Springtime!

I think we can safely say it's spring now, some gorgeous things happening to our plants:

This is our plum tree; it's a triple graft and I think this one is Black Doris; it's also Billington and Elephant Heart.  Unfortunately the weakest graft is the Elephant Heart which is my favourite.   Spraying this each weekend at the moment with the seaweed spray to help it against the leaf curl.

This is the almond I planted down the driveway winter before last; the idea is that the fruit will be available to our neighbour as well.  I'm also spraying this each week.

The scented bulbs are out, narcissi down the driveway, the freesias are out by the front door; and they smell divine!

The kittens are feeling it too, much playing outside.   Here's Ray up in the silk tree, right at the limit of the branches

and Star looking for fun in the grass

I've cleared the main vege patch and will start on the secondary one this weekend; here's the main one

and the pile that will be dug into it this weekend

This is a mix of composts that will help boost the soil which is a little depleted going by last years performance; though some of that will be due to not being able to water the garden after the earthquakes.   We'll have that problem this summer too; already on notice that there will be water restrictions due to the damage to the water supplies in Christchurch.
I also picked up some Heuchera's to replace our Hosta's with.  Thomas isn't keen on the Hosta's as they're really messy over autumn and winter.  These guys are pretty and should fill in the space nicely, very little sun too so they'll be happy.

3 bronze and 2 purple ones.  I'll get more if I need them.

Onto the knitting, I've been working on my Jetty with no diversions to any other knitting.  I've got to the 4th ball of yarn which will get me to my 800 yards.  Today I finished the sleeves and I've tried it on and really like it.  Made some changes to the increases for the hip since I'm a size up in the hips than what I am in the bust.   I've changed to increasing every 5 rows instead of every 8 rows and will stop increasing at 220 stitches and then just continue knitting till I hit the end of the ball.  I have 6 days left to finish this, which is just as well as I also have some work to finish and it's taking me longer than I expected.

Ignore the lines on the sleeves, that was the stitch holder which I left in for just in case I didn't like the way I'd done the sleeves; those'll be coming out as I'm quite happy with it.

Time to start saving

I am now officially on a yarn diet; ordered some more 5mm nickel tips for my knitpicks set yesterday, but that's the last thing for a while.  Drooling is allowed, just no purchasing.   The reason for this diet?   I need to save for several things.

1.  New computer (please don't take offence current computer).   This runs XP and is getting a little tired I think.

2.  Proper camera.   I have a decent point and shoot, but it's not much good for the sort of photography I want to do like close up shots and yarn/project shots.   I need a DSLR, but I can't afford one.

3.  New cellphone (smartphone).  At the moment I have a CDMA phone with a really awful camera and no diary function; I'm also using a Sharp Diary Organiser thing that's probably over 12 years old.   I want something that can do both; currently considering the LG Optimus One P500.   It's got a decent looking camera, runs on Android and is significantly cheaper than the Iphone.

4.  New oven, this might not be necessary, EQC are going to get Fletchers to come out and look at it.   It'll either get fixed (though F&P said it's not worth fixing over the phone) or replaced.   Although it's old it was a good oven before the earthquakes; perfect pavlova oven.

5.  Steam cleaner for the floor.  This might also not be necessary, I have one, but the handle doesn't stay clicked in and it was like that when it arrived.   It's going back and they say they'll fix it.  If they can't then I'll get a refund and buy a more expensive one.

There is another reason for the yarn diet, my stash is running out of space; especially when you add the fibre in there.   I need to spin and knit up a whole lot of it before buying more.  I have enough for tonnes of socks, quite a few jerseys and other bits and bobs too.  I have over 45km's of yarn in my stash, I know it's over as there are some skeins in there that I don't know the meterage; that's including all that's left after projects I've finished.  That's a lot of yarn; stored in a lot of places and I suspect there may be the odd thing that's not in there.

