It has been a big few weeks around here. Both creatively, and life wise.
The last three days have featured some pretty heavy migraine duty going on which is never a good thing. I suppose I didn't really need the nutrition out of everything I ate according to my body, but it's certainly a nuisance getting rid of it. ~sigh~
The bad news is - our car crapped itself a couple of weeks ago. This is not your standard 'oh man that's gunna take a lot to fix' type of curling up of toes, but the big nasty 'it's going to cost more to fix than the stupid thing is worth' type of toe curl. So, the 'bloocah' as Master Mayhem called it has now gone to god, or the wreckers as it were, and we are now car-less aside from a car generously loaned to us from my father in law.
The good news for this is that Mayhem and Chaos is now offering awesome prizes that you go into the running for by signing up to our next sock club. It's going to be an 80's themed sock club, three months of yarn and treats mailed to your door. The segway of course of this being that it helps me get funds towards a new car. So if you want to have a chance at winning some Wollmeise, sulky silk and camelspin, or alternatively fabulous fibres by M & C, Southern Cross Fibre, Ewe Give Me The Knits and Ixchel bunny - not to mention the gauruntee of some seriously sexy sock yarn - check it out!
Moving right along - I participated in the Ravelympics. Timed to co-incide with the winter Olympics it's run on Ravelry, and you can sign up for different events. I signed up for the spinning, the sock challenge, and the challenge of finishing a work in progress. The only one I even knit a stitch on was the work in progress, but I triumphed, and on the final day I pulled one blocked cardigan off the floor, sewed on buttons and wore it proudly. I also think it looks awesome over my favourite black dress.
The yoke is knit from a handspun corriedale in a 3 ply I was sent in a handspun swap. The spinner was Verabee, and the yarn is spun from PigeonRoof Fibres in the colourway 'Vitals'. The rest of the red yarn is Bendigo Woolen Mills 5 ply Classic in 'Cherry' and the gorgeous buttons:
are from a second swap. They were sent to me by the lovely Liedra who is currently living in Belgium. They are vintage buttons, handmade in the 1920's that she bought for me on a recent trip to Paris. Things like that tickle me pink and I treasured them as soon as I received them because of their history, and how far they came.
I made up the design on the fly and am calling it 'CandiCaneCardi'.
Once that was done, I was itching to cast on something quick, but interesting. Miles of stockinette and garter stitch like in a cardi DO tend to bore the hell out of me, no matter how worth it the end product may be. Now, Miss Chaos seems to have this thing happenning whereby whenever you put her in a beanie she winds up looking like a hobo. For whatever reason the shape of a beanie makes her look kinda bedraggled and what not. Regardless of how practical they may be! I had been wondering what a Tam / Beret would look like on her. So I pulled out a skein of Mayhem and Chaos Socky Goodness in the colourway 'CherryBomb' and cast on a 'Snapdragon' Tam for her, pattern by Ysolda Teague. (I love Ysolda's patterns, so much). It was a small enough project to satisfy my desire for a quick knit, but certainly interesting with its intricate cables.
I obviously modified it, given it is an adult pattern written for worsted weight yarns. I knit the band on 2.5mm needles, and the rest of it on 3mm needles, and the Socky Goodness is a 4ply or Fingering Weight Yarn. I knit the largest size given, and it was a really enjoyable knit!
I think the end result suits her down to the ground. It's a perfect fit and can be pulled forward and over the ears to keep them warm quite easily, and as much as I may hate to admit it, she DOES rock the pink. She seems to like it too - judging by the fact that it had to be wrestled off her before she went to bed the night it was finished, and she begged me to let her wear it to kinder.
Finally, I realised that it had been quite some time since I had really sat down and done some spinning. I pulled out some 'Coffee' batts that I actually managed to snag at the second to most recent Southern Cross Fibre update. (For those that don't know, David's Southern Cross Fibre updates go so fast you generally don't even get time to see the stuff, much less buy it unless you are an itchytriggerfingered ninja of the lightning fast variety)
I plan on making a cabled beanie for the Big Mac this winter and the fibre was lovely and tweedy and brown, so I spun it into a worsted weight 2-ply yarn, because I think it will be perfect for the pattern I had in mind.
It's luscious and tweedy and oh so soft - a blend of Superwash Merino and Bamboo Viscose that I can't wait to get on the needles - just as soon as I finish up this shawl that was accidentally and rather sneakily cast on while I wasn't paying attention. Ooops.
There will be another blog update soon, I'll have some details to share about a HUGE project that I've been stealthily working on for ages after tomorrow night.
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