Man oh man

Is there anything more frustrating than running out of yarn right at the end of a project? Actually,  I can think of something. Acting like a rebellious teenager last weekend has led to me hanging my head in shame. My husband warned, nay, implored me to apply sunscreen at the beach last weekend,  and I blithely gambolled along uncovered, lily white legs exposed to the searing Australian sun, which has left me like this:

I have to shower in odd positions or bathe with the legs in the air. Classy. It dents when I poke it, and Nurse Muminlaw suggests a doctor, as there used to be ankle bones there. 

To take my mind off it, I turned to the never ending shawl, hoping to clear up my project bag to make room for the sweater design project cast on this morning. No luck, as I am 3/4 of the way through the edging and down to a tiny smidge of yarn. But back to the project. Here's a teaser. 

Using up some cotton I bought in a wicked sale. Not generally a fan of cotton, unless it's like this: 

Baby of my making, sweater of my design.

It is beginning to grow on me though, particularly as I'm knitting in 30 degree heat with no aircon. What can I say? Australia is hard on knitters. 

Big boy starts school on Monday,  which is both thrilling and terrifying. I'll miss him so, but I'm sure between the bub and this, I'll be busy enough.

The shawl, socks (Araucania ranco) needing a wash and block, a crochet nappy soaker in Cascade 220, the cheviot yarn I dyed and wound for the hubby's sweater, and my cotton pullover design. Phew.

Busy, busy bee.

So I finally opened an Etsy shop. Well, mostly. I wove a shawl, out of yarn that I spun which I didn't think I would like...then I took it off the loom. Once that baby was around my shoulders, I knew I wasn't going to be parted from it, so instead of my original idea of immediately putting it up for sale, I've used it as an example for what I can weave, for your custom order. I think you can see why:

Yes, that IS my new lightbox.

Yup, allll mine. But I have posted some lovely silk yarn, handspun by me on my Ashford traditional wheel, which I suppose I could call "vintage", if I were that type of person, seeing as the wheel was built in '81. Check it out on Etsy. I also have another small skein of the same handspun which I have dyed in a deep royal blue/teal, which is currently drying over my head. That will hit the shop as soon as it's dry.

Aside from the shop, I've been busily finishing off odd projects, such as these socks for the big boy, 

His favourite colour. Excuse the unwoven ends.

of which he is immensely proud, even wearing them out while we tramped about town in the humid heat yesterday. Nutty kid. I've also just finished turning the heel on the husband's second sock, six months later. That is a patient man. I think I've managed to distract him with the promise of an awesome sweater, for which I dyed the yarn a couple of days ago. It was a bit of an experiment, still uncertain if I'll overdye it or keep as is. 

In progress

Complete

I was aiming for a bit more peacock and less Irish fields green.Next time, more blue goes into the pot. It is lovely, but perhaps not manly? Thoughts?

Weaving a little lace scarf for my mum in law's friend, so I'll get back to that and post photos soon.

so many things!

I want to quilt, and sew, and dye, and sculpt, and weave with a floor loom, and comb fibre and and and...

But I live in a house with seven other people,  and my guess is that they would like room to move, and breathe, and stuff.

From little things...

Superwash Merino, we are not friends.

You were purchased for your pretty colours and machine washability, since you were destined for a four year old's blanket. You fooled me with your softness. You, superwash merino, are a bastard. You reeled me in, and then fought me every step of the way, as I tried to whip you into some semblance of order. Yet, in the end, I won. I think. You're bumpy and inconsistent as hell, but you're functional, and that softness that drew me to you in the first place still peeks through.

I've moved on. Your cousin, merino/silk, is much more manageable, and we just get along better. I'm sure you understand. 

More coffee...

Well, little Miss Squish didn't sleep longer than twenty minutes at a stretch last night, but you know what? I'm cool with that, because my package from Skein arrived this morning, and I got to ogle these pretties while chugging strong coffee.

So lovely and pillow-like. 

That there is 125 grams of 50/50 merino/silk in the "provence" colourway, 100 grams of SW merino in "samurai" (which looks exactly like a Koi to me), and a pretty sample of BFL/silk. Scrumptious. I spun up half the sample straight away on my spindle,  which had the dual benefit of soothing my frayed nerves while amusing the crotchety wee mite. Teething sucks.

I also became reacquainted with my long time foe, the sewing machine, and I would say we are nearly at a drinking buddies sort of relationship. Actually, I was drinking a beer while sewing these. What can I say. Mummy had a hard day, and the bub was well full of breastmilk, I had a few hours off.

That's a damn fine nappy, that is. 

 I'm really stupidly proud of the thing, and I managed to save myself oodles in nappy stash replenishing funds. I winged the pattern, and I used the leftover flannelette from the liner of this:

Brother in law's guitar pedal bag.

See? I promised a picture. Baby is asleep now, and the preschooler is watching Avatar (I love his taste)(the last airbender, not the blue people)(what kind of parent do you think I am?)(don't answer that) so I better grab some shut eye myself and ignore the siren song of silk blends.

Whew!

Glad that's over. Got a bit carried away with Christmas, then the novelty of the new loom. I managed to churn out all of these...

A new addiction?

...which are destined for my family back home. Feeling a bit weaved out, and yet, I still have ideas for new projects bouncing around. Plus, practice makes perfect, and those selvedges still need work.

I also warped the width of the loom for two cotton bathmats, which I neglected to take a completed photo of. Here they are in warp format:

Work continues apace on the never ending shawlette (of my own design), which for the past few weeks has been designated as road knitting. Despite all the driving we've done while the husband has been on vacation,  I still have half of the knitted on edging to complete. Ruffles - love the look, hate the work. I generally manage 10 repeats before I need to pick up something less mind numbing.

Seen here en route to Katoomba.

My little distraction for tv knitting is the new Harvest Cardigan By TinCanKnits, who are swiftly becoming one of my go to designers.

I may also have the lining, straps and closure of my brother in law's pedal carry bag to finish off, but although we have a brand new sewing machine, I choose to continue to pretend it's not there. I'll get to it. Soon. I promise.