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

I'm Back

Well I am back after house and pet sitting for my daughter and family while they took a well deserved trip to Australia's Gold Coast, this coincided with the twins 13th birthday and much fun was had! The twins had a very hard start to life being born at 24 weeks, and weighing 710 grams, so its amazing seeing them grow up into lovely young people. I didn't have far to go just the next suburb and being close to Richmond Mall meant that I could walk there most days when it wasn't raining!! The animals were fine and Coco loved her little walk each day. On the knitting front have just finished another Featherweight Cardigan that is just blocking at present, it is quite bright one of the colours being a bright red!

I have finished my Criollo cardigan minus the buttons, love how this fits and lovely for Spring. I was lucky enough to win some yarn and stitchmarkers in a Rav KAL. The yarn was from Featherbrush Yarns and is lovely. Love the colours! The next exciting bit of news is I brought myself a new tablet, it is a Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 just the right size for me and has a great camera on it which is why I bought it really. Well our weather has been great after all the rain we had, it was 22 deg yesterday but very very windy. Loving the Spring with all the lovely flowers out. I an sure I had more news but have forgotten I want to get back into dyeing some more wool, have just ordered some from Skeinz so will have to get winding by hand!!!! I would love a swift to make the job easier, Oh I did dye a gradient blank, dip dyeing a first for me not sure I like it will have to see how it knits up. (Show and tell, next time perhaps)
 Well have a great day wherever you are.
Janet

Living In Gods Own!

Well I forgot to mention here that on 26th July 1974 we emigrated to NZ from the UK. I cant believe I have been here 40 years!!! I haven't regretted a minute of it even though I still miss family and friends a lot. I love this land called Gods Own and I believe I live in the most beautiful place.... Nelson. Lovely sunny winters with the snow capped mountains in view and not too hot summers, lots of walks, national parks, stunning beaches, lakes etc etc! Blessed!!! I have had a desire to dye up some pale green yarn to make myself another cardi Criollo, this pattern fits so well and I am hoping that I have enough yarn to do long sleeves this time. I do have another skein of a slightly paler green in a different 4 ply that might do at a pinch Here it is cooking in the pot.The colour in the pot is closer to the real colour the other is too yellow. This co-lour reminds me of spring that is not too far away the daffodils are budding already and lots are out when I go walking. I also knitted another Gidday Baby this time with 4.5mm needles as the other 2 I made came too small, I use some merino that I dyed that I wasn't fond of knitted up but this mixed in with the natural yarn looks lovely I think. Again I used my hand made buttons. It would be great for a boy or girls there are not too many boy cardi's out there! Another pattern I have been wanting to try for a long time is called Cascade a sweet little girls cardi I did it in 8 ply Utiku wool and it came out about 6 months size. I put my handmade buttons on for a finishing touch I love this cardi the pics are coming out too red it is a really bright bright pink! Well have a happy day wherever you are! Janet xxxxx

Anzac Bikkies!

Today I felt like making some Anzac Biscuits These are my favourite biscuits at the moment I just love the crisp outer and chewy centre. This recipe is the best and I never have a fail. Here is the recipe
 Anzac Biscuits
 Preheat oven to 150 cel
 Ingredients 1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
 1 cup sugar
1 cup coconut
1 cup rolled oats
 Mix all these ingredients together

 Then
 2 Tbsp Golden syrup
150g butter (But I cut the butter down to 120g)
 Melt these into a large bowl until bubbling.

 Then
 2 tbsp hot water
1 tsp baking soda

 Dissolve soda in water then stir into bubbling butter mixture. Pour into dry ingredients and mix well. Roll into balls and press with a fork onto tray Cooking time 15 to 20 mins. I find mine takes 15 mins in my oven, you need to watch them as they catch easily
 Enjoy!!!!

I finished my shawl 

The Age Of Brass and Steam It turned out lovely would recommend this pattern to all.

I also made a In Threes Baby Cardigan This is another lovely pattern if you want something not too complicated.Over 4000 people have made it on Ravelry. I dyed up some wool for this sort of speckled and wanted to see how it knitted up. I forgot to use 5mm needles and used 4 mm and it came out NB to 3 months it is really cute this was done on 8 ply wool instead of worsted.

