20,736 stitches later

And my pi shawl is done. Started 17th August 2012, finished 18th March 2013, blocked one day later. The sheer number is stitches explains the long delay for this post, there wasn't much progress to show ... Just row after row of a garter band.

Here the shawl before blocking, and to explain the 20,736 stitches, I decided to add a nine-stitch garter band as the edge. Which meant that I worked nine stitches up and nine stitches back for each of the 1,152 stitches of the last full round. Before blocking the shawl measured 44".

During blocking the shawl spread a full 55" or 1.4m across, pretty much dominating our small living room. Bear spend much of the day shooing Yoyo the cat off the mat, and Yoyo spend much of the waiting for bear to leave so she could sit on the wet shawl.

The lace opened up beautifully, which was a surprise, as I thought the possum part of the yarn would bloom and close the lace considerably.
The shawl weighs 221 g dry, and was worked on 3.5mm needles, the garter boarder on 4mm. I slipped the edge of the boarder to make a neat chained edge, and attached the band with a simple k2tog. I blocked the shawl with TIG welding wires and tee-pins, running the wires through each slipped stitch.
And I went for the heart option on the edge ....
So time to knock-off and complete the other WIPs ... and plan something for my swap partner.
Na Stella

Cat included for scale

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Oh my, 1,152 is a lot of stitches.

There are 1,152 stitches after the seventh increase round of a pi shawl, 1152, which is a lot. The previous section has 576 stitches. Five hundred and seventy six stitches is slow going, I managed between four and six rounds in an evenings knitting. Somehow the reality that double that stitch count would mean halving the number of rounds I could knit in a sitting didn't hit home until I knit a round. The concept that more stitches equals more time was reinforced on the second round, and I suspect will be every round after that.

Given the number of rounds I can knit in a evening progress will seem to slow, but will in fact proceed at the same rate of stitching. There are at least two more weeks of evening knitting in this shawl ... At two rounds per day, 16 pattern rounds then a cast off ... And I know I won't knit on this every day. I also know how exciting it will be when done and blocked.
As a distraction from the ever increasing pi shawl, I've been spinning.

I took apart a dyed plait of combed top by Maude and Me, and divided the fibre up into three colours. Then I made Rolags from each colour, and played with how to spin them. This is the plan I came up with, one rolag of each colour, followed by two rolags of each colour, followed by three rolags of each colour ....and so on.

I divided my roalgs into two sets and spun two singles, the whole time wondering if I was working to a clever plan or just making a mess ....
If the plan works when I knit a center out baby blanket the repeats of each colour will be increasingly longer to match the increasing stitch count as the blanket increases in size ....I think.

Here are the unblocked plied yarn, right next to a tiny skein of woolen spun Gotland lamb. I did a little bit of tweaking as i plied, breaking and removing a sinlge if the colours didn't match up too closely, and adding the removed section back into the next section of that colour. I may have finally found a way to spin Gotland that doesn't result in string! Right now the yarn is soaking ... And plumping up nicely.

And today there is sun, and Yoyo is completely relaxed ...this is the way the world should be. One relaxed warm soft loose limbed cat.
Take care ... And let me know if you want to knit a round to two ... I'm open to volunteer knitters,
Na Stella

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Moving along

Things are still ticking along nicely around here, when I say nicely I mean as usual, so there is frogging of a kind, the kind that isn't so much frogging as starting again, and very slow progress on my pi shawl.

I finally bought a new phone, one that let's me text easily. This one has a typewriter style touch screen keyboard rather than a number pad, keeping up with the cubs is soo much easier. When I bought it I looked at the cases sold for phones, and part of me thinks such things are a tad weird. For a start one buys a new phone, usually because it is thinner, or smaller, with a better screen than the competition, and then immediately slaps a thick case around it making the super cool thin phone all thicker and heavier, canceling all the features one carefully chose it for. I bought phone with gorilla glass, toughened to resist scratches and decided to make a soft crafted case to keep it in. Knitting seemed too fuzzy, too soft, too likely to attract lint in my handbag, and I'd seen a crochet technique over cord on pinterest that held promise, stiffer, more case like. The first case was worked quite firm, with a teeny crochet hook, orange soft cotton over thicker yellow cord, and suffers from the goldilocks effect in that it is too small. Well it fitted, but actually slipping it into place on the phone was a struggle - i had assumed being cotton it would relax, but seems corded crochet does not (or not yet). Rather than frog it, as it was soo much work, I've set it aside and started another putting into play what I have learned, the second one is on 2mm hook, same cord and thread, and I am not pulling the cord quite so firm this time. Crochet is not my best craft sport ... so progress has been slow, but is faster now with a larger hook.

