Kylie Smith

Podcast Notes – 17th March “Together in Tauranga”

Finished!

Gill has started and finished a Sockhead Slouch Hat (ravelry link, also available on her blog but it doesn’t include all the sizes) knit in Mrs Peacock Yarns Sonic base on the Rainforest colourway.

Kylie finished a pair of machine knit socks using some Spotlight yarn Moda Vera Not Just Socks. It was her first pair of socks on the 74 stitch cylinder, and the first pair made using the ribber attachment!

Kylie has finished a set of dishclothes using a ball of FibraNatura Cotton Royal Color Waves purchased at Michelle Ann Woolshop in Pukekohe, Auckland- she got 6 dishclothes out of one ball though the last one isn’t as large as the rest. Pattern used was Dishcloth Recipe by Robin Wiest (ravelry link).

Gill finished 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 with a fleegle heel after not enjoying it!

WIPs

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.

Kylie has been inspired by the DRK March to May KAL. She’s picked up her
Find Your Fade by Andrea Mowry started a while ago in the original Hedgehog Fibres fade colours in their Skinny Singles base. The Piwakawaka pin Kylie has on her bag is from Lisafdesigns.

Gill is knitting Dalekanium by Dena Stelly using yarn from Rainy Day Yarn in the Striped Pajamas colourway. This pattern is a free pattern with an interesting star toe construction.

Gill has also cast on a new sweater – Dayspring by Ainur Berkimbayeva, from the Spring 2021 issue of Pom Pom Magazine. They yarns are from Louie and Lola Yarns in Tasmania, Australia.

The Tolkien crochet blanket has been getting lots of love – Kylie has finished joining 54 squares 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.

Spinning

We both have spinning to share this week!

Kylie finished a batt from Twisted Zisters – it was 2 identical batts layed on top of each other then spun from one side to the other. Yarn is spun on a traditional Ashford wheel from the fold to create singles which were then fulled in hot water and thwacked.

Gill finished some Anna Gratton Corriedale fibre in the Passionfruit colourway. It’s been sitting on her wheel for a bit and she has made 470m over 200g in a sport/DK weight.

Aquisitions

Kylie has been very busy ‘rescuing’ yarn this fortnight! Holland Road Company has started a ‘re-loved’ section on their website where people can resell yarn they no longer want/need. Kylie got a 300g skein of Rohrspatz & Wollmeise Lace Garn which she will use as the main colourway for the Foxthoughts Pullover by Hiroko Payne / The Hare And The Crow

Kylie also rescued some Hedgehog Sock Yarn from a facebook based yarn page in colourways Hush, Fool’s Gold and Guppy.

Nana-Cindy has stopped dying, so Kylie visited the Knit Nook’s website and bought some Nana-Cindy yarn!

Pom Pom No. 43 and No. 44 arrived. No. 43 wasn’t really Kylie’s thing so it’s gone to Gill’s library!! The Spring edition is more for Kylie so she’s enjoying flicking through that one.

Kylie has expanded her Ridged Heddle with some accessories including a verident kit, a double heddle upgrade and a couple of weaving books.

Gillian recieved her Vintage Purls Quindecenium Hat kit – a hat to celebrate 15 years in business. She also got some super cute extras including some fun tags and a bookmark.

#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.

We are extending the WIP along until the end of April since the year has gotten away from us!

Podcast Notes – 1st March 2023 “all the yarn crafts!”

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

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

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!!

Podcast Notes – 10th Feb – so many socks

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

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.

Podcast Notes – 27th January 2023 “Makes & Mades”

Makes & Mades

Circular Sock Machine (CSM) Makes

Kylie has been playing with her CSM and Regia yarns. When she was having some issues, she did some tension swatching to try and figure out issues. This is always a good idea when you are working with machines in general, and it’s a great trouble shooting exercise too!

Finished Items

Kylie has finished her first pre-2023 WIP cast on. It’s an amigurami Nibbler (a character from Futurama). This was started in 2015 for Comic-con! It’s a free pattern which you can view on a blog, or ravelry.

