A new project.

I've been going crafting crazy lately! I started a new knit project - a twisted cowl in Noro Silk Garden Lite. My own pattern: 7 stitch (stocking stitch) side bands, with 6 repeats of the 'gull stitch' pattern by Elizabeth Zimmerman, found in her book,"Knitters Almanac".
I meant to do garter stich on the side bands to stop curling - oh well - moss stitch would be good too. I am slipping the first and last stich of the 'purl' rows to reduce 'curling' of the edge.

I've used stitch markers between the pattern repeats to make it easier.

I've now added a ball of Noro (not Lite, which was already in my stash) and changed from 4.5mm needles to 5mm needles, yarn change is after the green band. Progress so far.

While I've had the knitting bug I've also been making some 'mini' roll edge beanies for a friends crochet soft toys.



Mini Beanies for Darcelle's crochet toys.



A great book I'm reading.

Apologies for so many posts in one day but I haven't been able to get much computer time over school holidays and now my son has started playing games via skype with friends, so I am doing a bit of catch up posting today.

At the moment I am reading this book:- 'Down to Earth. A guide to simple living.' by Rhonda Hetzel.

I like her philosophy of simple living, growing some of your own food, recycling things if you can and making your own things if you can such as soap etc. I highly recommend it, or you can just read her blog - the link is in my sidebar.

Pleasantly Surprised.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the way our giant fig tree has been lopped by the local power authority. They strategically lopped specific limbs in such a way that the overall shape of the tree has been kept pretty well. On lopping day they did tell me that they couldn't get their cherrypicker to where they wanted on the other side of the fence to lop the outer limbs, as ground was too wet after rain. Maybe they'll be back, but for now it's looking good.

Treelopper in the canopy.

Here is the after pic. The red brackets showing one of the lopped limbs.

Rainbow Blanket.

This little blanket has turned out to be bit smaller than I would have liked but could still be used as a colourful pram or bassinette blanket.

Rainbow blanket.

The blanket measures 28" or 72cm in diameter so I was tossing up whether to crochet another ball onto the outside, which could be interesting. I'll put it for sale in my etsy shop anyway and see what happens.

'Magoo', for scale.

Here is a picture of it with 'Magoo' on it for scale. Actually I think Magoo looks quite comfortable on it so maybe a little person would be too! Lol!

Rainbow Blanket Complete.

I've completed the rainbow blanket in Kauni, here it is unblocked.

Here is a pic of the three needle cast off of the band.

I decided to wash it in organic hair conditioner to soften the Kauni.

 I have a 'hand wash' cycle on my machine and used warm water.

Blocking out the blanket with pins on a foam mat.

 Rainbow blanket blocked and left to dry for a day.