Clickety Knits Blog

Happy Christmas

2007-12-25T07:40:00.000+13:00

Quick hello and Happy Christmas Greetings. All is well here I just haven't had regular internet access and we only just moved back into our own home last weekend so we are still awaiting our broadband connection. Hopefully I'll be back more regularly in the New Year when we are finally settled back home. Kiwibabe is doing well too, when I get a chance I'll post the latest scan and maybe even a pic of my ever expanding bump, we're now at week 25. Till 2008 then.

Kiwi Babe

2007-11-11T05:47:00.000+13:00

It's been so long since I wrote on this blog I don't quite know where to start. So, instead of giving a blow by blow account of whats been happening in one long post I'm gonna let this picture share our biggest news. Meet our kiwibabe at 16 weeks.

I'm having another scan at the end of this week and if the pic is any clearer I'll post that up.

P.S. My name in Ravelry might make a bit more sense now! Eek must start using ravelry.

Jo Sharp Vest

2007-09-25T12:30:00.000+12:00

Pattern: Jo Sharp Vest from Knit Issue 1

Yarn:Jo Sharp Alpaca Silk Georgette

Time taken:Mmm not sure I seemed to knit this really quickly and then left it there when all I had to do was finish off one of the armholes. I'd say probably 2 weeks knitting in total.

Pattern Modifications:For some reason I thought the armhole was going to be too long so I cut it short a few rows at the top but I'm really sorry I did now as I could do with the extra length in the body - ah well. I don't care enough to unpick and reknit! It was only 6 rows shorter so it wouldn't have made a drastic difference.

Difficulty: None!

Winner/Loser?: Yes, total winner, I love it!

Only one more day before we start the marathon journey home, 4 planes, 27 hours in the air, 36 hours travelling in total - how I wish for a Star Trek "transporter" to just whisk me there. Ah well, I've no doubt it'll be worth it. 2 Weddings, a big family birthday celebration and many meetings up with friends already planned for the next 3 weeks - it's gonna be busy, I can't wait! Next post from Ireland - wahoo!!

Sunny Days

2007-09-19T19:29:00.000+12:00

Hello! Is this really my first post of September? You'd be forgiven for thinking that I had just disappeared or forgotten that I have a blog - well neither are accurate but I have been remiss in getting back to it. We had a great time in Raro, as usual Cathal has been keeping the other blog up to date. To celebrate my return I thought it was about time some long finished knits showed up here. So, the photo above is of my Clapotis pictured having a great time in Muri Beach in Rarotonga.

Project: Kate Gilberts Clapotis

Yarn: Hummingbird 100% wool, (it's seems to have disappeared from the Knitworld site so no link - sorry). It was a total bargain aswell.

Time taken: I started this in May whilst we were travelling the South Island. I'd say in total it took me about a month to knit but I left it lying on a chair for months - all it needed was some ends sewn in and blocked - so I finally got round to it and brought it to Raro with me for the chilly evenings which never materialised.

Pattern Modifications: Just added on 5 or 6 more repeats of the middle straight section before the final shaping section. I wanted this to be more of a wrap than a scarf.

Difficulty:Not! Yet there's enough interest to keep you going and not bore you totally to tears. I decided to purl the stitch to be dropped rather than use stitch holders to indicate the stitch - I don't have 18 stitch holders for a start!

Winner/Loser: Such a winner I would definitely knit one again, I really like Kate's clever knits.

Wow, that wasn't so difficult after all. I might even be back again soon!

Late!

2007-08-29T17:12:00.000+12:00

I'm being a bad blogger again. It's nearly two weeks since my birthday and although I have sent many thanks by texts I also wanted to show my mam and sister the lovely flowers they sent me - although they should know what they looked like they sent them all the way from Ireland! I also got lots and lots of cards and other gifts so thank you to all the well wishers. I especially have to mention the beautiful handpainted cards I got from Shona and Niamh and Alice and Daithi - who also shares his birthday with mine. Unfortunately this year neither of us were in Ireland but I'm sure we'll be back to our usual celebrations next year Daithi - I missed you.

We are off to Rarotonga on Friday for a week in the sun, gosh it's a hard year. Will be back blogging after that. Till then, happy knitting.

Felting Flowers

2007-08-20T09:00:00.000+12:00

Well it looks like the break did the trick knitting wise. I did bring the lace wrap with me for the week but I never once took it out of the bag! But I did pick up sticks yesterday and worked on 3 WIPs - two just needed ends sewn etc, the finishing that takes patience and yesterday I seemed to have it. I also cast off on the 3rd WIP. So, some washing and blocking this week and I may have some FO's to show off really soon.

So, just so there's some pics to go with this post I thought I'd share a felting tale from some time ago now. Being in NZ this year and being blessed with an abundance of easily accessible 100% wool combined with the fact that for the first and probably only time ever I have a top loader washine machine it seemed the time was right to delve further into the world of fulled knits. I got a book, some yarn and then got distracted by some very cute patterns and decided to give one of them a try first.

I ordered the patterns online and as soon as they arrived I rushed down to the LYS to get some suitable red yarn and got knitting. It's important that I point out that I rushed into the LYS just as they were closing for the weekend and grabbed a brand of yarn that I had previously bought and known to be NOT machine washable - same brand different 100% wool yarn.

So, home I went and got knitting. This is how the flower turned out pre-felting. (Didn't think of measuring it but at least it's pictured on top of my laptop to give some sense of scale, also I don't recall if the light was bad or if the particular shade of red was hard to photograph but the photo is pretty crap, sorry!)It's kinda large and although I had no fixed idea for what I intended to use this flower I still hoped that it would shrink a lot. Now I believe Fisher and Paykal washing machines are known for being gentle so I thought I may have to run this through a few cycles before I got the desired results. I was patient but nothing was happening. Wash after wash after wash. I began to lose patience. I consulted the book. Yes I was doing it right. The flower just wasn't co-operating. I'm not sure at what point I thought to consult the ball band but when I did I just might have let a bad word or two slip out. So, yes it wouldn't take a genius to see where this was headed - the yarn was 100% wool but it was superwash!!!! Yipee I could send it through as many cycles as I wanted but this flower just wasn't ever going to get smaller. Blast. I've tried to think of alternative uses for a huge baggy flower but I can't come up wih anything! So, I made another trip to the LYS and took my time this time and even consulted the staff as to whether or not they knew if my chosen yarn would felt well. I knit again and this time with much better results (although I forgot to take measurements before putting it in the machine).

Although the flower is still huge - 20 cm across.Not exactly corsage size but maybe I can use it for an embellishment on a bag at some later date.

I'm off............

2007-08-10T19:08:00.000+12:00

Just for a week. Off North up to the Coromandel Peninsula to meet up with some friends this weekend and then to the Bay of Islands. Back next Friday just in time for my birthday!! We haven't been away travelling in a while (2 months) and I am really looking forward to the trip. I'm also hoping it'll shake some of the bleugh out of me. Lately I've lost all interest in blogging and knitting and it's just not like me so hopefully I'll return rejuvenated and raring to finish off the many nearly finished items I have hanging round here at the moment. Hope ye all have a good week.

I'm in........

2007-08-07T13:19:00.000+12:00

I got my invite , I'm in! Wahoo - all I've managed so far is to create a username, I'm kiwibabe in honour of our time here. No time today to play, will be logged in 2moro from daybreak though!

Sew what?

2007-08-02T19:33:00.000+12:00

Sewing - the latest crafty thing I've got myself into is the one thing I really wanted to learn during our time here in NZ (that and crochet, that has been even more unsuccesful but I digress). With all the travelling around it's been very difficult to start any night courses as we have invariably been away when the course commenced. Not so, this time. I have been looking forward to starting a dressmaking class in Wellington High for the longest time. I had an inkling that we'd be around for the July intake and so it was 2 weeks ago I took myself off to the beginners class. I was feeling pretty confident, I mean I'm pretty crafty, I have used a machine before (granted I was probably a child and did so with my mother by my side) and both of my parents are well acquainted with sewing machines so I thought you know I had a lot of things going for me.

The class began with everyone introducing themselves and saying what they wanted out of the course. I told everyone I was a Knitter (why?) and that I really just wanted to know how to sew - I didn't really have any great lofty aspirations. Others wanted to make garments that fit and look professional etc. It was then that I started to get scared. You'd think that by the title of the class I would have known what was ahead of me but it hadn't occurred to me that we'd actually be making clothes ( by week 2)!!!!

So, the first night was all about learning to use the machine and it turns out most of the beginners in the class aren't beginners at all and I'm quickly left behind. The clincher in terms of my own stupidity came though when the instructor told us to sew a zig zag design on our sample fabric and drew a zig zag line to illustrate. I quickly started looking at all the dials and buttons on the machine thinking to myself - I know this one, I know this one, it was one of those dials that we were shown at the beginning of the class. So, delighted with myself I switch the dial and start sewing lines of zig zag stitch. One of my fellow "beginners" noticed after a little while and said to me was I sure I knew what I was doing. Confidently I replied sure, we're supposed to be doing the zig zag stitch and this, as I held my sample up - was zig zag stitch. Then I looked around, I'd been so industrious and sure of what I was doing that I hadn't bothered lifting my head to see what everyone else was doing. Then I noticed something and it clicked - really why would the teacher want to see us doing lines and lines of zig zag stitch which you know effectively the machine was doing. No, the teacher wanted to teach us to sew a straight line and then learn how to turn the fabric and sew another line in the opposite direction and so on and so forth.

Thankfully the bell rang and I was spared the embarrassment of starting over. Just before we packed up we were told to go buy some fabric and a pattern and cut it out and bring it to class next week - WHAT? I still can't sew a straight line never mind a zig zag and as for cutting fabric - yikes. Turns out though I'm not too bad at that part, it's just the sewing that's the issue. Do you think if I knit a skirt they'd notice?

8 repeats and I'm done

2007-07-29T19:20:00.000+12:00

1/2 way there. The tour enters it's final stage today and I'm very happy to be putting this wrap down for a little while. I had hoped at some of my more insane moments that I might finish this wrap during the tour but I just didn't have it in me. Nonetheless I am very pleased to be half way there and if I wanted a sprint I wouldn't have entered the Polka Dot Category. I honestly wouldn't have got this far without participating in the kal (thanks Meg and Debbie for organising this, I've really enjoyed reading the daily updates on the blog).

This is one of those knits where I'll really enjoy the end results but the process - not so much. I have other things screaming to me from the knitting basket so I look forward to putting this down for a little while. From here on in I hope to do one repeat a week whilst knitting other things (turns out I'm really not fond of project monogamy) and this way I hope to have this finished to bring home to Ireland at the end of September (9 weeks away - I can't wait to catch up with all my friends and family).

I started a new craft this week and it's kicking my ass - photos next time.

72,062

2007-07-21T13:26:00.000+12:00

3 repeats. 4 repeats. 5 repeats.

11 repeats to go, plus 11 rows. 22,331 stitches knit. 49,731 left to knit. Someone please shoot me.

Rest Day x 2

2007-07-17T19:29:00.000+12:00

It's a rest day in the Tour de France today. Which is why I'll be picking up the lace again, you see I've already taken my rest days - yesterday and the day before. I got struck down again on Sunday with soreheaditis - really bad this time so there wasn't even the thought of knitting. I will not fall again - I'm too old for this anyway. So, next weekend I look forward to uninterrupted knitting. Yesterday I, well, I got distracted and I may have knit on something else but we'll forget about that 'cos if I've no pics it didn't really happen, right?

I'm glad I joined the tdfkal. I would have long ago ( like right after I finished swatching) given up on this wrap were it not for the knowledge that I should persevere and try to conquer the mountains. I really wish I could knit 32 rows ( a repeat) of this wrap a day but it's so time consuming and I need to pay such attention I'm finding the going particularly tough. I'm currently on row 6 of the 3rd repeat. Did I mention that there's at least 16 repeats. Oh, I cracked and bought another ball of the yarn, so now I don't even have the whole knit faster because I may run out of yarn thing going for me.

You're probably wondering what the pic above is all about. It's my first ever tennis prize (we were at a tennis tournament on Sat night right before the party that gave me the soreheaditis). Now, I know it looks like a wooden spoon, it is in fact a wooden spoon but I didn't get it for coming last (thankfully) that honour went to someone else. So, I won this spoon but I won it by getting drawn out of hat, they had many small prizes for participants, I'm not quite sure if someone miscalculated how many wooden spoons they were going to offer that night but anyhow I was glad to get it - for what was attached to it. I'd seen this chocolate bar many times here but have never gotten round to trying one. I was a tad disappointed, it is exactly what it says on the tin, chocolate and peanuts, but it lacked the caramel of a Snickers bar and I think it would have been better for it. Anyway the wooden spoon is coming in handy!

Climbing

2007-07-14T13:32:00.000+12:00

Well I have another repeat to show off. I didn't get 32 rows done yesterday - just 22, so 10 more rows this morning and I have to say I think I'm done with the lace for today. Anyone getting bored yet? - I know I am. The pattern is at least becoming a little more intuitive. I had made some preliminary calculations reckoning that I would be doing 16 repeats of the 32 row pattern + 8 rows. After measuring the slightly stretched out 2 repeats I have knit I reckon I'm kinda on course but the yarn!!!!!! I have already used 1/7 of the balls I have, which means I'm probably going to run short. Now part of me wants to rush in and get another ball but another part says wait, enjoy the thrill of possibly not having enough yarn - it will spur you on to knit faster!! I know it's crazy and I'm not contemplating the crushed feeling I'm gonna have if I knit up 14 repeats and can't get another ball in the same shade and lot no. What to do?

Progress, of a sort.

2007-07-13T13:36:00.000+12:00

I have knit one whole pattern repeat! Wahoo, just 15 more or so to go and at this rate I might have it complete by the end of the year. There has been progress on another knitting WIP but I shouldn't mention it, it will not distract me (I've finished the front and have progressed up the back rib). I've confined it to the basket - hidden it in an attempt to love the lace. Going to do one more repeat today, there I've said it so I must do it.

The weather has improved today at last, it has been bucketing down for the last two weeks, finally today I'll get to play tennis this afternoon, I've been having withdrawl symptoms and it wasn't pretty.

Thanks for all the good wishes for Cathal, his face is still a little sore and swollen but he's getting his stitches out today so hopefully that will speed up the recovery.

