Flying Sydney Visit Update

Mum and I will be arriving tomorrow arvo - and we are staying in Homebush for the night and heading home Thursday. Drop me a line if you wanna catch up.

Let me know if you have something entered and on display in knitting / crafts - and if you could give me a hint on where to find them that would be great too.

I am very excited about the Australian Wool Fashion Awards Presentation night. I am not certain I will win anything (I think my design is a little too 'classic' and 'conservative' - ie wearable - rather than 'daring' and 'innovative' - ie sculpture, but I am just glad to be a finalist). I shall certainly have fun dressing up and attending the cocktail party and fashion show with Mum. Too bad I hadn't planned ahead - I could have knit myself another outfit to wear to the awards!

Anyway - apart from that not much happening in the life of me. Still applying for jobs, still not hearing much back, still have hurdles to jump with centrelink and still pretty much broke. 

Oh - but there is some good news. Apparently the camera with the pics of my entry (and finalist) dress has been recovered - and I should have some pics for you later this week. (I won't be collecting the camera before I go to Sydney, so I may even have pics from the fashion show before then!)

And I finished a pair of socks - holly-dazed from last years rockin sock club - I made a small change to the pattern so the socks were symetrical, and once I have camera I will share on Ravelry. 

rockin xmas tree

rockin xmas tree, originally uploaded by pierretheyarnsnob.

I got this teeny tiny table top xmas tree when it was no longer needed at work. Turns out it is the perfect size for my emergency sock club keyring 'ornaments'!

I LUFF my knitters xmas tree!

cccxiv - Kate Hudson gets crafty to cut costs at Christmas

hmm.. this article was obviously written by a muggle - everyone knows that these days you don't save any money by knitting.

Sure you get better value by knitting - but saving money? Unless you are re-claiming yarn from op-shops you're not really 'saving' money by knitting. And then wouldn't the bigger story be "Kate Hudson goes bargain trawling at the thrift store"??

I like that when I knit I can spend approx $50 on (somewhat budget) yarn and get a lovely pure wool sweater, made to high standards that completely suits me. But if I really wanted to save money I could buy clothing made in China much cheaper (obviously not made out of the same quality fibre, but it would still perform the function of clothing me and keeping me warm).

Perhaps I should write in and explain the value of knitting.

I can buy a months worth of socks for the price of a really purdy skein of sock yarn - or at least 3 pairs for the cheapest ball of sock yarn. And that's before you add in all the hours labour - even at minimum wage you're looking at looking at about $200 for a single sock...

of winners and stock...

It was very remiss of me not to mention who won the april shoppers' contest over at GingerKnits.com - truth be told, May slipped in under the door so quietly I didn't even realise I hadn't drawn a winner until we were a week into the new month.

Bad bad me!

However, a winner has now been drawn - feel free to pop on over to Artificially Mythic and  give the Caffeine Faery a pat on the back. She has already picked out a skein (bunny moth) that will be on it's way to her next Monday.

Of course - I am now running a new competition for the new month. Every shopper in May will go in the draw for a $10 store voucher - those that stopped by in the last week or so, don't worry - you have already been entered. And you don't need a blog to win either - it's just been co-incidink that the winners of the first two comps both had blogs (and both live in Canberra too....)

I have some new stock I'll be adding to the store over the coming week as well - I have some chunky fabric beaded necklaces, scarves made by my Mum (in gorgeous merino/ alpaca / angora/ microfibre yarn blends), beaded shawl pins and some organic* lip balm. I'll be doing a product shoot and website upload with the stock remaining after tomorrows market at Point Lonsdale. I'll post here as I get each item up in the store.

I am also working on a new sock pattern - the plan is to make a pair of socks using entirely garter stitch, two needles, be worked in the round, entirely out of squares, without any grafting. Sounds impossible, non?

If I manage to achieve this design feet feat, the pattern will be for sale through GingerKnits.com. If you curiosity has been piqued, check back in a week or so when I hope to be doing a call for volunteer test knitters. 

