Friday, December 31, 2010

A year in review

I know I've been pretty bad on the blogging front but I have been busy. Not just with the three kids, I've actually made things. Obviously, I knitted. I also sewed a few things this year too.

I knitted 3 shawls - the same pattern (Haruni) in 3 different yarns. The Neighborhood Fibre Company Studio Sock in Dupont Circle, Sunshine Yarns Twist in Phoenix Song and Sunshine Yarns Classic song in Mother's Day.
I've finished 3 pairs of socks - all part of the Knit Love Club - 2luvcrew, Spring Shoots and Rumpled. I think I started 2 or 3 more pairs but they're languishing in a WIP black hole somewhere.

Other things I've knitted (not many, I know!)

Things I've sewn.I'm sure I've done a few more things in 2010 but i can't remember them, can't have been important!

Have a Happy New Year!

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope 2011 will be a good year for you. For me, I intend to blog a little bit more than I have.

Enjoy the holidays!

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Knit Nation

I have had the most fun ever on 3 days of Knit Nation, held at Imperial College on 29 - 31 July. I had the privilege of being a member of the crew, helping Alice and Cookie A. This involved packing the shopper bags, putting up the booth - doesn't the boot look great!

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- helping out at Class Registration (this was where I hung out with all the other crew!)
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- I also signed up for 2 classes. One was with Nancy Bush, knitting an Estonian Lace Sampler and the other was Spinning for socks with Judith MacKenzieMcCuin. They were both amazing teachers. I'm so inspired to start many new projects!

- Of course, there was the Marketplace as well. I was tempted by so many of the stalls but was quite restrained in my purchases. This is all detailed below (from left to right, Laceweight Wollmeise in Amethyst Light, Laceweight Wollmeise in Ballerina (this was a gift from Alice and Cookie for all the volunteer work), fibre from Artist Palette, BFL fibre from John Arbon)
Next row - signed copy of Nancy Bush's book, stitch markers from Tricot de Plume and The Bothered Owl, 3 skeins of Wollmeise sock yarn in My Old Blue Jeans, Petit Poison No 5 and Peppermint Prinz and some grey alpaca fibre. Can't wait to knit up some of these!



Now be ready to be astounded. This is what the Wollmeise stall looked like. Have you seen so much Wollmeise yarn in one place. These shots were taken just before the Marketplace Preview. (should have seen the rush and the crush when the doors opened!)
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Saturday, July 17, 2010

Sew more skirts

Spurred on by the recent sewing success, I decided to sew a few more ruffled skirts. 2 more for my lovely girls, in slightly different colours. Now, I want one too.


Thursday, July 15, 2010

Sew, sew,sew

So it's been weeks since I dropped in on the blog. I do have my excuses/reasons but that would be boring (because it would just be about mundane life!) However, I have been busy on the craft front.

I've been busy with my sewing.

First up, a gathered skirt for a little girl. It's being modelled by Keira, which has meant that I need to make another one for her. It's a fairly quick and easy project - cutting a few strips of fabric, sewing and overlocking and an hour (or so) later, a finished object. I've actually cut a few more pieces of fabric for my 2 little girls. Can't wait to sew them up.Next up, fabric bag for a lovely friend who brought me a ton of fabric from USA. The pattern is from Sew Hip magazine. I had the fabric pieces cut a long time ago (in fact, I have several more projects which just needs sewing up!) and it just needed sewing up. The outer fabric is some medium weight upholstery linen mix fabric and the lining is some patchwork cotton from my ever growing fabric stash.


Thursday, June 03, 2010

Flurry of FO's

The blogging may be intermittent but I have been knitting. And here's the proof. I finally finished my Blithe top from Kim Hargreaves book Nectar. It would have been finished a lot earlier except that I ran out of yarn. After a quick trawl through Ravelry, I found a few people with 1 skein in the stash. Before I knew it, a very kind soul offered me her skein for free. A few days later, 2 sleeves and neck edging were completed and I can finally wear my top for the summer weather we're having! You gotta love the kindness of knitters. They are the BEST!

