Muir

I finished this project a while back but just didn't get round to posting about it. Muir is another commission knit I did so I didn't get to choose the yarn. The yarn is Moseley Park Yardea and is beautiful to knit with because it is so soft and stretchy. Unfortunately the colourway is not the best to show off this pattern and I had great difficulty in trying to photograph this shawl.

Fortunately the recipient has decided to over dye the shawl.

Now for all you knitters who have iPads, you must check out the knitcompanion app. I have recently discovered this app and I love it. Its a great way to import pdf patterns and then to combine all your charts into one and add a whole host of things to help you follow your chart. Do go and check out the tutorial videos to get a good idea how it works. You can download a free app which comes with sample patterns and gives you an opportunity to test it out. If you want to import your own patterns you will need to purchase the app.

And finally the year is drawing to a close. I wish you all a very Happy New Year filled with all you desire. And have you been giving some thought to those resolutions?

More quick gifts

A friend had a dilemma. She wanted to give her young niece and nephews some toys for christmas but didn't know what to buy for children who are already swamped with toys. So I suggested something hand knitted and she took me up on the suggestion. So I set aside a few evenings and got to it.

itty-bitty toys by Susan B. Anderson came to the rescue once again, helped by my stash of left over sock yarn. I knitted two Baby Bears and a Monkey.

My friend was very pleased to have something unique to give to the children.

I hope those of you who were knitting for christmas managed to get it all done in time. For those of you who believe in christmas, I hope you have a merry one and for those of us who don't : Bah Humbug!

Oslo Walk

I finished this shawl a little while ago but I have held off posting about it because it is a gift for a dear friend's birthday. But now I think its safe to reveal the shawl.

 The shawl is another of Susanna IC's designs called Oslo Walk. I knitted this shawl with some KnitPicks Shadow in the campfire  colourway. I have had this yarn in my stash for ages and I was waiting for the right project to come along. And this was perfect. Not only is the colour one that I think will suit my friend well but I also think it goes well with the pattern.

The shawl is knitted on 4.5mm needles and I used Matsuno beads 8/0 in a matt white colour.

Little things

Sometimes when you need something really quickly it's best to stick to little things. And that is just what I did recently. I needed two gifts in a hurry. So I looked at my knitting books and I surfed the patterns on Ravelry and found just what I needed.

The first is Baby Bear from itty-bitty toys. I used some left over Noro Kureyon Sock yarn and 3.25mm circular needles.

The second is a seahorse knitted with half a skein of Anchor Magicline on 3.25mm circular needles.

Both toys are knitted in the round with a minimum of seeming and both knit up really quickly. I love not having to sew seams.

Twenty and counting

In answer to your question Annie, I have knitted 17 shawls and 3 scarves so far this year. And of course I still have quite a few on the needles or in the queue! Now its your turn to total all your beautiful projects.

Here are the latest two shawls. The first is knitted from Val's handspun aptly named The Hungry Caterpillar. This yarn is a lovely blend of angora/superwash merino/merino twinkle bunny. The shawl is the Romney Kerchief and it was knitted on 5.0mm needles. I really like the way the pattern compliments the long colour repeats in the yarn.

The second shawl is a shawl I knitted for someone on Ravelry. It's the Little Leaves shawl. The yarn is Wollmeise 100% Merino Superwash (I don't know the colourway) and the needle size is 5.0mm. This yarn comes in such a generous skein that I was able to add an extra pattern repeat as well as a couple of extra rows of stocking stitch after I completed the short rows. I think the extra rows of stocking stitch causes the neck to role a bit so after a few different experiments I added an eyelet row followed by 2 rows of garter stitch and a very stretchy cast off. That seems to have done the trick. And I still had several grams of yarn left. I wasn't prepared to play yarn chicken by adding yet another pattern repeat! I also added  Matsuno beads 8/0 in a silvery colour which look like dew drops on a tropical rainforest.

Now to continue to whittle away at that queue!

Crimson Tide

While I was in Denmark earlier in the year I bought a couple of skeins of Kauni effect garn and I have been on the lookout ever since for the right pattern. Originally I thought of a Birgit Freyer pattern but couldn't find quite the right one. In my searches on Ravelry I finally came across Lagune and decided that this pattern might just work.

 So the yarn is Kauni wool 8/1 and needle size 4.5mm and I used almost the entire 50g skein.

And why Crimson Tide? Well because this project made me think of a red tide and reminded me of a time we went looking for mussels in Cape Town. Do you remember the occassion Helen?

Shawl Swap

My shawls from the shawl swap have arrived and I am delighted with them. If you are on Ravelry then do go and have a look at all the beautiful shawls that were knitted for this swap.

I received two beautiful shawls from froufrou. For this swap you could either knit one large or two small shawls for your partner.

Here are my shawls. The yarn for both shawls is Wollmeise and I love the colours. The first shawl is the Sugared Violets shawl.

And the second is the Kisseis shawl. froufrou has added some gorgeous beading to this shawl.

Aren't I the lucky one?

Scarves

Two more projects have been completed. The first one is the Flit 'n Float scarf I knitted for Val. This gorgeously soft yarn, Fancy-Knit Castoro,was beautifully dyed by Val. I was such a pleasure to have such fine yarn slip through my fingers. I knitted this scarf on 3.5mm needles and added some extra lenght to the scarf by knitting an additional 40 rows stocking stitch and adding an extra pattern repeat in the centre of the stocking stitch section. Despite adding the extra length this scarf only took 55g of yarn.

