Mowm says tocolat isn't good for dawgs..

Yesterday I stayed after class, got a late train home, and grabbed a quick snack at the train station because it was going to be at least another hour before I got home for dinner. Because time was scarce, I grabbed a Mars bar from a vending machine - the type of packet had two 40 gram bars, and I only ate one, wrapped the other one up and put it in my bag to save for (later)Ron.

Subsequently, I had completely forgotten about the chocolate bar left in my bag... 

which Pierre's keen sense of smell picked up on when I was out of the house... 

... and I came home to find an empty wrapper...

...and the little guy led me to a smidge of candy that was all that remained of the 40 gram Mars bar I brought home last night...

Call to Vet:

Me>"Hi, my dog just ate half a Mars Bar... is that going to be a problem??" 

Vet nurse>"Possibly not, how big is your dog?"

Me>"He weighs 2.5kg"

Vet nurse>"Ummmm.... can you hold while I check with the vet?"

hold music

Vet nurse>"Ummm... in a dog that small it could be a lethal dose. Can you bring him in???"

Of course - as chocolate doesn't present a threat to dogs until it passes through the digestive system and liver failure etc happens, Pierre was acting as if nothing was going on.... 

P thought it was a grand adventure - the harness and lead went on him, so he was getting out of the house; he got a ride in the car; he met lovely vet nurses who 'oohed' and 'aahed' over him; he met other dogs; he got treats... 

Poor thing didn't know what hit him when he was made to swallow salts to induce vomiting (which didn't work), and then got an injection to induce vomiting (which did work)...

We got sent home with the advice that the pupster may be a little drowsy as the drugs he got injected with has a sedative effect...

 

For some reason, however, Pierre reacted like he was on speed when we got home. One and a half hours of psycho puppy running from one end of the house to the other. He'd jump up on my lap and wiggle and fidget - the guy couldn't sit still.... above is what happened when I tried to take a picture of him.

Except when he was having a drink. 

Well, you do loose a lot of fluid when you vomit. Of course he'd be dehydrated.

The little guy is doing fine now.. and he got a new squirrel toy (below) that has been named 'Mars-bar'...

(oh... and yes, I did finish all the squares on the green afghan - you like!)

Textile Tuesday

This week brought to you by my current tapestry project - this is my final assessment piece, and I had to come up with the design for it...

Can you tell what it is? (I'll give you a clue: "it's sideways Miss Pat")
The tapestry I am studying is proper woven tapestry - not needlepoint tapestry. See - I am working with string and the colour actually makes the fabric....

This is opposed to needlework tapestry - in which usually colour is stitched onto an existing 'framework' fabric of squares.The big difference is that for this you use bobbins (not needles) and, as you are creating the fabric, you need to work from the bottom up.
I am really enjoying working on this - I have mixed neutral colours for the background, and chosen solid, bright colours for the subject. I hope to create a fun piece that explodes out of the tapestry!

A green afghan*...

This here is one of my current WIP - a wedding afghan for friends of mine. This is it exactly at the halfway mark - only 40.5 squares to go (no-one mention the border, okay!... or that the wedding that this was for was in March!) My friends selected the yarn, colours and pattern from a bunch of colour cards, stash samples, books and magazines I took over to their place, and understood there was a very big possibility it could be running a bit late....

It was originally supposed to be the cable blanket from Jo Sharp contemporary knitting, but I decided the pattern was written by a numpty, and ripped out the third of that pattern I had knitted (after starting it twice because I decided the pattern was badly written). The stitch pattern was making the finished product look a little card-boardy, so I decided to go with good ol' fashioned garter, and keep the diagonal colours as per the original pattern. To reduce the need for seeming, I decided to work a variation on your standard entrelac to get a nice looking blankie without the need of any starter triangles.

This is worked in Bendy 12ply Rustic - have to say that although it is supposedly the same yarn, with the same fibre content in different colours, the lighter colours (particularly the cream fleck) is so much softer than the darker colours. Anybody have any idea why this is???