Look, I'm nearly half way there! The first case took nearly a week, the second might be only a few days. And today is a rainy dull day, a perfect day to keep warm and dry inside crafting. Yoyo shares the feeling, except being a cat, replaces crafting with sleeping. Being a cat she sleeps where experience tells her it is warmest, on the back of the sofa where usually the sun shines. Being a dull rainy day, the warmth from the sun is totally imagined in this case. Yoyo is not the kind of cat to let reality stand in her way.

I've not just been crocheting, and playing with my new phone and all its features (it has a very nice camera, f2.0 and a Carl Zeiss lens), but I have been plodding along with my pi-shawl, again with Yoyo as a photo prop, this time she is doing that cool cat thing, sleeping with one eye just open. I choose to knit mine on 3mm needles, making a thicker and more dense lace than if I used the recommended 4mm needles. Knowing that I suspected my shawl would end up smaller, so I've adjusted the maths a little. I plan to repeat the gull wing lace for the full 80 rows, then work a round of increase eyelets, the the lace edge. The pattern calls for only 40 or so rows then a fake increase row (eyelets only) and then edging. In the original the shawl finishes before the seventh increase round? I think given my use of smaller needles I need the extra repeat rows of lace, so my edge will start just after the seventh increase round (2x576 stitches). I also like the idea this way the repeats will demonstrate the pi principles more clearly, as each band of lace will be double the width of the previous one. Nice idea ... but at an average of four or so rounds a night ... progress is slow.
Take care
Na Stella

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Unwound

Wow, last weekend was the 2013 Unwind fibre retreat, and it was amazing, bigger and better and just the same as 2012. I know that can't make sense, to be better and the same, but there was the same kinds of people, many of them the same people, and the same kind of amazing fibre love and sharing as before - just more of it.

  Little cub was part of all of it, even to manning the swap shop table. Here she is waiting for the first customers. Swap shop was popular, this was the table mid way through the trade in day ..... one the huge pile of stuff had been mostly cleared away by impatient swappers. Josie wanted to arrange the table by colour gradient - and I must admit while it was a wee bit of extra work, it did look good once done.

 Unwind swap shop has its own currency, Swap dollars, which are earned by trading in unwanted stash yarn. I thought I had high standards for my own stash, with it mostly restricted to natural fibres in lovely colours - but some people traded in baby lama and cashmere, and Indie-dyers yarn. I'm told little cub was a stickler for the rules, and insisted that only baby alpaca was worth two swap dollars for 50grams, ordinary alpaca was only worth one.

 I attended the class by Frances Stachl aka Sourkraut called colour control which was all about planned use of those amazing dyed rovings that many spinners collect. We explored various methods and approaches to not spinning them as they present, instead dividing the rovings into colour groups and thinking about the shape of the shawl or whatever was being spun for. Several kinds of manipulation were explored faux-rolags, dizing to blend, and drum carding. Bear was amazing - and delivered a Drum Carder mid class following one of those 'would you be a dear(bear)' phone calls.

Even though I had attended a class that covered creating ones own colour gradient from a dyed roving - and in theory I could make one myself - I had to bring this lovely roving home, 160 grams of fibre love. Bright sunny daffy yellow fading to deep purple - from Spinning a Yarn, what a magic combination.

The best thing about a traders hall is the variety, all sorts of thing jump out and catch ones eye. This is another example of a fibre that just had to come home, dyed by Maude and Me .... just one of several amazing bundles on her trade stall.