*it is 'organic' (little o) rather than Organic (with a captial O) or Certified Organic because it has been made from natural, organic ingredients (such as bees wax, avocado and lime), not from chemicals - I am not going to pay big bucks to claim Certified Organic, which I think is a bit of a crock anyway. 

Earning my keep

And here we return to a bit a knitting content!

Those of you who visit the blog, may have notice that ol' Winston has been bumped down a little bit in the sidebar - I have added a couple of new self-promoting segments to the sidebar (after all... a girl needs to eat)

One is my Market Diary. As of this weekend I will no longer be spending my Sundays lolling around in bed until noon. I will be bright eyed and bushy tailed and trailing the markets down on the peninsula - the next one is at Queenscliff, and it appears that the weather will be playing the game. I'll be there from about 8 til 2, socialising, knitting and spindling - so if your inclined come down and say 'hello' to me. Feel free to bring your knitting and show it off! No pressure to buy, but I will have some yummy handspun yarn and kitchsy stitchmarkers available.

The other is my class timetable - I will be teaching a 3 hour class on a Tuesday evening at the LYS here in Geelong (Stitchery Blue for those in the know!) The class will be on sock techniques and will cost you $27 for the the evening... What does that $27 get you, apart from my wonderful company and expertise? Well, we will also provide you with a light supper, and you will leave having made a complete (albeit tiny) sock! The sock you make will teach you all the techniques needed to make comfortable, cuff-down, handknit socks - and I will be sending you home with a pattern for adult socks. If you're at all interested, call Stitchery Blue to sign-up...

No, really, please do!

I need a minimum number of students to run the class or else it will be postponed til next autumn. If you have ever wanted to learn how to knit socks, or just interested in perfecting techniques come along. I promise we will have fun (and besides - it will be in a yarn store after hours... that in itself it worth tuition fee!)

Here are a few pictures of the sample sock I have made (that you will make in 3 hours) - it makes the perfect mobile-phone cover, or alternatively - make two and give an infant you know happy feet!

handspun yarn pr0n

Not a lot of knitting is happening round here – but I been spending heaps of time at the wheel…

Just a bit of what I have created thus far...and these are my lucky jitterbug socks that got me the gig at stitchery blue (yes, it is the LYS in Geelong) - colourway mardi gras... And this little fellow all dressed up for the mardi gras was some secret knitting I sent to Lara...Bazza the Ram (complete with tail still attached)

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!

FO - crazy socks

THE STATS

NAME: Crazy Socks

PATTERN: Generic Cuff Down pattern with (i think) eye of partridge heel

YARN:Regia 6fadig crazy colour farbe5260 (2 balls)

YARN SOURCE: Littleknits.com

NEEDLES:40cm and 60cm 3mm knitpicks circulars

COMPLETED: 18Jun07

Stash Flash...

For those who requested a pic of my recent binge ... ta-dah!And I finished the collar on my sea-wool yoke today - I used EZ's short rows and made the back of the collar an inch or so higher than the front. That woman was an absolute genius - I will definitely be using more of her patterns in the future (and good thing too seeing as I have all her books and a couple of the DVDs :)) I also finished the bright crazy stripy regia socks today (toasty toes!) but the FO report will have to wait until tomorrow - Pierre reckons it time to get some sleep...

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!

FO - Mum's MagicStripes

THE STATS

NAME:Mum's MagicStripes

PATTERN: Generic Cuff Down pattern

YARN:Lion Brand Magic Stripes

YARN SOURCE: Spotlight

NEEDLES:40cm and 60cm 3mm knitpicks circulars

COMPLETED: 06Jun07

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.

unfaithful?

As you may be able to tell from my last couple of posts, I have been branching out to the two socks on two circs world. I also have made a couple of socks *gasp* cuff down... what would cause such a departure from my norm of toe-up on 5dpns????

I think it is very obvious that I am not a monogamous knitter - I like to have many projects on the go at once. This causes problems when you want to use your 3mm DPNs and they already have a project attached... what to do? what to do?

