It's genetic

Last week I went to the LYS. My first visit since moving back to the City 6 weeks ago. Talk about Restrained with a capital R!! Even more restrained....I only came out with the needles I needed to make DH's handwarmers!!

N2 had a great time playing on the mini indoor playground they have there. It's a castle with a small slide down the side. She happily played while I admired all the lovely yarns. M6 used to always enjoy coming with me to this LYS to play on the castle. She was most put out that the sewing centre/LYS up north didn't have a castle too!

In the weekend my Mum came to stay and she managed to convince me to take her to the LYS. As we pulled into the carpark there was a shout of "YAY" from N2 and "hooray the wool shop" from M6.

I think they were more excited to be visiting a LYS than me!

Maybe it is genetic

Today M6 asked me when we were going to the wool shop again.

Soon I promised

And don't forget DH

Behold!!....I managed to talk DH into modelling his new hand warmers.





Made in Paton's Inca (50%wool/30%acrylic/20%alpaca) on 6mm DPNs. I made up the pattern for these as I went - its a simple 4x2 rib with a thumb ala the method in Fetching. There are some decreases at the top. Quick and easy these are super duper warm. This yarn is like 14ply so they are really really chunky but look Ok on big man hands. Perfect for biking to work on frosty mornings (although I think he is regretting his decision to ask for hand warmers rather than mittens lol).



I'm going to knit him a scarf to match in the same rib pattern but that's going to the bottom of the list of priorities while I try and get some swaps and SweetP orders done first.

Congratulations...you've won!!

When I first saw the message in my inbox I thought it was spam. You know..."Congratulations , you've won, now just give us your bank account details and...."

but no! I had *actually* won!!!

A brand new baby sling from Unido.





We both love it! So pretty and perfectly made. It's just gorgeous. Thank you Unido!!

I really love how it folds up small for my bag and I can take it anywhere. It's super comfy even after wearing it for the walk to school and DD really likes being up close.

Awhile ago I had entered an online competition at Slingbabies which is a wonderful NZ resource all about babywearing. It has fantastic information to help parents choose and correctly use a baby carrier. Thank you Slingbabies!!

I've used a sling with all my babies but after nearly 6 years of constant use it's looking a bit tired so I entered the competition as the prize was a new carrier. I absolutely love 'wearing' my babies. It's a fantastic way to bond with your baby and great for getting things done when little ones are tired/grizzly. The babies just like being with you while you potter around. I also use an ergo carrier with DD3 who at 11kg is a little too heavy for wearing long periods with the weight on one shoulder. She usually has one of her day sleeps on my back and I can fit DD2 in it as well so it's very versatile. It's especially good for taking little ones for walks where buggys/pushchairs can't go easily (ie most shops).



Erika wrote a great post this week showing off her awesome carrier selection. She's made the seaweed cover which I think I might make sometime soon to keep us snuggly warm while DD's in the carrier at playcentre.

Now Sarah at Unido is running another competition! If you want to win some awesome baby products then all you have to do is go to the Unido website at www.unido.co.nz. Click on portfolio and mix and match the designs until you've chosen your 2 favourite combinations of patterns/plains. Email your picks to Sarah@unido.co.nz with your name/email/ph number and you could be a winner too! Competition ends 30 June and I think its NZ only. Good Luck!

-

How Tutu Tuesday

M turned six a couple of weeks ago. She seems so grown up, I can't believe six years has gone by that fast.

This kid is all about pink and fairies and anything sparklygirliemakeyougagwithsweetness. So for her birthday we got her some fairy books and fairy stationery. And the ultimate in fairy attire....



Needless to say she's hardly taken it off since she got it. Its especially great for pretending you are a ballet fairy and doing twirly things


The lovely Leah sells these gorgeous FrouFrou tutus - the perfect thing for the little princess in your life. She's also kindly sharing her tutu recipe with the world so if you're the crafty type you can have a go at making one yourself.
Thanks heaps Leah, she loves it :)

WiP Management and lots of coffee

I'm feeling a little bleary eyed this morning. We had a power cut this morning at 2.30am. Now, normally we would be oblivious to a power outage at that time in the morning, not realising until our wake up alarms failed to go off in the morning. However..... this new house has a burglar alarm. And apparently when there is a power cut the alarm goes into panic mode. Nice.