Of course when one is at a three day retreat one goes around and around the trade hall and each time something new is noticed. I was a tad slow on this one - The Grey Scale - mini skeins by Spinning a yarn.  All friday people stopped me and asked if I had seen Jessica's Mini-skeins. Oh yes I said, thinking of some small skeins I had noticed on her stall. Then at the colour control class Frances pulled out a tidy package of mini skeins to show how clever some indie dyers were in planning a colour way that would produce even stripes on an ever widening shawl. I finally understood the potential of The Mini Skeins and more than that - I realized there were only a few and they were in one of the nicest ranges of grey I had ever seen. I was lucky in that Jessica had one left and when asked happily put it aside for me - even though I wasn't free to  buy it until the next day. I am so looking forward to using this.

This was my wee score, the swap shop had what I would consider a few real vintage treasures on it. One was 10 oz of soft ballet pink 3 ply yarn, marked in pre-decimal currency so sold before 1967. I told little cub if the pink was there when I looked then it was meant to be ours, another local had a similar idea and I'm happy to say the ballet pink is in a queue to become a ballet cardigan sometime soon in Dunedin. Another treasure was a bag of deep forest blue green vintage yarn from the same era, and a third was this - a 'separates pack' by Munrospun. I wasn't quick enough to get the green - but did score the Munrospun - (with a little help from M of Vintage Purls).

The separates pack consists of a enough beautiful soft tweedy singles yarn to knit a cardigan or sweater, complete with fabric label and buttons. I love how the instructions suggest that the skirt be made using  'Vouge' or other well known pattern house, whilst the yarn be knit into a stylish garment using one of the many Munro knitting leaflets. The fabric and knitting yarn are beautifully matched, and everything is clearly labled 'made in Scotland'. The colour way is Morning Haze.

A previous owner had started to knit something, but only got half way up the back. I do like their choice of cabled rib - and might have to do something like that myself. Half the yarn has been wound into balls - and half is still skeins with those amazing pure wool made in Scotland Munrospun labels. I'm not the only blogger who now has one in stash, and it came in a beautiful bold blue (here),  - spot another here, and read about memories of one here. the yarn even has entries on Ravelry (here), and with 12 projects linked to it (none are coordinating separates - sadly) and 30 instances of it in peoples stashes ... how wonderful! I feel inspired and obligated to do something clever with it or pass it on to someone who will.

The box is every bit as amazing as the yarn, made from a thick textured card, imprinted with a woven linen pattern and printed with all sorts of ruins. I admit some seem more Greek than Scottish but given how the Greek and roman ruins were often shipped to the UK or copies made to decorate gardens I guess the places depicted could be Scottish. I have 10 ozs of yarn and 1 yard of 54 inch fabric - enough for plenty of options. If only I could decide. I am slightly worried this will be just added to the stash and become too-good-too-use, but knowing that I will try and plan something that uses it.

Yoyo was only slightly interested, but much improved and looking more like her perky self. When we arrive home she fair gallops and bounces along almost tripping us up and racing up the stairs to be first. I like that our cat has her bounce back -  that is a good sign.

Post unwind there are all the events of iD Fashion week here, so it seems like it will be next week before things even begin to return to something normal.
Take care
Stella

Would the new owner of these socks please

let me know where to send them. Frances I'm looking directly at you, and the rest of this post is an open letter to you. I know they are not bubble socks, I really really wanted to supply you with a pair of your very own effervescent bubble filled socks, but this yarn just didn't want to be bubbles, it wanted to be something else and the yarn fought me all the way up half a foot. For a while there you fewer going to get boulder socks, not bubble socks, Eventually I gave in, and let the yarn speak have its way.

Of course I blame the yarn, it's handspun, so has a mind of its own. I know that clever spinners like you are totally the boss of the yarn you make, but I'm not quite there yet. As you will note, the socks are fraternal twins, and I simply can't keep them. Put bluntly they don't fit me, and require someone with delicate small and sensible feet like you. The fiber was a beatiful hand dyed 100grams of sock pencil roving, in grey green, grey, and a touch of mauve. I spun it fine, not as fine as you would have I'm sure but i'm me not you, then I plied and plied again to produce a four ply cabled yarn. I am rather pleased with how the colours sometimes lined up given the spin, ply and re-ply nature of making this sort of yarn.

