This is the post where you get to the see the ugly carpet in my sewing room

I've brought home a huge haul of cheap yarn over the last fortnight, and there is no where to put it. So in the organising and cleaning and searching for spare space in my sewing room (thank goodness yarn is so squishy - it can fit in almost any crevice if you squash it enough), I came across 4 very sad WIPs.

One was a pink hat I crocheted years ago in Paton Jet - it was always too short and my ears got cold. Last night I finally added another row and a stupid looking half-frayed flower, and now it is wearable enough that I showed up that farmer fashionista crowd this morning at the markets with it. (Also ran into The Shopping Sherpa at the happy hens egg stand, wearing her fantastic skull 'n' crossbones jumper).

Anyway, no photos of the pink hat - yet. I want to fix the stupid flower first.

WIP number two is this pair of socks. Except it's only one sock. Half done. And it's too skinny to get on over my size 11 clodhopper. I think a fair bit of frogging is required (maybe back to ch1 - eek).

WIP number three has already been frogged almost to death. It's a pair of mittens, again only one mitten and a wrist cuff. I started using a free web pattern for these but found the pattern made no sense so I made my own version. I'm using Lincraft Lima (alpaca/acrylic blend) and it is so soft and warm that I really should get these finished before winter is over.

The fourth sad item is the Shelly scarf I showed a few posts back. When I completed it in autumn it was long enough to wrap around my neck once for balmy afternoons and cool mornings. With the frosty mornings we've been having though I would really appreciate being able to double wrap it around my neck. So about 20 more rows are going on to the end, and they'll need to do that by the end of today as my other scarf is in the exhibition and I'm going out to the movies and dinner at Sammy's tonight and bloody hell it's COLD.

The exhibition opening last night was amazing - I met a few fellow bloggers like The Shopping Sherpa, Jejune and Dotter, Bells, Taph and I saw other amazing recognisable creations in the distance but there was no chance of getting near some people with the huge crowd that was there.

And it's done

I hooked the last of the ribbing at lunchtime today, and then finished it off tonight.

I twisted the wrap once and then stitched the ends together. I suppose it's more of a shrug than a wrap now. I really, really like it and it is surprisingly warm for the amount of holes in it (that's a crocheting joke).

Here is a pathetic photo - taken on timer when the camera was sitting on a shelf in the cupboard. There were another 40 photo attempts - of the wall and one arm, of the camera strap, of half the wrap and all of the bedroom door. One day I'll know where to stand the first time.



Knit1 Blog1 exhibition opening is tomorrow night at CraftACT. Can't wait to see it!

(it's almost a) wrap

Wrap, originally uploaded by quiltingmick / michelle.

Progress by Wednesday night. I still have a couple of rows of top ribbing to do, then I'll sew it together.

I'm very pleased with how it's turning out ... but I'm trying not to be too confident. Surely it could be a disaster when it's finished?

*slaps self silly*

Bugger

I have a little problem. Yesterday I bought a large skein of red variegated hand dyed alpaca yarn, and in winding it into a ball tonight we discovered it leaves nasty red stains behind on your hands.

What to do? I've never used hand dyed yarn before. I don't want it staining my head, my neck, my clothes. Surely I can do something?

Help? Please?

In other news, I dropped off three little items to the Knit1 Blog1 exhibition today - Barbara, it was so lovely to finally meet you! And I've nearly finished the Canberra Corporate wrap, which is going to have to change name, as "Canberra Corporate" depresses me too much.

Fibretastic

The Old Bus Depot Markets in Kingston had a Fibre Day today. I helped out on the Canberra Quilters stand in the morning, but after a couple of hours I was free to roam. With $50 in my wallet, I was ready to shop well ... unfortunately I had to use my credit card for one purchase, but it was SO worth it. Look at those colours! Those textures! Oh my!

The green yarn is Waratah Fibres English Wensleydale Aran. The one in the middle was bought because I couldn't decide whether to buy this or the other. So I bought both. It's 100% alpaca yarn while the one on the right is wool slub yarn. The slub might become a scarf, and the alpaca - a hat perhaps.