Needless to say, this is a fantastic knit for rainy days in front of the heater! Now that the weather has turn crisp and chilly, a hellava lot more work is getting done on this project now :)

And because I had the camera out, I thought it was time for a couple of Pierre pics.

This is his favourite place to greet guests as they come in the front door (which is just behind the right of the couch)

It is rather kitten like the way he bounds up to the back of the couch and runs back and forth along the narrow cushion until a guest will pay attention to him.The next thing that happens when we have guests, is that the toy sitting on the couch there gets dumped in their lap, because, of course, the guest is there solely to play with P!

And I took these pics while I was running a few errands today - 

I absolutely love these kimmidolls, but this red-headed one is my favourite (her name is Seiko, meaning success - also the name of one of my Japanese exchange student pals) However, I just can't justify spending $20 on a doll, no matter how cute. 

So when I saw these little key-ring dolls for 7 bucks I got all excited... 7 bucks isn't much, and a key-ring you use for your keys and see it all the time and does more than sit on a shelf and looks cute....

....except there is only a limited number of characters in the key-ring line, and Seiko isn't one of them :( Guess it just wasn't meant to be...

And finally - I just got back from the Geelong S'n'B for May - it marks my knitsaversary as being a part of this group! I loved finding this group - they cannot replace my rubi'n'lana knitting buds in Sydney, but I feel lucky to have found such a great group of friends locally.

*if you don't know the relevance of THE green afghan, you need to get a hold of Yarn Harlot's book of short stories :)

where are my 4.5mm needle tips???

I went a hunting for these a few days ago, and couldn't find them...

Hmm.. they must be on a project... so futher a hunting... 

hmm.. perhaps in the stash-in-storage...

ahh.. yeah... 

they were last seen... here

on the holey argyle...

which I am feeling the love for again...

ta-daa! The front is now complete!

And this one is for all you sick people out there who want to look the back and see whether or not it is tidy..

I've started on the back now. Hopefully it won't be over a year to complete that...

Legend says it killed Socrates...

I'm talking about hemlock, of course...

This one is addictive, but not poisonous...

And I blame BrooklynTweed! Ever since he finished his gorgeous chunky Hemlock Ring Doily, it has been begging me to give it a go.

Cast on with Paton's Shadow tweed - I love how organic the colours are, and the ripples caused by the feather and fan. And the pattern is great too - loving the fact that there is only one pattern row in every five. Mindless knitting for four rows is all so much fun!

And best of all - this is knit from stash yarn I picked up at the Wangaratta Woollen Mills last April. So far I am into my third ball.

a little insane....

I am not sure if I have mentioned this before, but the Man is taking me to Thailand for 3 weeks in January (actually, we leave on NYE... and arrive in Bankok at about 8pm...)

Apart from a few things I want to do (heffalump rides, silk and textiles warehouses) the plan is to spend most of our time hammocked up on a tropical island (the basic sort of island, not the resort type!)

I have a bit of a vision of me with a very simple dress I can pull over my head.... something out of bamboo and cotton... oh.. and I want to knit it myself.... hence the insanity :)

I have spend the last couple of days knitting away at this dress while sighing over DVDs of the doctor ('who...?' I hear you ask.... well David Tennant) So far, I have made some progress - I am already up to the waist!

Pictures will be forthcoming...

PS - The time is Thailand is still rather fluid, I'd love any suggestions you have of what not to miss!

Rockin’ socks..

Beware – there is a spoiler below for the most recent delivery of the rockin’ sock club – if you haven’t got yours yet, and you don’t want details yet... don’t scroll down too far!

Yarngasm!

I got my latest fix from blue moon today, and thought it was about time I reviewed what I had managed so far with this club…

#1 First and foremost – the Monsoon Inside-out sock, AKA the penis sock...

