The tendancy here, for some, is to wear a scarf which can double as a shawl. Who knows how the wind will blow and whether you need to keep your front or back warm as well as your neck. we are not good at wearing jackets and worse at wearing coats. We hate that bunched up feeling. Some still wear traditional , long scarves , but more and more we are seeing triangular scarves and longtail scarves . The new, popular one is the asymmetrical crescent scarf. If you are going to wear a scarf, you want choices!
Our latest scarves were a good example of nice scarves. Maria’s is a traditional scarf but it is a crochet shell pattern in a lovely coral colour. Karin spun a deeper coral colour and produces a lovely, soft longtail scarf. Jan E who is a beautiful spinner, went commercial and made a lovely shawl scarf with Spotlight yarn. Cathy went for a homespun , triangular scarf which she knitted first and then embellished with crochet. The colours were dyed by Alexis in our group.
Get your needles and wool out and create a scarf in a colour which suits your mood and will be as stylish as it is practical. Have fun!
It was cold and windy today and we are truly in winter. We cheered ourselves up with some amazing colours and lots of new and lovely projects to look at. Such great colours this year.
Show and tell
Maria: pair of knitted blue , stretch slippers, pink crochet beanie, green crochet beanie, Fair Isle beanie in handspun opal colours and white. Coral, lace crochet scarf.
Alexis : Cute oddments Fair Isle beanie in various colours with a cord tassel.
Deb : Lovely rustic alpaca beanie in homespun caramel alpaca
Jan E: Triangular, longtail scarf in Spotlight reddish colours. Skein of Brenda’s red and pink colours spun with matching woolly nylon.
Cathy: Triangular scarf in Alexis’ dyed handspun wool and alpaca. Knitted and crocheted. Blues and lavenders. Naturally dyed Polwarth in mustard and FinnX with some blue food colouring added to the pot to give it a sage green colour.
Karin: Handspun longtail , knitted scarf in dark coral.
Janette: Jumper for son in law in Brenda’s colours of aqua and fawn merino tops.
Sonya: Wool embroidery book
Sue: Bag of rabbit fur to give away and some green and blue dyed mohair.
Cable berets can be very attractive and colourful. The cables add visual interest but also improve the shape of the beret. Are you going to put the cables on top or on the bottom? On top they add a bit more height which might be helpful in terms of styling. On the bottom they add interest and shape around the side so it looks more attractive and doesn’t just flop. Berets make a change from beanies. Marjorie’s on the left is from dyed coral coloured spun fleece. Marina’s has the lovely colour changes in the wool and then the bright , striking colours. It really depends on what kind of look you want.
allfreeknitting has a lovely berry beret pattern to get started with. Once mastered you can change the beret to look as you want. Below is a video on cables in case you can’t do them or need a reminder.
Cold, wintery day today which was unsurprising given that it’s winter. The colour inside was far more cheerful. It is interesting how our colours change with the weather and how we tend to co ordinate colourwise though we don’t plan to. The colours this week on the show and tell table were strong and confident.
Show and tell
Chris : a Port Adelaide Football beanie for her sister and a lovely dark green crochet scarf in a beautiful lacy pattern with a glitter thread.
Janette two balls of spun wool – one blue/white, one orange/white,
Maxine : a knitted felted beanie in various blue stripes, and a knitted chicken in reds & yellow stripes.
Marina : Beret in various blue and green stripes. Cable pattern at bottom of beret.
Another ten stitch blanket finished by a club member and we have Karin to thank for the inspiration and orginal tutorial. We have featured a number of ten stitch things on this blog. Cathy started hers June 3rd 2020 and finished it July 3rd 2021. She has done other things because the ten stitch blanket becomes a long haul. Once you get into it and have mastered the corners, it is a nice easy knit but you need other things to create a diversionf rom the routine of it. Cathy’s blanket is from natural colour and naturally dyed colours. The bright, small bits colours are silk and soybean fibre and bits and pieces of coloured merino. Very thick , warm blanket just right for the icy weather. It is handspun wool and alpaca fibre. Very Pink has a nice tutorial to get you going.
Such a great day today with some new faces and a mother whale and her calf at the beach front. Very cold but our room was full of colour and ideas.
Show and tell
Hilary: Cake of spun caramel alpaca and cake of spun wool in Margaret’s colours of blue and dark pink. Beautiful longtail scarf in a 200gm cake of yarn from Spotlight in pinks blues and yellows.
Cathy: ten stitch blanket in homespun natural colours, cake of green spun wool and sari silk.
Fay: Felted boots, predominantly blue .Made with is last week and finished at home. WIP: brimmed hat in reds and maroons.
Jan H: Hexagonal ribbed crochet fingerless mittens in maroon and grey.
Marina: Keeshound jacket in cream. Dutch barge hound and fur from Adelaide Guild.