The fibre was of course supplied by Morag of Vintage Purls, and should you fail to arrange shipment of your new socks ... I will have no recourse but to speak to Morag and see if I can have these secreted into the next shipment of contraband supplies that heads your way from casa Vintage Purl.
These socks are part of a larger master plan hatched by local Dunedin knitters to give you no reason or excuse to not move to Dunedin, with these you can't possibly get cold feet. I've even reinforced not only the heel flap but the heel cup with slipped stitches, all the better to cushion your feet and withstand wear and tear while you work at the lathe and bench.

I've left Yoyo guarding the socks, so they are safe, for now. Please bear in mind that Yoyo is old, elderly almost for a cat, she has been around for over over 15 years, and it would be mean to leave her on guard for too much longer wouldn't it? Spinning is at my house on Monday, and I'm not sure Yoyo is up to defending these socks from local spinners, some of whom have small, perfectly formed and functional feet like yours. However if you supply your postal address, I'm sure I can bag these up and have them sent away before the spinners arrive, thus saving wee Yoyo the duty of care Monday night.
And no, I'm not passive aggressive, why do you ask?
Na Stella

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You get what you pay for ... mostly

This past week I relearned that I get what I pay for, and sometimes paying for convenience back fires, and I end up taking the long road to do something properly. This seems to be a lesson that I have to relearn every so often, in  a wide range of situations. This post is mostly about me relearning that not all beads are nice to use, that even when I say I will set a project aside and deal with those with more urgent deadlines sometimes I don't, and that cats still want to sit just on paper - especially if you are reading something from it.

This time I relearned about bead quality. Next weekend I am teaching at Handmade, two classes, a beginners learn to knit class, and a more advanced class for those who can already knit introducing the use of beads in knitting. I've worked my samples, showing three ways to add beads, and had a project all planned - with hand outs and instructions - but I didn't have a lovely new unused project to show and tell how great beads can look. So I dug out my bead collection and set about knitting a beaded wrister, but none of the beads I had at hand were the right size. I wanted to use fingering alpaca, in soft black and grey but all the beads I had at home were too small - no problem I thought, there is a bead shop in town, I'll just head there and buy some that are the right size. So I did, the choice wasn't great, and the beads were not strung. That alone should have alerted me that the beads were not the best. This was what I found, size 6, orange glass and pink lined glass. In the shop they looked fine, back at home they looked awful, each was a different size and shape, and many were misshapen. That was last weekend,

This weekend I headed up to Oamaru, Enterprise Beads and bought some lovely even and perfectly matched beads, in size 8. Size 8 is a better size for sock yarn and wristers to my eyes. Compared to the first purchase these were not only nicer, there was much more choice - they were strung. Beads being strung on a thread is a simple thing but one that proves that each has a working hole, something not all beads can boast. And even better the beads were cheaper ... much much cheaper.  I bought white because for teaching I wanted drama, clear definition and a nice strong effect against the black alpaca yarn.

The only problem with making decisions in a well stocked bead shop is that it is easy to decide to buy other things. So three strings of these lovely black- grey and silver mix beads came home, as well as these lovely mixed pastel ones. I told myself that I didn't want to be caught out again without size 6 beads in the house.

The other bit of prep for the class was to locate some vintage fine crochet hooks, English size 4, and smaller. I had two already and some that were size 3. I found the size three a little big to pull yarn through the size 8 beads and began to worry that my students may not have all found hooks to bring. The local 'designer' opp-shop has a fantastic store where they clean, and sort and display all the best of what they have, and when I asked the staff pointed me towards a wee set of drawers holding dozens of crochet hooks. I found seven in the sizes I wanted, 4 size fours, one size 5, one 5.5 and one 6. Two even came with little metal caps to keep the hooks safe. One is a little bent at the non-working end, the rest had very light touches of rust - but a light rub with fine 0000 steel wool cleaned them up beautifully. Each is now smooth and ready to go - and at the grand sum of $1 each I am happy.

