August- Where exactly are you hiding?

There was a little knitting action in the craft space.

There was finishing and plenty of starting!

For the OPAM record, a couple of days late, 7 finishes last month.

Three of them are the same design worked up in different yarns for wonderful effect, as I worked the first one in an Angora mix the working name of this design is fluffy bunny colour. Ha! In the picture they are the white(angora mix), the green(100% alpaca) and the orangy/pink one that is a beautiful merino single.

The red cowl is another new design, Deloras will be ready for testing shortly.

The father's diamond socks went down a treat after I rushed to get them finished when the celebrations were moved forward a week so the parents could enjoy a trip with my brother and his truck. They're currently enjoying a little outback adventure. 

A pretty pink headband accompanied me on a run around kind of day, it's a fabulous project for on the go.

The mythical wings shawl, that's the one with all the bright stripes is a test knit for the Gabrielle. A very clever design that gives a nice triangle shape without all the stitches of a top down design.

It was a big month of knitting and finishing, the needles are currently waiting patiently while the hooks are having a turn. Haha!

Hope your days are sunny and bright.

Spoilt for choice...

The good thing about finishing more than one project in a week is the opportunity to start more than one new project.

So I now have two new hats and a cowl on the needles. 

On the left a brown cable beanie knit from the brim, on the right another of the garter stripes beanies knit from the crown and at the bottom a blue cowl with cables.

I wonder which one will get the most attention tonight while stitching with friends?

Wishing you a weekend with plenty of stitches.

Finishing...

In no particular order, because I have absolutely no idea where April escaped to!

A cowl knit from yarn with all the colours - and a little fluffy too.

Whimsycowl designed by Nim Teasedale in Moda Vera Fern - now discontinued

I knit directly from the part ball which I had - the yellow stripe at the bottom and the blue stripe at the top were just how it came out. Perfect to pair with almost any outfit.

Playing with pictures in knitting to make another hat or three!

My own design knit in 4 Seasons Pure wool 8 ply

A test knit of a shawl pattern all ready to be gifted to a friend living in a cold place.

Slow dance by Nim Teasedale knit in Bendigo Woollen mills Luxury 4 ply - colour Lake (which is a much nicer colour than it appears on my monitor).

Another test knit that needs to remain a secret for now, but lets just say it's super cute with a big personality and lots of hair.

Oh, yeah more hats have been added to the stash - I don't think there'll be any excuse for a cold head around here.

Makamie Hat - all three are knit in Cleckheaton country 8 ply.

Needles are a-clickin here these days with more projects already filling some of the needles freed up from all the finishing.

Thanks to Kris and Peg for hosting OPAM.

Wishing you all a wonderful May.

October's finished!

And all I have to show for it is more woollies which is probably just as well as so far this spring has been short on heat around here.

Twisted drops socks in purple vintage Patons Beehive fingering, design by Irene Birk.

Grey checkered cowl in grey Sean Sheep wool/soy protein mix and Cleckheaton Candy boucle wool/acrylic/nylon mix, which has a lovely sheen, design by BillS.

The Blue Spot bag is crocheted from Bendigo woollen mills classic and lined with cotton flowers, design by Sharon Ballsmith found in 'Interweave Crochet Summer 2011 edition'.

Burgundy socks finally finished and gifted to the Father, knit in vintage Patons Beehive fingering 3 ply from a suitably vintage pattern requesting this yarn.

There was more knitting, still socks and I am currently working on the second sock of two pairs one of which is close to done but didn't make it into the October finishes due to a ridiculous amount of time spent on some administrative stuff in the past week!

I've stroked fabric and planned and plotted projects but I need to clear a space to allow for some serious cutting before the sewing can begin or maybe I could just sew these 'pre-cuts'.

Shapes cut from scraps some other time! stored neatly on the bottom.

Those apple core shapes on the left are even sewn into pairs. Wonder where they were headed??

Tonight is the first Friday so there's fun to be had with Friends, you can sign up over at Cheryll's.

Happy new month wishes to you.

Are those new?

There was some knitting which involved thick yarn and fat needles this week. I made this cosy cowl in teen colours, mostly because they were the ones I had in the right thickness, but we'll just keep that between ourselves, okay?

After I signed on to help with this one I thought I may have made a mistake, we are after all heading towards summer down here, not so this week, (it would have been a very welcome addition on some cool mornings). Just need to find some suitable buttons to attach and this will be done.

Two coloured checkered cowl by BillS

Pretty yarn for a pretty sock.

I bought this yarn a little over a year ago when the whole sock thing was just gaining momentum.

The Great Wall IV Socks by Qianer

Then it sat patiently waiting a turn because of the whole multi coloured look of it, when I decided that my preference really is to work with solids. An opportunity to knit along with others over on Ravelry saw me looking for suitable yarn in the stash, time to pull this out and see whether it would work. The yarn, Happy by Wendy, has a high percentage of bamboo and just a little nylon so it is perfect for warmer weather socks. Means I won't need to wait until next May to get my feet into them.

Coming along nicely I'm onto the foot and really enjoying the knit and the yarn.

Total impulse buying in the supermarket today, just had to try these TimTams with strawberry filling, well they had the new sign on them! Delicious even if they weren't coated in Dark chocolate. At the back of the pic you can see the mess I made with the buttons. I'll get some real photo's next time the sun is shining in my space.

Enjoy creating your weekend.

Winter's here

 A time for hats, quilts and hot chocolate (okay any kind of chocolate)

Pink hat with a blue cowl,

Or Pink hat with a green cowl?

Another photo of the shawl progress just because I am a bit Obsessed right now.

The best bit is I am almost done with this. 

Oh, and if anyone's asking I didn't do any stitches on the bosses time!

Yay I get to wear it real soon.

Hope Winter has started well for you.

Fortunately...

The weather is perfect for hats - because I have decided I should just stick to what I am best at, oh and the fact that I couldn't find the fabric I wanted at Spotty last night - I had grand plans of basting and doing some quilting on the pin wheels from a couple of weeks ago, the universe conspired against me.

The green cowl is all better now, it is finished except for weaving in some ends.

Instead of buying fabric at Spotty I got a ball of this pretty pink chenille yarn and started crocheting a hat on Friday night - thick yarn and chunky hook means...

I have a finish already (except for those pesky ends of course).

This afternoon while the sun was shining outside and the wind was blowing lots of cold air - I stayed indoors and unravelled the vest's neckband, ready for another attempt. After consulting an alternative pattern I decided that the neckband just needs more stitches and it will be fine, but I didn't pick them up today.

I started something new instead - a beanie for a colleague. 

This will use the remainder of this yarn from the gifted stash - Yippee!

Making room for some new yarn to make something for me.

Hope your Saturday was spent somewhere warm.

Woolly goodness

While the clouds gathered outside I stayed warm inside surrounded by my gorgeous projects.

There was a little tea time stitching - the table is now ready. I wonder who is coming.

A lovely design from Bronwyn Hayes of Red Brolly. 

During the week I cast off the grey vest. The body is done, just the bands to complete.

Then some hooking Saturday at the monthly knitting group, which ended when the yarn ran out - oops.

I started over with the hooking and I picked up stitches to knit the arm bands on the vest.

Same design with a smaller hook and  less pattern repeats - I think the sizing will be better and I will have sufficient yarn as I am using an odd ball from the stash, Yippee!

Hope there was time for some stitches in your weekend.