My knitting history

Bold the stuff you’ve done, italicize the ones you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff I’m not planning on doing/don’t know what it is yet.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting: knitting items on, or to be left on the street
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (love)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
Knitting to make money (or yarn)
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Household items: dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…
knitting socks- or other small tubular items- on two circulars
Dyeing with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

Crafting with determination!

Finished today! Made completely on the over locker it took about 30 min to whip up from design to cutting to sewing. The fabric really looks it's best when it has a lighter fabric underneath. Made this because I realise I need more exciting shirts that I can layer with. I love how ethereal this fabric is.

What to make with scraps of silk? These pieces of silk are too special to throw away :) I'm making a small purse with silk flowers on the outside. It'll be a riot of colour!

Cast off my machine knitting project, think I will make it into leg warmers. Really feel like experimenting with the possibilities of the machine and seeing what weird and wonderful designs I can come up with.

Starting to make Christmas gifts already... All secret till after xmas however! Wish I could share them. Although most will be home brew! Have to start saving some from each batch now... the current beer is still blooping, which doesn't seem right... Hoping to bottle it soon but don't want exploding bottles...

Weekend! Looking forward to spending some time with Oscar and my parents, busking, bottling, baking, etc...

Going to make beetroot and chickpea hummus again soon.. And Oscar bought duck eggs, would love to see what we can make with them.

Oh yes!

We went to see Sirocco the Kakapo!

Here is the one photo I managed to get of him that is any good. We couldn't use flash photography (which I hate anyway) because it would hurt his eyes. There was a special sort of lighting that he could withstand (being a nocturnal bird) that made for good viewing but not photos. Anyway, he was amazing! The way he moved! He climbs very well with his beak and large gripping claws. He was very curious about his visitors, what a delight to see him!

We got the chance to feel some of his feathers which they had collected, so very soft and light. The ends were strong and sturdy and the inner part soft, fluffy and downy. Very warm! They smelt like pine needles. They even had a sample of his poo! Which smelt like, well earthy stuff. Not a bad smell though. I envy the guy who gets to take care of him. He was of course behind a perspex screen.

Glad I got the chance to see him :) Probably the only chance I'll get unless I go and volunteer at Codfish island. Which I may do, it does sound good.

Okie doke then, have a good weekend!

N
 

Knitting and spinning

 It's October! My favourite month because of the lovely weather and my birthday :)

I haven't made much this last week, I haven't really felt like sewing much and knitting doesn't seem to get a look in either! I'm sort of stuck between projects with sewing and at a lull with knitting. One project is a bit of a hassle, one is too easy and therefore boring and another I've lost track of where I am in the pattern. I have a great longing to do knitting though, which is crazy! I did made this little coaster a week ago though. I searched for something interesting and this one caught my eye. Probably because it has fun surface stitching. I love it when crochet defies the rules that knitting so often follows. I love crocheting something that is 3D or you have to turn things around strangely. It often confuses me to despair, but there are always good diagrams or tutorials around to help. I'm going to make more of these. Not because I like coasters but because our landlady likes us to use place mats or something under our plates. So this is my cheerful solution!

I've been doing a lot of spinning in preparation for this lovely jumper:

It's from this book:

  

Really exciting and original projects in this book! The jumper is constructed by starting in the round at the cuff and knitting up the sleeve, then increases in a circular fashion to make front and backs. You knit two of these to make two shapes that look a bit like elephant heads, then you seam them together at the back. That's the only sewing up that you have to do! Brilliant!

The yarn I'm spinning is more of that lovely soft, lofty perendale fleece. I've spun four skeins up and plan to use up the rest of the fleece I have so I'll have enough. I'm waiting till I've spun all my wool before I dye it. That way I can be more sure that the colours similar enough to each other so I can knit continuously.

The yarn is pretty straight forward. Spun one way at a medium thickness and the plied the other way with a thinner strand, spun as I go. It's kind of kinked so will have a nice texture I think. Once this wool is all spun I think I'll do more with other fleece, spinning is so relaxing but at the same time, it's like the fleece is begging me to spin it up into yarn to be used!

We're off to see a Kakapo tonight! Exciting as I never thought I would get the chance to see one :) I'm also after some magic cards this evening, looking for legendary creatures to make a new EDH deck with. Then Saturday it's bottling beer and busking. Hoping that we'll do better then last time, last time we barely made 4 dollars each! It seems that people who go to the farmers market are a bit stingy, but we also had a fair amount of competition from other buskers.

N

Little projects

As I write this blog post I'm eating these freshly baked kiwi biscuits, which have oats and coffee in them. YUM! I'll make these again I think, although the instant coffee should really be ground up first they're a bit bitter in little bits.

This week has been full of little projects, satisfying and a bit different to what I usually do.

Spring onions sprouting from shop bought stalks

Tulips are popping up everywhere in the garden

Some kind of succulent flowering

Pretty little crawling plant, I have no idea hot it got growing in the pot, but I like it :)

Yay for hand spinning! Really enjoying the process of doing this again

And here it is dyed! Food colouring and vinegar, steamed for an hour.

Plans for that yarn are a lovely soft cowl I think. Perhaps another Inspira or a textured/cabled one.

I got sick of looking at my stained and worn out ironing board cover, so this is my new one :) Easy to re-create, just traced out the old one, took the gathering cord out and encased it in bias binding on the new one. Makes the sewing room more cheerful and makes me smile looking at it!

Malt extract for brewing, lovely sweet malty stuff

Four different types of hops, on the left, bittering ones and right the aroma hops.