Let me tell you that being woken from an extremely deep sleep in the middle of the night by your DH who you think is a burglar (and so you start screaming) is not fun. Neither is standing in a pitch black freezing cold house with 3 crying children while your alarm is deafening you with its high pitch squeal. DH frantically looks for a candle or torch so you can at least see the buttons on the stupid alarm box but no amount of inputting pin codes or stabbing at the OFF button makes it stop. Not fun.

Oh and lets not forget the bit where the random neighbour we haven't met before knocks on the door with the Police on the other end of his mobile phone. (Bet we are the most popular house on the street today...not). Thank God he knocked and checked before telling the squad car to turn up!

*Finally* attempt number 973 to get the thing to SHUT UP works. Phew. WHY isnt there a page in the alarm manual that says' in the event of a power cut your alarm will do this....you should do this....'

Stupid alarm.

We went back to bed , snuggled down, only for the power to come back on half an hour later and start the alarm off again. Luckily DH managed to turn it off straight away this time.

Stupid alarm.

Adrenalin is an amazing thing. I was SO wired I didnt get to sleep for another hour after calm had been restored. No wonder they inject it straight in the heart (and we all remember *that* scene in Pulp Fiction don't we!).

Today has not started well. To console myself I plan a day of blobbing on the couch with my knitting. May was to be the month of making us warm knitting and so far I'm not doing too bad.
Mittens for M6
Mittens for N2
Handwarmers for me

There is only a week left of the month and I really want to get some things finished and off the never ending TO DO list.

I have one handwarmer for DH done. I reckon I could probably get the 2nd one done in an evening..maybe 2?

I'm making these up as I go. The yarn is Paton's Inca which is 14ply wool/acrylic/alpaca. Super warm. These will be really nice for his big man hands when he bikes to school in the mornings.

I also need to finish M6 birthday slippers. I've done one so far. An interesting process making these! First you knit the most enormously large clown like slipper ...so large you begin to doubt it could ever felt small enough to fit a small 6yo foot. And then you spend an ENTIRE day resetting your washing machine to agitate while it ever so slowly felts. It only took an evening and a bit to do the knitting part of this so hopefully by the end of the week I can knock this off the list too. There's probably an evenings worth of finishing off and embellishing in there too. I meant to make these for her birthday earlier in the month but the pattern was shipped from the US and so it took longer than expected. (ahem. silly me thought it was a PDF download).



I also planned to make BabyM a pair of sheepskin slippers. Which I did. Well 1 3/4 of a pair. I ran out of yarn for the 2nd one. DOH! They were a tiny bit big for her anyway so I dumped these in the hibernating projects box and moved on. I might pull them out next winter and decide if I want to frog or redo the tops in another colour or something. So the baby missed out on something from me this month.




I am still plodding along on my CPH as well. It knits reasonably fast I guess on 5mm but OMG adult sized 'actual clothing' takes some time. I've done a front piece as well as the back. Its been languishing at the bottom of my list of priorities while I attended to warm-hands knitting, gifts and swaps this month. I think if I got hard nosed and just knit this for a week I'd get a good portion of it done. In the meantime I keep borrowing one of DH's storebought jumpers which is a bit silly really. Hopefully I will actually get this finished before the end of winter.

Apparently knitting monogamy is not my strong point! Are you a one project knitter or do you have several things 'on the go'? I'd love to hear you decide what to knit or when you decide to start something new....

I've got warm hands now too

Toasty warm hands!

Pattern: Hand/Wrist Warmers by Joelle Hoverson
From: Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Paton's Jet (wool/alpaca) 1 x 50g skein
Needles : 4mm DPNs

Mods: The pattern is written for 20cm circulars. A thumb hole is created by knitting back and forth on 2 circulars.

I did these on DPNs and added a thumb by the same method as Fetching.

