Roma lace yarn

ROMA LACE YARN

I love lace knitting, and the yarn, well it's a little slice of heaven. The best thing for me is that it's very economical. You can really indulge in superbly luxurious fibres because the fine lace weight yarn goes so far.
I have been loaned Nancy Bush's Knitted Lace of Estonia and have decided that as I want to knit at least 50% of the designs in the book that I should just purchase a copy of my own.
Not long ago Mum brought me a copy of The Gossamer Webs Design Collection by Galina Khmeleva, this is another lovely book with lots of ideas and swatches of lace designs that are traditional to Estonian knitting. Many years ago (don't ask how long please), my dear friend Margaret taught me how to knit Shetland Lace shawls we sent off to Jamieson by snail mail and waited patiently for the yarn to arrive. It was such a revelation for me as up until then I had never knitted with anything smaller than an 8 ply, mostly because I was knitting practical adult jumpers, and toddler garments. I had a prolific baby garments knitter in my dear Auntie so never bothered with any ply smaller than the 8ply.
Having started with the yarn company it all comes back to me about those early years and my knitting lace shawls. So even though I have taught myself many things from books and love my books to death there is really nothing like the hands on knowledge of a true lace knitter.
Margaret was taught at a young age to knit as many of the women would have been. She loved her fair isle and Alice Starmore, she loved the harsh but beautiful landscape of the Shetlands and had wonderful memories of growing up there.
There is a sad ending to this story, Margaret recently suffered from a severe disease viral encephalitis it left Margaret at only 55 with brain damage, she no longer remembers a large part of her more recent life, she lives very much in the past and no longer has the dexterity to knit or create as she used to. She does not remember how to knit, or that she was at one time a truly talented knitter. The illness has robbed her and her husband of their retirement as now it is a daily battle just to function and get through her day.
This has made me more appreciative of everyday that I am able to take up the knitting needles and knit. And for that bit of yarn I just had to have, stashed away for that scarf I always intended to make, well, now I don't hesitate, I knit it and enjoy every delicious stitch.

How do you misplace your finished knitting pieces???

Ummmm, well I don't know, it is very odd. One minute I had them finished and awaiting the sleeves to be done and now I can not find them. The front and back of a gorgeous baby jumper.

It was not a great deal of work, but I would like to know where they have gone, what I have done with them??

Could they be in Port Macquarie? I really just don't know. LOL

I would love to finish this little jumper, the cardi and the hat and boots are all done, I have a set of sleeves missing their mate. Maybe I will give up and just knit them again.

The Luxury of knitting

I have always found that creating is cathartic, it allows a balance to the hum drum and the demand of life. It affords a time out from the mundane and I think, if I was unable to create I would most likely go loopy.

I have been known to collect up the fallen sticks from Jacaranda trees and begin to weave with these, small baskets and little woven treasures. This has been a time of stress or boredom and nothing on hand to do. I actually get stressed not having something to do, something to work on at all times. We never know when we will have some down time or waiting time and this is even more true when the kids are young. I have knitted many a garment sitting in the car waiting for children to finish dance lessons, guitar lessons, and a variety of sport.

I often go away with more crafty raw material or WIP than clothes - I find this perfectly normal. And if I don't have a project started and well under way before I leave on a trip then I am anxious to get that done as a priority. I have been known to hold up an outing by racing about the house finding the correct size needles.

After many years of knitting I have come to appreciate the joy of a really nice yarn and some lovely knitting needles, some spoil yourself drop dead gorgeous stitch markers and a really nice pattern and a good reason to knit. What do I mean by a good reason to knit (who needs a reason you may be shouting). My reason to knit is to make something lovely for my daughter, something unusual and unique that no one else she knows will have. It makes every stitch, every row and every minute a pure pleasure, enhancing the experience ten fold for me.

Bambaroo and Footscray - Double dipping

Hey what do you do when you dye a yarn and then don't like the colour??

You dye it again of course.

One skien of Bambaroo, knotted and not suitable for retail, and a much covetted skien of Footscray. I want to knit socks!!! Well Ingrid is more than generous and maybe a bit curious as to what I am going to do with them.

