Possom Gloves

On a recent trip to New Zealand, I noticed lots of things made from possum yarn. Everything from socks, gloves, hats, mittens, scarves etc. I know that possums are a pest in New Zealand, and it is good to know that when they are culled, they are not wasted. After seeing all these products made with possum yarn, I was on the hunt to find some for myself.

I had heard via the grapevine of a yarn shop in Auckland, so when we got there, I was on the hunt. Took a little while but we found the shop, and I was in a candy store! Decisions decisions! Possum yarn is sooooooo expensive!

I ended up with one 25 gm ball of lace weight Zealana Air. 40% brush tail possum down, 40% Cashemere and 20% mulberry silk. I could only afford one ball, so I had to think very carefully about how I was going to use it. My plan was to combine it with something else, and probably make a scarf. I was thinking a feather and fan one with this yummy yarn in between the pattern for just two rows.

When I came home, an acquaintance suggested gloves. What a fabulous idea! I had needles, I had a 2 ply pattern for gloves, I just had to find them. In the meantime I did an internet search, and found a pattern for fingerless gloves put out by Zealana using the exact yarn I bought. Did I want fingerless gloves? No, I wanted full fingered gloves, and I wasn't sure I had enough yarn for full fingers, so I made a decision to make the fingers out of another yarn.

The fingers are worked in Patons Embrace 2 ply, something I had in my stash. It is a 90% merino wool and 10 % silk yarn. I had made other gloves in it before.

So my gloves are finished, I have something made with possum yarn, and they will be waiting to be worn in about six moths time when winter  hits.

A Crimson Jumper

My new jumper is finished, it's actually been finished for a few weeks now. Made from a Crimson 'Savanah" yarn, which is a 70% wool, 30% alpaca yarn from Bendigo Wollen Mills.

It's way to hot to wear it now, summer is here, so it is packed away until next winter.

The pattern is one received free with my yarn order from Bendigo Woolen Mills. I loved the cable pattern, and found it really interesting to do. I have done cables before of course, but not interesting and multiple ones like this.

I changed the pattern slightly too, just making the sleeves a bit longer. In the pattern they were 3/4 length, which personally I find a silly length to be made in wool. It took a little juggling with numbers and multiple tries to get them right, but I am vary happy with the result.

I also have lots of yarn left over too, which will be enough to make a matching scarf or hat. So watch this space to see which design wins.

Wild Socks

How are these for my new socks? A little wild for me but under my jeans and in my boots who will see?

These socks are my latest finish. Made from Schoppel Wolle Crazy Zauberball 4ply, a 75% wool 25% nylon yarn from Germany, which I purchased from Morris & Sons. They will be so warm!

The pattern is the Lupine Lace Socks, put out by Fiber Trends, which I purchased from The Wool Inn.

I had a lovely time knitting these socks. I had also purchased a new set of double pointed needles made by Knit Pro while at The Wool Inn, and I must say these needles are a dream to knit with. Much better than the bamboo ones I used for my last pair of socks. These will be all ready for when the snow hits nearby again. Now I will be able to get on with my shawl.

Knitting Up Some Extra Warmth

The knitting bug has had me caught over the last few months, in between the crazy patchwork embellishment, a new piece of tenneriffe lace, my pulled and drawn sampler, and  a project for Stitchers Plus.

First up is my new wrap. This began in October last year when I walked into a little habby shop while on holidays. The buisiness was for sale, and  everything was marked down. I walked out with a lovely hank of "Centolavaggi", a 100%, merino wool,  lace weight yarn from Italy. I had no idea what I would do with it, just a scarf of some kind. Also on the same day, I visited a tiny little, church run, second - hand shop, & walked out with a baby knitting book ( minus the cover) for all of 20c. Inside was a pattern for a circular baby shawl in feather & fan. My theory was that if I used larger needles, I could do 1/2 of the baby shawl, and it would come out large enough to wrap around me. Mmmm......... famous last words. it wasn't working up as I'd hoped, so I un-pulled it and found another pattern.