Yep, we brewed some beer on Thursday, smelt divine with all those lovely hops. It's blooping behind me as I type, but only when I shake up the tub, it's like its having trouble fermenting. But it's been going for hours now, so that's a good thing. I'm thinking this beer will be a good one :)

Another project: I dyed my hair again. Look at the regowth! Shocking and quite light too.

Just realised how many freckles there are appearing on my face!

That looks better! Red again. I love henna.

Well that's it for this week, what will the next week hold in store?

Planning on helping my folks out on their block of land this weekend, digging, getting rid of gorse and planting native trees. Might camp out under the stars if the weathers alright.

Choir on Thursday and off to see the latest play at the globe!

N

Another post

I don't usually post two days in a row but I have a special picture to share :)

Me holding my little niece Eloise with Oscar in the background poking his tongue out! I don't usually make for good photos but I like this one! Even Elo is smiling which is nice :)

Anyway, today is Osk's quietest day so we are going to brew some beer again! After the last batch's failure we really want to make something good this time. So, we're making a light summery lager, simple with two tubs of amber malt (the lightest you can get) and four or so hops as well. Different hops this time... I've researched the flavours and aromas of them this time so we can create something new.

I'll take photos as we go!

N

Creativity back again!

So my parents came back from Australia on the weekend, bringing some of my crafting tools and fabrics with them. I've felt a surge of creative enthusiasm again and have been knitting, spinning and and sewing again with gusto!

What can I make with this?

Something like this.....

I made this bag... to replace my worn out handbag...

I love using up scraps of fabric, specially all the colourful bright patterned ones I have! Those butterflies are wonderful.... So it's a combination of crazy patchwork done in layered strips, with folded triangles placed in the gaps.

And here's a shot of the lining with pockets on either side...

Pretty happy with that! Sums up how I feel about spring, bright and full of life, flowers and butterflies!

The other week I also made this for when I ride my bike:

It is the brightest fabric and it hurt my eyes looking at it while I sewed it But it will certainly help me bee seen when I'm on my bike. It has two options, buttons further in when it's summer and I've got less layers on, and buttons on the edge when it's winter and I'm all rugged up in jumpers and jackets. I didn't bother hemming the edges, they are all just overlocked to keep them from fraying. It's not very stylish but it doesn't have to be really does it?

I've been spinning again because my Mum brought back some fleece for me. It's Perendale 29 micron white fleece. Lovely and soft and a dream to spin, like spinning clouds made of of wool. Funny thing is that this fleece was from NZ in the first place, I brought it back from holiday when I lived in Australia and now it's back here again! Nevermind, it's got me back into spinning again which is good :)

Spinning two different types of plies this time. Since I have more bobbins now I can ply two different bobbins together. So I'm doing a thick and thin two ply slubby yarn. possibly dyeing the strands different colours before plying them. Then a thin single chained plied, so tripled in thickness. No need to get more yarn now, I can spin plenty of it now. There's a full kilo of the stuff to spin.

And a bit of fabric to play with... All my fisherman pants need pockets so I think I'll sew patchwork pockets out of bright silk scraps.

Pretty stuff :)

Also got some old sewing patterns from my Grandma, look forward to trying them out! A pair of socks I hand knitted a few years ago... and a pair of much needed felted slippers, my other ones are completely worn out. Some silk clothing.... and overlocking thread. Overlocker thread is a rip off around here, 13 a spool at lincraft! For crappy poly thread. So white and black threads are welcome, i only have coloured threads so now having 4 in total will make it possible to overlock different things. Especially edging that will show.

I realised the other day that I have been sewing and knitting for 9 years... It feels like I've been doing it forever :) I'll be 22 in a months time or so. Everything is creeping up on me!

Here's a lovely rainbow to celebrate - I got into my Vet nursing course for next year!
Can't wait to start in February.... Only a few months...

Right now....

Watching ...Oscar playing a racing game on the computer, he is very pleased and keeps on punching the air when he wins!

Reading ...Lately I've been reading books about animals and veterinary care. One about treating various wild animals in zoos and in the wild was really interesting. I learnt several things, one is that you can anaesthetise frogs by combining anaesthetic and petroleum jelly and spreading it on their skin because they breathe through their skin.

Knitting ... A thousand splendid suns, a cowl with a lovely stitch pattern. At the moment I'm using a blank that I dyed with a navy blue wool. I'll have to change the colourway soon when I run out, so some different colours soon... I'll wear it next year, too warm for scarves now!

Dreading ... Not much right now :)

Listening to ...Harry potter and the Philosopher's stone read by Stephen Fry, Brilliant stuff!

Thinking about ... Planes and flying.... and vet nursing....

Celebrating ... My parents returning from overseas tonight, and they'll be celebrating too, keen to be home from Australia. A place we really don't enjoy anymore... Glad to be in NZ these days.

Planning ...Going busking in the next few weeks again as a band now that my dad is back now.
Looking forward to playing again, singing in the street and making a bit of pocket money.

Itching to ...Enrol in my course, I've been waiting for my mum to return with my documents so I can send them in.

Drinking ... Flat lemonade... If it was a Saturday night I'd be drinking our delicious chocolate stout, like last night :)

Needing to ... Make some more bread or it's cereal again for brekkie

Organizing ... Costume for the current play, pretty much done. Just need to attend the dress rehearsal to make sure it all runs smoothly.

Inspired by ... Blogs that I've been reading lately... so many beautiful projects out there!

Delighted by ...The recent rain, it hasn't rained properly for weeks and the air was very full of pollen and dust. Nice and fresh now. Just how we like it.

Perhaps I'll be back soon with project updates?