Joiner

2007-07-11T16:20:00.000+12:00

My head is feeling better now, well it's been a few days, but it's Cathal who's now not feeling the best. Due in no small part to endodontic surgery yesterday. It was a 2.5 hour operation so I had a little time to kill in the waiting room and I can now finally ( just as the tour actually moves to France) be part of the tdfknitalong. Mmm, it's growing slowly. That's what 2.5 hours produced, now I may have been a little distracted but still I think this is going to eat up hours and hours of knitting time. Which is why I chose to compete for the king of the mountains jersey - I need stamina for this one. I did knit up another swatch, this time on 2.75mm needles (1st swatch is with the recommended 3mm needles) and I decided that I preferred the first swatch I made. So I cast on with the 3mm's. I have to admit whilst I love the lace, the slow growth and the concentration required for this knit is a little off putting. I'm a multitasker and I really enjoy doing other things while I knit, you know watching a DVD, reading a book or blogs or the internet etc etc. I just can't do that with this one though. Even on the purl row I have to keep an eye on it to make sure that I do in fact only purl one of the wrapped stitches and ensure that the other one gets dropped. So, I think this will continue to be a slow grower as I knit in my spare time during the day, when I am not doing anything else!

In marked contrast I nearly have a front of the Jo Sharp V Necked Vest knit. This is flying off the needles (albeit 3.25mm!). Now, this is a knit that works well with my multitasking penchant. Now if I could just do the same with my shawl, there'd be progress, but where's the challenge in that!

P.S. Cathal has just posted his 100th post on our other blog ( who am I kidding "our blog" - I've written a handful of posts) and in true blog world style there's prizes so drop on over and leave a comment.

My head hurts.

2007-07-08T19:00:00.000+12:00

My yarn for Flair arrived - so I've knit up a swatch.It's enough to keep me from casting on right away. I need to stay focussed. I've also knit up a swatch of the wrap/shawl I'm knitting for the Tour de France kal (focus). We are allowed to swatch before the Tour de France commences so I knit this yesterday morning. The Tour was kicking off at 3pm GMT yesterday but as I was off in the land of nod at that time (2am Sunday morning NZ time) I didn't cast on. It's now 7pm Sunday evening and I still haven't cast on. Not a very good participant am I? I'm just not happy with the swatch though, I think my lace is too "loose". I don't have the next needle size down to knit another swatch so I took my sore head into my LYS today to see if I could have a look at the sample in the store and if necessary get some smaller needles.

When I arrived I asked one of the ladies working there if I could have a look at the shawl to see how my swatch looked against it - it wasn't on display. It wasn't in the store at all, apparently, they rotate samples around all their stores and my shawl's time was up in Welly, just my luck! I did get another knitters opinion though and she thought it looked fine but I decided to pick up some 2.75mm needles anyway and have decided to knit another swatch. Just not today.

Did I mention my head hurts? Lace might give you a sore head but really mine's just sore from last night's Synning.

The Knitting

2007-07-06T16:49:00.000+12:00

I was a little distracted with all the flight stuff going on that I've yet to give an update on the knitting. Since I cast off the Clapotis on Sunday I've been a little stuck on what to knit next. I knew I really only had a week as I plan to start on my shawl for the Tour de France Knitalong this weekend (and my yarn has just arrived in time (I'm using shade 02 - cherry) - phew). So I knit up these two swatches. Then I pondered. I really, really want to knit with the varigated yarn - I had planned to knit Flair with it but Flair is designed with a worsted weight yarn in mind and this is 8ply/DK weight and since I've now ordered different yarn for Flair (still awaiting delivery) I need another project for my varigated yarn. It's told me it wants to be a zipped up ribby cardigan and I have looked out there but the only zipped up ribby cardie patterns I can find are for worsted/aran weight. Anyone have ideas? - I'm not on Ravelry yet but I'm sure there's answers out there. Yes, I know I could just do the maths and convert a pattern but I'm lazy. I have started a Jo Sharp vest (in Knit Issue 1 - I'm knitting it in the same colour as the book)- I know I won't get it finished before I start the shawl and it won't exactly make a good break from the shawl knitting - although it's a simple knit, it's on 3.25mm needles and the shawl will be knit on 3mm so I may need another project on the needles for times when I need a break from the lace. Maybe I need to cast on for something else.......castonitis moi?

Glorious Thursday

2007-07-05T16:30:00.000+12:00

It's been an emotional week but today I am smiling, nay, grinning like all is right with the world. I have been trying to change our flights back to Ireland to allow us to get to two weddings of friends in Sept/Oct. We always knew that we had at least one wedding to come home for during our year out here in NZ but now we are blessed with having two to go to. When we booked our flights last year we were assured by our travel agent that there wouldn't be any issue with changing the date of our return portion back to Ireland - ALL we had to do was contact the airline in NZ, confirm our new return date and pay the change fee. Needless to say it wasn't that simple and I have been on an emotional rollercoaster all week waiting to see if we could get the flights we wanted and now finally many, many, phonecalls and emails later WE GOT FLIGHTS!!

I know it wouldn't have been the end of the world if we missed my friends wedding, in fact he couldn't have been more understanding but I was gutted at the thought of not being able to get flights until a few days AFTER his wedding - that's the best the airline were offering until I persuaded them otherwise - I won't go into it all since the drama is now over but sometimes being on the other side of the world is hammered home forcefully and this was one of those weeks. So, we did get flights, they are not ideal - we arrive back into Dublin airport at lunchtime on the day of the wedding party - I've no idea what time it kicks off at but I know it's an eveningtime affair. I just hope I'll be so high on emotion and excitement I'll be able to stay awake!!!!!!

Clapotis

2007-07-02T20:20:00.000+12:00

It feels great to be blogging back in "real time" now. Since I've got all the FO's out of the way I can finally show you what I'm working on at the moment. The title of the blog post gives it all away. I started my Clapotis on hols in May whilst we were on our travels. It will forever be associated with the camper van! Here I am knitting in a cafe in Rotorua in the early winter sunshine.There's a lot of knitting in the Clapotis but it's such a clever design and your interest is maintained throughout - well mine was. Here's a more recent pic I took last week. A weekend of rain confined us to the house (we weren't complaining, it's the first weekend we've been here that it lashed on both Saturday and Sunday) so there was lots of knitting done and I managed to cast off last night - so yep, another F.O. Well not quite, there's a few ends to be sewn in and more than a few dropped stitches to be unravelled. Then there's the washing and blocking, so it'll be a little while before I flash a photo of the F.O.

Hottie Cover Fun

2007-06-29T19:27:00.000+12:00

When we first came to New Zealand we had no idea how cold winter was going to be. When we started viewing houses and noticed that none of them had central heating we thought, great, winters must be really mild here. Well, we found out the hard way that winter is far from mild here, it's just the kiwi's are tough! And possess "hotties". A hottie is a hot water bottle and we now possess a few ourselves. Up until recently though they have been naked and I thought it was about time that I corrected that.

I had a quick root through the stash (yes I have accumulated a stash here) and came up with the novelty pink yarn I bought back in December when we first arrived. Finally a use for this yarn. I have no idea why I bought it but I recall liking the colours. Anyway I think it makes a very pretty hottie!

Pattern: Jessie from Rowan Junior

Yarn: Rare Surino Slub Tulip 3x 50g balls (bought in Wild and Woolly Yarns in Devonport) and some leftovers of the blue handspun that I used to knit C's scarf(bought in Fibre Spectrum in Nelson).

Time Taken: Approx. a week

Difficulty: A very straightforward pattern but I was using a different yarn and therefore different needle sizes to those specified so I kinda winged it and added extra rows where needed. The heart is a feature of the pattern but the "hottie" part is all mine!

Winner/Loser: WINNER - could I shout that any louder - I love it and it's one of my favourite things that I have knit this year and of course it will always remind me of NZ.

View of the back

Close up of the heart shaped buttons.

Brioche Stitch Scarf

2007-06-28T19:29:00.000+12:00

Pattern: I was making this project for Cathal so it had to be a suitably manly design and not over fussy so the Brioche Stitch was chosen. I used 66 sts to get the width I wanted.

Yarn:Handspun (hence the sometimes uneven stitches) Merino from Fibre Spectrum in Nelson - sadly no weblink.

Time Taken: 2 weeks, although it felt like forever - scarves just seen to go on and on and on....

Difficulty: Simple if a little boring after 50cm or so.

Winner/Loser: Well the recipient likes it so I'm happy.

P.S. Thanks for the commiserations on the last post. I haven't quite yet decided what I am going to do with the cardie but I did think it might suit another family member.......is it evil to give something away as a gift when you hate it? Surely I should be giving away nice things knit specifically with the recipient in mind. I'll have another ponder. Up next is my favourite finished item of 2007! Remarkably it makes up for the pain of the disaster that is the wrap cardie. Tune in tomorrow.

Wrap Cardie Disaster

2007-06-27T14:20:00.000+12:00

I've thought long and hard about this photo and this post. This is the last of the FO's that I had planned to photograph during our travels in May (I have some more FO's coming up though - ones I have finished this month!). Despite a race against the clock I did manage to get this sewn up in time to bring it with me. I carried it in my backpack taking up valuable space and not once - even on the coldest days did I wear it. I couldn't you see, because I hate it with a passion.

I don't think I've felt the love less for any knitted item I have ever made and expecially one that took me almost a month to make. The only thing that kept me going during the knitting of it was the prospect of possibly running out of yarn. That's how exciting a knit it was and the finished result is just not wearable. Not by me anyway. I hate the shape of it, it's too baggy, too long and just plain too big for me (it does fit across the back so it's not a question of possibly knitting a smaller size, the style just doesn't suit me) and to add insult to injury it adds lbs to my not so slim frame that doesn't need lbs added to it. Yuck!

For the record, here are the details:

Pattern: Wrap Cardigan from Sarah Dallas Knitting

Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton Shade 941 and Shade 900

Time taken: A whole month of my knitting life that I'll never get back.

Difficulty: Not at all difficult just incredibly boring miles and miles of s.s.

Winner/Loser: mmm, how can I put this................................. LOOOOOOOSER!

I've got the whole world in my mittens.

2007-06-25T16:01:00.000+12:00

I previously alluded to the fact that the photo sessions on location in the south island didn't exactly go to plan. After the Baldwin Street lying in the middle of the street incident my partners in crime got a little weary of my photo plans. I had two more FOs to photograph and it just didn't happen. For a start - see those mittens above, I forgot to bring them to the perfect place for a photo - a glacier! I was kicking myself afterwards but to be honest I was too focussed up at the glacier trying to stay upright to think of knitting. So I got the shot above instead - taken in Wellington on a lovely sunny day! Anyone who has been to Wellington will recognise the sphere above or in the pic below.This Fern Ball sculpture is located in the centre of Wellington in a plaza surrounded by many public amenities. So anyway onto the FO.

Pattern: Mittens with Cabled Ribs from Vintage Knits

Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton in Shade 956 Coffee Rich & Shade 911 Rich

Time Taken: Mmm, I can't really remember I made them in April, think it was about a week.

Difficulty:Not difficult at all but I did made a bit of a mess with my increases for the thumb so I consulted EZ and found some very neat ways to increase and eliminate the holes I was making.

Winner/Loser: Winner, I think they are very cute and I love the colours.

1930's inspired beaded necklace.

2007-06-23T20:23:00.000+12:00

Here's the result of last nights beading class. This time the necklace was a 1930's inspired style. It's quite similar in construction to the last necklace I made back in March but I much prefer this one for some reason. All I need now is an occassion to wear it. It's not quite an everyday necklace.

Baldwin Street Socks

2007-06-21T19:23:00.000+12:00

Here I am posing with my Lombard Street socks on Baldwin Street in Dunedin, SI, NZ - apparently the steepest street in the world so beat that Lombard Street!!!!

Pattern: Lombard Street Socks from MagKnits.

Yarn: Shepherd Baby Wool 4 ply - 100% Pure Wool (but it must have been treated as it is machinewashable). Bought in Wild and Woolly yarns in Devonport when we first arrived in NZ.

Time Taken: Another stop and start project but I'd guesstimate about 2 weeks.

Difficulty: For a sock that looks so intricate with both cables and lace I expected these to be challenging but they weren't. To be honest I made more mistakes with my Jaywalkers.

Winner/Loser?: WINNER, I love these socks and would make them again in a heartbeat.

I may have alluded to the fact in a previous post that it wasn't all plain sailing with taking shots of my various FO's on location! It's actually very difficult to get a close up shot of a handknit whilst trying to capture the beauty or essence of the landscape or location. That and the fact that we were on holidays and my sister and husband didn't have the same level of patience that I did, you know they were on holidays too! Just to prove the point here I am sitting in the middle of the road (which cars do drive up!!!) legs in the air trying to see if this angle works better. As you can see it doesn't, but maybe you can see better from this photo just how steep Baldwin Street actually is. And if you are really interested in finding out more about Baldwin Street click here.

Mmmm cupcakes.

2007-06-20T13:42:00.000+12:00

Julie over at Little Cotton Rabbits has just posted her 100th post. To celebrate she's offered a prize of one of her very cute knitted creations. Since she suspected she might have a few entrants and not everyone could win she decided to offer all readers a free pattern for a cute cupcake applique. When I saw it I knew I had to knit it and the result is above. Not quite as nice as Julie's effort but I love it just the same - I see myself making many of these. Thanks Julie.

In other news I have joined yet another crafty group,The Crafty Foxes, this time not exclusively knitters. Last night there were knitters but also cross stitchers, embroiders, an origami enthusiast and a sewer. I think I've finally found a crafty group that I'll definitely return to. They meet every second Tuesday in one or other of the girls homes and alongwith your craft you're encouraged to bring some snacks! Mmmm think I can manage that.

Another F.O. tomorrow.

Cleckheaton Cardie

2007-06-19T17:40:00.000+12:00

So, here's the start of a few posts on FO's. First up is the Cleckheaton Cardie pictured here in the leafy Autumnal surrounds of Christchurch.

Pattern: Cleckheaton Book 949 - Circular Yoke Cardigan

Yarn: Cleckheaton Country Silk - 75% wool, 15% silk.

Time Taken: Trying to remember it seems so long ago now and I think I was knitting other things at the time too - I'd say probably 4 weeks in total though.

Difficulty: No knitter would have difficulty with this pattern it's pretty simple and straightforward but I managed to have a counting failure. After I had sewn in the second sleeve I realised upon counting my stitches that I had finished the sleeve for the next size up - not the size I was knitting, so some unpicking of sewing was required. No biggie really but I hate sewing up so much, doing it twice can send me over the edge!

Winner/Loser: Winner, thankfully. I've already worn it quite a bit.