As you can see, I haven’t gotten far. This is because the cable has made the ankle too tight, and I can’t get it over my heel :( I think I may have to frog this sock and consider a different pattern (truth be told, I wasn’t incredibly keen on the ribbed sole anyway…)

#2 – the silkie walkin’ on the wild tide grasshoppers.

Well, these got put off while I wanted for the extra skein to be delivered so I could make the knee-highs.

#3 – the firebird solstice slip.

I made quite a bit of progress with these. And as they are toe-up and I have past the heel, these technically pass as a pair of socks. Very short anklet socks, but socks nonetheless. Hmmm... I really should finish these!

#4 – the newbies :)

This is my favourite out of the lot, so far. Purdy colours, and purdy lace :) Hopefully I’ll finish these before summer… And how cool are the temporary tattoos!

Rather ironically, the only pair of socks that rock that I have finished were made from an extra skein I ordered with my silkie. The little monkey foo foo socks…

So if I haven’t been knitting my rockin’ sock club socks … what have I been doing?

Making up some noodle knit kits for the markets! This is the prototype, but the plan is to have complete kits with needles, yarn and pattern for sale. Yeah, a tad bit gimmicky, but I am hoping to sucker in some beginners :)

And because it has been a while, a puppy pic… poor abandoned Pierre!

Bendy spoils, but no HP spoils…

**** edited to add photos*****

I think I managed to have the most perfect weekend.

The plan was good – get into town at before 9, get book at 0901 (or there abouts), get picked up by Gwet and Clare, and then speed read all the way to Bendigo…

And then late Friday night I received a call from Gwet – Clare, for reasons beyond her control, would not be able to make it to the wool and sheep show… therefore… after deciding I would rather spend the day with my nose stuck in the book, Gwet and I decided to reschedule and head up Sunday.

I don’t remember much of Saturday – Mum at some stage tried to lure me out of Hogwarts with dinner, but I decided to finish the book before I ate (my first meal of the day…) You will find no more on the topic here….

However, Sunday was fantastic – happy, happy, joy, joy good.

I, of course, took the opportunity to dress in some of my new (and old) works –

Jo sharp Beret -

Newly blocked sea-wool clapotis –

And preparing for the worst of the central Victoria weather, my Jet sweater and crazy socks were also included in my wardrobe choices for the day. (Naturally, all of these precautions meant it was a fine and sunny day – I was even questioning whether or not my nose was a bit sunburnt last night!)

On its first trip out in the wild, the clap did not disappoint! Several requests were made for the pattern, and queries made about the yarn. I took pleasure in being able to show off – and love the fact that the marriage of a simple pattern and a great yarn could yield such favourable results!

Gwet and I decided we needed to pace ourselves, so left the Bead and Opal Queen with much restraint (although 3 balls of opal for $25 was an excellent bargain – I managed to pass.) The restraint lasted until we got to the Braeside- and Becreatif- alpaca stands. I fell in love with the suri roving, and the magic worlds “last two left” meant I had to grab one then and there. Gwet had decided to by some of the suri handpainted yarn, but due to indecisiveness, managed to leave the stand without a purchase (which lasted, mayhap, 20 minutes, before she had to go back and finalise the purchase.)

The next place of ill-restraint was the Collinette stand. I too, was tempted by the semi-solid jitterbug so many Sydneysider knitbloggers had bragged about following the craft show, and ended up buying 4 skeins. We had a great chat with Sarah Durrant, who agreed with me that there are great similarities between jitterbug and socks that rock, and perhaps the same blanks were used by both companies.

I managed to bump into Barb – the editor of Yarn mag. She, too, was dressed head to toe in handknits (loved those legwarmers!). I was glad to catch up, because I recently sent her an email with some feedback and constructive criticism and wanted to ensure no offence would be taken. We ended up having quite a yarn ourselves! It was also quite a treat to see the samples from the magazine patterns made up!

I made one final purchase before we decided to check out the fibre beasts – Nancy Bush’s ‘Knitting Folk Socks’. I love the historical content included in the chapters before any techniques and knitting patterns.