I love this yarn. Definitely my favourite at the moment. I heard this horrible horrible rumour that it's being discontinued. Gasp. I am in denial, just hoping that's not the case!! Its a dream to knit and is lovely and warm. There will be no more cold hands for me on the morning walks now! I really love the variegations in this particular shade - so pretty.

The wrist warmers are perfect for keeping my hands nice and warm while I get on and knit DH a man pair...

About Me

Zero knitting content today...

I got tagged by Amanda for a Me meme. Thanks Amanda! You should go check her blog out - she takes the most gorgeous photos and always has the pinkest prettiest Rowan-ist WiPs!

An "about me" kind of post has been something I have been thinking about for awhile. I know I really enjoy finding out some other stuff about the people behind the blogs I read, so I thought I should do one for mine.

So here goes...

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

I was in my 3rd year of a BSc Hons degree. Somehow managing to live on a pitiful student allowance, waitressing in the weekends and having the time of my life really. I worked and partied hard....fun times!

Back then DH was just a friend!!

You can probably work out how old I am. I went to Uni straight after school.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

Post a parcel, buy some DPNs, return the library books, have a visit at the local playcentre, wash the nappies (its a busy one today)

3) Snacks I enjoy:

Cheese and crackers, coffee, muffins, coffee, chocolate. My favourite at the moment is mandarins.

4) Things I would do if I won the Lottery:

Selfish stuff - travel! Give myself a makeover lol

For Family - set up the kids for University, help out our parents, buy DH's Granny a new house

For Others - I would give some to the charities that we support. Pay for Arias operation.

5) Places I have lived:

Apart from our recent stint in Northland, I have always lived in the South Island of NZ. When I was a teenager I had a trip to Sydney and Fiji, but apart from that I haven't travelled.

6) Jobs I have had:

When I was studying I worked as a waitress, Motel Housekeeper, babysitter, lab tutor and tutor for ESOL students. After graduating I worked in education policy administration and then as a quality assurance auditor (ie nothing remotely connected to my study!). I'm planning on being a SAHM for the forseeable future.

Other things you might not know about me!

All my babies were born at home. Number 3 was super speedy and arrived before the midwife (delivered by her Nan)...my biggest baby (9lb9oz) but the fastest and easiest!

One thing I really miss from my pre-children days is READING!! One day I WILL read again. My favourite authors are Barbara Erskine & Diana Gabaldon. I absolutely loved 'The Time Traveller's Wife' by Audrey Niffennegger and enjoyed the earlier novels by Sharon Penman. I really like historical fiction. One day I would love to travel to the places I have only read about.

I am not a morning person! Don't talk to me until I've had 2 cups of coffee

I learnt to knit when I was about 10 or 11 and knit a couple of big jumpers for myself. I picked it up again when I was pregnant with DD2 and have been getting more and more addicted and obsessed ever since! I like to knit small things! I would really love to try Malabrigo yarn. My favourite (kid stuff) designer is Anny Purls. I also really like Justene Turner, shes a kiwi too. I also like Debbie Bliss. My Mum also knits, I blame her for my current obsession with knitting. She can blame me for getting her addicted to Ravelry.

One thing I have always wanted to try is... rally car driving (or speedway...as long as it's fast I don't mind)

I really need...a haircut!

I really should...drink less coffee

Once winter is over... I'm going to enrol in night classes for Yoga

I'm not really 'into' cooking but I have a bit of a crush on Gordon Ramsay

I miss... my best friend who lives in Adelaide, Australia

Anything else you want to know? Ask me!

Oh actually one thing I get asked alot is 'how do you find the time to knit?' ... I guess the answer is "I make time". I knit in the evenings when the kids are in bed. Mostly the 3 of them are all down by 8pm, sometimes one might be up later but they are usually pretty good playing quietly while I watch them and knit. I have a young baby so my social life is pretty non existent! Knitting is great for keeping an eye on the kids at the same time and isn't too hazardous (unless you leave your WiP within the baby's reach!). You can take it anywhere and it isn't messy so it's pretty kid friendly so there is rarely a day where I don't knit something. If its just plain st st I can usually knit and watch Tv at the same time too!!
Mostly I knit very small things that don't take more than an hour or three and you will notice I don't do lacey or intricate things that I would need to keep reading a pattern for. I have to do things that don't require heaps of concentrating as I do have to pick up/put down quite a bit. Now we are back in the City we are much busier with activities and being able to catch up with friends so I suspect my 'output' will be a bit less now lol. I find knitting to be a really good stress release and something that helps me unwind after a busy day chasing after the kids so I do try and do something each night.

