Art Deco Scarf

When we went to New Zealand, I promised my mum I'd make her a scarf with some yummy possum/merino/silk yarn I bought there. I managed to do it without her seeing it (although the blocking part had me EXTREMELY nervous, luckily it was warm weather and only took one night). It ended up really nice and I'm sure she'll get a lot of use out of it once the weather cools down. I ended up with two left over balls so eventually I might make myself some fingerless gloves or mittens maybe.

It's an art deco scarf because we went to Napier in New Zealand, which is an art deco town, and zig-zags are a common motif in Art Deco style.

The pattern is Isobel, knitted with Supreme Possum Merino with Silk. Took about a month and a half of surreptitious knitting.

Looking Back at 2008

Looking back at 2008, it was a bit of a blah year unfortunately. We lost our darling Barney in February and I felt like I was working a lot. I think it was just the way my hours were set out that I felt like I didn't have big chunks of time to do stuff I wanted.

I've just been looking back on my goals for 2008 and to be honest, I didn't really go all that well on them.

1. Comment more on blogs/projects/images etc. Partly I don't do this because I read Bloglines at work, so I figure the more websites I go to the badder I am, but when I'm looking at stuff at home I'm going to make an effort to comment more. Most of it is just laziness really.
I didn't really do this. Looks like I'm shy on the net and in person.

2. Keep a creative journal. I'm not sure how well this one will go, I've tried it before, but I'll do my best. I'm not going to put any pressure on myself for daily writing or anything, but I think it will be useful.
Also didn't go very well.

3. Get a shower timer. I should stop assuming I'm having short enough showers and actually measure it.
Hooray, I did this one. Go me!

4. Complete some stuff I started this year - TAST, the 12 inch square CAL (only one of these to do and then combine everything). Also use some of the supplies I have.
Ummm...no, I guess that's part of the overwhelmed with work bit.

5. Challenge myself creatively. This may include large projects, new skills etc.
Yes, I did knitting and made socks, did cabling and lace. I'm pretty impressed with myself here.

6. Read another 15 books from my list (see previous post). Read over 100 books in the year.
I read over 100 books (180 actually, the last one scraped in just on New Years Eve)
Only 7 from the list, but I've read lots from other lists.

7. Make some plans for an overseas trip in 2009 and ask others to join me.
Definitely did this one. In fact I'm leaving in February, so not long now. I didn't actually ask others to join me, I was going to, and then they were talking about going overseas so I invited myself. I have done most of the organising though. .

8. Take a bit of time out to think about where I'm going etc.
Kind of, I'm going on a big overseas trip!

So what about 2009?

I'm finishing my job in mid February then making my way to the UK, travelling through India (5 weeks), Thailand (1 week) and Japan (2 weeks) on the way. Once I'm in the UK I'm going to work for a little bit (to make up the money I've spent in the first part of my trip) and then travel round Europe in between working. It's been something I've been wanting to do since uni and I'm so glad to finally be getting the chance to.

I'm going to keep blogging here until I go (probably fairly sporadically though) and then I think I'll set up a new travel blog but I'll see how I'm feeling before I leave.

Blog Break

I knew I hadn't posted in a while, but then realised it had been over a month. I've thought about posting but it's been feeling like a bit of a chore so I've decided to take a bit of a break until the New Year and then reassess the blog a bit.

So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone and I'll update next year.

Scrummy Yarn

When we were in New Zealand I bought some lovely yarn.

This is some gorgeous hand painted yarn for me (no plans yet)

and some merino, possum and silk yarn for a scarf for my mum. It has been started and hopefully it'll be done in time for Christmas (it takes much longer to make things when they are a surprise and you have to keep them hidden!). I've maybe done about 15cm at the moment and it's sooooo gorgeous and soft that I might have trouble giving it away once I've finished.

New Zealand Photos

Here are some photos from my fabulous trip to the North Island of New Zealand. We were only there for six days and it would be great to go back there eventually and see more, particularly the South Island, because what I saw of New Zealand was really lovely. I did take a lot more photos than these, but I couldn't swamp the blog with all of them!

We went to Rotorua, which has lots of thermal activity. We went to one of the thermal parks and saw a geyser which was really cool, as well as lots of hot pools, craters and other stuff. We also went to the Agrodome where we saw a sheep show, and I may have come away with some wool (but I'll show you those photos in another post).

We also went to Napier, where most of the town was destroyed in an earthquake in 1931 and now a lot of it is rebuilt in Art Deco style. There has been a lot of restoration and we went on a guided walking tour as well, and we really got a lot out of that.

It's Lamb Sock

I've been picking up a few nice pairs of socks for a little while now, planning to make a sock creature, and I finally got around to it. All hand sewn, but it really didn't take long and it's sooo soft and squishy. I didn't stuff it too firmly because I liked the feeling of squashing it when it was just plump but not too full.

I used the lamb pattern from Sock and Glove: Creating Charming Softy Friends from Cast-Off Socks and Gloves.

