Barb's amazing weaving

Do you remember the squares Barb wove from the DK Crofter? They were very cool, and originally intended to be a blanket.
However, Barb liked them so much, that they turned into a shawl - more public viewings are possible with a garment. :)

Barb is thinking of giving classes in weaving at the shop. I am encouraging this idea, Barb is a very clever lady. Let me know if you are interested!

Felting experiment

First,it was lovely to meet so many readers at the Gympie Quilt and Craft Spectacular. I was pleased to find that there was plenty of yarn, and plenty of not-just-quilting fibre crafters in attendance. We had a busy but fun time.

Today I will write about a project I finished a little while ago, after my fun with the French Press Slippers.
I fancied a felted hat. Patterns for these are few and far between, but the Cleckheaton Accessories book put out this year has a pattern I thought might do.

Here is the unfelted hat in Jo Sharp DK wool, aubergine.



Looking at the Cleckheaton book, I was not terribly impressed with the felting intstructions. The pictured hat is only lightly felted, with the stitches clearly visible in the photograph of the finished item. I was concerned that the hat would easily overfelt, and be too small. Fortunately for me, I do not have a top-loading washing machine, and my front loader is not terribly vigorous in its action. If I want to fully felt an item, I need to run through 3 or more cycles. I put the finished hat in my zippered felting bag, and ran it though one cycle.
Here is the finished hat - a perfect fit, and only lightly felted.





I fancy a more stiff brim, and a more fully felted hat, so am thinking of writing my own pattern. The aubergine wool is such a gorgeous colour.

Craft Spectacular June 5 and 6

I will not be at the shop on Saturday. Instead I will be running a booth at the Rotary Craft Spectacular at the Gympie Pavilion. 9-5 Saturday and 9-3 on Sunday. Hopefully there will be some knitters, crocheters and weavers amongst the Quilters.

More Gympie Show results

I found the camera, so here is a more happy post. Lynne is right, frogging mohair is not an easy job! I may need to just finish the shrug after all. It is thinking about its bad behaviour whilst resting in a too hard bag at the moment.

Here is another of Hannah's successful show projects.


She knit this in a week, as she decided at the last minute not to include her socks in the high school knitting section, and needed a substitute entry. The cardigan is made from Baby Bamboo, pretty much to the pattern, although she has substituted willow green for one of the pink border shades. I think the green really makes it pop.

The sad side of knitting

I am feeling a bit sad about posting today, as I have mislaid my camera, which has some more photographs of winning entries, which were my original posting subject, so thought I would post about an unsuccessful project instead, to keep in the mood!

Some months ago (Okay, nearly a year ago) I started the mohair shrug, with butterfly lace pattern, from Jo Sharp's knit 5.

I had a lovely time knitting the butterfly lace pattern, my only regret being that the lace pattern is almost invisible due to the soft halo of the yarn. I didn't mind this too much, thinking I would use the same lace pattern later for a scarf, where the light shines through the lace whilst you are wearing it, or perhaps in a less fluffy yarn.

Due to some interruptions (ie, shiny new projects that jumped the queue) I let the unsewn sleeve number 1 sit for a while, but around December, I decided to sew it up, in order to resume the project with a feeling of virtue (I am not very fond of the sewing up part of knitting).
Unfortunately, I found the sleeve to be rather baggy.
I took it in a little ( more sewing :( ) and started sleeve number 2.
While I was earnestly knitting sleeve number 2, just a bit every day, as I try to with a sluggish sort of project, I thought again how much more likeable I would find the lace pattern as a scarf. However, ploughing on, I started the decreases. Then I took these photographs for a progress report (trying to generate self enthusiasm).



I really don't find the sleeve flattering.
I don't think I will wear the shrug if I persist.
I think I will have to undo this project.
Sometimes you have to cut your losses.

Fortunately, I am quite keen to embark on the wrap jacket from Knit6 - using Rare Comfort Kid Mohair and Silkroad Aran Tweed together. The thought of a lovely new project will console me whilst I reverse knit.

Show winners

It is so exciting to have the category prize winners come into the shop with their prize vouchers.
I have been able to see some of the entries close up.
Here is Hannah's advent calender wall hanging - made from StitchBliss fabrics, threads and buttons. Hannah has drawn most of her own embroidery designs for the pockets.




She won first prize in the High School "any other entry" fancywork section, against some stiff competition - there is some fabulous work coming out of Home Economics and Textiles at our local schools. Congratulations Hannah!

The Gympie Show

I can't wait to see the prize winning projects.