Mission accomplished!

I recently finished a crocheted scarf, which I made from some of my handspun wools, and decided to challenge myself with the leftovers. I decided that it would be fun to see if I could use up every last bit of yarn and not even have an inch left over.

First I made a scarf, which I have already posted about here.

Then I decided to go back to crochet and I designed this hat:

I ran out of the handpaint most of the way through the last round so I undid it and added a contrast edge in brown. I made this hat 3 times before I was happy with it. First I tried it with trebles (US double crochet), but I didn't like the length of the stitches with this yarn. Then I started again with half trebles (US half double crochet) but I joined the rounds and started each new one with a couple of chains for the first stitch. That made a horrible colour jog that I couldn't live with so I ripped it out again and crocheted the whole thing as a whackingly big spiral.

I liked it so much that I made another with small amounts of leftover green.

This time I'd only done a couple of colours before I realised I *should* be joining the end of every round and using a chain to start. My gauge was a tiny bit off so I shrank it for a few minutes in the washing machine. It doesn't look felted but it's the right size now.

Then I decided a bit of knitting was in order because I still had a huge ball of brown left.

So I made this rolled brim hat with a check stripe. It reminds me of a policeman's hat. Which is a shame...

At this point I was left with a medium sized ball of brown (still!) and a lot of teeny tiny scraps of various greens. Things began to get desperate.

With the fibonacci sequence in mind, I started another knitted hat.

I knew I had more than enough left to make a basic beanie, so I decided to decrease away about a half of the stitches as I normally would, then I worked 4 rounds between decreases instead of decreasing every round. I'd seen a ski hat in a 1950's pattern book that used a similar technique and I really like the shape so I thought "What the heck". After all, I was only using tiny scraps that I'd normally have thrown away at this point.

But even then I still had teeny amounts of some green and brown left!

I enlisted the help of a scrap of rainbow handpaint (even though it's not handspun), and made these, to sew on future hats.

Those little skeins at the snake's noses are for sewing them on. And I don't have a single scrap of yarn left!

I just thought I'd get you all excited about my upcoming collection of free patterns

:-)

They will be:
Crochet rolled brim hat
Chunky Check Scarf (that one in the photo a couple of posts back)
Himalayan Hat (in a range of sizes for the whole family) and
An update of a small miser's purse pattern from 1891 (in the Home Work collection). Picture here.

I'm just waiting for the Himalayan hat to dry so I can work out how much yarn I used.

The Doctor Who Scarf Site.

Now that's what I call being dedicated!

:-)

And to assure you that I really am impressed and not just taking the Mickey:

Doctor Who Logos in knitting chart format

Doctor Who Scarf Pattern

K9 Knitting Chart

Hmmm, I can't believe I haven't got a photo of the Dr Who jumper I made for Jamie with a cyberman on the back or the one I made for Brittany when she was a baby. I'll have to fix that!

And no, I'm not admitting that I have a rough copy of a Dr Who knitting book that I wrote in the late 90's on my bookshelf with over 100 patterns in it because weird people might want me to actually make everything and try and get it published (Hmmm, that Jon Pertwee era logo jumper might be a good next project...)

From my previous post, you've possibly realised I'm in "big needle quick knit" mode once again. Here's my latest:

My finished K3, P3 check scarf that I mentioned I was knitting a couple of posts ago. Made with 3 strands of sport-dk weight handspun 2 ply merino on 10mm needles. This is such a perfect project for newer knitters that I think I'll put the pattern up once I've worked out the yardage.

:-)

After making 2 scarves I still have enough yarn left over to make a hat from each colour! This time I'm adapting my hat knitting formulae with crochet. It's going well so far but I have no idea how I'd write it down so other people could understand it ...

A while ago I bought some 10mm circular Crystal Palace bamboo needles.

Upon using them for the first time, one of them self destructed.

The other one is still perfect. What really sucks (aside from the fact that they cost about $15 with shipping), is that they're really nice to use. Until they fell apart anyway...

Has anyone out there used Crystal Palace bamboo needles? What do you think of them?

of my handspun scarf from the previous post.

Crochet rolled brim hat (pattern by Arlene Williams)

Crochet scarf (pattern by me). This is made from my handspun yarns. They're sportweight 2 ply merino (a bit finer than Aussie 8 ply) and a 3.5mm hook. It was supposed to be 6ft long but it's about 7 ft long since I suck at measuring gauge in crochet! It doesn't matter though, because I'm 6ft tall so I can get away with wearing a scarf that long.

:-)

Eyelet hat from one of the chemo hat websites (I've forgotten which one, sorry). I really don't like this hat. I think the rolled brim is stingy and the shaping on the top is clumsy. I think I'll stick to my own shaping for the tops of hats from now on.

Baby sized jester hat (pattern by me)

Yet another knut hat made from my beginner's handspun.

Another k3, p3 scarf. This one is one strand of novelty yarn (a discontinued yarn by Panda called "Angel"), and one strand of ordinary 8 ply (That's DK weight to the non Aussie yarn speakers). I love this scarf.

I also figured out the kerchief pattern from the mid 1800's. I got some yarn out of the lockup today in case I decide to actually make one and write up the modernised pattern. Don't wait for it, I haven't decided if I'm going to make one yet...

