Sewing?!
We’ve both been doing a bit of sewing! Kylie has been sewing a Studio Tunic by Sew Liberated. It’s not quite finished, but it will be a great way to keep cotton and fleece off her clothes when she’s creating.
Gillian has picked up her Jennifer Pudney ‘Wind Dancer’ tapestry which she purchased at a craft store in Wellington during her travels a while ago.
WIPs
Gllian has started something new with her advent from Purple Sprouting – the pattern she chose is Around The Bend (ravelry link – also available on the WestKnits site) by Nim Teasdale.
Kylie finally cast on her Aurora Cabin Shawl (ravelry link – also available on the WestKnits site) by Stephen West, using the gorgeous Moon base from Life in the Long Grass purchased at Skein Sisters in Sydney, Australia. There is a lot of slipped stitches in the patterned section, so Kylie came up with the idea to slip these stitches onto a separate needle and secure with needle end stoppers (the gorgeous alpaca ones Kylie used were from Eskdale Yarns). Then the slipped stitches can just be ‘ignored’ over the multiple rows and picked up when they are needed to work in the cabled row – this even saves having to use a cable needle!
Gillian has made some really good progress on her Painting Honeycombs Cowl (ravelry link, also available on the WestKnits site) by Stephen West. Yarn is a Zauberball and a random unknown pink skein – may even be handdyed by Gill herself but she can’t say for sure.
Kylie is still plugging away at her Recalibrate (Ravelry link – you can also find it on her website). 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 other active WIP is a testknit for The Passioknit Spinner – colourwork socks which look amazing! Yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners and Woolmeiser. On the horizon is a pair of scrappy socks for a KAL hosted on Instagram by @every.thing.shapes.us – you can follow along the hashtag #easypeasyscrappysockskal2023. Gill’s also been working through her heel-less socks, adding heels. Yarns include Katia Tokyo Sock and Urth Yarns Uneek Sock.
Kylie’s been working on her Scrappy Stripy socks using Purple Sprouting‘s ‘Jupiter Crash’ and matching mini’s – pattern inspired by the recipe by the Crazy Sock Lady. She’s decided to do a new to her heel using Avocado Socks by Georgiana Russell-Head (ravelry link).
The Tolkien crochet blanket has been getting lots of love – Kylie has finished joining 36 squares (halfway!!) in a join as you go method. 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.
Finished!!
Kylie has finally finished her handspun ribbed socks using the DRK Everyday Sock pattern by Drea Renee Knits (available from Ravelry and the DRK website). The handspun fiber is from StitchPunk (unfortunately she doesn’t dye anymore).
Gillian has also finished her handspun socks! Pattern is The Impossible Girl Socks which is a free pattern available on Ravelry and the LoveCraft Website. Yarn was made from Man Made Fibre hand dyed Corriedale/Nylon fiber blend.
Kylie’s been cranking away on her sock machine. From one ball of
Schachenmayr Regia Fluormania Color 4-fädig / 4-ply sock yarn she made a pair of socks for her daughter, a glasses case for hubby’s work glasses AND a newborn/premie beanie! Photo of glasses case below, since hubby had already taken it to work by the time we recorded!
Gillian put heels in her Skip Socks by Maggie Menzel – it was a labour of love and it’s done and looks great!
Kylie has finally finished her Misurina (ravelry link – also available on the Boyland Knits website) made with gorgeous yarns from fibre2go. It’s come out quite tight – tighter than she wanted and it fits her daughter unblocked, so she’s not sure if it will end up being for her or her daughter.
Another pair of socks finished by Gill are the Hermione’s Everyday Socks (ravelry link only) by Erica Lueder using yarn from Nana Cindy in the ‘Black Hole Spun’ colourway. Nana Cindy isn’t dying at the moment, but you can find some of her yarns at The Knit Nook.
Started AND finished since last podcast, Gill knit a pair of
On the Vine (ravelry link – available from the Simply Knitting Magazine Supplement – Issue 225 – you can probably get this from your local library!) Socks by Jane Burns. Yarn used was from Harnie Hoolies – a gorgeous sparkly sock yarn from a Christmas club.
Last finished item for Kylie was some dishcloths. Kylie uses the Dishcloth Recipe by Robin Wiest (ravelry link). The yarn was purchased at Michelle Ann Woolshop in Pukekohe, Auckland – Fibra Natura Cotton Royal Colour Waves.
Acquisitions
On the same day Kylie visited Michelle Ann Woolshop in Pukekohe, Auckland, she also went to Spotlight and got some lovely mill ends bags which she intendes to turn into machine knit blankets for donation to the Middlemore Jammies in June drive this year.
Purple Sprouting is doing a mystery club this year called “Birds of the World”. The first one is the Northern Carmine Bee-eater and it’s a wonderful representation of the bird!
Gillian got a Pom Pom magazine from her local newsagent. Kylie has recently resubscribed to getting the next year of magazines delivered so she’s looking forward to getting them in the mail!
Spinning
Gillian finished some gorgeous yarn spun from some fibre2go fibre purchased at the Morrinsville Spin-in in January. She’s also been working on a 200g purple spin. Kylie has picked up her drop spindle to spin a little bit – it’s a slow process so there is nothing to show there!
#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.
Kylie’s made some plans for 2023 involving her WIPs and yarn. She’s following the 23 in 23 WIP projects alongside The Passioknit Spinner, which is to finish 23 textile projects that were started prior to 2023. She’s already ticked 3 off!!
In terms of yarn, Kylie wants to use more than she purchases this year! The ‘math’ for this is that a skein/set of minis etc. is a +1 and when i use a skein it becomes a -1. At the end of the year, the aim is to be less than zero (a negative number). As of this episode she’s at +1.
Cup of Tea and a Yarn 