My Stitch Markers

It's taken me a little while to post these, which is naughty of me, because they're really fantastic. These are the stitch markers I received in the Witches Have Me in Stitches (markers) swap on Ravelry. Some of them have been to New Zealand though because I've been there on a short break. I'll have to post some photos from there as well!

All the photos are taken on a background of some of the lovely paper that my swap partner Madaco wrapped everything in, that was all hand stamped. Isn't it gorgeous?

We have a procrastinator, a turtle, a disc and some grapes to represent Bilious, the Oh God of Hangovers.


A dragon, Fate and the Lady’s dice and some chain mail (for Vimes or Dwarves) which has 8 rings.


Some Discworld directional markers.


Something that I have to reread Wintersmith about (I guessed a Kelda, but wasn’t quite right), a feegle and a wonderful elephant ring to hold all my markers (or for VERY chunky projects!).

Discworld Stitch Markers

These are the stitch markers I made for the Ankh-Morpork Knitter's Guild stitch marker swap. I traced images from "The Art of the Discworld" book onto shrinky dinks, which was lots of fun. My mum thought they were very cool when they shriveled up!

The Witches Set

The Watch Set

The Random Set

The Octarine Set

AMKG Altoid's Tin

I was in another Ankh-Morpork Knitter's Guild Swap on Ravelry. It was just a small swap of some stitch markers, but I did have fun making a cute container to put them in.



I've been wanting to do something with my altoids tin's for a while, and this got me off my butt to do it. The design is the group's coat of arms.

Garterlac Dishcloth

Another dishcloth! I've found the couple I've done are a good way to have a go of a new stitch without starting a massive, overwhelming project.



Made with Peaches and Creme in Pink Lemonade, and the pattern is from here.

Long Lacy Shawl

This has taken me a couple of months to finish, but I'm really happy with the end result. As well as being a nice shawl, it's light enough that I can scrunch it up and use it as a scarf.


The pattern is the Long Open Shawl and once I got into it, it was easy to memorize.

My new craft room

My sister has just moved out...so I stole her room, which means I get more room for all my craft stuff (must try not to increase stash, must try not to increase stash) and it also gave me a chance to go over what I've got and organise it a little bit (and make some room in my own wardrobe)

Here are some photos:

WIP Wednesday: scrap blanket

This is going to be a WIP for a long time, as I'm just adding scraps to it every now and then. I haven't decided yet if I want every flower to be in a different yarn or double up on some. I'm imagining the finished project (eventually) as a riot of different coloured flowers.



The pattern is the Cyanne blanket. I'm going to be good and keep weaving in the ends as I go (maybe)!

Ballet Dinosaur

I got asked to make this for a little girl who likes dinosaurs, and pink and I'm really happy with the finished project (especially the tutu, which was some fantastic lace I found at Lincraft).

I modified this dragon pattern to make it more dinosaury and it worked really well!

A real dish(cloth)

A fellow raveller in the Australian Knitters Group on ravelry was doing a peaches and creme order so I thought I might order some. I ordered a pack of twelve balls and two grab bags which had loads of stuff in. This is made from a partial ball in one of the grab bags and I ended up with just enough to finish it. Yay!



The pattern is the Round Dishcloth and it was pretty easy in the end.

Made with Peaches and Creme in Winterberry.

Hat and Scarf Set

It's one of my nieces birthday soon (her first one in Australia), so what better to celebrate the 'wonderful' weather in Melbourne (they're from the UK) than a beanie and scarf, although they're fairly light ones.



The beanie is the Divine Hat which is a lovely pattern that I've been looking for an excuse to make.



The scarf is the Double Drop Stitch Scarf which was a pretty quick knit and the drop stitches were a bit of fun to do.

Both were made with Aria by Lang Yarns. The beanie would have taken one night and the scarf maybe two or three.

Stitch by Stitch Images - Issue 7

It's the waist that bothers me. The argyle top is kind of nice, but the gathered knitted waist? Not a good spot to add bulk.

Seed Stitch Scarf

It was my brother-in-laws birthday recently and as I'd noticed him wearing scarves around it gave me an excuse to knit one. I did start crocheting one, but I was using pretty chunky yarn and it ended up a bit solid. So I decided to knit my first scarf. I did it in seed stitch and because the yarn was so chunky it went pretty quickly. I also think it's my first knitting project without mistakes. Yay! And I used some stash yarn. Double yay!




It's very thick, warm, soft and squishy.

And the winner is...

Drumroll

...Miri, with her suggestion of Lois McMaster Bujold. I've read one of her books ages ago which was pretty good, so I'll keep an eye out for some more.

If you can email or message me on Rav with your address I'll get your prize sent out later!

Placemats

My younger sister has bought a house and is moving in soon, so for a housewarming gift I made these placemats for them (they are going with a lot of browns and creams in the stuff they've bought). They took me all day because I kept getting distracted. Having your lap top on the same table as the sewing machine is a bad idea.

There are eight, and they are pretty much all the same, although one decided to miss out on the photo.

In other news, just two more days to offer reading suggestions in the bloggy competition.