The Stripey Tiger

Another Baby, Another Hat

2008-08-29T12:00:00.001+10:00

This time it is baby Mischka. I love the name. It's so Russian princess don't you think?? Mischka is the new bub of Freya and Jelle. She's so awake and alert but calm. In the time that I was visiting her she hardly made a squeak, just looking every where. And here's her Helix Hat.

Oh and here's some swatches for another vest for John. Two winters ago I knit him a red vest from a Jo Sharp Pattern, which I am so happy to say he wears all the time. This winter I'm going to have a go at another Jo Sharp Pattern but I doubt if he'll get to wear it till next winter.

It's going to be the Cable and Rib Vest from Jo Sharp's Knit - Issue Three.
I'm using a discontinued Cleckheaton Tencel and Wool blend which knits up nicely with a bit of shine and drape. Hopefully it won't be too sloppy for JT.

But JT will be way too busy to be lying around like that all day! What kind of model pose is that any way?

First Jumper I ever knit...

2008-08-15T14:30:00.004+10:00

....or knitted....as my mum keeps insisting.

I took up this tag from Kate at Knitting and Knotting. Behold: The first jumper I ever knit. It has never been worn! It was WAAAY too big for me and the neck was funny - there was not quite enough yarn for the collar (hence the stripe) . The arms are different sizes. It weighs about two kilos. Hilarious.

The yarn however is (still) utterly divine. It's Australian wool from Willow Creek Yarns. I don't know if they're around anymore. My mum bought me the while lot one year at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. (In the good old days when it was still at Moore Park. ) I was a poor uni student then. It might have been around 1990.

Mum must have really been feeling generous (which I remember with fondness & appreciation to this day) because she even bought me lovely bamboo needles in the two sizes required and the yarn and the pattern all on the same day. Not to mention probably buying me lunch and paying for me to get into the show as well!! Aren't Mums wonderful!!

Can you see the shot on the pattern? It even looks frumpy on the model. But those were the days when I had an aversion to anything slightly fitted. I was at uni and it was Grunge all the way to the pub and back!

After I dutifully knit the thing which was a mission for the new knitter. I knew I would NEVER wear it. My mum thought she might and took it home to put on the buttons but it didn't happen, it's languished in her knitting cupboard for longer than 15 years. Until I asked for it back last week.

It looks kinda cute on Gemma tho. I'm going to frog it and make a suite of arans for the little girls I think. It's such lovely yarn.

It's funny to see how uneven my tension is and how SIMPLE the pattern is and to remember how scared I was about knitting it. I didn't knit anything seriously after that until more than five years later when I had babes to knit for. Still what doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

I love Denise!

2008-07-29T14:40:00.003+10:00

Oh I am soo naughty! I just did a very naughty thing! I should not be left home alone. I just went on-line and bought an new organiser for my Denise Needle Set. This is what it will look like except (after much agonising) mine will be red.

But? But?- I hear you ask - Why do you need an organiser when you already have the nifty Denise plastic case that the needles come in when you buy the Denise Kit? You know the answer don't you? I just wanted it!

Well.... that and ages ago I bought the companion set with extra lengths and more connectors and end stoppers etc - Well of course the existing kit can't fit all the extra bits and they are all floating around my knitting bag BUT THE ORGANISER CAN fit them all in- oh and organise them!!!

While I was there a whole new pink kit fell into my shopping cart. (I can't quite believe I did that!) It's partly because the whole breast cancer thing is particularly resonant with me at the moment AND they've slightly changed the needle sizes to be truly metric (not those wierd not quite right US sizes) !!! So My trusty much loved blue set is the 'OLD version' And I just couldn't resist the NEW VERSION!!!

Oh and then I had to buy a pink expansion set too and a new set of 4mm's (I use them the most).......Come on...the Aussie is doing so well against the USD that it's all practically FREE! But don't tell JT. I might be in a little trouble..... Well he started it really- he have me the first set for my birthday three years ago and I've hardly used another needle since!

PS - Thanks so much for all your lovely comments about my Lady E Poncho. I am enjoying it so much. I've worn it nearly every day since it came off the needles. So much for blocking!

Coincidence?

2008-07-20T19:18:00.003+10:00

OOOh! How happy am I with this??!! It began as a Lady Eleanor stole from Scarf Style. Look at this beautiful Lady E by Fig and Plum. But half way through I decided to make it into a poncho. The kind that you make by sewing together two rectangles.

My thinking was: If the aim was to keep my shoulders warm and I wanted to be able to wear it daily rather than just on kid free evenings I would need to keep it hands-free. You know - unless you can do a keyhole loop with a scarf it's long gone with kids. I figured Lady E might end up a little too fiddly with on-the-go kidlets. So here tis....

And look- Holding hands and it's not falling off. (Lovely Magnolia and totally overgrown pond in the background.)

And now: being a total dork in a photos (with brilliant chook shed in the background) and it's still not falling off - FABULOUS!!

Specs: 6 skeins of Noro Silk Garden Lite. Colourway #2023. US#8 Denise Circulars. Basic Instructions for the entrelac initiated: 7 diamonds across and 10 stitches wide each diamond =CO 70st if I remember correctly. Then I just kept knitting till I had a rectangle 7 diamonds x 10 half triangles. Then I picked up stitches along one side and knit the same. Here is a progress shot of it around this point. Then I cast off the second rectangle and mattress stitched up the two pieces, wove in the ends and put it on!

I haven't taken it off since. Not even for blocking. No crochet edging. No tassels. Nada. Perfect as it is! IMHO. Possible mods. Maybe one or two diamonds longer and I would have had a slightly bigger neck hole.

So is it coincidence that in the weeks since Knitting Camp I have been blogging more than in the last 12 months and at the same time have more FOs than usual to show?

Baby Rose

2008-07-18T17:40:00.005+10:00

We have a new bub in our midst. Our lovely Berry friends Matt and Kristy have a new baby, Rose Louise. She's a week old. Here's the hat I knit her from the Helix Hat pattern. Finished yesterday. Knit in two nights worth of TV sessions. CO 70st using 4mm addis and heirloom Cotton 8ply held double. I rave on about the pattern & etc here.

And here's Milly holding her in her hat. Look at how big my baby is compared to Rose!

And here's me holding her in her hat. She's so lovely. So tiny. So sleepy. And so not keeping me up at night!!

Here's another finished Helix Hat. For another Berry bub on the way. Hope it's a boy!!

Learning Spinning from the Guru!

2008-07-13T16:09:00.004+10:00

The week before last was filled with all things fibery chez stripey! Berry Spinners & Weavers hosted our Biennial two day Fibre Muster. It was a two day event with filled with workshops, competitions, stalls selling fibre & related equipment, yarn, fleece and even sheep!!

Over the last six months in the spare time I don't have, I joined the organizing committee and volunteered to run a kids corner for visitors and coordinate activities by the local preschool. I cursed my big mouth for weeks beforehand as I tried to squeeze in time to come up with some fibrey activities for children. Of course it all came together in the end and all the visiting kids and my own kids had a great time making pompoms and spiderwebs and collages of Alpacas and Sheep with real fleece!

Here is a gang of kids, mums and my fabulous off-sider Hennie (far left) in her own handspun alpaca poncho. See the alpaca and sheep collage in the background hanging off the stage? And see loads of spinning wheels inn the foreground and background.

I also signed up for a two day advanced spinning workshop with our headline guest, world reknown NZ weaver and spinner Anne Field. She wrote the Ashford book of Spinning and others. I was very excited to meet her I even had my copy of her book autographed!

So I'm totally converted about spinning alpaca after spinning some really really decent fleece. I spin up some totally fabulous mulberry silk (can't wait to do more of that!) and I had fun learning to woollen spin mohair! If you're a spinner and you've ever done it you'll know what I mean when I say it's like riding a bike with no hands! What fun! I'm all inspired afresh with fibery ideas as it should be when you go to an event like this!

What I knit at camp!

2008-07-01T19:26:00.005+10:00

So you might have heard all about our knitting camp, the workshops, the hijinx and meeting the real people behind the cyber alteregos from Anne, Ailsa, Bells, Donna, Donni, Jill, KMS, Mel, Rose Red, Tianne, Rae and Zena. Phew!! Have I missed any one. I hope not all that linking was such a pain!

So I'm not going to tell you about any of that stuff - go look at their blogs. Instead I'm going to show you what I was knitting.

This one is a no colour jog striped hat knit in the round. It's heirloom eight ply cotton held double and knit on 4mm addis. Fab technique! I've been trying to work out how to do it for ages and then one day I stumbled upon Helix Hat patterns on Ravelry. So I wasted no time; printed out the pattern, got started and realised after a few goes that the pattern I'd downloaded was wrong. Arghh! Thought hard, thought hard, examined the knitting, thought hard some more and worked it out! I'm sure you are all cleverer than me and wouldn't have to think quite as hard to work it out. It's quite a technique! Brilliant really but way too hard to explain how it works.

So once I got the stripes happening I got a bit carried away. As you can see - It's a little long for baby. Will have to frog back and take and inch or so out.

The second project I've got going at the moment began as a Lady Elenor from Scarf Style. I didn't have the pattern so I cruised the web and checked out everyone's pictures. Taught myself entrelac from my Vogue Knitting Stitchionary and hey presto!!

Only it's not going to be a Lady E any more. It's going to be a poncho. You know the kind where you sew two rectangles together. Not long to go now! Just check out that Noro!! It's silk garden lite. I know many people don't like it but I really a Noro Fan!!

If I had more time I'd love to spin yarn like that rather than buy it! *sigh* One day....

Knitting Retreat

2008-06-29T15:56:00.004+10:00

Just back from Knitting Camp. (See last year) Met so many fab gals whose blogs I had cruised. I love knitting on the web and LOVE LOVE Love the community that is Ravelry of course but Oh how good it is to meet up in person, have a few wines, a few Tim Tams and knit for almost 48 hours solid! I almost finished my 'Morphed Lady E'.

So I'm inspired to blog and I'm even inspired to share some pix with you. Just have to get the whole camera thing up and running again soon. But in the meantime here's a couple of shots I lifted from Donna's flickr page.

Zena and I knit knit knitting!! (Me on the left Zena on the right).

In this shot (L to R) Bells, Zena, Donni, Ailsa and Me all chasing the sun

Lace & Sewing

2008-03-02T18:36:00.003+11:00

I'm knitting a lace scarf. Just an easy one. The only lace project I've managed to actually complete has been a feather and fan scarf. I can't finish Branching Out, it just takes too much concentration and I really think the pattern is unnecessarily complicated so I thought I'd go back to something easier and work up to something more complicated.

So this easy little knit is the second project 'Scarf or Shawl with centre pattern' in the Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby. Check out some of the wonderful things people have made from this book on Ravelry.

I'm knitting it in Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud in Tidepool. Here's the details in my Ravelry Notebook. Isn't it weird how it's pooling in such an obvious zig-zag. Well it's not actually weird when you understand how yarn is space dyed- actually it' to be expected- but you know what I mean. I'm hoping the effect will be softened slightly when I add the border. I'm sure that will be weeks from now at the pace I'm going.

Here's my lovely Aunty Sue at her recent very special birthday breakfast with the cushion I made her for the occasion.

It's linen, hand and machine quilted and I've sewn on vintage buttons from my collection. It was a special 'number' birthday. I won't tell you which one but If you're keen you can count the buttons and that will tell you.

All is well here Casa Chaos I'm getting used to the swing of the year and already it's March! JT has just bought himself a massive new desktop PC so the lap top is mine all mine...insert evil cackle...now we can surf the web side by side.

First Day at School

2008-02-22T14:12:00.003+11:00

Milly Started BIG School!!

Ok - I know that it was three weeks ago now but I'm still getting used to the new routine. Here she is posing for the obligatory photos with all the family before we left on the first day.

Here she is with her bag all ready to go.

And here she is going in to the classroom for the first time. Ahhhh She's loving the whole thing!

Her teacher seems just lovely and she started catching the bus in the second week which I just love to death!! If the little girls are asleep at home time I don't have to worry. I just leave them be because the bus drops off at our front gate. No more waking sleeping babies for the preschool pick up. Woo Hoo.

