2am.

Pub.
Loud Music.
Dogs barking.
Phone call.
Quieter music.
Sleeping dogs.

Insomnia.

~Sigh~

and I'm a hat knitting addict...

Dr Who + half an episode of the Bill + 3 strands of 8 ply wool on 9mm needles = this rolled brim hat.

I made another OOK hat last night while watching the telly. This time I used 1 strand of maroon wool/silk, 1 strand of purple wool/possum and one strand of reddish thing with rainbow pompoms.

I particularly like the extra long tassels on this one.

:-)

I also made an orange flower for my "mostly pink" knit and felt hat.

And I would just like to leave you with greetings from this lovely little fellow (sheila?), who was saved from the evil lawn mower blades and given a lovely new home down by the Loddon river.

Ribbit.

I need some 8mm dpns so I can make more of these:

One of the OOK (One-Of-a-Kind) hats by Joan Vass from the 1980's knitting book "Exclusively Yours". (I think it's 1980's. You can still get it in many 2nd hand bookshops, ebay or op shops).

These hats are knit with 2 strands of 12 ply yarn (or 3 strands of 8 ply) on 8mm needles and take about 2 hours from start to finish. They're also great fun, they eat up stash like no-one's business and there are 2 other styles in the book that are thoroughly wearable.

For my hat I used 1 strand of glitter pom pom yarn, one strand of black and white thick and thin acrylic, and one strand of black cotton with white eyelash thread and rainbow coloured slubs.

Never let it be said that I'm subtle.

BTW: I don't have any 8mm dpns so I knit the decrease section at the top of the hat on 2 straights and a circular. I don't recommend it but it gets the job done if all you have in your required needle size is one 40cm circ and a pair of straights. :-P

Adult sized fairisle hat in Jo Sharp DK Classic Wool. More of my hand painted yarn in the background

:-)

Entrelac scarf in Jo Sharp DK Classic Wool. I hand painted the rainbow colour.

Do I need to say I wrote the pattern?

I thought not.

A snake scarf. My own pattern of course.

:-P

I dyed the background colour yarn using Ashford's dyes in brown, rust and yellow. Not a colour combination I would have thought of myself (they were the colours in a kit), but I reallly love the way they look when they start to blend together.

The next FO, 5 baby hats.

Knit from hand painted, hand spun yarns. 2 ply, 12 ply thickness. My own pattern.

These little hats are VERY addictive. I want to use up the rest of my 12 ply weight yarns to make more!

I knit two "knit and felt" hats using yarn spun from some felting batts that were sitting unused in the felting stash for far too long

:-)

This is the first one, but my favourite is the one below because of the flower. I have some yarn left so I think I'll have to put a flower on the mostly pink one as well. Probably orange, maybe blue.

The yarn is a dk weight (aussie 8 ply) single 100% merino, woollen spun.

I know the blog has turned into just a showing of my latest projects but I promise I'll have more time and interesting things to say after we move.

Let's face it, in a town of less than 300 people not much happens...

My first FO is another hat. Yeah, I know, very boring. But it is pretty

See? Adult size rolled brim hat in Brownsheeps Cotton Fleece or some such American type yarn. My own pattern. Nice yarn, splits a lot if you're not paying attention though.

More FO's in the following posts so I can link to them separately.

Just a quick note to say that my hat book will be temporarily unavailable as my sister is closing down her fibre supplies business.

I'm currently looking into other ways to distribute it and it will be available again at a later date.

If you're desperate for a copy please contact me through the "contacts" page.

Fingerless mitts!

These are a teaser from the next issue of Southern Cross Knitting (due online August 1st) and are the photos to accompany my "Custom Fit Fingerless Mitts" pattern, a "plug and play" pattern that can be knit in any size with any yarn.

The first pair are knit from a couple of chunky oddballs from the stash that Miss Brittany dyed with matching colours. (You can learn how to dye using this method in the next issue of SCK as well!)

This pair are knit with the same self striping handspun as the hats in the previous post.

I have knit a couple of other things for the mag, but those you really will have to wait for !

:-)

You knew there'd be major hattage, of course...

These are 4 hats that I knit with some rainbow coloured self striping handspun. The patterns are from my hat book (available from my sister).

I'm thinking of putting instructions for the beaded tassels in Southern Cross Knitting if I have time.

I finally got around to purchasing a rigid heddle loom. This is my 2nd project, a sampler scarf, made mostly with hand dyed commercial wools. As you can see, I didn't realise quite how sickeningly bright the colours would look together, but Miss Brittany loves it so it's all hers. My edges aren't too bad, if I do say so myself!

It actually looks quite decent with the part that goes round the neck folded over like a shawl collar.

:-)

I haven't quite finished my first project which suffers greatly from "beginner's edge". The wibbly edge problem was then compounded when I washed it because I used 2 breeds of wool and one shrank while the other didn't. The yarn that shrank was spun a long time ago and I suspect I didn't wash it after plying. Once I turned the edges over to sew a straight hem it looked ok so I'll post a photo if it looks nice once I've actually sewn it.

I thought I'd catch up by announcing a few finished projects. I'll post one (or one set) per message so I can link to them in the FO's for 2005 menu on the main blog page.

Firstly, I crocheted something!

This is a hat from Crocheting for Dummies. It's made from purple handspun with a 2 ply handpainted wool and purple metallic thread carried along for extra bling. I really like this pattern and plan on making some more.

It's true, I'm not only addicted to knitting hats, I'm addicted to crocheting them too. If I had any fabric stash left after making totes I'd be sewing them as well.

BTW, the only way to get my totes now is to email my sister. She took them all to sell in the shop since they weren't selling well over my website.