The best laid plans

tThis morning I was going to go to the Heathcote spinners guild and knit all morning.  Unfortunately someone decided I shouldn't do that and gave me a child who's currently sitting in front of the TV watching Return of the Jedi with a bucket, sigh.  I might still get some knitting done, but I won't be working today until he's better or in bed as I can't risk vomit all over my work (Merino/Possum knitwear).  I guess I'll just have to knit, read and hope he's better tomorrow as he's supposed to have several things on.

I'm going to take a look at a book that arrived yesterday, Get Spun by Symeon North.  Looking at it so far I think it's a reasonable book, but probably more for a beginner.   It's got small sections on dyeing, blending on a drum carder and spinning art yarns.  Unfortunately it doesn't cover spinning feathers and down which is what I was hoping for.   It's got a decent section on spinning in beads and felted balls, but I have that information in other books. To be honest if I'd seen it first I probably wouldn't have bought it, I have other books that cover the same info just as well, but in more depth.  I'd recommend "In a Spin" by Pat Old, and Intertwined by Lex Boeger for art spinning.  Pat's book covers more conventional spinning very well too.  For dyeing, The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook or Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece; both are excellent books.  For blending I'd recommend Color in Spinning by Deb Menz.















There are lots of other good books too, but I'm thinking what I might start doing is to review the books that I have here that are still available on Amazon or The Book Depository and let you know what I think of them.  That might take a while as I have a heap of books here on knitting, spinning, crochet etc, but it'll be fun too.

Swallowtail is flying

My swallowtail shawl is finished finally and it's beautiful, but I prefer a little more shaping at the top, it's hard to wrap properly with it being completely straight.

I've also cast on for a KAL, Theodora socks which I'm doing in Vintage Purls yarn called Buttercup.

I'm rather pleased with how this is going.

I've had a book arrive recently too; Heirloom Knitting by Sharon Miller.  It's all about Shetland lace which I'm looking forward to having a go at later.  I'm doing a spinning course atm with Margaret Stove learning to spin really fine; the aim is to be able to spin a yarn that can be used to create a wedding ring shawl.

George's spinning

George's spinning
Originally uploaded by sewsable

Both boys have decided they want to learn to spin so I pulled the old Wing wheel out of the garage today, cleaned it up and put a new drive band on it. It's all set up now and George and Ian both practiced treadling. George couldn't quite manage to treadle and draft, but with some treadling from me he got the drafting worked out (mostly) and did a really good job on this wee bit of fibre. We doubled it back on itself to ply as he's not quite up to filling 2 bobbins and plying yet, but this worked fine. We then shocked it in hot and cold washes and it's drying in the bathroom now. It's some of Anna Gratton's Corriedlae which seemed like a good beginner fibre to me.
George is keen to do more, but I kept the first session pretty short as I want him to be keen to try again later.

broadripple

broadripple
Originally uploaded by sewsable

My first pair of handspun and hand dyed socks are finished! I love, love, love them! Comfy, pretty and all mine (insert evil laugh). So I'm back on my Swallowtail shawl now, it was going to be for Mum, but seeing as she thinks shawls aren't really practical I'm doing it for me and I'll do her a nice lace scarf instead. Got some time for that though as it's for Christmas. The shawl needs to be finished by June if possible so I can show it off as a finished object for the TNN shawl yarn swap.
I will be casting on another pair of socks on the 15th May, I'm taking part in a KAL (knit along) for Theodora socks along with a whole bunch of other people. I'm not buying the official yarn which is a deep purple, I'm using a yarn called Buttercup which was dyed by the designer, but is a light yellow with tinges of green. It'll stand out when compared with the rest.

More baby socks, now for some selfish knitting

The top photo is the 3 pairs I've knitted over the last few weeks.  The bottom one is of the second test knit of my pattern.   The photo of 3 includes the pair that I knit from here, I made one change to this pattern in the decreases for the gusset.  They decreased every row, I went for every second row.  That's when I decided to make my own pattern and I'm glad I did!   Tomorrow they'll go to their new owners and I'm hoping I'll get some good feedback.
Now, I'm going to take a couple of nights off and do some selfish knitting, then I'll get the pattern ready for test knitting by other knitters.  It's typed up, but I want to polish it a little first.  So in the meantime, shawl here I come!

lace-chain-baby-socks

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/sewsable/lace-chain-baby-socks will be the link for buying my pattern, but it's not quite ready yet. I've test knitted the first pair, but am going to do another pair before getting some other knitters to test knit it as well. Got to try them on actual babies too, lol. So far I'm really happy with them though, hoping they'll fit from about 4 weeks old to about 3 months, but that has yet to be established.
I'll be casting on another in pink today. I love this lace, it looks nicely unisex which is good as the green ones are going to a baby of unknown gender at this point. Legs were crossed at the scan, though I know a girl would be appreciated to balance out family dynamics.