I'm knitting a few small things lately photos when they look a bit better than blobs and I'm having a bit of fun playing with Ravelry and Flickr. I signed up some time in the middle of last year but it's taken me till now to get my head around all the features. HOW GOOD IS IT!! I think my blog will be even more neglected than before. It's taking me a while to load up things I've done and am doing because I've been too busy checking out all the patterns and galleries. Too much Fun!!

More Handmade Christmas

2008-02-22T12:15:00.000+11:00

This was a reading pillow I made for Cousin Zoe.

Front:

Back:

Detail of quilted hearts:

More detail of quilting. See that stippling around the appliqued heart? It was so easy with my new machine - now I just want to stipple everything! I picked up the free motion skills at a workshop at the local Berry Quilt Shop late last year this was my first real go at using them.

Zoe loved it. She's in year two and is really into the pink hearts and bobbles kind of look. I was really pleased with it how it turned out considering that I made it up as I went along. It's a shame I've got so many crafts I'm interested in - I'm destined to be jack of all trades and master of none.

Handmade Xmas

2008-01-17T18:54:00.000+11:00

Here's a few hand made chrissy pressies I made for the Cousins. Meet Cousin Arthur wearing knitted gear:

It is the three cornered hat from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac. I was a little worried about this hat thinking it might be a little off the wall for today's slick urban child. But No! Look how the mischevious gleam in his eye suits the jester-ish hat. Even if his mum never puts it on him again - I have the photo where he looks just great.

Here he is again in a head scarf knit for his sister Ineke who was unwilling to model or even try on the Pressie. I just know she would have looked darling in it but so does Athur!!

The pattern is from Interweave Knits, ages ago I think it's called Molly's Headscarf. I'll look it up when I'm offline.

NEXT POST: More Handmade Chrissy Pressies

Making Hay While the Sun Shines

2008-01-13T20:20:00.000+11:00

It happened this week in our back paddock. Literally, not metaphorically.

Blue skies - perfect for cutting and drying.
Overcast days later in the week; perfect for baling and stacking.

Milly was intrigued, as was I. I felt like we were real farmers although I didn't lift a finger. There's a deep philosophical discussion here about seizing the day & etc but after a day of 40 degree heat and an enormous and delicious wedding anniversary lunch here (Just look at that view over the vinyards!) I'm just not up to it.

NEW YEAR

2008-01-05T21:48:00.000+11:00

It's very hot and humid here today - I'm hiding inside trying to do an interesting blog post but not having much luck. Then it suddenly came to me that if I was hot and thirsty the chooks were probably parched too! They have water in their shed but they've been ranging the garden these days and dust bathing under trees and there's no cool water dotted around for them. So I just took them a special delivery two buckets of cool water to have while they fluffed about in the dust and I swear they smiled at me!!

Our first house type job of the year was to paint the chook shed. It's called 'red box' and its VERY RED. My idea is for it to look like a kind of mini American style barn. Just got to add the white beading and it will be pretty special!

I know, there's not been much knitting seen here for a while. There's been a reasonable amount of it but it's been too boring to show in progress. You know?? Who wants to see inch after inch of stocking stitch week after week? Well not me. I've had enough for a while. Time to embark on some now projects for 2008. But first: the un-aired FO pile is getting pretty big. Time to show you a few.

I made a handful of one skein wonders for little friends of the kids. I've made so many now that I couldn't even be bothered to take any photos and I'll be pretty happy if I never knit another one again. Then came the design challenge of the 'Rachel Cardy'. I was thinking of knitting a pressie for the daughter of one of my friends. I asked Rachel about the OSW and she said: "Yeah I like it but it needs to be a bit longer and it needs to do up at the front..." I thought: " Woah! Eight year old girls really know what they want!! HELP!!" But what I actually said was: "Sure I can do that no worries. How about this colour?" and pulled out some Anchor Magic-line (not the self striping kind just the kind of multi print) that I got on sale for $1 a ball - she liked the colour - we were in business.

I got started and because I've made several basic top down raglan cardigans and enough OSW's to make me puke I didn't just sound confident - I really felt confident that I could do it. I had a good idea of her size as compared to my girls and I had a couple of things already knit up in the same yarn to I knew my gauge pretty well. So it was all systems go. I had to make a decision about how to do the bask and what to use for a tie at the front.

I went with K2P2 rib around the bottom and then picked up stitches along the two fronts and neck all in one piece. I was going to do i-cord for the tie but it looked too thick and I was a little low on yarn so I did a twisted cord. That was the perfect touch and the whole thing used exactly three balls!

I was so pleased to knit something straight from my brain and have it turn out EXACTLY as I pictured it. I know it's not the most complicated pattern in the world but I thought it through, worked out where to put the increases and etc AND IT WORKED!! Really Really well!

I was even more chuffed to see Rachel's reaction. Look she's smiling!! She likes it!

I considered it such a success that I started another for Gemma right away. Smaller - so it only used 2.5 balls . $2.50!!! I call that a bargain. Here 'tis:

Next Post: Making hay while the sun shines, WIPS and those pesky resolutions of the New Year kind.

Over and Out :-)

Christmas Wishes

2007-12-22T08:45:00.001+11:00

I know it's been an age since I've posted but I've found myself with five minutes up my sleeve and some decent photos so its time to wish everyone Merry Christmas! Especially Rae who is tired of 'Meeting the Brood.' Here's our tree this year. We've go the playpen around it to keep wandering hands (Bronte) from the decorations and pressies.

Here's some lavender filled Christmas hearts for all the preschool teachers. I made these with my FAB new sewing machine. I've been having such fun with it. It's a dream to sew with. The Buttonhole applique stitch is FANTASTIC and I'm loving the free motion sewing too. I used both techniques on on these hearts.

And looky looky WE HAVE EGGS. Yesterday we went down to the chook shed and found our first two eggs.

So the chooks are finally being useful. Just in time for Christmas. The girls are fascinated by the eggs and won't put them down. One was still warm.

We are off to Wagga Wagga to have Christmas Day with the cousins for then back to Berry in the New Year. I don't know about you but my new Year's resolutions contain something about serenity, staying put and getting organised. So Merry Christmas all and to all good night!

Meet the brood

2007-11-01T14:15:00.001+11:00

Catch up post #2 - Here are the new girls.

They came on Sunday afternoon. So even though I missed SnB there was still plenty of cackling in my weekend.

Meet Jersey Caramel, Einstien, Number One, Dora and Peep Peep. They are 10 week old Isa Browns and are utterly gorgeous.

JT built the chook shed himself with a bit of help from me and the girls. We think he's an utter legend. The girls can't wait till he gets stuck into their cubby house.

We'll paint it at some stage and grow a passionfruit vine up one side. What fun! We should have eggs by Christmas.

Milly and Gemma are entranced. They love to help feed them and change their water.

SNB - Too far away.

2007-10-27T19:15:00.000+10:00

CATCH UP POST #1. - Not only have I been absent from the blog - I've also found it really hard to get to my lovely SNB. I think I've only been two or three times since January. AND I MISSED IT AGAIN TODAY!!

Since we moved house at the beginning of the year it's now an hour's drive to get there. Throw into the mix that my hubby is a doctor and is often on call on weekends. The result is that it's practically impossible to get there. It's terribly, terribly sad.

I love seeing what everyone is knitting. I love the mix of members, from young mums to grandmas and all sorts in between. I enjoy being involved in our annual exhibition that we've held each year for the past two years. I miss being able to sit and have a coffee or a cocktail and a knit or not. This month I missed seeing Ailsa's new boobs!

Lately I've been thinking that I just have to let it go - stop stressing about not being able to get there and you never know maybe it will get easier at some point.

But so it's not totally photo-less I leave you with a shot of the chook shed in progress. An update on chooks and all things garden coming soon.......

What good helpers he has... :-)

Buying not Blogging

2007-10-23T17:51:00.000+10:00

You might have noticed that there hasn't been too much action on the blogging front chez stripey. It's not that I've had nothing to blog about. Actually it's the other way around. I've got so much to blog about that I don't know where to begin. I have been knitting but it's only boring stuff so there's no photos of that for now for now. But the new garden is so demanding!

However, I seem to have put a fair bit of my blogging energy into buying stuff....Books and other stuff....Which is worse I wonder? The spending up big or the time burning blogging??

Here's a few Jo Sharp books that I've had my eye on and a Debbie Abrahams book that had to come home from a shop near me that is closing down. Donna gave me a birthday Gift Voucher at Yarns Online and I sold a few things at the Berry Spinners and Weavers exhibition so I put all those $ towards the two Barbara Walker beauties. Oh what Fun they are to look through!! The daffodils popped up in the new garden (months ago) and look - a curious child armed with scissors found a ball of yarn. There's a first time for everything....grrrr....

Then there was that small purchase from The Book Depository way back in June. Cables Untangled and Inspired Cable Knits. I absolutely LOOOVE Cables Untangled. The other one is still good but just not as great as Cables Untangled.

Then I went to a newsagent looking for Vogue Knitting - I was on the hunt for the 25th Anniversary Issue and look what I came out with......Jo Sharp's latest and Interweave Felt as well as the Vogue.

The lovely Meaghan at Yarns Online recently had a book sale and before you could say "Haven't you bought enough books lately?" These three Vogue Stitchionaries (below) were in the shopping cart and so was the Victorian Lace Today. I did plan to give it as a gift but I think it's going to have to stay with me for now!

Spin to Knit came to me via my Berry Spinners and Weaver's book enabler! And embroidery even gets a look in -in my spending spree. So many books so little time to read them!

BUT IT DOESN"T STOP THERE. Last week I bought the BEST SEWING MACHINE IN THE WORLD! It was SUCH a splurge. But you know it was a lifetime investment .....justify yada yada justify...... So can't stay typing gotta go sew!

I'm hoping I can get my blogging act together more regularly. But in the mean time we are all well and very very happy here chez stripey. Stay tuned for updates on:

Spinners and Weavers
My drop spindle mania
MY NEW SEWING MACHINE
New felting projects
new dying stuff
Noah's Ark
the vege patch
the chook shed,
the weeds!
new 'dress-up' sewing projects
my new quilting class
the BEST free motion sewing I've ever done
my struggle with getting to snb
christmas embroidery
the never ending one skein wonder train
ravelry
and much much more.......

See I told you it was too much to blog about....

:-)

Too much of a good thing....

2007-09-11T07:41:00.000+10:00

When I was a kid I poured myself an enormous bowl of corn flakes and put milk on them before mum could make me put some back. She went bezerk then said I had to eat it all. I sat there valiantly chewing for what seemed like an eternity. All the cornflakes went soggy and I was feeling very unwell. I can't remember if she made me actually eat the whole bowl or not but I do remember that it was more than 20 years before I ate another cornflake; soggy or otherwise.

It's like that with the The Dreaded Olive & Silk. I have this lovely Merino and Silk blend
(85% /15%) that came from the now defunct Margaret Peel Fibre supplies. It's undyed Mulberry silk carded through this light and airy pale olive merino tops. I think I originally had half a kilo. I spun up about half of it and I really enjoyed the way the undyed silk popped up here and there in the resulting skeins. Then I plyed it with a plain cotton thread just for an experiment. This was all nearly two years ago.

Then I knit it into about a dozen swatches trying to see how it would best look then I began a scarf (bottom left) didn't like it and began another scarf (top right), didn't like it either - so then I began a top down raglan for Bronte with a cable panel down the centre and two little cables down either side at the back. Ahh now I'm happy!

Here she is trying it on.

The length is OK but I'm going to need more for the arms. **Sigh** back to the spinning wheel to spin up another skein. Now I'm seriously over this stuff. I don't ever want to see it again. One of the ladies at my Spinners and Weavers Group wants to buy what's left. YES YES YES I say take it away!!
So the skein is spun up but I just can't face the knitting - It's been languishing for a week (or two) maybe tonight I should just bite the bullet and get it done or it will be a WIP forever!!

