Knitting: Gift Knitting – Looking ahead

In my bid to be an organised person this year, and maintain momentum, I am trying to figure out what to knit for whom and when the gifts need to be done by.  For the month of February I need to make up at least two gifts but preferably three.  I have completed the four gifts for family members that have birthdays in January and the gifts were well received which is encouraging to say the least.

There is one Niece and Pete’s side, a Brother-In-Law on Pete’s side and a female friend.  I am already swaying towards yet another ETTA for Pete’s Niece in the same Plum that I used last time, a beanie in Black Alpaca for the BIL but am not sure what I will do for the friend and I may omit that one all together – I know she wouldn’t expect a gift but they are good friends and I think it may be a special birthday this year….

Before I begin any of them I am going to try and find some different patterns that appeal to me….any suggestions for quick easy knits?

 

Knitting: Mountain Stream Scarf

I am probably about 2/3 – 3/4 of the way through the Mountain Stream Scarf  and when I started I had only spun 1/2 the yarn.  I have since spun the rest as I have shown but when I started the new ball this happened:

Can you see the colour change?  It is much more pronounced in real life.  Talk about different dye lots – but it’s all natural so I am just going with it in the hope that it will even out as I keep on knitting…..  Part of the charm?  This poor project is a never-ending story but I think I am making head way and if I can put it before a few gift knits then it should be done in a week or so…..

 

Sewing: Library Bag #2

I have finished the second library bag and it left me wondering why I had left is so long.  Applique on 4 letters was so much quicker than 6!  I have started cutting out the smocks and gearing up for another round of applique….

I have also decided that one of this years gifts will not be knitted.  The youngest member of our families is going to get a smock for his birthday on the weekend…..maybe!  Just got to squeeze work in there somewhere.

 

Knitting: The Year of Knitted Gifts – Gift 3

This is a Martha Stewart pattern that my SIL sent me.  I had forgotten about it but it was in my Ravelry queue which is ridiculously long.  My Ravelry queue is not so much a queue of what I am going to knit but what I like and might knit….

Anyway, I used some handspun merino/silk blend that I bought from the Spinner’s & Weaver’s Guild in Carlton.  I originally used the handspun for the Bainbridge Scarf and really had quite a bit left over.  The Martha Stewart pattern uses hardly any yarn and was a fun, quick knit.  The scarf itself sits really nicely on, has an element of interest in its construction and is a convenient size (i.e. no flopping around, blowing in the wind kind of thing) I will be knitting it again.

 

Knitting: It’s a Mystery…

It’s a Mystery what this will be.  Well, I know it will be a shawl but what will it look like?  I have no idea because I have joined in the Susanna IC January KAL.   I cast on yesterday but that’s about as far as I got – 313 stitches is enough for one sitting!

 

Knitting: ETTA again…

Here is the latest gift knitting that I began a few days ago – ETTA again!  This one needs to be posted by next Friday which is not a guarantee considering my other SIL’s gift has been knitted for over a month and I have forgotten to post it to make it by her birthday (I do have a very good excuse but still….).  I guess the thing with January birthday knitting in Australia is that it doesn’t really matter if it arrives late as most people as extremely unlikely to be able to use the gift for several months.

Anyway, the next one is off the needles:

I have now knitted up four gifts for the year.  Poor Kinder Teachers will be waiting a bit longer for their scarves – I have not been doing any work on them or any spinning…

 

 

Gardening – Wasting Time On Vegie Garden Planning….

Two days ago I sat down to do a vegie patch plan after looking at Kellysveg and getting inspired to be organised.  It was the biggest waste of time but did give me some ideas for the next month or two.  I pulled out my books and started to make a list of the vegies due to go in during February and March.  Drew up a chart, plotted how long they take to mature, when I am looking at starting to harvest, how many I should plant, when the moon will be in the right phase to plant. It was down right confusing and frustrating.  It showed me that, while I love to look at the moon, I had no understanding of the phases of the moon.  I was using a tiny little note pad and it was driving me nuts and then it dawned on me that I get a monthly email from Gardenate that tell me most of the information I wanted to know.  So off I went to the Gardenate site and started to write out the list….doh!  I then realised that I should just print it off and so, after a wasteful morning I was set to do the planting but the weather was not conducive and the moon is in the wrong phase for most of what I wanted to plant.  What I can plant this week (I think) are root things so I am going to put in:

- 30 beetroot seeds

- carrots x 4 rows (the weather is cool so they may stand a chance) – I will cover them with a board until the germinate and then try to cover them on hot days.

- 4 or 5 punnets of onion seeds – I think we’d use about 400 a year.

- swedes – about 12 for soups – so will put in about 20 seeds.

- turnips – about 12 for soups – so will put in about 20 seeds.

I am hoping to get these in today but there is a lot on and I have no idea what seeds I have so who knows if it will actually get done before Monday!

To put a hole in the budget the Greenharvest and Diggers catalogues arrived yesterday too!

 

Knitting – The Year of Knitted Gifts – Cast on….

I have cast on for another birthday gift – there are 5 potential knitted gifts in my circle for January with one near the beginning, one in middle and three towards the end.  The middle gift has been completed and now I have finished the first and second ones.

