the full circle

Sometimes strange time parallels occur in my life, and I'm sure in others too. Strange little acts of synchronicity. Little acts that if you really wanted to you could possibly try and read some deeper meaning in to.  This may be one of those cases, you be the judge. Me, I find it an interesting parallel.

Four years ago in January 2008 I finished my first ever Rainbow Dress, a dress that had taken me three months and a heck of a lot of frogging to finish.  I could get all reminiscent and ponder all that has happened in those four years, and the way that one dress changed the direction of my career...but let's not today.  

Let's just look at the Rainbow Dress I finished earlier this year, my thirteenth. I love it that just like the first one, it's knit in a rainbow yarn. 

I love a rainbow yarn.

Despite the fact that this pattern was designed firstly for rainbow yarns, I've only ever knit three in rainbow yarns. They are, I think, perfection.

This one is destined for my gorgeous wee niece, Sage. A sweet little poppet who I know will love this dress as much as I do.

I just hope Toby realises it is actually hers!

Pattern: Rainbow Dress
Needles: Addi Lace Clicks 3.5mm and 4mm
Yarns: Wendy Dennis Polwarth 8ply
Space Frog 8ply/DK Pure Wool

Notes: size knit 19". knit until I ran out of yarn.
The dress is intended for a three year old who has a 19" chest. It is shown here on a three year old with a 20.5" chest.
Bodice knit on 3.5mm needles instead of 3.75mm.

Ravelled here.

intentions

This year, I have loads of things I intend to do. Sort of like a Resolution List, but not quite that organised or boding. Nothing quite so confronting, just some little ideas that play around in my head.

I intend to blog more.
I intend to garden more and bring some love and life back into our native garden.
I intend to sew more, particularly now I have a sewing space again.
I intend to cherish my little cherubs, and enjoy them as much as possible.
I intend to not to overcommit myself.
I intend to become a domestic goddess.
I intend to yarn bomb.
I intend to espouse the value of creativity as and essential part of learning, as important as the acquisition of any literacy or numeracy skills.
I intend to cycle more.
I intend to walk every day.
I intend to not allow the knitting thing to get too overwhelming.
I intend to knit for myself.
I intend to embrace the frivolous side of crafting.

Most of all, I intend to have fun!

So far I'm doing ok!

sisterly love

This little post is about sisters. And love. And also a bit of knitting. All sort of interrelated and tied together.

I have this yarny sort of theory, that sport weight yarn is the new black. I really think that in the yarn world it's pretty much the cool kid at the moment.  Yep, everyone wants to be friends with the good old sport weight yarn. I don't think it was any coincidence that I kept seeing new sport weight yarns popping up all over the place. In places like my Loyal Yarn Store. And in colours that were irresistible. Pure and Simple.  Colours like this.

oh, and the most glorious glorious perfect yellow you have ever seen. 

When I saw this yarn, I had to have some of it. It is so buttery soft. Some of that sport weight delight was going home with me no matter what. Who cares that I had no plan for it. Who cares that it was just going to sit in the stash with absolutely no purpose, it had to be mine. And it did sit.

Somehow I'm not quite sure but after designing Jane, another related design popped into my head. My sketch had lace and cables and some lovely drape happening. And while I do so love dk weight yarn more than any other, I just knew to do such lovely lace justice, to get the drape I really wanted for the design, this time dk just wasn't going to cut it. It had to be something lighter. Something like a sportweight yarn.

That little sketched transformed into this:

Elizabeth.

I so love it when a garment you're designing actually turns out better than you envisage. When internally you just want to do a little jump or cheer.  

There's something about the mix of stocking stitch and lace that I really like. And I have to say, after knitting this I'm quite loving the idea of using cables running into lace. 

The construction of this was so much fun. And believe it or not it's much easier to knit than it looks. The lace is really quite easy to follow and remember, and the cables are super-dooper simple. Picking up stitches is probably the most challenging aspect of this garment, and the pattern sets these out fairly precisely to make it easier to perform.

I so loved knitting with this 5ply yarn so much. It's the MillaMia Naturally Soft Merino, and is buttery soft.  

This has been one very loved cardie. Over the Spring and the Summer Lily has worn this more than any other item in her woolly wardrobe. It's her definite favourite, and I think it might be one of mine too. I'm going to knit myself one too, for sure. I've already selected some lovely madtosh sportweight for mine.

The sisterly part? Well, when I named the Jane pattern, it got that name because it was quite simple and plain to look at despite its unusual construction. A plain Jane so to speak. It's also my second name. So when I decided to knit a sister garment for Jane, I looked to my sisters' second names. Luckily, I had four to choose from. Elizabeth seemed  to suit this pattern best.

I do have plans for some more sister patterns, I'm thinking about the Autumn one right now but you know, it's probably not going to get released until after Autumn now as while I'm thinking, not much knitting is happening. 

