Lovely sunny day down by the beachfront today and we were in full voice and had plenty to say and do. We are full of ideas and colour at the moment so that is good considering our winter was so cold and wet. It did not dampen is.
Show and tell
Anthea crocheted a lovely pink/white/blue waffle rug for her granddaughter’s queens size bed. . Sheila Mc brought along her quilt top made in two weekends from all her colourful scraps of material. Fay felted a lovely blue hat with silk embellishment.
Kay crocheted a natural dark brown wool shoulder poncho. Marina shared two balls of spun wool from the Wool Room .Merino plied with cotton to make a mobius cowl.
Cathy had spun two balls of wool :one from Brenda’s plaits and another bright one from mixed fibre woolbatts she had made. . Chris had made her first Temari balls and a seat for her phone. She also had made a cute little felted purse. .
Beautiful spring day at the seafront and so much to see and do. The colours were as interesting as eve the felters were up to interesting things again and the sharing of ideas and tips was great. It was a cheerful, cheering day after our cold, wet winter which has stayed too long.
Show and tell
Hilary plied a brightly coloured skein from Brenda’s colours. Predominantly pinks and oranges. Karin knitted a Nordic beanie in blue/grey with a snow flake design. Cathy has carded a grey batt from mohair and North Ronaldsay wool where the sheep are fed on seaweed., so Alexis informed us Kay knitted a dark brown interesting beanie in spun wool and mixed fibres. She plied and created her first skein of wool. Marina has spun a ball of grey wool from NSW Wool Room site with added fibres. Very fine spinning. Marjorie has knitted a colourful rectangle. The pattern was from Alexis. Anthea brought along a framed picture of butterfly’s she has embroidered
Maxine knitted and felted two knitted hats :one blue,one turquoise.
Sanquhar is between Dumfries and Ayr in Scotland. It has a long history and had a cottage industry in the Fair Isle Sanquhar gloves. The global heritage blog makes a strong case as to why Fair Isle knitting should be part of the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage convention. TOMOFHOLLAND has a short history of Sanquhar knitting and gives details about the stitch patterns. Marjorie, in our group, had come by a pair of Sanquhar knitted gloves and brought them in to share with us. We worked out they were probably knitted in two ply wool on very fine needles. Yes, the moths have got to them, and that can be repaired, but they were such beautifully made gloves and the patterns is striking. We really enjoyed seeing them. Heritage patterns have a wonder of their own.
If you want to try making your own pair, Tata and Tatao have a free pattern for Sanquhar gloves on Ravelry.
A sunny, fresh spring day at the beach front. Some lovely colour inside and a really interesting table for Exchange Day today. Good way to get rid of things we don’t need and exchange them with someone who does need them. The colours inside the club today were inspirational and so much talk about how to combine and improve colours.
Show and tell
Janette had spun two balls of wool : one alpaca and one bright Brenda/Kath mix. Cathy plied silk and merino mix with alpaca. Grey and white Deb spun some of the fleece Margaret dyed in a blue mix. Marina created a skein of alpaca and Sue’s mixed fibres and silver thread. Hilary dyed two skeins to match to finish a project. Deb knitted one beret and one beanie from Margaret’s dyed fleece. Alexis knitted a fair Isle beanie in Shetland wool. Predominantly blues. Karin knitted two Shetland wool beanies. One collected 1st prize at the Yankalilla country show and Margaret won 2nd prize at the same show for her sheep patterned socks. Marjorie knitted a sleeveless jacket made in stripes from her various leftover coloured wool and also brought in some heritage gloves made in a traditional Scottish pattern in green/white. Peter’s had woven bag which Marina lined and John made the handle. Margaret made a lovely blue warm jumper from handspun Bendigo wool. Cathy spun the yarn and knitted a sleeveless jacket in a green wool and silk mixture in rib pattern.
John, Marina and Peter are all very good weavers. They do complicated well with weaving. They also make simple looms to have a break and show us weaving is an attainable and a sustainable skill. One of the strong features of our group is we like to foster enthusiasm in others for the things we love. John built a scarf loom and is making a colourful scarf. Marina is doing freeform weaving on her scarf loom. Peter is doing creative weaving around a picture frame he has turned into a loom.