Well, luckily, I took advantage of the Tapestry Craft sale to broaden my knitpicks range to include their small diametre circulars in a range of lengths (I have bohus dreams and thought if I had the right tools, perhaps, one day...) I figured at 20% I wouldn't get them much cheaper. I was going to magic loop socks, but seeing as I had two 3mm circulars, would give the two socks at a time a go. After getting rather irate with the figure8/ turkish cast-on, I decided to go top down.

It's rather more fiddly than dpns, and not quite as mindless, but I have finished two pairs of socks in 8 days. Of course, that meant that I haven't done any other knitting at all! Socks are usually travel knitting - but I have dedicated tv knitting time, usually set aside for big projects, to socks this week.

Worth it? You betcha - but I'm not ready to throw away my dpns just yet... They feel so much more comfortable to knit with.

And finally - I wasn't a big fan of the monkey pattern at first, but with the perfect yarn I absolutely adore it. And, oh, my feet are so warm!

Here's a picture of how fantastic my feet looked all day today while I was out and about!

FO - Little Monkey Foo Foo

THE STATS

NAME:Little Monkey FooFoo

PATTERN: Monkey from Knitty.com winter 2006

YARN: Socks that rock mediumweight in 'Little Bunny Foo Foo'

YARN SOURCE: Blue Moon Fiber Arts

NEEDLES:40cm and 60cm 3mm knitpicks circulars

COMPLETED: 10Jun07

new tricks!

being jack sparrow

Yes - I got dragged along to see 'Pirates' today (like my arm had to be twisted) and without giving too much away, it is, of course, nowhere near the original, more plot but less entertaining antics than the second - still a great swashbuckling adventure that any pirate-wannabe would need to see...

And now I have another giftie that has dissapeared from the UFO pile at Chez Pierre..

The Sasquatch socks!


THE STATS

NAME: Sasquatch socks - sasquatch being another name for bigfoot, and these are made for a male size 14 foot.
PATTERN: Based on WGTUP
YARN: Lana Grossa Mega Boots Stretch Special - 150gm ball
YARN SOURCE: Rubi and Lana
NEEDLES:3.5mm Addi DPNs
COMPLETED: 13 May 07
Considering they were pulled on the minute my LBB recieved them, I think that means he likes them. And I got the fit pretty much spot on - quite proud of these ones :) However, LBB seems to think that Smellie will steal them for bedsocks. Looks like I may have to make some more...


Yet another WIP

And here is what I have done so far with my sea-wool. The colours aren't quite right here, but you get the general idea - much too pretty for socks. A 3mm is recommended for socks, which you generally knit firmer, so I went out to a 3.5mm for this project. Any guesses as to what it is?

I am loving this yarn - This is one ball and I am getting alot of yardage out of it! And it feels so nice to knit with - regular wool feels like barbed-wire after knitting with the sea-wool. And such sheen - it looks like silk, but has all the bounce of wool.

...and out and about

Anybody seen these adorable squatches from Australian Country Spinners? They definately make me want to buy the yarn.

Oh - and I have to admit, I thought the Paton's Totem label change was just re-branding, but it does, in fact, feel a tad bit more luxurious than the old Totem... has anyone else noticed this???


And I had to share this - the latest in designer mens-wear: patchwork ties... how incredibly rustic :)

scary sock - rated MA

I am slowly making my way through the first Rockin' sock -

I was hoping its phallic tendancies would recede when I got past the heel, but it appears to be the opposite...

... perhaps more teenage boys would be interested in knitting socks if they knew they could create such crude shapes.

However, I love the colours, and although the 11-stitch cable is a bitch I absolutely love it - 1.5 cable repeats completed so far!

the trip home - Pitstop 1.5 and 2: Tarcutta and Wangaratta

Sorry - no pics of the hand-painted goodies I picked up at the Tarcutta Farmhouse Industries Craft Shop - but I got some loverly hand-painted mohair and some gorgeous rainbow hand painted handspun...