Gillian made a couple of baby beanies using the Heirloom Hat’s pattern from Purl Soho – also a free pattern available on the Purl Soho website or ravelry.

WIPs

Gillian has frogged her Ripple Crop and cast on a Rib Lace Raglan (Ravelry Link) by James Watt. The yarn is BC Garn Bio Balance GOTS (wool/cotton blend) purchased from Loopine Wool.

Kylie’s handbag knitting has been her pair of Scrappy Stripy Socks inspired by the recipe by the Crazy Sock Lady using Purple Sprouting‘s ‘Jupiter Crash’ and matching mini’s.

We’ve both been working on our handspun socks. Kylie is using the DRK Everyday Sock pattern by Drea Renee Knits (available from Ravelry and the DRK website). Gillian is knitting the Impossible Girl Socks which is a free pattern available on Ravelry and the LoveCraft Website.

Kylie also dug out her Misurina (ravelry link – also available on the Boyland Knits website) 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!

The Tolkien crochet blanket has been getting lots of love – Kylie has finished joining 24 squares 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.

Gillian picked up her self-made gradient cakes to make a Knit ‘n Slide Shawl by Westknits (Pattern available on Ravelry and the Westknits Website). It’s so close to being finished so she should be able to get it done this weekend – it looks amazing!

Last podcast we talked about the Doctor Who scarf – and that night Gillian jumped online and purchased the yarn from Ribbon Rose to make the original Tom Baker scarf (BBC pattern available here). She has cast it on, but didn’t bring it to show as it’s a big project with all the yarn!!

Aquisitions

Gillian had a lovey time at the Morrinsville Spin-In last weekend – Kylie couldn’t make it because she was working. While she was there she got some fibre2go fiber and started spinning it straight away! It was a nice quiet day with lots of chatting, spinning and browsing.

Loopine Wool got an awesome new branded measuring tape which Kylie just had to have so she put an order in – with NO YARN!!! Instead she got some bits and bobs for mending as well as a couple of books/magazines (Pom Pom Magazine and Rowan ‘Abstract’)

#KiwiSummerWIP

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 skine it becomes a -1. At the end of the year, the aim is to be less than zero (a negative number).

Podcast Notes – 11th January 2023 “Happy 2023”

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

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!

Podcast Notes – 20th November 2022 – Is it working?

We’re back together! It’s been a busy couple of weeks so grab a cuppa before you watch our latest episode as it’s a long one, full of lots of yarny content!

Aquisitions

We started with acquisitions this episode because Gill had been to Loopine that morning to pick up her prize from the Socktober KAL! Thanks Alanna (of Black Cat Knitting Company!!) Gill chose a lovely skein of yarn dyed by Alanna herself! Gill also purchased a gorgeous Schoppelle Wolle Zauberball and some BC Garn Bio Balance in a beautiful purple.

We must have been both thinking about a purple summer yarn because when Kylie visited Skein Sisters in Sydney she got some Life in the Long Grass Linen Merino Singles to make a summer top! She also got a gorgeous set of 5 Life in the Long Grass skeins in their Moon base (Merino/Silk) to make the Aurora Cabin Shawl, which is the Westknits Hiberknitting shawl this year. The chosen colours are Power, Auger, Frosting, Oir and Podzolic. Super fun!

Next up in Kylie’s super fun awesome yarn crawl day was Morris and Sons in York Street where she got 3 balls of Arne & Carlos Regia – to make socks of course!!

Gill was in Christchurch for work so she got to visit Scorpio Books where she grabbed a copy of the new “52 weeks of shawls”, the latest in the Laine 52 weeks book range. This looks like a fantastic book with scarfs and shawls from lots of awesome designers.

Kylie got a lovely package from The Knit Nook which is a new shop in Napier full of gorgeous indie dyed yarn. A gorgeous set of minis from Roxy Fibres “Speckled Pastels”, a purple skein from Nana-Cindy, another purple skein from Dye Studio 54 and a fluffy skein from Yeah Yeah Yarn.

