2015

Yes, it's another view from our deck; this time looking south. The header of my blog is a tiny part of the view to the west.

I wish you peace and joy; and all the crafting time you desire!

37 years ago

And now we're more in love than ever – thank you, WM, you light up my life!

knitting progress and the Grab Bag Challenge

As is my usual custom, I sew during the day and knit in the evenings when WM and I watch television. I also got plenty of knitting time on two train trips in late September/early October – one of nine hours to collect DD and the Grandboys for the conference; the other (of eight hours) after spending a few days with DD and the Grandboys at the house my sister had rented for two weeks for her annual vacation.

I seem to be making fairly good progress – but that’s probably because I’m knitting relatively simple and smallish things in order to use up the yarn in my 'grab bags' as well as my two tubs of sock yarn!

Socks for Someone #5, started on 1 July, were finally finished (grafted and ends sewn in) on 9 September. They are made from Moda Vera Noir “Pink Mix” using my generic sock knitting pattern for women on 2.25 (US 1) double pointed needles. Unfortunately, I don’t seem to have a photo of the finished socks.

Socks for Someone #6 were cast on 5 September and the knitting was finished 9 October. The grafting was done a few days later when I had time to do it during daylight hours. The yarn is Moda Vera Noir “Olive Mix”; pattern and needles as above. These socks were a bit on the small side so I will make the next pair slightly bigger.
 
Socks for Someone #7 were started on 10 October. I am knitting them in Moda Vera Noir, colour-way ‘Laguna’. I have not knitted this colour before and was looking forward to seeing how it knits up. Overall, it’s a lovely shade of green, more like the first photo than the second.
 

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Now, on to my Grab Bag Challenge – in which I grab a pre-packaged bag of yarn, find a pattern that works with that weight and amount of yarn and knit! Each of the “grab bags” contains smallish amounts of yarns that were donated to me. My challenge is that I have to use all (or close to it) of the yarn contained in the first bag I grab. I’m not allowed to read the labels or swap for another bag unless I don't have the appropriate needles available!

The first of the Grab Bag Challenges I have to show you is a shawl I have called “Taupe Buffalo”. This is because it was knitted in Lincoln Yarn Buffalo, colour-way Taupe. The “Lincoln Yarn Company” is now defunct as far as I can tell from my internet searches. The balls  of the yarn were labelled “1 oz” – the Australian wool industry has used the metric system since 1971 so that makes the yarn more than forty years old!

I managed to get eleven repeats of the pattern from the amount of yarn I had.

The original pattern, Springtime Bandit by Kate Gagnon Osborn (Ravelry link), had only four repeats of the pattern so mine is considerably larger, a great winter shawl for an average-sized woman. I didn’t have enough yarn to finish the edging as in the original pattern. I should have done one less repeat of the body pattern but misread the instructions – then didn't feel inclined to rip out the last twelve rows! It looks okay and the unknown recipient won’t know the difference – I’m sure the fact that it’s keeping her warm will be far more important!

My next Grab Bag Challenge project was a scarf which I called “Courtelle Garden”, because the yarn consisted of 63 grams of Patons Courtelle 5ply (sport) which is 100% acrylic but quite soft. It’s a pretty colour that cried out to be knitted into a light and lacy scarf. Thepattern for the Plymouth Vizions Garden Scarf by Nancy Queen (Ravelry link) seemed right for the job given that Vizions (by Plymouth Yarn) is predominately man-made, being 68% rayon, 3% nylon and 29% linen. Below is a detail photo; the photo of the whole scarf didn’t work!
 
This was followed by two more shawls, both knitted from a now-discontinued yarn bought long ago from K-Mart: a soft DK weight blend of 70% wool and 30% nylon, called “SportsKnit”.

The first was made from two balls of neutral colours using the Hippy Hippy Shawl pattern (Ravelry link) by Gabrielle Vézina on 4mm (US 6) needles. I had intended to use all four balls of yarn but realised that I didn’t need to; the shawl was quite big enough in just two balls. If I had known that at the beginning, I would have knitted this by changing colours after every two rows. As it is, I don’t like it so I think I’ll over-dye it. What do you think?
 
The second is made from cream and gorgeous blue yarns using the Zebre Striped Shawl pattern (Ravelry link) by Brenda Lavell. Unfortunately, I forgot to switch my needles to 5mm (US 8) before starting this shawl so the fabric does not drape as much as I would like. I finished knitting this shawl while I was holidaying at Scott's Head, with my sister, mother, niece, niece’s partner, nephew, DD and the Grandboys. (I didn't take any photos because I didn’t have a camera with me and my iPad didn't have enough storage space at the time)!

With both of these shawls, I just kept knitting till I ran out of yarn! Because they are ‘donation’ shawls, they will fit someone!