The volunteer shop-clerks recognised Pierre from a previous trip to the town (I stopped there everytime I was going between Geelong and Sydney) and we discussed how Tarcutta was such a handy location for a pitstop (the rest area is on the main road with easy, ample parking) and the possible highway by-pass, luckily not scheduled until about 2012. I was very disappointed to have missed Taph and her mum, who stopped by a little later on in the day - however, I warned the ladies that more fibre fiends would be stopping by! If I didn't have certain place to be by a certain time I would have gladly grabbed a cuppa in the town just to catch up with Taph once more.

And that certain place was... WANGARATTA WOOLLEN MILLS!

Behold the majesty of such a yarnaholics mecca.

The photo collage above clockwise from top left: Yarn sales around here somewhere; One of the many overflowing yarn bins; the entrance to the retail shop; must be heading the right way for the yarn sales; just a minor stash enhancement; textile avenue - must be on the right track; the ACS mills - unfortunately no tours available; wool and woolblend remnants - $27.50 kg.

The retail shop there closes at 4pm, and I wasn't sure of what sort of time I would make - but due to the new by-pass around Albury I made it to Wangarratta before 3. (Yes - I enjoy driving through all the small towns where you only have to slow down for a couple of kms before you can resume cruise control, but Albury with its doglegs and traffic lights really irked me! Also, the bakery and roadside cafes tended to have better food for a better price than all the fast food in Albury)

Some of the photos are a little blurry as I was asked not to take pictures inside the shop, but they suggested taking some through the window (well, the original response was 'why do you want to take photos...? ... weblog...? ...maybe you could just do it outside... you know... through the window...?') Anyway - remember Scrooge McDuck swimming in his money bins? Replace that coin with yarn and you have something like the retail shop and something a hellava lot softer to dive into.

Anyway - next time I go to the Wangaratta woollen mills I will definitely be taking an empty car. Or perhaps a semi-trailer (my Dad could drive - he got his truck licence on Monday - Yay and congrats to him!) I walked out with one HUUUUGE bag of woolblend yarns, and one HUUUGE bag of acrylic yarns (approx 4-5kg of yarn in total) and spent just over $100. The acrylic, which my Nan uses to knit soft toys - was $10/kg. The wool and woolblend stuff $27.50/kg. There was also some other yarns with small discounts (patonyle, whole-bags of angora supreme etc) but I didn't partake of those.

I picked up enough shadow tweed to make two garments in two different colours, and more than enough inca to make another Josephine. Considering that the retail for these yarns is approx $10/100g, or $100/1kg the $27.50/kg was a steal.

Top Ten Tips and Tricks for making the most of Wangaratta woollen mills:

1. Clean out your car (trust me, yarn takes up a lot of room)
2. If you can spare the room in your front passenger seat, take a friend to split petrol costs and therefore afford more yarn (the only space left in my car was the front passenger seat, so I ended up piling up my yarn there)
3. Know your products - spend a couple of hours swatting at the ACS handknitting sites (ie cleckheaton, patons etc) and get to know the composition of your yarns. They are bagged up without labels/ballbands with a yarn composition and a weight written on the bag. (I know my patons yarns well, so I see wool/alpaca/acrylic and know that its inca)
4. Be flexible. All the yarns are a bit of a cluster-fork in the bins. Just because you know that inca comes in black doesn't mean you will find it, or it is even there. Its remnants - it may not be your lucky day!
5. Don't stress over dyelots. No ballbands = no dyelot information. If you are worried about dyelots, do a little research into how to disguise then when joining yarns.
6. Know what you are prepared to go through in order to save money. There are tangled yarns that are even cheaper than the $27.50/kg - but do you want to waste good knitting time untying knots? I know I can't be bothered.
7. Add in your petrol costs to your yarn purchases. It's no use spending $50 in order to save $10 on yarn. (Of course, the upside of this is that the more yarn you buy the more cost effective your trip)
8. Make sure the mills are open when you plan to go. On my way back to Sydney in January I made a slight detour to Wangaratta only to find the mills were still closed from the xmas/new year break. This time I emailed ACS customer service to ensure I could get a little S.E.X. in on the way home. (S.E.X. = Stash Enhancement eXcursion)
9. Make sure you buy enough yarn to make a garment - pointless saving money on 3 balls of yarn when you discover that you need 12 more of them to finish.
10. If the excitement gets too much for you, just find a seat, dip your head between your knees and breathe into a paper-bag for a while.

