Finished!!
Kylie finished her Recalibrate by Shana S. Cohen (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.
Kylie also put the finishing touches on her machine knit sweater she did last year – blocking it and applying a knitted rolled neckband. Yarn for this was also from Yeah Yeah Yarn. Here she is modelling it:
Gillian finished 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 hand dyed by Gill herself but she can’t say for sure. Doesn’t it look awesome!!
Gill finished her testknit for The Passioknit Spinner – colourwork socks which look amazing! Yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners and Wollmeise.
WIP’s
Kylie has cast on a Sockhead Slouch Hat (ravelry link, also available on her blog but it doesn’t include all the sizes) as her new handbag knitting. The yarn is from Knot n Tie (a lovely local Auckland dyer) on her Twistie Toes base – a fun zebra type yarn and it’s giving a lovely pooling effect.
Gill had to cast on some new handbag knitting too! Sweet Li’l Scarfette by Ambah O’Brien (Ravelry link – also available on her website). Yarn is Malabrigo Mechita.
Gill’s made great progress on her pair of scrappy socks for a KAL hosted on Instagram by @every.thing.shapes.us – you can follow along the hashtag #easypeasyscrappysockskal2023. It’s a toe up knit and she tried to do a flap and gusset construction but went to a fleegle heel after not enjoying it!
Gillian has frogged her Ripple Crop and cast on a Rib Lace Raglan (Ravelry Link, also available on PayHip) by James N Watts. The yarn is BC Garn Bio Balance GOTS (wool/cotton blend) purchased from Loopine Wool.
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 using Avocado Socks for the heel by Georgiana Russell-Head (ravelry link).
Gillian has started the Crochet Sea Glass Tee by Wool & Pine in lots of ‘sea colours’ – greens and turquoise. She’s learning lots of new techniques such as the invisible join and will be doing colourwork with crochet for the body!
Kylie has been working a little 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.
Spinning
Kylie finished some yarn!!! And it’s art yarn!! The first ply is corespun – a grey natural polworth yarn from Starcrest Farm in the South Island of NZ with rainbow beehive sections using fibre from Waione Wool Carding. The second ply is some silver/gold/mixed sewing thread.
Kylie also finished a bobbin of her handspun sock yarn which is a gradient half black and then a rainbow. The fibre is a BFL braid from Cat & Sparrow Fibres in Australia.
#LastSewistStanding
Kylie’s jumped into a new sewing challenge – the challenge is to use your sewing stash. In the spirit of the challenge, Kylie went looking through lots of old patterns and found a pattern to make for her daughter – a fully reversible twirly dress – the CrossOver Flounce Dress from Designs by Callajaire. It required some creativity to get 4 circles out of the fabric but it came off OK!
Aquisitions
Gillian shopped at the Yarn On Sale – she got some Katia Tokyo and Kremke Lazy Lion. She also shopped at Cruellas in Nelson and got some new sock yarn to try out – Lang Twin Sock. As well as that she got some Spritzer yarn in the “Taranaki Twilight” colourway – gorgeous!
Gill’s also ordered a new hat kit from Vintage Purls and a Pride pack from Knot n Tie – which Kylie will also be investigating!!
#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 following the 23 in 23 WIP projects alongside The Passioknit Spinner, which is to finish 23 textile projects that were started prior to 2023 – at the end of February she has 6 projects finished!!
Cup of Tea and a Yarn 