The next ‘grab bag’ I drew had 3 x 100g skeins of Panda Soft Crinkles, a now-discontinued 100% acrylic 12ply (bulky) yarn.

I decided to knit the Weekend Hoodie (Ravelry link), a free pattern from Lion Brand Yarn. It’s the first time I’ve knitted a sweater in pieces in a very long time! Ah well, it’ll give me a chance to practise mattress stitching the seams and three-needle bind off on the shoulders! One thing’s for sure, it is not a weekend project unless one knits all weekend and does nothing else. I’m knitting mine child size and only completed the back during the weekend with evening and travel knitting! The front took me another three evenings! I’m obviously a slow knitter! The crinkly yarn doesn’t do much for my tension either!

That’s it for my bi-monthly report. The good thing about knitting is that I can take it anywhere with me (unlike my sewing machine). Since WM and I will be away for most of the next two weeks, it’s very likely there’ll be quite a bit of knitting happening; especially given that we will be travelling over 1600 kilometres (1000 miles) while our dearest friends, visiting my mum, then DD and Family.

Tomorrow, WM and I are off on the first leg of our vacation at three different locations around the state. We are travelling by train to Kempsey where we will be met by our dear friend and transported to their acreage near the town of Bellbrook, population 356!

I’m off to pack; I need clothes, toiletries, books, iPad, chargers and stitch-related items: knitting -- Socks for Someone #7 and Crinkles Hoodie – and my Dutch Cap Hexies (English Paper Piecing); seen in this post (scroll down).

See you in November!

Grab Bag Challenge and other knitting

warning: a long, yarn-related post; no fabric here, sorry!
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I had intended to get this post up ten days ago but I needed photos… then DD and the GrandBoys made a surprise visit. Needless to say, I didn’t give much thought to posting anything on my blog!

Despite the fact that I had been in a groove with my sewing over the previous few weeks, I had also completed a fair bit of knitting. My most recent post regarding knitting (as opposed to yarn) was in mid-June so I’m going to talk about all my projects since then; whether completed or in progress.

At the end of June I tutored two workshops: one on stranded colour knitting, the other on slipped stitch knitting so there were a few samples that needed to be knitted.

I’ve already showed you the two slipped stitch scarves in this post, so here are some other slipped-stitch patterns: a slipped stitch beanie and a sample slipped-stitch square that could be used in an afghan/blanket:

    

For the stranded colour workshop I knitted two hats; the second shows a traditional Norwegian motif I found on the internet.I couldn't get it on my head so I had to put my hands inside it for the photo – it’s not really that shape!.

 

I finished Socks for Someone #4 and cast on Socks For Someone #5; I’ve finished the first sock, except for the grafting of the toe and the sewing-in of ends, and am on the foot (cuff down) of the second. The socks are my own basic sock pattern for women; 64 stitches knitted on 2.25mm needles.

In mid-July, I tutored a workshop on shadow (aka “illusion”) knitting. I didn’t have my scarf finished in time for the workshop, although I did take it along as a work in progress. That scarf is now finished and is seen here pinned out for blocking. The pattern is Counterpoint Scarf, by Jennifer Crawford; free to Ravelry members. The yarn is discontinued: Moda Vera Cynthia (brown) and Moda Vera Jaclyn (cream) – both DK weight, 50% acrylic/tencel. I chose brown and cream because I didn’t have any black 8ply (DK) yarn that was the same brand as any white yarn and it seemed important to have two strands that knitted up to the same gauge. All experienced knitters know that all DK weight yarns are not created equal!

In this post, I talked about how much yarn I have. I managed to find storage for most of it, except for the “Grab Bags”. There were too many of them to fit in the space I had allocated, so knitting through those has become my priority knitting. I can’t believe my first project for the “Grab Bag Challenge” was completed last December!

I remember that, for the next project, I grabbed a bag of yarn and intended to knit a prayer shawl for the person who donated quite most of my ‘grab bag’ contents. However, the prayer shawl was a lace pattern and I had to set it aside even before I cast on; i usually knit in front of the television, and that just wasn’t TV knitting! When we moved that bag of yarn disappeared into the pile of grab bags during packing; one day it’ll turn up and I’ll be able to knit that shawl.

In the meantime, I have knitted two hats from a pattern called Bubble Gum which is available for free on Ravelry. I think I would have called the pattern “Bee Hive” or “Honey Pot” because it reminds me of a green ceramic honey pot we had when I was a child (not that it ever had honey in it)! My two hats don’t look as nice as the ones on the Ravelry page, perhaps they’ll look better after blocking or with a head in them! I've only shown one, they are basically identical – knitted from the same no-longer-available yarn from K-Mart called Triplequick, a 12 ply (bulky) yarn which I knitted on 6mm needles. It was, indeed, a quick pattern to knit and I completed the two hats, including sewing in ends, over three evenings.

