Today I attended a craft market put on by some of my friends (Robyn came too and was equally excited). It was held at Jo’s beautiful home, which was made over for the purpose.

These are some of my oldest friends, i.e. we’ve known each other since we worked together over 10 years ago. They are multi craftual and incredibly talented, and when I walked into Jo’s home this morning, I wanted to buy everything!

I went away on a crafting weekend with a few of them less than a month ago, so I had a little taste of things to come, and I made sure I got there early today!

I got a little bit of Christmas shopping done, but let’s be honest, I got some beautiful things for me as well. When I entered the first room, I spotted my name embroidered on a sweet little project bag; why of course I had forgotten about placing a pre-order with Bek whilst away on our weekend. Luckily, no other ‘Sonia’s’ had snapped it up!

I was rather pleased to find Karen had completed the baby playmat I saw her work on and I quickly picked that up for yes you guessed it… Marilyn. She did her first deliberate rollover this week, I got a cute video emailed to me to prove it, I was impressed by her acrobatics.

I loved the padded coat hangers by Rae, and the screen printed teas towels by Jo. I also bought ‘one of each’ of Jo’s desserts to take home for my sweet (not pictured here for good reason!). So many beautiful things and I didn’t buy it all. I feel so happy to be able to keep (some) of these things and I know the hands that made them. I hope they do it again next year.

Word of mouth can be a very powerful thing. It is the purest form of advertising and the most honest.

This week I used word of mouth, so that I wouldn’t buy fibre… It sounds quite evil but I assure you, I was quite capable of buying this fibre on my own. but I didn’t, because I hadn’t, I had let this fibre sit in this online store for weeks and weeks, knowing full well it was the last of it… and when a friend asked me for a recommendation, I sent her the way of the fibre. That’s what friends do. Although I didn’t tell her about it intially…

Now that my friend has been and gone from the store, I could go back and get the couple of tops that I’ve been thinking about that she hadn’t purchased!

I want to use word-of-mouth here again today. For the same reasons as above, so I don’t buy all the fibre! My friend Melanie who’s passion for fibre extends beyond my ‘oh that’s pretty’ knowledge, has recently started blending fibre using hackle combs and what not. She has started selling some fibre from her blog, here’s where you come in. I need you to start reading her blog, preferably before me, so I don’t buy all the pretty. It’s too late for Raspberry Milkshake, how could I walk away from that?!

I’ve begun spinning another batch of Melanie’s blended fibre, and what can I say… little clouds of joy 🙂

I love getting recommendations from friends about fabulous fibre and stripey sock yarn (more on that next time), feel free to leave a comment if you have any sources you’re willing to share, so I can help you to not to buy it all…

My original intention for these 3 separate tops of IxChel’s BFL seaweed angora was to 3 ply them together. Under the influence of fibre fumes at a lovely spin-in at Charly’s farm late last year, I was bedazzled by the combination of the 3. I’d also recently learnt how great 3 ply yarns looked compared to 2 ply.

If I 3 ply them together as originally intended, I’m probably going to get something that is between 8 and 12 ply. Or I could 2 ply them, switching the bobbins around to get an evenness of colour. Or 2 ply two of them and navajo ply the third on its own. What would you do?

One of life’s little luxuries is a pair of hand-knit socks. I wear nothing else about the house and I rarely wear them outside of home. Put simply, I feel the most comfort when they are upon my feet. Since I’ve discovered this pleasure I’ve done my best to boost my personal hand-knit sock tally. It’s true I only have two feet; but the reason I strive for many pairs of socks, is so that I’m never without a clean pair and more importantly I want to extend the wearing cycle to limit the wear and tear on them. Socks get holes…
Finally, my love of spinning and socks have come together in these…

The fibre was from The Thylacine sock club from earlier this year. I was lucky enough to score an extra 50 gms from Melanie, so I could make extra long socks (Thanks Mel!). The fibre was spun as singles, then Navajo plied to maintain the colour gradients, this part makes me excited, I could spend hours staring at the magical transitions between burgandy and bright red and back again. To further maximise my handspun, because I hate having leftover sock yarn, I used the universal toe-up sock pattern from Knitty. It was a very well written pattern and was adjustable to whatever your gauge. I would use this pattern again, it was my friend.

Just a little catch-up with my other projects: my cowl and mitts have been finished and in use for weeks; I did fall short of making a hat to complete my winter set, but I don’t really wear hats and I had another pressing baby knit to do. The Baby Yoda sweater was a fun little knit and I got to do a bit of i-cord. I’m looking forward to seeing my niece in it as soon as I can schedule a meet and a cuddle.

I haven’t done a Bendigo wrap-up, because well… the yarn fumes. The stash shelf has been rearranged to accommodate, the only thing I didn’t squeeze onto the shelf was 2kgs of Pear Tree ::gulp:: My stash and I are an island.

Lastly, I’m running a little comp over on the Richmond Knitters Blog, follow that blog and you’ll have a chance to win a skein of my handspun! Details over on the Richmond Knitters blog.

I’m off to cast-on Golden Wheat, have a great week!

Warning! Lots of baby photos ahead 🙂

We visited Marilyn two weekends ago. I am not being biased at all to say she is the cutest and most perfect baby I’ve ever met. She’s really good at being cuddled too.

These are the official blanket photos:

Yeah, not much blanket in there! But do you really need to see the blanket?

Last weekend after completing my Winter set mitts, I cast-on for the ‘Snug’. I was inspired by Marilyn’s cuteness and also her parent’s admiration for my hand-knits so far. I made some quick progress on the hoody early on and I was certain it would be finished in time for this weekend. But then I lagged behind after having a particularly busy week (not to mention some grueling gym sessions; I showed up to a cycling class at 7:30am on Monday morning to find I had signed up for a RUNNING class, yep, that was pretty funny, not).

This morning I woke and discovered I would be getting a visit from my newest niece. Needless to say that was all the motivation I needed to push through and complete the hooded cardigan in record time. Little Marilyn gave me a bit more time by pee-ing everywhere at her home, giving me an extra 20 mins to complete the button band and sew on the buttons, 5 mins before their arrival. I love this baby! Once again the parents were thrilled. I was thrilled that they were thrilled.

I’ve cast-on for a Baby Yoda Sweater. Alert the media, I have discovered the meaning of knitting.