Yarny Stuff

When in Perth there are a certain number of very necessary visits to make. One, as I wrote about yesterday, is a visit to the hairdresser (sob again!). The other trip of upmost importance is a visit to my favourite yarn shop, Crossways Wool and Fabric, in Subiaco.

Oooh, I do love to go there and have a good sticky! Pauline and her highly skilled and experienced assistants always keep this shop well stocked with a variety of products and colour ranges, and it's always fun to check out what new and lovely yarny stuff they have in store.

 

 

 

What was particularly exciting for me this time was that I had a rather lovely voucher from Christmas to spend, and spend it I did! My first priority was to stock up on yarn for my misnamed 'Stash-busting Hexi Blanket'. You know, the one that I was working on last year? The one that was meant to help me use up all my 8ply leftovers? The one that is evidently anything but a stash buster??

 

 

 

I also picked up a couple of skeins of a rather luscious Aslan Llama and Mulberry Silk worsted in a plummy colour. Mmmmmmm!

 

Ahhh. Look at those colours! I can't wait to get them home and get cracking on some hexis again. But it shall all have to wait a little while longer for I have a Line Break shawl to finish, not to mention the two girlie dinners I have to attend in the next few evenings....

 

Yay for holidays!

 

xx

New Knitting

It's official - I do not like garter stitch!

Actually, it's my hands that don't like it. After casting on my latest knitting project, Line Break, and knitting 20 rows or more, my hands cramped up. So, frog it I did, casting on again and knitting the shawl in stocking stitch.

Ahhhh! That's better!!

This yarn is Madeline Tosh Merino Light in Luster, one of my online yarn purchase colour mishaps*, but it's perfect for this project and for its intended recipient.

I'm just about to begin the short row section for the first time - and for my first time ever doing short rows!

And I'm having fun!


Sam xx


PS The plums in the photo are one of my roadside farm stall finds - I have plummy plans in mind!

* Obviously, I did NOT learn that lesson!

My Creative Space - Hexagon WIP

When I set out to use all my 8ply wool leftovers in my 'Every Day in May'* hexagon blanket, I certainly didn't expect that I had quite so many bright colours. And bright they are! But I have to be honest - I'm not using all the leftovers; for some yarns there is just not enough for a whole hexi, while I didn't feel that some of the others suited the look I was vying for. Maybe they are just a bit too neutral and stood out too much? Too many middle tones?? Too many purple hues???

But my biggest questions is "Where did they all come from??"

Sam xx

View more Creative Spaces here.


*Every Day in May challenge instigated by Kate at Foxslane.blogspot.com.au

Buyer's remorse - online

*Reader beware: ranting ahead!”

Have you ever had buyer’s remorse when shopping online? I have.

I was searching for some beautiful yellow wool with which to knit a cardigan for Miss J. Yellow is her favourite colour, and has been for about 2 years now - a surprising consistency from a little person! And I found the perfect wool and colour online – ‘Butter’ in Tosh DK by Madelinetosh. But no one seemed to have it in stock.

My search continued for a few days, and then, one night, tired and just a little bit grumpy, I settled for another yarn and placed my order. I also added in an order for Miss E’s next cardi at the same time. May as well save on postage, right? Done! Yay!! All sorted.

Except.....

I realised, three hours later, that I had ordered yarn with the wrong ply. Argh!!

So I dutifully contacted customer service. “Sorry”, was their reply.  “I am afraid that your order has already been packed and scanned ready for sending out” - which means that I had to wait until the order arrives here and then send it back again, even if it is coming from the other side of the world....and using all those air miles....and adding to the greenhouse gases.

Wouldn’t it have been much easier and less costly to just pull the parcel before it left the warehouse? Oh, of course.  Silly me. They make their money on the handling fee, not to mention the possibility that I might just think it was all too hard and not bother to send it all back.

But I will, along with a pleasantly toned letter expressing how unimpressed I am.

And then...... the very next day after placing the doomed order, I discovered one of my favourite blogs/online shops, Purl Soho, has the Madelinetosh I wanted, both colours for both projects. Oh, hooray!!

And guess what arrived today??

