Knitting by Zen

UPDATE: here’s what’s left!

Prices are suggested only - please, make me an offer and help me clean out this part of my stash. I’ll be doing books soon, and then commercial yarns. Please pm me any questions you have.Postage is $5 up to 500g, and $10 up to 3kg, and then above that by discussion.

Summary photos are here.

• Baby yarn 200g $12.50 (4 ply machine washable wool): orange and white, dyed in an interesting way so that one end of the skein is lots of orange, then it goes into a pale orange and lots of white in the middle, then back to more orange at the end. You can kind of see this effect in the wound ball.cake here

• Aran weight cashmere / wool blend! Pinky red colours - so soft! 200g. $17.50

• 75% wool / 20% mohair / 5% alpaca, 200g skeins, Lollypop Pink, Purple Pleasure (L-R skein #3 in this photo) and Flushed Cheeks (pale red). 8ply ish yarn. Lovely when knit but again - extra to a dyeing order so I have no need for it. $15 each.

• 50:50 mohair and wool 200g skeins, 8 ply: 1x Raspberry Tea, 1x Purely Purple, and 1x Kissed Lips. $15 a skein. Roughly 400m per skein. (L-R skein #1, #2 and #4!)

• Alpaca / wool blend, flecked underneath and sunset colours on top, NOT machine washable, $12.50 for 200g skein 8ply

• My Knitting Journal (a gorgeous book version of Ravelry - great for someone who’s not on the internet) $10

• Knitting Handbook (Viv Foster) $10

Photos all over the place!

Names!! Ok! Names!

Top 3 are upclose and personal on something or other, and another notsocloseup, and then yay! a decent group shot. It’s like taking photos of small children who’ve been on red cordial and cocopops for breakfast.

Then Spaghettification, Cold Nebula and Quite Cedar.

Row 3 is Cat’s Pjamas, Persephone and Deep River.

Orange Meow, Emerald City and Cherry Tree Lane (back by popular demand!!!).

And last but not least - Crayons in a Blender.  

I posted off a heap more sock yarn to OnePlanet the other day and by now I’m hoping that it’s arrived. This yarn was different and special because it is not the usual space-dyed stuff. Indeed it was pot luck - I dyed it in the pot, then painted spots and dots and stripes onto it so how it knits up is anyone’s guess! I also named them all sorts of things with the able help of Osk. And Zaria of course.

Ok so that’s just a taste - more photos when I swear some more coax my computer into letting me do so.

In the meantime:

"What, do I have something on my head?" 

I’ve just gotten back from a long trip away in Sydney

and wow was it fun and kind of sad. One of my aunts has been quite ill for most of last year and I took the chance to visit with her which was bittersweet - she looks so much older than she was the last time I saw her, and she looked frail and ill… but underneath was still that fiesty woman I love and take after.

In preparation for going away, I dyed yarn and got the bug back!! so keep an eye out for more of my yarn around the place. I also painted a shawl that I bought off a friend (yes, Mel again!) and wow it is gorgeous:

I wore the shawl to the formal dinner we attended during the two weeks away, and it went with this dress:

(Sadly no shots of it on me in all of its glory - will have to steal someone else’s shot of it!)

Some of my yarn has recently been turned into secret socks (not yet released but damn fine on my toes thankyou very much!) by Mel at Stranded in Oz:

I can’t post any more photos as the detail is all Mel’s but let me just say that this pattern is fabulous for my feet, and probably very easy to knit. It has an amazing toe and fantastic detail and the yarn is a Custom Dye, only available as a kit. Keep an eye out on her site for the kit and others that I’ve been custom dyeing yarn for - 99% her work of course!

I am knitting some socks out of Tofutsies at the moment and they are GORGEOUS and lovely and I am enjoying knitting:

The yarn is Tofutsies, which is stocked here in Adelaide by Mel at Stranded in Oz (her business name cracks me up every time - a lovely outspoken knitwear designer has to have something unique and interesting and descriptive, yes?!!). The yarn is soft and squidgy and gorgeous in the ball, but when you knit it up the white part of the yarn seems to receed and the rich colours come to the fore. The yarn is available from Mel only in Adelaide at $24.95 a ball, which is a bargain given that that ball is 100g and goes a long way! The colour range is amazing and the yarn is environmentally friendly. Have a look at her Sock Club for a bi-monthly fix of yarn!

By the way - if you’re after any kind of yarn other than wool, Mel is the person to see. She dyes an interesting range of wool and other yarns (bamboo, banana leaves, silk, soy etc) and they’re so pretty! But my yarn diet continues so I won’t fall into any of them just yet!!

I also bought amazing Happy Boots:

and caught up with my Mad Aunt. You might notice that our glasses in this post are similar… nay, *the same*. That’s right - we live 1500km apart and didn’t even mention new glasses but lo! we have the same ones! I swear sometimes I was born to the wrong sister .

  (click here for a bigger image)

Hi! I have just listed a range of yarns for your edification. With Christmas coming, I thought it would be a good time to offer my yarns, either for you to turn into a gorgeous creating or to gift to a lovely
knitter or crocheter in your life.

Link to yarn 

I’m drowning under school work at the moment - I have 3 weeks left to get through exams and such, then two weeks of placement. I haven’t knit for AGES though, so not a lot to show you - a Monkey Sock is somewhere by (and my pal knows this) I will be late in sending it off because I need to uni-on before then. Tubey is getting longer and more interested - no up to date pictures but I am now an inch down the body! Here’s a pic of the sleeves, nearly done:

I have been a-travelling recently as well - I have been to Canberra and saw the great things:

Bestest buddy part the first, The Knitting Revoluntionary:

Friends Amanda and Ness with bub on board:

Horses:

Me in my beret and scarf: