Dad’s 90th Birthday Scarf

My Dad turns 90 years old on the 3 May and I was having so much trouble thinking of an appropriate present. There’s a limit to how many Sudoku books he can be given. Doh! I thought….all this knitting I’m doing and I know Dad feels the cold in winter so what about a scarf for him. Perfect!! Ta da…

I used the Yarn Harlot’s pattern called One Row Handspun Scarf as it’s so easy to knit up and is reversible which is what I really love.

Love these colours as they’re ideal for a male.

I used Patons Zhivago which is a 50% acrylic / 50% tencel as I know Mum would have problems with a wool scarf as she’d just forget and throw it into the washing machine which means it’d either felt or shrink or both!

I added the fringe as an afterthought and I’m so glad I did as it just finishes the scarf off nicely don’t you think?

Those fringe bits aren’t all exactly the same length. I’m sure Dad will never notice!

See what I mean by reversible…you can’t tell one side from the other which makes it very appealing.

Now that’s not all that I’m giving Dad for his birthday. One of my friends works with leather and he makes these great utility trays….you know those trays where you can store all your bits and pieces. I thought this would be ideal for Dad.

You can find Troy’s leather goods at his website: Porters Saddles or on his Facebook page. He’s also registered with the official Australian Made website. I think Dad’s going to love his presents.

The scarf fits in the tray quite neatly. Anyone would think I’d taken measurements before knitting it!

To finish off I’m going to show you a couple of The Australian Woodworker Magazines I bought on Ebay a week or so ago. They’re from 1991 and have a project to make your own spinning wheel! I’m going to give a copy to my woodturner. You never know, he may decide to try his hand at making a spinning wheel. He also makes violins.

One more pic of my scarf.

That’s my news for now. Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend. Until next time…

Melanie

Easter Yarning

Over the years I have collected bits and pieces of china…some cheap and some not so cheap. So I was quite amazed a couple of days ago when I realised that I had a lovely Royal Doulton plate from the Susan Neale ‘Old Country Crafts’ range called ‘The Spinner’.

To think I’d had this plate since the early 1990s and didn’t realise it replicated my love of spinning.

Another little plate I picked up on Ebay last year is this one…

It’s quite beautiful isn’t it. And then there’s this tiny little spinning wheel I also picked up on Ebay last year. Just couldn’t resist it.

And here’s the three of them lined up on one of my timber kitchen dressers.

Yesterday I washed two lots of handspun that I’ve recently finished spinning. This one is called Kangaroo Paw…

Lovely shades of yellows and reds…

This one is called Rainbow # 2…

One of my friends asked me whether I spin to get a certain colour effect. Well no, at this stage I consider myself to be an organic spinner and what I mean by that is I spin without thinking of the end result. My aim is just to get it relatively consistent in thickness. Maybe when I’m more experienced I might get a bit more mathematical and scientific about it. With this particular roving I broke it down into many thin strips before spinning as it suited my Peacock spinning wheel that I was using for the first time. It’s a bit chunkier than my previous spinning efforts but I absolutely love the colours in it.

These rovings are part of a large bundle I bought from Jumbuck Julie’s Etsy shop and I showed you them all here. This is what they looked like in their roving shape…

Now I have a bit of handspun waiting to be knitted into garments….probably hats and scarves at this stage.

One more look at the beautiful Rainbow colours…

That’s all my news for now. I hope you’re all having a wonderful Easter and will find some time to do something crafty. Until next time…

Melanie

 

Harmony Collar

I found this pattern in the latest copy of Spotlight’s Feel the Yarn Autumn Winter 2014 Collection. The pattern is called Harmony Collar and starts on page 96. By the way, if you’re thinking of knitting this collar there’s a small mistake in the pattern. It should read “Repeat rows 3 to 22 for 20 rows of pattern repeat…” rather than “Repeat rows 2 to 22 for 20 rows of pattern repeat…”

I love the way this collar can also sit over your head when it’s really cold.

