts Spidey and I made after our last visit with Sharon.

So a big YAY for the best LYS I've ever been to, and I'm old and wise in the ways of wool shops.

You can contact the shop on (02) 6382 6665 or email thewoolroom@ozemail.com.au

Harlot Happening

Extra special event.

Thursday 22 March, 6pm +, probably at Starbucks at MANUKA.

A HARLOT HAPPENING.

If you read the Yarn Harlot, you will be aware from her most recent post that she's planning a VERY BIG book launch on Thursday 22 March in New York.

Spidey and I can't get to NY by then because apparently the wounds from the sale of our kidneys to finance the trip won't be healed sufficiently, so at SnB yesterday the consensus was to have our own event. This was in no small part due to the presence of a new member, Kate, who has ACTUALLY MET Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, and there were 3 socks in progress at the meeting.

We think the Sherpa can swing a shift at Starbucks, Manuka for that night, thus ensuring a very knit-friendly atmosphere.

BRING A SOCK IN PROGRESS if possible.

This is about as far along the planning route as we've made it. Suggestions for activities so far are a march around Manuka knitting and chanting, a Yarn Harlot trivia quiz and a raffle. Any or none of these things may actually happen.

We'll keep you posted as plans progress. Please send in suggestions. We'll also need help with publicity - so put a note on your blog, comment on someone else's blog and invite your mates.

My favourite valentine - all four of them

I spent the evening of St Valentine's Day with the husbands of 4 other women and the partner of a very nice bloke. I am a woodwork whore, I tell you.

Woodwork started again last night and I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it, having taken last term and much of the one before off due to the family health crisis.

Graeme, the bloke who runs the class, is great. When I turn up with sketches, measurements and hopes for things like "niddy-noddies", "umbrella swifts", "Andean plying tools" and "lazy kates" - he barely turns a hair. When I show up with examples of these things and say "I want to make this, only better, and I want to make 6 of them", he blanches a little and then facilitates. He is mindful of my COMPLETE LACK OF SKILL in this area, and still manages to help me create minor miracles. He never fails to try and improve my knowledge and my skills - the man's an optimist and a great teacher.

The other blokes are great, too. In the main, the Wednesday crowd is a rotation of the same guys. They let Maree and I go for a little light relief, I'm sure. This group, in various permutations, have been showing up to Graeme's class for years. It's a woodwork Stitch 'n' Bitch, really.

I've been going for nearly a year now. It took a term for some of them to actually speak to Maree and I, but they let it be known that we were welcome to come back after our first term, so we must have done something right. I think it might have been that we were really happy to put on the earmuffs and leave them alone. Maree has two young boys and I have a demanding job and family - we LOVE the earmuffs.

Some of the work these guys do is amazing. Mostly they focus on their task with the occasional "whacha workin' on?" and "ah, tallow wood - nice" type conversation with each other. Sometimes, when there's a lull in the process, they can be lured into discussing their projects and why they do them. They can be quite poetic in a gruff Aussie bloke way, although after the Timber Show last year they couldn't be shut up about the timber they'd bought, the new tools they'd seen, the bargains and what was next in the queue. It was terribly, terribly familiar, only the medium was different.

They are tolerant and accepting of Maree and me. They know we are rank amateurs and likely to remain so. We are garter stitch scarf knitters to their Shetland lace confections, but there is room for us in their club.

Making my own spinning and knitting accessories was a little odd to them initally, and the first time I whip out my knitting while I'm waiting or taking a coffee break, I get a few looks, but these guys are smart. They understand the process of making and the joy of creation. They respect the skills involved in creating with yarn in the way I respect the skills invovled in creating with timber. Most are genuinely interested in the application of their chosen craft to making tools for mine and tease each other with the new terminology.

Bloke 1 to me indicating pile of dowel "So what's that you're making?"

Bloke 2 to Bloke 1 in incredulous tone "Haven't you seen a niddy-noddy before, mate? Wanna see the Andean plying tool - Go on, Taph, show him the Andean plying tool?"

These guys create with timber the love tokens we create with yarn. A dainty fretwork box, a dining table from a single slab of red gum, a garden bench, a DVD case, a rain guage stand, a turned bowl - these are all tokens of love to their families and friends. It was a lovely way to spend St Valentine's Day.