And now we briefly return to retail yarn for a moment:

At my last RandL knit group two and a half weeks or so ago, I decided to make one last purchase at my favourite LYS . After much mopey browsing, I decided to go with this loverly oceanic slubby handspun from Mollydale. The colours reminded me of the harbour city, and the yarn was of (reasonably) local origin. I grabbed all three skiens of the colourway, and am now trying to decide what I should make with it.

I have 300gms and just shy of 300mtrs - its labeled as a 12ply. I would welcome any suggestions on what I can make with this beautiful yarn - I haven't played much with slubbies before so please give me your input.

And a finished pair of socks... for ME!

THE STATS
NAME: Roza-knee-hi
PATTERN: Loosely based upon Roza's Socks by Grumperina in the spring InterweaveKnits. Modified for toe-up, and extra brioche stitch incorporated to stretch over calf.
YARN: 2 skeins Lorna's Laces's Shepard Sock in Black Watch
YARN SOURCE: ebay (yarnbow's shop, from memory)
NEEDLES:15cm Tulip 2.75mm bamboo DPNs
COMPLETED: 07 May 07


An just so you know, Pierre is doing well in his new (temporary) home at my parents. My Dad and I have been working on some new tricks with him - and he can now 'roll-over'

exhaustion

following 12 hours of removalists in the house, having a small dog connected to a belt loop via his lead, lots of "this is going; this is staying", and "loom is spelt L-O-O-M not L-U-M-E" finally all my possessions (bar the knitting projects and yarn I just can't part with, my laptop, camera and effects, ipods, some toiletries and a few clean changes of clothes... oh, and Grey's DVDs for Lucy Loo) are sitting in a shipping container and will be somewhere between Sydney and geelong until next Monday.

I have too much stuff. Way too much. I dread having to unpack the crap. (I am so glad I had professional removalists organised for me - no way would I get everything down to geelong by myself)

And I said good-bye to Tuffers this evening. He is going to an ANZAC day Dawn service tomorrow so is staying at a more convenient friends place in the city and I won't see him again before I leave town. I am looking forward to starting afresh back home, but I will miss this life a little.

The highlight of the day - my second rockin' sock club package showing up this morning. oh so pretty... need another skein so I can make the knee-highs.

Good night all!

knitpicks review... finally!

(Sorry, but this is a photo heavy post - if your on a slow connection please give it a minute or two to load. Also, the skullcandy banner is still awaiting your click over in the sidebar!)

These needles can almost be summed up completely in the two words my favourite 2yo says everytime he sees me using them:-

1. shiney
2. pointy

I'd have to add one other word to that:

• smooth

But these are so good, that I have to use a few more words....

BKP (Before KnitPicks) my favouritest needles were tulip bamboo (circular and DPNs) - so I am using these for comparison...

The Join...

The most important part of circular needles is how the cable joins the needle.

As you can see on the left - the transition between the cable and needle on the tulip bamboo has a rather sudden bump in it. In this size needle (4.5mm) this was not a problem - however, in the smaller sizes, the bump in the cable made it difficult to get stitches past, and in the larger needles, the transition from cable to needles was sometimes too sudden and you had to work to get the stitches back on the needles.

As you can see, there is no bump in the transition from cable to needle, and out to the needle size, is perfectly smooth. I haven't had any problems with the joins coming undone or snagging stitches, provided I used the small wire key to tighten the screw into the needle.

Due to the screw on the end of the cable, the smallest in the interchangeable set is 3.5mm (the exact same size of the screw housing - it couldn't get any smaller). However, there are smaller circulars available. I have not had the need to use these yet, nor purchased any but I assume that they have similar attributes.

And as far as that smooth transition out to the needle diameter - it is still fantastic for the larger needle sizes. Shown left is an 8mm needle, and you can see that the angle out to the full diameter of the needle is nice and gradual. The needles go up to a chunky 12mm and the taper from cable to needle makes for great knitting.

