Renaissance woman

today I bring you:

2 sweaters with patterns being written

this is the "Plum blossoms in the morning mist" cardigan, it is the Mummy of the "Plum blossom at twilight" baby cardigan. I knitted a size 12...it is too big for Blaise, but she is going through an '80s retro phase and likes her sweaters oversized. I'm getting the cardi back this weekend for some photos of me in it, as it fits me snugly which is how I like it best as it shows up the waist and armhole shaping.

1 bag of yarn frantically being swatched and 1 test garment on the needles

1 tea cosy in the process of being knitted for the above-mentioned Blaise who has moved in with her boyfriend Joe, who has a house in Grey Lynn, they are both writers and students so everything has to be a little funky!

1 finished garment, which I have slightly mentioned previously, which I think is very cool, I'll get photos on the weekend, and write up the pattern - then I'll let you tell me what you think!

It is high summer here in Auckland, very hot, often humid and the vegie garden is churning out the surplus produce so we are eating tomatoes by the bucket load and I feel a canned salsa making session coming on. I have to show you my tomatoes as I am so in love with them, these are Japanese Black Krim tomatoes and they are divine!

these are stock standard Roma's from last year's saved seed - great for bottling!

 and the strawberries have dwindled to almost nothing, but this patch was giving us a punnet a day for almost 2 months! I made enough strawberry jam to get the extended family through the year!
next year it will be twice the size, there is nothing as good as sun warmed organic strawberries!

I've also made 10 kgs of assorted scented washing powder, and 60 soy wax melts in sweet cinnamon (my house smells just like Pentimento in King street did when we lived in Sydney) sandalwood and pink grapefruit. I used this tutorial to make the melts and bought g.e free soy wax from a Trademe supplier. 

Just like knitting, I didn't make or grow these things just to save money - but to gain satisfaction of making them, and knowing where all of the ingredients came from, I worked out it was cheaper to get the best organic essential oil and soy wax I could find and make melts for my home and gifts for friends and family throughout the year, than it was to buy 2 packets of High street brand melts, and that my laundry detergent smells just the way Flash likes it (Sandalwood) and doesn't leave white marks on our clothes like supermarket detergents. Our garden is all organic, the only spray we use is garlic (truly disgusting smelling but effective) and if something doesn't work we just learn and move on.

I'm enjoying having the time to do all of these things, the long summer evenings seem so much more productive, I'm hoping I can find a way to extend that feeling into winter.

Laundry tips

this is a page from my website, however I felt it may be useful to reproduce it here as the recipes and tips are useful to more than just people wanting to wash baby clothes, they don't stay babies for long and you can't keep having them!

Caring for woolens is not difficult, follow these steps to get a good result every time.

1: never ever rub at a stain, this may cause felting and pilling, instead spray the stain with white vinegar mixed 1/2 and 1/2 with warm water or mix a little wool wash with warm water and spread over the stain. and leave for an hour before washing.

2: to wash: fill a basin with handwarm water, add detergent as per directions, place your garment in the water, keep it submerged and gently press down repeatedly until it stays under the water by itself. Leave to soak for an hour or so, then press the water through the garment to get rid of any remaining grime, lift out of water squeeze well but don't wring,  let the water out of the basin and fill again with clear water to rinse., repeat the previous actions until the water runs clear.

Let the water out and  gently press the garment to remove excess water, place in a dry towel, roll it up and press hard to remove more water ( I stand on mine!) remove the garment and place on a dry towel or sweater dryer out of the sun to dry.

3: use lavender, peppermint, pennyroyal essential oil in your detergent,  alone or in combination with other oils to deter moths.

4: don't stress! there is nothing stressful about leaving something to soak for an hour or two - go off and play with baby, read a book, have a sleep!

Recipes:

Liquid Woolwash   

Ingredients:

4 cups soap flakes , 4 cups boiling water, 1/2 cup methylated spirits, 1.5 Tablespoons of lavender, eucalyptus or peppermint essential oil.

Method:

mix soap flakes and boiling water (you can use a food processor) then add the meths and oil. Pour into a large glass jar, this will set to a jellylike consistency. Use by adding 1 T to a basin of warm water, soak the garment and rinse in clean water.

Powder laundry detergent

Ingredients: 1/2 cup washing soda (crush before use) 1 cup grated soap, 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup borax, 1/2 cup baking soda, 1/2T essential oil of your choice.

Method:

Mix all ingredients together, place in a large jar, dissolve 1T in warm water for small loads, 2T for larger loads, rinse in clean water.

