Knitting

After a month of searching for a pattern to knit a sweater for winter 2023 I have finally narrowed it down to two designs, both by Kate Davies.  I have a whole collection of her books but what I wanted wasn't in those.

I thought I had got "the one" but then she released another pattern that I like.  Now I have to decide which one I will knit.

I think that this is the No 1 contender.

But then she came up with this and I'm not sure.

I still have a month or so before I have to start but I think the first one would be less stressful as the pattern isn't so intense and I could put it down and still find my place.  But I do like that new pattern.

School Holidays

The island is full of holiday makers including my grand daughter Jasmine, who is staying with me for a couple of days.  She made pancakes for breakfast but hasn't learnt about cleaning up just yet.

She has finally got the hang of crochet and is busy making hats for her dolls one of which is my knitted izzie dolls.  She choose the colours of the wool and said "how long will it take?".

I sat up late and knitted it over night.

The look on her face made it well worth the effort.

I think I might try to knit elf ears on some dolls and I'm thinking hobbits as well. 

WIPW

I am working on quilting pieces to make project baskets.  There will be 5 baskets and each will feature a different quilting pattern.

These are really labour intensive and I started the process at my stitchie weekend up at Toowoomba.  I thought that I would achieve a lot more on these than I have.

Unreal expectations!

Still working on the dolls.  Have 12 sewn and stuffed and now need to add the faces and ears etc.  These are great little stress busters as I can knit them without thinking and then think when I have to do the finishing.

I'm not sure how to knit these ears.

And the pin cushions continue.

The wool has arrived

So the post man came with my parcel, and being a local, opened the door and put it on the hall stand.

Oh dear! was I ever that young as in that photo?  It was taken just before my daughter was born here on Coochie.

I am never quite sure what the colour of the wool will look like until I open the parcel.

I can live with that.  Now the parcel is stored in the cupboard for when I an ready to start it.  I still have to decide on a pattern as yet.

It has to come undone.

I knitted this cardigan a couple of years ago but it shrunk slightly when I washed it.  (I did not put on weight!!!)

It is just too uncomfortable to wear anymore.  I could give it away but pure wool is so expensive these days I think I need to unpick it, wash the wool again and then start again.

Bendigo Woollen Mills is the source of most of the wool I knit with.  It is good quality Australian wool produced locally and although not cheap is affordable.  I have an order in for some wool to knit up for next year.  It was on special but the wool for a sweater will still cost $70 and just a few days later I see it has all sold out.  (Looks like there are other knitters out there.)

It has taken me a life-time to realise that I really should plan my knitting a year in advance and not try and get a whole garment finished in the couple of months before winter hits.  It has to be said that in years past there was no air-conditioning and it was too hot to knit in summer but I now have air-con and I can knit summer or winter.

Now that I am retired I find that the pressure to complete things in a short time line is gone.  I think I must be slowing down?

WIPW

We are back in home schooling every day this week so it is mainly knitting that I can do as we do our lessons and trying to keep some order in my sewing room where my grand daughter sleeps.  Now, there are two other spare bedrooms downstairs, but, she likes grandma's workroom so she can be close to us.

These little Issie dolls are great to keep the hands occupied but allows you to think of other things at the same time.  Problem is I never seem to have the colour I want, even though I have 9 boxes of yarn!

I also have some ideas for the pincushions, I can work on these before and after school.

These are on black fabric that to the eye doesn't show all that lint that the camera sees!

But, there is no getting anywhere near the sewing machine.

Organising

My knitting needles were in such a mess.  I had just put them all into a couple of empty tins and after them falling and spilling on the floor, numerous times, it was time to take control.  Boy, do I have a lot of knitting needles.  Some have been inherited from family members, some were given to me and a lot have been purchased by me.  It took a full day to collected them all from all the placed I had secreted them.  (I have a horrible feeling that there are still others hiding.)  And there were just too many to keep in just one case.  So I made three!!!

I used left over furnishing fabrics to make the cases.  That is sturdy and will protect the needles.

One for normal knitting needles, both straight and circular.

One for small needles that I use in toy knitting, and one for the double ended variety.

At the end I had two sets that were just too long to fit into any of the bags.

I might donate them somewhere.  I should never have to buy needles again, but I wouldn't count on it.

Did you know

Did you know that there are 100,032 toy patterns on Ravelry.?

I couldn't believe that when I went looking for toy patterns to knit or crochet.  Jee people must love knitting toys.  What I was looking for was those pocket dolls, which I found.  So many variations.  Some free patterns

and some you had to pay for.

I am going to start with the free ones and then give them to my friend Kay to sell.  Her grandson has Cycistic Fibrosis and as his father is my Godson and all of us, but especially his parents and grandparents, raise money for research into this disease,  I thought I would make some of these for her to sell.

There are so many cute toys I might make some of the others as well.

Now some of those look a bit complicated.  I think I will keep to the simple ones.

I am drowning in crochet!

The thing with this "Spring-along" is that they are making a cushion and I want a blanket.  There are only 19 flowers in the cushion and over 150 in the blanket.

The next problem is the yarn I am using.  There is NO WAY I can justify buying yarn with the size of my stash.  That yarn has to be used.  The problem here is that what I have is thicker.  This means that the finished flowers are bigger and therefore do not look the same as the ones in the image above.  But, I have come up with a solution to this problem.  Just change the pattern, slightly!!

It will still be slightly different than the original, not that you can notice,  but I will be using up that wool and be feeling very righteous about the whole experience.  That still leaves the problem of how many flowers I have to crochet,  I will be drowning in flowers for a while yet.

A little Mole

I have no charcoal knitting wool in my stash.  Looking at Julie's blog I think I might need to buy some soon.

These look the cutest little fellows (girls and boys) and I just can't wait for the pattern to be released. 

Well maybe I can wait.  I have to get that crocheted blanket finished before I start something else.  I will have to crochet quicker.