Welcome to the transfer desk.
This blog will no longer be active…in fact very soon I will try to see if I can get it deleted.
If you are interested in checking out my somewhat cinky posts then head to my new ‘home’
knit.so.quaint
It struck me tonight why I haven’t really been blogging much.
Cringe……I don’t actually like my blog. I don’t like the format of it since wordpress did the overhaul a while back. So I simply don’t want to visit here.
I’m seriously considering making a break from here. Starting fresh elsewhere. With a new name, a new look. To inspire me, and therefore hopefully help inspire you?
I feel like such a traitor writing this. Like the wordpress trolls will come and track me down….LMAO
But I think a new start elsewhere will do me good!
Watch this space…………………………….
It has been a month since I posted…by golly where did that time go?!?
I’s been bussssssssy.
Working on something eeeeeexciting.
Reeeeeeally exciting!
My first ‘real’ (by real I mean, orginal and actually useful LOL) pattern has gone up on Ravelry!
I want to devote a whole post to that (which I plan to do this evening).
But what have I been up to the last month? Well apart from living at the darn computer trying to sort the pattern (and answer emails/messages about it etc), and keep the house running, I have been knitting (like I would be doing anything else 
)
Firstly I knit a cute pair of newborn longies. NB longies are my ’satisfaction’ project. They are so cute and dinky, and knit up nice and quickly. I have also come across my favourite way to put together NB sized ones by combining 3 different patterns.
I like to knit in 8ply (not too hot for a babe then), so start with the stitch count for the newborn Pimp My Longies pattern http://pimpmylongies.wordpress.com/longies-pattern/ but follow the Curly Purly pattern http://www.curlypurly.com/soaker.html for the waistband (medium curly purly stitch count corresponds with the nb PML stitch count). Once the full waistband has been created I like to switch to a straight leg, no gusset crotch (no kitchener then!). My personal opinion is that gussets look cute on newborns, but they are not needed (anything to get around doing kitchener LOL).
And here are the wee longies – destined for Koha (as they wont be used in our ‘no more babies’ house)
Knit out of WOOLganic Kundalini for the trim and Monsoon Designs OM-LI in Fairyland. Only 55g of yarn 
And the last thing worthy of blogging is a wee test knit I did last week.
CraftyWeeWifey http://craftyweewifey.wordpress.com/ is currently working on a wee cardy pattern. I believe it will be called ‘Spring Butterfly’, and is going to be a free pattern up on Ravelry (where she goes by the same username) in a size 1. She is considering sorting out smaller and larger sizes, but once this is done they will be available for a small fee
And opened out…doesn’t it look like a butterfly:
The picot sleeve caps:
And butterfly/Reverse SS detailing on back
Knit in BWM Classic 8ply, which I dyed myself (the overdyeing adventure featured a couple of posts ago).
This pattern seems to have been very well received by those that have seen it, so I think Rachel is on to a winner
I’ve got sunshine…and it’s sitting on my head 
The yellow wool that I dyed in the previous post has now been turned into my first completed ‘Selfish Knitting’ project for the year
Traditionally, I am not a hat wearer – I had somehow got into my head that I just wasn’t a hat person. Of late, I had been admiring hats all around Ravelry and thought I should really give them a go again……and I’m so pleased I have! I have since discovered I am a ‘hat on with hair down’ girl…….not to be confused with a ‘hat on with hair tucked away’ girl. If I wear hats without hair framing my face I simply look like a Chemo patient….so best not to tempt fate and frame my face with hair
But anyway….here is the hat
And the wee spiral the pattern makes on top of the hat
Just to remind you – the pattern is by StitchyMama, and is available here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/top-down-pinwheel-beanie for $8 – but this cost includes not only the beanie pattern from NB – adult, but the Sunhat pattern too! Great value
Firstly, let me apologise for my long absence! It has been ages since I posted. I have been busy though….just not quite ready to share what I have been busy on until it is all finished
In the meantime I want to share what I have been doing as a bit of downtime (after being swamped and suffocated by the above ’secret’ project). Tuesday night I decided to get some of the hand-dyed yarn out that I had lost the love for. Don’t get me wrong…it was all lovely stuff, but I didn’t feel compelled to knit any of it 
I decided it needed a freshen up, so a salvage mission was implemented
Here are the four yarns prior to dyeing:
And after being ‘rescued’ this is what I ended up with (in the same order):
Yummy yumminess!