And while I was dithering around trying to work with beads that were not right, I kept knitting on the Clarie cardigan. I've finished the short rows that shape the neckline and for now the knitting is straight back and forward with raglan increases. This might be a useful cardigan, soft grey, and with a touch of crochet lace around the neck line but it is otherwise plain as plain can be - there is nothing but stocking stitch until I get to the cuffs and hem - and those are a long way from the neck. I'm working on 2.75mm needles, so this might take a while.

As a smaller child little cub was terrified of animals, dogs that bounce still make her stiffen and clutch the hand of a nearby adult. We can't explain why she reacts like this, and nor can she, as far as we know no animal has ever even hinted it might like to have a taste. And she has been around a lot of cats and dogs and other animals in safe ways - her fear seems to be deep and primal rather than learned - and we are working with it. That being said over the past four years she has become more and more accepting of our cat, and the cats of others. To the point she will now let a cat sit on her, or beside her, and she will pick up a kitten if it is small. This is great, because she used to edge out of the room nervously complaining the cat, any cat, was trying to 'get-her'. Yesterday was another first in her accepting animals, Yo-yo sat on her music as little cub practiced ukelele. I loved explaining that sitting on paper, especially paper that you were reading or using was an age old cat trick. Little cub accepted that and went on to improvising a tune of her own rather than reading the music.

This week is a tad frantic, Bear is away Monday and I'm away Friday to Sunday, but now I have beads and hooks - well I'm all set.
Take care
na Stella

Banjo-Helen - the blanket is done

and there is a new wip (work in progress) to report. Last weekend was the Annual Knitters study group camp, and as usual I didn't take a camera - but others did so you can catch up on a little detail here at Shoebox Sally's blog. I'm in the first photo, way down the end of the table - next to Pam, and Lorna our local knit guru is the one standing at the far left right next to Pam. All in all there were fifteen of us and we knit lace, narrow lace trimings. Some of us with more forethought than others, mine has been rethought.

 But first things first, the Banjo-Helen baby blanket is done, blocked out to 42" from side to side and relaxed to 39". I have come to expect that - some relaxation over the few days after the blocking is released, as the knitting finds its own shape and size. Here the blanket is in the last of today's daylight, at around 5pm ... it was either that or lug it to work and photograph it during the daylight hours. Given that we had snow on the hills forcast for today, which translated into sleet and rain on the lower parts of town and work - that seemed a tad extreme. Yo-yo as usual turned up to supervise. I'm rather pleased with this, its a large soft, squishy blanket with an interesting centre and a nice chunky lace edge. Details, handspun blanket knit on 5mm needles, edge on 4mm,  a modified version of KnitSpots Rosebuddie, knit without any roses between the corners, and omitting the lace band before the edging. I suspect I could knit this again and again -  the corner increases are rather lovely. I've knit this before, in pink handspun, and I suspect I'll knit this again before too long, just one of those patterns that is worth returning to.

 So Knit Camp, the project was lace edges, in linen or cotton, as used on fabric. There were several variations available to chose from, and this wee one with the leaves caught my fancy. We were presented with two options, to knit the lace, then to attach it to a circle of linen, or to finish the edge of the linen and then knit the lace onto the finished edge. Me being me, I decided to knit my lace onto the edge as I worked the lace. I was using 2mm needles, and liked it well enough, but now I'm home I think the lace is a tad open and I'd like to knit it on smaller needles, so I've switched to 1.75mm to see what effect that has. The last leaf is knit on the smaller needles - and I think I prefer that gauge. Its firmer,  less floppy and the pattern cleaner, sharper.

Here is a close up of the edge, first I thread marked my circle on the linen, then I marked a second line 4mm inside the circle - also with thread. I then worked blanket stitch over the two guide threads. Once I'd completely worked around the circle, I took my small sharp scissors and trimmed away the fabric outside the blanket stitch. I then used a teeny tiny crochet hook to single crochet around the blanket stitch. This crochet chain provides the loop that I pick up and knit(purl actually) together with the last stitch on the lace edging. My linen choice was limited to pink or green, what I had at hand, whilst the local shops had only white and shades of cream linen .... ideally I'd be working the edge in a yarn that was the same tone or shade as the fabric.

and no, I am not usually a lace doily kind of person, but I have got a linen lace basket liner that I use for serving baking. Knit from the same green yarn - these two projects together will make a nice set of cloths for the table. Imagine this under a plate of warm scones, or muffins.

