Coastal Crafts Handmade Markets (CCHM) - Albion Park

I have been very busy knitting for the next CCHM on 28 July at Centenary Hall, Albion Park. As I will be in America my Mum is going to do the stall for me. Good on ya Mum, you are the best.

My mum liked my fingerless gloves I had on the other day, so I have knit her a pair which I will give to her this week when I visit Mum and Dad before my holiday, and take the last of the knitted items for the markets to her.

I also this week did another beanie for my grand-daughter as she saw me knitting them last week and asked for one the same.

I am really looking forward to returing to America for a holiday and it will be summer there, added bonus to get away from cold weather this winter for a few weeks. I am not going to where I really wanted to go on this trip which was the east coast in autumn, but we are visiting some favourite places from last trip and will be going to Sturgis Bike Week while in South Dakota, the main reason for the trip. I have my Knit Picks wish list already to go so I can get it delivered to a motel while there, only 6 more sleeps.

Knitting below is what I have been doing the past few weeks for the CCHM stall and the last photo is a pair of Fetching fingerless gloves for my Mum in grey acrylic, wool, alpaca blend with an extra cable row (I like them a bit longer on the fingers).

A new Knitting Adventure

A new markets have started in my home town of Albion Park, NSW Australia, they are the Coastal Crafts Handmade Markets (CCHM). The first markets were held on 16 June and with 32 stalls was a great day.

They are held in Centennary Hall which is great as weather will not affect the markets at all, and the first was a very wet and cold day.

I will be in USA for the second markets on 28 July, and I am going to see if my Mum will look after my stall for me, otherwise I have talked with another knitting friend who is going to try and get a stall with her machine knitting husband and if they do, she will look after my stall if needed.

I did really well on the first stall, it was hard to know what to knit for it, so I had a good mix of baby, kids and adult items along with some cotton dish cloths. The dish cloths sold out which really amazed me.

I am knitting away madly again so I have some more nice items for the stall in July.

I went to Wangaratta on the long weekend while visiting friends at The Rock, NSW. We had a great time, well I had a great time at the Woollen Mills, walked out with such a large bag of wool. We then went to Beechworth and another visit to The Ardent Alpaca with another nice purchase of alpaca yarn for a scarf for me. It is knitting up so beautiful and soft.

I knitted a pair of fingerless gloves for a friends son who is at Uni at Bathurst, very cold winters there, and I have also finished a pair of Fetching for a woman at work, and a very nice purple cotton and bamboo swing dress in size 2 for a knitting friend and she also bought the pink bamboo and cotton swing dress for her friend with twin girls.

Mad knitting weekend

I have been knitting madly all weekend doing a beret with knitted flowers for Aahliyah, some stripe fingerless glovers for her and now a matching stripe scarf which is a bit past half way done. In the pictures of have the knitpicks socks yarn I dyed at the Knitters Retreat the weekend before, I have wound it in a ball and it is on the list to be knit, not sure what it will be knit as yet. I bought a bit of yarn at the Knitters Retreat, 20 balls of Patons Emotions 4ply which is Merino and Cashmere - very very soft 10 balls in light blue and 10 balls in a darker blue, 4 balls of a black cashmere yarn, about 10 balls of baby pure wool yarn in 4ply in different colours and I also won 10balls of beige pure 4ply baby wool during Trivia on the Saturday night. I am rushing this morning to get to work so will try to upload some knitting pictures before I go.

Sick people should stay home

It makes me so mad that people come to work when they are sick....and as usual I end up sick with a damn head cold from it. I had a great weekend in the Hunter Valley, despite getting a nasty head cold while away. And this weekend I spend with some wonderful people at the Annual C.R. & K Daisy Design Knitters Retreat held at the Mt. Keira Scout Camp. It was great catching up with people who have attended in the past and meeting new people who attended this year. I made a felt ball, dyed some yarn, and tried to drop spindle spin, which I wasn't all that good at, but will try again at home which might be a bit more comfortable for me. I know now why they are called a Drop Spindle, because if I dropped mine once, I dropped it a few dozens times. I bought up big on the yarn front, heaps of pure wool baby wool, and some really nice Emotions 4ply which I am knitting another baby cardigan with the boat pattern on the front. I planned most of my yarn buying this weekend, with patterns picked out and a list of yarns needed, so now I have more knitting to get done in the very near future, then continue on with my stash knitting for the remainder of the year. I finished the Horizontal Vertical Kimono for myself last week and wore it over the weekend.

