Murano Tric Finale & Topsy Turvy Cowl

I finished the Murano Tric cardigan, finally, yay!!

Pattern: Tric by Åsa Tricosa
Yarn: Murano from Bendigo Woollen Mills
Needles: 4mm circular
Yardage: 800m
Notes:  Tric is a lovely pattern, it appealed to me because it's knit from top-down, seamless and with simultaneous set-in sleeves. But I will say this is a tricky pattern and I'm glad it is finally done. I love how it turned out, although if I were to do it again I will add a couple more collar increases and lower the button hole to under the bust.
Mods: I didn't do the triangular pattern on the sleeves and shortened them to 3/4 length.

I hope my friend will like it.

One more project which was a really quick make, once I'd figured out how to do the mobius. This is the Topsy Turvy Cowl, a free pattern on Ravelry.  The yarn is my alpaca handspun that spun up during the TdF, then later I dyed in the crockpot.

I love how the same stitch produces two different fabrics purely due to the structure without your having to do anything. Love it :D

This MIGHT be my last Fibre Arts Friday post for this year, tomorrow we embark on our big trip: Around the World in 40 Days. I'm hoping to keep a travel journal along the way, so I can share my experience with you.

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

Market Mitts and Tric progress

Yesterday I talked about Melbourne's weather being up and down like a yo-yo, and true to it's form today's temperature dropped 10℃ from yesterday's 26℃! Oh well, at least it wasn't as freezing as last Sunday when I was at the Gisborne market. It was a miserable day with rain and wind, my hands were so cold that I'd taken one of my handspuns from the stock and started making myself a pair of fingerless mitts. I only had a crochet hook with me so I started with a crochet mitts pattern, but my hands were so numb that I just couldn't continue to make the mitts to keep my hands warm.

I still couldn't continue with the piece after I got home because I didn't like the look of it, so I ripped it back and started again. The pattern I chose was the Garter Stitch Mitts by Ysolda Teague, it is a simple pattern worked sideways using short-row shaping.

I really like how they turned out, the handspun is very squishy and soft, they should keep my hands nice and toasty on cold market days. I only cast on 38 stitches and they worked up quickly. The project only used 58g of the handspun, so the pattern is a perfect fit for that single skein that you don't know what to do with. Raverly project page here.

A project update for Tric that I started back in August for my friend Elaine, it's been slow going due to the intricacies of the pattern (pattern recap: top-down seamless with collar and set-in sleeves worked simultaneously). At last I can report some progress:

Only the sleeves to do now so hopefully I will finish it soon. Some of the project notes on Ravelry noted that the piece grew after blocking so I'm keeping the length as it is and will take take when blocking so it doesn't grow too much.

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

The Beginning of a Sweater ....

Last week I told you about my visit to a sheep farm and the fleece I bought to make a jumper for the old man, this week I can report that I had started the long arduous process of making that sweater. I say arduous not because it's really that hard but the reality presents various difficulties...  The concept is easy right? First you spin some yarn, then you knit the sweater. Well that's the idea, but as soon as I started spinning, no, as soon as I was about to start spinning I realised that I had some decisions to make.

First of, since I started spinning two months ago my yarn has got progressively thinner and thinner, to the point that I was spinning lace weight pretty much all the time. I have no intention of making a man's sweater in lace weight yarn, or even finger weight yarn. But if I were to have at least double knit weight yarn with my regular lace weight handspun I would have to make it into a 8 ply, and that would be very time consuming and tedious. Also, the fleece/wool has a shorter staple than the corriedale and BFL I have been using and it's really quite fine, therefore making it a little hard to spin fine yarn (for me anyway). So I thought I would try a semi woollen or semi worsted approach in the hope that a) I would get a thicker yarn; b) it would be quicker to spin. So now I have a plan.

