All is not lost.

I love spinning and making my own yarn but sometimes it would be so nice to go to a LYS and be inspired by the fibre. I only recently figured out what the acronym stands for, but I think it also means more than the “yarn store down the road”- I have a hunch that it also conveys a feeling- “the yarn store down the road where I could spend hours squeezing the loosely wound hanks of yarn and fondling the needles, and no one would make you feel bad if you were a little hesitant in buying 7 balls of wool at once when you had a feeling you would only need 5 so you bought 7 and now you can’t find the receipt to take back the 2 you didn’t use.” Yes it did happen and no I’m not bitter. Well maybe a little. Anywhoo.

After a spurt of industrious studying this morning the interwebs sucked me into a yarn finding vortex, and I thought I’d share the (suprising) goodness I found 1) for prosterity, 2) in case you NZers are interested and 3) so you US bunnies can see that although I’m trying very hard to kid myself, (and succeeding somewhat) what we have will never compare to your LYS (I imagine a wharehouse sized spaced filled to the gunnels with every. imaginable. skein. Sigh.)

In Nelson (I think at the art place near the freezing works?)

Yarn Traders -I am going to check this one out in a few short days.

Online yarn store (boasting Debbie Bliss and Noro) The Yarn Studio

The Wool Company which seems to have roving at a very good price too.

And very excitingly- close to home for me-

The Loop Knittery (not really sure what this one is- maybe a real shop maybe an online one, anyway they claim to be in.my.suburb so on my next walk with Pedro I will take a different route and keep my eyes peeled!) I’ve joined their mailing list and I think they have knit-togethers so maybe this will be a good opportunity to fondle some yarn and meet new people?!

And The Tin Shed which is about a 1 hour drive from here (via Ashburton the home of Ashford) so I’m sensing a road trip in my future.

Righto- funny how 15 minutes can turn into an hour- back to the study. Last exam tommorow woohoo!

The Man Scarf

I’ve been bugging Michael for a while to let me knit him a scarf, but he’s been protesting it’s a bit girly. (Girly as in being snug and toasty? I don’t get it.)  Somehow the other night I got him to cave and agree to a plain dark coloured scarf with square cables up the front. Square cables? Do they exist? I was all set to head off to the library when I spied the psychadelic wool I dyed in Michael’s favourite colour- Venom Green (yes, venom is a particular shade of green and I think I captured it rather well. Actually venom green is just in reference to any shade of green in our home, but I honestly think it doesn’t come much more venomy than this!)

I spun it up (what a dream- I think it was the softest, butteriest merino ever) and plied it with some of the “fine romney” that came in the extreme fibre haul a few weeks back. Both of these I spun much thicker, with less twist, than I would normally have and I ended up with a light, lofty yarn, really rather nice. It passed the approval police and I’ve started knitting it into a rather lovely man scarf, which I think could go either way.

I really like how the sublte colour changes pop with the dark romney and give the impression of horizontal stripes.

The pattern is ingenious, one I’ve had in the back of my mind for about a year now, and I memorised it after only two repeats (hey- its only two lines!). When you read it is seems a bit tricky but when you settle down and get into it with real life yarn and needles is a breeze. Give it a whirl- I think I’m going to to try and turn it into a hat sometime soon.

Flight of the Butterflies

We had an unseasonably warm day today, in between two cold fronts which are moving up the country. (Snow is forecast for tuesday!)

At our local park this afternoon we came across some Monarch Butterflies up in the trees. Nothing like in these photos, but still pretty cool.

They look a bit like autumn leaves, except in an evergreen tree!

My new toy.

Yeah my old camera so couldn’t do this.

Or this.

 

Or take snap second photos like this

They all ended up like this

(The dog was in the shot when it was composed. Other than that it’s a rather nice photo of our couch.)

I would say I’ve taken more good photos of Pedro in the 3 hours I’ve had the camera than his whole life but I’ve got 279 photos of him or parts of him or the couch! You really are getting the shorted version over at Picasa Web Albums.

I can also take a photo of the tv screen from across the room. If the need arises.

Not really sure why we have daffodils in the middle of winter, but it gives me something to try my ubermacro (3cm baby!) out on.

Have a lovely weekend all!

How not to study for your impending Biochemistry exam.

1) Take 2 short lengths of white wool.

2) Thoroughly wet with water and 2/3 cup of vinegar in a pot over the lowest heat setting on the stovetop.