I have knitted a sleeve and back on the 8mm already, and found the larger needles to be quite comfortable to knit with (and any joins invisible)

The point....

This is where knitpicks holds all the cards - a nice sharp point on the needle which makes it perfect for lace knitting, splitty yarns and cables-san-cable-needle

This is a fairly new bamboo needle, and as you can see it is rather blunt in comparison - fine for most DK yarns, but sometimes it is just a tad bit blunter than I would like. Of course, there are two problems with the points on bamboo needles once the have suffered a bit of use - firstly, the points tend to get blunter with general wear, and secondly, with further use they can begin to split - causing terrible knitting heartache.

But what I did like about the tips of these bamboo needles was the angle from the needle diameter to the tip. This angle is incredibly important when knitting - to sharp and it can be hard to get the needle through a stitch, and two shallow and you may end up knitting with a section of the needle smaller than your desired diameter. Knitpicks has done their research well - take note that the angles of the knitpicks and bamboo are almost identical (there is something magical about this angle, knitpicks uses it as the transition from the cord to needle - if you are thinking of making your own needles you may want to measure this angle!)

The cord...

No pictures for this section - but knitpicks claim that the cord is kinkfree with as little memory as possible... and I fully agree. The only problem I had with the cord is that in the deluxe set I started with I received 60, 80, 120 and 152 cm cords. I would have preferred the 100cm instead of one of the longer cords. However, at less than 5bucks a pop that was a problem quickly rectified.

The DPNs

These come in 15cm lengths for the smaller sizes (2-3.25mm) which I really love. I have stated before, that I am a rather tight knitter - that means that when I have used bamboo and rosewood DPNs previously I could feel a bit of strain in the needle. I haven't had the misfortune of breaking one, but I can understand how it could happen. (however, these don't come without their own hazards - see here and here!)

The also have the same point as the interchangables, so perfect for cables-sans-cable-needle, because, lets face it, you're already juggling 5 needles, why add more into the mix?

These are excellent value, they start at just under $8 for a set of 5 incredibly sturdy needles. (I love that they come in sets of five. I have in the past bought two packets of four DPNs so I could knit with five.)

And slightly off topic - I finally started my phallic sock - I had to buy DPNs in new sizes for the rockin' sock club patterns, and so far am loving the yarn, and this pattern. I will always be smiling when I wear these socks because I will have the thought I am walking over all men!

The feel..

My mum has often had a bit of a laugh at me because I don't like using metal needles on cold days. Indeed, this is one of the reason I preferred bamboo or wooden needles - they are warm to the touch. So was this a problem with the knitpicks???

Surprisingly, no. As the knitpicks needle tips are hollow they are quick to warm up while you knit.

And the other complaint I have heard mention is that the knitpicks maybe too pointy. Did I have this problem... Well, initially yes, but I have developed a useful "knitting callus" on my index finger and thumb. There are a couple of tips I can give you to help while your callus is developing:-

1. for prevention: handcream, often - when your fingers are dry, it is easier to poke between the ridges on your fingertips.
2. for first aid: bandaids, when needed - I'd suggest the kiddie-sized waterproof ones... I prefer the sesame street one, but really, each to their own...

The accessories...

Where to begin! I got so many with the set.

I guess, first of all we will have to talk about the handy organisation system. There is a place for everything in the binder I got with the deluxe set - The needle tips fit nicely into the triple pockets, the cords do well in the double pockets, and the DPNs are at home in the single pockets. (BTW - I am using the packaging for the extra needle tips I bought to hold the DPN sets altogether. It seemed easier than having to fish them out of the pocket one by one)

At the back of the folder there is a pen holder, and room for a notebook or pattern photocopy. In the front, there is a zipper pocket (perfect for PTYS stitchmarkers - couldn't resist a plug) and an expanding pocket which holds your needle sizer/ gauge ruler.

All together the folder can be a bit bulky, but I intend to leave this at home and just take the needles in use with my when I go a-travelling with my knitting.

Now, I have to talk about the needle sizer/ gauge ruler.

