Spinning is fun!

I was so tempted to do the Kylie song for the title (Im spinning around).

I went to the Mt Helena craft group today (a bit of a drive but worth it) and they taught me to spin wool... see:

Thankyou for leaving your wheel behind Clementine, it's being used and taken care of! The ladies there did call me nasty names after I had been spinning for just an hour and had figured out how to tension the wool so it didnt slub too badly. The only problem is I havent figured out how to tension it properly when I join the next handfull of roving or how to stop it going too thin.

They gave me a shopping bag full of raw fleece and I had to start from scratch. I combed it, combed it again, laid it out, did some more and more and still more then got to play with the wheel. I had to clean all the sheepy oil off of the bobbins and stuff before I could start because it is a cold day today and it didnt want to spin properly before I did that. Im very impressed with myself, they even let me bring the rest of the bag home so I can practice before next time (actually I think it could have something to do with no one else wanting to take the smelly fleece home again)!

Hubby was suitably impressed with my first attempt, although he did make one of his smart ass comments "that's great honey, you turned wool into... um wool, nice work".

My gloves are progressing nicely:

AND my bag was received and is loved! As luck would have it (and just to prove how small the world actually is) my swap partner is Melmccabe from Ravelry and she just happens to be spinning up some roving for one of my friends Lupinbunny from S'n'B!

I have cut out the dress and am ready to start sewing it together so that can be the job for evenings this week, except for tonight of course, it's Monday!

Finished my bag

OK so it's not my bag anymore, technically it's no ones at the moment because it's on it's way to Sydney. It's finished though, lined with 2 pockets, stuffed with the things you can see and sent packing to Sydney. I hope she likes it.

I put some extra yarn in just in case repairs are required, a pair of K P stitch markers I made, a note book about A5 size and some very lovely roving from Bilby Yarns.

My other projects are coming along nicely. My knitted gift that I still cant talk about yet is very nearly done, it will then need sewing up but that shouldn't take long. No progress on the Branching Out Scarf, it's going on the back burner while I get some things finished that have deadlines.

I had started some lace gloves, my gauge was a little out but I decided to knit for a bit and see if they were in fact going to swim on my hands. They did so they got ripped back, I took myself off to Spotlight and got some smaller needles and have now started again. I'm doing them in 4ply Merino Bambino on 2.25mm dpns. This time they look like they will fit thankfully.

I have started cutting out a pattern for a dress I'm making. I will be doing a calico mock up because I cant afford any mistakes with the amount of fabric that I have for it. I have until 11 April (this year) to have it finished.

Getaway

Hubby and I went to Margaret River for a few days this week. This was our view from our balcony:

We did the usual sight seeing (Margaret River Chocolate Company, Margaret River Dairy Company, Berry Farm) but didn't go to any wineries since the Hubby still cant drink, I didn't think it was very kind to tease him. It was a really nice break and we left on Good Friday so we missed all the usual crowds and traffic madness.

In the car on the way down I got a beanie knit for charity, I did a scarf while he swam in Arctic temperature water at the beach and half a beanie knit on the way home. So quite a productive trip from that point of view too.

I made some pot holders and heat pads for gifts for Easter which were well received.

Sewing and other stuff

I've finally finished this stole that I've been working on for a friend. It's a part of his costume for our role playing game.

It was pretty tricky at first to figure out what/where and how on earth I was going to get the vampire symbol embroidered without going blind or insane... but with the help of Spiderknit and her Photoshopping skills it was managed. I remembered that my friend who does quilting has some fabric that you print directly onto, so Spiderknit fixed the image and added the Roman style diagonal bar to the picture and my eyes and sanity were saved.

You probably cant tell from the photo but the darker black parts around the edge have been hand embroidered over and then there is also some silver highlighting as well done by hand.

Even my hubby thinks it looks good.

I was suppose to have it ready for last nights game however the sewing machine decided that it didn't want to play properly and I only just finished it today. Thankfully the recipient had friends over from Melbourne and so luck was on my side and he didn't need it last night.

Now to make my costume, I have 4 weeks, what could possibly go wrong?!?!!

Felted Hats

There were 2 hat's I was working on, but it seems that my gauge must have been off on the other one because, well, even felted it's too big for me. So that one is off to one of the Charity's at Knit4Charities. The pattern is from here, minus the fun fur though (obviously). I made it from 1 ball of Cleckheaton Merino Spun in charcoal. I got the hair clip (which is being held on by a safety pin) from a jewelery store that was closing down a few months ago. Cute hey!

Things I saw & people I met

I have finally got a few minutes to show you what I did in Sydney...
I caught up with my husband’s cousin for dinner on the Monday night, we went to one of the little restaurants near the opera house. I worked during the week and forgot to take my camera out when I went for walks in the evening, since it rained each night during the week I don’t necessarily think that is a bad thing. I made it back to the hotel with literally seconds to spare on Tuesday night (when the 20 year storm hit). Wednesday I ordered in, it was cold and I wanted to knit. This is what the view from my room looked like:

There are other photo's but you get the idea. I discovered some great shops (ok so perhaps they weren't all that secret but they were a discovery to me) and did a little shopping. Thursday night I went along to the Stitch & Bitch at Tapestry Craft where everyone at the table was on Ravelry! I'm terrible at remembering every ones names but I know that Webgoddes, Missfee & Bex were there. In fact this is Missfee's Tangled Yoke Cardigan:

They were all very nice people and I actually got to see some of the projects I want to make and I still want to make them!


Friday was shopping, Saturday day was shopping and then off to see the Mardi Gras Parade. Unfortunately my photo's aren't the best due to people trying to get in front of me. It was a great night. Sunday was recovering and Monday was walking around the city deciding that, yes, I have had enough shopping and want to go back to the hotel, pack and go catch my flight.


Our desk got installed in our front room this week, half was put in last week and the rest yesterday, here's the before and after photos, the alcove is just under 4m wide by 1.1m deep. The desk is 90cm deep by 3.5m long.








Today I have felted my 2 hats that I knitted while I was away, I'll take some photo's for you tomorrow.