Spoils of the U.S and A!

My mum recently got back from a holiday overseas and guess what she bought me! Yarn!

I received some True Love Fiber Merino and Tencel sock yarn (destined to become some pretty vintage gloves cos it's too pretty to be worn on my feet!):

Some Wisdom Yarns sock yarn:

And who can go to America without getting some Knit Picks?

It's Shine Sport in Cream and Cloud. I bought it to make this (ravelry link, sorry if you are not on) little summer top from Vogue Knitting. I am still waiting on two more colours: blush and aquamarine.

Baudelaire socks and show sucess!

I finished my first and probably only pair of socks for socktoberfest: Baudelaire!

Baudelaire by Cookie. A

4 balls of Cleckheaton Merino Bambino

Size medium with high instep

I really like these socks and the pattern is really great because it has included the normal sizes and also options for making socks for higher insteps. My favorite thing about these socks are the lacy pattern and the nifty way cookie increased 8 stitches in one row by hiding them as a cable. At the moment I am wearing them with my new Mary-Jane Slippers! The obligatory photo of them on my feet:

As for the show: In the open sections I got a 2nd place for Thermal and a 1st placing for these Baudelaire socks. In Junior, I received a 3rd place for my Chevron Scarf , a 2nd place for my Sweet Georgia handspun and a 1st for my Mary-Jane slippers (I won 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the junior division but I am not sure if I won just because no one else entered :-s ) I am pretty happy!

Back into routine

This week marked the start of the new school term and, quite frankly, I was more than happy to welcome some sense of rountine back into my life. Tomorrow it is the Mount Gambier show and I sent in all of my entries on Tuesday night. I was a bit worried that i wouldn't have my Baudelaire socks completed in time but I i finished them the night before!

Remember the lovely Sweet Georgia BFL roving I got? Well here she is all spun up!:

There was 100g in the braid and I spun it into two 2 ply 50g skeins. (for some reason my bobbins only fit 50g of singles. They don't seem to wind on very firmly??). I was aiming for a DK weight and I think I did a pretty good job maintaining the thickness. I's long draw spun and is so very soft!

Since I have no other huge projects on my needles, and becasue my dad was so happy with Jamesey, I decided I was going to knit him another jumper (we have a deal going on; if i knit him one he needs to get rid of one of his very out-dated jumpers) With some guidance and suggestions we decided on Cobblestone from Interweave Knits Fall 07 issue. With some further guidance and sample card from Bendigo Woollen Mills, I bought 3 balls of Rustic in the Russet colour. I really like the colour!

Mary Jane Slippers

Here is a project that I hadn't got around to showing you all:

Cozy-Toe slippers from Funky Knits

7 balls of Twilleys Freedom Wool - double stranded

12mm needles

These slippers are my first felting project and I am surprised at how thick the knitting became. It took quite a few runs through the washer to get these to my size but the finished result are very thick and warm! The only thing I would change is that there is a seam running down the sole of the slipper and it gets a little annoying. Next time I'll use a provisional cast-on and graft the two sides together. But for now, I hope it flattens over time.

I have finished Baudelaire sock #1! I got an awkward shot of it on my foot with my new slippers. Hopefully I get #2 done in time for the Mount Gambier show!

Spoiled

I am happy because I have some new yarn :)

Claudine ran out of the yarn I used for Jamesey so I offered to send her the remaining balls I had sitting in my stash. Generously, she sent me some Noro Kureyon in the beautiful bright colourway 154. I am sure I want to try out entrelac using this yarn. Maybe an entrelac bag?

Everything inside Claudine's package was so cute and colourful. she also included the bright buttons in the picture below. Thanks so much! Another package came for me this week. The long awaited buttons for my Twinkle Hoodie!

Does the background fabric look familiar? It's my thermal which is completed; Buttons and all! I'll show you a shot of it on the table: Will have a full FO report soon!

Finally, To feed my recent fibre hunger I won some Sweet Georgia (!) roving on eBay from Alison, who by complete coincidence just happened to live in Mount Gambier too! Isn't it amazing how the Internet connects people who you wouldn't meet otherwise?