Maxine: Interesting little piece about electioneering women:
Electioneering Women are requested not to call here: They are recommended to go home, look after their children, cook their husband’s dinner, empty the slops , and generally attend to the domestic affairs for which Nature designed them. By taking this advice they will gain the respect of all right-minded people – an end not to be attained by unsexing themselves and meddling in masculine concerns of which they are profoundly ignorant. Henry Wright
We saw some lovely ideas with regards to felting boots and slippers this week. Sue and Fay were felting some very colourful boots in our session. They will finish them at home. To get them this far in the time was impressive. You use one template for both boots and then cut the felting in half when it is time to make the two boots. In the video it shows you that you can use cardboard but you can use stiffish plastic or big dog or cat food bags. You need something which won’t lose its shape and something which will not allow the felting to attach to it. It is a big job. The first parts are easy and methodical and then it becomes labour intensive work to get all the felting done. You can do it over time. Just wrap your felting up in a plastic bag. Sheralee has made slippers with llama fleece. She has llamas and uses the fleece she combs off them to make things. Her slippers are lovely. She gave us the tip you can use silicon spray on the bottom to make them non slip. Slippers you make one at a time so you need two templates. You can draw around your foot and increase by a good third. Felt Magnet shows you exactly how to do this.
Much better weather today. Sunny but cold. Some great things to look at today and so many good ideas of what to do and how to do it. As usual, colour played a big part. The wet felted boots were made today and are still in the process of being felted.
Show and tell.
Sheralee: Felted llama fleece slippers in fawn with silicon spray base. Fawn and brown hat in llama fleece and wool.
Karin: Handspun, hand dyed, woven scarf in blues. Very soft.
Maria: Knitted toddler jumper in blue flecked woo and a cream crochet beanie which has been crocheted top down. .
Christine: skeins of yarn she had bought at the fibre feast in different colours. Yes, we noticed the Port Power colours. Her stunning butterfly challenge shawl in pinks and maroon.
Margaret: Blue and white fair isle challenge hat in acrylic. Test run for homespun.
Sue: Wet felted slippers she made at the meeting in pink coloured merino tops. Felted galaxy with the planets embroidered onto the wet felted piece. Blue fleted hat with flower.
Cathy: TIE fighter beanie in grey and aqua. Wool and acrylic.
Fay: Felted boots which she made in our session in blue coloured merino tops
John: Maroon and yellow scarf woven wrong side up up on his heddle loom.
Marjorie: Beret in the coral dyed wool fleece we had been given. White post stitch beanie.
Jan H: Crocheted grey lace scarf with purple bead trim .
Jan E was helping others to create some lovely felted flowers. She gave a workshop last year as well. Felted flowers are wonderful! They enhance everything. Hilary put hers on the hat she had knitted and just look! We put Jan E’s on Karin’s homespun , woven scarf and it is such a gorgeous look. Fay was felting a flower for her felted hat. it looks so much better and has style. These flowers improve whatever they are with. Have fun learning how to make them from Spry Whimsy Fiber Arts.
Christine and Marina have been doing another shawl challenge this year. Last year they did one from Michael West knits. This year it is from MinJaKnits. It is the Moth shawl which is a modified version of the Butterfly shawl pattern. It is stunning. Visually so interesting and a good knitting challenge which has you with over 400 stitches on your needles. Marina brought in her finished shawl this week. The colours are very striking. It is all homespun wool. The lime green was dyed by Alexis in our group and the other colour is from First Editions. Fantastic effort and we look forward to seeing Christine’s . She has chosen the pink hues and that looks equally interesting in terms of colour play.
Was a very creative and happy day today with so many things to look at. We needed two show and tell tables and then there was the flower fleeting workshop going on led by Jan E. We forgot how cold it was.
Show and tell:
Hilary: Dyed orange and yellow coloured felted flowers. Knitted blue beanie with peach contrast.
Karin: Handspun, hand dyed, woven scarf in blues.
Alexis: Skein ofcream, spun alpaca, skein of cream alpaca plied with orange and yellow dyed wool, skein of flecked orange, yellow and cream dyed spun wool .
Marina: Stephen West challenge shawl in fawns , blues and creams in alpaca and merino. Moth challenge shawl in Alexis dyed lime green and First editions mulberry. Multicoloured “op shop” scarf. Red and primary coloured woven top from and op shop which will inspire her next weaving.
Jan B: Box of colourful dyed alpaca samples.
Maxine: Seaweed dyed hooked cushion with maroon colours as well as fabric flowers. Handspun wool. Hooked chicken cushion in reds, rusts and blue using fabric strips.
Cathy: Cake of yarndark and light alpaca carded with fawn Corriedale. Cake of spun merino tops Alexis’ colours in blues, sage green and mulberry.
Fay: Felted hat with flower in dyed eucalyptus colour and blue. Merino tops.
Jan E: Felted flowers in pinks, and burgundies with silk effects.
Deb: Longtail scarf in handspun wool in pinks and amethyst. Solar dyed. Cowel in Brenda’s colours, turquoise and yellow.
Karin’s new woven scarf is stunning. Why? Firstly the colours. They are from her solar dyeing which has produced a gentle range of colours which play out nicely in the scarf. Secondly, it is a very soft, pliable scarf. Choice of fibre makes a difference and then how you weave the threads. Karin has used homespun yarn. Her scarf has lovely spring colours and it is different. We have shown you before how to weave a scarf just using a table top. You don’t need fancy equipment. There are also a range of scarf videos for different sorts of looms on YouTube . You can follow those videos. We have chosen a scarf video which uses a small loom , and is easy to follow, since not everyone has lots of space for a big loom. You can use books and boxes too. It’s about using your imagination and what you have.