Longest Black Hole

2007-08-23T19:42:00.000+10:00

Wow! Almost a month since I last made a post. Just shows how many demands five acres of garden make - So many in fact that finding the time to get online is harder and harder. There's just so many things to prune in Winter!!

But there's HEAPS of things I haven't blogged about so I'll try to catch up a bit.

Excitement happened in my life (more than six weeks ago!) when I exhibited in the Berry Spinners & Weavers annual Exhibition and Sale . I was excited firstly to discover that I actually had a few things to put in it! Here they are: From bottom left the baby vest from my own hand dyed handspun, then Milly's poncho, knit from my own handspun, two open felted scarves incorporating kool-aid dyed handspun and a chunky scarf also from kool-aid hand-spun.

Then, I was excited for Milly because the ladies asked her to exhibit too. Here she is in front of her pom-pom tree. The pom-poms were made from left over handspun of mine - a great way to use it up!) She also had a few spider webs on the tree too. You know those things where you wind the yarn around two crossed paddle pop sticks. She was very proud of herself - We were all proud of her!

Then we were all excited to go and have afternoon tea. The two dollar entry to the exhibition included afternoon tea. Check it out! It was Slice Heaven!! It must be my inner CWA* lady but I just love tea from an urn and a table full of slice!

At the end of it all I was extremely excited to discover that I'd sold two things!! The blue felted scarf and the baby vest both had new homes. So now I'm a professional! Here's a shot of a tiny corner of the show. The 'Blue Wall'. Milly's poncho is right in the middle.

There are heaps of things I'm loving about living in Berry and the weekly Spinners & Weavers meetings would have to be up there on my list of faves.

* CWA - Country Women's Association. An Aussie institution - They specialise in afternoon teas, cake judging and 'good-works' throughout rural Australia. They are often made fun of by modern young things. More: see their website or what the big wiki says.

Last Move

2007-07-31T16:59:00.000+10:00

We're in the dream house and hopefully there won't be any moves for many many years! The house is fabulous we're loving it to bits!

I've got a huge furniture wish list and heaps of rooms that need a bit of decoration. Finally, I can do it instead of dreaming about it. There are plants to plant, plants to dig up, a kitchen to renovate, a laundry to put cupboards in, lighting to update, towel rails to put in, hall runner to find, a letter box to build, a chook shed to build, chooks to buy, a cubby to build and on and on and on..........

The best thing about it all is there's no rush, we aren't going anywhere. Why would we? Just look at the view!

Then there's the great ride-on lawn mower entertainment.

And the gorgeous places in the sun to sit and knit! This is my own hand spun that is becoming a top down raglan jumper with a few cable details front.....

.....and back for Bronte or maybe for the spinners and weavers show next year.

So hopefully that will be the end of the blah blah about the house and I can get back to the backlog of FOs to blog about.

Moving house has taken over my life!

2007-07-19T17:44:00.000+10:00

Well it's to be expected really isn't it?

Here's some shots of the house early one morning when we went out there to check out what was happening. The gals were in their PJs still.

We were excited with the sun shining through the windows - so nice on a winters morning!

The truck's coming tomorrow. Who knows what's going to happen to our web access when we go tomorrow?? You might not hear from me for a while. Happy Knitting!!

FINISHED!!

2007-07-14T16:20:00.000+10:00

Finished the bubby socks that I was knitting for the TDFKAL. They're more or less the same size too. I knew I could do it I just needed a kick in the pants to start. So that's the dream run finished. Sorry about the crap pic! And now fabulouso readers - which pattern should I use for my first ever pair of grown up socks?? Maybe I can get a pair done for the KAL too??

After all that fun the nightmare begins: Packing to move house ughh!

Boxes! Crap every where you look! It's just AWFUL!!! At least we know the end is in sight. My Mum and Dad are coming to help pack and kid wrangle on Monday. The painters at the new house will be finished on Wednesday, the cleaners come Thursday morning, the carpets get done Thursday too and late Thursday the pest people will go through. Then the moving van comes on Friday and again on Monday to finish it off. I can't wait!

Sock Knitter! - Yep that's me

2007-07-11T09:33:00.001+10:00

Thanks for the tips on the Blogger title field - Yes I used the preview mode and got my title in there. Thanks Teabird! And my next blog thing to do is change to Haloscan comments so I can actually reply. I just hate how you can't reply to comments in Blogger. It's infuriating - either that or change to Wordpress or something but you know I just can't face learning a new system......

ANYWAY.... Here is MY FIRST SOCK for the Tour de France KAL!!!!! Two nights knitting in front of old episodes of Law and Order (you know the ones with Chris Noth still in them) on pay TV and it's done. I'm using Elann's Sock it to Me, a swap giftee from Taryn. It's an elasticised cotton, kinda boucle. I'm hoping the elastic will help them stick on little kidlets' feet.

I think it turned out really well. I cheated though. I didn't kitchener stitch, I turned it inside out and did a three needle bind off. I guess I 'll tackle kitchener with each sock and one day it will suddenly click - Oh but how much does it suck! And I thought knitting a baby sock would be easier for my first sock but actually I'm thinking that they're just the same skills required and more fiddly so I'll try grown up socks next.

Here's another FO. It's embroidery this time. A Mini Dutch Sampler in cross stitch on linen. I did it for my Mother in Law's Birthday in May. (She's originally from the Netherlands) I actually finished the embroidery for her birthday and gave it to her but took it back to stretch over acid free mat and take it to the framers.

It's taken me two months to get around to stretching it and taking a photo tsk tsk. I love it. It only measures about 12cm x 16cm but there was lots of scope for adding cute little flowers and things as I went. I really enjoyed doing it - It evolved under my needle daily.

I made another like it but less involved for JT's Dutch Aunt last year and finally managed to make another for JT's Mum. The patterns came from a book of Antique Dutch sampler patterns I found at the local library. All the patterns were grids in black and white and all falling to bits but some how it spoke to me.

Like this filet crochet pattern that Sue (a new snb-er) was working on at Stitch n Bitch last month. Whilst I've definitely admired filet crochet, I never had the desire to rush out and start it until now. This is another vintage pattern that Sue picked up in the Netherlands when she was visiting. This pic shows one side of the pattern leaflet.

And this shot shows the other side of the pattern crocheted up. Isn't it fantastic!. Thanks Sue for letting me take the photos and rave on.

Next Post - More FO's and the second sock!! (Fingers crossed)

2007-07-09T13:43:00.000+10:00

Many Buttons to Upload.
Why won't blogger let me type in the Title field all of a sudden??

I joined Meg and Debby's Tour de France knit along. Head on over to the blog and have a look at all the tres amusante french puns. I decided on the big king of the mountain challenge. I'm going to knit my first pair of socks! Oh dear now I have to work out which pattern....I'm sure I can do it I just have to get started.

Then I was admiring the very clever buttons they've designed for the KAL . I've been meaning to make a few to use as awards for ISE4. So I opened up Illustrator and finally managed to get it together. Here is what I came up with:

This one is a special award for the few pals in the scarf exchange who have gone above and beyond and really spoiled their pal. It will be awarded to the lucky few net week.

This one is for every one who successfully played by the rules. Made their blog posts on time, communicated well with their pals and sent their scarf off on time. Again it will be awarded next week.

And look at this pretty one. This is for those wonderful gals who have helped out by being an Angel for left out pals. I was pretty happy with that evening's effort. Even though I didn't get any knitting done. *sigh*

Not 'working' but so much to do!

2007-07-07T07:17:00.000+10:00

Oh it's a funny life aint it! I'm a stay at home mum. You know, Domestic Manager, Home Economist, Housewife. I don't have a 'paid' job but like everyone, I've got plenty of unpaid work to do.

As if moving house twice in one year, getting to know the new area, getting used to the new routines, and making sure every one is bathed, clothed and fed in a house that is kinda clean some of the time isn't enough? I've had to stack in a few other things to fill in my day.

This year it's been co-hostessing ISE3 and running ISE4, the scarf exchanges. Each time they've had around 200 people and scarves to shepherd through the course of the exchange. ISE4 is all most over and ISE5 is going to have to begin RIGHT away so it doesn't interfere with Christmas.

There's been exhibitions to make for. Wollongong SNB had an exhibition in April so there was plenty of knitting to do for that and we're beginning to plan for next year's show already. The Berry Spinners & Weavers had a show recently too - I managed to get a few things done for that as well. I help out the Preschool fund raising committee when I can and I try to find time to to get to the annual knitting retreat and SNB each month and Spinner's & Weavers once a week.

I'm sure there's other things but if JT is reading this those are the reasons why our life is so rich and fun and well......it's also why I don't iron your shirts for work or fold the laundry and put it away the same day it comes off the line. lol!

Oh and blogging takes up a little (just a tiny bit) time too. Here's some photos to add some colour. I've got lots of FO's to show I've been on a bit of a creative spurt I just have to find the time to blog about them.....

I finished this felted scarf a couple of weeks ago but haven't managed to post a shot of it yet.

Here's the pink one that was my first attempt at this technique. Have a look here for how I did it. The blue one was the second one, I made it a bit longer.

I put both of these scarves up for sale in the Berry Spinners & Weavers Show last weekend and the Blue one sold.
I was so thrilled!

NEW HOUSE

2007-07-02T19:33:00.000+10:00

After months of crossing off - The day has finally arrived!
(The top of the orange paper says - "DAYS TILL WE GET OUR NEW HOUSE")

The $ have been paid and we have the keys. The new house is finally ours!!!
When the painters have been through we'll move in!
Wooo Hoooo!

Berry Spinners

2007-06-25T09:36:00.001+10:00

I'm loving Berry Spinners and Weavers! I'm getting more spinning done, I'm meeting loads of inspiring ladies and I'm having a lovely morning with my biggest girl. Milly has or very own pink name badge which she loves.

They're so generous! One of the ladies Bev, has set Milly up with a table loom to weave a simple scarf and showed us how to do it. Nolene gave me a drop spindle and a lesson after I mentioned that I'd never used one. It's another technique to master I'm afraid - I spun the worst yarn I've ever spun but it was heaps of fun and I can see many applications - spinning on holiday - spinning in the car, spinning by the creek, spinning on a picnic!

Remember this? It recently became this:

I love the way the colours have all schmooshed together when they were spun and plied. Then it became this:

Shown here unblocked, it's a 3-6month old baby vest. I didn't have a pattern for this I just kinda muddled along and it came out just as I planned (What a surprise!!) I imagine it on a boy with a navy skivvy underneath. It's one of my bits and pieces for the exhibition that Berry Spinners and Weavers are having next weekend.

The Important Details: Sat 30th June and Sunday 1st July, 10am - 4pm at the Berry Courthouse, Victoria Street Berry. All welcome!!

$2 entry includes a cuppa and a slice!! What country hospitality! The slices will probably be heavenly! I'll be making a couple. There will be spinning and weaving demonstrations and they'll even let you have a go if you're interested!! I'll be there in the morning on Saturday then off to Wollongong SNB in the afternoon.

Poncho Loco

2007-06-20T20:53:00.000+10:00

I went through a phase of hating ponchos. My clever Mum always says "Never say never..." and she's right because look: now I've got two on the go. Milly looks a darling in hers and see, I'm almost done.

It's a little chunky and kinda rustic because I spun the yarn a while ago (when I wasn't as brilliant at spinning as I am now -lol!!!) The kiddo likes it though so I'm happy if she's happy. I think I may have been faster getting this done if I wasn't inventing the pattern as I went. I've also come a little unstuck because I ran out of yarn but that's the beauty of hand spun - you can just whip up some more.

Bronte's poncho is progressing but oh so slow - much thinner yarn, much smaller needles, many, many more stitches but that one's almost done too. Woo Hoo.

Perhaps I should have crocheted it like my Nana did for me when I was small. Here's Gemma modeling a true 1970s vintage poncho. This one was made for me by my Nana (my dad's mum) when I was as small as Gem. A little bit of knitting nostalgia right there. Look how well it's worn - It's wool, I wonder what kind she would have used circa1973?

