Show Time

The local show was on last weekend, and I went along for a few hours to have a look at the different happenings. I'd been along already the week before to drop off some of my knitted things, having decided to enter them in.

I hadn't originally planned to enter anything in the show, hence the last-minute decision. I was teaching a knitting class the evening before, and one of the ladies attending also happened to be part of the show society. It came up in conversation, and when she asked if I'd entered anything, I replied that no I hadn't. I went on to add that I didn't think I really had anything worth entering.

She told us how one year they didn't have enough entries in the flower section, so she had to race home and cut some roses and gerberas, just to fill up the display. They ended up winning ribbons, but the main point is that having a full display is what's important. For a little show like ours, it can be hard for them to have the displays nice and full. This year it was, and it was nice to have played a small part in that.

May

Just as I begin to wonder if the seasons will change, all of a sudden the days are shortening, the afternoons are decidedly chilly and I'm shutting up the house early to trap the warmth and light the fire. The trees have turned golden yellow and are starting to drop their leaves, a little later than last year but lovely none the less. May is a beautiful month, and has always been one of my favourites - up north it was a gorgeous mild month of perfect weather, and here it signals the final month of Autumn before winter truly arrives. L M Montgomery might have been glad to live in a world where there are Octobers, but I will always be glad of May and June.

Here & Now | April 2019 Link Up

I originally didn't intend to continue with the Here & Now link up during this year, but I've missed writing the posts and seeing yours, too. It's a nice way of checking in once a month, another way to keep a journal as the year goes on by.

I had the joy recently of visiting a beautiful garden, and amongst all the other gorgeous flowers growing was this patch of echinacea. They are such pretty flowers, I had to take a photo.

Porridge Days

April is here and the delicious weather with it - porridge days they should be called as they are not too hot and not too cold, but just right (just like Baby Bear's porridge in the Goldie Locks story). I've been snapping photos here and there and doing lots of knitting, but never quite finding the time to put the photos together with words here on this blog until this afternoon.

Maple Infinity Scarf Knit-Along | Come Join!

The Maple Infinity Scarf has been published and the celebrate I'm hosting a knit-along. We had a lot of fun with our knit-alongs last year so it's lovely to be running the first one for 2019 now. 

Maple is a cosy, chunky knit with lots of texture in a relaxing pattern. Broken moss stitch is easy to knit, providing interest and texture. Maple is knitted holding two strands of DK weight yarn together, creating a cuddly fabric and making this a quick knit.

I knitted Maple in two yarns - one sample is worked in silky smooth Novomerino and the other in woolly, squishy WOOLganic. Both yarns work really well with this pattern, each giving slightly different results.

All the info on how to join the KAL is below to make this as simple as possible for you. I hope you'll join us!

March Making

March has rolled in alongside the most beautiful weather. Deliciously cool mornings that require socks on my feet if I'm to enjoy my first cup of tea sitting outside, watching the landscape around me change as the sun comes up higher over the hills. As the fog fades and the birdsong gets progressively noisier before they decide they've well and truly had their say, the sun strengthens and by mid-morning it's a gorgeous warm day.
I so love this time of year. It's the perfect blend of everything - cool and warmth - all rolled into one.

Although it might not feel like it right now as day time temperatures are still up quite high, the proper cold will soon arrive and with that thought, I feel like knitting so many snuggly things. I've cast on a rainbow shawl for myself, finally using a kit that I got as a treat at the end of Knitfest last year. All of the yarns in the kit are hand dyed, a mixture of merino, alpaca and silk. Upon reading through the pattern that came with the kit, I sadly don't have enough of the contrast colours to make the shawl properly. In the end, I'm supposed to knit twenty-six lace panels between twenty-six garter stitch panels.

Cast Off | Doocot Jumper

I finished my Doocot jumper last week and as the weather has now gone rather cool (for February) I took the chance to get some photos of it.
I'm very happy with this jumper, it's turned out exactly how I wanted it to. I've been wanting something cropped to wear with dresses and skirts for ages now, but there never seems to be anything suitable in the shops.

I changed a couple of things to make this jumper perfect, which is one of the great things about knitting your own clothes - personalisation. The original pattern featured a much wider band of rib, starting higher up the body. I decided from the get-go that I'd knit the stocking stitch part longer, and keep the ribband thinner. I'm glad that I did, as the finished jumper matches perfectly with everything I hoped it would.

Almost There

I was just about to sit down and do some knitting on my jumper when I noticed how well it coordinated with the embroidery on the tablecloth (which you actually can't see in any of these photos) and how lovely and golden it looked in the last drops of sunlight. So I thought I'd snap a photo and write a quick blog post before dinner.

I'm trying to blog more in 2019 as I really enjoy it and I just didn't get to post here as much as I would have liked in 2018. I realise I'm not off to a very strong start, which is why I thought I'd jump on and publish this.