I couldn’t resist temptation, and as I am going through a ‘yellow’ phase at the moment, last night I cast on for something for me in the yellow. It is a hat made from StitchyMama’s Pinwheel Beanie pattern (pattern which I was lucky enough to test knit for her…that and her pinwheel sunhat pattern). You can find the gorgeously simple patterns here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/stitchymama-ravelry-shop
How about you take a look at your yarn stash, and if there is anything anythere that no longer sings sweetly to you, then toss it in a dye bath and give it a fresh new lease of life
Have just home from a quick trip back home to NZ. It was a very short trip, but obviously there was time for knitting Is there never not time for knitting?!?
A couple of weeks back my friend Shortly http://shortly24.wordpress.com/ was setting off on a summer holiday, and she commented that the most important thing for her was deciding what knitting to take along….boy was she right!
I ended up taking along a top for me, some socks for my Mum, and some extra yarn…just in case.
The top (which I still haven’t nabbed a progress pic of) is a combination of Wicked (by Zephyr Style) and Lily (by Marnie Maclean [sp] as featured in Twist Collective). I have just finished 100g of yarn
The socks – well they are done! I used a pattern that Shortly recommended…it was for really plain socks in 5ply. The pattern is called ‘Sell Your Sole Socks’….not my most favourite name, but the pattern is good for about a womens 8 shoe size….too small for me I’m afraid!
They were knit out of Monsoon Design Twisty Sock in Persephone. I really like the yarn – nothing flash, but nice, and I adore the colourway…yummo!
Here is my youngest sister modelling the socks (Miss 13yrs old with size 9 feet already!)
They are not perfect, but pretty cool for my first pair of adult socks
I also managed to get one Triangle Patch done for a friends blanket that she is gifting to her Dad. Sharry is doing a blanket using her own pattern http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/triangle-patch-blanket and asked if anyone could knit a few extra patches to help her make the blankie bigger I plan to hopefully get a dozen or so done. Each patch only takes an hour at most, so nice and quick
And thats all the knitting I managed while I was away.
At the moment I am working on the Wicked Lily (well I’m not actually – my littlest kidlet is sick, so we will be snuggling all day today I think….snuggling in 34degrees….), and will get started on things for others so that Karma fairy isn’t nibbling at my toes First up, a string bag, followed by yet another rainbow dress, and then a pinwheel cardy
….my butt!
On TNN I have joined a thread called ‘Selfish Knitters club 2009″. This year I really want to devote a lot more time to knitting to myself, however upon consideration – I don’t think I can realistically do only knitting for me, for the sheer fact that things need to be balanced, otherwise you’ll get bit in the butt.
So my plan is to make knitting I want to do a priority, then each month I have one ’slot’ open to do things for others that either can’t knit, or simply don’t have the time to knit, and then I squeeze my gift knitting in around those two things. This will work well for me I think, as it will force me to plan a bit better for gifts throughout the year – I am terrible at saying ‘ooh I need something for X next week…what can I do?’ and I stress myself out overthinking it all. sigh, LOL
I am currently knitting a gift, but it is something I really want to knit (adult socks). In the past few days I have also started a couple of other things, and since frogged them
Started doing a blanket square for a swap I am part of, but didn’t both to measure (it needs to be 20×20cm), and it is closer to 25cm. sigh
And I also started to knit up some socks for meeeee using yarn swap yarn from knewbieknitter http://knewbieknitter.wordpress.com/ but once I had done a few inches I checked and they were too big – that will teach me for just diving on in! It was in 4ply on DPNs (Which I am very slow on – much quicker doing magic loop, but I don’t have any long circulars the right size), and was self striping yarn so was looking VERY cool. Here is what I had done modelled on my forearm. I did a wee bit more of this before trying on for size
rats.
So that has gone away until I am ready to play again!
I stilllll haven’t blogged about what I sent and received in Yarn Swap V2. I’m rather slack! I will do it at some stage, but for now I am going to blog about one of my swaps for this round.
This time I signed up for two swaps, but have ended up receiving 2 and sending 3 (due to a family death and someone needing to pull out – poor chook).
I have ‘finalised’ 2 of them over the weekend, and one is actually complete.
The theme is ‘Prayer in a Garden’ which is a poem by Eva Sparks Taylor.
Prayer in a GardenToday the world seemed cruel, but evening hours
Were filled with perfume from forgotten flowers.
I saw again familiar filigree
Of moonlight through my lacy Lilac tree;
I heard the robins stirring in their nest;
And saw the path that fairy feet had pressed;
Reflected stars were in my garden pool;
On my warm face the breeze was kind and cool.
The silence seemed to speak, my head was bowed,
Then ramblers that had grown into a cloud
Lifted my eyes that, tear-washed, now could see
The beauty that today was lost to me.
Dear god, who is so near to flowers, and birds,
Be nearer still, as I shall search for words
To thank Thee for the blessings night revealed,
Which through the day discouragement concealed.
