Squishy, squiggle, soft

Look what I “spun”…

Many hands make light work

This rather pretty scarf wasn’t made by me. Its a collaborative effort of the many visitors to the recent exhibition by the Dunedin spinners and weavers guild, which I just joined. At the exhibition there was a demonstration loom set up for visitors to see and touch and play with (all carefully guided.. of course). What I didn’t know was that this scarf was gradually being woven over the days, though I’m sure that the loom’s owner probably finished it off.

At the Taieri guild open day, there was a raffle going, and my ticket got pulled – first time I’ve won anything since I was a child probably! I got to choose from a few prizes, and I picked this scarf. Its not something I would normally choose for myself – its very bright and, well, it has eyelash yarn in it. But in spite of these attributes, I actually kind of like it. Its really warm – the grassy green, blue and red yarns in it are possumy, and its so different to anything I have. The only problem is finding things to wear it with.

By the way, for those of you who were at the aforementioned exhibition’s opening I found a gallery of photos taken at the event, from the Otago Daily Times which you might find interesting.

Have map, will travel

Don’t I have the best boyfriend? He bought me a very sweet present today, in advance of my trip away. Its a special edition moleskine notebook, for the city of London. I didn’t get to take any photos of it as the sun has gone down and flash maketh for terrible photos. (I must make a lightbox…) So I’ve borrowed some from Amazon.

The city notebooks are really neat, each made with special content for their city. My one has a map of the tube (essential), a pretty comprehensive street map of the inner city and city suburbs, room to make notes and doodles, sections with titles such as “Places, dreams, adventures” and “Names, faces, encounters”. Stickers to make your own sections, little tear out note papers, translucent stickers which you can overlay onto maps to make notes, and a little pocket in the back to hold bits and pieces of paper.

Its a little over a week now until I leave, eek! Very exciting, but at the same time I’m very nervous. Should be a good trip. I’ve earmarked a couple of yarn stores I have to visit – Loop, and iKnit. Great opportunities for stash enhancement.

Pollen season

In our garden, there is a tree covered in these white, pollen loaded flowers. I have hayfever all year round, the perennial variety.. just allergic to dust, or dust mites, or something householdey. Its annoying, but I keep it pretty well controlled with a daily low-dose antihistamine and steroid nasal spray. And normally I don’t seem to be affected by the annual pollen season, but I think I might be at the moment. My bf has been sneezing and sniffing the past few days, and this evening I myself was buried in tissues.

Not sure if its due to this flowering mass outside, but it sure is contributing a lot of pollen to the world.

Koolhaas, done.

Finally finished, koolhaas for Grandma:

Pattern: Koolhaas by Jared Flood

Handspun merino silk 3 ply, 3.5/4mm KP needles. 3.5 pattern repeats instead of 4.

I have to say this wasn’t the most enjoyable knit ever.. all those little cable twists! I didn’t do them with a cable needle, I did try doing them by knitting the second stitch first from behind, or in front through the back loop. But I found that I couldn’t get the stitches to sit properly and they looked weird. So I slipped the two stitches to be twisted onto the right needle, then slipped them back to the left needle twisted the right way. It was okay.. but it looks spectacular. And the little bit of silk in the yarn means its very very soft. This is for my Grandma for christmas. I hope it fits her, and she likes it.