The You Tube video gives you a simple pattern to try.
Both Alexis and Cathy have been picking up the fun and challenges from Tanis Gray’s Knitting the Galaxy book. Plenty of interesting and striking patterns to chose from. TanisKnits has other patterns for you to look at. She is a talented and inspired person whose love of fibre has made her enthusiastic about bringing colour and design into everyone’s life. Alexis has knitted the Clone Trooper hat in black and white, a Revenge of the Sith’s helmet beanie in red and black and a Boba Fett helmet hat in red, green and black. Cathy converted a Darth Vader jumper pattern to a child’s jacket and in black, grey, red blue and silver and made a Tiefighter beanie in green and grey. All of these things are eye catching and practical.
If you have some spare time you can listen to the interview with Tanis Gray about her Knitting the Galaxy book.
If you look on You Tube there are other examples of how to use this 3D Bavarian stitch besides making it into a blanket. Marina used it to make a very attractive and durable car cushion cover which we are featuring. You can see the front and back of the pattern. Why a car seat cover? The pattern is dense, then there is the overlay and so it creates a very durable, strong fabric for hard wear. As a blanket it would be extra warm. We loved her car seat cover. The pattern is something you want to keep looking at. You want to feel it and see how it works. It is one of those classic, special stitches. The tutorial by Fiber Spider guides you through it.
We didn’t only have show and tell today, we had stash building with the lovely colours and fibres from Brenda at Felting Ewe (link right). So much to look at! Our felters also made some lovely fairies from tops during the session. A very productive, happy meeting.
Show and tell
Fay knitted a brown wool beanie with a fuzzy top, also felted a beautiful holey scarf with silk/wool with fluted edges. Maria brought in the pattern of Maxine’s crochet rug from last week with a sample from the pattern. Sue felted a bathmat with a small square colourful design on an orange background. Marina has made a car crochet cushion in various colours. The pattern is reversible, so one side is the back of the pattern. Both ways look very attractive. Jan B has knitted a beautiful lace wrap from commercial mohair in pale grey. John gave Cathy a lovely piece of green/black weaving which Cathy has made into a market bag with a silver fern decoration on the handle. Maxine made some fabric quilted bowls suitable to hold items to go into the microwave without using oven mitts. Alexis has been busy knitting three Star Wars beanies and three Fair Isle ones all in the Shetland wool her and Karin have been busy purchasing from Sun Spun, Coventry UK. The Felters have been busy this afternoon making fairies
Karin has finished her beautiful Fair Isle beanie in forest colours. So good to look at. It is knitted in two ply Shetland wool so a soft, fine knit. Fair Isle has a rhythm to it and the colour changes and combinations can be inspiring. It is what it makes it easy to knit: watching the patterns form and take shape.
Ella Gordon‘s blog gives some good , quick insight into Fair Isle knitting. There is quite a history and a tradition.
Start Knitting has some good Fair Isle and colourwork patterns for beanies.
Rokolee helps you get better at using two colours with her video. She explains what works for her.
Maxine brought in a beautiful crochet blanket made of lovely grannie square which she had found on her travels. She didn’t make it, but we learn from Maxine to keep your eyes open and look for things which are different and which inspire you to make things in a very creative way. The more skills and tricks you have under your belt, the more you can create. This blanket is purples and lavenders and the post stitch star grannie square gives it a three D effect. Maxine wasn’t sure how the 3D effect had been achieved which is why she brought it along. Was it created as you crocheted or added afterwards? Maria correctly identified it as post stitch and so it was then easy to find the actual grannie square in a search. The Flower Star Square is a free Ravelry pattern by Silvi Veale and her colours show you just how effective this square can be.
There is a similar post stitch grannie square on YouTube which you might like to follow.
Rather brisk and breezy down at the beach front this morning so no spinning in public again for us today. Cold and windy and then it rained. We were nice and warm and noisy indoors. So much to see. So much to do and so many ways of helping each other. Help can be as practical as it can be inspirational. No one will be creative if they are stuck or blocked so we keep talking and the ideas keep flowing. Show and tell is a crucial part of our creative process because we see so many interesting and inventive things. This week was full of lovely items to appreciate.
