I hope you all had a lovely Christmas day, I had an enjoyable day spending it with both our families.
Christmas day highlights:
Sienna opening up her Christmas present.
There was a squeal. At that moment I knew I did good as an Aunty, that was the best gift.
Spending time with nephews and nieces:
And of course the usual indulgence in woolly things…
It’s not Christmas without Wollmeise…
I’d better get knitting.
Welcome to another week of yarn-along! Take a look at what everyone else is up to by visiting Ginny’s blog.
It’s Christmas eve and I’m feeling a little frazzled already. Last minute, oops and I just need to do this… and, oh I need to get that… meant that today was spent running around and then shopping for something to wear tomorrow, I kid you not.
Is it really Christmas eve? I’m hoping to pop the Carols on T.V. on in a few hours and chill out. I’m looking forward to seeing my nieces and nephews tomorrow and their sweet little faces.
I’ve finally finished Outlander book 1, but before I venture into book 2, I thought I would pause and listen to Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. I’ve also dipped back into Amy Tan’s Valley of Amazement.
I’ve been knitting a bit on Garance by Julie Hoover, in my Use It Or Lose It yarn. I’m much happier with the stockinette section of the knitting than the ribbing where the stitches look loose and wonky. I think the look of this will improve once the fabric is washed. It’s early days to tell whether or not I’m going to like this garment; but you’ll be the first to know!
I’ve also been working on my hexagons, at last count I have 9 rosettes, and another one almost ready to be sewn up. I didn’t get through as many balls as I wanted to before Christmas, but there’s always tonight.
And I’ve been spinning. This is some of Kylie Gusset’s Cormo that she kindly dyed up for me eons ago. Gosh it’s really nice to spin… I think I’ll Navajo ply it, to give it some stripes. The fibre drafts beautifully.
I hope you all have a happy and safe Christmas.
I love stay-at-home holidays. Today is the longest possible time before I go back to work and I hope to have the funnest time away from my desk.
I want to finish off the year right, knitting all the things and spinning all the things; relax; organise; cuddle babies and read…
I got my last instalment of the Stranded in Oz club in the mail this week, it is wonderful. Melissa is a very talented dyer and the nicest person to boot, passion, passion, passion. How stunning does this look?
A few weeks ago my November SCF club also arrived… another very happy mail day.
And I’ve finished my baby niece’s Wee Cria. I think it will look really sweet on her. But when to give it to her?
Now to crochet up as many Noro patches as possible for our new blanket, before Santa comes and brings another 8 balls… sound relaxing to you?
This week I’ve been working on the first Wee Cria for my newest niece.
I’m just past the wee pockets and have purchased the wee buttons. I haven’t cast-on the second one for my older niece yet, I’m wondering whether I can sneak in some knitting for me, or whether guilt will take hold… it’s tough having cute nieces.
I’ve only got a wee bit left of the first Outlander left to listen to. I’m hoping the holidays will offer me some more time to catch up on all things.
So I’ve held out for as long as I possibly could. I’ve cast-on for Wee Cria in the 3-6 month size for niece C. I can’t help it. I’ve also received chest measurements for niece M to begin hers as well.
I’m making the baby size one out of Ursula’s pretty pink BFL. The larger size will be out of some Claudia’s hand painted yarn that I bought from Sf’s Urban Knitting Studio… oh about 8 years ago. Stash yarn yeah!
Now if I can whip these out in 2 weeks (hahahahaha) I can have a bout of personal knitting over the Christmas break. Here’s hoping 🙂
I’m still listening and reading the same books. You can see what everyone else is doing this week for Yarn along at Ginny’s blog.
Summer is here and today I presented Damian with his mitts to model for me. A truly ridiculous notion to regular people, when it’s 34 degrees out. But for a Knitter and the people in her life, this is nothing out of the ordinary.
They weren’t a difficult knit, just fiddly when it came to the fingers. I also found on the second mitt that my spinning wasn’t the same thickness, the first mitt is slightly chunkier. So far D hasn’t mentioned it, perhaps with the sweat dripping from his palms he hasn’t checked things out too closely!