In return for knitting the scarf for Val she sent me these 2 beautiful skeins of her own luscious handspun as well as this lovely nostepinne. It feels so good in the hand and is a pleasure to use.

Now the question  is what to knit with it. I'm thinking 198yds of heaven? Any other suggestions?

The next project is a small shawl or scarf, the Ginkgo Shoulderette Shawl. I knitted this in Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 4 ply in the Red Earth colourway. I have now knitted quite a few shawls in Luxury and I have to say that this yarn really lends itself to shawls. It's soft, feels good against the skin and has a lovely drape. The shawl/scarf was knitted on 4mm needles and took a mere 66g of yarn.

There are more shawls on the needles and I'm sure you will be surprised to learn that there are even more in the queue!

The secret is out

My swap partner in the Shawl Swap on Ravelry has received the shawl I made for her so I can now share the details with you. The shawl is Morgain and I knitted her with Tosh Lace in Dahlia on 3.5 mm needles. One of the joys of knitting this shawl is that you can stop knitting at any point. I continued knitting until I had about 4g left and then I cast off and was left with 2g of yarn. I didn't feel like playing yarn chicken and decided not to try and squeeze another row out of the yarn before casting off because the rows were becoming very long at that point. I ended halfway through chart 5. The shawl measures 158cm x 80cm.

I think my partner was pleased with her shawl.

Now I'm looking forward to receiving my shawl from my patner sometime next week.

Secret and non secret knitting

I see its been a while since I last posted. I have been busy knitting but I can't show it yet because its part of a secret shawl swap on Ravelry. Here is a preview of the shawl, disguised of course.

I will be able to tell you more by mid-October.

In the meantime I have a few things that I can show and tell you about. We are about to visit some friends who have recently moved into a new house and mentioned that they will need some house slippers for guests. So this week I sat down and knitted a few pairs of slippers for them.

The first three pairs are all Duffers knitted in different sizes and different yarns. These slippers are knitted over 19 rows with almost any feltable wool on size 8mm needles. They knit up really quickly but I found it strange and even a little difficult to knit with such large needles again.

 A friend gave me a bag of the gray wool which I used for the above slippers. I have no idea what sort of wool it is as the ball bands have long since disappeared. I presumed that it was 8ply yarn and thus held the yarn double for the slippers.

 The next pair are made with my own handspun My spinning is so uneven ( I mean arty of course) that I decided that felting was the best option. I have a sneaky feeling that spinning isn't really part of my future.

 The third pair of Duffers are made with some left over Bendigo Woollen Mills Rustic 12 ply. I decided to knit the smallest size with this yarn and just managed to have enough yarn.

And the final pair of slippers are the Non-felted slippers. I knitted these slippers with some ancient (and discontinued) Cleckheaton 12 ply which I picked up for a song at a farmer's market many moons ago.

These slippers were a good stash busting exercise. And also a good way to use up left overs, you know the ones I mean? Too much to throw away but not enough for a substantial project. With Duffers you can mix and match your yarn and use up all those odds and sods you have lurking in your stash.

Spring has sprung

For quite some time I have been thinking that it would be nice to have a shawl knitted in bamboo. Just before going to Queensland I managed to swap some yarn on Ravelry and got hold of some Cleckheaton Bamboo.  I matched the yarn with Cassandra and finally got my bamboo shawl.

The colour reminds me of spring and the shawl was completed just as spring has made its appearance in the garden.

I knitted the shawl on 4.0mm needles and used just under 3.5 skeins. The shawl took forever to dry when I blocked it (I had forgotten that aspect of bamboo) and as a result was not dry in time to make the trip to Queensland. It only came off the pins when I got home.

Back from the Tropical North

I have spent the last couple of weeks travelling along the Queensland coast from Cairns to Rockhampton. Despite having visited Cairns many times I have never seen the coast down to Rocky. It was an interesting drive but the part of the drive that had the most impact on us was the approximately 200km from Townsville to Tully that got hit by cyclone Yasi in February this year.

We wanted to see to what extent the area had recovered. The majority to houses and businesses seemed to have been repaired but the rainforest was looking very sad. The canopy has disappeared because all the large trees have either fallen over, had their tops broken out or had all leaves stripped and now only have epicormic growth. To me it looked like the Kinglake and Marysville areas that were hit by the bushfires in 2009.

Here are a few photos of the depleted rainforest.

And here is the contrast of the rainforest in the Daintree that escaped the eye of the storm.

And to end on a feathered note, some of the birds I saw on this trip.

 A Pied Heron.

 A very cheeky Rainbow Lorikeet.

A serene Wonga Pigeon.


Some knitting will appear soon!

Something to show

So, its been a while since I have posted. I have been busy knitting but for quite some time I have had nothing to show for my efforts. And this is likely to remain the case for a while as I am involved in some secret knitting. More about that another day.

I finished my Elm Leaf scarf some time ago but wasn't able to block it until yesterday. I think the scarf has come up rather well. This scarf is one of the side projects of the Back to the Garden KAL.

I knitted the scarf in Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 2ply in Peony on 2.25mm needles and used size 8/0 Matsuno beads. I knitted 15 pattern repeats for the scarf.

I have been working on the main shawl for the Back to the Garden KAL but progress has been slow and I have only finished chart 2. I'm off the Queensland for a couple of weeks so there won't be much knitting news until I return.