Knitting by Zen

I have finally finished my Tubey. Just when I thought it would NEVER end, and was resolving NEVER evah again to do 3x1 rib in the round (which is the true definition of "endless" letmetellyou!) I finally got to the end and cast off. Then I went back and finished the sleeve that I’d run out of yarn on *mumblemuble*inJuly07*mumble and cast off that sleeve as well.

Yay! Oh ok, here are some more photos:

So the top of the jumper has a fabulous orange contrast to the teal and it went for 1" before changing to the teal. There is a matching inch at the bottom, before I cast off using a picot cast-off. 

Yarns: Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8 Ply in Pumpkin and Bendigo Woollen Mills Mystique 8 Ply in Seaspray, which is a wool / mohair / alpaca blend that I adore. It’s a tad tickly / scratchy because of the halo on it, and for the first few weeks it is pilling but from talking to other users of the yarn, this is usual and you just need to pick them off and it won’t happen again. I knit on 4mm needles (Clover bamboo) and past the waist I changed to 5mm for the bottom part, instead of shaping it.

The pattern is elegant and well constructed but - I am yet to work out why you start somewhere on the back and work across the sleeve to one end, then unpick the provisional cast on and go back the other way. The only thing I can think is that it’s so the cast off is a cast off on both arms, but I’m not sure. The neck had to be adjusted after I had finished it as I’d picked up too far out but that’s a Good Thing as I could adjust that rather than just living with it, had I picked up too many stitches.

This is the first garment I’ve made, sewed in the ends, washed, blocked and worn immediately… and I am OVERTHEMOON with it. I love it to pieces and am so glad I have a teal and orange jumper that is handmade, uniquely Me, and quite eye catching.

This is me in it:

The drying rack is one I got from Bunnings for $5 a piece - they are a simple tubular plastic frame with a net over the top. Very useful and allows me to easily try my jumpers even in winter!

I have knit 2 complete Tychus in the past week:

No that’s not me - just my hat on Sarah’s head. It’s lovely, isn’t it? Her head I mean! And the hat is so cool and easy to knit and lovely and gorgeous and yes, the nipple on top is a design feature (I don’t make mistakes, remember?). 

I’m knitting an orange one in baby yarn for a friend, and a black/blue one for my partner using Manly Blue:

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: 

It’s been a long month, so here’s some top headlines:

1. YARN FOR SALE!! I have 11 8 skeins of yarn for sale at the moment, and in fact at least one of them is a double up, so if you bid on it you may end up getting a skein anyway.

2. I am getting the dye pot out tomorrow hopefully. It’s exciting to have orders to dye for, and plans for colours. I have a heap of REALLY exotic yarns (cashmere, mohair, silk etc) to dye up and sell and I’m excited to see how they go.

3. I knat a scarf for someone! She says she loves it too:

The scarf is knit for 45cm in cables, and then the remaining 100cm in a very simple "lace" stitch… To do the scarf, cast on 54 st (I used 8ply wool on 6mm needles) and knit 3 rows, then k3, (k1p1) 8 times, C16F, (k1p1) 8 times, k3. Knit another 7 rows. Then k3, C16F, (k1p1) 8 times, C16F, k3. Repeat until you are sick to death of cabling and wishing it wasn’t 30C when you were trying to knit it.

At this point you, like me, may decide to do something a tad more sensible than continue with the cables as it is about to get a lot warmer here. So the idea is that there is enough cabling to go around the neck, and then the lofty lacy part to get the length up, but without making your neck melt! To do this, I did a double decrease (slip 1, k2tog, psso), with a single decrease in the middle stitches of the row because there are 54 stitches in the row, which is not divisible by three! I then switched to 12mm needles (hah! You thought it was something exciting!!!) and I continued on my merry way.

The white splotch is a fantastic "From the knitting needles of Em" lable from a previous swap pal by the way.

4. I am now a Tupperware demonstrator. I think that makes me insane.

5. Some of my yarn has sold at One Planet Yarns! I am so excited about this for two reasons - firstly, I have $$ coming to me (which makes a big change for my student-inspired budget) and because it means people love my yarns!

6. I forget sometimes that knitters are people too. I know knitters from lots of walks of life, knitters who are older than me and even a few that are younger than me. I am surprised though when I come across knitters who are bigoted, racist, sexist or just plain obnoxious. I sometimes forget that being a knitter doesn’t *always* make you a nice person.

7. I’ve been dyeing yarn for my friend Mel as well:

For a change, these photos are crap. They were taken on an ugly table under false lights and don’t do the yarn justice in the slightest! The top yarn for example is emerald green, not a shade of blah. *sigh* 

8. I’m knitting another scarf:

It’s the Dayflower Scarf pattern and it’s lovely!

Last of all - Zaria says "I has a flava"

Wow it’s been a hectic few weeks since I last chatted at you.

In the first exciting news, my inaugral packet of yarn is finally on its way to the United States to join the stable at One Planet Yarn and Fibre! My sock yarn is over there and here is a picture of what I sent off last week:

More photos are available on Flickr.

Last week, I had the amazing pleasure of going to the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Festival! It was SO MUCH FUN and yes there was a whole lot of stash enhancement. My favourite part was the acquisition of 50g of the most gorgeous hand spun and hand dyed rabbit angora, which I’m slowly turning into a scarf.