That is Bambaroo on the left and Footscray on the right, (Note how the bamboo yarn takes the dye differenty). I used a eucalypt green and a dash of turquoise. But the turquoise took over. The colours were a lot stronger in real life, the photo has toned them down somewhat, and while I could live with the green in the Footscray as it was for socks, I couldn't quiet cope with the green on the bambaroo that I was considering for a small shoulder wrap or shrug. Impossible to live with this colour near my face, blah, I think I would get seasick from it.

What to do?? No -too easy, redye of course. So into the pot they go again and this time with just some straight navy die, had to go darker of course, altho I did consider bleaching out some dye at one point, but no, can not bring myself to that just yet. (stay tuned, you never know what I will do next).

This is the result of the second dipping, a much deeper shade of green and altho not what I had in mind exactly, it is still ok, I think I can live with it (maybe).

Bambaroo on the left and Footscray on the right having taken the deep shade of the navy. I left a bit of the Bambaroo out to retain the first dye lighter green and that should feature nicely. The Footscray looks almost black here, or steel grey but is actually a really nice deep, deep turquiose.

And above a much more successful dipping is the grey for Charlottes tunic, see previous post for more on that and the yarn is Grafton it dyed so well and came up soft and luxurious. I have started the pattern and oh my it is a bit harder than first thought but I will perservere have a good colour pic of the tunic and can see a bit clearer what the instructions are telling me to do.

Fibre Fibre everywhere

When Charlotte went over to New Zealand I asked her if she could possibly find me some Possum fibre or yarn to spin and knit, enough for a small project like a scarf or shawl would have been perfect as I knew it was expensive.

Well Charlotte is not a knitter but she did understand what I was after, she had no luck finding possum yarn, despite visiting several places in New Zealand both South and North Island.

But bless her heart she found me some gorgeous bunny fibre, German angora bunny fibre, 100grams of the delightful stuff, so since then I have been keeping my eye open for something suitable to spin it with. I have a nice suri alpaca fleece in a coffee cream colour, that I could have used but it was a dirty fleece and should really be professionally carded, but who do you get to do that these days??

So when I was at Virginia Farm Woolworks I found a bag of luscious white Merino and silk slivers

100 grams for $12.50, so I purchased two as this seemed to be a nice ratio for the 100grams of bunny fluff. I can not wait to spin this and hope I am not so out of practice that I make a mess of it, but anything around a 4 or 5 ply would be lovely.

I have also been dipping and dying a bit more. I have started the tunic, difficult but rather fascinating in a bizarre sort of way. It is going to be a challenge but it is worth it.

Dyeing to Knit

Dyeing to Knit
What do you do when you work amongst luxurious yarns and fibres, beautiful knitting accessories and stunning dyes??
Well if you are anything like me you have to create! It is not a choice, I don’t think any creative person really chooses to create. Like me you may have a compulsion that takes over, fuelled by gorgeous things, whether it is a fabric, fibre, art piece, design, colour or texture. It can be sparked by anything even sometimes the mundane can have its own appeal and spark a new direction in creativity.
For me starting a project is not a problem, I gather the requirements around me (and needless to say more is better), I sketch and play, colour and sample and just have fun with a thought process, and a germ of an idea until I am satisfied – sometimes a project will be started and sometimes the urge to create is satisfied.
I have an unbelievable stash of UFO’s, every now and then I feel guilty and have a clean out, the process of creating is sometimes more important than the outcome. When I don’t want to have to think too much about my knitting I will make a commercial pattern, and usually with commercial yarn with a recipient in mind or for a charity group. And yes, I do get these ones completed.
Many years ago I learnt to hand spin, I learnt to dye the hand spun yarn with natural dyes such as onion skins and mordents. To say this was enlightening would be an understatement, it was so liberating to not only create my own fibre for knitting but to also be able to achieve a colour of my own creation. Today dyeing has come a long way, the commercial dyes are truly wonderful, very easy to use and the results are gorgeous. Once again I have allowed the urge to create to take over and have been ‘playing’ with fibre and dye all weekend.
I have decided that I really want to use the beautiful yarns that I now enjoy working with. And as I love knitting for my daughter I have chosen a lovely tunic by www.geilsk.dk (thankyou Ingrid for putting me onto this website). Grafton from Yarn Workshop 50% Yak, 50% wool sport weight was the yarn of choice and is so economical, my tension square was perfect for the pattern so only thing to do was to dye the yarn.


