My first felted project!

I wanted to make a quick gift for a friend's birthday, so I decided to knit and felt a little bag for her mobile phone. Boy, was I wrong about the quick part! the knitting part went quickly enough, with just 26sts wide, I finished the bag in a couple of hours, including sawing, and adding some beads for interest, then came the felting! It was really liberating plonking the bag in very hot water with dishwashing detergent, rubbing it like mad for about 5 minutes and then placing it in icy cold water! I could see very quickly why this is NOT the way to wash a woolen garment! Within minutes the bag had shrunk to about 50% in length. Here you can see the before and after shots. The really time consuming part was the drying, it took 2 full days to dry. Result? My friend has not received her birthday gift yet!

On another note, I am very happy to hear that in all likelihood YARN magazine will continue on! if you would like to hear more you can check their blog http://yarnmagazine.com.au/blog/

I was very sad to learn that this will be the last issue of Yarn magazine. I really can't wait until I receive my copy.
Hopefully, down the track Barbara will feel recharged and pick up where she left off.

I have been spending a lot of time in Revelry, such a wonderful community! I've had the chance to get in touch with so many like minded people. It is also very inspirational, and I have been knitting and designing a lot.

I think I will have to subscribe to one of the overseas knitting mags now :(

The Knitter's Book of Yarn, by Clara Parkes

Today I received this wonderful book I ordered from amazon, by the author of KnitersReview.com. I've had a quick read of some of the chapters and I am very pleased with it.
If you are into yarn as I am, this book is for you, it goes into great detail about different types of yarn, fibre content, etc. All the things you would expect from a book titled like this one, but it also has patterns for the different types of yarn (single ply, 2ply, 3ply, etc).
If you would like a preview, you can read about it in more detail in KnittersReview.com

Ravelry!!!! what can I say, its absolutely wonderful and I am spending way too much time there, but its just so perfect for yarn and knitting lovers! if you don't know what it is, google it. It'll be worth your time.

I've started the quick knit jacket in Jo Sharps Knit, issue 3. I am using Mecha Lisa by Wool Connections so I don't need to use two strands together as the pattern calls for, it's looking very nice.

I am reading a few books, Knitting nature and knit one, felt two. It's quite amazing to see the creativity some people have, very inspiring.

Back again, my son's jumper is finally finished, I will have to rework some details in the pattern before publishing it, but all in all, its really nice.

The pattern and yarn are available from

www.woolconnection.com.au

I am very temped to start a jacket from Jo Sharp's Knit 3 book, it looks really easy and I have the perfect yarn for it.

The weather in Sydney, Australia, is getting quite warm now, but that will not deter me!

My son Richard keeps telling me, where is my milk!!! so I guess I have to go!

The sweater for my son Richard is coming along nicely. I managed to knit it in one piece, and should be finished soon. I've designed this garment one size larger, so my son can wear it next year also.

I am still not sure how I will finish the neck and wrists. Here are a couple of pictures showing what I've done so far.

The cold weather has inspired me to finish a jacket with shawl collar for my 2 year old son, I am nearly done, but need to finish sawing...so tedious!!!!

The yarn I used is a thick and thin wool yarn (Wool Connection Flame Dan), knitted with 6mm needles. It was quick work in such small size. I just have to find some really cute buttons.

My other project is a jumper for my nearly 5 year old son. Because I want him to wear it this winter, I am knitting it with a 20 ply yarn (Wool Connection Mecha Flame) and 12mm needles. I designed it to be made into two pieces, front and sleeves and back and sleeves, but I think I will TRY to do it all in one piece to avoid seems (quite bulky in this yarn). I hope I am not getting myself in over my head!

The needles I'm using are very long (about 50cm) but circular needles would do the trick.

I am too cold sitting at the computer, I must get up and do something more physical!!!