Finishing and starting

I finally got round to finishing my Luminare socks. These socks have been on the needles since February but I just didn't get the chance to finish them. Once I finished my mother's cardis I picked them up again and zoomed through to the end.



I knitted these with some of Ms Gusset's hand dyed sock yarn. This yarn was given to me by a friend without a label so I have no idea what the colourway is. I made one modification to the pattern. I only cast on 64 stitches rather than 72. I found that even with the correct gauge 72 stitches was just too big for me.



As soon as I finished the socks I delved into my personal sock yarn club and came up with the Raha scarf pattern from Knitted Lace of Estonia. I'm knitting this in Empire 4ply Luxe. And, yes, strictly speaking it's not really sock yarn but as it was part of my 4ply stash I included it in my sock yarn club.



It's great to be knitting socks and lace again - I think I am going to stick to this for quite some time.

No sewing!

Well, almost none. I finished the Eyelet Cardi for my mother last night. The only sewing required was a little bit under the arms, the button and the button loop and weaving in the ends. How good is that?



This cardi is knitted in Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 8ply in Delphinium (in my previous post I incorrectly called it Periwinkle). I used 4mm and 3.5mm needles. The only modifications I made were to make the sleeves full length rather than 3/4 and I knitted 4 rows garter stitch for the edging rather than just 2. Because the yarn is so soft I knew the edges would roll so I hoped the couple of extra rows of edging might help prevent that. Time will tell.



This is a top-down pattern and very easy to knit. If you need some soothing, mindless knitting then this is the pattern for you.



Now I'm hurrying off to knit some socks and lace.

Hardly a stitch

Life has been pretty of late and I have had scarcely a chance to knit. I did manage to finish a pair of Dzonba slippers which I started ages ago. I used some leftover Ripples Crafts sock yarn in Primrose.



And I have started on the Eyelet Cardi for my mother. Again I am using Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury but in 8 ply this time. The colour is Periwinkle.



I must confess that I am starting to develop lace withdrawal symptoms and I'm on the verge of stocking stitch overload. But I shall persist and reward myself with some indulgent lace knitting when the cardi is done.

I can't sew

Yet again I have had to face the fact that I am no good at sewing. I promised to knit my mother a couple of cardigans while she is visiting me. She got to choose the patterns and yarns. When she chose the Farmer's Market Cardigan I was quite relieved because a cursory glace at the pattern had me believe that not a great deal of seaming was involved. But as things turned out that was not quite the case. The body of the cardi is indeed knitted as a whole with no seaming. The sleeves and cabled edging, however, required seaming, lots and lots of seaming. Seaming that is on show and is meant to be nice and neat. And I don't do nice and neat but I'm very good at dog's breakfast seaming. Still, I muddled along and here is the end product modeled by the new owner of the cardi.



The yarn is the gloriously soft 10 ply Luxury from Bendigo Woollen Mills in Ghost. This yarn is a real pleasure to work with.





I am happy to knit miles and miles of stocking stitch or even garter stitch but please spare me the seaming!

The Snow Queen has arrived

I finally finished my Snow Queen. This was one of those projects where I regretted it coming to an end because it was such a joy to knit.



Yarn: Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 2 ply in Almond. 1200 yds

Needle Size: 2.25mm (1), 2.75mm (2), 3.25mm (3)

Finished size: 104cm (41")



There are a lot of nupps in this shawl. I had never made nupps before and had said that that was one of the new techniques I wanted to learn this year. Well I can now say that I have conquered nupps and that there is nothing to be afraid of!






Now go and get the pattern and get knitting. You know you want to....

A family affair

This past weekend Bruce, my mother and I all submitted hand made items to the Ballan Craft and Quilt Fair.

My mother submitted these cute mice based on Alan Dart's Tales of Yore pattern.


And this beaded teddy bear.


She got a Highly Recommended for both submissions.

Bruce entered this lovely cross stitch and got a third prize.


I entered three shawls and won three prizes!

I got a first prize for my Dark Star shawl.


Second for my Panama shawl.


And third for my Silvester shawl.

Wips and more wips

All I seem to do these days is cast on. I have nothing else to show. So I thought if I air all my wips I might be able to organise myself sufficiently to get something finished.

So here is the list.

I'm still busy with my Snow Queen. Only 10 rows to go to complete Chart F and then there is only one more chart to go. I am enjoying every stitch of this shawl - even the nupps!

I have also started my March Personal Sock Club project. I am knitting the Luminare socks with Ms Gusset's hand dyed sock yarn but unfortunately the label is lost so I don't know the colourway.



Next on the list is another pair of Dzonba slippers using left over yarn. The yarn is Ripples Crafts Hand Dyed sock yarn in Primrose.



And finally I have started the Farmer's Market Cardigan for my mother. The yarn is Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 10ply, colourway Ghost and is sheer heaven so work with - it just slips through your fingers. I have promised to knit my mother 2 cardigans while she is visiting me. I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew. It also means that all the other projects will not be getting a great deal of attention over the coming weeks.