I don’t have a lot of other knitting to report on. With a visit to my new niece this weekend and her sleeping pleasantly in my arms, every now and again opening up her eyes for a little peek, I’m a little smitten.
Wee Cria is going to happen, I hope, does anyone know how to do magic? There will be 2 Wee Cria’s at the same time. A 6-9 month size and a 3 year old size. That gives me about 6 months to knit both in case I fall down. That’s sensible right? I’m discovering that perhaps knitting for M is a good investment of time, because at least C will get to wear my knits too.
A dismal amount of reading has been done this week on The Valley of Amazement. Mainly before work, because I’m waking up earlier than I’m physically required, so why not?
You can see what everyone else is up to this week by going to Ginny’s blog. See you next week.
Welcome to another week of Yarn Along! Check out Ginny’s blog to see what everyone else is up to this week.
After completing my Istanbul socks this week, I was officially left with just one thing on the needles err… hook. That is my/our Noro hexagon blanket.
So I started looking around, as you do. Come-on you don’t expect me to finish an entire blanket before starting a new project do you?!
I looked at my projects page and more specifically my Use It, Or Lose It projects. Officially they’re on my projects page, but technically they have not been cast-on. They’re there to be more of a forceful reminder of the unloved yarn lurking in my stash.
I thought perhaps doing a little bit of swatching, might get me in the mood to take things further. That’s the nice thing about swatching, there’s no commitment and you can still walk away.
I thought about combining 2 of my UIOLI entries by combining the yarn, genius right? …
Well that was short lived. Whilst it’s pretty combining the two yarns, it made it thick like iron. If I went up a needle size I wouldn’t get the gauge close to any of my intended cardigans. I might just use the Louisa Harding yarn on it’s own as a little cropped summer cardigan to wear over dresses. And the hand-dyed Shiloh optim/silk… is still up in the air…
Then I thought I would have a crack at my Habu silk tape that I’ve had in my stash for quite some time. Every time I see Steven from Dairing yarns, he asks me if I’ve used it, and I’ve had to say ‘no’. I kind of would like to go back and visit and say that I have!
I got gauge for what I wanted. And I’ve cast-on Julie Hoover’s Garance. The texture and feel of the Habu tape is unlike anything I’ve ever knit with. ‘Frightened’, only begins to describe how I feel about making a sweater out of something that feels so foreign to wool. I hope it’s a success and not a disaster, I think the only way to find out is to knit the whole thing. Oh fun.
Meanwhile, I’ve decided to whip up a pair of fingerless gloves for Damian. They’ve been on my to-do pile since winter. At least I’ll be taking all the pressure off myself next winter…
I’m making them out of my hand-spun. It’s a merino/silk blend. The fibre was blended up on Sharon’s drum carder and spun long ago. Knitting with my hand-spun is wonderful, there should be more of it.
There’s not much to report on the reading front I’m afraid, I’ve been frantically knitting/crocheting in my down time and unsuccessfully shopping for Christmas gifts in my lunchtimes. There’s been more Outlander listening… but my reading has been almost non-existent. Am I still allowed to participate in Yarn-along?!
If you recall a few weeks ago, I gave you a snippet of a photo which showed some secret knitting?
Well I’ve presented Louisa with my surprise knitting gift so now I can do the big reveal, I’ve made her a Chickadee!
It was pretty fun to make. The pattern comes from Ysolda’s Wee ones collection. It has so many cute patterns in it, they are miniature versions of some of her adult garments.
Louisa was surprised! and I was thrilled, aren’t knitters the best people to make for?
I’m ashamed to admit to how long these took to knit according to my Ravelry page. They were a very enjoyable knit once I got down to it. They began well, then somehow I was side-tracked.
I now have just 2 lots of yarn left from my year of knitting along with the Cookie A sock club in 2013. I think I would like to cast on for Arrow next and then Vamp. And then maybe (if I’m lucky enough to get a spot), I’ll be ready to start knitting along in next year’s club.
Thanks to my dear husband for taking these great photos for me. There are no filters on these photos, they were shot on film. I’m a very lucky knitter and wife.
Sonia Knits 