Knitted , felted hats make a change from beanies. They keep you warm but can provide a bit of style. You knit them bigger than they should be and then they are washing machine felted. Too easy. Maxine brought in a lovely knitted, felted hat she had knitted during the week. Hers was made in Alexis’ dyed merino tops and she moulded it and dried it over a flower pot so it would have a flat top. The colours are lovely and the hat looks great.
Heather Tunnah has shared one her hat patterns for free on Ravelry.
Talk about cute! This caterpillar which turns into a butterfly made by Jan H is just so adorable. The wings can be removed. If you know the story of The Very Hungry Caterpiller, you could use it to tell the story. The colours are well chosen. Babies and little toddlers love these character baby rattles and they bring a child plenty of fun and joy for quite a long time. If our reaction was anything to go by, they bring adults joy too!
There are 17 baby rattles to try out on amorecraftylife. If you haven’t made one , start small like the ones shown in this video and see how you go:
Very blustery at the beach front today and the waves got bigger and more powerful as the day went by. We were cosy inside and were surrounded by colour and so many interesting projects to look at. Margaret won a bag in the raffle at the Adelaide Hills group Open Day and she brought that to show. Beautifully crocheted over cord.
Show and tell
Anthea: Entrelac Tunisian crochet blanket in Adelaide Crows AFRL colours.
Karin: Handspun, solar dyed, woven scarf in yellows, pink, blues and greens.
Jan H: Caterpillar/butterfly baby rattle in peach, white and green.
Marina: cake of yarn n alpaca, merino wool and Susie Horne colours. Brown with flecks of other colours.
John: Jumper knitted on his Addi Express knitting machine in autumn colours. Just about finished and fits.
Sue: Felted hat in black and white merino tops. Orange hat with orange silk band. She was working on a purple hat with silk inlays today.
Maxine: Blue baby jumper in commercial wool for her great, great nephew. So cute. Knitted felted hat in Alexis’ colours. Lavenders and purples.
Maria: 3 beanies in greens and cream. Oatmeal crochet scarf in linen and alpaca.
Fay: Felted lime green scarf , made today from merino tops.
John ordered an Addi Express when we were working in isolation at the beginning of last year. It took a while to arrive because of coronavirus restrictions, but he has made good use of it since then. He is one of our weavers but likes exploring gadgets and new things. We live in uncertain times. We need to keep our brains active and our creativity going. We need to know how to change what we are doing so we stay enthusiastic. John has made hats in half an hour on this machine. He has also made slippers and now he wants to try knitting the flat panels and he is working out how to make a jumper with them. He is using commercial wool in autumn colours. We have been really interested in seeing him make this jumper and his machine is fascinating. We are looking forward to seeing this finished jumper.
The video below shows you how easy it is to make a hat. You don’t need an Addi to do this . You can use the round looms you can buy in craft shops to make hats, socks, scarves and flat panels for jumpers. The knitting machine is just fun and obviously very quick. Its other advantage is that these mechanical round looms, and round looms , in general, are very portable.
Some tea cosies are just for fun. Others are for show and others are there to be used. Some people like tea cosies for the look of them. Some actually use them to keep their tea warm. Maxine brought along a lovely Beatrix tea cosy she had made. Its charm caught us and she was good company during our session. This one is a paid pattern you can get on Etsy. There are lots of free patterns, though. Justjen has a lovely Flower Garden Tea cosy on her blog. KnittingWomen has 32 free tea cosy patterns for you to browse. Lastly, Sophie Reshetilo takes you through step by step how to knit her tea cosy in this video :
Was so cold for us today in Adelaide. Winter starts tomorrow. We kept nice and warm in the club rooms and has plenty to look at and share which kept our minds off the changing weather.
Show and tell
Anthea: Premature baby hat in pink. Beautiful hardanger table mat.
Cathy: Handspun, handdyed beanie in merino and silk. Greens and pinks.
Jan H: Beautiful knitted jumper in wine and black dyed , spun wool with crochet trim. Two skeins of grey merino plied with Brenda’s grey silk mix.
Hilary: Lovely acrylic knitted test beanie in white. Skein of very colourful spun merino tops.
John: Jumper knitted on his Addi sock knitting machine in autumn colours. WIP.
Sue: Felted hat in black and white merino tops. WIP
Maxine: Blue baby jumper in commercial wool for her great, great nephew! WIP. Rabbit tea cosy, called Beatrix, in white, blue and grey.
Margaret: Rabbit fingerless gloves in grey , blue and white.
Marjorie: A beanie and beret of her own design knitted in one of Brenda’s colourways – pink, maroon, lavender.
Marjorie brought a doll along, which she had made a while ago, to keep our inspiration going on the dollmaking challenge for this year. We loved Marjorie’s doll. A lot of work and such a good character to be your friend.
Jean Greenhowe dolls(and similar) have always been popular. You can see the sorts of characters you can make by knowing a basic doll pattern and adapting it, if you go to the Jean Greenhowe site.