The yarn is 12ply yarn, dyed in the colours you might find in your garden at night. Basically this is every colour of the rainbow, but all the colours are quite dark and deep, which is how they would appear in the dusk or by moonlight
The pattern will be a longies pattern – Ladybug Loops (garden critter reference) which is a pattern for 8ply/10ply and 12ply. It is a pay pattern so will also act as my gift.
And the paperwork is the poem. If I’m feeling up to it I may knit a wee something to go with the gift – perhaps a dishcloth with a flower on it to tie in with the theme?
This yarn shouldn’t pool.
It’s not really ‘me’, but the person it is for has said they like bright, bold colours.
I’m a part of a group on Ravelry that has some very talented knitters/pattern designers/dyers.
One of the lovely ladies in this group came up with a wee dress pattern for her Miss-nearly-2yrs to wear on Christmas day, and asked for test knitters to try it out for her. My needles were pretty much empty, so I asked to have a crack.
The pattern is called the ‘Cadence Rose Sundress’. It is a crossfront bodice with garterstitch trim, attached to a full skirt featuring fern lace. The dress is knit in DK weight yarn.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cadence-rose-sundress
This is knit out of Treliske Organic Merino DK (which was a koha from the lovely Jody last year), and the trim is a 4ply that I hand-dyed. The tunic used a total of 120g of the Treliske, and 20g of the contrast.
I have decided to call my version of this, the Cadence Rose Winter Tunic, as firstly I knit it tunic (or top) length instead of dress length, and secondly – the yarn is not DK weight. The ball band calls it DK, but the gauge they provide is 20sts/10cm on 4mm needles. Ummmm…not quite! And when I knit it up on 4.5mm, it still gave me an incredibly dense fabric, so personally I thnk this is more of a worsted weight yarn. Hence this is a little thick for summer wear, and I will be gifting it on to someone who lives in a place a little cooler than we do ROFL!
Here is a close up of the lace:
I love the chocolate brown organza ribbon!
Oh, and see the big mistake after the first lace repeat
And here is a piccy of the bodice, you can see the wee embellishment I added – it is called “Just a Leaf” by Hinze, and will be my ‘go to’ embellishment I think! http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/just-a-leaf
BTW – the pattern for this gorgeous wee thing will be released sometime this month (all going to plan)…so keep an eye out on Ravelry for it
Now before I run away for tonight – here is a peek at what I have been knitting:
That is ‘Persephone’, a 5ply sock yarn from Monsoon Design in Darwin. Yummy yumminess. 32g of the yarn has just been knit into my first adult sock yesterday/today…just one more sock to go, then I’ll have a matching pair to gift (I know, I know – I talked about selfish knitting! These were going to be for me but are too small, so I will gift them!)
……..Promise my next pair of socks will fit
In my last post I mentioned a dress I was making for a wee friend in Christchurch. As promised it was finished that day…….her Mum has seen pictures and is happy, so I can share here
Morgan is a wee cutie similar in age to my Leo – about 15months. She needed a dress and hat for Winter that she can wear on school drop-offs (she has a big school kid sister). I went through my stash to find yarn suitable for such an outfit and sent pictures to M’s Mum, and she picked a lovely purple combination
Patons Merino Totem contrast with The Yarn Cafe 4BF http://www.theyarncafe.com.au/store/Default.asp, in the colourway “Rinn” (which is gorgeous deep purple, light khaki, and silver). I was pleased, as this was what I really wanted to knit it up in…..her Mum must have good taste
So I started the dress on December 10th, and Cast off on the 28th
(why can I never find the pictures I want to use on my computer…)
Using the Rainbow Dress pattern (as seemingly that is the only dress pattern I seem to know how to use one would think…its all I seem to knit!)
And I started the hat (using the Fae Folk Hat pattern by Sweet Mama Small Sugar) on Boxing Day…cast off the next
Oooh, found the picture I did want…lol!
I did make some mods to the pattern (just teency ones) that will become my standard mods now. Instead of dividing the neckline evenly into 4, I made the front and back sections slightly less than the ’straps’. This is because I personally feel it is a design flaw to have the straps tugging around from under the arms, and the straps almost hanging off the shoulders (as most of these rainbow dresses do). So narrower chest, but add more stitches under the arms
And that’s me for today. I am currently working on a test knit for a lady on Ravelry – another wee dress/tunic, and should be finished that soon. And now I need to decide what to knit next. It should be something for Amelia’s birthday, but I can’t decide exactly what. I think the problem is I have a couple of pattern ideas floating about in my head, but not the proper yarn to thrash them out upon…so they keep tormenting me ROFL. For the sake of my sanity I may need to let them out of my noggin, just so I can breathe again……