I think I'm a designer!

Just cast on for my first ever self-designed knitting pattern. It's a pair of baby socks, I wanted something with a little lace, but not too girly for just in case this friend has a boy instead. No pictures yet as I need to get a little further on in this pattern, but I have a good feeling about it. If it works I'll have to get people to test knit it and then try it on babies as well.
Fingers crossed!

Roaring fire!

Well, it's not winter yet, but I've finished one pair of pyjamas that are sure to warm things up.   George's flaming pj's!   George is really looking forward to wearing these tonight in bed, so roll on bedtime.
I only have 6 more pairs to go now, hoping to do one a day from now on.
The fabric was from my stash and the pattern is a Kwik Sew one, nice and easy to put together.

As promised here's the photo

scarecrow
Originally uploaded by sewsable

Of our joint project. Scary Scarecrow as painted by George, cut out by Thomas (Daddy) and nailed on by Daddy as well. I put the body together and Ian helped me dress him. He seems to be working too, I haven't seen any birds in our wheat seed so far!

School Holiday stuff

It's been the usual holiday stuff so far.  Boys got to spend a day on the Xbox, we've done gardening and looking after the guinea pigs and ducks.
Yesterday we made a scarecrow to scare the birds off our wheat seed.  It's not finished yet, but I'll take a photo once it is; it'll have a wonderful scary pumpkin face as made by George.
Today Ian went with the Autism society for horse riding and a visit to Willowbank, which it looks like he adored.  I took George to the Airforce Museum which he enjoyed but he spent the available money on food before finding out about the simulator, next time we'll use the money for the simulator instead.  Came home and did some sewing finally!   I've got 7 pairs of PJ's cut out for the boys and myself.  The trousers are half done which is good.  Photo's will come once it's finished.  George helped a wee bit which was nice too.

Leave the kitten alone!

I've been telling the boys that this morning for when she gets back from the vet this afternoon.  Smokey has gone in for her op so that she becomes an 'it'.   I know George will leave her alone, but I think I'll have to be extra vigilant with Ian once she's home as we don't want her getting hurt with the way he picks her up.   It's not too bad normally, but with an incision it won't be a good thing.
George wanted to know if we could go and get a puppy now, I said not until after Smokey has recovered from her op!

Going to the Animals Mummy!

That's been Ian's cry for the last few days even when he's been at school.   So this morning we finally went to Willowbank and he got to see the animals!  He got to pat a wallaby, horses, pigs, a flemish giant rabbit and an ostrich.  It was a good morning, unfortunately I realised halfway there that I'd forgotten the camera and it was too late to go back by then.  We'll go in the Easter holidays too though so hopefully I'll remember then.

We dropped off at PGG (Pyne Gould Guinness) on the way back and I picked up 30 netlon bags so I can start washing my Merino for my course.   So much easier to deal with than delicates bags.

Not been knitting a whole lot, too busy playing an Xbox 360 game.  I have managed to finish the first sock from my handspun though and the second one is 2 rows in.   I love them!  I'll post a photo once I've finished the second one.  I'm also into the main part of the sleeve for my Central Park Hoodie with Viking cables.  I'm doing both sleeves at once which means it's taking slightly longer but at least both sleeves should be the same.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Been a busy week this week.   Monday I spent cleaning and tidying.  Tuesday Mum came over and cleaned my kitchen up as it was apparently "disgusting".  DH didn't notice any difference which didn't please Mum too much, but it definitely looks better.   The next couple of days were spent doing work and the mending pile.
I now need to cut out pyjamas for the boys and myself and make a new bean bag.  
Yesterday I went to the guild and got another 2.5" done on the sleeve of my Central Park Hoodie, it's going to look fab!   My sleeves are my tension pieces and before I cast on the body I'll be washing and blocking them to ensure all is ok. 
When I got home the boys and I did some gardening, so the area in front of the lounge is cleared of weeds and planted with Cabbage palm which is like a kale, corn salad, bright beets, purslane and carrots.   Hoping they do well for winter.
Then Thomas and I went out to the movies while my SIL, Raewyn looked after the boys.  George had written to her asking her to look after them so we could have some time out.  Isn't that sweet?   Anyway we went to Avatar again, but the 2D version this time and still really enjoyed it.  So that's 3 times now!   Nothing else on atm really appealed though.

Today was busy too, workout in the morning at the park, then washing out, then mowing the lawn which was hard work as it was long and I'm using a push mower.   Then did the dishes and I'm now working before I do my Wii workout in 30 minutes.   I think I'll be glad when today's over!