I started knitting a scarf/shawlette from a simple (free from Ravelry) pattern called Forget Me Not using a discontinued yarn called Lambswool 80 (80% wool, 20% nylon) by Patons Australia. In the comments section of my Ravelry projects page I wrote: “life is too short to knit with yarn which feels like string! Even acrylic feels softer in the hand than this yarn so it has been frogged and the yarn has been given to the op shop (thrift store).” The project was aptly named Yarn Shouldn’t Feel Like String but, unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of the yarn before I gave it away!

Then came another hat when I grabbed a bag containing 3 skeins of Sirda Octo, an 8ply (DK)  blend of 80% wool and 20% nylon. I have never successfully knitted a beret; I always seem to have too many rounds and get a lump in the middle where it should lie flat. I had hoped this one would be different; it’s a very pretty lace pattern and the decreases are included in the pattern. But I should have looked at the pictures of the Elfunny Beret on Ravelry more carefully: it had a deliberate ‘lump’ in the centre, accented by doing extra rows! I had to remove the extra rows and add a couple of extra rounds of decreases to make it work. Here it is blocking with the dinner plate still inside! Unfortunately, it’s supposed to be adult size but there's no way I can get it on my medium-size head! Ah well, someone will live it, I’m sure.

WM grabbed the next bag (my current knitting project, along with Socks for Someone #5): it contained 329g of yarn called Lincoln Buffalo Wool. The only additional information on the label was that it was mothproofed* pure wool, 6ply (a heavy sportweight or light DK), colour 488, Taupe. No needle size was recommended. I couldn’t find any information online about this yarn specifically or the yarn company in general. It may have been mothproofed forty years ago but I have had to deal with quite a lot of insect damage as I knitted which has left me with lots of ends to sew in! I know it is more than forty years old: the Australian wool industry adopted the metric scheme in 1971 and these balls were labelled “1 oz”!

I decided this time to knit something where gauge was not so crucial and finally settled on  a pattern of a triangular scarf or shawlette called Springtime Bandit. The original pattern was knitted in 10ply (Aran) but I have seen it knitted in 4ply (sock) so it’s obviously very versatile. I didn’t know how far 329g of yarn would go; 8ply wool yarn usually contains about 200m to every 100g so this could be as much as 650m. If it’s a lighter weight than 8ply, it may go even further! The designer, Kate Gagnon Osborn, recommends four pattern repeats; I have done twelve and still have four skeins for the edging!

It has knitted up like 8ply (DK) on 4.5mm needles. Since I am usually a looser-than-average knitter, it will be interesting to see how it goes after blocking! This is what it looks like so far:

 

I don't’ think I’d describe it as ‘taupe’; its more milk chocolate!

The Grab Bag Challenge is fun; I have no idea what the bag will contain until it is actually in my hands (I’m not allowed to return it to the box, I have to knit it and use up as much of the yarn as possible) the fun part is choosing a pattern that works for the amount of yarn I have (long live Ravelry!) and seeing how it knits up. Most of the bags contain only small amounts so there’ll probably be a lot of hats and/or scarves in my future but that just adds to the fun: small projects are quickly finished then a new bag is selected!

It’s winter: cold and raining here (thank God, we were in a drought and needed rain desperately) so it’s great weather to curl up under a hand-knitted blanket/afghan and knit away!

What are you working on at the moment?

bronchitis and books

Since I came home from mum’s late last week, I have been knocked about with a bout of bronchitis. Yesterday was the first day that I felt able to do more than sit in a chair and cough!

Today I have plans and the first of those is to write this post!

The past twelve days have given me a chance to participate in a hobby I rarely indulge: reading!

It started while I was at my mum’s. I received an email from my second cousin, who told me that he had just published his first book -- “a golden age mystery novel”. Of course, being a fan of mysteries, I went straight to Amazon and bought An Echo and a Light for my Kindle; which I read through the app on my iPad (poor Kindle, it rarely sees the light of day now; in fact, since we moved, I don’t even know where it is!)

Richard (his nom-de-plume) has even included a character with our mutual family name – Loder! What fun!

The fictional town of Chadfield is based on the town of Lichfield where “Richard” lives. Here is a video he created of photographs of his town as a promotion for his book.


After reading Richard's novel, which I enjoyed, I set off on a quest to find more books to read – this time from the digital collection of my local library. In a week I have borrowed five ebooks and two audiobooks. I enjoyed all but one of them and would recommend them to you if you are a fan of the mystery/suspense genre. (The one I didn't enjoy I have not included here.)