Knitters Weekend

2007-06-18T14:53:00.000+12:00

I've just had a great weekend in Welly. On Saturday I went with JM (a friend who's into sewing more than knitting but was willing to drive me here) to a Knit World organised Knitters Weekend. I was most interested in seeing what yarns would be on offer and the size and scale of the event was a little disappointing - it was no Knitting and Stitching Show. There was only a handful of yarn sellers other than Knit World and even at that Knit World didn't have a lot of yarn on sale preferring to push their knitting books and patterns. They had a number of tea cosies on display - entrants in a competition they had organised. They also were running a fastest knitter and crocheter competition. This lady was the winner of the fastest knitter comp. with 204 stitches knit in 3 mins. Her "tucking the needle under the arm" style along with the continental method of knitting meant she left the other entrants for dead. I didn't enter the competition and I'm no quick knitter but I did mean to try out a 3 minute time trial over the weekend to see how I would fare.While I was there I got to fondle this gorgeous shawl. I decided there and then that I was going to knit this lace shawl (it's N1090). The yarn felt so lovely - it's a wool/silk blend. Unfortunately they didn't have the yarn on sale at the show though so I'll have to pick it up in my local Knit World but I have bought the pattern which is a start. When I got back home I read on Meg's blog about the Tour de France Knitalong and realised that I already have the perfect project for this. All I have to decide now is the colour for the shawl and the colour of the jersey I'm going to compete for!

Sunday was a great day too - as I knew it would be. C had organised a trip here (he's knows me so well!!!) followed by bubbles here and later dinner here - what a treat, it was our 2nd wedding Anniversary yesterday.

P.S. I recall writing on the blog before heading off on our big trip in May that I would photograph my FO's in the various places we travelled to. Well, I did try, with limited success it has to be said but they're coming up next.

Sound Swap CD

2007-06-15T20:47:00.000+12:00

It's arrived. New music, I can't wait. Thanks Erin ( sadly blogless).

Christchurch & Ashburton goodies

2007-06-14T20:57:00.000+12:00

I'm a bad blogger, it's not like I don't have lots to share. There's WIPs, FOs, and additions to the tool kit to facilitate working on a new fibrey interest but first I'll start with the stash enhancement.

You might recall that I already did a little stash purchasing at the beginning of our trip in the South Island in Nelson. Next stop was Christchurch and once I saw this sign I knew I was in business.In the Arts Centre, I found lots of cute crafty shops but of course the one that interested me the most was the one run by the Christchurch Guild of Weavers and Spinners. There was lots of beautiful handspun yarns there but with all my strength I resisted the urge to go on a spending spree and contented myself with this cute multicoloured skein. I also found a few buttons in a sewing shop which begged to be taken home. After Christchurch we were headed for Mount Cook, enroute I insisted on a stop at Ashburton to call to Ashford Handicrafts. They have a cafe there so the other 2 were happy enough to sit and eat while I browsed and eh, yeh, shopped. They had quite the range of yarn and of course spinning equipment and fibre.

But I was singular in purpose. I knew if there was anywhere on my trip to get a wool winder it was here. And so it was. I do have a wool winder at home in Ireland but I bought it on ebay and I've since discovered that it's actually a cone winder and regardless it's starting to click and stick a lot when I am winding yarn which is annoying but perhaps the most salient point is that it is in Ireland and I'm not and neither is the increasingly large collection of skeined yarns. So, it was a necessary purchase - too much justification?

June Reading List

2007-06-11T21:51:00.000+12:00

Just one book this month also as I haven't yet even started reading this month.

1. Jazz - Toni Morrison

I read The Bone People last month whilst on our travels. It's an amazing book, one that will stay with me for quite some time. The complexities of the main characters lives test the readers sympathies to such an extent at times it's difficult to know who to feel most for. It's a book I'd definately recommend.

Nelson Woolies

2007-06-06T16:20:00.000+12:00

I've covered a lot of the Nelson tale in our other blog - wheretwonext.blogspot.com but I've left the fibrey goodness for here. Mmmmmmm yummy Nelson. I loved it. The Crafty Girls Guide was invaluable. Unfortunately as Cathal wasn't with us I've little photos to show of the stores or the streets of Nelson. I tend to get singleminded when I encounter yarn and remembering to take photos wasn't a priority - oops.

In Nelson itself I found my favourite crafty shop in NZ. Fibre Spectrum (sadly, no web link) is a 10 strong co-operative of fibre artists. The stuff on sale here is just fabulous. Amongst a very well stocked shop there's a wall of shelving with all sorts of different types of handspun, there's fabulous finished garments too, including woven scarves and jackets that were divine. But I fell for a beautiful handspun, handknit shawl. Apologies for the darkness of the photos, they were taking in this afternoon's fading light. You can also see I'm not used to photographing such detailed knits or shawls. If I had been thinking you might have got less of my hair in that last shot!! Someday I'd love to knit something like this myself. It's just that when it was on offer in a design and colour that I really liked plus mm, it was already handknit, it was irresistible. I'm not looking forward to the comments when people ask me did I knit this myself and I have to 'fess up and say no but I think it'll be worth it just the same.

I did also buy a little yarn as a memento too. The small hank of blue above is a silk and merino blend. Below is some blue merino which I intend to make into a scarf for Cathal. He doesn't have one here and it's getting into scarf weather now. I'm really not happy with myself that I forgot to take photos inside the shop. I've no doubt that I will rectify that in the months to come. I'm definitely going back to Nelson and as Cathal wasn't with us for this leg of the journey I'm sure he'll have no objections to visiting the place.

There are lots of other nice shops, one of my favourites was the quirky Tula and Niles. They had some fab clothes and hats. Sadly they don't have a website and once again my cameraman was back in Welly. So, you'll just have to take my word for it that it is worth visiting if you are ever in Nelson.

I also had some time to drive out to Stoke to pay a visit to Yarn Traders. Yarn Traders stock lots of exotic yarns including recycled sari silks and bamboo. I visited Helen at her office/warehouse as it turns out at the back of her house! I got some more recycled silk in really nice colours - I am hoping to make a bag from it. I also picked up a skein of Banana Silk as I liked the colours and wanted to see how it knits up. I'm not entirely sure what it wants to be yet but I have time to think about that. As I bought quite a bit of yarn (and blown most of my holiday budget for yarn) in Nelson I almost hoped that I didn't come across more fab things on the trip. We were just at the beginning and (a little too late perhaps) but I thought maybe I should have paced myself. Mmm yes, maybe I should have, Christchurch was next.

Diversion Ahead

2007-06-05T16:16:00.000+12:00

This bag has served me well. It's my everyday sling around my shoulder bag. But it has one major fault. It can't hold my knitting. It's been bugging me for a while. I hate carrying a seperate bag for my knitting when I am out and about. So, I did something about it. I got online and found something much more suitable. Meet my new bag.

I love her! I picked her up at Tiny Happy's Etsy shop. She also makes stuff for kids, all made from recycled fabrics so not only will you get a one off product but it can also satisfy your eco conscious side. I ordered the bag on Friday and it arrived today. Considering yesterday was a public holiday here (Queens birthday!!!!!!) it couldn't have got here faster. I've filled her up and am ready to go, knitting n' all.

P.S. I haven't forgotten the fibrey update. I'm on it, sorting through the various pics etc. Back shortly.

Ready

2007-06-04T16:45:00.000+12:00

I have a confession.

I’m back.

I have been back in Welly since last Monday but I haven’t felt like getting back to blogging.

Much like the last 4 week holiday we had in February I have enjoyed the blogging break. There is a little more to it though. My sister was here till Wednesday evening and we had to make the most of her last few days in Wellington. Then I had to keep myself busy trying not to think about the fact that I’m not going to see her for a few months and that our holiday was over! (I’ll permit a snigger here, I admit my life is one long holiday this year).

So, I’ve been busy playing tennis, joining a new knitting group, getting things back in order housewise and of course catching up on bloglines. (That eats up some time I tell ya – the amount of posts some people write in a 4 week stint would almost total my blog posts for the year).

We’ve just had a lovely weekend just chilling out in Wellington, doing some knitting , visiting cafes, the library (I missed it!) and generally taking it easy. It’s back to business now though. It’s Monday, a day where lots of things get started and I’m ready. I really and truly believe that I just needed to do all those things before I started writing again. I needed to know what everyone else was up to before I got back to blogging myself. I’ve caught up on bloglines. I didn’t leave a single comment but I owe a few people some lengthy emails. This week I promise.

I’ll be back tomorrow to start the tale. I even have to write for the other blog – Cathal didn’t join us for the first few days of travelling and much as I’d love to ask him I think he might find it a little difficult writing about the fun the sisters had in Nelson.

Till tomorrow then, I’ll just be busy sharpening my pencil.

Can I go on my holidays now?

2007-05-06T16:29:00.000+12:00

Packing - done

Sound Swap CD - done

Next Knitting Project - chosen and packed

Wrap Cardigan .............mmm not so done. The dehumidifier is helping though! And I still have this evening to sew it all up. Not that easy blocking a cardigan that already has the the shoulder seams sewn and a lengthy neck that just can't go anywhere. I'm not that happy with how this cardie is turning out, I think it might be too big and I fear that the wool and cotton blend is also going to stretch during wear, it seems quite heavy. Plus of course there is the issue of the neck being 3 inches short and I think it could really do with the extra length. Time will tell.

Back in 3 weeks! Maybe sooner if we can get internet access enroute.

Sweet Anticipation

2007-05-05T11:12:00.000+12:00

I came home from a beautiful day in Welly with my sister to find that the postie had been. Oh, so exciting - I believe I ran around the room whooping - I am a bit of a child when it comes to these things. My KTE parcel had arrived. The postmark said Royal Mail and then I thought that can't be right, my treater is in Canada. I deduced this when I got an email from her and her email address was .ca! I was wrong though, my treater is Canadian but living in England. So do you want to see what I got? First up is such a treat, a Marie Claire mag all the way from England. Oh, I so want to read this and yet I so want to save it. I'm not quite sure what to do. English magazines are so expensive here given the pricey airfreight and all imported magazines carry a sticker saying that they have been air freighted hence the frightening cost. So, this magazine will be read from cover to cover, just not yet. I'm saving it.

Then there was chocolate. Oh, yummy Cadbury chocolate. My favourite Dairy Milk and some crumbly flakes - I envisage a bath with magazine in hand and "only the crumbliest flakiest chocolate".... just like the ad. Speaking of baths, Glenda included a very cute sheepy bath and shower gel too. Oh, and some tea, Dr. Stuarts Apple and Ginger tea, naturally caffeine free tea, for fussy me who doesn't do caffeine in tea or coffee but somehow overlooks the fact that it's present in chocolate.

And then there's the yarn. I had mentioned wanting to make some felted knits so Glenda sent 4 balls of Garnstudio Alaska 100% wool in assorted shades to get me started. She even included some patterns for me. Now all I have to do is decide what to knit.

Oh, I nearly forgot. Do you see that cool card up there - if you have a good memory you might remember seeing it on my blog before, last June. My husband parents bought us this card for our first wedding anniversary, so when it arrived again in the post to me I laughed. The hilarious thing is that I have been thinking of changing the pic on my profile as it's the same profile that is on our shared blog wheretwonext.blogspot.com and I thought maybe for the time being it would be better to have another pic up there. My husband had suggested using a pic of this very card, so now that I have been sent this card again I might just oblige. Thank you Glenda, I'm so going to enjoy all the treats you sent and thanks for sending such a weighty package I know the postage was expensive.

May Reading List

2007-05-04T09:17:00.000+12:00

Just the one book this month. Well, I was probably a little over ambitious in April - I did manage 3.5 books but I still have half of The Penguin History of New Zealand to read.

1. The Bone People -Keri Hulme

As I mentioned in my list for April I am not planning on doing book reviews but I have to say Felicia's Journey was a disturbing read, well written but disturbing. I enjoyed Saturday and The Friday Night Knitting club though.

Fibre fun in Hawkes Bay

2007-05-03T10:47:00.000+12:00

When we arranged to go away on the tennis trip with our new tennis club we did so with the intention of getting to know some of the members a little better. Our attendance at club days has been sporadic and we thought this might be a good opportunity to correct that and to get to see another part of NZ, in the company of kiwis. We don't have a car here so the club captain had said that she would organise a lift for us with one of the members, everyone was car pooling anyway. So, imagine my delight on Friday afternoon when I got into B's car to find a bag of wool in the back seat. Our driver is a knitter and a sewer(?)(that looks wrong anyhow she sew a lot!). Turns out the captain had got this car pool just right.

B was intrigued to learn of my Crafty Girls Guide to NZ book and as I read out places in and around Havelock (where the tennis was) we agreed to check some of them out the next day. What a result, I was thrilled. I really didn't expect to get to do anything crafty on the weekend although I did pack the book and my knitting on the off chance. So Saturday arrived and apart from a prearranged lunch at a winery we had the day to ourselves.

B drove us first to Hohepa Craft Workshop where she had previously bought a beautiful woven scarf. She didn't manage to add to her collection this time but I got some handspun. I'm not sure yet what I'll make from it but I wanted a souvenir from there and it seemed ideal. Next stop was Napier. We called in on a farmers market there and then we visited the Napier Antique Centre. Wow, I could have stayed here for hours. There was just so much to look at. They have a huge selection of textiles, vintage clothing, china, books, paintings, furniture and jewellery. The also have a vast range old and new buttons, and buttons being more portable than any of the above I came away with a few. We weren't done yet! The next two places we wished to go to weren't officially open on a Saturday but if you rang in advance you could make an appointment. So we did. It happened that Christabels was kind of enroute for us back to our lunch venue so we called there next. It might have meant that we would be a little late for lunch but with the prospect of Liberty fabric beckoning B couldn't resist and neither could I apparently. Pictured below is a little scrap of Liberty Tawn that I choose as my souvenir from here. As I'm not a sewer yet (I have neither machine, materials, patterns or knowledge) so I restrained myself from choosing from the rolls and rolls of pretty prints. Our next appointment was after lunch at The Dyepot. I was sooooo looking forward to going here. I really wanted to get some recycled silk and envisaged seeing lots of hand dyed hanks here. I was a little disappointed when Sheryl told me that she's getting out of yarn. What a pity I'm not better set up for dying and spinning here. I've no doubt Holly that you would have enjoyed a visit here. Still, I didn't leave empty handed, I got one purplish hank of sari silk and some accent fibres cotton for embellishments. The silk sewn sample below I couldn't resist - I'm thinking it would look really great sewn to the front of a fabric bag - I did mention that I don't have a sewing machine yet didn't I? We had a great weekend and made a few new friends which we have already arranged to meet up with again outside of tennis. Oh and the wine was great too, we might even taken another trip to Hawkes Bay if we get the chance.