3) Using an eye dropper, place spots of colour on the wool. Press slightly with the back of a spoon. Wait till the wool has absorbed the colour. Repeat as desired.

4) Let the wool come up to a gentle simmer. Remember to keep agitation to a minimum if you plan on doing something with this wool- felting is not what we’re after!

(I am not burning this wool- it’s just steam!)

5) Rinse in cool water till water runs clear. Hang up in the shower to drain, then dry.

Voila!

Photos

I spent some quality time uploading some photos to picasa web albums this afternoon. You can check them out here if you’re interested, most of them are already up on here but there’s a few more of Pedro and a cute one of a snail.

I flirted with the idea of using flickr, but decided since I use Picasa anyway I might as well keep it in the family. I quite like google- is anyone else out there using Picasa?

I made a carrot cake this afternoon and am off to the first of hopefully many crafty get-togethers this evening. 

I ordered my new camera yesterday and it’s due to arrive Saturday, I can’t wait!!

Tutti Frutti

On my Ashford Traveller.

Feeling the Love

This morning when we checked the mail there was a rather exciting looking package in the back of the box. (How the postie gets it there is beyond me as it’s behind a hedge and fence. Anyhoo.)

Thankyou Carolyn!

A super cute wee knitted (and felted?) bag, with a handful of beautiful vintage buttons. Will be saved for a special project or two I’m sure! The bag has a cute wee piece of ribbon around the top of the inside, with a tab of the same ribbon on the edge- a lovely finishing touch.

Also entering our home and tripling my fibre stash was a carload of goodies from my good friend Penny’s Mum (Penny only drives a mini!) Nicola is an avid crafter and has recently started supplying a NZ shop with the beautiful skirts she makes from new and recycled fabrics. As a result she has decided that  she’s moving away from the fibre side of her crafting and has given me a whole heap of fibre, yarn and books!

 

Books and magazines including Spin-off and Interweave Knitting.

Fine Romney and some unidentified white fibre in the bottom of the bag.

A whole stack of this wool…maybe enough for a mens jersey, or I see farm socks in all my male relatives Christmassy futures!

And the super jackpot- An easy chair full of mohair blend wool in “tutti fruity”, “paua” and a colour I’m going to call “midnight”.

True to form I found an empty bobbin and started spinning “tutti fruity” right away. No idea what it will end up as- apart from yarn- at this stage! I’m not sure I really like it but I know that as you spin and then ply a fibre it changes dramatically so I’m going to persevere. It might be fine enough for a lace shawl, especially if I use larger needles- so might flirt with that idea a little more.

Also, am about to order this. Here’s hoping the photography will start to improve!

The FO Files

Turning a $2 size XL men’s (pure wool) jersey into yarn.

After a brief foray into dying with drink mix I ditched it for the hard stuff- food colouring! I didn’t have a big enough pot so I used this plastic bucket in the electric frying pan. Not really the smartest idea considering plastic is an insulator. Hmm.

So I put the red food colouring in the bottom, added the wool and put the yellow on top. After getting fed up with it not really heating up (um, duh) I poured a few jugfuls of boiling water it and hey presto the wool sucked up all the colour.

It looks really good in the bath, but the colour is slightly muted when dry. Not pastelly though.

After it was dry I wound it into 3 of the biggest balls of wool I have ever seen.

Yes, it took me over 2 hours to untangle this particular knot.

And then, I did NOTHING with it! (Well, not true, I cast on and knit 3/4 of a Clapotis, but I don’t really like it and it’s not really my colour.) So I might as well have done actually nothing.

Maybe one day I will knit it up and felt it into a floor mat/carpet. Or make some more socks- My toes are awful cold in the chilly Christchurch weather.

The FO Files

Mum had some angora carded with “wool” last year. She still has a huge bagful! I spun some and knit this vest from it. It is very soft. Looking back on it I spun it so fine!

Believe it or not, I knit it based on this pattern! The lace pattern is from a Spin Off magazine- not sure what issue. I think I have it written somewhere if anyone wants it, let me know. At the time I wanted to do cables but was daunted by them, so I went with lace that looks like cables. Nifty trick eh.

The first photo is more colour true- but I found that with the flash on I couldn’t get an accurate picture of the lace pattern.

It didn’t fit me, so I gave it to my sister. It still fits her and she assures me she likes it, but she can’t wear it because it leaves fluff all over everything! I’m not sure if there are any cures for this? When she grows out of I will snaffle it back and put it away until I can foist it upon some offspring!