StepSteps shows you what you can achieve with a basic Jean Greenhowe pattern and has made two other videos to show you exactly how to make the doll. The links to the videos are underneath this YouTube video on the YouTube site.
Sonya has put together some more grandfather stories to cover the people she missed and new members. It has been such an interesting look at the power of grandparenting. The grandparents in our group have done some amazing things. Enjoy these stories!
Anthea
My step grandfather was a carpenter. He could mix with all ages. My daughters loved to visit him. He would show them how to use a hammer and other tools. He used spend time with his 4 year old neighbour, just sitting and talking with him. He made us all a sewing cabinet.
He always ate his sandwich with a knife and fork. Even when he was only going to work out in his shed he dressed with a shirt and tie and he always wore a hat. Every weekend he would go for a drive with our grandma and stop somewhere for an ice-cream.
Such an endearing man, Anthea, a true gentleman.
Maxine
My grandfather, born in England, was a biologist. In the late 1800s he came from the goldfields in Africa to Adelaide. From there he went to the Southern Highlands in New South Wales and started up a grain store. In 1907 he and his family moved to Dorrigo in New South Wales where he started up another store . In the 1920s he disappeared to France, leaving his wife and nine children behind. While there, he wrote a book “Mind and Life From Atom to Man”. He was said to be either a genius or a madman, depending on who was saying that!
People used to send for him to cure various ailments. When he got cancer, he took off again and lived in a tent for some time, presumably on the coast. He ate only fish, oysters and oranges. That was how he cured his cancer.
He later wrote another book “Adam Black”, about the Trade Union movement.
Although an avowed atheist he was the choirmaster at his local church!
What a remarkable man, living a truly remarkable life….And what a stalwart wife.
Hilary
My grandfather died before I was born and I didn’t have anything to write about him until recently. I came across a cutting from the Jersey Evening Post newspaper ,March 18th,where it was acknowledging him as an Evening Post compositor for over 50 years. (Hilary and I think that in his day all type had to be constructed by mounting individual letters and/or words). There is a faded picture of my aunts and the youngest girl in the group is my mother. I used to stay with my aunts a lot going from our home in Southampton by ferry, a trip of six to eight hours to Jersey and I was always seasick! My grandfather was Irish and my grandmother was French. She spoke a French Patois. Now that is a marvellous mixture, an Irish man married to a French woman and living on the English isle of Jersey!
Alan
My grandfather , who lived in the city (Adelaide), had a marvellous workshop. I often stayed with my grandparents and could go in that workshop and make all sorts of things. There were bits and pieces of timber which they used for the chip heater and the stove in the kitchen. When I was a bit older he got into keeping birds. Budgies and finches etc. He would let me into the aviary. It was always interesting to go and stay there. I have good memories of my grandparents. Sounds like a boy’s own dream of a place to go and stay, Alan!
Such a good meeting today with all the felting going on, Alexis ‘ coloured plaits and the great ideas people are coming up with for projects. So much to look at and talk about.
Show and tell
Fay: Felted beret in fawn and dark blue. Felted flower in pinks and greens.
Cathy: Crochet baby beanie in rust and sparkle yarn. Spun yarn made from green sari silk and rosemary dyed merino.Cake of yarn of natural brown corriedale plied with dark brown alpaca fleece.
Jan H: Two crochet puzzle balls in white with primary colours for divisions.
Hilary: Handspun , handdyed green and blue cable beanie.
Marina: Spun cake of yarn in merino, Susie Horne’s colours and alpaca from Mt. Barker. Browns, pinks, blues and whites.
Sue: Felted hat in orange and red. Felted scarf which was wet felted onto a woven scarf.
Maxine: Felted fabric someone else had made in blues, white and black, hooked welcome flower wallhanging in white , blue and yellow, hooked bag in lots of lovely colours, needlefelted cover with colourful flowers on a dark background, soft knitted and felted hat in natural cream fleece colour.
Maria: Three knitted beanie in homespun wool . One in varigated pink. One purple and cream. One pink, grey and white.
Marjorie: Knitted doll she had made quite some time ago which she brought along to inspire us with our doll challenge.
Janette is good at knitting slippers. They always look warm and cosy no matter which pattern and handspun wool she uses. You can use the search box to find slippers we have featured on our blog. These slippers are special. Janette collected fur from her Pomeranian dog and washed it and spun it. She mixed it with merino tops so there would be some give in the yarn. Dog fibre tends not to be pliable as such. There are tips on preparing and spinning dog fibre on this wikiHow about how to make dog yarn.
Janette’s slippers are extremely soft, she has chosen cheerful merino colours and the Pomeranian fur gives the slippers a nice halo.
More lovely hats this week. It really is beanie season here and we never cease to wonder at how many hats we see and how different and lovely they all are. There can never be enough.
Top left is Hilary’s beret made from solar dyed tops which were then hand spun. It is such a pretty colour and her beret pattern showcases the gentle , solar dyed colours to effect.
Middle top is Cathy’s acrylic baby beanie which has been decorated with loom flowers and some feather yarn. A bit of spring fun and fluff.