Advent calendars have started to arrive on our doorstep – Gillian got the Purple Sprouting yarn calendar and Kylie is expecting the Yeah Yeah Yarn advent. We’re both expecting one from Eskdale, and Gill is also expecting one from KiwiYarn-A

The last purchase was a copy of the new Shetland Wool Week book. There’s some gorgeous patterns in there including a lace cardigan, slippers, socks, dog coat and a poncho!

WIP’s

Kylie has picked up her Misurina sweater using Fibre2go Silk/Merino. The main colour is Light Hydrangea and the purple contrast yarn is Honesty. This is a lightweight spring/summer project so it got put away during winter, but now it’s become the perfect weather to wear it in so time to get it off the needles!!

The other thing Kylie has been working on is her DRK Everyday socks in her handspun. This has been a very long project as she hates knitting ribbing!! The sock are turning out fabulous though and she’s going to get a lot of wear out of them, so it will be worth it!

Gill has been busy with casting on lots of different projects!! Katia Tokyo yarn is working up super fun in a pair of socks which are matching really well! Another fun set of striping socks is with lefover zauberball and uneek socks.

Shawls that Gill is working on includes the Striped Esjen by Westknits using one of last year’s Christmas yarns from Harnie Hoolie’s in the Frankensense colourway; Raku from Hedgehog and some lovely alpaca fluff from Purple Sprouting. Another shawl is a mix of a few patterns, and a handmade gradient out of 12 x 20g minis. The patterns being used include The Everyday Shawl, Kallara by Ambah O’Brian, the Atiru shawl from Aroha Knits along with a 2 stitch i-cord cast on and edge from the Smash and Puny pattern.

Mittens are still being knit by Gill for her Wellington friends Christmas gifts. The bamboo field mittens are being knit in some lovely green BC Garn Loch Lomond Bio GOTS.

Gill has also been working away at a couple of long term blanket projects including a scrappy granny square crochet blanket as well as adding a few more squares of her mitred square blanket.

Finished Projects

Kylie has been doing some dishclothes for school teacher gifts. She’s been using some Sugar N Cream cotton yarn and a free dishcloth recipe.

The enormous Klementyna crochet shawl is done! It looks fantastic, wouldn’t you agree? It was made using a Scheepjes fingering weight cotton whirl in the Pistachi oh so nice colourway, purchased at Good Wool Hunting. Here’s a copy of the chart which is free on pinterest:

Gillian finished 2 pairs of mittens – the first using the Sock Hands pattern and some Miro Yarns BFL. The second pair using the Pioneer Gloves pattern and the most perfect yarn that she has ever knit with. The wool for the yarn comes from Starcrest Farm, which we bought some fibre off when we were in New Plymouth – the yarn is Wild Earth Yarns Aspen 4ply in the Hickory colourway.

And of course Gill has done some gorgeous spinning, using 2 Twisted Zisters batts combined together to make a gorgeous gradient handspun yarn.

Kylie shared her last 2 gnomes today. Choose Your Gnome Adventure was the most recent mystery gnome, allowing for the selection of the gnome size and yarn size. A Christmas gift gnome was made using the Never Not Gnoming pattern, which is a lovely go to basic gnome (and actually is the first of Imagined Landscapes’ many gnome patterns!)

Machine Knitting

Kylie has been busy on her sock knitting machine – playing with the new 72 needle cylinder and ribber. Gillian stayed after we podcasted and knit two sock blanks so watch this space to see them transform into wearable socks in the near future!

Giftalong 2022

This year is the 10th year of the Indie Design Gift-A-Long. @indiegiftalong on Instagram.; #giftalong2022 and #GAL2022 on socials.

What is Gift-A-Long? It’s a multi-designer promotion to help you kick your holiday gift-making into high gear!