Consultation with said daughter resulted in the decision that a light grey would be perfect for her to wear at work. I selected a lovely grey from dyes and added a little of their dogwood which is a light brown, earthy colours that work so well. The resulting yarn is soft and bouncy in a lovely pale grey, variegated slightly and exactly what I wished to achieve. All to do now is to knit the garment, this will be a labour of love and exactly the project I enjoy the best.
Next, Irish socks from the emerald Isle.

Rocky's own blog and something Crafty

Rocky now has his own blog.

I have been knitting lately, and really enjoying it, making some baby knits for a girl at work Sewrite, another Thursday night teacher, Belinda is having her first bub and loved the knits in Cleckheaton book No 951. So as I have knitted several of these patterns before I thought I might make a set up for her.

These are some really lovely modern knits that appeal to the "young" mums out there.

They knit up quickly and make lovely gifts. Cocoon yarn is lovely but any 4 ply works well.

Working with wonderful Yarn

Oh Joy, how can I describe my new job, it is sort of a knitters heaven, I mean I get to play with lovely yarns and gorgous knitting paraphenalia and I get paid for it, well ok there is some actual work involved, lol. Like organizing storage and preparing orders and packing them for postage but this is all fun, fun, fun, even when the stupid packing tape machine bites me.

Monday Ingrid and I attended the Knitters Guild meeting and altho there was only one face that I was familiar with it was nice to know that some of the original members were still attending.

We were made to feel very welcome and enjoyed morning tea and a guest speaker which was a bonus. It was a lovely lady from Wraps with Love who explained how the organisation started and just how many people hear in Australia and overseas they have touched with their warm and wonderful hand knitted or hand crochet wraps.

So if you have bit of spare yarn a bit of time and the desire to help others, go and check out their website and see just how much you efforts will mean to another person.

Today I was able to clear out one of the cupboards for Ingrid - it was full of gorgeous sample yarns and other bits and pieces that Ingrid had intended to donate to both the girls school and for Wraps with Love. So I left her a little bit of homework to do, sort it out!! heheheh. Hope I still have a job next week. Watch this space.

He is here

Rocky arrived last Tuesday. He has settled in fairly well, I have spent about 2 hourse each day with him just brushing him, lungeing him, with Lou's help and generally letting him settle in and get to know me and his agistment.

Over the week he did some nice lungeing in the arena, the difference here being that he didn't have the round yard walls to keep him in check - so being a new experience he was a bit fizzy to start and Lou got him going and understanding what was being asked and he soon settled into it so I could take over and finish off, not too much at a time.

I had the new saddle arrive and had a saddle fitter have a look but it is very wrong for Rocky and I will have to sell it on, and purchase a Status instead, these are not too dear fortunately

So waiting some time before I get on him and need to assert myself with him as he can be pushy.

Shall be using the lunge alot more and establishing some rules, he is a bit restless and throws out his front leg often, so have to be on guard, he has no nasty in him at all and has the sweetest of natures but will need to be kept in line, maybe Tony can help me sort him out.

Boston, the lab is super stressed out right now, he is missing me a lot and Charlotte too as she has not been around much 'cause she has a new man in her life. So Boss is sort of going what the hell is going on here.

I started the new job and love it, Ingrid is gorgeous, she even made me lunch. I love working with the fibres and delightful needles and goodies, all so tempting and yes I have already spent what I earned, dang it. I had wanted the wood set of DPN's for ages and now I have them and also got some metal needle ends for the circulars as I haven't tried these but Ingrid prefers them so I was keen to try them.

We are also both keen to do a toe up sock, I found a copy of Vogue's sock book and grabbed it for Ingrid as it had the Nancy Bush Estonian sock, yummy. Now I am on the look out for some nice hand dyed sock yarn - or maybe I should buy some off Ingrid and dye it myself. :)

Definatley Working again

Ok, so this is the state of it, I am most definatley working again, have to feed a horse, lol.

No really just got another 6 hours in a new job, and it is going to be another great job. This one is packing orders and general assistance for a home based website yarn company.

So now it is a case of how much I can resist spending on the delish yarns, silks, cashmere, wool etc, we are also going to be dying yarn and as I have done this with natural materials such as onions and a mordant, it will be nice to try the chemical dyes and see what can be achieved.