My BIL is going to Japan during 2012 for a skiing trip and has flattered me by asking for a new beanie – he was given one a few years ago and surprised me by wearing it almost constantly during the colder months over the past few years.  I was going to use the caramel alpaca but, after his comments about ETTA and the black alpaca I decided to use it up in a beanie for him. I knitted the pattern Beanie No.212 which you can find here. Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo and the gift has been sent so I am hoping he will send me one or two for the blog record.

For this fourth gift I searched Ravelry for another slouchy type beanie as my SIL made lots of noise about ETTA over Christmas.  I couldn’t really find anything else that I really liked so I am knitting another ETTA in handspun, hand dyed yarn.  Again this yarn is about 10 WPI so in between a DK and Worsted.  Here’s hoping it comes out well, if it does I might knit up another one in this yarn for Pete’s niece but if anyone has any other slouchy hat suggestions I’d be keen to look at them!

This is Finn/Corriedale cross that I spun up quite a while ago and had sitting in the stash.  The fibre came from Fairfield Finns and I will be sure to buy some more when I get my own stash down!  I have dyed it with Landscape Dyes – Apollo Bay & Sturt Desert Pea at a 1:2 ratio – I initially wanted a deep red but had nothing of the sort in the dyes so purple/plum it is.

 

Sewing – Library Bags & Applique

The Red Dress is languishing – I was steaming ahead with it and it seems that a needle change plus the use of newspaper has solved the problem with the stretch fabric so I am back in love with the old Husqvarna.  The current issue with The Red Dress is that I stupidly sewed up one of the shoulder seams on the WRONG side – i.e. the seam was on the outside!  See what a novice I am .  Can’t seem to find the Quick Unpick but I am beginning to dream about it so I think it will turn up soon…

Knitting birthday gifts is taking up most of my craft time but I promised a library bag and art smock for Sophie and the girl down the road (who I knitted the Rainbow Dress for) who both start school next month.  I had initially decided that I would sew an art smock from scratch and found a tutorial on Sew Mama Sew which showed how to make a pattern and then smock.  I bought some fabric before Christmas on sale at Spotlight for about $3 per metre – Sophie and Sam chose it – and typical of my style it has sat on the window sill in the study.  In my defense here I was busy with Christmas, spending time with the kids and family – I didn’t even spin (but I did knit quite a bit ).

I showed the fabric around a bit and on the last day Pete’s sister, who is a teacher, sat down with me and gently suggested that smock made from old shirts are best and that while the fabric I had chosen was lovely, it was too lovely to use for such a project.  The school had suggested old shirts were best but I like to make things complicated don’t I.  So, I am heeding the advice and going back to shirts but I am going to applique the girls names on the back in the lovely fabric I bought.  But that it for another day (in the next 3 weeks).

Yesterday, I pulled out the fabric and the Pellon instructions on set to making the applique letters for the smocks.  Then, because it was all out, I set to making up the library bags also with appliqued names.  I remember my library bag as a kid – it was red – or was it green and my chair bag was red – with hobby text that Mum had done, a simple rectangular bag with a draw string.  That is what I wanted to create – sans the Hobby text that I have no idea about – but lined and with the appliqued names.  I have never attempted applique but there are so many tutorials online and friendly advice on the end of the phone and when it all boils down I am making a library bag for prep kids so it doesn’t need to be perfect.

I Googled “how to make a lined library bag” and, while the tutorials were great for totes, they did not show the simple thing I wanted so I had to use my wit and just go with it – we are not striving for perfect here, just get it done and enjoy the process.

So, the first step in my process was to iron the Pellon onto the first piece of fabric, download the letters from here, play with the scissors and cut out the letters, trace them backwards onto the Pellon and then cut them out.  Feels like I am doing prep art a bit!  However, the results were awesome:

Next step.  My SIL told me to make the bags at least A3 sized to fit in the larger books from the library so I cut 4 pieces in each fabric about that size plus seam allowance.  I then stitched on the letters for Sophie’s bag and sewed the pieces together – put a ribbon in for a drawstring and it’s done!  Simple as that…..it took me all day to do one though!  I need to do the second bag ASAP but I need to be in the right head space and after two days at work I am a bit tired today….  I don’t know who people work full-time and run a house with kids!

 

Gardening – Using the surplus

We had visitors last night which was a good excuse to try something new (to me) and use up some of the overgrown squash.  We cooked up a butterflied lamb which I had marinated in some vegie oil, soy sauce, garlic, salt and sesame seeds.  Along side that I made up Pete’s Mum’s simple Italian Potato Salad which uses up heaps of green beans – I am not really sure how she makes it but my guess is written below – her’s is always so much better and I can’t work out why -?more salt.  Then I made up the Stuffed Pattypan Squash recipe you can find here but I substituted the bacon with yummy homemade salami which gave the stuffing a spicy, smokey taste.  The visitors brought a Greek Salad.  Yummy Yummy food!

Pete’s Mum’s Potato Salad

Green Beans
Potatoes
Olive oil
Salt

Top and tail beans and throw into a pot of water.  Bring to boil.  Toss in chopped potatoes (if they are the washed variety I don’t peel them and Pete doesn’t like it!).  Boil until potatoes are soft.  Add salt to taste.  Drain and cool slightly then drizzle on olive oil.  Toss to serve.

Easy, yummy, effective and you can put in as many beans as you like.  The kids scoff the beans done this way.

Luckily the squash was yummy too as I have another 8 to use so I think this may be a bit of a side dish this week to compliment my meal plan.  They’d be a good lunch with a tiny green salad too.