Gwet and I both fell in love with the alpacas, but I was unable to have a couple* of the camelids follow me home (Gwet was driving and it would have been a tad bit too crowded in the golf!)

*you need to get them in pairs or more, as they are social animals

And this guy looked like he would be right at home down the coast – it is possible to teach alpaca to surf???

Follow up with a bit home-cooked tucker with Gwet’s family (and her adorable min-pin puppies) and it was a fantastic day! I’ll definitely be making the trip next year!

BLURT!

I have a lot of things that I have been meaning to blog about in the past week or so, and just haven’t got around to it… so I have decided to blurt it all out here…

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This great little satchel is handmade by The Shopping Sherpa (www.theshoppingsherpa.blogspot.com) and I won it from her earlier this year in a blog contest. It is a very convenient bag, however, due to TSS’s monochromatic colour scheme it creates a great canvas for groovy badges and pins. Did you notice that one right in the middle? Let me zoom it in a bit for you…

This little jelly-baby pin was an impulse purchase when I was in line at the checkout – so cute that I had to grab one. It is to raise funds for research into Juvenile Diabetes and to attempt to find a cure. I am really glad that I did now, because it turns out that Dotter (aka Othlon) has been dealt the rather harsh hand of being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in the past couple of weeks. Jelly-baby month is officially May – but there are still some lingering around. If you see them around, spare your 2 bucks for a worthy cause – I plan to have an army of different coloured Jellybabies on that bag eventually. To read more about how annoying Diabetes can be, check out Dotter’s blog over at Othlon’s Demon Knits, or her Mum’s blog, Jejune’s Place

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Centrelink. GRRRRR! Need I say more!

However, I did get a good deal of knitting time down on the “got any blacker” commissioned scarf. Too bad that I decided it should be narrower to add extra length and frogged it all when I got home!

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The yarn I used for my clapotis is Fleece Artist Sea Wool – it is a 70/30 wool/seacell blend and a gorgeous silk mimic. I bought it through www.littleknits.com – I think that Kate at Blue Mountains Knits, and either Paisley Womble (or maybe Ozknitter? One of the sock queens) also has had a play around with it.

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Those of you who are awake will have noticed the past tense in the previous topic ‘yarn used for clapotis’ – Yes, c’est fini! After wearing it last night and today, I finally bought some foam tiles to block it on. It’s HUGE!

And the best part – this is all the yarn I have left!

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Having finished my Tour de France knitting commitments, I went looking for another French inspired knit before I went to s’n’b last night. I found a couple of balls of Jo Sharp Desert Garden Aran Cotton in the stash and a cute beret pattern in Knit2.

Well… c’est fini! Guess I will just have to make the “got any blacker’ commission scarf my new tour project. And really, cashmere in a man’s scarf – that’s very European, dare I say it, Parisienne!

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My new spindle I flaunted last week is a ringspindle from Golding Fibre Tools – these are like the Lantern Moon for Spinners. The make gorgeous objects that can be displayed as works of art by themselves, yet are also beautiful, well-functioning tools. Go check them out at www.dropspindle.info

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And Pierre is still alive and well – to cope with the wet and cold weather down here I made him a doggie-sweater. I actually finished this a couple of weeks ago, but completely forgot to post it.

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Also, someone asked me what EZ book I would recommend reading first – I think that you can’t go wrong with “Knitting Without Tears” – it covers all the basic EZ concepts and has patterns to keep you warm from head to toe.

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I think that’s the lot – I’ll try to avoid the monster posts in the future!

black dog delays

Hey guys –

I know it is supposed to be Fight the Black Dog FRIDAYS, but I am a tad delayed with this weeks edition. Please check back later on tomorrow and I should have the final copy of my post for the week up… I'm sure it'll still be Friday somewhere in the world!

In the mean time, be distracted by the process I have made on my Clapotis, which is providing a stunning backdrop for my gorgeous new toy. Perhaps I should have signed up for the Tour de Fleece as well as the KAL!

