Cranapple

Oh my goodness.

I have fallen.

I'm not normally a sock-nutt, but lately I've been getting a bit into the sock knitting idea - especially with kntiting the two Christmas stockings. Generally I feel like socks are a lot of stitches for not much show - I can't really wear the item as much or see it as well as knitting a jumper, cardigan, mitts etc.. But something lately has me wanting to knit them - possibly NaKniMo, where I've realised that although socks may have loads of stitches, they're all so teeny and knit up so fast! So I'm more and more enamoured with the idea of whipping up some (normal sized and non-holiday themed) socks quickitty-lickitty-split!

So when I saw Felicia Lo had a new post on her Sweet Georgia blog I headed over to check it out with my interest piqued by more than just her stunning colour sense.

Colossal mistake.

As soon as I saw this little beauty

I fell and fell hard.

The colours are SO vivid and pop spectacularly together - imagine them knit up and cosying someone's toes!!

I tried to justify ordering it and welcoming it into my home, but with the exchange rates and such, even with Canadian dollars, and international shipping I simply can't justify spending $40-$50 on just one skein of yarn - no matter how exquisite it might be.

So please - PLEASE! - someone dash over to Sweet Georgia's fantastic online store of wonders, and snaffle it up! That way when go to keep oogling it and pining after the skein, the little box will read '0 in stock" and I will pine no longer! But if it's available, just waiting for me to cave.. well, that is NOT a good thing!

p.s. I take no responsibility for any money dropped or similar pining that may occur when encountering Sweet Georgia's fantastic online store of wonders...

NaMo

As most of you may know, November has become the month for nations to unite in the doing of.. well, a few things now.. all of them creative and within the 30 day span of November!

Starting with the original 'NaMo' it was the National Novel Writing Month - NaNoWriMo - in which participants commit to writing a 30, 000 word novel within November.

And seeing as knitters will jump with great fervour and glee upon any opportunity to indulge in our craft in groups and with challenges, from this was born the National Knitting of Sweaters Month - NaKniSweMo - to knit a 30,000 stitch jumper.

I had a crack at NaKniSweMo last year (Or NaKniJuMo to aussies ;P) but must admit I didn't throw myself into it with as much gusto, determination and enthusiasm as I perhaps could have.. and I did not in fact finish the jumper I was knitting at the time (Central Park Hoodie) within the month of November..

This year I have stumbled across another NaMo that has really taken my fancy and I have immersed myself in it thoroughly and with much enjoyment! Deciding that knitting an actualy jumper from start to finish within November wasn't an option at the moment given the amount of WIPs I've got going on, and the need to finish them by various time constraints NaKniMo turned out to be the perfect tonic!

NaKniMo is simply knitting 30,000 stitches of any size, gauge, yarn and project within November - perfect!

The Ravelry group is fantastically supportive and we all chock up our tally of stitches for each day and the overall totals. Some keen beans have well over the 30,000 already and they're still smokin!

So far I've cracked the 12,000 mark but have some full days of clickitty sticks ahead of me if I want to bust the 30k goal within the next week!

For those of you involved in any kind of NaMo this month - I'm sending out my encouragements and congratulations to you! Those who haven't participated this year, I highly recommend getting stuck in next time around - it can be a VERY motivating experience!

Changes!

All of a sudden I have bit hit with a wave of change - the blog template must GO!

I have used the same Blogger template since I started blogging - over two years ago!! - so definitely time to shake things up a bit.

Until I get the chance to sort out my own individual set up - here's something fresh and new from the Blogger buffet to tide us over :)

Please excuse any bloggy craziness while I'm playing with all the features and things - hang in there! It'llbe worth it in the end I reckon :)

Gigi-itis

I am feeling so incredibly drawn to knitting Gigi right now..

In fact.. I'm having a bit of a yearny sort of knitting experience at the moment - you know what I mean, you've all experienced it I'm sure,

Yearning to knit a particular pattern as soon as you see it.

Or yearning to use a certain yarn.

Feelings SO strong urging you to drop the needles and yarn currently in yours hands without a second look and walk hypnotically like a brain-scent bemused zombie towards that next lustful knit.

And yet... I'm retraining myself.

No brains for me.

Even though I have the yarn- three fabulously squishalicious skeins of Dream In Colour Smooshy in Happy Forest colourway *momentary zombie black out* I'm still not folding to the desire.

I have Skoot's jumper, Cobble boulder, to finish - the second of the two Christmas stockings (which I still need to tell the tale of too), some Chrissie knits and other assorted sundry items too.

I really hope that when those are off the needles I still feel the passion for Gigi - it happens to often that I feel the urge, the passion, the LUST.. but then it has waned by the time some free needls and lack of obligation to other knits swings around..