In the end I used the free "Meandering Vines Shawl" to be found on Ravelry, though I tweaked  it a bit to suit my purpose. It is knitted in two halves, which are then grafted together, something I have only done once before and that was nearly 35 years ago. So consequently there are no close-up pics of my grafting! Still, my wrap is finished for when the cooler weather finally arrives.

My second project is this lovely scarf. It was born purely for the need of something to do while on a flying trip up north. My wrap was finished, all except the grafting, so I needed something else, something that I could see easily without dragging magnifiers around or needing excellent light. I found three balls of Payton's "Embrace", a 2 ply yarn of 90% merino wool - 10% silk, in my stash. So I quickly searched my patterns and found this, the "Flit 'n' Float" scarf, by Birdy Evans, also available for  free on Ravelry. I had used one of the charts of this patten to make this scarf a few years back, now I wanted to do the whole thing.

The pattern began with  a provisional cast on, something I had not done before. This method creates 'live' stitches which are placed on another yarn, then picked up later to knit the remainder of the scarf. The flounce is knitted first, from the base of the scarf to outside edge of the flounce. The stitches are cast off, then picked up again from the provisional casting on and then the  remainder of the scarf is worked. It was interesting doing this and really not that hard.

I am very happy with this scarf, it is warm and light, & long enough to wrap around my neck twice. I also love the beautiful feel of the yarn. Now all I have to do is think about what to do with the remainder, I still have a ball and a half left. I am thinking gloves to match, so watch this space! Think I will be warn enough this winter?

A Knitted Family Heirloom

Behold, my greatest knitting achievement! Made as a gift, now given, and can now be shown off!

Back in October 2012, I received a phone call from a family member telling me that a new little person was arriving in May of this year. Wow! Excellent news! Of course, being the textile person that I am, my mind instantly started ticking over as to what I could make. But I needed inspiration, and  asked the new Mum-To-Be what she would like. "Mmmmm..........anything."  What colour? "Mmmmm...........whatever you feel." Well, that left me an open book, but I still needed inspiration. At the time I was packing to go on holidays, leaving the next day, and I had no time to think.

Thinking time came the next day in the car, I was passenger so I could let my mind wander. I could make a daisy wheel shawl, the ones that my Mum made for all the little babies of my generation. Maybe not, little fingers used to get caught easily. A patchwork quilt? I had made one of those for another family member some years ago, and then I remembered that another prominent family member on the other side also did those. I could look through some books, but they were all at home and I was in the car, not returning back for another two weeks! Decisions, decisions!

Then I remembered that the little town we were going to had a fabulous patchwork shop, and a lovely haberdashery shop with stunning embroidery threads and knitting yarns. Mmm....... I would just have to pay them both a visit to get some inspiration. Just inspiration mind you! Ha ha....... we all know what it is like when we get into shops like that! I have been in both these shops on many occasions and have never walked out empty handed!

We traveled on a Saturday, arriving too late in the afternoon to go looking, the lovely shops were closed by the time we arrived. Bugger, I just had to wait until Monday.

So on Monday morning my first port of call was the patchwork shop. I wasn't thinking patchwork quilt, I was thinking patterns, you never knew what they had. But there wasn't anything that said "baby", so then I just had to look at fabrics, how could I not? Remember I still had no idea what I was going to do! Still nothing that jumped out and said "baby", so then I stated looking at colours and picked up a few FQ's that together said "baby". I think I walked out of that shop with enough fabric to make a cot quilt, and that together would make something nice for a new little person. At this time though I still didn't know what that something was.

My next port of call was to the haberdashery shop. It's one of these shops that may not look all that inviting from the outside, but once you step inside and start really looking, there are some amazing treasures to be found. Right by the front door was the wooden stand with all the knitting and crochet patterns which  took me a long while to get past . I found two books with knitted baby shawl patterns, mmm......................... which one. They both had some beautiful patterns inside. After much deliberation, thinking of my ability, and the tastes of the Mother-To-Be, I made a decision, then moved on to yarn and needles. I had needles at home of course, but they were at home and I was elsewhere, and I wanted to start knitting NOW.

