Return from the desert.....

we have all been busy. There has been so much productivity in our talented group recently. Vanessa is

producing ever more interesting, beautiful and whimsical ceramics punctuated by lots of crochet towards a beautiful shared project blanket with Liz: the stunning Purl Soho Bear's Rainbow Blanket. A huge undertaking but clearly addictive. Ivana is nesting. Big Time. Only  few week to go and almost everyday  she posts yet another finished project. It is a particularly unique period in your life - those last weeks before the birth of your first child when you are no longer working, have some time on your hands and an overwhelming urge to CREATE. They are of course renovating as well. As you do. We have been joined by Jacinta who I have the pleasure to work alongside. She is a novice crocheter - still cautious and lacking confidence but brave and bold and most importantly, good company. She is learning fast.

Nicole and Liz have both finished rather extraordinary mohair jumpers - I wil chase up the references and photos. both rather stunning. Nicole feels that she might need an arctic winter to actually get some wear out of hers. Right now, in Sydney, it is usually hard to imagine feeling cold. The skies and our lungs are thick with ash and dust, though we are very lucky near the coast compared to those further inland, particularly in the Blue Mountains. I am feeling full of forboding for the summer ahead. 

I can't remember what everyone else is doing right now. I shall have to photograph and document next tme. 

I have a few things to show. Above is a Lace Edged Women's Hat for my friend Romi who has recently started cancer treatment and has lost all her hair as you do. She lives in tropical climes so I thought cotton most appropriate and this Morris and Sons Avalon 8ply 100% Pima cotton is just that. Very nice to knit with. It was a little big - as Romi pointed out - a medium size assumes a medium head plus hair. I suggested she throw it into a hot wash to shrink it a little. I don't think she's convinced but she looks good in her large collection of scarves in the meantime. I also managed to teach her and her daughter how to knit when up North last week. Her daughter asked for lessons and paid great attention and picked it up so well. Romi watched what I did with L and just picked up the needles and got on with it. Great hands. She is not what she would consider crafty - not even remotely, so it was quite a surprise for me and her! Watch this space for progress. 

Meanwhile, I also made a little baby's lace jacket for baby Zoe, born late September. It is a Bendigo Woollen Mills pattern and knitted in Luxury 4ply pure wool machine washable yarn.

Critting at Liz's

Another lovely evening of friends, food and fibre.
We missed Nicole who was caught up with editing the last minute changes on a book that goes to press on Thursday. And Dina - where was Dina? Otherwise, we were all present. Natasha walked in looking magnificent in her new Noro shawl which we must persuade her to write about. Here is a sneak peak. She is recovering from flu and not feeling her best, but I think she looks fabulous.

We drank tea from Liz's grandmother's beautiful china cups. My grandmother had a lovely collection of these too. Like Liz, they gave me great delight and I was always a little disappointed that I didn't end up with any of them. I hope someone is enjoying them. They speak to the whole ritual and elegance of tea, of bringing out the best china as a sign of respect for guests and being on one's best behaviour. Liz's son made a beautiful moist banana cake. As our children grow, they are becoming more of an active presence in the group. I expect they will start to join as active members in in the next few years. If we let them! There is something a sacred about our gathering of Mums. It is our time. Maybe the kids can start their own group. 

I have been crocheting together my Lizard Ridge pieces with increasing excitement. What's more, it is suddenly very cold and I am looking forward to snuggling under it on the couch with a child or two at hand for extra warmth. 

Lot of busy hands

Craft Fair, Darling Harbour 2013

Did any of you brave the fair this year? There is always such a mix of trash and treasure but I do enjoy it!

This was the first time I've taken Eva as a companion rather than in a stroller whining. She loved it! We oohed and aahed and touched and prodded away  we didn't come home with many things. A few choice patterns, a little cloth, and lots of business cards for later website perusing and more thoughtful consideration.  But I did but myself a new Janome sewing machine. It will be so nice to use. Can't wait to bring it home for a play. I pick it up later in the week. Eva was very taken with all the fancy stitches. I like its smoothness, the absence of a foot pedal and automatic thread cutting and stitch locking. 