I have just finished another sock Hermione's Everyday Sock this is a great pattern if you want to knit something a bit different to a plain Vanilla sock.
Well it is quite mild today seems like we are going to have a mildish winter! I am happy with that.
Have a good day
Janet

More of This and That

Well its been very cold here with lots of frosts but mostly sunny days! sadly today is very bleak but Ive just been for a walk to warm me up!! Been knitting socks again mine are in short supply tried the new fish kiss heel tried both toe up and top down still like my good old favourite top /cuff down with a regular heel flap, better fit. The pattern is by Stephanie Pearl McPhee A good plain Sock Recipe that I found in her book Knitting Rules. I have had this hankering for gold coloured yarn so set out to dye mesome! I dont really like shawls that much but I have been wanting to knit this one Age of Brass and Steam for a while nothing fancy but looks quite effective I think. The wool I use was some merino from the USA European sock. I also dyed up some of the new naked Skeinz Merino new to them and I must say I am impressed how lovely soft and squishy it is and dyes beautifully. I had a bit of a dyeing session yesterday and got carried away with my gold, now it can only be described as GLOWING! I don't mind it but it is a bit bright! Also tried some dip dyeing not too happy with colours but somebody might like them! I also dyed a pastel green and bubblegum pink. I also dyed some merino for my daughter for her birthday purples etc it turned out nice very Royale with the gold! Having to think what I have been knitting this last month Oh yes I did a hat for Beka a really lovely free pattern on Rav Xeranthemum lovely name! Made another Poplar Cowl no 3 and these I wear all the time. I highly recommend this pattern to all.

Well it must be time to make some lunch, soup I think to keep those chills away! I bought myself a new stockpot Used my other one for dyeing!!) and made myself up a big pot of chicken soup with lots of split peas and veg very tasty and freezes great for days such as this! Oh yes I forgot won another prize in another KAL cant wait to see what I get1 Take care and keep warm on my side of the world Janet

Cowl Time

Ages since I last posted after having good intentions to blog more! Been busy knitting some orders I got mainly Milo Vests they are such a versatile piece of clothing for layering for both boy or girl. I have lost count of how many of these I have made.

I also made a flower hat for a wee dot called Peyton her Mum kindly allowed me to post a pic of her she is so cute! Been doing a lot of over dyeing my wool and putting my new labels on it "Moments in Time" very time consuming but worth it. Realized I don't have many boy colours mostly purples! Georgia dyed these 2 yarns they turned out great she is better at pastels than me, I am too heavy handed! Bought some Merino 8 ply so am going to try dyeing some today but my dye stock is very low and do I really want to go into the shed to do that today Brr Brr!!! I love the look of the gradient dyeing and I was delighted to win a beautiful cake of Gradient hand dyed yarn. This I must say is the softest wool I have ever knitted with. White Gum Wool from Australia. They sell some here Augustbird

I also won a very useful project bag for more WIPs!

This is what I made from it. A poplar Cowl from Julia Stanfield this is another KAL I am entering. Must say I am not a fan of cowls but I brought the E book with 4 patts in and I am sure I will do the scarf, I would encourage anybody to have a go at this the pattern is so simple and you can knock one out in no time of course if it is thicker wool not 4 ply! I am going to do one in some of my hand dyed merino 4 ply watch this space! Very bleak today here in not so sunny Nelson been making lots of soup an freezing it yum! May be going to Ch Ch beginning of July for few days so will be great to catch up with the family down there and to see how the rebuild is going on! Keep warm! Janet

Cake That I Like!! Ha Ha!

I love cake as much as the next person, but............. I really do love these hand dyed gradient cakes. A lot of work but Oh so worth it, the knitted socks takes no time to knit, as you wait to see the emerging colours , not like the boring brown pair I am making that is just so tedious to knit!!! Anyway I did a fair bit of dyeing at the weekend another lovely pumpkin colour, pale greens and a couple of multis. I have also knitted a few Milo's for May these are very easy to make, there is still time to head over to Ravelry and Look up the Milo Vest I had a nice mothers day the weather was glorious. We went over to Motueka to the markets, bought lots of apples from roadside stalls and tried these lovely fried dough-nutty balls delicious!! We then went for lunch at the Dan's parents place out in the country just so peaceful looking over at Mapua. Oh I finished 2 of the Gidday baby cardies that I started last time, another lovely Tikki pattern. Have a good week everyone wherever you are in world. Janet

Autumn Days

Its been a while again..... mainly because I keep hoping to get better pictures of my knits etc but my tablet died and my camera seems to snap co-lours that are nothing remotely like the real thing! I could be waiting for ever! Did a few more gradient dyeing but it is time consuming knitting up the blanks but it is well worth it. The pattern I made from the gradient is the Rikke hat my favourite hat pattern to go! this one was for Kena. I have made about 8 or nine pairs of socks and still have at least another 3 to go I don't mind though socks are so satisfying to knit. I had a market on Thursday last week in Richmond they changed the day from Friday (because of Anzac day) and it was much better had a good day so i promptly put in a order of undyed yarn from Wool2dye4 I love getting NZ wool but we don't have a lot of choice here sadly to say! I want to concentrate more on selling my yarn than knits, it is just getting known really. I have been taking part in a non mystery KAL held by Tikki of the famous Milo! talking about the Milo pattern it is Milo May coming up in a few days, I am sure you will find at least one or two on my needles! I have just finished one of my most favourite knits the Featherweight Cardi its been on my queue on Rav for ages I did make one out of baby yarn but that doesnt count! Looking through the projects on Rav there are some stunning striped ones and decided to do mine similar 24 row stripes, it fits great and is lovely and soft to wear go to my project page here

The weather has turned quite cold here had my heat pump on for the first time yesterday brr. I have been eating lots of Pumpkin Soup though........... Yum!!! This is a pic of the Gidday Baby KAL I am knitting the sleeves on so it will be finished in my next post and possibly another that I have on my needles while I have been waiting for the next clue. Keep warm Janet

Sock Blank Experiment I thought was a Fail !!