Onto more current news - my sister has arrived. There were tears in the airport! We're going to be busy over the next while so I think the updates will be few and far between in the next few weeks. Oh, and my Knitters Treat Exchange treatee got her parcel from me - check out her blog - The Knitting Coop. I haven't received my parcel yet but I have received an email to say it's on the way. Looking forward to receiving it.

On the knitting front I have cast on for something new - no pics yet - maybe next time. I have sewn in the ends on the Wrap cardigan, I haven't yet decided whether I will wash and block it before I sew it up or whether I will just sew it up and wash it then. It'll all come down to the quickest option. I'm running out of time if I hope to bring it on our travels.

I fear for my Sound Swap partner I have recorded her CD for her but we are supposed to get creative with the CD cover too - help! Think I need to get online for some inspiration and quickly!

No, it's not enough!

2007-04-30T18:55:00.000+12:00

So, as it turns out I was able to finish off the sleeve of the Wrap Cardigan on Thursday night before we headed off for the weekend. I had almost enough wool! I ran out on the very last line, I had enough to complete that line but not enough to cast off as you can see from the picture above, so I had to use some yarn from the neck, aaaagh. So the neck is now a little shorter. I've also cast off the neck. I don't have time to work out another neckline at the moment so I'm just going to make do at present and review it when I've worn it a bit. I had hoped to sew in the ends and wash and block it before I headed off for the weekend but they were very ambitious plans apparently.

It's now Monday evening and the knitting lies on the kitchen table taunting me. My sister arrives tomorrow - yipee. I've finally gotten round to posting up our intinerary for her time here - you can find details of our planned travels here. I've spent today stocking the fridge, doing laundry, ironing, washing windows and making beds - I've still to hoover, clean the bathroom and make the dinner - yikes and I had planned to bake some bread and cake - I fear the cardigan may get used to it's temporary resting home for a little longer.

We had a great weekend away playing tennis, I even managed a little stash enhancement - will reveal all when I catch my breath!

Is 62.5% good enough?

2007-04-24T19:56:00.000+12:00

I'm making progress on the Wrap Cardigan. Just one sleeve to go. Just one problem though.That's all of the yarn I have left. I don't think there'll be much left of that when the last sleeve is knit and the problem with that is that the neck is incomplete.

The neck should be 8 inches long - to allow it to fold over - like so..... Only, it's just 5 inches. What to do? I'm also running out of time. I need to knit the sleeve in the next 2 days and block the garment. We are going away on Friday for a few days and on Tuesday my sister arrives and I wanted to have it finished before she comes. So, I 'm just going to knit away on the sleeve and hope that I'll have some inspiration regarding the neck while I knit. Have you noticed the different shades of blue in each of the pics above? Hard to believe that they are all the same colour. The close up of the neck shot is probably the truest colour of the cardigan.

I've been knitting on one or two other things too, I've finished the Lombard Street socks and I've another finished item which I may show in the next blog post. Things are kinda busy round here at the moment, trying to get lots of things done before Tuesday, well before Friday really. We are heading off for the weekend to Havelock North for a tennis tournament with our club here. It's supposed to be a fun weekend with a little tennis which is why we signed up for it (I still have not progressed from beginner status!) so it was the appeal of the vineyards of Hawke's Bay that attracted us mostly, that and the fact that we haven't ventured North West yet.

I've also just got details of the person that I need to make a CD for as part of the Sound Swap. I've never heard of a lot of the bands she seems to like so I've a bit of research to do before I can start making her a CD. I need to do that before Tuesday too. I have wrapped and posted all of my Knitters Treat Exchange gifts to my treatee - I really enjoyed this swap and hope the recipient likes what she gets.

Anyhow, this is not getting the last sleeve knit. Must get back to my knitting.

I'm a shopper.

2007-04-23T21:16:00.000+12:00

Carrie: “Honey, if it hurts so much, why are we going shopping?”

Samantha: “I have a broken toe, not a broken spirit”.

Sex and the City Quote

When we came to NZ it was with a view to taking some time out and seeing a bit of the world. So, when that’s your viewpoint that’s where the funds have to go, most of the funds that is, I still have to be able to buy yarn! But it has meant doing without other things, not much really, we’re not deprived but it has meant that I haven’t been out shopping for clothes in the longest time. That’s a slight exaggeration I have bought clothes but they’ve been more of the functional “need warm items for colder weather” type. Not fashion, not what’s new, frivolous, colourful and what I’d call “going out” clothing. Boots, bags, accessories, the sort of things I have a range to select from at home.

I really wondered how I’d fare here, would I enjoy wearing my functional combat trousers, tramping boots and backpack, would I miss my handbags, my finer clothes and shoes, would I even enjoy not focussing much on my clothing. Well I thought I was doing just fine, I still window shop and look longingly at the seasons tempting treats displayed in store windows but I’ve been good about not succumbing. Until last Saturday that is.

Last Saturday I had a hair appointment in Wellington and straight after I met my husband who declared the new “do” a success – I really didn’t change too much, I still have long hair, just a few more layers and a fringe. The plan was to go for lunch but as we both weren’t that hungry I suggested maybe I might spend an hour on my own “window shopping”. I really didn’t have a plan I just wanted to have a look around. I might have had in my head that we are going out for dinner that evening to a really nice restaurant and I had nothing suitable to wear but I really didn’t plan on being bold.

As my hour was coming to a close my husband met me at the shop where I just happened to spy the most beautiful crushed silky type wrap around top in cream, red and turquoise. The sort of turquoise that would go really well with the one pair of dressy shoes I have here. The sort of beautiful top that would be totally out of place tramping, the sort of top I’m not supposed to be buying this year. So, I did what I had to do. I bought it. I’m still smiling but the difficult part is that I feel I have just unleashed the beast.

My sister arrives a week tomorrow and she’s a shopper too, pity my husband.

Knitting Dublin style

2007-04-19T09:52:00.000+12:00

Well done Holly. I've just watched this link to RTE's Nationwide program which ran a spot on Holly's Knitters Night Out in Rathmines. It was so great to see so many familiar faces. Ye all look great and I miss you all.

So what about your knitting?

2007-04-16T19:34:00.000+12:00

Feels like it's been a while since I blogged on my knitting progress. Well, there's been lots of knitting but not many photos to show for it. I've been knitting away on the Wrap Cardigan. It's grown from this to this.

Well, it's also got a left front and a sleeve but I've no photos to show of them. I haven't blogged much about this project because it's kinda boring. There's not much to say other than it's stocking stitch forever. Feels like that anyhow, but the yarn gods are with me and have thrown a little excitement into the mix. When I finished the back I started on the left front and was astounded at how long it seemed to take and indeed how much yarn it ate up. I cast off and looked at the yarn I had left. I really wondered how the hell I was gonna be able to finish this with the yarn I have left (typically of course, I got this yarn sent over from Ireland from my stash so getting extra yarn with the right lot numbers will probably be fairly difficult). Anyhow the anticipation of possibly running out of yarn got me enthused enough to start, not the right front, as I might normally have done but, a sleeve, to see if I could gauge if I was likely to run out of yarn.

I've now finished the sleeve and the initial panic has stalled somewhat as I think I just might have enough yarn. I took another look at the pattern though and it appears that there is an 8 inch collar on it! Yikes - not sure I like the sound of that (or the look of it to be honest), so I'm back to pondering if I'll have enough yarn. So, I've cast on for the right front..........

All this cardigan knitting has been prompted by the need for warmer clothing. I didn't bring much winter clothing with me to NZ and it's getting cooler here so I wanted to make myself some of what I need. That's kinda taken some of the joy of knitting them though as they are really functional items. So, with all this cardigan knitting going on around here of late, I've needed a little distraction or two. Bring on the socks, or the Lombard Street socks to be exact.

I can't begin to describe what a wonderful distraction they are. They are without doubt my favourite socks (only the 3rd pair I have knit but still). I love them. Here's a pic of sock no.1, sock no.2 is knit to the foot, not much more to go and I will have another finished pair of socks. The pattern for these socks is a really simple 8 row repeat - 1/2 of those rows are knit rows so it's not challenging and yet it produces a very cute cabled lacey sock, divine.

I'm aware that I have not yet posted a photo of my finished Cleckheaton cardie, but I have been thinking. I've plenty of knitting time this month as we are staying put around Wellington in preparation for our 3/4 week trip around NZ in May when my sister is over. Well, in preparation and also because Cathal has to work full time this month to meet a deadline and get some time off in May. So, I'm doing my best to get a few things finished this month. To bring with me on the trip and also to maybe photograph the finished items on the trip - in different places. I'll have knit all these things in NZ and since we'll be travelling to all sorts of exciting places in May it really appeals to me that my finished knit photo not only record the garment but also this time here, in this wonderful place. Whatcha think?

The Wool Company

2007-04-11T19:53:00.000+12:00

Thankfully, I'm beginning to feel a bit more energetic but today is the first day I haven't needed to go asleep in the afternoon. Hopefully I'll continue feeling better and will be back fighting fit before the week is out. Needless to say there hasn't been much going on here with the sickness. We didn't go anywhere for the Easter weekend but I haven't yet shown my new yarn source that I discovered on the way home from Lake Taupo a few weekends ago, so hopefully that will distract from the lack of knitting content of late. (I have actually been knitting though, in fact I have 2 finished items but until I'm back to better form, modelling will not be happening).

I recalled when we first arrived in NZ and drove from the top of the North island to Wellington that we passed a wool business on State Highway 1 - I couldn't exactly recall where it was but I was certain that this time I wasn't going to let Cathal just drive by. So, when we were heading back from Lake Taupo I had my eyes peeled. We stopped off at The Brown Sugar Cafe in Taihape for a coffee and I took over the driving! Just after we left Taihape we came across a sign for wool, and then another one and before long I spotted this. Since I was in the driving seat literally, there was no debate - I took a swift left and found myself fondling lots of yarn here. They have a nice range of pure wool yarns and I let some of them speak to me.

These 5 skeins of Orchard Utiku 8ply came home with me. At $13 for a 200g skein, it was impossible to resist. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to knit with it yet but since I'm doing well just knitting for myself this year I see no reason to break the pattern. I have no doubt a zipped cardie would do this yarn justice. I LOVE the colours in these skeins, there's brown, red, green, dusky pink and a winey colour, divine.

More swapping.

2007-04-08T11:45:00.000+12:00

I've been bitten by the bug (actually in more ways than one - I'm typing this from the bed as I have a bad "dose" - as my mammy would say). I came across another swap that I've signed up for. This one is all about music though - you make a mix "tape" - which nowadays is a CD, of 14-21 songs and someone else does the same for you. Since we burned our entire CD collection onto my laptop before we left Ireland I should be able to put the requisite number of songs together. I also look forward to hearing some new (or at least new to me) music from someone else's collection.

Sign Ups for Sound Swap close on Wednesday 11th April and as it's a small exchange you'll need to sign up quick to be in. Check out the details here.

April Book List

2007-04-06T18:38:00.000+12:00

Nothing to do with knitting or crafting of any kind and I'm not going to do reviews either, it's just a simple recording for me of the books on my reading list for the month.

1. Saturday - Ian Mc Ewan

2. The Penguin History of New Zealand - Michael King

3. Felicia's Journey - William Trevor

EDITED TO ADD:

4. The Friday Night Knitting Club - Kate Jacobs

Tripping!

2007-04-04T22:09:00.000+12:00

Well it looks like we'll be on the move again - shortly. There's a bit of planning to be done and this time there'll be 3 of us on the trip, I'm sooooo excited. In 4 weeks time my sister is coming to New Zealand. Wahoo!!!!!!! I've so missed her and I'm like a child waiting for Christmas at the moment. When I get the itinerary together I'll post it here. So far, the rough plan is for her to spend a week with us in Wellington, then we'll head off to the south island for a few days (Cathal will have to meet us a few days later as someone has to work!) We'll all meet up again in Christchurch where we are hiring a campervan for 2 weeks to explore the South island. Then it's back up to the North island for a little trip and at the end of May my sis will fly home (not focussing on that part). Yipee, yipee, yipee.

Oh, see that little book on the top of that pile - Crafty Girls Road Trip - well, I haven't exactly declared it's presence to either my sister or my husband - do you think they'll notice that we seem to just happen to be travelling near lots of crafty places on our trip.

2+2=4

2007-04-01T18:44:00.000+12:00

The last time I posted on this blog about the Country Silk Cardigan it looked like this. Now, it looks like this!!! Yup that's right it's going to have two sleeves, yipee. Seems though I can't count. When I got to this stage I needed to join all the constituent parts to start to knit the yoke piece. This involves sewing up the small sleeve joins to the front parts and back piece. Not really a problem until I noticed that one of the sleeves didn't seem to be going in all that easily - I thought no more of it, just assumed that my tension had changed in the month or so between the first sleeve and the second sleeve being knit. Then I counted stitches, I wanted to make sure I had the right amount from the five pieces to make the yoke, I was sure I had but just to be super sure I checked. Now I knew I was 2 stitches short on each of the front pieces (long story) but other than that I was right. So, I counted the stitches and all was ok until I checked the 1st sleeve I knit, try as I may it kept totalling 66 stitches (it should have been 62), that couldn't be right. But it might go a little way to explaining why it was a little more difficult to sew in. I checked the pattern and sure enough the next size up left 66 stitches remaining, so I'd obviously forgotten what size I was knitting when finishing the first sleeve and had left my decrease rows short which again accounted for the difference in length when trying to sew it into the back and front pieces.

So, what to do? have one sleeve slightly larger than the other and puckering slightly? I'll admit to briefly entertaining this notion, especially as it would have sorted out exactly (4 stitches extra on the sleeve, 4 stitches short on the 2 front pieces) my overall shortfall of stitches for the yoke. In the end good sense prevailed and I did what any concientious knitter would do. I unpicked all the sewing attaching the offending sleeve, rejoined the yarn and the knit the 4 missing rows. Then I put it all back together again to start the yoke (still 4 stitches shy). I have rectified that however and I just hope it's not noticeable. So, here's my progress to date. The yoke is going very slowly,all those stiches and off course I just can't wait to sew in all those ends!