Maybe the best thing of all was a freebee from a formidable spinner who was womaning the guild table. 

As you can see it is a plastic disk with 8 slots around the edge and a central hole. A bunch of 7 threads are threaded up through the middle and then locked into each of the notches leaving one free. 

Eva has selected the third thread to the right of the notch

The third thread to the right of the notch is then placed into the free notch.

Then you move the disk around so that the notch is up the top again and keep going. After awhile the cord builds up in the middle and can be pulled through to the back and you will see the cord emerge......

Tea Cosy update

My tea cosy met with a rather surreal fate last Friday night. James O'Loughlin was MCing and doing a fine job. Most items were raffled with a signed rugby jersey and my tea cosy left out for auction. Somehow in the noise and confusion, James decided to auction them TOGETHER. Go figure. So, someone paid $800 for the jersey and got a bonus tea cosy (which James wore on his head for the duration of the auction). (Or maybe they paid $800 for the tea cosy and got a bonus jersey). The jersey winner's wife was very pleased with the cosy and refused to sell it to several people who offered reasonable sums thereafter. She put it on her head too. Several people were most put out by the process as they would happily have bid on the cosy on its own but had no interest whatsoever in the jersey.

Aah the drama and delight of a good school fundraiser.

Terrible photo of Jersey bidder's wife with tea cosy in situ.

Quilts 1700 - 1945 Queensland Art Gallery - love to see this

This is the Rajah Quilt which is apparently one of the most precious and historic textiles in the world. It was sewn by convict women en route to Australia  on the encouragement and under the supervision of the lady-passengers who were committed to the 'reform of female convicts'. the mind boggles.  

The exhibition is on  at the Queensland Art Gallery until September. love to go. Anyone interested in a weekend away?

Lizard Ridge Ready to go.

After consulting with the Critting Team I'm going for the cold to warm option.

Tea-cosy Time

It is Cocktail Party fundraiser time of year at Woollahra Public School and that means tea cosy time.
The first year I made a tea cosy for the silent auction it was a bit of a surprise hit with a last minute bidding war between two somewhat inebriated parties. Things got a little out of control and it ended up going for over $600. Very very silly. And I never even took a photo.

I've made one each year since and never quite reached those heights again. This year I've gone for something silly. It is inspired by one of Loani Prior's Really Wild Tea Cosies
and I've made a similar one before.

Here is my version - back

side

top view. 

Noro winter scarf

I am busy making scarves at the moment, even though the weather is still warm. I have been making them out of the Noro wool. The colors are so beautiful and dare I say strangely addictive. They come together beautifully in a very simple crochet stitch. This is one I have just finished and I am giving to my friend for her 50th birthday. I have three other scarves on the go. Must be time to start a blanket otherwise everyone will end up with one of these scarves for their birthdays.

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Friday night in the Barossa

I am spending the weekend away from the family in the Barossa Valley for my 20th anniversary of medical graduation. I didn't realize that there would be no one up here tonight so I have been strangely alone. After two weeks of battling colds I am really tired so after dinner da sola I am into bed with my knitting and the TV which I shall soon replace with a book. 

I have picked up a dormant project- a rather luscious scarf in Rowan Kidsillk Haze- a light and soft blend of mohair and silk. It is almost done. I think this weekend should nail it. 

It is definitely scarf time. It is cold and the neck asks for cover. 

I've had a wee google to see whether there are any worthwhile yarn destinations for tomorrow morning before the celebrations take off. There's a possibility in Tanunda but it is not promising. 

A Landmark moment and a new cure for nasal congestion

Today I finished the Last Square of my Lizard Ridge Blanket.
It has been a long journey.
24 squares.
24 balls of Noro.
Rather a lot of money
Such pleasure.