A Yarniful Day

It was a beautiful day too, though I was waiting impatiently for 2 lots of yarn.  I kept checking the mailbox and nothing there, nothing there.
Then, I could see something in there, raced down the drive and there was a wee bag in there; not what I was waiting for, but a lovely surprise all the same.   Joanne had left it in my mailbox to lift my spirits a little, and it worked!    A set of glove blockers she'd found in Nelson last time she was there, made from No.8 wire (as all good kiwi things are), she kept a set for herself; we'll both have to knit and block gloves.  I have a set of mitten blockers on the way too, I'll have a full set of blockers when they arrive!
This weekend I had been going to go to Glentui for the weekend, but with the bottom bug I've had I cancelled, didn't want to risk making anyone else sick; especially as some are elderly.   Turns out we have some people with weak immune systems too so a good decision; though I'll miss going badly.   I think the glove blockers were also to make me feel better about missing that too.

After opening that wee spirit lifter I went back to waiting for my yarn.   First to arrive was Thomas' sock yarn, it came with the Tangled DVD, The Crow DVD and some blank DVD's.

This is going to be a pair of colourwork socks for Thomas, he loves the darker shade which is actually more colourful than I'd expected.  I think it'll be really nice; got a couple of patterns that might work well with it.

Second package was unexpected though wanted more than the first as this is for my Camp Loopy project

I'm knitting this up in the Jetty pattern.  The yarn has a much greater depth of colour than shows in this picture and should look amazing!


My third parcel was very late; it's the final installation of the Vintage Purls Winter Sock Club 2011 and I think Fastways was trying to see if it would hatch into something if they sat on it long enough.    Love the pattern, love the background yarn, not so keen on the foreground so a friend is buying that off me as she wants to make longer socks.  I'll be using a different yarn with it, still dyed by Morag, but from the previous years sock club.

The 2 yarns on the right are the ones that came with the club, and you can see the pattern in the middle.  I'll be using the yarn on the left instead of the pale pink and I think it'll be gorgeous!


There was a surprise yarn as well, it was in with Thomas' yarn and was sent because I reached a certain level of orders with the company.   I got a clear tote bag with the company's details on it a pattern and this skein of yarn

It's rather pretty and I think it'll make nice socks.    That's the last yarn for quite a while though, need to work through some first.

On the knitting front I got the thumb finished on my mitten last night, tried it on and frogged it; restarted with 2 more stitches and now it feels right.   Not quite finished yet though, and of course now that Jetty's yarn has arrived it's gone on hold!  Will cast on Jetty tomorrow and start frantic knitting, 10 days after everyone else.

6 months on

Six months ago today our complacency after our first big earthquake was shaken off it's foundations.   Our first earthquake was big, unexpected but free of deaths and although damage was done to buildings, it was in most cases repairable.  Not quite so in Kaiapoi, but the government was talking about land reparation so that rebuilding could happen.

22.02.11 at 12.51pm we were all doing what we normally did.  I was sewing a quilt, Thomas was on the toilet at his 6th floor building in Cathedral Square and the boys were at school.   One moment all was well, the next the world moved; literally.   All our power went and I knew it was big simply because of that.   I didn't go down to the school immediately simply because I knew they had to evacuate the classrooms and I'd not be able to find the boys until that was done.  Instead I stopped to clean the hot chocolate out of the computer keyboard, shut off power points and check for hazards at home.   I texted Thomas to see how he was, I heard back from him 2 hours later; he got my text well after he sent his.
My neighbour checked on me, I think we were both on autopilot, he was lucky to be home for lunch so all his family was there with him.
After that I went down and picked up the boys, Ian's bike was left in the bike sheds; he's not ridden it to school since then, probably afraid he'll lose it for 2 weeks again.   I made the boys wait in the garden while I double checked the house to make sure it was safe and then I let them inside.   No power, no water and no Daddy.   We luckily had everything else we needed though; a radio to listen to which told us eventually how bad town was.   Thomas eventually got home and we cooked up baked beans and spaghetti for tea on the single gas burner.   Early bed that night, no power so no point in staying up once the light went.   Some used candles, but I wasn't about to take that risk with the continuous aftershocks.
We came through fairly well, some nighttime wetting from both boys showed they'd been affected even if they didn't show it, but we all stayed calm and I think that helped.
Unfortunately this time there were deaths, too many deaths and many of our historic buildings are lost permanently.  Life will never be the same again, we will always remember and mourn what was lost on that day.