I am still doing the Thursday night patchwork group with the girls, we have places if you are interested. Checkout Sewrite for mor info.

Rocky will be here soon and I can see I will either have to start another blog just for him or this one may just get less quilty and more horsey, just like me.

I have started up a quilting service using my frame at home and the 6600 Janome, so domestic machine producing lovely stippling and all over freestyle desings. I will be filling a niche area that will be alot cheaper than the computerized services but of course, it will be a hand made product. Very functional for lap quilts, quick gifts, kids floor quilts and all those tops you will never get done yourself. Get them out and send them to me.

Roz's quilting website

Update on Rocky

Rocky might be here by the weekend, he is going well and I have just about organised all that is needed including paying the final payment.

He had another lesson over the weekend just gone and was put to the test with some traffic cones, meant to be a bit different and scarey so that the horses can be assessed for their riding status.

Rocky promptly picked one up in is mouth and started tossing it about. So much for being afraid of it, lol.

He also did a few little jumps, that he seemed to enjoy. Well we shall see how Roz goes over the jumps, maybe I should jump them on my own legs before I attempt jumping over them on Rocky. I am hoping that getting a stock saddle or a fender will help me feel more comfortable in the saddle than I was in an all purpose saddle

so these are some of his pics to date...........enjoy

A new love in my life

Hey this is Rocky, my new best friend. Isn't he gorgeous??

That is Karleigh his trainer with him going thru the paces, well not paces in fact that is what we don't want him to do anymore.

He is a retired trotter, 9 year old and very gorgeous, he is 16.2hh and a very solid boy. He has spent the last 3 years in a big paddock eating lots of grass. His owner a large harness racing team are sending Karleigh horses to be re-trained and re-homed, to make great all round riding horses. This gives them a second chance at life and is a great thing for these most beautiful animals.

New bike and back to work

Ben's new bike has arrived, I am one nervous mum, he has not got a lot of riding experience but has purchased a big package of a motorcycle. I really hope he handles it okay.

No point worrying tho. At least he looks the part.

I have to go back to work this week as I am in Sydney and the lady who was taking my class on Thursday night is unwell so I said I would come and do it. And a class again on Monday with the baltimore girls. I will also catch up with the Wednesday class and have some fun.

So while I was waiting for him to get the bike started, I went around Dad's shed and the yard looking for things to photograph for my photoshop backgrounds. I heaps on the old tractor that I thought were really good, just hope my camera was good enough to get the detail. It's amazing that even a piece of termite eaten timber can look great. And check out the front of the tractor, rust and mould, wonderful.
I can not wait to do something with this.

I will also be doing a sneak preview of my French Quilt very soon, the stitching is coming along well and I have already shown it and the rough layout sketch to Bron and she loved it. I am tossing up some ideas with doing a little applique.

Please check back soon and I will have some pics up of the redwork.

cheers

Update on what I have been doing

It seems like ages since I have blogged, I have been up in Port Macquarie these last two weeks and have had limited internet. So no blogging, just keeping up with my emails was a chore.
So I guess you are wondering what I have been doing?

I have been sewing, knitting and reading and relaxing, eating but eating well. Spending time around the town and getting to know the place but in a relaxed and easy going way.

Above: The dining table before I got started

I have come back to Sydney a bit more mellow I must say, but funny thing is that the unit we are currently in is so noisy, it is really amazing, I am not used to such close quarter living at all and as Tony loves every available door and window open it is like inviting the noise inside.

Left: Sewing started and a mess made

Miniature quilt passion

Some of my good friends have been inspired to make lots of mini quilts this year, one person is now teaching these as part of her class - but the real culprit is Bronwyn as she has been quietly making small hand pieced minis for a while now and these she has folded into an antique wooden trug that sits on her table in the family room and just looks stunning.

How could you not be inspired??

So, this attempt is my version and given as a christmas secret santa and Wendy got it, it is not at all Wendy colours so I hope she liked it.

I love the look of the old fashioned and reproductions and the dark blues and faded browns that older quilts have, we tend to forget that these quilts would have been much brighter when made and it is just time and use that has faded these beauties.

If you ever get the chance, and without damaging a quilt, ie if the seam is already open have a look at the reverse side in th seam and see if indeed the fabric colour is brighter.

