Clickety Knits Blog

Happy Christmas

2007-12-25T07:40:00.000+13:00

Quick hello and Happy Christmas Greetings. All is well here I just haven't had regular internet access and we only just moved back into our own home last weekend so we are still awaiting our broadband connection. Hopefully I'll be back more regularly in the New Year when we are finally settled back home. Kiwibabe is doing well too, when I get a chance I'll post the latest scan and maybe even a pic of my ever expanding bump, we're now at week 25. Till 2008 then.

Kiwi Babe

2007-11-11T05:47:00.000+13:00

It's been so long since I wrote on this blog I don't quite know where to start. So, instead of giving a blow by blow account of whats been happening in one long post I'm gonna let this picture share our biggest news. Meet our kiwibabe at 16 weeks.

I'm having another scan at the end of this week and if the pic is any clearer I'll post that up.

P.S. My name in Ravelry might make a bit more sense now! Eek must start using ravelry.

Jo Sharp Vest

2007-09-25T12:30:00.000+12:00

Pattern: Jo Sharp Vest from Knit Issue 1

Yarn:Jo Sharp Alpaca Silk Georgette

Time taken:Mmm not sure I seemed to knit this really quickly and then left it there when all I had to do was finish off one of the armholes. I'd say probably 2 weeks knitting in total.

Pattern Modifications:For some reason I thought the armhole was going to be too long so I cut it short a few rows at the top but I'm really sorry I did now as I could do with the extra length in the body - ah well. I don't care enough to unpick and reknit! It was only 6 rows shorter so it wouldn't have made a drastic difference.

Difficulty: None!

Winner/Loser?: Yes, total winner, I love it!

Only one more day before we start the marathon journey home, 4 planes, 27 hours in the air, 36 hours travelling in total - how I wish for a Star Trek "transporter" to just whisk me there. Ah well, I've no doubt it'll be worth it. 2 Weddings, a big family birthday celebration and many meetings up with friends already planned for the next 3 weeks - it's gonna be busy, I can't wait! Next post from Ireland - wahoo!!

Sunny Days

2007-09-19T19:29:00.000+12:00

Hello! Is this really my first post of September? You'd be forgiven for thinking that I had just disappeared or forgotten that I have a blog - well neither are accurate but I have been remiss in getting back to it. We had a great time in Raro, as usual Cathal has been keeping the other blog up to date. To celebrate my return I thought it was about time some long finished knits showed up here. So, the photo above is of my Clapotis pictured having a great time in Muri Beach in Rarotonga.

Project: Kate Gilberts Clapotis

Yarn: Hummingbird 100% wool, (it's seems to have disappeared from the Knitworld site so no link - sorry). It was a total bargain aswell.

Time taken: I started this in May whilst we were travelling the South Island. I'd say in total it took me about a month to knit but I left it lying on a chair for months - all it needed was some ends sewn in and blocked - so I finally got round to it and brought it to Raro with me for the chilly evenings which never materialised.

Pattern Modifications: Just added on 5 or 6 more repeats of the middle straight section before the final shaping section. I wanted this to be more of a wrap than a scarf.

Difficulty:Not! Yet there's enough interest to keep you going and not bore you totally to tears. I decided to purl the stitch to be dropped rather than use stitch holders to indicate the stitch - I don't have 18 stitch holders for a start!

Winner/Loser: Such a winner I would definitely knit one again, I really like Kate's clever knits.

Wow, that wasn't so difficult after all. I might even be back again soon!

Late!

2007-08-29T17:12:00.000+12:00

I'm being a bad blogger again. It's nearly two weeks since my birthday and although I have sent many thanks by texts I also wanted to show my mam and sister the lovely flowers they sent me - although they should know what they looked like they sent them all the way from Ireland! I also got lots and lots of cards and other gifts so thank you to all the well wishers. I especially have to mention the beautiful handpainted cards I got from Shona and Niamh and Alice and Daithi - who also shares his birthday with mine. Unfortunately this year neither of us were in Ireland but I'm sure we'll be back to our usual celebrations next year Daithi - I missed you.