Australian Independent Producers & the Shops that Support Them

I try to think globally and act locally. This carries over into a desire to support our wool industry and I've been keeping a list of local independent yarn producers with a web presence for months.

I had set myself a challenge of purchasing a new product from a local producer every month this year. However, bringing forward my backyard landscaping project by 12 months means there won't be any spare cash for a while unless I can spin pavers and gravel. I thought I 'd share my list with you all. Those not on a yarn diet might like to partake.

Please note that I am not recommending any of these producers and artisans in particular. In the main I have not sampled their wares. Neither is this list in any way comprehensive. I add to it all the time as I find new artistans. Also, for the purposes of this list the keyword "hand-dyed" also serves for hand-painted. The list is divided into those who are largely doing it for themselves and shops which support indie producers.

*updated 12/02 to include producers suggested by Ceri and Michelle, many thanks, ladies, and a few more from my list
*updated 15/02, 19/02, 23/02, 12/03, 17/03, 18/03, 19/03, 20/04, 24/06, 26/08

Owner/operators or those who largely sell their own product

343Sharon on ebay
hand-spun; hand-knits

Artdelana on ebay
hand-dyed; knitting yarn; spinning fibre

Baa Bum Handknits
hand-dyed; knitting yarn; hand-knits; soakers

Belissa Cashmere has cashmere and silk yarns available through Ozeyarn
knitting yarn; spinning fibre; knitted garments

Benbellen Alpaca
knitting yarn; hand-knits; Alpaca

Bendigo Woollen Mills
knitting yarn; spinning fibre; patterns

Braeside Alpacas
Hand-dyed; spinning fibre; Alpaca; Corriedale; silk; Merino

Celia’s Basket
Hand-dyed; knitting yarn; spinning fibre; hand-knits; patterns; hand-spun

Colour Revolution and on eBay
Hand-dyed; knitting yarn

Coloured Jules
Hand-dyed; knitting yarn; spinning fibre; wool; Alpaca; silk; accessories; hand-knits; kits

Counting Mermaids
Hand-dyed; hand-spun; knitting yarns

Creswick Woollen Mills
Mostly woven goods, but some spinning fibre and accessories

Ewe Give Me the Knits
hand-dyed; spinning fibre; dyes; knitting yarn

Fibreworks online at http://www.yarnsonline.com.au/ & http://www.ozeyarn.com.au/
Hand-dyed; knitting yarns

Flinders Island Fleece
knitting yarn; knitted garments

Gumnut Yarns
hand-dyed; embroidery thread; wool; silk; mohair

Happy Spider
Hand-dyed; knitting yarn; hand-spun

Highland Cottage Crafts on eBay
hand-dyed; knitting yarn; hand-spun; accessories; spinning fibre; dyes

Jumbuk Wools
knitting yarn; natural colours; greasy; hand-knits

Kaalund Yarns and at Purl Yarns
Knitting yarn

Katt’s Woolly Wonders and on eBay and Etsy
Hand-dyed; knitting yarn (mostly sock)

Knitting By Zen and on eBay
Hand-dyed; knitting yarn; stitch markers

The Knitting Ninja and on eBay
hand-dyed; knitting yarn

LisaG
needles; accessories; hand-spun; knitting yarn

Live 2 Knit
hand-dyed; knitting yarn; accessories

Martas Yarns
Hand-dyed; knitting yarn; accessories

Mollydale Knits at Purl Yarns
Hand-dyed; knitting yarn

Moseley Wool Store on eBay
hand-spun; hand-dyed; knitting yarns; hand knits; spinning fibre

MoXWord
stationery with a knitting theme
Knit blogger, Jejune, has her gorgeous knitting art cards for sale. Not fibre, but Jejune is a talented woman and a mate and this is my list.