Show and Tell
Maxine brought in a beautiful crochet rug in lavenders and purples to ask Maria about how to do a certain stitch in the centre, also a small jacket in many colourful stripes. Karin knitted a lovely Fair Isle beanie from Shetland wool. Alexis is in the process of making a similar one in blue colours. Anthea brought in a piece of hardanger embroidery , green on white linen. Chris crocheted a shoulder poncho with Bendigo blue wool. Sheila sewed a large patchwork bag filled with little items for her new great grandson: four beanies, and apron for covering the babe while feeding. Cathy spun a skein of grey alpaca and knitted a lovely child’s jacket in black with Stars Wars motifs worked into the front. This is for her grandson. Maria has been busy making pot holders from her stash and pretty cotton roses. Hilary knitted a scarf which she started on the trip to Victor Harbor a few week ago from Brenda’s colourful tops.
Ponchos are making a bit of a come back. Comfort wear, warm , cosy and you just pop them on quickly and instant warmth. They can be functional and stylish. Christine brought in her lovely ice blue poncho which she had started to crochet. We are looking forward to seeing the finished poncho. There are some lovely free crochet poncho patterns on beautiful dawn.
We are lucky. Every week we are greeted by an inspiring array of colours . As we work some of these colours change, some stay the same and we have the show and tell table colours to look at. We are immersed in colour and it is not only good therapy , it makes you think. You wonder whether you want to use those colours or you just know you do. You think about what you would do with the colours and how you would match that colour with something else. Being surrounded by colour means you are always being encouraged to think creatively. It is positive and pleasant. If you look at our colours above, what would you do with them? How would you use them? What would you change?
Design Wizard has some good ideas for putting colours together. The video shows how to blend colours on a blending board. The trick of using rose fibre is a good one. Rose fibre has no stretch and is like silk. Plant based fibres don’t stretch. This provides a stable base for other fibres when making rolags. The video uses rainbow colours. You can pick your own! Suri alpaca, dog fur, silk would all make good bases. You have tensile strength as you stretch and so the rolags are neater.
Was sunny but very cold so we couldn’t do the world wide spinning in public day, which is actually 18th September. We shall try again next week. Our spring is having trouble getting lift off. The show and tell table was a bit bare but everyone is between projects. There is plenty of colour and things happening. They are not there yet. What was on show was interesting. The scarf looms were good to see and such a good way to make a scarf which is different. You can catch up with what is going on between projects on our Instagram account.
Show and tell
Cathy: Wool batts made from Patricia’s green dyed fleece ,naturally dyed green alpaca and green noil silk .
Maxine: Knitted and felted hats. One is pale blue and grey and the other in the dark coral Bendigo Woollen Mills colour.
Marina (in absentia): Work in progress: patchwork woven scarf in different colours and fibres on scarf loom.
John: Work in progress: woven scarf in one piece on scarf loom green, white and mauve.
Sunny day at the beach front today but a bit cold! Spring hasn’t quite sprung. Plenty to see and do and some nice events coming.
Show and Tell
Maria: Two handspun white wool beanies with fair isle patterns. One green contrast other blue and brown.
Margaret: Sheep socks where she had used a beanie pattern to create her special socks.
Janette: Rainbow jumper and matching beanie from Brenda’s colours plied with Kath Loman’s fleece.
Maxine: Grey butterfly beanie with flowers. Colourful motifs on grey spun wool.
Karin: Skein of coffee coloured alpaca.
Fay: Two pairs of knitted slippers one in green and one in blue. Felted bag in pale apricots, peaches and cream with hand stitched embellishment for handle.
Marina : two pretty cotton crochet beanies in lavender, pink and white.
Most of those who went on the bus to visit the Victor Harbour group on Monday brought knitting to do as it is more portable. No shortage of yarn choices and ideas. Here are some of the projects:
Top left is Cathy’s homespun wool and silk becoming a short sleeved jacket. Top right is Hilary’s yarn with an interesting twist which is becoming a scarf. Middle left is Marjorie’s oddments project which looks really interesting. Middle right is Margaret’s new jumper in Bendigo blue. Bottom left is Deb’s colour co ordinated knitting which matched her mask and toned in with her outfit. Bottom right is Maria’s new beanie.