What is with blogger these days,it doesn't leave spaces between paragraphs anymore or put the photos side by side....WTF.

Hunter Valley Girls Weekend......

Early tomorrow morning I am going to the Hunter Valley with some girls that I ride with, leaving some husbands at home to look after themselves. We have booked a horse and carriage wine tour, really looking forward to that, wish I liked wine better than I do. Here are the pictures of my knitting recently finished and mentioned in previous post.

not sure in this new setout how to get the photos side by side. And I forgot to upload the blue baby cardigan with the boats on the front. And after trying to find the cardigan on my camera, I don't have a photo, maybe it is on my phone...I will check that one out another day. I am now off to finish packing for my 4 days away.

Where is the time going

It seems like time is going by so fast, and lots of things are being done. The year is rushing by, we are April already and there is so much to be done. Well according to my head there is so much to be done, I could take a step back and relax a bit, but I am so keen to empty my stash and soon, sick of a big mess on the floor. All cupboard space is full and I refuse to take it outside the room where it lives. I finished the baby hoodie yesterday and will give it to the baby on Wednesday when he arrives from Melbourne. I showed his grandma this morning when I arrived at work and she suggested that I keep it and give to him on Wednesday. It will be nice to see him and the hoodie together, I am sure the Denim colour is going to suit him, but will be nice to see it does. I pattern shows the hoodie with flat buttons, I did see some very cute little toggle buttons, but being for a 6 month old, it may have been a bit uncomfortable for him when he is rolling over on his belly, I found some nice flat buttons that suit the colour really well. I started the other day on the cardigan for another person at work's baby, I am doing a pale blue cardigan with cute little boats on the front, the boats have a flag that sits out from the front too, very cute. I will finish the second front tonight and hopefully a sleeve tomorrow night, I usually do both sleeves together, but as this cardigan only takes 2 balls of yarn and I have finished one ball, I will need to do the sleeves separately. I am hoping for a Thursday finish on this cardigan. I sorted out some yarn to sell at the Old Fire Station Knitters sale in May in Kiama, I have a heap of acrylic yarn from my mother in law and some other yarns that realistically I am not going to use, and I need to clear room on my floor in my computer/craft room. Some of these yarns are very nice and expensive, but if I am not going to use them, I can't see any reason to keep them any longer. I am in a very harsh de-cluttering mood. Photos to come, they are in the camera, I need time to download them and put them on this page.

Busy, busy, busy

I have been very busy with knitting, family, parties, and life in general. I have to remind my self to take photos of my knitting and to blog about them.

I am knitting a 4ply cardigan for my grand-daughter at the moment in a size 4yrs, all bits are knitted, I will sew up on the weekend and try and get some buttons. I used Shepherd 4ply pure wool in a coral colour, will be lovely on her, but hard to get buttons to match.


I have started on a baby hoodie for a work friends grandson, I am knitting the 6 month size for him for this winter and as he lives in Melbourne I would like to have it finished by easter when he will be visiting up here and I would imagine Melbourne will be getting cold soon.

I have paid for my place at this year's C.R & K Daisy Designs Annual Knitting Camp to be held at Mt Keira Scout Camp from Friday afternoon 27 April - Sunday 29 April, I can't wait. Will have to make myself a strict budget so I can buy some nice yarn while there, I should get some patterns organised so I buy what I need and will use.

KITGO

Knitting In The Great Outdoors (KITGO) was today and after a few days of solid rain, it was a beautiful sunny day to sit outside and knit. We are holding KITGO at RedPoint Galleries in Port Kembla, a small arty group of shops in a u shape courtyard setting, a nice cafe on the end shop, so nice for knitting, chatting, having lunch and coffee/hot chocolate etc.

