Reporting from Hamilton

Its been a lovely few days visiting family in Hamilton. Weather has been awfully cold and rainy. Lovely having cuddl

es with Lucy she a really good baby.

Yesterday we went for a 4 hour walk to the River I was pooped but had a coffe break before walking home. One day we braved the rain and went to Hamilton Gardens it was nice to get out and gardens lovely.
We tomorrow I head home and will really appreciate sunny Nelson even more!!

Getting Excited!

Well I am busy packing to go visit my newest granddaughter Lucy  Rose, she's just over 5 months, cant wait to have cuddles. Everybody seems to have the flu at present so I'm being careful and keeping myself away from the bugs!

I have finished a few knits, Linds fell inn love with the Starshower Cowl so we have been doing it together

owl  

Was knitted in some Skeinz undyed sock yarn in a lovely forest green was trying to dye to match a cardi! This is a colour I never wear but sick of pinks reds etc and I have a gold mustard merino that I think it will look nice with.
I also managed to get some sock blanks off trade-me and wanted to hand paint them. I was really pleased how they turned out very time consuming so the 2nd one I splattered dye on. I dunked them in a pale turquoise  dye for the base really happy how they turned out, I see shawls happening, so delicate. Couldn't get all the crinkles out though but it doesn't worry me.
I've just finished a pair of plain vanilla Socks  to take up North and have another pair on the needles going to try knit on plane or while waiting only got 40 mins between the 2 flights hope it's not windy tomorrow  as not a fan of flying into Wellington!
well better go up the shops before it rains. Be back next week!!

Here I am Again!

Well it s been over a year since posting here and thought it was time to resurrect  this page, must admit Instagram and Facebook have been my go to places for social media.
Well here in sunny Nelson it is winter and freezing but still sunny! -3 this morning so I am knitting hard out trying to keep up with socks hats baby clothes etc.
On the dyeing front I haven't dyed for months as I have quit the markets and will try and sell my yarn and knits on a different platform maybe Facebook or my own website, so watch this space. I did dye a few skeins on the weekend and really enjoyed it but freezing in my shed, I had forgotten how much i love dyeing yarn and the excitement of never knowing how it will turn out, love the surprise.

Seem to be dyeing a few spring colours wonder why!!! The Sapphire blue one was a custom dyed sock yarn for Lind's although she may make a scarf with it too nice to hide in shoes perhaps!! I am so excited waiting for some dyes I ordered from the States, cant wait to see what I can do with them!

The yarn I am using is all NZ wool which I always use now, the 100 gram 217 mtrs DK super-wash I sell for $19 and the 4 ply 357 mtrs  for $24  depending on base used.

Well i am super excited to report that I am a grandmother for the 9th time, baby Lucy Rose was born in March and I am going to see her soon so I cant wait, she will be 5 months then, that ditch of water between the North and South Island makes things tricky for  travelling up North. So all the baby thoings I had knitted for the markets which I dont do anymore have come in really handy, plus I a have been making lots of things for her. Here are 2 I made the Liesel link to my Rav pagehttp://www.ravelry.com/projects/louisson/wee-liesl

and Sunnyside 

I also got to visit Hamilton in January for my eldest grandson Ben's

wedding to Nicole. Me and Linds had a great time.
well my fingers are freezing up typing this so must go and thaw out in the sun.
So glad to be back and hope to be back on a regular basis now

Freezing Here!

Well we are well and truly into the swing of winter here with the last few days being -3 deg for a few mornings but afterwards we have a glorious sunny day. .
I have been away to Christchurch since last post, visiting family. It was a sad time as their faithful dog Shilo had to be put to sleep. He was 11 years old and the most lovely pet and companion.
Was going to the market today but have had a virus or cold all week and don't want to stand outside for hours freezing, its a shame as I was so looking forward to it. Must set up a website to sell my yarns and knits . Its on my to do list!!
Now it s been so long since writing trying to remember what I have been doing. Ive made a few pairs of socks. A nice green pair for me as my stock is going down.

I made this really nice cardie that I have had in my queue on Ravelry for ages I wanted something like a blanket that you can just wrap around yourself indoors and I think this fits the bill nicely. What I am most happy about is that I managed to use up all my stash possum yarn that Ive had for years so nice to see it put to good use. Oh the pattern is Caramel by Isabell Kraemer it is a free pattern and I love that you can so totally make it your own with stripes or not. Check out the project page on Ravelry their are some stunning finished garments. I havent blocked it yet as dont know when I would get it dry!!
I also managed to makes 4 Milos for Milo May always enjoy this pattern and now Georgie Hallam has brought out a new Milo pattern in 4 ply called Milo  Bambino, Ive yet to make, it  cant wait.