6 months on though, many things are getting back to normal.  We have all our modern conveniences again, and have done for a while.  No-one in our family has lost their home, all back on full sewerage.  Most of the shops we frequented are also back, though many have shifted to Papanui so I don't go to them any more.
The boys are no longer bothered by quakes and most of the time we just sit and wait to see if it'll get bigger, it did in June, but even that wasn't as scary for us as February.  Things are quieter now and we hope they stay that way.   Unfortunately many are not in the position we are, homes lost, loved ones lost and things will never get back to normal for them, not the old normal anyway.   There will be a new normal, but not till EQC has finished paying out and the rebuild is done.   In many cases people can't rebuild where they were and have to decide whether to accept the government offer or insurance.  There are some exciting plans for the city, once it's all finished it will be beautiful again, but it won't be the Christchurch we remember.

Cold days

This post is a bit of a mix, it's been a busy few weeks what with snow, sewing, knitting and family.   Also Thomas and I both got hit with a nasty bottom bug, just coming right now and we've also picked up the cold Ian brought home; not fun.

I did manage to get a few things done, George's pyjamas are now finished and he loves them!

I can now show you the socks I finished for a friend's baby in my Lace Chain Baby Socks pattern.

After I'd given the socks to Sonya, they got passed around along with all the other gifts and were much admired; I got a slightly swelled head for a few moments there!


2 days later we got hit with snow again, a lot of snow!   We had more shovelling to do than last time, but we got onto it earlier to avoid the icing problem.  In the end we probably didn't need to bother, it got rained away 2 days later; however it was deeper and fluffier than last time.   A couple of photo's I took turned out quite well, my helpers for shovelling the path and drive:

Both had fun helping, I had to go and get the old shovel as both my spades got appropriated.  I took a few more photo's, but the one I like best was this one:

this is our nicely iced peach trees; aren't they beautiful?   Was kind of glad that we had the fire though (don't tell Thomas), I would still like a heat pump as well, but T doesn't want one for some reason.

Tonight I finished the sleeves on my Central Park Hoodie, they're looking really good.  I'm not starting the next bit yet, waiting on the yarn to do the final Camp Loopy project; this is feeling a bit like deja-vu.  Yarn I ordered a week later arrived today, hoping it'll arrive on Monday now that I've finished these sleeves. 

Isn't it gorgeous?     Got further on my sock too, now past the heel turn and about to pick up stitches for the gusset.  Might get a bit further with those tonight.  Almost up to the colourwork part of my mittens as well and feeling the need to cast on something new.   Need that yarn to arrive!   Ian needs mittens too, but I need to get mine finished first.

I think my cats have the right idea, no knitting, not worrying about when yarn will arrive; this is where I normally find them:

I think that's Star on the front and Ray at the back.   Ray was the original beanbag cat, now both are.  I usually find both of them on our bed in the morning and here in the afternoon.   At night they often sleep with us, but if they go outside they stay there unless I hear them; fed up with the black and white tom coming in, eating their food and occasionally fragrancing the house.  If I could catch him I'd make him regret it, but I can't so I've taken precautions; cat door is now out only.

Interweave Knits Fall 2011

Well, my yarn may not have arrived before the snow, but the latest Interweave Knits did so it's time for my latest review.  Here's the link to the magazine Fall-2011

First up there's an interesting article on double knitting; this is a technique I haven't tried yet, but I do want to give it a go at some point.

Cardiff Coat: If you like knitting with bulky wool this may be the coat for you.   It's got a big snuggly collar, cables and no seams.  I suspect the cables will help to stablize the coat and stop it from growing too much.  It's not something I'd knit simply because being such a bulky yarn I suspect that I'd end up looking like a hippo.