By the way, when knitting a yoked garment and the pattern tells you to leave all live stitches on stitch holders, don't. Leave them on circular needles instead. When the time comes to join all the pieces together for the yoke it'll be much easier to join all the stiches together off circular needles than from stitch holders which invariably will have been put on with the clip end in the wrong direction, or maybe that's just me.

Before I sign off I have to leave you with one last photo. To explain - see that last photo above with the yoke started, well I wasn't the photographer. I had laid out the garment on the table and Cathal was waiting for me as I got ready to leave for tennis - running late as usual. I wanted to take the photo before we left as I thought it would be much darker by the time we got back. So I asked Cathal to take the pic, I also told him NOT to touch the garment for fear of loosing any of the 200 odd stitches but other than that I told him to go for it. Do what he likes - I was really wondering if he would take it from a different angle or just shoot it different to the way I would have done it. When I looked at the camera I burst out laughing! Hope you will too - here's Cathal modelling my cardie - bearing in mind he wasn't allowed to touch the knitting he tried to put his head into the neck part so that he could sort of appear as if he was wearing the cardie. Maybe I'll try to peruade him to model the finished cardie - now that would be funny!

Vintage Tassels

2007-03-30T12:25:00.000+12:00

I've been bitten by the beading bug. I took another class a few weeks ago. This one was all about how to make a long fully beaded necklace with beaded tassel centrepiece. To say that this was a step up from the beginners class is stating it mildly. I don't know if I was tired going into the class but I left with a raging headache. See those little beaded tassels, - they are a,em, lets see, a (searching for the right word).............. challenge, yes a challenge (I was going to use a more forceful word but I'll spare you that). They are teeny, tiny sead beads and threading six tassels was quite time consuming not not mention headache inducing. They are so minute they are very difficult to thread with the result that quite a few ended up on the bead shop floor! Thankfully though it was the most difficult part of the process and it's nice to know how to make another style of necklace. I have to say when I first saw the style of necklace it really didn't appeal to me, but now that I've made my own in my preferred colours, it's growing on me.

Enhancement Aussie Style.

2007-03-29T19:28:00.000+12:00

Hello again, well the absence was short lived. I've been enjoying my time away but before I even begin to get into what I've been up to lately there's a lot of catching up to do. For a start I haven't posted about my knitting adventures in Australia. Cathal has been busy posting (at length!) here about our month in Australia, he hasn't yet got to our third week but I'm gonna post here about my special yarn memories of Sydney. So, by the time we got to Sydney I was in NEED of some fibre therapy, we'd been having a wonderful time on our travels down the east coast but I hadn't come across any yarn stores along the way - I hadn't left any time for wandering off the beaten track but Sydney, Sydney was different. Right from the beginning I knew there was at least one store I could get to and had planned some time for me there on the first full day in Sydney. The day also happened to coincide with a Sydney Stitch N' Bitch meeting - how's that for planning. Anyhow back to the shopping. Tapestry Craft, ah the lovely wool they had there, lots of well known brands and a huge amount of books, magazines and patterns ( If found out later that I had probably shopped in Sydney's most expensive yarn store, ah well). I contented myself with an hour there browsing the yarns, checking the pattern books and finally settling on the following purchases.3 Jo Sharp Books - Knit Issue 1 & 2 and Saturday. (Well I was in Australia, it seemed only right). See those two innocent balls of yarn up there. They are only there as representatives of more, a lot more, let's just say enough to knit an Piccolo Orange Cowl sweater and a Kelp Green V Neck Vest, both in Knit Issue 1.That should keep me busy for a little while.

Then onto the best bit. I had been in touch with Meg, before I left New Zealand to see if I could come along to one of the Sydney Stitch N' Bitch meet ups. Luckily they were due to meet up on a day when we were in Sydney. So, off I took myself to Harts pub in The Rocks. It was a small but very friendly crowd there that evening. It was wonderful to meet Meg, Rebecca and Susan and to discover that the world over a group of young ( we are young aren't we?) knitters draws quite a bit of attention - particularly male attention when you are in a pub. I really enjoyed the evening it was great fun and I look forward to keeping in touch with the girls through their blogs. See how nice they are - they even let me take a pic for my blog.

After Sydney we headed off to Tasmania, the whole purpose of our trip to Australia was to go to a friend's wedding in Hobart. Cathal was best man so we got there a week before the wedding to make sure we could help out with any last minute preparations and of course to spend a bit of time with our friends. Again coincidentally we happened to arrive just in time to get to the Salamanca Market where I managed to pick up some very lovely Tasmanian Oak needles. Just beside the market was a shop called Tasmanian Woolen Co. so naturally I had to have a look and look at what jumped into my bag. Luckily I had anticipated a little bit of a stash enhancement while in Australia and had left some room in my bags so I could bring some wool back to New Zealand. Unfortunately though I had forgotten a little promise to myself earlier this year. See that lovely basket below. Well, I bought that to hold my yarn for the year. It's big enough to hold whatever I'm currently knitting and a little more, well actually it holds quite a lot more. So the deal was I could buy yarn during this year but it must fit in the basket, no more than that. No more! Look like there's a few other knitting things hanging round the basket? Yes and the difficulty is that it gets worse. A good deal worse, but that's for another day. I thought I gave up going to Confession years ago, and I've shared enough of my sins for today.

Dear Blog

2007-03-19T15:47:00.000+12:00

We need to talk. It's not you, it's me. Things just haven't been feeling the same recently and I need a break. For the sake of our relationship I think it's important for me to take a step back at the moment. I need a little time out to spend some time on my own (in the sun, daylight saving has ended and we don't have too many more days in the sun left). I'll take the time to think about where we are going and our future together.

I'm sure it it won't take me long to come to my senses and miss you terribly but in the meantime if you could just understand I'm only in New Zealand for a short time, soon it'll be winter and we'll have lots of time to spend together then.

Missing you already,

Get a Gimble

2007-03-19T15:37:00.000+12:00

Well done all ye clever people. Yes indeed, this little piece of plastic does lovingly cradle a book for you while you knit!

It's called a Gimble and if you want to get your hands on one they sell them online. I bought mine in Dymocks in Hong Kong (I haven't seen them in Dymocks here but it is possible that branches of Dymocks in other countries stock them also). You get two sizes in a pack, unfortunately I seem to have mislaid the larger one which seems to fit better most of the books I read but they are a pretty nifty gadget for a bargain price!

The thingymagigy!

2007-03-15T21:04:00.000+13:00

The responses to what this might be amused me greatly. So much so I'm gonna give you another hint to see if the guesses might get a little closer to the mark. There's a clue in the title of the last post.

Knitting while reading!

2007-03-14T21:04:00.000+13:00

So I promised a pic of my current knitting. Pictured above is the beginnings of my Wrap Cardigan - featured in Knitting by Sarah Dallas. Whilst in Australia we met up with some friends from home. These friends from home happened to carry all the way from Ireland a little parcel my mam put together for me. Yummy Tayto crisps, Cadbury chocolate and upon request one of the knitting kit packs I had left preprepared in Ireland should I not happen to find any yarn in NZ! Well, I have plenty of yarn in NZ but I really wanted to knit this cardigan. Actually no, I really don't want to knit this, I want to wear it. Miles and miles of stocking stitch isn't fun for anyone, not me the knitter or you the reader but I really love the softness and warmth of Wool Cotton and I want this cardigan. Apologies in advance for future posts on this one.

I have been catching up with all of the blogs I missed whilst away in February and I have been knitting away and making progress on the back of the cardigan. It's amazing how much mindless knitting you can get done whilst reading blogs and I am a fan of multi-tasking so I'm doubly pleased with progress.

I thought I'd share a pic of a super cool gadget with you. Every knitter should have one! Any idea what it is? I'll spill the details tomorrow.

Holiday Knitting

2007-03-13T15:03:00.000+13:00

As you can see I didn't get much knitting done on the Lombard Street socks while on holidays in Australia. The white lifeline indicates where I had knitted to before we left NZ. The rest is the sum total of my knitting in the last four weeks, the majority of which has been done in the air. I managed to bring this knitting with me on 6 of the 8 flights we took. The last two flights on the way home I decided I was just two tired to knit and bought some magazines instead. I put my knitting in my checked in luggage. Just as well I did! I was selected for a random search of my hand luggage at the security point in Melbourne airport and it yielded them nothing - thankfully.

So, 2.5mm bamboo needles covered with rubber point protectors made it through secuirty in Wellington Airport, Sydney Airport, Cairns Airport, Hamilton Island Airport and Brisbane Airport. I also brought some sock knitting with me when I travelled to NZ from Ireland and had no problems then either and this was at the height of the security restrictions last year, the needles went through security in Dublin Airport, Amsterdam Airport and Hong Kong Airport ( I know I should look up all the correct names for the airports but I'm just too lazy at the moment).

Of course, now that I have put this in print I'll probably never be able to bring knitting on a plane ever again.

Given the lack of knitting going on for the last few weeks I was really looking forward to getting back to the pointy sticks when I got back "home". I'll have some pics tomorrow.

Knitters Treat Exchange Questionnaire

2007-03-13T14:47:00.000+13:00

1. What's your favourite type of yarn?

My favourite type of yarn is dk weight wool/wool blends solid colours. I’m a big fan of Rowan yarns and love the quality and range of colours they offer. I’d love to try some of the fantastic ranges available in the US, knitters there seem to have a veritable feast of amazing yarns to choose from.

2. What's your least favourite type of yarn?

Fun fur or pretty much anything acrylic – like everyone else I’m sure.

3. What's the first thing you do when you visit a new yarn shop?

Check out if there’s anything new that I’ve never seen before. Then I’ll go methodically through every shelf of yarn before settling down to read through the pattern books. Then and only then will I consider buying anything. I hate being asked the minute I step into the shop if I need any help – I’ve just arrived, it’s a yarn shop – I need time to look, how do I know if I need help yet? Sorry If that sounds cranky but it's a pet peeve.

4. What other crafts do you do / would like to do?

Considering getting more into beading. I went to a beginners class recently and enjoyed it so may do some more. I really want to learn to crochet and am dying to get going at sewing but the sewing will probably have to wait until I get back home to Ireland in 2008! I also want to start felting or fulling as it is more properly called – it’s still knitting I suppose but I haven’t properly explored it yet. I’ve recently bought a book on the topic all I need now is good felting yarn.

5. What magazines do you currently subscribe to?

Vogue Knitting and whilst I don’t subscribe I buy Interweave in the shop when it’s available here.

6. Put this type of magazine in order of preference: Knitting / Crochet / Other Craft / Food / Home / Fashion / Celebrity Gossip / Garden

Knitting/Fashion/Other Craft/Home/Food/Garden/Celebrity Gossip/Crochet Crochet is only at the end as I haven’t yet started learning but when I do naturally the order of preference will change!

7. What items do you like to knit / crochet?

After knitting and designing babywear for the last few years I am taking a break this year and am knitting pretty much exclusively for myself! At the moment this means lots of cardigans but I would like to get around to knitting a lace shawl for myself some day. Not sure when I’d ever wear it but I like the idea of it all the same. If you haven’t guessed by now I know what I like and what I don’t like. Triangular shawls fall into the don’t like category – rectangular ones I love.

8. Are you allergic to anything?

Amazingly when I was younger I used to be allergic to lanolin, which meant I couldn’t wear any pure wool clothing. Thankfully that seems to have disappeared otherwise I’d be knitting with cotton only. I’m not a big fan of mohair though – it really sets me itching! I’ve quite sensitive skin so I have to be really careful that products I use are as natural as possible and aren’t overwhelmingly perfumed.

9. What do you like the smell of?

Chocolate! Red wine, Coffee, freshly baked goods, in terms of scents I like fresh citrusy and jasmine scents.

10. What's your favourite way to relax?

A hot bath with a fashion magazine followed by a glass of red wine (preferably Spanish or a NZ Pinot) and some chocolate. Yummy. Oh, and some time to knit too!

11. You're stood in front of a Victorian style sweetshop, an Italian cafe, an old fashioned bakery and a dainty tea room. Where do you go first?

I’d be straight into the Italian café and if happened to be in Wellington my order would be a decaf flat white with trim milk and some delicious Tiramisu.

12. What do you come out with?

A full belly!

13. Where do you go next?

Mmm, probably to the bakery to bring home some lovely bread.

14. Any other words of wisdom for your pal?

I’m not a fan of black – I don’t wear it in clothes or accessories I’m much more into autumnal colours. Whilst I do drink both tea and coffee I only drink the decaffeinated ones.

Beading

2007-03-12T15:21:00.000+13:00

Mmmm, I think I may have developed a new interest. Results below of my Friday Night's Beginner Beading Class at Tiger Eye Beads in Wellington. They have another class next Friday...........

Knitters Treat Exchange

2007-03-11T10:50:00.000+13:00

Sara and Isobel have been plotting. You'll have to check out what they have been up to over at The Knitters Treat Exchange. Go sign up, it's not a big commitment - just a one off exchange, what a great idea!

Back

2007-03-08T21:25:00.000+13:00

Well, the eagle has landed. We're "home" in the Land of the Long White Cloud. We had an amazing time in Australia and loved every minute of it. We've over 1100 photos though and a few hours of video coverage so we have a bit of work to do to edit them and tell our story. I won't be doing that here though - you'll have to check out wheretonext to get the lowdown. I didn't get much knitting done but I do have some knitting purchases to show off and some other knitting news. For now though I have to endeavour to get to the end of the laundry pile and all the other nice jobs that form part of my new role as domestic engineer.

The Streets

2007-02-07T20:16:00.000+13:00

I've started yet another project - this time to accompany me on my holidays to Australia. I bought the yarn in Devonport, Auckland when we first arrived in NZ. The pattern Lombard Street socks can be found here. I'm loving the pattern so far, so much so I had to put it away or I would have been in danger of having a sock knitted before my travels. I'm hoping I can carry this in my hand luggage - wish me luck! I had no problem bringing my Jaywalkers on bamboo dpns through Dublin Airport security, Amsterdam Airport Security and Hong Kong Airport Security. Tomorrow is my chance to try the kiwis out! I'm sure I've just jinked myself now. I have put a thread in should the worst happen although I'm not quite sure how I'll surrender the needles should it become necessary. The sock is resting on my holiday books, books I couldn't get in the library. Bye for now.

The Library

2007-02-06T17:13:00.000+13:00

Since we are but temporary residents in this lovely country we are doing are best not to acquire "things". "Things" include books even knitting ones (I'm not sure why I started this post out this way we have bought loads of books of late - we are rubbish at not acquiring "things"). Thankfully though the library in Wellington is quite well stocked so I really don't have an excuse to fall off the bandwagon again. It even loans magazines such as Interweave.

