Constant Companion Shawl

This shawl was another test knit for Dana Gervais, a really talented Canadian pattern writer. Constant Companion is an oversized yet cosy and elegant shawl and I love the yarnovers and decreases that create little lacy paw prints throughout.

There’s an awful lot of knitting in this shawl as it took two full skeins of Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 which is a gorgeous blend of 70% merino / 20% cashmere / 10% nylon. These particular skeins are part of the ART WALK series. This is the fourteenth offering in Zen Yarn Garden’s ART WALK Series which features a painting by Andy Warhol entitled “Stamped Lips “.

There’s an increasing section, followed by a straight section and then the decreasing section. I love the delicate scalloped edge.

This particular yarn was very difficult to capture on the camera. The inside photos (above) show a very orangey pink whereas the true colour is better indicated by the outside photos.

I think I’ll have to wear a black top to really show off the colour of the shawl

So, we’re into the third week of May here in Brisbane which means in just over a week’s time it’ll be the first week of winter. Today the temperature is 26 degrees Celsius and tomorrow it’s forecast to be 28! Not sure when I’ll ever get to wear my winter woollies!

That’s my knitting news for today!

Until next time…

Melanie

Woven Wraps

I’ve been mentioning my weaving projects for a while now so I thought I’d better get them all photographed, resized and sorted (this takes a long time). I’ve been alternating between my 30cm and 50cm Ashford Knitters looms.

These wraps were done on the 50cm loom.

The warp is two balls of Ashford Tekapo 100g 8ply in black and the weft is two balls of Noro Silk Garden 50g. Love the rustic look of these two yarns.

The warp is 4 balls of Cleckheaton Country 50g in green and the weft is two balls of Noro Silk Garden 50g. I must say Noro is an awful wool that is full of VM but it does have some lovely colour changes and is perfect in a woven garment. It does become a bit softer when washed too. It’s quite expensive and not worth all the hype.

I’m so pleased I attended a couple of weaving workshops recently as it has helped me to finally master this hemming stitch which gives such a great finish. And the fringes were all done on my Ashford Fringe Twister. It is amazing and worth every cent!

The warp and weft are a mixture of Lotus Yarns Winter Sun Aran, Lotus Yarns Winter Sun DK and Cleckheaton Riverina 5ply. I just made up this pattern. It was a bit tiresome tucking in all those ends but the end result was worth it! These yarns are all so soft so this wrap is incredibly soft and has a lovely drape.

The warp and weft is six balls of Poems 100% 10ply wool. This is a rather long scarf. The colours are lovely muted autumn shades. I’ve had this wool in my stash for ages and now it’s finally been used!

The following scarves were made on the 30cm loom.

The warp and weft are a mixture of Lotus Yarns Winter Sun Aran, Lotus Yarns Winter Sun DK and Cleckheaton Riverina 5ply. Similar to the one made on the 50cm loom but there’s no dark brown in this one.

The warp is handspun mongrel alpaca (grey) and merino (Peacock blue) and the weft is all the handspun mongrel alpaca. I used a double thread throughout as this is some of my early spinning and was a bit uneven in places. The double thread really made a difference.

So, as you can see, I have been quite busy weaving up a storm! Once the warp is on the loom, I love how quickly a garment is woven. And you can use so many textured handspun and commercial yarns. This is definitely a quick way to use your stash and believe me I need all the help I can get to do that!

I picked up a bit of 8ply cotton recently so I’m going to try and weave a kitchen mat in greens and oranges (what else!)

If you’ve ever thought about learning to weave, I can highly recommend it. And if you live in Brisbane (or Australia for that matter), one of our spinning group members is an Ashford representative and gives a 15% discount on Ashford looms 🙂

Until next time…

Melanie

Queensland Spinners & Weavers Open Day Wrap Up

Yesterday I attended the Queensland Spinners Open Day along with two of my spinning pals. We piled into my car and drove to Fibrecraft House at Auchenflower ready to indulge ourselves in some fibre and yarn browsing and purchasing.

The set up for the day is in full swing!

Considering we are two thirds of the way through autumn, it was incredibly warm. I wore shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt! It was a breathtakingly gorgeous day!

One of my favourite and very clever artisans is Kimberly from Earth & Stone Creations. I love her work and she had some different yarn bowls on offer. Lots of lovely colours. If you couldn’t make it to the Open Day, don’t despair, Kimberly will be at the Redlands Spinners & Weavers Open Day on 21 June in Cleveland. You can even contact her beforehand if you’re after a custom piece.

What about this cute little piggy yarn bowl 🙂

While I was chatting to Kimberly she mentioned that she’d just completed a custom order for a huge yarn bowl (see below). The person who requested it had seen the one I’d blogged about at last year’s Redlands Open Day and they wanted one. So pleased others are discovering her talent 🙂

There was so much to see (and buy). I had intentions of not buying too much as I have so much stash at home but that idea went out the window when I saw what was on offer like these gorgeous dyed skeins of Bendigo wool.

I balled them yesterday and what a riot of colour!

I also picked up this gorgeous Treetops fibre called ‘Red Earth’.

Plus this stunning fibre.

I’ll use this dyed alpaca and these mohair curls on my blending board.

And check out these lovely silk nebula clouds.

And a little bit of embellishment for my weaving.

A couple of interesting books.

And some old Yarn magazines. I love flicking through yarn related magazines while I’m having a cuppa 🙂

These very nifty DP WIP tubes will come in handy when I’m knitting socks.

And last, but not least, another sheep to add to my collection 🙂

You could say I had a very successful day 🙂 Thanks to all the Queensland Spinners for such a great event and thank you Gillian and Vanessa for your company and all the laughs. See you at spinning next week 🙂

Until next time.

Melanie