A few weeks ago I entered a give away over at The Design Files. It was for a pair of Nikki Gabriel Ebony (wood) knitting needles. I was so surprised when my name was drawn randomly and I won!

Here’s my new needles, I already tried them out:

After knitting socks on 2.5mm needles for the last 6 months, these felt very strange but only because of their size (15mm). They make a great ‘click clack’ noise as you knit too (even hubby noticed). Thanks Lucy and thanks Nikki!

I finished off the medallion from the other day and would say that I might need to loosen up the tension a fair bit. Even though my first attempt didn’t turn out anything like the picture in the book (they never do), I can see this as the top of a cupcake for the girls to play with or the top of a pin cushion. Lots of them would make an interesting throw rug too. Anyway, not sure how soon I’ll do more but this was really fast to do, only about 19 rows of knitting and two rows of crochet (the centre and the outside).

A little while ago I mentioned that I’d bought a new knitting book. I’ve had a go at some of the patterns in there but this week I’m having a go at this. I’m not sure what I’ll use it for but perhaps a lot of them could make a nice little throw rug. I can already see that I’ve not got the right tension but once again, this is the first time I’ve done this and will hopefully be able to adjust better for next time.

For the last week I’ve found something that keeps popping up, this lovely shape!

First in this form when I used some scrap clay to make these large pendants.

Then I used it to make similar ones in different colours:

Then, after winding my new skien of sock wool it turned out like this:

I promise I didn’t try to make it this way. For a while I’ve been trying to work out how to use the photos I took in Cairns Botanical Gardens in some of my work. I took a lot of leaves such as these:

I can see the stripe having the influence here. This shape can also be found in these two photos that I took, one at New Norcia in WA and one in Cairns Qld:

After wondering how to incorporate these images it seems that they have surfaced in my work. Maybe I’ll grab that shape and run with it!

I have finally finished K’s socks. The thing that i suspected might happen did……her feet grew longer than I’d planned for while I knitted them (yep, I’m a slow knitter). Next time I’ll know much better and will plan for that growth. She has quite big feet for a 4 year old (an Aussie size 11) but I did manage to squeeze the socks on. Now I can start the next pair!

I want to point out for those who haven’t knitted a sock before, the striping has nothing to do with me. The wool comes that way and makes the stripes as you knit. I just wanted to clear that up because a lot of the time people give me credit for them.

If you know what you’re looking for you will see the differences between the socks but we’ll pretend they are the same. The stripes hide a multitude of knitting sins.

As well as picking up the book in my previous post I managed to snag these two knitting books which are, as you can see….from the 80s. Interesting to say the least but plenty of patterns in there that are still doable. As I mentioned before, these were half price so I got them both for around $3.00.

First, here are the patterns that belong in the ‘Yeah……nah’ category:

I should point out that the ‘yeah…nah’ part of this pattern really belongs to the pants, not the jumper. Really? Who would put pants like this on a kid?

Circus anyone?

I realise this looks sweet on this little guy but can you really, truly picture yourself dressing your son this way?

I’m fairly sure I remember this sort of jumper being in fashion. What on earth were we thinking?

Now for the more doable stuff. These are my favourites after flicking through:

This is just so sweet

Maybe not in these colours. This is a skirt and a top and I could see the skirt done in a different colour.

I think this would be my favourite in the book.

So, you never know what you’ll get when you pick up old books like these, most things are doable in different colours I think.

I have finally finished the first of K’s socks. I think all up this only took about 5 hours in total but I did it over a few weeks. Now just to do a second one. I tried it on her today (as you can see) and it fits. I’m really hoping one of two things:

a) It stretches or
b) Her feet don’t grow too much before Autumn (which is months away!)

I should have knitted it an extra inch or so long. Ah well, at least they don’t take long.

What a disaster this is turning out to be! Somehow though I like the chaos rather than what its meant to look like(the criss cross at the bottom of the picture). Instead of perfectly formed diamond criss crosses it looks much more like a bunch of streamers that have been blown about in the wind. This is a piece for an afghan I’m still knitting and is meant to be 20 inches long. I probably should have started again when I got through the first round of 12 rows but decided to press on. Oh well, its a disaster but at least I can say I tried!

Last week I bought myself a birthday present using the Book Depository. They are an on-line bookstore with free shipping worldwide and amazing prices (based in the UK). Here’s what I bought:

According to its official bibliographic data this book has:
“Knitting Basics. Yarns; equipment; casting on; holding the yarn; knit and purl; casting off; basic stitch patterns; Getting Started. Following a pattern; tension; correcting mistakes; selvedges; increases and decreases; picking up stitches; blocking and pressing; buttonholes; seams; intermediate stitch patterns; Textured Knitting. Twisted stitches and cables; bobbles and knots; elongated stitches; loop stitch; textured stitch patterns; Working In Rounds. Double pointed needles; medallions; shaping a gusset; turning a heel; stitch patterns in rounds; Colour Work. Slipstitch colour patterns; vertical colour changes; stranding yarns; weaving yarns; following a chart; stitch patterns from charts; Embellishments. Trimmings; beads and sequins; crochet; embroidery on knitting; edging stitch patterns; Special Techniques. Advanced casting on; grafting; hems, facings, waistbands; pockets; fastenings; advanced stitch patterns”

I can’t wait to have a go at some of the fancy patterns in there.

I’ve also been naughty and bought MORE sock wool. This time a luscious buttery yellow and a stash of smaller (120g total) skeins of wool. I have plans for socks for the girls using the colourful lot!

I’ve also started a pair of socks for K in her favourite colours, so much faster although its taken me 3 hours so far to get this far (I’m actually up to the heel now so have done another 3 hrs since this pic):

Last night I completed sock number two. It was so nice to finish this as I’ve been knitting these for a few months. Funny thing was that sock number two took about a week and a half! Once I found the right instructions on-line I was set. I’ve ordered some more sock wool and some has arrived (pictured below) so I’ll start the next set soon. K has been asking for a pair of pink and purple ones so I’ll see about doing a kids pair first. They’ve got to be a lot faster I imagine.

Summer starts in Australia in two days time so its a bit odd to be knitting at this time of year however its been so cool that its not bothered me at all. You are meant to do all your knitting for the next winter during the summer and autumn anyway so maybe I’ll just be able to do that this time.

More sock wool!