I finished the Dunes Jumper and it has been blocked and is ready to be packed away for winter. I will be having a short winter in Australia only by 3 weeks shorter, as I am going back to USA for a 3 week holiday, so excited.

I have started a teapot cosy for the show next January - thought I would get started on some things early this time. It is a very slow knit being in intarsia and having so many colours across each row, I nearly ripped it after 4 rows pattern, but thought I would do a few more rows and see how I felt about it, I am slowly getting happy about deciding to keep knitting on it, I have finished the first lot of the 12 row repeat, 3 more to go for this side then I have to do it all again.

I have a 'trekking' beanie on the needles for the homeless, it is looking pretty good, they had asked if I could do beanies that were longer and well this one is long, very long.

Dunes Jumper

I am making progress on the Dunes Jumper, the weather has been overcast but very steamy, but with air con. it makes knitting enjoyable anytime of the year. It is knitted from the neck down. I am using Tasman Yarns Alpaca 8ply natural colour in Camel. It is a nice knit, I think the pattern is a bit out though, it starts off with the same amount of stitches for all sizes with more repeats of pattern for each size, I am knitting the 2nd size, when I had done 2 of the 3 repeats I had the 2nd largest size number of stitches, so I stopped there and continued onto the body. I have 1 and a bit balls of yarn left I am hoping that is makes it to the length I need, it is the size in the photo at the moment. Photo on the right is pretty true to the colour, the other photo was taken with a flash.

For Kiama Show I put in nearly all the same items I put into Albion Park show, I took Rae's (CR&K Daisy Designs) baby shawl to the show for her, It is absolutely beautiful, it is knit in 2ply, It took out Best in Show for the knitting along with first prize in the class it was entered. My shawl came in 2nd in the same class. Very happy with that result. I rang Rae and she was so excited.

My nice 3 piece baby set with the best flat seams ever, didn't get a look in, 1st in that class was a very nice very lacy set, but 2nd prize went to a loosely knit acrylic set, don't know what these judges are thinking. There were a couple of others that in my opinion were alot better, but that is the way it goes. My alpaca bootees got a Highly Commended and so did the child's jumper with the yarn I dyed. So pretty good results again.

In a class of other items not mentioned but not wool, that is where my alpaca bootees got the highly commended, it was the where I put my swirly scarf too, there were 4 other swirly scarfs and guess what, one of them won 1st prize in that class, not mine. So it goes to show that some beautifully knitted items don't always win and sometimes silly knitting yarns with fun type items as the swirly scarf can win.

Albion Park Show - Success!

I went to Albion Park Show this morning to see how my knitting went, and I was so happy with the results. I am thinking already about what to knit for next year's show.

The spiral scarf and these bootees didn't get a look in at the show.

The child's jumper and stacked stone mittens won 1st Place.

The 3 piece baby set won 1st place and the alpaca bootees won 2nd place.

The baby shawl won 1st place and Albion Park Show Champion - wow I am happy with that.

So now back to reality....and what I am knitting now.

I started on the Salty Peanuts Cardigan which I started a few years back and it got pushed aside or down deep which I think was more the case, well most of my UFO's are on the study/craft room floor and as I really would like to see more floor it seemed the perfect thing to get out and finish. I did a few rows on Thursday night....not really loving it now and I realised I may not have enough yarn to finish it....so what does a girl do....Yeap....frogs it...more like a rip though.

So now on the needles with the same alpaca yarn is a top down jumper...feeling OK about this pattern so far....the pattern is Dunes Jumper. And being a knit in the round, there won't be any seams to sew up when I finish knitting...gotta love that.

The New Year has sprung

I had a very slack 2011 knitting wise....I plan to rectify that in 2012. I have also been very slack in my knitting for Albion Park Show which is on this weekend (14 & 15 January). I finished the baby shawl last week. I felt bad as I had spent the past two years building up the knitting section at the show, and more people are putting knitting in which is great,so I have been knitting like a demon the past two and a half weeks, I have photos on my iphone which I will put here when I upload them.

