Tour De Fleece Update and the Sydney Craft and Quit Show

  

I have managed to spin a bit each day.  My pink is getting fatter but I still have more room to fill on the bobbin yet.      

            

I started spindling on my Turkish Spindle at the Craft and Quilting Show at Glebe Island in Sydney on Thursday while helping out on the Spinning and Weaving Guilds stand.  

I took my felted boots and some spun skeins for display at the stand. I'll be back there again with my spindle on Sunday.

              

And last night I worked on my multi coloured merino (this was one of my dyeing experiments using leftover dye from my sample project). I'm taking random long thin strips and spinning it then I think I will Navajo Ply the single. 

            

My merino leftover dyeing experiment

                   

My dyeing sample project using Landscape Dyes and Alpaca Fleece

       

Sydney Craft and Quit Show

http://www.craftfair.com.au/wp/Sydney/

A great day out (single day ticket $18 but I think it's $15 if you buy it online) but use public transport (free buses and ferries from the city to the event, you'll still need to pay for the train or bus into the city) and pack your food and drink if you can.  Parking at the event will cost you $35 before noon and $20 after noon, a large coffee (not that large) will set you back $5 and the small chicken and salad wrap I bought was a shocking $8.50.  They know how to price gouge if you're not prepared and seriously you want that extra money to spend on your stash, right!

               

Some of the knitting stands - there's lots of other craft stands but my focus is on knitting and spinning.

              

             

             

             

             

A very small sample of the Quilts on display

                

               

                

                

                

And finally my stash addition

         

Now back to spinning - have a great day everyone!!!

 

Tour De Fleece 2014 - 5th July to 27th July

I've started!!!!!

Winter Wool Fair

It's Coming This Friday and Saturday - Don't Miss It

Admission is free

Early Christmas Present

I had such a wonderful surprise delivery today.  I wasn't expecting to receive this until after Christmas.

My Doctor Who Project bag order from Slipped Stitch Studios.

Should I open the blue parcel or wait for tomorrow?

Ok I opened the parcel and here are the goodies plus a larger project bag like the others.

Little tin for stitch markers etc

Zippered bag

Doctor Who stitch markers 

Travel scissors

Patch and pattern markers/book marks

Doctor book mark

Little Tardis badge. And there was also a sample of hand dyed yarn by Pandias Jewels.

Love it all.

Blocking Time

Now that my Red Wilshire Shawl is finished its time to block.  Blocking for most knitted items is definitely worth doing.  A while ago I decided to invest in some foam matts from the hardware store 

And a blocking rod set with lots of pins.

Now it's time to put them to use.  

So I soaked the shawl in warm water with some wool mix for 20 minutes, rinsed and then gently squeezed the water out before rolling it up in a towel and stepping on it.  Yes you step on the towel to help soak up the water.

Blocking is basically pulling the item into the shape that you want and holding it in place with pins and the thin metal rods, then letting the item dry.

I set the foam matts up on the dinning table with an old sheet on top and started my blocking. It didn't take long to realize that this shawl was going to block out bigger than the table.   Time to relocate to the lounge room floor.

The top measures 75 inches across and 44 inches down the middle.  The biggest challenge will be keeping the cats off it tonight - maybe I need to put another sheet over the top of it tonight as cat protection.

It will be interesting to see how the little peaks on the edge hold their shape.  I think that if I make this shawl again I might try adding some little beads on the ends to give some extra weight that should help hold the shape.

My next lace project is going to be the Evenstar Shawl - it's a circular lace shawl that seems to be a popular one on Ravelry but it will take me a while to do so I think I'll start this after Christmas.  But in the mean time I have Christmas stuff to sort out and preparing for our trip to the South Island of New Zealand in December.  Can't wait to see what yarn shops we come across.

Red Lace Shawl

Had a shocker of a night knitting on my red shawl - soon to be nic named the shawl from hell.  I was on the last pattern section 4 rows from finishing only to discover I had dropped a couple of stitches in a critical pattern area and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't pick up the stitches to get the pattern correct.

My only salvation was the life line that I put in before I started the last section.  So 12 rows (400 odd stitches) ripped out and all stitches successfully picked up at about 1.30am this morning.  So much for showing my finished item at knit group today.

My shawl, and what it should look like finished.  Starting the last pattern section again 16 rows to go and my first problem with this project, when the cable broke.

Hopefully no more issues will happen and looking forward to finishing it.

Knitting Project Bags

For a while now I've been eyeing off knitting project bags on Etzy.  I became interested in them after I started watching American knitting video podcasts.  So the other week I made my first purchase from www.etsy.com/au/shop/goodtobegirl  and they arrived today along with a free gift of little needle protectors.

Two medium size (bag measures 11"x 13 1/2") and one sock size (bag measures 8" x 9 1/2").  When I did the initial measuring I thought that they didn't seem that big, but now I have them they are just the right size for what I want.  They even have a yarn feeder inside the bag and a silver clasp to attach bags to other bags or belt loops.

Now I also have a reasonably large material stash and I'm wondering just how hard it would be to make them myself.  So I think I might drag out the sewing machine sometime in the future and do some experimenting.  But until then I'm going to love using these beautiful bags.