Pembroke Wrap:  A traditional pattern for a shawl in bulky yarn is surprisingly attractive.  I'd probably want it a bit larger; after all if you're knitting bulky a couple of extra repeats will get you a shawl that will be a great winter warmer.  In its current size it's perhaps a touch on the small size

Bryn Mawr Skirt:  I have to say this looks shapeless and unflattering.  I think that bulky yarn over the hips was a mistake.   Aran weight is about as thick as I'd like to go for a skirt.  It might possibly work if it was longer; short with thick yarn ends up dumpy.

Snowfall Sweater:  This has possibilities.   It's a reasonably flattering shape, the only thing I don't really like is the random looking snowflake motifs on the front; they look unbalanced.  That would be easy to fix though and I like the way it looks with no belt too.

Now if I can get the cat off the magazine I can look at the rest of the magazine!

Strobilus Pullover:  This is very pretty.  It's  bias lace pattern that fits and flatters your curves.  On a cooler day you'd need something under it, but would be lovely like that too.  I think this one may end up in the queue; I do after all have curves that need flattering.

Shadow Tuque:  This is basically a cabled beanie, nice but not really anything special.

Cardigan Bay Jacket:  This looks like one of those comfy weekend waist tie cardigans that just bring to mind a roaring fire and hot chocolate.   Not something that is extraordinarily flattering, but oh so comfortable!  Wouldn't take too long to make in Rowan Big Wool either.    The only worry I'd have is the big holes on the raglan increases; I'd want to close those up.

Solstice Jacket:  This is basically a cardigan that meets at the front with a really big collar and cuffs.   I'm not sure about it, I think this could be due to the fact that the colour match on collar and body is slightly off.   It might look better with slightly slimmer sleeves too.  It has potential, but it's not quite there yet.

Gemini Cardigan:  This is simple, but pretty too.  I like the wide garter stitch front panel, the shaping is nice and it's not fussy.  It probably won't enter the queue as there are other patterns I prefer, but it would suit many body types as it has some shape to it.

Honeycomb Jacket:  I like this assymetric fitted jacket.  I prefer the collar down, but like that you can button it up to add warmth if that becomes more important than good looks.  I can see it in a heathered purple or red; yummy.   I think this one might just pop into my queue; a handspun yarn would probably work really well.  Oooh, and it's DK, and easily accessible weight here in New Zealand.

Flanders Bay Pullover:  This is an exerpt from Vintage Modern Knits: Contemporary Designs Using Classic Techniques book, which strangely is part of my personal library.   I like this pattern, though it's not my favourite from the book.  It is however a nice shape with some simple colourwork to make it interesting.   You could easily change the motif from anchors to something less nautical if desired too, and the neckline would work really well with a button front shirt.

Dahlia Cardigan:  I'm really not sure what to think of this one, when worn open it's not that flattering, but when they tuck the bottom ends in at the neckline it suddenly changes.  I do love the lacework on the back  and I think if you made it longer it would be more flattering.  I also suspect it would be a very useful cardigan too which would work well with a range of outfits; that lace over a strapless sundress?  Yum!

Hex Mesh Stockings:  These I love!   Think fishnets but they have a lovely panel at the top that makes them less sex and more schoolgirl.   I love the feel of opposites from these and will definitely give them a go; love the colours they chose as well.   No black, grape and dusty red were fantastic choices.  They use Malabrigo Lace, I have some silk laceweight that might work; I bought it for socks.....I think for me the knee highs would be better; the over the knee ones seem a little over the top.

Fern Lace Stole:   Personally I wouldn't call it a stole, it's more of a long scarf.   It's pretty enough, but nothing that screams "knit me now!".   You could knit it wider to make it a true stole though easily enough simply by adding pattern repeats as it's knit from the long edge.

Wheeled Lace Shawl:  I like the main pattern for the shawl, but the little bits on the edge make it look messy to my eyes.   I'd forever be getting things caught in it like fingers, children, cats etc.  In fact looking at it further it looks like the moths got to it, sorry, but that's just how I see it.  I'm sure there are plenty out there who love it, if you do add it to your queue, but please don't give it to me.