We are off to Rarotonga on Friday for a week in the sun, gosh it's a hard year. Will be back blogging after that. Till then, happy knitting.

Felting Flowers

2007-08-20T09:00:00.000+12:00

Well it looks like the break did the trick knitting wise. I did bring the lace wrap with me for the week but I never once took it out of the bag! But I did pick up sticks yesterday and worked on 3 WIPs - two just needed ends sewn etc, the finishing that takes patience and yesterday I seemed to have it. I also cast off on the 3rd WIP. So, some washing and blocking this week and I may have some FO's to show off really soon.

So, just so there's some pics to go with this post I thought I'd share a felting tale from some time ago now. Being in NZ this year and being blessed with an abundance of easily accessible 100% wool combined with the fact that for the first and probably only time ever I have a top loader washine machine it seemed the time was right to delve further into the world of fulled knits. I got a book, some yarn and then got distracted by some very cute patterns and decided to give one of them a try first.

I ordered the patterns online and as soon as they arrived I rushed down to the LYS to get some suitable red yarn and got knitting. It's important that I point out that I rushed into the LYS just as they were closing for the weekend and grabbed a brand of yarn that I had previously bought and known to be NOT machine washable - same brand different 100% wool yarn.

So, home I went and got knitting. This is how the flower turned out pre-felting. (Didn't think of measuring it but at least it's pictured on top of my laptop to give some sense of scale, also I don't recall if the light was bad or if the particular shade of red was hard to photograph but the photo is pretty crap, sorry!)It's kinda large and although I had no fixed idea for what I intended to use this flower I still hoped that it would shrink a lot. Now I believe Fisher and Paykal washing machines are known for being gentle so I thought I may have to run this through a few cycles before I got the desired results. I was patient but nothing was happening. Wash after wash after wash. I began to lose patience. I consulted the book. Yes I was doing it right. The flower just wasn't co-operating. I'm not sure at what point I thought to consult the ball band but when I did I just might have let a bad word or two slip out. So, yes it wouldn't take a genius to see where this was headed - the yarn was 100% wool but it was superwash!!!! Yipee I could send it through as many cycles as I wanted but this flower just wasn't ever going to get smaller. Blast. I've tried to think of alternative uses for a huge baggy flower but I can't come up wih anything! So, I made another trip to the LYS and took my time this time and even consulted the staff as to whether or not they knew if my chosen yarn would felt well. I knit again and this time with much better results (although I forgot to take measurements before putting it in the machine).

Although the flower is still huge - 20 cm across.Not exactly corsage size but maybe I can use it for an embellishment on a bag at some later date.

I'm off............

2007-08-10T19:08:00.000+12:00

Just for a week. Off North up to the Coromandel Peninsula to meet up with some friends this weekend and then to the Bay of Islands. Back next Friday just in time for my birthday!! We haven't been away travelling in a while (2 months) and I am really looking forward to the trip. I'm also hoping it'll shake some of the bleugh out of me. Lately I've lost all interest in blogging and knitting and it's just not like me so hopefully I'll return rejuvenated and raring to finish off the many nearly finished items I have hanging round here at the moment. Hope ye all have a good week.

I'm in........

2007-08-07T13:19:00.000+12:00

I got my invite , I'm in! Wahoo - all I've managed so far is to create a username, I'm kiwibabe in honour of our time here. No time today to play, will be logged in 2moro from daybreak though!

Sew what?

2007-08-02T19:33:00.000+12:00

Sewing - the latest crafty thing I've got myself into is the one thing I really wanted to learn during our time here in NZ (that and crochet, that has been even more unsuccesful but I digress). With all the travelling around it's been very difficult to start any night courses as we have invariably been away when the course commenced. Not so, this time. I have been looking forward to starting a dressmaking class in Wellington High for the longest time. I had an inkling that we'd be around for the July intake and so it was 2 weeks ago I took myself off to the beginners class. I was feeling pretty confident, I mean I'm pretty crafty, I have used a machine before (granted I was probably a child and did so with my mother by my side) and both of my parents are well acquainted with sewing machines so I thought you know I had a lot of things going for me.