Yay a a knock on the door brought me some yarnie goodness from Vintage Purls in the form of undyed sock yarn that I cant wait to dye up.
I did get the dye-pots out the other day but it was freezing out in my shed and my feet were numb. I dyed the yarn I got from Hokotika Sockworld, this seemed really fine like a 3 ply but I must say it has taken the dye lovely and has really bloomed, it is so soft and cuddly. I dyed up a bright sunshiny yellow first time dyeing yellow! a bright blue and purple shades. The picture doesn't do them justice much brighter in real life.

Another project I started yesterday was another crochet blanket I have made many many of these in the  past and I have so much stash hand-dyed

yarn that I want to use up. This is a great winter project as when it gets bigger it keeps you warm while crocheting it!! Hoping to make it double bed size will keep you posted. I followed a YouTube tutorial and was slightly different to the ones I have done in the past, How to knit a granny square blanket for beginners
Give it a try as these blankets are great I put 2 extra on my bed these cold nights and they look so cheerful.
Well keep warm on my side of the world and have a great weekend wherever you are.
Cheers
Janet

Away! & Back Again!

The week before Easter my daughter managed to get The Greymouth House for a few days ideally we would have like Easter but this worked out well staying Thursday through Saturday.

 I haven't been here for a couple of years and I love it because it is so relaxing, you can truly get away from it all. no internet,. I think I have written about this amazing house before run by the CCS Disability Action.
 They have a small number of these homes in NZ. They are amazing as everything is wheelchair friendly and don't have to worry about accessing everything.
  It is called Bradley House and is located at the beautiful Paroa on the West Coast of the South Island, near Greymouth. We also had a very friendly Weka that visited us everyday!!

The first 3 days it rained which it usually does on the Coast! the first night we had it all, thunder lightning and hail for hours.. After that it was lovely and did some fun things like Gold Panning at Nelson Creek

The  best was going on the Tree Top Walk15 min drive south of Hokitika. It was absolutely fantastic, was wheelchair accessible, so Josh could enjoy it too
. Now I don't like heights at all so I didn't look down but it was not too bad as you are just looking out onto the native trees which there is information on the walk.
Needless to say I didn't   climb the Hokitia Tower 40 mtrs above the forest floor so i missed out views of the Southern Alps and the Tasman sea.  Josh and I just chilled out looking on as the others climbed up. Poor Joels legs were trembling when he came down!!

Loved the driftwood art at the beach in Hokitika

While i was away my landlords decided to paint my unit so I stayed at Linds for another week so the kitchen could get done. There is still another couple of weeks more to go already it is feeling so light and spacious.

We also went out to Rabbit Island to take the kids biking.  Josh took his trailer to gather pine cones, it was lovely, had a picnic too.

Well must rush, just off for a walk round the airport.

 Back now and exhausted,....... we only did half of the course and came back took about 1 hour, out of practice!! lots of planes going in and out though, so always something to look at, the tide was in so it looked lovely must take pics next time

Catch you later perhaps with knitting  news.
Have a good week all,
Janet

 

Looming!!!

Well what have I been doing this last month or so.
I think by now I have had my fill of shawls, I finished 3  Summer Butterflies love this pattern. I was lucky enough to get this when it was a free pattern, but it is a lovely shawl to purchase. I like the contrast black I put into the knotted edge now which one shall I choose for myself? I did a brown too but cant find pic.

I have done a little Gradient dyeing but knitting those blanks took forever so we were in Spotlight the other day and Linds spied this Martha Stewart Knit and Weave loom Kit and she thought it would be great for doing these. It was half price so we brought it. I thought it would take ages to do but she did one in no time using the circular loom. I will say this be very careful when purchasing we found we had to take back as some of the pegs and one other component didn't fit they changed it okay not before we opened the box and checked them all!!!This one is fine and I dyed up a Gradient straight away here it is cooking

and the finished results

I also made some Camp Out fingerless mitts getting ready for winter.Lovely done in variegated yarn, not my own this time must be the first time buying any for ages. Had more to write but pics took longer to download 

Have a great weekend wherever you are in the world

Janet XXX.

.