They are seen here in the order I read them. Some I enjoyed more than others (as is always the case) but I have no qualms in letting you make up your own minds. Because of my own particular tastes in books, none of these books has erotic scenes, all have at least a hint of romance and only one (Seven Kinds of Death) has repeated use of “foul” language. The Prayer Box is not a mystery/suspense novel although there are several mysteries that are unravelled through this gentle story.
   

What have you been reading lately?

the last night

Today, three men packed most of our household goods and chattels into about 100 boxes. They did in three and a half hours what would have taken us weeks.

Soon we will go to bed for the last time in the house that has sheltered us for more than 22 years. We saw our daughter grow, start high school, leave school and get married from here. This was where we took shelter after both of our fathers died. Both our grandsons have played in the house and yard, and have swum in the pool, just as their mother did before them. There have been family dinners and barbecues, lots of Christmas and Easter celebrations. We have had many laughs and shed quite a few tears. There has been love and conflict, stress and peace.

What was once a home has become a house, now it’s a shell with boxes inside. (our bedroom, the main bathroom, the garage, the kitchen, the library and the sewing room)

The quilting frame and the piano have been sold; the cat has gone, the baby furniture has gone to a charity that works with people escaping domestic violence. Car loads of things have been given away to the local cancer support “op shop” (thrift store). About 30%-40% of our things, no longer our possessions.

My heart aches, for more reasons than I can share on this blog.

But there is also that glimmer of excitement at the prospect of a new home, a new phase of our lives. It’s time to move on, to put our faith in the One who guides our steps and know that He has great plans for our lives. The best, my friends, is yet to come.

Update

Today we went from this:

to this:

Actually, it sold two days after it was first shown but the new owners only completed their cooling off period last night!

Moving day is probably 15 April. 

There's lots to do ... See you soon!

too special not to share

This has nothing to do with crafting or even to do with me.

I am not into wrestling.

But I had to share this video.

We need more people like this.

God bless you, Demetrius.

a day on the harbour

If you’re looking for the first post in this trilogy, you can find it here.
The second post can be found here.

Thanks for sticking with me -- I know many non-Sydney-siders appreciate the photos of our beautiful city. And I’ve shown you only a few of the vast number taken! ;-)

After a lovely buffet breakfast at our hotel, WM and I checked out and left our bag with the concierge to take advantage of the beautiful weather. We caught a ferry from Darling Harbour to Circular Quay. This photo of the ferry arriving at the wharf was taken the previous morning from our balcony. The vessel in the background is moored outside the Maritime Museum which we have never visited.

Coming into Circular Quay, we saw this massive cruise ship, the Carnival Spirit. You can only get an idea of its size when you see it with the Harbour Bridge and/or the Opera House in the background.

Sailing away from Sydney Harbour, the buildings looked like they were falling! Funny how our eyes play tricks on us sometimes, isn’t it? The building with the curved facade (on the left of the photo, behind the ferry) was the first skyscraper in Sydney – at fourteen stories it dwarfed all the other buildings for years! When I was in (junior) high school, it cost 20c to travel to the observation deck at the top of the building!
  
This iconic building in its beautiful setting needs no introduction, does it? (That cruise ship still looks enormous, even from this distance!)

And this must be one of the most well-known pictures of Sydney!
   
We decided to go from there to Watsons Bay but, being summer, school holidays and a Saturday, found the place way to crowded so we didn’t stay long.
When we got back to Circular Quay, we decided to avoid all the crowds and catch the ferry back to Darling Harbour and go home! I could see WM was disappointed with that decision, so we got off the ferry at Balmain East, where we sat in the shade (it was very hot and we both had been sunburnt but weren’t aware of it yet) in a small park, close to the wharf. it was so nice to be away from the crowds (you can see we are really not city people!). I lay on the hard park bench, WM took yet more photos. The first is of Sydney Observatory.

The next photo is of an historic area of Sydney, known as The Rocks, site of the first British settlement. This is a less well-known, less tourist-y part of The Rocks. The area in front, where the excavators are, is known as Barangaroo, and is under development. There is to be public park and, I’m told, another casino. Given that this is Australia Day, the 226th anniversary of the landing of the First Fleet in Sydney Cove in 1788, this photo is very appropriate.

The last photo is of the ferry (we had been on previously) going back out of Darling Harbour (passing the park in Balmain East) into the harbour proper. That’s the Barangaroo development in the background,
   
Around 3pm, we suddenly realised we were hungry so caught the ferry back to Darling Harbour and found somewhere to have a nice salad for “dinner”.  All too soon it was time to collect our bag, catch the tram to Central station and a train heading west. We arrived home at 6:30pm, tired but happy. It had been a great few days but we were in no hurry to visit the city again for a while!
I hope you’ve enjoyed these posts; this last one finished like a primary school composition (“What I Did on the Weekend”)!
Normal crafting posts will resume shortly.
Happy Australia Day to all my fellow Aussies!