The class began with everyone introducing themselves and saying what they wanted out of the course. I told everyone I was a Knitter (why?) and that I really just wanted to know how to sew - I didn't really have any great lofty aspirations. Others wanted to make garments that fit and look professional etc. It was then that I started to get scared. You'd think that by the title of the class I would have known what was ahead of me but it hadn't occurred to me that we'd actually be making clothes ( by week 2)!!!!

So, the first night was all about learning to use the machine and it turns out most of the beginners in the class aren't beginners at all and I'm quickly left behind. The clincher in terms of my own stupidity came though when the instructor told us to sew a zig zag design on our sample fabric and drew a zig zag line to illustrate. I quickly started looking at all the dials and buttons on the machine thinking to myself - I know this one, I know this one, it was one of those dials that we were shown at the beginning of the class. So, delighted with myself I switch the dial and start sewing lines of zig zag stitch. One of my fellow "beginners" noticed after a little while and said to me was I sure I knew what I was doing. Confidently I replied sure, we're supposed to be doing the zig zag stitch and this, as I held my sample up - was zig zag stitch. Then I looked around, I'd been so industrious and sure of what I was doing that I hadn't bothered lifting my head to see what everyone else was doing. Then I noticed something and it clicked - really why would the teacher want to see us doing lines and lines of zig zag stitch which you know effectively the machine was doing. No, the teacher wanted to teach us to sew a straight line and then learn how to turn the fabric and sew another line in the opposite direction and so on and so forth.

Thankfully the bell rang and I was spared the embarrassment of starting over. Just before we packed up we were told to go buy some fabric and a pattern and cut it out and bring it to class next week - WHAT? I still can't sew a straight line never mind a zig zag and as for cutting fabric - yikes. Turns out though I'm not too bad at that part, it's just the sewing that's the issue. Do you think if I knit a skirt they'd notice?

8 repeats and I'm done

2007-07-29T19:20:00.000+12:00

1/2 way there. The tour enters it's final stage today and I'm very happy to be putting this wrap down for a little while. I had hoped at some of my more insane moments that I might finish this wrap during the tour but I just didn't have it in me. Nonetheless I am very pleased to be half way there and if I wanted a sprint I wouldn't have entered the Polka Dot Category. I honestly wouldn't have got this far without participating in the kal (thanks Meg and Debbie for organising this, I've really enjoyed reading the daily updates on the blog).

This is one of those knits where I'll really enjoy the end results but the process - not so much. I have other things screaming to me from the knitting basket so I look forward to putting this down for a little while. From here on in I hope to do one repeat a week whilst knitting other things (turns out I'm really not fond of project monogamy) and this way I hope to have this finished to bring home to Ireland at the end of September (9 weeks away - I can't wait to catch up with all my friends and family).

I started a new craft this week and it's kicking my ass - photos next time.

72,062

2007-07-21T13:26:00.000+12:00

3 repeats. 4 repeats. 5 repeats.

11 repeats to go, plus 11 rows. 22,331 stitches knit. 49,731 left to knit. Someone please shoot me.

Rest Day x 2

2007-07-17T19:29:00.000+12:00

It's a rest day in the Tour de France today. Which is why I'll be picking up the lace again, you see I've already taken my rest days - yesterday and the day before. I got struck down again on Sunday with soreheaditis - really bad this time so there wasn't even the thought of knitting. I will not fall again - I'm too old for this anyway. So, next weekend I look forward to uninterrupted knitting. Yesterday I, well, I got distracted and I may have knit on something else but we'll forget about that 'cos if I've no pics it didn't really happen, right?