Blessings - Laura Story (with lyrics)

Shawls and More Dyeing

Well I seem to have a craze for knitted shawls. I haven't done any for years but felt myself drawn to this pattern that I have always loved, its Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl, it looks so lovely when its blocked out and no charts which i hate!! just line by line written instructions and it seems to showcase variegated yarns. The blue was a yarn that I over dyed because didn't like the other 2 were my own hand dyed yarns.
It takes one skein of yarn but you could make it much larger depending on the amount of wool  you have. You really do have to block this out in my opinion to show off the pattern.

I decided I loved the blanks I had dyed but not the time knitting them up, so thought I would try dip dyeing again, I had done once before but wasn't happy with the colours, this time I loved what I did! The blues and grey are 4 and 8 ply. I really wanted to see how they knitted up so cast on for a Pueperium (It is a free patten on Ravelry, 6028 people have knitted it you could try it too!)straight away using the 8 ply and some grey I dyed that had flaws in the skein ugh!! Here it is and I am pleased its knitting up nicely.The other 4 ply was supposed to be more purple but its more teal and blue but that's the name of the dyeing game ha ha !! you never know what to expect.
I have lots of colours for dip dyeing playing around in my head!!
Its been quite a bit cooler here in Nelson but today is lovely, just right for drying.
Quite a productive week really. Couldnt make the market today and Washbourne Garden Market last weekend was a washout, but I did manage to sell a bit of yarn (so thats all good) in between the rain.
Have a good day wherever you are
Janet

Summer Days

Well this has to be one of the hottest Summers I can remember here in Nelson. It has been very hot with no rain for ages and everything is  so parched and dry.
I haven't been doing much knitting or dyeing, but a few weeks back I did some gradient dyeing and was happy with what I did. Of

course I had to knit it up to see what it looked like! This is the 'In Threes Cardigan' that I have knitted up lots and it looks great in Gradient yarn. I also did a Gradient Milo and a lovely Bloom dress .

We went to Mapua yesterday for a picnic it was so hot but we found a spot under some trees. Georgia and her friend had a great time jumping off the wharf, while Joel climbed trees. We had fish and chips and fruit ice creams..... Heaven!!! What a beautiful spot so close to us.
I have done a few markets lately.  I am doing Washbourne Gardens Market on Monday that's if it doesn't rain, there are going to be lots of stalls so hope its good. Its not really the weather for hand knits and hand dyed yarn is it?
Well lunch time calls.
Have a good day wherever you are>
Janet XXXXX

Merry Christmas

Here's wishing you all a very Merry Christmas from my family to yours wherever you  are!
Family tradition of the Grand Kids decorating the tree, treasure hunt and yummy things!
See you all in 2015 and hope you have a happy holiday with much fun and relaxing.

Christmas day have a good one!

Christmas With a Capital "C"

I.m Still Here!

Been away from the blog far too long !!  dont seem to have lots to report this time.
Its hard to belive it will be the start of our summer in Dec. It has been quite cold and very windy here in Nelson, even more so than usual for this time of the year.
I have knitted 2 pairs of socks for my brother in the UK he has very big feet!! but managed to get a pair out of 1 skein. He was thrilled with them.

I have also entered into the indie designer GAL Gift-a-long on ravelry where some designers put up a few patterns at discount prices and there are games prizes and lots of fun plus you have the incentive to finish some Christmas gifts! It goes for 2 months so there is still time to join. If you are not a member of Ravelry you must join up, its great fun.
My entry (there may be more!) is a sweater for next winter, or it may be sooner than that if the weather is anything to go by! Its called Briquette by Alicia Plummer and I have liked it since seeing it on Rav. Havent attempted a jersey before so will see how it goes.  I'm liking the look of it so far but  i am pleased i opted for the size 39 even though I am 37,  it fits where it touches so far!! I dyed the yarn myself in a sort of winey brown that I am calling Raisinberry, even though dyed together I can see slightly the difference between skeins. not bothered too much about it though if I like the fit etc will probably make another, it does have a hood and never done one of those before, so its a learning curve for me. Here is my project page on rav.

Just used the last of my lemons up to make a yummy dressing, it is so simple. Looks like there will be lots of blossoms on the tree, it sure does suit being moved from its cold part of the garden.

Here is the Recipe.

Equell  parts of lemon juice and oil. I use canola but can use what you like. About 3 lemons you could use more.
I large teaspoon of honey or you could use sugar, I think honey better myself.
1 large teaspoon of Wholegrain mustard.
Mix all together in glass jar and shake well
Enjoy!!
Have a good week wherever you are.
Janet