Delighted with myself I browsed their craft section and came home with a bag full of books, some fiction and two knitting books. The first that caught my eye was Vintage Knits by Sarah Dallas. There was quite a few patterns in this book that I really liked. One in particular really interested me and I just happened to be in the yarn store recently and look what screamed at me to take them home.

It's Rowan 4ply soft in the most beautiful brown shade (brown is one of my favourite colours). It's just the thing to knit the Beaded Sweater in this book. I have however,been a little troubled about this endeavour. Firstly I really shouldn't be buying Rowan here - there's plenty of NZ yarns I could be buying. Added to that I still have a DesignerRowan account at home so I could have bought it wholesale if I was prepared to wait. In addition I'm really not sure about how the whole copyright thing works for pattern books borrowed from the library. Those who know me, know that I don't photocopy patterns from knitting books I don't own - I feel it is important to recognise the work the designer has put into designing the garment and that he/she should be rewarded for that, so I tend to buy the book if there's something I really want to knit. How does that work though if you've borrowed a book from the library? - a book which has patterns in it, in fact nothing but patterns. Does it mean that I must knit the garment while I have the book in my possession (even though it's on loan) or should I not be knitting anything from the book at all. Is this any different than borrowing a book from a friend and knitting a pattern from it? Or indeed photocopying a pattern from a friends book to make a garment?

Further adding to my confusion is the inclusion (not in this particular knitting book I borrowed) but the next - A Gathering of Lace by Meg Swansen, wherein readers who have knit items from the book have informed the library of errata in the patterns and the library have added typed inserts into the relevant pages of the book saying thanks to Mrs XYZ who has pointed how that there is an error in the instructions for the sleeve, where it says decrease by 12 it should say increase by 12 etc.

I'm really not sure quite how to square it with my conscience but it didn't stop me making a trip to the bead shop to acquire the necessary beads to make the Beaded Sweater. Or indeed adding 4 more balls of Rowan yarn to my basket to make the Mittens with Cabled ribs also featured in this book. I hang my head in shame.

I have come up with something of a plan though - maybe I can buy the book. I'll just wait until I get back to Ireland and meanwhile will knit from my library book. Does that work?

As for the Beaded Sweater I've started the beading process - I've to thread 300 beads onto 3 of the balls of yarn. Whilst I was in the Bead Shop I wanted to ensure that the beads I'd chosen would fit over the yarn I'd fallen in love with. I usually ( actually I've only knitted with beads once before) use a darning needle but this time it wasn't going to work. The girl in the bead shop showed me a nifty trick (maybe it's old news to all the other knit bloggers) but I thought it might be worth sharing.

Firstly, loop your yarn around a very light gauge wire.

Then holding both pieces of the thin wire together thread a bead over the wire. Sorry the beads didn't photograph well but I hope you get the idea. Then push the beads over the loop of the wire and the loop of wool. Viola, the beads are now on your yarn. Repeat over and over and over again. A Gathering of Lace is a fantastic book by the way as I'm sure many lace advocates already know. Holly, you might be interested in having a look. There's a gorgeous pair of gloves in it that I'm itching to knit. Oh, does this mean I've another book to buy?

A footprint

2007-02-05T22:49:00.000+13:00

Thanks to Sara, I knew just what to knit for the new arrival. I knew I had limited time and as I already had bought a present I wanted to knit just a little something to mark her birth. You can find the pattern here. It'll be winging it's way off to Ireland tomorrow.

A bargain

2007-02-02T18:52:00.000+13:00

As promised a progress pic of the Cleckheaton Country Silk Cardie. I finished off the 1st sleeve yesterday. So just one more sleeve and the yoke to go. Only problem is that I don't have the circular needle I need to do the yoke. I've tried searching for Addi Turbos online from New Zealand stockists but no joy. An Australian website wanted to charge me $15 for delivery! So, I'm hoping I can pick up the circular I need when I am in Australia later this month. I've started a little something for the new arrival and it's currently drying so I'll post a pic of that tomorrow. I've been doing a little stash enhancement of late. So as not to shock I'll just introduce the piles gradually - here's exhibit no.1 hiding amongst the ferns in our NZ garden. 9 balls of Hummingbird 100% wool in different hues of orange. Well, it was on special offer in the yarn shop - just $2.95 per 50g ball - in total it came in at about €14 Euro for 450g!!!! So, how could I refuse. It's destined to be this. I've a few other projects I want to start before that one though.

It's a girl

2007-02-01T10:59:00.000+13:00

I’m back. It’s been so long since I wrote to this blog that I don’t know where to start. Life has been busy, not busy in a bad way as in life is hard but busy in the sense that I’ve been living life to the full.

We moved out of our temporary accommodation into our rented home for the next 12 months or so. That took some time in getting set up. Unlike Ireland all of the rented property here comes unfurnished and since we were only allowed a 20kg allowance each on our flight to NZ we didn’t bring anything householdy with us so that meant a lot of buying here. We tried to keep it to the bare essentials though. Our house is now set up and after a few trials we now finally have broadband – yippee. We’ve also made it to the south island for a trip – Cathal should be posting about that shortly here. I’ve also been busy organising this!!!

Back to knitting, by now you’d probably expect another F.O. but I’ll have to disappoint. I lost my patience with The Apricot Jacket and have resigned it to the corner. I spent hours reading blogs/forums of others who have already made this jacket and a common theme occurs – ignore the pattern and make it up yourself. I am not kidding. I followed the pattern to the letter which is why I now have to steel myself to frog half of the back – right back to the beginning. Yup, the very first instruction is to start a rib with an even no. of stitches and k1(edge stitch), p2,k2,p2,k2,p2 etc to the last stitch which is also an edge stitch. So if you follow this, the pattern can’t possibly meet up in the middle of the back as it is supposed to do. So, the very first errata is to ignore making an edge stitch – brilliant eh? The pattern is from Rebecca magazine and since it’s originally written in German, the pattern I have is an English translation. It pains me to think that a translator was paid for this bunch of crap. Anyway I lost my patience, threw it in the corner and went down to the yarn store……………and picked up some more wool for another cardigan. A simple one this time, really simple. So I’ve been making progress on that.

It’s the first cardigan on the second row of pics. I’m knitting it in the blue shade of Country Silk. The yarn is 85% pure wool, 15% silk and is totally yummy to knit with. I’ve the back, 2 fronts and half a sleeve knit. I’ll get some photos of my knitting progress but not today. After some truely fab weather – the sun has gone into hiding today so the pics will have to wait.

I had originally wanted to bring a cardigan with me to Australia in case I need it for warmth while we are hiking. It’s unlikely I’ll get it finished before our departure date though. Especially since I just got some news from Ireland. A friend has just given birth to her second baby – a baby sister for Ben and I need to get the needles out to send off something to welcome the new arrival. Those of you participated in The Knitted Picnic might remember my pregnant friend who was organising the Big Tree stage. Well, she had her baby in super quick time, so quick they didn’t make it to the hospital and the little girl was born in the back seat of the car enroute to Kilkenny!!!!

First Anniversary

2007-01-12T10:22:00.000+13:00

So today is the first anniversary of my blog! A year ago today………………… Ok, I’m not going to do in an depth analysis of my year blogging. Summing up I’ve had a great time recording my works in progress, I’ve met some brilliant and oh, so helpful knitters the world over and learnt that sometimes I can stick with something!

So, to celebrate I present my first finished item for 2007. Not for me, but it’s the next best to making something for me – a beanie hat for DH.

Here he is striking a pose in Paraparumu. Pattern: Simple 4,2 Rib Yarn: Jo Sharp Luxury 8ply DK Pure Wool, used approx 60g which was a bit annoying but at the same time it would have been some achievement to get a hat out of a 50g ball.

Time taken: The blink of an eyelid, ok, maybe a few hours

Satisfaction: Absolutely, I could knit up so many of these but of course as soon as I had it made the sun came out and upon our return to Wellington the winds have died. It might not be in use for some time but I think that’s quite ok by me and by the recipient.

Jaywalking in Paraparaumu

2007-01-09T18:16:00.000+13:00

Finally a picture of the last finished item of 2006 - are we really into the second week of 2007?

The Jaywalkers are done! I got a photo of them while we were at Paraparaumu beach last weekend.

Details:

Yarn used - Mmmm, bought this online from an ebay seller - can't remember what it was called, ball band is in Ireland! Not very helpful.

Time taken: Amnesia again, with good reason. I started these an age ago, I'm sure I could look up my blog to see exactly when but lets just say it was in the first half of 2006. That means it took me at least 6 months to get these monsters finished.

Satisfaction Rating/Difficulty Level: Now, these were my second pair of socks ever attempted, even so, I'm not sure why but it took me three attempts to get these right. The pattern is well written and not complicated but I didn't get it right the first time, the second time my gauge was off and they were coming up too small so third time lucky. I enjoyed knitting them but definately has second sock syndrome ( which really was probably third sock syndrome if you take into account the frogged efforts).

Fit: Yes, they do! The last pair of socks I knit (also known as the 1st pair) shrunk a little in the wash so I decided that I'd make these just a smidgen too long in the foot to allow for a little shrinkage.

Overall I was little disappointed with the yarn - have a look at this pic below.

Do you think it looks like I made any effort to get the stripes to match? Well I did, winding on a lot of yarn before I started the second sock so that they would match (sad I know - it doesn't really bother me but I tried). It all started going a bit funny closer to the foot though - I blame the yarn - what else can it be?

New Year New Beginnings

2007-01-04T12:05:00.000+13:00

Well it’s taken me a little while to get back to the blog since my last rash of posts. It’s all to do with internet access. We treated ourselves to 24/7 internet access for a week over Christmas and hence all the blogging – now we are back to a stolen hour here or there and with 2 bloggers now (what have I started with Cathal?) and the fact that I have an incredibly long bloglines list – there just isn’t enough time. This will all be fully resolved when we get set up in our new place sometime mid January. Until then we are living in a serviced apartment and much as I’d like internet access 24/7 the budget doesn’t allow.

So this is a wrap up 2006, plans for 2007 post – a little late.

I finished up the Jaywalkers – I haven’t yet photographed them though so I’ll try to have that done for the next time I’m online. They are my last F.O. for 2006 (ok, technically I may have had to finish the toe on 1st January, but they are still in the 2006 pile – I make the rules around here!).

So, starting with a clean slate – the Jaywalkers were my one and only WIP at the time, I started the new year with a case of wait for it, startitis. I knew I would, I just couldn’t resist.

So, here’s the pile of WIP’s. 1st up is a ribbed beanie hat I am making for Cathal, believe it or not although it’s summer here if it’s a bad day and the southerlies are in full force a warm hat is exactly what you need. So, I’m expecting this to be the first F.O. of 2007. I bought the yarn in Knit World in Wellington, a quite well stocked yarn store although the pattern books leave a lot to be desired. I’m checking out the knitting group scene and will let you know more when I know more myself.

Second up is a little scarf/necktie I am making for myself. I brought this yarn with me from Ireland from my stash (and it’s an Australian yarn). It’s Kaalund Yarns Enchante – 100% silk in Pawpaw shade. The recommended needle size is 2mm!!! I am knitting my scarf on 5mm needles to give it a light and airy feel. Very early days remains to be seen how this will progress but I do love the very subtle shades in this yarn.

The last WIP is a biggie, finally I have started the Apricot Jacket from Rebecca 27. I have already run into problems though. I had a search online and found that there are a number of errors in the pattern. However it’s not the errors that I have a problem with it’s the vagueness of the pattern – a few other bloggers mentioned the same issue and they all said that they just tried to study the picture to figure it out. I’m a little annoyed to be honest. I went to considerable effort to get this pattern and to find that it’s less than informative is disappointing. I’m at the stage where I have worked a number of rows beyond the 20cm ribbing and it’s just not looking right – I think I have done everything the pattern asks me to do – so, what to do? I may just persevere for another little while and see if all works out or I may frog back and start again. To be honest procrastination in taking either course has led to the startitis with the other two WIPs. I will say one thing for the Apricot Jacket, it is so lovely to be knitting with a yarn that calls for 5mm needles and the Rowan All Seasons Cotton I am using is very nice to the touch, so easy to knit with and grows so quickly – quite a contrast from sock yarn.

Ok, I may sign off for the moment, I wish everyone a very happy new year full of all things crafty. We rung it in at the Matterhorn in Wellington – we had a great night although it was a little weird not to be surrounded by friends and texting them instead knowing that we were 13 hours ahead. It was great to get phonecalls at midnight Irish time though – so I got to ring in the new year twice (albeit that I was a little hungover for the second one).

A big thank you to all my knitting buddies around the world, for calling by my blog during the year, helping me out with yarn or pattern acquisition and for commenting - it's great to hear from you all. I'm not making any new years resolutions this year (secretly, I have the same ones as every year, eat less, exercise more etc etc) - as we changed our lives so much in the latter half of 2006 I am just planning on living life to the full in 2007 in the southern hemisphere.

Princess Lace Wrap

2006-12-30T10:12:00.000+13:00

Another knitted item I wasn't able to blog about while I worked on it as it was intended as a gift. There is just no way to photograph this scarf in it's entirety. Suffice it to say that there is 26 repeats of a 24 row pattern and it's long - very long but it should keep my mam warm in the cold winter months ahead.

Details are: Pattern: Classic Elite Yarns Princess Lace Wrap

Yarn used: UK Alpaca Luxury Alpaca Hand Knit DK Yarn

Colour: Rose Pink Q: 4 50g balls Time taken: One month approximately

Success? Well, it turned out ok in the end but I made so many mistakes starting off that I must have knit the beginning piece 3 or 4 times. In the end the first 24 pattern repeat still has errors in it - I can live with them and the recipient will appreciate them!!! I made this as a gift for my mother before we headed off for a year to NZ. I found it really difficult to get the lace pattern into my brain - it looks a much simpler design than the effort it takes to execute it -concentration required. In the end though I was happy with how it turned out and since it's the first item I've ever made for my mother (who taught me how to knit) it was well worth the effort.

Annette's Cushion

2006-12-29T09:50:00.000+13:00

A few months ago my sister made a request. She wanted me to knit her a cushion for her new cream leather sofa, she wanted it to fit in with her decor and requested that orange tones be used. I was more than happy to oblige. A birthday request for a knitted item, that would make any knitter happy. So, I had a root around in the stash and found I had all I needed to get started.