Secondly, I needed to decide whether I wanted to spin in the grease or to scour it first. Since the fleece is a coated one and there is hardly any VM,  my lazy streak kicked in and I started with spinning in the grease. But somehow this fleece is a bit too greasy for me, so I scoured it. And because it's so fine it matted (not felted thank goodness!) in the scouring process, therefore I had to card it rather than just flick it before I could spin. One thing led to another and before I knew it I was making rolags, which turned out to be perfect for my purpose! It's all part of the plan of course, ahem....

There you have it, in the picture above from top left to bottom are the steps I've been through this week: scoured fleece, card it into rolags, spun yarn (semi worsted & N-plied) and a swatch! Yes, you are not seeing things, I did make a swatch. I spun this sample mini skein to check whether it's doable before I start on the mass production, and it seems to have worked. I'm pleased with the navajo ply which gave the yarn some body, but my yarn is not consistent as you can see from the swatch, the bottom part is wider than the top part, that's because that length of yarn is thicker. Keeping it consistent is going to be a battle of wills between my fingers and my brain!

I also started a new project this week, well I really didn't have a choice if I were to complete the International Seater-a-Month Dodecathon 2012 (IntSweModo2012) challenge. Whatever possessed me to take up the challenge is now back to haunt me as we head into the last month of the year and I am still two sweaters short!!

Project Name: Fern Amiga Cardigan, project page here
Pattern: Amiga by Mags Kandis, free from Knitty spring + summer 2011
Yarn:  Fern by Moda Vera in pink colourways
Needles: 5mm circular

Although it's officially summer tomorrow you can never be sure with Melbourne's weather, for example the mercury hit 39C degrees (that's 102F for you folks from North America) yesterday, down to 24C today and will be lower still tomorrow, so a cardigan is always useful. Just hope I can get it finished in time, and then there's the matter of one more!!

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party! 

Paris in Melbourne Finale, and Spinning With Friends :)

My Paris in Melbourne Tunic didn't make it to my last week's post but here it is now :)

I am very pleased with the result, the decision to use smaller hook for shaping instead of following the instructions paid dividends, I much prefer it this way. The only problem I found after wearing is that the neck opening is a bit too wide, it became "off shoulder" by the end of the day, so I might run a round of slip stitch to bring it in a bit. It is very light weight and I can see a lot of use out of this :D Project page here.

Today I had a fun day spinning with a couple of ladies from my spinning class, we all have come a long way since that first day in class when we struggled to coordinate our hands and feet while cursing the lumps and bumps that went into our yarn. It was wonderful to just spinning away and chatting about all things in our lives, from children to husbands, from food to fashion, and of course about fibre! The conversations flowed easily accompanied by the soothing whirling sound of our wheels, it was such a shame when 3 o'clock came and I had to chuck everyone out so that I could do  the school pick up. But there is always next time :)

I've been spinning a BFL roving in Humbug and I just love the natural colours of the wool :)

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A Test Knit and A Chance With A Spinning Wheel: Part III

Hello there! It's Friday again and that means it's time for some fibre arts fun. Before I continue the story of my spinning adventure I want to show you a small project I just completed, it's a test knit of a new pattern from the talented Shui Kuen Kozinsky. I love Shui Kuen's designs, to me they are poetic and each tells a story of romance, nature or a reminiscent of the bygone years. I was chilling out on Ravelry one day and saw the call for test knitters for the Gentle Beauty Cowl, both the name and design spoke to me so I put my hand up and got started straight away, and here is the finished piece:

It took me six days to complete and only used less than 40g of kid mohair blend in lace weight. The grafting was a little tricky in mohair but a little uneveness is hardly noticeable in this yarn. The design is really simple yet elegant (tick all the boxes for me!), I think it would make a wonderful gift or I might just keep it for myself :) ... In case anyone's interested, the pattern is on sale at half price until November 15th and there is a KAL in the Fans of SK Kozinsky group.

