Finally the Qualifying Round has started!

Day 1.

Ah, Sock Madness. As usual an excruciating wait, and, finally it arrives in my Inbox at 3.20am! Oh well, people will have some part of a Sunday to get started. I'll have to fit it in around my Monday. I have two weeks to knit my sock.

I have my handspun yarn, it's the Gotland with a bit of green in it. Unfortunately, I'm worried I don't have enough. The yarn is slightly thicker than I would like. I'm going to knit the two socks at the same time. This is to see if it is quicker this way, and, it will help if I am running out of yarn. I'll start out knitting the small size on the suggested needles. I did a quick swatch and I get 8sts per inch, not 9. It was a bit tight, would love to use 2.5cm needles, instead of the 2.25mm. Depending on how the sizing goes maybe I will. The big question will be the length if I go to the larger needles.

The pattern is a Smock stitch. Simple really. It's mostly a rib with a twist every so often. A good starter pattern.

Panic stations, thought I'd lost a needle.....under the sofa cushion where I was swatching.

Now I start, just the cuffs.

Ok, the cuffs are done. The yarn has turned out to be finer than at the start. That's good, but it's still giving me extra length, I think. These could turn out to be very long socks! The two socks are turning out to be different.

Now for the legs.

 Day 2

A lovely day at SNB at Four Leaves. Managed to keep knitting my socks despite the distraction of conversation!

I am in trouble. I've just started the heels and I'm going to run out of yarn. I really don't understand how. I should have measured the length not just gone on weight. The only thing I can think of is that having the navaho plied yarn is denser therefore heavier for the same yardage. I

I do have the same top, but I haven't finished spinning it. Just as well it's the qualifier round. I may not be able to have all the socks handspun and I'm going to have to spin even finer than I have been for the other fibres. At least I've started spinning it.

The socks will be a tight fit, so maybe they might have to be gifted.

Day 3 to 8

Heels. Ok, I'm really running out of yarn. I'll have to finish spinning the other batt of Gotland. They're going to be a bit of a mixed batch as the second batt is blue. Partway down the first foot I've changed to the new yarn. I haven't had a chance to wash the finished yarn, it's a bit over twisted, but it will be ok when I've steamed the socks. I've finished one sock, just a toe to go!

Days 9 and 10

Ok, finished. The socks are a nice fit. The colour difference is noticeable. Now to get my Ravelry project listing up to date and send off my Sock Madness email. 

The Madness has begun!

Signup was announced at the beginning of February for Sock Madness 13. I love this knockout competition where you have to knit socks in two weeks. this will be my fourth year! I signed up immediately and then panicked as I was supposed to have spun all my sock yarn by now.

Yes, I've decided to handspin the yarn for Sock Madness. I'm trying out all those breeds that are said to be good for socks. I have some Gotland, Jacob, Southdown and Shropshire tops. It's a limited pallette, but I thought it might be fun to see if you can get away from having to use nylon in the yarn to strengthen the socks.

I have managed to spin 3, spun 1 without plying yet, and have another half finished on the wheel. That should be enough to keep me ahead of the pack. I'll keep spinning while I'm waiting....

Oh, no the Warm-up sock has arrived and it uses all those little bits that you have left over. It's too tempting.....

Here they are:

And, here is the bag of leftovers that I still have. How does yarn keep filling up the spaces it's stored in, no matter how much you take out? Should I do another pair?!

Waiting....

It's been a quiet week

Well it has been a quiet week. Mostly spent waiting for tradies - cleaning windows, fixing fans. All done, all happy, but little work to show for it.

Hubby and I managed to fit in a film, on Friday at the last minute. I had tickets to the Classic Cinema in Elsternwick and so we hopped on the train to head SOUTH of the river. It was a strange documentary film: Frankofonia. The story of the pictures in the Louvre during WWII. Very bleak from the Russian director, very arthouse, but great archival footage and reenactment. Only two couples in the cinema and we both loved it!

I did manage to get to a good stage with my prototype of the next set of work based around the fabric play that I did.

Will do some tweaking, but also start on the next one. The REAL thing!

A weekend escape

In the midst of a busy life, a luxury weekend away, thanks to the organisation skills of a friend we found ourselves off on a Luxury Escape weekend to Lindenwarrah at Milawa for Saturday and Sunday night, stretching the weekend into Monday for a really luxurious weekend.

The King Valley with the view stretching to Mount Feathertop

The boys took their toys for the drive!

To get there, instead of going up the Hume, we went through Yea through Mansfield, for lunch at Whitfield in the King Valley at the Whitfield General Store. This is a more scenic trip and we were rewarded with some magnificent views over the King Valley to Mount Feathertop, still showing some snow. A generally relaxing day, finishing off with dinner at Lindenwarrah,

Our accommodation at Lindenwarrah

Next day was tasting mustards and cheeses at Milawa, just a
short walk from Lindenwarrah. Milawa has such alot of food and wine related experiences that it was my idea of heaven!

Lunch at Patricia's, the Brown Brother restaurant, literally across the road, then a very lazy afternoon, finishing off with cheese and wine, both from Milawa.

Monday we headed over to Rutherglen for supplies for the port barrel and home for pizza with the boys!

A most excellent escape and then the next two weeks of meetings came in and I'm booked up again!

When you're no longer sure, but you still keep going!

I've been working on this sculpture for awhile, which is good, as I've prototyped and experimented and made till I'm at the stage where it seems to be coming together.

But there are a few problems yet to be resolved....how do you arrange them?

Does my little crocheted flower look ok, and will it tie all the different islands together?

Crocheting next

Making fabric

Back in the day when I was studying Studio Textiles at RMIT, by the way, no longer a course, you can do fashion instead. Anyway, we had to come up with a business plan and mine was to make fabric, till the reality was that even a small designer needed a run of at least 30metres!

However, I've come back to that abandoned plan and am trying fabric lengths. I've started by diving into my handspun stash, and creating open warps. Simple weaving but, I think, quite effective. Then I'm putting them on Etsy (I'm teesjourney on Etsy) and am waiting to see what happens!

Here are my efforts so far:

The first using cream 3ply as the starting point and the warp. All the cream based yarns with the most gentle textures and colours.

Cream 3ply commercial cream warp with handspun yarn weft.

Lots of lovely soft textures and colours.

 The next was a full five metres starting with a fine black mercerised cotton warp and alternating stripes of black and colours. There are two repeats and I used the Fibonacci sequence as my starting point.

Five metres of black and coloured stripes.

I love the fabric all rolled up and waiting. 

The next one is sorted and waiting. Purple warp and, hopefully, matching weft yarns.

And would you believe, my handspun stash box seems quite full!

Getting Ready

Tuesdays are my Stitch 'n Bitch day at Four Leaves Cafe, so armed with my now started top down jumper, courtesy of 'Knitting from the top' by Barbara Walker, I have something to do!

Then, I have to get busy and work on this lovely fleece from Sheila Kempson at Perrynook, that I've washed to get ready for the plying class that I'm giving for the Handweavers and Spinners Guild Spinning Certificate course. 

I have to fill two bobbins and then start plying!

 Any wind the rest of the yarn ready for my jumper.