The Indie Design Gift-A-Long is an almost 6 week long KAL/CAL of holiday gifts made from patterns designed by a rather extensive list of independent designers. From November 22nd, 2022 at 5:00 pm US Eastern time zone to December 31, 2022 at midnight US Eastern time zone there will be fun games, contests, and 8 KAL/CALs that will help you get your holiday knitting and crocheting done with companionship and fun! You can read all about the details in this post: click here, or on the FAQ page in our group pages.

Podcast Notes – 19th September 2022 – all the crafts and some slightly dodgy pronunciation…

This week is Te Reo Maori week in New Zealand, so we attempted to share a little Te Reo with you – apologies for dodgy pronunciation!

Gillian has been busy up in Auckland with work this week, and looking forward to getting home for the weekend. Kylie has been busy single parenting this week, and her eldest turned 13 his week. It’s been busy and we’re both looking forward to a bit of a rest this weekend.

WIPs

Kylie has been working on her Comfort Fade Cardi by Andrea Mowry. The yarns she is using gradiate top down from Strawberry Patches, Purple Sprouting, Qing Yarn (Purchased from Little Woollie Makes) and Squiggle Yarn.

Gillian has been working on a pair of long socks with a special set of matching sock yarn from Uneek Yarns. She’s using some BFL from Purple Sprouting Yarns for the contrasting toes/heels/cuffs.

We’ve both got lots of other WIP’s in the works of course, but that’s what’s been getting the most love recently.

FO’s

Kylie has finished a single sock – just a basic sock using some Opal yarn purchased from Loopine. 64 stitches on DPN’s with the Fish Lips Kiss Heel.

Gillian has been very busy finishing all the things!! Firstly, she finished a gorgeous pair of knee high socks using the whole ball of West Yorkshire Spinners Yarn from Christmas 2021. She did a 60 stich circumference and increased as she went up the leg to ensure they fit, and did a nice big section of ribbing at the top so they stay up well.

Kylie has finished her stack of ‘Middle Earth Minis’ Granny Squares using minis from Giddy Yarns. She’s finished January (The Hobbit) and April, May, June (The Fellowship of the Ring). She can’t do any more until the next quarter’s shipment which will also include February and March 😀

Gillian has finished her Rift sweater by Jacqueline Cieslak using some gorgeous handspun yarn made from Fibre2go braids. Alterations needed to be made to make it a bit longer, and short rowing at the back for a bit of shaping.

Another FO for Gill is The Shift cowl by Andrea Mowry made with Purple Sprouting Yarns in the Bertie and In Too Deep colourways. This pattern is written for 3 sportweight yarns, so Gil just knit the whole thing with just 2 colours, and went down in needle size.

Gill has also completed a gorgeous green Huatau (Which is Te Reo Maori for ‘Graceful’) hat by Aroha Knits out of her handspun from Heavenly Wools Silk/Merino. She decreased the number of stitches from what was recommended after reading all of the comments which suggested it was a slouchy fit. Gill has since cast on some mittens in the leftovers from this project.

Gill has also finished some mitts using instructions from Tracey of ThePassioKnitSpinner. Phew!! That’s everything finished in the last couple of weeks!

What we’re wearing

Kylie is wearing her Waterverf top by Alfa Knits which has a really interesting construction on the shoulders giving it lots of structure. It has a lovely flare at the bottom of the shoulders and the bottom of the top using a feather and fan motif. The yarn is from a Circus Tonic fade set, as well as a skein from The Yarnkeeper.

Spinning

Kylie has been able to do some spinning using her ‘good’ ankle on her single tredle Ashford Traditional wheel, spinning some batts from Fibre2go. The plan is to spin one batt in one direction, the second batt in the other direction, the weave them with one as the warp and one as the weft, as per this video from JillianEve.

GIllian spun the other batt she purchased from Fibre2go, and plied them on themself.

Both of us are participating in the “Spin Together” event which is October 1-8. We are in “Team tinyStudio”. It will be great to have inspiration to get spinning!!

Acquisitions

Gillian did an order from Yarn On when they had a sale last week – she’ll be able to show them next podcast!

Kylie has a sock knitting machine heading her way, so watch this space for more news on that when it comes! It’s going to make it’s first appearance at the Socktober ‘crank-in’ at our local group in South Auckland.