I have been meaning to have a go at dyeing sock blanks to make a pair of socks that was identical. The usual way is to use a knitting machine, so I had to improvise by hand knitting! yes I know boring............ Anyway this is what I did using some Skeinz undyed sock yarn. I cast on 6o stitches after a bit of maths which I am not great at and 6mm needles I had first split the skein into 2 50 gr balls and knitted two strands together. It mindless knitting while you are watching TV. I put a running thread through the blank like this

This was done so I could try and make stripes one half being black, i was figuring on having

2 rows of stripes per 30 stitches. Even though I got most of the water out prior to dyeing the black bled for a couple of inches and all the other colours seems to merge so much I was contemplating throwing the whole thing out !!! Anyway I thought black socks would be okay but tedious to knit so carried on. This is what I was left with and it was so exciting seeing the colours emerge! My third attempt I decided to not be so precise and just ladled the colours on that I like and what I had already mixed up and this is how it started out

I have finished

one sock and I have labelled it Firecracker I wonder why! I am knitting up another blank this time using 80 stitches as this wool is a little thinner, will be interesting to see how it goes. Now what colors to use for this one!!

3 Years On (Christchurch Earthquake)

Once again we think of the people of Christchurch today, of ones whose lives will never be the same after 22nd Feb 2011. The sadness seems to get worse as we see the effects it had and still having on peoples lives. I think we are just seeing the reality of that day, the lovely city razed to the ground and so many lives lost and families lives changed. Although there is much progress on the rebuild and a hope for the future, it will take decades to materialize. My family in Christchurch are one of the ones affected by this event, and are still living in temporary accommodation, thankfully well away from the Eastern suburbs where they once lived. Their house hopefully will be demolished this week and will be another part of their lives gone, some will say it is only a house but it was their home where they made dreams for the future. That now means that they will not live in that house when a new one is put up, too many bad memories and they don't want to live on the edge of the Red Zone. I have a granddaughter who for a few months at the end of last year could not go to school because of the wind, she is terrified of it (Christchurch is one windy city!! ) Thankfully she is getting some help, and she has started going back, luckily they have some good procedures in place at school for when it is windy. These are some very real problems for lots of children in Christchurch that will take some time to get over. For now though they can look forwards to a new stage of their lives in building a new home somewhere near where they live now. Proud of you Rachel and Patrick and girls for hanging in there as its been tough every step of the way for you and many others, lots have just thrown the towel in and left ChCh, not so easy if you have a good job there!!I'm sure waiting it out will mean in the future you will have one of the safest and most beautiful cities once again.

Its Been Awhile

Well feeling motivated today to getting back here again. Ive been at Linds for the past few days babysitting animals while they were away. They had to go later as Great Granny (Mons) passed away on Friday, she was in her 98th year and was a lovely lady and will be sadly missed. Ive been inspired to make some Cardies for myself just lately as I haven't been doing the markets. I had been drawn to this pattern Criollo designer is Justyna Lorkowska. From the first time I saw it I have had it in my queue on Ravely. I made one then I made 2 perhaps there may even be a No 3 I love the construction, fit, everything and I really love cardies made with 4 ply especially as I dyed it up myself which was challenging to say the least, to try and get the skein's the same, of course I didn't but not too noticeable and I didn't feel like alternating skeins esp with trying out a new design. Of course now I want to try out more of her designs as the fit is fantastic

Had trouble capturing the colours I was dragging the model that Georgia so kindly gave me all around the house must find a name for her!!. The lovely little project bag I won in a competition held by Laura from The Dyers Notebook podcast and the prize was from Little Skein on etsy. The bag which features The Little Velveteen Rabbit is so well made with lovely quality fabrics I am so pleased with it , and have several WIP hidden away in it. It has inspired me to make some of my own so you may see yet some sewing related articles on my blog now that would be different wouldn't it!!! I am excited to add that I have now lost 10 kilos mainly eating healthy and exercises walking and Hula Hooping I borrowed my granddaughters hoop an have lost about 5-6 ins from my waist so if you have one handy go try!!!. Oh I have dyed some wool but not much, I am mainly dyeing what I need to knit as I have loads put away, hopefully will try the markets when it gets a little cooler to sell some. I must admit I will concentrate on the dyeing as I love it so much. Well its come over cold here and raining so must put another layer on, pleased that I got up to the shops early before the rain. Good old Metservice!