True North Mittens:  I normally really like colourwork mittens, but these ones look a little messy and I'm having problems seeing the pattern in them.  With a change of colour choice it may well work though; I think the deer and antlers should both be the same colour, in the choice they've used the deer sort of disappear.  Possibly too many patterns in there too, a bit of repetition goes a long way in colourwork.

Rio Capelet:  This is rather pretty and I think would work well in handspun singles.  I like the simple colourwork in it and it's not too long which is good.  Like the high neck too.

Angel Fire Jacket:  I can see why she says it's based on Southwestern American jackets as ti's got that Aztec look to it.  It's not something I'd knit, shawl collars aren't the best on me, some are ok, but that's not one I could wear; also the colours they have used don't show it off to great advantage.  I think the colourwork areas are too much of a contrast to the rest of the cardigan making it look supremely touristy.  

Border Socks:  I can see my man wearing these; in fact I have some yarn on the way for colourwork socks so I might consider this pattern instead of the Durmstrang Socks I was going to make; I'll see what he thinks.  They look like something my Grandpa might have worn going to golf, but in a cool way.  I would need to find one more colour, but in my stash that shouldn't be a problem, lol.

Canyon Cardigan:  Something isn't quite right with this, it could simply be the choice of a yarn with white flecks through it which detracts from the Nordic emblem across the middle.   Not that it matters for me, I can't see my husband wearing a cardigan, he's a sweatshirt guy and only occasionally wears a jersey.

Varsity Stole:  This is wide enough to be a stole and definitely has potential, I love that it's reversible.   Not keen on their colours, but I'm not into pastels and having pastel blue and pink in one item is overkill to me.  Change the blue to a wine though and you'd have a winner.

Kelmscott Throw:  This is a very nice looking throw and being done in double knit has the advantage that it's completely reversible.  If I were to be in the mood to knit a blanket I'd consider it; but the only blanket I'm likely to knit is one from sock yarn remnants, which are way too fine for this.


Ok, that's it for this review; I think I've done a better job this time with more descriptions and you can at least go and take a look at the patterns to see what you think yourselves.  Time to go and add the ones I want to the 17 page queue; play some Xbox with Thomas and then a little knitting.  Have fun!

More snow?

We're hoping not, but the forecast is for snow from Sunday through to Tuesday; I might get to do a fair bit of knitting and housework.    Unfortunately the yarn for my Camp Loopy project 3 isn't here yet and if it doesn't arrive tomorrow then I won't be able to work on it from the start date of 15th.   Fingers are crossed though.
In the meantime I've been working on my Central Park Hoodie, am now past the elbow on both sleeves, my handspun socks are also gaining length.  Plus I've cast on and finished a pair of wee baby socks in my own pattern (Lace Chain Baby Socks).  I love this pattern, even if I say so myself.  This pair is in green, but no photo's till the recipient has been given them tomorrow.   My pattern testers all said that the socks stay on really well and fit well.

My new project when the yarn arrives is a Cecily Glowik MacDonald pattern called Jetty.  I'll be knitting it in Cascade 220 in the colour Aporto.  I think it'll look fantastic!   The brief for the final Camp Loopy project was to knit something with 800 yards or more.  I was originally going to do the February Fitted Pullover, but someone else on Ravelry mentioned the Jetty pattern, I took a look and fell in love!   Yarn, please get here tomorrow, I want to be able to get started swatching!!!!

Still no movement from EQC about our contents claim, only good thing is Thomas gets paid his bonus later this month which will pay the hp off before interest is being charged.  We will also pay the motorbike insurance, the Visa (though that's pretty low) and maybe a little spending.  I want Thomas to get his own battery charger for his bike and the car so we don't have to keep borrowing his dad's one.   Thinking about a stereo for the car, but I don't use it that often so not sure; however it could be that I don't use it cos it stops going, jumps from one speaker to another and is basically dodgy as all hell.