Westknits MKAL

It’s that time of year again where knitters all over the world are talking all things Westknits MKAL!! Kylie has participated in every year since the second MKAL, and has since knit the first one as well!! So it’s no surprise that she’s joining in again this year!! Stash diving has produced a gorgeous colour palette:

MC1 is from MaxiMoo “Coal for Christmas” – a lovely grey based verigate with pops of mustard, green and red
MC2 is from Bendigo Woollen Mills – a charcoal colour which will be a nice contrast to MC1
Colour POP is from Fibrespates in a rich red luxuriousness of silk and merino. Kylie originally purchased this at the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show, but it can be found at Knit n Stitch here in NZ]

Podcast Notes – 14th August 2022 – a bit stop starty…

Episode Link

We had some technical difficulties this episode!! Thanks for bearing with us! Gill has been tripping around a bit in the south island, so she’s had a nice opportunity to wear her winter wollies!!

Works in Progress

Kylie has started a simple granny square blanket with “The Hobbit” minis pack from Giddy Yarns.

Gill has started The Rift with two handspun yarns – a cropped, long sleeve stripy top. Can’t wait to see this finished! It’s so very colourful!!

Gill has made great progress on her sparkly Christmas knee high socks using West Yorkshire Spinners in the “Vintage Sparkle” colourway.

Lastly, Gill cast on a fun triangular shawl using a Hedgehog Fibres yarn (Hawk?!) and a schopell-woolle gradient set. She’s making it up as she goes, knitting across in each colour before turning and it’s giving a lovely texture!

Finished!

Kylie and Gill both finished a test knit for Theresia of The Passioknit Spinner, in Germany (You can find her on YouTube, Ravelry and Patreon). The new pattern is a project bag called “Skrabucket” and will be released 20th August. It is a great scrapbuster as it uses 2 ply’s of fingering weight yarn. We both used an automatic french knitter for our icord which made things even quicker!

Kylie had some fun on a friend’s circular sock machine and knit a pair of socks in two sittings. Self-striping yarn was used for the pair

Kylie also finished a gnome! Nice to Gnome You knitted in DK weight instead of fingering weight, and alpaca is all over for a lovely soft finish.

Spinning

Gillian finished some gorgeous dark and moody yarn which was a 2 ply – one ply from fibre2go and the other was a mix of Ashford mill ends Weather Wools.

Sewing

Kylie has had some fun sewing underwear the last couple of weeks because she ‘attended’ The International Bra Sewing Bee – an online conference with lots of tutorials for bra making. You can still access the content if you are interested. Kylie loves using the kits from Nellie Jones, and she actually has a free download for getting started sewing bras!

Shopping

Gill had the pleasure of visiting the Ashford Shop down in Ashburton, where she purchased a ball of Opal, some Ashford sock yarn and a Rigid Heddle book.

Kylie bought some ‘boring grey yarn’ to make the Katniss Cowl for her daughter’s upcoming book week. She’ll probably used the Huntress Cowl pattern.

Podcast Notes – 30th July – Socks & Spinning

We’re in person again today – how nice is it to have the freedom to move around New Zealand again!! Join us as we chat about WIP’s, FO’s and other yarny shenanigans.

Gill was at Fibretron last weekend helping out Julie from Wool on Wheels.

Kylie couldn’t make Fibretron, but she took her parents to a lovely cafe in south/rural Auckland – The Lavender Farm.

FO’s

Gill finished a blanket for her sister which was a huge success (thankfully!) – it was already gifted so we couldn’t show it. The pattern is Ruby Knights and Gill knit it in a lovely undyed Romney yarn from Wild Earth Yarns.

Gill also finished a large ‘shlanket’ from Westknits called the Scrap Happy Triangle including lots of lovely scraps from lots of different dyers – we mentioned Knot ‘n Tie as we were talking about it.