Comfort dolls

this will be short - it is a SPECTACULAR day in Auckland and I refuse to miss more than a moment of it!

I realised that I am in need of more soapnuts ( they are great for those of us with itchy skin) and while online ordering them I noticed this page in the sidebar - Project Comfort Dolls there are patterns for dolls and all the info you need to be part of this lovely plan.

Find a quiet space in this busy time of year and make a gift for a child to love.

(my favourite soapnut shop does not ship outside New Zealand)

Not lost

I'm here - just happily busy. I can't show you the wonderful things I am working on just yet - soon, soon.

However, I can show you some other things that have been keeping me out of trouble:

meet my spinning wheel - thanks to the extreme enabler (aka grannyg) I am now the owner of an Ashford Traveller?? not sure, but she's cute!I have always sworn that I would never take up spinning - my excuses ranged from "I do not have the space in my studio for the wheel and the whole extra world of fibre stash" to " I don't have the headspace for spinning" and "Flash will have me committed"-I'm glad to admit that I was wrong, there is plenty of space both in my studio and my head, and Flash likes the wheel's engineering simplicity - though I worry that if he had his way it would be lowered...with mags.

Here, dear readers is my first yarn, yes I plied it, yes I know that I do not know what I am doing, yes it looks like catsick (go on, ask me how I know) but it is mine all mine.

I can make yarn.

Gauge/ tension is an eternal source of stress/tension for me, I write patterns which can be used with different yarns, I have favourites but I do not owe any yarn companies any favours, so I make a number of suggestions and expect my customers to use any suitable yarn that takes their fancy, unfortunately the permutations are infinite, 4 ply can range from 22-30 sts per 10cm, but this little gadget is here to help me - it is a WPI gauge - Ravelry uses WrapsPerInch as well as other yarn descriptions and I feel that it is a useful addition, all you really need is a ruler, wrap the yarn around the ruler - not too tight, not too loose - you want the wraps to sit comfortably next to one another, then just count the wraps in one inch.

Unfortunately it is not a metric measurement, but we can all jump between imperial and metric can't we! I bought my little gauge from Karatstix who also sells cute little needle gauges and tension gauges. I'm happy to have another tool in my arsenal to help knitters get good results from my patterns.

Victoria is in the process of being graded

and test knitters have been roped in to help. I've moved on to playing with cables...oh you will love them, and I must tell you about the Christmas challenge I have set myself...many many socks, many socks...

C is for Charlotte

completion, and contemplation of projects to come.

Above - Charlotte's grown up Weasley sweater, the "C" is in a pretty script, knitted using the intarsia method, the yarn is Paton's "Soft haze" 70% acrylic, 20% wool, 10% bamboo, I didn't like it much I'm afraid, but she chose it and she likes it, and it will stand up to her punishing laundery regime for a while, actually with that smidge of bamboo it may wear better than I am anticipating. The white yarn used for the "c" is a rayon/acrylic/wool blend with sequins. The design is very simple, set in sleeves and a slight scoop neck.

My sidewinder socks - 6 months from start to finish...nevermind they are done now!

Mirror twins in Noro Kureyon sock, which washed up beautifully. The grafting was a bit of a drama as this singles yarn twisted back on itself relentlessy for the first third, then it settled down. Speaking of grafting - this sock has shown me the meditative qualities of grafting, once you get into the rhythm it is actually very relaxing and enjoyable.

If you are interested in taking your grafting (and therefore your finishing) a step further, I am extremely impressed with the standard of Woolly wormhead's grafting tutorials - she has a method for every situation, I think her hat patterns are brilliant, but the book is worth it for the 8 kitchener stitch tutorials alone!

Mackenzie's sweater, Charlotte's sweater and the sideways socks, tick, tick,tick now my personal wips are clear and I have a little headspace I can go and dig out that baby kimono!

"A harmless necessary cat"

a few months back , wandering around Etsy, I bought a present for a friend - as soon as I saw these little stitch markers I knew that she would love them, and she did.

Weeones creator Jillian willingly accepted a funny little request from me - to make stitch markers in the image of my cats Frasier and Layla - a little bit of of vanity for posterity, a bit of fun and frivolity, Jillian did a brilliant job - the Frasiers even have little paw pads and a spotted tummy! Postage was very reasonable and fast, and they were packaged beautifully.

(you just have to love her sock monkeys, cheese varieties and chickens too!)

(the promised pattern will be available soon - my beautifully planned yesterday was ruined by a broken crown - so I'll be at the emergency dentist today...)