You can find more photos and the details for purchasing the pattern, as well as all my other patterns, in my Ravelry store. 

getting cosy

I'm quite fond of a bit of a cosy. Mug cosies. I'm all over them. Hot water bottle cosy. Ditto. Tea cosy. You guessed it.

But just quietly, I think the rest of my life needs a bit of cosy-i-fying. Looking around there are just too many objects in my life that could do with a cosy. I am seriously coveting a tv cosy to cover the ugly black thing in the corner (it's not really even a box anymore, is it?).

And I'm very tempted to craft up a cosy for my bicycle helmet. That would be quite sweet, I think.

And how about a cosy for the swing seat? Or the iPad? Or even a vase cosy or two?

Yes, I think along with the dishcloth domination, 2012 could be the year of the cosy. I've started small. Our peach glut and the impossibility of peaches in the school lunchbox, resulted in a peach cosy.






I'm not sure why I've never made one before! Totally fabulous. Keeps Lily's peach all perfect until fruit time. This will be equally fabulous through winter as an apple cosy too. I suspect I'll need to whip up a pear cosy though, as that's another favourite fruit that is doesn't lunchbox well.




I think it won't be long and every cool kid at her school will be wanting their mum to whip them up a fruit cosy. I mean, how could they not covet this cuteness?

I offered to knit her a sandwich cover cosy next, but I think she's worried about the jealousy this would cause her peers and said no. I can't say I wasn't a wee bit disappointed though...oh well, Toby starts kinder next year. I'm sure he'd love a set of lunchbox cosies.




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peachy keen

We've hit that time of year again where we are almost quite figuratively drowning in peaches. Despite windy weather and ill-timed heavy rains which I thought was going to destroy our crop, we have had a bumper peach season. So much so that I am considering becoming a professional peach farmer.. the peaches we grow are that damn good. Even the dude who delivers our organic fruit and veg box each week thought so when I gave him some. They are sensational.





So while I am wallowing in peachy goodness with "millions of peaches, peaches for me..." playing endlessly in my head I have been getting down with the peach preservation party. I've made peach cake, peach cobbler, dried peaches, stewed peaches, flat packed frozen peaches, peach sorbet, peach compote, peach jam, peach preserves, peach cordial, peach daiquri and some other peach drink I can remember the name of which was champers and yep, you guessed it, peaches!

We're eating peaches cut up every morning for breakfast with our yoghurt...yum yum!

I've given away a tonne of peaches and we're always eating them straight from the tree but I still have a date or two with the kitchen left for some chutney and more preserves and compote.


What's your favourite thing to do with peaches?
do you have any great ideas of what I can do with the last of the glorious peaches?


I think I can just about see the bottom of the last bucket... then I best pick the last of them from the tree!


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a wrap

Last night I was cruising through the back blocks of my blog in the vain hope that I'd blogged the recipe for peach sorbet from last summer. I hadn't. I had blogged some lovely beetroot relish and my very famous zucchini yoghurt carrot cake, but no peach sorbet.

I did, however, stumble across this post. A wrap up of what I'd knit in 2010 and my PLANS for what I was going to knit in 2011. Plans, I thought! I had plans! Who would have thought! Obviously, I  had forgotten completely about said plans, which is pretty understandable given that I am the type of person who deliberately avoids anything approaching routine or a plan. Just ask DK. If he ever asks me what time I'll be back, or what time will I be going to the shop or whatever, I always answer, "Time? You know I don't work on time."  He probably finds that pretty frustrating, hey.

Anyway, it was pretty fun to look back on and compare my 2010 to 2011. Apparently I knit less last year than I did in 2010.  17,788 yards knit last far in comparison with 18, 411 yards from 2010. I had hoped to knit 20,000 yards in 2011 but not to be.

My tally for projects in 2011 was a staggering 73!
14 dishcloths
13 cardigans
3 jumpers
6 vests
2 skirts
1 blanket
1 pot holder
2 dolls
16 items of dolls' clothing
11 hats
1 pair of socks
1 pair of leg warmers.

What was most interesting from this post was my knit list for 2011. It was, perhaps a little optimistic for one who doesn't do plans. You can probably guess how I went, but hey, let's assess it properly.

Here's the list:

so with that in mind my to knit list for 2011 is going to be a little indulgent, a little selfish and a little bit about ME! 

(well, as much as knitting from stash will allow it [yes, yes, I'm pretending that I'm attempting to knit from stash again this year... the joke's on me..yes, I know])

hmm, so what would I like to knit for ME? Browsing my Rav queue elicits these suggestions:

1. Whisper Cardigan by Hannah Fettig.
I've wanted to knit this cardigan EVER since it came out.  I even have the yarn to do so, some lovely Knittery Merino Lace.... it's just the prospect of balling over 1000 yards of lace weight yarn is a little daunting!!!
FAIL!  I did put the yarn in a project bag ready to be balled...but I'm guessing that didn't really count.