While your there - see what the batting fibre is, this can help date a quilt from pre commercial wadding. Is it cotton, flax, wool or something unknow??

Being a quilt detective is fun and you can learn so much from an old quilt.

Getting those tops done

I havn't said much about quilting of late but I have been doing it. Trying to get finished up last week on the promised ones and leaving a few very short on time, having to appologise a couple of times for missing a deadline is not a good look.

Left is a panel I did, one of three finished for the Thursday night girls, they will now have to do their own quilting. One was a dinasour quilt, very nice in khaki's and browns, the other was a vintage cars panel quilt top and then finally a comic cat quilt top.

AND - Below, OOOPS -some froggy stitches required

Below is a stunning quilt that one of my Tuesday girls made for her niece in Armidale, for this winter while she is studying, hey luck girl.

I quilted it for Narelle in a circle wavey type free motion style and was really pleased with it.

The more I practice the better I get. For this I charged $50.00 and also did the binding for her.

I have never charged the girls much for the work as it has been all practice for me and I have not minded doing it. I know it is not much for my time but I feel I have really benefited and am so much better with the free motion which is practically all I do now.

Below a close up, what do you think??

Unemployed

I am now officially unemployed, lol. I finished up at Sewrite on thursday night. It was lovely with the girls bringing in cake and nibblies for supper and some champers too. I had a huge grin on my face all night, but not because I was leaving, that part is very difficult, but because I am heading into a new faze of my life.
Charlotte arrived home from NZ and had a wonderful time, including jumping out of a plane, bungy jumping, black water caving, etc etc, she had a fabulous time. So it is back to work for her and a change of life style because she and her brother will be responsible for themselves and the house and the animals, good luck.
The unit we have acquired is a lovely one, it is available in April and is in the centre of Port M and on the river, it is very nicely decorated and very modernly appointed. QuayNorth

In front is the stunning old oak trees and the river, this being a very popular park, and further right of the picture, is the old restored Hotel, pub on the corner of the park, with some stunning meals available, a great fish and chip shop, perfect for sitting in the park and feeding the gulls, of course we did this.

New machine

I know don't say it, another machine, well I sort of did need one because I needed a machine for Port Macquarie and this was too good to let go. It is an Husqvarna 955e Platinum embroidery and sewing machine all in one.

I found it on ebay and payed the buy it now price of $1500. because I felt this was a brilliant price.

I have wanted a Husky for a while as I remember my sister in law had one and it was a really super machine. One of my students has the lilly and I really love the way it sews.

It came this morning so I have been playing a little and it sews really well. I have to read up on the embroidery attachements as they are a little different to the futura.

Quilting is going along well, just trying to get some things finished before the end of the month so that I can leave for Port with a clear mind and having done all that I have promised.

Next week the girls are giving me a farewell lunch so shall look forward to that very much, I just hope I find some nice ladies to sew with in Port Macquarie.

Class is back

My ladies have returned to class after the Christmas break having done their duty as baby sitters, holiday granparents or if lucky just able to get away from Sydney for the holiday season.

I started back with the Thursday night girls and this proved heaps of fun as usual and everyone being in good spirits. Not a whole lot of sewing went on but we did a pretty good job of chatting over coffee and catching up, I am definatley going to miss them. I did announce my leaving for certain in March and this was received with their kind understanding and encouragement.

I have agreed to come back once every second month to continue the Baltimore class as this is going so well and the ladies would like to finish their quilts as can be expected. I shall be down for Sydney visits so no problem to work this in.

We have (Tony and I) been invited to the Super Bike weekend on Phillip Island and even tho at the moment I do not have a registered bike, I would really prefer to ride down rather than drive so we are looking for some money to register my bike. Tony blankly refuses to ride with me so he will have to drive. The other couples are riding.

This is not my bike but very similar looking, in fact I think only the panniers are different - it is a Honda Shadow 1100 - I just noticed this one doesn't have a chrome radiator like mine, hehehe.

Fairy horses and photoshop

Nearly finished the photoshop class online and have really enjoyed it, even tho it meant alot of computer time when I should really have been finishing of some sewing projects over the Christmas break. HO HUM.

This one is 3 or 4 different photos all blended to look like a lovely fairy horse in a foggy paddock. I was really pleased with the end result but need to fine tune it for a neater appearance, hey its all a big learning curve for me.