Kylie has finished some simple vanilla socks using yarn from Mrs Peacock Yarns in the “Peace on Earth” colourway, which was a Christmas colourway purchased from Loopine. The pattern used included a “Fleegle Heel” and is a free pattern from Ravelry – Your New Favorite Toe-Up Sock.

Gill also finished some socks using the Heel Toe Do Si Do pattern and some gorgeous King Cole Zig Zag yarn which she finished on the way home from FibreEd.

FibreEd Show & Tell

Gill finished a gorgeous macrame pot holder during her macrame class. It was surprising to know that there were only 2 different knots used in the process!

Kylie did a t-shirt yarn class and made a crochet basket from t-shirt yarn. She’s been making lots of yarn from op-shop ‘rejects’ so that she can teach the technique at the September Auckland Creative Fibre Retreat.

Sashiko-inspired stitching was a class Kylie and Gill did together and we made a gorgeous pin cushion using a pottery item provided by the teacher.

Kylie also did a freeform knitting class and is slowly getting there with the project she started during the class. It will become a bag for her daughter.

WIP’s

Gill is working on a super cute and fun shawl called Studs using a possom based background yarn and a fun colourful yarn from Purple Sprouting – colourway “Meadow Mornings”.

Kylie’s working on a vanilla sock out of some lovely self striping/patterning Opal Frenche Freunde in the Lausbub colourway.

Gill has started a scarf which might become a jumper!!! She’s made 2 magic balls – greens and pinks and is using The Morrison Scarf which is a free pattern on ravelry.

Gill’s also working on a glittery knee high stripy socks using West Yorkshire Spinners Signature Yarn – in the 2022 Christmas colourway, which came in our Christmas gift set from Eskdale Yarns last year – that’s where we got our great scissors we mentioned earlier!

Purchases

At Fibretron, Gill got a lovely new bag from In Stitches, some fibre from Fibre2go. A skein from Knot ‘n Tie called “K-bars”, a skein from MoonRise Yarn Co which is a teal resist dyed yarn. A laceweight gradient cake dyed by DyeStock Yarns – her payment for helping out Julie from Wool on Wheels. Uneek yarn self-striping yarn

Kylie only bought 1 skein of yarn at FibreEd!! But lots of fibre 😀 The skein of yarn is a DK weight yarn from Fibre2go. From Weather Wools – Some purple Rolags and a lovely moody gradient braid of Gotland/Silk.

Gill and Kylie both bought some braids from a lady in the south island who doesn’t sell online. We also bought some gorgeous undyed Polworth/Silk from StarcrestFarm – a lovely couple in the south island farming their own sheep and marketing the fibre and spun yarn locally.

Tour de Fleece

Kylie hurt her ankle the day before tour de fleece begun, but wasn’t going to let that stop her from participating, so she used her nano e-wheel (thanks Gill for the encouragement!!).

The first skein spun was using some ‘special fibre’ from Fibre2go – 60% black merino and 40% dyed silk. Spun worsted and chain plied to a fingering weight yarn.

The second skein is a BFL/nylon braid from Cat & Sparrow Fibres. Spun as a gradient going through the rainbow for 1/2 of the yarn then into black for the other half. Spun woolen, from the fold and plied 2 ply.

Kylie also finished her combo spin that was started last year for a sweater project! The sweater is long finished, and now the fibre is too! Spun worsted, plied 2 ply.

Art Yarn spinning using “The Big Book of Fibery Rainbows” micro-colour change corespun yarn. After a bit of play, a yarn design came to mind using the undyed Polworth/silk fibre from Starcrest Farm and it’s very exciting!!

Gill spun some Corriedale purchased from Fibre2go at the FibreEd event.

Podcast Notes – 9th May – feels like it’s been ages…

Kylie brought an uninvited guest home from her hols so it’s been a wee while since we caught up. That just means we have heaps of crafty projects to talk about 😀 And a wee bonus of a visit to a really cute yarn shop.

WIPs

Kylie cast on a plain vanilla sock out of some super soft Mrs Peacock Yarns (colourway “Peace on Earth”). There will be a fleegle heel, which i’m using the pattern Your New Favorite Toe-Up Sock.