I'm very, very nearly finished this jumper and I am so excited with the anticipation of seeing it freshly finished and blocked, ready to wear. I don't always block my garments when I finish them, but this one is sporting a few wrinkles after being scrunched up inside my project bag. It makes my tension look slightly uneven which bothers my knitting self, so blocked it shall be!

Knitting Projects: Finding my Balance

I'm at the delicious part of knitting a garment where it's nearly finished. I have trouble putting them down when they reach this point as the excitement starts to build. The other half of my mind can't help but think that there's no rush to finish, as Autumn isn't here yet. But I love that as soon as that first cool day arrives, the one that has you reaching for something warm to put on, I'll be able to reach for something I knitted by hand.

I'm trying a new way of making this year. I'm trying to have fewer projects on the go at once. My plan is probably laughable, as generally speaking, I'm not a knitter with a project problem. At the most, I've only ever had 6 on the go at once, and as knitting is my only craft I know that this sounds like a tiny amount to some. My happy place used to be to have three to four projects on my needles at the same time. But lately, I've felt the need for change. I'm going to experiment with only having one major project happening at once. When I've finished knitting one, I will start the next. I'll only double up when I'm also working on a design for a pattern.

Knit It: Mini Jumper Pattern

Hello!
How are you going? Did you have a good New Year & Christmas? I spent most of my break knitting, and since the New Year it's been all systems go here with the Pop-up shop. I opened that 2 weeks ago and have just 2 weeks left. January is going by in a bit of a whirl!
I'll write more about the pop-up shop another day, today I wanted to share with you my first pattern for 2019. I published my Mini Jumper pattern on the weekend and am very excited at how well it's been received!

These little jumpers are a lot of fun to make and measure just 11 - 10 cm long from the hem to the neck. They make lovely little decorations and are just too cute!
These are knitted in-the-round from the bottom up, a similar construction to full-sized jumpers knitted in that way...so if you'd like to knit yourself a garment but are feeling a bit frightened, why not knit one of these minis first to get a feel for how garments go together?

How to Search for Patterns on Ravelry

Ravelry is an excellent database of patterns, but I know that it can be overwhelming and hard to use for those new to the site. I recommend Ravelry a lot, and often have to explain how to use it to new users, so I thought it might be a good idea to publish a photo tutorial on how to search for patterns on Ravelry. You can click/tap the images to make them bigger.

Step 1: Go to www.ravelry.com and click the "Patterns" tab on the lefthand side (highlighted in the image below)

Step 2: If you're looking for a pattern or designer that you already know the name of, type it into the search box. If you're just doing a search for something like "beanie" or "cardigan" however, use the advanced search (highlighted below)

Step 3: This is where the excellent functionality of the Ravelry search comes in. Customise your search based on your skill level (or what level of complication you feel like tackling), pattern availability, constructions techniques, the weight of yarn used and more.

In my search below, I've selected "Knitting" - so I'll only see patterns that are knitted

Also highlighted is the Availability section - I always check Free, Purchase Online & Ravelry Download. This stops me being shown patterns that are out of print or are in books

I've also highlighted the Photo box - I always tick "Yes" so that I can see an image to match the pattern.

Step 4: Continue scrolling down the side to select what features you want. You can tick as many boxes as you like to really refine your search.
Below I've highlighted the Construction tab in the Attributes -> then from that box I've selected "Worked Flat": Now I'll only see patterns that are worked flat in this search (something I used to tick all the time before I learnt to knit in-the-round)

Step 5: I've continued scrolling down in my search to choose what weight of yarn I want to see patterns for - this is an excellent search feature if I'm trying to find a pattern for a specific yarn. You can select multiples of these. In the search, I've simply selected "DK" so I'll only see patterns that use DK/8ply weight yarn.

Step 6: Finally, after you've selected all of the filters you'd like, you can see them at the top of your search. It's easy to remove or change one if you want to. You can also change your search in the search bar (circled below) without your filters being cleared - super handy!

Now all that remains to do is to look through your search to see what patterns grab your eye. To access a pattern page, simply click on the image or title.

I hope you've found this tutorial helpful. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave them below and I'll do my best to answer them!

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New Year, New Venture

At the end of the year, I usually write a reflective post - either looking back on the year from a blogging or a making perspective. Last year I didn't do that as we were in the middle of moving interstate, and this year I'm more excited about the end of the coming week than the New Year. You see, I'll be collecting the keys to a shop space at the end of this week, and spending the weekend moving all of my stock into it, setting it up and arranging it, ready to open in a week. I'm very excited!

My shop is a temporary one - called a pop-up shop. If you haven't heard the term before, it simply means a temporary shop. Some pop-ups last for 1 day, 1 week or 1 season. I'm having mine for 1 month. I'm really excited to be popping up in Bellingen over the middle of summer. It's going to be so nice to have all of my yarns and other things displayed in my shop; it's just not the same having them tucked away in a cupboard!

