Hanami for Evelyn

I've been knitting a Hanami Stole for Evelynkl7. This one took me a while as it was done in two ply lace. I've dated it as taking two months from start to finish but in that time I wasn't working soley on this. The yarn was supplied by Evelyn and it is Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Lace. It is in the colourway "Sugar sand" which is an appropriate name as it does look like sand. At first the colour looks just like a yellowish beige colour, but when you look closely, it is actually a combination of very light blues, yellows, oranges, greys and creams. It is 100% baby alpaca - very soft but it sheds!

I thoroughly enjoyed making this shawl. It has been on my wishlist since forever. I added beads throughout the cherry blossom section as well as on the cast on edge. The beads are Mill Hill size 8 glass beads with a silver lining. I used two packs of these. The trouble with beads though is that they always seem to get knocked over so I'm pretty sure I lost quite a few. As "payment", I received the same yarn and beads (which I used for this shawl anyway!)

Purple Swap

So, yesterday I received some goodies from the lovely AmandavW in the Aussie Swappers Purple Swap. I received the packaged delivered to work and was going to open it at home but I was tempted and so I opened it! And what a wonderful package! I could barely wipe the smile off my face as I unveiled it all.

The goodies all wrapped up with purple ribbon

Package unwrapped and look at these goodies! Misti Alpaca 4ply yarn (this has alpaca, wool, silk and nylon in it), a purple sunset card, a bunch of Cadbury chocs in purple wrapping and a Stockholm Scarf which I've been wanting for a while! I'd knitted with Misti Alpaca lace for Evelyn's WWFY Hanami Stole which is in progress right now and I thought it was wonderful stuff. To get a purple 4ply version is great!

Here is the scarf in action. It's knitted with Bendigo Woollen Mills Moorland which is an alpaca and wool blend. I love how soft alpaca is. I was actually starting to think that I'd asked for too much by putting the scarf on my wish list but here it is now:

And then, just as I thought I'd covered everything, Amanda mentioned that there was also a yarn cutter in there somewhere. YARN CUTTER! I so needed something of the sort since I'm planning to go on a trip in July and I'd need something to cut yarn on the plane perhaps. I was thinking of bringing a dental floss pack but I won't need to since now I have this!

It was all very exciting and I'm thankful to Amanda for putting together such a lovely bunch of purple fun. I LURVE purple.

Snapdragon Flip-Tops

These flip-top mitts were knitted for irkutskaya (Hilary) in a WWFY job. The yarn is lovely, it is Madeline Tosh DK in the colourway "gilded" which is the same colour as the one featured in the pattern photos. Hilary picked these beautiful purple buttons which I think are BETTER than the ones in the pattern photos.

I submitted this in a Nerd Wars challenge as well for the Man-Made Overlords Nerd Culture category to demonstrate how flip-top mitts made it convenient to use high-technology like laptops and mobile phones.

Ball Sack

So I knitted a BALL SACK *snickers*

Looks like this without the yarn in it:

It's for my swap partner in my Aussie Swappers Purple swap. I sent it off today so hopefully she won't be nosey and start stalking me back to see what I've made! I've used leftover Moda Vera Noir self-striping sock yarn. It didn't take much yarn and only took me a day (i.e. a day knitting during my free time, not an entire day). Hope she finds it useful.

Sh*t Knitters Say

Love this video. I do the photo thing a lot!

Hearts and Ears!

Mini project update time. I completed two mini projects just before last weekend. One was an Ears baby hat for my new little second cousin Zeffy. It is knitted with Cleckheaton Bamboo so it's very soft and not at all scratchy. I made Tim a Henry scarf with this same yarn though he's yet to wear it :(

Poor little bugger is always hungry and wanted MOAR FOOD so he was a bit upset but here is Zeffy with it on and with my mum holding him:

The hat with the little Hippo toy we gave him as well

It's a tad big for him just yet but come winter he will likely grow into it. I had a bit of a drama where I washed it on the day of the "month" birthday where we'd see him for the first time, so I had to attempt to dry it quickly with my hair dryer. I don't have a dryer at home so hair dryer was next best option.

My other project is a crochet heart. My Aunty Alice liked the ones I made earlier so I made her one as well and sent her the pattern so she can make some herself:

The originals which she liked were part of an engagement present. The photos of the originals were nicer so here they are:

They're a quick and easy project but a little bit painful because you need to crochet really tightly so the fluff doesn't come out. Also, I'm not really a great crocheter. I just DO STUFF and it magically works. The yarn is Sullivans Coton-A (yes that's how they spelt it) which is an acrylic cotton blend. I submitted this project in Nerd Wars too. I need to work out what category and team tie in to submit the ears hat under.

Lace Ribbon Scarf

I finished off a lovely Wollmeise Lace Ribbon Scarf on the 29th of January in Grashüpfer (grasshopper) green which reminds me of St Patricks Day green. It was another Will Work for Yarn job but time for irkutskaya whom I haven't yet had the pleasure of knitting for yet. I received a caked Wollmeise Lavendel (lavender) and a skein of Wollmeise Twin Heavy Metal (dark grey) in exchange. We had no idea whether the Lavendel was Twin or 100% but I got a little tip to work out what it was. Snip off maybe 1cm of the yarn, unravel it and count the plies. If it has eight plies then it is 100%, otherwise it is twin. I counted eight plies so it's 100%!