Documentary entry

Not wanting to bore my few readers, I just thought I'd warn you that this post is merely to document in a bit more detail, with a couple of better piccies, my lovely Pi shawl. So you can move to another blog now if you really don't want to read more about it. Try this one, or this one or, for something different, this one.

My Pi is only about a metre in diameter - just big enough to keep ma minette cosy. I finished it off with the plain garter stitch neverending border - not really happy about the final tiny join, but I'll do better next time. Also next time, I'll do some regular 'yo, k2tog' rows to counter the plainness of it all.It really was a delight to knit.

Very proud

Very proud of another finished object... my first Pi shawl. It's only tiny, because it's for a tiny person, but it is lovely soft baby alpaca and it was very addictive knitting.Also proud of the fact that my very first BSJ appeared on national telly on the weekend. Daughter2 was interviewed about the Government's Grocery Watch initiative, and dressed ma minette in her BSJ for the camera.

Now, if only I could feel proud of my photography skills. There's a real knack to getting handknits in the right light, and I don't seem to have it.

One FO and one WIP

This bit of unrecognisable nothingness is my lovely new brown scarf. Quick and simple still counts for a Finished Object. It does. What else was I to do, when I bought myself some fabulous brown boots for winter (hmph, they didn't have them in black) but I didn't have anything to match? Almost my entire work wardrobe is black, with maybe some purple. So, a-stash-diving I went, and surfaced with this fabulously soft and squishy Debbie Bliss cashmerino astrakhan. Yes, it's boucle, and I'm not normally a fan, but I bought this at the Shearing Shed moving sale an age ago, for a ridiculously low price, and I knitted it last week into a so, so simple garter stitch scarf. And I love it.

And this...? It's a not very good colour representation of the beginnings of my first Pi shawl. Made in the ultimate of beautiful yarns - Blue Sky Alpacas Melange 100% baby alpaca, bought in a little yarn shopping expedition in New York last year. I love this knitting. It is SO addictive.

Pay it forward - the next steps

OK, Hashi, Becca and Rhonda, you're in!

Hmmm (she says to herself, meditatively rubbing her chin), what little delights will I create for these lovely people?

Stay tuned.

Pay it forward

Way back when, I signed up for Pay It Forward with Bells. At the time, I didn't have a blog, so I couldn't pay it forward myself. Then, when I did make a blog, I was so sure that noone was reading it anyway, that I didn't want to embarrass myself by asking for players, and risking getting no responses. But the weeks and months are moving on and I am well aware of my responsibilities in signing up to play.

I am still pretty sure that my darling family are the only ones who read this blog, and I'm going to plunge in regardless. Sometime in the twelve months from when I signed on, Bells has undertaken to send me something handmade. And now it's my turn. I will send something handmade to the first three people who offer to keep on playing. If it's my sister, or brother, or niece, or a darling daughter or even ma minette, great. If someone else is reading me now and will take on the challenge of paying it forward, great, too. And you know, you can even do this if you're blogless. Just promise me you'll pay it forward by doing something lovely for someone, and asking them to pay it forward too.

Leave a comment if you want to play.

BSJ finished, and not a moment too soon

Well, I was feeling pretty darned pleased with myself. Not only had I finished a project, but it was the much-frogged Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket, and it was for ma minette. Looking at it growing on the needles, I thought 'surely this will fit a 2 year old, not my little minette'. Then I cast off, flipped it magically into shape, sewed on some very cute buttons, and there it was...my first BSJ. And it looked to be just the right size. My, my, I was pleased. (Well, except for those pick up ridges, but I have read a few ravelry hints on how to deal with those next time.) It was knit in yarn that was grown, spun and dyed in Cowra. Not only cute, but local too.But then, I hadn't quite remembered that babies grow. Too quickly. Yes, it's a little snug on ma minette. Not too tight, but just a little snug.But I don't think she minds too much. It will keep her warm and looking quite pretty too, n'est-ce pas?

We had a lovely day playing at Nettie's. Do you think she'll be a knitter?

Bargain Saturday on a Sunday

Am I the only person around here who didn't know about Revolve's 'best bits' at Pialligo? Some people apparently knew long ago, but I didn't spy it until today...browsing at Bison, saw the shopfront, wandered in, and came out with just a few goodies.

Some lovely little bowls and etched glasses...all for a mere coupla dollars a set.

But then I spied this...a ricketty spinning wheel for $20, complete with big bag of fleece. How could I not bring it home?Didn't know I was a spinner? Well, I'm not really. Although I have had a bit of a practice.

Yes, I do have a perfectly good spinning wheel, and another one out on loan, but I saw this one that needed saving, and I remembered Bells' post about acquiring a fleece, and there's been a bit of talk about spinning by the Canberra Crew on Ravelry lately, and it was only $20 for the lot, and the lady in the shop helped me out to my car with my bargains. Well, I couldn't really help it, could I?

So, as I am unlikely to be jumping into the washing and carding and spinning right this minute, any hints on how I should store this lovely lot of very greasy fleece? I take comfort in Bells' story that her newly-acquired fleece fell of that truck about 20 years ago. This stuff doesn't go off, does it?

And just in case anyone was wondering if any knitting goes on at Chez Nettie, well, there's this very sweet EZ Maltese Fisherman's Hat, finished and much, much too small for ma minette.

Did someone just murmur 'gauge'? Hmph.