For Charmaine

2007-06-12T12:23:00.001+10:00

Here's a handful of pix especially for Charmaine. Charmaine (sadly blogless) is a far flung snb-er. She's recently moved to the United Arab Emirates for work and we all miss her at SNB!! When Bronte was born she knitted her this beautiful Zoe Mellor cat jumper.

Look Charmaine isn't it cute!! Bronte's been getting lots of wear out of it this winter. Last May she did wear it but it was so big on her it was funny. Now it's just right. You're a clever girl!!

And here she is again showing off the poncho progress. It's getting there and colours make her eyes look really green. Hopefully I'll finish it before winter ends. lol

Since it's been all Bronte Bronte Bronte lately here's a photo of the the big girls. They're all ready for their sleep over at Oma and Opas. What Fun!!

AND today it's only 13 days till we get the keys to our new house!! Woo Hoo!! Can't Wait!!

Can'tberra

2007-06-12T12:17:00.000+10:00

Much derided is our nations capital, Canberra. It's strange place really, lots of monumental buildings and contrived layout but I always enjoy it when I go there.

Which is good really because I'm about to leave with the kids in tow to go there for a week!! I've packed the knitting and a ridiculous amount of clothes because it may be very cold!!!

I'll see you all when I get back next week. perhaps I'll even see a couple of the Canberra snb-ites we'll see if it works out. Fingers Crossed.

Disaster

2007-06-10T10:30:00.001+10:00

I went for a KIP with the kids and JT at a local cafe. When I got home I couldn't find my knitting - DISASTER!! The weather was closing it was pouring and getting dark - but JT still went and drove the streets to see if I'd left it on the roof of the car. But no luck. The cafe had closed so we couldn't see if I'd left it there. Lost! Deserted! Poor knitting - poor Denise circulars. I was very sad.

This morning I got up, prepared to go to the cafe to see if the knitting was there. And of course there was teh knitting in the back of the car - where no one had looked.

Here it is rescued! Safe!

This blob is a poncho for Milly from some lovely handspun that Donni gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago - It's knitting up fast. I love it! Phew!

Drowning

2007-06-08T19:33:00.000+10:00

I'm not drowning really - but waving frantically! The metaphoric sea of WIPs that has swamped my lounge threatens to drag me under... I have way too much stuff underway.

It's pouring rain here. Just terrible weather. There has been a ship washed ashore in Newcastle and cars washed off roads in flood waters on the Central Coast and in the Hunter Valley - People have lost their lives. Mother Nature is not smiling benevolently on us all today.

In a small ray of sunshine after the thunderclouds (literally and metaphorically) I found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Thunderclouds:
I had to wait a whole hour for a post pneumonia chest X-ray with a grumpy Bronte in a cramped waiting room in the dodgy-est medical imaging practice IVE EVER BEEN TO! Utterly hopeless.
Sunshine:
So I walked across the road to Spotlight and scored some great stuff, a cotton/microfibre mix in turquoise- 20 balls to be precise for $1 each!!

WIP clean up day for me tomorrow and perhaps I'll have a solo WWKIP day in Berry somewhere.

Felting

2007-06-05T18:41:00.000+10:00

Since the Knitting Retreat I've been overcome with the desire to felt. I've had this desire for a while but turning it into action has been the hard bit. Inspired by the deadline for the Berry Spinners and Weavers annual show I've managed to whip myself into action. Here are two experiments from yesterday:

And below is a more substantial piece from today. Here it is getting laid out on the kitchen bench. (See my knitting nook and mess in the lounge room in the top left background).

And here it is after felting: See how much smaller it gets. I think I worked out that it is two thirds of its original size.

I was very pleased with the effect of the sliver laid over my kool-aid dyed hand spun. Now I have at least one thing for the Spinners and Weavers show, assuming they approve of course....

Sunshine, lolly pops & rainbows everything....

2007-06-03T17:33:00.000+10:00

General Blah Blah...
Well we didn't have any lolly pops but the kids did have ice cream cones. Rainbows? Well it was sunny and clear enough that we didn't mind the absence of rainbows. I love Autumn. (JT advises me that it is now officially winter.) Well - I love Winter too.

What a glorious weekend!! It was a weekend of markets. Shoalhaven Heads Hotel has an early morning produce market on Saturdays. Its a lovely spot there's a glorious view across the still blue river to sand dunes and then further out to sea, all bathed in morning sunshine. One of the local preschool mums who I've got to know has a cupcake stall there. (Ohhh a cupcake stall is torture for someone on weight watchers.....) The kids had a cup cake (They are spoiled aren't they??!) I had a bite.

Today, the first Sunday of the month it was Berry Country Fair, a huge and excellent market filled with heaps of local crafts bric a bric, plants, produce and food. I couldn't resist a vintage ironing board - perhaps it will be a nice ironing surface in my future sewing room. We ate saltbush lamb burgers under shady trees and watched the crowds stroll by. Mmmm everyone & tired happy.

Craft News:
I did some felting this afternoon with mixed success. The kids LOVED it!! I've knit up some quick scarves from some handspun that I've had hanging around for a while. It's great to see the handspun knit up at last. I'm trying to gather together a few things for the Berry Spinners and Weavers exhibition and sale in a month - just what I need another deadline. lol!

I've been writing up and test knitting the pattern for the scarf I knit for ISE4 - so I'll post that when I get a chance so hang on a day or two you guys who were interested.

House:
ONLY 29 days till we settle on our new house - It's getting closer and closer...... and we are just going to explode with impatience soon!!!! We will paint it through and clean it before we move but we should be moving in by mid July. I just cant wait to be able to go there and dream and plan and work out where every thing is going to fit. And because I can't resist: Here's a shot of the day we took our parents along to check it out. This is the top driveway.

And here's a shot of the neighbour's goats in our bottom paddock. I'd like to get some goats too - I'm thinking a backyard goats cheese operation..... But maybe that might eat too much into the knitting time.....The small tree to the right of the powerline is about where the back boundary is. FUN FUN FUN.....

It's Official

2007-05-31T16:36:00.000+10:00

I'm a member - HOORAY!!

I lived in Wollongong and was on the Wollongong Spinners and Weavers' waiting list for probably two years - I'm still on it!! I don't think I'll ever get in - although Donni just did and I'm two behind her on the list! You have to wait for someone to leave or pop their clogs - so to speak.

There's no waiting list at Berry. We meet on a Thursday. I'm loving it. Kids are very welcome, dogs are welcome. People bring their farm produce and leave it at the door for anyone who's interested. Today there was parsley, limes & passionfruit. It's so country - next week I'm going to take some oranges, ours are pretty good.

Milly comes with me. (she's a kid not a dog -lol) She's making pom poms from my old handspun. They've invited her to exhibit at the annual exhibition and sale. She's excited - she wants a name badge too.

This year it will be at the Berry Courthouse, Victoria Street Berry on Saturday 30th June & Sunday 1st July. If I knit fast enough I may even have something in the show too. Although it does clash with the next Stitch 'n Bitch. What to do?????

First Birthday Baking Week

2007-05-28T16:31:00.000+10:00

I was busy all week baking to make up for being away on Knitting Camp on Bronte's birthday. Do you think she knows I didn't feel guilty at all?? Here are the results....

Here we are blowing out the candles...Ahhh!

Truly Madly Deeply

2007-05-28T15:32:00.000+10:00

As soon as I finished my 'deadline knit' for ISE4 I began immediately on a number of things. One of which was a poncho for Bronte from the yarn I dyed at the retreat. I swatched, I calculated, I knit away. It looked good! I was pleased with how the dye job knit up. See!

Then I tried it on the girl and realised that something had gone terribly wrong with the calculations it was at least four inches too big so off to the frogpond!! She seemed to like it though.

Then I picked up some hand spun of my own (lovely merino and silk blend) that I'd been swatching for a while to find the right combo of stitches. Here's the swatch.

Then I settled on a pattern and began.....

Now, it's about three times this length and I think I've changed my mind.......

And to all of you who very kindly said that you'd like the pattern for my ISE4 scarf. I've also been working on that. I think I 'll call it the Cables and Ladders Scarf. Pattern Coming soon.. Sorry I haven't been able to email you back individually - it's these darn Blogger comments - no return email addresses....

ISE4 Scarf Done and Sent!!

2007-05-25T13:29:00.000+10:00

I should have been a better example to all my lovely scarf exchangers. I should have had my scarf mailed off weeks ago - But the truth be told I've only just finished. Ta Daaaa!

I've had a few other deadlines and I've been spending quite a bit of time on the computer organizing the ISE4 lot - so I hope I can be forgiven. Here it is in the backyard. The cows loved it! I had to whip it off the post quick fast after that photo because I thought CC (the cow) was going to eat it. lol!

I mailed it off today Woo Hoo!!

Specs:
Yarn: 2 and a quarter balls of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino
Length: 166 cm Width: 15cm
Pattern: made up- a cable and lace combo
I might post the pattern one day if I get keen. If you're interested email me.

Workshop Results

2007-05-23T16:39:00.000+10:00

I've done felting once before at the first knitting weekend I ever went on but I only spent about half an hour doing it. This time we had all morning. These examples were done using carded wool sliver - not knitted pieces. It was very quick and fun - I'm sure my arm muscles would build up heaps if I was to make much more. Of course I've got heaps of ideas to do with felting now - just not enough time to do them!!

The morning was felting and the afternoon was dying. Here's my spring Daffodil coloured skein.

The yarn I dyed was a hank of Knitpicks Colour Your Own which Cece generously gave me ages ago. Of course while I was dying I wished I had about ten skeins to dye it was such fun!! Here is is wound into a ball.

Since I've finally finished my ISE4 scarf - I've begun knitting a little poncho for Bronte - I'm making up the pattern as I go so we'll see if it works. Finger Crossed......

The Retreat

2007-05-21T10:21:00.000+10:00

The Girls (Kerry, Rae and Christine from our LYS C, R&K Daisy Designs) did a FANTASTIC job!! The retreat was brilliant!! It was so relaxing to be able to just sit and knit all day!! I didn't need to worry about the washing up, the messy playroom and all the demands of the kidlets. I just got to sit and knit in the wonderful rainforest surrounds of Mt Keira Scout Camp With Donni, Ailsa, Tianne, Annie, many members of our Wollongong SnB and a handful of other dedicated knitters that we met for the first time.
The above shot shows the views, the surrounds and the inside and outside of the lodge where we all sat and knit most of the day. Have a look at Annie and Tianne's Blogs for more info and pics. I did a felting and dying work shop which I loved AND FINISHED MY ISE4 SCARF !!! Here is our dyed yarn drying by the open fire. Mine is the yellow, green and blue in the very far left of the photo.

More shots later of the felting, the ISE4 scarf and the dyed skein close up. What fun!!!

AND IN OTHER NEWS: Baby Bronte turned one on Saturday while I was off happily knitting. What a mischief maker! Here she is now.....

And here she is a year ago.....

Ahhhh...... Happy Birthday Bronte xxxx

I'm knitting as fast as I can

2007-05-16T07:56:00.000+10:00

I've finished the cross stitch for my mother in law PHEW!!! Now it's off to the framers and I can get back to my knitting. Here's a detail: It's Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in a cable and column pattern that I composed on the fly using my big book of knitting stitch patterns.

I'm off to my LYS' knitting retreat this weekend and there should be lots of knitting hours so I'm feeling confident about my ISE4 scarf. I'm half way into the second ball of three and I'm pretty sure that I'll have it all but done by the time I get home. Fingers crossed!!!

Brain Space

2007-05-14T07:43:00.000+10:00

I can't believe that a fortnight has passed since I posted. I just haven't had the brain space. JT and I have been filled to bursting about the prospect of moving to our new place but July seems so far away!!! Thanks so much for all your comments - Yes we hope to make room for a knitting camp Chez Stripey!

My Wollongong LYS has organised a knitting retreat this weekend which I'm excited about I CANT WAIT to relax and spend some time with my Wollongong buddies and friends from SnB. I'm missing them soo much down here!!! The In-laws are organised to come and help JT with the kids and baby Bronte is being weaned this week in preparation for my first nights away from her since she was born a year ago. WOOO HOOO!