Top right is Jan B’s commercial alpaca and merino mix beret. So soft and the pattern does the yarn justice. The soft fawn colour makes it a classic accessory.
Bottom left is Fay’s new orange and yellow merino tops felted beanie with the appliqued felted flower. Bold, cheerful and well made.
Bottom right is Cathy’s fair isle beanie made from acrylic and orange wool. All commercial yarns and nice autumn colours.
Great day today with better weather and everyone involved and developing new skills, new ideas and some great projects underway. The colours we have been seeing have been inspirational.
Show and tell
Fay: Felted beret in orange and yellow embellished with a felted appliqué flower.
Cathy: Baby beanie in green, white and blue acrylic decorated with loom flowers and feather yarn. Fair Isle beanie in synthetic yarns and orange wool. Autumn colours. Spun yarn made from merino and silk in blues, yellows and pinks.
Jan B: Fawn beret in alpaca and merino commercial yarn.
Hilary: Handspun pink cable beret in handspun, solar dyed yarn.
Peter: Woven landscape which he is now needle felting. Work in progress.
Janette: Skein of handspun wool tops in blues and whites. Brenda’s colourway. Pair of slippers in wool tops and fur from her Pomeranian dog. Fawn and pink.
Truth is, no matter how well or not you spin your yarn, it is all useful and valuable. The whole purpose of spinning your own yarn , though , is to get the yarn you want. You want the colours you want, the texture you want and the look you want. You are always learning about colour, blending, spinning, and fibre mixes. We have had some great yarns to look at lately. All different . The solar dyeing workshop we had earlier was well worth it. It has turned out some beautiful colours and yarns.
Last year we were doing bulk online orders to support our favourite wool suppliers. This year we have caught up with our fleece producers as much as possible. We did a bulk order with the Bendigo Woollen Mills which produces big rolls of tops in lovely colours. Top left is Karin’s Bendigo green plied with merino tops Alexis dyed. This is a very balanced yarn both in the spinning and those lovely colours. Colours of nature and colours which are soothing. Top right is the Bendigo grey which Marjorie purchased. She is spinning it on her little Eel wheel. A number of people at the club have bought and road tested these little Eel wheels. They are tiny work horses which produce good yarn, as you can see. It is always surprising to see what the little wheels can reliably produce.
The bottom row is solar dyed wool. You can see from Janette’s, bottom left, it comes out of the bottle fluffy and with a soft colour. Janette’s fleece was dyed blue and green. The other two pictures are Karin’s solar dyed colours. She said the yellow took over a bit but it is so nice and cheerful to have there and the other colours are gentle and easy on the eye. This yarn really does remind you of pleasant summer days.
Rachel Smith makes some good videos to help you improve your spinning so you can produce what you want.
It is coming up to winter in Adelaide and the weather is much cooler and colder. Always comes as a shock because we love our sunshiney days. There are also two beanie festivals coming up. Lots of us are knitting beanies for friends, family and festivals. We also have people who knit beanies for the homeless. Adelaide does make an effort to ensure the homeless have access to warm winter clothing and blankets.
This week we saw some lovely beanies and berets:
Fay felted her pink beret with the mohair embellishments in the session on Monday. Quite an achievement. The pink is very appealing and the colourful mohair makes the landscape of the beret more interesting to look at.
Karin”s handspun nordic beanie is very soft and warm. We liked the coral colour. The shape is one which is currently very popular here. People are particular about how their beanies look.
Hilary is great at making pixie beanies for children. This handspun green one has some other nice colours in it for visual interest. Really cheerful colour for children.
Pam was using acrylic variegated yarn to knit a soft, cosy beanie for those who don’t like handwashing beanies. Wool ones have to be handwashed and take time to dry. An acrylic one goes in the wash and can be dried in a dryer.
Hilary’s beret was soft. She had spun and dyed the white locks from Lily, the sheep. It is always nice when we know the name of the sheep whose wool we are spinning and Lily is lovely. Her fleece is as white as snow and has such a soft feel to it.
Certainly a cold, wet , wintery day today. It did not dampen our spirits or our capacity to have good ideas and to be productive. A good day for sharing projects and what we have been up to.
Show and tell
Fay: Felted beret in soft pink merino tops decorated with colourful strands of mohair. She made it in today’s session!
Karin: Nordic influenced beanie in handspun coral and white. Merino and silk and alpaca and merino. Skein of spun wool : Bendigo green tops plied with merino tops dyed by Alexis.
Marjorie: Skein of Bendigo graphite tops . Spun on her Eel wheel.
Hilary: Handspun pixie beanie in greens and blues. Beautiful , soft beret made in handspun white fleece and gentle pastel colours. The sheep was called Lily.
John: Woven man’s scarf in mustard and brown colours.
Marina: Handfelted slippers in purples and pinks with handmade braid.
Anthea: Spun tops in one of Brenda’s colourways. Pink, purple and green.
Sheila Mc has been putting all her spinning to good use. She spun a lot of wool then dyed it. She has made bags and beanies and the colours are eyecatching. This is one of her knitted and felted bags. We have featured knitted felted bags before . If you use the search bar you will find other ideas and videos. Homespun wool felts well and you can just put it into the washing machine on a long wash cycle. The colours blend and mix and come out looking good. Sheila has chosen bright, cheerful colours. Knitted felted bags are strong, durable and fun! Once you get a good basic pattern you like, you make bags for yourself and then as presents!
