Tuesday, June 19, 2007

It's the weather for knitting



Well, getting knitting supplies anyhow. It's been very wintry here. The end of last week had some very cold nights. As in about -3C. That's cold for us, as we are in a temperate climate and it doesn't snow here. Then the nights heated up to around 3C or so, but the days started to get cold. Like a maximum of 11C and yesterday it was about 8C at 3pm. We've had some rain, but we are on water restrictions until the end of July at least. This means that we can't water our gardens except with buckets, and the same for car washing. There are other restrictions for businesses which will probably impact them more than the private restrictions will impact us. Not sure if anyone was likely to be watering their gardens at the moment, but it goes to show you we need a lot more rain to really break the drought. We would prefer normal rain-not like the shocking weather that NSW has been experiencing.




As promised, I have a picture of my ISE4 goodie haul. I've been wearing the scarf, but it has also kindled the desire to knit myself another scarf suitable for wearing outside in the weather we've been having. I've got that couple of balls of the loveliest 80% alpaca/20% wool that is so soft that I'm debating about stitch design. Just need to knit my 7cm on the rug first............ I did finish the beanie for KOGO-although I may have to reknit the last 2 rows as I didn't look at the pattern, and it's got a weird pointy thing happening.




Yesterday was a good day as far as knitting stash went. Interweave Knits Summer Issue finally made it to my local newsagent. Not a huge amount of designs I would want to knit, but it is an interesting read anyhow. I also got some plastic dpns from the local op shop, as well as some interesting buttons (I was also keeping biscornus in mind-I have yet to make one). I also got my Bendigo order which has my Rustic 12ply in Agate for the Central Park Hoodie, as well as a ball of the new Boutique yarn which is 65% wool, 25% Bluefaced Leicester, and 10% mohair in Ruby. Well, the Boutique was on special, and I already had free postage........ Here are some pics of the yarn.
The Ruby is a deeper red than that-around DMC 816 if you happen to think in DMC colours. The Agate reminds me of DMC 451-it has an almost tweedy appearance up close. I think the Ruby will become a scarf-it is only 200 grams, and it feels lovely and soft, but not too fuzzy. I really want to knit a tension square for the hoodie, but that will have to wait for a bit.
Stitching wise, I have been plugging away at my model-it's a very long design (about 560 stitches long) but very narrow-well the part I'm working on is, but using Q-snaps makes it manageable-even if I am having to move them regularly.
I'm off to throw more wood on the fire and get some stitching done. And try not to knit a tension square.............

10 comments:

2paw said...

Y3s, 816 right back at you!!!! 666 would just be fire engine red. I wondered about the new wool. How exciting. In the midlands here it was -8. -8 is quite cold I think.

My Five Sons said...

Hi Thanks for visiting!
Ive just about done with the CPH and am delighted with it so far.I made it in size 44 and normally Im a size 10 but reading some comments saying it was a close fit, used that larger sizing, glad I did as the body is quite close!
Ive posted my contribution to KOGO too which is amazing,too many things going,lol
Cant wait to do my 7cm though!
Im ordering some Bendigo's Boutique when I come home,is it nice? I think I will try the coffee colour as it seems to be the flavour in my wardrobe this year! After spinning it Im looking forward to seeing and trying the mill version!!

Sue H said...

Great haul you got from you ISE4, and just in time for our cold, cold weather too. I've really been enjoying the chance to wear my lovely scarves, and the fingerless mitts I got from my first Aussie Knitters swap.

Aussie Stitcher said...

Everything is looking wonderful Leonie. We have been having it cold also, -1 at 8.30am on Friday when I took Luke to school. I just remembered your comment about you having a Luke and a Caitlyn also, how funny. Another coincidence is that hubby is going to Adelaide tomorrow for a job interview. The actual job is in a town 40km outside Adelaide, this is his second interview for this position and is one of three applicants.

Joanne

the stripey tiger said...

Hi Leonie, It looks like you enjoyed ISE4! It was good it coincided with wiinter for us Aussies this time! :-) Sharon

Sue said...

I love the blue scarf, so pretty. I like your Bendigo wool too, always a great bargain. I knitted my CPH out of Bendigo yarn too, the Rustic 10 ply I think, but I should have knitted it at least 2 inches longer in the body. My sister now wears it, and I will make myself another one one day.

Sue H said...

We certainly got a lot of good, heavy, soaking rain here in south east Melbourne over night. Apparently the heavy rains in Gipsland (floods over much of Gipsland) have put good water into our dams and we have actually INCREASED over the past few days. Hopefully this (not the floods though) will keep on over winter and spring.

knightlyknitter.wordpress.com said...

Definitely woolly weather!
Just dropped by to intro myself (I'm Kate, pleased to meet you) and say hi to a Dishrag Tag teammate!
Catch you in the forum!

Kylie said...

Yes I agree - sure is a great time to sit on the couch and knit (oh and I have chocolate this week - yumm - Thanks for that Leonie!)

Love the colour of the scarf - I think that I need a new one for my collection.

Sue H said...

We have avoided having to go on stage 4 water restrictions, and our dams have actually gained a little. We still need a lot more, but hopefully we'll get there. I was raining again this morning, and it's been very cold here too. I'm in Melbourne.