Legwarmers

Legwarmers, originally uploaded by stitch-by-stitch.

I needed a pair of legwarmers for the cold arvos at our place through winter. These were a very easy and fast knit. Its a shame I played yarn chicken though, because I ran out of yarn about 8 stitches from the end of the bind off. Oh well, I'll just call this a signature :)

Wollmeise rainbow in the making

Just a photo :)

Wollmeise mini skeins

Wollmeise mini skeins, originally uploaded by stitch-by-stitch.

Here is a sneak peak of how our mini skeins will look. This lot were given to me in exchange for an equal weight amount of Am Kalten Polar and Schwarz. Love a Wollmeise rainbow!

Wollmeise mini-skein swap

Sampler niddy noddy making mini-skeins of Wollmeise, originally uploaded by stitch-by-stitch.

I'm organising a Wollmeise mini-skein swap at the moment. It involves 7 people sending me one full 150g skein of Wollmeise each, me splitting them all evenly into 7 mini-skeins and then redistributing them back to the participant. So one donated skein gives them 7 mini-skeins of approx 20g each. This is perfect for colourwork.

So to make my job easier (I have to make 147 mini-skeins) I bought myself a sampler niddy noddy. How cute is it? It makes the cutest little 6" long mini-skein.

Quilt in the making

I'm working on this next. It's a Prints Charming quilt. Instead of screen printing the Bindis, I'm going to use my new skills and machine applique them. Stay tuned...

Spice Man Socks

Spice Man Socks, originally uploaded by stitch-by-stitch.

Another knitting finish. I was working on these in the background. Plain stockinette. Gotta love the mindlessness of it. It's a bit of a shame that they are too small for me though. And my mum doesn't like blue. Hmmmm.

Deb Louie

I mentioned the other day that I've been at a 3 day machine quilting/applique course at Amitie. The teacher was Deb Louie. Boy, does this woman know her stuff! Not only is she a fountain of knowledge with all things quilty, but she also knows most domestic sewing machines inside and out. You may remember that my hubby bought me a Janome Horizon not long ago? Well, it's been sitting around gathering dust lately. It's been a bit tough getting to it when I've got 2 demanding sons to deal with. It was awesome to dust it off and learn some fabulous things I can do with it. Here are some pics of my learning curve.

I highly recommend going to her class if you can. Even if you have already done freemotion quilting. She has all the magic tips. Those tips fixed every problem I was having with freemotion. Plus the addition of the machine applique, I see myself sewing up a storm with the stash that I've been accumulating!

Quilting

Things have been a bit quiet on the blogging front. Mainly because it's hard to find time to do crafty things, let alone get online and blog about it. For mother's day my hubby paid for a 2 day quilting course at Amitie. Ahhh, 2 days of just doing what I enjoy and talking to like minded ladies. No kids screaming. No house cleaning.

Here's what I've done so far (excuse the evening photo):

Baktus

Baktus, originally uploaded by stitch-by-stitch.

Another 'Will Work For Yarn' FO. Thanks Vonraveller for knitting this up for me. I love it. So beautiful and soft. And a great shape/style to completely cover up the neck in these freezing Melbourne days/nights. Made using Eki Riva Supreme/Superbaby alpaca using up 2 full balls - one of each colour.

Ryder - 4.5mths

Just some pics of my little bloke. He's 4.5mths now, weighs 7.2kg and is 66cm long in a size 00-0. Where has the time gone?

Cabled newsboy cap

A friend of mine has a cap just like this one. She mentioned hers was wearing a bit thin after much usage. She hunted around for another one but they were all cheap quality. So after a bit of research, I decided to make a Cabled Newsboy Cap for her. I also bought an extra lot of yarn for one for me (as a test). I've never used Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Hand Dyes before but I DEFINITELY will again. It's gorgeous and soft yet heavy to keep out the chills. As you can see from hat #1, I stuffed up the first twist of the cable. I thought I was going to hide it well by putting those cables to the back and have the brim centred on the 3 correct cables, but I stuffed that up. Oops. Never mind. I can tell you the hat still covered my ears and kept out the chilly Melbourne weather this morning when I had to head out. I didn't put a plastic bit in the brim because it stands up well enough on its own and it's better to squish in your bag. All in all, a success! I hope Kerry likes hers.

Neat Ripple Blanket

I fell in love with this blanket and had to make one of my one for my unborn baby. I hadn't crocheted anything in a long while. I used Bendigo Woollen Mills 8ply cotton. I got about 70% of it done when it found it's way onto the WIP pile and lay there languishing for 6 months. So I put the call out to the Will Work For Yarn group on Ravelry. Joeyn kindly put her hand up to help out. What a fabulous job she did. She perfectly matched my tension and even sewed in all those ends! It is a lovely lightweight blanket in fresh sherbert colours. Perfect for those warmer days/nights.