Sticks and Stones

The great thing about blogging is the feedback you receive and the ability to “drop in” on other like minded people.  Thanks for all those “Raglan Sleeve” comments, it really has been helpful!  When I wrote out my WIPs list the other day I was pretty happy with it but I was happily humbled by Ruth who also has a “Knit for Charity” WIP.  Needless to say I am adding on:

8. Something for charity

What this may be I don’t know but I think I should try and knit 12 things a year – ie 1 per month….is that feasible?  Well, I’ll give it a go starting tomorrow!

I have been knitting for many years now but I was sitting on the floor with Sam knitting up the sleeves for Erin’s Cardi thinking, “what is the correct way to decrease the raglan sleeves?”.   It astounds me that I don’t really know but, when I think about it, I am not really all that familiar with garment construction finding it very difficult to put the visions in my mind to paper and yarn.  Can you do classes in that sort of thing?

I have been able to knit for as long as I can remember but probably started “seriously” knitting about 13 years ago (to much teasing from friends, acquaintances and family).  In that time I have knitted several jumpers of varying size and style but generally from Mum’s old knitting books.  The styles and yarns available these days are so much more flattering and “trendy” not to mention often much easier to care for and knitting is such a popular recreational pursuit.

So, back to my question, how do you decrease for raglan sleeves?  The pattern says “decrease one stitch at each end of very alternate row” so do you just knit 2 together or do you knit 2 then slip the first stitch over or do you slip one knit one pass slipped stitch over?  I have just been knitting 2 together but is there a better way and, if yes, why is it better?  I’ll push on with the way I have been doing it as I only have about 50 rows to go….
I am setting myself a goal over the next 12 months to design myself a garment – not a scarf, hehehe – that requires me to learn about garment construction….hmmm…any advice?

I was flipping through IK Winter 07 the other morning and decided that I want to knit “Henley Perfected” by Connie Chang Chinchio. The garment in the magazine is knitted in Blue Sky Alpaca “Alpaca Silk” which is a 50:50 blend of Alpaca and Silk (surprise surprise). When I first started spinning lessons my then neighbour gifted me two big bags of Alpaca from a relations hobby farm – one day I will present the neighbour with a skein to give back to the person as a thanks but that will be a while away. Because I am into Spinning at the moment for many reasons including affordability of yarn I have decided to pull out some of the Alpaca and wash it up ready to be blended with some silk.

So, here is how I am doing it:

1. Weigh out the amount of Alpaca I want to wash up – I figure that this garment takes about 8 50g balls of the Alpaca Silk to knit my size so I am going to wash about 250g of Alpaca (ie 1/2 the amount of fibre for the 50:50 blend):

2. Shake the fibre to remove any loose dirt and dust, soak in lukewarm water with wool wash for 15 minutes or longer.

3. Rinse in warm water until water comes clear and then dry in shade.

Once it is dry I am going to either hand card or drum card (depending on availability as I don’t have one and will need to borrow one from somewhere) the 250g of Alpaca with 250g of silk (yet to purchase), spin it up and knit the most beautiful hand spun, hand knit jumper I will have ever made! (Well, that’s the plan anyway )

You can get a pretty good overview of Alpaca washing and uses here, here, here and here, but these are just a few of the sites I quickly looked up to compare notes – there are thousands of sites on preparing the fibre.

How many and what sort of Works in Progress (WIPs) do you have?  I have decided that, due to my lack of concentration and stamina for a single project, I should always have the following types of project on the go:

1. A lace project – usually an epic for me as I am slow at it which may be due to my lack of concentration with 2 under 2.

2. A project for the kids – I mean an article of clothing here: jumpers, nappy covers, pilchers, onesies

3. An adult jumper – usually spans over 12 months

4. A pair of socks

5. A scarf

6. A dish cloth – quitc, easy, delves into different stitch patterns through the KAL

7.  Something for me – anything at all including Summer tops, gloves, scarves, wraps etc.

Further to this list, I would like to attempt to spin yarn for my projects while reducing my current stash of yarn that was mostly handed down from my Mother.

I really enjoy spinning and, as I do more of it, I am going to get better and better at it.  I feel that by attempting to spin my yarn I am reducing my impact on the Earth, a theme that is becoming stronger and stronger in my life – through reducing reliance on fossil fuels, reduing kilometres for processing and on-selling and then on to the consumer and through processing the fibres within my home and being able to control the chemicals used.  Of course, I wont stick to this exclusively or I’ll never get another project finished and I will certainly be behind the “fashion” but then I usually am .

How can this not be a perfect Sunday? While I baked a loaf of bread and 16 rolls:

Pete worked on a bench seat for the new part of the front garden:

and Sophie played in the neighbour’s magical yard eating mulberries and cumquats:

and then, we sat on the new seat in the new garden:

and we ate these for lunch:

Not a lot of knitting going on at the moment – lots of being a Mummy and wife, a little of being a Midwife, a bit of being a small business owner – however there is a little bit of fibre preparation and a little bit of spinning going on!

Wow, I think I may have the best husband in the world!  Sorry to all of you other married women out there but he really is special, having said that I am sure that what I find amazing in him is largely about who we are as individuals and as a couple so everyone thinks/knows that their partner is the most special person in the world.