I'm glad I joined the tdfkal. I would have long ago ( like right after I finished swatching) given up on this wrap were it not for the knowledge that I should persevere and try to conquer the mountains. I really wish I could knit 32 rows ( a repeat) of this wrap a day but it's so time consuming and I need to pay such attention I'm finding the going particularly tough. I'm currently on row 6 of the 3rd repeat. Did I mention that there's at least 16 repeats. Oh, I cracked and bought another ball of the yarn, so now I don't even have the whole knit faster because I may run out of yarn thing going for me.

You're probably wondering what the pic above is all about. It's my first ever tennis prize (we were at a tennis tournament on Sat night right before the party that gave me the soreheaditis). Now, I know it looks like a wooden spoon, it is in fact a wooden spoon but I didn't get it for coming last (thankfully) that honour went to someone else. So, I won this spoon but I won it by getting drawn out of hat, they had many small prizes for participants, I'm not quite sure if someone miscalculated how many wooden spoons they were going to offer that night but anyhow I was glad to get it - for what was attached to it. I'd seen this chocolate bar many times here but have never gotten round to trying one. I was a tad disappointed, it is exactly what it says on the tin, chocolate and peanuts, but it lacked the caramel of a Snickers bar and I think it would have been better for it. Anyway the wooden spoon is coming in handy!

Climbing

2007-07-14T13:32:00.000+12:00

Well I have another repeat to show off. I didn't get 32 rows done yesterday - just 22, so 10 more rows this morning and I have to say I think I'm done with the lace for today. Anyone getting bored yet? - I know I am. The pattern is at least becoming a little more intuitive. I had made some preliminary calculations reckoning that I would be doing 16 repeats of the 32 row pattern + 8 rows. After measuring the slightly stretched out 2 repeats I have knit I reckon I'm kinda on course but the yarn!!!!!! I have already used 1/7 of the balls I have, which means I'm probably going to run short. Now part of me wants to rush in and get another ball but another part says wait, enjoy the thrill of possibly not having enough yarn - it will spur you on to knit faster!! I know it's crazy and I'm not contemplating the crushed feeling I'm gonna have if I knit up 14 repeats and can't get another ball in the same shade and lot no. What to do?

Progress, of a sort.

2007-07-13T13:36:00.000+12:00

I have knit one whole pattern repeat! Wahoo, just 15 more or so to go and at this rate I might have it complete by the end of the year. There has been progress on another knitting WIP but I shouldn't mention it, it will not distract me (I've finished the front and have progressed up the back rib). I've confined it to the basket - hidden it in an attempt to love the lace. Going to do one more repeat today, there I've said it so I must do it.

The weather has improved today at last, it has been bucketing down for the last two weeks, finally today I'll get to play tennis this afternoon, I've been having withdrawl symptoms and it wasn't pretty.

Thanks for all the good wishes for Cathal, his face is still a little sore and swollen but he's getting his stitches out today so hopefully that will speed up the recovery.

Joiner

2007-07-11T16:20:00.000+12:00

My head is feeling better now, well it's been a few days, but it's Cathal who's now not feeling the best. Due in no small part to endodontic surgery yesterday. It was a 2.5 hour operation so I had a little time to kill in the waiting room and I can now finally ( just as the tour actually moves to France) be part of the tdfknitalong. Mmm, it's growing slowly. That's what 2.5 hours produced, now I may have been a little distracted but still I think this is going to eat up hours and hours of knitting time. Which is why I chose to compete for the king of the mountains jersey - I need stamina for this one. I did knit up another swatch, this time on 2.75mm needles (1st swatch is with the recommended 3mm needles) and I decided that I preferred the first swatch I made. So I cast on with the 3mm's. I have to admit whilst I love the lace, the slow growth and the concentration required for this knit is a little off putting. I'm a multitasker and I really enjoy doing other things while I knit, you know watching a DVD, reading a book or blogs or the internet etc etc. I just can't do that with this one though. Even on the purl row I have to keep an eye on it to make sure that I do in fact only purl one of the wrapped stitches and ensure that the other one gets dropped. So, I think this will continue to be a slow grower as I knit in my spare time during the day, when I am not doing anything else!

