Completion

Did I show you this? It's my first real handspun yarn. I dyed the superwash merino roving by pouring the dye on and cooking in the microwave, after it was dry I spun it on my Ashford Traveller and plied it (not as well as I would have liked - I've rectified that with the purchase of a tensioned lazy kate)

I then washed the skein, spun it round my head like an idiot to disperse a lot of the water, dried it safely away from the cats, and knitted it into this


1.2.3. aaaaahhhhhhh

It's the first hat for the Eden Campus babies

Love 1 Knit 1

Last year the KnitRangers knitted garments for the Maternity Unit at Auckland Hospital, mostly for premature babies, but a few items for bigger babies as well.

This year we are still knitting for babies - but much bigger ones. I spoke with the Head Teacher, Janice of the Eden Campus, which is a Teen Parenting Unit in Auckland, affiliated with Auckland Girls Grammar school. The unit contains a childcare centre enabling teenage parents to continue their education while caring for their child.

more info available here and here.

Janice is thrilled at the idea of our group knitting hats and other garments for the children - 75% of whom are under 18 months of age, most of the parents are too young to qualify for Government benefits and rely on their parents for financial support. I feel that by providing even a small amount of assistance to these parents in the form of warm winter woolies is a positive investment.

I love the idea of helping these young people who are working very hard at helping themselves and their children to have a better life, these are the qualities that we should be applauding and supporting.

The details:

yarn: must be machine washable - (I have some nice yarn left over from other projects which I will bring to the next Knit Rangers meetup), colours are up to you, have fun!

size: anything from 3 months to 3 years

patterns: there are screeds of free baby and child patterns on Ravelry, Knitting pattern central and a number of free hat patterns on my website

Please have your items to me by our meeting on 10 May - then we will be in plenty of time for the worst of winter.

Out of town or overseas knitters who are kind enough to contribute please email me justineATjustjussiDOTcom and I will organise postage.

Rip it up!

A while ago I saw a thread on Ravelry which had me wondering - the posters were discussing playground safety for children.

Now, you know me - my kids were Playcentre kids - when they fell over they picked themselves up and dusted themselves off, I don't believe in fencing the entire shoreline or sterilising your kid's cup until he is 15, but the thread did trigger a little idea.

So here it is - the Little Ripper, it's a "playsafe" cowl in sizes 1-6 years which just tears off if junior gets caught in a tree or by a bully, the fabric is a cellular style stitch pattern, very bulky and squishy, while the yarn is sportweight, making the garments light but warm. I used my own handpainted yarn and was delighted with the effects of the stitch pattern on the colourway.

The hat is very plain, quick and easy, and both pieces are reversible - jeepers it just keeps getting better!

The photos are not very inspirational - my model is a little...stiff, unfortuantely my favourite little person is still in London and her Mum is rubbish at taking photos.

Cool - now that I have got that out of my system I can resume getting the Victoria and Clipper patterns sorted, and boy oh boy do I have another cute one lined up!

I do not feel that I have any authority to discuss the bushfire situation - it is a desperate human tragedy happening just next door. Please go donate to the Red Cross then visit Serendipity who has organised a raffle as a thank you.

Another Australian who use our help is wee Ayla -if you are a Ravelry member see the details here then knock out a wee hat or two (or 3, 4, 5...)

It was 40 years ago today...

and I had a thing for knitwear even then!

40 was liberating, exciting and fun

41 will be even better!

(weird - blogger is saying this is the 4th - actually is the 6th of February)