We shared an anniversary during the past week and Pete took me out to celebrate it in a very special way.  On the actual day of our anniversary we had champagne and a picnic – left over BBQ from the previous evening – in our backyard with the kids (obviously they didn’t drink any champagne ) So, last night we went out to celebrate without the kids.  Did you read that?  Without the kids!  That is the first time that we have left them both with someone else for a WHOLE night and it was BLISS!  They went to stay with Fran & Claude, where they have both stayed before but on separate occasions.

So, last night I was told to dress nicely (bit of a joke with us as I like to get around in Blundstones almost all the time and “dress nicely” usually indicates a skirt and nicer shoes…) and be ready for pick-up at 645pm.  We dropped off the kids and I soaked in the bath – no crying, no nappies to change or little bellies to fill – and relished the calm.  Taxi came and we were off to the most delicious meal I have had in ages.  Pete had arranged for us to have dinner at The Commoner in Fitzroy.  The fact that he has had this arranged for weeks was amazing in itself (I am quite disorganized) but, even more exciting, it’s where our friend Joel works.

Joel and his colleagues are such a good chefs, the atmosphere was fabulous, the wine lovely (although I did over indulge in that aspect), the staff very friendly and helpful and the food….oh the food!  We did the “Feed Me” thing and it was just perfect – we ate dishes that we would never have ordered otherwise, it was light, tasty, and immensely satisfying.  Desert was Spanish Doughnuts with  chocolate sauce – how did they know that doughnuts are my  favourite?  It was perfect.  After The Commoner, we went to Polly on Brunswick Street where we had a beer and heard that we now have a Labour government.

One of the best things was the kid free morning, I made a cooked breakfast of home grown eggs, bacon, asparagus and Sime-a-chinos.  It was great to pick them up though – I really did miss them…

You can find reviews for The Commoner here and here and reviews for Polly here and here.

Lately I have been reading a lot of this blog, it’s not really knitting related and I can’t remember how I came across it but it’s kind of how I am trying to live my life and embodies many of the thoughts that I have and wish to instill in my family as we grow. Many of Rhonda Jean’s suggestions are things we already do within our household and extended family but reading her posts inspire me to strive for better…grow more of our own food, cook more and even to do the basics (which sometimes are not so basic!).

I have been buying a yummy natural yoghurt from my local fruit and veg shop for sometime now, it’s inexpensive, I like it and I now have Sophie eating it on her breakfast with “straw” and “nana” and tiny bit of honey. When I was in my early teens my Dad went through a stage of making yoghurt – I remember him getting fresh milk from the farm down the road, boiling it up in what seemed like a huge pot, adding acidophilus capsules or some natural yoghurt if he had it, and letting it sit on the bench overnight to set. I think it used to annoy Mum, who didn’t like natural yoghurt, but I loved it, especially blended up with a banana and a handful of raw oats (I was on a wheat free diet imposed by our formidable Naturopath Zenon Gruba who was brilliant).

I digress, on Friday morning we were down to our last few spoons of yoghurt and Rhonda Jean has written some posts on making her own natural yoghurt and quark, which both look amazing, you can follow her recipe here. I kind of followed it but I didn’t have any powdered milk, I don’t have a cooking thermometer and I don’t have a crock pot. This is how I made yoghurt:

Ingredients:

4 Cups milk (bought from supermarket – one day I’ll have a house cow ….)

3 tablespoons commercial natural yoghurt

Method:

1. Heat milk until almost boiling (small bubbles form around edges) while stirring occasionally to prevent scalding (pretty much the same but it’s guess work with the temperature).

2. Allow to cool until it is just warm on wrist (like when you test babies bottles).

3. Mix commercial yoghurt with 1/2 cup heated milk until smooth and then add remaining milk.

4. Put yoghurt into jars (I boiled 2 jars for 5-10 mins and used them hot) then wrap to keep warm. I put one jar in a Tommy Tippy Bottle carrier alongside a second jar of boiling water and one jar was wrapped in a towel with a boiling water jar.

5. Leave to set for several hours – I left mine for about 4 hours and resulted in a slightly runny, very mild yoghurt (very yummy).

I would recommend following Rhonda Jeans recipe – I am going to get a thermometer one of these days and I think I might give it a go in the rice cooker….will let you know how it goes!

I have tried to write this post so many times and, due to technical difficulty with my blog, it never seems to make it to publishing (or when it does it’s only 1/2 their and I have to delete it!).

This is Sam’s Quilt:

Isn’t it delicious!  Our very good friend, practically family, Tan made it for Sam and it’s full of love and warmth and yummy food, it’s a garden theme.  So far it seems to ring true to Sam – he loves to be outside, he loves our chooks and he love to eat vegies.  It is such an amazing piece of work, you can see the carrot material used for backing in second picture, the edging is radishes and beans/pea pods, the front has squares of bees, eggs, stars, roosters and mixed vegies such as pumpkins, ears of corn and tomatoes.  I know that this will be, and already is, a treasured possession – a wonderful “I Spy” quilt!

Thank you very much Tan, we love you!!!!

Yes, it is all progressing mostly on schedule and Clue 6 is now completed….only about 44 rows to go….might be wearing it to the weeding after all!  Lots of spinning posts and a few bits and pieces to follow in the next few weeks when the pressure knitting is completed!  Thanks for all your support and help!