In marked contrast I nearly have a front of the Jo Sharp V Necked Vest knit. This is flying off the needles (albeit 3.25mm!). Now, this is a knit that works well with my multitasking penchant. Now if I could just do the same with my shawl, there'd be progress, but where's the challenge in that!

P.S. Cathal has just posted his 100th post on our other blog ( who am I kidding "our blog" - I've written a handful of posts) and in true blog world style there's prizes so drop on over and leave a comment.

My head hurts.

2007-07-08T19:00:00.000+12:00

My yarn for Flair arrived - so I've knit up a swatch.It's enough to keep me from casting on right away. I need to stay focussed. I've also knit up a swatch of the wrap/shawl I'm knitting for the Tour de France kal (focus). We are allowed to swatch before the Tour de France commences so I knit this yesterday morning. The Tour was kicking off at 3pm GMT yesterday but as I was off in the land of nod at that time (2am Sunday morning NZ time) I didn't cast on. It's now 7pm Sunday evening and I still haven't cast on. Not a very good participant am I? I'm just not happy with the swatch though, I think my lace is too "loose". I don't have the next needle size down to knit another swatch so I took my sore head into my LYS today to see if I could have a look at the sample in the store and if necessary get some smaller needles.

When I arrived I asked one of the ladies working there if I could have a look at the shawl to see how my swatch looked against it - it wasn't on display. It wasn't in the store at all, apparently, they rotate samples around all their stores and my shawl's time was up in Welly, just my luck! I did get another knitters opinion though and she thought it looked fine but I decided to pick up some 2.75mm needles anyway and have decided to knit another swatch. Just not today.

Did I mention my head hurts? Lace might give you a sore head but really mine's just sore from last night's Synning.

The Knitting

2007-07-06T16:49:00.000+12:00

I was a little distracted with all the flight stuff going on that I've yet to give an update on the knitting. Since I cast off the Clapotis on Sunday I've been a little stuck on what to knit next. I knew I really only had a week as I plan to start on my shawl for the Tour de France Knitalong this weekend (and my yarn has just arrived in time (I'm using shade 02 - cherry) - phew). So I knit up these two swatches. Then I pondered. I really, really want to knit with the varigated yarn - I had planned to knit Flair with it but Flair is designed with a worsted weight yarn in mind and this is 8ply/DK weight and since I've now ordered different yarn for Flair (still awaiting delivery) I need another project for my varigated yarn. It's told me it wants to be a zipped up ribby cardigan and I have looked out there but the only zipped up ribby cardie patterns I can find are for worsted/aran weight. Anyone have ideas? - I'm not on Ravelry yet but I'm sure there's answers out there. Yes, I know I could just do the maths and convert a pattern but I'm lazy. I have started a Jo Sharp vest (in Knit Issue 1 - I'm knitting it in the same colour as the book)- I know I won't get it finished before I start the shawl and it won't exactly make a good break from the shawl knitting - although it's a simple knit, it's on 3.25mm needles and the shawl will be knit on 3mm so I may need another project on the needles for times when I need a break from the lace. Maybe I need to cast on for something else.......castonitis moi?

Glorious Thursday

2007-07-05T16:30:00.000+12:00

It's been an emotional week but today I am smiling, nay, grinning like all is right with the world. I have been trying to change our flights back to Ireland to allow us to get to two weddings of friends in Sept/Oct. We always knew that we had at least one wedding to come home for during our year out here in NZ but now we are blessed with having two to go to. When we booked our flights last year we were assured by our travel agent that there wouldn't be any issue with changing the date of our return portion back to Ireland - ALL we had to do was contact the airline in NZ, confirm our new return date and pay the change fee. Needless to say it wasn't that simple and I have been on an emotional rollercoaster all week waiting to see if we could get the flights we wanted and now finally many, many, phonecalls and emails later WE GOT FLIGHTS!!