Pattern: Made up my own. Yarn used: Colinette Giotto - I think the shade is Fire, 1 hank. Jaeger Chunky Yarn (can't remember the exact yarn type and don't have the ball band with me!) Time Taken: Not sure - quite a quick knit though less than a week in total. Winner - Absolutely, quick enjoyable knit and as it was requested by the recipient I knew it would be well received.

Jaywalker Progress

2006-12-28T07:37:00.000+13:00

I am doing my utmost to get the Jaywalkers finished in 2006. I'd like them to be my last FO for the year. So, I've been knitting away whenever I get the chance. Including knitting in the Rose Garden of the Botanic Gardens here in Wellington. Life's hard, eh? so, here's the progress so far, well actually I have a little more done since this photo was taken. I have turned the heel and the gusset shaping is done so I am onto the foot. Still a bit of knitting left to be done though.

I also plan to post up all the presents I knit before I left Ireland to get the blog up to date before the end of the year.

Here's the photos Blogger wouldn't let me post up the last time - the needles and shawl pin I bought in Devonport.

Not forgetting the magazines and books I got in Auckland - I'll leave reviewing them until the new year.

Knitting for a year

2006-12-27T10:29:00.000+13:00

If you have ever had to consider what you would take with you from your stash for a years worth of knitting you'll know that there are some tough choices to make. It was the first thing I considered when we decided to head off to the Southern Hemisphere for a year. What about my knitting? What can I bring (luggage restrictions- agh!) ? How do I choose? So I made life much easier for myself. I packed up various yarns and patterns and left them as kits with my mother so should the need overwhelm me I can get her to send me out a package to knit a sweater, cardigan whatever. Clever me!! Of course, they'll probably have yarn shops in New Zealand (what with a population of 70 million or sheep) but one can never be too careful. So, here is what I actually carried with me wool wise to NZ. Two different types of sock yarn, some yarn for a light scarf,yarn for the Apricot Cardigan and my Jaywalkers (will give an update on them next post). Here's all the needles I brought - you can tell I'm figuring that I'll probably knit more than socks a scarf and a cardigan while I'm here. And so we set off on our travels. It didn't take too long for me to add to my little pile. In Hong Kong I found this Not badly stocked eh? I spent some time here and tried to restrain myself - we still had a long way to go before getting to NZ. So, I restricted myself to the following Italian merino.For my stash! Frightening - I bought yarn while travelling and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it - Oops. Still I think I was restrained enough - see how much yarn there is there. Next stop, Auckland or Devonport to me more precise. Devonport is a small town a 5 minute ferry ride from Auckland. We had a quick wander through the streets and Cathal spotted this place before I did (he's well trained!) This shop was really well laid out, had lovely staff and lots of fabulous wools. I couldn't contain myself but I had to. I hoped and prayed that this store was part of a chain and would be able to find an equivalent in Wellington our planned destination for the year, but alas, no, it's just a fab stand alone operation.So, I bought some more sock yarn - will 2007 be the year of the sock for me? Finally getting into knitting socks just as everyone else is now moving onto mittens. I'm a little behind the times in the world of knitting trends. Then I bought these. I think you could actually call this novelty yarn! No one is more surprised than me but I just loved the red and pink combo so I think this is destined for some accessory we'll see. I also bought some needles and a fab wooden shawl pin as I have designs on making one of them in 2007 too! Blogger has decided I've reached my limit picture wise though so I'll have to show you the next time. So, I'm accumulating as I go. I haven't yet checked out the knitting scene here in Wellington - will do so shortly. P.S. All of our travel tales will be on http://wheretwonext.blogspot.com you'll need to hop over there to see life in NZ. I'm keeping this blog for fibre tales.

Six weird things!

2006-12-26T09:05:00.000+13:00

Like a few others I have been tagged by Cheryl, to complete a meme which outlines 6 weird things about you. I have been a little slow off the blocks in posting this one, mainly because I’ve been quite busy trying to find somewhere to live here in Wellington, NZ.

So, here goes.

1. The other reason why I was slow about doing this is that I actually found it quite hard to do – I guess I don’t think I’m weird. So, the first thing weird thing about me is that I needed help in coming up with things about me that are weird – my DH was more than happy to oblige.

2. I don’t exactly stick to traditional breakfast foods in the morning. I’ll generally eat what I feel like – sometimes that even means crisp sandwiches!!!!

3. I have maintained a childlike excitement for events such as Christmas and birthdays. This is something I hope I don’t ever lose.

4. I tend to get a bit absorbed/fixated by things, if I am in the middle of doing something and I’m absorbed I will forgo sleep, fun, important things, everything to get finished. I can’t seem to pace myself, I’ll keep going until I fall down from exhaustion. This drives my husband crazy but I also suspect it’s a trait he likes too as it’s what gives me my drive.

5. I’m a perfectionist yet it seems when it comes to my knitting I can live with mistakes (as long as they are not too obvious) without frogging the whole thing back.

6. Despite thinking they are total trash and a waste of my time I watch soaps – all of them, Emmerdale, Fair City, Coronation Street, Eastenders. We are planning on having a tv free household in NZ though!

Ok, is that 6? – am I done?

Christmas Greetings

2006-12-24T12:26:00.000+13:00

Nolliag Shona Dhuit. Can't believe it has taken me so long to finally get a post on this blog - Cathal has been very good about posting on our travelling blog, but alas, we are behind there too. Since, we won't have the joy of family around us this Christmas we may have some time on our hands to update both blogs. So, before we headed off I made it up to Dublin for one last Stitchn'Bitch meeting - seems like a long time ago but in reality it was only three weeks ago. Anyhow, Sara, ever mindful that we won't have much in the way of Christmas decorations this year knit us a tree - it's so gorgeous. If I had been a little earlier (say three weeks) about posting on this topic I would have directed you to her etsy shop - and you too, could have had a very cute tree in your home. Sorry Sara, got a little distracted with all the travelling. So, here's a pic of our tree which is now gracing a door in our serviced apartment. Hopefully Santa willfind his way to leaving a little pressie or two under here tonight.

Holly, duly oblidged as hand model for the pic. Pictured also is a clacker for me courtesy of Cheryl and Diane also gifted me with Knitty pin. It was my first time to meet Diane as it was the first Sn'B I had been able to get to since she arrived in Ireland from Canada.

Here's the gang that made it out on the 2nd Dec. I hope there's a knitting group here in Wellington, otherwise I'll be waking my way back home sooner than planned.Hope ye all have a wonderful Christmas.

In the interest of doing a little crafting and in trying to bring a little of the season to our uniform temporary apartment I spied a post on Sara's blog that linked to a Christmas decoration idea. So, I thought I'd give it a go.

First up, I needed some paper, which I secured from a local art and graphic shop. There's a sheet of gold handmade paper, a few sheets of a chocolate brown hue and some sheets of a white patterned paper.

Just as I was about to show you a closeup of that paper, blogger has decided to withdraw cooperation. Bluuugh. Annoying, anyhow it has white shades of peacock feathers ingrained.

So, then I took a little know how from here and viola - Christmas globes. I've yet to string them up or arrange them around the apartment - must get my skates on - it is Christmas Eve afterall.

Where did the time go?

2006-12-02T07:07:00.000+13:00

Mmm, sorry about the lack of posts lately but we've been extremely busy packing. In fact I'm in the middle of cleaning out our kitchen as we plan to leave our house tonight. We head for Hong Kong on Monday and I suspect that'll be the next time I get near an Internet connection. I've lots to post about just no time. I plan to keep this blog updated regularly while we are away and we've also created a travel blog to keep a record of all our adventures. You can check out wheretwonext.blogspot.com for updates too. Till Hong Kong............

Correcting the Imbalance

2006-11-17T11:38:00.000+13:00

MAP 1

MAP 2

MAP 3

Or should I say spot the difference! This is my 100th post and I promised some news. So, Map 1 above - the red areas are countries I've been to. Map 2 above - the countries my husband has visited.

In 12 months time we hope to be able to boast that Map 3 better reflects our countries visited. Correcting the imbalance of decades in the Northern Hemisphere, we're heading south to New Zealand for about a year and hope to visit the other highlighted countries on the way home.

Thanks to Fiona for the website link to create the maps. You too can do the same by clicking here.

The Blues

2006-11-15T06:55:00.000+13:00

I started this sweater as a distraction from starting a report back in the late summer and since I've been recently gripped by a finishing fervour it too has been completed. I love, love the funnel neck and it was the main reason why I cast on for this. I have a recipent in mind and I'm really early with the gift too - his first birthday is not until January 2007. Pattern: Wills - Rowan Classic Babies Book Four. Yarn: Cotton Variegated purchased in Valencia in June. Time Taken: No idea, but ribbed yoke and funnel neck took longer than I had anticipated.

Zen Cosy

2006-11-14T05:01:00.000+13:00

I finally got some knitting time this weekend. I certainly needed it and it has definitely set me up for the week ahead. I've finished off a couple of things OTN so there's a few more posts of F.O.'s. The Zen Cosy below was such a quick knit. Instant gratification.

Yarn Used - Leftover Rowan Polar and Colinette Point 5. Pattern - Made up my own using double knitting technique to create pouch for Zen. Added 2 rows of garter stitch in Point 5 as contrast. Knitted small bobble for fastening and sewed contrast yarn down the sides of the pouch. Time taken: 1-2 hours

Sunshine on a rainy day

2006-11-11T10:15:00.000+13:00

This week has been beyond hectic. I am so bored writing that about my life but there is a very good reason why I can't seem to manage to get even five minutes knitting time, but for the reason why you are going to have to wait.

I started this blog back in January and amongst my many intentions for it at the time I hoped to be able to post at least twice a week. I am approaching my 100th post, so overall I think I may have kept my promise to myself. I'm saving up some news for my 100th post, I think it deserves an announcement - so stay tuned. For today my 97th post, I present a little pictorial sunshine from back in May this year when we visited Mount Usher Gardens in Ashford, Co. Wicklow - also known as the garden of Ireland. Today in early November it's very wet and miserable weather wise so, it's nice to be able to look at some sunnier days. I thought this fence was pretty cool, so simple, just fashioned from cane. I've long since forgotten the names of these my favourite trees, shrubs and flowers from that day. I do recall however that this beautiful tree below produced fantasticly fragile, white handkerchief type foliage. Magical. My favourite flowers of that day were these beauties. I'm certain I wrote their name somewhere! My favourite tree (which someday I will plant in our garden)is this magnificent cinnamon barked myrtle.Enjoy the weekend. I'm off to steal some much needed knitting time and dream of sunshine.

Metred Square Rug

2006-11-09T06:08:00.000+13:00

Metred Square Rug, originally uploaded by Clickety Knits.

Metred Square Rug

Materials Used: Rowan Handknit Cotton in 263 Bleached, 320 Buttercup and 215 Rosso.

Q Req'd: 4 50g balls of each colour

Reason for knitting: Wanted to give the metred squares a go and initially I wanted to use up some yarn stash - I did have to buy more though to finish this. Also hides some broken tiles in the fireplace which is no bad thing.

Time to Knit - maybe a month! - there's 32 squares in total and they took about an hour each, so I did one an evening along with knitting other things.

Time to Sew Up - Not as bad as I had anticipated - every knitters favourite task I know but I spent a few hours at a time sewing up strips and then it was done.

Do it again? I would actually but not for a while yet. The metred squares are really easy and this was such a bright and cheery knit I enjoyed all the knitting time it took.

The Cake Sale

2006-11-04T22:24:00.000+13:00

You know how in times gone by when the local parish needed to raise funds for fixing the church roof a fundraising effort would be organised. Quite often this involved the ladies of the parish organising a cake sale! I believe it's this notion that gave Brian's fundraising effort for Oxfam it's name.

The Cake Sale is a band featuring a loose and expansive collective of musicians and writers who have combined to create a 9-song CD of the same name on Oxfam Records. All profits will go to support Oxfams Make Trade Fair campaign and their overseas programme work.

Songs on the album have been written by Dave Geraghty, Emm Gryner, Paul Noonan, Glen Hansard, Ollie Cole, Damien Rice, The Thrills and Matt Lunson. Lead vocalists for the project include Lisa Hannigan, Nina Persson, Gary Lightbody, Gemma Hayes, Glen Hansard, Josh Ritter, Conor Deasy and Neil Hannon. A host of other luminaries fill the roles of musicians.

It's out in the shops since yesterday. You can also visit http://www.thecakesale.com to listen to songs, buy it, and for more cake...

Please, please add a least one copy to your Christmas Shopping List. I know quite a few of my Christmas presents are now sorted. As well as helping Oxfam with their Make Trade Fair Campaign you'll have a great treat in store for yourself and others. The album has been getting great reviews, I got my own copy yesterday and it's just fab.

P.S. Disclaimer - Brian Crosby is a good friend of mine!

The Knitting and Stitching Show

2006-11-04T05:58:00.000+13:00

I promised knitting content for this post and although I went to the Knitting and Stitching show in the RDS yesterday I didn't take any knitting pictures. I got something better though. Look at this.... Can you see Isobel's interest getting piqued. Oh, and here we go. I'm the last one standing! Sara, Holly and Cheryl have been doing their best to get the last two non-spinners (that's myself and Isobel) in on the scene. Looks like Isobel is a gonner, as for me I may be able to fit it in during the next 12 months or so, we'll see........................

Eventitis!

2006-11-02T01:39:00.000+13:00

Last week was a busy week but in a good way. It started off with cake and funnily enough food featured quite heavily during the week. Carrot Cake Recipe courtesy of (blogless) Ian - first and last time I'll be making it - yummy but far too much hard work - to me baking is all about throwing everything into the mixer - turning it out into baking tins and let the oven do the rest. Anyhow I made it in honour of my guests. My mam and sis came down to Wexford and after a night in my home we then had a girly night away in Kelly's in Rosslare. Lots of eating, more eating, magazine reading, therapy suite pampering and generally a good rest by the sea which we all enjoyed. Then back to work for a few days so that I could take Friday off. For this.... It was my graduation last Friday - not that you could tell from the photo above but I assure you it is me. On the day my husband insisted I get a professional photo - I really wasn't keen but funnily enough now I am glad I did.

Straight after the grad it was cross country again for us to my cousin's wedding in Co. Meath. We didn't arrive till nearly midnight - combination of long distance, grad (obv) and the need to stop for food along the way. We needn't have worried however, the party was only beginning. I'd love to show you some photos but since they were taken in the residents bar at about 3am I don't think anyone who was there would thank me. We finally got to bed at 6am - typical of a good Irish wedding. We had such a brilliant time and it was great to see so many of my extended family which I hadn't seen since my own wedding nearly a year and a half ago.