Lovely, lovely! Is it as gorgeous and soft and colourful as I expected? It most certainly is! So, no prizes for guessing what I will be casting on tonight!

And the moral of this story? Don't impulse buy online, Samantha! It won't work out. It never does.

Lesson learnt - I hope!

Sam xx

Night Time Knitting

I couldn't sleep the other night. One of the twins had woken up and needed a toilet stop, so I helped out, as you do. Afterwards, whereas she fell asleep straight away, I found myself wide awake with a brain that would not stop! What to do??

Knit!

So I did. I got up and spent a quiet hour or so working on my latest project, in threes - a baby cardigan, which I am making for Miss E. I have never knitted a top down design before and I'm loving this one. I plan to make another for Miss J, and possibly Miss M as well.

The yarn is Taradale by Emotive Yarns which I purchased from my not-so-local yarn shop (a 45 minute drive from me) and it is a 70% wool/30% soybean protein mix.  I chose it because it was the only remotely interesting thing I saw in the shop that was 10ply and I was in a "I want to knit now" mood! The colour's name is 'Hibiscus'.

I love how you never know exactly how the garment will look before you use a yarn such as this. It's exciting on both pattern and colour levels to see how it all evolves into a unique piece. The company Madelinetosh also make gorgeous variegated yarns that I am currently coveting. Maybe a beautiful yellow for Miss J's cardi?? Ooooooooo. Yummy!

So, I am having some knitting fun. And not just in the middle of the night!

Do you have a favourite variegated yarn at the moment?

Sam xx

Not Enough Yarn

I have been a regular knitter since I was 18 and you'd have thought I'd have learnt by now to always, ALWAYS buy more wool than the pattern states.

But not this time. No.

I began to knit these fingerless mittens from a free pattern on www.ravelry.com. They look brilliant, stylish - the perfect test for the Biggan Design wool that I received earlier this week.

The pattern requires and lists 50g of yarn. I hesitated for less than a second - the Biggan wool is only 105m. Is that enough? Must be. Let's get going! But halfway through the first of the wristband details it became clear that there is Not Enough Yarn.

Oh. Bother.What to do?

Well. I'm not ordering more. And I refuse to unravel. These little mitts will now be a very simple design. Let the wool speak for itself, I say.

But it's still frustrating!

And to be honest I did learn something new from this pattern - how to increase without leaving a largish hole behind. Handy. Pardon the pun.

Sam xx

The girls are on the mend - Miss M returned to school today while E is no longer feverish with her cold. She is, however, still full of cold nasties so I decided to keep her home again today. J went off to her Kindy full of bounce and delight.

And this afternoon, a momentous occasion - Miss M has passed her stage one swimming certificate! Hooray! We are very proud of her as she had to overcome her fear of putting her head underwater in order to pass this time. I think she was inspired by the fact that if she didn't pass, she would be doing her swimming lessons next summer alongside her sisters in the same class. Motivation is a wonderful thing!! Also wonderful is the fact that we no longer have to hurtle down to the pool after school twice a week. The kids have had enough - and so have I!! The seasons are changing and the cooler days are zapping our motivation to swim. That's a rather chilly wind blowing over the hill there!

On the creative front, I took delivery yesterday of some beautiful wool from Biggan Design, an Australian company which I first saw mentioned on Vanessa Cabban's blog, do you mind if I knit. While the wool is comparatively expensive to some other Australian yarns ($9.95 for a 50 g ball), it is rather soft and luscious. I chose to purchase only two balls as an experiment and the colours I selected this time around are slate 040 and rose 925. The slate is a grey but a somewhat purpley one. It has a lovely warmth that I was not expecting. The rose is gorgeous - the Biggan design website colours are quite accurately represented. I am really keen to support another Australian product but I can see that these prices could be rather prohibitive for more extensive projects.

But for these two balls of woolly loveliness, I have big plans (not necessarily in the same project!) primarily involving a going away present for my niece who will soon embark upon her gap year travels in the UK. Very exciting - her trip and my new knitting, both!! But shhhhhh, it's a secret....

I'll take a photo in the daylight tomorrow so I can record the colours more accurately.

Have fun!

Sam xx