You know the old saying "it never rains but it pours"? Well they forgot about lightning.

After being ill for 6 weeks and taking another week to recover from the medication, our power and phone lines were hit by lightning. Luckily most of our electrical gear was unplugged but we still lost a LOT of gear, including 2 computers and our network modem (an xbox, tv set top box, vcr, a couple of power boards and the network card in my computer), which is why I've only just got back to blogging.

After all that here I am, healthy, online and with a whole lot of stuff to blog about :)

Here goes.

I found these at the op shop:

and bought this pattern to use some of it :)

I spun these:

Fingering/sport weight 22 micron merino. The fibre was from Margaret Peel's Fibre Supplies which is now closed, but I'm very grateful my sister taught me how to hand paint roving before she closed the business :)

I also spun these from some silk/merino batts that I blended. The fibres are 52 percent silk and 48 percent wool. The top one is 2 ply fingering weight, which I have spun for weaving and the bottom one is 2 ply laceweight which I spun for a friend of mine.

This one actually has more purple than shows in the photo.

The laceweight is 120gm, balanced 2 ply, 30WPI, unknown yardage because it's too light and fine to measure accurately on my McMorran yarn balance

I made my father in law a watch cap using the pattern from The Any Yarn. Any Size Knit Hat Book.
The yarn is dk weight wool, the beige is a discontinued commercial yarn and the blue and orange are my handspun :)

I liked knitting him the watch cap so much that I knit him a beanie from the book too. The main yarn is a lovely handspun merino in brown with tiny flecks of other colours. I spun it from a bump that I bought from Virginia Farm Woolworks. I love Virginia Farm, their prices are amazing, the quality of their fibre is superb and I'm VERY fussy about both. The beige is the same yarn from the watchcap.

Our car broke down and I took photos of my Dad's dog for a future project :). His name was Gizmo but my Dad changed it to Rusty because he already has a cat called Gizmo and the poor little buggers were getting very confused. He's a pound dog, which is why he already had a name.

Why did I take photos of my Dad's dog? I'm going to knit him a David Brown tractor for his birthday and I thought it would be cute to make a little needle felted Dad and his dog to sit on it. Dad takes his dog for rides on his tractor in the grand parade when they do open days at the Steam and Machinery Museum that he belongs to.

There were happy tears when Rusty's previous owners saw him on the back of the tractor at one open day. They were really pleased to see that he's thoroughly spoilt by his new owner.

I had planned to knit the tractor for Dad for Christmas but nausea and trying to design and write a complicated pattern just don't go together so I bought his Chrissy present and put the project on hold.

I made two Extermmiknit daleks but I forgot to photograph them before I wrapped them up so I'll have to click some snaps on Christmas day when they're unwrapped. The pattern is utter genius. Everyone who likes Dr Who should make one :). I found that using a couple of magnetic strips and board to keep my place in each row was essential. I tried charting it but the chart was just too big to use effectively. I hate knitting bobbles but I really like this pattern. Besides, the bobbles are done in no time and the result is so worth it.

Finally (for this post), I made Chauncey by Dee Brown. I added the hat myself and I'll post the pattern when I can find out where I put the notes. The colourwork bits are a little tricky but you can fix any mess on the back before felting. When you felt it all the mess disappears.

Aside from the hat I also added little flower-loom flowers to the eyes with a button in the middle.

I have made some other things but they're not photographed yet. I'll try and get photos this afternoon!