Myoora Craft
knitting yarns; Polworth; Merino; Alpaca

Nola’s Funky Fibres at the Bead and Opal Wool Queen
Hand-dyed; hand-spun; knitting yarns

Nundle Woollen Mill
Knitting yarn

Pear Tree Yarns online at http://www.purlyarns.com.au/
Knitting yarns

Pierre the Yarn Snob
stitch-markers; hand-dyed; knitting yarn

Potty Knitter knitting patterns; knitted and felted garmets and accessories on eBay

Rainbow Wools and from Ozeyarn
hand-dyed; knitting yarns; dyes; spinning fibre

Sheeps Clothing Made It, Etsy and Blog
hand-dyed, hand-knits, knitted accessories

Sheepychic
Hand-dyed, spinning fibre, hand-spun; knitting yarns

Signatur Handknits and at Ozeyarn
Kits; knitting yarns

Siren's Fibre Yarns on Oztion
Handy-dyed; knitting yarns

Spin ‘n’ Knit Fibre Design on eBay
Spinning fibre; knitting yarn; accessories; hand knits

Supasoft Alpaca Carding Services
Will card and spin alpaca for you

Suzanne's House of Wool
hand-dyed; knitting yarns; hand-spun; spinning fibre; accessories

Tasknits Collection
Hand-dyed; knitting yarns; spinning fibre

That Spinning Place
Spinning fibre; knitting yarn; hand-dyed; hand-spun; accessories

The Shopping Sherpa Made It and Blog
hand knits; accessories

The Uralla Wool Room incorporating Mollydale Knits –
Hand-dyed; knitting yarn; kits; patterns; accessories

Tizteazles on eBay
hand-spun; hand-dyed; knitting yarns

Tree Tops
Spinning fibre, hand-dyed, knitting yarn

Waverley Woollen Mills
knitting yarn

Wendy Dennis
Hand-dyed; knitting yarn; spinning fibre; knitting needles; spinning wheels; drop spindles

Wool Cottage
knitting yarn; patterns

Wool Dancer
Hand-dyed; hand-spun; knitting yarn

Xanadu Llamas
knitting yarn; Llama; spinning fibre

Xotic Yarns
stocks Nundle knitting yarn

Yarnivorous
Hand-dyed; knitting yarn




Some On-line Shops Supporting Local Indie Producers

All Eco Natural and Organic Living
knitting yarns - recycled sari silk, banana fibre yarn, hemp yarn , organic wool and organic cotton yarns

Bead and Opal Wool Queen
Hand-dyed; hand-spun; knitting yarns; hand knits

Glenora Weaving


Hawthorne Cottage

The Knittery
Hand-dyed; knitting yarns

Ozeyarn
Fibreworks; Belissa Cashmere et al; hand-dyed; knitting yarns

Purl Yarns
Pear Tree Yarns

Rare Yarns
NZ company using Aus fibre, among others

Spin ‘n’ Knit Fibre Design and on eBay
Spinning fibre; knitting yarn; accessories; hand knits

Styk to Your Knitting
Hand-dyed; knitting yarn; Corriedale

That Spinning Place
Spinning fibre; knitting yarn; hand-dyed; hand-spun; accessories

Virginia Farm Woolworks
Spinning fibre; spinning equipment; dyes; accessories; knitting yarn

Wool Cottage
knitting yarn; patterns

Yarns Online Australia

Totem (the OTHER kind)

Over the years, lots of people have told me about their totem animals. I've never had one - until now.

Litoria peronia, sometimes known as The Maniacal Cackle Frog.

We're indexing photos of local amphibians at the moment. This is a fantastic website. It's only slightly ironic that my parting words on leaving general reference work in a public library were "at least I'll never have to do another *&*()!@! frog homework assignment again".

I have been knitting, I just haven't been blogging - promise to update soon-ish.

Tag Team

Grumble, grumble, moan, moan, mutter mutter, I hate memes and I've been tagged twice in a week!

I'm wondering if I can combine Bells' 6 weird things, with Twitchy Fingers' , 5 things I haven't told you about myself on my blog in the last 12 months, but don't know if that will work.

A. 6 WEIRD THINGS
Last year it was only 5 weird things so you can have all of last year's weird things, Bells, plus

6. My personal library is divided in fiction and non-fiction. They live in different parts of the house. Within that, fiction is filed alphabetically by author and non-fiction roughly into subjects. I guess it's an occupational hazard, but I actually know someone who is not a librarian who used to borrow my Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC 19 it was then) to classify his personal library. And you though I was weird.

B. FIVE THINGS YOU DON'T ALREADY KNOW ABOUT ME FROM MY BLOG

1. See (A.6) above

2. I don't go much for personal reflection - tends to degenerate fairly quickly into "I'm not good enough in any possible way" to be truly useful.

