Come on, seriously, you knew there'd be a great big all knit-related post on here if you waited long enough, didn't you?

And not only do I have one cool knitting thing to tell you about, I have three! Possibly four...

1: Hats!

There's a new baby in our extended family (ie: not actually blood related to but still family nonetheless type family) and of course this means there's been a bunch of baby knitting going on. And of course, this being my blog, the knitting is hats for next Winter (and a bunny rabbit but I haven't started that yet).

First was a zigzag jester hat in dk weight wool on 4mm needles. The caramel yarn is Cleckheaton Country 8 ply and the pink is Paton's Fireside. I just remembered that I have a little yarn flower to sew on that one, almost forgot! I'll have to post another pic later today after I've sewn it on... (darn)

That was so much fun to knit that I immediately started a little beanie with the leftover caramel and some Jo Sharp Dk wool in Amethyst.

and finally, because I love this yarn sooooo much, I made another little jester hat with a scrap of Scheepjes "Flame Colori" (at least I think that's what it's called).

This particular yarn (although not this colour) has great sentimental meaning to me. When I was young I went with my Mum to the yarn shop and she totally fell in love with a cardigan made from it in a blue/green/pink colourway. She decided immediately that it wasn't made well enough so she bought extra yarn and the pattern booklet and reknit the button band to her liking (she was a flawless button band knitter) and more yarn to make a matching pullover. That was the day that I learnt that knitting isn't precious and if it isn't right, rip it out and fix it!

The yarn is also from an era when yarn companies knew how to make a good quality novelty yarn (the 1980's). Unlike the thick and thin yarns that you get these days, that pill and fall apart in two minutes, this stuff will take quite a bit of wear and tear because the manufacturer made a good choice of breed and characteristics. Too bad the lot that just sold on ebay was too expensive to post or I would have replaced my rapidly dwindling collection of this particular yarn (that I scored at the op shop for $5!)

All of these patterns come from my "Any Yarn, Any Size Knit Hat Book", including the colour charts for knitting the cats and zigzags.

Speaking of which...

2: I'm on the Sticks & String podcast! Twice even :) Well, the book is anyway.

Check out episode 38 for a review of The Any Yarn, Any Size Knit Hat Book, in which David Reidy very kindly compares it to Elizabeth Ziimmermann's style of patterns and episode 39 for an interview with me. I haven't listened to it yet. Hopefully I don't sound like I'm three years old (I have had telemarketers ask me if my Mummy or Daddy were home in the past and I sternly refuse to phone up to place takeaway orders). Or an idiot. That would also be bad :P

I have absolutely no way to cleverly segue to the next thing I have to say, so:

3: LibriVox knitters rock!

A group of knitters at LibriVox are working on updating and recording a public domain book called "Exercises in Knitting" by Cornelia Mee, originally published in 1846 and are very graciously putting the text versions of the patterns in the knitwiki under a public domain license. There are still some patterns needing knitters and readers so check it out and lend a hand if you can. Ms Mee was an excellent pattern writer for the time period and the couple of patterns that I have knit have been quite easy to follow.

Finally, number 4: I'm selling off a large amount of laceweight merino (2/22, 500gm cones) on behalf of someone else. If you have a ravelry account you can see it in my stash for trade or sale area. If not, email me and I'll send you the list of what's left. I'm asking AUD$15.50 plus postage for 500gm for colours and $13.50 plus postage for white. Cone sizes vary slightly and are priced accordingly. If you're not on ravelry, drop me a note via my contact page if you're interested.

Ooh, there's a number 5. I'm now listed on librarything as an author! I'll have to get a paid account before I can list the rest of my books, but I've added most of my knitting books already. I do have to correct some of the editions but it's very handy to be able to put all my books in there and then import them into ravelry once a fortnight to see if any of the new books come up.