Last month I made a Jumper – pattern and wool by Jo Sharp.

It is really daggy, comfy and warm.  I love it.  I hadn’t blogged about it because I was going to take some better photos.  This was taken about a minute after I finished sewing the ends in, over my pjs.

I have also done this months around the block blocks for Louise.

BTW I am on holidays at the moment, and in two days I finished two quilts that have been hiding in my UFO box for way too long.

I don’t love this quilt.  It was all about the process.  I had fun picking out the fabrics at a craft show.  I enjoyed making the “Yellow Brick Road” pattern.  Then because I don’t love it I wasn’t too scared to quilt it myself.  I did ok.  Just don’t look too closely.

Quilting that gave me some confidence quillting the bug quilt.  I really couldn’t have sent it away for quilting because I wouldn’t have been happy with an all over pattern.  First I did the book shelves, and I was going to leave it at that.  Then I did the border.  Then I couldn’t just leave the black around the bottles.  Now it is almost quilted to death.   I don’t like the feel of quilts with this type of dense quilting.  Nothing beats the feel of a quilt that is hand quilted.  But maybe with a few washes it might soften up.

(OMG – doesn’t the black show the cat hair!!)

So now I am packing madly.  I am taking the kids on a road trip staring tomorrow, heading south.  Unfortunately I will be solo as hubby has to work.  We will eventually end up in Sydney to spend some time with Sheridan and Henry.   Can’t wait.

I knew that knitting was popular with celebrities.

But flipping though my little girls “Princess” magazine,

I had no idea that Cinderella was part of the group.

On an unrelated topic ….

Over the last couple of days I have been trying to make a skirt.  I made a special trip to buy a pattern. I patiently traced out my size.  I cut the fabric.  These few steps have taken me a few precious child free sessions.  And then as I was about the sew it together, I realise that there was no way it was going to fit me.  I have cut the wrong size.  AGGGHHHHH.

And to add insult to injury.  I patiently put it away and started on a nightie for my little girl. When I got all the pattern pieces out, I noticed I had bought the wrong size (6,7,8 instead of 3,4,5)!!!  Stamped boldly on the front is “NO EXCHANGE OR REFUND”.

fcuk it. I should stick to quilts, bags and toys.  It doesn’t really matter if they don’t fit.

I don’t blog much anymore but I still do a lot of making.

This last week I finished my Milobo Cardigan.  The ribbon is black velvet.  I like the look of it through the eyelets but don’t really know how to tie it to look nice.

I made a needle roll for my circular needles.  The green fabric was a gift from Sheridan long ago.

And I got all of my blocks back from the Chaletgirl block swap.

I really enjoyed being part of this swap.  It was such a small commitment and really easy to do.  And look what I got in return.  I have no idea how I am going to lay them out but I want it to be a little more interesting than a simple 9 patch quilt.

I have also cast on for a Jo Sharp jumper (a few times).  It should be going faster than it is but I am taking my time.  I have also had to rip back a few times too because I want it to be just right.

The yarn for the project is so yummy, and the most that I have ever spent for one knitting project.

While in Melbourne I made a special effort to drive out to Bendigo just to go to the Bendigo Woollen Mills factory shop.

It took almost 2 hours to get there and the weather was shocking for driving. It was 9 degrees when we left Melbourne and almost 5 when we got to Bendigo at 10am.

It is a well laid out shop and I really would have enjoyed myself if I didn’t bring the kids with me. My little boy also thought he was in heaven walking into a room filled with squishy “balls”. So once strapped into the pram, he didn’t stop screaming to get out. And my little girl was overly helpful. So even with the distractions I managed to buy a “shitload”.

This photo is from the bargain room looking out into the main store. I was too embarrassed to get my camera out in front of the assistant.

I bought

3 balls of 5ply colonial in Brown



3 balls of 5ply classic in Smoke (for a new milobo)



1 ball of 8ply rustic cedar fleck to take my total to 4



1 ball of 8ply cotton in latte to round out my collection of BWM cotton

then 4 balls of luxury (2 pink,2 white) for my sister

1 ball of red 8ply for Alison (we must catch up for dinner soon, at least to give you this wool)

and a ball from the bargain room 8ply blue/red for my dad – cause he wants an ear flap hat.