Gill is also knitting some self-striping socks with yarn from Narrative Yarns. She released some Anzac Day stitch-markers so Gill is using that too 😀 The pattern of these socks is Charade.

Kylie’s also made lots of progress on her DRK Everyday Socks which she is knitting out of handspun from StitchPunk, spun into a Crepe construction. There’s an article in knitty about this construction.

Gill is super close to finishing her Jeck socks – she just needs to do the second afterthought heel! The main yarn is from Nana-Cindy (Colourway “Lithium”) with the contrast heel/toe/cuff out of a Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball.

Gill has cast on a gorgeous new cardigan called Retro by Kirsten of Skein Australia. The main colour is Prosper Yarn and the striped yarns are Fibre2go and some yarn from Lochanside purchased from Wool on Wheels.

Kylie’s done a wee bit of work on her Yeah Yeah Sweater, but it’s gone into devil’s corner for a bit.

Finished!

Gnome Pun Intended was knit by Kylie out of her handspun that she is using for her DRK socks, as well as a free mini from Dreamfire Yarns.

We both made mitts!! Gill made some gorgeous patterned mitts using some Nana-Cindy yarn (Colourway “Lithium”). She was super clever and used the Socks on a Plane cable for the pattern. Kylie’s mitts were made using some worsted BFL from Yeah Yeah Yarn and a free pattern called the Cozy Cuffed Mitts.

Gillian has finished a gorgeous Reis sweater – all out of her handspun yarn!!! The braids for her handspun came from lots of kiwi dyers including Fibre2go and Heavenly Wools and some from Dye Candy (purchased from Nana-Cindy).

Kylie finally finished a big shawl she’s been working on for about 6 months – the Brioband shawl. Most of the yarn is from Stephen and Penelope in Amsterdam. Dyers include Undercover Otter, GarnStories, Skein (Australia) and Yarn Therapy (NZ).

Kylie’s Cross-Stitch’s are from Spruce Craft Co. They have been fun little projects.

Gill has finished some gorgeous spinning using fibre from fibre2go and (i think?!!!) Weather Wools. She also made some skeins of mock-tweed yarn using a tutorial from the Passioknit Spinner (on her Patreon). This is recreating the Hedgehog Fibres Tweed which is stunning, but quite pricey!! Kylie is planning on doing a similar spin at some point.

Shawl Musings

We had a discussion on if you can ever have too many shawls. Gill gives hers away or frogs her shawls when she’s fallen out with them, or doesn’t wear them anymore. Kylie has filled up her shawl box so there’s no room for anymore shawls!! Do you think you can have too many shawls? What do you do with shawls (or knits in general) that you don’t use anymore, or have fallen out with?

Aquisitions

Kylie got a gorgeous “Crafts & Wine” pin from a bookshop in Mudgee (rural NSW). The pin was made by Jubly-Umph.

Gill did a spot of shopping with Loopine to get some needles and some very pretty and practical Cascade sock yarn as well as a Pom Pom Magazine.

Kylie did some shopping with Dreamfire Yarn to get some yarn for contrasting heels and toes for DK socks (she does an amazing wool/nylon DK yarn base for heavier socks!). She does some great stitchmarkers with both a lobster clasp and a loop!

Gillian also got some lovely Ashford Handcarders to get more creative with her handspinning preparation!

In the Blue Mountains (inland from Sydney) Kylie was able to visit a couple of yarn shops. At The House of Wool she purchased some Malibrigo fibre, a pom pom and some gorgeous soft as silk Fine Merino/Nylon sock yarn hand dyed by the lovely owner of the shop. At The Granny Square Katoomba she purchased some Regia Cotton sock yarn and a gorgeous skein of Manos Del Uruguay.

Coming Up…

At the end of May we have Woolfest – the biggest yarn event in the NZ calendar year, with over 70 traders! It’s 28th May 10am-4pm at Kumeu showgrounds, so please come and join us! Don’t forget to say hello if you see us – we love to meet our viewers!