Ok fire away with the questions if you want to know something...

If you're reading this and haven't done an about me on your blog...consider yourself tagged ;)

They don't make them like this anymore

My last trip to the library resulted in me bringing home "Classsic Knits for Girl Dolls" by Marjory Fainges.
There's nothing in there I particularly want to knit, it all being on 2,3 and 4ply wool with tiny needles, and especially as I have *more* than enough on my to do list as it is!! However the pictures in the book were so interesting I got it out anyway.


All the knitted clothes are based on patterns from 1900 to 1950 and are modelled on vintage dolls circa 1940's and earlier. They have 'vintage' names too... like Myrtle and Petunia and Violet




The detailing is just gorgeous. Sweet little faces ...




And check out the jointed limbs..


They just look like they have been 'hand crafted' and made with time, patience, skill and love.



50 odd years later and today's children play with TeenHooker Bratz dolls,


It seems such a shame these 'things' are marketed as 'dolls'. No comparison really

A Tale of Two Mittens (Part II)

Once upon a time there was a little girl who had cold hands walking her big sister to school on frosty mornings. Her Mum was a knitter and couldn't bring herself to buy some mittens from a shop so she searched her (ahem) modest stash of yarn for some suitable wool to make some toddler sized mittens. She found some pink and some red and decided to make some little strawberry shortcake striped mittens for her cute little girl. Now, her Mum is a smart lady who knew she would find a suitable free pattern somewhere on the internets and always being up for a challenge she decided to try a special way of striping in the round and to do awesome stripey ribbed cuffs. As I said, her Mum is a smart lady and knows the best site for finding great techniques to try. Her Mum spent a couple of evenings knitting some super cute pint sized mittens for her and was super pleased with the fit. She knew they weren't perfect but as her knitting friend Libby says "few mistakes in there to show it’s handmade - so people will be able to see ‘someone loves her'...."






This Mum is not only smart but also realistic and knows that there is a very good chance her cute but headstrong 2 year old will refuse to wear the mittens so she made a tie so that they stay "on" even when they are not on.





The Mum was pretty pleased with this little FO - super cute, nice and quick, and didn't use very much wool. She's getting brave and *choosing* patterns on DPNs even!! She also got to learn some new stuff.



She's still working on how to get her headstrong little girl to pose for photos though...

Autumn is...

Autumn is...low lying afternoon sun peeking over the rooftops


Autumn is...trees in all their deciduous nakedness


Autumn is...time to get prepared


Autumn is... Kowhai leaves underfoot



Autumn is...for collecting.... and scrunching


Autumn is..the perfect excuse for another type of collecting

Whiskey Needle Holder Pattern

The Whiskey Needle holder was made for my Mum who wanted something that would keep her needles together but that was pretty enough for display.

This is an easy pattern that could be mastered by beginner knitters. This would also make a great 'first time in the round knitting' project.

The holder is made by knitting a cover for a Glenfiddich whiskey tube...hence the name Whiskey Needle Holder.

You will need:

One Glenfiddich Whiskey bottle tube

Moda Vera Pralina [72% acrylic/28% virgin wool; 75m per 50g skein]; 2 skeins - Colour 4304

4mm 30cm circular needle (or size to obtain gauge)

Darning Needle

Gauge:
18sts = 10 cm in st st (measured flat not on the tube)


Pattern:
CO 54st. Being careful not to twist the stitches join for working in the round. (Ways to do this are explained here) Place a marker for the beginning of the round. Knit every round until your piece is a couple of inches long. "Try on" your cover over your chosen tube. The fabric should *just* stretch over the tube. It is better to be tighter - if your knitted tube is too loose you will need to start again with fewer cast on st or smaller needles. Once you have established that your knitted tube is the right size continue knitting every round until your knitted tube is the same length as your cardboard tube. Mine is approximately 75 rounds and 30cm long (not uncurling the rolled edge). Towards the end, try on your cover every few rounds to ensure your piece is going to be the right length. You need to finish when it is close as possible to the top of your cardboard tube.