The promised photo!

shetland displayed
Originally uploaded by sewsable

Here it is in all its glory. I love this shawl! Going to have to knit more shawls definitely, might do a couple for family if I can get myself to let them go. I have plenty of yarn though so I should be able to get a couple of them done easily enough. Only downside is that we've now chosen to make the Christmas gift giving a draw in my family and I'd probably get Dad. For Thomas's family no gift giving to siblings or parents, the nephews won't appreciate them either.
Still, I don't really need Christmas to give my female rellies something nice. Better work out which shawl to do next, though I know I'll be doing an Ishbel in green for someone.

More knitting, a shawl is done!

No picture yet, but there will be once it's finished blocking.  The most beautiful Shetland Triangle Shawl from the Interweave Wraps book in my handspun Silk/Merino/Cashmere.  I didnt' use all the yarn, and it's bigger than I thought and beautiful!  It's pink which is not a usual colour for me and I added some beads to the edging and I'm very very pleased with it.
I'm just doing some carding now to free up my favourite mini table for balling up the yarn for my next project.  I'm going to be doing a Central Park Hoodie (CPH) in Naturally Sensations Navy.   I've had the yarn in my stash for a couple of years now and I saw one done by Sheryl (Shortly on TNN) and I thought I had to do that too!   After that comes my Vivian by Ysolda Teague, got a call today to tell me my yarn has been dyed so I'm picking that up tomorrow.  I'll post a photo of that too when I get it.
I'm a knitaholic!   However, I really need to do some sewing soon, the boys need winter pj's and so do I.  They also need new woolly singlets which I'll sew from Merino fabric; their current ones are rather too short.

Silk Necklace

Necklace
Originally uploaded by sewsable

My last Ravelympics item which I knitted in about an hour from handspun silk (navajo plied). I love this! Still have some yarn left so that'll be knitted up into a shorter necklace I think. Good thing is I can change the donut easily so it can be changed to suit what I'm wearing.
I'm thinking I might do 7 rows instead of 9 to make it narrower and maybe try 100 stitches instead of the 180 the pattern called for on the next one.

A snowball fight in February

Who knew?  Ian decided my ball of sewing up yarn was perfect for snowball fighting this afternoon.  So after helping me make pikelets he proclaimed a snowball fight and we threw the ball at each other for a while.   It's currently 27.6 deg so just as well he chose a snowball that wouldn't melt.  
All the animals are finding the heat trying.  Ducks are under their tree panting, sure they have water, but it's in the sun so they're staying out, guinea pigs are pitching tents in their run (little newspaper tents) and Smokey the kitten is sleeping and not eating a huge amount, too busy waiting for things to cool down.
I wish I could do that, I'm working atm with lots of Merino Possum on my knee, and before you ask, yes I've reduced my claim time by the time spent blogging.

My More Ribs than a Condom jersey is finished!

ribby
Originally uploaded by sewsable

Finally all done, not blocked, but it's finished as far as I'm concerned. Tried it on this morning, took it off quickly as it's going to be a hot day so will be wonderful in winter.

Aside from that it's been hot here recently, 30 deg and occasionally more! Boys have been on the slip n slide and in the pool and I'm not looking forward to doing my work, but I have to tonight.

Also getting ready for my next yarn swap (3 actually), have just sent off for the yarn for my shawl swap. It will be dyed to be sent off when it arrives and not yet sure which base I'll be using. I got oatmeal and silver. Currently using my warping board to set up a 3m skein to make a striping yarn for socks. That'll be half of that swap and then I'll do 100g of a DK in the same plan.
Final one is already dyed, had it in my stash for a while, was done using lemonade, lime and orange kool aid. This is for a lady's daughter who doesn't like pink. It's a nice fresh looking yarn and should suit a little girl nicely. It's a bulky yarn though, so not enough for a dress, just a hat or something.

Blueberry picking

After I got home from spinning yesterday we went blueberrying with the boys.   Had a great time despite the heat, both boys enjoyed it, especially Ian who outpicked his brother.   I ate quite a few last night for pudding and even the not quite ripe ones were yummy.   We got almost 2kg; quite a bit went into the freezer and the rest will be eaten over the next couple of days.
We then went to Hallensteins out at Dressmart Hornby and got DH 3 pairs of shorts, and the boys a t-shirt each (t-shirts were size S mens!).    George chose Transformers and Ian wanted a more random print.  They're a wee bit big, but not as bad as I expected.    I got an icecream which I shared with DH.
This morning we went out for our usual boot camp, scootered there and back, so got a total of 1h40m exercise, and this afternoon I'll be doing my workout on the Wii, so I'm well and truly doing the good work.

Thursday coming will be interesting too, going to see a hypnotherapist to see if she can help with my spending and sugar addictions.   Fingers crossed.

ingenue blocked

ingenue2
Originally uploaded by sewsable

Finally it's all finished and looks and feels really nice. Almost looking forward to winter, almost.
Started a shawl (Shetland Triangle) and a pair of socks (broadripple). Both in more handspun and both are looking good so far. Will post WIP pics later, the lights starting to go now.