One of the best projects we saw there was Hermione’s beanie from Harry Potter films.
We did different today. We have often planned things and they have had to be cancelled because of restrictions or lockdowns. No complaints. Our state has kept us safe. Today, though, we finally got to make our visit to the Victor Harbour Spinners group and it was a successful day for the club all round. Eleven went on the bus. Four went in cars and eight stayed to keep our clubroom by the sea warm. Our group was well attended today and the trip down to Victor Harbour through the greenery and beautiful landscape was a bonus. The Victor Harbour group was having a tea tray competition and so some of our members put in entries and even won prizes. Mostly we took knitting to do because of the convenience so you will be seeing some of those projects and the tea trays as the week goes by. Other members brought items for the show and tell table at Victor Harbour . Those who stayed at the club seemed to have got some good spinning done…along with the cake eating 🙂
Top left is Alexis’ soothing autumn colours spinning. In the middle is Hilary’s prize winning tea tray. Right are Jan E’s cute amigurmi dolls she shared in show and tell.
Next row, left is John’s weaving samples which he shared which created a lot of interest. Right is Karin’s beautifully even spun coffee coloured tops.
Next row is Marina’s prizewinning flower teapot tray and to the right Maxine’s button necklaces. Great way to use buttons and preserve those heritage buttons in the family. Marjorie’s picnic basket morning tea also won a prize .
Next row, Maxine’s Beatrix Potter teapot tray won a prize and to the left is Sheila O’s spinning. The tops have an interesting mix of colours. Rather like a forest.
Sheila Mc shared one of her knitted felted bags and Maxine also shared one of her Henritta chooks which are always so popular.
Great day and hope it encourages you too, to make yourself a nice morning or afternoon tea with a lovely tray!
We have had some great socks and slippers which members have knitted. Like anything else you are constantly surprised how different all the slippers and socks can be. Colour, yarn, patterns make them all so different.
Top left is Sue’s first knitting achievement – a lovely pair of stretchy slipper socks. Top right are Maria’s lovely bright blue slipper socks. Bottom left are Marina’s tubular socks. You can do a search for these on our blog. Bottom right is the first of Margaret’s sheep socks. She has been bringing in some great graph knitted socks this year.
Knitted slippers and can be quick and easy and a good way to have toastie toes in the cold weather.
We are coming to the end of winter so it was cold today but sunny. Inside there was an array of bright colours , unusual colours and then some beautiful natural colours. The show and tell table was laden with colourful and interesting things to look at and there are plenty of lovely projects on the way.
Marina : multi coloured beret
Karin: green felted bag with a leather strap; a skein of spun wool
Maxine : beanie in reds& orange colours.
Alexis: dyed tops in blue and pink; two skeins of the same dyed tops 1 plied with green the other plied with blue.
Fay: a lovely nuno felted bag using a pashmina stole with felted handle in aqua colour.
Maria: large lap blanket using Tunisian crochet in reds/fawn and a narrow, crochet scarf in grey/white.
*** Sue’s first attempt at knitting : a pair of house slippers.***
Sheila Mc : 2 pair of small fingerless mitts in bright green and red; a small sleeveless jacket in stripes for her great grandson and a large knitted bag ready for felting in washing machine.
Jan B: a skein of spun suri alpaca dyed in kingfisher blue.
Anthea: A new carry bag in yellow and black for our drum carder.
We like making hats and even though beanie season is nearly over, we shall still see hats at our meetings. There are so many designs, colours, styles and ways of making them. Some hats you don’t get to see the beauty of until someone is wearing them.
Left is a felted trilby hat. Hard to get a photo to do it justice. Sue’s hat has been carefully felted in merin tops and the colour play makes it interesting. It is a stylish hat but the colours mean it would work as well with denim as much as dressieer fabrics.
Next is Fay’s maroon hat with orange highlights. This , too, has been made form merino tops. The rich colours make this hat ad there is some interesting trim. What would you wear this hat with?
Marina was learning to spin art yarn so she knitted a beret with what she made and the texture of the wool makes this beret a fun design. It is made form homespun wool so nice and warm.