Next round * K7 K2tog, rep from *
Next round * K4 Ktog, rep from *

(These final 2 rounds will pull in over the top of your cardboard tube).



Cut yarn leaving a tail that will be woven in later. Leave stitches on the needle.

Cut 3 long strands (approx 1m each) and plait together.

With a darning needle CAREFULLY thread your long plait through the live stitches at the top of your cover, removing them from the needle at the same time. Place your cover over your tube then gently pull the plait to tighten and tie. Trim plait to desired length and then trim ends.

Sew in yarn end.

Fill your new holder with your knitting needles :)





Variations and substitutions:

Use a shorter tube and fill with pencils, pens or felt tips. A clean tin or can would do fine.

The Whiskey tube I used is approx 30cm tall with a circumference of 30cm. You can substitute with any type of tube as long as it is made of reasonably sturdy material (e.g thick cardboard) and has a bottom. Some post shops/book shops sell long cardboard tubes used for posting rolled up documents. You will need to recalculate the number of stitches to cast on if you using a different tube. To do this work out your gauge (mine is 18 st per 10cm ...row gauge is not so important here as you will knit to length desired) and measure your tube circumference (mine is 30cm). So to get the right number of cast on stitches work out your gauge per cm. E.g 18/10 = 1.8 then multiply this by the circumference of your tube. 1.8 x 30 = 54 st to cast on.



The yarn I used has a recommended needle size of 7mm. I used 4mm so that the fabric of the knitted tube is dense and firm (and less likely to go baggy or fall down). If you substitute a different yarn try a few needle sizes smaller than recommended, work out your gauge and then calculate the number of cast on stitches as above. The yarn I used is mostly acrylic which I think is fine for a decorative project like this - I was choosing based on colour and this was the most suitable - any yarn would work fine.

You may need to work this on a different length circular needle or DPNs if making yarn/tube substitutions.

Enjoy!

This pattern is for personal use only. Swaps, gifts and donations are fine. Do not sell this pattern. Do not sell items made from this pattern. Do not copy and paste this pattern elsewhere, you are welcome to link. If in doubt flick me an email.

Whiskey for Mothers Day

During the holidays I finally got to see my Mum's new house that they have been working on for the past year. They're past the moving in stage and are now putting the final finishing touches to the rooms. Mum was saying how she wanted something to put her knitting needles in. Something functional but pretty enough they could be displayed.

So I made her this for Mother's Day







Her room is earthy tones of green and browns. When I saw this yarn it immediately jumped out at me as perfectly autumn. It reminds me of scrunching through fallen leaves



The inner tube is an empty Glenfiddich whiskey tube hence it's the Whiskey Needle Holder!





I knitted the 'cozy' in the round with some shaping at the top and finished it off with a plait tie.



Hopefully she'll find it perfect for keeping those needles together

Its dead simple and would be great if you were new to knitting in the round so I'm going to write it up as a pattern (indulge me for a moment while I pretend to be a designer lol)

Bagalicious Bag Swap

Recently I joined in with a group of online friends for a secret bag swap. The rules were pretty simple - make a bag and gift it to your swappee in secret. The fun is in seeing the bags everyone receives and having a guess at who sent you yours.

So...my swappee (I am pretty sure they don't read here..and besides its going to be dead easy to pick me out anyway) asked for a knitted bag or a cellphone/ipod cozy. So here's what I made



A little knitted drawstring pouch. Hopefully this will useful for her ipod or other little things. I filled it with yummy treats. This is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, a book I have had for awhile now but haven't actually made anything from yet. I really love this design. Very quick and simple and yet such a nice result. This would make gorgeous gift wrapping for baby items too. I had a little under one ball of yarn so mine is slightly smaller than the pattern but very cutie cutie. I learnt how to do a three needle bind off for the bottom of the bag.

