Spring is coming ....

I know I should love spring but as a knitter who hates knitting cotton, I also mourn the passing of winter. Although Auckland's winter this year was been weird - wet rather than cold !!! Not good for beanie sales - almost all of my sales this year have gone to the lower North Island and further south.

I've been finishing a couple of baby orders - sex not known - therefore creams and gender neutral buttons ....



And I've been knitting some fingerless gauntlets/mitts which have turned out quite well. A simple pattern with seed stitch.





I found these gorgeous little buttons at Fran's Wild and Woolly shop in Devonport - can't wait to knit a little pair of bootees for the September Devonport Craft Market!!





And here's Isabella ...

Read more...

Why I love winter

Every year I have to wait until winter nearly ends before our white camellia flowers - the first flower opened up this week ......

Read more...

My secret squirrel project ...

One of my close friends is having to have nana naps in the afternoons and I decided to knit her a lap/foot rug. Initially I wanted to use a really simple pattern and put the emphasis on the wool - using a Debbie Bliss silk/mohair/wool mixture until I realised I'd be using about 20 balls at $16+ per ball - I'll leave you to do the maths!

So Plan B was called for and I found a really interesting pattern using 20 squares with each one having more squares within it. Decided to use Touch merino which is still a lovely soft wool and away I went. Except that when I'd made enough squares to lay them out and get an idea of how big it would be, I decided 20 weren't going to achieve the size I wanted and I'd have to knit 25. It's a bit daunting when you're not even half way thru them! But, having decided on more, that then meant as I had uneven rows I could do something interesting with the very middle one and the corners, so this evolved ...






And here's the final result ....




And here's proof that Isabella is a typical cat!

Read more...

The reason I've been a bit quiet ......

A picture tells a thousand words doesn't it !@#$%

Read more...

Secret squirrel and other things ....

Yesterday was such a beautiful day in Devonport it was very, very hard to pick up my needles and knit !!!

However I had to as I'm still knitting away on my secret squirrel pressie which may take another couple of weeks so more to come on this soon ... And in the meantime I'm finishing off a couple of little presents for a friend whose first baby is due in five weeks.



Had to do a close up of the buttons as they're so cute.



I'll knit a matching beanie for these little pumpkin bootees - and I've also finished a little fair isle newborn beanie and bootees ...



Check out this neat riibon I found at Ike's in Devonport - they also have a pink version and yes, my friend is having a boy!!!



And here's Isabella - taking time out from her mohair blankie quality control job to check the height of the magazine piles.

Read more...

Dotty daze .....

I'm at the start of a suprise knitting project for a dear friend and, as I'm fairly sure she reads this, there will be no photo's or progress reports until it's finished and delivered!

In the meantime, it wasn't until a few weeks ago when someone crafty had a photo on their blog of a polka dot mug like the ones we have, that I realised how many dotty things I'm surrounded by - and no, by that I don't mean my beloved human and feline housemates ....

The said mug:


Cutlery:


Boxes, boxes
and more boxes:




A rug:


2 pairs of my
favourite summer shoes:


Teatowels:


My cake stand:


They even make an appearance in my favourite shirt!



And this weekend Isabella managed to drag herself away from the mohair blankies and made a guest appearance on the deck.

Read more...

Sunday, rainy Sunday ...

The rain yesterday morning didn't seem to affect the number of people through the Devonport Craft Market. We were lucky though as the serious stuff didn't happen until we'd finished! Another great market day (thank you Sarah's) and I met some lovely new craft people.

Last week I finished a couple of beanies which have since found their way to colder climates - both to the South Island.




I'm also knitting a "big" one for a lovely customer who's ordered one which she'd like to be similar to her favourite - so we measured that one and then draw around it on a paper bag of all things ! - no sure why when we met at work where I'm surrounded by normal pieces of paper. The creased and well loved paper bag looks like someone's old lunch bag!



She picked some lovely colours - it's hard to tell from this photo but the burgundy/red/pinky colour is just gorgeous.



Isabella spent a little bit of time in her second favourite possy - on a chair arm where she can peruse her domain ....

Read more...