It is beanie season in Adelaide. 1st June will be the first day of winter so it is starting to get cooler and wetter. We all wear beanies in winter so it is a good time to start now to get some beanies done. This one is for those who crochet. You may not know how to do crochet ribbing. It is truly a piece of cake and super simple . Looks good and these baby beanies are quick to make so there is the short term quick reward aspect of this project. Craft & Crochet explains it really well.
Margaret had been to a workshop to learn how to crochet the rose she brought along. It is lovely. Crochet flowers can make 3D blankets or scarves. They can be used for decorations on bags or hats. They can be brooches. Learning how to do some crochet flowers increases your choices when it comes to making and embellishing projects. Margaret also made a poppy which Alexis first got us involved in when we were asked to crochet poppies for a local Anzac Day ceremony. Instructions for poppies are on the Lincraft site.
There is an easy crochet rose to make on this Bag-o-Day YouTube clip.
Such a happy , productive day today full of activity and discussions. We have beanies to make, skills to learn, news to share. The weather was overcast then sunny then overcast. it was a great weather watching day.
Show and tell.
Sonya: Crocheted blue beret from her daughter from another culture.
Margaret: Brown beanie with a vivid red poppy and a crocheted rose in maroon and white.
Cathy: Handspun green beanie and feather yarn and wool red and black beanie.
Janette: Blue and green solar dyed fleece.
Karin: Pastel coloured solar dyed skein of wool.
Marina: Kees hound spun wool being knitted into a vest. WIP. A macramé teddy she had got in Goolwa.
Sheila Mc: Knitted and felted bag with bright colours toned with fawn , 2 turquoise, handspun knitted beanies, one hanspun red and orange beret with felted pompoms, handspun Fair Isle beanie in reds and purples, longtail beanie with felted pompoms in fawn and turquoise. All handdyed.
Faye: Felted panel in fawns and greens .
Sue: Dark felted panel with splashes of bright colour.
We featured Nina’s doll with some free doll knitting patterns in a recent post. Marjorie has made her own doll for her granddaughter. It features the Adelaide Crows colours , one of our AFL football teams. When you have been knitting for a while and have experience, you get to be like Marjorie and make up your own doll. Marjorie has made sure the clothes are attached to the doll so they cannot come off and be lost. Grandma skills. The features are always important because they make or break your doll and give it personality along with the clothes you choose. This is a great little doll. Perfect for in a backpack or easily carried around.
knitting-bee has some lovely free doll patterns. Please check out the reversible dolls and the lavender sachet dolls with personality.
Christine is very good at graphghans. She has worked on the technique. She has the patience and capacity to keep going until she knows how to do something. We loved her Mario Kart graphghan. It was big, bold and very well made. Just perfect for her grandson.
Obviously, when you are trying to master something like a graphghan you need to start with something like a heart, circle or square. Don’t try to be too clever. You can then try letters of the alphabet. Master the basic techniques.
Then try this video from My Hobby is Crochet and make yourself a lovely giraffe which could be a bag or a cushion.
Here we are at the end of the challenge bags. It was an interesting and fun challenge and one we all appreciated on the day. So many bags. So many ideas. So many thoughts. This year’s challenge will also be good. We have to make a doll from one of the magazines Marjorie (president) brought along. We will have 100gm of white tops to spin and then we have to dye them the colours we need for the doll(s) we want to make . Hm…we shall have to use our spinning/weaving skills and brains!
Left is Maria’s lovely elephant bag. Bit of glitter in the maroon main colour. The little elephants add charm.
Middle is Marjorie’s retro upcycled jeans bag. It has the right amount of coolness and a good reminder to waste not want not.
Right is Sheila O’s bold red bag and it certainly knows how to make a statement!
Hope you have enjoyed seeing our bags as much as we enjoyed seeing them.
All the bags were different. All were appealing in their own way . Homemade bags look good but they are strong and very functional. It was really good to see all these bags. Peter’s woven bag got second prize. The colours were lovely and the round shape really interesting because it was all woven.
Top left is Margaret’s handspun pastel coloured shopping bag. Nice, soft colours.
Next is Peter’s woven round bag . Great carry bag.
Sheila Mc’s little felted bag was embellished with sashiko embroidery.
Sheila also made a big , sturdy knitted felted bag and we loved the colours.
One more lot of bags to come next post. have you seen one you liked? What would you make as a bag for yourself?
When we set the bag challenge last year, there were no restrictions as to how the bag would be made. We might be a spinners and weavers group but our members possess a lot of skills and we like to let them share those skills. Skills can help grow ideas in other areas and when you work with fibre and textiles then you need to keep those ideas coming.
Top right is Anthea’s winning stumpword embroidered bag. Beautiful made and so much time and patience went into this. Top left is the patchwork bag she made for her electronic spinning wheel.
Bottom left is Cathy’s homespun felted, knitted and crocheted bag Lovely autumn colours.
Middle bottom is Marina’s woven on a box bag which turned out so well and is very colourful .
