Cards from Family

These are my Birthday cards from family members.
The rose is from my wonderful husband Ern.
The balloons from my brother John.
The pussy-cats from Mum...and the reason ??? Heredity !!!
The presents are from Kate and Michael.
........ AND Snow white is from Lyndy, Anna, Kudri and Cam..... although the envelope was addressed to Princess Rita!!

Ern's Birthday Card

This is my Birthday card from Ern. The words say it all..........

Thankyou Card from New York

I had been out all day on the 21st September. As I came through the front gate, I thought "Wouldn't it be great if I received my parcel from Chrissy tomorrow (Friday)....... my birthday!" As I walked into the kitchen, there in the centre of the table, in pride of place was my gift from New York. I was so excited.

Chrissy had sent me a beautiful pair of fingerless mittens. She hasn't been knitting very long, and it is indeed a credit to her. The mittens are so soft and beautifully knitted. There was also a copy of Knits Magazine and a lovely thankyou card.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the One Skein Secret Pal Exchange and I am sure that Chrissy from New York and Julia from Colorado will continue emailing each other in the future.

A Curly Whirley or two........

These Curly Whirlies have been knitted in handspun wool. The white one has been handspun with Australian Merino wool. The multi-coloured one was handspun with Australian Corriedale wool.

The pattern that I use is:
Using large needles......
Cast on 150 stitches and knit 1 row.
Next row - Increase in every stitch (300 sts)and knit 1 row.
Next row - Increase in every stitch (600 sts) and knit 1 row.
Cast off

Aussie Knitters KAL

Aussie Knitters Yahoo Group is only a new Group.....at the moment there are only 64 members. Over the last week they conducted a dishcloth KAL.....only giving a few lines of the pattern each day. For their first activity, I think the pattern was a great idea, with the map of Australia and the initials A.K. (Aussie Knitters). I used Heirloom cotton and size 4mm needles.

A Mighty Oak .......

I knitted another Oak Leaf washcloth in Heirloom cotton and on size 4mm needles. The pattern shows up much better when the cloth is firmer.

Doggie Washcloth

This doggie washcloth was knitted on 4mm needles and 4ply cotton.....
knitted this in one day....very easy to do. There are just so many patterns on the internet for washcloths. The oak leaf and this one are my first washcloths that I have knitted.

After Day 7

Here is the finished washcloth.....the photo doesn't show the oak leave to its full advantage. No wonder I couldn't guess what the pattern was going to be.....I didn't turn it on its corner. In hindsight, I should not have used size 4.5mm needles with Gem cotton...it was too loose.

After Day 5 on the Needles

This is my Dishcloth KAL after Day 5. I have looked at it.....turned it around......looked at it sideways and backwards.....and I still can't work out what the picture on the dishcloth is going to be. Oh well, a few more days will reveal all.............

Monthly Dishcloth (KAL)

A “KAL” is a knit-a-long. On the 1st of each month, Members are advised of about 7 lines of a dishcloth pattern. This continues for about 7 days. After 7 days, I’ll have a dishcloth to use or pass along to someone special.

This photo shows the first 7 rows

HandSpun Tussah Silk Spiral Bag

This is my Spiral Bag with a "twist".

I used my handspun Tussah silk to knit this bag. However, I didn't put the tabs on the top.....that seemed like hard work! Instead, I put eyelets in and threaded a crochet cord through them..

...what else did I do to alter the pattern? Oh yes, I picked up the stitches to knit the base of the bag.

The bag will be part of a handspun silk class next weekend.

This is me spinning on my front porch.

OSSP EXCHANGE GIFT

This photo shows my gift to Julia in Colorado.

The bag was felted after it was knitted with handspun/hand dyed wool and commercial "feathers". The pattern is based on the little clutch bag in the "One Skein" book by Leigh Radford. It was knitted larger (and longer) than in the book, and I added more stitches for the handle.

I also included some handmade buttons made from the Australian Hakia bush and a copy of the Australian publication Creative Knitting magazine.

The daffadils in the photo were on the front of a carry bag which I brought in Maldon.

POSSUM FIBRE TO NEW YORK

I sent Chrissey in NY some possum/merino blend sliver. The possum fibre comes from New Zealand and the merino is Australian. I also sent her the Creative Knitting magazine which is an Australian publication. This edition has a few easy scarf patterns.

SECOND SKEIN TO COLORADO

I sent Julia in Colorado this lovely ball of mohair and wool in shades of blues/mauves/turquoises.
Included in her parcel was some wool and silk sliver in the same colourings. This was from First Editions in Euroa.