3. When I was 14 or 15 I overheard one of my teachers tell another teacher that I was a nice girl but had such a bad inferiority complex. I had to look up what an inferiority complex was, then I was mortified. I'm still working on that one - see (B.2) above.

4. My favourite toy as a child was Mum's button jar. I used to spend hours sorting and classifying them. Colour, number of holes, shanks, shapes, material etc. My brother used to count the money in our money boxes. This may go part of the way to explaining my choice of profession, and his. He's an accounts clerk, by the way, and has a considerable real estate portfolio.

5. Last year I used a 2mm metal dpn to let down a tyre on the van of a group of young men who said VERY rude things to me about my weight. I left a note on the windscreen that said "Fat, not deaf". I would do it again, only this time, I wouldn't just let down one tyre, it would be at least two.

Great Southern Supreme Merino Show

And you think your stash is big...
Mallee Pavilion, Exhibition Park in Canberra, 10am

Many sheep, many knitters, spinners and felters, some stash expansion. Very tired, very happy, will post pics and story tomorrow (maybe).

You just like me 'cos I'm good in bed

Time Thief Watch Cap 2007.03
7am, My Bed, Pearce

Working with 8ply for the watch caps is really slowing me down. This one took nearly two weeks.

Partly it's this particular yarn. 100g skein of Little Bo Peep, produced by a mill in Geelong (but my stash of it purchaed at local op-shops in the last 12 months) that only spun Corriedale and Merino fleeces. The yarn has a lot of the lanolin still in and are in the natural fleece colours. The grease in the wool has made it rather slow going because it doesn't slide along the needle as readily as more processed wools. Also, with our 30C+ heat every day this week, the lanolin became very sticky making it less than pleasant to knit with and reducing speed knitting further. I've another skein of the yarn in the same colourway as this. Might save that until the weather cools, though. Last week's beanie was in Little Bo Peep as well (donated by Spidey), but the lanolin content was far less than this one.

I broke my own rule about only knitting these in time otherwise not devoted to knitting and finished the decreases this morning watching the first episode in a Blake's 7 marathon.

I missed Blake's 7 the first time around, but found the complete first season on DVD at my local library yesterday and thought it time to broaden my experience with science fiction (not my favourite genre). Maybe it was the tragic 70s hairdos and wobbly sets that made me think of Skyhooks for the photographic shoot. For a rock down memory lane with the Skyhooks song book, go here.

Lessons learned:

• do not knit naturally greasy wool in very hot tempertures
• I can work out "fixes" to patterns if I need to (I finally got the decreases right for the 8ply).
• A small calculator is now part of the knitting tool kit.

Merino Madness - Announcement

For the first time in Canberra, the Great Southern Supreme Merino Show and Sale is on this weekend Sat 20-Mon 22 Jan at Exhibition Park in Canberra (the Showground). Map downloadable from here .

There will be 300 quality sheep on display Saturday and Sunday and on Monday 120 rams will be sold.

Throughout the weekend in the Mallee Pavilion there will be opportunities to learn about Merino sheep and wool, how to felt, weave and knit in an interactive area, as well as stash enhancement opportunities.

All knitters are invited to come along and knit in the Mallee Pavilion. I'm sure spinners and weavers are also welcome and intend taking my trusty Kiwi on one of the days. Saturday 12-5, Sunday 9-5, Monday 9-2.

You'll need to bring a chair to sit on and your knitting, spinning or weaving. Food is available in the nearby Fitzroy Pavilion and a coffee machine is in the Mallee Pavilion.

Some of the knitters from Canberra Stitch & Bitch and also from the Canberra Mothercraft Society knitting group will be there. We'd love to see others.

Image courtesy of the fine people at The Canberra Times.

Tips from the Vault: Blanket Storing

CLEANING

LAUNDRY, IRONING, GENERAL CLEANING

Blanket Storing: Blankets and woollens which are to be stored during the summer can be kept free from vermin if mint, previously dried in the sun or oven, is sprinkled between them and the articles rolled in newspaper. Be sure to fasten each end securely and store the parcels on airy shelves.

The beat goes on

I’ve written before about how knitting in public gives people the excuse to talk to you. It’s partly about commonality of experience. The same thing happens when you walk the dog or do anything in public when visibly pregnant.

