Shades of Grey

I'm still on the wristies project . . .

I'd made my peace with the mid-grey and was quite excited about the darker grey, but I had an irresistable feeling that there was a lighter grey just waiting to be discovered. There it is in a skein on the right of the pic. I spun up a natural white and put just a crumb of currawong dye in the pot. It's hardly there, but that's what I wanted. The other skein is a real black--commercially dyed--I just can't get a thoroughly black black in my stove-top dye pot.

Rose Reprise

It's been a while since I did much with the crochet roses. There's still a boxful waiting to have pins stitched to them in the studio. When I had just a bit of this brown handspun wool-silk blend leftover I thought I'd have another go.

I didn't have enough yarn to make my usual twenty petals, so I folded and twisted the leftover strip of double crochet to make a centre for the flower. Then I wrapped and  stitched the remaining petals the way I normally do. I like it enough to add to the pile of flowers awaiting brooch-backs.

Same, Same, Different

This Ruffle Cuff Anklet sock is featured on the cover of Ann Budd's Getting Started Knitting Socks. I've been keen on it since I first saw the book, before I started knitting my first ever sock.

After completing the pair of plain socks last week, I immediately cast this on. I finished the knitting yesterday afternoon. I just have to graft the toe and I've already cast on it's mate. Unfortunately the cuff isn't as ruffly as I would like in my version. I don't know if that's about my tension in knitting the rib. I know I'm accustomed to over the top ruffles, so maybe I've been spoilt. Anyway it's a good way to consolidate my basic sock knitting skills with just a bit of added interest to keep me motivated.

Another Grey

After making my peace with the light grey ruffled wristies, I cast on one in a darker grey.

This is more to my taste.

I've left a strand of the lighter grey in the pic for comparison.

Nearly Happy

Last week I asked for feedback on the pale grey ruffled wristie. I wasn't sure about the combination of a dull colour with the exuberance of the ruffle. Since then I've finished the pair.

Somehow having two of them makes the story more convincing. I'm going to leave them as they are. I do love knitspingirl's suggestion of a dip-dye. I'd probably need to dye the wool before knitting it up, though. Another idea I've had is to add a bit of bling to the last row of the ruffle. I might try that on a black pair.

One More

Here's the third of the flower brooches I made with my friend L the other day.

I was intrigued to see how much difference an extra row of petals made to the overall effect.

Pretty One

I spun up the creamy yarn destined for rose brooches. And I did make one of the knitted brooches as planned. Each brooch only takes a little bit of yarn, so I had some left over, and a bit of time for experimenting. Here's what happened:

I love the way crochet stitches give such a clear definition--especially knowing how incredibly soft this yarn is. I went ahead and made a purple one too, though, being me, the pattern is a little different each time. I've promised another three of the classic rose in different colours, and there's enough yarn to play with, so  I think there will be a few more variations before I get this particular bug out of my system. 

Mix It Up

Here are some of the yarns from the bobbin I snapped yesterday, along with a couple of friends. They're all based on the same hand-dyed purple merino.

• Across the top is a navaho-plied yarn.
• On the far right, a thick and thin--I expect the big fluffy bits will felt a little;
• In the middle is a black-purple marle yarn;
• On the far left a bit of core-spun yarn--I made a fine single and a thicker one and wrapped one around the other. I like the texture and it's reasonably stable.

What to do with this little collection? I'm thinking of a scarf knit longways of big needles.

Stars Again

I set myself the task of finishing off the beaded stars project yesterday. Maybe it was the fact that I didn't make my usual batch of Christmas decorations this year, but it was fun to sit down and think up variations. Maybe I should have known this, but all but one of the stars on the Australian Flag have seven points.This one will be the Commonwealth Star. It's more prominent than the others on the flag.

Variety Show

I'm making Christmas gifts, so you can expect a few slightly cryptic posts--just in case the intended recipients are reading. This week I've been challenging myself to make one of these items each day: You can see there's a theme happening, but each one is different. I found the thought of coming up with half a dozen variations on a theme all at once a bit daunting. One at a time works much better for me. As I'm working on one item, thoughts are brewing for the next one. I'm really enjoying the blue-green colour combination too.