So what does a gal do when she misses her market debut?

Well, I don’t know about you but I used my free Sunday to play up on Saturday night… but more on that in a minute –

Thank you all for your best wishes for my Pop – his surgery went fine, and as of this morning is back at home annoying my Nan. To clear up any confusion, Pop is my maternal grandfather (ie, Mum’s Dad) and there are some rather dashing pictures of him here. As to what he sells at the market – well, I have blogged about his markets before, but to recap there are handcraft by my Nan (mostly knit and crochet), plants and seeds propagated by my Pop, as well as his handy-work with wood and such that entertains him out in the shed. He also makes some fantastic recycled cutlery wind-chimes! He is a rather energetic old man, and sometimes I forget he is a septuagenarian and a month shy of being exactly 50 years older than me (I’m the 28^th March, he’s 28^th April) so perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that things may go wrong requiring hospital stays – but it always is.

So now back to the weekends events – my bestest bud had a big party to celebrate turning 28 (his favourite number) and had family and friends from all over the state heading to Geelong. Needless to say, not needing to awake early on Sunday to prepare for market, I ended up not going abed until early Sunday. Since becoming ill, I haven’t been much into crowds, parties, or such; however I was apparently very much my old self from 3 years ago – very talkative and loud whilst making rounds of the guests. (I think that may have been a polite way of saying I was obnoxious and annoying – but I had a good time). I’ll be writing a bit about alcohol and depression for this Friday’s “Fight the Black Dog”.

Of course, my bud is a bit of an athlete, and in the past has competed in triathlons and cycling, but currently is right into building and racing recumbent tricycles, aka human powered vehicles. This means there were a few people into pedal power at the party, so at stupid o’clock in the morning we switched over to SBS to watch Le Tour prologue live from Londres. Sadly, no knitting was done (due to the fact I may have taken out my, or someone else’s eye with those dangerously sharp knitpicks in my ever so slightly incapacitated state) but I was clicking away in spirit. I doubt I will stay up to watch any of the other stages (I am supposed to be working on getting into a decent sleeping routine) but I will definitely be catching all Le Tour highlights on SBS each night (I think they are 6pm mon-sat, 530pm on sun) and sitting with my needles in hand.

The aim is to finish my Clapotis by the end of le Tour (I started it just before the KAL was announced, so it has been sitting on the back burner for a few weeks) and I am working it in gorgeous sea-wool. I have found the magic number of stitches for the most beautiful colour pooling effect, and I think the fabric looks like it was printed after it was made rather than dyed before.

And congrats to Robbie McEwan who is sitting pretty with the green jersey!

Wow - A great start!

Thank you all so much for your support of my "Knit & Fight the Black Dog" campaign - it has only been two days since I launched it, but already it has reached beyond the circle of my acquaintances. It was not an easy post to write, and I have a feeling that your frank and honest responses would have been just as difficult - I am already working on next Friday's post which will contain some links to sites, but already I feel some topics for future discussion have arisen from your feedback. Come back on Friday to see the next step in this campaign, but please feel free to stick around and see what else I get up too!

I signed up for "le tour" KAL - I have volunteered to be 'la lanterne rouge' !

Feeling rather inspired I designed a cute pattern that I should have available tomorrow (provided I can get the chart sorted :S). It uses just one skein of a gorgeous soft wool/angora blend. Here's a sneak peek - but piccies showing more detail are over at my flickr account (link in the side bar)

ALLEZ! ALLEZ!

ravelling

Hey everyone, I got my invite to ravelry last week, but only really getting around to playing with it now. Its AWE-SUM!

If your looking for me over there I go by gingernut (no underscore - they wouldn't allow it)

It meant that I had to (finally) learn how to use flickr as well. Needless to say - since I have been playing so much with these new sites my bright socks have become a little stunted.