Ah well! We shall see! In the meantime I can keep the passion alive by swooning over FOs of Gigi on ravelry ;)

Mixed Berries from the South West

When Skoot, Arthur and I took our trip into the luscious South West I also took with me a few little parcels of fibre for Arthur and I to play with. The one I ended up choosing to spin was a long stashed 100g Coopworth bundle, dyed by Amy of Spunky Eclectic and saved since my much beloved days of being in her Fibre of the Month club - such fun!!

The reason I chose this one was for the colours - deep earthy tones of purple, brown, eggplant and rich pinks. It made me think of the South West and of my Mum - these being some of her favourite colours but also berriliciously in tune with the surrounds of the South West too!

I am so enjoying spinning on Arthur - to finally have my very own wheel and such a LOVELY wheel at that! I feel very priveleged and grateful :)

Spinning on Arthur seems so nice and smooth and easy - I can hardly wait to get back home on R&R to spin some more! I'd like to start being more active in spinning - learning new techniques, watching online videos of tips and tricks and starting to spin some more consistent yarn.

I have a plan of what to knitup with this yarn and in fact have already started! But I can't spill the beans on here I'm afraid lest the recipient find out! ;)

Caramel Suri

On our trrip down south we had only a couple of objectives we wanted to carry out...

1) Extreme relaxation

2) Checking out properties to get an idea of what we want and where

3) Visiting and cuddling various critters, including Alpacas

and for me..
4) Acquiring some alpaca fleece for Arthur

Happily we succeeded in all objectives, and this is the product of number 4:

An absolutely succulent bag of Suri fleece in a rich caramel colour.

It is incredibley silky soft - almost creepy in its likeness to human hair, but so much softer and finer. I am very much looking forward to spinning this up, and plan to play with it pretty much un-tampered with - I don't think I'll card it out or anything, just spin straight from the luscious fleece, all in its little locks of smooth silky goodness!

Has anybody spun with Suri Alpaca fleece before? Any hot tips or tales of delight?

Home away from home

On our last R&R we took some time out away from the big smoke and went for a bit of a cruise around the South West of Australia - one of my, and many other folks', favourite spots. Luckily having a FIFO roster allows us to spend a peaceful week on holidays in places that are normally over-run with tourists since we aren't restricted to visiting only during normal holiday times.

We have long wanted to set ourselves up with an expanse of land, critters, vegie patch and generally live the self-sustaining life as much as possible, away form the hustle bustle and hassle of city life. Now that we're on our road to that goal, saving every little penny away, we kept our eyes out for motivation while we were down south. And it wasn't hard to find!

Serene forests


Interaction with native fauna


Beautiful walks

Stunning beaches


Docile, warm eyed fibre animals

While we were in that neck of the woods we were able to spend some time with my lovely Mum. It was such a pleasure to talk together, play games, relax, visit various spots driving through the beautiful farm surrounds down fabulous windy roads...

..surrounded by tall trees, or grasses dotted with various fuzzy critters from cows and goats to horses, sheep and alpaca.

I thoroughly enjoyed being able to spend some quality time in Mum's company, particularly since we don't get to see each other as much as we would like - as much as if we were both in the same town and we weren't working FIFO!

But it's times away like this that give us the motivation and inspiration to keep working away in the short term, to be able to achieve our dreams in the long run :)

Stay tuned - more news from down south (including fibre finds!) and pictures coming soon - plus... spinning content *gasp* AND... knitting content! *double gasp*

Arthur Penbridge

A have a new friend and charming companion..

Someone I've been hoping to welcome in to our home for some time now..

We have had an "exchange student" if you will, a learned and worldly one, a wanderer staying with us til this point, but we decided it was time to returned her to The Guild (who have kindly allowed me to house the old girl for over a year at least!) and make the investment in my own..

So I present to you...

Arthur Penbridge

It is an utter joy to have my own spinning companion and I have a fabulously renewed passion for spinning!

It was almost like fate stepped in to have Arthur fall to my possession, as helpful lovely Guild people and June from Bilby Yarns popped out of nowhere and VIOLA! I was able to purchase Arthur, a gorgeous Ashford Travellor, stained a delicious dark antiquey colour.

Mr Penbridge has a sensationally smooth motion and is an absolute pleasure to spin on.

Be prepared for much more spinning content on this blog in the future!! :)

Public Affairs

With the US election in full swing, and knowing that some folks choose not to even cast a vote at all, I'm reminded of one of my favourite qoutes:

"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."
-Plato-

(Ignore the gender specificity, of course - a product of its times)

I implore you to consider how important it is for society in its entirity to be involved in the process and decision making.

Starting Stranding

No pretty pictures yet I'm afraid, but some exciting news and developments...

Just now in my morning smoko break at work I have done my first ever in project round of stranded colour work - woot woot!! :D

It's going famously, I'm holding both strands of yarn in my right hand and zipping along. Can hardly wait for lunch time to do some more!

I've made a little flat square swatch of fair isle once before, but never had a go in an actual project, and never in the round.

Will post photos and project description soon :)