Look! I received my ISE4 scarf from Jenna. Thankyou Jenna I love it all!! She put together a wonderful parcel of goodies for me which I just loved!! Some dishcloth cotton, some Koigu (love it!!) some candy for the kids, piccies from Winnepeg where she lives and some very cute ladybird fabric and other bits and pieces. I've been very lucky with my pal.

The beautiful scarf is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino - So lush!! In a beautiful Fibre Trends pattern called Oak leaf and Acorn Scarf. I love it! I'm using baby Cashmerino too for my ISE scarf I wish I'd chanced upon the Oak Leaf and Acorn Pattern before I began. I'd love to knit it.
I'm battling two competing deadlines a cross stitch that I am doing for other In Law's birthday next week and my ISE4 scarf due to be mailed in a week and a bit EEEKKK!! I waffle on about deciding about a scarf pattern here at the ISE4 blog.

I need to get the cross stitch to the framers TODAY! SO that I can give it to her on the weekend and whlle I've been loving stitching with needle and thread I've been very aware of my scarf exchange gals getting their scarves and mine is only half way done. eeeek!!!

Photos of the scarf and cross stitch sooon........better get stitching better get stitching better get stitching better get stitching..........

2nd Blogiversary

2007-05-01T17:52:00.000+10:00

I was so distressed about my lack of progress on my ISE4 scarf that I forgot my 2nd Blogiversary which was on April 17. I began this tale of many knits two years ago and my early posts tell the story of how The Stripey Tiger came to be. Since then I've had over 23 000 visitors!!!

AND THE MOST EXCITING NEWS IN MY LIFE SINCE
THE BIRTH OF THE FEW KIDLETS IS .....................................DRUMROLL.................................................

WE BOUGHT A NEW HOUSE!!

We've been dreaming about this for many years and we'll be moving in July. 5 Acres of our very own paradise. Check it out. Can't wait to move but I'll have to be patient till July.

My Free Cupcake Pattern

2007-04-25T14:26:00.000+10:00

These are the cookies and cup cakes I knit up for our SnB exhibition knitted afternoon tea.

OREOS:
The Oreo or (in Australia) Delta cream pattern was loosley based on a free pattern by Eva that I found on craftbits.com . I did knit two biscuit sections but for the filling I just used a crochet or fingerknit chain sandwiched around the edge between the two pieces of cookie. I did this because I thought a third knitted section would make the cookies too bulky.

CUPCAKES:
After I made the Oreos, I decided that I wanted to make some cakes too and realised that the gathered, squashed cylinder in different sizes had heaps of potential. I played around a bit and this is what I came up with:

Colour A: Brown: Cast On 15 stitches, knit 50 rows (25 ridges garter st) cast off leaving longish tail. *Using longish tail and a running stitch, gather one long side of the rectangle, pull tight and fasten. Join and seam the two short sides creating an open ended cylinder. Turn seams to centre. Gather remaining long side closing the cylinder completely. Squash gathered sections together making a kind of low cup shape.*

Colour B Cream:(Or what ever colour you'd like your icing to be) Cast On 13 stitches, knit 50 rows (25 ridges garter st) cast off leaving longish tail. Repeat *to *.

Colour C Cherry Red: Cast on 6 stitches, knit 8 rows cast off leaving longish tail. Using longish tail make running stitches around the whole rectangle and pull tight making a small ball.

See the photo below showing the sections in various stages or readiness before assembly.

To Assemble. Place small cream cup shape inverted inside larger brown cup shape and sew together as invisibly as you can. Sew cherry red ball on top of cream cup shape. Weave in and trim ends.

Mystery Solved

2007-04-25T14:05:00.000+10:00

Belinda, Tianne, Roo Knits and Sue H, You're right of course the pattern from the previous post would become a cupcake or a cream tart. Perhaps I was misleading you a bit by saying cream yarn for the second colour because, of course, if it was a cupcake you could use any colour you wanted your icing to be. Mine are cream cakes with flake sprinkles and a cherry on top. (I used a Jo Sharp DK yarn that was brown & cream plied together for the cream part.)

Kate & Marti, I think a knitted ice cream is a really funny idea - You know something cold made from a warm material - wool! I'll have to have a go at it - A bowl of ice cream scoops with sprinkles - maybe for next SnB exhibition!

So Belinda with the first correct entry gets the prize! I think I have your email addy some where Belinda so I'll get in touch off-blog re your mystery prize.

If you would like to knit either the cookies or the tarts, the pattern and piccies are in the next post.

No Photos but Two Mysteries

2007-04-22T17:17:00.000+10:00

Mystery One:
It's a mystery to me how I managed to get pneumonia but it's fairly common it seems, amongst the imuno-compromised. I'm feeling a lot better now but still totally exhausted when I least expect it!

Mystery Two:
What would you get if you knitted the following in DK weight wool and about 4.5/5mm needles?

Colour A: Brown: Cast On 15 stitches, knit 50 rows (25 ridges garter st) cast off leaving longish tail. *Using longish tail and a running stitch, gather one long side of the rectangle, pull tight and fasten. Join and seam the two short sides creating an open ended cylinder. Turn seams to centre. Gather remaining long side closing the cylinder completely. Squash gathered sections together making a kind of low cup shape.*

Colour B Cream: Cast On 13 stitches, knit 50 rows (25 ridges garter st) cast off leaving longish tail. Repeat *to *.

Colour C Cherry Red: Cast on 6 stitches, knit 8 rows cast off leaving longish tail. Using longish tail make running stitches around the whole rectangle and pull tight making a small ball.

To Assemble. Place small cream cup shape inverted inside larger brown cup shape and sew together as invisibly as you can. Sew cherry red ball on top of cream cup shape. Weave in and trim ends.

If anyone can get it I'll send out a prize - not sure what the prize will be (another mystery!) but I know I'll have something fun somewhere!

So much for the Party

2007-04-16T19:43:00.000+10:00

Went out on Saturday night to farewell our lovely (sadly blogless) Charmaine who is off to the United Arab Emirates for three years (!!) for work. I had the kidwranglers all lined up it was the night in the middle of our FAB exhibition so I should have been having a great time with the gals BUT.....

.....I was feeling very, very cold at the restaurant, you know - fluey, bone aching cold. So I left early and by the time I got home, I was full on shaking and teeth chattering and couldn't get warm. By Sunday morning I was incoherent with pain behind my ribs and still (I think) slightly delirious with fever. Today I was at the doctors and to cut a long story short after blood tests and a chest xray it looks like I have pneumonia. (!!) Who wouldda thunk it?? I'm feeling much much better now but pneumonia? It seems so kinda 20th century- or something.

About to embark on lotsa new knitting since the exhibition is OVER!!!! Woo Hoo!!!

The Exhibition is Open!!

2007-04-14T16:44:00.000+10:00

At last our SnB exhibition is open! The opening last night was good fun and we've had a great day today. A huge article in the local paper helped attendance numbers. Everyone loves the knitted afternoon tea. Here are a couple of shots and there are more at the SnB blog, here.

Here are my little girls in all their glory along with Zena's chrissy decorations. It's not a great shot but I'm sure you get the idea.

This is the dolly and teddy afternoon tea. The teddy cardy and jumper are mine and the Knitted Babes are by Zena and Charmaine (sadly blogless) aren't they clever!!

The best thing about the weekend is that it isn't over yet! The gals and I are going out for dinner tonight and my mum and JT are on hand to kid wrangle so I am free to PARTY!!

Making Things

2007-04-09T18:47:00.000+10:00

We have had heaps of fun chez Stripey this Easter. JT was on call so we couldn't go anywhere. We had five days off at home - all five of us. It was cold and wet for most of it so I got lots of lovely homey things done. Here's shots of a few of them:

I baked hot crossed buns! I've been making these every year for about the last five years and I have to say - This year I HAVE NAILED IT!! They were the best yet; light, yet moist, fruity and spicy. Everyone approved. Check out how good they looked.

We had JT's sister and her hubby staying on Saturday night. I cooked a huge FAB Lamb roast. There was too much beer, champagne, red wine and 18 yo Caol Ila consumed so we all had sore heads when the little bunnies woke up to see what the Big Bunny had left them. Ahh so cute!

Then after about a week of painting I finally finished the easter egg decorations that I was painting for the easter tree. Only one day after the Easter Bunny came but better late than never! They're real blown eggs painted with acrylics and varnished with decoupage varnish.

I was aiming for this kinda look - Just like Martha. But with exposed brick rather than painted white timber interiors I was pushing it up hill. JT says "Yours is better" Isn't he a sweetie - you can see why I married him. Shots of the easter tree when it's a little brighter inside.

Knitting: Yes I had a lovely time knitting chocolate cream tarts for our up and coming SnB exhibition. Soon, I'll even share the pattern that I made up myself!! Hope you all had a lovely Easter WE did!

Good Friday

2007-04-07T12:21:00.000+10:00

Yep it was good a good Friday- Cold and wet. We rugged up and went to the beach for some fresh air.

I know: JT needs a hat and scarf. I have the yarn - just need to find the pattern (and the time - lol) . Bronte and Gemma are wearing little Umbilical Hats that I made last year from yarn I spun myself. It makes me all warm n fuzzy inside to see them worn and looking sooo cute.

In the afternoon when the kids were sleeping I read an Agatha Christie, knit and watched River Cottage on pay TV, cooked home made fish n chips (heaven) and painted some eggs that I blew last week. What a great day! The easter tree is looking pretty special. Happy Easter everyone.

SnB Exhibition

2007-04-05T14:39:00.000+10:00

I am quite sick of knitting silly things for our SnB exhibition. (Just one week away) It's a case of the grass is always greener. Because I have a deadline and because it is looming all I can think about is how I would like to be knitting other things. I'll do some photos of said silly stuff when it's sunny.

I'd dearly love to be beginning my Scarf Exchange Scarf. Since this is a photo-less post Have a look at what all the FAB scarf exchangers are doing. It's truly a wonderful thing to be shepherding this group thru the exchange. They are all knitting GREAT STUFF!!!

Surfing

2007-04-02T16:40:00.000+10:00

Today I took a few moments off from hosting the scarf exchange (sorry guys) and did some blog surfing for the first time in ages - actually I think - the first time all year!! While I was happily checking out what was going on in blogland Bronte was busily playing in the recycling basket. (bad mother!)
The other two were happily playing cooking. What Angels!!

Then we all had lunch I put them down for a sleep and I worked on my cookies for our SnB exhibition knitted afternoon tea. I've made four now - Two Oreos and two Coffee Creams. Fancy one?

Little Gals

2007-03-31T07:31:00.000+10:00

I'm knitting some little dolly dresses for the SnB exhibition. They've been keeping me busy. They're all made from little leftovers of Donna's sock knitting. (Some Fleece Artist, some Sock-It-To-Me some hand dyed Patonyle - it's fun to use them all and see how they knit up.) The little mannequin's are cute aren't they? Our new town Berry is full of gifty type shops, there can be some good finds.

I thought I'd just 'whip these up' -as you do- but of course I'm just casting on with DPNs and winging it so they're kind of just turning into whatever they turn into as I knit - It's kinda fun but if I'd used DK weight they would have been finished AGES ago!!! It's SnB today so I might get the second one finished.

Here I am last weekend with the family showing how multiskilled I can be; knitting whilst cooking damper on a stick by the fire at Kangaroo Valley . (What!?! Is that Gemma picking her nose??) The little dress now smells like a campfire.

And here's Kate. For some reason I didn't post this lovely pic of her with Bronte when we met up in Wagga Wagga the week before last. Isn't she looking radiant? That's what pregnancy does for you!

So it's all about the SnB exhibition here normal knitting (cece) and the international scarf exchange has been thrown over to get some exhibition stuff done. Two weeks and I'm onto my scarf - Really!! I promise!!

Have you seen this??

2007-03-23T09:01:00.000+11:00

Strathhaven Nursing home have a whole room where everthing is knitted. Too much fun!! It featured in local Tasmanian Local ABC Radio recently: here and here and on the ABC TV show Collectors. It even featured in a local Arts festival in Tasmania- Ten Days on the Island.