I also managed to start and finish a little top for Keira. She had a birthday coming up and wanted a handknit something as part of her present pile. 2 weeks of effort later, I finished this cute little top for her. The pattern is Heidi from Yarn Forward magazine. Keira loved it so much, she wore it for 2 whole days.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Spring shoots

This is the second instalment from the Knit Love Club. Don't they look gorgeous. The yarn is Soft Strength from Brooklyn Handspun in Persephone. The pattern is Spring Shoots from Alice.


The socks look like any normal sock but they're constructed very differently. It involves knitting a tube for the foot, putting some lifelines and making a cut and unraveling the knitting to make an afterthought leg. Oooh - it was scary stuff, especially the cutting bit. The socks fit really well. There are some great tutorials on Cat Bordhi's website the subject. Go check it out!






Thursday, April 29, 2010

Pinwheel Jacket

I've been on a bit of a finishing frenzy. I have so may unfinished items hanging around that I'm feeling swapped, pressured and unmotivated. So I decided to tackle some of them I started this baby pinwheel sweater over a year ago. It was almost finished - it needed 2 sleeves and some edging. A few nights of focused knitting and miraculously, it's now finished. Hopefully, Zoe will get a chance to wear it before she outgrows it.



Saturday, April 24, 2010

New things for Spring

I love Spring. New starts, new beginnings, new shoots. I love the weather - just warm enough, but not too hot. I particularly love when the sun shines. It really motivates and inspires to spring clean and start afresh.
On the knitting/craft front, I've decided to focus on a few long standing WIPs and getting those done before starting anything new. I've finished a few jewellery projects and I'm working on those knits! Here's one necklace I made for a friends birthday. Turquoise nuggets, crystals on a chunky chain. Looks pretty good!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

More FO's

Remember the cardigan and beret for Robynn from Purlescence, well I still had yarn leftover. So I decided to make something else for her. Here's the Little Sister Dress, well Tunic because there wasn't quite enough yarn for a dress. There's amazing yardage from 1 skein of the Fleece Artist Organic Wool. I love this yarn. The colours are great and the yarn is soft and squooshy. Really lovely.


Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Easter holiday

I've forgotten how reliant I am on the internet. We took a family holiday to Malaysia to visit family and to get a much needed fix of warmth and sunshine. While we were there we had no internet connection, for pretty much 2 whole weeks. I felt like I had lost all connection to the outside world. We had a great holiday, but I'm glad to be back home.

The one good thing about not having any internet connection was that I didn't waste time on Facebook, Ravelry, internet shopping, etc etc. I actually started and finished a few projects. Amazing - I know!! The first project is Haruni shawl, which I started on Day 2 of the holiday and finished on Day 14 of the holiday. The yarn is Sunshine yarns, Classic sock in Mother's Day colourway. It was an easy and yet interesting pattern. I love the leaves in the edging. However, beacuse the yardage was less than the recommended amount, I had 1 less repeat, so the shawl is slightly smaller than I would have liked. Having said that, I love it all the same.



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Saturday, March 27, 2010

Knit Love Club

These socks are Rumpled by Alice (previously of Socktopus). The first installment of our sock club socks. The pattern is great, the yarn is yummy (if a bit splitty) and they're keeping my footsies nice and toasty.
You should wait and see the second installment of the sock club. Scary!!!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

A hoodie

I've been thinking about knitting a hoodie for myself for a very long time. If you check out my queue on Ravelry, it's got quite a few hoodies on that list. My favs, in no particulare order:

Cardigan for Arwen
Vivian
Apres Surf Hoodie

However, I decided to cast on for the Heather Hoodie from Knitscene Fall 09. I started it in December and I finished it a few weeks ago. I've been wearing it without any closures. I thought I'd put toggles but I didn't like them. So I think I'm going to put in a zip. I just need the time to find one and take a deep breath to sew it in.

Apologies for the bad photos - they were taken by the 7 year old.

Thursday, March 04, 2010

More handspun

Like a proud mummy, I'm showing off my handspun. This is what I've managed to spin over the last 3-4 weeks.
This is my latest handspun. 140g of BFL fibre dyed in pinks and purples. There's approximately 220 metres of yarn. This was my first lot of handspun on the wheel. I had approximately 80g of white undyed BFL and approximately 80g of orange, yellow mystery fibre ( I think it's also BFL but I can't be sure as it had no labels!)
This I showed off in the last post.


And finally, this is merino silk fibre which I had dyed in indigo at a natural dyeing workshop. I think theres 100g of fibre.