Not too bad. 2.8kg of wool for just shy of $130. I also needed to buy a vacuum space bag to fit it all home in my suitcase.

The colonial brown and the blue/red where the only things that I managed to get from the bargain room. And they weren’t significantly cheaper. I guess like all factory outlets you have to be there at the right time.  I probably would have found and bought a lot more from in there if I had the time and the patience (sans children).





Regardless of my lack of bargains, going was a highlight of my trip. It was awesome just to see all of the wools together and compare colours and to squish the balls.

The kids ended up having a good day as I took them to an indoor play centre (Bendigo Fun Factory)  to let off some steam for a couple of hours before the drive home.

I am very proud of this project. This is my first knitted adult garment that I have attempted and completed.



It is the February Ladies sweater. The original pattern is from the Knitters Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmerman and it is sized for a baby. The pattern is more of a recipe rather than detailed instructions. Flintknits did a great job writing up the pattern as an adult version. It is very popular and currently on ravelry there is 4818 of these projects listed with 2832 of them completed.

I made the baby version for cabingirl (Emmeline) aka little chaletgirl.

For mine I used 2 1/2 balls of Bendigo Alpacca in Jet Black, just over 1000 yards. It took me 2 months complete. I did it while watching lots of House, Criminal Minds, Amazing Race and Survivor episodes in the evenings.

It is knit it using a 5mm circular needle. It is a top down design using Raglan shaping. The sleeves are picked up and knit in the round.

When I was done I had only 6 ends to weave in and once the buttons were sewn on it was ready to wear.

I washed it and lightly blocked it. It only gained a little more length than expected, but that is ok. I made it to wear to work and the best thing is that I do like it and will actually wear it.

I am not perfect though (are you surprised)- there is a mistake in it. Just under the bust line I doubled up on one row, so there is a small ridge. I did notice it as I was working but decided not to rip back to my safety line. I wish had …. but I didn’t, so I can live with it.

I belong to the Australian Swappers group on Ravelry. There is always a few swaps going on. The latest one that I am a part of is the project bag swap.

These are the ones that I made for my swapee. I probably wouldn’t have picked this fabric for myself, but it has sewn up just beautifully. It is from the Andalucia range by Patty Young (she has a great blog and awesome sewing patterns).

They are now headed south and I was sad to see them go.

I made grab bag,

a small zippered notions bag

and what I would like to call a lace project bag.

It is just a simple drawstring bag (the pattern is from Living Creatively) that I put grommets on. I envisage that you put your knitting in the bag then thread your circular needles out through the holes. Then (I hope) that your lace knitting wouldn’t get tangled up with the needles.

I hope she likes them.

I have never really been into dying yarn before. For my last swap I bought my swapee some Kool aid sachets from wired for fibre, so I got a couple for myself just to give it a go.

Now it astounds me that people drink this stuff. If it is toxic enough to dye then it can’t be good for you.

Anyway – the three flavours I got were tropical punch, mango and black cherry. The wool I used was spotlight basics 100% wool in cream.



I used wired for fibres Kool Aid 101 tutorial which was just fine.

First I wound the balls into a hank using my niddy noddy.



Then I soaked the two hanks in cold water for about an hour.
I put the sachets into old soft drink bottles and put about 1 cup of water in each.
The first ball (in my lasagna dish) was quite wet still when I poured the dyes on it, so the colours blurred a lot.



The second ball (in my pie plate) I wrung out so it was just damp. This tended to hold the colours a lot better; not so runny.



I used my food dishes because you cover them with plastic wrap and microwave them.
And to my surprise once they were cooked the dye was set. The water around the wool was clear. After letting them cool, I rinsed them off and hung them out to dry.



Then wound them into balls.

The one that was wetter is a lot more subdued where the colours ran together. The other one has quite distinct areas of each colour.

So now what do I do with them.

I guess they will just sit and wait for something to inspire me.

I really should do a knitted and crocheted swatch of each just to see how they look.

But now that I have had a go at dying I don’t think I will do it again. It was fun …. but not for me.

I have just joined an Aussie swap on ravelry that involves making a project bag. I promised that I would dig up some suitable tutorials and links.

U-handbag (UK) is a great resource for making bags and it has a great post on bagmaking for newbies.