OK, now about spinning! In this week's lesson we learnt about different types of fibre, if you are a seasoned knitter/crocheter you will already know that there are animal fibres and plant fibres. From a dying perspective the fibres are categorized in protein, cellulose and manufactured, we were told to pay particular attention to these as each type takes to the dye differently. Talking about dying, I resolved my last week's dilemma of whether to dye my lovely first handspun - I decided to keep that skein as it is but I spun another one with the stained fleece to use for the dying practice in the next class. Thank you all for your advice and suggestions, as it turned out it wasn't just me, everyone had the same problem. Apparently that fleece was donated to the Guild and if it was sold commercially the stained bits would have been removed.

We had a lot of fun in class experimenting with different fibres: alpaca, cashmere, silk, bamboo, soy... There are so many possibilities one could spin, it's mind boggling but very exciting! Things I learnt from this class:

• Alpaca fibre is hair, not fleece, hence it's non-greasy.
• Angora is harvested by brushing the rabbits everyday.
• Tussah silk is from wild silkworms whilst mulberry silk is from domestic silkworms. 
• A silk hankie is not something you blow your nose on ;)
• Bamboo breathes easily and has deodorizing properties (perfect for socks!!).
• Possums are culled for their fur, they are considered pests in New Zealand. 

This is a mini skein I spun using some practice fibre I got from the class, it's Corriedale Romney cross, both are natural colours. When I was plying I watched the two colours came together to make the new yarn, it reminded me of the book I just finished: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. This is not the sort of books I normally go for, but it's the book of the month from my book club and I am so glad I read it.

In the book an (quite) ordinary young man called Richard Mayhew helped a fallen young girl out of kindness in a London street, unbeknown to him his actions set certain things in motion and got him inadvertently involved in a world he never knew existed: the London Below. Eventually he teamed up with the girl he helped, who was on a quest of her own, and began his journey of finding his way back to his old life in the London Above. Neil Gaiman is a master story teller, his unequivocal English sense of humour gave me giggles and I found myself feeling quite nostalgic for London: the long underground passageway between Monument and Bank stations (I used to walk that passage quite often), the announcement in the Tube stations "Mind the Gap", Earls Court, the British Museum, and even the occasional rats one sees next to the underground tracks...  all the familiar sites of London took on new meanings in the book, you recognised the names but it's not the London as you know it,  yet somehow the human tragedies - betrayal, revenge, honour, bravery, loyalty, love... are just as real in the world Below as in the world Above.


Well, that's pretty much my week wrapped up. Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

Fibre Birthday ... to me :D

I feel a bit deflated after all the excitements of the London 2012 Games, the closing ceremony was somewhat disappointing if you ask me. But I did like the part where Freddie Mercury popped up on the big screen and got the crowd going, wasn't he fabulous! Brian May's solo was also fantastic, they are true legends.

At the beginning of the Ravellenics I entered three projects which were blogged here and here, then as a last minute madness I decided to finish one of my WIPs that's been hibernating for a while, and here it is:

I called it Mohair Minimalist Pullover, a mod version of the Mohair Minimalist Top. It's just plain stocking stitch knitted from top-down and it's seamless without any finishing, just cast off, weave in the ends and Hey Presto! It was started in April and should've been finished ages ago, but I got distracted and it went in hiding with one sleeve to go, if it hadn't been for the Ravellenics it might not see daylight for some more months yet.

This week I started a project for my mum whose birthday is in October. She likes geometric shapes especially if it involves circles or portions of a circle, so I thought she might appreciate this one. The pattern is from DROPS and calls for two strands of their yarns, but I have this beautiful Shadow Tweed in my stash and the gauge was spot on (yes, I did swatch this time!). As you can see the two front pieces are done, the back piece may not be so quick as it's just plain stockingnette. I'm taking a leap of faith on this one and hoping fervently that the assembled piece is wearable!

