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.