I took the oppotunity today to snap a FO picture of the striped socks that began my downhill spiral to the 2-circs camp. Originally they were for Dad, but the cuff was a little small. No problem "Mum, would you like some stripey handknit socks?" I think she was hanging out for this offer because these sock have been on a constant feet, laundry basket, washing line cycle since they were finished. I don't think they have once made it into Mum's sock drawer!

I picked up the Lion Brand magic striped for $6.99 a ball at spotlight - again it is the standard 75/25 wool/polyamid blend and feels somewhere between the online and opal 4 and 6 plys (hehe, a 5ply sock yarn??) It was recommended to be knit on 3.5mm needles, but even though I am a tight knitter, it was way too loose for socks. I jumped down to the 3mm and only just got a comfortable pair of womens size 8.5 socks out of the ball. I mean just - there is about 3 yarns of yarn left - kinda makes me feel better I didn't make these for dad because he would have had very cold toes..

Yes, the socks are fraternal twins because I worked one from the inside and one from the outside of the ball. It certainly doesn't worry Mum (she wears them with her ankle boots) and I kinda like the contrast - these are handknit quality, and although different, definately a pair (besides, I may have run out of yarn if I tried to match colour repeats). I have two more balls of this yarn (in different colours) and am very happy with it - considering its about a third of the price of the Opal/Online stuff.

Onto bigger things....

This is the sea-wool yoke sweater so far. Yes, miles of stockinette! This replaced mindless DPN sock knitting for a while and made it too Shrek the Third with me last week - knit, knit, knit in the dark. I was very good and made no annoying clicking noises with my knitpicks! I was worried I was going to end up with something a bit too short, so when I got to the length I thought it needed to be decided I needed to knit for an extra inch or two just so I didn't end up with a ridiculous looking article - same for the ribbing. Now I just need to get the arms the same lenght :S Oh - and the body is a solid black, it has just picked up some Pierre hair.

And speaking P, he has become incredibly fixated with Mum's biiig fishtank. It is quite cute to watch him watch the fishies, flinching when they swim right past his nose!

And finally - just in reply to the comments:-

A photo of my recent, ahem, stash additions is coming.

and,

Doni mentioned that she is offering 10% discount on knitpicks to all bloggers, and will cover postage in June and July for orders over a certain value???? I may have got the details wrong, so don't take my word and get in touch with her if your looking to get some shiny new tools. This is a pretty good deal - Tapestry Craft had (has?) 20% off for their midyear sale, but unless your in Sydney you probably lose the difference with your postage (oh - and they may go via an indirect route, I put in a big order and only half was in stock, they came to me no problem, but when the other half got sent out it went to my old Sydney address - only a 1000 odd miles from where my home is these days. I believe (hope) they are on their way to me now...) Anyway - it's a good chance to help strengthen the knit-blog community!

some WIPs and more knitpicks!

I have been having some real issues trying to post recently - I thought it was Blogger having issues, but after trying a different browser, I think it may be iexplorer that is a bit retarded.

Anyway - lots of knitting has been getting done - I have finished the body of my sea-wool yoke sweater, and think I may complete the collar while waiting for my 40cm fixed circular 3.5mm knitpicks needle from Doni. Seeing as the smallest cable in the options set is 60cm, I was tossing up whether to use DPNs or magic loop for the arms, when Doni announced the new knitpicks sizes that are now available here. And you can see that I have also started another pair of socks - in crazy colours. I went a little crazy when littleknits.com had a big special on whole bags of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky (I bought 6 different colours*) and saw this yarn for US$2 a ball (I think it may be still on special). Its a 6ply self-striping regia in very bright colours! Its the standard 75/25 wool/polyamid blend, but feels a tad bit cushier and softer than the ONline and Opal 6plys I have used in the past. I am becoming a handknit sock convert and decided I must have more NOW, hence again on the two circs (to avoid second sock syndrome) and yup - you guessed right, more knitpicks. I didn't get around to reviewing the fixed circular, but they are da-Bomb! Just like Addi-turbos but with that nice sharp point.

