Yarn Along

Brrrr...winter is coming! It's getting pretty frosty here at the moment. There was even snow on the nearby hills yesterday (which happens only a few times a year, and it's not officially winter yet!)

Please excuse the street light and roof of the house across the road. That streetlight annoyed me so much when I was taking the photo, but there wasn't much I could do about it!

What have I been knitting and reading at the moment then? Well, I'm a big audiobook fan and I'm currently listening to 'The Persimmon Tree' by Bryce Courteney. I'm really enjoying it actually, though I shouldn't sound surprised as I do love his writing.

The knitting - how are my socks coming along? Not bad compared to last week, right? I finished the first sock not long after the blog entry and I tried it on. Oh my! I love it! I can see how people get addicted to this sock knitting thing!

It might not look like an awful lot of knitting either, but in the last week I've also released a new pattern and I've whipped up a new hat for my kindy-aged child. This is the Mimipita Earflap Hat, it's a free pattern and I really love the construction of it, though the sizing and translation have a few errors. But I do plan to whip up another and make a few changes

 

And I think that's enough for the week, right?

 

Thanks for leaving me a comment! Go on, leave me one! I do so love to read them? Have you read any Bryce Courteney books, or can you recommend a great hat pattern? 

 

Yarn Along

I'm almost finished my first sock, it's a little bit exciting. They're my first 'knitted by me, for me' socks and although I cast them on in January, I'm quite motivated to get them finished now. I've been working on quite a few patterns lately, and there's something about getting a WIP finished, which is someone else's well written pattern (Sarah Ronchetti's Basketweave Rib Socks) and is for me - which makes it quite motivating! Plus, it's definitely getting cooler now and these would look so good with my black shoes for winter! Must.knit.faster!

The book, well, it's just adorable. My oldest sister had a copy of this book when we were kids and I fondly remember reading it many many times. It popped into my head the other day when I was trying to think of books I read that I could read to my 6 year old daughter. With that, I looked up book depository and bought it for the tidy sum of $6.50NZD. It's called 'The Ordinary Princess' by M.M.Kaye and is the delicious tale of a princess who, when born is given the gifts of charm, wit and various other wonderful gifts from her Fairy Godmothers - until the last one, who isn't in the best mood at the time, gives her the gift of being Ordinary. And so, she grows up to into a mouse-coloured haired, freckled princess, who isn't content to simply throw a golden ball in the courtyard...but whose Father can't marry her off to any Prince either she's not your typical blonde and fair skinned princess. The story takes off when her Father hatches a plan which Amethyst (aka Amy) decides to rebel against.

I can't recommend it enough! And I'm well above it's target audience!

Hats For Ethan

Come join us with our big 'Hats for Ethan' fundraiser!

Ethan is a lovely little 6 year old, who is battling leukaemia. His family have said that the money this raises they'll put towards buying a spare single bed, so that they can have a quarantine type room if needed this winter, with bugs and flu germs around. That's not too much to wish for surely, is it?

'Hats For Ethan' is a wonderful showcase which kicks off tomorrow, Friday the 10th at 7:30pm NZ time. The link is HERE. If you join the group, click on the showcase album, or click HERE, and you'll see all the amazing items up for grabs! Custom made hat auctions, starting at $10! Yarn kits of luxury yarns starting at $15! Beautiful 'buy now' items! Seriously, the range is just lovely - there cold be some amazing bargains to be had, but the aim is to raise as much money as possible for this precious little guy, so the more, the better! Auctions close on Sunday, what a lovely Mother's Day gift it could be to win an item - both for you, your hat recipient and Ethan and his family.

Here's my contribution....I know, I know! It's not a hat....but it's the thought that counts - right?! Please come bid on it! 

Final Reminder!

I hate things that come in the mail that say 'Final Notice' or 'Final Reminder' - they're often things that will hurt my bank account!

But this will be my final reminder - for my knitting course in Hanmer from the 17-19th of May as the sign ups close this week!

So, it's now or never (well, till next time anyway!)

Course - Beginner Knitting – seamlessly and speedily. In this course Julia will introduce the basics of knitting in the round including:

• How to use circular needles
• How to read a pattern
• Knitting basics – knit, purl, increasing, casting on and off
• How to fix mistakes
• How to check gauge
• Useful links and resources
• How to wind yarn into a ball from a skein
• Julia will also give a demonstration of how to dye yarn yourself using things you have at home
• Students will be working through a pattern for a child’s garment written by Julia with the aim of completing it over the weekend.

But wait, there's more! I have a wonderful friend who happens to live in Christchurch and is a very talented knitter and yarn dyer - so Rachel Booker, of Featherbrush Yarns, will be joining me for the weekend! I'm so excited about that!

Don't worry that you'll be bored if you know the basics, I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve to teach how to knit speedily. I'll also be teaching Continental knitting (which I have somehow omitted in my blurbs!), which is a different way of knitting for most people.

Sign up information is HERE. The cost for the course is $110.