I met Mary (not her real name), a woman in her 70s, in a queue to buy veg at the CIT Farmers’ Market this morning.

I sat Mum in the shade, took out my latest Time Thief Watch Cap and joined the rather long queue. Mary was ahead of me. She smiled and nodded at my knitting and told me how she doesn’t knit much anymore, just booties for premmie babies at the hospital. Jumpers are too heavy for her hands now. We discussed needle types – she prefers the old torties and aren’t they hard to find nowadays? - and agreed how circular needles really do make knitting in the round much quicker. We discussed how booties are not the ideal opportunistic knitting project and agreed that beanies are just right. She didn’t think it was at all odd that I was knitting a beanie in the middle of a hot, dry Canberra summer.

It says something about knitters that initial conversations usually take on a similar pattern - what we knit now, what we used to knit and how we learned to knit. Partly it's about establishing bona fides in the subject under discussion and partly it is about the unspoken communication that goes on in these conversations. It is taken for granted in these communications, that we knit out of love. Love for knitting and love for the people we knit for. There is also an assumed understanding of the generational interconnectedness of our craft. I rarely speak of any of this to the strangers who talk about my knitting and theirs, but the knowledge is always there.

Mary’s grandmother taught her to knit when Mary was 4 years old. Grandmother also taught Mary’s younger sister, who was 3 years of age and desperate to be able to do what Mary could. Grandmother provided Mary with very large yellow needles (about 5mm diameter and 30cm long going by Mary’s gesticulations) and very fine baby wool. When Mary was 4, baby wool in Australia was 2 or 3 ply – laceweight really. Mary still has those needles at home. She told me they are among her treasured possessions.

By now Mary will have two of her granddaughters with her for a few days. The girls are 10 and 11 years old and, following our discussion, Mary thinks teaching them to knit and revealing to them the magic of pom-pom making might be something to keep them occupied while they visit and, incidentally, a way of connecting six generations of women.

The illustration is Jean McKenzie knitting in 1917, from the collection of the State Library of Queensland.

Bally Brilliant

Bally Sandals

1pm, Front Porch, Pearce

RM Williams Boots

1pm, Front Porch, Pearce

I paid the ransom on these shoes at my local Salvos this morning. Today was meant to be deposit only day but at a whopping $2 a pair I had to make a withdrawal as well.

The Bally sandals are ideal in every way. I have a great deal of difficulty getting summer shoes to fit my broad feet. These fit and are lovely. They only allow the smallest glimpse of toe and they are perfectly flat. They have also recently had new heels. No further expenditure required apart from a bit of polish.

The RM Williams boots also fit absolutely perfectly and have been worn in very well. The elastic is still firm (what I need to support that ankle which never fully recovered from the break 2 years ago). They do require new heels and a very good polish, but as a pair of black RM Williams boots was on my list of things I would like to buy this year if I've been very good and if I managed to save up some "silly money ", I could hardly leave them behind.

PS. edited 7.30 pm to say that I had to pop out to visit a friend late this arvo and dropped off two pairs of shoes to another op-shop. Two pairs in, two pairs out. Excellent net result.

Project Spectrum 2.0

Just signed up for Project Spectrum 2.0 over at Lolly Knitting Around. I figure it will be good for that whole developing my sense of colour and detail thing.



February / March Blue, White, Gray
April / May Green, Yellow, Pink
June / July Red, Black, Metallics
August / September Brown, Orange, Purple

Beyond signing up I have set no rules for myself. I will not necessarily only knit in the colours prescribed for the month. It's about increasing awareness, not setting myself up to fail.

Flick o' the wrist

7am, Messy Room, Pearce

Pattern: Earthy Computer Mouse Pad Wrist Pillow by Jennifer Tallapaneni of Pie Knits

Materials: So proud that this is completely UWYH.

• Small amount of 8ply cotton left over from the Christmas wash cloth extravaganza
• Cardboard reinforcement for the bottom is from a block of Lindt 85%
• Stuffing - two stockings irretrievably laddered and waiting patiently in the busy box. I use old stockings, knee hi-s etc for tying up new plants and other garden and household uses. Actually, the uses for stockings and pantyhose that can no longer be worn are plentiful and will be the subject for another day.