I don't think I was so happy the next day when I had to surface for a LUNCH date with friends! A glass of wine later all was right with the world again and we had a fab afternoon of food! fun and laughter. Everyone was in fantastic form and it was one of those days that you never want to end. End it had to as we needed to get back to Wexford on for a concert with DH parents the next day. The Opera Festival had kicked off during the week so the Bank Holiday Monday gave us the opportunity to stroll the streets and soak up the atmosphere and view all the art exhibitions on in the town. Wexford is such a great place to be at this time of year.

Next time - knitting content!

Give us choice.

2006-10-26T20:31:00.000+13:00

Little did I think when I posted yesterday that my queries on downloading music would be answered so quickly. Check out the latest news - a 22 year old hacker has unlocked the code that prevents owners of MP3 players (other than iPod's) downloading music from iTunes. Hopefully this will speed up the process of opening up the iTunes platform to competitors through licensing deals. I'm all for competition and the fact that Apple so dominate the market was a major factor in my decision not to buy an iPod when choosing an Mp3 player.

Shopping

2006-10-26T05:37:00.000+13:00

I've been spending a little money, with more than a little help from others. Sara's post on the Electric Picnic reminded me of the lovely citrus rooibos tea we had there. So, I went online to www.suki-tea.com and 2 days later I got my paws on this. Yummy. A while later Sara sent an email about some cotton yarn that was on offer in Lidl. I'd seen a girl from one of the Dublin Sn'B groups knit a lovely lacy scarf from it so, when I got the news that it was back in stock I couldn't resist. So I bought all they had - which came to a total of €9.00 - bargain. This is probably the closest I'll ever get to novelty yarn since there's a little fleck of shiny gold throughout. I'm looking forward to deciding what to make from this. I'm thinking a wrap/shawl of some sort. I can't blame Sara for the largest loosening of the purse strings. I've been wanting to get an MP3 player for some time and after doing the research decided on the Zen Vision M. I'm busy ripping CD's from our collection but we are having a really hard time trying to buy the music we like to listen to online. We can't buy from iTunes as their file format isn't compatible with the Zen. They do allow you to convert files from your music collection to different formats but don't allow you to convert music you buy from them to different formats. Other well-known online music providers don't offer a service to Ireland and the only reputable Irish one that we could find was through eircom.net but they only have current chart music and certainly nothing that we were looking for pre-97. Anyone out there have any advice?

Sunrise Circle Jacket

2006-10-19T09:35:00.000+13:00

Sunrise Circle Jacket, originally uploaded by Clickety Knits.

Pattern:Interweave Knits - Sunrise Circle Jacket - Kate Gilbert Yarn used: Karabella Soft Tweed in Red - 1100 Buttons: Glass spheres, an ebay purchase. Time Taken: em, yes tricky one that. I think I started it in February, finished it in May/June ( by finished I mean finished knitting and it wasn't exactly the only project on the needles during that timeframe). After a summer break I sewed it up in September just in time for the chillier weather and have been loving it ever since!

I knit the back of the jacket in one size and then decided it was going to be too tight and then as per others advice on the KAL I recommenced by starting instead on a front piece in a size up. The size up caused some yarn issues, as in I didn't have enough and I had bought my yarn online from a store in Australia. You might recall how Donni came to the rescue.

Anyhow, finally, finally, I've gotten round to posting about my lovely Sunrise which is keeping me so warm in our decidely autumnal weather here in Ireland.

Odessa Hat

2006-10-14T03:49:00.000+13:00

Odessa Hat, originally uploaded by Clickety Knits.

Pattern: Magknits Odessa Hat
Yarn Used:Kilcara Aran
Beads: Clear Glass

You need to thread the beads onto the yarn before you commence. As the yarn I was using had flecks of colour throughout it made it difficult to continually keep pushing the beads along the yarn that had a diameter very close to the internal diameter of the bead. My problem really as I wasn't using the yarn specified.

I enjoyed this pattern and would definately make one again. Despite my egg-head appearance in the photo it's actually a good fit and I hope to get some wear out of it soon. Mmm, does that mean I'm wishing for colder weather?

Blogging

2006-10-12T19:58:00.000+13:00

I mentioned in a post before our trip to France that I exhibited at the South East Women in Business Conference. One of the speakers Keith Bohanna of Bohanna Consulting discussed blogging. He had called over to my stand prior to his speech and discovered that I too had a blog - so he gave me a mention in his speech. He didn't stop there though, he followed up with a request for more information on my blog and here's a link to a post he's written on his blog - Pure Play. Thanks, Keith.

Angora Baby Booties

2006-10-10T20:50:00.000+13:00

The first photo of my holiday knitting in France. More to follow.I've started to use Flickr to upload photos and and to read all about the bootees you'll need to click the link below. Not sure why it just doesn't display the text beneath the photo but maybe someone out there who knows about these things might be able to enlighten me. Angora Baby Booties

Bonne Vacances

2006-10-06T05:44:00.000+13:00

Peaceful, isn't it. Just like the holiday and very unlike this past week. Sometimes when you go away you are so snowed under when you get back that you wonder if taking time out is worth it. Well, taking the time out now to post about the holiday I can definately say that yes, it was and is worth it, despite what this week has thrown at me. So, I'm wondering if you can tell from the photos exactly where in France we holidayed. I'm not one for suspense so I'll just tell you. Most of the pictures above are taken from the Yellow Train as we made our way through many little villages up in the Pyrenees. We were based in a small town called Elne a ten minute drive from Perpignan. The lake picture above is of the lake in Villeneuve-de-la-Raho which took us almost 90mins to walk around. We spent some days at the plage in St-Cyprien, shopped in Perpignan, took two trips to the beautiful Collioure and enjoyed the markets, food and art the town had on offer, we even took a painting home!

Mostly though we just relaxed, read books, knitted (more on that when I take the F.O. photos) and ate and drank all the traditional fab French foods, yum, yum.

Didn't buy any French yarn though, only came across acrylics and as I'd just enhanced the stash in Birmingham I was quite happy just to knit rather than hunt for yarn. I worked on four different projects, two of which are complete.

I'm off to take some pictures.

Deux Semaine

2006-09-20T19:50:00.000+12:00

So, two weeks, right. It was two weeks where;

1/ I completed my requirements for the course I am taking at WIT – i.e. I had a final presentation on my business plan. Graduation is at the end of October and at that stage I hopefully will be adding another H.Dip to my qualifications, the title of which is Higher Diploma in Enterprise Development - which basically means I’ll then be qualified to be an entrepreneur!!

2/ Competed in the Ladies Singles, Ladies Doubles and Mixed Doubles in the Club Championship competition at my tennis club. Competed might be too strong a word. I turned up, played, got beaten – comprehensively – we’ll leave it at that. Except maybe that I should mention that I only took up tennis at the beginning of this year and quite often my opponents have been playing for ten years or more. Does that sound like I’m trying to justify?

3/ Attended monthly meeting of Wexford Women in Business Network. Then attended and exhibited with my clicketyknits.com business at the South East Women in Business Annual Conference. More on that later.

4/ Started a new yoga class. Well, I say new as I haven’t been in a while but I am back with my favourite yoga teacher of all time, so happy days.

5/ Spent a blissful chilled out weekend by the sea in my parents in law bolt hole in North Wexford.

6/ Completed, by that I mean I sewed up my Sunrise Circle Jacket. That deserves a separate post and I really have to do a post for the Sunrise Circle Knitalong. In fact I still haven’t even taken a picture of the jacket but I love it and it has been worn.

7/Finally, I made a trip across the Irish Sea in good company (Isobel, Sara, Cheryl, Holly) to the Birmingham Knitting and Stitching Show.

We had a great time, the show itself wasn’t as big or as well attended as the London equivalent which was not so great for the exhibitors but much more comfortable for the visitors. There was no pushing and shoving in the aisles and as we did most of the shopping on Saturday we had a great leisurely wander around on the Sunday and even got some time to just sit and knit.

Some of the party have been quicker off the mark about blogging about our trip, Isobel covers our accommodation story very well, and Cheryl covers the food aspect excellently, since most of my pictures were of food too, I’m not going to duplicate except to say that 5 knitting bloggers in a restaurant makes some interesting entertainment for our fellow diners, when instead of taking pictures of ourselves having a good time we’re taking pictures of the food we are going to eat.

I didn’t take many pictures of the exhibition as most of the exhibits I would like to have taken a photo of prohibited photography. I did take a photo of the Wool and Boats stall though, they had one of the more interesting displays. Not as good a display as this though. Saturdays takings. Not all mine. This is the collective haul of us 5 in day one.

Here’s my acquisitions from day one. Day two I added two books. I really didn’t want to buy more knitting books, I have quite a few and since my birthday is not long past (where my husband bought me 5 knitting books!) I thought I’d have some explaining to do with the introduction of 2 more to the collection. I think it was worth it though. Sarah Dallas Knitting and Rowan Vintage Collection.

I’d like to say that the recent blogging hiatus won’t happen again but in fact it’s going to happen again very shortly – something to do with having to dust down these CD’s.

Apologies.........

2006-09-19T04:14:00.000+12:00

.... for the interruption in service - it's been two weeks since my last post and nothing bad has happened to me but I just haven't managed to get to post about all that's going on. I'll be back tomorrow to start the update.

The Electric Picnic 2006 - Part V

2006-09-05T02:07:00.000+12:00

The finale. The women without whom "The Knitted Picnic" would not have happened. The ladies who made their way down to Stradbally in Co.Laois to help spread the joy of our knitting world. The pic above is of the Sunday volunteers, and fuzzy and all as it is the pic is still better than the Saturday one - we forgot to take one!!! Apologies to Ger, Martha and Jenny - if I get a pic of the three of you I'll post it up here.

The Electric Picnic 2006 - Part IV

2006-09-05T01:29:00.000+12:00

Apart from the wonderfulness of being able to spend a weekend knitting with my Stitch N' Bitch IE buddies I also got to hang out with some of my very best friends (friends since school friends)who also happened to be working at the festival. Since we are all now living in different parts of the country it's increasingly difficult to get to spend time just hanging out together. It was fantastic. I even managed to persuade some of them to get in on the action. Here's Aoife (can you tell she's knit before!) And Ciara. Tanja (without whom the Knitted Picnic would not have been possible - T.Y. Tanja) and Fiona taking some well deserved time out. Then there's some of the more well known friends. Paul (lead singer with BellX1), striking a pose. and Tomo (drummer with Damien Rice ) also gave it a go. You can see they got the whole stitchin' and bitchin' concept! And look we can do it together!!!!!!!!!! Love is.......................

The Electric Picnic - Part III

2006-09-05T01:17:00.000+12:00

Pic of head office!

The Electric Picnic 2006 - Part II

2006-09-05T00:55:00.000+12:00

This post is dedicated to the ladies! Many of whom, wanted to give the larger needles a try. The ballgown ladies enjoyed their break in the knitting tepee. Look who also fluttered by.

The Electric Picnic 2006

2006-09-04T23:07:00.000+12:00

I'm back. In one piece. What a weekend. It was fantastic. There was music, fun, friends and KNITTING. We had our own tepee in the Big Tree area and we got the most fantastic response from everyone who wandered our way. I was really hoping to let the pictures once again do the talkin but while Blogger says yes, ok then, but only a few, I'll be resorting to part II, part III etc. So for part one, the boys............the big surprise of the event, when you have men saying to their buddies "yeh, I know xxxx band are on x stage now, I'm nearly done, I'll be ready to go in just a minute, just one more row" - then you know you have them hooked. So here they are the men captured in digital.

Ciara giving a little instruction.Concentration.This is fun!Can I have a go? Can I have a go, it's my turn.Ah, there we are. Look at me, could I be any prouder? I see what you mean about knitting being meditative!

The Knitted Picnic Blanket

2006-09-02T04:48:00.000+12:00

I lost the run of myself this week. I have changed the name of the Electric Picnic to the Knitted Picnic. Sure the Electric Picnic is a big event but in my life the Knitted Picnic (our little corner of this festival) has featured much larger this week. I've posted before about our plans for teaching festival goers how to knit. Part of this involved acquiring yarn, which we purchased from Craftspun Yarns. Sara collected it and wound the majority of skeins (she's got some great pics on her blog - check it out). I got two cones of linen/cotton to wind into smaller quantities. Duly done as below - I had to get donations of toilet roll inserts to wind the yarn onto! Then it was onto knitting squares. We'd asked the SnBIE group to help with knitting a square of two to go towards making a blanket for the Knitted Picnic to donate to charity after the event. Here are my squares. Then it was onto sewing........to produce this. Isn't it just brilliant. An eclectic mix of warmth.I can't tell you how happy it made me every time the postman called to receive squares from all the various knitters willing to donate some of their time, their yarn and their knitting skill to help others. Now all I've left to do is get packed and head off for 2 days of knitting fun. Yipeee.........

Recycling

2006-08-29T00:56:00.000+12:00

I was very tempted not to write any text for this post but I couldn't keep a reign on my fingers, they wished to tap, tap on the keyboard and I want to shout - I have a finished object. A very practical recycled finished object. A bag, make that a sack, for me and all my WIP's. It seemed inappropriate that knitting works in progress should be housed in plastic and paper bags. Why not knit them a home - a comfortable, aesthetically pleasing, albeit temporary home - they are WIPs after all and not a home for UFO's. So, frogged a poncho I rarely wore, added some more yarn in complementary shades, hunted for cute buttons on ebay, knit, knit some more, knit again and then felted and hey presto (5 months later) - my WIP bag.

Capturing the art

2006-08-23T20:06:00.000+12:00

Another knitting related birthday gift, this gift was from my sister-in-law who has memories of me knitting my Knitting Olympic socks in Tenerife earlier this year. Whilst we were there she visited a market and when she saw this little guy she knew just the person who'd appreciate it. Sorry the picture is so crap but it is really hard to photograph well - he's much better in person.

Signs

2006-08-22T21:37:00.000+12:00

Last night I was up in the tennis club (it's also a boat club) playing a match and after finishing up we walked by the slip to see the most extraordinary creatures floating in. As if my reddening tomatoes weren't proof positive that we are having a hotter summer than normal - check these out. Jellyfish - ginormous jellyfish - yeuch. I know the pictures are dark but light was fading and I just had to get a pic, I have never seen jellyfish so big before.