Yum ... and I'd best go, its now nearly 7pm and I'm sure I could be useful in the kitchen as dinner is readied.

na Stella

That old thing

This post is all about old things, but old things that are new to me. I've started a new project using old yarn, yarn from the swap shop, so doubly old in that I swopped some of my older yarn for some of someone else's old yarn. The next old thing in this post is a small chest of drawers that I spotted along town Friday, and headed back out to check on Saturday. I was intending to blog earlier today - but the final old thing got in the way.

 Here is the new project, a top down v-necked raglan cardigan for littlest cub, in pink (surprise surprise). My personal fashion sense is more long term than fleeting. My ideal  garment is one that people comment on and ask if it is new, and that I can say 'this old thing' about, I like the idea of garments that one can wear for years and years and that still get comments. Like most parents I'm transferring my tastes onto my kids, at least until they develop wants and needs of their own, so little cub is getting a classic warm cardigan, one that could have been knitted and worn at any time in the last century.
I swatched in Raglan shape on the off chance that the swatch would be a success. The gauge was to firm, and the neckline a tad small .. but the swatch allowed me to play with a transition from stocking stitch to reverse stocking stitch ready for a simple lace pattern based on leaves. I like Barbara Walkers Embossed Leaf Pattern from page 152 of her first Treasury, so I'm using that. Having swatched far enough to learn that the swatch was to small, I put the swatch on hold, made a few calculations and started the cardigan for real.

 I always struggle with how to transition from one decorative stitch pattern to another, in this cardigan I'm using a simple row of purl banded eyelets to provide the transition. In the swatch I continued the raglan shaping in a two stitch wide stocking stitch panel but in the final cardigan I plan to work the raglan increases in that section in pattern. I also played with a knit-below increase for the embossed leaf pattern, and I like the way it matches with eyelet row, but I can't think of a matching decrease for the other end of the leaf .... so I'll go with the suggested lifted make one increase.

 This little six drawer cabinet caught my eye on Friday as we were driving on the outskirts of the CBD. There are a few new shops there stocked with antiques, and one had this in the window. Storage for hobbies is always under review in our house, and whilst plastic bins do take care of much of the spinning stash and yarn there are lots of other bits and pieces that really need something that offers more organized access than a plastic tub with a locking lid.  The chest is probably 1940's, so another old thing, has hardboard bases to the drawers, is made of heart Rimu with brass fittings, and has the ends of two of the drawer fronts chipped. I can easily have those fixed latter in the year, and the price was right.

I purchased the chest to kit out ready to hold pens ... but couldn't resist seeing how much sock yarn it would hold. Five skeins per drawer, and six drawers makes 30 skeins. Not quite as many skeins as the plan drawers that I currently use hold  so I will go ahead and have the wee chest of drawers repaired and pen trays fitted. Right now the wee chest is doing duty in the living space, Bear has removed two of the smaller bookcases for minor repair (borer has started to nibble the backing boards). With the bookcases gone the speakers have been sitting at floor level, but this chest together with a wee oak stool that is the same height are temporary speaker stands for now.

And this is the last old thing, Yo-yo, who has taken to sleeping on the computer chair. I had intended to blog earlier today but every time I went near the chair she was still sleeping. And I mean really sleeping, didn't even twitch when I twirled the chair, I didn't like to disturb her. So I baked bread and muffins, and took little cub off to her special workshop with the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company, and folded washing. Then finally sometime after lunch Yo-yo appeared in the kitchen, meowed that the door should be opened, and I knew the computer chair was available.

Take care
The rain is about to set in so I'm off to save the washing from the line then I might just have to knit some more. Wonder if I can complete the raglan yoke today?

na Stella

Owls!

