We haven’t been able to get together again due to a tropical cyclone hitting the North Island of NZ! You can watch our latest podcast here or below.
Finished!
Gillian cast on AND finished a top already this year!! The pattern is Tin Roof and she made it with yarn from Yeah Yeah Yarn. She made it cropped and enjoyed learning a new joining technique – Russian Crocheted Join – which meant that there was no sewing up!
This year Kylie has been making reusable crochet water balloons using chenille yarn donated from another member of her knit group.
Weaving Sticks caught Gill’s eye last year and she made a lovely long skinny scarf using them! She did the whole thing in a rainy day, and it looks great, especially out of her handspun!!
Giftalong 2022
Kylie finished a few things in the giftalong this year. In the ‘hands’ category, Ferny Mittens & Gloves out of leftover Noro Ginga yarn from previous giftalong projects – it’s a lovely soft bulky yarn which is lovely to work with and the cotton makes it lovely to wear! In the ‘head’ category, Kylie made 4 i-cord headbands for her daughter out of various.
In the ‘other’ category, Kylie knit 2 gnomes durng the giftalong. The December mystery gnome was Gnome Made Gifts which included lots of little accessories for the gnome! The yarns used were a lovely mini set dyed by Roxy Yarns and purchased at The Knit Nook.
Gillian nearly finished her Skip socks, but she has yet to finish the afterthought heels. The yarn used was Cruella’s Natural Fiber Boutique Spritzer – from Cruellas in Nelson (South Island NZ).
WIPs
Kylie tried to knit Recalibrate during the giftalong, but didn’t quite get there. She’ll get it done in January (hopefully!!). The yarns are both merino linen blends, purple from Life in the Long Grass (purchased at Skein Sisters, Sydney) and green/blue ‘Splash’ from Yeah Yeah Yarn.
Gill’s had a falling out with a couple of projects she’s been working on. Her Ripple Crop Top Worsted holding 2 yarn’s together – BC Garn Bio Balance GOTS and some KiwiYarn-a. The other project she’s fallen out with is her advent project using her 12 day advent set from Purple Sprouting and the Shortest Day Shawl pattern.
Purple Sprouting‘s ‘Jupiter Crash’ and matching mini’s inspired Kylie to cast on a pair of Scrappy Stripy Socks inspired by the recipe by the Crazy Sock Lady.
The Tolkien crochet blanket has been getting some love this year – Kylie has finished the February set. Yarn is from Giddy Yarns in Scotland, and there are 5 x 10g minis for each month of the yar in 2022, Q1 inspired by The Hobbit and Q2-4 inspired by each Lord of the Rings book.
Kylie also dug out her Misurina made with gorgeous yarns from fibre2go. It’s so close to being finished, so it’s top of the list for our Kiwi Summer WIP-along!
#KiwiSummerWIP
Please join us in finishing some of your WIP’s started before 2023! We have at least one prize to giveaway – a skein donated from Purple Sprouting. Thanks Paula!! To enter, dig out a WIP started before 2023 and finish it; then snap a shot and post it on Instagram with #kiwisummerwip in the description. If you don’t have access to Instagram, please drop us an email via the link in this blog.
Aquisitions
We talked a little bit about the yarns we got in December – specifically our advent calendars. Kylie’s was from Yeah Yeah Yarn and Gill’s was from Purple Sprouting. We both recieved gorgeous packages from Eskdale Yarns including the West Yorkshire Spinners Christmas 2022 sock yarn and lots of lovely bits and bobs.
Gill did a bit of shopping after we filmed our visit to Purple Sprouting, buying enough yarn to make the Cherry top combining some alpaca fluff and merino yarn – it will be gorgeous!
Cup of Tea and a Yarn 