And my current WIP:

A k3, p3 check scarf knit on 10mm needles. This scarf uses 3 of the same handspun yarns from my crocheted scarf.

First of all, I'd like to show you two cuties:

Mr Apricot, blending in with the blankets. What a sweety. He was mewing at me the whole time to quit taking his photo and give him a pat. He likes to think he's big and mean and tough, but he's not.

And

A huge hairy spider we've dubbed "Spideyman". Obvious, I know. He's currently hiding behind a box of Pepsi Max in the kitchen. I hope he doesn't scurry across the floor when people are viewing the house before the auction today.

What do you mean s/he's not cute?

Lastly, the knitting!

I finished this hat

from Vogue Knitting's Caps and Hats.

Here's the hat shown from the top. In the book it has a tassel, but I left that off. It's such a confection already that I thought adding a tassel was just going too far.

I really love the Vogue Knitting on the Go books. I'm after Caps and Hats Two, and the Chunky Hats and Scarves books next.

Finally, here's what I'm working on now!

This is a test-knit of a Shetland Kerchief pattern from Beeton's Book of Needlework from the mid to late 1800's, which you can download from project Gutenberg here.

It's an amazing book, I'm planning on working up a collection of the knitting patterns once I finish the Home Work collection.

I will be changing this pattern slightly though. So far I've corrected the edging pattern as it had many errors. If you look at the red lines in the first repeat of the pattern you can see that the zig-zag effect went the wrong way because half that line of instructions was missing and I didn't get it right first go

:-)

I fixed that, but I think the whole thing would be much nicer if the even numbered rows were knit, not purled, to make it a garter stitch lace. I also don't like the "slip 1, yo" sat the beginning of some rows on the shaped edge. I'm thinking of knitting the 1st sts and putting the yarn over right on the edge, but I'll have to test how that looks since some increases are worked into the yo's on some rows.

Well, our house goes up for auction in 2 hours and 21 minutes so I'm off to knit and panic!

Gusto 10 Beanie

And here she is, kindly modelled by Marylin.

I'm planning on sending Gladys to the Give A Little relief project as an auction item or prize (I'll leave it up to the organisers to decide).

Gladys won't be alone on her long journey though, I'll also be sending several hats, including this one.

My very first piece of weaving :-)

I love it because of it's enormous number of inconsistencies <VBG>. It was supposed to be fabric for a cushion but I've decided it's a table runner instead. Commercial warp with handspun weft.

And the Gladys scarf/stole is finally blocked!

When it's dry I think I'll sell it on ebay to raise money for charity.

The youngsters* would like to know.

From left to right: Winkey aged almost 4, Frankenstein aged 6½ (who has the same father as Winkey but not the same Mum), and Apricot aged almost 4 (who has the same Mum as his littermate Winkey but not the same Dad).

Ah, blended families. They get so complicated sometimes.

I just finished knitting yet another scarf! There isn't much to do when you have to keep your house constantly tidy because you're trying to sell it (boring), and have put most of your things in storage. This one is an angora rabbit blend of anonymous lineage that I bought several years ago from Aaron of the Yarn Barn in West Coburg. Unfortunately I've never been to the Yarn Barn, I bought this from Aaron at the Australian Sheep and Wool Show. I used 5.5mm needles, 30 stitches, and a plain k3, p3 rib. The finished scarf is about 12 centimetres wide when relaxed and 7-ish feet long. I haven't measured it, I just kept knitting until I ran out of yarn. I had tried fisherman's rib, which looked gorgoeus but I thought I'd run out of yarn since fisherman's rib uses so much more than regular rib. I really love this yarn! It's gorgeously soft, barely sheds at all and I really want some more in other colours. I guess I'll have to make a pilgrimage before we move. Or after. Probably after, since I really want to use up the stash...

AND...

I hated my miser's purse, so I fixed it.

Now I like it. I found the silver rings (which were literally right in front of me the whole time), and reattached the tassels so they weren't hanging down all loose and pathetic looking.

My next project is going to be a scarf. Hey, what can I say, I'm on a roll!

I'm going to be using some Aussie 2 ply handpainted wool from Wendy Dennis (I think it's merino but I lost the label years ago), in blues and purples and I'm going to knit a long rectangular scarf using this stitch:

and I think I'll add a knitted on plain garter stitch border in order to keep the elasticity needed to block the birdseye pattern properly. It'll either look really cool, or like a ratty old table runner.

:-P

Time will tell.

*We have 2 other cats who are collectively known as "the crumblies". Tapestry, aged 15 and her daughter Guinevere, aged 14½

For the first day of the month, no returns!

I finished my triangle cushion this afternoon. It's huge. Really huge. I haven't measured it, but I think it's about 2ft across the bottom. Very comfy!

Here's a shot I just took of it drying on a towel (I wet block almost everything).

See, I told you it was a triangle.

I haven't sewn on the buttons yet, but it still counts as finished because sewing on buttons only takes 5 minutes and I never leave a project buttonless for long.

I still haven't blocked the Gladys scarf/stole because, since I finished knitting it, we've had an open house inspection, a birthday party and then another open house this weekend so I haven't been able to leave it on the table to dry. Unlike the cushion cover, it's too big to move so it will have to wait until Sunday. Maybe even until the day after the auction.

Please send good house selling vibes for Saturday Setember 10th, 12pm AEST (that's Australian Eastern standard time).

:-)