Far right is Maxine’s work in progress which is an experiment. She is good at punch work and has used it to good effect in home decor items. She wondered what would happen if she tried it on a beanie. She is working on a butterfly design and says it is not quite so easy to do punch work on knitted fabric. Nevertheless, it is looking effective and we look forward to see how it progresses.
Bit blowy down at the beach front today but the ocean looked magnificent. Indoors we were warm and comfortable and surrounded by some very arty, interesting colours. Some lovely felting projects this week and some great ideas for projects. We also seem to have more fibre fest activities to attend if we want to and that is always good. Always ready to do everything and prepared to cancel if we have to save health and happiness. Coronavirus is making us very flexible.
Show and Tell
Marjorie: Bendigo wool jumper in deep wine colour.
Sue: felted trilby hat green/blue and frilled felted scarf brown tones with silk inlay.
Fay: frilled felted scarf in red tones.
Margaret: a sock in Fair Isle with sheep motifs .Second one to come.
Alrisha : A book on dyeing.
Marina: a knitted beanie in variegated art yarn.
Alexis: a large skein of violet/multi coloured plied wool
Jan E: Two small crocheted dolls which she had finally finished.
Janette: a box of dyed fleeces various pastel colours.
Sheila O’s shawl drew a lot of attention this week. The classic grey, handspun wool is a good colour pick for a shawl which will match any outfit. This is not a drapey shawl. It is a warm, soft , cosy shawl to keep your neck and back warm. She made it from handspun wool and the cable pattern in the middle makes this shawl attractive and an accessory which will dress up any outfit.
There are some lovely, free shawl patterns on the knitting bee website.
Signs of spring today so nice and sunny down by the lovely blue ocean today. Once again, so much to look at and enjoy. Grey was a popular colour this week.
]Show and tell
Jan B: Woven black scarf in homespun alpaca. Knitted cable scarf in handspun, black alpaca
Sheila: Grey , handspun shawl with cable at back in grey.
Marina: crochet scrumbling in Alexis’ colours, book on free form crochet, crochet hat in shaggy turquoise yarn with colourful granny square inset, beret in speckled , mainly pink, oddment yarns .
Cathy: Grey alpaca dyed with sour sobs and black food colouring to give charcoal and dark green, vibrant green and grey green batches of fleece.
Anthea: Wool embroidery on a blanket of a kookaburra and native flowers.
John: Three Japanese braided cords.
Jan B: Handspun, grey zippered jacket. Two pairs of hexagon crochet fingerless gloves in grey and maroon and fawn and green.
Maxine: Thick grey jacket in handspun Bendigo Woollen Mills tops.
Hilary: White felted shawl which she received because she participated in the International Scarf Exchange.
We didn’t know Advent socks were a thing until Margaret was knitting hers. She has finished them now and we just love them. They are well thought out, interesting and a good challenge knit without too much strain. We liked the look of the socks and the colours. You can find the pattern via KnitHacker. Natalie Shelton has some other Advent socks you might like to try as well.
We were in hard lockdown for a week so were unable to meet last week. This week we are still under restrictions and had to wear masks in our meeting today. Did not stop us gasbagging! The colours in the room were so lovely and cheered us all up. There are some good projects being finished and underway.
Show and Tell
Sheila Mc: Cherry red children’s mittens in homespun, handdyed wool.
Sheila O: Pink hand spun, hand dyed scarf in wool.
Alexis: Squishy skein of spun wool in autumn colours.
Sue: Green felted scarf in silk and merino tops.
Fay: Felted hat in reds and burnt oranges and charcoal colours.
Pamela: Blue and black crochet beanie.
Karin: Cable beret in handspun coral wool, topknot beanie in handspun fawn and top knot beanie in handspun greens.
Marina: tube socks in yellow with primary colour splashes. Knitted cable jumper in natural dyes and handspun wool.
Cathy: Felted boots with knitted tops. Oranges, pinks and fawns.Mainly wool with some tussar silk.
Margaret: Fair Isle multicoloured Advent socks.
Anthea: Spun wool plied with crochet cotton. One ball each of turquoise, pink and purple.
Janette: Ball of mulicoloured spun wool tops in Brenda’s colours.
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.