Bottom right is Maxin’s beetroot stained fabric bag which she decorated well with fabric paints.
So many good bags which are all different but all designed to fulfil a good role in life.
Every year at the AGM we set a challenge and the item has to be ready for the next year. There is no compulsion to participate. Members are invited to take part in the challenge. This year it was a bag challenge and when we saw the bags we were so excited! There were so many of them and they were all different and well made. So many conversations to be had and so much inspiration. We are going to feature them on the blog so you can see them all close up!
From the left : Alexis’ bag has strong, classic lines and well chosen block colours. She really loved sewing the beads onto it 🙂
Deb has been learning to spin and she spun the wool for her market string bag and decorated it with some colourful crochet flowers. Very handy.
Hilary’s bag has some good contrast colours and the blue and orange really give the bag a colour lift. The rosette is how it fastens.
We loved Janette’s colourful sheep bag. Such a cheerful bag with personality. The sheep buttons really set it off.
As you can see , each bag is given a number and we just vote for our favourites. It is that simple and our challenges are always an uplifting event.
It was a marvellous day at our spinning group today. All the bags for the bag challenge this year were fascinating and well made. More about this in coming posts.
We heartily congratulate Anthea for her white embroidered stumpwork bag wining first prize.
Peter’s round , woven bag won second prize. Congratulations to him.
So much to look at and appreciate. We had a few really good show and tell items too. It was a really happy way to start our new year officially. This time last year we were in national isolation and could not have our meeting so this was a big positive for us too.
Show and tell
Sheila Mc: Handdyed skeins from onion skins then commercial dye colours in fuchsia, mossfern and opal.
Sheila O: Spun merino and silk from Brenda in grey and white.
Marjorie: Cute crochet doll in AFL Crows colours. Ball of spun wool which was blue overdyed with some Landscape colours to give it a better visual effect.
A lightweight lace scarf is a good addition to an outfit on a cooler day. Maria’s crochet lace scarf is a lovely scarf. The colour is interesting , a bit different and a bold colour choice so the scarf would provide a good visual focus for an outfit. She has crocheted a band to thread the scarf through so that it sits neatly at the neckline and the flower lace pattern looks really nice. She has used a lightweight yarn. It makes the scarf look dressier. Something like sock weight yarn. You can use glitter yarns too and make a stylish scarf with a bit of a shimmer. Up to you and your imagination.
Hilary’s swirled hat is very fetching. It’s different, it puts her spun wool into focus and the colourplay is interesting. It is just a good hat which would also be very warm because you would trap more air in the swirls. Great pattern to play with to get some good colour effects. You can find a swirl ski hat pattern on the Craft Yarn Council website. There are some other swirl patterns to choose from on In The Loop Knitting.
Marjorie does clever things with her knitting. She is very good at reversible garments of all sorts. To master this you first need to be familiar with reversible stitches. You need to start with something small first so that you understand how it works, then you can apply it to whatever you want. Patience and application! There are more reversible patterns for you to try on allfreeknitting. There is a reversible brioche sweater on ABC Knitting.
Marjorie and Hilary both spun their yarn on electric spinning wheels. Marjorie used her little Eel wheel and showed just how useful these little wheels can be.
We love how Alexis can sing the Frozen songs! We have all been there with our children and/or grandchildren. The colours are inspiring for spinning and making woolbatts. But who could resist Hilary’s Olaf? It’s a pattern by Knit Guru if you scroll down on the InTheLoopKnitting site where you will find some other lovely Frozen ideas to knit too 🙂
Cathy spun the colours of Princess Elsa and made a little jacket for her two year old granddaughter who adores Frozen and always feels the cold. It is a nice knit because it is made in one piece with no sewing except buttons! You can find the free pattern on Marianna Mel’s Ravelry site and on her website, where you can see her other lovely patterns. She supports copyright strongly so please read what her conditions are and they are not hard to meet at all.
Great day with the group today. A table laden with lovely show and tell projects. Plenty of colour and colourful ideas around the room and a positive sharing of skills and ideas. Next week is our AGM and our bag challenge so there was some anticipation of the fun that would bring. The weather was nice, the sea was blue so all in all a good day.
Show and tell
Marjorie brought in a scarf knitted and members were asked to guess what the fibre was, which was 50% baby camel 50% silk with a little Suri Alpaca, cream colour.
Cathy : a ball of spun wool green/natural fawn, beanie black with a crown of multi coloured Panda rockery fun fibre with a furry pompom, coat in blue in white in Princess Elsa colours from the film Frozen.
Karin: a plait of solar dyed tops pale yellow, pink and aqua.
Alexis: Three skeins: one multi coloured dyed BFL (Blue-faced Leicester) plied with black, two dark red/dark orange and three Shetland dark brown wool plied with silk. A skein of wool dyed with opal by Sheila O.
Janette: a ball spun wool blue/white.
Anthea: four skeins- two pale aqua and two pale rose pink.
Maxine : a lovely pale green magic square blanket lined with patterned cotton.
Hilary: spiral beanie in various shades of orange and Olaf from Frozen.
