Archive for May, 2010

Here’s some pics of my Chevron Lace Cardigan, crocheted in Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (80% cotton, 20% wool) – 8 ply:

Chevron Lace Cardigan - cap sleeves

I used a 5mm hook.  this design is crocheted from the neck down, first by completing a yoke, then dividing for sleeves and working on the body.  I chose to leave the sleeves as cap sleeves because I wanted to be able to wear this as a jacket over the top of a long-sleeved top, as well as wearing it as a summer top.

When doing the edging, I made thre button hole loops and used some large blue buttons from my stash

Here are some pics of my new Bellinky Baby Linker:

Bellinky Baby Linker

I call her ‘Binky’.  Welcome to the family Binky!  May you bring us many happy years of fuss-free making-up and of neat, perfectly seamed garments in record time.

Note that Binky is straight – makes for quick, easy seaming! Straight linkers are quite unusual, I am told….

One leg finished

The other day I FINALLY found the time to knit with a punchcard on my Singer memomatic 322!  I chose a lace card as I wanted to knit a scarf for my sister from some Bendigo 4 ply cotton which I was given in the sale of another machine I bought.

Turned out beautifully!  The whole project took 3 hours from start to finish and the cotton required minimal blocking and hardly curled at all which was great! In the pictures, you are looking at the wrong side of the knitting.  Didn’t get a chance to take pics of the finished product due to the fact that I had to post the scarf off realy quick (my sister lives in London).

Looking down at the scarf hanging between main bed and ribber

Closeup showing needle spacers - designed to keep edges straight and prevent dropped stitches in lace designs

Closeup of punchcard in action

Close-up of back of scarf (wrong side)

Here are some pics of some recent handspun:

The one on the left is the remnants of some pink and green multi wool which I got from the US and the one on the right is a grey, purple and olive mix – also purchased from the US.  Most of the pink one was plied with some pink silk (pictures coming).  The purple multi one I just left as is.  I’m most happy with the pink multi – turned out quite well and without too many over-spun fibres.  The purple one, I was having trouble with my tension, so lots of over-spun strands there.  For subsequent projects, I have changed to a super-slow whorl on my Schacht Matchless wheel and this has decreased the amount of overspun significantly.  I am finding as my spinning progresses, that I am enjoying wool fibres more than anything else.  Have recently been spinning alpaca/wool/silk and this turned out okay, but was hard to draft – very slippery with lots of flyaway fibres everywhere!  I am a lazy spinner and prefer to draft my tops/plaits into long thin strips so that all strands will spin to an even thickness.  If I try to spin directly from the top, it is overspun, thick and thin and generally disastrous!  I know the idea of handspun is so it doesn’t look too commercial, but I guess I like everything to be even and ‘pretty’  LOL!

We have copies of the mag in-store now – even before it’s listed on their website!

So new, we don’t even have pics yet!

But I can say it is full of adorable summer projects – lacy shawl, kids camping gear, toys, homewares, crocheted jewllery, summer garments and more…

Get your copy now!

Look what the courier dropped off this morning:

Click on the image above to go straight there – I have also uploaded some images from the mag as well.  My favourite is the counterpane blouse.

I’d had these chenille squares in my fabric stash for ages and finally got motivated to do something with them for my son’s school fete which was last weekend.

I got nine chenille squares which were pre-cuts from EBay – there’s a lady on there who cuts up old chenille bedspreads and sells the squares for quilters. I originally bought them to use in a quilting project, but decided not to.

Anyway, take nine squares in co-ordinating or contrasting colours and arrange so you’re happy with the effect.  Sew them up in rows of three in a block, then sew each three-square block with the others to make a nine-patch cover.  Repeat for the other side.  Sew both sides of the pillow together along all four sides – but on the fourth side, only sew about 2 inches along at each end.  This leaves a hole big enough to put a pillow form in.  I used a Size 14 form for the smaller one and size 16 form for the two bigger ones.  Then I turned the cover right side out, inserted a pillow form and then sewed the open seam up by hand.

I had a few blue squares left, so decided to make some chenille baby blocks to go with the cushions.  Simply take 6 squares and sew up in a cross formation.  This makes the sides of the cube.  Now, right sides together, go around and sew all the sides of the cube together until you’re left with one open side.  Turn right-side out and stuff with polyfill, then sew up the hole by hand.  I added a metal jingle bell into the centre of the polyfill before I sewed the cube up, but you don’t have to add one if you don’t want to.  You can also be tricky with some embroidery or applique if you have time – I didn’t, hence the plain appearance.  LOL!

Et Voila – a chenille square baby block toy!

Oh and they sold really quickly on the day!

Stumbled across this lady – Rachel John – from the UK who knits and crochets with super-large needles and hooks and multi-strands of yarn – very cool!  Check out the videos on her site.  You can even buy her hand-made extreme tools – I’ve just bought a 24mm diameter, 700mm long crochet hook!

Hi All,

Heard on the radio this afternoon, that National Alpaca Week starts on Sunday the 1st of May.  I was going up the Sunshine Coast to pick up my kids from Grandma’s so we decided to stop in to see a farm on our way home.  We went to Sunline Alpacas at Palmwoods, near Nambour on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.  They breed Huacaya alpacas.  The hosts – Jill and Jeff had a nice display of Alpaca products and a Mum and baby (cria) in a pen for us to get close to.  Jeff also brought in some alpacas from a nearby paddock.  Sunline predominantly breeds white but also gets colours from time to time, ranging from fawn through to chocolate and black.  The alpacas all have different personalities and there was one baby there who was quite the talker!  So cute!  It was really interesting to learn more about them and of course while there, I couldn’t resist buying some fleece – a lovely caramel colour – $30 for a kilo. A nice big bag for me to clean, card and spin!

Did You Know….?

• Alpacas are part of the camelid family (think camels and llamas)
• Alpacas go to the toilet in one spot (very considerate!)
• There are two kinds – Huacaya (pronounced wa-cay-a) and Suri
• Alpacas are herd animals and can be kept as pets but must have another alpaca to hang out with

To commemorate National Alpaca Week, we are offering 10% off all alpaca yarns or alpaca blends in-store.  The following yarns are discounted:

Plymouth Yarn – Baby Alpaca DK

Plymouth Yarn – Baby Alpaca Lace

Plymouth Yarn – Alpaca/merino/silk

You will need the discount code – alpaca10 – to use during checkout

Alpaca yarn is very warm and light – perfect for sweaters, hats, scarves and gloves.

PLUS!  we are also offering a fab competition!

I am really into spinning at the moment and just happen to have some lovely alpaca fleece, carded and ready to spin.  I will spin some into an 8 or 10 ply yarn, 100g skein – ready for you to knit or crochet into something warm and toasty – a hat or scarf perhaps?

To be in the draw to win, simply purchase one of our discounted yarns during alpaca week to receive one entry in the draw.  The winner will be drawn on the 9th May, 2010 and notified by e-mail.

Good luck and have fun – don’t forget to check out the website for the alpaca association (see above) – and go and visit an alpaca farm if you have the chance.