So here I was on holidays with enough fabric to make a quilt, and enough yarn to make a shawl. I might add here that I also had other stitching to do, but the shawl took over. The pattern is from the Shepherd Baby Shawls Collection 1, knitted in Shepherd Baby Wool Merino 3 ply. It begins on a set of four needles, then graduates to circular needles. I might add here that in the book the patterns are given a "sheep" rating which I didn't notice until a few days after I bought it. This pattern is given a "4 sheep" rating, in other words the hardest in the book! Well, that didn't surprise me, I usually go for the difficult and most challenging!

The pattern certainly was challenging! I think I un-pulled the start about 10 times before I got it right. I was nearly to the point of giving up and making one of the more easier patterns in the book. But I like a challenge, and never like something getting the better of me. After the rocky start, it was plain sailing for quite a while, until I needed a longer circular needle. I had checked in the haberdashery shop before we came home, they only had an 80cm one, I wanted 100cm. Then I checked my usual haunts at home, still nothing larger than 80cm! This shawl was pictured as a finished item in the book so there must be longer circular needles somewhere! I just had to find them.So then I started hunting on-line. I could find kits & packages that had them included, but they were $$$$$ and I wouldn't use the other items included. I finally rang Morris and Sons, where the girls were extremely helpful, and I had my 100cm circular needle within days. The shawl could grow a bit further, that is until I had to do another row of increases, and the 100cm needle needed to be longer! So another call to Morris and Sons who helped me out of a jam once again.

The needles were Knit Pro brand, which I would highly recommend. They are beautiful to knit with, and come in separate tips and cables which screw together. There are all sizes in the tips, and varying lengths in the cables, and there are also little connectors that connect two or more cables together to make one really long one. With this shawl I ended up with a 120cm, 100cm, and an 80cm cable, and at some point had the 100cm and 120cm cable joined together to take the over 2,000 stitches that were required!

So behold, my greatest knitted creation! A challenge and a half! Would I do another one? Maybe. I am thinking some alterations to this one to make something more adult-ish.

And what of the fabric I bought? Well some of that went into this quilt, and some I still have, with plans of making something else. So watch this space for more baby related goodies, and adult versions of the shawl above.

Another Scarf

This scarf was born out of a gift from a friend. Over six months ago I was given a hank of knitting yarn that was textured & variegated. It sat wrapped in it's tissue paper for 5 months waiting for me to think what to do with it. A scarf was the obvious answer, but what pattern? I also needed to add anther yarn with it to have enough to make a scarf. Then back in May my friend M___ & I ventured into the city to see what yarn we could find, and also a pattern that might inspire. I came home with 2 balls each of a green & a red/brown wool, and the pattern for a ruffled scarf.

After much experimentation with yarn combinations, needle sizes & patterns, this is what I have ended up with. The two different yarns required two different needle sizes so there was much playing with needle sizes alone to get something I was happy with. I even tried combining needle sizes, but ended up knitting the whole thing in just one size, somewhere between the two required.

Then there was the pattern. There were two colours involved & I was adamant that I didn't want stripes. That's when I ventured into the ruffles, but that gave me funny wedges which might be OK in different yarns than this. So the hunt was on for something else. In the end I settled for this drop stitch pattern, something that I hadn't done before and which was oh so easy.


I still had to experiment as to where to use my two colours, un-pulling a few times before I was happy with the result. I have ended up with something very textured in mottled colours, and not stripes which is on the plus side, something that should go with a few different colours.

My dilema now is whether to add something to the ends or not. I have no textured yarn left, only the green, and personally I think a fringe would be the only answer as anything else would add another texture which would be too conflicting. I think I might just leave it plain as is. What does everyone else think?

Knitting Needles & Yarn

I had reason today to go back to my local store for more knitting yarn. While I was there I got chatting with another customer & low & behold all the coating on her metal knitting needles was coming off too. You may remember I mentioned it in my last post. I wonder why that is? We chatted about storage, which I thought may have been my problem, but as this lady used a different storage method to me, this was not the case. Her thoughts were towards humidity. Personally, I think it must be quality.

As to the yarn I purchased, the red is a 100% pure new wool, while the blue is a bamboo yarn. I haven't knitted with bamboo before so this will be interesting. I'll keep you informed. Both yarns are 4 ply for something special. Watch this space!