This evening I ceremoniously ironed each square and was astonished by the transformation. Particularly once I took my fogged up glasses off.

From This:

To this: 

What's more, the steam from the iron both warmed me up (it is cold here) and nicely cleared my congested nasal passages, thus adding to the ever growing evidence that knitting is good for your health. 

I repeated the above process 24 times with ever greater joy at the beauty of the emerging colours. 

And another revelation - the backs are as beautiful as the fronts. And I was considering backing this blanket. I am now thinking that I will make a feature of the back as well by making the seams decorative. Not sure how yet - perhaps by crocheting the squares together? Any ideas?

How about this for a log cabin!

Hi everyone, is anyone out there? What are you up to? What are you knitting? Where are your entries on this GROUP blog!! Feeling very lonely here.

I found this on a blog called Adventures of a rogue knitter. Isn't it beautiful? 

Would be good in knit, patchwork or crochet. Love the colours.
Regards,
Yarntrail. 

Another jumper for Ziggy

Yesterday I finished the little green jumper I started over Easter. There wasn't a lot of knitting to it but other things intervened. Quite pleased with the result. Looking forward to seeing it on the boy. Aunt-hood has a lot going for it. Lots of cuddles. No leaky boobs. No getting up over night. 

Finished! Cardigan for Ziggy

This is a little cardigan for my new nephew Ziggy. It is made of cream coloured 100% alpaca in 8ply from Bendigo Woollen Mills. The pattern is the Classic Cardigan from Natural Nursery Knits by Erica Knight.

A new fibre

This is a photo passed on by mother. This magnificent corset/sculpture is made of discarded electrical wiring. Rather fabulous really. Would make interesting sculptural baskets, vases etc.

Babettes and other additions

I am enjoying seeing the photos build up on our Instagram window. Everytime I peak there are more beautiful photos of our collective craftswomanship. How productive we are and what a range of skills!

I am particularly delighting in the number of Kathy Merrick's Babette blankets that are appearing. I made the first Babette for my daughter's 1st birthday which, as today is her 6th birthday, must be 5 years ago. At the time I thought is was one of the nicest and most fun things I have ever made. It was my first foray into crochet. Since then, a number of other Babette's have emerged from the group - Elli, Ivana, Dina and Vanessa and Sharon. I think that Dina is on her second. All of us have played with the original pattern a little; different colours, stitches, yarns, sizes and all spectacular.
Here is the original from the Interweave Pattern. :

 This is my version:

And Elli's

 and Ivana's

I started off naively thinking that I would use all my odds and ends up and ended up grossly underestimating my yarn requirements. I used a mixture of yarns which I wouldn't do again - some have worn not as well as others. The Bendigo pure wool, machine washable Classic has proven the most hardy. 

Scroll down to see Sharon's lovely interpretation and look through our picture gallery to see the others. Be inspired. 

If you want more inspiration, check out the Ravelry site for Babette or the Flickr site. 

More wool promotion

Gorman's have also done a great window for Wool Week.

Baby blanket for Ralph

Babette blanket

Learning to Knit

On Wednesday my 5 year old daughter's friend Marlow came home from school for a play. Now Marlow is a very active, normal 6 year old boy and I thought I would take them to the park for a play and  a run. But no. As soon as we got in the car, he said,"Can we do some knitting this afternoon? Well that came out of left field, I thought to myself. "Sure", I said. 

He walked into the house and said, with some awe, "is that your KNITTING room?!". He proceeded to examine the room closely; "Did you make that? and that? Really? Wow?". I was amazed. 

We found some needles and some yarn and for the next hour or two, I taught him to knit. By the end of the afternoon he had completed about 3 rows, very laboriously and carefully and patiently and with such concentration! 

When I dropped him home, his mother, Sophie said that since joining our knitting club at school, he had become quite obsessed. There was french knitting in the car, his bedroom, the kitchen, the living room. 