Today is my birthday, I'm not into birthday celebrations, not since I hit 30 anyway and that was a lifetime ago! The old man has been asking what I wanted for my birthday and I told him that I wouldn't mind learning to spin. See I used "wouldn't mind" - it's a typical expression that runs in P's family, it means "Yes! I really would love that!" - shows I've been married for too long, ha!  Anyway, he said "why not, go for it!" So I did.

I found an Introduction to Hand Spinning course run by the Handweavers and Spinners Guild of Victoria, the classes run over five weeks and cover contents from fleece preparation, wheel adjustment, to different types of twist, fibres and dyes. The classes were due to start last Wednesday, but I got a phone call a few days before telling me that the classes were cancelled due to lack of enrollment. I'm sure you can imagine my disappointment.

But, life has it's ways of working things out. This morning I got this present from P:

Isn't he sweet! The old man's mellowing with age and learning to be romantic... just hope I can handle this little thing and don't get my wits into a twist!

~~

As I was typing this post I got another phone call from the Guild informing me that the Introduction to Spinning classes will run again starting in September and would I like to join? Oh Yes Please!

So, to quote The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - "Everything will be all right in the end. If it's not all right, then it's not the end." - Happy Fibre Arts Friday! :-)

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

Baby Dressage & Charity Rowing: Take Two

I can't believe it's Friday again, where did the days go? The London 2012 is almost coming to an end, during this past week I followed the games as much as I could, mostly through the official app - it has become my new routine, the first thing I reach for upon waking up is to grab my iphone and check the results. Team GB has done a fantastic job so far, although still far behind USA and China but that's only expected. The highlights for me so far are Jessica Ennis winning the Women's Heptathlon, Mo Farah winning the Men's 10,000 meters, and of course Andy Murray winning the Man's Single Tennis.  Oh, and Usain 'Lightning' Bolt struck twice :)

I did watch some live events whenever I could which afforded me the opportunity to work on my Ravellenics challenges, and here's an update:

Finished: Sweater Triathlon and Baby Dressage (#1)

The sweater is based on EZ's February Baby Sweater but much enlarged and without sleeves. I made notes of my calculations which I will add to my project page on Ravelry when I have more time. But I'm a bit miffed with the yarn for the sweater, all four skeins are of the same colourway and dyelot, but as you can see the fourth skein is decidedly paler than the others. I will have to explain to my aunt, hope she won't mind.

The baby kite jacket has come out well, it does look like a kite don't you think? It's very squishy and stretchy and I like the applied i-cord edging and button loops, it should be perfect for a growing baby. But for some strange reason I could not find the buttons I'd bought for it, anyone with psychic powers out there please help me!

Round Two: Baby Dressage & Charity Rowing

Pattern: Jacket from the Doreen Baby Set, available from Free Vintage Crochet
Yarn:  Patons Australia Dreamtime 3ply, 375 yards / 343 meters
Hook: 3.5mm
Start/finish:  7 - 9 August, 2012
Notes:  This is a very easy make, and only took 3 days. If I were to make it again I will make less starting chains and make the neck smaller.

I think that's me wrapped up for the Ravellenics 2012, I know there is still some time till the closing time but I'm working tomorrow (Saturday) morning and helping out at a fund raising event at my son's school in the evening, so there won't be much knitting/hooking done this weekend.

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at  Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

Baby Dressage, Charity Rowing, and Sweater Trianthlon

The Olympic Games 2012 are well and truly in full swing. The opening ceremony was fantastic, after the spectacular show at Beijing 2008 it was a hard act to follow, but London has done it in true British spirit and surpassed many expectations (IMHO). It made me feel proud to be British and really homesick for England.

To show my support for the games I am participating in the Ravellenic Games 2012. In case you don't know what that is, it is the yarn/fibre crafters' version of Olympic games (although we're not allowed to call it anything '-lympic', it's a long story and let's not go there). There are events like Scarf Hocky and Sock Put, during the weeks of London 2012 knitters/crocheters/spinners alike took part in these events while watching the sporting events, it is definitely more about taking part than winning, and having fun of course. Anyway, if you're reading this blog you're most likely to be familiar with all this, so without further ado let's have a look at what I've been up to this week...