It can also be worn around the shoulders…

Or even as a large cowl…

I used nearly six ball of Moda Vera Harmony to knit the collar. Every row of the pattern contains cabling which made it a bit slow going to start with but once I got into the groove it went a bit faster! This is a 10ply / Aran, 50% wool / 50% acrylic yarn and has quite a fluffy texture to it.

Last week I received a delivery of a custom dyed lot of yarn from Shorn Fibers. I love Angela’s colourways! I don’t know about you but I am inspired to purchase yarns that my friends are using or to knit garments they’re knitting. A couple of weeks ago, one of my friends from Knit and Knatter was knitting this Willow Woods Shawl in a beautiful gradient yarn. I knew I had the pattern at home so I instantly started looking for the right yarn to use. I also knew that I’d seen some gradient yarns on Shorn Fibers’ Etsy site so I contacted Angela to see whether she could custom dye some yarn in autumn tonings. This is the result…

Beautiful isn’t it? I just want to start the shawl straight away but I have to finish the scarf I am knitting my Dad for his 90th birthday on 3 May (plus I also want to knit a matching hat!).

Now you know how I like to maximise postage by trying to get as much yarn as possible into a postage bag for the same price as one skein!! Well I contacted Angela and she told me I could fit in another two skeins so I quickly went to her website and found this gorgeous worsted yarn called Malarkey…

Sometimes it’s hard to match yarn colours on a computer screen. I was hoping the green in this Malarkey matched the green in this yarn….First Beach (also a worsted yarn)…

AND IT DID!!!! Don’t they look fabulous together?

I want to make a shawl with both of these yarns so I’m on the lookout for the right pattern as I think it’ll look spectacular. Any suggestions??

I had a quick trip to Spotlight today and managed to grab these yarns that were on sale. This colourway is called Apple Mix.

And this one is called Citrus Mix…

Plus this one ball of Moda Vera Folly…

as I want to match it with this Moda Vera Folly Printed to make a shawl…

A couple more pics of my Harmony Collar…

That’s all my news for now. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Until next time…

Melanie

Autumn Scarf and Some Gorgeous Yarn

 

Another garment off the needles! This is my Autumn Scarf made using Shorn Fibers Single DK which is a 40% Baby Alpaca 40% Merino 20% Silk yarn blend. The colourway way is called Autumn Leaves and it’s gorgeous to knit with. I used exactly 125g for this scarf; the other 75g was used to knit my 3AM Cable Hat which I blogged about here.

Here’s the hat…

And here’s the newly finished scarf…

The pattern I used is called Palindrome and what I like about it is it’s a reversible cable which makes your scarf look great from both sides!

This yarn is as soft as silk against my neck and will make a nice partner for the hat.

I’m so glad I left the scarf relatively narrow as it’s enabled me to utilise all the yarn to make the scarf slightly longer than normal.

Before I go I’m going to show you a couple of gorgeous yarns I’ve just received in the mail. The first is the number one instalment in Dyed By Hand Yarns’ 2014 Simply Sock Club and it’s called Surf Life Saving.

Isn’t it stunning? I showed it to a friend of mine and she immediately grabbed it out of my hands as she was so smitten with it!

The second sock yarn is called Blue Ringed Octopus…

Both these yarns are called Tough Stocking and are a 75% superwash merino / 25% nylon yarn. Each weighs 100gm and contains 423 metres (463 yards).

The second lot of yarn that arrived this week is the eighth offering in Zen Yarn Garden’s new ART WALK Series that features a painting by Claude Monet entitled “Irises” which inspired this colourway.

Hand painted on Serenity Silk Single Mr Zen has captured the subtle colours of the painting. From one medium to the next artists express their use of colour.

Serenity Silk Single is a single ply fingering yarn comprising of 75% superwash merino, 15% cashmere and 10% silk. There are 430yds in each 100gm skein, enough to make a small shawl.

This is the painting that inspired the yarn colours…

And this is a photo from Zen Yarn Garden’s website…

I am simply amazed by the beautiful colours that can be used to make gorgeous hand dyed yarn.

That’s it for me today. Until next time…

Melanie