I know it wouldn't have been the end of the world if we missed my friends wedding, in fact he couldn't have been more understanding but I was gutted at the thought of not being able to get flights until a few days AFTER his wedding - that's the best the airline were offering until I persuaded them otherwise - I won't go into it all since the drama is now over but sometimes being on the other side of the world is hammered home forcefully and this was one of those weeks. So, we did get flights, they are not ideal - we arrive back into Dublin airport at lunchtime on the day of the wedding party - I've no idea what time it kicks off at but I know it's an eveningtime affair. I just hope I'll be so high on emotion and excitement I'll be able to stay awake!!!!!!

Clapotis

2007-07-02T20:20:00.000+12:00

It feels great to be blogging back in "real time" now. Since I've got all the FO's out of the way I can finally show you what I'm working on at the moment. The title of the blog post gives it all away. I started my Clapotis on hols in May whilst we were on our travels. It will forever be associated with the camper van! Here I am knitting in a cafe in Rotorua in the early winter sunshine.There's a lot of knitting in the Clapotis but it's such a clever design and your interest is maintained throughout - well mine was. Here's a more recent pic I took last week. A weekend of rain confined us to the house (we weren't complaining, it's the first weekend we've been here that it lashed on both Saturday and Sunday) so there was lots of knitting done and I managed to cast off last night - so yep, another F.O. Well not quite, there's a few ends to be sewn in and more than a few dropped stitches to be unravelled. Then there's the washing and blocking, so it'll be a little while before I flash a photo of the F.O.

Hottie Cover Fun

2007-06-29T19:27:00.000+12:00

When we first came to New Zealand we had no idea how cold winter was going to be. When we started viewing houses and noticed that none of them had central heating we thought, great, winters must be really mild here. Well, we found out the hard way that winter is far from mild here, it's just the kiwi's are tough! And possess "hotties". A hottie is a hot water bottle and we now possess a few ourselves. Up until recently though they have been naked and I thought it was about time that I corrected that.

I had a quick root through the stash (yes I have accumulated a stash here) and came up with the novelty pink yarn I bought back in December when we first arrived. Finally a use for this yarn. I have no idea why I bought it but I recall liking the colours. Anyway I think it makes a very pretty hottie!

Pattern: Jessie from Rowan Junior

Yarn: Rare Surino Slub Tulip 3x 50g balls (bought in Wild and Woolly Yarns in Devonport) and some leftovers of the blue handspun that I used to knit C's scarf(bought in Fibre Spectrum in Nelson).

Time Taken: Approx. a week

Difficulty: A very straightforward pattern but I was using a different yarn and therefore different needle sizes to those specified so I kinda winged it and added extra rows where needed. The heart is a feature of the pattern but the "hottie" part is all mine!

Winner/Loser: WINNER - could I shout that any louder - I love it and it's one of my favourite things that I have knit this year and of course it will always remind me of NZ.

View of the back

Close up of the heart shaped buttons.

Brioche Stitch Scarf

2007-06-28T19:29:00.000+12:00

Pattern: I was making this project for Cathal so it had to be a suitably manly design and not over fussy so the Brioche Stitch was chosen. I used 66 sts to get the width I wanted.

Yarn:Handspun (hence the sometimes uneven stitches) Merino from Fibre Spectrum in Nelson - sadly no weblink.

Time Taken: 2 weeks, although it felt like forever - scarves just seen to go on and on and on....

Difficulty: Simple if a little boring after 50cm or so.

Winner/Loser: Well the recipient likes it so I'm happy.

P.S. Thanks for the commiserations on the last post. I haven't quite yet decided what I am going to do with the cardie but I did think it might suit another family member.......is it evil to give something away as a gift when you hate it? Surely I should be giving away nice things knit specifically with the recipient in mind. I'll have another ponder. Up next is my favourite finished item of 2007! Remarkably it makes up for the pain of the disaster that is the wrap cardie. Tune in tomorrow.

Wrap Cardie Disaster

2007-06-27T14:20:00.000+12:00

I've thought long and hard about this photo and this post. This is the last of the FO's that I had planned to photograph during our travels in May (I have some more FO's coming up though - ones I have finished this month!). Despite a race against the clock I did manage to get this sewn up in time to bring it with me. I carried it in my backpack taking up valuable space and not once - even on the coldest days did I wear it. I couldn't you see, because I hate it with a passion.