On the spinning front I've not done a lot, finished the last of the Tour de Fleece yarn, this is Pukeko Paradise, 625 yards of medium weight yarn

My next spinning project won't be as pretty as it's a plain undyed Merino in a camel shade, spinning it finely and will be a 3-ply yarn aimed at making jersey's for the boys, probably with some cable patterns.   A 3-ply yarn will be nicely rounded and should work really well for cables, it'll be soft enough to keep George happy and if he doesn't like the colour I can always dye it to a darker blue (his favorite colour).
I won't be buying any more fibre or yarn for a while, have way too much at the moment and want to create some more storage space.

On the sewing front I've made 2 pairs of trousers for the boys for school, as well as finishing a pair of pj's for George.  Both boys love the new clothes.   I've started on my skirt; at the moment only the embellishment is done, but I have the inch-tape on the front and also free-motioned a rose in black thread on the grey fabric.  Looking really good so far and as soon as I get some more time I'll get in the sewing room and get the skirt finished and then work on my tunic tops too.   If we get snow and don't lose power.....

Spin, spin, knit, knit

Been a busy time with spinning for Tour de Fleece which is now over, since my last post I've done the following:

2 bobbins of what I think is Romney, quite strong but nice to spin.

The finished yarn, thinking this will end up as a bag; should wear well.

The Merino singles, still not fulled yet, but looking good all the same.   I think this will be a shawl

Singles and then plied Merino Superwash that I splatterdyed.  Love this, it's got enough colour to be interesting, but isn't too strong.  Would be lovely for a baby, but will probably be for me!

This was the final spin for TdF, 200g of Merino in a colourway called Pukeko.  I've spun up both bobbins, finished the second last night and will be plying it this week.  Not sure what it'll be yet; will find out once it's finished I think.
I'm thinking I might spin something from one of my raw fleeces next; maybe go for a 3-ply yarn.

I finished my socks on Friday night, really pleased with the feel of the yarn and the pattern as well, not sure how well it's going to wear; it's fluffing a lot from the first wear.  Nice and warm though!

My Twisted Bonsai socks in Aslan Trends Royal Alpaca; colour Hunter.

I also received a wee package I won from Woolly Wormhead's blog

an Entrelac book I'd thought about getting, but hadn't yet.  Some wonderful accessories for knitting and some yarn that I'm not sure what I'll do with yet, I think it'll join the stash for a bit until it decides what it wants to be.

I'm temporarily down to 3 projects on the needles now; my Central Park Hoodie, my Merino/Silk handspun socks and my second mitten (for the pattern I'm designing).   I've decided I need to switch the CPH onto a circular needle as I'm finding the wood needles a bit sticky for the cables and things are moving too slowly.   The socks are my go-to pattern if I'm out.   Really should cast on the second mitten though as I know it won't take long once I'm started.   However in about 15 days it'll be time for the next Camp Loopy project (assuming the yarn is here) so I'm putting it off.

Sewing hasn't been happening, but will have to.  I need a skirt and said skirt is cut out with the embellishment pinned on.  The boys need new school trousers and as I already have the fabric and don't want to pay $30 each for the bought ones I have to get them made too.  School's back tomorrow though so I should have a little more time.

Been a good holidays for the boys; they did spend a bit more time than planned on electronic entertainment, but they also got to do some cool stuff with the Autism Society (swimming, mini-golf and 10-pin bowling).  They got snow days

Ray cat loved the snow.  Ian did too, you can see a typical Ian snowball there.    A snowman was built, I have a photo, but haven't uploaded it yet.   It was the coldest day in almost 100 years in Christchurch and in places the snow was up to 30cm deep (about a foot).
And yesterday we went to the Botanic Gardens to do the gnome hunt.  Despite it being really cold we all had a great time and found all the gnome clues which led to the Gnome Grotto.  I counted 85 gnomes in there; Thomas found 72 and George 64.  Ian didn't count them at all, but he still enjoyed himself.  We rounded it off with a KFC lunch to warm ourselves up.  