Knitpicks were incredibly smart when then designed the set - not only did they recognised that the US system of needle sizing wasn't standardised, but they decided they could count to ten, and use the metric system to get exact needle sizes.

This was quite a bold move - and to try and integrate their system into the US market, they made this great needle sizer that has both US and metric needle sizes on it (and also show just how inexact the US system is - just what does a US 1 or 2 convert to?) Okay, so I hear you say 'so what!' - after all, myself, I already had 2 needle sizers with metric, english or US system on them. But what makes this really cool is the magnified gauge ruler incorporated into the same tool.

And this also utilises the metric system - it is a 15cm ruler, label in both cm and inches - and the magnified part has a red line marking out both 10cm and 4". Quite useful to use as gauge is usually referred to in inches, while tension is usually in cm. Yes, I know they are the same thing, but 10cm is not quite 4" - and perhaps that half stitch may make a big difference. (And yes, that is my holey argyle - growing oh so slowly!)

Of course, there is one other reason knitpicks had to make this tool...

Unlike the nifty tulip bamboo needles that have the size printed on them, knitpicks don't. Quite a problem if your DPNs are all floating in the same plastic pocket, or you mix the tips up a bit. Luckily this comes with the set.

Also included with the set are the needle size ID tags and cable end caps. It is understandable that, if you are not a monogamous knitter like me, you may have more than one project on the go at once, and may need the same tips you have on another cord. The idea is that you take off the needle tips, slip an ID tag on the cord (preferably one that correlates to the size needles you were using) and then put the stoppers on. The needle ID tags have the US sizes on one side and the metric on the other, and currently, I use each tag in the pocket with the relevant size needle tip.

I find the end caps very useful to convert the cables into stitchmarkers. In the picture to the left, I am actually trying my hardest to force the stitches off the cable, but the end caps work very well!

The Price...(this is in AUD - please ignore this if you are not purchasing in Australia)

The RRP for the deluxe set is $129, but because I pre-ordered my set through Tapestry Craft I was lucky to get it for $99 (although this is a moot point - someone else paid for the set as a birthday present). If you can't afford to by the big set all at once - don't worry. You are really only saving about 70 cents over buying the pieces separately (YES - I worked it out!)

However - DO NOT bother buying either the Entry or Chunky set. These work out more expensive than buying the pieces separately (by about 10 bucks!) and they vinyl case you get with it is not worth it. I'd suggest using the extra 10 bucks to by a couple of sets of plastic pockets so you can start building up your own 'deluxe set'. I haven't tested this, but I am pretty sure that the pockets will fit into a filofax system, so if you can't afford a knitpicks folder this may be a good storage alternative.

I found it useful to buy the 4 size needle tips I didn't get with the set (3.75, 9, 10 & 12mm) so I would have the full system available, as well as a couple of extra cords in the shorter lengths and extra pockets so I could store it all easily. As mentioned, I also bought the full range of 15cm DPNs (2 - 3.5mm with increments of .25mm) - mainly because I wanted to be ready for whatever the rockin' sock club gave me this year in any gauge. I aim to get the complete set with the classic circulars in smaller diameters, and the 20cm DPNs - but that will be a long time work in progress, as I will only buy those sizes as I require them.

As previously mentioned, I bought mine at Tapestry Craft, but I have also heard that Doni has come through with the goods. Prestige Yarns is the distributor and will have the info if you require a stockist closer to home. There is also a full price list on their site.

And now for something completely different...
This is my secret knitting - I am sharing here because I doubt my Pop (maternal grandpa) will read the blog, and am hoping that Mum won't show him until after I have finished them.

Fingerless mits, in manly olive green and brown - they are massively big for me, so I am hoping they will therefore fit him. These will be for his birthday next weekend - which I will hopefully make it down to Geelong for.

And this is the beginning of a noggin warmer for Dilby... I love the way flash photography makes you want to reach for your sunglasses..

And here is Pierre - wanting to know why I have been blogging for 3 hours and if I am ready to go to bed yet. Didn't realise I would take so long to write this up!