I don't think I've felt the love less for any knitted item I have ever made and expecially one that took me almost a month to make. The only thing that kept me going during the knitting of it was the prospect of possibly running out of yarn. That's how exciting a knit it was and the finished result is just not wearable. Not by me anyway. I hate the shape of it, it's too baggy, too long and just plain too big for me (it does fit across the back so it's not a question of possibly knitting a smaller size, the style just doesn't suit me) and to add insult to injury it adds lbs to my not so slim frame that doesn't need lbs added to it. Yuck!

For the record, here are the details:

Pattern: Wrap Cardigan from Sarah Dallas Knitting

Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton Shade 941 and Shade 900

Time taken: A whole month of my knitting life that I'll never get back.

Difficulty: Not at all difficult just incredibly boring miles and miles of s.s.

Winner/Loser: mmm, how can I put this................................. LOOOOOOOSER!

I've got the whole world in my mittens.

2007-06-25T16:01:00.000+12:00

I previously alluded to the fact that the photo sessions on location in the south island didn't exactly go to plan. After the Baldwin Street lying in the middle of the street incident my partners in crime got a little weary of my photo plans. I had two more FOs to photograph and it just didn't happen. For a start - see those mittens above, I forgot to bring them to the perfect place for a photo - a glacier! I was kicking myself afterwards but to be honest I was too focussed up at the glacier trying to stay upright to think of knitting. So I got the shot above instead - taken in Wellington on a lovely sunny day! Anyone who has been to Wellington will recognise the sphere above or in the pic below.This Fern Ball sculpture is located in the centre of Wellington in a plaza surrounded by many public amenities. So anyway onto the FO.

Pattern: Mittens with Cabled Ribs from Vintage Knits

Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton in Shade 956 Coffee Rich & Shade 911 Rich

Time Taken: Mmm, I can't really remember I made them in April, think it was about a week.

Difficulty:Not difficult at all but I did made a bit of a mess with my increases for the thumb so I consulted EZ and found some very neat ways to increase and eliminate the holes I was making.

Winner/Loser: Winner, I think they are very cute and I love the colours.

1930's inspired beaded necklace.

2007-06-23T20:23:00.000+12:00

Here's the result of last nights beading class. This time the necklace was a 1930's inspired style. It's quite similar in construction to the last necklace I made back in March but I much prefer this one for some reason. All I need now is an occassion to wear it. It's not quite an everyday necklace.

Baldwin Street Socks

2007-06-21T19:23:00.000+12:00

Here I am posing with my Lombard Street socks on Baldwin Street in Dunedin, SI, NZ - apparently the steepest street in the world so beat that Lombard Street!!!!

Pattern: Lombard Street Socks from MagKnits.

Yarn: Shepherd Baby Wool 4 ply - 100% Pure Wool (but it must have been treated as it is machinewashable). Bought in Wild and Woolly yarns in Devonport when we first arrived in NZ.

Time Taken: Another stop and start project but I'd guesstimate about 2 weeks.

Difficulty: For a sock that looks so intricate with both cables and lace I expected these to be challenging but they weren't. To be honest I made more mistakes with my Jaywalkers.

Winner/Loser?: WINNER, I love these socks and would make them again in a heartbeat.

I may have alluded to the fact in a previous post that it wasn't all plain sailing with taking shots of my various FO's on location! It's actually very difficult to get a close up shot of a handknit whilst trying to capture the beauty or essence of the landscape or location. That and the fact that we were on holidays and my sister and husband didn't have the same level of patience that I did, you know they were on holidays too! Just to prove the point here I am sitting in the middle of the road (which cars do drive up!!!) legs in the air trying to see if this angle works better. As you can see it doesn't, but maybe you can see better from this photo just how steep Baldwin Street actually is. And if you are really interested in finding out more about Baldwin Street click here.