Everything is knitted - I mean EVERY THING!! If you follow the links check out the tricycle, the phone..amazing!! For our SnB exhibition we are going to have a knitted tea party but nothing as ambitious as this!

Oh my poor blog...so neglected!!

2007-03-22T16:24:00.000+11:00

Recently I went on a trip to Wagga Wagga. A four and a half hour drive inland from here. John had to go there for work and me and the kids tagged along to see the cousins who live there and to see the new house they'd built.

I thought it would be a yarn desert out there. But NO - the power of the internet prevails. I had arranged to meet Kate who organises the Wagga Wagga SnB we met up twice which was just great and she showed me.......drum rolll....This!

Faye's yarn cave!!! Wasn't I lucky! Faye has a yarn store in her back yard!! Good stuff too.

It was so great I had to make a few purchases: I couldn't resist a great book on felting and some lovely Zara in two marled colours. One a grey and one a georgeous blue grey. These are for a hat for JT. I'm sure I'll loove knitting it it's totally droolworthy.

And here's some progress on my knitting of late (it's just a sugar n cream dishcloth). Me and the gals are knitting a few up for a wall of them to show at our SnB Exhibition which is rapidly approaching. We had an exhibition last year which was just fab fun. For photos of that have a look in May 2006.

So now we are back in Berry, still looking for houses and the reason my blog is so neglected....I am FLAT CHAT hostessing the International Scarf Exchange. SUCH FUN!!!!

Even better BRONTE SLEPT THROUGHT THE NIGHT LAST NIGHT. I feel FANTASTIC!!!

Saturday

2007-03-10T18:52:00.000+11:00

Today was such a wonderful day!!

It began with a small sleep in. The girls weren't wanting to get up till about 7am. Then we all quickly got dressed and went for a walk up the road to see the new calves that our neighbour has in his front paddock. So wobbly and tiny - Ahhh!

Then we had BBQ bacon and mushrooms for brekky. JT made a coffee and I headed out to do some lawn mowing before it got too hot. (It's a ride-on so not very strenuous - just time consuming) More weeding and pruning and then it was lunch time. Just look at the beautiful weather!!

The girls behaved themselves so well and all of them had a sleep together for about two hours and I got a chance to do some ISE4 stuff and take this shot of my finished dishcloth amongst the roses.
After they all had their sleeps, the girls did painting (I knit!!) , we wandered around the garden, fed the cows, swept the kitchen, made pesto from home grown basil and a had a swim. I feel relaxed and virtuous at the same time.

This is a shot of Arthur the cow and our house from taken from the cow paddock.

And the best thing about today is that it's not over yet!! We have cold beers in the fridge, pesto pasta for dinner and a there's a double episode of The West Wing on TV tonight!! Heaven!

ISE4 + SnB exhibition

2007-03-09T14:58:00.000+11:00

Ooh things are hotting up in my knitting life! So sorry it's a boring post with no photos today.

I'm mega busy with the ISE4 that I'm hostessing. Got to get match ups done by March15th. Eeek!!

Our Wollongong SnB has an exhibition coming up like we did last year and I'm madly trying to knit a few little things for it as well as coming up with display ideas to help out Ailsa who has taken up the organising mantle this year.

Last year I was supposed to set the exhibition up with helpers but I ended up being in hospital in labour with Bronte. It was kinda funny but I left them all in the lurch. So I'm hoping to make up for it this year.

So back to the ISE data entry - and get ready for the preschool BBQ disco tonight - should be light relief ! lol

HOT & HUMID

2007-03-03T17:07:00.000+11:00

Mnn it is so hot here today!!!! 30 degress c. plus!!! AND humid as all get out I'm melting!! THere's been so much rail lately and now so much sun that it's like swimming in the air urgh!! I'm inside with a fan now. Having a break from the pool - life's tough lol..

Here's the obligatory cute baby photo. This is Bronte at SnB last Saturday. She's 'helping' me with the red sugar n cream dishcloth you saw in the last post. That one's finished now no thanks to her.

This shot is the latest progress on Cece. Have a look at my increasing skill level. See at the bottom of the stocking stitch section my first set of increases. I did these by picking up the bar in between the stitches and yep see it leaves a hole. Oh well I thought... and continued. The next set I made using kfb: knit in front and back of the stitch and yep it leaves a little purl bump at each increase. Oh well I thought...and kept going....

THEN I showed my knitting buddies Kerry and Donni while they were here for spinning one night and Kerry said "I always pick up the stitch from the row before and it doesn't leave a hole." So third time lucky I thought and gave it a go. Et voila - no hole and a smooth almost invisible increase!!! Woo hoo. You learn something new every day!!

In fact, in this shot there are two sets of bad and two sets of good - Can you see them?? Well I know you can if you look closely but the good ones are infinitely superior in real life. Mucho Mucho gracias Kerry!

The International Scarf Exchange is taking up a fair whack of time - as I knew it would. Sign ups are almost complete. only a day or two to go - sign up now if you wanna play....

Domestic Bliss?

2007-02-28T11:27:00.000+11:00

Ok so here we both are working on our 'laptops' while Bronte sleeps, Milly and me. The poor darling couldn't go to preschool today due to a slight temp and a cough. She HATES to have to stay stay home it's distressing for all because she's not 'stay in bed sick' she is just sick enough to be clingy and demanding (exactly when you want them to be at preschool- non?)

So she has been working on her ABC on her 'laptop' and I've been trying to fix up all my ring code that I lost when I switched to the new blogger. I don't mind their new template editing system but lets face it: if you want to do any thing slightly different you still need muck around with some HTML.

Here's a dishcloth i'm almost finished in Sugar'n Cream for our second SnB exhibition that's coming up in April. My dance card is pretty full at the moment with running ISE4 , helping with our SnB exhibition, knitting for the SnB exhibition and trying to find a new house.

BUT IT"S ALL FUN FUN FUN and I AM LOVING LIVING IN BERRY!! It just soothes the soul to be in amongst the cows and horses and to see nothing but nature from your windows.

Changes

2007-02-25T18:58:00.000+11:00

Uh Oh! I upgraded my template to the new blogger and random stuff was lost - all my ring code etc so I'll have to fiddle with it and put it all back - bear with me. I did keep a copy. On the upside it seems to have fixed up my archive problem.

ISE4, Snb + Bithdays

2007-02-25T18:33:00.000+11:00

The international scarf exchange that I'm hostessing has 100 takers after two days of signups!! Amazing!!
It's all fun. It's so exciting seeing so many knitters in so many countries being united by the web!

I went to stitch n bitch yesterday after a two months where Christmas and moving house got in the way and It was excellent fun! We have our annual exhibition coming up in April and boy do I have some knitting to do!

We had a 4th birthday pool party for Milly today and it all went out the window when we woke up and it was raining!!! Typical! the cake was a pool cake -you know the kind with jelly. I love making silly birthday cakes. - It was fun but exhausting - looking forward to sitting down and knitting on the couch tonight.

Milly (4) is third from the left, I'm above her, my Aunt Sue is next to me, Gemma (2 and a half) is being held by Aunty Sue and someone in the wings is holding Bronte (9months) in the photo.

International Scarf Exchange 4

2007-02-23T08:47:00.001+11:00

Phew! I've been busy setting up things for the International Scarf Exchange. I helped hostess the last one and this time, since Celia and Cyn Cyn have other life stuff in the way, i'm it. There's a few helpers in the wings but all that is yet to be firmed up.

It's amazing, yesterday at 2pm I announced sign ups were open and by this morning there were over 40 sign ups. If you're interested you'll need to be quick, participation is capped at 200 for this round.

eeek - off to deal with the gmail.......

International Scarf Exchange 4

2007-02-23T08:47:00.000+11:00

Cece

2007-02-19T15:27:00.000+11:00

I'm going great guns on my Cece by Chic Knits. Here's the swatch on the left.

At around this time I was thinking that I'd never be able to knit a whole garment in this pattern because I kept making mistakes.

Then I just started and decided to take it one stitch at a time and see how I got on. The shot on the right was about a week and a half ago.

Now I'm racing away and am into the second ball of Cascade Sierra. Have a look how much I've done!! And no mistakes - touch wood!!

Here's a detail of the lace pattern its is actually not too difficult I'm very happy to say. But look - what a hopeless case. I have a marker in at each lace repeat - just so I can check as I'm going - I'm sure the 'pros' don't do this. lol!!

I haven't put in any life lines but I think it's about time I did. I've gone too far to go back. Don't tell me if you spot a massive mistake cause I just don't wanna know!! Know what I mean??!! lol!

Coronet Finished

2007-02-08T18:21:00.000+11:00

Here at last are shots of the Coronet hat from Knitty. I finished it about a fortnight ago but hadn't managed to take the shots. It's knitted in malabrigio which is lovely and soft but I suspect that it will pill a lot.

The colours are great too - in real life this colourway has a little bit more of a richer greeny aqua type mix as well as the blues. I love it. It's going to be my winter hat for living in Berry.

It was an easy knit and I loved the process of knitting the cable band first then joining it by grafting (I did a threeneedle bind off tho - it looked better) then picking up the stitches and knitting upwards for the rest of the hat. I'm sure I'll knit it again for pressies.

My Archives - HELP NEEDED!

2007-02-08T18:10:00.000+11:00

I need help !!

Does anyone know how to fix my archives?? For some time now my archive links in the side bar have not been added to. Have a look. They suddenly stop about halfway through last year so its a little hard fro me to browse back and see what I knitted when etc. I must have done something to the template but I'm not sure what or how to fix it.

Can you help?? I'd love to get it back to normal.

Ornamental Two

2007-02-05T13:52:00.000+11:00

Looky Looky my Ornamental (A christmas handmade ornament swap) parcel from Nicole just arrived. I know it's a little late for the festive season but it's still a lovely parcel full of fun. unfortunately, even though she sent it in eth middle of December from the US it took until now Feb 5th to get here. I was held up in Aus. Quarantine for a while but they didn't take anything and then it was redirected from our old house. I'm so glad it made it.

Nicole knitted me a dear little mitten decoration which is very clever (what yarn did you use for that Nicole it's so colourful!) She also filled a clear glass ball ornament with snippets of yarn- it's so effective. And than there were lots of other goodies. Some coal candy which looks like fun, a snowman soap bar all transparent and cool looking a beaded snowflake decoration, some vanilla bath sprinkles in a christmas ball decoration and some Sugar 'n Cream in a great bright red. Thanks so much Nicole its a wonderfully generous parcel.

That recent epic event

2007-01-28T16:16:00.000+11:00

I tried to post the following photos but I forgot that we are temporarily on dial up and it is totally impossible to load photos so you will have to imagine for now!! Normal posting will resume next week.

Edited to add:
OK so now we have action!! FASTER Than ever before ADSLII - So now there are actually photos in this post.

Leaving:

Arriving:

The view from the kitchen window:

The view from the back fence:

Verdict: Well worth it!

Here

2007-01-26T08:35:00.000+11:00

We are here and we are happy! It's amazing how much you can accumulate in three years! Two moving vans and two days to move 45 minutes away!

Now we are here and we are all set to enjoy Australia Day with some friends from Sydney who will be our first overnight guests. It's fine today so it will be beers by the pool until we are sick of it! Woo Hoo!!

One big bummer is that I have heaps of photos to share but we are on dial up so I'll wait for a week until our broadband is sorted before I try to up load them AND our server settings are all wrong at the mo so I can receive emails but I can't make any emails send so Wollongong snb girls I'm sorry I cant email you to say that I won't be there on Saturday for knitting but I will be there for sure for next month!!

Happy Days!!!

One more sleep

2007-01-22T07:30:00.000+11:00

One day is all we have now to finish the packing- the trucks come tomorrow morning. It's a little scary cause the house looks like a total bomb site!! It's all worth it though because the house and town we are moving to are just fantastic.

It was 42 degrees (celcius) yesterday when we took down a trailer-load of plants and a car load of artworks. Inside the house was cool and we all stripped off and went for a swim in the pool. It was delicious - I've always wanted a pool!!

