Knitting time

One positive aspect of the cold wet weather we have been having this winter is it is perfect for sitting inside and knitting in the evenings. I've been watching Masterchef on tv and Game of Thrones on dvd after dinner and been getting a fair bit of knitting done which is great :-)

 

  Last weekend I finished off another pair of baby booties for an overseas friend who has just had his 3rd baby born. I Used my trusty go-to pattern and some soft merino wool (the colour is called Banana cream) that my friend Hannah gave me. I find that a pair of booties takes about 3/4 of a typical 50g ball of wool using 4 or 5mm needles. 

Once I finished the booties, I spent a little while on Ravelry looking for ideas of things to knit with 1 skein of 12 ply mohair. I have some beautiful hand-dyed mohair that my brother gave me for my birthday one year...he bought it from the Salamanca markets in Hobart, and it is gorgeous. It is made by "the Spindle Tree" and is a lovely mix of blues and greys called 'Tasman'. I really want to make something nice with it that I will actually wear, but it's hard to find something suitable for this type of yarn and only 1 75g skein. In the end I chose to try to make a neck-warmer/cowl using a fairly easy-sounding free lacy pattern. So far I'm about 14 rows into it and think it looks really good, but I'm concerned how much yarn it has used just to knit 14 rows, so I'm considering undoing it and starting again with a reduced number of stitches...maybe 24 instead of 34...but I'm not sure if that will affect the lacy pattern...or maybe it will be possible for me to buy an extra skein of the yarn from the Spindle Tree (if they have more of this colour available) so I can just continue to knit the cowl following the pattern.  

Olivewood Infinity Scarf

It's been a freezing weekend in Adelaide...it was only 3 degrees Celsius when I woke up this morning, and I think the maximum temp was 13 C. Brrr...perfect weather for scarfs and knitting. I finished the infinity scarf I was knitting for myself using Manos del Uruguay merino/silk yarn in the 'olivewood' colourway. :-) I really love this yarn, it's so soft and cosy and also such beautiful colours. This colourway is a mix of blues, greys, cream and caramel, which I think will go really well with denim jeans or skirt. :-)

Despite it being cold, this weekend has actually been sunny after what seems like weeks of rain and wind. So apart from the chores and a little bit of knitting, I also managed to go for a hike in Morialta conservation park yesterday. It was gorgeous, and after so much rain the waterfalls were flowing spectacularly. In summer you can barely see a trickle of water, but yesterday it was gushing down the cliffs and it looked beautiful with rainbows forming in the pool down the bottom. 

Morialta conservation park, July 2014

Knitted gifts

I wanted to make a present for a special friend who was about to have her 3rd baby...not just a present for her baby but also something little for my friend. When I followed a link from the Tiny Happy blog and saw the gorgeous free drop-stitch cowl pattern by Spiderwomanknits, I decided that this is what I would make for her! Then I found this gorgeous vibrant chunky yarn at the knitting shop in Glenelg. The yarn is "Katia Ushuaia", it's really chunky, I had to knit using 10mm needles.

The pattern is quite easy, although it had some new techniques for me to learn, such as the 'drop-stitch' which I really love. However it was meant to be knitted in the round, but when I joined up the circle I must have somehow twisted the stitches and when I got to the end I had to unravel it all and start again which was a bit disheartening. So I decided to attempt it again, but without knitting 'in the round', and instead sewed up the seam at the end to make the tube-shape of the cowl. I'm pretty happy how it turned out, and so I was glad to realise I had enough yarn left over to make a second one for myself! I really do need to figure out how to 'knit in the round' though...there's lots of good patterns that call for this, but somehow I haven't managed to get it right yet!

For my friend's baby, I knitted these little charcoal coloured booties. I know it's my go-to pattern, but I really like it, and each pair is different depending on the yarn. The yarn I chose for this pair was from New Zealand, and is a blend of merino wool and possum fur (Possum's being a pest in NZ, unlike in Australia, they are allowed to make yarn out of them...and it's very nice and soft).

It feels so good to be knitting and crafting again! :-) I'm going to try to get on a roll again, and also branch out and try a few new techniques/patterns as well as my trusty favourites. I have signed up for Dry July (No alcohol for a month, trying to raise money to help support adult cancer sufferers)...it's not going to be easy/fun to give up alcohol for a month as I do enjoy a glass of wine most nights while preparing dinner, but it's for a very worthy cause, and as a reward/distraction for myself I've decided I'm going to try to do a bit of craft each night or read a book. So hopefully I'll be updating this blog with some new projects soon! :-)