And This Is Why....

I need a sewing room.  Or at least somewhere to leave my machines set up in a more permenant fashion.

This is my current sewing set-up which is on the dining table.  No wonder I never get any sewing done.  By the time I get the kids to bed and then get this lot set up it's almost bed time.  I did manage to almost finish the sweatshirt for Mr A the other night though so that's something I guess.

A Weekend of Education, Inspiration and Yarn

Last week I was lucky enough to be able to attend two fabulous knitting workshops.  Although I have been knitting for pretty much as long as I can remember I have never actually taken any knitting classes or attended any workshops, so when I found out several weeks ago that Morag of Vintage Purls was coming to my wonderful LYS to teach for a weekend I decided to jump at the chance.  There were two 3-hour workshops on offer.  On the Saturday was "It's a Wrap" a class on designing different styles and shapes of wraps and shawls, and on the Sunday was "Make it Fit" a class on how to actually knit clothing items to fit!  After much indecision I finally booked in for the Saturday workshop, predominantly due to a couple of very special projects I have in the planning.  You will not believe how excited I was when I was offered a paid place at the Sunday workshop as a RAOK.  Wow!  A huge thank you to all those involved in that, it was AWESOME!

The saturday workshop saw us all gathered at HRYC talking about all things shawls and how to make them.  I really enjoyed so many aspects of this workshop and came away with my head swimming with ideas.  I am now going to be trawling second hand shops and trademe for old knitting stitch dictionaries and pulling out the graph paper for some design work in the near future :-)  Stay tuned on that one.
Sunday I went along armed with my tape measure and a couple of patterns that were on my 'to-knit' list for me :-)  I have had a few different patterns in mind for some time and have just been waiting to get a couple of other projects off the needles and done first.  Well I must say that I left this workshop looking at things entirely differently and with all the above patterns pushed a lot further down said list.  After a lot of discussion on fit and taking of measurements it soon became apparent that I am not actually the size I thought I was and had I forged ahead I probably would have ended up disappointed and with several ill-fitting final garments.  Since Sunday I have spent a lot of time trawling through patterns on Ravelry, thinking and dreaming about some of the new patterns I have found (or older ones I have rediscovered) and itching to cast on.  Once I have knitted a couple of the garments I have in mind I think I may even get confident enough to regauge and resize some of my initial favourites to actually fit me :-)
So there we go, a weekend of inspiration and education, both in rather large helpings!  But what about the YARN.  I may or may not have finished the weekend with a couple of lots of yarn to turn into things for me.  Morag brought a fabulous selection of her Vintage Purls yarn with her to tempt us in both Sock (4ply) and Max (8ply) and, well, I didn't take all that much convincing.

Vintage Purls Sock

Vintage Purls Max

At the moment I am thinking the Sock will probably turn into an Elphaba sweater, and the Max into an Avril in April.

Avril in April

Elphaba

So thanks Tash and Morag for a fantastic weekend :-)

FO: Greyson

I know things have been a bit quiet here but that's not because I haven't been crafting it's just because a lot of my crafting of late has been of the super secret squirrel variety and I'm not allowed to share just yet :-)  I have been lucky enough to do two super secret test knits so fat this year and I have another one on the needles at the moment but once that is done I have a nice long list of wee quick projects to fire off and get things moving again.
Anyway as usual I digress completely from the point of this post.  In amongst all the super secret squirrel testing I have also had the opportunity to test this gorgeous new boys jersey pattern from the ever talented Julia Stanfield.  Julia's ability to get classic and practical designs just right is amazing.  This latest design is for a classic unisex v-necked jersey which was exactly what I had been looking for to knit for Mr A in some yarn I had stashed away here.  As with all of Julia's designs this is a top-down seamless knit and it is super quick to knit up even in the larger sizes.  It will be available in several yarn weights and from nb to 10y so again a great value pattern.
Here is my version of Geryson knitted in Three Irish Girls worsted weight yarn in colourway Aiden.  Anyone who knows me will also know that I really don't do lime green so I struggled a bit knitting this up but I must admit I like the colourway now.  Also the yarn did some pretty funky pooling things on the sleeves but that's ok.

For the bands and sleeves I used Spud & Chloe Sweater in a lovely dark chocolate brown.  I now know why people rave about this yarn it is so scrummy to work with.

Because Mr A is still pretty teeny for his age and is only 21.5 inch chest I did the 22 inch chest size (which is a size 3) and did size 4 length in the body and sleeves.  This turned out to be a perfect fit on him, nice and slim through the body so it works well under a fleece on the cold morning walks to school.
The day I finished this we all went to the Pauahatanui Wildlife Reserve so I took the opportunity to snap a few pics even though the jersey wasn't blocked at that stage.

Here are a couple more pictures after I blocked it, it did grow a little in length of body and sleeves and the fit is fantastic after blocking.

Best of all though is that he loves it.  The TIG yarn has washed up so lovely and soft, my only problem now is getting it off him long enough to wash it.  I can see this will become my go to pattern for Mr A over the next few winter's.  Once again well done Julia on another awesome pattern.