Progress on the Canberra Corporate wrap continues. So far I've used only 2 balls of the light grey. How very economical of me!

Some days I'll wear blue and yellow, some days I'll wear beige*

It's one of those wet, cold, Canberra Saturday mornings. The day started with a quick trip to the farmers' market (where we, of course, showed up the farmer fashionista with our spectacular new crocheted hats) followed by 10 minutes of sunshine during which I decided doing 3 loads of washing was a REALLY GOOD IDEA. Of course the washing is now hanging on the line, sodden and cold and I refuse to go outside to retrieve it. Maybe a warm wind will blow through this afternoon. Maybe.

I spent the rest of the morning in the sewing room listening to an ArtSound
FM interview with Barbara McConchie who is curating the Knit1 Blog1 exhibition at Craft ACT in the Canberra Museum and Art Gallery starting on Friday. I've been invited to be the guest crocheter for the exhibition, and I'm so excited!

This photo just reminds me that I never did finish those crocheted socks I was making ...



And I got a lot of work done on my latest project. It's a wrap of my own design, and I'm thinking of calling it "Canberra Corporate". Because it seems in winter that this is Canberra's uniform - grey and black.



I'm using Lincraft Balmoral Tweed for this project - I bought some of it on sale for $2.99 a ball this week. I don't mind crocheting with this stuff. It holds it's twist pretty well, but occasionally you can get a ball with knots all the way through it, which can be annoying enough for me to refuse to pay the regular price of $3.99 a ball for it. Hooray for mid-winter sales.

Right. It's time for the St Kilda match on TV, and another few rows of the wrap.


* lyrics by Fred Smith "Chockabelly".

Two hats

With winter in Canberra truly setting in, I find myself at work dreaming often of cozy days at home listening to ABC local radio, hook in one hand and ball of wool in the other. Sure that work conference today on e-government strategies was interesting - but my mind kept wondering to unfinished projects at home.

Spurred on by the current $2 Patons yarn sale at Big W and the resultant overabundance of Jet and Inca in my stash, I've hooked up two quick hats in the last two nights.

On Monday night I tackled the Newsboy Cap from "Crochet Today" magazine. It looked tricky in the photo, but it was dead simple. I made it bigger by hooking with a 6.5 mm hook instead of the specified 6, but my head is huge (it's all in the brain) so I needed the extra room. I think I started it at 6 pm, cooked dinner, drove to Jacqui's and by the time I ripped the brim off and changed the pattern a little, I'd finished it by 9 pm.



Last night I opened to "The PDQ" in the Happy Hooker. I was using Patons Jet this time. I love it but my short hair tends to stick out of the holes in the hat! I'd like to make another version in the grey Jet which doesn't have the holes. One day.

Following the pattern

Crochet scarf, originally uploaded by quiltingmick / michelle.

I know it's hard to believe, but even though I've been crocheting for 30 years, I didn't know how to follow a crochet pattern properly until, oh, about 10 weeks ago.

Once I taught myself that handy skill I was off. This scarf was the first off the hook. It's the Shelly pattern from crochetme.com. I used Lincraft Balmoral Tweed - an expensive scarf as it took 3 balls of the stuff. I also made another Shelly in a lighter tweed yarn for a friend - not photos as I forgot, but I was really impressed with how it turned out.

Ripple blanket - finished!

Ripple blanket - finished!, originally uploaded by quiltingmick / michelle.

I actually finished this weeks and weeks ago, and it's even been delivered to the birthday boy in Brisbane (on Tuesday 15th May).

I'm so pleased with how this came together.

Float Away

Float Away, originally uploaded by quiltingmick / michelle.

I saw this on the Interweave Crochet site and just HAD to make it. And I finally found a use for the Naturally Merino Fur (possum/merino mix) which I bought ages ago. Of course I didn't have enough for the scarf, so I then had to search Australia to find another skein. Very lucky to find it too - Naturally has ceased distribution of it in Australia.

Link to pattern: www.interweavecrochet.com/projects.asp