The Bellingen Crafternoon Tea Party

A Crafternoon Tea Party was on Saturday, and the time went by in the blink of an eye. It was a really lovely afternoon and something I'd definitely love to run again. The afternoon was held at Cedar Bar & Kitchen in Bellingen, which is the most gorgeous venue. Running Crafternoon alongside me was Megan of Dolly Henry, and over the last few months, we've had many chats about Crafternoon, tweaking things and finalising details until the day was finally here.

Here & Now | December 2018 Link-Up

Well, here we are - the last 'Here & Now' post for the year. On one hand, I feel as though the year has flown by, and on the other, I feel like it's been sooo slow. Such a lot has happened over these last 12 months that sometimes if I stop and think about it I feel a little breathless (figuratively, that is).

The last of the spring blooms are still clinging around, although the sweetpeas have mostly stopped flowering and the majority of the cornflowers have bloomed now, too. The last of the carrots have been harvested, the cucumber picking is becoming more frequent and the zucchinis, tomatoes and capsicums are beginning to flower.

Gifts to Knit: 5 Project Ideas

I can hardly believe it's December this weekend! Where has the time gone? I know this next month is going to go by in a flash. I'm busy at the moment with organising the last weeks of the year and making sure everything is sorted. I've also begun thinking ahead to the New Year, I just don't seem to be able to help it. I'm also looking forward to having 2 weeks off over Christmas & New Year. This year has been very big for my business and I can hardly wait to have some time to collect my thoughts, read some books and, of course, do some knitting!

With all of these things on my mind, I'm still trying to remain present 'in the moment' and not get too caught up with the speed of time. As I was checking over the second issue of Yarnologie this week (it's due to be published on Saturday), I started to think about Christmas gift knitting. Making for others isn't something I've done a lot of this year, but when I do gift knit it's something I always enjoy. I've written before about handmade gifts here if you're unsure about giving something you've made yourself this year. (There's also a piece in Yarnologie about it).

If you are sure though, and just haven't quite decided what to make, here are five project ideas for gifts to knit this Christmas (or any time, really!). There's also a discount code at the bottom of this post to use with the featured patterns over the next week.

A Year of Workshops

Prepping the kits the day before

On Saturday I taught my last knitting workshop for the year, and as I looked around the table while everyone's heads were bowed in busy concentration, I realised that I couldn't have asked for a nicer workshop to end the year on. Saturday's group of knitters were truly the loveliest bunch that made teaching the workshop easy and relaxing.
The workshop was Learn to Knit socks, and by the end of the day there were some finished little socks (we knit a mini so that all the techniques could be covered in the short time) and every single student had a big smile on their face and plans to continue on knitting socks. I do believe some even planned to cast on a pair as soon as they got home!

Here & Now | November 2018 Link-Up

Loving // Cooler days after the heatwave we had a week ago and the garden bursting in flowers on most of the plants. I'm also admiring the beautiful handspun yarn samples and hand dyed/spun/woven coasters I was sent by Vicki Cornish of Bonsai Woman. I interviewed Vicki for Yarnologie Issue 02, and she was kind enough to send some samples of her gorgeous work.

Eating // Fresh strawberries from the patch with yoghurt most days, and there's a chicken roasting away in the oven as I type. It smells delicious.

Drinking // Less tea as the days warm.

Bits and Pieces

Summer is arriving, bringing with it all of the things that I love and also dislike about the season. Hot long days aren't a favourite of mine (don't get me wrong, I like the days being a little longer but they are a fair bit longer than I'm used to now I'm living in New South Wales). I'm a woolly kind of person at heart, and because of that autumn will always be my favourite season - the cups of tea, snuggly blankets, endless knitting and joy of baking things in the kitchen.

Knit Through Everything

Spring seems to finally be transitioning to warmer weather, with hot sunshine in the mornings and a breeze blowing most afternoons. I'm really enjoying the change, and my knitting projects have shifted with the seasons.
On my needles at the moment are socks, mostly because I seem to have become addicted to knitting them, but also because they are lightweight and therefore cool under my hands. They also fit nicely in my handbag, a definite perk as I've been taking my knitting out and about weekly for my craft day catch-up. I'm also teaching a sock knitting workshop in Bellingen in about 3 weeks, so it's hard not to have socks on my mind.

The other main project I'm working on is a summer top in the yummiest coloured 4ply organic cotton. The colour is called beetroot and I'm really loving how it's working up. It's also super soft.

The pattern is another one from the book Knit Vintage. The design is also a loose fit, and the chevron pattern is quite open and airy combined with the drape of the 4ply organic cotton - I'm looking forward to having it in my summer wardrobe.

Knitting Mini Elf Hats

This Mini Elf Hat is one of those accidental-designs. I fully intended to design it, but originally it was a component in something else. I wasn't happy with the other half of the design, but rather than work on it like I usually do, I got quite distracted with the cuteness of these hats, and I just had to keep knitting more.