Camp Loopy and Tour de Fleece

This is going to be a mostly spinning and knitting post but I'll start with a wee bit on earthquakes and insurance.
Our insurance of course is being picked up by EQC, unfortunately there is no timeline on this despite me phoning them once a fortnight.  Although we've replaced the washing machine we can't afford to do the oven as well.  We've rung Fisher and Paykel and they've basically said with the number of things not working properly and that it's 10 years old it should be replaced, not repaired so we have to wait.  In the newspaper there was a tiny wee article on EQC and contents claims.   Apparently they expect to have them all sorted and paid (assuming you're being honest of course) by the end of the year.   I don't know if our oven will last that long, I do know that the interest free term for the washing machine won't last that long.    I wonder if they'll cover interest payments under the insurance claim?  I suspect not; in the meantime we're paying it off as fast as we can and if need be we'll use the revolving mortgage to pay it off; technically we shouldn't have to.  But then technically no-one should have their lives affected by natural disasters like many Cantabrians have (we've got it easy, house intact and only a couple of big items affected; many have it much worse).


Right, back onto the spinning and knitting.   Just over 5 weeks ago I ordered a skein of Madelinetosh Pashmina in Robins Egg to make my Andrea's Shawl.   It arrived finally on Tuesday, after I'd emailed The Loopy Ewe to say that it'd still not arrived and they'd emailed back to say they'd resend it.  I immediately let them know the original had turned up, and luckily although they'd packed the new one it wasn't yet posted so they could stop it; which was fantastic!   I got the yarn balled up ready to go, but couldn't start knitting that day due to work commitments.  The next day I got started, and the yarn I'd ordered from The Loopy Ewe last week also arrived (what on earth do the post office do to get a 5.1 week delay and then a 1 week delay?).

3 days of frantic knitting followed; and last night I blocked the finished shawl, though really despite being the medium size it's a shawlette; I think the small might fit a child, but not me.   Here she is in her glory, she's beautiful!

The bottom border is knitted first, and then stitches picked up along the side of that and you knit to the middle; then pick up more stitches and knit the top trim.   I'd quite like to do this one much larger in future as it's very pretty, but considering the number of shawls in my queue I probably won't.  It used 27g of the Robin's Egg and 47 of the Turquoise (darker green).  Photo of me holding the shawl has been uploaded to TLE and will hopefully appear in the next couple of days.  I'm now ready to start the next project which will be cabled socks in Royal Alpaca (a worsted weight yarn).

Onto the Tour de Fleece.   I've been doing lots of spinning too, finished 4 yarns so far including the two in my previous post.    I forgot the rest day and plied 2 on that day, whoops.   Of course the last 3 days had seen just token spinning while I frantically knit the shawl, but now that it's finished I spent 2 hours this morning working on the latest spinning.
Here we have:

Silk hankies Navajo or chain plied; probably light fingering or heavy lace

 This is the Merino/Silk I'd been working on, also light fingering and more purple than it looks in this picture; I couldn't get one that looked right.

My Romney which was 2 lots of hand-dyed that I then plied together.  Love it, I've called it Hagley Park as it reminds me of the various spring flowers poking their heads out of the grass.  It's more of a bulky yarn.

This one is remnants of 2 bobbins plied together.  We have a sport weight (before washing) Yak and Gotland Lamb blend.  I wish I had more.

And finally, what I'm working on at the moment is Merino dyed in a periwinkle shade.   I'm spinning this up with the intention of fulling it so it'll be a balanced single.  Love the colour and hope it works well, if it does then I have other bumps that I'll do the same thing with at a later date.

Sewing! and Tour de Fleece day 2

A busy weekend on the crafting side.  On Saturday Mum and I went to a local craft market which we enjoyed with no spending.   Some nice stuff, but much aimed at people with younger children than mine.  Got some nice unchlorinated water from Mums before coming home.
I managed to then finish my first handspun Merino/Silk sock, did the last knitting on Friday night, had to wait till I could get on Youtube for the reminder on how to graft the toe.   Once done though, I tried her on and she's perfect!