Too much data entry at work on a poorly designed database meant I was a bit sore in the arms last night. NOT a good thing for a knitter. I was too sore to pick up my current project and using the mouse at home was hurting, too. What I really need is a wrist rest. Almost as quickly as I thought - "Hey, wonder how I could knit one of those?", I found a pattern on Pie Knits' site.

This knits up in an hour. You can't get more instant knitting gratification than that.

When I knit this again, I will use 3.5mm needles rather than 3.7mm and I think I'll use a combination of wheat or rice and lavender for the filling so it smells nice and supports my wrist better. I'll probably have to sew a lining though.

Strange Fruit

8pm, Lemon Tree, Pearce

Twins are twice the love and twice the knitting deadlines for garments that have to be the same but different. These shawls are 12th birthday presents for the lights of my life, my nieces.

They need blocking but there are 7 weeks until the birthday so I'm further ahead than usual.

Yarn: 2 x 100g skeins of hand-dyed boucle mohair from Australian independent producer Colored Jules (one skein per shawl)

Pattern: Simple garter stitch triangular shawl pattern printed on the back of the card which came with the wool.

Needles: How cross-making. I had to buy 15mm needles to make these shawls. El cheapo Pony needles from Big W, but in a very nice symmetery I bought them on the last day of 2006 with the remaining 2005 Christmas gift voucher from the twins' parents .

Lessons learned:

• Knitting with large needles is awful.
• Garter stitch can be meditative. It can also be dull.
• Knitting the same but different is still the same when you aren't having fun.
• Non-knitters think you're really clever knitting "lace" in striking yarn.
• Mothers never forget and knitting mothers are not as easily fooled as muggles. Mum reminded me that at age 10 or 11, a very simple triangular shawl knitted on "rocket" needles from cream loopy mohair (so 1976) was the very first project I ever completed. She began this reminder with the comment "Are you learning to knit again?"
• With a bit of luck, this will be the last Barbie Spew^TM colourway the girls will want now they are almost teenagers.
  

Tips from the Vault: Angora Jumpers

CLEANING

LAUNDRY, IRONING, GENERAL CLEANING

Angora Jumpers: To wash Angora jumpers, etc., squeeze till clean in lukewarm water and soap-flakes and rinse by squeezing in fresh lukewarm water. Fold carefully, pass through a wringer till no more water can be extracted, then shake and spread out on a flat, warm place to dry. When dry brush up the fluffy surface with a very soft brush.

Dad uncovered this wee book at home. I've, erm, "borrowed" it. Published by EW Cole of the much loved Cole's Funny Picture Books, it's great fun.

Like all handy household hint books, there are some absolute gems among the dross. Over the next little while, I'll share with you some of Mary Mansfield Cook's pearls of wisdom for knitters and sewers. Might just sneak some of the others in as well. Not all of the tips will be practical, but they should be entertaining.

Taph the Stash Slayer

8am, ACT Heritage Library, Canberra

Got some seriously odd looks walking to work this morning. What is so strange about a woman walking and knitting a beanie? Nothing. Then I caught my reflection in a window. The 15mm needles sticking out the top of my backpack would look pretty strange, if not downright menacing, to the Buffy generation.

Time Thief Watch Cap 2007.02

7am, Herb Garden, Pearce

All out of the usual 12ply, so I've started on the 8ply stash. Slower to knit and I've had to rejig the pattern, but it still serves the purpose. Not so sure about the decreases in this version - will have to play with the pattern some more.

Plum Loco

Plums

10.15am, CIT Farmers' Market, Phillip.

I'm trying to develop a better eye for colour and for detail. So if I see something that appeals it will be photographed or recorded it in some way.

Wouldn't this make a fantastic yarn colourway?

Light as a Feathers

10.35am, Salvos Store, Phillip.

An interesting use for the execrable Feathers yarn. I reckon the lamp shade is trying to crawl into that waste paper basket it's sitting on.

Please note the sign behind the lamp shade. It warns customers against touching items on this particular table. AS IF!

Still Life

"Coffee Beanie"

11.50 am, Qantas Arrivals Lounge, Canberra International Airport

The flight I was meeting was 50 minutes late, I was bored, it was funny at the time.