One more time, off we go

yes, thats right, I'm knitting Odessa again, for the third time, as a thank you for having me stay gift, this time in a felted merino angora single yarn, and I've made a start on my next baby gift (did you remember there are two more babies in progress at my work), and I've got the next spinning project underway ... which can only mean I'm easily distracted. Yes, guilty as charged, my socks progress slowly as I suspected, but probably much slower than usual given I've started 3 new projects to distract me from them. Did I hear some one mention short attention span? I'm off away for a conference the next few days so this mid-week post is early, and there may not be a weekend one, and I'm going to stop on the way home and stay with a friend in Wellington. I wanted easy portable knitting (the baby blanket) and a knitted thank you (Odessa),

I do need to thank all who admired by dairy free hot chocolate recipe, even the one who left a comment about adding whipped cream which is not dairy free, and Dove - odd really as Dove in New Zealand is a brand of soap, not chocolate. That threw me for a bit until I realised they must mean chocolate. Also thank you for all the positive comments about my F&F scarf, thank you!


Lets start with Odessa the 3rd, this time I'm knitting her (she has to be a girl hat, right?) in Naturally Sensation 70% Merino 30% Angora yarn. Its a felted single, my first time I've knit a yarn with that structure, in white, very white, winter white, white and fluffy, and soft. I've got little teeny tiny pale pink beads to add, so this one should be a pretty one. She is a gift for a mum of 3 under 5, so I'm thinking something pretty is what is required.

Next is me knitting my hand-spun into a baby blanket. I'm using a shawl pattern from Folk Shawls by Cheryl Orberle, The Basic Black Shawl. It seems a simple enough pattern and would suit either a boy or a girl, and I plan to knit until my hand-spun runs out. I hope to get enough blanket to tuck over a sleeping baby in a car seat or a bassinet, but I can always add a matching edge of some sort to make it larger should I run out of this yarn. Experience tells me that little blankets come in handy in all sorts of ways. Like all lace blocking will open up the holes and make the pattern pop. I hand-spun this from dyed combed Perendale top, and Navajo plied it to retain the colour changes, and it worked. Its a blue purple, so I hope its suitable for both a boy or a girl.


Lastly I've been spinning, I decided to spin for a project so dug out my Mill Merino Silk blend, and found this, Wine and Roses Mitts by Jolene Treace, published in IWK Winter 2006. The good think about IWK is that they have that page with the yarns photographed full size, allowing yarn substitution or yarn manufacture. Its that second one, manufacture of a yarn to match in thickness the original that I'm using that page for here. I've made a sample skein, and it seems a good match, so I'm now spinning enough to make the mitts. Part of this feels very brave, spinning to substitute into a named identified pattern, and to make that public - but there you go, my challenge to myself for now, to make up for the repeated knitting of Odessa, In my defense, Odessa is one pretty hat and seems to suit lots of heads, Poppy was wearing mine today and got a few compliments on it. And anything authored by some one who selects the name Grumperina, well that scores points as well. The wispy bit is the end of the fiber I'm spinning, I park my spinning by letting the end double back on itself, that way its not stretched under tension.


The socks, well they grow slowly, as predicted,
in the meanwhile - take care,
see you in a week or so
Stella