Brenda, from The Felting Ewe is someone we like to keep in regular contact with. We like to support local and ordinarily we visit her on Equipment Day which is our annual visit in November to the Adelaide Hills Spinning Group. Last year was no ordinary year and we were all set to go and there was a sudden and swift lockdown in Adelaide. Better safe than sorry, health first and keep ourselves safe. The lockdown worked but we were sad not to have had our visit. With the easing of restrictions we decided to invite her to the club. We were not disappointed. All those lovely colours of hers. All the colourways. All the fibres and ideas. It was just so satisfying to feast our eyes on all these things. As soon as you look at Brenda’s colours you want to make things and the coloured plaits can be supported by the solid colours and additional fibres so that you can make something really interesting. Hopefully we shall be able to see her again in November this year. Meanwhile, we have had a really good colour fix and thank Brenda for taking the time to visit us.
Our new member, Nina, has finished her doll. She started knitting about 18 months ago and so this doll represents quite an achievement in her skills. She made it bigger than the pattern because she read inches instead of centimetres. We loved the big doll with personality. It will make a good friend. She has started to knit a smaller one now . Nina reminded us that it is good to learn new things, set yourself a challenge and then ask for help when you need it.
If you want to knit yourself or someone else a friend there are some good dolls on My Filing Cabinet.
Don’t you hate it when you know there is ink in the printer cartridges but your printer won’t print because it has decided the cartridges are spent? Christine put the spent cartridges to work and dyed some fleece and the results are impressive. Lovely Easter colours as it turns out. As a guide the grey one is about 220g of tops. The other colours are about 125g to 150g of tops. Great way to use those old cartridges.
HomespunTools on YouTube explains how to use ink cartridges to dye wool .
Such an animated and colourful day with the group today. It was good to see all of Brenda’s ( The Felting Ewe ) interesting colourways and her display had so many enticing colours. Show and tell was small but very interesting. Everyone was busy and productive and , our new member, Nina, finished her first knitted doll. The weather was lovely and the ocean looked so blue and calm.
Show and tell
Chris brought in some of her dyed tops using computer ink from the used cartridges pink, yellow, blue and grey from the black cartridge.
Cathy : a jar of wool fleece dyed with lavender flowers and leaves some golden fawn, some lovely deep violet pink .
Nina has finished her beautiful doll.
Maxine has spun two balls of fleece in natural fawn colour on her new electric spinning wheel.
Some people are clever. Knitting a square shawl is usually done edge to edge or diagonally. Knitting a square shawl from the centre out means you have to keep track of it on round needles with a lot of stitches! Alexis hand dyed commercial yarn for this shawl so it would be a custom colour. It is a beautiful, striking green. To tone in some other colours makes the shawl more visually appealing and gives it interest. She used a fine wool. When we first saw it , some of us thought she was knitting a bag. No, it was a beautiful square shawl.
You can find instructions for conventional shawls on knitting.today. The site also provides instructions for knitting a centre out shawl so you can challenge yourself.
Why not do a Maria and produce a Chanel inspired hat for this winter? You could do worse. Maria’s crochet hat is crocheted in thick wool and looks like Chanel tweed fabric. Such a stylish hat. Coco Chanel beanies are often black single rib with the Chanel logo. CrochetKnitUnlimited shows a whole array of Chanel knit caps which are knitted and crocheted and which might serve to inspire you. You can also look at this YouTube video and learn to make a crochet Chanel inspired bucket hat. Just have fun with your beanies this winter. Be like Maria. Do it with style.
Lovely, sunny autumn day at the beach front today. We enjoyed another show and tell table laden with woolly goodness. There was so much chat and sharing of ideas. We like to make sure everyone is doing their best and can keep doing what they want to so much of the day was spent with us facilitating each other with ideas and practical help.
Show and tell
Jan H: brought in a beautiful crochet donkey cover for a stool and two crochet puzzle friends Marjorie: a lovely reversible ribbed jumper in Bendigo blue. Maria: a lovely small light weight crochet scarf in deep red with tassel ties, a crochet beanie two tone pinks, two pram covers in pale pastel colours. Alexis: soft knitted square shawl in dyed green commercial wool. Maxine: two balls of spun wool in natural fawn. Cathy: two balls of spun wool one in pinkish tones, one fawn and pale green. Deb: solar dyed spun skein in blues and purple, one spun skein of natural silver grey. Karin: two skeins one silk and alpaca, one over dyed solar dyed in coral pink. Marina: one skein alpaca/wool dark brown plied with sparkle thread. two plaits dyed by Alexis in citrus lime green, one with colourful patches. Hilary: one skein of solar dyed spun wool in pastel shades of aqua/pink and blue.
Fractal spinning produces gorgeous yarns and colours and the distribution of the colours as you knit or crochet them is very pleasing! It makes you feel very clever and creative. Christine brought along some impressive fractal yarn she had spun using colour plaits from The Felting Ewe. Lovely bold, vibrant , cheerful yarn. Fractal spinning requires some preparation of the tops and a bit of planning. It isn’t hard to learn.
The YouTube clip below gives you a quick rundown on fractal spinning. You can do it. There are other longer YouTube clips which walk you through the process. You can also follow written instructions from Roving Crafters.
