by Tash
The past long weekend was spent up at National Park, under the shadow of Mt Ruapehu. I love it up there – the cold air, the warm fires, lots of knitting time…and, of course, masses of inspiration for new colours…
I hope you had a great and relaxing long weekend.
xx
by Tash
Hooray! An FO! I’m so pleased with my Owls – such a fast knit, and hardly any thinking at all 😀
I quite like the owls sans buttons. I think if I were to knit it again, for me, I’d go down a needle size and up a fitting size, just to give it a slightly denser look.
All the same, for only the second top i’ve knitted, it’s a winner.
Speaking of winners, keep the nominations of Canterbury knitters and spinners heading this way. Where the week has gone I don’t know, but tomorrow is apparently thursday, and the last day for entries.
xx tash
by Tash
There is a torrent of rain falling, putting a brief (hopefully) halt to an afternoon of intensive dyeing.
Seeing as I don’t have anything super interesting to talk about just yet (yet! :D) I thought i’d share the blog of super awesome crafters Sweet William.
I have got to know Shelley quite well recently, and you may remember I designed her an egg cosy pattern for her to knit.
Clever clogs Shelley also knit up an open/closed sign for her brother’s cafe, and it is the cutest thing ever!
(Thanks Shells for the pic xx)
And see that chunky blue yarn? That’s Knitsch! Coming soon… 😀
by Tash
I am obsessed with green.
My favourite colour is yellow – bright, sunshiny, happy. Nothing can be sad with yellow, really.
But green, damn that green.
I have quite the collection of orange yarn – it started in London. About the same time as the green obsession. It seemed that every skein of yarn that found itself in my hand was either green or orange.
The problem with that is, every dye colour I dream up, a spot of green sneaks in. Oh, I think, if i do this, and this and this, and then what else will go with it…oh, i know, green!
And then do you think it is easy to achieve that subtle shade of emerald? Or the iridescent colour of a beer bottle? oh no. No. Green has to be one of the frigging trickiest colours to get just so.
The moral of the story is: if you like green, Knitsch is for you. You may look forward to enjoying the benefits of my misery!
by Tash
Over the past couple of weeks great trouble has been afoot – a misbehaving yarn skeiner.
The skeiner originates from the Artisan Lace asset list, and was lovingly built by my Grandfather. However, it was build with bits and bobs and some clever engineering, and was looking a tad worse for wear. Also, there was a problem: it winds gossamer and lace weight perfectly, but supertwist merino has a tendency to, well, twist when it is wound on the skeiner.
Frustrating.
So after lots of trial and error, plenty of brow-furrowing, the boy and I spent an afternoon fixing it. We had to add new eyelets in order to create more tension, and so rebuilt the entire cone holding section. After a couple of hours, and lots of testing, we were pretty proud with the results. There are still a couple niggly bits but winding ten skeins at once is infinitely more satisfying than one at a time by hand!
Besides that, I have been rather on the unwell side of late. After finally giving in and going to the doctor, apparently it was a bug. A two week long one. Feeling 100% again still seems like a fairytale, and there is plenty of brainstorming as to how to regain previous energy. The resolution to abandon coffee has completely fizzled – it is certainly less enjoyable than it used to be but it is the one thing that gives a bit oomph to the day. Lucky there are plenty of other exciting woolly things going on to keep plodding along…