Does anyone else get all worried and scared by knitting terms like Three Needle Bind Off? Or is it just me who thinks these sorts of things are going to be so difficult just because they are unknown? I really need to get over this I think. The BO was dead simple. One thing I really like about knitting is to learn a new technique which is sort of at odds with my sometimes fear of patterns containing terms I don't recognize. Maybe I just need to give myself more credit and get over it.


Anyway moving right along...I also made her a cellphone cozy using the double knitting technique I described here. I made a little flap and fastened with a button and finished it off with some daisy embroidery. The photos arent the best because I was already running late with sending these off so I just did them quickly...in full sun....not a good plan apparently. Anyway you will get the idea.



I didn't think the 2 wee bags were quite enough so I also made a cotton/bamboo dishcloth to add to the parcel. I've been thinking about making this sweater for myself (one day...sometime... not soon) and so tried the feather&fan lace pattern out for this cloth to see if I could handle a whole sweater's worth of that pattern.




Very cool. I love how it came out with this yarn (Moda Vera Bamboo/Cotton) and the pattern is not at all hard. Its a 4 row repeat but you actually only do the pattern of K2tog and YO one of those rows.

Fingers crossed my person likes their bags!


As for me...I am totally stoked with the bags I received!!!




A print PUL wetbag (PUL is the waterproof stuff modern nappies are made out of) which is going to be super handy for the DD's. I am thinking nappy wet bag, tog bag, cutlery bag for camp etc etc. Useful and gorgeous! My kind of bag. And bestest of all was a super WiP bag for my knitting...




When I told DH it was for keeping my knitting tidy his eyes lit up! I am so bad for leaving darning needles stuck in the lounge suite and knitting needles and yarn all over the place. This is the perfect bag for keeping it all together. The colours are so me, I really love it. The lovely Claire at Wigglebums made this for me. I love it so so much. Thanks C!

If bags are your thing then check out the cool bag Kimber made for Nikki and the messenger style bag Nikki made. Flea got a gorgeous beaded bag and she made a very funky patchwork one

A Tale of Two Mittens (Part I)

So you probably gathered from recent posts, we are all suffering in the cold. Mittens/gloves for us all are on the list to do very soon!!

First up...... M6(inaweek'stime...OMGIfeelsoold)Mittens


These are a modified version of the mittens pattern in Debbie Bliss' Junior Knits. The pattern is knit flat and seamed and is on 4.5mm so they didn't take long to whip up. I used 8ply as the size was 6-10yr and DD is only just-about-6. The sizing came out nicely and although the thumb is a teeny bit long they fit great otherwise. The pattern has them with buttonholes so they can be buttoned to a sweater, I modified to add some single rib to the wrist and then threaded some shirring elastic through so they aren't too floppy. I think they should last her a couple of years which is great.

Since these were made with walking to school in mind and DD's uniform is blue/navy/white I used a ball of navy DK wool I had in my stash. She was desperate for some pink though so we decided to hide some pink hearts on the palm side. I just knit these separately and sewed on after.



She likes them a lot better now I have got around to finishing them off with some girliness.



DH wants some fingerless gloves for riding his bike to school. If you know of a great but manly-in-the-extreme fingerless glove pattern please leave me a note in the comments.

On the subject of comments, thanks to everyone for leaving kind comments about my CPH. Just the motivation I needed to keep on with this adult knitting thing. Gaaah it does take *alot* longer for adult size stuff :) Blogger doesn't always let me respond individually (via email) to comments but because I have it set to moderate I always see and read each and every comment, they are much appreciated so keep them coming!

Happy Mothers Day

If its Mother's Day for you too, I hope you have a lovely day.



I also got a couple of hours of peace and quiet which is the best kind of present. I managed to get some knitting done and finish up a little FO.