Boxing day here, the day after Christmas day. I was always told that boxing day was the day that wealthy Victorians went about passing on the food and other left overs to those less fortunate than themselves. I've also heard tell of Boxing day sales, particularly in the UK, where shoppers almost lost all reason in their haste to purchase heavily discounted items, particularly clothing and accessories. Here Boxing day is usually quiet, often is is an invite somewhere, and there are left overs, and of course the cubs (and adult bears) want to play with their new toys. In short mostly Boxing day is a mop up from Christmas day, eating the left overs, and finishing up Christmas things. Today - the washing machine threw us a curve ball .... yesterday after Christmas dinner I popped the table cloth which Bears Mum had embroidered into the washing machine  .... thinking it best to clean it before any food had a chance to settle and stain. Last night I pulled the damp table cloth out of the machine and hung it over the side of the machine ready to hang up this morning. This morning Bear went out to hang the table cloth on the washing line while I made breakfast coffee. Bear returned reporting that the table cloth was covered in brown 'mud' and that the washing machine had more 'mud' all over the inside. Long story - short, appears this washing machine has a filter, deep inside the agitator that we were unaware of .. and the filter was completely filled with years of wet lint. Filled the the point it was washing out of the filter and back into the wash, and it was mud coloured and  ... ewwwh! So our boxing day went in a mess of cleaning up the mess, including dropping a cloth between the agitator and the wall of the machine and fears of needing a repair visit to retrieve it. Luckily Bear is the sort of person who just works away quietly at things and he hauled the washing machine out and cleaned in behind and under and in the process the cloth fell out the bottom ...... What was boxing day like for you? Was it better than mine?

1950's style petticoat

The last two days of the 'before' Christmas week littlest cub and I sewed another dress and a petticoat. With each of the dresses she has asked if the skirt could 'pouff out', and inspired by rumors of a 1950's petticoat for sale at a local second hand shop (we went but it was sold), I searched out instructions and made one. I bought the bridal tulle and the bias binding, and already had the material for the top and the elastic. So far little cub has worn it every day and with every skirt and dress she has. I suspect that she will ask for another one, as I let slip that I'd read that girls in the 1950's sometimes wore more than one to make their skirts extra full. The dress is just like the pink one, but in blue plaid ....

Unravelled by Carrik, of Central Otago, NZ

Did you know that there is wine made for knitters? This is one that Bear brought home for us, Unravelled by Carrick, one of the Central Otago wineries. I've not tried it but Bear is good at reading and remembering wine reviews .. so it should be tasty. Carrick say  'The name is a play on our Carrick Bend Knot and represents a marketing decision to produce a very reasonably priced uncomplicated, upfront ("unravelled!"), enjoyable wine, with recognizable black cherry fruit and ready to drink now'... I like to think that its fibre rlated and  I'm happy to connect the two together in my own mind.

Owls, tatted and silver

Christmas brought other fibre things, these amazingly cute tatted owl earrings, from Suzanne, who is making the most amazing snowflakes right now. the larger sterling, Garnet and marcasite Owl was from Bear and is delightful, officially a broach I've temporarily hung it on a chain so I can wear it in warm weather.  With temperatures in the tee-shirt, light dress and sandal range I'm just not wearing things which will support a heavy broach right now - and I'm not prepared to wait until winter.

Rosebuddie starts

The little cubs with a bit of guidance from Bear gifted me chocolate and some patterns, Rosebuddie by Anne Hanson, Deciduous and Icelandic Poppy by Evelyn Clark. I finished the KAL socks Christmas eve so was all set to start something new  ... and Rosebuddie is now on the needles. I'm using fingering weight hand spun Perendale, and I love how the colour changes in handspun are so different to the colour changes in mill or hand dyed yarns.


and this is Yoyo doing her new 'thing', Cat-in-a-bowl'. Most days we come across her either curled up in the bowl or sitting and surveying her domain. She curls up in the larger bowl, and sits in the smaller of the two .. we have no idea why.  Bear suggest that maybe she has no idea why either. This behavior is new as far as we know, traditionally Yoyo relaxed on the front stairs or under the foliage around the garden .. the use of terracotta bowls is new. I suspect that these warm up in the sun and she has discovered they are soft, slightly elevated so dry and warm as toast. This has the whole family calling out 'Cat-in-a-bowl' whenever we spot her ... and stopping to look.