The events I'm taking part in are: Baby Dressage, Charity Rowing, and Sweater Triathlon.

Baby Dressage (& Charity Rowing, they can co-exist): link to my project page on Ravelry

Pattern:  Baby Kite Jacket by Frankie Brown, available for free on Ravelry

Yarn:  sport baby yarn from stash

Needles: 3.75mm

Cast On:  28 July 2012 (it was supposed to be the time of the Opening Ceremony but due to time difference I waited until I got up on the 28th)

Notes:  This is not a seamless pattern but I was intrigued by the construction, it was all done in garter stitch which is perfect for watching TV. I have finished knitting the pieces and sewn the seams for sides and arms, all that left is sewing the back seam, the edges and add button(s). 

The finished item will go to KOGO (Knit One Give One) which is a Melbourne based organisation providing knitted/crocheted clothing and blankets for various charities such as the homeless, women & children in refuge, premature babies, rescued animals and many more. I have been involved with KOGO since 2008 and I feel privileged knowing that my creations will help those in need. 

**

Sweater Triathlon (link to my project page on Ravelry to my project page on Ravelry)

Pattern:  It's a cross between EZ's Baby Sweater on Two Needles & February Lady's Sweater by Pamela Wynne

Yarn:  Moda Vera Bouvardia, worsted weight

Needles:  4.5mm

Cast On:  28 August 2012

Notes:  I am really making it based on the baby sweater as it has a round yoke, took me a couple of tries at the maths but I think it's working out alright. Again the garter stitch section makes a perfect TV project. I did plan to knit an inch or so in garter after the sleeves division but as you can see I got distracted and went straight into the gull pattern. Oh well, I can't be bothered to go back. 

Well I am fairly happy with my progress, but now I must sign off to watch more games... and more knitting of course :)

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at  Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!

Lush Lace Pullover, and Grannies!

This is my very first Fibre Arts Friday post, I am excited and hope there will be many more to come. I love knitting and crochet in equal measures, sometimes I do more knitting and other times I do more crochet. For the past two/three weeks I've been in a crochet mood and this is what I was up to :-)

This was an impulse make, I was losing momentum on a fitted jacket and my Essential Cardigan was pulling my hair out because I absolutely *dislike* (I won't use the word hate) seaming - why did I choose to start on a seamed item in the first place? what was I thinking?! ... Anyway, the Ravellenics was still a few weeks away and I wanted something quick to make to cheer me up a bit, and I was glad with the choice.

Project: Lush Lace Pullover
Pattern: Lush Lace Pullover by Lionbrand available for free, Ravelry project page here
Yarn: Linate Angora DeLux
Yardage: 1099 meters / 1200 yards
Hook: 4.5mm
Notes: The pattern calls for worsted yarn and 6mm hook, but from I'd read in others' notes I knew that the sizes run large in general. Plus my crochet gauge tend to be bigger than most peoples' so I chose to make it in size S and using a 4.5mm hook (the yarn is listed as DK). I didn't make a swatch, I know I know, it's naughty of me and a bad habit. But I figured that if the swatch didn't turn out right I'd rip back and start again, so what's the difference if I make a start with an educated guess and start again if it didn't work out? (it has been on my mind however, one day I will make an honest swatch, one day!).

I followed the pattern almost to the T, except replacing ch3 with ch2 on the sleeves for the first 5 rounds after the cuff, so that the sleeves are not puffy as some people have found. Oh I didn't exactly follow the pattern at the neck (I did say almost), just did what seemed right.

The verdict: A very satisfying project, quick and easy, and the result is a light and warm pullover that will get plenty of use. I'm happy as Punch :D

--

Oh, here's something else I've been playing with:

I haven't decided what to do with them yet, but I have a cunning plan ...

Thanks for dropping by, there is more fibre arts fun at  Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Indulge your creative side and join the party!