To my Mum....hope you have a lovely day and I promise to get on to your gift asap. Thanks for being the best Mum ever. I love you lots xxx

Progess Pics

I'm pretty stoked with how the Bendigo has knitted up. The cables pop and the fabric is dense and warm. Love love love

How to Tuesday : Seamless Tubes on 2 straight needles

Knitting in the round with 2 straight needles!

Here's how...


CO an even # stitches
(Purl one, slip one)rep to end

Repeat this row until your tube is desired length. (Note 2 rows make a 'round'). As you knit you will be able to 'pull' the fabric apart as the tube forms. If it doesn't then you may have made a mistake somewhere and will need to rip back.

When tube is desired length you will need a third straight needle. Purl one , slip next st to spare needle from right to left, Purl one then slip this st over the first purled st (ie casting off one). Slip next st onto spare, purl the next casting off as before. Continue along , placing your slipped st onto spare needle. At the end of the row you will then need to cast off (in purl) your remaining stitches on the spare needle.

Sew in yarn ends and turn your tube the right way out. You may need to stretch the stitches at the sides.

And there you go...knitting in the round with no DPNs or circulars. Because the bottom is a closed seam this technique is great for little bags or cellphone/iPod cozies etc. I first used this method making this bunny cuddly toy from Lionbrand. That pattern refers to it as double knitting which is a way of knitting 2 fabrics at once.

In a few days I will show you the project I've just finished using this method :)

I succumbed

My Buy Nothing Challenge is over. If you ignore the part where I moved to a colder climate and discovered I had nothing at all to wear and so bought some winter clothes, I did Ok. Nothing frivolous and no 'stuff'...just some clothes I have worn lots and some....yarn. Yip couldn't hold out for a whole month lol

I got some 'man yarn' to make DH a hat/scarf. Not sure exactly yet but he does need a replacement for the boring hat I made when I was just getting started on this knitting lark. I knitted a swatch and asked him if he would wear it and I got 'maybe' in response which, for him, is pretty encouraging!!



Paton's Inca 14ply this is a wool/alpaca/acrylic blend which is lovely to knit with and super cozy. I couldn't resist getting this when I saw it in the end of batch bin at Mum's LYS.


In the same specials bin was a couple of balls of Paton's Jet which is the yarn I used for the ribbed baby jacket and my sister's evangeline gloves. I really love how this knits up and it's one of the few aran-ish yarns here that has a good colour selection. I only needed a couple of balls to do a NB soaker (test knit for a friend) so I grabbed what they had on special and a ball of contrast DK for the waistband


So that's my confession. I cannot not buy yarn.


On the way home (which was May 1st and therefore guilt free yarn buying) Mum and I stopped at not just one but TWO yarn stores.
We went to the Tin Shed (which sells the Lollipop yarn I used here). There was some very scrummy yarn in there but I was very restrained and only bought 1 hank of yarn. Some gorgeous Touch yarns blue/purple 4ply Merino. For just in case I get brave enough to try socks ;)


The purple hasn't come out very well in that pic

We also stopped in at Ashfords where Mum succumbed to some Tekapo and I got some acid dyes for dyeing yarn and some cute wee sheepskin soles to make some super warm slippers for babyM.

May is the month for knitting scarves, hats, slippers and mittens!!! It's wierd - we were only away from here for 18months but we are suffering in the cold. It's amazing how quick the body adjusts to a new climate. I swear it never used to be this cold lol. I had a pang of homesickness/missing Northland last night as we sat huddled round the fire. Up there 15 degrees..down here 3!!!

First Snow

Winter doesn't start here till June.

Apparently it's come early this year





(sorry no picturesque snow shots, I am too much of a wuss and these were taken through a window from the safety of inside hehe)

I think May will be dedicated to keeping-us-warm knitting.

The holidays end tomorrow so on Monday we start our new walking to school routine. Sadly I will no longer have the luxury of putting M5 on the school bus. We are all going to have to brave the cold each morning to walk her to school!

So for the knit very soon list:

Gloves for me
Mittens for N2
Will the baby keep mittens on?
Man scarf for DH
Man hat for DH
Finish Central Park Hoodie
Sheepskin bootees for babyM
Slippers for M5


Brrrr