Cat in a bowl?

So - boxing day continues, the washing machine is back and washing, its Spin night tonight, and we are off to the Waimate Rodeo tomorrow so an early start.

take care
Stella

You would think that with

two full weeks leave from work I'd be relaxing, and maybe even knitting. Well I've been relaxing but to those around me I seem to be far from relaxing. Since Friday at 4is when my leave officially began I've slept in until 8am on a Saturday and Sunday, cut and sewn two dresses and initiated littlest cub into use of a sewing machine and iron, finished binding my diary for next year, made two boxes to store assignments in, blocked my yarn and knit some. And it is only Monday, not only that but lunchtime on Monday!

So the vintage pattern worked out well, appears my little contemporary 9 year old cub is pretty much a vintage size 12. She is tall, and the dress has 'growing-room', which I am loath to remove as if I do she will certainly grow overnight. This is the second dress, the first is sleeveless in a white, tan and taupe plaid. The best thing is that the sun is warming up our part of the world and she can wear these without freezing.

This one we even went so far as to construct the little decorative bow trim, and attached it to the center front waist. When I say 'we' I mean little cub as she sewed the bow herself and most of the seams on both dresses. I stepped in on the more tricky curved seams where errors would matter, like the neckline and setting in the sleeves. I cheated and resorted to a hand-prick-stitched zip, I can and do machine zips in but love the vintage look and the process of hand prick-stitching in a zip. I do machine the tapes to the seam allowance for security but like the custom hand made touch of working the zip this way. What you can't see is the shocking pink bias banding inside the neck, waist and hem that neaten up those edges of the dress. Little cub wants a petticoat that makes the skirt go out more, so that is on the cards for latter this week, as will be a few more of these pretty dresses. I have a notion to return to the opp-shop and source a few nice vintage plastic buckles and buttons as trim for the next few.

One of the last things I had to do before the end of last week was tidy up and file away all the admin side of marking. As I worked thru the Year one Essays and the Year 2 Lit Reviews I kept them in two photocopier box lids. You know those ubiquitous shallow cardboard boxes that are put to use in most offices. I like my desk to be a nice place to work and worn ripped photocopier paper box lids just were just not contributing a nice ambiance. I'm not sure a pile of written assignments to mark could ever contribute a pleasant ambiance, but I'd like to think it could be nicer than it was. Today I sat down and constructed two shallow boxes, that easily hold A4 sized paper. The left over wallpaper from the cubs bedrooms covers the outside(Designers Guild) and the wallpaper from the hallway(Liberty) above the wood paneling lines the inside. There was a lot of learning going on in making these, and the second is neater than the first, but both are 100% nicer than a photocopier paper box lid.


I have been knitting (and frogging) on the new project, a top down set in sleeve sweater for elder cub. This was the state of play last Friday and you may notice that there are no needles in this work. I removed them having realized that frogging was required. Yo-yo, currently stealth cat as she has lost both bells, waited with me as I arranged for the photo.


I had to frog as it became abundantly clear that the sleeve cap I was knitting was suitable for someone with very defined biceps, perhaps even ones enhanced with steroids. Elder cub tends towards the slighter end of the range of shoulder and upper arm development ... so this would never look like it belonged to him. Currently state is that this is back on the needles and I've worked beyond this point and am nearing division for the sleeves and body.



And yarn, finally I have blocked the Wabi Sabi River Stones fibre, Merino, alpaca, silk and angora 50g and 272m, or thereabouts. As usual no plans yet to knit this one into, but I really enjoyed spinning it and love the colour ( or lack thereoff).

So I'd better go, younger cub has plans to invite a whole host of friends around tomorrow afternoon and that can only happen if her room is tidy. Her version of tidy and mine differ, in that things under the bed, and toys on the floor and washing not out in the laundry bin, and stuff like pencils and hair ties on every surface are things I'd like tidied away. I'm nearly as unreasonable as I remember my own mother was about keeping my bedroom tidy.

Oh well best go and see what progress has been made.

cheers - stella