I then got onto the sewing, I've finished 3 tops, all the same style in various shades of purple and started 2 tunic tops which will hopefully be finished later this week

George took the photo, it's slightly fuzzy but you get the idea.
On the spinning front I finished the first half of Merino/Silk

and got started on the silk hankies

I have 20g and am planning on spinning them and then Navajo plying them, love the way they're spinning up even if it's a little hard on the hands

Tour de Fleece Day 1

I got about half of what is on the bobbin done last night; the rest was done a few weeks back at my spinning day.  Today I want to get this bobbin finished, the second half might be put off slightly while I spin some silk hankies, not sure yet.

Pulling myself out of the hacker hole

Well, most of the damage has been cleaned up and my email and Ebay are all ok.  Unfortunately although my facebook account has been frozen, I'm having absolutely no luck with getting any response from them on how to get it back..  In the meantime I'm using a new account Rachelle Sewsable Crosbie.  I'm slowly adding my friends and am missing my Mafia Wars and Frontierville games which were getting fairly good on stats etc.  Although this isn't quite starting from scratch, it's still hard.   Onward and upward though; if I don't get the original account back at least I can still get my new one closer.

Some news on the home front, we now have a decent lawnmower

This is our new blue baby.  It changed our lawn from this:

 to this:

some weeding was done as well which really helped.  Our old lawnmower (we have 3 actually) was a good old Morrison push mower; the cast iron variety.  Unfortunately with the lawn being so uneven in heights after the earthquake, it being a little boggy and the mowers all being partially broken meant that we tended to put off mowing and often couldn't even if we wanted to with the moisture levels.  Over a few sessions it'll get shorter too; had to start with the mower set pretty high.  Ian stayed inside as he's not keen on the noise; George had a go pushing it under supervision; and both of us were wearing earmuffs to protect from the racket.

Pity we didn't have it before Ian's birthday party.   Our smallest boy is now 7!  He's not much smaller than his brother though.  Doing mostly well at school, though the week following his party he wasn't doing so well with attention.  We blame that week on his party followed by another biggish aftershock.  Ian had a great party though; only immediate family but that's what he wanted.   I made him a tornado cake, which he rather liked

I was pretty happy with the cake; I'm not a decorator, but you could tell what it was.

On the crafting front I'm starting sewing again.   I've got lots of tops to start tomorrow, I've also got a skirt cut out from gray wool which is A-line and I'm decorating it with some sewing tape printed with 10 inch tape measure lines.  I think it's going to look really cool.   I'll probably start fitting it in a day or two; today was not a good day for fitting.  Tomorrow will be better.
Tomorrow is also the start date for Tour de Fleece; technically if I go with the tour's timeline I think I start at some ridiculous time tomorrow night; but I think I might have to start slightly early.  I've chosen my fibre, there are a couple of things not on the photo including some silk hankies and the Merino/silk blend I'm currently spinning.

From left, clockwise we have.  Romney from Wabisabi fibres which will be plied with the green Romney under it.  The green is the same in both lots.  Next up is some Superwash Merino which I splatter dyed a while back; this will be spun thicker and should make a gorgeous hat.  Romney (I think) from a fibre swap.  Merino in periwinkle, this will be spun finer.  More Merino also from the aforementioned fibre swap in Pukeko colourway from Heavenly Wools in Oxford.  I love her stuff.   The fibre on the wheel at the moment is in shades of mauve and lavender with some others thrown in.  The silk hankies are pinks.

Knitting; some of you are probably waiting for this.  Not a huge amount happening since the mittens were finished.  I've cast on for Andrea's Shawl, but can't go any further until the second colour arrives from The Loopy Ewe.  It's been 3 weeks now and I'm getting worried, but they've had stuff take up to 5 weeks.  If it takes that long then there's no way I'll have it finished in time for Camp Loopy.  I really hope it does arrive in time; but here it is so far

Displayed to advantage on the cats back.   I'm also almost done on the first handspun sock.  No photo today, will take that once the toe is finished and grafted; but I've changed the pattern slightly.  There are 3 pattern repeats across the front of the sock and I'm continuing the middle one down the toe to the graft; I want to be able to wear them with sandals in the summer.