He proudly showed his mother his work and I have promised more knitting lessons for both of them. 

Wool Week 2013

Sambag in Woollahra always has the most creative and interesting windows. This week they have really outdone themselves with a marvellous yarny display for Wool week 2013.

For some time I have been reluctant to start this blog as I was concerned about jumping in and putting my stamp on what is a group blog. But in the absence of anything happening I have decided to just get out there and jump in the deep end.

We are a group of craft women - intelligent, interesting and gorgeous if we say so ourselves. We live in Sydney and all but one of us are Mums. We are all working to a lesser or greater extent in professions including florist, book editor, doctor,  screen title designer, graphic artist, banker, businesswoman, art curator and more.

Our talents are many. We knit, we crochet (hence Cr(ochet) + (Kn)itting = Critting), we embroider, we sew, we quilt, hand make cards, we pot and make ceramics and jewellery and that's all that I know of but there is probably more. Vanessa has even written a wonderful children's book, Vivi Finds Bean.

We all cook very good cakes. Really good.

We meet about fortnightly at one of our residences and the host makes the cake. Everyone else brings chocolate or some other offering. Ivana brings beautiful flowers.

We delight in each other's creations and creativity. We share patterns and ideas, blogs, websites and other news. We debrief after a busy multi-tasking day, or week, or two. We share books and discuss films, politics, families, babies, children, parents, houses and of course, it being Sydney, renovations and schools.

At the end of the evening, we all Feel Much Better.

Yarntrail

I will start by introducing myself and my passions. I am a doctor, mother of 3 and come from a line of passionate crafty women and men. Because of my profession, I am not going to show my face in public and will call myself Yarntrail. 

I can't remember learning to knit but I think I must have been about 5 or 6. I think I was largely self-taught but a mother or grandmother may have had something to do with it. Ever since quite early childhood I have loved playing with yarn, textiles and all things crafty. My mother is no different so from an early age we spent many, many happy hours together in fabric shops, wool shops, visiting sheep and mohair farms, going into clothes shops and saying to each other: we could make that at home SO easily! Mum learned to spin when she was at that difficult period of having young children and feeling frustrated by not working and needing to learn something new and therapeutic and creative. She taught me using a drop spindle when I was 11 and home from school for the week with the Mumps. I have been spinning on and off ever since. Though in the past 15 years, more off than on. 

My main passion is knitting, though I enjoy exploring other things: sewing, embroidery, felting, tapestry, quilting and crochet. I knit quickly and I am relatively fearless. I am not a perfectionist - my seams do not bear close examination but I am prolific. I have many works in progress so there is always something else to tackle if I want a change. There are usually a couple of easy things and something to get your teeth into. Something to carry in the handbag to bring out at a meeting or a traffic jam or whilst waiting for a child here or there. 

I am not sure what I like so much about yarn. It simply gives me intensive pleasure. I love every part of the process (except maybe the sewing up of seams); the planning, the purchasing, the beginning, the process, the giving or wearing. As a scientist, I expect but have as yet been unable to prove that the repetitive nature of the process does something very good for the brain and I would hypothesise that it decreases the blood pressure, slows the pulse and breathing and produces changes in brain waves akin to that achieved through meditation. If anyone would like to give me a research grant I'd happy to explore this hypothesis further (I am deadly serious). I expect it is good for depression and anxiety too. 

Some work in progress

Here is the beginning of a little jumper for my tiny, brand new nephew. This is in the mindless project category. 

This is one of the squares (no. 19 of 35) from my Lizard Ridge Afghan from Knitty.com.  Using glorious Noro Kureyon. 

This is my multi-tasking craft location on the verandah of our weekend retreat. Note laptop with recipe open, ipad with a paper I am reading for a talk I am giving this week, a cuppa and two knitting projects. All in a glorious setting.