Nicole Mallalieu is an Australian designer that focuses on hand made bags. Her site has lots of great patterns and supplies and her blog is full of tips, techniques and tutorials. Another good Aussie selling hand bag supplies is tall poppy craft.

Here are 5 of my favourite free patterns that I think would be suitable.

From all people quilt the grab bag pattern (pdf file)

I have made a few of these and they fit a one skein or sock project very comfortably.

Patchyapple has an excellent free tutorial for a boxy bag. It think these fit a small or sock project perfectly.

Martha Stewart has a tote bag using bias binding to hold it all together.

This is the one I made from that pattern. It is good because it can easily fit a magazine or pattern sheets in the side pockets. It is a little tricky to get a hang of using the bias binding though.

This pyramid purse is a free pattern at Living Creatively. It is quite small but I think it could be sized up to make a decent sock project bag. This is very similar to the ever popular sunny-boy project bag.

For a good tutorial for a standard lined tote bag not so fancy nancy has a tutorial for a beach/market bag.

This could easily be made to any size and it has great step by step photos.  The steps to make this bag are fairly simple and is an excellent starting point to make any type of tote – eg add pockets or shorten the handle, or make two handles.

And if you want a tutorial to make absolutely anything go to oneprettything.com. She has a list of tutorials of things to make for crafters and it includes pin cushions, needle rolls, sewing machine covers, post office bags (great for an etsy seller), covered tape measures and cloth labels. Well worth a look.

I hope this helps.

I have created a totally huge and totally unachievable queue on ravelry.

I have a small stash of yarn destined to become things and I am determined to make them all.

My projects are

1.
february ladies sweater by flintknits

from 3 balls of BWM black alpacca

2.

top down round yoked cardigan by milobo

from 3 balls of BWM Rustic in cedar fleck

3.
Lilta Dinum by Cheryl Oberle from Folk Shawls which is a knitted faroese shawl. This will be a challenge and might be beyond my skills.

(this one is by toomuchwool)

using my BWM 2ply in havana

4.

Cinnebar Crochet cardigan by Doris Chan from Everyday Crochet

using some brown wool that has been in my stash for years

5.

another eva shawl also by milobo at without seams

using my BWM 3ply cone in moss

6.

a crochet lace scarf using one of the patterns from this Japanese Crochet Stitch Dictionary

using some plum laceweight Habu

If I manage to do all of this then I will spoil myself and buy some Kaalund Enchante silk in poisettia

7.

to make an Arrows stole by Annette Peavey.

this is vhanna26’s

Its a doozy of a list isn’t it.  I reckon that if I try and complete a project every two months I might get through my list by the end of the year. Then I would have all of these new knits – 3 cardigans, 2 shawls, a scarf and a stole.

This is just my knit/crochet list.  I have lots of other sewing/quilting projects that I want to do too.  And all of those pop up “must makes”.

This time next year I will look back on this list and see how I went.

It is going to be a big year!!

I also made Emmeline a February Babies sweater. It is from Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitters Almanac. Funnily enough it is the February pattern.





I used Bendigo Woolen Mills (no surprise there) Mystique. This would have to be the best yarn that I have ever come across. It is a 75% wool 20% mohair 5% alpaca blend and of course it is being discontinued so there is limited colours left. I used apple green.

I used 5mm needles because that is all I had and it seemed to give the fabric a nice drape when I did the swatch. So I don’t really know what size I made, I just hope it fits her next winter.



I was a little selfish choosing this particular pattern because it was sort of a trial run. I really want to make the adult version. I have 3 balls of (you guessed it) Bendigo Woolen Mills Black Alpaca ready and waiting.

I figured that if I could do the baby version I would get a good idea about he construction and see if I was even capable of knitting a bigger one.



I hadn’t knit in a long time and although it wasn’t overly difficult, it was a little challenging. EZ (aka Elizabeth Zimemrman) writes her patterns more like a recipe than line by line instructions. I did OK.

There are a few mistakes in it and I stuffed the lace pattern a couple of times – obviously while watching TV or screaming at the kids.

But overall I am pretty pleased with it mainly because I made it all by myself.

Once I finish hand quilting (BTW what a stupid time consuming idea that was) a lap quilt for my little girl, I will cast on my black alpaca February sweater.