I started a 3 piece baby set last Friday night and finished it on Monday Night, sewed it up on Tuesday night, wet and blocked it so the border sat correctly. Monday night I did start a pair of bootees, but after finishing one and then half way done on the second one, was not liking them at all. I was using an acrylic baby yarn, of which the bootees are now in the bin and the yarn in my bag to go to the trading table at knitters guild....I know someone there will take it....and they are welcome to it. I started another pair of bootees on Tuesday night in a 4ply pure wool...ah so nice to knit, I finished them on Wednesday night, sewed them up and are already to go. The other items I am putting in are a pair of fingerless mittens knitted in the Stacked Stone pattern with each mitten reversing the colours in the pattern using an Australia Alpaca/Wool yarn from The Australian Alpaca Yarn range. I also had knitted a pair of bootees in The Ardent Alpaca yarn in colours of brown, beige and white, I really like them, a bit boot looking, but very nice, so even though it is a bootee section I am thinking that the traditional bootee looking pattern is what they want, well we shall see on Saturday morning when I go to the show to check out how my knitting went. Aother item is a ruffle type scarf out of that new yarn with all the holes in it so when knit it just swirls around and around, looks pretty though. And a nice child's jumper I knitted in yarn I dyed myself. So I only have 7 items in the show this year.

I was going to start knitting beanies but can't find the pattern I printed off last week. So I have pulled out a UFO, a cardigan pattern "Salty Peanuts" which I started a few years back, and it got put aside and pushed to the bottom of no where, only to be found while looking for something else. So I may get that finished, I have completed the back and 3/4 of one front.

I have lots of ideas of things I would like to knit this year.....and a heap of stash to knit....so maybe the two will come together and make some nice things.

Plan for 2012, finish the damn stash and only buy if knitting something specific I don't have yarn for if knitting for my grand-daughter.....thems the rules!

Merry Christmas to all

I have been a very slack blogger and knitter for that matter during 2011.

I am planning on doing better during 2012.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and may you have a great New Year.

Time goes by

Just a quick post to say I am still around and still knitting, although not as much as I would like to be or should be doing.

I have been very busy with life and just plain forget to blog about things.

I am making a commitment to myself to blog more often in 2012.

Spring has sprung

I didn't realise how fast time has gone and how long between posts, I did intend on posting again regularly, but that doesn't seem to have happened.

I have finished a beret and matching fingerless gloves in the "fetching" pattern. I was intending on giving these to a relo for a 30th birthday, but DH and #1 son didn't think so. So I will have the fingerless gloves and the beret can go for sale in the future. I then worked out a pattern smaller so they would fit my grand-daughter, I knit them in pink.

I went on a 1 day road trip to Crookwell with some friends who knit with me as part of KITGO (Knitting In The Great Outdoors). We had a great day, ate too much, bought some lovely Alpaca yarn, and some socks from the sock factory, had a look in some nice shops. It was sooooo relaxing.

These tiny little hats are for premmie babies born in Papua New Guinea, they are so tiny they just fit an orange.

Back on Baby Shawl

I am still trying to get through my stash, so I have picked up the baby shawl again to finish, it was the closest item to me when I went looking for something to knit after I finished some fingerless gloves for my grand-daughter (no photos of gloves as she has them and wears them alot.)


I remembered or rather found the yarn label of the Colorado yarn I was knitting my mobius wrap with. It is the Australian "Heirloom" yarn.

It is a nice winters saturday, raining slightly outside, pretty cold, just the thing for rugging up and spending a day knitting, only thing is I have to go out in the cold to Knitters Guild, but it is well worth it, I love knitting with the people in the knitting groups I am in. And it is also my turn to take afternoon tea, so no excuses I have to go.

Here are two beanies I have recently finished, probably will send them for the homeless, but I am feeling pretty slack as I usually knit heaps of beanies for the homeless each year and this year only two....