The trucks will load up tomorrow and unload on Wednesday. It's a bit of and epic move and when we get there we will only have dial up for a while so I'm not sure about whether I'll be able to share pics of the whole new thing for a while but stay tuned there will be some soon.

In knitting news I have finished the Coronet hat - I'll add pics of it on the other side of the move.

Better go - JT is giving me looks like (WHAT ARE YOU DOING BLOGGING WHEN WE HAVE SO MUCH TO DO??? GET OFF THAT COMPUTER NOW BEFORE I BRAIN YOU!)

To Be Read

2007-01-20T14:08:00.000+11:00

After reading my oldest buddy Ange's blog, I have joined the To Be Read Challenge.

I like to list what I read but I haven't actually written a list to get through before, just piled them up beside the bed. But this time I have a list for 2007. The idea is to get through the first 12 then the others are just extras if I read fast enough.

I've already read two from my list this year and for the first time ever I have read my Christmas book first!! Thanks JT I really enjoyed Underground.

1 - Andrew McGahan - Underground - DONE!!
2 - Kate Grenville - Secret River - DONE!!

3 - Monica Ali - Brick Lane

4 - Kiren Desai - The Inheritance of Loss

5 - Shirley Hazzard - The Great Fire

6 - Michel Faber - The Crimson Petal and the White

7 - John Irving - Untill I Find You

8 - David Lodge - Author, Author
9 - Vikram Seth - An Equal Music

10 - Audrey Niffenegger - The Time Traveller's Wife

11 - Nancy Mitford - Love in a Cold Climate

12 - Alexander McCall Smith - The Right attitude to Rain

Extra Credit

Michel Faber - The hundred and ninety nine Steps

Kate Grenville - The Idea of Perfection

Alain de Botton - Status Anxiety & Consolations of Philosophy

Richard Dawkins - The God Delusion

Peter Carey - My Life as a Fake

D.B.C. Pierre - Vernon God Little

Richard Flanagan - The Unkown Terrorist

Peter Goldsworthy - Three Dog Night

Moving

2007-01-18T21:52:00.000+11:00

In about 5 sleeps we will be moving house. Moving is so awful! Especially when you have been living in the house for three years. When we moved in we had one bub and now we have three! So the amount of stuff in the house has increased fivefold! It's scary!!

More Yarn Purchases

2007-01-15T14:05:00.000+11:00

Here is another one of those naughty recent yarn purchases:

Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in Lakeview.

mmm soo soft!

Thanks Purl Yarns!

New Yarn

2007-01-10T18:43:00.000+11:00

I got one small yarny gift for Christmas. You know what they say: "good things come in small packages" . This package was a package of restrained beauty from my wonderful cousin Janey who is in New York. She went on a pilgrimage to Habu Textiles and bought me these lovely things

So because I only got one yarny gift I thought well I could go stash enhancing online (Don't tell JT!)- I did three purchases at three different stores in under 30mins before I decided to stop. Oh what fun!!! The first to arrive was four skeins of Cascade Sierra in Denim from Yarns Online to make a short sleeve Cece by Bonnie Marie Burns at Chicknits. Cece is next on my list after the Coronet hat I am knitting at the moment.

2007 FOs

2007-01-08T09:25:00.000+11:00

All thank yous and farewells to 2007 are behind us and now normal knitting content resumes at last. Here's my first Finished Object for 2007. Actually all the knitting was done in 2006 but it finally had it's ends woven in and was blocked in 2007.

It's a headscarf from Handknit Holidays and I knit it in the cotton du jour chez stripey: Anchor Magic Line. It's cheap and cheerful, self striping, it knits up quickly and the colour combinations are pretty. This watermelon colourway will suit my youngest niece, Ineke, she's almost two. It's a gift for her brithday in March - how organised am I???

The second FO for 2007 is yet another One Skein Wonder by Glampyre. I think I've knitted five of these now. They're so quick and mindless, I can knit them without the pattern now and little girls love them. Again it was Anchor Magic Line cotton in a fab bright orange and pink.

This OSW was a Christmas pressie for my eldest niece Zoe, she's seven and going into second class. See her below showing it off. Doesn't she look beautiful!

And here are my two, Milly and Gemma in their OSW's as well on either side of Zoe. All being happy cousins together at Christmas time.

Ahh to have such thin arms again. ;-) Stripey

Christmas Cheer

2006-12-31T22:13:00.000+11:00

Before I sign off completely for 2006 there are a few more lovely Christmas parcels that have winged their way to my door. They deserve a special post of their own! I think that in the craziness of the season and between our travels away to my folks house for Christmas I overlooked emailing out thanks to each of you for these lovely thoughtful seasons greetings.

I'm very sorry that I didn't send you a big thanks at the time - It was unforgivably rude of me!! But please know that your goodies added many smiles to my festive season and added bling for to chrissy tree! I know the excuse "life gets in the way some times" is being used extensively here at Casa Stripey so hang in there and I'm sure I will be MUCH MORE ORGANISED in the New Year. (Doesn't everyone say that??)

Thankyou Rox for the very clever Christmas fridge magnet (below). What a simple effective idea! You are a clever chick!!

Thank you Donna for the Polar bear Chrissy card - yep even tho it was so tiny (and cute!!) it did make it through the post.

Thank you Adele aka Piglottie for your MOST STUNNING hand made Christmas Card. I do believe you make the most stunning cards I've ever seen!! Displaying it with the pile of chrissy cards was a treat! You can't tell in the photo below but it's huge - about twice the size of a normal card and it's such lovely paper. I was really touched when I opened the envelope Adele - you went to so much trouble and it's just lovely.

Thank you Jae for the card and great needle holder case (below). I've already got it filled!!

Thank you Cindy for the hand made tree ornament (below). I love Christmas trees!! I love ornaments and I just adore hand made ornaments even more!!

Thank you Jade for the wonderful felt ornament (below). The mittens on the heart were so cute! As you can see it went straight on the tree. I don't know how you find the time to be so organised Jade!!
Thank you Tianne for your excellent crochet stocking (below)- what a perfect little Christmas decoration! Just the right size for a packet of lifesavers. I think you need a new nickname Tianne - how about 'flying fingers'?? You get so much done!!

You are all total legends! (As we say here in 'the gong')
THANK YOU!!
Have a great New Year's Eve See you in 2007!!
xxxx Stripey

Bye Bye 2006

2006-12-30T20:15:00.000+11:00

It's the end of the year and I'm glad!! 2006 was a long and busy one for me as I keep saying but soon it will be THE NEW YEAR!!!! Before I turn over my blogging new leaf in 2007 I need to clear up a whole pile of thank yous that are long overdue.

Over the last 18 months I was part of a fabulous gift ring called The Tribe. This group was organised by the illustrious Donni and had around 14 members here in Australia and in the states. During the time we were matched with others in the group and sent off a parcel of yarny spoiling goodies. As well as the match pressies there was a person of the month (POM) each month. The POM gift was to be a tiny gift like a card just to say Happy Birthday but over the 18 months the POM pressie grew out of all proportions!

In August 2006 I was POM and I have not managed to post adequate thanks to all my lovely tribeys who showered me with gifts so here goes. Here is a shot of some of the pile of fun stuff. Some things didn't make it into the shot because they have been eaten, used or pressed into service in another part of the house.

So in no particular order:

Thank you Donna for the glorious Dusk candle and the wonderful green handmade and hand beaded knitting bag look closely you'll see these in the shot.
Thank you Cece for the sugar 'n cream. I've already crocheted up these into washcloths so they're not in the shot. We cant get such thick 'n thirsty cotton over here- Thankyou.
Thank you Donni for the wonderful manicure set and udder hand cream. It is in our glove box for use on long car journeys so not in shot.
Thank you Rachael for the subscription to Yarn Magazine. The gift that keeps on giving!!
Thank you Rox for the huge pile of goodies, the handpainted sheep tin with the turquoise stitch markers, the fimo beads, the sugar 'n cream, the pop rocks, kool-aid and other treats and the Morehouse Merino Yarn. I love the colours!
Thank you Annie for the purple bag of goodies. The choccy, the cute shoe note pad, the uddercream - all such useful stuff for the knitting bag
Thank you Jade for the fabric, the miniature dragonfly candleholder the wonderful monogrammed note cards. Your generosity and thoughtfulness knows no bounds it seems!
Thank you Tianne for the embroidered washer, monogrammed handkerchief and lindt chocolate. It was too yummy and didn't last long.
Thank you Cindy for your brilliant hand made 'get your hands off my stash bag and Tiger print fabric and Cindy your personalized poetry always makes me giggle.
Thank you Jae for the GGH safari which I've been itching to use and the wonderful wall plaque about drinking with friends it is such a giggle.
Thank you Ailsa for the apron, teacloth and matching napkins. You know they'll be handy for afternoon teas!
Thank you Amy Sue for your autumn letter, the ribbon and cute little 'S' charm. Believe it or not I'm using it as a stitch marker. I love tiny tiny ones.

And a final HUGE thanks to Jussi for my final match pressie. A skein of hand dyed baby alpaca in her very own Bronte colourway! (see above) I love it. A fantastic book about sewing aprons - she is a clairvoyant! I was thinking that it is high time I sewed Milly, Gemma and I matching aprons for baking days. Some gorgeous endangered species fair trade chocolate - again it didn't last long! And there was also a hand painted beaker that Already the girls are using for their ribbons and things. Thanks Jussi it was fab being your final match!

And so with a final huge thank you to Donni for being the Tribe organizer extrordinaire I'm signing off for 2006. See you in 2007!!

My 275th post

2006-12-19T13:08:00.000+11:00

I've been a totally useless blogger over the last seven or so months. I know its because I had my third bub then and boy I'm amazed at how unprepared I was for how much time having three chews through. We also renovated and sold a house and we are moving in a few weeks and had to find a new place to live and those Christmas cards!! Hoo Boy are they a time sucking little task!!

I have this theory about time. I'll tell it to any one who listens (or reads).

I goes like this: When you are one, a year is your whole life.... When you are two it is half your life, three a third and so on and so on....

At the moment I am 36. So one year is a mere thirty sixth of my life. I'm wondering if this is why the years seem to go by faster and faster as you get older???

If I don't manage to get to it before Christmas I hope you all have a wonderful day! See you and talk to you in the new year. :-) Stripey

Holiday

2006-12-09T18:38:00.000+11:00

We've just been on a holiday for a fortnight. We did do a million and one things but it was still relaxing. So I'll tell you all about my knitting in the next day or two.

There's not much knitting going on though because I've been busy making Christmas decorations and writing my Christmas cards - that reminds me, I should get out the tree and put it up........I'll be back when it's done.

Frequency

2006-11-28T09:41:00.000+11:00

Yes ...I know.... the frequency of my blogposts has dropped off rapidly!! Partly because I am in one of those spots in your life when there are big plans and action afoot and not much time for blogging.

We are about to move towns. In January JT will start a new job as a country GP (General Practitioner / Doctor) in Berry a small town about 45mins further south from where we live now. It's a lovely place full of rolling green hills, dairy cows and stunning escarpment vistas. It's been a dream of ours for years to have a small acreage there. Now we are heading that way!! The dream is getting closer and closer. So it's been fun spending time down there looking for a house and organising pre schools etc etc - fun but time consuming!!

So I'm afraid the blog is suffering. I noticed that I have only posted about three times in November and I have a few dud link issues AND somehow my archives have stopped automatically archiving!! If you know how to fix this I'd love to know.

So I'll leave you with a shot of a little Christmas crafting to I've managed to do. More detailed shots when it's a little closer to completion. Knitting...blech....nada....nada .....nada....

JT is on two weeks holidays and so I think we will all put up the Christmas tree this afternoon. Having an extra pair of hands will make it a bit easier. What Joy - I looooove the Christmas Tree!

Slow News Week

2006-11-19T18:17:00.000+11:00

OMG! It's been over a week since I made a blog post. It's partly because I've been paralysed by the imminence of Christmas. I can't believe that its only a month away!!!

Tonight I shall get my act together and start planning pressies etc. This week I might even put up the tree!