Oh, and I also got some feedback from Prestige Yarns (the distributors for Knitpicks in Oz) thanking me for the positive review of the needles. You may remember in the review, after doing a little math, I pointed out that the smaller needle sets weren't good value for money - it appears that someone else also played the numbers game because these sets have been repriced so it is more cost-effective to purchase needles that way now.


*yes, for those of you playing at home that is 60 balls of designer yarn... but it was US$65 (approx AU$80) a bag, compared with AU$22 a ball (or AU$220 a bag) here, so I couldn't resist. And yes, it was also over 6kg of yarn that I have been waiting nearly 3months for - I went surface over air mail to keep the costs down! I'll think about getting off my butt and taking a piccie for you all.

new tricks!

vintage hues yarn review

Yarn: Vintage Hues

Manufacturer: Cleckheaton (ACS)

Composition: 100% wool

Tension: 16stitches/21rows per 10cm

Needle size: 6.5mm/10.5US

Yardage:83m per 50gm

Made in: Turkey

Supporting patterns: Cleckheaton book 952

Price: from $4.75 to $6.00 per ball, depending on where you buy.

What Cleckheaton says... (from book 952)

Vintage Hue is innovative, cleverly coloured and spun pure wool with a very classy ball shape to enhance the colour effect.

This collection of handknits is designed to complement this unique yarn, dominating with clever colour. The shapes are wearably simple except for the entrelac design (pictured right)... a project for challenge seekers - just dream of responding 'Yes, knitted by me'.

Whichever design you choose, enjoy the experience of creation and we just know you will be up staying up late to see the effect of the next colour. Knitting with Vintage Hues is addictive.

Please read prior to commencing your Cleckheaton Vintage Hues Handknit

The colouring is irregular and no 2 garments will be the same. Please compare design 8 with the front and sleeves of an un-sewn version of the same design on page 39 (comparaison shown left)

It is not possible to identically match the pieces of a jumper or cardigan, however, by beginning with the same section of colour for the cast on of the back, front/s and sleeves it is possible to obtain an order of balanced tone... see design 2 page 3 circular yoke cardigan. (pictured right) We recommend purchasing an extra 2-3 balls to achieve this.

Be naturally Cleckheaton warm this winter

What I say...

Vintage Hues is a loosely spun 2-ply wool yarn. The variations in colour are created by each ply changing colour independently of the other - this creates a lovely tweedy effect between bold colours, however, makes it extremely difficult, nigh impossible, to match colour repeats.

In the colourway I chose to use for my garment (shade 1269), there are three distinct colours that 'barber-pole' around each other - purple, green and grey. This results in a colour repeat somewhat of the following :- purple, purple/green, green, green/grey, grey/purple, purple etc - however to get an exact colour repeat you need each ply to be at the exact same point in each ball at the time it was spun. If one of those plys is out, you get a slightly different colour repeat, which is what I found when I tried to join balls - the dye lot was exactly the same, and there was no variation in the tones of colour, just in the effect created by the two plys spun together. If you want to try to match your colour repeats you could buy the extra 2-3 repeats (what - a company suggest a customer buy more of a product??) , but I suggest you tell your inner anal-retentive to suck it up and just go with the Hues - your likely to drive yourself mad if you do it any other way due to the variations just mentioned.

VintageHues is an extremely lofty yarn - it traps air between the fibres and therefore compresses quite a bit (making it a 'cushy' yarn). When pulled tight over the needles it appears to be a 12ply (aran) weight yarn, but worked as a bulky on larger needles the stitches 'bloom' to create a lightweight fabric. This loft means you get quite a lot of yardage out of a single ball - I managed to make a size 12 cardigan with approximately eight 50gm balls of yarn, not a bad feat. And considering, if worn under a jacket the air trapped by this yarn will insulate you quite effectively!

