Pretty playthings

I sew up other people's knitting, and sometimes it's a grind. Sew up shoulders, pick up and knit a neckline, set in sleeves, get halfway and swear, re-set sleeves, sew up, steam, etc etc. I still love the end result, but it's not all that exciting.

Other times...

Look at this shawl. Look at it. Isn't it beautiful? A lovely knitter in Adelaide sent it to me to have the border sewn on to the center piece, and have it all blocked out. It was bliss from beginning to end, it really was. Lace is great fun to pin out and make whimpering puppy noises over, but it takes ages to knit and the commitment needed for this sort of shawl is absolute.

I told my customer that she wasn't allowed to use the phrase "I'm just a knitter" anymore. If you can create something like this, you're an artist.

Too much stash...

I have had a horror of a week. HORROR. Marcus managed to stay home on the first day back with a fever, went to school on Tuesday and Wednesday and by that night had been diagnosed with croup and prescribed steroids. No school for the rest of the week. Then Dot caught it. Our little poppet has never had croup and she's sleeping badly, almost choking every night. It's heartbreaking, it really is.

Still, I promised stash and stash I have. To answer the question: was a 5.5 hour drive really worth it? Oh hell yes! Chantal and I left at stupid o'clock and we still weren't the first there!

The sale was held at the back of the mill and while it was cold and early it was full of very desperate knitters, ourselves included. There were boxes of yarn everywhere and we threw ourselves into rummaging. Sadly, it was mostly acrylic. Now, acrylic has it's place in other knitter's stashes but I don't like it. It burns my hands when I knit with it, and I always swore I'd never go lower than 75% natural fiber in a yarn, no matter what.

Meet what.

This yarn was in a massive cardboard box and I took one look at the glorious orange and grey combination and said "Oooooooooo, gimme!". I grabbed every ball I could find in that colour and then saw the next desirable one.

Isn't it GORGEOUS?!? I saw, I coveted, I grabbed every ball they had. This may not sound too bad, until you learn that the two colours added up to 52 balls of 50% wool, 50% acrylic. Only 37 metres per ball, too.

Oops.

I stuffed a bag full and went back to rummaging, which is how I found the three ply Dreamtime. If you can resist baby yarn in 100% wool, you're a stronger knitter than I. I bought four packets of ten balls. It was $5 a packet, could you say no?!?

Then we discovered the center of the room. The Danger Zone.

Rowan. $40 a pack of 10 balls. Oh sweet baby Jesus, the whole trip was worth it for that.

I grabbed a packet of Siena 4ply to make this cardigan, because I can look adorable, dammit!

Then Chantal bought me a packet of Felted Tweed as petrol money. I love Chantal. Who needs petrol when you can have yarn, right?

So for about 12 hours I was giddily happy, followed by Marcus with a fever at 4am.

Reality sucks, but hey...

I'm getting closer to swimming in the stuff.

Incoming Mega Haul

I seem to have no time to knit for myself.

I'm finishing up a teeny little baby cardigan, then two pick ups this Sunday morning will keep me busy, along with a baby shawl that needs to be sewn up, blocked and shipped back to Adelaide!

However...tomorrow Chantal and I are heading to Wangaratta. To the Australian Country Spinners mill. They make Patons, Cleakheaton, Panda and Shepherd yarns.

They're having a sale.

$1 a ball. 50¢ a pattern.

I'm going to go MENTAL.

Age is relative

What a fabulous weekend I've had: knitting dropped off, knitting picked up, knitting finished, well almost done. I'm just sewing it up now.

The jumper is for an 80 year old who chose the colour and her daughter is a bit hesitant. Bright grass green? At that age? I agreed.

Hot pink with nipple clamp attachments. Much more suitable.

Now I'm just making work for myself

I delivered two baby tops this morning, one jumper and one cardigan. Both completely adorable, both requiring more work than one would think.

The cardigan hadn't been finished entirely, so I spent an episode of "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries" knitting up the fronts, then joining the seams with faggoting, then miss stitching the borders and sewing up all the seams. About 3 hours all up. For a baby cardigan.

The jumper was a breeze, I thought, and proceded to steam the pieces pre-sewing up.

...wait a minute...

The stitch was split rows earlier, and the knitter didn't notice. I did, because I can spot a mistake from 5 metres away. I could just leave it, after all she didn't notice it, did she?

Yeah, right. That'll be the day. Rows dropped, picked back up. All shiny, cap'n.