Wednesday 27 February 2013

harriet and angelica

 
peek a boo ...

 
we see you !!


Saturday 23 February 2013

storm bird skies

just as i got started dyeing yesterday it started to bucket down rain so only 2 new hanks were dyed
 
the new colourway storm birds is already dry, kind of looks like the skies round here. it's still grey and raining this morning and probably will be for another day (if you believe the weaher forecasts)
 
i'm still waiting on the other hank to dry completely before pics. its sort of a mauve purple, pinks and browns overlayed. very pretty and girly :)
 
 
storm birds has layers of navy, gun metal blue, silver greys and blacks. 4ply or sock weight, 400 meters and 110 grams.

 



Friday 22 February 2013

an ode to rebel

things have been a little neglected around these parts lately ....ooops.
between a head cold that dragged on for days and days (and days) and now a bit of a tonsil thing that's got me feeling under the weather it's all just a bit of slow going at rosieok.
 
on a lighter note though i've been planning on a new camera for months and finally bit the bullet on saturday night and forked over the cash (online at harvey norman) to get my new baby delivered to me on monday !! seriously fast service which was great.
 
she's a canon eos 1100d dslr, also known as a rebel t3. rebel sounds so much nicer so i think that from now on she'll be refered to as rebel and i love her so.
 
not to gush too much but she's fab.
 
 
look she has depth of field !!

 
indoors at night under flourescent light the colours are true !! no flash, no studio lights to set up, just perfect colours :)


 
the scarf from last post and i had a disagreement about halfway through so i frogged the poor thing and decided to make some teeny weeny little socks full of woolly, colourful, glittery, soft goodness. no this isn't a hint i just figured a little pair of socks was more likely to get finished these days than a full sized adult pair.
 
on some more exciting news new mill spun yarn has arrived so i've been dyeing again. this time 4ply (sock weight) BFL- blue faced leicester wool in superwash at 400 meters to 100 grams.
 
next week i'll have some baby alpaca in 8ply (DK weight), some organic merino in 2/4ply(sport weight), and baby alpaca/silk in 2ply(lace weight) to dye.
 
i'm loving the above yarn in shades of browns, chestnuts, burgundy and grey/blacks i'm fightling with myself not to keep it.
 

Friday 1 February 2013

a little handy

you'd think knitting would be a quiet relaxing past time but apparently not when i do it. i've been told i'm a clicker, yep a clicker. somehow i manage to make a lot of noise using metal needles, i even get dirty looks over it from mum LOL
 
so i decided new year, new tools needed. the bamboo needles arrived (2 full sets of regular straights in 2 different lengths, 1 full set circulars and 1 full set dpn's) i've gotta say the money was worth it !! the knit like a dream, no matter how hard i try not clicking or clacking. an added bonus my stitches don't slide off the dpn' either.
 
 
yesterday's spinning consisted of loads of white merino, random coloured merinos, silk noil, sari silk, grey leicester, loads of angelina sparkle & coloured firestar all thrown into my little ashford wild carder. i made 3 little batts in total around 80 grams or just under 3 ounces.

spun fine and then plied back on itself giving a little over 200 meters or 220 yards.

i decided it was too pretty and soft to go into the shop (a completely valid excuse !!) so i wound it into a ball to make a scarf.

cast onto 5mm needles for a soft drape, 25 sts in moss stitch just perfect to show off the texture. 

a little close up, sadly you can't see the sparkle and shine but i'll get some better pics of this next update.

cast on tail with silk noil.

i think i'll have to spin another skein to make this a decent length for double wrapping and snuggling but we'll see.

Thursday 31 January 2013

new handspun yarns

after dyeing kilos of both the regular merino wool and the superwash wool i decided i should finally get around to spinning some of it. the wet weekend here in Oz was the perfect chance to get arm loads of yarn spun.
 



the last of the old rainbow candy cane dye batch
but new candy canes are coming soon

some strawberry sparkle -mega loads of sparkly angelina

some mega bulky thick and thins -iris eyes
 
there's been a huge update in the shop with more to come today and tomorrow. and i've barely put a dent in the stash so more yarns coming next week.
 
 
 

Wednesday 30 January 2013

what do you get when ....

what do you get when you cross one of these jingly rattles
 
 
and one of these rainbow rabbits

 
you get one of these new roly poly rabbit rattles !!