But beware - this loft can cause some problems for you if you try to substitute this yarn in other patterns. It has a similar gauge to other bulky weight yarn, but has neither the weight nor drape that other patterns may require to work. After a wash, Vintage Hues did acquire a some drape, but I suggest you take this into consideration when substituting it in other patterns. I made the lace trim cardigan from the book, and even after a wash had to sew down the lace at the 'hemline' so it did not foolishly stick out at the back of the garment.

Also, I am not sure whether or not this felts well, but I would suggest if you are trying to felt vintage hues you allow for a lot of shrinkage - remember - the yarn compresses well. The reason I would suggest it might not felt well it because whilst I was knitting with the yarn it felt like it had been subjected to a superwash treatment. This may just be a remnant of the dying process, so if anyone has any success (or disaster) with felting, let me know. This feel also suggest to me that I wouldn't want to wear Vintage hues directly against sensitive skin - but I have only washed it once, perhaps after a few more washes it will get a softer.

The only issue I feel I should mention is to make sure you wash your Vintage Hues separate from other garments. I turned all the water in the sink a lovely deep burgundy/pink when I washed my cardi the other day!

Below are pictures of my cardi after I washed it. It dried rather quickly after I used the old 'wring it by rolling between two towels' trick. Less than 12 hours on a clothes rack in a lovely gas-heated room. Just a few ends to weave in and tidy up and I should have the FO report ready in a day or so!

kopykat

After seeing the simple beauty of Brooklyn Tweed's Noro Scarf, I had to have a go at it myself.





There are a couple of differences with what I did - I only used two skeins of silk garden (I baulk at spending $60 on yarn for a scarf!) and made a nice long skinny scarf that could be worn as either a classy accessory, or would also be good for warmth.





I ended up using 24 stitches, slipping the last stitch of each row. I ended up knitting it twice - the first time it was too wide and too short, however, as it did a double pass through the fingers it is now definitely twig and splinter free and incredibly neck friendly. One you get all the cellulose out of Noro it is incredibly soft yarn.





My pics are nothing on Brooklyn Tweed's, so check out his to get a better feel for the Noro magic.





THE STATS





NAME: Manual Noro.


PATTERN: Based on Brooklyn Tweed's specs


YARN: Noro Silk Garden


YARN SOURCE: Stitchery Blue


NEEDLES:4.5mm aluminium Birch circulars


COMPLETED: 24 May 07





Sea-Wool WIP





Ain't it purdy? I am working an top-down yoke sweater based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's percentage system. The Skein of sea-wool gave me a 8-inch yoke, and the variation gave great detail with no effort on my part.





I got some 5-ply wool to complete the sweater with - it knits at the same tension as the sea- wool and (I think) creates a great contrast with the yoke. It will be slow going completing the rest of the sweater - and possibly boring being straight stockinette (knit knit knit) - but also makes for great mindless knitting when my hands have a need to be moving and my brain wants a little time out.





New hobby - stalking knitwear...

I'm hoping someone can tell me I'm not the only one to do this - I seem to be developing a really bad habit of browsing through shops (yes - including designer collections) to check out what knitwear they have in stock. I then try to guess what it's made from, and the acrylic content of the item before turning the item inside out to check what's on the tag.

I have learnt a couple of things from this - the first is that there is a high man-made content in most fashion (usually at least 40% acrylic whether a cotton or wool knit) - and the second - I am perfectly justified in spending money on natural fibre yarns to make my own garments. Paying $100 for the materials to make your own sweater isn't really that much when you see something more expensive with very little natural fibre. Of course, there is a third reason - inspiration!


However, sometimes I see something that is just too fantastic - these indulgent gloves were on display at Polo Ralph Lauren. I am guessing they are angora (oh so soft) but I haven't a clue of the content or the price - as with most designer boutiques prices and tags were well hidden.

And finally, in response to Kate's question in yesterday's comment - I first saw the Australian Country Spinner's swatches at Lincraft in Geelong, but since then I spotted them in Clegs and Wondoflex in Melbourne. The seem to have appeared overnight!