Yarnivorous

G'day all! I have heaps of yarn in small amounts - stuff I've hand-dyed, stuff I've spun, all sorts of bits and bobs. It would be great for scumbling or crocheting free-form granny squares or any purpose that does not require gauge (heh, my spinning isn't always perfect). It tends to be bright and happy yarn of random gauges (mostly about 8 ply/DK/light worsted but it can vary from 4 ply/fingering up to chunky). Very little of it would be machine washable. Pretty much all of it is wool, some has some silk blended into it, a little has nylon. If you are into magic balls, it would be great for that though some lengths might be a little long! Is there anyone out there who would like some for the cost of postage? Within Oz, I can send a satchel with up to 500g of yarn for $6, or express post for $8.40. (Note that I might not be able to get that much yarn into the satchel.) 3kg bags are $10.30 but I quite frankly doubt I can get that much yarn in. I might be able to...

G'day all! The other day I finished off my variant of Jared Flood's Beaumont tam/beanie. Here it is in all its unblocked glory. I knitted mine out of handspun (the purple is dyed by me targhee roving, the white is some Polwarth I think cos it is very soft). I started this in France, knitted more in Switzerland and finished it off just in time for some rather warm days in Oz. I love the way the top makes me think of a starfish or some other radially asymmetric critter. I am contemplating sending it to a friend who loved the colours. I am just not sure it will be warm enough for her in winter! She will experience much colder temps than those I am used to in either California or Melbourne. Did you know it is almost impossible to take pics of the back of your own head (without a mirror or a tripod)? I took so many shots with only a corner of the tam in the shot. Now for the important stuff. Yarn! Sock yarn. Sockulator . Mmm. This one is pretty thick. I'd knit it on n...

G'day all! I've been doing a little stash enhancement recently. Mmm, Wondoflex.... They carry Touch Yarns (NZ, luscious stuff!). I closely eyeballed the possum wool but decided I would be "good" and only buy some of the 4 ply wool in a lovely greeny pastelly lotsa colours, like I am wont to pick up. Mmmm, this is soft as soft can be. Lovely merino softly spun. Colour 208. I've already wound this into a ball and cast on a faroese shawlette (btw if anyone can tell me how to say faroese, I'd be grateful. Apparently the a is said like a German long o, which doesn't help ME much at all, what with my mad German skilz). So far I've gotten past the shoulder shaping and am putting some pattern into the body of it. I have Ideas that I will have it finished in time for Nathan's Grandma's party at the end of the week. Then there is some Grignasco "Ice Cream," though the labels look rather like these were samples rather than production ya...

G'day all! The days are just flying by at the moment. I have more things to do than you could poke sticks at, even if you had a very large number of sticks! I just sat a library page exam. A library page shelves books at the library. Not the world's most high-falutin' job but I've always loved books, love hanging around in libraries and being paid to do what I do quite often (which is put books in the correct order rather than the way they are on the shelf) would be great! Anyway, I show up with a couple of moments to spare (got a phone call at a *very* bad time!) and show my id and hand over my application. There were over FORTY people applying for TWO positions. Two positions of between 8 and 20 hours per week in four hour shifts, positions paying $11.04 an hour. There were school kids, business men and women (well dressed, shiny shoes, sleek hair), accountants (I reckon the guy opposite me was an accountant - note that I put them in a different basket!), house wi...

G'day all! The other day I did some fibre-reactive dyeing. It is for cotton and other cellulose fibres like bamboo. I dyed up a t-shirt and decided to play with a ball of a new sock yarn, Kertzer On Your Toes . It is 75% bamboo, 25% nylon so the fibre-reactive dyes should work. The only problem with this sort of dyeing is that you are supposed to machine wash the item in hot water. Being a clueless noob to this, I chucked the rinsed yarn in a lingerie bag and threw it in. A ball, not a skein with many many ties. Well it came out looking like this: . A very pretty mess. I've found there are two types of people in the world when they see tangled yarn. Those who throw their hands to the sky and exclaim "Woe is me*, my yarn is a tangled mess and I must throw it out!" and Those who see a tangled skein and They MUST Untangle It! *Or words to that effect, probably words that involved a lot of cussing. I've taken tangled yarn into my LYS and practically been knocke...

G'day all! The flat above us has been vacant for some time (hooray!). Yesterday someones moved in. What would be the worst possible outcome for people who are childless and modest in their noise output? What would be the worst for people who had to put up with two little boys running around above them for six months? Well it isn't a small boy above. Well actually it could be - I am fairly sure that it is a small human cos I don't think people would put up with it if it wasn't. It is a squalling infant - h-wah, h-wah, h-waaah! It is already quite obvious in its wailing and I am pretty sure that it has not developed its lungs (and hence its squalling ability) well yet. Now I know that small babies can't help crying but oh gods, why did they have to move in above us? What have we done wrong to the world that we need to be followed around by children and babies that are loud enough to wake us up at odd hours? Is it giving these poor old ovaries a hint? (Note tha...

G'day for the umpteenth time! I bring news, my lord (s and ladies!). We have a place to stay in Calgary (the youth hostel which is 400m from the consulate), tickets are booked for the trip up there and our Amtrak stuff on its way. I hope. Thank you all again for your good wishes. I think you need a little something other than my stress flaring at you. How about a little sock action? An actual finished sock! Yes I still do knit. (Lenore pattern in the Raven series from Blue Moon Fiber Arts - you don't know how hard it is to type fiber, center, etc, instead of fibre, centre, etc. Plus the second one is on the needles! Me making a pair of socks! Unthinkable! Inconceivable!) Interesting how the plying on the yarn makes those columns - I've seen that on Zarina and a few other yarns with a high twist angle. Some more yarn pr0n? Oh yes indeed you better believe that the yarn I've been showing you was not all of what I bought for me for my birthday. *blush* (But I di...

G'day all! (Any other Melburnians remember "Compradez de Franco Cotzo? In Norda Melabun and Foodiscray.") Today's post is brought to you by desperate and dollar-less. Things are rumbling along here today. DH is playing in the bathroom with a friend and managing to get up and down reasonably well. It seems his back is easing up some more now. Being in a good temper helps a LOT too! Interesting how the mind-body connection works). I'm getting over the cold quite nicely now. It has rained some and has gone cooler (annoyingly now that I can wash more fleece but hey we need rain. Even the 10mm we've had so far makes a big difference!). Everything looks lush and damp outside, which means I'll have to cut the nature strip soon (is that what other people call the strip of grass between the footpath and the road outside your house?). I have heaps of plants to plant and stuff to do but for the nonce? Gran' sale time! I'm putting up some of my hand...

G'day all! A couple of days ago I went along to the Stitches and Craft show. It is a big show that has all sorts of crafty things as long as they are (I have to call them) "lady crafts." It doesn't do things like woodworking or metal working - those are "man crafts." Yes yes beat me up now - I have done woodworking. I have made a table out of Australian hardwoods and done mortise and tenon joints, etc. Women can do and do do woodworking and metal working (though I find that the tools are all designed for stronger and larger grips than mine). But that is not the aim of this show. It is for the "gentle" arts of patchwork, scrap booking (I can't pick on scrap bookers much as I want to - after all people say why knit and spin?), embroidery, beading, etc, etc, and of course knitting. There was even a cake decorating display. So I go along to the show. I talked to everyone on the wool stands except for one place cos they were busy. Even int...