PIF Results

I know this post is long overdue but I have been ill all week and haven't had any computer time at all.  Well that's not strictly true I did manage to actually do the random.org draw on Tuesday but haven't been online to blog since then.
Anyway enough about that and there is no need to chat about the weather since it has been pretty diabolical here of late, so without further ado I can tell you that random.org picked comment number 6!!

This means the pattern will be winging it's way (in just a couple of minutes) to Shortly as requested by Hoeanz via the information superhighway :-)

I hope everyone is staying safe, warm and healthy!

Entangled - A Chance to PIF

So the other day I was browsing Facebook, as you do, and I spotted a link posted by the lovely pattern designer Just Jussi.  This link caught my eye as it was about a local fibrecraft magazine called Entangled.  Now I have come across the name before but I must admit I have never really bothered to go out of my way and take a look at it, as in general I'm not much of a magazine reader.  This day however I had a bit of time while Miss M was having a sleep and I was enjoying a cup of tea and the peace and quiet.
The actual link posted was to a fundraising page aiming to make Entangled bigger and better than ever and the more I read the more I liked :-)  I downloaded the free preview issue and was really impressed with both the layout, all the pretty pictures and also the actual content.
So what is Entangled?  Stolen from Zinio, "Each issue of entangled features an indepth view of fibrecraft and those who participate. We seek to inspire and inform crafters who craft because they love the process, those who craft as a means to an end, those who craft because they feel they have to, and everyone in-between."  Okay so maybe this is a mag for me after all?  
I decided to 'support' the efforts of this magazine and bought a one-year subscription and with it was gifted a free pattern for the gorgeous NZ themed mittens "Tiki Mittens".

I have been lucky enough to have already been gifted a copy of this pattern previously and have been told I can pass this copy on, so I felt a bit of paying-it-forward was in order.


If you would like this copy of the gorgeous Tiki Mittens pattern just leave a comment on this post, if you have a favorite magazine or book (crafting or otherwise) that you enjoy I would love to hear about it but it's not necessary, and please make sure you leave details of how I can get hold of you.  I will use random.org to draw a winner on 12th June at 8pm NZ time :-)

A Well Earned Treat

Yesterday this got delivered to our house.

That is 4 m3 of pine sitting in a pile at the end of our drive making it pretty near impossible to get the car out of the garage.  So this morning we set about stacking it and by morning tea time we had it all put away and the general mess cleaned up, woohoo.  Many hands make light work and with all of us pitching in (even the cat came to inspect the handiwork) it was done a lot quicker than expected.
As a special treat to ourselves for doing so well we decided to give Miss M an early sleep and head to one of our favorite local cafe's for lunch out.  We don't eat out all that often so it was just lovely.
Miss M and Daddy enjoyed a nice warming growl of French Onion Soup, although I'm not sure Daddy actually got very much of it.

Mr A had a 'very yummy' sandwich.

And I had a super scrummy Vol Auvent

And best of all check out the awesome dragon picture they put on my coffee :-)

FO: Katniss (and a top)

I have been really lucky lately to have the chance to test knit a few patterns for a very talented designer and friend, Julia Stanfield.  One of these tests is a super cooper secret squirrel affair that I will reveal later when I am able, one is still on the needles, and the third is this super cute wee tunic with cable detailing.  When I saw Julia's prototype of this design I fell in love with it and I am so pleased I have had the chance to knit one up for Miss M.  Tunics are all 'in' this winter and this is so cute and girly without being over the top.
So here is my version of Katniss.

The tunic is top down and seamless with pockets knitted sideways at the end and stitched on.  I love the way the cable detail is carried through from the hood and raglan to the edge of the pockets.

Miss M is currently about 19.5 inches in the chest and I knit the 20 inch size which is perfect on her with a long sleeved top underneath.  The tunic is A-lined which is perfect for wee ones with cloth bums to fit underneath it and as you can see here even with jeans underneath there are no weird bumps and bulges anywhere :-)
I went a bit mad getting photos of this because I love it so much but here goes.

Now I really mustn't forget to absolutely gush about the yarn that this is knitted in.  It is Olive & Emma hand dyed yarn which I had customer dyed specifically for this project in a colourway that Emma named 'Roses for Meg'.  Isn't it just fabulous and it is oh so soft and scrummy too.  I got the 20 inch size out of 200g of 8ply as well so now I have an extra skein to decide what to do with :-)

And while I am here I will just quickly add that I made the wee white top Miss M is wearing under the tunic as well.  I actually sewed this a few weeks ago but never got around to putting the snap at the back of the neck (typical for me really).  Once again it is an ottobre pattern (4/2007, design 6) and is a simple wee long sleeved tee with binding at the neck and sleeve edges,  a keyhole at the back and snap closure.  I made this out of some nice thick white cotton lycra I had in stash.

Here are a couple of fairly rubbish shots where you can actually see the top.

I'm not 100% happy with the way it sits at the back of the neck, I should have crossed the snap over a little more but it seems warm and comfy which is the main thing.  Now I just need to find time to make more.