2. Kerrera by Gudrun Johnston
Another Cardigan I've had in my queue forever and also have the yarn for. I'm going to knit this in WOOLganics worsted. Just have to decide on the colour; Gondwana or Sangha. Hmm, perhaps the Gondwana and then I could use the Sangha for Gudrun's Shaldar
FAIL!  Did not even come close to knitting this. I do still love it, though!



3. a new winter hat, something slouchy and comfy. maybe Rose Red or ripely.
SUCCESS!!! I actually knit myself two winter hats... go me!!!


I knit meret

as well another one I'm still yet to share photos of.


4. some mitts, not really sure on contenders yet.
Any suggestions?
FAIL! I did start some Elizabeth Zimmermann mitts in some noro but admittedly they were for Lily, and they never got finished.

5. A little red cardigan; possibly lacy suitable for layering as well as over sundresses. maybe liesl
Ohh ohh, I nearly said a FAIL! BUT I DID knit a little red cardie, just not the liesl... but rather one of my own design... and one I haven't blogged yet either.

on the not so selfish front to the list needs to be added:

6. a school cardigan for Lily (Can't stand those horrible fading navy windcheater things that pass for school wear) Just need to find some navy organic yarn?? any suggestions??
Done!

7. A couple of skirt designs I'm already itching to get started on.
Partly done! I did knit two skirts, but both are the same design. I still have to knit the prototype for the second one.

8. A couple of tops that ditto, I want to whip into shape.
Honestly, I'm now not sure what these were..so I don't know whether I did knit them or not! perhaps not!

9. Design my first adult garment. I have two contenders here.
Yes! Success...but this garment (which is now in testing) was neither of the two contenders I was thinking at the time. Still working on those.

10. A beautiful pair of embellished longies with chart from watermellish for Toby. His last pair of longs probably!
FAIL! And truth be told, I doubt I'll knit another pair of longies until we have grandkids (OMG the thought!!) I suspect Toby might be a bit old for longies now... might have to embellish a jumper with that beautiful design I was considering.

and that is it. 


Most of all, Im pretty proud of the fact that I published 19 new patterns in 2011. WOW!
That's actually more patterns published last year than I'd previously published in total!

So what did you achieve in 2011?
Did you get your knit list done?

Is it just crazy to have such a list?
What's on yours for 2012?

dishcloth domination

I have this plan for 2012, it's not really a resolution but more a plan to get more people knitting.

More people knitting is always a good thing, I think. Knitting makes people calmer and happier and less likely to commit stab other objects, that may or may not be human. Well, that's what it does for me anyway.

So yep, that's my aim...more people knitting.
How am I going to do this?
Well, I have a little secret weapon in my arsenal. A little weapon that has proved successful so far.

That weapon is the humble knitted dishcloth.

Have you ever washed your dishes with a knitted cotton dishcloth?

They are the bomb! And seriously once you've been there, you won't go back.

I've started the last two years with a bit of a dish cloth knitting blitz.

Last year I gave a couple to my older sister. She love love loved them. And guess what? She's now knitting them and passing them on to her friends.  I knit them regularly for my other sister.  She's too lazy to knit her own. Well, she's not really. She just knows I will knit them for her. 

I gave one to a friend the other day, and guess what she love love loves them. I suspect she will knit herself some. I've given one to my MIL as well.  The seeds are being planted...

So this got me thinking.  Dishcloth domination.

Get.People.Knitting.Through.Dishclothes. 

I think most people who don't knit or can knit a wee bit, would look at a dishcloth and say, "I could knit that."  And they could! These things whip up in such a short time, you know.

So my plan is to gift two dishcloths per month for 2012 to susceptible targets.

I have my non-knitting sister in my sights next. She has coveted the dishcloths (which were really facecloths) that I knit my Mum.  I'm going to send her a couple...but I'm going to include a ball of cotton with them and the pattern. Subtle. She will be putty in my hand.

You know how the rest goes from there.... knit a few dishcloths then perhaps decide you want to try something bigger.... and then before you know it, you're a knitter. woot!

So that's my plan. Do you want to join me in my dishcloth domination?
Please do!! It will be fun. We can share our conquests.

Or perhaps as a non-knitter or beginner knitter you're feeling the need to knit a dishcloth?
Well, here's my pattern of choice. Grandmother's Favourite

My favorite yarn for knitting dishcloths is Lily Sugar and Cream, but any hardy 100% cotton will do the trick. I'm pretty sure I've seen something at Spotlight, but if not you can buy it online at yarn over



P.S. sorry about the lack of recent blog love.