This lovely little headscarf is a quick project that I seem to be making into a very slow project. It's just called Kerchief and I think it's from Holiday Knits. It's for my niece. In Anchor Magic-line cotton, love the soft watermelon-y colours. Anchor Magicline is very smooth and easy to knit with. Should be finished this knit some time this century!!!

We return to knitting content...

2006-11-10T14:29:00.000+11:00

Post house sale I am returning to my knitting and normal ish blogging- woo hoo!!! Thanks for all eth good wishes and congrats - you guys are too kind!

BUT NOW....Here is me looking super glam. lol in Molly's Headband from Interweave Knits' Internet Projects Sweet Somethings from Summer 2006. It was finished about six weeks ago and worn a few times since. I really liked this cute headband and I'm going to whip up a few in plain colours.

Below: another scarf finished a few weeks ago now. A very simple garter stitch scarf with a crochet loopy edging. I used Karabella Gossamer it's got a kind of evening twinkle in it. I made it for an old friend who recently lost her father.

Gratuitous baby shot. Bronte is nearly six months old - OMG time flies!!!

2006-11-06T12:57:00.000+11:00

A picture is worth a thousand words....

Thank goodness it's all over. Life can get back to normal!

International Scarf Exchange

2006-11-02T21:29:00.000+11:00

Phew!! Just spent a while doing admin for ISE 3. I'm helping Celia and Cyn Cyn hostess and I've got about 56 participants to look after. It's pretty time consuming but I'm enjoying it so much. There's so many fabulous scarves and lovely generous, friendly people in my group.

My poor old blog has suffered though between the scarf exchange and traveling to Sydney every week to clean and replace flowers at our house for home opens (the auction is this Saturday - fingers crossed!!!) I have got soooo behind with my bloglines. Surfing?? It's a thing of the past.

Knitting?? Yep still managing to do a bit. Pix soon. The tribe??? Sorry guys, I've dropped my bundle I'll be back on deck soon. :-)

**Edited to add: Earlier I accidentally wrote ISE 4 - Of course it's ISE 3 !!- I was getting a little ahead of my self!! lol

Dye Spin Knit

2006-10-26T18:49:00.000+10:00

Here 'tis - Go to Woah!
Thanks so much for all your very kind comments on my spinning.

I'm a Twisted Knitter too now! (Thanks Margene and Karen!)
I've got big plans... big... big spinning plans....stay tuned!

Spun Out

2006-10-24T13:54:00.000+10:00

This is the little teddy jumper I'm making from the roving I rainbow dyed (see two posts ago) and spun navajo (see one post ago) that I'm nearly done with.

I'm so pleased with how it's knitting up. Here look closer...

Here's a shot of the 'two ply' non navajo skein that I was talking about in the last post!

You know, I loved these singles navajo plied but I think I like this even more!! Look at all the unusual colour juxtapositions. Now I just have to see what it is like knitted up. Another teddy jumper?

I'm so excited I immediately joined the Twisted Knitters of Dye Spin Knit. I feel a new direction coming on....

Spun

2006-10-24T13:12:00.000+10:00

I've navajo plied the singles you saw in the last shots. I tend to overspin just a tad so ignore that and look at those colours! Isn't it amazing how those small dots of primary colour on the white roving have become such a georgeous palette once drafted out spun and piled. I love it!!

What a cute ball!!! I've never been so proud of my spinning as I am with this!!

Tonight is Every Second Tuesday spinning. I'm going to be so happy to show off what I've done to the gals. I'm really glad to return to spinning. I just hadn't had the brain space for it since I was about 8months preggers with Bronte but now she's 5months old and I'm back into it. I'm spinning much more evenly and thinner too - It's all good!!!

There's more too but I don't have shots yet. A tiny teddy top down raglan jumper knitted with this navajo plied yarn OMG its sooo CUTE!! And a skein of ordinary plied yarn which is pretty special too. Hope to take some shots soon. Happy Knitting/Spinning all!!

I've been dyeing too!!

2006-10-20T11:18:00.000+10:00

Check it out:

Four stages of total fibre addiction!!

Now I just have to ply it, wash it and knit it - too much fun!!!

I'm Spinning Again!!!

2006-10-16T10:05:00.000+10:00

It's been a while!! Just an hour was all it took to be totally bitten by the bug again. I stopped when I was too preggers with Bronte to spin comefortably and now I'm wondering why it took so long to get back in to it. Here's what I managed yesterday.

We've done it!!

2006-10-12T09:02:00.000+10:00

After all our hard work our little old house is now officially FOR SALE!!!!Lets hope someone has deep pockets!!

First Home Open TODAY!!

You can see it here:

mcgrath.com.au

domain.com.au

realestate.com.au

Phew!! Now I can knit away my anxiety while we wait for nibbles...

2006-10-09T21:23:00.000+10:00

I have finished my scarf exchange scarf. Woo Hoo!! I had such fun crocheting it! It's so colourful that it's like an artwork! Tomorrow I'll wash and block it maybe there'll be some pix then.

Then back to my wip basket - perhaps I'll tackle Branching Out again.

I am going to begin to knit this next: Yep it's going to be a mission.... but it's so lovely!

It's from the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK pattern book. No, I haven't won the lottery - I won't be knitting it from Cashmerino. I have some Jo Sharp DK wool that I've been looking for the right pattern for and I loooove the look of this one. Just waiting for the pattern book to arrive.

Sometimes it's hard...

2006-10-04T13:05:00.000+10:00

When your four month old wants to wake up every two hours at night! Recently I have thought that was a very bad idea to have three children - and then there are days when this kinda thing happens:

They're so cute! If I do say so myself!

Dishcloths + crochet. Yep Piglottie, I am dabbbling with the dark arts (crochet!) I've made one knitted and three crocheted dishcloths. I'm using and loving Lion Brand Cotton in the bathroom. I still can't bring myself to use them in the kitchen! My crochet has improved my first crochet attempt (top left) was very wonky and not a square at all it kept getting bigger and smaller with each row, then I tried spiral (top left) - Yep liked that! then I tried backwards and forwards again (bottom right) Much better!! I prefer the crochet texture to the knitted one (bottom left)

Kim - Your package is on its way as of yesterday morning - a couple of days late I know but better late than never!! I wonder which of these is for you??!! lol

International Scarf Exchange

2006-10-02T09:18:00.000+10:00

A DAY OF DOING NOTHING!!! A PUBLIC HOLIDAY!! JT IS OFF WORK!! WHAT BLISS - I can surf, blog, knit and even palm off the odd nappy change. I'm happy happy happy!!

Alright - This is where I admit that I forgot to post to the ISE blog last month to let them all know that I'm on my way!! In Aussie speak this would be known as 'dragging the chain' - You know like slowed down by your convict ball and chain. It's worse because as a hostess I'm supposed to be setting an example (Sorry Iris you can cross me off your list of slowcoaches now!)

I guess having a three month old baby, two toddlers, a house to renovate and sell and a tribe of fifty odd scarf exchangers to check up on has got in the way. But enough excuses here's a shot of the progress:

It's Noro Silk Garden and at the moment I'm trying out my new found crochet skills. I'm not sure if that is what I'll go with but I'm underway. Also crochet takes more yarn and I may not have enough but never fear I'll get there.

AND A BELATED MESSAGE TO THE SECRET SCARF PAL KNITTING FOR ME: It's great to know you are lurking on my blog occasionally, It's a shame I can't return you anonymous comments but I'm glad you seem to be having fun knitting and reading. Cheers Sharon aka Stripey

SnB

2006-10-01T10:21:00.000+10:00

So Sad!! I missed SnB yesterday. Just too much work to do on our house. I spent the d ay doing more painting and cleaning and three hours in the car! But it's nearly done and it will be worth it in the end! The agent's photographer was there last week so soon I'll be able to link to our listing so you can all see waht has been taking up sooooooo much of my time!!!

Cruel world! We have a long weekend here in NSW this weekend. Poor JT has to work a 15hr shift at the hospital today + tonight, but at last he can have a day off tomorrow! Yay!! No plans. I love days like that. We all need a bit of a rest at home. So I should have knitting to show next week!

The Mail

2006-10-01T08:52:00.000+10:00

Look what the mail man brought!! It's my Dishcloth Shuffle parcel. Karyn you are a legend!! I love the colours! They're just right for our kitchen. I think it's too pretty to use though! I just can't imagine wiping up spills and things with such a lovely cloth! In this shot it's folded in four so imagine how big it is! There were all kinds of goodies in here for the girls too. They've had great fun with them.

Next came this HUGE box from the states. Look at how big it is! I've included the baby for scale. (She wasn't happy about that.)

This enormous box was from my One Skein Secret Pal Pam, (no links - she is sans blog) I sent my one skein gifties to Pam and as a thanks she sent this great box of goodies. There was Milky Ways and Hersheys neither of which made it into the shot sadly. But we did not eat the knitting. Pam has been really busy knitting afghans! There was a yellow one with a reversable stitch pattern in diamonds. It will be a wonderful throw in the girls room - So nice and bright! There is also a wonderfully soft and cuddly baby afhgan for Bronte. I cant quite work out the stitch but it's really effective and last but not least a seed stitch scarf for JT. Check it out!!

Pam thanks so much! It was so generous and thoughtful of you!

Knitting Pix + More

2006-09-25T15:21:00.000+10:00

The finished Irish Hiking Scarf made from Heirloom Cashmino - YUM! Finished a fortnight ago - too hopeless to take a photo till now!! It's a gift. Just gotta get organised and send it now.

The Karabella Gossamer wrap in progress. See the WONDERFUL beautifully toning handmade needles that my fabulous friend Ange gave me the other day. They are perfect for the job!! This is a gift too - when it's done!!

See the fruits of our labour!! The front of the house after I planted the garden. Wanna buy it??? Auction November 4th..... eeek!!!! Walk to beach and shops!

The week that was...

2006-09-24T20:59:00.000+10:00

OMG I am so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open! Its only 9pm!

This week JT had holidays and we spent the whole week in Sydney working on our house (With the kids grizzling around our ankles the whole time-lol) . We are finally putting it on the market. It's going to auction in a month and after a week of gardening, cleaning , painting etc etc - there are still more things to do!! I just can't wait till it's sold!!

So not much knitting to report but time flies! I'll be back in the groove soon...

Busy Old Time!

2006-09-15T20:39:00.000+10:00

It's been a busy time chez stripey so there's not been much blog posting. I have been doing a little knitting and a little crochet. Here's my second crochet dishcloth. I'm really starting to feel like I'm getting the hang of crochet. This is just trebles going round and round but it's a great texture for a dishcloth. This is made from some Sugar and Cream that the lovely Rox sent me. It was just the right amount Rox!

And look at my girl! Hasn't she grown! She's in real grown up clothes. Jussi, do you recognise your lovely outfit? It's perfect for this warmer weather.

Have a good weekend everyone! Happy Knitting!

Dishcloth Fever + High Tea

2006-09-10T18:48:00.000+10:00

Check it out!! It's Crochet!!

Kim you can look all you like cause this one is definately not coming your way! It's my first ever crochet thing - aside from edgings that is. I'm so proud!! It's all kinda wonky at the edges but it works, it's actually lovely to wash my face with! It's Lion Cotton ( thanks Rox) made all of trebles with a 4mm hook. God knows if that's English or US trebles!! How much does that do your head in!! There should be an International Knitting and Crochet Standardisation Bureau (lol) or something. Here 'tis in situ. Yep its' actually wet. BTW I used your soap Piglottie - It was Heaven!!!

Oh and just back from the big smoke! I met Donni, Ailsa, Donna, Meg and Taryn (links later) at High Tea at the Victoria Room in Darlinghurst, Sydney. It was tres chic!! Except WAY TOO DARK FOR MUCH KNITTING. Loved the cakes, sandwiches, tea, scones + etc. soo yum. Here's Donna, Taryn and Donni with baby Bronte, she only got boob juice- no tea for her for a couple of years.... It was great meeting you Taryn and Meg.

happy knitting all - must go feed baby - after being an angel all day she's finally lost it!